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Gregor and the Codeof Claw

SUZANNE COLLINS

SCHOLASTIC INC.New York Toronto London Auckland Sydney

Mexico City New Delhi Hong Kong BuenosAires

For Kathy, Drew, and Joanie

If you purchased this book without a cover,you should be aware that

this book is stolen property. It was reportedas "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher,and neither the author nor the publisher hasreceived

any payment for this "stripped book."

No part of this publication may be repro-duced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans-mitted in any form or by any means, elec-tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,or otherwise, without written permission ofthe publisher. For information regarding per-mission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention:Permissions Department,

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557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

This book was originally published inhardcover -by Scholastic Press in 2007.

ISBN-13: 978-0-439-79144-1 ISBN-10:0-439-79144-8

Copyright © 2007 by Suzanne Collins. Allrights reserved.

Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC,APPLE PAPERBACKS, and associated lo-gos are trademarks and/or registered

trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

12 1110 987654321 8 9 10 1112 13/0

Printed in the U.S.A. 40

First Scholastic paperback printing, May2008

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The text type was set in 12-pt. Sabon.5/621

PART 1: The Code

***

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CHAPTER 1Gregor's back pressed into the cold stonefloor as he stared up at the words on theceiling. His eyes and skin were still stingingfrom the volcanic ash that had engulfed himhours ago. Between the burning in his lungsand the rapid beating of his heart, it washard to get a full breath. To steady himself,he tightened his grip on the hilt of his newlyclaimed sword.

As soon as he had retrieved the sword fromthe museum, he had run to this room. Everyinch of it — walls, floor, and ceiling — wascovered in prophecies about the Underland,this gloomy warring world far beneath NewYork City, which had consumed Gregor's lifefor the past year. Bartholomew of Sandwich,

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the man who had founded the human city ofRegalia, had carved the prophecies somefour centuries ago. While most of his wordswere for the benefit of the Regalians, theyalso made reference to many of the giantcreatures who lived in the neighboring landsdown here — the bats, the cockroaches, thespiders, the mice, and, most often, the rats.Oh, and Gregor. Several were about Gregor.But they didn't call him by his name. In theprophecies, he was known as "the warrior."

Gregor hadn't allowed anyone to enter theroom with him. He'd wanted to be completelyalone when he first read this prophecy.Everyone had taken such pains to keep itscontents from him in the last few months thathe had known it must say something awful.And he had wanted to be able to react to theawfulness without anyone watching him. Cry,if he needed to cry. Scream, if he needed toscream. But it turned out it didn't really mat-ter, because he'd barely reacted at all.

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"You've got to face this thing. You've got tounderstand it," he told himself. So he forcedhimself to focus on the precisely chiseled let-ters again.

As he reread the words, it was as if he couldactually hear a clock ticking along with thelines. It was, after all, "The Prophecy ofTime."

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick,tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick ...

The war has been declared,

Your ally been ensnared.

It is now or it is never.

Break the code or die forever.

Time is running out Running out

Running out.

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To the warrior give my blade. by his handyour fate is made.

But do not forget the ticking

Or the clicking, clicking, clicking.

While a rat's tongue may be flicking,

With its feet it does the tricking.

For the raw and not the jaw

Makes the Code of Claw.

Time is standing still Standing still Standingstill.

Since the princess is the key to unlock thetreachery,

She cannot avoid the matching

Or the scratching, scratching, scratching.

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When a secret plot is hatching,

In the naming is the catching.

WHAT SHE SAW, it is the flaw

Of the Code of Claw.

Time is turning back

Turning back

Turning back.

When the monster's blood is spilled,

When the warrior has been killed, you mustnot ignore the rapping, or the tapping, tap-ping, tapping.

if the gnawers find you napping, you will rotwhile they are mapping

out the law of those who gnaw

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In the Code of Claw.

The ticking stopped with the words. Gregorclosed his eyes as that one phrasehammered in his brain:

When the warrior has been killed

That was it, obviously. The part that nobodyhad wanted to tell him.

When the warrior has been killed

Not even Ripred — and you had to figurethat rat was used to breaking bad news topeople after all those years of fighting inwars.

When the warrior has been killed

Not even Luxa — who was only twelve, yetseemed much older because she was aqueen and had lost her parents and all.What was it that she had said to him on the

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edge of the cliff a few hours ago? "If youwere to return home after you read theprophecy, I would not hold it against you."

"Really, Luxa?" thought Gregor. "Youwouldn't hold it against me? Because if thetables were turned ... I'd never forgive you ina million years."

When the warrior has been killed

In theory, sure, Gregor could still go home.Pack up his three-year-old sister, Boots, gethis mom out of the hospital, where she wasrecovering from the plague, and have hisbat, Ares, fly them back up to the laundryroom of their apartment building in New YorkCity. Ares, his bond, who had saved his lifenumerous times and who had had nothingbut suffering since he had met Gregor. Hetried to imagine the parting. "Well, Ares, it'sbeen great. I'm heading home now. I knowby leaving I'm completely dooming to

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annihilation everyone who's helped me downhere, but I'm really not up for this whole warthing anymore. So, fly you high, you know?"

Like that would ever happen.

When the warrior has been killed

It simply didn't feel real. Any of it. Maybe itwas because he was so tired. Gregor hadn'tslept in days. Not since before he'd watchedthe rats murder hundreds of mice in a pit atthe base of a volcano in the Firelands. He'dfallen unconscious for a while from the pois-onous fumes the volcano had emitted whenit erupted. Did that count as sleep? Maybe.But it had been only a short time before he'dcome to and waded through deep ash insearch of his friends. Before he could evenexperience the joy of finding them, he'dlearned that Thalia, the sweet little bat whohad mistakenly been caught up in the ill-fated trip, had suffocated as she tried to

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escape the volcano. Hazard, Luxa's seven-year-old cousin who had planned on bondingwith Thalia, had been so distraught they'dhad to sedate him. Later, when they had fi-nally found some clean air on a cliff over-looking the jungle, Gregor had volunteeredto keep watch while the others rested. Onthe flight home, packed onto Ares's backwith Boots, Hazard, their cockroach friend,Temp, and a heavily drugged mouse,Cartesian, he had been unable to sleep.Now he was numb....

When the warrior has been killed

And unable to muster any real emotional re-sponse to the prophecy. "What's wrong withme?" Gregor thought. "Shouldn't I be freak-ing out?" He should, of course, he should.Only after all that had happened, he justdidn't have it in him. "It'll hit me later, I guess.Maybe in a couple days. If I last that long ..."

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Rotten as the prophecy was, Gregor sup-posed it could have been even worse. Onthe good side, Boots and his mom mightmake it out of the Underland alive. It lookedlike Boots, who was known to the giant cock-roaches as "the princess," had some import-ant role to play in breaking this Code of Clawthing. But the prophecy didn't call for anyoneelse's death.

Wait, yes it did.

When the monster's blood is spilled

After what Gregor had witnessed in the lastfew days, he couldn't imagine anyone beingthe monster but the Bane. The enormouswhite rat, whose life Gregor had spared as ababy, had grown up to be a vicious leaderconsumed with hatred and was at leastsomewhat insane. Life had twisted and tor-mented that fragile rat pup into a monster,but there was no helping the Bane now. He

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had given the order to wipe out the mice andthere was no telling what he would do next.He had to be stopped. In the Overland, hemight be imprisoned for life or something.But that wouldn't be an option in the Under-land. Down here, he would have to be killed.

"I guess I should get started. Eat somethingat least," he thought. An army of rats wouldbe here soon. Ares had flown over them ontheir way back to Regalia. Gregor should begetting ready. He knew he had to fight.

But he seemed frozen in place, as if he hadbecome part of the stone, too. He re-membered something he'd seen on a fieldtrip he'd made to the Cloisters in New YorkCity. It was an old museum filled with medi-eval stuff. One room held tombs. On top ofeach tomb was a life-size image of the deadperson carved in stone. There was this oneguy — had it been a knight? — who'd hadhis hands folded over the hilt of his sword. In

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fact, he'd been lying in almost the exact posi-tion Gregor was in now. "That's me," thoughtGregor. "That's me. I've turned to stone andI'm as good as dead." How perfect for Sand-wich to have put "The Prophecy of Time"smack in the middle of the ceiling so thatGregor would have to be lying just like this toread it. How perfect that the sword underGregor's hands had once belonged to Sand-wich and would now carry out his visions.How perfect and horrible the whole thingwas.

The door swung open softly and footstepscrossed to him.

"Gregor? How fare you?" said Vikus. The oldman's voice sounded as exhausted asGregor felt. He probably hadn't had muchsleep, either. As head of the Regalian coun-cil, Vikus was overworked, anyway. His wife,Solovet, who'd been in charge of theRegalian army until recently, was about to

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go on trial for ordering research that had cre-ated a plague, and Luxa, his granddaughter,was in terrible danger in the Firelands. No,Vikus couldn't be getting much rest.

"Me? I'm good," said Gregor evenly. "Neverbetter."

"What think you of 'The Prophecy of Time'?"asked Vikus.

"It's catchy," said Gregor, and slowly, pain-fully got to his feet. He'd messed up his kneeon this last trip.

"I came in to remind you how easy it is tomisinterpret Sandwich's prophecies," saidVikus. Gregor pulled his sword from his beltand tapped the line about his death with thepoint of the blade.

"This? You think it's easy to misinterpretthis?"

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Vikus hesitated. "Possibly."

"Well, it seems pretty clear to me," saidGregor.

"Believe me, Gregor, if there was any way Icould take your place, fulfill this prophecymyself ... I would do it in a moment...."Vikus's eyes filled with tears.

Despite his own situation, Gregor had to feelsorry for him. Life had not been particularlykind to Vikus, either. "Look, I could've diedfifty times down here already. It's a miracleI've lasted this long." If Vikus was this upset,how would Gregor's family react? He didn'tever want to find out. "Just don't tell my momabout it. Or my dad. No one in my family canknow. Okay?"

Vikus nodded in agreement.

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As Gregor slid the sword back in his belt,Vikus reached for it. Gregor instinctivelycovered the handle. "It's mine. You gave it tome," he said brusquely. How quickly he'd be-come protective, even jealous of theweapon.

Vikus's face registered surprise, then con-cern. "I had no thought of taking it, Gregor.Only you must wear the sword so." Heplaced his hand on top of Gregor's and gavethe handle a twist. "At this angle, you willavoid cutting your leg."

"Thanks for the tip," said Gregor. "Well, I'dbetter go get this stuff off of me." Althoughhe had washed as best he could at a springon the cliff, much of the volcanic ash was stilleating away at his skin.

"Go to the hospital. They have a salve forthat," said Vikus.

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Gregor started for the door but Vikusstopped him with his voice. "Gregor, youhave demonstrated an extraordinary abilityto kill. But a year ago, you refused to eventouch that weapon. Remember that even inwar there is a time for restraint. A time tohold back your sword," said Vikus. "Will youdo that?"

"I don't know," said Gregor. He was too tiredto make any noble promises. Especiallywhen once he began to fight, he usually lostcontrol of himself. "I don't know what I'll do,Vikus." He sensed the answer was insuffi-cient, so he added, "I can try." Gregor left theroom quickly to avoid any further discussionof what he might and might not do.

Down in the hospital he was immediatelysent to soak in a tub bubbling with some kindof herbal mixture designed to remove theash from his skin. As the steam from theconcoction filled his lungs, Gregor began to

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cough up a lot of junk he had inhaled overthe last few days. It took not one bath butthree until the doctors were satisfied that hewas free of the ash, both inside and out.Then they covered his skin in a pleasant-smelling lotion. By the time the process wasover, Gregor could barely keep his eyesopen. He drank the broth in a bowl heldagainst his lips. He thought he swallowedsome medicine, too. And then fatigue beganto take over. Gregor grabbed the nearestdoctor's sleeve. "I have to go fight!"

"Not like this," said the doctor. "Do not worry.Wars are not fleet. There will be much fight-ing left when you awaken."

"No, I..." said Gregor. But somewhere insidehimself, he knew the doctor was right. Thesleeve slipped from his hand and he gave into sleep.

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When Gregor opened his eyes it took him aminute to realize where he was. His hospitalroom was so clean and well lit after his dayson the road. He drowsily took stock of hisbody. His skin had absorbed the lotion andfelt soothed and cool. His knee, which hehad injured falling from a rock, had beenwrapped and was less painful. Someone hadtrimmed his ragged nails. He was dressed infresh clothes.

Suddenly he sat bolt upright, his right handclutching the empty space on his left hip. Hissword! Where was his sword? He saw it al-most at once, propped in the corner of thehospital room, the sword belt dangling fromit. Of course they had not put him to bed withit. That would have been dangerous. And noone had stolen it. Still, even the twelve feetthat separated him from the weapon causedhim unease. He did not like it to be out of hisreach.

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Gregor was swinging his stiff legs to the floorto retrieve the sword when a nurse came inwith a tray of food and ordered him back inbed. He didn't want to argue with her, so heobeyed. But after she left, he slid the trayonto the sheets, got the sword, and proppedit right against the side of his bed. Now hecould eat.

Food had been scant over the last days ofthe journey. Some fish, a few mushrooms.He was so hungry he ignored the utensilsand scooped up the food with his hands,stuffing it into his mouth. The bland meal —bread, fish chowder, and pudding — tastedwonderful and he ate every bite. He waswiping his finger around the pudding bowl,trying to get out the last bit, when his oldfriend Mareth came into the room.

"You are allowed to have seconds," said thesoldier with a smile. He called down the hallfor them to bring Gregor more food. Then he

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limped to a chair by the bed. Gregor noticedhe was doing a lot better with his prostheticleg, but he still needed the help of a cane towalk. "You slept for a full day. How do youfeel?" he asked Gregor, giving him a signific-ant look.

"Fine," said Gregor. He hadn't been injuredbadly on this trip. Mareth didn't need to lookso concerned. Then Gregor realized he wasreferring to the prophecy calling for thewarrior's death. "Oh, you mean ..." Dreadbegan to seep into his brain. He pushed itaway, still unable to deal with it. "I'm okay,Mareth."

Mareth gave his shoulder a squeeze butdidn't pursue it. Gregor was glad they didn'thave to have some big talk about it. "How'sBoots and Hazard and everybody?"

"Well. They are well. They have all beenpurged of ash. Hazard is confined to bed

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until his head wound has healed fully. ButHoward's medical training has paid off. Hedid an excellent job of stitching it," saidMareth. His friend Howard and his bat, Nike.Luxa and her bat, Aurora. Ripred. They werenot safe and clean in the hospital but fightingto free the mice who were still alive in the Firelands. "Any word from them?" askedGregor.

"None," said Mareth. "Two divisions of sol-diers have been sent after them. We hope tohear soon. But our normal channels of com-munication are somewhat disrupted now thatLuxa has declared war."

Luxa...

Gregor felt the back pocket of his pants, butit was empty. His old clothes had probablybeen destroyed. He felt slightly panicked. "Ihad a picture. In my pocket —"

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Mareth lifted a photograph off of the bedsidetable and handed it to him. "This?"

There they were. Luxa and Gregor. Dancing.Laughing. Captured in one of the few reallyhappy moments they had shared. Just a fewweeks ago at Hazard's birthday party.Gregor slid the photo into the pocket of hisshirt. "Thanks."

Mareth did not make him explain that, either.Which was good because Gregor was notsure how to put into words what had begunto happen between himself and Luxa. Howtheir rocky friendship was transforming intoan entirely different relationship.

"My parents?" Gregor asked.

"Your father has been told of your safe re-turn. A bat was sent to the Overland with thenews as soon as you arrived. He said to tell

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you that your grandmother and sister Lizzieare well," said Mareth. Then he paused.

"And my mom?" Gregor prompted him.

"She has had a relapse," said Mareth.

"You mean the plague came back?" saidGregor anxiously.

"No, no, but an infection of her lungs," saidMareth. "She will mend but it has weakenedher greatly."

This was not good. Whatever elsehappened, Gregor needed to get her home.If he had to die, he had to die. But that madeit a hundred times more crucial for his momand Boots to get back to New York Citysafely. His parents and grandma and sistershad to have one another.

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The nurse brought another serving of pud-ding and left. Gregor no longer felt sohungry. He poked at the pudding with hisspoon.

"Where are the rats now? The ones Aresand I saw headed for Regalia on our wayback?" asked Gregor. "Have they attackedthe city yet?"

"No. The rats turned back to the Firelandswhen they saw our troops fly over," saidMareth.

"What?" said Gregor in surprise.

"I am sure they mean to bolster the Bane'sdefenses," said Mareth.

"You mean... there's no one here to fight?"Gregor's mind suddenly cleared. He hadcompleted this phase of his mission. He hadbrought back the kids and the wounded to

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Regalia. He had read "The Prophecy ofTime." And most of all, he had taken posses-sion of Sandwich's sword. His next step, he'dassumed, would have been to help defendRegalia from a massive rat attack. But therewas no attack on Regalia. "This is bad," hemumbled. A rat army waiting at the walls of awell-fortified city was scary, but a rat armydescending out in the open was muchworse. So what was he doing here, lying inbed stuffing his face with pudding, while hisfriends were caught in a battle in theFirelands?

Gregor shoved his tray off of his legs soquickly that the bowls clattered to the floor.He jumped out of bed and grabbed thesword belt.

"What are you doing?" said Mareth.

"I'm going back," said Gregor. "I'm goingback to fight those rats."

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CHAPTER 2Mareth rose to block his way. "Wait, Gregor.It is not so simple now. We are at war."

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about," saidGregor. His fingers fumbled in their eager-ness to buckle on the belt. "Is Ares still in thehospital?" He knew his bond would be asanxious as he was to rejoin their friends.

"Yes, down the hall. But listen a moment —"Mareth began.

"Great, then we can get going," said Gregor.He moved for the door only to find he wasbeing lifted in the air and thrust back againstthe bed. Mareth might have lost his leg, buthe could still toss Gregor around, noproblem.

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"Listen!" said Mareth. "During wartime, youare a soldier. Perhaps the most valuable onewe have. You cannot go running off whenthe mood strikes you. You will be expectedto follow orders."

"Whose orders?" asked Gregor.

"Solovet's," said Marefh.

"Solovet's?" said Gregor, genuinely thrown.As far as he knew, she was no longer in aposition to give anyone orders. "I thoughtshe was locked up in her room and had togo on trial for causing the plague."

"The trial was put on hold once it was knownthat Luxa had declared war," said Mareth.

"But... why? That doesn't change what So-lovet did," said Gregor. "She still ordered thedoctors to make the plague into a weapon.

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She still killed all those people and bats. Shealmost killed my mom."

"By accident. Her plan was to kill rats," saidMareth. "Now that we are at war with them, aperson who thinks of little but killing rats is ofgreat value. So the council has reinstatedher as head of the Regalian army."

"The head of — no way!" exclaimed Gregor.He'd thought that maybe they'd made her theleader of his squadron or something. Butnow she was back in charge of everything?"Couldn't they get someone else?"

"There is no human, save yourself, who therats fear as much," said Mareth. "Solovet isboth cunning and ruthless in war. It was feltwe needed her to survive."

"But — that trial will never happen now!" saidGregor bitterly. It wouldn't. The war woulderupt and blank everything else out. As the

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hatred against the rats built, the humanswould think that Solovet had had a goodidea in turning the plague germs into aweapon. Despite all of the deaths she hadcaused to her own people, she would beseen as heroic, not criminal. Gregor thoughtof his mom struggling to breathe somewherein the hospital. The purple scars that Ares'sfur still could not quite cover. All of thepeople and bats and rats who had died."That's not right, Mareth," said Gregor. "Doyou think it's right?"

Mareth sighed and averted his eyes. He re-leased Gregor and took an awkward stepback. "Whatever my private opinion of thesituation is, it is of no matter. Solovet is nowin command."

"Not of me," said Gregor. Of one thing hewas certain. He was not going to go to hisdeath on Solovet's terms; he was going to goon his own.

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"Be careful to whom you say that, Gregor,"said Mareth quietly. "Not everyone here isyour friend." With that, the soldier limped outof the room. Gregor took a few deep breathsto get a handle on himself, then unbuckledhis sword belt and placed the blade back inthe corner of the room. He wiped up the pud-ding he'd knocked to the floor and neatly re-set the tray. Then he lay back down in bed tolook like a model patient while he workedthings out in his head.

Mareth was right. Not everybody in Regaliawas Gregor's friend. Plenty of people wouldbe more than happy to spy on him for So-lovet. Gregor didn't know what she had instore for him, but it was unlikely it involvedhim hopping on Ares and flying straight backto the Firelands. Probably he would be partof some master plan. Whatever Gregorwanted would be of no consequence. Shewould view him as a weapon to be used ather discretion. If he was going to get back to

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the Firelands, he would have to do it insecret. And he would have to do it carefully.

"What's your plan?" he heard Ripred's voicein his head. The rat was trying to break himof the habit of flying off the handle and takingaction without thinking of its consequences."What's your plan?"

"First of all, I can't let anyone else guess thatI want to go back," Gregor thought. He waspretty sure Mareth wouldn't tell anyone. Buthe couldn't count on other people's loyalty.Gregor's initial impulse had been to runstraight to Ares, but that would be odd. If hewere not obsessed with returning to the Fire-lands, if he were planning to stay in Regalialike a good little soldier, wouldn't he ask tosee his mom first? He felt a flush of shame.Shouldn't he have asked to see his mom firsteither way? Yes. Only the truth was, if shewas well enough to see him, she was goingto be both furious about his trip to the

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Firelands and adamant that he return imme-diately to New York City. Which he wasn'tgoing to do. So he would either have to fightwith her, openly defy her, or lie to her. Allthree options were lousy. Underneath it all,though, he was still aching to see her.

When a doctor came by a few minutes later,Gregor asked if he could visit her and wasgiven permission to do so. Briefly. "It is fineto use your knee, good even. But take itslowly for the first few days," said the doctor,helping him into a pair of sandals.

"Got it," said Gregor, and made a big showof walking carefully down to his mom's room.He had to wear a mask, not for his own pro-tection but for hers.

Gregor had underestimated what a relapsecould be. His mother was as sick as she'dbeen when he'd first seen her with theplague. Sicker, maybe. Then, at least, she'd

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had the energy to order him home. Now shewas too weak to even speak. All of her effortwent into breathing. When he held her hand,the skin was hot and dry from fever. Hereyes had a distant look.

"This isn't the plague, right?" Gregor askedthe doctor.

"No, this is a lung infection. I believe you callit 'pneumonia' in the Overland," said thedoctor.

"But she could go home, if she was wellenough to travel?" said Gregor.

"If she was well enough to travel, but she isnot," said the doctor.

Gregor stroked his mother's cheek. "Don'tworry, it's going to be all right. It's going to beall right." He couldn't tell if she understoodhim or not.

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Outside the room, the doctor took Gregoraside and spoke in a whisper. At first Gregorassumed it was for his mom's sake, but thenhe realized the doctor was afraid of anyonehearing his words. "Warrior, if she were mymother, I would use whatever influence Ihave to get her back to the Overland. Yourhospitals could treat her as well as ours now.And with the war commencing, the palacemay come under attack. She may even haveto be moved to the Fount."

"But you said she was too sick to travel,"said Gregor.

"That is what I must say. And it is true. For atime of peace," said the doctor. "But now youmust weigh the dangers of her staying hereduring a time of war." He looked nervouslyaround. "Please, keep my counsel to your-self." Then he walked swiftly away.

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For a moment, Gregor felt torn as the desireto get to the Firelands fought with the needto get his mother to safety. His mother won.His friends in the Firelands had one anotherand an army to lean on. His mother had noone but himself.

Gregor left the hospital without permissionand found Vikus in the room off of the HighHall. "When are you sending the next mes-sage to my father?" he asked.

"I was about to do so now, Gregor. Is theresomething you wish me to include?" askedVikus.

"Yeah, my mom," said Gregor.

Vikus rubbed a hand over his eyes. "I havetried, Gregor. Three times already. Thecouncil has denied the requests." Gregorknew Vikus couldn't officially move his momwithout the council members' authority, but

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he couldn't help being frustrated by the waythe old man constantly deferred to them."But she can't stay here during the war.What if the rats attacked the palace? You'dhave to move her somewhere else, anyway."Gregor thought he could say that muchwithout getting the doctor in trouble.

"I have made this argument," said Vikus."But the council does not accept if. They re-fuse to let her go. My wife has convincedthem that your mother's health will not bearthe move."

Suddenly Gregor understood what was go-ing on. "It's not about her health. It's aboutme. It's about keeping me here," he said. So-lovet was holding his mother hostage downhere. She knew Gregor would never leavewithout his mom.

Vikus's silence confirmed his words.

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"You tell the council they'd better keep heralive. If she dies, you just lost a warrior!" saidGregor.

"Are you sure you wish me to say this?"asked Vikus.

"Why wouldn't I?" said Gregor.

"It gains you nothing and it reveals much ofyour hand," said Vikus. "I myself find it wiserto keep certain thoughts to myself until theycan be to my advantage."

Vikus was right. The doctors in the hospitalwould do their best to heal his mother.Threatening the council members would onlyincrease their suspicion of Gregor at a timewhen he was trying to appear tractable. "Isee what you mean. Thanks," said Gregor.At least Vikus was still looking out for him.

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He headed back to the hospital, gripped byfear for his mother. Could he move her onhis own? No, she was way too sick. Thatwould take a whole team of doctors. Whenshe got home she'd have to go straight tothe hospital and then the questions wouldbegin. Even so, Gregor would rather gambleon his dad and Mrs. Cormaci coming up withsome crazy story to explain his mom's condi-tion than to risk having her down here duringthe war.

It was all a moot point, though, because ofSolovet. She would never let his mom go un-til she was through using Gregor. A voicecame out of the past: "I was just thinking, itdid not take long for my mother to get herclaws into you." Hamnet. That's what Ham-net had said on their first meeting in thejungle, before he had been Gregor's guide,before the ants had killed him. Hamnet, afamous warrior himself, had fled Regalia be-cause his conscience would no longer allow

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him to fight, and he knew his mother, So-lovet, would try to force him. Who wouldknow better than Hamnet what it felt like tohave Solovet's claws in him? Well, they weredigging into Gregor now, in a whole newway. But it only increased Gregor's resolveto defy her.

He returned to his hospital room to find thatanother meal had showed up. He ate it tokeep up appearances. Probably needed it,anyway. He might be back on a diet of fishand mushrooms pretty soon. Then he wentto find Ares. Since he'd seen his mom, thiswould not raise any red flags.

Ares was just finishing up his meal whenGregor came in. A nurse was gathering upthe platters that had held the bat's food.

"How you feeling, man?" asked Gregor.

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"A bit stiff, but I am well," said the bat. Hisvoice, which was usually a low purr, washoarse from the volcanic ash.

"Think you'd be up for a game of chesslater?" asked Gregor. This was entirely forthe nurse's benefit. Gregor and Ares hadnever played chess before. Never evenspoken about it. But Gregor had seen a lot ofpeople and bats playing in the hospital whilethey were recovering. It seemed likesomething the nurse would be in favor of.

"The question is, are you up for it?" askedAres.

"That sounds like a challenge," said Gregorwith a grin.

The nurse seemed to approve. "I will see ifwe have a board available." She collectedthe dishes and left the room.

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Gregor and Ares waited a few moments,then spoke in urgent whispers.

"We must get back to the Firelands," saidAres.

"I know. But Mareth says we're underSolovet's command now," said Gregor. "Canyou meet me at the place?" "The place" wasa pretty general term, but he knew Areswould understand he was referring to thespring-fed lake known as the Spout. Therewas a secret passage that led to it from astone turtle in the old nursery.

"In one hour," said Ares. "The nibbler pupsare still in the nursery. If your sister is notwith Hazard, she will likely be there, too."

"I'll find a way," said Gregor. Although per-suading Boots, a litter of mouse babies, andprobably their nanny, too, to look the otherway while he flipped open that big stone

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turtle shell and climbed through it was goingto be some trick.

The nurse came in holding a chessboard. "Ihave a board but no pieces at the moment.Some will be available soon."

"You know, I think there's a set in the mu-seum," said Gregor. "I'm supposed to exer-cise this knee some, anyway. I'll get it."There actually was one of those little mag-netic travel chessboards complete withpieces in the museum. It was the perfectexcuse.

Gregor stopped by his hospital room andbuckled on his sword belt. If anyone asked,he could always say he was just trying to getused to the feel of wearing it. But he stillwaited until the hall was free of doctors andnurses to slip out of the hospital. He took aless-traveled route to the museum as well,

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and managed to avoid running into anyonebut a group of school-children.

When he got to the museum, the first thingthat caught his eye was a brown cardboardbox that was sealed with masking tape. Thewords for gregor had been printed neatlyacross the top in red marker. He recognizedthe handwriting as Mrs. Cormaci's. Whenhad this box come? Today? Yesterday? Orduring his week or so of absence in the Fire-lands? Gregor ripped open the box andfound a note right on top. As he read thewords, he could hear Mrs. Cormaci's voice inhis head.

Dear Gregor,

Well, this is a fine how-do-you-do.Everyone's in a state because you've disap-peared on some picnic, but I feel certainyou've got yourself mixed up in some kind offunny business down there. I know it's

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strange, but I'm not even worried. Not aboutyou or Boots. Although your parents ... well,that's another story. Do you realize, I won-der, what it does to your family when you gooff?

Gregor felt like someone had hit him in thestomach. Yes, he realized! Of course heknew! Hadn't he been the one waiting for hisdad for two and a half years? Didn't hisfamily's situation gnaw away at him everytime he was on some mission?

Now you're in Regalia because you're read-ing this. So it's a good time to step back andtake a hard look at things. I know most ofwhat happens to you down there is out ofyour control. I know you're only doing whatyou feel you have to do. But your family ishurting right now. All I'm saying is, don't letyourself get killed, or you'll have an awful lotof explaining to do.

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Love, Mrs. Cormaci

Why had she written that about him beingkilled? It was almost as if she had read theprophecy. But if she had, she would alsoknow that his death was one of those thingsout of his control. As for explaining thingsonce he was gone... well, that didn't evenmake sense. Why was she even saying thisstuff to him? Maybe she meant it as a joke.Of course, it being Mrs. Cormaci, maybe shedidn't. Wait, there was something at thebottom....

P.S. Lizzie helped make the cookies. Shesays to share them with the rat. So Lizziewas home from sleepaway camp. He knewshe'd be a wreck. Even when things weregoing fine, his sister was anxious. He couldsee her face now, her brow furrowed the wayno eight-year-old kid's should ever be.Skinny, little, nervous, way-too-smart-for-her-age Lizzie. Worrying about him and Boots.

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Worrying about his mom and dad. Even wor-rying about cranky old Ripred.

"Next time I see Lizzie —" Gregor thought.And then he realized he would never see heragain. Or any of them back home. Becausehe was never leaving the Underland. He wasgoing to die down here....

Gregor watched as the note floated from hishand and came to rest gently on the floor.And that's when Sandwich's words finally hithim.

When the warrior has been killed

The room spun around and he clutched ashelf to keep from falling. He felt an im-mense pressure in his chest, as if he were indanger of breaking into a thousand pieces,and was unable to draw a breath. "No! I don'twant this! I don't want to die!" he thought. Hisentire body began shaking as he tried to

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push the threat from his mind, but it was toopowerful. "I can't do this. I can't. I've got toget home." Luxa was right. It was too muchto ask of him. To give his life, his future, togive everything he had for the Underlanders."I'm getting out of here. Going to get Bootsand my mom and get home and — never —look — back!"

For an instant, he thought he really might doit. But then what? What? What happened toeveryone he loved down here? They wouldall die as the prophecy foretold. He couldnever let that happen. Would never let thathappen. So then —

Gregor sank to the floor, panting, as thewaves of tremors ran through him.' Hestruggled to get ahold of himself. This had tostop! He couldn't flip out every time hethought about what lay before him. Of all thepeople he would never see, or all the thingshe would never do. He would be worthless.

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Of no use at all. He had to have somethingin his mind to hold on to. Something thatgave him strength. Images flew through hishead, of his family, of his friends, of placesand things he loved. None of them were ofany help.

Then he remembered the stone knight in theCloisters. Cold, hard, unyielding, long sinceremoved from anything in life that could hurthim. A long time ago, the knight had fought... maybe died in a horrible battle, too ...everybody had to die eventually ... but nowhe was invulnerable. Sleeping on his marblebed. Safe. Peaceful even. Somehow thethought of this other soldier from anothertime comforted Gregor in a way that nothingliving could. He had gone through somethingawful, but it was over, and he was now in aplace where no one could ever harm himagain. The shaking began to subside.Gregor inhaled and the pain in his chest lostits grip. "That's me. I have to remember

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that's me from now on," he thought. "I'm thatknight, I'm made of stone, and in the endnothing can touch me. Okay. Okay, then.That's how it is."

As he calmed down, he remembered thatAres was waiting for him. He had things todo. People to help. And time was short.

Gregor retrieved the note and pulled himselfto his feet. He saw a foil-wrapped packagethat had to be the cookies. But the box wastoo deep to hold only cookies. He lifted outthe foil package and his heart skipped abeat. Two flashlights. A big stack of batter-ies. And a brand-new pair of sneakers. Thegood kind. Mrs. Cormaci. How did sheknow? How did she always seem to knowwhat he needed? The waterproof flashlightshe had given him before he'd crossed theWaterway. The work boots that had savedhis toes from being destroyed by acid in thejungle. Could she see the dangers he would

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encounter in those tarot cards of hers, eventhough Gregor would never let her do areading on him? Or was she just a goodguesser?

Gregor added a new roll of duct tape andtwo water bottles to the box. The bottleswere the kind joggers used in Central Park.They were empty, but he could fill them up ata stream along the way to the Firelands. Helooked for a new backpack, but all he couldfind was a small pink one with thin cords forstraps. He emptied out a lady's wallet, amakeup case, a book of maps of Manhattan,and a hairbrush, and stuck it in his box. Itdidn't look like something a warrior wouldcarry, but it would hold his supplies and thatwas all that really mattered. Then he placedthe cookies back on top of the whole thing.He wouldn't get ready to travel until he wasin the secret passageway that led to theSpout. Remembering his story to the nurse,he placed the magnetic chessboard on top

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of the cookies. He probably wouldn't see heragain, but he wanted to cover all of hisbases. Now he had to get to the old nurseryand into that passageway.

Gregor picked up the box. He walked out ofthe museum and down the hall. "Taking yourtime. Looking natural," he thought. "You cando this."

Then he turned the corner and pulled upshort.

Solovet was standing in front of him. Behindher were two men.

The last time Gregor had seen Solovet wasmonths ago, when he had arrived back fromthe jungle. She had been in the councilmeeting where they had arrested Dr.Neveeve. By the time Gregor had beentreated for his injuries and come out of theanesthesia, Dr. Neveeve had been executed

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and Solovet confined to her rooms. Gregorhad been glad she'd been taken away to aplace where he couldn't see her. Where hedidn't have to deal with what she'd done tohis mom and Ares and Howard and count-less others. But here she was. The womanwho wouldn't think twice about letting hismom die if it meant holding on to Gregor. Inone second, he realized both how much hehated her and how careful he had to be. Shewas now in command of him.

"Gregor," she said with a warm smile. Hesmiled back. "Hey, Solovet. How've youbeen?"

"Very well. And yourself?" she asked.

"Doing all right," he said.

"What have you there?" she asked, noddingat the box;

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"Mrs. Cormaci sent me some cookies.Thought I'd take them back up to the hospit-al. Spread the goodness around," saidGregor. "Want one?" He peeled back the foilon the cookies and the delicious smell ofoatmeal raisin filled the hallway.

"Why not?" Solovet accepted a cookie andtook a bite. She chewed it thoughtfully andnodded her approval. "Excellent."

"So, I need to talk to you pretty soon, right?"asked Gregor as he shifted the box to hiship. "See what you want me to do. Marethsays you're running the war."

"Yes. Yes. And you are, of course, very pre-cious to me. Know you Horatio and Mar-cus?" Solovet casually gestured to the menbehind her.

"Hi." Gregor gave them a wave and theynodded back. For the first time he noticed

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how they were dressed. They each woreprotective gear made of leather and metal ontheir chests, legs, and arms. Helmetscovered their heads. Wicked-looking swordsand daggers were at their belts. "Are they,like, generals or something?"

"No, Gregor. They are your personalguards," said Solovet. "We are very con-cerned with your safety."

"My personal guards? Great." Her realmeaning was beginning to dawn on him, buthe just laughed. "I sure could've used them afew days ago. Doesn't seem like I'd needthem in here, though. Aren't even any ratsaround."

"The guards are not to keep the rats out,"said Solovet pleasantly. "They are to keepyou in."

***

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CHAPTER 3Gregor just stared at her as his optionsflipped through his head. Run. Fight. Laugh.Protest. Act offended. Lay his cards on thetable. Do nothing.

Do nothing won out.

"I cannot afford to have you running off onany more picnics," said Solovet. "Come tosee me in an hour. We will discuss your fu-ture then."

She walked off, leaving Gregor with the twoformidable soldiers. He sized them up anddetermined it had been a good decision notto start a fight. They were tall with ripplingmuscles and hardened looks on their faces.Solovet's men through and through. Gregor

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had no idea if he would have stood a chanceagainst them if they had all drawn theirweapons. Maybe, if his rager side kicked in.When Gregor became what the Under-landers called a rager, he transformed intoan accurate and deadly fighter. But he couldnever count on that happening. Better to beon good terms with his guards.

