Tick stepped out of the woods near his home just as the sun tipped over the horizon and spilled bright morning light across the old, cracked road that he’d walked down a million times before. He was still disturbed by the long swath of broken, mangled trees he’d seen in the forest. They were leftover from the time he’d let loose his powers without even realizing it. Dissolving and reconstructing mass in his panic. He’d wanted to forget those episodes, but maybe it was a good reminder that he had a vast amount of power inside him. He needed to make sure he kept learning how to control it.
As he set off down the road toward his neighborhood, he started feeling the inevitable guilt. Master George had been very stern in ordering him to return to headquarters with the other Realitants and to save this reunion for another time. But it made Tick mad. His family was the most important thing to him right now, and he needed to make sure they were safe. He’d tried to wink directly to his house, but the pull of the deep Chi’karda pool in the forest had brought him there instead—exactly where he’d first seen Mothball disappear so long ago. It felt like a lifetime ago.
So this wouldn’t quite be as quick of a trip as he’d hoped. He imagined his leader and his friends sitting in the conference room, waxing on about what a poor example Tick had shown. What a bad Realitant he was. How selfish he was. But a few hours wouldn’t matter. Plus, he was pretty sure Paul and Sofia would defend him no matter what.
Tick suddenly filled up with cheer at the thought of seeing his family again. He broke into a run down the long, straight road.
Reginald Chu was scanning through a few more of the data reports Benson had wired to his reading tablet when there was an abrupt pounding on the wooden slab he called a door in his makeshift office. He almost dropped the device from the shock of the interruption, and half of him was angry, the other half relieved no one had seen his embarrassing reaction.
It took him another second to realize that the number of knocks—as hard and frantic as they were—matched the first part of his secret code. After a pause, the knocks started again. Chu quickly reached down and deactivated the lazbots.
“Oh, come on in, already!” he shouted.
Benson slipped through the door, looking as nervous as ever; trickles of sweat ran down both sides of his face.
“What, pray tell, could be so urgent?” Chu asked sternly.
“The boy. Atticus. For some reason, he left the Realitant headquarters and is all alone. I know it’s earlier than you expected, sir, but this is too golden of an opportunity. We have him tracked and know exactly where he is! With no one around him to fight off!”
Chu stood up. “Amazing—what a fool that kid can be. But let’s not forget, he doesn’t really need an army with all that Chi’karda boiling inside his body. We’ll have to tread carefully.”
“He’s heading toward his house, sir. He might be alone for only a few more minutes.”
“Oh, please,” Chu said with a laugh. “It’ll be even easier if he’s surrounded by his family. He’ll be . . . more distracted.”
“Whatever you say, boss. I mean, sir.”
Chu hardly noticed the slip. “But maybe haste is best. Ready the Bagger. We leave immediately.”
Chapter 38
A Tense Conversation
The conference room had been silent for at least five minutes.
Paul kept fidgeting in his seat, worried about Tick and wishing he hadn’t left. All his friend wanted to do was check on his family—they all did. How could anyone blame him? Just because Tick was a freak and could actually travel on his own without a Barrier Wand didn’t make him a monster. If Paul could do that fancy trick, he’d be on a beach in the Bahamas sipping lemonade and waiting for the world to end.
Oh, forget this, he thought. Time to speak up.
“Hey, Tick will be back soon. Quit looking so sad.” Everyone in the room was staring at the table or the floor like hypnotized zombies. Sofia seemed distraught, and Mothball looked even more sullen than usual. Rutger was eating, the little stinker, but that was probably just how he dealt with things.
“You don’t understand, Master Paul,” George said. “I could see the rebellion in your friend’s eyes, and I knew he was tempted to do things that he wasn’t even thinking about yet except on a subconscious level. I knew he’d see his family, remember the horrors he’s been through, and begin to think selfish thoughts. Feel tempted to stay with them, run away, keep them safe. How can we have our Realitants run off willy-nilly when we need them the most? He shouldn’t have gone. I’m terribly sorry to say it.”
Paul understood but didn’t want to admit it. “How can you blame him for winking away really quick just to check on his family? I’m sure he’ll be back any second. You’re making too much of it!”
George slammed his hand down on the table. “I will not have you speak to me this way! I am your leader and I demand respect! We’re on the cusp of something that could kill every single living person in every Reality! Each of us have higher callings than running off to check on mums and dads!”