Paul grumbled something unintelligible and put his chin in his hands, staring longingly at the delicious, mouthwatering food—in Rutger’s humble opinion, of course.
Master George slowly stood up, then leaned forward and put his hands on the table, a grave look on his face. “Goodness gracious me,” he whispered. “I know exactly what’s happened.”
“What?” Rutger asked, hearing the whine in his own voice. He didn’t want anything to ruin this fine meal.
Their leader closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. “I believe we have a rogue Realitant. Tick has run away, against my orders. And at such a time as this.” He puffed out his chest, his face sunken in disappointment. “I guess I can understand his decision, but I certainly hope it doesn’t come back to haunt us.”
Chapter 37
A Nice Morning Stroll
Sato couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a full night’s rest. And what a strange time to do it.
After the other Realitants had winked away, he’d led his army—now only a few dozen strong—in a full march around the perimeter of the ruins of Mistress Jane’s castle. He didn’t really know what he was looking for or wanted to find, but they’d searched all the same. And saw nothing unusual—except for the ever-present, massive gray cloud of mist and lightning that spun in the middle of the ruins, growling as it got bigger and bigger. Sato guessed by the end of the next day that it would cover every last inch of fallen stone.
It had grown dark by the end of their long walk, and he’d given his soldiers the entire evening to get some sleep. Tollaseat had seemed the most appreciative, though he never would’ve admitted it. But the way he collapsed on the ground and started snoozing said it all.
Now it was early morning, and the world was full of that purple, chill air that comes right before the sun begins to show its light. Sato had slept soundly and peacefully, and when he woke up, he’d felt refreshed and filled with strength. As he sat and stared out at the distant horizon, determined to catch the moment when the sun did pop over the edge, he thought about what Master George had said. The old man thought there was something to the fact that all the creatures of Mistress Jane had disappeared somewhere, then reappeared in some altered state out of the Void.
Sato hadn’t thought much about it at the time, but there was something weird about it. When he’d first caught sight of the castle, hordes of fangen and other nasty creatures had been crawling all over the surface of the structure and its grounds. And Sato had also seen some of them fleeing when the weird breach in Reality had first split the air. But there should’ve been more creatures. Many, many more. Where had they all gone? And why weren’t their bodies strewn all over the place if they’d been killed? There’d been some bodies inside the passageway by the stream, but none anywhere else. Had they been . . . cloned? Transformed? What?
The more Sato thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Well, it was his job to find out the truth, and he meant to do it. He was glad to have a specific task to keep himself occupied.
He stood up and stretched, allowing a big, loud yawn to escape that sounded like a demented ghost.
“Get your bones all nice and rested, you did, I ’spect?”
Sato turned to see Tollaseat, who was stretching and yawning himself. “Slept great, actually. I’ve been thinking a lot about what we’re supposed to be doing for Master George. About the creatures and how they all disappeared.”
“Been thinkin’ myself, I ’ave,” the giant man said. “Remembered you tellin’ us all about how them nasty little buggers were runnin’ toward the middle of the castle when the mess started and all. Well, mayhaps we should be lookin’ there? Only checked the roundabout yesterday night, we did.”
Tollaseat was right. Yes, they’d walked around the entire ruins of the castle, but Tick had told everyone that the fangen and all their ugly cousins had been screaming and sprinting deeper into the building. Why would they have done that with the whole thing about to come down?
“You might be on to something,” Sato said. “Why don’t you and I go take a look before everyone else wakes up?”
“Could use a nice mornin’ stroll, I could.”
The two of them set off again for the destroyed home of Mistress Jane. Sato tried to ignore the huge, churning cloud of gray fog and lightning in the middle of it, but that was one task that proved impossible.