"Cookie?" said Gregor, holding out the pack-age. They both shook their heads no. "Well,my sister will want some. She's probablywith the mice. Come on. This way." Gregorgestured for them to follow him and startedfor the old nursery. He limped a lot, to showhis knee was really badly injured and therewas no way he could run. "Now what?" hethought. "How on earth am I going to losethese guys?"

He took his time getting up to the nursery,hoping for some brilliant plan to strike himlike a lightning bolt. None did. He was just

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going to have to do his best with whatevercircumstances he found.

The nursery was in an almost deserted wingof the palace. As far as he could tell from theglimpses he caught through doorways, mostof the other rooms in the hall seemed to beused for storage.

A warm light shone out of the nursery door.He stepped inside and heard a pleasedsqueak. "Gre-go!" Boots ran over and flungher arms around his knees. He set the boxdown and lifted her up into his arms for areal hug.

"Hey, Boots," he said, pressing his face intoher curly head. She smelled like an herbalbath and milk and her own sweet self. It wasa comforting smell, and for a minute, he al-most felt okay. Then he caught a glimpse ofthe stone turtle at the far end of the room, itsface in a vicious snarl. "What's going on?"

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"I helping Dulcie take care of the babymouses," Boots said. She pointed over tothe alcove where the nanny, Dulcet, hadmade a nest out of blankets. Dulcet satamong the blankets now with the six babymice crawling around her.

Cartesian, the adult mouse Gregor hadbrought back from the Firelands, lay in thenest as well. Both of his front legs were incasts. He was still very weak. But he lookedfar better than he had when Gregor had firstseen him, left for dead at the base of a cliff,surrounded by scores of mice who had notsurvived the fall. One of the baby miceclimbed up on Cartesian's back. It must havehurt, but he made no move to stop it.

"Greetings, Gregor," said Dulcet. She raisedher eyebrows slightly. "I see you havebrought company."

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Gregor looked behind him and saw that Hor-atio and Marcus were standing on guard atthe doorway. "Yeah, these are my newbodyguards."

"Horatio, Marcus, would you mind very muchstanding outside of the door? I am afraid youmay frighten the nibbler pups," said Dulcet.

"We have orders to attend the Overlander atall times," said Horatio doubtfully.

"I promise he shall be safe in my hands,"said Dulcet with a laugh.

For a moment, Horatio's face lost its hardedge, and Gregor realized he had a soft spotfor Dulcet. "Man," he thought. "Is it that easyfor people to tell I like Luxanow?"

"I suppose we may risk standing outside ofthe door," conceded Horatio. "Come,Marcus."

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"Thank you, Horatio," said Dulcet. Gregorexamined her face for any sign that she re-turned Horatio's feelings. She didn't. Or elseshe was just a lot better at hiding it. Hewondered briefly if he might be able to gether to distract the guards while he sneakedthrough the turtle shell, but then abandonedthe idea. He didn't want to get Dulcet introuble with Solovet. Somehow, he was go-ing to have to get her out of the nursery be-fore he made his escape. Boots got downand climbed into the nest. "I rock the ba-bies." She picked up the nearest mouse pupand cradled it in her arms. It let her rock it fora bit, then wiggled free, placed its front pawson her shoulder, and played with one of hercurls. Boots giggled. "Mouses like my hair."

Gregor squatted beside the nest and strokedone of the velvety pups. "Do you rememberme?" he asked Cartesian. The mouse hadbeen either so delirious or so heavilydrugged in the Firelands that Gregor didn't

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think he'd made much of an impression. Buthe was wrong.

"You are the warrior," said Cartesian. "Yes, Iremember you. Have you any word of ourfriends in the Firelands?"

"No, Mareth said they sent two divisions tohelp. Haven't heard back yet," said Gregor,not letting himself imagine what might behappening on that battlefield now. "Do youknow these pups?"

"They are my sister's children," saidCartesian. "She felt they would fare better onthe river than under the gnawers' control."

"She was right," said Gregor, rememberingthe mouse pups he had seen suffocating todeath in the volcanic pit. "Did their mother—?"

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"I do not know. I do not wish to speak of thisbefore them," said Cartesian, indicating thepups with one of his casts. "They are begin-ning to understand English and they haveenough fodder for nightmares already."

"I'm sorry," said Gregor, feeling bad he hadeven brought up the subject. "Hey, Boots,you want to give the babies a treat?"

Boots trotted over to the box with him andwas delighted to find the cookies. She stuckone in her mouth right off. "Mmm," she said.

"Good, huh? Why don't you give one toeverybody?" suggested Gregor. He piledcookies into her hands, careful not to re-move the foil package from the box and re-veal his travel supplies underneath.

"I have treats!" crowed Boots, sprayingcrumbs everywhere. She excitedly passedaround the cookies to everyone in the nest.

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The pups made happy smacking sounds asthey munched away on the cookies. Gregorplastered a smile across his face as hewatched the scene, but inside his mind wasracing. "I've got to get out of here. Now!" hethought. Ares was probably flying around theSpout at this moment. But how could he geteverybody out of the room? Suggest a visitsomewhere in the palace? That would beweird because Cartesian couldn't travel farwith those legs. Pretend to accidentallyknock over a torch and start a fire? No, badidea. That would only bring in more people.And if the fire got out of hand someone couldget hurt. The babies might get scared and tryto hide and — wait! That was it!

"Who wants to play a game?" asked Gregor,clapping his hands for attention. The pupsdid seem to understand that much, becausethey gathered around him, hopping up anddown expectantly.

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"Me! Me!" said Boots.

"What should we play, Boots?" askedGregor. Boots could almost always be coun-ted on to pick one game.

"Hide-and-seek! Hide-and-seek!" shesquealed, and Gregor exhaled in relief.

"All right, great. Hide-and-seek. Do the miceknow how to play?" he asked.

"Oh, yes," said Dulcet. "We have playedmany times in here. You will be hard-pressed to find a hiding spot they have notalready discovered."

"That's no good. Maybe we could use someof the other rooms out in the hall," saidGregor.

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"Yes, I had considered that, but with onlymyself to watch them I felt it too unmanage-able," said Dulcet.

"Perhaps with you and Cartesian here, wecould do it. I know they are becoming boredwith this room."

"Sure, I'll help," said Gregor. "Wait, let metake this thing off." He removed his swordbelt and set it on the box. It was hard, lettinggo of his weapon.

"Oh, and we have Horatio and Marcus!" saidDulcet. The guards were in the doorway themoment they heard their names. "We are toplay hide-and-seek. Can you help us?"

The guards did not want to at first, but soonDulcet had them positioned at either end ofthe hallway. That way, the others could playthe game using six rooms, but no one could

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leave the area without going by them. Or soeveryone but Gregor supposed.

Gregor and Dulcet did a quick check of therooms, but there was nothing particularlydangerous in any of them. A couple held oldfurniture. Blankets, baskets, and coils ofrope were stored in some of the others. Onehad once been a bathroom, but there was nowater flowing through it now, so it was morelike a stone playground. Lots of good safeplaces to hide.

Cartesian hobbled out in the hallway towatch. First Boots was "It," then a couple ofthe pups, then Dulcet. While the others hid,whoever was It sat by Cartesian. He was incharge of making sure no one peeked, andhe helped the little ones count slowly totwenty. Gregor went into the nursery twice,hoping for a chance to escape, but bothtimes a mouse pup hid in there as well. Timewas running out. The game would end soon.

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Even if Ares had managed to slip out of thehospital unnoticed, they might be looking forhim now.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick,tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick ...

"Okay," Gregor announced at the end ofDulcet's round. "My turn to be 'It.'"

He placed himself as close to the nursery ashe could, to discourage anyone from hidingthere, covered his eyes, and began to countto twenty. "One, two, three, four ..." Gregorcould hear the scampering of mouse feet,Boots's sandals, giggles, and hushedsqueaks. No one hid in the nursery. "...eight-een, nineteen, twenty. Ready or not, here Icome!"

Gregor surveyed the hall. Horatio and Mar-cus were in their places, arms crossed, eyestrained on him. He looked in one room, then

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pretended to hear something from the nurs-ery and crossed into it. The second he wasout of his guards' sight lines, Gregor grabbedthe box and sword belt and sprinted for thestone turtle. He shoved his hand in thething's mouth and found the latch thatpopped open the shell. He lifted it, quicklyclimbed inside, and closed it quietly behindhim. Afraid any light might be seen shiningfrom the turtle, he went down the first flight ofsteps in total darkness. There were still nofootsteps from above. He pulled out a flash-light from under the cookies and snapped iton. "Go," he thought. "Go as fast as youcan." His feet flew down the stairs. He didn'teven try to be quiet anymore. Once he'dturned up missing, there'd be confusion, andthen Solovet would have that room turned in-side out until she found the stairway. Hewished he could have kept the secret longer,for Luxa's sake, but it was for her sake thathe had needed to use it.

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At the bottom of the stairs, he almost ran intothe second turtle, the one with the awful leer.As he opened the shell, he could barelymake out the shouts coming from severalfloors above his head. He leaned his headinto the damp air over the Spout.

"Drop, Overlander," he heard Ares say in anurgent tone, and Gregor jumped into thevoid. Ares caught him instantly and took offat warp speed.

"Barely got out," said Gregor, putting his boxbehind him as he fastened on his sword."You?"

"The doctors gave me fifteen minutes to ex-ercise over the river. That has long passed,"said Ares. "They will be after us."

"Oh, yeah," said Gregor. "No one saw me gothrough the turtle, but they saw me go intothe room. They'll find the passage now."

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"Maybe this is a good thing. If all who knowthe secret should perish in the Firelands,someone should know of it," said Ares. "Itmay provide a means of escape if the castleis under siege."

"That's true," said Gregor, thinking of hismom and Boots.

Gregor immediately organized himself. Hesecured one flashlight on his left forearmwith duct tape and hooked the other to hisbelt. The tape, batteries, shoes, waterbottles, and remaining cookies went into thepink backpack. He stuck the chess set in,too, although he couldn't think what use itmight be. Then he tossed the box into thedarkness and flattened himself on Ares'sback to provide as little wind resistance aspossible.

Ares took a completely new route back tothe Firelands. They did not fly through the

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usual wide caverns but through a series ofsmaller, twisting tunnels. At one point Gregorhad to dismount so they both could squeezethrough a crack in a rock wall. Then theytook off down a whole new set of tunnels.

"How did you find this way?" asked Gregor.

"With Henry. We spent many hours findingalternative paths. It was essential, sincemuch of what we did was unsanctioned,"said Ares.

Henry was Luxa's cousin and Ares's oldbond. He had betrayed them all to the ratson Gregor's first trip to the Underland.Neither Luxa nor Ares spoke about him veryoften. At first, Gregor had supposed this wasbecause they now hated him so much. Later,he'd understood it was because they stillloved him so much, too. When Henry cameup, their voices would become tight, theireyes pained. That was the hard part. Still

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caring. Not being able to simply write Henryoff.

"So this route is pretty safe?" asked Gregor.

"No one will find us," said Ares. "Sleep if youcan."

Although Gregor didn't think he would sleepwith his mind so full, he stretched out, any-way. But he must have still been really tiredbecause the next thing he knew, Ares waswaking him. They were back on the cliffoverlooking the jungle where they had saidgood-bye to their friends a couple of daysago. The trip must have taken six or sevenhours. Ares was beat.

"I must sleep," said the bat. "But it will not befor long."

Ares went right out while Gregor kept watch.He cleaned the water bottles and filled them

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at the spring. Put on his new shoes andlaced them up. Practiced making cuts in theair with Sandwich's sword. What a weapon!It was almost as if he had only to think of amotion and the sword was already there. Atfirst he gave the sword all of the credit. Thenhe realized he had to give himself somecredit as well. Although he was in no dangerat the moment, the rager sensation washumming quietly deep inside him. Hestopped practicing and it turned off. He star-ted practicing and it came back to life. Couldit be that he was finally getting a smallamount of control over it? The idea gave himconfidence but it was tempered by thememories of past failures. Still, if he couldlearn to turn that rager switch on and off ...that would be amazing.

Ares awoke after a couple of hours. Hecaught a fish that they ate quickly. They bothdrank their fill at the spring.

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"Ready?" asked Gregor. He tried to feel asimpervious as the knight back in theCloisters. . "Yes," said Ares. "I am ready forwhatever lies ahead. Shall we go back to theQueen?" This is what the previous prophecyhad called the volcano that had been thedeath of the nibblers. It was the last placethey had seen both the mice and their ratcaptors.

"Yeah, let's start there," said Gregor, takinghis place on Ares. Ares retraced their pathback to the volcano, flying through the tun-nels still covered in deep layers of ash.When they came out at the Queen, she wasquiet. The mice and the little bat Thalia,whom Ares had laid to rest in the pit wherethe mice had died, had all been buried underthe lava flow. There was no trace of them atall.

It didn't take Ares long to hone in on a des-tination. He jetted across the large cavern

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and into a long, low tunnel. Gregor's earsbegan to catch sounds as well. Screams,shrieks, metal against stone. The airthickened with dust.

Gregor drew his sword, wanting to be pre-pared for what awaited him. But as theyburst out of the tunnel, he gasped and al-most lost his grip on his weapon.

Nothing in his experience had prepared himfor the sight of a battle between the humansand the rats.

***

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CHAPTER 4Ares had blasted straight into the war zone.Gregor's senses were assaulted by what laybefore him, beneath him, and all around him.

They were in one of the Firelands' enormouscaverns. The battleground was brighter thanGregor had expected because the wallswere studded with burning torches held inglobs of something. Clay, maybe? He sawan Underlander woman toss a burned-outtorch to the ground and replace it with a newone.

Despite the extra light, it was still difficult tosee because the army of rats had churnedthe volcanic dust on the floor into a chokingcloud that rose to the ceiling. Bats swirledaround Gregor, carrying their human bonds.

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Most of the humans had drawn swords. So-mething obscured the faces of the peopleand the bats. A person flew by and a packethit Gregor on the chest. "Don you this!" hethought he heard them shout, but he wasn'tsure because the cavern was filled with a dinof voices. Gregor unrolled the packet andfound two face masks, one for him and onefor Ares. That's what everybody was wear-ing. He quickly positioned the bat mask onAres and slipped his own over his mouth andnose. The mask was stuffy, but using it surebeat inhaling that junk in the air — and it cutdown on the reek of blood.

Blood seemed to be everywhere. Drippingoff of people, staining bats' fur, pouring outof rat bodies on the ground. It dawned onGregor that the main goal of each side wasto relieve the other of its blood, thereby elim-inating it. For a moment, he felt sickened;then he remembered why he was here.

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"Do you see Luxa?" he asked Ares.

"No!" replied the bat.

It was next to impossible to find anyone inthis mess. It wasn't just the masks that madeit difficult. Where they weren't bloodstained,the rats, bats, and humans were coated indust, making everyone largely unrecogniz-able. He could fly around for hours lookingfor Luxa and still not find her. Then histhoughts turned to the Bane. Even in thedust he might be able to see that monstrousfigure. But he could not spot any rat that waslarger than average.

Gregor was just going to have to keep aneye out and hope for the best. In the mean-time, he didn't exactly know how to join inthe battle. Should he report to someone?Was there some plan being executed? Be-cause if there was, he couldn't see it. The

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whole thing just looked like some big free-for-all.

"What do we do?" Gregor said. "Can wejump in anywhere?"

"Anywhere," said Ares.

But even now, even after all he had beenthrough and witnessed, something in Gregorbalked at the idea of simply going down andrunning his sword through a rat. His ambival-ence was interfering with his ability to con-nect with his rager side. He concentratedhard for a second to establish his place in allof this chaos. The reason he must kill therats, the reason they must die had to do with... had to do with ... the gasping mice in thepit and his mother lying in the hospital andBoots and those baby mice in the nursery —and Luxa, who must be, had to be some-where out in this mayhem. It had to do withwhat had happened, and would happen, not

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only to him but to those who were not warri-ors, if these rats were not stopped.

"Down there! By the right wall!" cried Ares.

Gregor could see a woman trying unsuc-cessfully to rise from the ground. Bloodpoured from a gash in her leg. A bat hoveredover her, slashing at an oncoming rat with itsclaws.

The buzzing began in Gregor's veins. "Go,"he said.

They had never flown in a battle together,Gregor and Ares. The one real battle Gregorhad fought in had been with the ants in thejungle. At that time, Ares had been strug-gling to survive the plague in the hospital inRegalia. But they had trained for hours andhours in the arena and had been in enoughtight spots together to know they could counton each other completely.

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Ares dove for the charging rat, tipping side-ways to allow Gregor the closest possiblerange. The rat was leaping for the injuredwoman just as Gregor's sword made con-tact. His blade severed one of the rat's ears.The rat turned on him with a ferocious hiss.

"That got its attention," said Gregor, as Areslooped back for another attack.

A look of shock crossed the rat's face as itrecognized them. Even in this mess, it wouldbe hard to overlook a bat as imposing asAres with an Overlander rider. "It's the warri-or! The warrior!" the rat screamed.

Gregor could hear the phrase ripplingthrough the army of rats as word of his pres-ence spread. He knew the rats had beenlaughing at him of late because of an en-counter he'd had a few weeks ago underRegalia. Twirltongue, the hypnotically per-suasive rat who advised the Bane, had

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sicced two of her buddies on him. Gregorhad been fighting very well until one of therats had smashed his flashlight, leaving himin darkness and reducing him to helpless-ness. He had crawled around on the tunnelfloor like a mouse cornered by a couple ofalley cats and barely escaped with his life.

"Good," thought Gregor. "Let them laugh."Because now, with the numerous torches,there was no danger of being without light.Now he had seen what they had done to themice. Now everything was different.

The bat they had come to aid had swept upthe wounded woman and flown off, soGregor redirected his attention to the scenebelow him. A group of about eight rats hadgathered beneath him, no doubt eager toclaim him as a prize. Ares could easily flyelsewhere, but Gregor wanted to see howhigh the rats could jump. Ares dipped downand the entire pack leaped up. The most

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athletic made it a good fifteen feet in the air.Gregor's sword made contact with a pair ofclaws that was just about to shred a spot onAres's left wing.

"Watch your wings," said Gregor.

"That is the trick," said Ares. "To fight themwe must be close, but if we are too close, Icannot evade them. When things movequickly, you will have to trust my choices."

Gregor understood what Ares meant. In theheat of battle, they could not stop and havesome detailed conversation over what targetto attack next. Ares was going to have tomake most of those decisions, and Gregorwas just going to have to go with them.

"Whatever you think, I'm with you," saidGregor.

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And with that, Ares threw them into thebattle. Wherever they turned, a group of furi-ous rats awaited them. It was less a questionof attacking than of countering the attacks ofthe mobs of rats. He was surrounded by ablur of razor-sharp claws and deadly teeththat all seemed bent on tearing open one ofhis main arteries. But he had no intention ofdying. Not while the Bane was still alive. If hewas going out, he was determined to fulfillthe prophecy and take the white rat with him.The rager sensation was pulsing throughhim but he was managing not to give in to itcompletely. Perhaps all of the hours of train-ing in the arena were helping him stay fo-cused. The movements were so familiar.Mareth had put Gregor and Ares throughtheir paces a thousand times this summer —dive attack, feint right, wing block, loop back— but in the arena, Gregor's sword hadbeen encountering air or strategically placedsand-bags. Sometimes they had worked with

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cow carcasses that were headed for the kit-chen. Mareth had wanted him to get the feel-ing of driving his sword into a real body. Itwas a lot harder than it looked. The bladehad to pierce the hide, then muscle, andthen sometimes ran into bone before it couldreach the vital organs inside. It took a lot ofpower. The lessons with the dead cows hadalways made Gregor somewhat queasy, buthe was grateful for them now. Grateful, too,for the superiority of the sword he had inher-ited from Sandwich. Sandwich's sword wasto a common Underlander sword as a steakknife was to a butter knife. It moved like light-ning and slid far more easily across a throat,between ribs, through the joint above a fore-leg. It could even cleanly cut off a row of ratteeth in one stroke. At least it could inGregor's hand. Soon Gregor was covered inblood, and Ares's fur had become damp andsticky with the stuff, but neither of them hadmore than scratches. He didn't have to think

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about how to wield his sword; it moved in-stinctively from target to target. And everytime it connected, Gregor became more con-fident, more powerful. He injured many rats,some of them fatally, he thought, althoughhe couldn't be sure, but the numbers attack-ing him only increased. If he had needed theimages of the mice and his loved ones topropel himself into battle, they were rapidlyreplaced by the desire for self-preservation."You really have no idea how much theyhate you, do you, Overlander?" Luxa hadsaid to him when they'd been arguing abouther starting the war. Well, he did now.

"Man, these rats want me dead!" Gregor re-marked to Ares when they had lifted abovethe fighting to take a breather. On theground, a snarling group of two dozen ratsran to stay directly under Ares.

"Has this only just occurred to you?" askedAres, and Gregor could hear the rare Huh-

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huh-huh that meant Ares was laughing.Gregor laughed, too. They were both in un-characteristically good moods.

In fact, Gregor felt better than he had inages. "It's the rager thing," he thought. Thelast time he had fought — it had beenagainst snakes in the jungle — he had ap-parently been grinning his head off, whichhad upset him at the time. But here, with thebattle around him, he didn't care.

And as for Ares laughing... for the first time.Gregor had to wonder if his bat might nothave a little rager blood in him, too. Ormaybe it was just the relief of finally doingsomething, something real. Of obliteratingthat feeling of intense frustration they hadexperienced as they watched the mice suf-focate to death while they were helpless tostop it.

At any rate, they were both flying high.

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"Ready for more?" asked Ares.

"Yeah, go for it," said Gregor. Thensomething caught his eye. "No, hang on aminute, Ares!"

For the first time, the action on the groundseemed to have taken on some kind of or-der. Gregor and Ares were among a groupthat was dealing with the rats along onefront. But there was a second line of intensefighting on the far side of the cavern, nearlyblocked out by the dust cloud it caused."What's happening over there?"

As Ares flew toward the cloud, Gregor beganto make out more of the scene. A long shelfof rock jutted out of the cavern wall abouttwelve feet from the ground. Under the edgeof the shelf, a wall of humans was on theground trying to hold off an intense rat at-tack. Their bats were performing some kindof strafing maneuver from the air, diving

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down on the rats and literally ripping chunksof flesh off of their bodies.

"It is the nibblers! Our army is trying to getthem to safety!" said Ares.

Gregor squinted into the dust and could justmake out a line of mice. The humans wereprotecting them as they scurried from a cavealong the cavern wall to a tunnel openingsome twenty yards away. But it was a verydangerous task, since the humans were at acomplete disadvantage fighting on theground. There was no choice, though.Gregor could see that. The stone shelf madeaerial fighting unthinkable. The rats would bepicking the bats off right and left at thataltitude.

At the mouth of the tunnel, the onslaughtwas the heaviest. Both human and rat bod-ies were piling up at an alarming rate. Thehumans had formed one of their standard

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defenses, an arc. But holding down the cen-ter point, the key position in the formation,was a rat. Ripred. He was spinning so fastthat a funnel cloud of dust had risen uparound him. Any rat that came into his reachwas instantly killed. Gregor did not know howlong he had been holding that position, buthe did know that even Ripred had a breakingpoint. What was it he had said once? "I startto crack at about four hundred to one."

Just then, Ripred's spin was thrown off as anenormous rat drove straight into him. Ripredstill managed to tear its throat out, but hewas knocked backward hard and seemedstunned.

"I've got to get down there!" Gregor shouted.

Ares didn't question him, but as he angled in,Gregor heard him call, "I am here!"

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The rats had immediately sensed the open-ing made by Ripred's incapacitation. Sevengathered into a pack, obviously preparing tocharge the cave entrance.

Gregor landed squarely in the spot where Ri-pred had been standing, sinking up to hisankles in the muck of dust and blood. Heslashed his blade across the air and then hita defensive position.

For a moment, the rats hung back, surprisedby the appearance of their new opponent.Then the leader let out a growl, and the en-tire pack went for Gregor's throat.

***

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CHAPTER 5Gregor's feet automatically began to pivot.He just had time to turn once before the ratswere within sword's reach. He'd gatheredenough momentum to damage the two com-ing in on his left — one in the neck and onein the eyes — with the first cut. The personfighting to his right drew off another pair. Buta trio of nasty-looking rats was still coming athim.

He dug his sneakers into the grit and stoodhis ground. These three made Twirltongue'sbuddies seem like cream puffs. They werelarger for one thing, nearer to Ripred's size.A combination of drool and blood dripped offof their fangs. Their scarred faces indicatedyears of fighting. But it was the look in their

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eyes, the pure viciousness that told Gregorthat he was dealing with a whole new levelof opponent. They knew how to fight as ateam, too, coming at him with multiple at-tacks, so that it was nearly impossible tofend off both blows at once. He did, though,he did, because now the rager effect was infull gear, splintering his vision, allowing himonly to perceive the deadly teeth and clawsand, in rare moments when he was notsimply defending himself, get glimpses oftheir vulnerable eyes and necks where hecould counterattack.

The sort of white-noise roar that sometimesaccompanied his rager state was there, buta voice was managing to cut through it. Al-though it was hoarse almost beyond recogni-tion, it could only belong to one creature.

"Oh, look who's decided to show up!Smelling like pudding and bubble bath.Mmm-mmm. So glad you could make it. Had

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a nice little vacation, did you? While the restof us were out here breathing sulfur and eat-ing ... well, not eating exactly. Howard hadthe idea of cutting off the leather pocket onyour old back-pack. That gave us somethingto chew on for a while but I can't really call itfilling. No, not satisfying in the way one mighthave hoped. Oh, and then there's been thelittle matter of freeing the nibblers. As youcan see, the rats didn't especially go for theidea." Gregor wanted to tell Ripred to shutup, tell him he was being distracting. But hedidn't have a breath to spare and formingwords at the moment seemed very difficult.Like when he was trying to talk to someonein a dream but no sound came out. A clawcame within inches of his throat and he tookoff the rat's foreleg at the joint. It fell backwith a scream of pain. Two to go.

"You know, I've been getting to know thatgirl-friend of yours," Ripred continued almost

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lazily, as if they had all the time in the worldto chat.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Gregor wanted toyell at Ripred, but the words wouldn't come.Besides, Ripred already knew his feelingsabout Luxa. Denying it would only bring onanother speech.

"She's got grit, I'll give her that. You shouldhave seen her taking those nibblers right outfrom under the Bane's nose. Would havemade her grandmother proud," said Ripred.

The last thing Gregor needed now was tothink about Solovet, who was Luxa's grand-mother, and how she might be reacting tohis running off.

"But frankly I'm a bit concerned about her,"said Ripred. Gregor caught one of the rats inthe windpipe and it retreated. But nowRipred's words had his attention. Why was

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he concerned about Luxa? Was she sick?Injured? "What?" he managed to bark out.The last rat was a huge brute with teethgnawed into razor-sharp points.

"She needs some clean air. We didn't havemasks until the army showed up and by thenshe'd been breathing this stuff for days," saidRipred. "I'm not wearing a mask, of course,could hardly fight in the thing. But as a ro-dent, my lungs are tougher than hers."

"She's sick?" Gregor got out. His opponentwas relentless. Gregor had stabbed himtwice, but it only seemed to enrage him.

"Sick? Well, yes. Frankly, I'm not even sureshe's still alive," said Ripred.

Gregor's hand faltered, and the rat he wasfighting nailed his head with its tail. He fell tothe right, pinning his sword arm beneathhim. The rat immediately lunged for him.

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Gregor braced himself for the teeth whensuddenly the rat was yanked up into the air,howling in rage. Ares had sunk his claws intothe thing's rump and he carried it high intothe cavern. The rat tried to twist around toattack the bat, but it was hopeless. WhenAres released it, it screamed all the way tothe ground, and then was still and silent.

Ripred stepped over Gregor, cuffing him up-side the head with a paw as he went. "You'regoing to have to have a little more mentaldiscipline than that, boy. Now get up!"

Gregor rubbed his head in confusion. Wasthis Ripred's idea of on-the-job training? Hadthat thing about Luxa been just a test? Wasshe really okay? Gregor wanted to ask, buthe was pretty sure Ripred would knock himinto next week if he did.

"Get up!" Ripred repeated with even lesspatience.

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Gregor sprang to his feet. Ripred had thecenter point of the arc again. On his left wasa woman Gregor recognized, Perdita. Shehad almost been killed the very first nightGregor had fallen to the Underland. He hadtried to escape, ran into two rats on a beach,and was rescued by a party of humans andbats. Perdita had been badly injured thatnight. But she'd recovered from her injuriessince then, and Gregor had trained with her.She fought with a sword and a dagger andcould hit almost as many bloodballs duringdrills as Gregor could, which made her oneof the Regalians' top fighters. On Ripred'sright was a man who Gregor had never seenbefore. He would have remembered him,too, because he must have been close toseven feet tall. With both hands he wielded athick broadsword that would easily havecome up to Gregor's shoulder. He hollered alot when he fought.

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"By me!" Ripred ordered and flicked his tailto indicate where Gregor should fight next toPerdita.

"She lives, Overlander!" said Perdita as hestepped into place, and she managed toshoot him an encouraging look betweenattacks.

"Thanks," said Gregor. He was at first grate-ful, then embarrassed because he realizedPerdita now knew about him and Luxa.Maybe everybody knew. But Ripred wasright. He couldn't think about that now. Hehad to focus on the battle.

Gregor wasn't the only one joining up withthe forces at the tunnel mouth. Both the hu-mans and the rats seemed to be directing allof their soldiers there. There was no time toask for an explanation of the battle orders. Itwas all he could do to keep alive.

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He knew Ares was an excellent fighting part-ner, but the bat was proving to be quite re-markable in his own right. Since so many ofthe humans were now fighting on theground, their bats were executing a full-scaleaerial attack on the rats. Mainly they woulddive down, rip a clawful of flesh from a rat'sbackside, and whip quickly back into the airto escape damage to their wings. But Areswas one of a handful of bats with thestrength to lift a full-grown rat off of theground and drop it to its death. Again andagain he picked off the deadliest fighters,saving many humans besides Gregor. Andas the battle continued, Gregor could heardesperate people begin to call out, "Ares!"hoping for a last-minute rescue from a rat at-tack. Despite the grim circumstances,Gregor could not help taking satisfaction thathis much maligned bond was finally gettingsome appreciation.

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It was hard to tell how much time hadpassed — thirty minutes, maybe forty-five —when people began to call, "The nibblers arein! The nibblers are in!" He guessed thismeant that all of the nibblers had made it in-to the tunnel. He'd yet to get a good look atthem, so he had no idea what condition theywere in. Pretty bad, probably.

A few minutes later, an order was given toretreat into the tunnel. Ripred took a secondout to growl, "Not you, boy!" at him, soGregor just held his position. This was get-ting trickier by the moment because he wasnow up to his knees in bloody ash, andkeeping a foothold was harder than ever.Around him, humans and bats carryingwounded began to make for the tunnel. Heheard repeated cries of "No torches! Notorches inside!" and could only wonder whatthat was about. Those carrying torcheshurled them like javelins into the army ofrats, causing some welcome disruption.

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Retreat seemed to be something the hu-mans and bats could execute quickly, be-cause in a matter of minutes, only twenty orso were left defending the tunnel mouth.Then they, too, under the tremendous pres-sure of the rats, began to slowly fall back.Soon, even the front line, still composed ofPerdita, Gregor, Ripred, and the giant manGregor didn't know, was forced into thetunnel.

"Fliers, go!" Perdita called. Ares and the lasttwo bats swept across the rat army, pepper-ing them with torches, and then dove into thetunnel.

Gregor had backed only a few steps into thetunnel when he knew he was going to run in-to trouble. "Why no torches?" he yelled, butno one had time to respond. Maybe therewas some plant in the tunnel that was flam-mable. Some weird moss or something. Thelight from the cavern was growing faint. That

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meant he was going to have to rely entirelyon the flashlight taped to his arm to see. Heclicked the switch to turn it to high beam andwas reassured by the amount of visibility itrestored. But what about the others? Ripreddidn't need light to fight. He could "see" byecholocation if need be, as could the oncom-ing rats. Perdita could probably get by onwhat his flashlight was putting out. But thatbig guy with the broadsword on the otherside of Ripred, he was going to haveproblems.

"Retreat! It's too dark for you!" Ripred said tothe man, whose only response was a stringof curses.

Gregor yanked his spare flashlight off of hisbelt and turned it on. "Hey! You on the end!"he yelled. No response.

"York," Perdita prompted him.

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"Hey, York!" said Gregor. The man lookedover and Gregor tossed him the flashlight."In your teeth!" he instructed. There was notime to tape it to York's arm or even explainwhat the flashlight was. But York seemed toget the idea. He yanked off his mask,crammed the end of the handle between histeeth, and kept hacking away.

Somewhere behind him, Gregor supposed,were backup soldiers, but he never sawthem. As the rats drove them deeper into thetunnel, all of the light disappeared except thebeams from the flashlights. And betweenhandling his own rats and trying to keep Per-dita from falling into darkness, there was notime to turn his head. He was still managing,but in this gloom, could it be that some of hisconfidence was slipping away? A rat's tailcame frighteningly close to taking out hisflashlight, cracking the glass. A claw caughtthe duct tape, almost ripping it free. Gregorrealized they were targeting his light. They

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must know, after his humiliating encounterwith Twirltongue and her pals, that he wasworthless without it. He ripped off his mask,pulled the flashlight free, and stuck itbetween his teeth as he had instructed Yorkto do, just barely blocking a tail that camestraight for his mouth. The bulb was begin-ning to dim. He could feel the power drainingout of him and the seeds of fear beginning togrow. What should he do? Tell Ripred? Keepfighting? Cut and run? Because frankly, if hisrager abilities left him he was just anothertwelve-year-old kid who'd had a few swordlessons. And, as he was realizing, a reallytired one at that.

A rat claw got through his defenses andopened up a cut on his calf. The tip of a tailmade contact with his flashlight and knockedthe beam sideways. As Gregor straightenedit, another claw tore through the laces onone of his shoes.

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"I can't hold on!" Gregor wanted to scream,but the flashlight made it impossible to talk,anyway. But he had to at least let someoneknow that he was fading, that they couldn'tcount on him, that —

"Hey!" Gregor yelped as his feet flew Outfrom under him. He landed on his back in apool of thick, slippery liquid and came upsputtering.

"Run! All of you!" snapped Ripred, andbegan a spin attack.

What was going on? Gregor scrambled tohis feet and saw — by the light of York'sflashlight, his own having dropped some-where into the pool when he cried out — thatYork and Perdita had not hesitated to followRipred's instructions. So Gregor ran afterthem as well.

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That is, he tried to run, but he was doingmore wading than anything else. The floorsloped down and the liquid rose up to hischest. It was all he could do to sort of bobforward. York's light showed they were in ashiny, black pool that filled the floor of thetunnel. "Oil," he thought. What else could itbe? Gregor held his sword high over hishead as he went along, hoping the stuffwouldn't get any deeper. Moving forward,moving forward, until there it was. The lightat the end of the tunnel. Literally.

The pool became shallower and now Gregorcould run, but carefully, carefully becausethe stuff was so slick. He went toward thelight, breaking out of the tunnel but still up tohis knees in oil. Before him lay a huge cav-ern, at least a quarter-mile long, that wasmuch less dusty than the one they hadbattled in. At the far end were lit torches butthey were placed very high on the walls.

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Huddled far below on the ground lay hun-dreds upon hundreds of mice.

Gregor didn't know exactly what was hap-pening, but he got a grip on the blade of hissword and began to sprint. This was onething he could do, whether he was raging ornot. He could hear his track coach's voicecoming from what seemed like another life-time, calling pointers to him. The oil disap-peared, his sneakers hit cinders, and heaccelerated.

Humans on bats were flying by, picking upmouse stragglers and wounded. Ares flew infor him but Gregor waved him toward themice, some of whom were unable even toget to their feet. Suddenly the cinders van-ished and he was wading again, this timethrough a shallow river with a current. Heplucked a struggling mouse pup from thewater and hoisted it onto his shoulder. For-tunately it was able to cling there on its own

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because his arms were soon full of a secondpup. As he came to the bank at the far side,hands reached for the pups and pulled himup onto a beach.

Gregor collapsed, gasping for breath. Helooked back across the cavern. The last fewmice were being lifted from the ground andflown here. Three humans on bats were jet-ting toward the tunnel with the black pool.They each carried a bow in one hand and aflaming arrow in the other.

"Shall I give the signal, Your Highness?"shouted a voice.

"Not yet." Gregor could barely make out thehoarse voice. He turned and there was Luxa,just a few yards behind him, eyes fixed onthe tunnel. She was drenched in oil and soweak she had to support herself on a rock.

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"Now, Your Highness?" The voice was tensewith urgency.

"Just give him a few more moments," saidLuxa. "There!" Gregor looked back, strainingto see the tunnel opening. A large, glisteningform barreled out of the mouth and made forthem. Ripred. Any second now, the army ofrats would be after him.

Behind him, Gregor could hear Luxa whis-pering, "Wait for them, wait for them." Then,as the first rat heads appeared, he heard hersay quietly, "Now."

