Shards of gold, small but jagged, covered every inch of her body, jutting from the skin at all kinds of angles. Blood was everywhere, seeping from the wounds. Her body was like a sea of red, a million tiny golden icebergs breaking the surface. Most of the shards appeared to be fused to her skin, impossible to remove. She could only imagine what her face must look like. A beast. A hideous beast.

A bit of the old Jane returned to her then. The one who’d been courageous and strong, unwilling to break under any task or trial. The one who’d fought on, no matter what.

Realities help me, I can do this. I will do this.

Bracing herself, Jane counted silently to three, readying her mind and soul for what she was about to do. Then, as quickly and as efficiently as she could, she pushed her arms below her and stood up.

The blood-curdling scream that erupted from her was inhuman—the terrified shriek of tortured demons. The sound tore through the air, filled the world around her, pierced her own ears until they bled. It seemed impossible that she didn’t faint from the pain that had ruptured inside of her like the detonation of a nuclear bomb.

She stood still, enduring. Eventually, the pain lessened. Barely, but enough so that she had the awkward sensation of bliss, a warm calm.

All things are relative, she thought.

Then, a very strange thing occurred to her. She didn’t understand it, didn’t know how the thought formed in her mind or where it came from. Perhaps it had been something Reginald had said in the moments before he ran away, something he’d told the boy about Dark Infinity. No matter—she’d figure it out later. But regardless of how she knew, she did know.

She had changed forever. In the midst of all the horror, perhaps there was a silver lining after all. Yes, she knew. She knew.

Mistress Jane had no Barrier Wand within her reach. No one in her Reality had a Wand to pull her away from this place. No one, anywhere, had a lock on her nanolocator besides those who could do nothing about it. Yet, despite all that, Jane winked herself away, away from the Fourth Reality and back to the Thirteenth.

She did it by thinking it.

Yes, she had changed forever.

Chapter

49

~

An Unfortunate Meeting

Tick looked dead.

He lay flat on his back, his head cradled in Sofia’s lap as every last Realitant stood in a group around them, staring down solemnly as if it were a funeral. Tick’s face was pale, scratches and welts marring almost every inch of him. His clothes were ripped, bloodied, even melted in some places, attached to the skin. But he was breathing, marked by the slight rise and fall of his chest.

Man, Paul thought. When that dude wakes up, he’s gonna hurt something awful.