An annoyed buzz sounded from the ghostly creature. “We hope your impatience will serve you well since we will have little time left together. No more interruptions. We will not be able to appear in this form much longer.”
The glow changed into three faces before Tick finally nodded.
“Good,” the Haunce continued. “When the barriers began to break and the seals began to split, we knew immediately what we must do. We winked you here to Reality Prime, where we would be able to discuss things in private. We also winked your family away from Jane’s prison, as well as a number of people from the Fifth Reality who were located in the area of your Realitant friends—Mothball, Rutger, and Sato. They are together in a special holding place we created long ago—a sort of way station that exists in a quasi-Reality that only we know about.”
“What about—” Tick stopped himself, not wanting to interrupt again.
“Your other friends?” the Haunce asked. “Sofia, Paul, and your Realitant leader, Master George?”
Tick nodded.
“They are in the Thirteenth Reality, where you last saw them.”
Tick couldn’t remain silent any more. “Why didn’t you take them to the same place as my family?”
The face of the Haunce flowed from an ugly woman to a pretty one, then morphed into a man with beady eyes. “They remain in the Thirteenth, because that is where you are going. You will need their help. You will be together very soon, though you will not have much time for happy reunions.”
“Okay, so what do I need to know?” Tick asked, surprised at how steady he felt. He was ready to have this whole mess done and over with.
No one had spoken since Master George’s explanation of soulikens. Sofia continued to sit still, staring at the dark shadow of a wall standing a few dozen feet from her. The sounds of the desert were soft and faint—an insect here and there, the sigh of the wind, sand scratching across rock.
When Paul spoke up, it startled her. She hoped he hadn’t noticed her jump.
“Soulikens,” he said. “Basically you’re telling us that throughout our lives we create these freaky electronic imprints on the world that never go away but hang around us like a fog, building and building until it kind of becomes our ghost. Is that what you’re telling us? That ghosts are real?”
“If you could see on a quantum level,” Master George responded, “you’d see an aura of energy around you and others that very much resembled exactly that. A ghost.”
Sofia felt a little creeped out. “Then I don’t wanna see on a quantum level. I hate scary movies, and I hate ghosts.”
“Now who’s the cheerful one?” Paul asked.
“You rubbed off on me.”
“I love scary movies. Especially the ones where lots of people die.”
Sofia couldn’t help but feel happy that the old Paul was starting to come back. “Call me crazy, but I prefer my movies to have the slightest hint of intelligence.”
“When all this is over,” Paul said, “check out Steve the Slashing Monkey and tell me that movie doesn’t bleed intelligence.”
Sofia couldn’t stop before a snort of laughter came out.
“I knew it!” Paul yelled, his voice echoing off the rock walls. “I knew I could make you laugh!”
“You two are driving me mad,” Master George muttered. “I believe I’m quite ready to get some sleep.”
“But what’re we gonna do?” Paul asked him. “Can’t you get someone to wink us out of this stinkin’ place?”
“Sorry, old chap. If someone hasn’t winked us by now, then there’s obviously been a break in communication. Jane brought us here, remember, and her shield must still be working. And I don’t have my Barrier Wand. I assure you, Sally’s doing his very best to find us.”
Great, Sofia thought. They had to spend the night in the middle of the desert, with no telling how many creatures of Mistress Jane lurking about. Just great.
“Well,” Paul said, “at least it’s not cold. I bet we can find some soft sand to snuggle in, Sofia. You in?”
Sofia leaned closer to him and smacked him on the arm. It felt so wonderful that she did it again.
Paul jumped to his feet and ran away, snickering as he rubbed his sore spot. “Man, for a chick who’s a scaredy-cat of scary movies, you sure do know how to punch.”
“I was glad you’d gotten over your sour mood,” Sofia responded as she started looking around for her own place to get some rest, feeling with her hands mostly. “But now that you’re back to normal, I kind of miss the grumpy Paul after all.”
“I love you too.”
She’d just found a nice spot of open sand when a slight thump in the air sounded behind her. It was barely noticeable, and she almost felt it more than heard it. She whipped around to see what had happened.
A shadowy figure of a boy stood between her and Paul, a hump of a backpack on his shoulders. When he turned and faced her, the starlight revealed his face just enough.
“Tick!” she cried, scrambling to her feet and running to him. Paul reached him just as she did, and they all joined in a group hug. When she finally pulled back, she said, “What happened? Where’d you go?”
“And how’d you get back here?” Paul added.
Master George joined them. “Atticus! Speak, man, speak!”
Tick laughed a little, though it didn’t hold much humor. “Calm down, guys. It’s a long story, and we don’t have much time to talk. We have to get moving. I’ll tell you everything on the go.”
“Get moving?” Sofia asked, feeling a slight chill. “Where are we supposed to go?”
“Some place called the Factory,” Tick answered. “It’s full of Mistress Jane’s little monster pets. But don’t worry. We have a billion ghosts to help us out.”
Chapter 32
Reunions
Tick didn’t want to waste a single minute. When the Haunce outlined the plan for what they needed to do to stop the fragmenting of the Realities, one thing bled through all the others: they needed to hurry.
Tick had less than thirty hours to get to the Factory, convince Mistress Jane to help—after getting her there in the first place, of course—then summon all the Chi’karda he could to help the Haunce rebind the barriers of the Realities.
No problem. Then why did he have the terrible feeling that nothing would go right along the way?