“Let go of me!” he tried to yell, a guttural croak that barely came out.

Jane squeezed tighter. “Look at me, Chu!” she bellowed out, lunacy glazing her eyes. “I obeyed! I will be your apprentice!”

As pain enveloped him, as his breath left his body—squeezed from him—Tick thought distantly that he couldn’t tell her intentions. Is she really going to kill me? Is she acting? Would she really kill me?

Her fingers closed tighter, gripping his skin, pinching the tendons and nerves. Tighter still. Tick struggled, kicking, beating her arms, thrashing beneath her. She squeezed even harder. Tick couldn’t breathe, couldn’t find air.

“He’s almost dead!” Jane yelled. “Chu! I’ve won your test!”

Tick’s eyes bulged and he felt his face puffing up. He heard the choking sounds torn from his own throat. Black stars formed above him, swirling in the air, growing bigger until they blackened his vision. Darkness fell upon him, complete.

Images flashed across his mind’s eye almost too fast to register: his family, Sofia, Paul, the library back home, Master George, snow, school, Mr. Chu at the chalkboard, the Barrier Wand, the Grand Canyon, Rutger, Mothball . . .

I don’t want to die!

Something snapped inside Tick’s mind. He felt it—he heard it, like a branch cracked by a bolt of lightning. Heat surged through him, first warm then hot, pulsing through his veins, as if his blood had combusted into lava, burning him.

A piercing scream rocked the air. He realized it had come from him just as the blackness swept away, replaced by Jane’s face, hovering above him as she kept trying to strangle him.

Tick screamed again.

Jane flew off him, catapulting across the hallway and slamming into the wall. An unseen force pinned her arms and legs flat as her head thrashed back and forth. The ground shook as Tick struggled for breath, gasping in air, fighting to get his arms and legs under him. Sounds of bending and breaking filled the air. He looked up to see the metal panels of the walls warping and cracking, bubbling and melting. Tremors rocked the floor, ripples surging back and forth like waves on water, crashing into each other as large cracks rent the hard material.

Jane hadn’t moved, still pinned to the wall. The chaotic sounds of destruction hurt Tick’s ears. Everything had gone crazy; he couldn’t take it. Somewhere inside him, he knew it was coming from him, that it was all his fault. I’m a freak. I’m a freak! Knowing he had this power only made it worse, panicked him further, sent his mind and thoughts reeling.

I’m going crazy, he thought. I can’t do this. I can’t control it! What have I done?

Chu. Reginald Chu. This was all his fault. Everything was his fault.