Although the bottoms of Tick’s feet felt like they stood on ice, he turned in a slow circle, gawking at the new place they’d been winked to. It was a barren, miserable land, flat and gray in every direction, all the way to the horizon. Not a plant or tree or animal in sight. The sun poked through a brief break in a cloud-heavy sky, but it added no color to the bleakness, no warmth. There was no snow, but everything about the area looked cold and dreary.

Then he saw something that stopped him. A small building—a tiny, leaning wooden hut just a few hundred feet away.

“Just be glad it’s not winter,” Sofia said, tying her shoelaces. “Or we’d have already been frozen.”

Tick snapped out of his daze and sat down, pulling on his first sock. “I wonder what that little shack is over there.” He pointed.

Paul and Sofia glanced in that direction.

“Looks abandoned,” Paul said. He grimaced as he lay back on his one good elbow, his injured arm resting on his ribs.

Tick finished tying his shoes. “I wonder where we are.” He stood up, the ground too cold and hard.

Sofia joined him. “Who knows? Let’s go check out that building.”

Paul groaned. “Couldn’t that jerk have sent us somewhere that has a hospital? I’d settle for a place that sells aspirin. But no—he had to send us to Pluto.”

“Come on,” Tick said, offering his hand to help him stand.

Paul shook his head. “It hurts too much. Got my own way of moving now.” He pushed off with his elbow, then rolled to his knees. After taking a couple of deep breaths, he stumbled to his feet, a little off balance. Tears rimmed the bottom edges of his eyes; one escaped and trickled down his cheek.

Tick quickly looked away, pretending he hadn’t noticed. Oh, man, he thought. He’s gonna die on us.

Sofia wasn’t as kind. “Are you crying? I thought you were a lot tougher than that.”

Tick felt a shudder of anger wash through him; he had a sudden urge to punch Sofia in the arm, but quelled it. “I’d cry too if my arm was broken and I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. Come on.” He started walking toward the small shack.

He didn’t look back to see their response, but he heard them following. Paul’s feet scraped the ground with every step, sounding like he dragged a dead body behind him.

As they approached the building, Tick noticed it was at least three times as big as he’d originally thought, and farther away. There’s something about a vast land of nothingness that messes up your senses, he thought.