Tick didn’t say anything, but he couldn’t help feeling a surge of curiosity. He finally nodded.
Mistress Jane began. “I’m a scientist, Atticus. I have been since my earliest memories, experimenting in the backyard and reading every book in the library on the laws of nature. I have lived it and breathed it, as they say. Twenty years ago
I was recruited into the Realitants, in much the same way you were. It didn’t take long for me to master the wonders of quantum physics and excel in my assigned missions to study and document the Realities. By my third year, I was the most powerful of all the Realitants, and everyone knew it.”
She paused, as if her pride wanted to ensure Tick realized what she’d said. That she was the best of the best.
Tick didn’t move or say a word, and Jane finally continued.
“But then something happened, Atticus. Something tragic that still wakes me in the night, haunting me with visions and memories. I fell in love.”
Tick couldn’t help but look up at her. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but this surprised him.
Jane nodded. “I won’t speak his name to you because your ears aren’t worthy to hear it. And please”—she held out a hand and lightly caressed his arm then pulled back—“I don’t mean that as an insult to you. It’s just that . . . his name is sacred to me, and I’ve sworn to never say it aloud. I hope you understand.”
“I don’t care what his name was,” Tick mumbled under his breath.
Jane’s hands shook again, and Tick winced. Shut up, Tick, he thought. Don’t say another word or she might twist your head off!
“He loved the color yellow.” Jane laughed, a distant, surprisingly light-hearted chuckle that faded as quickly as it began. “It was strange how much he loved the color. Yellow shirts were his favorite; he painted the walls of his home yellow. And he always gave me daisies and daffodils. I asked him once why he loved it so much and he told me it was because yellow represented peace. And if anything described the life and purpose of that man, it was peace.”
Tick rolled his eyes, quickly rubbing his face to hide it from Jane.
“I loved him, Atticus. I loved him so much. It hurt me when I had to say good-bye to him and attend to my Realitant missions and assignments. It hurt me when he kissed me good night, whenever his hand let go of mine. That’s the only way I can truly describe how much he meant to me. I loved him so much, it hurt. I would have done anything to take away that pain, to be with him every second of every day. I loved him so much, I almost hated him.”
A ball of sickness grew in Tick’s belly. He didn’t know why—and he certainly didn’t understand all this lovey-dovey stuff Jane was talking about—but something about it made him ill. Something about it was obsessive.
“And then it happened,” Jane said. “The tragedy that would serve as the changing point of my life, the moment that defined my purpose from that day forward.”
After a long pause, Tick asked, “What happened?” He couldn’t help it—he wanted to know.
“He was murdered.” She screeched the word, a raw squeal from the back of her throat. “Killed by inhuman slugs who’d only wanted money. Killed by slime and filth, left in his own blood, suffering as it leaked out drop by drop. Slaughtered like an animal by animals, and there was nothing I could do to save him. He was taken from me, Atticus. The only person I’d ever truly loved, and he was taken from me.”
Jane took a deep breath, then spoke rapidly as she stared into space, as if in a trance. “I couldn’t accept it, I just couldn’t. I knew too much about the possibilities, the endless possibilities of life and the universe. I went to each known Reality, sought out his Alterants. I took them, captured them, tried to love them, tried to train them to love me. But they weren’t him, they were different; they were disgusting and filthy and unworthy to bear his countenance. It taught me how disgusting and filthy and unworthy the Realities are—how wretched and wrong they are. It’s not built right, Atticus, it’s not made right. It’s wrong, it’s all wrong! We have to destroy it, fix it, rebuild it!”
Tick scooted away from her. She didn’t seem to notice, barely pausing to breathe as she continued blurting out words.
“I devoted my life to him, to his memory, to making things right in the universe. He’s out there, floating in the goop of quantum mechanics, waiting for me to find him and bring him back. But first I must remake the Realities, create the Utopia we all believe in. First I must make it right, make it right, make it right, make it right!”
She stopped, her chest heaving as she sucked in air. “I’m sorry . . . I’m sorry.”
Tick’s eyes were wide, his breath held somewhere inside his chest. He knew for certain he’d never seen someone completely wig out like Jane had just done. Not that he’d doubted it before, but she was now a certified nutso.
Jane pulled at her black hair. “It’s why I cut it off, Atticus. I was ashamed of it. It’s black, and I know that he always wished it had been blonde, to match his beloved color. Yellow. Dear, dear yellow . . .” She rubbed the dark strands between her fingers. “But not anymore. I’ve changed. I will change more. The goal is the same, but I’ve changed how—”
“What is this nonsense!”
Tick jumped so hard at the sudden, booming voice that he fell off the bench, his rear end slamming onto the floor. Even Jane sucked in a quick breath as Tick scrambled to his feet, his eyes darting directly to the source of the shout.
