They did. Over huge roots, under branches as thick as three men, through thorn-spiked bushes, past swampy pools of sludge. Scraped and bruised, Tick felt his thin hopes vanishing altogether as trees gave way to nothing but more trees. The forest thickened; the animal hoots and howls increased in volume; the air darkened with shadows. Nothing gave the slightest hint they were approaching a city or any kind of civilization whatsoever.
All the while, Paul’s grunts and groans made life miserable for everyone—worrying about his condition seemed almost as bad as being in the condition itself.
“Hey, something’s up there!” Sofia shouted.
Tick stumbled on a rock hidden under a pile of wet, clumpy leaves. They’d gone so long without anyone speaking that Sofia’s words startled him. He grabbed a thick vine, which saved him from hitting the ground, but rubbed a nasty sore spot on his palm as it slid through his fingers.
“What?” Paul asked through a tight breath, the one word taking all his effort.
“A light,” Sofia answered, pointing, then moving in that direction, just slightly off the course they’d been following. “It’s definitely a light—a couple of them. I think it’s a building!”
Tick’s heart soared, his weary pessimism from just seconds earlier vanishing. “Let’s go!” he shouted, rather pointlessly. Even Paul’s step quickened with renewed strength.
The three of them slipped past a thick wall of foliage and rounded a huge oak. Ahead of them, the trees thinned and signs of Circle City were everywhere. Tick could even see a couple of people walking along the great round road bordering the town.
“We did it!” Sofia said, then stepped forward, ready to start running. But something crashed down from the branches above, landing right in front of her. Sofia shrieked and jumped back, almost knocking Paul to the ground.
Tick stared ahead, his mind battling between fear and curiosity.
A thick, heavily furred animal crouched before them on all four legs, its slimy nostrils sniffing as it bared a mouth full of white fangs. Its body resembled a bear, but its face looked more like a wolf’s, yellow eyes glaring from a narrow, elongated face. Drool dripped from its jaws and teeth; a low growl rumbled deep within its chest.
But what caught Tick’s attention was how the creature glowed—a deep, eerie red that rippled along its fur like small waves on a pond. Each strand of hair shined, as if optical fibers charged with pulsing lava sprouted from the creature’s skin.
“The glowing monkeys,” Tick whispered.
“Radioactive demon bears,” Paul replied, a little louder.
The animal took a step forward, its eyes focusing on Paul, then Sofia, then Tick. Its nonstop growl gurgled and grew louder; its mouth opened wider. The thing seemed to have a hundred teeth, all sharp and pointy.
Tick yelped when something crashed to the ground to the right of the animal, then another to its left. Two more creatures, looking as vicious and hungry as the first. But they all stayed where they’d landed, studying the three humans.
“What do we do?” Tick asked, not caring how shaky his voice sounded.
“If we run, they might pounce on us,” Sofia said.
Paul didn’t say anything, cradling his swollen arm, his tight face drenched in sweat.
“If we don’t run, they might pounce on us,” Tick replied.
The lead creature barked, a loud yelp that rang through the air like the sickening, desperate plea of an injured dog. In the distance, something called back, then another, then another—eerie, ringing wails echoing through the thick forest.
How smart are these things? Tick wondered as he felt his brief spurt of curiosity quickly igniting into all-out panic. There was nothing they could do—nothing!
Creaking and crashing sounded from behind them, twigs and branches breaking, leaves and foliage swishing as large things moved closer. More of the creatures.
“We have to do something,” Tick said, not bothering to whisper anymore. “Before we’re surrounded.”
“Turn and run,” Paul grunted.
“Can you do it?” Sofia asked.
“Got to,” he replied.
“On the count of three,” Tick said, “turn and go in a wide circle to the left. Head back around toward the city.”
Sofia shook her head. “Maybe we should split up.”
“No!” Tick said, surprised at how quickly the word came out. “On the count of three, together.”
“Fine, to the left.”
Heat surged through Tick’s veins, his heart skittering. “One . . . two . . .”
“Three!” Paul screamed.
They turned in unison and broke into a run, back into the thicker forest, scurrying around a huge tree. The three huge animals yelped their strange barks in response, and Tick could hear the heavy thumps of their footfalls in pursuit.
Sofia pushed into the lead, throwing herself forward through a tangled knot of bushes between two trees. Paul followed her, then Tick. He turned his head to see the first animal barrel around the wide trunk of the oak, slipping in the leaves as it tried to get its footing. Its yellow eyes flared, like two small suns buried in the dark red glow of its huge body.
Tick looked away, throwing his strength into his legs, running, ignoring the branches ripping at his clothes and skin. “Go, go, go!” he shouted.
They tore through the forest, Sofia dodging and sidestepping, finding the best route, slowly making her way in a wide arc to the left, back toward the city. Paul lumbered as he ran, gripping his hurt arm, leaning forward at a dangerous angle as he pushed ahead. Tick took up the rear, knowing the enormous monsters at his back could rip him to pieces at any second. He could hear their breath, their pounding footsteps, their steady growls.
