The Hunt for Dark Infinity (The 13th Reality #2) Read Online Free PDF

fire.
    “Just do it!” Tick finally said. “Sofia, just let him do it!”
    “Tick, you expect me to trust this nut—”
    “Just do it!”
    Completely surprising Tick, she obeyed with a huff, sticking her arm out to Mr. Chu. He quickly wrapped the second device on her arm, just as he’d done with Tick. Nearby, a thunderous, ear-splitting crack of wood was followed by the sound of a tree crashing to the forest floor. The mechanical sounds whirred and buzzed, roaring like monstrous robots.
    Mr. Chu worked feverishly, wrapping the third and final . . . whatever it was . . . on Paul’s right arm, who protested the entire time that this was crazy and stupid and that they should run.
    “What about you?” Tick asked Mr. Chu.
    His teacher pulled out a small, rectangular object from his pocket that looked like a TV remote control. He looked down at it as his finger searched for one of the many buttons scattered in rows across its front side. Then he looked up at Tick.
    “Don’t worry about me,” he said. He held up the small remote device and pushed the button.
    In that instant, a pain like nothing Tick had ever experienced or thought possible lanced through his body from head to toe, and the world spun away, leaving him in darkness and agony.
     
     

Chapter
7
    ~
     
    Master George’s
Interview Room
     

    S ato was bored out of his mind.
    The Big Meeting wasn’t for another couple of days, but Realitants had been arriving at the Grand Canyon Center from all over the world—well, worlds —since last week. And George made Sato sit with every last one of them, sometimes for hours, asking them questions, gathering information on their assigned areas, looking for clues on the strange happenings in the Realities. As if the long, tedious interviews weren’t enough, Sato then had to compile everything into very specifically outlined reports for George’s later analysis.
    As Mothball would’ve said, it was driving Sato batty.
    A lot had changed in the last few months—since the day in the Thirteenth Reality when everything he’d thought and felt for years had been turned upside down. The pain of losing his parents hadn’t faded—it never would—but the anger and drive for vengeance he’d fostered and groomed for so long had been . . . altered, forged into an entirely different sword. In many ways, Sato thought that was a bad thing, not a good thing. He felt more lost than ever, floating in a pool of confusion and misdirection. The sword wasn’t as sharp as it used to be.
    Tick had done this to him. Tick had changed everything, forever.
    And Sato didn’t know how he felt about that.
    A knock at the door snapped him to attention; he realized he’d been staring at a small smudge on the wall to the right of his desk. At the moment, Sato felt for all the world like he and the dirty spot shared a lot in common.
    Though he already knew the answer, Sato asked anyway. “Who is it?”
    “It’s me—who else?” replied the muffled voice of Rutger. “Do you really have to keep the door closed? My poor knuckles are getting bruised from knocking every time.”
    Yeah, right, Sato thought. You’ve got enough cushion on those hands to protect you from a sledgehammer. “Hold on.”
    Sato quickly gathered his latest notes and reports and filed them away in his desk drawers. Though he’d acted the part of a trusting friend to Rutger for weeks, he still had his doubts about the short, fat man. Anyone can be a spy.
    He stood up and walked over to the wooden door, slightly warped from a small leak that had crept through the tons of solid rock above them. He unlocked the door and yanked it open, jerking it harder than necessary.
    Sato looked forward with a glazed expression, then left and right, as if searching for someone. Finally, he slowly lowered his gaze until he met Rutger’s eyes. “Oh, it’s you. Down there.”
    “Very funny, very funny.” Rutger’s short, round body barely fit in the hallway. He took in a deep