“Ow, do you have to answer so loud?” It was Rutger, his voice a hollow echo of itself.

“Sorry. What do you want?”

“We’re meeting in the conference room in ten minutes. I’ll be providing refreshments, so snap-snap!”

Click.

Sato put his elbows on his knees and rubbed his face with both hands. The nightmare of his parents’ death had seemed more vivid lately, the horrific images floating in his thoughts for hours after waking up. They hung in his mind like dirty, tattered drapes blocking out the sunlight. He shook his head and bent over to put his shoes on.

“Another meeting,” he mumbled. “Joy.”

A few minutes later, he slid into a cushy chair around the conference table, reaching out to grab a Chocolate Chip-Peanut Butter-Butterscotch-Pecan-Walnut-Macadamia-Coconut-Delight, one of Rutger’s specialties. The little man always said the name in full, despite its length. No one in the complex cared what they were called because they tasted delicious.

Everyone else was already seated: Mothball and Rutger to his right, Master George across from him, Sally to his left. They were the only Realitants at the Grand Canyon Center at the moment—the others had gone off with various duties and assignments.

“Sorry to bother you, Sato,” George said. “I know you wanted some time for a bit of relaxing after we spoke earlier, but I felt this gathering couldn’t wait.”

“No problem,” Sato muttered. He’d tried so hard to improve his mood lately, but the recent spout of dreams had quashed his efforts. The world seemed bleak and grim—the only thing that gave him reprieve was trying to figure out the mystery of the crazy people.

George rested his clasped hands on the table in front of him. “First, let’s summarize where we are at the moment. Thanks to our good man Sally, here”—he gave a nod to the lumberjack, who seemed lost in thought, his thumb picking suspiciously at his nose—“for putting the Earwig Transponder inside Tick so we could track him better and scramble Chu’s eavesdropping capabilities. For as long as I shall live, I shan’t forgive that man for his violation of Rule Number 462 on those poor kids. Hijacking a nanolocator . . . it’s evil, I tell you!”

George’s hands squeezed together as his face reddened. “But the milk’s in the kitty litter, as my mum was fond of saying—no use weeping and wailing. With the transponder in Tick’s ear, we’ll have much more information.” He cleared his throat. “For example, we know they’ve just had a bizarre incident in the Tenth Reality, but we’re not quite sure what happened.”

Rutger slammed his hand on the table. “Don’t tell me that wretch stuck them in the Grinder Beast’s training tunnels?”

Sato leaned forward at this question—the words Grinder Beast would perk anyone’s attention.