A signal must have been given because thethree archers shot their flaming arrows intothe pool of oil spilling out of the cave. As thefirst made contact, a ball of flame burst to-ward the ceiling, igniting the rat army. Gregorknew it must have blasted back into the tun-nel, across the pool, incinerating everyone inits path. For a moment, he couldn't help

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thinking of what that must have meant, therats burned alive, the black smoke suffocat-ing those who had been far enough up thetunnel to escape the fire, the horror of it all.

Then another danger arose. So much oil hadbeen dragged across the cavern that the firespread toward them as well. Although it wasnot as fierce, it would be deadly if it caughton any of their oil-soaked bodies.

Gregor sprang to his feet. "Ripred? Where'sRipred?" he shouted, only to see the big ratsplash into the river before him. He lookedup to where Ares was circling overhead.

Ripred slowly dragged himself onto thebeach and surveyed the scene. There wasno trace of the rat army, only a roaring firebefore the tunnel. The flames had stopped atthe far side of the river, cut off by the water.They were safe. "Now whose idea was this?"he croaked out.

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"Queen Luxa's," said a nearby Underlander.

Ripred turned his head, spotted Luxa leaningagainst the rock, and glared at her a mo-ment. Then he gave her a nod of approval."Good plan."

Luxa opened her mouth to answer but in-stead began to cough into her hand. It was ahorrible, rasping cough that shook her entirebody. When she removed her hand from hermouth, it was covered in red. She stared atthe blood for a moment, as if faintly sur-prised, and then collapsed to the ground.

***

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CHAPTER 6A dozen people ran for her but Gregorreached her first. "Luxa? Luxa?" He couldnot keep the desperation out of his voice. Herolled her onto her back and gently proppedher head up on his lap. She was still con-scious, but barely. Another wave of coughingracked her body and fresh blood ran fromthe side of her mouth.

An Underlander, dressed in white to signifythat she was a doctor, uncorked a bottle andheld it to Luxa's lips.

"Look at her! She should have been senthome days ago!" bellowed a man. Gregorlooked up and saw York striding towardthem.

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"We could not make her go," another voicerasped out. Howard, who seemed nearly asbad off as Luxa, crouched down to wipe hiscousin's face with a cloth.

"You are still here as well?" asked York inexasperation.

"I was needed," said Howard faintly. "Somany wounded, Father."

Father? So this giant of a man was Howard'sdad? Gregor tried to remember what heknew of him. He was the governor at theFount. He had been kind to the mice. Notmuch else.

"You are no help like that. The pair of you!To Regalia! Now!" He raised his head in theair. "I need a flier with some life in it!"shouted York.

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Ares fluttered to the ground. "I have life,"said Ares. "I have been in the ash but a fewhours."

"We can take them," said Gregor. "He'sreally fast."

York gave them each a piercing look andthen handed Gregor back the flashlight he'dused in the cave. "Load them up!" heordered, and lifted Luxa in his arms as if sheweighed no more than a doll.

Gregor scrambled onto Ares's back beforeanyone could say he couldn't go.

"It would be best if she could remain sittingup," said the doctor. "Easier for her tobreathe." York placed Luxa in front ofGregor. "Can you keep her upright?"

"Yeah," said Gregor. He wrapped his armsaround her waist and pulled her back so her

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head was resting on his shoulder. "I can doit."

"Give her sips of this when the coughing re-sumes," said the doctor, and pressed thecorked bottle in Gregor's hand. "Howard willadvise you. Other than that, her hope lies ingetting to the hospital in Regalia."

As Howard was being lifted onto Ares'sback, Luxa began to struggle. "Aurora ..."she said.

"On my own flier, niece. She will be right be-hind you," said York, smoothing back Luxa'shair.

"Ripred," Luxa got out. The rat appeared andstuck his nose up to hers.

"Right here," he said.

"The nibblers. If I die ..." said Luxa.

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But Ripred cut her off. "You? Die? You're toomean to die." Luxa actually managed asmile. "But don't worry, Your Highness, I'lllook after them." Ripred nudged Ares withhis head. "Fly you high and fast."

Ares lifted into the air and shifted his power-ful wings into high gear. They did not need totake the secret, winding tunnels that hadbrought them here. But even though theyflew through the main thoroughfares, the tripwas excruciatingly long.

Nothing Gregor had experienced in thebattle came close to filling him with the terrorhe experienced on the flight home. Luxa wasso ill — barely able to breathe, wounded inseveral places, burning up with fever — thatat times he truly doubted she would make ithome alive. At one point, in fact, when shebecame very still, he thought he had lost her."Luxa!" he cried out and gave her a shake,

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and she began to cough again, bringing upmore blood but still with him, still there.

"Talk to her, Gregor," said Ares. "As you didto me in the currents."

Once, when they had been caught in a webof powerful air currents, Ares had nearlygone insane. Gregor had launched into anonstop monologue to distract the bat andkeep his spirits up. And so he began to talkto Luxa about anything and everything hecould think of. New York City, funny thingsBoots had done, a paper he had written onspiders, what winter was like, Mrs. Cormaci'srecipe for spaghetti sauce — anything —anything to keep her from drifting away.

Somewhere behind him, Howard lay in thedarkness. Gregor was reminded of his pres-ence by an occasional cough or an order todose Luxa with more medicine. But as poor

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as Howard's condition was, he was able tostay conscious, unlike his cousin.

After what seemed like an interminableamount of time, Gregor began to recognizethe landmarks around Regalia. They wereflying down the wild river that ran from theFount past Regalia to the Waterway. Only itdidn't look as wild as Gregor remembered it.The surface was not churned to a white froth— it was several feet lower than usual. Theearthquake that had altered the landscapeby the mouse colony near the Fount musthave affected the river flow as well.

"Almost there now," he told Luxa. "Almosthome." She made no response. She hadn'teven coughed in probably an hour. But hecould still feel her chest rising and falling.

Ares flew directly to the dock on the river.Even before they had landed, Gregor wasyelling, "Help! Doctor! Medic! Help! Help!"

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Underlanders unloaded Luxa and Howarddirectly off of Ares and onto stretchers. Theytried to place Gregor on a stretcher as wellbut he pushed them aside and ran afterLuxa. She was whisked into some kind ofemergency room, surrounded by a team ofdoctors snapping orders. Gregor tried to seewhat was going on but was unceremoniouslyshoved out of the room. A stone door swungclosed in his face.

He stood in the hall, panting and trembling,brushing aside the doctors who tried to treathim. It was not until Mareth appeared andgrasped him firmly by the arms that hebegan to come back to himself. "Gregor,"said Mareth. "You have need of medical as-sistance as well. You must come with me."

"Is she going to live?" asked Gregor.

"I cannot say. But she is getting the besttreatment we are able to give. You do not

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help her, or anyone, by letting your woundsinflame," said Mareth. "Come."

Then Gregor was in one of those herbalbaths again, soaking the oil and ash from hisskin. The rats had gotten him good in a fewplaces, particularly the one who had cut hiscalf open in the cave. He was stitched upand rubbed down with salve but he pushedaway the medicine that he knew would makehim sleep. Mareth took care to see that thephotograph of Gregor and Luxa made it intothe pocket of his new shirt, that his swordwas propped up against his bed. But Gregorinsisted on getting up. Ordinarily, that wouldnot have been allowed, but the hospital wasbecoming flooded with human and nibblercasualties and no one had time to deal withhim. He prowled up and down the halls, try-ing to get news of Luxa but hearing verylittle. Periodically he stood at the window tohis mother's hospital room — she looked

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better at least — watching her sleep. Thenhe'd pace the halls again.

Finally Mareth took charge of him. "They areoverwhelmed in the nursery with pups fromthe Firelands. We are only in the way here.Let us see if we cannot put ourselves touse."

After exacting a promise from a doctor thathe would be sent updates on Luxa's condi-tion, Gregor followed Mareth to the old nurs-ery. It was total chaos. The mouse pups hadbeen among the first to be air-lifted out of theFirelands. While those in the worst state hadbeen sent directly to the hospital, the othershad been assigned to the nursery while theyawaited care. The shell of Sandwich's hate-ful turtle was open — Solovet had found thesecret passageway as Gregor had predicted— and the babies were being carried in fromthe Spout. The nursery could hold only a

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fraction of them, so the entire wing wasswarming with sick, frightened pups.

Attempts were being made to accommodatethem. In the bathroom in which Gregor hadplayed hide-and-seek less than a day ago,every tub had been filled with herbal bathwa-ter, and a marathon session to clean thepups was under way. Two other rooms thathad held supplies had been fashioned intogiant nests made of great piles of blankets.Another room was completely devoted tofeeding the starving creatures.

Dulcet rushed by them, carrying a screamingpup wrapped in a towel, then did a doubletake. "Gregor! Mareth! Can you help in thebaths?"

"You got it," said Gregor, glad for some wayto occupy himself. In another minute he wasup to his waist in water in one of the deeptubs, receiving a mouse pup. The baby was

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trembling so hard its teeth were chattering.Separated from its parents, ill and starving,of course it was a wreck.

"You're okay. You're all right, little guy," saidGregor soothingly. The pup's fur was cakedwith oil and dust, and it was no easy mattergetting it clean. Eventually, with the help ofsome kind of shampoo and a comb, Gregorgot its coat to its normal gray color. As soonas he passed the pup on to be dried, anotherwas placed in his arms.

There were scores waiting to be cleaned andmore arriving all the time. Gregor workedtirelessly, bathing the pups, calming themwith his words. But his mind was in the hos-pital with Luxa, willing her to keep breathing.Once, when a doctor came through, he got apiece of real news. They were trying to ridthe ash from her body, but it was a delicateprocess since her lungs were damaged by

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days in the foul air. At least she was stillalive.

Periodically Dulcet or Mareth would try tomake him leave his post in the bath, but hecouldn't, wouldn't. Then, as he was handingoff another mouse pup, he realized Bootswas crouching at the edge of the tub with aplate, waving at him.

"Hey, Boots," said Gregor, and crossed toher. "What's going on?"

"I helping Dulcie feed the babies," saidBoots. "Now she says I feed you."

On the plate were a slice of meat, somebread, and a mug of tea. Gregor ate, more toplease Boots than anything, but he did feel alittle better with something in his stomach."Thanks, Boots."

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"I'm going to feed the babies more," saidBoots.

"Good work," he said.

"You give baths," she reminded him.

"Right," said Gregor, and reached for anoth-er pup. And so it went on for several hours,until Dulcet tapped him on the shoulder.

"Gregor, you are being called to the hospit-al," she said.

Without hesitation, Gregor gave the mousepup he was holding to a nearby Underlanderand hoisted himself from the water. His skinwas wrinkled and tingling from the hours inthe herbal bath and his legs felt slightlynumb. "Is she all right? Can I see her?" heasked.

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"I do not know," said Dulcet. "Only that youwere summoned." Her eyes darted over tothe doorway and back again significantly. Inthe entrance stood Horatio and Marcus.

"Oh, my bodyguards are back," said Gregor,buckling on his sword belt. He didn't care. Aslong as he got to go see Luxa. He walkedright past them without a word but he couldhear them fall into step behind him. Throughthe crowds of mouse pups, along the hall-ways, down the steps that led to the hospital,they followed him. He chose a shortcut, alittle-used staircase for the last flight. At thebottom was a small stone door that gave ac-cess to the hospital. But Gregor neverreached the door. About ten steps from thebottom, Horatio suddenly slammed him intothe wall and before he could recover, Mar-cus had bound his hands behind his back.He started to holler and they tied a gagaround his mouth. Then he was being lifted,carried back up the steps, along narrow

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passages, and then down deep under thecity of Regalia. He fought like crazy, but theywere too strong for him. Eventually theytossed him onto a stone floor and backedaway with their weapons drawn. Gregor wasin a small room with a low ceiling. He hadjust gotten to his knees when Solovetstepped into the doorway.

"You and I must come to an understanding,"she said.

The door swung shut, a key turned in a lock,and Gregor was left in complete darkness.

***

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CHAPTER 7Gregor gave a cry of fury that was muffled byhis gag. He made it to his feet and ranblindly toward the door to his cell, slamminginto it. This was no good. It was a thick slabof stone; the only thing damaged was hisshoulder. For a while he continued to yell buteventually gave that up as well. There wasno sound outside of his cell. If there wereguards, they were silent and unresponsive.He slumped against the door and tried tocontrol himself. But it wasn't easy. The ragersensation had begun to brew in him from themoment the door had swung shut. Without away to focus the bizarre feeling — like, say,battling rats — he felt out of control. Hecould not keep himself from straining againstthe leather strap that held his wrists behind

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his back, from making growls of frustration.From wanting to kill someone.

"Calm down," he ordered himself. "Calmdown!" He took deep breaths while he triedto assess his situation.

"What's your plan?" he imagined Ripred'svoice again. Somehow it helped him tofocus.

"The first thing I need to do is get my handsfree!" he snapped back in his head. Theyhad not taken his sword, so there had to bea way. Gregor scooted his foot along thewall until he came to a corner. He inched hissword belt around so that the weapon wasbehind him. He wedged the point of thesword into the corner of the floor and bracedthe hilt with his back. The blade was verysharp, and by rubbing the leather strapagainst it, he was able to saw through hisbonds in a matter of minutes. Next he cut

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through the gag and flung it away. He couldscream now for real. But he didn't bother. Heknew no one was going to come to hisrescue.

It was pitch-black. They hadn't left him withso much as a candle. The flashlight Yorkhad returned to him ... where was it? Lostsomewhere in the confusion of the hospital.The door fit so tightly into the walls around itthat not even the faintest shaft of light leakedaround its edges.

Gregor felt his way around the cell. It wassmall, about ten feet by ten feet. If he stoodup straight, the ceiling brushed his hair.There was nothing to be found in it. Not abench to sit on. No food or water. No placeto pee. No blanket to keep him warm, whichwas his most immediate concern, because itwas cool in the cell and he was soaking wetfrom bathing the mice. He slumped down in

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the corner and pulled his arms inside hisshirt to conserve body heat.

Why had Solovet done this? Probably topunish him for running back to the Firelands.To show him that she was in charge and, ifhe disobeyed her, she could toss him in thedungeon anytime she wanted to. But thatwasn't exactly the message Gregor was get-ting. If she had really been in charge shewouldn't have needed Horatio and Marcus toabduct him secretly and spirit him down tothis cell. He had been arrested one othertime, when he had placed the baby Bane inRipred's care instead of killing him. But therehad been an official, public arrest and a trialto follow. Gregor had an unsettling feelingthat now no one but Solovet and a few of hersoldiers knew where he was. Who else couldknow? Who would come to his aid or evennotice he was gone? Dulcet had seen Hora-tio and Marcus take him away, but theycould easily say they had escorted him to

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the hospital and then he'd slipped off again.If Dulcet even had time to think about it, be-cause she definitely had her hands full in thenursery. Mareth usually kept an eye on him,but again, with the general confusion goingon in the palace, it would be easy to thinkGregor was in another place dealing with an-other problem. Even Boots would be toobusy to miss him. His mother was sick, hisdad back in New York City. Luxa andHoward were barely hanging on to life.Ares? No doubt Ares was expending everybit of energy he had helping to airlift the nib-blers out of the Firelands and back toRegalia. A job like that could take days. Thatpretty much left Vikus. Would he realizeGregor had been imprisoned? With the warstarting, he was probably working around theclock, too. And Gregor felt certain Solovethadn't told him about this. They were mar-ried but they didn't always confide in eachother. Take the development of the plague

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as a weapon. If Solovet had hidden that fromVikus, then concealing that she had lockedup Gregor was nothing.

Hours passed. Gregor huddled in the cornertrying to stay warm. His clothes barelyseemed to be drying at all. He was hungryand exhausted. The lack of light weighed onhim. His thoughts turned to "The Prophecy ofTime," to his death, to how he was meant tokill the Bane. He didn't see how he was go-ing to get a chance to do that in here. Whatwould happen if he didn't? And what was go-ing on with that Code of Claw thing? Bootshad been in the nursery, but wasn't the prin-cess supposed to be working on that? Theprophecy had mostly been about how im-portant it was to break the Code of Claw.Gregor and the Bane's death had beenrather minor points compared to that, at leastto Sandwich.

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Eventually Gregor fell into a kind of stupor,not fully asleep but not quite awake, either.And in this state, visions of the battle he hadjust fought began to replay in his mind. Theelation he had felt from fighting had com-pletely dissipated. Now when he saw hissword slicing through the rats' flesh, theirclaws coming at him, he felt scared andweak. It was as if some other person hadtaken over his body for the duration of thebattle. But that person had deserted him inthe dungeon, leaving a kid who suddenlywanted nothing so much as to wake up in hisbed in New York City and find his momtelling him to hurry up, it was time forbreakfast.

He finally went to sleep, curled up in a ballon the stone floor. Luxa wove in and out ofhis dreams, laughing on her bat, dancing inthe arena, and then, as his dreams changedto nightmares, lying in a hospital bed wherehe couldn't reach her, breathing slower and

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slower until she stopped breathing entirely.He woke with a start, his brow beaded withsweat, in time to hear the door of his cellslam shut. Stiff and aching, Gregor crawledtoward the sound. His right hand landed in aplate of something. Stew? He found a smallloaf of bread. A mug of water. There were noutensils. Famished, he crouched in the dark,cramming the food into his mouth. At leastSolovet didn't plan on starving him to death.No, he was her prize weapon. She wasn'ttrying to kill him, just punish him, humiliatehim, and break him, probably. He lifted theplate and licked the remaining sauce from itssurface. He could have eaten ten times asmuch, but it at least stopped the hungerpangs in his stomach. That was all that hadcome, the food on a tray. Gregor reallyneeded to go now. He didn't want to pee inhis cell, so he went in the mug. Then hewent back to his corner and curled up on thefloor again.

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The darkness continued to press upon him,making him feel a little crazy. He shut hiseyes tight and tried to imagine he was lyingon the grass in Central Park on a warm day.Basking in the sun, feeling it soak into hisskin. Maybe he would get up and buy a pret-zel, heavily slathered in mustard. He wouldtake Boots for a ride on the carousel. At thechildren's zoo, they would feed the pig thatalways made her laugh until she hiccuped.

But it was no good. No good. He could notwish himself out of this dank, lifeless hole inthe ground. He didn't think he could stand itvery much longer. He needed light, heneeded people, he needed to know whatwas going on! Was Luxa alive or wasn't she?That was the cruelest thing Solovet haddone to him, cut him off from the world. Howcould she do it? How could no one notice hewas gone? It had been hours now, maybedays. Didn't anyone even care where hewas? Suddenly he was so upset he had to

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bite his lip so he didn't start screaming. Andthen something happened that changed hisentire perception of the world. Gregorcoughed. It was just a small cough. But theinstant it left his mouth, it was as if lightninghad struck the room. He could see! Okay,not see exactly, because it was still dark inhis cell. But he could tell with absolute cer-tainty the proximity of the wall across fromhim. It was almost as if a picture of it ap-peared in his head. Shocked out of his des-pair, Gregor sat up and coughed again.There was the tray, the plate, and the mug.Somewhere in his brain he could registertheir shapes on the floor, as if in silhouette.But there was more. The mug gave off afaint redness that suggested heat. Why? Hescooted over to the mug and wrapped hisfingers around it. It was still warm from hispee.

He had finally gotten it. The thing that Ripredhad been so bent on teaching him, that

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Gregor had been so unable to learn. Echo-location. All those hours of clicking around inthat dark cave, trying to locate the rat, miser-ably failing, had not been a waste of time.He had radar! Just like a bat! He set the fewobjects he had around the room and clickedand coughed at them. It wasn't just a fluke;he hadn't gone temporarily insane. He could"see" them all, even the photograph of Luxahe'd been carrying in his pocket. Well, hecouldn't actually make out the picture, onlythe small, thin square. But maybe that wouldcome in time.

His preoccupation with his newfound skillkept him from going nuts. Kept him frombreaking down and begging the guards to lethim out. And he knew he couldn't do that.Let Solovet win. He had to leave this cell asuninfluenced by her as he had entered it, orhe would just become her pawn in this wholeawful war. And he would really, truly ratherbe dead than do that. If he gave that woman

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control over him, there would be nothing leftinside of him.

Instead of brooding, he devoted himself tocombining his sword work with his echoloca-tion. It was even better in rager gear! Justthe mild sensations he got from practicingwith his sword heightened his echolocationability. The wall was there! The plate there!The door there! The tip of his blade tappedeach in turn. He couldn't wait to tell Ripred!

After a decent workout, he rested against thewall. His clothes were finally dry. He was nolonger cold. His mind was electrified by theecholocation. He began to consider a plan tobreak out of his prison. Someone was goingto have to open that door again to feed him.And when they did he would be ready. Hewould overpower them and fight his wayback to Vikus or Ripred or Ares or someonewho would take his side. He would get out ofhere and he would let everyone know what

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Solovet had done to him. He would — whatwas that?

Gregor flattened himself against the wall afew feet from the place where the dooropened. In this position, he figured he wouldhave a couple of seconds to attack hisguards and break out. But something wasconfusing him. He could hear voices outside.One was deep, probably Horatio's orMarcus's. But the second was light and highand female. The person to whom it belongedwas arguing with the guard, although Gregorcouldn't quite catch the words. Who could itbe? Not Luxa or his mom. They wouldn't bewell enough. Had Dulcet tracked him to thedungeon? Or Perdita come looking for himafter they had fought side by side in theFirelands?

The lock turned in the key and the doorswung open. Torchlight flooded in, hurting

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his eyes. From outside came a shaky voice."Gregor, it is only I. Sheath your sword."

It was Nerissa. Luxa's cousin on the royalside. Gregor did not have to ask how shehad discovered he was in the dungeon, howshe knew he had been poised, sword drawn,ready to attack the guard. She could seethings that no one else could. Visions ofevents past, present, and future. She had nodoubt seen him here and realized he neededhelp.

He knew Nerissa was his friend, but he didn'tthink much of putting away his sword withthe guards out there. "I'm okay in here," hesaid, not moving.

Nerissa stepped into the cell and steadiedherself on the door frame. She was as thinand fragile as ever, bent under the weight ofthe heavy, mismatched garments she woreto keep warm. Her long tresses had been

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braided into a loose plait that, by Nerissa'sstandards, counted as a fancy hairdo. "Wehave need of you in the code room."

This was the first Gregor had heard of thecode room. But it had to be a step up fromthe dungeon. "Solovet wants me there?" heasked.

"She will. Once I have spoken to her," saidNerissa. "But you must come with me to seeher first. And you must let Horatio and Mar-cus bind your hands if they are to risk mov-ing you. They only do so now because Ihave explained the crisis that faces us.Breaking the code is our priority and it doesnot go well. Please trust me on this, Gregor."

Even though he did trust her through andthrough, it took her a while to convince himto sheath his sword and let the guards tie hishands behind his back. He hated being sovulnerable again. But if he could get out of

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the cell without fighting his guards it wouldbe better. That would make him an instantfugitive and make it even tougher to movearound freely. Still, he remained undecideduntil Nerissa said, "Luxa has been asking foryou."

"She has? She's alive, then? I mean, obvi-ously she's alive if she's asking for me, butshe's awake and everything?" he burst out.The news made him so giddy he wasn'tthinking straight.

"Yes, she heals. And she wishes to seeyou," said Nerissa. "But I will be hard-pressed to arrange it with you in thedungeon."

That was when Gregor slid his sword into hisbelt and let Horatio tie the leather straparound his wrists. Then, with the guardsflanking him, he followed Nerissa up throughthe palace. Luxa was alive! She had pulled

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through! He found himself grinning from earto ear. As they ascended from under thepalace, the atmosphere in the hallwaysquickly sobered him up. Anxiety showed onthe faces of everyone he passed. Theyspoke in hushed, hurried voices. From timeto time, he heard wailing. He rememberedthe Underlander bodies piling up around himat the mouth of the cave in the Firelands.Not everyone had been as lucky as Luxa. Bythe time he had reached the council room,his grin was long gone.

"That's just as well," thought Gregor. Hedidn't plan to let Solovet see him show anyemotion at all. Not anger, not fear, and cer-tainly not happiness. As he walked in tomeet her, he made his face as impassive asthe stone knight's.

The council room had been transformed intoa kind of war center. About a dozen bleary-eyed Underlanders were buzzing around,

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making notes, delivering messages, drinkingmugs of tea. There were a couple of batsthere as well. Piles of scrolls were strewnacross the table. Platters of food covered along table off to one side, indicating peoplewere working here around the clock. The gi-ant map of the Underland that Gregor hadseen once before, when they had plannedhis trip to the jungle, hung on the wall.Groups of different colored pins were ar-ranged here and there. It didn't take a milit-ary genius to guess those representedtroops.

Ripred, who had been bathed and band-aged, had positioned himself by the buffet.By the array of empty dishes around him,he'd been having quite a feast. He was cur-rently dipping his face into a pot of his favor-ite shrimp in cream sauce. Besides the rat,the only ones Gregor recognized were So-lovet and Mareth, who were discussing agrouping of red-colored pins on the map.

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When Nerissa, Gregor, and his guardsentered, the room gradually fell silent. So-lovet took one look at the newcomers andsaid calmly, "All excuse themselves butMareth and Ripred." In a minute, the othershad cleared out. "What is the meaning ofthis?" she asked.

Nerissa did not give the guards time to an-swer. "We have need of Gregor in the coderoom. I took it upon myself to have him re-leased and now ask permission for his aid."

"And how did you know where to find him?"asked Solovet. "No, never mind. I supposeyou saw him in a dream. What else does ourlittle visionary see?"

"I saw nothing but Gregor locked in a dun-geon," said Nerissa quietly. Gregor couldsee by the look of shock on Mareth's facethat the soldier had had no idea of his

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situation. And Ripred even stopped eatingfor a moment.

"Oh, tell me you didn't," said the rat, as thecream sauce dripped off of his muzzle.

"Only for a couple of days," said Solovet witha slight shrug. "I would have had him arres-ted sooner but I thought it more prudent towait until Vikus had gone to enlist the spin-ners. What urgent need can you have forhim in the code room, Nerissa?" She rolled ared pin between her fingertips, seemingly im-patient to get back to her map.

"It is Boots. We feel she would be of moreuse if Gregor were there to help manageher," said Nerissa.

Solovet glanced at Gregor's face and shookher head.

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"Well, you will have to do without him. I can-not risk him disobeying orders yet again andrunning off to who knows where," she said."Return him to the dungeon."

"He did not run off to who knows where. Hecame back to battle," said Ripred. "And luckyfor us he did. Really, Solovet, I don't seehow this is encouraging any sort of allegi-ance to you."

"He's had no light, no medical care, no bed,and little food," said Nerissa.

"Oh, excellent," said Ripred. "Let's alienatethe warrior altogether."

"Fine, allow him a torch and a blanket," saidSolovet.

"I will take responsibility for him," saidMareth. "He will not leave Regalia."

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"No, I need you here. And if he outsmartedHoratio and Marcus, there is no guaranteeyou can hold him," said Solovet.

"What holds him is already in Regalia, So-lovet," said Ripred.

"His family was not enough to keep him fromgoing before," said Solovet.

"Not his family. Your granddaughter. Why doyou think he was in such a rush to get backto the Firelands? Concern for me?" saidRipred.

"Luxa? What has she to do with it?" askedSolovet. For the first time she appeared in-terested in the conversation.

Gregor could not keep himself from speak-ing. "Shut up, Ripred."

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"See how he protests? Oh, he's head overheels. I got my first smell of it when theywere having some quarrel in the Firelands,"Ripred said nonchalantly. Gregor re-membered that argument. He had blown upat Luxa for abusing Ripred and bossingeverybody around. It had ended with himfeeling very confused. That's when Ripredhad taken a deep, noticeable sniff. So ratscould smell more than fear, they could smelllove as well.

"He about got himself killed in the Firelandswhen I just mentioned she was unwell," con-tinued the rat. "Oh, think back about half acentury, Solovet. You remember what it'slike."

"He is in love with Luxa?" Solovet asked witha look of amusement. "Is this so, Gregor? Isthis the reason you disobeyed my order?"

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Gregor made no reply. His face burned likefire.

"If it were so, I would be far more amenableto letting you free, as I do not believe Luxawill be planning any outings anytime soon,"said Solovet. "But I should like to hear it fromyou."

Gregor stared at the ground, thinking of whathe might do to Ripred if he ever were free.

"No? Then perhaps the dungeon is thesafest place for you," said Solovet.

The guards had just laid hands on him tolead him away when Mareth burst out,"Check his pocket!" Gregor shot Mareth alook of disbelief. This was far worse thanRipred's betrayal. With his hands tied behindhis back, there was nothing Gregor could dobut watch as Solovet crossed to him andplucked the photo from his shirt. She

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examined it closely for a moment, thenlaughed and held it up for Ripred to see.

"What did I tell you?" said the rat, and stuffeda clawful of shrimp into his stupid mouth.

Gregor knew then it was all there in thatphoto. All the proof anyone needed of hisfeelings for Luxa, captured in that one shot.He had been an idiot to carry it around. Buthow could he have anticipated this moment?

"This has simplified my job immensely." So-lovet tucked the photo back in Gregor's shirt,gave it a little pat, and smiled at him. "Do notworry, your secret is safe with me." She nod-ded to the guards. "Unbind his hands, he isfree to go."

***

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CHAPTER 8The second they cut through the strap at hiswrists, Gregor spun on his heels and stalkedout of the door. He was livid at Ripred andMareth for revealing his feelings for Luxa toSolovet. First of all, it was a personal thing.No one's business but his own! Second,didn't they know Solovet would just use Luxaagainst him? Like she did everyone he caredabout? Didn't they see how it would only giveher more power to control him? And finally,what if Luxa found out? He had no idea howLuxa really felt about him. They had nevertalked about it or anything. Now someonewould tell her and the idea was just so em-barrassing. He was ready to find Ares andhead home and —

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A form brushed by him as he reached theend of the hallway, and suddenly Ripred wasblocking his way. "Hold on, boy."

Gregor had his sword out of his belt so fast itwas a blur. "Move. Now."

Ripred held up his paws in mock surprise."Oh, dear. Is this where we fight to thedeath? I didn't expect it so soon."

"Move, Ripred!" said Gregor, and swung atthe rat, who dodged his blow but still lost afew inches of whiskers on one side.

"Either I'm getting old or you're improving agood deal," said Ripred. "But I suggest youdon't try that again."

Gregor lifted his sword to slice at the ratwhen a pair of strong arms caught his insome kind of headlock from behind. "Stop,

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Gregor! You do not understand what servicehe did you!" Mareth said.

"Get off me, man!" said Gregor, struggling tofree himself. But Mareth was too strong andeven though he was mad, Gregor could nothave attacked him with his sword. He wasactually far more hurt by Mareth turning onhim than Ripred. Gregor had come to thinkof Mareth as a friend. Not now, though. Sohe kept fighting until Mareth flipped him overand pinned him to the ground. Then Ripredclimbed on top of him — Ugh! The rat had toweigh about six hundred pounds! — and ex-haled shrimp breath in his face. "Just let usknow when you're ready to listen."

It didn't take long for Gregor to give up sincehe could barely get any air in his lungs. PlusMareth and Nerissa were looking overRipred's shoulder with such obvious concernthat it was hard not to believe they weregenuinely upset by his reaction. He forced

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his muscles to relax, which was not easy be-cause the rager thing seemed to be with himall the time now, bubbling to the surface atany provocation, and even though it camewithout effort, he could not turn it off at will."What? What?" he growled at them.

"Gregor, we are sorry if we revealed any-thing of a private nature back there. Butwhen Ripred opened that door, I followedhim immediately," said Mareth. "We did notwant you back in that dungeon."

"I was doing all right," said Gregor sullenly.

"After only two days. But Solovet oncelocked Hamnet up in that very cell for a fullmonth because he crossed her at a warcouncil," said Nerissa. "No light. No humancontact. He was not the same when hecame out."

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"Vikus was fighting at the Fount. The councilwas completely under her control. There wasno one of power to intercede for Hamnet. Tosuffer this at his own mother's hands ...many of us think it contributed to his insanityat the Garden of Hesperides," said Mareth.

"And if she'd do that to Hamnet, do you thinkshe'd be more lenient on some insubordinateOverlander?" said Ripred. "He was the appleof her eye, and she doesn't even like you!"

"I would have said the same as Ripred andMareth had I been clever enough to think ofit," said Nerissa. "Please, Gregor. Know thatwe acted on your behalf."

Gregor thought of a month in that cell. Evenwith his new echolocation skills, it would beunbearable. Poor Hamnet. Gregor re-membered how agitated he had been in thejungle when Luxa had suggested that hisself-imposed exile from Regalia had been

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excessive, that he could have returned atleast to visit her. Hamnet had said, "No, Icould never have left twice. You know how.Solovet works. She would have had meleading an army again in no time." Was hethinking of that cell and how Solovet wouldhave let him rot there until he was eithercompletely insane or so desperate he'd doanything she said? It must have been awfulfor Hamnet to know in his dying momentsthat he had no choice but to send his son,Hazard, back to Regalia to live. Is that whyhe had extracted the promise from Luxa thatshe would never let Hazard be trained as asoldier? Gregor had always thought thatHamnet had made that request because hewas so opposed to war in principle. Now hewondered if he had also said it to keep Haz-ard as far out of Solovet's reach as possible.

Gregor could feel the tension leaving hismuscles for real now, as he began to

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understand his friends' motives. Still, what ifLuxa found out what had happened?

"No one will utter a word of what was said inthat room, you may be sure of that," saidMareth. "We will not speak and Solovetwould not want it to be common knowledge."

"Okay, okay. You did me a big favor. Now letme up," said Gregor. He still spoke grufflybut he was not really angry anymore.

"Just when I was getting comfortable," saidRipred, giving a luxurious stretch that nearlycrushed Gregor's ribs before he got off."Let's get down to the code room, before thatsister of yours drives the finest minds of theUnderland completely nuts."

Oh, yeah. The code. He knew it was import-ant, but... "But I'm going to the hospital," pro-tested Gregor.

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"Please, Gregor. Luxa sleeps, so you wouldnot be able to truly visit her. And we havereal need of your help," said Nerissa. Theexertion of the last hour had set her to trem-bling violently. He didn't want her fainting orsomething.

"All right, Nerissa. I'll go there first," saidGregor.

Mareth had to return to Solovet's side, butNerissa and Ripred accompanied Gregor tothe code room. They gave him ten minutesto run into a bathroom for a quick wash andchange of clothes, and then hurried him up afew flights of stairs to a chamber off of along, narrow corridor. They walked in onquite a scene.

Although he knew this was not its purpose,the room reminded Gregor of a zoo. It wasshaped like an octagon. On one wall was thedoor through which Gregor had entered. The

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one directly across from this had a carving ofsome sort of strange tree. A long tablecovered with scrolls, books, and long stripsof white fabric was set up beneath the tree.The remaining six walls had arched open-ings of various heights that led to privaterooms. Above each arch was the name ofthe creature that was meant to inhabit theroom: Spinner, Crawler, Human, Flier, Gn-awer, Nibbler. Some of the rooms werealready filled with their designated guests,and this was what had given Gregor the im-pression of a zoo. A light green spider restedon a web, a heavily bandaged white mousewith black markings lay on a nest ofblankets, a bat with creamy white fur hungupside down from a perch, and a roachpeered out of an archway that was onlythree feet off of the ground. Every arch wasequipped with a curtain that could be easilyclosed, but at the moment, all were open,

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because all of the creatures were staring fix-edly at Boots.

She was standing on the back of her loyalcockroach friend, Temp, smack in the middleof the octagon, singing "The Itsy-BitsySpider" at the top of her lungs. The greenspider, to whom the song was principally dir-ected, seemed to be cringing. Boots wassomewhat off-key, but Gregor was prettysure it was the loudness that was making thearachnid hunch down and contract. Spidersdisliked any loud noises. As she wound upthe song, Boots turned to each door andgave a separate bow, saying, "Thank you!Thank you!" although no one had applauded.Gregor knew she didn't care. As long as shehad an audience, Boots could go on like thisfor hours.

"She has been going on like this for hours,"whispered Nerissa.

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"Days, more like it," said Ripred in disgust."You've got to get her to focus on the Codeof Claw before the entire team bolts forhome."

"Next, I will sing one for you!" announcedBoots, pointing at the bat, who actuallyflinched.

"Boots! Hey, Boots, what's going on?" saidGregor, trying not to laugh as he crossed toher. He thought it was funny, but it probablywasn't if you'd been in the audience for days.

"Gre-go!" said Boots, and put up her armsfor a hug.

"Come here, you," said Gregor, lifting her upon his hip. "How you doing, Temp?"

Temp bobbed his antennae. One was stillbent from an earlier encounter with the rats."Well, I be, well."

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"I am singing to make them happy!" saidBoots.

"You sure are," said Gregor. "You know whatelse would make them happy?"

"What?" asked Boots, her eyes widening inanticipation.

Gregor realized he didn't know. He lookedback at Nerissa and Ripred. "What do youwant her to do?"

"Well, no one knows, do they?" said Ripred."She's supposed to be the key to breakingthis whole code wide open, but all she'sdone so far is terrorize the rest of us intototal submission."

"I been singing," said Boots proudly.

"You certainly have," said Ripred. "Show himthe ropes, would you, Nerissa?"

