“In normal days, our master would disintegrate the wood, inspect you with snooper bugs, make a show of her great powers. But she says she is tired and weak, and that she expects understanding from you. Times are not as they once were.”
Tick was surprised by the woman’s words and shocked that Jane would dare show weakness, much less admit it outright. Not sure what to say, he shrugged, doing his best to act like it meant nothing to him either way.
“Then come.” Mordell swung the door wide, and Tick stepped into a small chamber that led to another opening. Beyond that was a sparsely furnished room with a couch and a few chairs, a small window looking out on the fading light of day.
Jane was lying on the couch, the hood of her yellow robe pulled up over her head, her red mask set in a blank expression. With one of her scarred, withered hands, she motioned for Tick to sit down on a chair near her. He did so, wondering anxiously what she wanted to talk to him about.
“The Fourth Dimension,” he said first, skipping the formalities. “This lady says you want to talk to me about the Fourth Dimension. Why?” His voice was naturally curt and devoid of feeling when he was around this woman. What kind of a person had he become to feel such things?
Jane sat up straighter and looked at him through the eyeholes of her mask. “You did something terrible, Atticus. Something really, really terrible.”
Chapter 23
Jane’s Talk
Tick didn’t need one more thing to feel guilty about, and for once he’d been taken by surprise. Here he was, in the castle of Mistress Jane, the woman who had planned to suck the life out of human children and use it to create monstrous creatures, and she was telling him that he’d done something terrible.
“And what exactly is it that I’ve done?” Tick asked.
Jane grunted as she swung her legs around off the couch and placed her feet on the floor, sitting upright. Her artificial face still had no expression. “My castle, Atticus. It’s not a pretty sight. My beautiful room atop the palace is now nothing more than a pile of rocks crushed on top of other rocks. My castle—other than a few spots like this one and the Great Hall—lies in ruins. Most of my servants were killed. My most faithful and trusted servant, Frazier Gunn, is nowhere to be found. My body is weak, and my mind is tired. And here I sit before you now.”
Tick didn’t see where this was going at all. “What does that have to do with me?”
“My point, Atticus Higginbottom, is that I’m not in any mood to fix the problems you’ve created for the Realities. Not in a mood at all.”
“Tell me, what horrible thing did I do again?” Tick was surprisingly curious.
Her mask melted into a frown. “When I used the Blade of Shattered Hope, Atticus, I was trying to do something that would benefit humanity in the long run. You saw only the short-term point of view—the destruction of an alternate reality—but it was a vital step forward on a journey toward a final and perfect Utopia. Eternal happiness for the rest of mankind’s existence. You did not understand!”
Tick’s anger flared. “Don’t sit there and preach to me! There’s not a rational person alive who would call anything you’ve done good. You’d have to be totally insane, which I think you are. So I guess it makes sense.”
“Insolent boy,” Jane muttered harshly, like an expelled breath of frustration.
“And you still haven’t told me what I did that was so terrible.”
“You cracked open the Fourth Dimension!” Jane yelled, standing on her feet as she did so. “You’ve unleashed a force that we hardly understand! And for all your noble talk about saving people, you’ve done the worst thing possible! The very energy that created the universe is now on the verge of exploding outward to do it all over again.”
Her red mask was pinched in vicious anger, her eyebrows slanted like crossed swords. And her scarred hands were squeezed into fists as she breathed in and out heavily. “I knew it as soon as I got back. I’ve always known there was a link between the Chi’karda here and the mysteries of the Fourth Dimension. Your battle with me, and the unprecedented amounts of Chi’karda we unleashed, broke that link, Atticus. Every single one of the Realities is in an enormous amount of trouble. All the earthquakes and tornadoes and destruction will seem like the good old days soon enough.”
Tick realized with a sinking stomach that Jane was telling him the truth.
“Look, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said. “Just sit down and relax. Neither one of us is going anywhere.”