Master George cleared his throat, not breaking his gaze from Tick’s face. “Yes, yes, a very good question, my young friends. I certainly didn’t expect things to go in this direction with the lad. Troubling, I tell you. Very troubling indeed.”

He paused, and after a few moments of tense silence, Sofia threw her hands into the air, palms up. “Well?”

“Show some respect,” Rutger growled.

“No, no,” Master George said, throwing a quick glance in Rutger’s direction. “We’ve seen a lot this past day, and answers are deserved. If everyone would give me a moment, I’ll do my best to tell you what we know.”

He took a deep breath, then began. “First of all, Sato is recovering nicely. The lunacy left him as soon as the trouble started with Tick in the Fourth—the antidote obviously found its target during all that chaos. But Sato’s very battered and bruised from the abuse he gave himself while under the control of Dark Infinity. I’d encourage you all to visit him. He’s back in his normal quarters—quite a relief, actually. It was very hard to see him locked up like that.”

Master George pointed at Tick. “As for our young sleeping lad, here . . . goodness gracious me, what a turn of events. I believe I may have found a connection that explains what is happening.”

Paul noticed everyone in the room leaned forward just a little, himself included.

“Entropy,” Master George announced, looking around to see the reaction.

Paul squinted his eyes as if that would make his brain work better. “You used that word in the weird spinner movie you sent us.”

“Quite right. It refers to the rule of nature that all things move toward eventual destruction. Entropy accelerates when a branched Reality begins fragmenting. The nuclear force holding matter together weakens, and things begin to break apart and dissolve—but at a pace millions of times faster than nature’s course. A fragmented Reality can be gone—completely gone—in a matter of weeks or months.”

“What does that have to do with Tick?” Paul asked.

The skin around Master George’s eyes seemed to melt, sinking into a worried frown. “I fear that Master Atticus has no control whatsoever of the inexplicable amounts of Chi’karda stored within him. Where it comes from, and why it’s there, I’ve yet to determine. But I do know what it’s doing. It’s unleashing itself on objects that frighten or threaten Tick. And when it does . . .”