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"I am not even meant to be here," Nerissaconfided to Gregor as she led them over tothe long table. "But I volunteered to help withyour sister."

"So this is your special code room?" askedGregor.

"Yes, it was built long ago. We have brokenmany codes here in the past and now wemust unravel what we believe to be theCode of Claw," said Nerissa. "It is an un-known code that the gnawers began to usethe day we freed the nibblers. So its appear-ance coincides with other events in 'TheProphecy of Time.' This is a sample of it."She picked up one of the strips of white fab-ric and showed it to Gregor. It was coveredwith a series of lines. Some were straight upand down, others tilted to the right or left. "Ittook only a short time to rule out any usualencryption methods the rats might have

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used. This is a new and clever code that wemust break."

Gregor looked at the lines. They meant ab-solutely nothing. "Well, if you're expectingBoots to start translating a bunch of chickenscratch into words ... I don't think that's goingto happen, Nerissa. She's just learning toread."

"You do not need to worry about the lines.We have the messages written in letters aswell," said the bat, flipping off of his perch.

"Oh, forgive me," said Nerissa. "This isDaedalus. The spinner is Reflex. The crawleris Min, and the nibbler is known as Heroni-an." Nerissa did not look at all well, but shekept going as she pressed the palm of herhand into her forehead. "Perhaps you mether in the Firelands?"

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"No. Nice to meet you, everybody," saidGregor, and received a round of nods back.

"These are the finest code-breakers of eachspecies," said Nerissa. "Boots is meant torepresent the humans."

"And you represent the rats?" Gregor askedRipred.

"Well, I wouldn't be anyone's first choice, buttimes being what they are, I'll have to do,"said Ripred. "It's not really essential that arat be here, but a rat may help. Unfortu-nately, I have other pressing demands aswell."

"Ripred is wanted everywhere. In the warroom, on the field, and in the code room. Hegives much insight into how the gnawerscompose their codes," said Nerissa. "But hewill not break this code. That is Boots's role."

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Daedalus snagged a white strip with his clawand gave it to Gregor. Above the lines onthis one were a stream of regular letters. Butthey didn't form recognizable words. "Shemay ignore the lines and only concentrate onthe letters."

Gregor shook his head. He hated to disap-point everybody, but he had to be honest."Listen, as I'm sure you know, this makes nosense. And I don't know what you think mythree-year-old sister can do with it, but Iwouldn't set your hopes too high." Boots tookthe strip of code, suddenly excited. "Oh! Iknow! I know!" Gregor could feel the wholeroom tense in anticipation, hoping for somekind of break-through. But once she was onthe ground, Boots simply tucked one end ofthe strip in the back of her pants and ran.The fabric floated out behind her. "Look! Ihave a tail! I have a tail!"

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Gregor cracked up. He couldn't help it. Thewhole thing was so ridiculous.

Then Ripred's nose was in Gregor's face, hislips curled back in displeasure. "You mayfind this amusing, but if we don't crack thiscode, we lose the war. Period. Nothing youor I or anyone can do out on that field cancompare with the power of knowing what isgoing on in our enemy's brains. So, if you'dlike your little sister to have the chance tocontinue her singing career, I suggest youhelp her focus!"

Gregor called Boots over, took off her tail,and settled her on his lap. He didn't knowwhat they were doing, but he had her readthe letters on the strip of fabric. She couldrecognize them all; sometimes a few wouldactually form a little word like "dog" and shewould announce it with delight. But after theyhad read three strips, Boots had tired of the

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game and so had Gregor. "This helping any-thing?" he asked the group.

"No. Perhaps when Vikus returns, he mayhave some ideas," said Nerissa.

"In the meantime, we'd better proceed as if itis any code, and do our best to break it,"said Ripred. "I have to get back to the warroom, but I'll keep checking in." With a flickof his tail, he was gone.

"Gregor, thank you, you need not stay. I ima-gine they will be waking Luxa soon for ameal," said Nerissa.

"Sorry I wasn't more help," said Gregor, andmade for the door before anyone could thinkhe was of value. He had no idea how to turnall of that gibberish into coherent words,though, and he had to see Luxa.

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Gregor sprinted to the hospital but was notallowed to see her until he had taken anoth-er bath in some kind of antiseptic anddressed in sterile clothes and a mask.

"Five minutes," said a doctor who led him in-to a secluded room. The air was filled with acool mist that puffed out of small tubes inser-ted in the walls. Luxa lay on the bed in agown. Her face, neck, and arms — the areasthat had been most exposed to the ash inthe Firelands — were a hot, painful red. Herbreathing was still labored and he could hearher wheeze each time that she inhaled. Buther eyes found his at once.

Gregor crossed to her bedside. He didn'ttake her hand because he was afraid he'dhurt her. But her fingers lifted and rested onhis. She gave him one of her half smiles andwhispered, "You stayed."

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He gave a shrug like it was no big deal. Andat the moment, it wasn't. He was too happythat she was alive, that he was alone withher at last, to think about what his decisionto stay was costing him. He would havebeen completely content to stand just likethat for his five minutes, but in less than one,the doctor returned and waved him to thedoor.

Gregor stepped outside to object but thedoctor didn't give him a chance.

"Overlander, you are being called back tothe code room. They said there is someemergency with your sister."

***

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CHAPTER 9Gregor didn't even wait to change, he justtook off at a run. Underlanders did not usethe word "emergency" lightly. What hadhappened? Had Boots fallen and hurt her-self? Choked on something? If so, whyhadn't she been brought directly to the hos-pital? Or was it some other kind of emer-gency? It was clear that she had worn outthe patience of all of the other code-break-ers. Had one of them done something?Maybe Ripred had returned and threatenedher in some way and she had lost it. It wasunlikely the cockroach or bat had harmedher. And the mouse had been so weak itcould hardly move. But that green spider!Maybe it had trapped her in its web. Gregorstill had a hard time trusting spiders. His visit

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to their land, when he had thought they weregoing to have him for dinner, had been any-thing but reassuring.

As he sprinted down the narrow hallway hisfoot slid in something. Blood. Someone hadbled, leaving a trail all the way to the door."Boots!" he cried. If they had hurt her, if theyhad harmed one hair on her head —

Boots flew into the hall. "Gre-go! Gre-go!"she called in distress.

He picked her up, running his hand throughher curls, looking for injuries. "What's thematter? Are you okay? Did somebody hurtyou?"

"No, I am okay. In here! In here!" Bootstugged on his shirt to make him enter theroom. Totally confused now, Gregor steppedinside. There, crouched in the center of thestone floor, was his other sister, Lizzie.

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"Oh, no," said Gregor. He had no idea howshe'd gotten here or why she'd come. But heknew this was no time to ask. While she didnot seem to be bleeding, either, she washurting, because Lizzie was in the middle ofone of her panic attacks. She was pantingfor air, shaking like a leaf, and he could seethe sheen of sweat on her palms. His dadhad explained this to Gregor. Everybody hada fight-or-flight response hardwired intothem. When you were in danger, it triggered,pumping adrenaline through your body. Thishelped you either to fight off an adversary orrun like crazy. Gregor guessed he must havebeen having a panic attack of sorts in themuseum when he finally admitted what "TheProphecy of Time" had in store for him. Thatwas pretty major. But in people like Lizzie, itdidn't take much to set off the response. So-metimes she would have an attack for no ap-parent reason at all. She would be in a state

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of extreme terror, but there would be no oneto fight and nothing to run from.

There was something real today. Even thethought of coming to the Underland had al-ways been enough to give Lizzie an attack.Now she was actually here, facing off with aroom full of giant scary creatures. They weredoing nothing to threaten her. The mouse,bat, and spider were huddled in their rooms.The cockroach had disappeared into its al-cove entirely and drawn the curtain shut.Temp had stayed, because he would neverabandon Boots, but he had positioned him-self under the table. Only Nerissa was nearLizzie, trying to soothe her and looking onthe verge of some kind of attack herself.Gregor swung Boots down and crossed toLizzie. "Whose blood is that?" he askedNerissa.

"Hermes. He flew her from the Overland.They were ambushed by gnawers and he

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was clawed. She is not injured, but we can-not quiet her," said Nerissa.

"Yeah, I know. She gets like this some-times," said Gregor. He sat behind Lizzie,pulled her back into his arms, and held her."Hey, Liz. It's okay. It's okay. Nobody here isgoing to hurt you."

"Oh! Gregor! You have to — come home!Now!" Lizzie got the words out.

"Why? What happened?" asked Gregor,suddenly feeling scared, too. What hadhappened that was so dire that Lizzie hadforced herself to come to the Underland?

"Grandma — in the hospital. Dad — verysick again. I can't take — care of him!" saidLizzie.

"What? But Dad's letters keep sayingeverything's okay." Had this stuff just

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happened or had his dad been concealingthings to keep Gregor from worry? "Whatabout Mrs. Cormaci?" asked Gregor. Shehad always been there for them before.

"Stays with — Grandma. Really tired. Youhave to — come home!" said Lizzie. Andwith that, she threw up all over the floor.

Gregor held her while she heaved, trying tomake sense of what she had said. His prob-lems had been so overwhelming down here,he had given little thought to what was goingon back home. Grandma in the hospital? Hisdad sick again? It must really be bad.

When Lizzie finally stopped retching, hepicked her up and carried her over to theside of the room. He just sat there with heron his lap, feeling her shake. "It's okay. It'sgoing to be okay, Liz. I'll take care of it," hesaid. He had no idea even where to begin.

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"I brought — a bag. In my—backpack," Liz-zie said.

Her backpack was sitting next to the pool ofvomit. "Hey, Boots! Can you bring meLizzie's backpack?" Gregor asked.

"I can do it," said Boots, running over to fetchhim the backpack. "I can get the bag, too!"Her chubby little fingers struggled with thezipper, but she got the pack open and pulledout a folded paper lunch bag.

Gregor opened the bag up and put it toLizzie's face. "Breathe. Nice and slow now.Nice and slow."

This helped, because people having panicattacks got too much oxygen into their sys-tems, and breathing into a bag gave themmore carbon dioxide. Gregor rubbed thetense muscles in Lizzie's back, and the

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combination of that and the bag seemed tocalm her down a little.

"It's okay, Lizzie. You're okay," said Boots,patting her big sister's hand. Lizzie's attackswere one of the few things that upset Boots."I am here."

Nerissa summoned a pair of Underlanders,who quickly came in, cleaned up the vomit,and left. Then all of the creatures sat still, asif they knew any movement on their partwould only increase Lizzie's anxiety, whilethey waited to see what would happen.

And this was how Ripred found them as heswept into the room. "What's going on inhere?" His nose was twitching, clearly regis-tering the lingering throw-up smell. Then hiseyes landed on Lizzie, and he became still,too, except for the tip of his tail, whichtwitched from side to side. An expressioncame over his face that Gregor had never

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seen before. If he had to put a name to it,Gregor would have called it tenderness. Therat's voice became positively gentle. "I didn'tknow we had company. But I bet I can guesswho you are. You're Lizzie, aren't you?" Liz-zie lifted her face from the bag to take in thegiant, scarred rat. "You're Ripred," shewhispered.

"That's right. I'm glad to finally get to meetyou. I wanted to thank you for all of thelovely snacks you've sent me. They're al-ways the high point of my day," said Ripred.

Gregor could not make sense of Ripred's be-havior. Why was he being so nice to Lizzie?He had never been nice to Boots.

Ripred moved in slowly. "Sometimes it helpsif you talk," he said. "Do something to dis-tract yourself."

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Gregor looked at the rat in surprise. What didhe know about panic attacks? Surely he hadnever had one himself. "My dad does mathproblems with her," said Gregor.

"Math is good," said Ripred. "What's eightplus seven, Lizzie?"

"Fifteen," said Lizzie.

"You're going to have to do better than that.She's like a math whiz, right, Liz?" saidGregor. It was true. The teachers at schoolnever knew what to do with her. She couldsolve problems way beyond the rest of theeight-year-olds.

"Really?" asked Ripred. "What's twelve timeseleven?"

"One hundred and thirty-two," said Lizzie.

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"Harder," said Gregor. "She likes to cubethings."

"What's six cubed?" asked Ripred.

"Two hundred and sixteen," said Lizzie.

"How about thirteen?" asked Ripred.

"Two thousand, one hundred and ninety-seven,"

said Lizzie without missing a beat. She didseem to be calming down a bit.

"Try thirty-seven," said a hoarse voice frombehind Ripred. It was Heronian. The mousehad managed to raise herself up onto herforelegs.

Lizzie panted a moment and then blurtedout, "Fifty thousand, six hundred and fifty-three."

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Ripred looked at Heronian for confirmation,and the mouse gave a small nod back. EvenGregor was pretty impressed with that one.

"That's right. Apparently that's right," said Ri-pred. He started to pace, which was alwaysa sign that he was working something out."Lizzie? Do you like puzzles?" She nodded."They can be soothing, too. Oh, I know a funone. We can do it right here. Would you likethat?"

"Okay," said Lizzie. Gregor could feel hershaking start to subside. There was nothinglike a puzzle to get Lizzie's attention. Hethought of the puzzle book that he hadbought her on the street that time. She hadvolunteered to stay with their sick dad whilehe'd taken Boots sledding in Central Park,and he had wanted to get her a present.That big, thick puzzle book. She had loved it.

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Ripred settled down in a comfortable posi-tion a few feet in front of Lizzie. "All right.Let's see. Boots, you go stand by Temp."

"Oh, a game!" said Boots, and scurried ex-citedly over to Temp.

"Now, Lizzie, from where you're sitting, youcan see seven creatures. Two humans, oneof whom is an Overlander and one of whomis an Underlander, one bat, one mouse, onecockroach, one spider, and one rat. We'vejust had lunch and we've each eaten our fa-vorite food. No two of us have the same fa-vorite food. The things eaten were fish,cheese, cake, cookies, bread, mushrooms,and shrimp in cream sauce. Now ready forthe clues?" asked Ripred.

"I'm ready," said Lizzie, and clasped herhands before her. She no longer evenneeded the bag. Ripred spoke quickly anddistinctly. "The bat's favorite food is either

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mushrooms or cake. Cookies are not thecockroach's favorite food. The mouse will eatcheese, but she didn't today. TheUnderlander's favorite food is either cookiesor shrimp in cream sauce. The mushroomsand cookies were not eaten by mammals.The Overlander's favorite food is either cakeor bread. So the question is, who ate thecheese?"

"Well, that's totally unfair," thought Gregor.No one could figure that bunch of gibberishout. But it really had settled Lizzie down.

She was staring at the floor, squeezing herhands so tightly her knuckles were white.About thirty seconds passed, then she metRipred's eyes and gave a small triumphantgrin. "You did, "she said.

"Wrong," thought Gregor. Ripred's favoritefood was shrimp and cream sauce.

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"Hmm," said Ripred, and his tail flicked sohard it made a snapping sound. But hisvoice was casual. "Temp, suppose you takeBoots down to the nursery and let her feedthe baby mouses. Would you like that,Boots?"

"Ye-es!" said Boots. Temp pattered out fromunder the table and she hopped upon hisback. Ripred followed them out the door call-ing, "And no need to come back until I sendfor you!"

Gregor could hear the other creatures mur-muring around the room. They seemed morerelaxed and even a little excited. Min, thecockroach, poked her head out of her arch,and Daedalus kept fluttering his wings.Could it be they were just relieved to haveBoots out of their hair? No, it seemed likesomething more had happened. But whatexactly?

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Just then Ripred strode back into the room.The rat was actually smiling at Lizzie. "So,"he said. "So, so, so." He sat up on hishaunches and then tipped his head forwardin an elaborate bow. "Welcome to the Under-land, Princess."

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PART 2: The Ticking

***

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CHAPTER 10Ripred's implication hit Gregor like a ton ofbricks. Princess! That could only mean onething: The rat thought Lizzie was the prin-cess in the prophecy, not Boots, and now hewould want to keep her here. "No! No way,Ripred! You can't have her!" He stood up,putting Lizzie on her feet, and then pulledher by the hand toward the door. "Come on,Liz, we've got to get you home."

Ripred planted his big, ratty self in front ofthe door. "Well, I can't let you go now. Itwouldn't be safe."

"This is true," put in Daedalus. "Hermes andyour sister were ambushed at the bottom ofthe shaft that leads to your home. The ratssurely have soldiers guarding it now."

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"Then she'll go back up through CentralPark," said Gregor.

"Even if we had a spare flier at the moment,that wouldn't be advisable. There's probablya patrol posted there as well. And do youreally want to drop off poor Lizzie underCentral Park alone? How will she move thestone? How will she get home in the dark?"asked Ripred.

Gregor had no idea what time it was, eitherin the Overland or the Underland. But hecouldn't just send Lizzie up to Central Parkby herself no matter what time of day it was.He would have to arrange for his dad tomeet her. Wait, that wouldn't work. His dadwas sick again and, if they couldn't send abat with a message up the laundry roomshaft, how would they even get word to him?There was only one way to get her home."I'm taking her myself," said Gregor.

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"Just try to set one toe outside Regalia andyou'll be back in that dungeon so fast youwon't know what hit you," said Ripred. "Andyour bat, as well."

Gregor felt desperation growing inside ofhim. There was no way Lizzie could managedown here! He had to get her home. Buteverything Ripred was saying was true."Why do you even want her? What's this'princess' stuff? She didn't even get thepuzzle right! I know you had shrimp forlunch!"

Ripred rolled his eyes at Lizzie. "You see?This is the sort of thing I've been dealing withfor the past year. Enlighten him, won't you?"

"It was just a puzzle, Gregor, not what reallyhappened," said Lizzie. "In the puzzle the ratate the cheese."

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"How did you know that? Did you justguess?" asked Gregor.

"No, it was just the only answer left. He saidthe mouse didn't eat the cheese. And thetwo animals who ate mushrooms and cook-ies weren't mammals, so that means thespider and the cockroach didn't eat thecheese. And cheese wasn't one of the favor-ite foods of the Overlander, the Underlander,or the bat. So, that only leaves the rat. See?"said Lizzie.

Even her explanation made his head spin."No, I don't see, Liz," said Gregor. "All I seeis I've got to get you home."

"Maybe she doesn't want to go," said Ripred.

"Of course she does!" said Gregor.

"Let's ask her," said Ripred. "Lizzie, if youknew that all the humans in the Underland

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might die if you didn't help us solve a puzzle,would you stay or go?"

"What?" asked Lizzie, immediately dis-tressed. "Would that happen?"

"Don't tell her that!" said Gregor. "She's noteven the princess! Boots is the princess!"

"And if a princess has a sister, you call thema ... ?" asked Ripred.

"Okay! A princess!" said Gregor. "But that'sjust some junk the cockroaches made up.Nobody's going around calling me a prince."

"Well, if that's what's bothering you, you'll bePrince Gregor from now on," said Ripred.

"My mom and my sister and my brother,too?" broke in Lizzie, who had not yetanswered Ripred's question. "Would theydie, too?"

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"They may even if you stay. You may, too.Then again, they may live. But if you are theprincess in the prophecy and you leave us,none of us stands a chance," said Ripred. "Ithink everyone in this room would back meup on that."

"IN THE NAMING IS THE CATCHING," saidNerissa suddenly. "That is what the line from'The Prophecy of Time' must mean. We hada princess, but not the one with the rightname. That was the catch. The true princessmust be you, Lizzie. You are the one whowill help us break the Code of Claw."

"Then I have to stay, Gregor," said Lizzie. "Ican't leave and let everybody die."

"What about Dad?" asked Gregor.

"I don't know," said Lizzie. Her breathingbegan to get short again. "I don't know."

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"I'll send money up there. And instructions.Your nice Mrs. Cormaci can hire a nurse,can't she? There are people who do that,right?" said Ripred.

"If you can get a note up there, just haveMrs. Cormaci meet Lizzie in Central Park,"said Gregor.

"But I'm not going, Gregor," Lizzie said un-happily. "I have to stay." She turned to Ri-pred. "How will you get it to Mrs. Cormaci?The rats? The small ones who live upthere?"

"Exactly. Such a relief not to have to explainmyself all the time," said Ripred.

"I will write the note and have the money col-lected," said Nerissa. "Then, Ripred, haveyou need of me?"

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Nerissa had turned so white her veinslooked purplish-black against her skin. Thestrain of Lizzie's arrival must have beeri toomuch for her. Surely she would pass out atany moment.

"No," said Ripred. "Go, see to the nurse, andthen rest."

"Yes," Nerissa said, making her way to thedoor by supporting herself against the wall."Yes."

"Nerissa, you have been invaluable today,"added Ripred, and she acknowledged thiswith a nod.

Boy, the rat really was in good spirits if hewas complimenting Nerissa! If Ripred washappy, Gregor was not. But he knew that ar-guing with Lizzie at this point was no good.And Ripred had made up his mind to keepher.

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A couple of Underlanders came in wheelingcarts of steaming food, and Gregor realizedhow hungry he was. He made a giganticroast beef sandwich smothered in mush-rooms and sat back against the wall to try tofigure out another plan while he washed itdown with a quart of milk.

Lizzie, whose stomach was also empty, tooka slice of buttered bread at Ripred's insist-ence. "Now come and meet the rest of thecode team," said the rat, wrapping his tailaround her and guiding her around the room."I know they all must look very strange toyou, but believe me, you've got more in com-mon with them than you do with PrinceGregor over there."

"Why?" asked Lizzie, shooting a nervouslook back at Gregor.

"Because you think alike," said Ripred. "Oh,by the way, you don't sing, do you?"

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"Not much. I don't like music with words,"said Lizzie.

An audible sigh of relief came from aroundthe room.

"Good. Good," said Ripred. Then he leanedand whispered in Lizzie's ear so Gregorcould barely hear it. "You'll have to be pa-tient with some of them. They're very shy."

It was the perfect thing to say to Lizzie, whocould be almost crippled by shyness herself.She'd always had great difficulty makingfriends. To be honest, she'd only ever hadone friend, a weird kid named Jedidiah. Hewas in her grade at school and, like Lizzie,way beyond the other kids academically. Hewas just eight, but he could tell you how any-thing worked. A car, a telephone, a com-puter. Once, when he'd come over for a playdate, he'd spent, like, an hour talking abouttheir oven. Gregor had finally taken the pair

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of them out to the playground and tried toget a game of kick-ball going. Lizzie got coldand Jedidiah became fascinated with atraffic light. It was hopeless. Also, Jedidiahalways insisted on calling Lizzie by her fullname, Elizabeth, and got very upset if youcalled him Jed or something. Listening to thetwo of them having a conversation madeGregor feel like he was hanging out with acouple of Pilgrims. "What do you think, Je-didiah?" "I do not know, Elizabeth." Still, thewhole family was grateful for Jedidiah. If itweren't for him, Lizzie would have no friendsat all.

The fact that the other code-breakers werealso shy seemed to give Lizzie courage. Shegave them each a polite "hello" as they wereintroduced. They must have liked her, be-cause they began to come out of theirrooms. Daedalus fluttered out almost atonce, but bats and humans were most com-fortable with one another. Min emerged

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slowly. She was an old cockroach, so old infact that she made creaking noises whenshe walked, and her shell had a funny gray-ish tint to it. Heronian struggled to her feet,dragged herself up to Lizzie, and gave her alittle bow, to which Lizzie gingerly bowedback. And finally, Reflex delicately steppedout, greeted her, and scurried back to hisweb. Then Ripred took her over to the treecarved on the wall. "This is the Tree ofTransmission. It was created years ago tomake communication easier over long dis-tances. Humans, rats, mice, spiders, cock-roaches, and bats developed it together,which was, in itself, an extraordinaryachievement. It was in one of our rare timesof peace, you see. We can all still use ittoday, though. Look at it a moment and tellme your impressions," he said.

Gregor gave the tree a hard look and this iswhat he saw:

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"It looks like a Christmas tree decorated withthe alphabet," was Gregor's first thought. Buteven he could see it must be related to thecode.

"I think ..." began Lizzie hesitantly.

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"Go on, don't worry about being wrong," saidRipred.

"Well, maybe you use these sounds ... click,scratch, tap ... to make letters," said Lizzie."One click is an E, one scratch is an A, andone tap is an I. Right?"

"Exactly right," said Ripred. "So what if youheard one scratch and then two taps?"

Lizzie followed the tree branches with herfinger as she spoke. "One scratch takes youup to A, the first tap takes you to the right toD, and the second tap takes you to the rightto the letter O." Her eyes lit up. "It's sort oflike Morse code. The way we use sounds tosend messages on a telegraph. With dotsand dashes."

"Yes, except Morse code only uses twosounds and we use three sounds. How doyou know about Morse code?" asked Ripred.

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"My dad showed me," said Lizzie. "Only hedidn't have a tree; he had a chart withdashes and dots next to each letter."

"More like this?" asked Ripred, nodding tothe floor.

For the first time Gregor noticed the chartcarved into the floor. He stood up to get abetter view of it.

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"Yes, this is like the Morse code chart," saidLizzie. "So, it's just another way of showingthe Tree of Transmission."

"Right again," said Ripred. "Some find it tobe a helpful learning tool. Of course, the bestway to learn it is by hearing it. Scratch-scratch-click. Tap-tap-scratch. Becausethat's how it's transmitted."

Gregor had been there during the Morsecode lesson with his dad, too. It had beensomewhat interesting but hadn't stuck muchin his brain. Lizzie had been fascinated by it,though, and wanted him to learn it as well sothat they could send each other messages.The only thing he could ever decipher wasthe SOS distress signal that they used onships and stuff to call for help. Dot-dot-dot-dash-dash-dash-dot-dot-dot. SOS. It wassent as one string with no gaps to even in-dicate there were three separate letters.SOS. She'd really drilled that one into him.

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She had played it on the bedroom wall,tapped it out with her fork at dinner, andeven used a flashlight to send it with quickflashes for the dots and longer ones for thedashes. Finally Gregor had to cut her off.Lizzie would have had them practicing fivehours a day. Like Gregor didn't have enoughhomework without her assigning him more.

"Well, if you already know how this codething works, what's the problem?" saidGregor.

"This isn't a code, Gregor. This is just a wayto send any message. Like if you picked upa phone and talked into it," said Lizzie. "Andanyone could understand what you weresaying."

"You've heard it before. Rat claws scratch-ing, tapping, and clicking," said Ripred.

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Gregor remembered waking up one night ina cave in the Firelands to such sounds. Ri-pred had told him to go back to sleep. "Likein the cave," he said.

"Like in the cave. Those messages weren'tin code. The rats didn't believe there wasany danger in sending them in plain Eng-lish," said Ripred. "But now, with the war infull swing, everything is in code." The ratpulled one of the strips of white fabriccovered in chicken scratch off the table andwaved it about. "This code! The Code ofClaw! The one in 'The Prophecy of Time'!And this is what we need Lizzie to help usbreak!"

Gregor finally understood. The clicks,scratches, and taps were not the code. Theywere as simple as knowing your ABC's. Butthe messages the rats were sending nowmade no sense, because they were written

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in code. An A might be a B or a Q or a V, de-pending on how the Code of Claw worked.

Lizzie took the strip of fabric and sat downon the ground with it, studying the letters. "Isit like a cryptogram? One letter stands foranother letter?"

"Not exactly," said Heronian, settling downby Lizzie. "We would have broken a regularcryptogram in minutes. But there'ssomething else involved."

"There is some trick to make it more com-plicated. Some sort of substitution," saidDaedalus.

"Found it not, have we, found it not," saidMin, creaking her way over.

"But the thing is, we haven't much time. Tick,tock, tick, tock," said Ripred, shaking hishead in frustration. "Oh, now I'm hungry

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again." He went over and stuck a wholeroast chicken in his mouth.

"Did you get the cookies I helped make?"asked Lizzie, without looking up from thecode.

"No, I did not get the cookies you helpedmake," said Ripred, scowling at Gregor."Where are my cookies?"

"In my backpack in the hospital probably. Ibrought them to the battle. Sorry, I justcouldn't find the right moment to servethem," said Gregor. "You want me to getthem now?"

"I do. I'd better come with you to make surethere are no more mishaps. And I'll makesure the note has gone to your father," saidRipred. He touched Lizzie lightly on the headwith the tip of his tail. "Will you be all righthere now?"

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"What?" said Lizzie, pulling her attentionfrom the letters. "Oh, I think so."

"Good. I'll be back soon," said Ripred.

Gregor stopped at the doorway to double-check that Lizzie wasn't going to becomehysterical when they left, but she was dis-cussing some letter sequence with the oth-ers. Even Reflex had ventured out to jointhem. It made a cozy picture, all of them to-gether on the floor. Freakish, but cozy.

Ripred waited until they were out of earshotbefore he began. His voice — in fact, thewhole conversation that followed — wasstrangely subdued. "Listen, don't fight me onthis. Let her stay. We need her to break thecode to save people you have come to love."

"I love her, too. She's my sister. And she'sreal smart but she's not strong," said Gregor.

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"Not like you have to be to survive downhere."

"I know," sighed Ripred. "I know. But Solovetwill know she's here by now and havealready given orders to prevent her fromleaving while the war is on. And after thewar, what then?"

"Then it's not a problem. I can take her homemyself and —" Gregor came to a standstillas he remembered "The Prophecy of Time."

When the warrior has been killed

He would not be around to take anyone any-where. "I've got to get Lizzie home now,somehow. And Boots and my mom, too.While I still can," Gregor muttered more tohimself than to Ripred.

"You can't. No one can. But if you let herstay now, without a fight, I swear I'll get all

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three of them home safely after the war,"said Ripred.

"No," said Gregor angrily. "What kind of dealis that? If the war's over, there's no reason tokeep them here, anyway!"

"Think about it, boy. If we win the war, So-lovet will call the shots. Do you really believeshe plans to let any of them return?" Hisvoice had dropped to a whisper. "She hastold me otherwise. If Solovet has Boots, shehas the cockroaches on her side, and if Liz-zie is who I think she is ... well, she'll beworth her weight in gold as well. No, yourfather will come to find them and your familywill essentially be prisoners down here forthe rest of their lives. Unless I help you."

This was a frightening dimension Gregor hadnever even considered: his whole familycondemned to life down here. Once Ripredhad said it, Gregor knew it was not only

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possible, it was likely. "How do I know I cantrust you?" asked Gregor.

"I give you my word," said Ripred.

"As a rat?" asked Gregor bitterly.

"As a rager," said Ripred. "As one rager toanother. I will get them home."

As Gregor was trying to decide what arager's word was worth, if anything, thehorns began to blow. Ripred cocked hishead and listened to the pattern. "The ratshave reached the walls to the north. Theones that surround the farmlands."

Gregor could be ordered out there at anymoment. He might not come back. Thenwhat?

"What do you say, Gregor the Overlander?Do we have a deal?" asked Ripred.

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There was no choice but to trust him. "Yes,"said Gregor.

"Good. Now go find yourself some body ar-mor," said Ripred. "I'll see you on the field."

***

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CHAPTER 11Gregor's body felt weighed down by the con-versation. Although he had admitted to him-self while he was in the museum that hewould die, he had been waging a psycholo-gical campaign against the idea ever since.Denying it, dodging it, immersing himself inthe present to avoid thinking about the futureor, more specifically, how he wasn't going tohave much of one. There was no other wayto keep functioning. But sometimes, likenow, reality came right up and slapped himin the face. There was nothing to do butkeep moving forward and make the mo-ments count.

As he walked through the halls, Gregorcould see his resolve reflected on many

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other faces. There was a war. He guessedthe Regalians didn't need a prophecy toknow there was a good chance they'd bedead at the end of it. And they had familyand friends to worry about, too. Gregor felt alittle less alone knowing that others were ex-periencing the same emotions he was. Lessalone, but no better.

He was unsure of where he should get thebody armor Ripred had mentioned, but therewas a big supply room filled with nothing butweapons and stuff, so he thought that wouldbe a good place to start. When he arrived,the armory was buzzing with people suitingup for battle. Even though it was crowded,an old Underlander woman with a tapemeasure was at his side in a moment.

"You have come for protection?" she asked.Gregor nodded. "I am called Miravet. I canassist you." And then she was whipping thattape measure around him so fast it was

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practically a blur. "You fight how? With onlythe sword? In the right hand?"

"That's right," said Gregor, wondering howmany other options there were.

"What does your left hand do?" she asked.

"Nothing. Sometimes I tape a light here tohelp me see," said Gregor, indicating hisforearm.

"That is all?" Miravet gave his forearm aslightly disapproving look, as if it wasn't hold-ing up its end of the bargain somehow. Thenshe led him to a wall covered in breastplateshanging from hooks. "For the chest," shesaid, and took down a highly polished num-ber made of silver metal and mother-of-pearl.

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As Miravet was holding the breastplate up tohim, a voice came from behind him. "No,Miravet, I want him entirely in black."

Gregor didn't have to turn to know Solovetwas coming up behind him. He gritted histeeth at the prospect of seeing her again.

"Why is that?" asked Miravet with a frown.Gregor found himself liking her for not imme-diately jumping to do whatever Solovetsuggested.

"To blend with his flier and give an overallimpression of darkness," said Solovet.

"The gnawers will not be impressed by animpression of darkness," Miravet said, stillstubbornly holding the breastplate she hadchosen.

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"No, but the humans will. It implies deadli-ness and strength and will give them confid-ence to follow him," said Solovet.

"As you wish," said Miravet. She returnedher breastplate to the wall and chose anoth-er of black metal and some kind of shinyebonylike shell. "This?"

"It should do nicely," said Solovet. She stoodby silently as Miravet made Gregor changeto a black shirt and pants. Then she dressedhim in the breastplate and other bits andpieces of armor. None of it was particularlyheavy, which was good because he didn'tneed anything slowing him down.

As he was being fitted for a helmet, Gregorcaught sight of himself in a mirror, dressedfrom head to toe in black. "Great. I couldn'tlook more like the bad guy if I tried," hethought. And here he was going in to fightthe Bane, whose coat was so white it almost

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hurt your eyes. If he were in a movie, Gregorwould definitely be the one the audience wasrooting against. On the other hand ... on theother hand ... there was something powerfulabout the blackness, and part of Gregorcouldn't help thinking he looked pretty cool.

But Miravet shook her head as she ex-amined him. "You only emphasize his youthby dressing him so. He has not the hardnessof countenance to wear this."

Gregor was not sure what she meant. Hethought countenance had something to dowith your face.

"He will," said Solovet. "Come with me,Gregor." When they had left the armory sheadded, "My sister is an expert in armor butnot in character." Her sister? Solovet.Miravet. The names sounded kind of thesame, and it explained why Miravet was notafraid to stand up to Solovet.

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"Speaking of sisters, I hear another of yourshas joined us," said Solovet. "Remind me ofher name?"

It was just the two of them, walking down aquiet empty hall. Gregor felt he could nolonger refuse to answer her without makinga really big deal of it. He didn't want to windup back in the dungeon, especially now thathe had to keep an eye on Lizzie, as well asBoots and his mother.

"Lizzie," he said.

"And you have no issues with her staying?"asked Solovet.

Sure he did. Plenty of issues. But he hadmade the deal with Ripred. "Not if she's thecode-breaker," said Gregor gruffly.

"That remains to be seen. I myself am notconvinced that it is not Boots who will be the

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key." They walked along in silence for awhile. Then Solovet spoke up again. "Per-haps it was too harsh of me to put you in thedungeon. But you are part of our army nowand, in essence, you disobeyed a direct or-der. In an army, one head must give direc-tion to the rest of the body. If not, there ischaos. That is why discipline is so important.If we lose it, we lose everything."

Gregor considered this. He guessed youprobably did need someone making a planand other people who could be counted onto carry it out.

" Do you think yourself capable of followingorders ?" she asked.

"Maybe. Maybe not," thought Gregor. "Itwould depend on the circumstances." For in-stance, if Solovet had ordered him tosecretly develop the plague as a weapon, he

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would never have done it. But he only said,"Seems like I'm always following Ripred's."

"Well, let us see if you can follow minetoday," said Solovet.

When they reached the High Hall, Solovet'sbond, Ajax, was waiting for them. Gregorknew him mostly by sight. He was a massivebrute of a bat with fur the color of driedblood. Once Gregor had asked Ares what hethought of Ajax. "I do not care for him. Al-most no one does. Of course, very few carefor me, either." So Gregor tried to keep anopen mind about Ajax.

Gregor and Solovet flew out of the palace,over the high wall that signaled the end ofthe city, and headed north over the farm-lands. Half the people of Regalia seemed tobe in the fields, working at a frantic pace. "Itis our policy, when the gnawers are so close,to harvest or destroy all we can. We do not

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wish to leave them any food sources," saidSolovet.

The farmlands ended at another wall. Thisone was not quite so high as the one thatbordered the back of the city, but it was atleast twelve feet thick, providing a sturdybase from which to launch the army. It waspacked now with heavily armed humansmounted on bats. An area in the middle ofthe wall was relatively empty, apparentlyhaving been reserved for the commanders.

When Ajax landed in the command center,Gregor got a clear view of the cavern bey-ond the wall. He had flown over it severaltimes before, but it had always beenshrouded in darkness. However, the humanshad been at work here, as they had in theFirelands, peppering the cavern walls withburning torches in preparation for the battle.

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In the flickering light, Gregor could see thatthe fighting had not yet begun. Hundreds ofrats had assembled on the ground outside ofthe wall. They weren't milling around in theirusual fashion but lined up in rows. Except forthe occasional twitch of a tail or ear, theywere perfectly still. Overhead, humans onbats flew in a crisscrossing pattern. Solovet'sarrival brought several in to report on thenumber of rats, their condition, and the gen-erals who were leading them.

