“Really?” she asked, trying not to sound too eager. “Who is it? And what do you mean you received word?”
“Well, it’s rather strange.” Frupey stood straight, arms clasped behind his back. Ever the butler. “A metal tube came flying through a window. It thoroughly shattered the glass and required quite the cleanup. Based on your stories of, well, you know, your new friends, I thought it must be from the adventurous science people.”
Sofia’s heart soared. It was them. She couldn’t wait to give Master George a hard time about his less-than-apt abilities at placing his message tubes when winking them.
“What did it say?” she asked. “Where is it?”
Frupey bowed and pulled a small piece of white cardstock from his jacket pocket and handed it over to her.
She snatched it out of his hands with a quickly murmured thank you and read it:
Sofia, we’ll be there straightaway to pick you up. Within the hour. It’s most urgent!
MG
Unable to hide a grin, and now thrilled that her parents were leaving, she ran from the kitchen without another word to Frupey so she could pack a few things for her trip.
Master George came alone.
Sofia had been standing on the large brick porch for thirty minutes, the strap of her bag digging into her shoulder, staring down the long paved drive, waiting anxiously. When she spotted the old man shuffling along with an almost comical, hurried gait, she sprinted out to meet him.
“Why didn’t you just have me go to the usual cemetery?” she asked when she reached his side.
Master George stopped walking, bent over and put his hands on his knees to catch a few deep breaths.
“I don’t mean to wink you back to headquarters for now,” he finally responded. “Believe it or not, I’ve left Sally in charge of the Barrier Wands back at headquarters. I came to pick you up personally so we could travel together to our next location.”
“Which is?” Sofia urged. She could hardly stand the
anticipation; the desire to get away from her large and dreary house was almost overwhelming.
Master George stood straight again, fixing his gaze on her. His ruddy face framed eyes full of concern. “Sofia, I don’t quite know how to say it. We’ve received an . . . invitation. A very odd one, at that.”
“Really? From who? For what?”
“Let’s just say it frightens me greatly. Come on. We need to make our way back to the cemetery so we can wink to Florida and pick up Paul. I’ll explain along the way.” He turned and started down the drive.
Sofia, baffled but full of excitement, followed.
Chapter 6
Finger on the Pulse
Tick suspected he’d probably think the whole incident
hilarious a few years down the road. They’d killed two monstrous water creatures with a vacuum cleaner and a dozen toilet flushes. But that night, lying in his bed, all he could think about as he stared at the dark ceiling was how close it had been. What it was like to see his mom’s face behind that deadly mask of water and his dad’s big body thrash around on the floor. What it was like to see his parents—both of them—almost die.
It hurt. It haunted. And he couldn’t get the images out of his mind. People always used the phrase “too close for comfort,” and after all he’d been through, and more than ever tonight, he understood what that meant on a very deep level. Especially when he considered how lucky they were Lisa and Kayla had gone away for the weekend. He knew there’d be no sleep for him tonight. Even if there were, it’d be full of nightmares.
Sighing, he rolled over onto his side and looked at the closet. The door was shut. He hadn’t consciously thought about it before, but he was pretty sure that door had been closed every night since the Gnat Rat had shown up and attacked him. Compared to the things happening to him now, that incident almost seemed funny. Almost silly.
Compared to his . . . problem.
That was the word he’d started using when referring to whatever was wrong with him. Somehow, for some reason, he had a natural surplus—an extreme surplus—of Chi’karda, that quiet force that explains and controls the world of quantum physics and therefore everything in the universe. The fact that Mistress Jane had pulled it out of him, shown it to him, burned the visual in his mind forever, only made it more terrifying.
He had enough Chi’karda inside him to power a Barrier Wand. He had enough to disintegrate a spaceship-sized weapon of metal. Enough to destroy one of the largest buildings in all of the Realities. He’d said it before, and he felt it now, for the millionth time.
He was a freak. A dangerous, out-of-control freak.
But then he felt the slightest glimmer of hope, almost like a visible light in his shadowed room of nighttime. In the garage, when he had started to lose control, he’d been able to pull back, make it stop. The more he thought about it, the better he felt.
He’d stopped. He’d controlled the power. That was a huge thing. The realization hadn’t really hit him until now—he’d been too preoccupied with the aftermath of the attack by the water creatures—but the Chi’karda had almost exploded within him, and he’d made it go away!
Tick sat up in bed, wrapping his arms around his knees. He had to tell Sofia and Paul. And Master George, of course. He looked over at the digital clock on his desk and read the time—just a few minutes before midnight. No way he could wait until morning.
Swinging his legs off the bed, he stood up and headed for the computer downstairs.
The house was dark and silent, the faint swooshing of the refrigerator the only sound. Tick knew his odds of making it downstairs without his dad hearing him were tiny, but he tried all the same, creeping along on his tiptoes, hitting all the quiet spots in the floor and on the stairs he’d scouted out long ago. If Dad did come down, surely he’d understand why Tick wanted so urgently to tell his friends about what had happened. And to make sure nothing had attacked them.
Once in his e-mail program, and after feeling a little disappointed that he had no messages waiting for him, he created a new one for Paul and Sofia. He started typing.
Hey guys,
I don’t even know where to start. Crazy day. Horrible day. Worst day since that stuff in the Fourth. Guess I’ll just tell it how it went.
It started while I was walking home from school after my normal visit with Mr. Chu. (Sofia, I know you hate him, but he’s not the same guy as Reginald. He was being controlled when he kidnapped us. Get over it!)