The Void of Mist and Thunder (The 13th Reality #4) (45 page)

An Absence of Sound

Paul sat on the ground, holding Master George in his arms. Sofia was there, too, weeping just like Paul. The battle still continued around them, but Paul could tell it was almost over. Most of Chu’s inventions had been obliterated by the new armies brought in by Rutger, and everyone had now turned their forces on the monsters from the Void. They were being destroyed almost as soon as they came out of the churning hurricane of mist. But the Void still raged, still grew. How could they ever stop it?

Master George barely had any life left in him. Each breath was a struggle, and his body was well past healing. Their leader was about to die.

The old man sputtered a cough, and his eyes blinked open. They focused on Paul, then Sofia, then filled with tears.

“I’m so sorry,” Paul whispered. His heart crumbled inside of him.

“Master George,” Sofia said through a lurching sob.

“No . . . no . . .” the man said through another coughing fit. “It’s . . . okay. My good friends . . . you’ll carry . . . on.”

“Why?” Paul asked, feeling a sudden bubble of anger. “Why didn’t the Karma work? The Void’s still there! And . . . look at you . . .”

Sofia squeezed his arm but didn’t say anything.

George reached out and grabbed both of their hands, seeming to gather one last surge of strength. “Oh, but Master Paul. I believe it
did
work. I have no doubt of it. You’ll see soon enough.”

The leader of the Realitants exhaled his very last breath.

Sato had just begun to feel some comfort. The influx of armies had turned the tide, at least in the short term. Chu’s machines were defeated. The creatures of the Void were being destroyed almost as soon as they emerged from the spinning vortex of mist.

Now they just had to pool their resources and figure out a way to attack the—

The Void disappeared. The entire thing disappeared in an instant.

An abrupt absence of sound popped Sato’s ears as if he’d just been sucked into the vacuum of space. His brain tried to process what he suddenly saw before him—empty air and distant mountains and fields and sky. Sunlight.

There was no more wind. No lightning. No thunder. No mist. No creatures of gray.

The Void had vanished.

It was gone.

Paul sat in the flattened, ruined grass with his eyes closed, feeling the warmth of the sun against his cheeks, still stunned. Somehow Tick had done it—he’d defeated the Void—but there’d been no sign of him after its disappearance.

The Void was gone. But so was Tick.

The lifeless body of Master George lay a few dozen feet away; the soldiers of Sato’s army lined up to pay their respects. Mothball, kneeling next to the old man, sobbed uncontrollably as Sally and Rutger both rubbed her back.

Mixed feelings would be the order of things for a while.

Sofia was sitting beside Paul, and he opened his eyes when she nudged him with an elbow.

“Hey,” she said softly. “You okay?”

Paul wondered how to answer that. “I think so. I still feel kind of weird, and sad, and . . . weird. There’s no way I’m going to accept that Tick is gone. It has to be like the Nonex or something. He’ll find his way back.”

Sofia’s eyes fell a little, but then she seemed to catch herself, as if she was trying to stay strong for Paul. “I hope so. I mean . . . he made it all go away—the Void, the rips in Reality. He couldn’t have done that if he was dead, right? Maybe he’s stuck in the Fourth Dimension, battling his way out.”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

Sofia leaned her head on his shoulder, which made everything just a little bit brighter.

Paul suddenly had a rush of thoughts that he couldn’t keep to himself. All his words came spilling out.

“I’m going to be more serious, work harder. Make a bigger difference. Help the Realitants get back to what George was talking about—strong and rigid and organized top to bottom. We’ll start recruiting again, find the best of the best. We can build more headquarters, make sure we have a presence in every Reality. I think we should maybe even go public soon, work with governments and universities—make a real difference in people’s lives. And I think we should start exploring, see if we can discover and name new Realities. The Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Twentieth, Thirtieth. We’ve got a lot of work to do, Sofia.”

He’d been staring at the empty fields where the Void of Mist and Thunder—and before that, the castle of Mistress Jane—had once stood. But he noticed that Sofia had lifted her head and was staring at him. He looked at her, loved seeing the awe in her eyes.

“I mean it,” he said. “I really do.”

“I know,” she whispered back. “And we’re going to do it together, with Mothball and the rest. It’s going to be great.”

“And fun.”

“Lots of fun.” Sofia pointed out into the distance. “I think we should build something right there. A branch of the Realitants. Not a gaudy castle—something simple. We should use the power of the Thirteenth like it was meant to be used. Before Jane messed it all up.”