Ares soon arrived carrying Ripred on hisback. The rat burst out laughing when hesaw Gregor. "Oh, no. Who are you supposedto be?"

"I ordered his armor myself," said Solovetwith a slight smile. "Do you not approve ofit?"

"He looks like he fell off of a chessboard!"said Ripred, and Gregor could see some of

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the nearby soldiers trying not to laugh. "Doyou like that getup?" he asked, circlingGregor.

The truth was, Gregor had kind of liked it un-til Ripred started making fun of it. "What do Icare? I don't have to look at it," he said.

"No, but the rest of us do," said Ripred. Thenthe rat seemed to forget all about him andgot caught up in some war council withSolovet.

"How's the airlift going?" Gregor asked Ares.

"Well enough. There are still many nibblersto bring in from the Firelands," said Ares."But the ones left behind are stronger atleast."

"You doing okay?" asked Gregor.

"A bit tired. And yourself?" said Ares.

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"Oh, I'm great. Solovet slapped me in thedungeon for a few days. Then my sister Liz-zie showed up and Ripred decided she's thecode-breaker. And apparently I look like anidiot," said Gregor.

"You look well. The black suits you," saidAres.

"Whatever," said Gregor. "Luxa's better. I gotto see her for about thirty seconds."

"I was not allowed to see Aurora and Nike.But the doctors in the hospital say theymend as well," said Ares.

"Man, I didn't even get a chance to check onHoward," said Gregor, suddenly feelingguilty that his concern for Luxa had blindedhim to his other friends' conditions.

"He is much improved," said Ares.

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They stared for a while at the ranks of rats."So, why aren't we fighting?" asked Gregor.He was a little impatient to get started.

"Solovet is still assessing the rats to see howwe should engage. There are two maintypes of battles in the Underland. The first isa surprise attack, in which case we counter-attack immediately in self-defense. Thesecond is a challenge. Both armies as-semble and we meet on the field at an ap-pointed time. This is a challenge," said Ares.

It reminded Gregor of those movies set hun-dreds of years ago, where two groups of sol-diers would line up across a field from oneanother and then one side would charge.Today's arrangement did not really seem tobe to either side's advantage. The humanshad more than ample time to decide how tobattle the rats, but they would have to leavethe security of the walls to do so. The ratscould arrange a battle and possibly weaken

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the humans' army without having to attackthe walls, but they would make themselvesvulnerable to do it. There was a plus and aminus for both sides. Maybe that was whythey both agreed to this kind of warfare.

Still, it seemed as if the humans had a slightedge. "I don't know. Seems like it might besmarter just to sit here," said Gregor.

"We could. But then we must live with theknowledge that an army of rats, which islikely to build, sits on the edge of Regalia,"said Ares.

Yeah, that wasn't a particularly calmingthought.

Gregor noticed Solovet and Ripred werelooking at him and consulting in low voices.Then Solovet crossed to him. "Gregor, Ares,we are going to position you in the secondwave at the right fifth point. Ripred suggests

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this and, as I have never seen you fight, Imust follow his recommendation."

Gregor realized this was true. Solovet neverhad seen him fight, with or without Ares. Onhis first trip to the Underland, he hadn't evenhad a sword. When he came back to sup-posedly assassinate the Bane, she had notgone on the sea voyage. Although Solovethad been planning to join in the jungle ex-pedition to find the cure for the plague, Ham-net had refused to act as their guide if shecame. When Gregor had returned from thejungle, Solovet had been confined to quar-ters because of her role in starting theplague. No, she had never been aroundwhen he was in battle or even in training.Well, he could show her a thing or two now.Maybe if she realized what a good fighter hewas she would back off a little.

He had no idea where she had placed him inthe ranks, but "second wave at the right fifth

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point" seemed to mean something to Ares.When the command was given to assumetheir places, Ares flew directly to their as-signed spot on the wall. They were in thesecond of three rows of soldiers mounted ontheir bats. Gregor was annoyed to find Mar-cus and Horatio positioned on either side ofhim. "Great," he thought. "She's sending mein with bodyguards." But even the annoy-ance couldn't override another emotion thatwas building up inside of him ... excitement.He was looking forward to the battle. Rightnow, his life was a depressing, confusingmess. At least when he fought he knew whathe was doing and, for a while, he could for-get about the rest of it.

A tense silence fell over the cavern. The airseemed to be quivering with anticipation.Then he heard Solovet quietly say, "Now."

The first wave of bats took off and the ratsrose up to meet them. They had barely

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engaged in combat when Gregor felt Areslifting off. There was no circling around andchoosing targets this time. The bats flew in atight formation and dove as one into the fray.

Fighting was now becoming second natureto Gregor. His rager side kicked in and hefought wherever Ares positioned him. Theyhad less room to maneuver than they'd hadin the Firelands. The ceiling was not as highand the rats were positioned in close, evenranks. This was not as big an issue forGregor as it was for Ares. The bat's wingswere so long that when he would dive, anynumber of rats might be in striking range.Even with his sword fully extended, Gregordid not have the reach to protect his entirewingspan. And at the moment, the ratsseemed more determined to take out Aresthan Gregor. In no time, Gregor had runthrough two rats that had been specificallytargeting the bat's wings. But a third had

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managed to get a claw into the delicate skinnear the tip and sliced a six-inch tear into it.

"You okay?" Gregor shouted to Ares.

"Yes, it can be stitched later," said Ares. "Itdoes not much affect my flight."

"Good, let's go get the rat who did it," saidGregor.

Just as they were about to dive, an Under-lander flew up and ordered them back to thewall. Gregor wanted to argue but Ares fol-lowed the command at once. He guessedthis was probably a good thing, though,since he was supposed to be proving hecould follow orders. Still, when they landedbefore Solovet, Ajax, and Ripred, Gregorcouldn't help saying, "He's okay. It's just acut."

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"Dismount," said Solovet. "Signal Perditaand Mareth," she told a guard. Gregor slidoff of Ares's back, somewhat confused. Ifshe thought Ares was hurt, then the thing todo would be to send him directly to the hos-pital. She didn't need Mareth and Perdita todo that.

Perdita flew in from the battle, and Marethappeared from somewhere down the wall.He was not actually fighting, now that his legwas gone, but Gregor assumed he was act-ing as some kind of general or something,since he'd been working so closely with So-lovet in the war room.

Although Gregor did not expect a lot ofpraise from Solovet, her next words were ashock. "He is woefully unprepared for battle.This is not meant as criticism; I know yourtime with him has been very limited. But hisleft side is noticeably weak. Can we notdouble-arm him?"

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"We can," said Mareth. "I do not believe twoswords are the answer. He so favors hisright hand."

"A dagger, then," said Solovet. "He must atleast have it to block attacks. Perdita, youwill attend to that."

"Yes, Solovet," said Perdita.

"Now, I dare not risk testing him alone on theground. Has he a rager spin attack?" askedSolovet.

"Haven't seen it if he has," said Ripred. "Heruns mainly on nerves and is still easilydistracted —"

"I can spin!" objected Gregor. "When I foughtthe snakes in the jungle, that's how we gotout of there!"

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"Hmm," said Ripred. "And you were able tocontrol it?"

"Yes. At least... well, at the end I was sort ofdizzy," admitted Gregor. That had to be theunderstatement of the year. He had com-pletely lost control, reeled into the junglevines, and vomited. He had barely been ableto climb onto Ares and it had taken quite awhile for the dizziness to pass.

"Ripred?" said Solovet. "This sounds likeyour area."

"As if I don't have enough to do," said therat.

"Your opinion of Ares," Solovet said to Ajax.

"Far too reckless with his wing space. Actsas if he is half his size. Lucky that tear is hisonly injury," said Ajax sourly.

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"That's not true!" said Gregor, jumping to hisbat's defense. "You should have seen him inthe Firelands."

"Plenty of space in the Firelands, but thatisn't usually the case," said Ripred. "Anddon't be so touchy. We're just trying to keepthe pair of you alive."

"What style of dagger shall I give him?"asked Perdita.

Solovet stared hard at Gregor for a moment.Then she pulled the dagger from her ownbelt and offered him the hilt. "Take this."

It was a thing of beauty, that dagger. Not justbecause the hand guard seemed to be al-most entirely composed of polished red jew-els but because of the strong, sleek blade.He could tell by the expressions on the oth-ers' faces that something unprecedentedwas happening.

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"I can't take that. It's yours," said Gregor. Buthe wanted it. If he had to have a dagger, hewanted the one right in front of him.

"I rarely battle now. I would not have it growrusty from disuse," said Solovet.

"Take it. Add a little color to your ensemble,"said Ripred.

"Thanks." Gregor's fingers closed around thehilt and he could not help hitting the daggerblade into the blade of his sword. There wasa satisfying ring of metal on metal. When heexamined the blades he saw neither hadbeen nicked. It was a first-class dagger,maybe even as strong as his sword. Hecouldn't help liking Solovet just a little for giv-ing him this weapon. The feeling was short-lived.

"So, should we go back in now?" Gregorasked, tucking the dagger in his belt on his

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right hip to have easy access to it. He wasdying to try it out.

"You two? No," said Solovet, as if the veryidea was preposterous. "I am sending youboth back to training."

***

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CHAPTER 12At first Gregor thought Solovet was joking.But she was not the sort of person who kid-ded him. If she said training, she meanttraining. He tried to control his temper, buthe had left the battle only minutes ago. Hisrager side was still hot. And Solovet's order,obviously meant to humiliate him, stung."That's crazy! You need me out there!" heburst out.

Solovet raised her eyebrows. "We havebeen fighting the gnawers for centuries. Ithink we will muddle through without a barelytrained boy."

"Well, that's news to me," said Gregor."You've been sending me on your most dan-gerous missions since I landed in this place."

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"But not because I expected you to astonishus with your fighting," said Solovet.

"I can fight! Ask Ripred! He put me on thefront line in the Firelands!" retorted Gregor.

"Well, someone had to keep an eye on you. Ithought sandwiched between Perdita andme you might actually come out of the wholething alive." Ripred shrugged. "But don'tthink it was an easy job."

"What? That is such a lie!" said Gregor. Tosuggest he had been on the front line for hisown protection was outrageous. He yankedthe helmet off his head and was about tothrow it in Ripred's face when, out of thecorner of his eye, he saw Perdita give an al-most imperceptible shake to her head.Gregor didn't know why — maybe it was be-cause he respected Perdita so much — buthe managed to redirect the helmet so itended up wedged under his arm. He noticed

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how closely everyone was watching him andknew he had to get himself under control. Hetook a deep breath and crammed the angerback down inside of him. "All right. When'sthe training session?"

"You will be sent for," said Solovet. Gregorgave a short nod and climbed on Ares'sback. As the bat took off for the city, heheard her give a laugh and say, "Now who isalienating him?" To which Ripred chuckled,"He rises to the bait so easily."

Gregor knew then that at least part of pullinghim from the battle and criticizing him hadbeen a test. To see if he could keep his headand take orders. And he had all but failed.

"I should have just shut up," said Gregor. Butthey had been tearing down the one thing hethought he was any good at.

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"It is hard, when they provoke you so," saidAres glumly. "It took me quite a while tolearn to, as you say, just shut up."

They reported back to the hospital so thatAres could get his wing sewn up. WhileGregor hadn't received any new wounds,he'd popped the stitches on the cut on hiscalf and the area was slightly inflamed. Hewas sent to soak in some bitter-smellingmedicinal bath and stitched up again. Theygave him fresh clothes and he put on hissword belt but left off the armor. Then heand Ares were both free to go.

"I must sleep," said Ares. "The many trips tothe Firelands have worn me down."

So Gregor was left to himself. He knew heprobably should check in on his sisters. Luxamight be awake, and he was still due at leastfour of his five-minute visit. But suddenly he

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felt overwhelmed by everything, and the onlyperson he wanted to see was his mom.

The doctors gave him permission to enterher room but warned him not to upset her.His mom was lying down, slightly propped upby pillows, but her eyes were open. Gregorcould tell just by looking at her that the feverhad passed but that she was still very tired.He pulled a chair up next to her bed andtook her hand.

"Hey, Mom," he said.

"Hey. I was wondering when I was going tosee you again," she said.

"Sorry. Lot of stuff going on," said Gregor.He couldn't begin to tell her about it.Wouldn't know where to start. Besides, hewas not supposed to upset her. So he justrested his head on the edge of her bed anddidn't even try to explain. Her hand stroked

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his hair and the knot of bad feelings — an-ger, fear, humiliation, desperation — beganto unravel. He wanted to stay there forever,letting her soothe him, pretending he wasjust a kid and his mom could makeeverything okay.

"I only hear bits and pieces. I know a warstarted. I see them carrying the woundedpast my room sometimes. You going to tellme about it?" she asked.

Gregor shook his head without lifting it,

"And I can't make you anymore. I know that,"said his mom. She gave the back of his necka squeeze. "Just tell me this. The family do-ing okay?"

Grandma in the hospital. His dad in relapse.Mom right here, too weak to sit up. Lizzie inthe code room. Boots caring for sick andorphaned mouse pups. Gregor marked for

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death. All of them trapped in one way oranother.

He lifted his head. "Everybody's hanging inthere, Mom," he said.

"Okay. Okay. I just have to trust you now,Gregor. To do what's right for us," she said."I love you, baby."

"I love you, too," said Gregor. "Now youshould get some sleep." He kissed her onthe forehead and left before he broke downand told her everything.

And then he needed to talk to someonebadly, someone he didn't have to pretendwith. He went straight to Luxa's room andbadgered the nearby doctors until theyagreed to let him in for another short visit.They made him wash his hands in disinfect-ant, but he did not have to wear the maskthis time. Luxa looked remarkably better,

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given that only about six hours had passedsince he'd seen her last. She was stillwheezing slightly as she breathed the mistyair, but she was sitting up, leaning against astack of pillows. There was a tray on her lapwith broth, pudding, and what looked likemashed sweet potatoes. She was rearran-ging the potatoes into a tower with her fork,just like his sisters did at home. Her facebrightened when she saw him and he couldfeel some of the heaviness of the day fallaway.

"Mmm, what's for lunch? That looks reallygood," he said.

Luxa frowned at her tray. "It makes goodbuildings. My throat is still too sore to eatanything I actually like."

"Everybody likes pudding," said Gregor. Hescooped up a spoonful and held it up to hermouth. She ate it, swallowing painfully.

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"Ouch," she said. Her eyes widened as theylit on the dagger at his belt. "What did you doto get that? Kill Solovet?"

"No, she gave it to me," said Gregor.

"Oh, I hate you. She never even allows meto hold

it," said Luxa. Gregor pulled the dagger fromhis belt and handed it to her. "Knock yourselfout."

Luxa turned the dagger over in her hands,admiring it. "What are you, her favoritenow?"

"Oh, yeah. She dressed me up in this totallystupid black armor and then threw me out ofbattle until I learn to fight," said Gregor.

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"You are back in training? I would not takethat too personally. She does it all the time,"said Luxa.

"Really?" said Gregor.

"Of course. No one is ever good enough forher. She would give Ripred pointers if shethought he would not eat her," said Luxa.

That made Gregor feel a lot better. Maybegoing back into training was no big deal.Besides, if he were fighting, he wouldn't behere with Luxa now. "How long do you haveto stay in the hospital?"

"I should be out now," said Luxa grouchily."They let Howard out. He is even treatingpeople."

"You were sicker," said Gregor.

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"I do not suppose it matters. They will not letme do anything, in or out. Now that I amback, Solovet will have me watched aroundthe clock," said Luxa. "I am surprised you donot have bodyguards."

"I did. For a while," said Gregor.

"How did you get rid of them?" asked Luxa.

Gregor felt, himself blush. That wasn't aquestion he was ready to answer. He couldhardly just blurt out, "Oh, because Solovetknows I'm in love with you now." So he didhis best to come up with something else. "Uh... I guess with my sisters and mom downhere and all... You really should eat somemore."

Luxa choked down a couple more spoonfulsof pudding. "Mareth says your sister Lizzieplans to stay, too."

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"Yeah. Ripred thinks she's the code-breaker.They've got her in some room with a tree onthe wall," said Gregor.

"The Tree of Transmission. Henry and I hadto learn that. It was awful. Our teacher was anibbler who was about a thousand years old.He'd make us send messages for hours."Luxa began to laugh. "Then one day Henrywrote, 'Help me, I am dying of boredom,' andthe nibbler refused to teach us anymore."

Gregor laughed, too, but behind it was thediscomfort he always felt whenever Henrywas mentioned. Henry's closeness to Luxaand Ares. Henry's betrayal. Henry's bodysmashing apart on the rocks.

"That seems like a whole other lifetime," saidLuxa quietly.

"Things change fast down here," saidGregor.

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"Yes," said Luxa, twirling her fork in her pota-toes. "Look at you and me."

That was it. That was his opening to tell herhow he felt. Make it official. He might not getanother chance. Who knew how muchlonger he'd even be alive? Another day?Another week? But Gregor couldn't seem tospeak. In the silence that followed he couldhear the precious seconds running out.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick,tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. ...

Then someone was at the door. "Overlander,you are summoned to the arena for training,"said a voice.

"Okay," said Gregor.

"Do not forget your dagger," said Luxa,handing him the weapon.

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He could hear the disappointment in hervoice as he stuck the dagger in his belt. Sheknew they only had a matter of hours, too.How could he face an army of rats and nothave the courage to say something sosimple and obvious?

Suddenly he felt his hand reaching into hispocket and pulling out the photo of themdancing. The one that had convinced So-lovet he was crazy about Luxa. He placed iton her tray. "This is the reason I don't havebodyguards," he said, and promptly headedfor the door, too afraid to see her reaction.

But as he rounded the corner, he caught hersmile.

***

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CHAPTER 13An Underlander met Gregor at the end of thehallway with his armor. While he dressed,someone roused Ares and the two of themwent to the arena.

"Have a good nap?" asked Gregor.

"All twenty minutes of it," said Ares tiredly.

"Maybe we'll get some time after training,"said Gregor. He knew he should probably tryto get some sleep, too. It was so hard tokeep track of night and day down here,without the help of the sun.

When they flew into the arena, they found itwas jam-packed with mice. It had become akind of refugee camp for those who had

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survived the ordeal of being driven from theirhomes and sentenced to death by the Banein the Firelands. A thick layer of straw hadbeen strewn on the moss-covered ground.Stations for food, washing, and medicaltreatment were along the walls. There wasan area set aside for the mice to relievethemselves. The place reeked of disinfectantbut it was not enough to overcome thesmells of waste and sickness and too manybodies in too small of a space.

While they were circling around, a bat flew incarrying a half dozen mouse pups and asmall boy with a head of curly black hair."Hey, there's Hazard. Let's go say hello,"said Gregor.

The bat with Hazard landed in an area bythe wall. Gregor had barely touched down infront of him when they were swarmed by agroup of frantic, squeaking mice. Aresstretched out his wings, forming a protective

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barrier between the crowd and the bat carry-ing the mouse babies.

"What is it? What's going on?" Gregorshouted to Hazard.

"The babies. We are trying to reunite themwith their parents," said Hazard. "But it is adifficult task."

Gregor bet it was. There were hundreds andhundreds of mouse pups in the nursery.Their parents could be anywhere — lyingdead in Hades Hall, in the Regalian hospital,still waiting to be airlifted from the Firelands— but they might be here in this mob, des-perate to know if their babies had survived.

"Hey, quiet! Quiet!" shouted Gregor, stand-ing on Ares's back and holding his arms inthe air. The mice settled down a little. "No,you've got to be really quiet. And back upbefore someone gets hurt!" By this time, a

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few people had run over to help them. Theymade the mice move back to give the batssome breathing space. "How did you plan todo this, Hazard?"

"We are starting a list. I am to bring the ba-bies, six at a time, and call out their namesto see if their parents are here to take them,"said Hazard.

"They're sending you to do this?" Gregorasked. They must've really been shorthan-ded if they had given the job to a seven-year-old.

"I am the best one. Because I can speak tothe babies," said Hazard. But his lime-greeneyes were full of doubt. "They can tell metheir names. But you are louder than I,Gregor. Will you call them out?"

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"Of course. Who's that?" Gregor asked,pointing to a small gray-and-white-speckledpup.

"This is Scalene," said Hazard, handing himthe pup. "She is all alone." Gregor lifted theshivering pup up over his head. "Okay, thispup is named Scalene," he called. "Anybodyknow who she belongs to?"

There was an immediate cry. "To me! Tome!" The crowd opened up as a mouse ranforward. "She is my baby!" At her mother'svoice, Scalene began to wriggle to get out ofGregor's hands, whimpering and squeaking.

Ares dipped his nose to the ground and thepup ran straight down his neck and boltedbetween its mother's forelegs. She nuzzled itquickly, but then looked pleadingly at Haz-ard. "There are two more. Euclidian andRoot. Do you have them?"

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"Not on this flier. But there are hundreds inthe nursery. They may well be there," saidHazard.

The mouse nodded and led her lone babyaway.

Gregor helped pass out the rest of the pups.Two pairs of siblings were instantly claimed.When the final pup's name was called, noone answered,

"His name's Newton." Gregor held thesquirming black mouse high above his headand tried to raise his voice so it filled thewhole arena. "Newton!" But there was still noreply.

"I believe he is from the jungle colony," saida voice. Gregor had a bad feeling about that.Luxa had told him the mice they had seengassed to death at the volcano had beenfrom the jungle colony.

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"Any of us will take him," said a mouse nearthe front.

"I can only give him to his parents now," saidHazard. "And they may still be in theFirelands."

The mice did not protest. No one wanted tofurther complicate the situation.

"I'll take him back to the nursery and startbringing the others," said Hazard.

"Okay, listen up! Hazard's going to be bring-ing in more pups. But you have to leave thisspace open and not rush up when he lands.All right?" said Gregor. There was a generalmurmur of agreement from the crowd.

Two of the Underlanders volunteered to takeover Gregor's job and assist Hazard whenhe returned. "They await you, Overlander. Atthe south tunnel," someone told him.

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When Ares lifted into the air, Gregor couldsee that none of the mice had moved. Theywould wait there in agonized silence as longas there was any chance their children mightshow up. He felt that awful helplessness thathad consumed him as he'd watched themice dying in the pit. This was just an exten-sion of it. And at that moment, Gregor knewexactly why he was going to kill the Bane.

"Let's go train," he said, now anxious for anyadvantage the dagger might be able to givehim.

"Yes," said Ares. "Ajax had a point. I mustlearn to use my wings better."

When Gregor slid off of Ares's back next toPerdita, she began to launch into a spielabout how they had all been called out ofbattle for further training, but Gregor cut heroff.

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"No, you guys are right. It would be better if Ihad a dagger. So how do I use it?" he asked.

Perdita clapped him on the shoulder in ap-proval and went right into his training. Theyconcentrated mainly on defense positions,although she did show him a couple of basicattacks. "You would have to be almost inphysical contact with the gnawer to kill it,"said Perdita. Gregor could see that becausethe dagger blade was so much shorter thanhis sword, this would be true. He was rarelyin such close proximity to the rats.

The lesson went well. It was much easier tofight with two weapons. He remembered howhaving the torch in his left hand in the jungleduring his spin attack had probably made thedifference between life and death.

"Good, Gregor. Excellent. Now let us try youout on your flier," said Perdita.

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Ares had been overhead, working with Ajaxon minimizing his wingspan on differentmoves. He must have done well, too, be-cause Ajax grudgingly told Perdita, "At leasthe is able to take instruction."

Gregor could feel the difference in Ares'sflight maneuvers. They were sharper, moreabrupt. Perdita and Ajax ran them through aseries of drills and then Ripred showed upand they got some real practice. They dovedown at him pretending they were in actualbattle. At first, Gregor held back, but Ripredkept snarling at him to fight. And whileGregor knew Ripred wouldn't try to kill them,the rat had no trouble leaving a scratch orsmall puncture wound anytime he gotthrough their defenses. By the end of thelesson, Gregor and Ares were pretty bloody,and even Ripred had a couple of cuts whereGregor had tagged him.

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"Better," said the rat as he waved them in."But you have a tendency to forget thatdagger's in your hand and compensate withthe sword."

"Yeah, I could feel myself doing it," saidGregor.

"And Ares, when you're down and decide toopen those wings, do it! Bam! You can breaknecks with those things if you use them,"said Ripred.

"So I have been telling him," said Ajax.

"I will keep working on this," said Ares.

A messenger bat arrived with an order forAres to join the next airlift team.

"He's pretty tired," said Gregor.

"So are we all," said the bat.

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"I can do it," said Ares.

"What about training?" asked Gregor.

"He's done for now. Let's see your spin,"said Ripred.

After Ares took off, Gregor tried to show Ri-pred his spin attack. It was hard to dowithout the real threat of death before him.His feet felt awkward and he got dizzy al-most immediately. "I was better in thejungle," he told Ripred.

"Well, you stink now," said the rat. "Let'sstart with the dizziness. You've got to learnhow to spot."

Ripred showed him how to pick a spot some-where and find it with his eyes each time heturned. "I do it with sound, by echolocationbut, of course, that's out."

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"Oh. Yeah. Maybe not," said Gregor.

"Can I assume by that smug look on yourface that you've finally had a breakthrough?"asked Ripred.

"Kind of. In the dungeon," said Gregor. "Imean, something happened."

"I'll take him from here," Ripred told Perdita.

Before he knew it, Gregor was under thepalace in their old practice space, fighting offRipred's attacks in complete darkness. Ex-cept it wasn't darkness anymore, becausehe could do that thing, that echolocationthing, and somehow "see" things aroundhim. If he clicked or coughed or even spokein a certain direction, he could register de-tailed shapes and heat and movement.

"We should have thrown you into the dun-geon months ago," said Ripred.

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"It's weird. It's like having a whole newsense," said Gregor.

"Yes. Let's try that spin attack now. Pick adistinctive spot on the wall and keep comingback to it," the rat instructed. "Wait, use meto start." Gregor tried. He could find Ripredwith echolocation on the first few spins butthen he started to get confused and dizzy. Itwas too many new things — spinning andspotting and seeing with his ears — for hisbrain to compute all at once. Finally hetripped and his feet went out from under him.

"All right, all right. That's enough for today,"said Ripred.

"No, it's not. I haven't got it," said Gregor.

"We'll get it next time," Ripred said.

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"There might not be a next time!" saidGregor. "Or next time might be in a cave fullof rats!"

"You're too tired. It's counterproductive," saidRipred. Gregor began to object but the ratcut him off. "Gregor! You've made excellentprogress today. But it's time to stop!"

What a reversal this was from their old les-sons, when it was Gregor who was alwaystrying to cut out and Ripred driving him on."Will you keep working with me?"

"After you've eaten and slept. Let's go checkup on Lizzie. You can rest in her roomthere," said Ripred.

"Yeah, let's see if they've cracked that codeyet," said Gregor. He was starting to get con-cerned about how long it was taking. "So,we'll really lose the war if they don't breakit?"

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"If Sandwich is to be believed," said Ripred,"And even if the prophecy were not a factor,I would say yes. We need that intelligencerather badly. Come on."

You could sense the frustration as soon asyou entered the code room. The floor wasankle deep in those long white strips of fab-ric marked with encrypted messages. Theteam was gathered around Lizzie as shehurriedly wrote down some letters on a stripwith a bright pink marker that must havebeen in her backpack. "So then it would be T... H ... E ... Q ...oh, no ... another H. That'snot it."

The team gave a collective huff ofdisappointment.

"So, how are we doing? Any luck with thePrime Factorial Ciphers?" asked Ripred.

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"No luck," said Daedalus. "Heronian thoughtto try a two-letter inversion, but that justfailed as well."

"It is so maddening. There must be somekey. Some simple key. Otherwise, the major-ity of gnawers could not keep it in theirheads," said Heronian. "Something theycould not forget."

"How's our new player doing?" asked Ri-pred, curling his tail around Lizzie'sshoulders. For the first time, the moodlightened. "Only once, must you show her,only once," said Min approvingly.

"She thinks in unusual ways," said Daedalus,dipping his nose down to touch Lizzie on thehead.

"And she does not sing," added Reflex,which made them all laugh.

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But despite the praise, Lizzie did not lookhappy. "I haven't been much help really,"said Lizzie. "I haven't broken the code orhelped anyone else do it, like the prophecy Iread says."

"You read the prophecy?" asked Gregor. Hecouldn't believe Lizzie was accepting thenews of his death so calmly.

"I had Nerissa make her a copy," saidRipred.

Lizzie handed it to Gregor. "Doesn't shehave pretty writing?" she said.

Gregor looked at the prophecy. The linesabout his death had been rewritten to read:

When the monster's blood is spilled And thewarrior's role fulfilled

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"Very pretty," said Gregor, glad they knewenough to try to protect her. A fresh cart offood was being rolled into the room. "Okay,you'd better break before you're all useless.Let's clear this mess away. We'll eat. And forthe next half hour no one is to utter thewords, 'What if we tried ...?'" said Ripred.

Gregor and Lizzie gathered up the lengths ofwhite fabric and piled them into the rat roomaccording to Ripred's instructions so that hecould make a more comfortable nest thanthe one the humans had provided. Food wasspread out on the floor, both raw andcooked, and everyone sat down to eat. Ri-pred, who seemed determined to keep theteam's mind off of the code for a while, toldfunny stories and even had Min laughing,Gregor, who had never seen Ripred try to belikable and charming, was surprised to seehe could be both. If you didn't know better,you would think Ripred had a genuine fond-ness for this oddball crew. But Gregor knew

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his main objective was getting the codebroken. And if the rat thought a few laughswould move him closer to that end, he'd befunny. He'd tell jokes. He'd slip on a bananapeel if one were handy.

Gregor ate a huge grilled fish, seven slicesof buttered bread, some greens, and most ofa cake. Then five minutes later he felthungry again and finished the cake with abig mug of milk. It had been weeks sincehe'd had regular meals and he needed tocatch up. He looked over at Lizzie, who waspicking at some stew. "Eat up, Liz, it's good."

"I know. It is. I am," she said, and took asmall spoonful.

"Now I told you everything's arranged withyour father, right? He's got round-the clocknurses. He'll be fine," said Ripred.

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"I know. I was just... I was thinking about mymom. I know it would upset her to know Iwas here, but I haven't seen her in months,"said Lizzie. Her eyes were bright with tears."Maybe I could just look at her when she'ssleeping."

"That would do no harm," said Heronian.

"And it would ease the child's mind," saidDaedalus.

Gregor wasn't so sure about that. His mom'scondition might only worry Lizzie more. Andif his mom woke up and saw her third kiddown here, she'd probably become hysteric-al, wear herself out, and get even sicker.Still, Lizzie hadn't seen her in ages.

"Just for a minute," said Lizzie.

"Your call," Ripred said to Gregor.

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"Thanks," said Gregor. The rat spent ninety-nine point nine percent of the time bossinghim around. But here, when he actuallycould use a little advice, hey, it was suddenlyall up to Gregor. "Okay, Liz, I'll walk youdown, and if she's asleep, you can go in. Ifyou eat your stew."

Lizzie wolfed down the stew while Gregorprepared himself for what lay ahead. Hismom had been healthy and strong whenshe'd left the Underland. Now she wasbedridden, way too thin, and had scars fromthe plague. He was pretty sure he couldcount on another panic attack from his sister.

The palace was a new and, therefore, poten-tially frightening place to Lizzie. She heldtightly to Gregor's hand as he guided herdown the many flights of stairs to the hospit-al level. It didn't help that things were so grimnow, the people so stressed and sad, the airso heavy with medicines and disinfectants

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and the smoke from the extra torches thatburned everywhere these days.

Gregor had Lizzie wait at the end of the hos-pital corridor that led to his mom's room. Hewas half hoping she was awake and hecould just say a quick hello and take Lizzieback upstairs. Maybe he could even try andwake her, although that didn't seem quitefair. But when he reached his mom's room,he encountered an entirely different problem.Eight badly wounded mice lay on mats onthe floor and his mom was nowhere to beseen.

"They must have moved her to a smallerroom," was his first thought, and then it hithim. "Oh, no," he said. "I want to see a doc-tor!" he shouted, running into the hall. "Ineed a doctor here!"

He shot down the corridor past Lizzie, ignor-ing her questions, and grabbed the first

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doctor he met by the shoulders. She was asmall woman with dark rings of fatigue underher eyes. "Where is she? Where's mymother?"

"Oh, the Overlander!" said the woman.

Gregor could see alarm in her eyes. Then herealized he had pinned her up against thewall. But he didn't let go. "Where is she?"

"Gregor! Gregor, release her! She had nohand in it!" Howard appeared from some-where and pulled him off of the doctor.

"In what?" demanded Gregor.

"Solovet sent a team of guards in withoutwarning. They had orders to take your moth-er to the Fount," said Howard. "There wasnothing we could do."

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"But why? Why? I'm staying. She knows I'mstaying!" said Gregor.

"It can only be further insurance," saidHoward. "You are but a short flight from yourhome."

A short flight? A million miles was more likeit. Across the universe to the end of time andback again. Gregor didn't feel he could pos-sibly be any farther from his home.

"I'm going after her," said Gregor. "I'm get-ting Ares and I'm — man!" He just re-membered Ares had been sent on the airlift."Where can I get another bat?"

"You cannot. You must know that," saidHoward. "Gregor, the Fount may be safer forher at any rate. It is not under attack, thehospital not so crowded." Lizzie was tuggingat his hand. "What did they do with her?Where is she?"

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Gregor pulled her in for a hug. "It's okay. It'sokay," he said, forcing himself to be calm forher sake. "They just moved her to anotherhospital."

"Up to the Fount. That is my home.... Is thisLizzie?" asked Howard.

"I was — going to — see her," said Lizzie.

"Here comes that panic attack," thoughtGregor.

"My mother lives at the Fount. She works inthe hospital, as I do. I am sure she will takevery good care of her," said Howard.

"I'm going to go talk to Solovet," said Gregor."Where is she?"

"I believe she is overseeing the battlefield,"said Howard.

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"You go back to the code room, okay, Liz?"said Gregor.

"I don't — know the way!" said Lizzie.

"I could take you," said Howard gently. Hewas the oldest of five kids. Gregor re-membered how great he was with Boots andHazard.

"Please. Take her back. And I'll go see aboutMom," said Gregor.

Getting to the battlefield was no easy matter.Even finding a way out of the palace tooksome doing. Usually he came and went on abat. The lowest doors and windows were twohundred feet in the air. The guards at theplatform that lowered to the ground flatly re-fused to give him a ride. Finally he found anunsuspecting young bat in High Hall whoagreed to carry him to the arena for"training." Going to the arena would at least

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get Gregor outside of the palace, but it wasin the opposite direction he needed to go.So, once the bat had flown off, he ran backacross the city. The streets were congestedwith wagons pulling food and supplies to thepalace. He dodged people and questionsand kept moving past the palace until hereached the northernmost part of the wallthat surrounded the city.

He was in luck. A door had been opened toallow the farmers to bring in the harvestedcrops. At least he did not have to find someway over the wall. But he knew the guardswould recognize him — as an Overlanderand, therefore, as the warrior — and they'dhave strict orders to keep him in the city.Rather than risk being turned back and re-ported, he stowed away behind some bas-kets in a wagon heading back out to thefields. This would at least get him partway tothe battlefield.

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As the wagon rolled away from the city, heworked out what he would say to Solovet.He would tell her, in no uncertain terms, thateither she would bring his mother back or hewould not fight for her. Period. He knew hecould end up in the dungeon. But eventuallyshe would need him to fight the Bane. Andshe'd want him better trained and willing tofollow orders. Wouldn't she? Or would shejust see the whole thing. as another chal-lenge to her authority and make an exampleof him? Maybe he'd get better results if heapproached it from another angle and toldher Lizzie couldn't work without her momnearby.

The wagon came to a stop several milesfrom the city. The fields were well lit with asystem of gaslights, so he still had to takecare not to be seen. Gregor slipped out theback and found himself waist deep in somekind of wheatlike plants. He ducked downand continued to move through the field until

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it simply ran out. The Underlanders wereharvesting their way toward the city. He hadreached the end of the crops and nothing butstubble lay between him and the wall fromwhich the war was being waged. He decidedto run for it. Who was going to stop him outhere, anyway? A couple of farmers?

Gregor did hear some shouts as he sprintedacross the barren fields, but no one was act-ively pursuing him. He guessed they figuredhe'd be stopped by the wall and, since hedidn't have a flier, pretty much stuck there.That was okay. If he made it to the wall he'dmake it to Solovet. He did see a bat fly overhim, probably to report his presence, and fora moment he was distracted watching it,wondering if guards would be sent to carryhim back.

That's when he tripped. He thought he hadjust caught his foot on some stubble, butwhen his hands hit the ground he could see

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the thin layer of earth cracking beneath himand the rock floor giving way under that. "It'sanother earthquake!" he thought.

But as the three-foot claw broke through thefield and slammed within inches of his arm,he knew this was no earthquake.

***

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CHAPTER 14Gregor jerked his arm back and instinctivelyrolled away from the claw. He was on hisback, about to spring up, when the earth athis feet burst open and a massive paw shotinto the air. He yanked his legs in andscuttled backward like a crab, as the paw,with its five ivory-white claws, descended,leaving a deep furrow in the ground.

