Just make sure your feet find air.
“It’s easy,” Sofia said.
“Yeah, too easy,” Paul agreed. “Which means we’re in deep trouble.”
Tick shook his head. “It’ll be easy to figure out the time, but there’s nothing that tells us what to do at that time.”
“Yowza,” Paul said, then whistled. “You’re dead on. What are we supposed to do at five in the afternoon one week from tomorrow?”
Tick jerked his head around to look up at Paul. “You already figured it out?”
“I told you it was easy.” He slapped Tick on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, little dude, not everyone can be as brilliant as the Paulmeister.”
Sofia snorted. “I figured it out, too, Einstein.”
Tick quickly ran through the riddle in his head. Sure enough—5:00 pm, one week from tomorrow.
“A whole week?” he said. “What are we supposed to do until then?”
“I’ll tell you what we do,” Paul said, flopping onto the small couch and sticking his feet up on the armrest. “What my grandpa calls a little R and R.”
Sofia walked over and slapped Paul’s feet to the floor, almost knocking his whole body off the couch.
“If you ever did that in my house, my butler would chop off one of your toes.” She sat next to him, ignoring his stuck-out tongue. “It does sound good to relax for awhile, but we’d better start thinking hard about what’s hidden in that message.”
“Yeah,” Tick said. “What happens if five o’clock rolls around and we don’t do what we’re supposed to?”
His only answer was a very long silence.
Chapter
24
~
An Insane Mission
Sato adjusted the straps on his backpack, pulling them tight so they wouldn’t rub blisters on his skin. It was heavy, Mothball and Rutger having gone overboard as usual to make sure he had everything he needed.
“What did you put in here?” he asked. They stood by the window overlooking the Grand Canyon, the early streams of sunrise reflecting off the sheer stone walls with a reddish glow. “Some bricks in case I need to build a house?”
Mothball laughed. “Methinks you’ve a sense of humor after all, Sato.” She reached down and tousled the hair on Rutger’s head. “Almost as funny as this one, ’ere.”
Rutger huffed. “He only seems funny because he’s the world’s biggest grouch. Anything slightly different pops out of his mouth, and everyone laughs like he’s Bojinkles the Clown.”
“Who?” Sato asked.
Rutger slapped his hands to his face. “Who? Who?” He stomped his right foot. “Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of Bojinkles! Oh, how he made me chuckle when I’d read him in the funny parcels as a kid . . .”
His voice wandered off as he stared at something through the window, seemingly lost in childhood memories. Sato and Mothball exchanged a look, both of them stifling a laugh.
Just then, George entered the room, his face flushed like he’d been running a race. He held a Barrier Wand in one hand, so sparkly and shiny it appeared brand-new.
“Ah!” he said. “Looks like Master Sato is all set and ready to go.”
George stepped in front of Sato, inspecting him like he was a soldier going off to war. Sato still felt confused inside, his mind and heart full of swirling, haunted images and feelings. He’d grown to trust George and the others, had grown to accept his role as a Realitant. He’d especially solidified his resolve to avenge the murder of his parents.
And yet . . . for so many years, the man before him had represented all the terrible things in his life. George had been there that day. Why hadn’t he saved his parents?
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Sato said, momentarily closing his eyes to squeeze away his ill thoughts.
“Splendid,” George said, taking a step back so he could look at the three of them. “Our dear friend Sally is off, too. He, er, didn’t want to say good-bye because of, er, well, you know—what we did to his hair to disguise him. The old chap’s surprisingly vain about his looks after all.”
“Well, I do know how he feels,” Rutger said, smoothing his black hair.
George turned to Sato, his face serious, squinting as if he couldn’t quite focus on Sato’s face. “Are you certain about this?”
“I’m doing this for my parents.”
George nodded absentmindedly. “Yes, yes, indeed. Your bravery would make them proud.”
Sato fumed inside. He wanted to scream at the old man, blame him for their deaths. But he stayed silent, channeling his thoughts into the task at hand.