James Dashner - The Journal of Curious Letters

Tick nodded, not knowing what to say.

“Very good, then.” Master George held up the Barrier Wand, having already set the controls. “Put your hand on the Wand. There we are.”

“Bye everybody,” Tick said, closing his eyes, hurting inside.

Master George had one final thing to say, though, whispering in Tick’s ear. “Atticus, never forget the inherent power of the Chi’karda. Never forget the power of your choices, for good or for ill. And most importantly, never forget your courage.”

Before Tick could reply, he heard a click.

He felt the now-familiar tingle.

Then came the sounds of birds and wind.

Edgar Higginbottom sat on his favorite chair next to the window, staring at the floor, wringing his hands together as he wondered for the millionth time what had happened to Tick. He’s lucky, Edgar kept telling himself. All those times as a kid-something’s protecting him. He’ll be fine.

But it had been almost four full days since the boy vanished, and the worry ate at Edgar’s heart like a hideous disease. Lorena was no better; they could barely look at each other without bursting into tears. Even Lisa was worried.

And yet Edgar knew it had been the right thing to do. Somehow, someway, he knew. Atticus Higginbottom was out saving the world, and when he was done, he’d come back home, ready for a new game of Football 3000. But when-

Edgar heard someone shouting outside. A kid’s voice. Tick’s voice.

He looked up, his heart swelling to dangerous sizes when he saw Tick running down the street toward the house. For a second, Edgar couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, practically choking as he tried to yell for his wife. It was him. It was really him!

“Lorena!” Edgar finally managed to scream, squirming to get his big body out of the chair. “Lorena! Tick’s back! I told you he’d be back!” He found himself laughing, then crying, then laughing again as he ran for the front door.

Lorena thumped down the stairs, faster than he’d ever seen her move in his life. Kayla and Lisa bolted out of the kitchen, eyes wide in surprise.

“He’s really here?” Lorena asked, her hand on her heart as if she didn’t dare hope Edgar had been telling the truth.

“He’s back, he’s back!” Edgar yelled with delight as he ripped open the door and ran outside.

Tick ran into his dad’s arms, then, almost knocking Edgar down. They hugged each other, then parted to bring Lorena and the girls into the group. In one big tangle of arms, the Higginbottom family hugged and laughed and jumped and generally made complete fools of themselves. The world had suddenly become a very bright and cheerful place to be.

Finally, Tick pulled away, looking at each of his family members in turn.

“I’ve had a crazy couple of days.”

~

Later that night, well after dark, Tick stood in the front yard under a sky thick with black clouds, not a star or moon in sight, thinking.

He thought about everything that had happened to him, but his thoughts kept returning to the bizarre incidents of the letter reappearing in his Journal of Curious Letters after Kayla had burned it, and how he’d made the Barrier Wand work even though Mistress Jane had broken it. Somehow, the two events were linked, but Tick couldn’t begin to understand why or how. Did he have some kind of weird, freaky power? Or did Mistress Jane do something to the Realities, altering how the Chi’karda functioned?

Master George’ll figure it out, Tick thought, trying to ignore how much it scared him.

He turned to walk back inside when the ground around him brightened, the slightest hint of a shadow at his feet. To the east, the full moon appeared, shining through a brief break in the clouds.

As if it were a sign, Atticus Higginbottom, Realitant Second Class, pulled out the Barrier Wand pendant from beneath his shirt and squeezed it in his fist.

Reginald Chu, the second best inventor and greatest businessman of all time, looked at his skinwatch again. He sat atop a park bench made from the new Plasticair material his company had created, growing more furious with every passing second. The person who’d asked to meet him here was late.

And no one was ever late for the founder, owner, and CEO of Chu Industries.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the odd note that had been mailed to him several weeks ago, without any kind of return address or postmark. He unfolded the wrinkly paper and read through the handwritten message once again.

Dear Mister Chu,

You don’t know me, but we must meet very soon. I know you are aware of the Realities, but that you have never had much interest in them because the Fourth is so much more advanced than the others. But I have a proposition for you that I am certain you will accept. I know of your love for power.

As a measure of my sincerity, I will come to your Reality. Meet me in Industry Park by the Lone Oak at noon on the thirteenth of May.

Your future partner,

Mistress Jane

Reginald crumpled the note up into a ball, squeezing it in his fist. The audacity of this woman. Commanding him to meet her like he was some errand-running schoolboy-and then having the nerve to not even show up? Who called themselves Mistress anyway?

He looked at his skinwatch one last time, then stood up. The lady was obviously not coming.

As he walked back toward his building, Reginald threw the mysterious note into a roving Recycabot, angry about the time he’d wasted. There was much to be done, things he’d mapped out and set in motion long before he’d received a letter from today’s no-show, Mistress Jane.

Reginald was a very busy man.

Alterant-Different versions of the same person who exist in different Realities. It is extremely dangerous for Alterants to meet each other.

Annika-A spy for the Realitants who spends many months slowly gaining Mistress Jane’s trust.

Atticus Higginbottom-Also known as Tick, a thirteen-year-old resident of Deer Park, Washington. He is very smart and loves to play chess, and often suffers cruelty at the hands of bullies. He begins receiving very strange letters that lead him toward a dangerous destiny.

Barf Scarf — A red-and-black scarf that Tick wears at all times to hide the ugly birthmark on his neck.

Barrier Wand — The device used to wink people and things between Realities and between heavily concentrated places of Chi’karda within the same Reality. To transport humans, they must be in a place concentrated with Chi’karda (like a cemetery) and have a nanolocator that transmits their location to the Wand. It is useless without the Chi’karda Drive, which channels and magnifies the mysterious power.

Bermuda Triangle-For reasons unknown, this is the most concentrated area of Chi’karda in each Reality.

Billy “The Goat” Cooper-Tick’s nemesis at Jackson Middle School.

Chi’karda-The mysterious force that controls quantum physics. It is the scientific embodiment of conviction and choice, which in reality rules the universe. Responsible for creating the different Realities.

Chi’karda Drive-The invention that revolutionized the universe, able to harness, magnify, and control Chi’karda. It has long been believed that travel between Realities is impossible without it.

Chu Industries-The company that practically rules the Fourth Reality. Known for countless inventions and technologies-some that are helpful and useful, others that are malicious in nature.

Command Center-Master George’s headquarters in the Bermuda Triangle where Chi’karda levels are monitored and to where his many nanolocators report various types of information.