For a second, it crossed Gregor's mind thatthe thing was attached to the Bane. That thewhite rat had grown so disproportionatelylarge that it now had these deadly, shovel-like paws. But this was no rat paw. Even theBane couldn't grow claws a yard long. Sowhat was it?

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As Gregor twisted over onto his feet, hopingto make a run for it, the area before himerupted in a fountain of dirt. He caught just aglimpse of a bizarre, pink flower about thesize of a manhole cover before it was on hisface. "It's one of those killer plants! Like inthe jungle!" he thought. The fleshy tentaclesbrushing over his lips and eyes made hisskin crawl. "Eugh!" he cried as he jumped upand stumbled back. His hands gripped thehilts of his weapons, but he stopped just be-fore he drew them. He was not under attack.

For the first time he got a good look at thecreatures coming out of the ground. Theydefinitely weren't plants. Or rats, either, al-though he was pretty sure they came fromthe rodent family. They had large bodiescovered with dark, bristly fur and long,powerful tails. Each had four paws equippedwith five killer claws. The back paws werenoticeably smaller and weaker looking thanthe front ones, though. Coming out of the

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place where one would expect a nose was alarge rose-colored blossom rimmed withwaving tentacles.

Strange as they were, the animals seemedsomehow familiar. But why? And thenGregor remembered.

It had been a warm summer day when hewas about seven. His family was down at thefamily farm in Virginia. Gregor's dad hadbeen teaching him how to play Ping-Pong inthe basement. He'd been chasing down aball that had landed under an old armchair,and when he'd stood up, there it was.Trapped in the window well where it musthave fallen. Unhappily crawling along thegravel. A star-nosed mole. Of course youcould measure its weight in ounces insteadof hundreds of pounds, but otherwise it wasremarkably like the creatures surroundingGregor now. He had loved the mole, so theyhad watched it for a while. His dad had

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explained how it usually stayed under-ground, how those front feet were amazingat digging and, even though it couldn't seewell, that bizarre nose was so sensitive totouch it could basically feel what somethingwas. They had finally gotten a shovel fromthe shed, gently scooped it out, and set itfree. But Gregor had been left with a warmfeeling about the funny little creature.

"Wow, check it out," said Gregor, and gave alaugh. "I think I met a friend of yours backhome."

But what were moles doing in the Under-land? No one had ever mentioned them tohim before. Surely he would have heard ofthem when the plague was running rampantbecause they were mammals — they wouldhave been affected along with the rest of thewarmbloods. Could it be that no one knewthey existed down here? That they'd beenliving far deeper in the earth than the rest of

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the Underlanders and had only just sur-faced? He wanted to communicate withthem, but they just seemed to make a quietwheezing sound. Did they know English?

Four moles had tunneled out into the field bythis point. They were sort of snuffling aroundhim, touching his sneakers and his body withtheir tentacles. They seemed to be trying tofigure him out. Had they ever even met a hu-man? Certainly not an Overlander. That wasa big distinction down here. Everybody hemet knew he was not from Regalia. Therewas his skin for one thing, and his smell foranother.

Gregor opened his hands and held them outto the moles. As their noses gently caressedhim he felt a stab of concern. It didn't matterif they were harmless or if they had dug intothis field by accident. They were tunneling inbehind the humans' line of defense. If So-lovet knew they were here, she'd probably

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treat them harshly. Gregor didn't like to thinkhow harshly. He knew he had to dosomething fast.

"Hey!" he said. "Hey, you moles! You've gotto get out of here!" He began to gesture tothe tunnel openings. "Go on now! Shoo! Goon back to wherever you came from!"

Gregor had the moles' attention now. Theyhad stopped nosing around him and hadtheir heads directed toward him. But none ofthem were leaving. Gregor spoke more ur-gently. "Listen, man, you got to go. You un-derstand what I'm saying? There's a war on.They won't want you here." He attempted topush the nearest one toward a hole. It waslike trying to move a bus.

While they didn't leave, the moles were be-ginning to stir in an agitated fashion. Gregorhad the feeling that they did understand atleast part of what he was saying.

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A scout on a bat flew overhead closeenough for Gregor to see the look of shockon her face. The bat made a beeline for thewall where Solovet was overseeing thebattle. Gregor knew it was just a matter ofminutes before soldiers would be divingdown at these poor animals.

"Get out!" he shouted at the moles. "Get outbefore you get hurt! They don't want youhere! This land belongs to the humans! Thehumans!"

Those last words were barely out of hismouth when the moles went nuts. Thewheezing sounds they were making becameloud and angry and they began to snarl athim.

"What? What did I say?" said Gregor, whip-ping out his blades. He did not want to fightwith the moles — he had been trying to

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protect them! — but it didn't look like he wasgoing to have any choice.

Vikus's words from the prophecy room ranthrough his head. "Remember that even inwar there is a time for restraint. A time tohold back your sword." This seemed to beone of those times. Gregor didn't know whathad caused the moles to attack, but he wassure there was some kind of misunderstand-ing. He didn't want to kill them. He justwanted them to leave. He made every effortto keep them at bay without wounding them.

The moles had transformed from mild andconfused creatures into rabid beasts. Theycould move a lot faster than Gregor wouldhave guessed. Immediately he was encircledand had to fend off swipes from those fear-some claws from four sides. There was noth-ing to do but start spinning. He tried to re-member about using the echolocation tospot, but it was still too new to depend on.

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He would have to count on his eyes. So hechose a wagon in the distance, burned itsimage into his brain, and tried to lock on it fora second each time he rotated around. Itwas hard, though, because his eyes hadplenty of other stuff to pay attention to.

Four moles times ten front claws equaled theequivalent of forty blades coming at him."These things need their nails trimmed," hethought. But he quickly learned that wasn'tgoing to happen. Whenever he hit one of theclaws with the full power of his sword, hemet with solid resistance. There was a clang,almost of metal on metal. He could blocktheir attacks, but he could not cut throughthe claws. "What are those made of?" he ac-tually said aloud. Then he remembered thatto reach the field the moles had had to digthrough solid rock. Maybe a lot of it. Theirclaws must be made of very hard material.After that he just concentrated on blockingand hoped that his sword would hold up.

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He spun for another minute before he real-ized this would not be enough. He. couldn'tjust stay on the defensive; they would wearhim out fast and then one of them wouldslice him in half. On the next round, he man-aged to clip a few tentacles off one of thosepink noses. The mole gave such a wail ofpain that Gregor almost stopped to makesure it was all right. That's when a clawcaught his left side, ripping open his shirtand cutting through his sword belt. Itdropped around his feet and he lost a stepkicking it free. Another claw made contact,leaving a deep gash on his left hip. Boy, So-lovet had been right about his left side beingvulnerable! And the moles had sensed itright away. The pain gave him an extra rushof adrenaline and he forgot about spotting,forgot about the moves Perdita had taughthim with the dagger, forgot that he had actu-ally liked the moles, forgot about everythingexcept staying alive.

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The pink flowers! The waving tentacles!Those were his targets now. Then the occa-sional small shiny black eye or soft under-side of a lifted paw as he whirled around. Fora guy who couldn't dance much, he waspretty amazing. His feet were moving insome intricate pattern of steps that he wassure he could never replicate in a calmermoment. He could smell the blood, themoles', his own, before he saw it. But then itbegan to fill the air, splattering his face, andsomewhere in his brain he knew he wasn'tfighting alone anymore. Soldiers on bats haddescended, driving their blades into themoles' backs and faces, killing them. Gregorslowed to a shaky standstill in time to seethe last one beheaded with a single blowfrom Solovet's sword. Then she was shout-ing orders in a voice so furious he could notmake sense of what she was saying. Hecaught words like Over-lander...hospital...breach...diggers.

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Diggers. Diggers!

Gregor was dizzy. Sick. Someone hiked himup onto a bat and he cried out. The woundon his left hip was excruciating. In minuteshe was back in the hospital, stretched out onan operating table. A bitter taste filled hismouth. Then nothing.

The pain in his hip woke him later. It was notso sharp now, more of a hot throbbing. Heopened his eyes groggily. Before they hadoperated, they must have drugged him withthat fast-acting stuff Howard said they re-served for emergency surgery. Vikus's facefloated into focus beside his bed. Gregor feltbetter just knowing the old man was back inRegalia. He was the only one who might beable to shield him from Solovet. Keep himout of the dungeon, anyway.

"Who?" was all Gregor could get out. ButVikus understood him.

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"They are known as diggers. We hadthought them all to be long dead," saidVikus. "But some must have remained in theUnderland, living in secrecy. Those four inthe field cannot be the entire population.Others are out there. And they have alliedthemselves with the Bane."

"Why?" asked Gregor.

"This land, the land upon which Regalia isbuilt, belonged to them many years ago,"said Vikus wearily. "When Sandwich arrived,he wanted it. The diggers would not leave.So he began a war."

"He won," said Gregor. Even in his foggystate, he could feel the injustice of it all. Itwas a nice chunk of real estate, Regalia.Rivers. Springs. Relatively easy to defend.How long had it been the diggers' home be-fore Sandwich had descended from theOverland and laid claim to it?

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"He won. First there was battle, and whenthat threatened to fail, he poisoned the dig-gers' water supply. This was not a tactic theyhad any knowledge of. Only a few werethought to have escaped, none to have sur-vived," said Vikus.

"Killers. You," said Gregor. That was thename Hazard had said the other creatures inthe Underland used for the humans, but notto their faces. "That's why."

"Yes, that is why we are known as killers,"Vikus said. "Why so many still hate and fearus. Why the diggers still want us dead."

"Didn't attack me," Gregor said. "Not at first."Not until he'd said they were on the humans'land.

"They must have realized you are not one ofus," said Vikus. "At least, they gave you thebenefit of the doubt."

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Gregor closed his eyes and let the informa-tion swim around inside him. So Sandwich,the founder of Regalia, the eerily accuratevisionary who had created this new world farbelow the surface of the earth, was first andforemost a butcher. And yet, they all stillstruggled to understand those fancy wordshe had carved in the prophecy room. Howthey lived and died by them. The prophecieswere held in such reverence that Gregor hadnever even thought to question whether theirauthor had been a good or bad person. Butnow he knew. He'd been risking everythingunder the direction of a man who had set outto slaughter an entire species to get hishands on a good piece of property. AndGregor carried his sword.

"Not good," Gregor said.

"It is horrendous. It is a shame that we havenever lived down," said Vikus.

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"What now?" asked Gregor.

"Now we pay for it," said Vikus. "For it is onlya matter of time before the remaining diggerswill tunnel into the palace. And then theBane will follow."

***

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CHAPTER 15Gregor knew he should rally at the words.Despite his wound, he should struggle to pullhimself together, prepare to fight. At this verymoment, the moles could be tunneling intothe arena where the mouse refugees wererecovering, or the nursery, or the very hospit-al room in which he lay. Behind them wouldcome an army of rats to kill everyone insidethe palace. He must be ready. So whywasn't he even trying to move?

He could blame the drug or the wound orsheer exhaustion, but an entirely newobstacle immobilized Gregor. Ever since hehad been in the Underland, he had foughtwith the knowledge that he had been in theright. To keep the ants from destroying the

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plague cure, to stop the snakes in the junglefrom killing himself and his friends, to freethe mice from the rats. But he didn't feel rightabout what had just happened with themoles. Okay, a few hours ago he hadn'tknown who they were or what had happenedto them. When he'd begun his spin attack, itwas in self-defense. But now they were alldead. And if Vikus's story was accurate, themoles were the ones who had been in theright. Regalia was their land. The humanswere invaders who had not even won in afair fight. To make matters worse, the moleshadn't attacked Gregor at first. They had giv-en him a chance to at least say where hestood. And he had stood with the humans. Itwas a terrible feeling, to be on the wrongside of what was right. Not with the rats —he still felt that after what he had witnessedin the Firelands he was right to try to protectthe mice — but with the moles.... Of course,who knew what stories the rats might be able

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to produce to justify their own vicious behavi-or? The rats and the humans had been fight-ing so long; the list of atrocities on both sideswas appalling. Gregor had felt above thatsomehow, until he had killed the moles.

When a nurse came in with pain medicine,Gregor couldn't swallow it fast enough. Itwas the ache in his heart that he mostwanted to block out. But the oblivionprovided by the drugs could last only solong. The next time he awoke, the floor of hisroom was covered with bandaged humansand bats on pallets. Even with his uniquestatus as the warrior, Gregor was encour-aged to move elsewhere in the palace if hecould manage it. He was glad to get out ofthe hospital, where the moaning and bloodwere more than he could presently handle.Besides, he wanted to get back to the coderoom to see if they'd made any progress. Hecould tell by the number of wounded thatthings had been heating up. If they didn't

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break that code soon, they were all going toend up dead.

Using the walls for support, Gregor made hisway down the halls toward the code room.Lizzie would certainly be there and, hope-fully, Boots as well. He was grateful now thathis mother had been moved to the Fount.She was just one less family member heneeded to get out of Regalia.

His progress was slow. Every niche of thepalace seemed packed with people. Not allof them were wounded soldiers. Whole famil-ies were camped out wherever they couldfind a spot. By bits of conversation he heardas he limped along, he found out that therats had fought their way into the fieldsthrough the tunnels the diggers made. Theywere at the very walls of the city now. Thepeople who lived in Regalia had all beenordered into the palace for their own

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protection. The Bane was even closer thanGregor had thought.

When he entered the code room, he found asmall crowd eating a meal on the floor. Lizzieand Boots ran up and threw their armsaround him.

"Hi, you! Hi, you, you, you!" said Boots.There was an apprehensive quality he hadnever heard before in her voice.

"You're staying, right? You're staying herenow?" asked Lizzie, gripping his wrist tightlyas if she was afraid he'd vanish on the spot.

"Sure, if you guys have got room for onemore," said Gregor.

Then Luxa appeared in the arch to the ratroom. She looked much better. Her skin hadlost that hot red tone, and while she coughedoccasionally, she seemed to breathe

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normally. Her violet eyes were tired butclear.

It was the first time he had seen her sincehe'd given her the picture. He'd thought hewould feel uncomfortable, but all he felt wasglad to be near her.

"You living here, too?" Gregor asked.

"I gave over my quarters to the injured. Ri-pred has been so kind as to offer Hazardand me the use of the rat room," Luxa saidwith a wry smile.

Aurora and Nike had moved into the coderoom as well and were sharing the bat quar-ters with Daedalus. And Temp was there,ever watchful of Boots.

"We are all here with the understanding thatwe must stay silently in our rooms or leavewhen the code team is working," said Luxa.

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"Ripred has made that very clear. But nowwe dine. Are you hungry?"

Gregor was. He sat down on the floor withthe others and ate about a gallon of beefstew. Lately, he'd felt like some kind of pred-ator, like a lion or something, that gorged it-self and then didn't eat for a few days. Thewar had not been conducive to the three-meals-a-day schedule he'd been raised on.

Ares straggled in at some point. Gregor'shand locked on his bat's claw in their bondgesture, but they exchanged only a fewwords. Ares bolted down a couple of fish andwent directly to sleep in the bat room.

Then Ripred came in and ordered everyoneto bed for six hours of rest. The rat paid littleattention to Gregor except to say, "We mayneed you on the field soon."

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Luxa rose and reached down to help him tohis feet. But once he was up, he didn't re-lease her hands. In fact, he held on tighter.

"To bed!" said Ripred, bumping him in hissore hip with his nose.

"We will talk tomorrow," Luxa said.

The human room was spacious enough fortwo decent-sized beds. It also had a closetwith a toilet and a basin with a faucet thatprovided cool water. Gregor found himselftrying to approximate the bedtime routinethey had at home. He and his sistersbrushed their teeth, although they had to usetheir fingers. He made sure Boots peed onemore time so she wouldn't wet the bed. Thenhe tucked his sisters in together.

"Tell a story about me," said Boots. Sheloved to hear about herself. He had a prettybig repertoire of Boots stories worked up.

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But he couldn't bring himself to tell somehappy tale about Boots on the carousel,Boots at Halloween, Boots and the birthdaycake. Everything was so awful. Relivinggood memories required an emotionalstrength he lacked right now. What if he star-ted crying or something? He'd scare her todeath.

"Not tonight, Boots," said Gregor. "Tonighteveryone has to go straight to sleep." Hekissed them both on the foreheads.

"I'm glad you're here," Lizzie whispered.

"Me, too," said Gregor. He climbed into thesecond bed and shifted around to find theleast uncomfortable position for his hip. Ithurt, though. And he had eaten too much.And he was more worried than sleepy. Helay there for more than an hour before thesound of his sisters' breathing lulled him intoa sort of doze.

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"Gregor. Gregor," he heard his mom's voicecalling his name, and sat straight up beforehe remembered his hip. His hand pressedon the wound, as if that would stop thethrobbing, and he looked around. No, ofcourse his mom wasn't here. And even if shewere, her voice wouldn't sound like it had inhis dream. Calm, and in control, and like amother. Oh, how wonderful it would be tohave a parent who was in charge again, whocould protect him, who could tell him what todo. He knew his parents loved him and weredoing their best. But the closest thing hisfamily had to a parent at the moment wasGregor. He glanced over to check on his sis-ters and saw that Lizzie's half of the bed wasempty. Now where could she be at thishour? Probably working on that code.Gregor was just about to go find her andmake her get some sleep when he heard avoice.

"Better now?" It was Ripred.

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Gregor had shut the curtains to the humanroom at bedtime but left about an inch openso the torchlight from the main room couldshine in. He didn't want his sisters waking upin total darkness. Now he shifted around onhis bed until he was able to see Ripredthrough the crack. The rat was curled up onhis side on the floor. Huddled in the curve ofhis body was Lizzie.

"Yes. I feel better next to you. You're sowarm," said his sister.

"Slow, deep breaths," said Ripred, andGregor knew Lizzie must have been havinganother panic attack. But why hadn't shecome to him? Why had she gone to Ripred?"Want to try a few more math problems?" therat asked.

"No," said Lizzie. "Just want to sit here." .Gregor didn't know what was stranger: tosee Lizzie, who jumped at her own shadow,

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snuggled up against a giant rat, or to see theuntouchable Ripred, who seemed to loathealmost everyone, who always slept aloneeven when other rats were available, com-forting his little sister.

"How did she die? The one who was likeme?" Lizzie asked. What was she talkingabout now? How did who die? When had Ri-pred known someone like Lizzie before?

"Silksharp. At the Garden of Hesperides,"said Ripred.

"I know about that. Gregor told me. The dikebroke and there was a big flood. So shedrowned?" asked Lizzie.

"I tried to get there." Ripred shook his head."Too late."

"And your wife? And the other pups?" askedLizzie.

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"Lost them all. All gone. No chance to evensay good-bye." There was a long pause,then the rat continued. "I went off alone formonths. I wanted to die. I tried to. But ittakes a lot to kill me."

Gregor's fingers dug into his blanket as hetried to incorporate what he had just heardinto his idea of Ripred. Wife? Ripred had hada mate. Pups? He had been someone's dad.One of his pups, Silksharp, had been likeLizzie. And he had lost all of them whenHamnet had broken that dike. But Hamnethad been one of the few people who Ripreddidn't loathe. When he had shown up in thejungle, why hadn't Ripred ripped his throatout? Because he knew Hamnet had not in-tended to break the dike? Because he hadseen him trying to save the victims from theflood? Or did he simply think Hamnet hadsuffered enough?

"So you came back," said Lizzie.

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"I couldn't stand it. The thought that they haddied and nothing was to come of it," saidRipred.

Through the curtain, Gregor could see thatRipred's head had sunk down onto his frontpaws. His eyes were closed. Lizzie's handreached up and she stroked his ears. "Andthat's when?" she said softly.

"Yes. That's when I decided it all had tochange," Ripred whispered.

Lizzie wrapped her arms around Ripred'sneck and pressed her head against his. In afew minutes, they had both fallen asleep.

***

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CHAPTER 16Too much. Too much to deal with. Too manythings to make sense of. When Gregor arosethe next morning, his mind was in such a foghe couldn't even decide what to have forbreakfast. Boots just piled things onto hisplate and he ate them, not even tasting thefood.

Ripred ordered the room cleared except forthe code team. Temp took Boots to the nurs-ery, where they seemed to have a regularjob. Aurora and Nike went to assist Hazardwith reuniting the nibbler families. Aresheaded off to check if he was still needed forthe airlift. Gregor and Luxa were lingering inthe hall when Ripred brushed by. "You two.Meet me at the city wall in a half hour. You

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may as well see what we're up against."When he was gone, Luxa looked at Gregor."Why do you suppose he gave us a halfhour?"

"I don't know," said Gregor. Then he thoughtabout the conversation he had overheard thenight before. About how Ripred had losteveryone he loved with "No chance to evensay good-bye." Was the half hour a gift sothat Gregor and Luxa would have thatchance? If it was, Gregor didn't want towaste it. He wanted to be alone with her, toreally talk to her. But where could they go?The whole palace was overflowing withpeople. Then he had an inspiration. The mu-seum! Maybe, just maybe, it had been putoff-limits. "Come on, I want to show yousomething."

She looked at him quizzically but didn't ob-ject when he took her hand and led herthrough the halls. They had to go single file

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for most of it—the place was so packed—butthey never lost hold of each other. He wasright. Not only was the museum restrictedbut the entire hallway to it had been cor-doned off. They stepped over the rope andslipped into the room.

Once inside, Gregor wasn't sure what to do.

"What did you wish to show me?" askedLuxa.

He hadn't really had anything in mind toshow her. He had just wanted to go some-where where they could have some privacy.Where they could talk without everyonehearing every word they said. But now thatthey were in the museum, that seemed likean embarrassing thing to say. "Uh, it wasjust..." Gregor's eyes landed on the stack ofphotos from Hazard's birthday party. "Thesepictures," he said. "I thought you might like tosee them."

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He piled some coats and an old piece ofcanvas on the floor and they sat, leaningback against the shelves, looking throughthe pictures. That is, Luxa looked at the pic-tures. Gregor mostly looked at her. Watchingthe different emotions slide over her face.Pleasure at how festive the arena looked, alldecorated for the party. Laughter at a photoof Boots in her princess costume feedingTemp a bite of cake. Sorrow at the shot ofHazard with his arms wrapped tightly aroundThalia, the little bat who had died when thevolcano erupted in the Fir elands.

"I think this will help Hazard," said Luxa. "Hefears that he will forget the faces of those heloved. His mother's image is already hard forhim to recall. He thinks he can rememberHamnet, because he looked so much likeme, and Frill is still clear."

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"Yeah, it'd be hard to forget Frill," saidGregor, as the image of the striking giant liz-ard came clearly to his mind.

"But he worries he will lose Thalia," saidLuxa. "May I give this to him?"

"Of course," said Gregor. "Take some forboth of you."

Luxa went through the photos, selecting astack, but then she frowned. "There are noothers of us together. We should each haveone."

She was right. He had given her the photo ofthem dancing and now wished he had anoth-er copy. Something to carry in his pocket un-til...well, until it was beyond mattering."Maybe there's still some film in the camera,"he said. There was. And since it was an in-stant camera, they could have the picturesright away. So he held the camera in front of

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them and they burned through the rest of theroll. For a few minutes, the world outside themuseum seemed to go away, and they werejust two twelve-year-olds goofing around likethey were in a photo booth, making faces,laughing. But when Gregor said, "Okay, lastpicture," something happened. They movedcloser together, her temple resting againsthis cheek, and their expressions lost their sil-liness. "Last picture," thought Gregor, as theimage slowly developed. "Last picture ever."They had both managed to smile, but theirexpressions were tinged with sadness aswell. This is who they really were. Not twocarefree kids whose next big decision wouldbe whether to get ice cream or see a movie,but two people who knew a war lay outsidethe door, waiting to tear them apart. "I'll takethis one," said Gregor. "You keep the one ofus dancing." When the war ended, that'swhat he wanted her to remember, that onetime they had been that happy.

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"I think our half hour must be nearly run out,"said Luxa in a low voice.

"Yeah," said Gregor. Ripred would be wait-ing for them on the wall. "Luxa, if I don't get achance to see you again like this ... it's justyou should know ... that I..." It wasn't just amatter of being afraid to say the words any-more, it was a matter of how painful theywere. Knowing there was no future in them.He couldn't continue.

"I know," said Luxa. "So do I."

What happened next would probably havetaken months, even years to work up to iftime hadn't been so short, if the war had notsped things up and given them a sense thatwhatever living they were to do must bedone now or not at all.

Their faces were so close together that hebarely had to turn his head when they

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kissed. Something not unlike the rager sen-sation, but warmer, more tingly, traveledthrough his body. Their lips parted and hecould see her face registering the feeling aswell.

There was a scuffling in the hall and Miravetcame in with her arms full of his armor."There you are. I have been hunting for youall over the palace. I have orders to prepareyou for battle," said the old woman. Shewaved Gregor to his feet and began to dresshim at once. "Luxa, it would do you no harmto be fitted as well."

"Solovet doesn't want her to fight," saidGregor.

"It will matter very little what Solovet wants ifthose diggers claw their way into the palace.Every man, woman, and child of us will befighting," said Miravet. "Better she be suitedup beforehand."

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"Yes. I must go to the wall first," said Luxa.

"Then you come see me, my dear," Miravetsaid firmly, but she reached out and pattedLuxa's cheek. How different from Solovet,who never seemed to show Luxa any real af-fection. When he was dressed in his blackarmor, Gregor and Luxa made their way tothe High Hall. Ares was waiting for them, andit was only a brief flight to the wall of the city.Gregor suspected they were a little late, butRipred didn't make an issue of it. He was toobusy surveying the action below him withSolovet.

"Do you want us to go in now?" Gregorasked.

"Not yet, Gregor. But stay close at hand,"said Solovet. She caught sight of Luxa. "Youare not to be here now. I need you in the warroom."

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"Ripred ordered me out," said Luxa.

"Ripred was wrong and he sees that now,"the rat said.

"I would prefer to stay," insisted Luxa.

"No. Vikus is about to begin negotiations foran alliance with the spinners and the crawl-ers. We both think your presence would bevaluable. Ajax will take you," said Solovet.

"All right, then," said Luxa. She gave Gregorone last look as the bat flew off, and heseemed unable to tear his eyes from her re-treating form.

Ripred's tail jabbed him in the side, bringinghim back to attention. "Solovet pointed outthat she is rather a distraction to a certainmember of our army," he said. "And whoneeds that?"

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Gregor didn't say anything. Secretly, he wasglad that they'd sent her back. She was adistraction. Even now he was wonderingwhat she was doing. He struggled to focuson the scene before him.

The battle was in progress. It was similar tothe one a few days ago, in that the ratsseemed to be positioned in some sort offormation on the field below. But in that earli-er encounter, they had never come withintwenty yards of the command center. Nowthey were fighting right up to the base of thecity wall. It was about thirty feet tall, too highfor a rat to leap onto. But some were at-tempting to climb it. The surface wascovered in big slabs of polished stone, butbetween the slabs was a network of thinseams. Using these, the more agile ratswere able to get a foothold.

Ripred's head hung over the side of the wallas he watched one particularly game rat

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make it about half-way up before a humanon a bat swept up and ran it through with asword. The rat fell to the ground, havingclimbed its last wall, but this didn't satisfy Ri-pred. "Now that she has discovered thatroute, they will all know it can be used." As ifto prove his point, a second rat scurried dir-ectly up the wall using the same path as thefirst. It got a few yards higher before a sol-dier took it out.

"Yes, it is time, then," said Solovet as shegave a signal.

"Time for what?" Gregor asked Ares.

"Time to pour," said Ares grimly.

Then Gregor remembered the children'ssong that had really been a gruesomeprophecy. They had discovered its truenature only a few weeks ago in the Fire-lands. It had foretold the rats' attempt to

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completely wipe out the mice. And then ithad this stanza:

now the guests are at our door

Greet them as we have before.

Some will slice and some will pour.

Father, mother, sister, brother,

Off they go, I do not know

If we will see another.

For centuries the Underlanders had thoughtthe words were just harmless nonsense andsomehow referred to a tea party where cakewas sliced and tea was poured. Now every-one knew better. The rats were the "guests"at the door. They were already being slicedopen with swords. And so, as Ares said, itwas time to pour.

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The cauldrons must have been ready to goat a moment's notice. They were made ofthick, black iron and had arched metalhandles like baskets. Bats flew them up ontothe wall, and teams of humans, wearing pro-tective gloves and goggles, tipped them for-ward, releasing gallons of boiling oil onto therats below. Horrible shrieks filled the air andthe entire enemy line fell back, leaving ahalf-dozen scalded rats writhing at the baseof the wall.

"Shall we torch them?" a soldier askedSolovet.

"Just two, I think," she replied. "I do not wantthe smoke to interfere with our sight lines."

Burning torches were immediately droppedon the two least fortunate rats, and they be-came fireballs. They ran in frantic circlesthen and rolled to put the flames out, but itwas useless. Their coats were already

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soaked in oil. The smell of burnt fur, thenburnt flesh, filled the air. Then the rats fellunconscious, probably from shock. But theirbodies still lay burning at the foot of the wall.

It was one of the worst things Gregor hadwitnessed in the Underland. Not as bad asthe mice being suffocated in the pit, ormaybe that terrifying moment when miteshad eaten Howard's bat, Pandora, down to askeleton in seconds. But this was right upthere. He swallowed hard to keep his break-fast down and looked around at the others.

Ripred's face was expressionless. All he saidwas, "That should discourage them for awhile."

Solovet made a sound of agreement but herattention was back on the battle. There wasno sense of either triumph or revulsion alongthe wall in general. The Regalians had seenit a hundred times. Gregor had the feeling

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they all viewed the act as unpleasant but ne-cessary. The rats had fallen back from thewall. It had had the desired effect.

Gregor clenched his hands on his weapons'hilts to steady their shaking. Maybe he wasjust green. Maybe after a while this waseveryday stuff. Maybe all was fair in love andwar. He thought back to the diggers and howSandwich had poisoned them and stolentheir land. That wasn't fair. Even in war thereshould be lines you didn't cross. And forGregor, pouring boiling oil on your enemyand setting them on fire fell into that cat-egory. He knew they had burned up rats inthe Firelands, but it had felt like a desperateact to save themselves and the mice, not acold and calculated strategy. Could it be thathe was the only one who found what theyhad just done to those rats repellent?

It turned out he wasn't. There was someoneelse present on whom the event had had a

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significant effect. Someone else who wasnot hardened yet. Someone else who stillfound war new. Gregor didn't know where hehad been lurking, perhaps in a nearby tun-nel, but the torching of the rats brought himbounding into the thick of the battle. Hereared back on his haunches and gave anearsplitting roar. The Bane.

"Ah, so there's my little charge at last," saidRipred.

There were audible gasps even from the vet-erans on the wall. The Bane had grown sev-eral feet since Gregor had last seen him upclose a few months ago. He had to be elev-en or twelve feet long by now and hedwarfed the largest rats on the field. His iri-descent white coat gleamed in the torchlight,throwing off bits of pink and blue.

"Pearlpelt," thought Gregor. Less than a yearago he had been a sweet baby rat shivering

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in his arms. Of course, everyone had been ababy once. Not everyone grew up and triedto wipe out another species, no matter howdifficult their lot had been. Looking at themonstrous creature, Gregor couldn't helpthinking about how he had been supposed tokill the Bane when he had first discoveredhim. Back in the rat's maze as he nuzzledhis mother's dead body. If Gregor had doneit, would the mice still. be alive? The ratskept down? The war avoided?

"It would still have been immoral," said Aresin a low voice, as if he had been readingGregor's mind. "We would have committedthe same crime the Bane did when hemurdered the mouse pups in the pit."

"The prophecy said he would be evil," saidGregor.

"But did we not decide that sparing his lifewas the actual fulfillment of the prophecy?

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That you had made the right choice?" askedAres.

It was true. Gregor placed himself back inthe maze. Even knowing what he knew now,he could not have cut the baby's throat. TheBane had been completely innocent then.

And as for fulfilling the prophecies... now thatGregor knew what Sandwich had done tothe diggers,-he had to wonder what sort ofguidance the man had been giving him allalong. He was increasingly conflicted aboutthe prophecies as time went on.

"That's what we decided," Gregor said.There wasn't time to get into it now.

He could see a wide circle opening uparound the Bane. Even the other ratsscattered to avoid the erratic paws and tail.

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"He is even larger than I was led to believe,"said Solovet.

"I hear he's been gorging himself on deadnibblers in the Firelands. Feed him and hewill grow," said Ripred.

"Can he fight?" Ares asked.

"They say he can. But we haven't seen muchof him. The rats have been keeping himsomewhat under wraps," Ripred said.

"He can't beat you," said Gregor. He hadseen the Bane attack Ripred and come outon the bad end of it.

"Maybe, maybe not. That was a couple hun-dred pounds ago. Surely they've trained himsince then. And there's his sheer mass toconsider. And, of course, I couldn't get nearhim under the circumstances, unless I foughtthrough every rat on the field," said Ripred.

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"So the question isn't if he can beat me, it's ifhe can beat you." They were all staring atGregor now. "Is it time to find out?" heasked. It was.

As Gregor adjusted his armor, Ripred emit-ted a stream of advice on fighting a creaturewith a significant size advantage. The Banewould clearly best him in any strength move.Gregor must rely on speed and agility if hewas to stand a chance. Remember, too, thatthe Bane would have a much longer reachthan the rats he had previously fought, sothey must allow for extra time to move to-ward and away from their target. And therewere some other things, but Gregor stoppedhearing them because he was so focused onthe Bane.

A few particularly courageous teams weretaking dives at him, but he was swattingthem out of the air like flies. As Gregormounted Ares's back, he saw the Bane's

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claws connect with a bat's wing and shred itlike tissue paper. The bat and its riderplummeted straight down and were mobbedby a pack of smaller rats.

"Ares," Gregor began.

"I know. I will watch my wings," said Ares.

Most of the human army was airborne now,but almost no one was fighting. The Bane'sarrival seemed to have thrown everyone intoconfusion. The rats were jubilant, their op-ponents daunted. And everyone was waitingfor Gregor to fly out and take on the Bane.

Then the Bane spotted him. He leaped into aspot directly in the center of the field andwaited, tail flicking, ears flattened backagainst his head, drool dripping off of hisfangs. "Warrior. Warrior," he hissed. "Comeand get me."

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Gregor knew that in a matter of minutes hecould be dead. "Ripred?" he asked. "Myfamily?"

"I gave you my word," said the rat.

Gregor squeezed his eyes shut for a mo-ment, calling up the image of the stoneknight to give himself strength.

"Okay, then," said Gregor to Ares. "Readywhen you are." He could feel Ares's chestrise and fall, as he took one last deepbreath, and then they launched into the air.A hush fell over the field as Ares flew outand made a wide circle around the Bane,who crouched, never taking his eyes off ofthem. Gregor opened himself, inviting hisrager side to take over. The Bane's points ofweakness began to come to him in a seriesof quick flashes. Eyes, neck, liver, an arterypulsing beneath the foreleg, the key spotbetween two ribs that led right to the heart.

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They were on their second circle, almost dir-ectly behind the Bane, when Ares dove. TheBane, who had had his head tilted back towatch them, sprang into the air and twistedaround to meet them. Ares veered off to oneside but the Bane's front paw swiped afterthem. In a move they had only just practicedin their last training session, the bat snappedhis wings closed and rolled. Gregor swung,sheering off three of the Bane's claws, andthen flattened onto Ares's back as hewhisked them out of range.

The humans shouted words of encourage-ment, but the hit had only needled the Bane.He began to track them now, turning to fol-low their path, making it harder to find anopening. They didn't need one, though, be-cause suddenly the Bane attacked. Hesnagged the edge of Ares's wing and swungthem in toward his teeth. But before hepulled them into his mouth, the Bane had toget them past his nose. Gregor's sword

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sliced through one nostril, causing the Baneto jerk his head back and roar. Ares took thatopportunity to rip his wing free and the fightbegan in earnest. It was hard to break downthe moments, they came so thick and fast.They stayed almost entirely in the Bane'srange, with Ares twisting and diving and flip-ping as Gregor took on the claws and fangs.Forget about power, the Bane was fast.Maybe not quite as fast as Gregor, but prettyclose, so Gregor couldn't let down his guardfor a second. What seemed to throw the ratthe most were assaults on his face, so Aresbegan to direct them right into his eyes re-peatedly. If they got in close enough, Gregorcould use the dagger to attack as well as de-fend, and he had just ripped open a foot-longgash over the Bane's eye when it happened.The rat dropped onto his forelegs andwhipped his tail over his head, catchingGregor on the left side of his back. The un-expected blow knocked him off of Ares and

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sent him headfirst toward the ground. Thepain was initially paralyzing. Gregor was un-able to inhale, let alone twist into some con-venient position for Ares to retrieve him. Aresbarely made it under him at all. He could lit-erally hear his bat's claws scrape the groundas his chest slammed onto Ares's neck, for-cing the last remaining air out of his lungs.Fortunately, the Bane was taking a momentto recover from his last wound. Blood waspouring down over his face, staining thepure-white fur crimson. With both his noseand eye damaged, the Bane was becomingdisoriented.

