Master George patted his arm. “Yes, yes, we know much of what happened, thanks to Sofia. Though I’m quite anxious to debrief you about what happened from the time you left your two friends to the time Sofia knocked you senseless. Quite anxious indeed.”

“Tick,” Sato said, almost a whisper.

Tick tilted his head to the right, raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”

“You’ve made me very unhappy. As soon as you’re better, I’m going to punch you in the ear.”

“Huh?”

Tick could only remember Sato smiling once during the few times they’d been together, but something close to a grin broke across the boy’s face.

“Twice, now, you have saved me,” Sato said. “You’re making me look bad.”

“I saved you?” Tick asked, then looked at Master George. “The antidote hit the thing? It worked? Last I remember, the whole place was about to fall down.”

“Atticus,” Master George said. “You’re in no condition right now to learn the things you need to about what happened in Chu’s black mountain. Just know that you’re safe and Dark Infinity is destroyed, as are the nanoplague bugs it was controlling. Though things did get a bit hairy, it’s all worked out in the end.”

“Well, what about—”

Master George shushed him, then held up a thick, messy binder stuffed with papers, some folded, others ripped. “It’s all been documented here for you to read while you recover. I’ll also be sending you home with a big stack of Realitant textbooks and manuals. Now that you’re a Realitant First Class, you can begin further study.”

“First Class?”

“That’s right, old chap.” Master George held out a card, similar to the one Tick had been given in May, but dark red this time. Tick saw the words printed on it:

Atticus Higginbottom

Realitant First Class

“I’ve already sent Rutger and Mothball ahead to have a very long discussion with your parents,” Master George said after he placed the card in Tick’s left hand. “I’m afraid you’ll need to be schooled at home now, and watched very closely—”

“What?” Tick tried to sit up again, but this time Sato pushed him back, gently. Pain throbbed through Tick’s head.

Master George continued speaking. “No need to worry, good man, no need to worry. As you’re well aware, you have an uncanny link to Chi’karda, and it appears capable of spinning completely out of control. But we’ll all keep a close eye on you, and if anything troubling happens again, we’ll wink you straight in and take care of it. It’ll be quite simple, really, considering you’ll have plenty of Chi’karda surrounding you wherever you go.”