The Void of Mist and Thunder (The 13th Reality #4) (16 page)

She rapped lightly on the wooden door three times. A few seconds later, it opened, and another woman in a hooded robe stared out at them. She nodded then allowed Mordell to step inside, shutting the door in Tick’s face.

Tick was tempted to knock on the door himself—or better yet, just open it up and waltz inside. He wasn’t nearly as scared of seeing Jane as he’d been in the past; his progress in the powers of Chi’karda had given him more confidence than ever before in his life. Forcing patience on himself, he stood and waited, knowing that Jane would probably make him wait awhile just to anger him.

He was right. At least fifteen minutes went by while he stood and stared at the walls and steps of the staircase. But just in case Jane was spying on him somehow, he refused to show his frustration or annoyance. He merely waited.

Finally, the door swung open. Mordell was standing there.

“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.”

“Sit down and relax?” Jane repeated, as if he’d told her to eat a live rat. But she sat down anyway, folding back into the soft cushions of her couch. “There’s no time for relaxation, boy. I first suspected something was wrong when we were in the Nonex and I saw the rift in the air that led to another world. Another Reality. For that rift to reach the Nonex, I knew it wasn’t as simple as a pathway between worlds. It had to be something much deeper. And then there was the incident with the earthquake and the subsequent uptick of craziness.”

Tick knew that the Nonex was a place where a gorilla could suddenly erupt out of the sand, then turn into a moth and fly away. All kinds of unexplainable stuff happened all the time, but Jane was right. The craziness had ratcheted up considerably right before they escaped.

“You do remember the rip in the air I saw?” Jane asked.

“Huh? Oh. Yeah. I do.”

“There was a boy and his father, or perhaps his grandfather, in a forest, looking back at me. And I knew something was off about it, something dangerous. I backed away, and just in time, too. A terrible storm of gray mist and thunderous lightning exploded within that rift, destroying whatever was close by on both sides of the rift. You saw what the area looked like afterwards.”

Tick remembered. It had reminded him of TV footage of a tornado’s aftermath. “So you’re saying that what you saw was the Fourth Dimension?”

“A better way to put it is that I saw what comes
out
of the Fourth Dimension. The Void of Mist and Thunder. It’s always been a rumor, a myth—pure speculation. Until now. I believe the Void is a living thing, but without conscience. The complete and pure power of creation. All it wants is to escape its prison and consume everything in its path. It’s mindless and hungry.”

“How do you even know about it? You already have a name for it, but you never told anyone about it. Why not?” Tick felt sick inside. Here was yet another thing that had gone wrong. And somehow it linked back to being
his
fault.

“I’m old,” Jane said. Her red mask had returned to a blank expression, but Tick knew anything could set her off. “I’ve researched the origins of our universe in hopes of making it better. That crotchety old George and I worked on this project together, years ago. Trust me, I’m sure he’s figured out what’s going on by now and is sweating a river.”

“What
is
the Fourth Dimension?” Tick asked. “I still don’t really get it.” He hated admitting that to her, but he had no choice.

“Well, you know what 3-D is, correct? Three dimensions?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, the Fourth is named that because it’s a step beyond anything we understand in terms of vision and . . . placement. Three-D is exponentially greater than 2-D. And the Fourth is infinitely greater than 3-D. The power of the Void is much, much greater than any kind of energy we know in our own dimension. If unleashed, it will consume this world like food and use it to recreate another. And all of us will die along the way.”

Tick almost wanted to laugh. “You’re really clearing things up.”

The mask flashed to anger. “Stop it. Now. None of your childish sarcasm, do you understand me? What I’m talking about is very serious. More deadly than even my Blade of Shattered Hope.
Do you understand?
” She shouted the last question, making Tick lean back in his chair. “It was your meddling with that Blade that ripped open the Fourth Dimension in the first place!”

“Okay, I get it.” Tick was scared, but he didn’t want to show it. “But this isn’t the first time you’ve tried to work with me. The last time ended with you trying to choke me to death. Remember?”

“Oh, Atticus.” The anger and spirit seemed to drain straight out of Jane, her shoulders slumping and her mask melting into another frown. “Do you still really believe I was trying to kill you that day? We had to stop Chu, and at the time, hurting you was the only way to get you to release your Chi’karda. You couldn’t do it at will like you can now.”

Tick looked at the floor. Jane confused him so much. She seemed to have some good in her, but she’d also done some terrible, awful things. But could he really blame her completely after what
he’d
done to
her
?

“I don’t know what to do,” he said quietly. He was tired of thinking. “I just don’t.”

“Atticus,” Jane said, her raspy voice quiet, like a small clearing of the throat. “I’m not going to sit here and pretend that you and I are best friends. I resent you for what you did to me, though I know it was partly out of your control. I
know
you hate me. And I’m not making any promises to stop fighting for a Utopia for mankind. When this issue is dealt with, I’ll continue with my mission. I will do whatever it takes.”

Tick looked up sharply. “You will, huh? You’ll go right back to destroying entire worlds and throwing little kids into awful experiments? No skin off your back, right?”

Jane pounded a fist on her knee. “Yes! I will do whatever it—”

Her words were cut off by the door slamming open, the entire room seeming to tremble. Jane and Tick both shot to their feet to see who had come in.

It was Mordell, and her face was pale with fright.

“The Fourth Dimension has torn open outside the castle,” she announced in a shaky voice, as if she had to avoid shouting to preserve the dignity of her order. “The Void is attacking our creatures.”

Chapter 24

Fog and Thunder

Lorena had been holding Lisa in her arms—the girl had finally dozed off—when she heard the terrible sound in the distance. It was like a great, rushing wind, with cracks of thunder splintering it. And then she heard the screams. Unnatural screams that she knew came out of the mouths of Jane’s creatures.

Lisa’s head popped up immediately, her chance at slumber gone. “What
is
that?”

“I don’t know, sweetie.” Lorena’s heart picked up its pace, and a swell of panic bulged in her chest, making it hard to breathe. If something was making those awful monsters scream, then what would it do to
them
?

She heard the scuffle of feet running along the passage outside the Great Hall. Grabbing Lisa’s hand, she stood up, and the two of them went over to the arched exit to investigate. The two fangen that had been assigned to guard them were gone, and dozens of creatures were frantically scurrying past the opening,
away
from the shattered door that led outside to the castle grounds. Any noise of their passage was drowned out by the sounds of thunder crashing and booming, which were getting louder.

“What on
earth
?” Lorena whispered, barely hearing herself. She looked at Lisa, whose eyes were wide and scared.