An Asian man with black hair stood in the middle of the room, dressed in a dark suit. A man Tick had always considered one of his best friends in the world, teacher or not. But even as he thought it, Tick knew this wasn’t his Mr. Chu. This wasn’t the kind, funny, humble science instructor of Jackson Middle School in Deer Park, Washington.
No, it was Reginald Chu. The evil Reginald Chu.
Chapter
37
Tick’s Dark Secret
Tick backed against the wall, feeling the edge of the bench cut into the backs of his knees. Though Mistress Jane had obviously been as surprised by Chu’s appearance as Tick, she’d recovered, sitting calmly and expressionless as she stared at their visitor.
Chu walked forward, his forehead wrinkled and eyes narrowed in anger, his pace brisk. He stopped ten feet in front of them, his eyes never leaving Jane.
“What is this?” he asked, scrunching up his face like he’d just spotted a rotting body. “I’m trying to find the one person in the Realities worthy enough to help me in the greatest scientific achievement of all time—and you two sit here chitchatting like old friends. All that’s missing are the cups of tea.”
“What did you expect us to do?” Jane asked, her voice calm. “There’s not much here to keep us entertained. I guess we could’ve wrestled or played freeze tag.” She nudged Tick with an elbow.
Chu folded his hands behind his back, smoothing the anger out of his face. “Mistress Jane, I don’t care what powers you may think you have, but you’ll be dead in an instant if I so wish it. Do you understand?”
Tick expected her to get defensive, but she merely nodded.
“I’m very disappointed to see both of you sitting here,” Chu continued. “I’d expected at least one of you to have the vicious instinct of survival within you, the willingness to win my contest no matter the cost. Only one can win. Only one will win. One, or none—I can always scratch the two of you and start all over.”
Tick couldn’t take his eyes off Chu. It was unsettling how he looked exactly like his teacher back in Deer Park. And to see this mean, nasty personality stuffed inside the image of one of his favorite people in the world was very disturbing.
“Isn’t it an even greater accomplishment that we both made it?” Jane asked. “That such bitter enemies could reconcile enough to work together for a common cause?”
“All I see is cowardice,” Chu replied, wrinkling up his nose as if such a notion disgusted him more than anything else. “If you don’t have the strength, will, or ability to kill this young man, then I certainly don’t want you by my side.” He shifted his gaze to Tick. “And you—don’t think you’ve accomplished anything great. Much tougher tests lie ahead.”
Chu paused, looking back and forth between Tick and Jane. “Still . . . I need an apprentice, and my patience has run out. Like I said, one or none. You’ll both come with me and settle the matter.”
Tick finally found the voice that had been locked in a trap of panic inside him. “What do you mean? What are you going to do to us?”
Chu laughed, the humorless laugh of a man who just found out he has mere days to live. “I’m not going to do anything to you. You’ll do it to each other.”
“But what—” Tick stopped when Chu held up a hand.
“Don’t say another word. You will follow me, both of you. And don’t be stupid—I have more weapons hidden in this place than you could count in a week’s time. Try anything against me, and you will die. If my sensors detect any spikes in Chi’karda levels within you, you will die. At least until we get to the chamber. Tonight, you’ll sleep. I want you well-rested for the morning. Come.”
He turned and walked toward the opposite side of the room, though there was no sign of a door. “Now!” he shouted.
Mistress Jane stood up and motioned for Tick to come with her after Chu. Heart thumping, Tick fell in line beside her. His head swam with confusion. Both of these people were supposed to be his enemy!
He and Jane stayed twenty feet behind Chu, walking just fast enough to keep the distance consistent. Chu didn’t slow when he came within a few paces of the curved wall, and just before he walked right into it, everything went pitch-black for a full three seconds. Tick almost stopped, but Jane grabbed his hand, pulling him along before letting him go.
Lights flickered above them, then ahead of them, flashing as if gaining power before finally shining at full strength. They strode down a long hallway with a carpeted floor of brown-and-black diamonds, the white walls lined with pictures of various instruments and odd scientific experiments— beakers and wires and microscopes and animals in small cages. It gave Tick the creeps.
He looked back and the hallway stretched just as far in that direction as it did before them, as if they’d never been inside the large, round room made of illuminated white material. It surprised him when he realized he wasn’t surprised. He wondered if anything would seem crazy or magical to him ever again.
Jane reached over and grabbed his wrist. “Listen to me,” she whispered.
Tick didn’t want to trust her, but he nodded anyway, as slightly as he could in case they were being watched.
“When the time is right,” she said, speaking so softly Tick had to strain his ears, “we’ll strike. You and I together. Remember—no matter what you think of me, right here, right now, we have to stop him, or Dark Infinity will make every last Reality an insane asylum.”