Sato threw his arm up to block the light, then looked as soon as it was gone. Barely able to see, he ran desperately toward the spot.
But even with his burned-out vision, he could tell Mothball and Rutger weren’t there. They were gone. Completely gone.
Not even charred remains or blackened, smoking skeletons were left behind. And, oddly enough, the grass wasn’t burning or even disturbed as far as he could tell. It was as if his two friends had just disappeared.
Maybe they’ve been winked away, he thought with an unexpected rise of jubilation. Maybe someone had saved them at the last second. In his present state of shock and panic, the idea didn’t seem so far-fetched. Anything was possible, right?
As if in answer to his question, the world around him suddenly turned white, a blanketing sea of complete and utter brilliance that engulfed his body even as the air singed with burning heat.
Sato felt his body erupt in flames.
Chapter
23
~
A Threat Reversed
Lisa’s only thought was to find Kayla and keep her safe.
The house shook and rattled around her, the echoes of wood groaning and cracking, glass breaking, and the terrible ladies screaming. Darkness pressed in, and the air filled with a choking dust. Something smelled burnt.
Lisa crawled forward on her knees, fighting to keep her balance. She didn’t understand why Kayla wasn’t crying or yelling for her. They’d been standing close together when the earthquake began, but lost each other in the first chaotic seconds.
“Kayla!” she shouted. “Kayla!”
No one answered, but Lisa heard a distinct whimper to her left, a miracle considering the sounds of destruction surrounding them. She shuffled in that direction and bumped into the small body of her sister, who was curled up into a ball, shaking with sobs.
“Kayla,” Lisa whispered. “It’s okay, sweetie, it’s okay. Come on. We need to get out of the house.”
“No, no, no,” Kayla murmured.
Scared the house might collapse on them at any second, Lisa put her arms around Kayla’s body and lifted, grunting with the effort. She staggered to the right, running into a table, then to the left, hitting a wall. Squeezing Kayla tightly to her body, she moved forward, taking heavy and careful steps so as not to fall down. The light was dim, but she could see a hallway leading to the front door, which was open and hanging crookedly on one hinge. The whole house jumped as if it had grown legs.
“Let’s get out of here!” she yelled as she decided to go for broke and sprinted for the door.
With a wobbly run, she made it to the opening and stumbled outside, falling into a clump of bushes. Tiny, sharp branches scratched her as she squeezed her arms even tighter around Kayla, trying to protect her. She kicked with her legs and used her elbows to maneuver their way out of the bushes and onto the front lawn.
The sounds of things breaking inside the house had been replaced with horrible, world-shattering cracks of thunder. Constant flashes of light illuminated their surroundings. Lisa saw people running, more people falling. The air smelled like burning plastic and tasted like . . . electricity. That was the only word she could think of.
Then, forty feet away, a bolt of lightning arrowed down from the sky and exploded around a woman in a bulb of pure incandescence. Lisa squeezed her eyes shut, though it was too late. When she opened them, she was completely blind, seeing only blurs of white in front of her.
Not knowing what else to do, she hugged Kayla and smoothed her hair, crushed by how the little girl’s body shook with sobs and terror. How could this be happening? What was happening?
The air around them exploded with heat and electricity. Pain ripped through Lisa’s body, and her arms suddenly closed on empty air.
Kayla was gone.
~
Tick didn’t know what he’d done.
He felt as though a chunk of his insides had somehow been squeezed through his skin and catapulted toward the black tree, engulfed by the pure darkness.
He fell from the chair, gasping for breath. His link to Chi’karda had vanished, replaced by a cold emptiness.
“Tick!” Sofia shouted, jumping out of her chair to kneel next to him. “Are you okay?”
Tick rolled over onto his back, looking up at her. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
Paul stood and reached down to grab Tick’s arm, then heaved him to his feet. “What happened?”
Tick shook his head. He couldn’t have answered even if he felt like talking. He had no idea what had happened and began to worry that he’d done something really stupid.
“Take your seats,” Master George snapped in a tight whisper. “She’s coming.”
Tick quickly sat down, as did Paul and Sofia. Sure enough, Mistress Jane was almost to them, marching with determined steps, her red mask showing an anger that made Tick’s heart want to stop.
“What did you do?” she screamed into Tick’s face. “What did you put in the Blade?”