“What could’ve led to something like this?” Sofia asked, sliding her hand along the flat side of a large, boxy structure, big spheres bubbling out the side of it like pimples. “How could they be so different from us?”

Tick stepped toward one of the cylindrical towers, following Sofia’s lead and touching the black metal. It was as cold and hard as it looked.

A faint buzzing sound filled the air. At first, Tick panicked because it reminded him of the Gnat Rat and its mechanical hornets that had attacked him in his bedroom the previous fall. But an instant after the droning began, a burst of light to the left caught his attention.

Near a large circle of metal, jutting up from the ground like a half-buried flying saucer, sparks of brilliant white light popped and flashed, igniting into existence only to disappear a second later, like the brief flames shooting off a welder. The sparks seemed random at first, exploding all over the place, high and low in the air, across an area dozens of feet wide, reflecting off the metal circle in dull smears of color. But then the strangest thing happened.

The sparks began to form words.

Tick thought his mind was playing tricks, the constant flashing of lights wreaking havoc on his vision. But soon it became obvious as large letters of bright, streaky light appeared, hanging in the air, flashing and dancing but remaining solid enough to read. In a matter of seconds, a wall of words flickered before them, as big as a movie screen.

Tick swallowed his awe and confusion, reading the words as quickly as possible, scared they might disappear at any second:

Inside the words of the words inside,

There lies a secret to unhide.

A place there is where you must go,

To meet the Seven, friend or foe.

Of course, an order there must be,

To hill and rock and stone and tree.

Of worlds above and worlds below,

Of worlds with water, fire, snow.

Of worlds that live in fear and doubt,

Of worlds within and worlds without.

The Path begins where dark is clear,

Where short is tall and far is near.

All this you must ignore and hate,

For you to find the wanted fate.

There lies a secret to unhide,

Inside the words of the words inside.

Tick read it three times, his eyes wide. He had no clue what the words meant, but they mesmerized him, held him captivated. He felt just like when he’d first read the original invitation from Master George.

Master George!

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Tick said, surprised at how loud his voice sounded, echoing off the world of metal around them. He looked over at his friends.