Something bad had happened to Gregor'sback. He could tell when he placed his handwhere the last blow had landed. The areawasn't covered by metal armor but by a thickleather panel. When Gregor pressed on it,he had difficulty locating his two lower ribs.No, they were there, but wedged a couple ofinches too far into his body. No wonder he

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couldn't get any oxygen. But he was just go-ing to have to make do without it. "Tail,"Gregor gasped in Ares's ear. It was all hecould get out but Ares understood. The batdove straight down over the Bane's head. Asthe tail came reflexively up in defense,Gregor mustered every ounce of strength hecould and swung. His blow cut the tailcleanly in two, leaving just a two-foot stumpbehind. A fountain of blood spurted from thewound, soaking Gregor as he collapsed onAres's neck.

The Bane could not immediately register hisloss. He circled around to find his tail againand again and finally, when he saw thesevered part lying on the ground, pawed at itfor a full thirty seconds as if he could bring itback to life. Seeing he could not, the Banetilted back his head and gave a wail unlikeany sound Gregor had ever heard a ratmake.

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That's when Gregor realized what he haddone. He had wanted to take out the tail be-cause it was such a powerful weapon. But itwas so much more than that to the Bane.Gregor flashed back to the time he hadwatched the rat nearly have a nervousbreakdown under Regalia. To calm himself,the Bane had first sucked, then gnawed onhis tail until it was a bloody mess. It was hiscomfort, his security blanket, the thing hereached for when he could not cope. And,man, was he ever not coping well without it!

The Bane went completely insane, whirlingaround in a circle, snapping at anything inhis path. Then he caught sight of Ares, whohad turned and was heading for Regalia asfast as his damaged wing would allow. Itmade sense, since Gregor was clearly un-able to continue fighting. But rather than re-treat as well, the Bane bolted after them.The rat ran at a breakneck pace toward thewall and, with one astonishing leap, landed

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on the top. His huge body knocked a dozenor so humans to the ground as he came in.The others vaulted onto bats and fled, as theBane ran back and forth along the wall,screaming unintelligible words.

Ares, who had cleared the wall only secondsbefore his pursuer, turned back to face thescene. As the Bane continued his rant, pawsand noses began to poke up over the edgeof the wall. In less than a minute, the frontline of the army had joined the Bane, andmore heads were appearing.

A beautiful silvery-coated rat climbed right uponto the Bane's back. Gregor knew her.Twirltongue. The rat that was so persuasiveshe had almost convinced him to betray Ri-pred. He'd always suspected she had greatpower over the Bane. Anyone could see hewas a complete mess, that he could neverorganize something like the mass murder ofthe mice, or even this war, on his own. But

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seeing Twirltongue riding the Bane's back,talking in his ear, confirmed Gregor's worstfears. If the Bane couldn't think coherently,Twirl-tongue would do it for him.

"Take the city! Leave no one alive!" bellowedthe Bane.

And on his command, the rats poured intoRegalia.

***

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CHAPTER 17Gregor inched forward on his stomach so hishead hung over Ares's shoulder. Screamsfilled the air as the rats swarmed through thestreets of the city, killing any humans theycould find. The majority of the populationhad already reached the safety of thepalace. But there were still hundreds ofpeople en route, on foot, and in carts, as thearmy of rats swept down upon them. Somedrew swords, but they were not prepared todefend themselves against such a viciousassault, and Gregor watched several peopleliterally ripped apart.

"My fault. I didn't finish him off," said Gregor.He struggled to raise himself.

"It was not possible," Ares said. "Lie still!"

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The Regalian army's priority changed fromfighting to rescuing, as they attempted tocarry the victims to safety. Ares dove downand plucked a pair of children from a wagonjust as their mother had her throat torn open.He brought them to the balcony of the HighHall and set them gently down. Theyhuddled together shaking and weeping, untilsomeone came and took them inside. Theentire hall was filled with bats deliveringpeople and then jetting off again.

"Gregor, I must leave you," said Ares. "Thereare others I can save."

"Yes. Go. I'm okay," Gregor said, sliding offof Ares and onto his hands and knees. Hisbat hesitated. "Go. I'll get help."

But as Ares flew off, Gregor knew help wouldbe hard to come by. The High Hall was inturmoil. The air was full of beating wings andthe floor was quickly filling with bleeding

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humans. Gregor was in too much pain to callout over the din or even signal his distress.And there were so many people in dire needof attention. The best he could do was draghimself over to the side of the balcony andprop himself up against a large stone urn. Inthis way, he could at least avoid beingtrampled.

That was it. That was all he had. Somethingwas really wrong. The pain in his back wasexcruciating. Maybe the Bane had killed himwith that tail move, damaged one of his vitalorgans or something, and he was just wait-ing to die. It was the lower ribs on the lefthalf of his back. The side he was weak atdefending. What was on your left side, any-way? The only thing he could think of washis heart, but the injury seemed down too farfor that.

Gregor tried to breathe as shallowly as pos-sible. Any movement of his ribs made it

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worse. He wanted to moan, but even thatseemed too difficult. There was plenty ofmoaning around him, anyway. Moaning andcrying and screaming. He wished everybodywould be quiet, just for a moment. Thenmaybe he wouldn't hurt so badly. If he couldjust have a moment of peace.

The longer he sat there the more convincedGregor was that Sandwich's prophecy — atleast the part about him and the Bane —was being fulfilled.

When the monster's blood is spilled

When the warrior has been killed

He was dying. And probably the Bane was,too. Gregor had seen the blood gushing outof his tail. Even a creature as big as theBane had only so much blood. Did the ratshave a way of stopping it? Or, like Gregor,

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was the big, white rat curled up somewhere,watching the final seconds of his life run out?

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick,tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick . ...

Gregor could just see over the edge of thelow wall that rimmed the balcony. The ratswere everywhere now. Climbing over therooftops, shredding the contents of thehomes, devouring the bodies of the dead.The human army had regrouped and wasback on the attack, but it was nearly im-possible to target the rats in Regalia. Therewere too many doors and windows for themto duck into to hide, to leap out of unexpec-tedly. With the ornate carvings on everybuilding, there was no structure they couldn'tscale, except the palace.

Far across the city somewhere was thearena filled with the nibbler refugees. Gregorvaguely wondered how they were making

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out. There were giant stone doors that couldbe closed between the city and the arena,but what about the tunnels that led into thearena from the other side? There was noway to know.

Things slowly quieted down. The lightdimmed somewhat. "It's evening," thoughtGregor through a haze of pain. "Soon it willbe night." Then he remembered there wasno day or night down here. Maybe he waslosing his sight. Things did look kind of fuzzy.Yes, he was pretty sure he couldn't see right,and that was probably the first sign that hewas about to —

"Gregor!" He heard the alarm in Howard'svoice. Then it took on a more soothing tone."Gregor, it is Howard. Can you understandme?" Howard's face swam into focus. "Youare injured? What is wrong?"

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"Back." Gregor's lips moved to form theword, but no sound came out. Howard musthave been used to reading lips, though, be-cause his hands slid around Gregor's body.His fingers found the indentation at once. Asthey probed his ribs, electric flashes of lightfilled Gregor's eyes. "No!" This time he wasaudible.

"Gregor, I know this must hurt you verymuch, but I think I can help. You must situp," Howard said.

The idea was almost comical. Gregorcouldn't move, let alone sit up.

"Doctor! The Overlander has need of a doc-tor!" Howard called.

A woman hurried up, felt Gregor's injury, andthen they were moving him out from the urn.Now he could moan all right, at least he wasmaking some dreadful sound. He wanted to

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beg them to stop, to just go away and leavehim alone, but that wasn't happening. Thewoman stood behind him, holding him sothat he sat upright by supporting him underhis arms. It forced his back to straighten out.She was giving some kind of instructions.Howard knelt in front of him, gripped hishands, and squeezed them hard. "Breathe,Gregor. Take very deep breaths."

"No way!" thought Gregor, whose strategywas breathing as little as possible. "No way!"And he ignored the suggestion.

"Breathe, Gregor! Do it!" shouted Howard."Inhale!"

Clearly Howard was not going away. Clearlythey were going to keep torturing him untilhe did what they wanted. So Gregor forcedhimself to take a deep breath and nearlyblacked out. Something that smelled sharp

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and tangy was under his nose. Gregor couldfeel his eyes and nasal passages stinging.

"Breathe!" he heard Howard command. Andso it went on. Again and again. Takingbreaths, being brought back to conscious-ness, only to be forced to try again. Finallywhen he really thought he couldn't bear it forone more instant, he took a gigantic breath,and suddenly the ribs on his left side poppedback into place. The air rushed out of hisbody in a cry of relief. He could fill his lungs;he could speak again. His back ached, butthe blinding pain had lifted.

"Better?" Howard asked, leaning back on hisheels.

"Yeah," said Gregor, giving a little laugh."Yeah."

They eased him out of his armor and cut offhis shirt, which was too bloody and torn to

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be saved anyway. Howard found the newphotograph of Gregor and Luxa and slippedit in Gregor's back pants pocket without com-ment. The doctor swiftly examined the rest ofhim, prodding him here and there. Com-pared to what he'd just been through, it waslike being tick-led. "I can find no immediatesign of internal damage," said the doctor."Give him pain medicine, wrap the ribs, andget him to a bed." Then she was gone beforeGregor could thank her.

Howard gave him a dose of medicine thatwas designed to kill pain but not make himsleep. Then he began to wrap Gregor's ribsin strips of spider silk.

"Where's Ares?" Gregor asked as Howardwound the bandage around him.

"I believe he is still searching for those inneed of rescue," said Howard. "Although I

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caught a glimpse of his wing. No one canbelieve he is flying on it."

"He's stubborn," said Gregor.

"Like you. I hear you severed the Bane's tailafter you were hit," said Howard.

"Oh, yeah," said Gregor. It was true. He hadmade that last cut even after his ribs hadbeen knocked out of whack. "I guess I had alot of adrenaline pumping through me. Whatelse is going on?"

"Well, we have found you now. Many storiesof your fate have been circulating. The fliershave been evacuating the city. Most of thehumans are thought to be retrieved or deadby now. The nibblers are barricaded in thearena, but don't be surprised if they decideto airlift them back to the palace. The arenais difficult to defend," said Howard. "Thepalace is our only remaining stronghold."

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"What about the diggers?" asked Gregor.

"No sign of them," said Howard.

"But Vikus said there were more," Gregorsaid.

"It is likely. We do not know for sure. But tun-neling into the palace will take far more effortthan reaching our crops. Sandwich had itbuilt on a particularly deep shelf of stone,"said Howard.

"But they could still do it," Gregor said.

"If that is their aim, they will do it," saidHoward, tying off his bandage. "There. Doyou think you can walk now?"

Howard helped him to his feet. Gregor feltsore but it was his eyes that were botheringhim. "I still can't see right."

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"It is not your eyes. Look out at Regalia,"said Howard.

Gregor stared out into the city and realizedthe problem. Of the thousands of torchesthat usually kept it aglow, only a handful re-mained. Once, shortly after he had arrived inthe Underland, Gregor had asked Vikus whythe humans didn't throw the city into dark-ness when there was to be an attack. Theold man had said, "We need our eyes tofight, they do not." How would the humansfight now?

They watched in silence as, one by one, theremaining lights went out. The last torcharced like a shooting star from the top of atall building before it was snuffed out on theground.

Just as the city fell into total darkness, thescratching began.

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***385/621

CHAPTER 18It started simply, with just one claw on onestone surface. Then another and anotherjoined it until the scratching rang throughRegalia, blocking out any other sound.

"I've heard that before." Gregor had to raisehis voice for Howard to hear him. "Orsomething pretty near like it."

"In the Underland?" asked Howard.

"No, in my apartment back home. Ripredsent a bunch of small rats up to scratch onour walls and scare us into coming for theplague meeting," said Gregor.

"And did it scare you?" asked Howard.

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Gregor remembered how they had all fledthe apartment, trying to escape the clawsthat were threatening to break through theplaster. "You bet."

"Then I am less ashamed to admit it scaresme as well," said Howard. "It is only to affectour minds. The rats cannot possibly scratchtheir way into the palace."

"Well, it works," said Gregor. He needed toget away from the creepy sound, before itreally did a number on his nerves. "Can youget me back to the code room? I could liedown there."

Now that his ribs were back in place, Gregorcould walk okay. "But do not try any strenu-ous movements for a while," Howard warnedhim. "The bones can shift out of place again.If they do and I am not there to help you, youknow now how to remedy this. Here, carrythese smelling salts with you." He pressed a

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small container about the size of a matchboxinto Gregor's hand.

"Great," thought Gregor. "Not only do I haveto breathe until I black out, I have to revivemyself." But with all of the dead and severelywounded lying in the High Hall that seemeda little whiny. The floor was sticky with blood.Many of the injured had not been attended toyet. "You stay here, Howard. I can get to thecode room on my own," he said.

"I will stop by later to check on your condi-tion," said Howard.

"Whenever you get a chance. Really, I'mokay," said Gregor. He began to work hisway slowly through the crowded halls towardthe code room. "Excuse me. Excuse me.Can I get by, please?"

A path opened when people saw who wasasking. Many of the Underlanders reached

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out to touch him or allowed themselves asmile. Some seemed amazed to see him atall. "You live!" cried out one old man. "Weheard the Bane had killed you!" Gregorbegan to worry what rumors may have got-ten back to his sisters and tried to movefaster.

When he got back to the code room, hefound Lizzie weeping on Ripred's shoulderwhile the rest of the code team hunched intheir rooms. Boots was patting Lizzie's hair,but she looked on the verge of tears herself.It was like a dress rehearsal of what wouldhappen when he really was killed. Gregorwished he could have avoided seeing it.

"There, what did I tell you? He left the battlealive," said Ripred, nudging Lizzie's chin soher head turned to see Gregor. "He's justfine."

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"Gregor!" said Lizzie. "I thought you weredead!"

"No, just kind of bruised up," said Gregor,rubbing his hand over his bandage.

"Gre-go!" Boots ran over, stood on her tip-toes, and planted three kisses on the bottomedge of his wrappings. "All better?" sheasked.

"All better. Thanks, Boots," said Gregor.

"You might have sent word of your where-abouts," said Ripred reproachfully. "We losttrack of you after you retreated. That washours ago."

Gregor had the feeling the rat would reallylike to bite his head off, but he didn't dare doanything else to upset Lizzie. "Oh, my ribswere messed up. Couldn't do much until

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Howard and a doctor found me and poppedthem back into place."

"Like Aurora's wing." Luxa had appeared inthe arch of the rat room. Her face was verypale but she wasn't crying.

"Yeah, a lot like when Aurora dislocated herwing in the jungle," said Gregor. "Now she'sas good as new, and so am I." Temp nudgedGregor in the leg. The cockroach had aclean shirt in his mouth. "Thanks, Temp."Gregor tried hard not to wince as he put iton. Clearly he had to downplay his injury asmuch as possible. "So what's been going onhere? Any luck with the code?"

But apparently this was the wrong thing tosay because it only set Lizzie off on a freshround of sobs.

"No, we have not had any luck on the code,because your poor sister has been so

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worried about you," said Ripred. "It has costus precious hours."

"It's not his fault. I'm no good at it. I'm nogood at all. If the rats come I won't even beable to help fight. I'm worthless," Lizziechoked out.

"Don't be ridiculous. You can't throw a rockwithout hitting thirty warriors down here, butcode-breakers are as rare as trees," saidRipred.

"I'm not the code-breaker. I want to be, butI'm not. Maybe it's Boots after all," saidLizzie.

"Well, stranger things have happened, butI'm still betting on you," said Ripred. "Nowclimb on and we'll work together."

"You're staying?" asked Lizzie.

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"Yes, I'm staying until we crack this thing,"Ripred said. "Solovet may wage her warwithout me."

Still sniffling, Lizzie scooted up onto Ripred'sback. She lay on her stomach with her el-bows on his head and peered down at a stripof cloth on the floor. "Maybe if we reversedthe Copernicus Cipher," she said, wiping hernose on her sleeve.

"Let's give it a try," said Ripred. The rest ofthe code team gathered around and silencefell on the room. That is, except for thescratching. It was very faint here, so far fromthe outer walls of the palace, but Gregorcould still hear it.

Luxa came to his side and whispered,"Should you be resting?" He nodded and lether lead him into the human room. He grate-fully sank onto the bed, positioning himselfon his right side to avoid any pressure on his

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bruised ribs and the wound on his hip. Shesat next to him, holding his hand. "One orthe other of us always seems to berecuperating."

"Only way we get to see each other," saidGregor.

"True enough," said Luxa. "They say youand Ares fought the Bane magnificently."

"Who says? Not Ripred?" asked Gregor.

"Well, not Ripred. But he did admit you didbetter than he had hoped. And then he tookall of the credit for it," said Luxa.

They both laughed, and there was Ripred'snose poking over the end of the bed. "Someof us are trying to work, if you don't mind. Idon't really have to explain how imperativebreaking this code is, do I?"

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"No, we are sorry," said Luxa.

"Why don't you two do something useful?"said Ripred.

"Like what?" Gregor asked.

"Like running some more of the code byBoots, just in case she happens to recognizeit as something other than a tail. It will atleast keep her out of everyone's hair," saidRipred. "Report anything of interest, just incase she is the princess."

"I know. 'WHAT SHE SAW, IT IS THE FLAWOF THE CODE OF CLAW,' " said Luxa.

"Whatever that means," Gregor mumbled toLuxa after Ripred had left.

Boots and Temp were sent in, along withabout fifty yards of white strips covered incode. "Where do they get this stuff,

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anyway?" Gregor asked. "I mean, who writesit down?"

"The rats send the code through rock seamsthat carry sounds well," said Luxa. "This is atap." She hit the stone wall once with her fin-gernail. "A click." She made two very quick,softer hits. "And a scratch." She scraped hernail briefly on the wall. "A short pause indic-ates the break between letters and a longerpause, the break between words. I cannotreally replicate it at full speed. Can you,Temp?"

"Like this, it sounds, like this," said Temp. Heplaced his foot on the floor and began to drillout a series of taps, clicks, and scratchesthat were so rapid that Gregor's ears couldnever have sorted them out. Especiallythose taps and clicks. Of course, when hisdad had played a Morse code message forthem on the computer, even a really slowone, that had seemed unintelligible, too.

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"We have many spies positioned at strategicpoints to record the messages. It is not diffi-cult to intercept, as the rats make no effort toconceal it when it is encoded. Then the mes-sages are written down by humans andflown to the code room," said Luxa.

No one had been bothering to translate thechicken-scratch code into regular alphabetletters — probably all of the code team couldread it like that, anyway — so Luxa quicklydrew up the Tree of Transmission as aguide. She may not have enjoyed learningthis stuff in class, but she didn't even have togo out in the main room to copy the tree.She could remember the whole thing byheart.

"I guess that old mouse must have been apretty good teacher," said Gregor.

"I suppose so," Luxa said. "The tree is notdifficult for me to recall."

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"It is constructed so that many of the lettersmost commonly used are represented withfewer beats. The letters E, A, and I for in-stance, require only one signal. T and R re-quire only two," said Luxa. "Here, this is

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easiest to see on the chart." She drew a gridlike the one carved into the code room floor.

"It is not perfect in this respect, of course.Because the letter B only requires two sig-nals, although it is much less common thanthe letter O, which requires three. But thetree was the best balance they could findbetween speed and ease of remembrance,"said Luxa. "Shall we begin?"

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Boots seemed to enjoy finding what set oflines matched which alphabet letter a lotmore than she had enjoyed their earlier codegames.

"Okay, Boots, find straight-straight-straight-left," Gregor said, pointing to the sequence || |\.

Boots traced along the tree with her chubbyfinger."Straight...straight...straight...left...makes X.It makes X, Gre-go!"

"Good job!" said Gregor, and wrote an Xabove the corresponding lines with one ofLizzie's markers. And so they went on, tran-scribing the code in low voices, letter afterletter, for about an hour. By that time, Gregorhad pretty much learned the tree himself. Atleast learned it well enough to send Luxathis message:

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| | / \ | \ / \ \ . | / \ \. /. | | / \. | / | | | / / | / | | | |. | // | | \. | \ |// \ / \ | / | / / | / \.

She laughed, wadded up the strip of fabric,and tossed it back at him. But as they wenton with their task, Gregor wondered if it hadbeen a mistake. She had thought it wasfunny at first, but now she looked kind ofsad. For one thing, it was Henry's joke. Sothere was all that baggage. For another, anyreferences to dying right now weren't exactlyhumorous. People had thought the Bane hadkilled him until he'd walked in. He wished hehadn't sent it but it was too late now.

Boots lost interest in the tree so they madeup some other games with the letters on thestrips, trying to find words, reading thembackward, using their own strategies to tryand break the Code of Claw. Luxa and Temptook over the lesson more and more untilGregor was really just observing. Simple, dir-ect thoughts were all his brain could muster.

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He wanted to go to sleep. He wanted morepain medicine. He wanted to go home. Hewanted to go home. He wanted to go home.By the time Ripred called for everybody totake five, Gregor was practically in a trance.He didn't want to join the others for tea andcake, but he was afraid Lizzie would get up-set if he didn't, so he dragged himself out ofbed.

The code team was too discouraged forchitchat. They ate in silence, occasionallytwitching or murmuring something indistinct.

Hazard came in unhappily and sat next toLuxa, leaning his head on her shoulder."What is wrong?" she asked him.

"They will not let me continue matching thenibbler pups with their parents. They say it istoo dangerous. That all of the nibblers mustbe brought to the palace now," said Hazard.

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"They will be safer here," said Luxa.

"Yes, now that the diggers can be heard tun-neling toward the arena," said Hazard.

Ripred jerked his head up from his cake."Can they?" He bounded over to the door."Am I to get all of my updates from seven-year-old boys?" he bellowed. "Tell Solovet Iam not being kept informed!"

"It's not the rats scratching?" Gregor asked.

"Oh, no, Gregor. This sounds completely dif-ferent," said Hazard.

Ripred turned back to the group, murmuring,"At least they are not digging for the palace.Although why not worries me."

"You think they have another plan to enterit?" asked Luxa.

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"I think if they don't, they're working on one,"said Ripred. "But as they have never suc-ceeded before, it will have to be quite a plan.In the meantime, they know we'll wearourselves out bringing in the nibblers."

"Dulcet says I will be needed later," Hazardsaid. "That I should rest. But I am not sleepy.Can I help in here?"

"Why not?" asked Ripred. "Perhaps somenew blood will refresh our minds."

"What are you doing?" asked Hazard. Noone seemed to have the energy to answer.Finally Lizzie, who hated it when people ig-nored her questions, spoke up. "I'll showyou." She took the nearest strip of fabric andan aqua-blue marker from her back-packand sat next to Hazard. "This is a messagesent by one rat to another. Those little linesstand for these letters." She quickly wrotethe correct alphabet letters above the lines.

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"Like the chart on the floor?" asked Hazard.

"Uh-huh," said Lizzie. "Only even when weturn it into letters we still can't read the mes-sage because it's in code. A really hardcode."

"Does each letter stand for another letter?"Hazard asked.

"Yes, but there's some extra trick on top ofthat. Like maybe you're supposed to throwout every third letter or something, and thenit will make sense," said Lizzie.

"Can the letter A ever be a letter A?" askedHazard.

"We don't think so. See, basically, this is likea cryptogram, and a letter is never itself.There's another kind of puzzle that's calledan anagram, where you just take the lettersand mix them around to form another word.

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Like the word 'nap' could be the word 'pan'and the 'a' doesn't have to move, or the word'cat' could be the word 'act'—"

"Or the name 'Gregor' could be the name'Gorger,' " said Gregor, giving Lizzie a pokein the side.

"That's what I said when Gregor told meabout the Underland. That he and Gorgerreally had the same name," said Lizzie.

Man, that seemed forever ago! When he'dtold his family the story of his first trip. "Yeah,Hazard, I'm talking about meeting giantspiders and throwing myself off a cliff, and allLizzie can say is that this nasty old rat kingnamed Gorger and I've got the same name.Because the letters matched. Oh, she sawthat right off," said Gregor. He took a deepdrink of his tea and was vaguely wondering ifhe should eat more cake when Heronianspoke up.

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"She saw that right off?" the mouse askedslowly. "She saw that right off?"

"Sure did," said Gregor. "Well, you knowhow she can mess around with words." Hedidn't see what the big deal was. Noticingthat "Gregor" had the same letters as "Gor-ger" couldn't hold a candle to doing thatcrazy who-ate-the-cheese-for-lunch puzzle.But this new information produced a strangereaction in the room. One by one, the mem-bers of the code team raised their heads andstared at Lizzie, who was twisting the aquamarker around and around in her hands.

"I saw that right off. I did," Lizzie said to her-self. "That's what I saw."

"What she saw, it is the flaw in the Code ofClaw," said Daedalus. "Think about exactlywhat it was that you saw, Lizzie."

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Lizzie's eyes shifted to the code tree andbegan to dart around the letters. "An ana-gram. I saw an anagram. Where some let-ters can be themselves." Her mouth droppedopen slightly and her breath came out inshort pants.

Gregor had seen several panic attacks beginlike this and was tempted to intervene. Buteveryone else was frozen, not daring to in-terrupt whatever was going on in her head.So he waited, too.

"An anagram — of Gregor's — name," saidLizzie.

"In the naming is the catching," Reflex saidin a quivering voice.

"Maybe — that line — wasn't about my —name at all!" Lizzie suddenly dropped hermarker and snatched up the piece of codeshe had been showing to Hazard. She read

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it, her lips moving silently over the letters.When she looked up, her next words werebarely audible. "Gre—gor. Gor—ger. I think— I know — how to break — the code!"

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PART 3: The Warrior

***

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CHAPTER 19Lizzie flipped over the strip of fabric andwrote the alphabet on the blank side as thewords tumbled out of her mouth. "Okay,okay, what if it's like an anagram, and thereare letters that don't change. Then all youwould need is one key word and a reallysimple code and the rats could still keep it intheir heads."

"And you think it's 'Gregor'?" asked Ripred.

"It's the word I saw," said Lizzie.

"It would be a good choice. You could re-member it by 'Gregor' or 'Gorger,'" saidHeronian.

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"It is even easier," said Reflex. "The wordsonly require four letters: G-O-R-E. 'Gore.'One needs only to remember the wordgore."

"Yes," said Lizzie. "Yes. So the G, O, R, andE stay the same." She wrote these lettersabove themselves on the alphabet.

E G O R

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"And now we use a cipher so simple that noone could forget it," said Daedalus.

"Single shift, be the simplest, single shift,"said Min.

Lizzie nodded and began to fill in the letters.

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"A is represented by B, B is C, C is D, Dwould be F because the E remains un-changed...." Heronian said, although Lizziewas way ahead of her. Her aqua markerspeedily filled in the remaining letters.

BCDFEHGIJKLMNPOQSRTUVWXYZAABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

"Try it! Go on, try it!" said Ripred, thrustingan unbroken strip of code before Lizzie.

Lizzie's hands were trembling as she liftedthe strip and began to read. "Diggers — ar-rive — at — camp — near — Regalia. Tun-nel — under way." For a moment, they alljust sat there, stunned at their success.

"That's old. We need the latest transmis-sions." Ripred ran to the door. "Fresh code!Fresh code!" he called. He bounded back toLizzie, scooped her up with his nose, andtossed her in the air. He spun half-way

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around and caught her so she landed on hisback. "A letter can be itself!"

Lizzie was laughing as she flung her armsaround his neck. "A letter can be itself! A let-ter can be itself!"

And suddenly the whole code team burst in-to some kind of brainiac celebration. Reflexbegan to shoot lines of silk around the roomlike they were streamers. Daedalus wasscooping up heaps of code with his wingsand flinging them in the air. Heronian leapedback and forth over Ripred and Lizzie. Andeven old Min had geared up into somecreaky old cockroach dance.

Boots was in heaven, running here andthere, spinning in the streamers of silk, andboogying on Temp's back. "A letter can beyourself! A letter can be yourself!" shecrowed.

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"Yes, a letter can be yourself, you cluelesslittle thing," said Ripred. But he was happy.Joyful even. Hazard wrapped his arms tightlyaround Luxa. "So everything will be all right?Now that they've broken the code?"

"It will be better at least, Hazard," Luxa said,hugging him back. But when she looked atGregor, he could tell she was thinking of therest of the prophecy. Of his death.

"Everything's going to be just fine, Hazard,"said Gregor. The last thing he wanted to dowas crush this moment of victory with hisown troubles. "Good job, Liz!" he said, high-fiving his sister.

"It was all of us," said Lizzie. "And Hazard,too. He's the one who made me think aboutthe anagrams."

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"Can I go tell the nibblers the code isbroken? I am sure it will lighten their hearts,"Hazard said.

"No!" said Ripred, suddenly serious. "No oneoutside of this room must know we havebroken the code. I will personally inform So-lovet. The rest of you must swear tosecrecy."

All the code team nodded in agreement, soGregor nodded, too, although he thoughtHazard was right and that the news mightgive everybody a big psychological boost. Ayoung woman brought in a basket filled withtightly rolled bundles of code. The code teamgathered around it, eager to decipher thelatest messages. Despite the general excite-ment, Gregor began to think about that napagain. But Ripred had other work for him. Heenlisted Gregor, Luxa, Hazard, Boots, andTemp to decode the piles of accumulatedmessages, just in case there had been

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anything of value in them. Luxa suggestedthey work back in the bedroom, so Gregorwas able to lie down again, anyway. Theyhad to do two passes on each strip of code,one to write it as the alphabet, the second todecrypt it with the Code of Claw. Most of themessages were old news — updates on thebattle to free the nibblers, the alliance withthe diggers, the Bane's location — but someyielded important information in terms ofwhich species had sided or not sided withthe Bane. The cockroaches had not, thespiders were trying to remain neutral (soReflex's presence here must be a secret),and it was too dangerous to try to approachthe ants. Gregor found it difficult to believethe ants would join either the humans or therats. They had made it very clear theywanted both species dead. Probably nothingpleased them more than a big old warbetween the two.

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Try as he might, Gregor could not keep hiseyes open. At one point Luxa whispered,"Sleep, we will manage this."

So Gregor just let himself drift off. When heawoke, everything was quiet. Luxa, Hazard,and Boots were asleep on the bed acrossfrom him. Temp snored gently on the floor.Ripred must have sent everyone to bed.Gregor tried to go back to sleep, but his backand hip hurt. He was hungry again, too. Hemade his way to his feet in stages and wentinto the code room. Lizzie and Ripred wereasleep on the floor, as they'd been the othernight. Ripred opened one bleary eye, tookhim in, and then let the lid slowly slide shut.Gregor went over to the food cart and rootedaround for a snack. He found a tureen half-filled with lukewarm beef stew and finished itoff. His stomach felt better, anyway.

Gregor wished Howard would come by withsome more medicine. But when he thought

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of the wounded, and his shoes sticking tothe bloody floor of the High Hall, he knewHoward hadn't had a second to do it. Hecould send a message to the hospital, butagain, they were so busy just keepingpeople alive he felt like a wimp buggingthem. He wondered about his mom up at theFount. Was she getting the care sheneeded? Or was the hospital there as over-whelmed as the one in Regalia? And whatabout his dad and grandma? Boy, he hopedhis dad wasn't having any ideas about com-ing down here to rescue them all. Maybe hisrelapse was bad enough to keep him in bed.It was an awful thing to wish on his dad but itwas better than having him drop straightdown into the jaws of the rats.

He poured a mug of cold tea and gave up onthe idea of returning to bed. He wasn't reallytired now, anyway. Might as well make him-self useful. The area on the stone grid wascovered with the latest messages all neatly

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transcribed in Lizzie's aqua marker. Butthere were still bunches of the old code spill-ing over baskets. Gregor grabbed a handfulof strips and settled himself down to work. Itwas mostly the same-old same-old stuffabout troop movements that had occurredweeks ago. And then out of nowhere camethis message:

// |||\ |\\ // |/ / // |\\ \|. ||\ |\\ \ ||\. |\\ \\ . \| |\\ //. Hewrote it as the alphabet:

UXJUDIUJQ. FJEF. JP. QJUAnd then applied the Code of Claw usingLizzie's system. The words stabbed him inthe heart.

Twitchtip. Memories of the rat swam beforehis eyes. Her nose buried in the moss of thearena because the smell of humans made

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her ill. The desperate look on her face asshe spun around in the whirlpool. Her clawsdigging into his life jacket, as she chokedout, "Don't — let — go!" And he hadn't let go.He had risked his life to save an outcast ratwhen no one else would bother to try. Andthen they were friends, despite the rat/hu-man thing. Twitchtip was the first one whoknew he was a rager. She had given Bootsfood. She had dragged herself through therats' maze to help Gregor find the Bane, thenforced him and Ares to leave her to die. Butshe hadn't died. Not right away. The rats hadkept her alive in a pit and probably torturedand starved her while they tried to extract in-formation out of her about Gregor. And fi-nally, only recently, she'd left the world. Asalone as ever. The tears splashing down onthe words surprised him because he hadn'tcried in such a long time. Not for his mom orAres or the mice or Thalia or Luxa, or evenfor himself when he knew about the

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prophecy. It was just that it had all been soawful, Twitchtip's life. Banished to the DeadLand because of her remarkable sense ofsmell, living alone in that harsh world beforeshe finally, desperately, had teamed up withRipred. Bleeding to death in the maze butnot fast enough, not soon enough to escapefalling into the hands of the rats who hatedher for being a scent seer and then hatedher even more for helping Gregor.

"All right. All right now." Ripred was lookingover his shoulder at the message.

"It's not all right!" Gregor's voice was harsh,but low, because he didn't want to wakeeveryone to see him like this. "I should havegone back for her."

"We thought she was dead," said Ripred.

"But we didn't know. And they had her all thistime. And we never even found out for sure,"

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said Gregor. He thought of his dad, wastingaway for years in that rat pit. Had she died inthe same one they'd found his father in?

"Even if we'd known, there's almost nochance we could have gotten her out," saidRipred. "It isn't likely they —"

"Just shut up, Ripred! I mean, what do youcare? You never even liked her! You treatedher like trash. You only made that deal withher to help yourself, so I' could kill the Banefor you. Don't act now like — like shemattered to you!" said Gregor. He hadn'tkept his voice down. Practically everyonewas awake now. Frightened by his outburst.Afraid the rats had broken into the palace."Just shut up!"

Gregor stormed into the rat room andyanked the curtain closed behind him. Hesank down on the bed and wept. He knew itwasn't just about Twitchtip, it was about all of

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the dreadful things that had happened andthe ones that awaited him in the cominghours. A hand, Lizzie's he thought, tentat-ively edged around the curtain. "Leave mealone!" The weeping sent new shock wavesof pain through his ribs, but it was a longtime before he'd cried himself out. Then hejust lay on the bed watching the soft flicker oflight from an oil lamp on the wall. It was quietoutside again. Everyone must have goneback to sleep.

Footsteps entered the code room. "Where isGregor?" asked Howard in an exhaustedvoice.

"In there," Luxa replied. She had not goneback to bed, then. She was waiting for him."We had word of Twitchtip's death. They hadher imprisoned in a pit until recently. He isgreatly upset."

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There was a moment of silence whileHoward absorbed the news. "So should weall be. Only Gregor's grief should not bemixed with shame, as should ours," saidHoward. He had not attempted to saveTwitchtip from the whirlpool at first but hadtaken excellent care of her afterward. "Shedid us all a great service and what poortreatment we gave her in return."

Howard opened the curtain to the rat roomand came in. "I am sorry," he said. Gregordidn't reply. "Come. Sit up. You must haveneed of this." Howard helped him to a sittingposition, administered a dose of painkiller,and gave him the rest of the bottle for later.He painted a new coat of medicine onGregor's hip and calf stitches, and appliedfresh bandages. Finally he examined hisback. "Quite a bruise, but the bones areholding in place," he said as he wrapped theribs again. Then he sat on the bed, elbowson his knees, digging the palms of his hands

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into his forehead, trying to find the rightwords. "Gregor, of all those Twitchtip knewin her life, I am sure she would wish you theleast amount of grief," said Howard.

"You helped her, too. After the whirlpool. Inthe maze," said Gregor.

"Because you were right," said Howard."You were the only one of us who lookedpast her fur and teeth and claws and sawwho she really was. If we are ever to havepeace, that will be the first step. The altern-ative is this." Howard waved a hand vaguely,somehow suggesting their current situation."Slaughtering one another. Wallingourselves in with our dead. So pointless. Allof it." He gingerly touched his eyes, blood-shot and swollen from fatigue. "You mustrest your back if it is to heal."

"You need some rest, too, Howard," saidGregor.

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"No. If you could see the hospital..." Howardlooked down at his hands. They were shak-ing badly.

"Only I begin to fear I will do more harm thangood."

"Just for a few hours. Lie down. I promise I'llwake you," said Gregor.

Howard looked at him as if he couldn't quiteprocess the words. "A few hours?"

"You are going to hurt somebody. Lie down."He stood up and pushed Howard back onthe bed.

"Two' hours. No more," said Howard.

In the time it took Gregor to pull the blanketup, Howard was asleep. Gregor came out in-to the code room. Everyone was up again,back at work. Boots came over and put her

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arms up. He couldn't lift her, with his backand all, so he sat down and pulled her ontohis lap.

"Ow," said Boots. She pressed her hand toher nose. "Ow." This was the sign she hadused for Twitchtip, to indicate the rat's hurtnose, when she was still too little to say hername. "She died."