More sounds entered the fray, crashing and breaking all around them, louder and closer than before. Tick didn’t dare look, but it sounded like entire trees had been snapped in two. The ground trembled, as if dozens of the creatures had showed up to join the hunt, flanking them, surrounding them—jumping through the branches above them.
“Faster!” he yelled.
The trees thinned again, signs of the city ahead jumping into view. They were only a few seconds from breaking through the forest edge and into the street. Tick suspected something prevented the glowing creatures from entering the town—he had no idea what, but he didn’t care; they were almost safe.
They ran on, the deafening cacophony of sounds filling the air like a sonic whirlwind. Splitting wood, cracking, breaking, crashing. The roars and screams of the creatures pursuing them. The thumps of their footsteps. Above it all, a steady rumble shook the ground, as if lightning had struck nearby, thunder splintering the world around them. Tick didn’t understand what was happening. Doubt filled him; how had they made it; how had they outrun the beasts?
Sofia broke past the last line of trees, Paul and Tick close behind. They didn’t slow or look back, running at a full sprint until they had reached the far side of the wide road encircling the city. Once there, panting and heaving for breaths, hands on knees, Tick turned to make sure they were safe.
Despite his exhaustion, despite his racing heart, despite his need to suck in as much air as possible, his breath caught in his throat. He straightened, eyes widening.
“What . . . the . . .” Paul managed between gasps of air. “What . . . how . . .”
Across the street, past the narrow area of small trees leading to the thicker forest from which they’d just escaped, a huge bulk of mangled wood rose toward the sky, dozens of feet high, countless trees smashed into a coiled mass. It looked like a large section of the woods had been liquefied and squeezed together, twisted together, then frozen into a hideous swirl of matter. In several spots, some of the creatures that had chased them were trapped in the wall of wood, as if they’d been sealed in hardened tar right before escaping. One of the animals’ legs twitched.
It was just like what they’d seen in the woods by Tick’s home, right after the bizarre attack from Mr. Chu, when a deer had been trapped in the strangled structure of entwined trees.
Tick’s mind emptied, void of thoughts. The two incidents had to be connected, but not even a hint of understanding cowered in the darkness of his head. Confused, he thought it must have something to do with Reginald Chu. Breathing heavily, relieved but uneasy, he turned away from the ugliness in the forest and looked at his friends.
“Someone please tell me what just happened,” Paul said, his eyes still glued to the massive lump across the street.
“Wish I could,” Tick said.
“We have the weirdest lives in the universe,” Sofia said.
Paul finally broke his gaze, lifting his broken arm a few inches, testing his injury. With a wince, he lowered his elbow back into the cradle of his other arm. “I’ve gotta get to a hospital.”
“We don’t have time,” Sofia said.
Paul let out a bitter laugh, but didn’t say anything.
“What do you mean?” Tick said. “We have to find him a doctor.”
Sofia pointed to her watch. “It’s already four-thirty. We only have thirty minutes left.”
“But—”
“Tick,” Paul cut in.
Tick looked at him. Paul’s body was covered in sweat, his eyes so bloodshot they looked as if they’d been dipped in red paint. The scowl of pain on his face had created deep lines in his forehead, large cracks that seemed permanent. But somehow, despite everything, Paul smiled—a miserable grimace, but a smile all the same.
“She’s right,” he said. “Broken arm, broken leg, broken head—doesn’t matter. Hungry, thirsty, ugly—doesn’t matter. We’ve only got thirty minutes.”
Tick paused, exchanging long glances with both of them. Finally, he nodded.
“Let’s go,” he said.
They took off, running along the wide arc of the border street.
Chapter
33
Five O’Clock
It took fifteen minutes to find the intersection representing five o’clock. Luckily, their hotel, The Stroke of Midnight Inn, had been two streets down from where they’d exited the forest. Once there, Tick and the others ran with renewed strength, counting the times off as they sprinted toward their destination.
One o’clock. Two o’clock. Three, four, five.
Gasping each breath, Tick doubled over to rest, hands on his knees, while he scanned the area for any sign of what they were supposed to do to wink away. They had only ten minutes until the real five o’clock.
The thick forest hugged the outside curve of the main street, the line of massive trees looming like ancient wooden towers. Thankfully, there was no sign of any mutant radioactive demon monkey-bears. The road that led from the town square of Circle City to the woods was bordered with various buildings and shops, people bustling about with smiles on their faces but blank looks in their eyes, as if kindness had worn thin and they only wanted to get their next task done. The eerie opera-lady music blared from unseen speakers.
The “T” formed by the two-street intersection was mostly empty, the clean pavement unblemished from potholes or cracks. Tick couldn’t see so much as a sewer grate, and wondered why everything about this Reality seemed simple but . . . off somehow.