“Brilliant idea, maestro.” Paul still had a heavy heart, but he couldn’t deny the excitement he felt for the future.

Sofia took a deep breath and let it out. “So. We’ve made some pretty grand plans. What should we do first?”

Paul found a smile. “We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

Chapter 71

One Month Later

Lisa sat on her front porch and stared out at the trees as the morning sun broke through in the distance and lit everything up. She wished she felt that way on the inside. She wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but she missed Tick more and more with each passing day. It wasn’t getting any better.

He’d vanished from their lives. Again.

But Atticus Higginbottom—her stinky little brother—had somehow stopped the Void before it could destroy everything. Tick had saved the universe. Again.

Despite her worry, she laughed at the thought. It seemed so absurd and ridiculous, and she knew Tick would laugh, too, if he were there. But it was true. Totally true. Tick was a hero for the ages. At least she had that to hold on to.

The front door banged open, and Kayla came sprinting out onto the porch, her head swiveling left and right as she looked for something. When she finally spotted Lisa, a look of excitement spread across her face.

“Come inside!” the little girl yelled. “Quick!”

Lisa was tempted to be annoyed—she’d just gotten comfortable and wanted some time to be alone outside. She wanted time to think about things. How the world was slowly but surely getting back to some sense of normalcy, how people were rebuilding and laying foundations for an even better future. The Realities were sharing information through the now very-public assistance of the Realitants. The universe would never be the same. Things were changed forever.

But she wasn’t annoyed. She couldn’t be. Kayla was smiling for the first time in a long time.

“Li-sa!” her little sister insisted with a stomp of her foot. “Daddy said come inside right now! Something’s in the fireplace!”

That picked Lisa right up out of her chair. The look in Kayla’s eyes showed that this wasn’t a silly game. The two of them went through the front door and into the living room, where their mom and dad were standing arm in arm, staring at the fireplace. Inside the dark hole within the brick frame were hundreds of orange sparks flashing and snapping, crackling like a fire, though there were no flames.

Lisa stepped up beside her parents and looked at their faces, which were filled with awe. Lorena and Edgar Higginbottom had tried so hard to put on a brave front since Tick had gone missing again, to be strong for Lisa and Kayla. But they hadn’t been able to hide the devastating sadness within them. It was in their eyes. Like death itself.

“What’s going on?” Lisa asked.

“It has something to do with Tick,” her dad replied. “I know that much. It has to.”

Lisa’s mom patted her husband on the arm. “Let’s not get our hopes up, Edgar.” Her face showed she wasn’t following her own advice.

The dancing orange lights suddenly stopped, winking out of existence. Lisa was shocked to see a piece of paper resting on top of the logs—she was certain it hadn’t been there a second ago.

“Grab it,” she whispered to Kayla.

Her little sister ran to the fireplace and picked up the paper, took a look then ran to their mom and handed it to her. Everyone crowded around to see.

It was a letter. Lisa’s mom read it aloud.

Dear Mom. And Dad. And Lisa. And Kayla.

You’re probably wondering right now how this letter was created. Or how it got to you. More importantly, you’re probably wondering where I am and what I’m doing. What I’ve become. There are things in the universe that are beyond our comprehension—I’ve still got a lot to learn myself. Someday I hope to understand it enough to explain it fully.

Something amazing has happened. A combination of so many things. The soulikens of an infinite number of my Alterants somehow bled to me. Filled me up. The power of Karma was involved. So was the unbelievable energy of the Void from the Fourth Dimension. The inventive mind of Reginald Chu and the sheer will of Mistress Jane. It all added together to make this possible—I’ve become an entity, like the Haunce, a force to help watch over the Realities.

But the details and the complexities of it all don’t matter. Not right now.

This is what matters:

Know that I’m alive in so many ways. That I will always be with you in some form or another. That I’ll devote every ounce of my energy to making life better in all of the Realities. Great things await us in the future. But most important of all, know that I love you. All of you. More than the infinite power of Chi’karda and Karma combined could ever express. I love you. I love you guys so much.

I will always be near. Always.

Your brother and son,

Tick

Lisa’s mom finished reading, and silence filled the room except for a few sniffles, most of them coming from Lisa’s dad.

“Go get Tick’s
Journal of Curious Letters,
” he said. His voice trembled a bit, but there was a smile on his face and the unmistakable spark of life in his eyes. “It’s under his bed. This letter will make an excellent last page to the collection. Don’t you think?”

Epilogue