Mistress Jane was exhausted. Not physically—she’d gotten plenty of sleep over the last couple of days inside her apartment—but her mind was spent from all the research. Every waking moment, she had been poring through her old notes, her computer files, her books. She needed to know everything about the Fourth Dimension, and the Void that had once been trapped within it, before she went to Chu’s rebuilt headquarters.
She’d winked herself to a lonely mountaintop in the Thirteenth Reality, a place where she’d come before to meditate and scheme. Two things she did very well and needed to do now. But the main reason she’d chosen the location was so she could see the latest developments of the Void that had ripped her beloved castle to pieces, and, by the looks of it, had proceeded to eat the remains as well. The enormous spinning cloud of gray mist looked almost peaceful from this far away, the thunder just a low rumble rolling across the land. But she knew the Void was terrible, without compassion.
It would grow. And it would destroy. And once this world was gone, the other Realities would follow. The energy and power of the Void was a thing of awe, a thing that would make most people cower and shake with fear. But not her. She’d had her moment of doubt, and it had passed. Now she was here, facing the beast that threatened to destroy everything she’d devoted her life to. She faced it, and saw only opportunity now. Opportunity to build the Utopia of which she’d always dreamed.
Power. Energy. Unlimited.
There was a way to capture that, to harness it. To divert it from its current path and use it for better purposes. But she needed help, at least for now.
Yes, with some help, she could do great things with this Void of Mist and Thunder. This Void that represented the pure power of creation. Great things indeed.
It was time to reunite with Reginald Chu and Atticus Higginbottom.
Paul was pretty sure he could’ve talked Master George into taking a risk and pushing that green button, but they were interrupted. Rutger, waddling and sweating like never before, burst into the room, his words spilling out between ragged breaths.
“Good grief . . . people!” he shouted. “Why . . . it took me . . . forever . . . to find you!”
George shot up from his chair and asked what was wrong. Eventually Rutger managed to say that Sato had made contact with headquarters, asking for a good spot of Chi’karda in the Forest of Plague. Rutger, with the help of Mothball and Sally, had been able to wink Sato and the rest of the Fifth Army out of the Thirteenth Reality, and now most of them were down in the valley of the Grand Canyon, washing in the river, eating some much-needed food, resting, and recovering.
Paul sat with Sofia on the couch in George’s office, waiting for the old man to return with Sato and the other Realitants. They needed to hear the entire story, and their leader said he wanted to wait until everyone was gathered to do it. But Paul had heard enough of the tidbits to have a sickness in his belly. The Void growing bigger, more soldiers dying, something about a blue light that turned things into monsters.
Yeah, none of that sounded too good.
Sofia’s knees were bouncing.
“Hey,” Paul said to her. “Chill. We’re going to figure out all this junk. You’ll see.”
She stopped moving, and her face flushed red as if embarrassed. “I’m not nervous.”
“Yeah, right.”
“And you’re not? You just want to chill, huh?”
Paul shrugged. “I have a good feeling about this box and its button. About the Karma thing. I mean, that’s the definition of Karma! The Realitants have always been good, trying to do what’s right. And now things are going to come around for us. We’re going to get some help from the cosmos, or Karma, or whatever you wanna call it. All we have to do is push that button.”
Sofia scooted away on the couch to face him, flashing her standard glare. “Seriously? You think the world’s so simple that you can push a button on a tiny box, and everything will be all better? You thought you were smart enough to join the Realitants?” She folded her arms and looked away. “Unbelievable.”
It surprised him how much his feelings were hurt. “I’m just trying to show some hope here. There has to be a reason for that box, right? It’s supposed to scientifically channel Karma matter. But to me, it’s Karma that we even have it in the first place. What’s wrong with a little hope? Geez.”
Sofia was suddenly at his side, pulling him into a fierce hug, crying into his shoulder and shaking with sobs. When he recovered from his shock, he hugged back, patting her uncertainly.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Somehow it’s going to be okay. Trust your old Uncle Paul.”