So . . . easily.
Her brief elation vanished. “Frazier, why in the world would those people come to the Factory? Why come to the Thirteenth Reality at all? Something’s wrong here.”
Frazier’s face so quickly melted into distraught panic that Jane felt sorry for him. “I . . . don’t know, Mistress. I . . . but . . . if we have them, does it matter? We caught them. Whatever they were trying to do, we stopped them!”
Jane stood up. “It’s too easy, too simple. Tell the Sleeks to guard them with every creature they can spare. I want every weapon on the grounds gathered—send more if necessary. Search the entire area. Something is wrong!” She pulled up the hem of her robe and started marching toward the door.
“What . . . where are you going?” Frazier called from behind her.
She swiveled sharply to look at him, her mask full of rage. “No more chances, no more mistakes. The boy must die—he’s too dangerous! We’ll have to be careful so as not to accidentally ignite the powers inside him. But I’m going to kill him till he’s dead, dead, dead!”
She felt a trickle of insanity—and relished it.
Chapter
41
~
An Interesting Gate
Tick’s display of power must’ve made an impression on the tall, wispy Sleeks. They didn’t make a sound as they moved through the forest, and they had even let go of their prisoners’ necks, letting them walk freely as long as they stayed on course. And they came nowhere near Tick himself.
Dawn had finally hit the world, making everything in the forest look dull purple. While the extra light made the journey easier, it also reminded Tick of how long it had been since he’d last slept, and exhaustion weighed on him like soggy clothing. He knew they must be close to the Factory. He couldn’t help but hope that once they got there, they’d throw them in a prison cell where he could get at least a little rest before Jane showed up and they had to do their magic tricks to save the universe.
He’d tried twice to speak to Paul or Sofia, but neither of them would respond, flickering their eyes at the Sleeks as if scared of the consequences. Tick guessed he could understand their hesitation, but he felt no fear of the creatures anymore. It was odd—their creepy look alone should’ve made him shudder with chills every time he looked at them, but his episode earlier with the surge of Chi’karda had pumped him full of confidence.
Those things weren’t going to mess with him again. Right that second, he thought nothing in the world would ever mess with him again. His rational side tried to tell him that he was being stupid, but he pushed it away, wanting to enjoy this feeling of invincibility for a little while longer.
The air around them brightened suddenly, a combination of the trees thinning out and the sun rising higher by the second. Tick looked up and saw the sky for the first time in awhile. A flat layer of bumpy clouds panned across most of it, the eastern edge outlined in fiery orange. Something smelled really awful, growing more pungent as he thought about it. He was pretty sure he’d never been around a rotting animal before, but for some reason that’s exactly what the odor made him think of.
He shot a glance at Paul, wrinkling up his nose.
Paul returned the sour face, then waved his hand back and forth in front of his nose.
Tick returned his attention to the path ahead of him. The Sleeks refused to walk in front of him, instead pointing every once in a while with a rasping, hoarse croak. Tick just loved it—the things were scared of him. Scared of him!
Shut up, Tick, he told himself. Something’s wrong with you.
He knew he didn’t have time to worry about it, but he felt like he’d ingested rotten milk into his system. There was a taint of . . . evil coursing through his veins. Maybe using Chi’karda—and letting it consume him and take over his emotions, his anger—had a price to it.
He shook it off. Things were changing up ahead.
They stepped past a last bunch of trees into a wide open, muddy space, void of any vegetation. A hundred yards or so away stood a tall, jagged wall of lumber, the thick pieces thrown together as if by accident. The wall ran in both directions for at least a mile before curving out of sight. The only break was a large gate made of twenty or thirty black iron bars, the upper tips ending in spikes. Heads of fangen and other monsters had been impaled on each and every spike.