"Yeah," said Gregor, thinking. it had beenbetter before Boots had understood aboutdying.

"You put her here," Boots said, patting hischest over his heart. Well, not exactly — shegot the wrong side. But he knew she meanthis heart.

"I'll put her there," Gregor confirmed. Hecaught Luxa's sad gaze. She had had herown connection with Twitchtip. They had

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protected each other in the maze for as longas they could.

Gregor set Boots back on her feet and wentover to help Luxa with the strips of code. "Itruly believed her dead, Gregor," shewhispered.

"I know," said Gregor. "I guess I must have,too. But I didn't deal with it. I had, like, thisfantasy that she'd escaped. She was safeback in the Dead Land or something."

"She is safe now," Luxa said wanly.

"That's how it works down here," Gregorsaid. Nothing was really safe until it wasdead. He looked at Ripred, thought aboutthe rat's family, and wished he hadn't yelledat him. If anyone knew about being torturedin a pit it was Ripred, who had been left bythe Bane to die in the Firelands, his teethovergrowing until they'd locked in a

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grotesque fashion. Ripred had treatedTwitchtip like he treated almost everybodyelse. Not great. But Ripred hadn't killed herand if she had lived, Gregor felt sure hewould have made good on his promise to lether join his band of rats. Not that it matterednow. A basket of new code rolls came in andRipred put everybody, even those who hadbeen translating the old stuff, on them. Theyhad been working only a few minutes whenMin began to click in distress. "Bad news,here be, bad news!" The cockroach was tooagitated to read the message outright, soLuxa hurried to help her. She could translatethe chicken scratch into letters and thenbreak the code on sight now.

"When — diggers — reach — arena —launch — attack —" she read.

"What? Where?" asked Ripred, jumping toher side.

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Luxa held up the strip of fabric so they couldboth see it.

"By the river," he read aloud.

"By the river," Luxa repeated. "No one canattack by the river. They would be torn toshreds in the rapids."

"Not anymore. Have you seen it lately?Since the earthquake?" said Gregor.

"No," said Luxa. She had been too ill to no-tice anything on their flight back from theFirelands.

"It's very low. They would have to swimdown several hundred yards from the northbeach, but they could do it," said Ripred.

"You have been in the war room. What de-fense have we in place at the docks?" askedLuxa.

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"Nothing," said Ripred. "Nothing at all."

***

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CHAPTER 20Ripred began to pace. "All right. First priority.We split up the code team. If the rats shouldenter the palace, we can't have you all sittingin one bunch. I want Min, Reflex, and Luxain the war room. Lizzie, Daedalus, and Hero-nian stay here. Shred every bit of evidencethat we've broken the code. Gregor, Hazard,Boots, and Temp go to the prophecy room.Nerissa is there with a key. Lock yourselvesin and don't open it until you've been told to."

"Why? I should be getting on my armor,"said Gregor.

"You think you're in any condition for battle?Attack me," Ripred ordered.

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Gregor's back screamed as he reached forhis weapons. He managed to pull them fromthe belt but ended up dropping his dagger onthe floor.

"You can't fight like that. Even if you could,we'd never waste you in ordinary combatnow. We need you to fight the Bane. Butdon't worry. I don't expect he'll be swimmingdown the river," said Ripred. "They've gothim hidden in a cave more likely, with a teamof spinners to keep his tail bandaged."

"I thought the spinners were neutral," Luxasaid, eyeing Reflex.

"Neutral meaning they help both sides sowhen the war ends they've aided the victor,"said Ripred. "They're helping you, aren'tthey? Now move out!"

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Gregor retrieved his dagger and took a steptoward the door. "No, wait. I want Lizzie withme."

"Really? You want Lizzie in the prophecyroom with nothing to do but... read proph-ecies all day?" said Ripred pointedly.

Gregor knew what he meant. Ripred hadtaken great care to keep Lizzie from knowingabout the real "Prophecy of Time" and whatit predicted for Gregor. Everybody had. If shecame to the prophecy room, she'd read thetruth.

"I'll be okay in here, Gregor. Ripred's right.We have to split up," said Lizzie.

"If danger approaches, I will find a way to flyher to safety," Daedalus said. "I know of awindow not far from here."

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"All right," said Gregor. Maybe that was bet-ter, anyway. Maybe Daedalus could evenfind a way to fly her home. "How long willthis take?"

"No telling. Better grab some blankets andone of those carts," said Ripred, nodding toa group of fresh food carts that had recentlybeen wheeled in.

Lizzie piled a stack of blankets on Temp'sback and Boots climbed on to ride. Gregortried to push a cart, but he ended up havingto let Hazard do it.

"I will come see you as soon as I can," saidLuxa, giving Gregor's arm a farewell touch.

The group split up, according to Ripred's in-structions, and Gregor led the way to theprophecy room. It was very slow going, es-pecially with the cart. Gregor considered

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abandoning it, but he had no idea what theywere in for.

Nerissa was waiting for them. She drewthem into the prophecy room, closed thedoor, and locked it at once. The key disap-peared in the pocket of her skirt. She'd madeno provisions for eating or sleeping, butthere was a stack of new torches by the wall.

"Why did Ripred want us in here?" Gregorasked her.

"It is one of the few rooms in the palace witha door. It will offer some protection," saidNerissa.

"Some," agreed Gregor. But not much. Thedoor was made of thick wood. It would taketime, but the rats could eventually clawthrough it. He estimated that diggers couldtake it out in less than a minute. At leastthere would be some warning. He wondered

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if that mattered much, though. If Gregordidn't heal up pretty quickly, who would de-fend them? Nerissa had probably nevereven held a sword. Hazard and Boots werelittle kids. Temp could fight and would fight ifthe going got rough. But he'd be no matchfor rat soldiers.

Gregor decided to put all of his energy intogetting better. Howard said he needed torest, so he would rest. They fashioned theblankets into beds along the walls, andGregor lay down. If he didn't move, thepainkiller Howard had given him made himcomfortable enough. He willed himself to ig-nore what was happening outside the door,and dozed off. Hours passed and then be-came days. Temp amused Boots and Haz-ard. The three of them chattered away inCrawler while Gregor ate, took painkillers,and slept. No one came by to give them anyword. Occasionally they would hear foot-steps running down the hallway and voices

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shouting indistinct words. But nothing else.As Gregor's back improved, he becamemore and more anxious about what wastranspiring in the palace. Had the rats at-tacked? Were the humans prepared? Whyhad no one updated them? He suggestedthat they open the door and just call out forinformation, but Nerissa adamantly refused.

"This is not your battle, Gregor," she said."This is your time to wait."

Waiting, it turned out, was a lot tougher onGregor than fighting. Nerissa tried to distracthim by showing him different prophecies,telling him their histories. He learned a lotabout Regalia's past, but not much about itspresent. "Come on, Nerissa, what's one littlepeek going to hurt?" he begged.

"Look at this poem, Gregor," said Nerissa. "Itis by far my favorite. When all seems lost, Icomfort myself with its words."

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Gregor sighed and turned his eyes to a shortpoem on the wall in the corner whereNerissa usually curled up.

On soft feet, by none detected,

Dealing death, by most rejected,

Killed by claw, since resurrected,

Marked by X, two lines connected.

Finally, they intersected, two lines met, oneunexpected.

"That comforts you? Why?" asked Gregor.To him it was just more junk from Sandwich,whom he now had a very low opinion of.

"Read you the title?" asked Nerissa.

Gregor noticed the title for the first time.Above the poem were written the words:

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The Peacemaker

"Perfect. The Peacemaker," thought Gregor.What did Sandwich, the digger killer, knowabout making peace? "So you think apeacemaker's coming? When?" askedGregor.

"No one knows. Perhaps tomorrow. Perhapsin a thousand years. But the peacemaker willcome. Just as the warrior did," said Nerissa.

Something tugged at the back of Gregor'sbrain. The peacemaker. He'd heard it before.When? It came to him. A long time ago,when he had just arrived in Regalia for thesecond time, he'd been walking around thepalace at night and overheard Solovet andVikus arguing over whether or not he was tobe trained. Solovet had wanted him armedimmediately of course. "And the prophecycalls Gregor 'the warrior,' after all. Not the'peacemaker,'" she had said.

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"Well, it's not me, Nerissa. And I won't bearound when whoever it is shows up. But Ihope they do," said Gregor. "Now can weopen that door?"

Nerissa shook her head. He couldn't wrestlethe key away from her. Well, he probablycould but he didn't want to. Maybe whenNerissa fell asleep he could slip the key fromher pocket and just look out for a second. Hehad to find out what was going on. Besides,the room could really stand some fresh air.They'd been using an empty pot by the doorfor a toilet and the place smelled like a sew-er. While Gregor waited for Nerissa to sleep,he tried using his swords again. He was stillsore, and there wasn't much room, but hecould swing his blades. He figured he mightbe able to fight at about seventy-five per-cent, if it came to it, and that only made himfeel more secure about his plan. Even if acouple of big old rats were sitting right

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outside the door waiting to pounce, he couldtake them.

By the time Nerissa had finally drifted off,Boots, Hazard, and Temp were asleep, too.This was just as well, because Gregor didn'treally feel great about stealing the key. "Bor-rowing the key," he corrected himself. "Andthen I'll put it back before anyone knows itwas gone." He crossed to Nerissa and care-fully pulled the key out of her pocket. Asquietly as he could, Gregor walked to thedoor and slid it in the keyhole. He was justabout to turn it when he heard shouting.There were footsteps, scuffling, and a hu-man cry. Then a tremendous blow hit thedoor, causing it to reverberate. Scraping,and then another blow followed by a rat clawthat punctured the wood directly in front ofGregor's face. He automatically steppedback and pulled his blades. More shouts andfootsteps. A gruesome gurgling sound from

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the rat. Blood seeping under the door.Silence.

Gregor turned and saw the others awakeand looking at him in fear. He reached down,withdrew the key, and returned it to Nerissawithout a word. She was nice enough not tosay, "I told you so."

The seconds ticked by. So rats were defin-itely in the palace. Possibly right outside thedoor. There was a small opening, about thesize of a peephole, left by the rat claw, butas there was no light in the hall, Gregorcould see nothing. His anxiety grew withevery passing minute. Rats were in thepalace. They had found him. Had they foundLizzie? Luxa? What was going on? Whenwould someone contact them? He couldfight now. He should be fighting. But what ifhe left and the prophecy room was attackedagain? That door wouldn't hold long. Who

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would protect Boots and Hazard and Tempand Nerissa?

Gregor's head jerked up as the clawsscraped the door. He took careful aim anddrove his sword right through the peephole.

"Well, at least you're useful again," he heardRipred from behind the door. "Open up inthere! The palace is secure!" Nerissa un-locked the door to reveal Ripred, who wasbloodstained but not visibly wounded.

Questions began pouring out of Gregor'smouth but Ripred cut him off. "Many aredead, but everyone of significance to you stillbreathes. We were able to defend the citythanks to your sister's breaking the Code ofClaw. The rats have been driven away, butthey will regroup and rally around the Bane.We need you in the war room now, boy." Heturned to Nerissa. "I will send instructions forthe rest of you later. Until then, sit tight."

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Gregor followed Ripred through the hallswhere kids his age were loading dead hu-mans, rats, and mice on stretchers and re-moving them. Sometimes it took six of themto carry a body. "They're too young to be do-ing that," he thought. Then he rememberedwhat he and Luxa had been doing lately, andit seemed like a pretty tame job. Of course,he was different. He'd left any vestiges ofchildhood behind months ago. Hadn't he?

The war room was crowded with people andcreatures, but Gregor's attention immediatelywent to Luxa. She must have been in battle.Although her clothes were clean she wore afresh bandage on her forehead. Her coughwas back, too.

"You shouldn't have fought," said Gregor,tucking in a stray edge of her bandage.

"This is my home," said Luxa. "How faresyour back?"

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"Good to go," said Gregor.

"Excellent," said Solovet. "We shall be leav-ing to pursue the gnawers shortly."

"I will send for Aurora," said Luxa.

"No, Luxa. You are unfit. And we need youhere," said Solovet.

"You cannot ask me to stay behind," saidLuxa. "Not after what has been done toRegalia."

"But stay you must," say Solovet.

Luxa cocked her head slightly. "Must I?"Gregor could feel a battle of wills coming onand felt guilty because he was on Solovet'sside. He didn't want Luxa going after the ratsfor a number of reasons. She wasn't well; hewanted her somewhere safe; and, mostly, hedidn't want her to see him die.

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Ripred stepped between Luxa and Solovet."Listen, Your Highness, it's Regalia we'rethinking of. We're going out to finish thisthing. But when it's over, your people will bedesperate for guidance. Rats overran thecouncil room and almost none survived saveyour grandparents, who are acknowledgedto be powerful, but no longer trustworthy. Itwill be you the Regalians expect to leadthem."

"He speaks the truth, Luxa," said Solovet."With the demise of the council, power willshift to you."

"I am not yet of age," said Luxa. "You know Icannot officially lead."

"It doesn't matter. Not in times like these. Notafter the courage and brains you've demon-strated recently. Trust me, it will be you. Ifthey followed you into this war they will

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follow you out of it. Now can you see howyou are too dear to risk in battle?" askedRipred.

He didn't sound like he was flattering her,just laying it out on the table, equal to equal.

Luxa stared at Ripred, considering his ques-tion. Then she dropped her eyes to theground. "Yes, I do see. I will remain here."

Ripred and Solovet exchanged a pleasedlook and were turning back to the businessof war when Gregor saw the ghost of a smileplaying on the corners of Luxa's mouth."She's lying," he said. Disbelief, hurt, andthen rage washed in rapid succession overLuxa's face at his words.

"Why do you say this?" asked Solovet.

"Because I know her. If you want her to stay..." Gregor had to swallow hard before he

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could get the next words out. "Lock her inthe dungeon."

***

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CHAPTER 21Solovet studied Luxa a moment and thengestured to a pair of guards. "Do so. Confineher flier, as well."

Gregor forced himself to watch as theyseized her and carried her, screaming, downthe hall. She was beating at the guards buther words were for Gregor, full of hatred athis disloyalty. The things she said cut rightthrough him. That she should never havetrusted him. That he was as bad as Henryhad been. And while it was not included inher rant, Gregor felt sure that he had lost allof the affection she had ever felt for him. Hisfeelings, on the other hand, had only intensi-fied when he betrayed her. So he watcheduntil the guards turned the corner at the end

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of the hall, taking her out of his life forever.Even the sight of Luxa despising him wasprecious to him now.

When she was gone, his hand fumbled in hisback pocket to make sure he still had thephotograph they'd taken in the museum. Itwas there. He didn't pull it out. But later, insome tunnel or cave, while the others slept,he would spend some time with it. Tell thepicture of Luxa what he would never havethe chance to explain to her in person.

"It was a wise move, Gregor. She will alwayshate you for it, but with time, she will under-stand its necessity," said Solovet briskly.She went back to study the map on the wall.

Somehow having Solovet's approval didn'tmake Gregor feel any better. He disliked herso much. And she thought things like turningthe plague into a weapon and setting rats on

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fire were wise moves. He would much ratherhave had her condemn him.

Vikus came up and patted his arm. Gregorhadn't even known the old man was in theroom. "She will not always hate you. If shestill cares for Henry, who put her life in jeop-ardy, will she not care for you who tried tosave it?"

"I doubt she sees it that way," said Gregor."It's done. Let's not talk about it."

"We shall depart from the river in one hour.Gregor, you must go to the armory to pre-pare," Solovet said.

One hour? Was that all that was left? "I'lldress. on the trip. I want to be with my sis-ters," said Gregor.

"They will be accompanying us," said So-lovet. "Lizzie still may have use as a code-

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breaker. Boots will rally the crawlers. Restassured, I shall keep them at a good dis-tance from the battle."

There was no arguing with Solovet. And herreasons for taking his sisters were valid.Still...

"They'll be safe," Ripred said. "Count on it.One rager to another."

When Gregor went to the armory, food hadbeen brought for him. After he ate, Miravetsent him to a nearby bathroom to bathe.Everything had a feeling of finality to it. Lasthot meal, last bath, last set of clothes. As hewas dressing, Howard came in to treat hiswounds. "You look a lot better," said Gregor.

"Because I slept for two straight days," saidHoward.

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"Oh, man! I was supposed to wake you.Sorry, Ripred sent me down to the prophecyroom and I totally forgot," said Gregor.

"Do not trouble yourself. I am practically theonly coherent person in the hospital. Thereshould be at least one," said Howard. "Yourwounds are much improved." He removedthe stitches from Gregor's calf, although heleft the ones on his hip, and put on freshbandages. Then he refilled Gregor's bottle ofpainkiller. "Well, then," said Howard, rising. "Imust get back."

"Last time I'll see Howard," Gregor thought.He stood up and hugged him good-bye."You'll keep an eye on Luxa, right?"

"As if she were my own sister," Howard said."Fly you high, Gregor."

"Fly you high," said Gregor. He wished hecould have said more. About how grateful he

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was to Howard for all he'd done, about how ifhe'd had a big brother, he would havewanted him to be just like Howard. Someonewho was kind and brave and not afraid tosay he cared about things or to admit he'dbeen wrong. But now Luxa would haveHoward for a brother, and that was more im-portant. Gregor's armor had been retrievedfrom the balcony, cleaned, and repaired.Miravet had made some adjustments tomake it fit more comfortably over his injuries.When he was suited up, a little girl hurried inwith the pink backpack Gregor had taken onhis last trip to the Firelands. He had tossed itsomewhere in the hospital, forgetting about itin his worry for Luxa. It contained the flash-light York had returned to him, batteries,duct tape, water bottles, Lizzie's cookies,and the travel chessboard. "Howard bid mebring you this," said the little girl. "He thoughtyou might need it."

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"Tell him 'thanks.' It will be a big help," saidGregor. The girl gave him a shy smile andran off.

When Gregor arrived at the dock on theriver, he found a solemn ritual going on. TheUnderlanders were doing funeral rites for thedead. Each human, bat, or mouse body wasplaced on a small raft of some kind of wovenplant fiber. A torch was inserted in a holderat their shoulder. A woman softly chantedsome words Gregor couldn't catch. Then theraft was set in the river and released. Al-though it was not as fierce as it had been be-fore the earthquake, the current was stillstrong enough to quickly carry the raftsaway. As far as he could see down the rivertunnel, torches reflected off of the water.

So this was how they buried their dead. Sentthem on a lit raft down the river to the Water-way, the giant sea, where they would beswallowed up by the waves. It made sense.

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There was little earth to bury them in. Gregorhad seen what he would call soil only in thejungle and in the farmlands. Stones mightwork, but it would have to be somewhereoutside of the city. You could burn thecorpses, if there were only a couple, buthundreds? The air would be thick withsmoke. There were no strong winds here,like there were in the Firelands, to blow itaway.

The six kids he had seen earlier hauled in astretcher with a dead rat. It was dumped intothe river with no ceremony.

Ares landed on the dock next to him. "Lot ofdead," said Gregor.

"Yes," said Ares. "Hundreds have made thisjourney already."

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"How did you fight the rats?" Gregor asked.He wanted to know what had happenedwhile he was in the prophecy room.

"When word came of the invasion, the gnaw-ers were just entering the water from the tun-nel north of here. We waited until they wereswimming and attacked from the air. It wasvery difficult for them to swim and defendthemselves, but they had great numbers.Many were destroyed but some made it intothe palace. A group raided the hospital,killing the patients. Others swarmed throughthe halls, fighting where they met resistance.Eventually they were driven back out to river,and those who could swam for safety," saidAres.

"No Bane?" asked Gregor.

"No Bane. He has retreated toward his ownland. The others will find him and regrouptheir army," said Ares.

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It took Gregor a moment to recognize themouse they placed on the next raft. Helooked smaller, more vulnerable, dead. "Isthat Cartesian?"

"He died defending the nursery," said Ares."But the pups are safe."

Gregor felt sadness well up in him. He hadn'tknown the mouse well, but they had traveledtogether. Witnessed the nibblers dying at thevolcano. Played hide-and-seek with Bootsand the mouse pups. He went over and pat-ted the mouse's soft fur before they loweredhis body into the water. Ripred had said,"Everyone of significance to you stillbreathes." By that he must have meantGregor's family and Luxa. But there weremany others who Gregor cared about. Whoknew if they were alive or dead?

The rest of the traveling party arrived. Lizzie,Hazard, and Boots were blindfolded and

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being carried by guards. "No point in givingthem nightmares," said Ripred. Gregorthought of the grisly halls and was glad ofthe precaution.

Ares was best suited to carrying Ripred, soGregor, his sisters, and Temp joined Vikuson his big gray bat, Euripedes. Solovet wasbeside them on her bat, Ajax.

"Greetings, Pincess," Gregor heard Bootssay behind him. He turned around and sawher peeking at Nike from under her blindfold.

"Greetings, Pincess," said Nike, lifting herblack-and-white-striped wings.'

"We are both Pincesses," Boots said with alaugh.

Gregor pulled the blindfold down over hereyes. "Stay in there, you." He turned to Nike."Good to see you. You coming with us?"

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"I am carrying some of the code team," saidNike. Reflex and Heronian climbed on herback. "Daedalus and Min remain here."

"Isn't their job done now?" asked Gregor.

"There's still plenty of information to de-cipher," Ripred said. "And the code could un-expectedly change."

As they lifted off, Gregor realized there wereso many friends he hadn't said good-bye to.Mareth, Dulcet, Nerissa, Aurora — well, for-get Aurora, she was locked in the dungeonwith Luxa, and probably cursing him, too.Maybe it was just as well. Even that onegood-bye with Howard had drained him. Andthere were still more painful ones in thehours ahead. He thought his friends wouldunderstand.

They flew down the tunnel and out over theWaterway. It twinkled with the flames of the

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torches on the rafts of the dead. About fiftysoldiers on fliers joined them, and there wereseveral mice traveling as well. "Are the micecoming to fight?" Gregor asked Vikus.

"Not these. They have a special purpose.The rats are still receiving information fromtheir spies in the area. We have chosen fourlines of communication to sabotage. We willdisable a rat who transmits the code, replaceit with a nibbler, and feed false information tothe rats," said Vikus. Gregor saw a group ofsoldiers and a nibbler peel off and disappearinto the dark.

"There goes the first team now."

"What sort of information will you give therats?" Gregor asked.

"Lies. We will tell them that our losses arehigher than expected, that no force can beassembled to follow them, that you have

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died due to injuries inflicted by the Bane,"said Vikus. "Since the rats do not know wehave broken the Code of Claw, they will takethese things as truth."

"That's why Ripred wanted to keep it asecret," said Gregor.

"It is the most powerful weapon we have.The difference between losing and winningthe war," said Vikus. "The rats will believethey are safe for the moment. But soon wewill attack them on the Plain of Tartarus,where they now gather."

"A surprise attack," said Gregor.

"When they are asleep, with no plan forcounterattack," said Vikus. "It is our besthope. Regalia still teeters on the brink of de-struction. The diggers have created paths toour arena and possibly elsewhere. We des-troyed the ones we could find but who knows

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how many exist? If the Bane lives and therats attack again, I do not think we can holdthe city."

By the time they broke for a rest at themouth of a tunnel, their party was somewhatdiminished. All of the nibbler code transmit-ters and their guards had left them. The sol-diers had stopped at a landing a few milesback. Solovet had not been on the groundmore than five minutes when she announcedshe was going off, too.

"Where?" asked Gregor.

"The spinners are still conflicted about whomthey choose to side with. They require mypersonal guarantee of their safety when thewar ends," said Solovet.

"I will rejoin you in two days' time on thePlain of Tartarus. If you battle before then,

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do not forget that your weakness is your leftside."

And then she took off on Ajax with Gregor'sold bodyguards, Horatio and Marcus, flank-ing her on their bats. It was just like her to upand go with nothing more than a combat tip.

It turned out they were making camp for awhile. Ripred and Vikus had their heads to-gether, poring over maps. Lizzie, Reflex, andHeronian were busy decoding messagesthat came in on bats. Nike, Ares, and the tworemaining guards and their bats took turnspatrolling the area. Boots, Temp, and Haz-ard were playing one of their games inCrawler.

Gregor was left to his own devices. He wentdeeper into the tunnel and practiced with hissword and dagger. His back was still sore,but he didn't think he would even notice it inbattle. It felt good to use his muscles. When

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he was warmed up, he added in his echo-location, running through the tunnel in dark-ness and then striking points on the wallsand ceiling. It was very freeing not to be con-stantly worried about his batteries runningout.

After about a half hour he was good andloose. He decided to try to get Ripred to sparwith him for a while. Maybe he could use abreak from those maps. But when Gregorreached the mouth of the tunnel, no one wasdoing anything. All of the activity hadstopped.

"What's going on?" asked Gregor.

"We just intercepted a message. The ratsknow of Solo vet's trip to the spinners. Theymean to ambush and kill her," said Ripred.

"How do they know?" Gregor asked. "Didthey spot us?"

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"No. One of the spinners must have leakedthe information. Perhaps a lowly soldier, per-haps the queen herself. Their loyalties arevery divided," said Vikus. He looked calm,but his skin had a strange gray cast.

"We'll go after her. Ares and me. We canovertake them. We've got, like, fifty soldierswith us and—" Gregor began.

"No, boy. We can't," said Ripred.

"But she's got next to zero backup. You'rejust letting her fly to her death?" said Gregor.

"Yes. We are. We must," said Vikus, as if try-ing to convince himself.

"Okay, I don't know what's going on. I mean,I don't even like Solovet, but I'm not going tojust sit here and let her die!" said Gregor.

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"You have to, Gregor!" Lizzie said. "Don'tyou see? If we rescue her they'll know we'vebroken the code."

"What?" asked Gregor.

"The only way we could have read the mes-sage is if we had broken the code. If theyfind that out, there will be no surprise attack,because they will instantly change their ren-dezvous point. All of the lies we are plantingwill be suspect. And they will issue a newcode immediately that may take weeks tobreak," said Ripred.

"But you found out about the rats attackingfrom the river and you acted on that," saidGregor.

"That was simple to explain. They were soclose; we had only to send some scouts upthe river and pretend to discover them. Thisis entirely different," said Ripred.

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"She would not want us to try to save her,"Vikus said hoarsely. "Not at this price."

"But... maybe we could ... maybe we couldmake it look like we were just going after her,anyway," Gregor suggested. "That wouldn'tbe suspicious."

"Wouldn't it? If she had wanted to travel withan army she would have traveled with anarmy. One showing up at the eleventh hourwill point directly to the breaking of the Codeof Claw," said Ripred.

Gregor was still not quite ready to acceptthis. "There must be something we can do."

"There is," Ripred said. "We can sit here andwait."

***

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CHAPTER 22So Gregor sat and waited as the secondswent by. Not with the urgent ticks he hadheard so often since the war began, but withslow deliberate ones that had long silencesbetween them.

The code team continued decrypting mes-sages. They couldn't afford to be idle nomatter what the circumstances. Boots, whodidn't really know what was going on, fellasleep on a pile of blankets. Temp and Haz-ard resumed their discussion in whispers.But Gregor, Ripred, and Vikus seemed sus-pended in time as they waited for word of theambush.

"Maybe they missed them," thought Gregor."Or there was a fight and Solovet, Marcus,

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and Horatio were able to hold their own andescape." Why not? They were on bats andwere excellent soldiers. But wheneverGregor sneaked a glance at Vikus's ashenface, he felt that this would not be the case.He wished he hadn't said that thing aboutnot liking Solovet. He didn't, though. Howcould he after her involvement with theplague and her throwing him in the dungeon,and Ripred's warning that she would neverlet his family go? In a way if she died it wouldprobably be easier for Ripred to get his fam-ily home. Of course, if what -they had saidabout Luxa being in power after the war wastrue, Gregor was sure she would send hisfamily home, no matter what her grandmoth-er said. Wouldn't she? He was glad he stillhad Ripred's promise as a backup.

Solovet. No, he could not pretend he likedher. Still, there had been moments along theway when she had treated him decentlyenough. When he'd landed in Regalia she'd

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been the first person to reach out and touchhim, taking his hands in a gesture of wel-come that had felt genuine. She had protec-ted him by insisting he be trained, and nowhe knew that if she hadn't he would be dead.And she'd given him her own dagger. Hefingered the hilt guiltily, thinking of how shewas under attack without it. At least he hadtried to go after her, despite his feelings forher. He hoped whoever broke the news toLuxa would mention that. Maybe shewouldn't hate him quite so much.

After a couple of hours, Heronian saidquietly, "We have received word. All threehumans and their fliers were killed in theambush."

Ripred ran a paw over the diagonal scar onhis face. "Well, I have this to remember herby."

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So Solovet had given Ripred that scar.When? During a war between the humansand the rats? During a sparring match they'dhad for fun? Gregor thought about how So-lovet had left all kinds of scars, on rats, onher family, on the Underlanders' frail at-tempts at peace.

Ripred turned to Vikus. "That's the way shealways said she wanted to go."

"Fighting." Vikus's lips formed the word butno sound came out.

"Yes, fighting. Not on some sickbed but withher sword in her hand," said Ripred.

Gregor tried to think of something consolingto say to Vikus, but he was never good atthis stuff. Howard was, Luxa was, but all ofthe words he came up with seemed trite andempty. It was even more difficult becausewhile he knew Vikus must have loved

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Solovet — they'd probably been married for,like, forty years or something — he alsoknew they had fought a lot. Their ideas onhow to handle problems were totally differ-ent: Solovet calling for force, Vikus for work-ing things out. When he discovered his wife'srole in the plague, Vikus had been crushed.But he must have loved her, because hewas utterly stricken now.

Hazard came over and kneeled next toVikus, slipping his hand into hisgrandfather's. Vikus gave it a squeeze butdidn't say anything.

"Sorry about your grandma, Hazard," Gregorsaid. He could manage that. "You okay?"

"Yes. In truth, I do not know how to feel. So-lovet rarely spoke to me. I don't think shecared for me. Perhaps it was because sheand my father hated each other so much,"said Hazard with his usual frankness.

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The words were simple and without malice,but their effect on Vikus was immediate anddevastating. Solovet and Hamnet. All of theawful family history between his wife and hisson — the tragedy at the Garden of Hesper-ides, Hamnet's mad flight from Regalia, theanger that passed between them in thejungle, losing Hamnet not once but twice.

Vikus made a strange sound in his throat.His hand went toward his cheek, then fell tohis side. "Vikus? You all right there?" Ripredasked. Vikus tried to answer but the wordsthat came out of his mouth were thick andgarbled. "Doctor!" Ripred called at once."Get a doctor in here!".

Ripred continued to talk to Vikus, pushinghis nose right up into his face, urging him tostay calm. In less than a minute a doctor hadflown in, taken one look at Vikus, dumpedsomething down his throat, and had himloaded onto a bat.

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Hazard hung on the doctor's sleeve. "What'swrong with my grandfather?"

"He is having an attack. We must get himback to Regalia," said the doctor.

"Is he going to be okay?" asked Gregor. Hisvoice sounded almost as young as Hazard's.Half of Vikus's face had gone slack andGregor realized he couldn't move it. It wasscary to see him like that. Gregor didn't wantVikus to leave him. He didn't want to lose theone Underlander whom he knew had alwayshad his best interest at heart.

"We will do all we can," said the doctor, andthe bat took off.

"A stroke," said Ripred. "I'm surprised itdidn't happen sooner. This last year hasbeen murder on him."

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"Was it what I said? About my father?" Haz-ard asked worriedly.

"Goodness, no. It would have happened withor without your words. Now you go back and,I don't know, see if you can't help with thecode, okay?" said Ripred. Hazard obeyed.When he was out of earshot, Ripredwhispered to Gregor, "Probably not the besttime to have brought up all that businesswith Hamnet. But he would have been think-ing about it, anyway."

"People recover from strokes, though.Right?" Gregor asked.

"Some do. With time," said Ripred. He didn'tseem to want to continue the conversation.

The cave seemed very vacant without So-lovet and Vikus. "Now what?" said Gregor.

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"Now I need a human who can command.Mareth's back in Regalia...." said Ripred. Hesent for Perdita. When she arrived, he gotright to the point. "Solovet's dead. Vikus isdisabled. You just became the acting headof your army."

Perdita looked shocked and then conflicted."There are others with more seniority."

"I don't want them. I want you," said Ripred."I need someone we can all trust." Ripredbegan to go over the battle plan with Perdita,leaving Gregor to deal with the doubletragedy on his own. First Solovet, thenVikus. Although Vikus might recover. If hedidn't...Gregor's thoughts turned to Luxaagain. He slipped the photo of them in themuseum from his pocket and tried to think ofhappier times, but it was no good. He keptvisualizing her face at the moment he hadtold them to lock her in the dungeon. Hecouldn't stand that being the last thing

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between them. He got a strip of code andasked Lizzie for a marker. She was writingwith a quill and ink. "The markers all driedout," she said. She dug a red one out of herbackpack. "You might get a few more lettersout of this one. If you get the tip wet."

Gregor spat in the cap of the marker, closedit, and let it sit a minute. He would have tomake his note short. He thought about writ-ing it in the Code of Claw, but if the rats in-tercepted it, they would know it was broken.He settled on using the marks from the Treeof Transmission. That would make it seem alittle more private somehow. After a coupleof minutes he opened the marker and testedit. The results were faint but legible. Hewrote:

LUXA

/ \ |// \ / \ / | | | /. | \ / // /|.|// | / | \. | / / | | \. / / / \.| | / | / \ . / | | //. | \ / / | | \ \ \.

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"Go ahead," he thought. "Write it. You'll bedead before she even reads it. And anyway,it's true."

/. |\ / | / / | | \ \ \. | | | / | / / / /.GREGOR

The last few words were too hard to read.Gregor nicked his index finger on his swordand wrote over them with a thin, smeary lineof blood. There.

It wasn't much of a letter. He felt stingy usingjust thirteen words. But even if he'd hadboxes of markers, what more would he havesaid? Maybe explained better why one ofthem had to live. So both of them could. Soone of them would remember the other asthey went through life. That it wasn't going tobe him, so it had to be her. And he had to be

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able to think of her growing up and doingthings and someday being happy if he wasgoing to be brave enough for his last mo-ments with the Bane. Luxa was smart. She'dfigure out what he meant. He hoped.

Gregor rolled up the message and gave it toLizzie to deliver to Luxa in Regalia.

"Why don't you give it to her yourself?"asked Lizzie.

"Because she's really mad at me right now,"said Gregor. "She'll read it, though, if shethinks it's from you. Besides, you'll probablygo back before I do." Lizzie agreed to take it.Gregor wondered if Lizzie would hate him,too, when she found out he'd been lying toher all along about the prophecy.

Gregor announced he was going to practicesome more and went back into the tunnel.Then he just lay down on the stone floor with

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his head propped against a rock. He didn'tfeel like sword fighting, so he turned off hisflashlight and clicked. His echolocation abil-ity was improving by leaps and bounds. Hecould see so much — the jagged edges ofthe ceiling, individual pebbles on the floor,even small details in the rough surface of thewalls. He experimented using differentsounds — coughing, humming, whistling. Ina quiet moment, he realized that even thesound of his own breathing could send im-ages back to him. He felt comforted, be-cause that meant as long as he was alive hewould be able to see.

His heart rate slowed and he dozed, slippingin and out of sleep, alternating betweendreams and images of the tunnel. Fear creptinto his dreams. He was lying helplessly onhis back, when a rat appeared over him,then another, then he was surrounded bytheir faces. Gregor shook his head toawaken only to find he hadn't truly been

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asleep. The rats were still looming over him,and they were real.

Without even attempting to rise, Gregoryanked his sword from his belt and sliced theair over his body to protect it. The rats fellback, giving him a chance to spring to hisfeet. By this time his dagger was out and hewas about to start killing, when the voicereached his brain: "Stop, Overlander!"

Gregor hesitated. He knew the rat's voice. Itwas higher-pitched than Ripred's roughgrowl. Female. But not Twirltongue's silvertones that had so easily led him astray.Twitchtip? No, she was dead. And this voicedidn't belong on his voyage across theWaterway, or in the impossible twists andturns of the rat's maze. It came with memor-ies of jungle heat and sweat and the smell ofsweet deadly blossoms. He clicked and triedto focus in on the speaker. "Lapblood?"

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"Yes, it's me. Put away your sword. We'renot here to fight you," said Lapblood.

Gregor clicked again. The small pack of ratswas hanging back, none of them in attackposition. He slowly slid his blades back in hisbelt. Rat or no rat, he didn't think Lapbloodwould lie to him. Not after what they hadbeen through together. Besides, if the ratshad been after his blood, they'd have takenhim on the ground. "What are you doinghere?"

"We've come to join with Ripred against theBane," said Lapblood. "I'm supposed to meethim now for our battle orders."

"For real? How many of you are there?" saidGregor. Echolocation was great, but hewanted to use his eyes again. He snappedon his flashlight, causing the rats to squint inthe sudden brightness. "Sorry." He pointedthe beam to the floor.

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"There are a dozen of us here in the tunnel.But hundreds wait in the caves below," saidLapblood.

"Hundreds?" Gregor said. He knew Ripredhad a small band of rats loyal to him in theDead Land, but where had hundreds comefrom?

"Did you think every rat wanted the Bane fortheir leader?" asked Lapblood. "That wewould willingly live under his rule?"

"Pretty much," admitted Gregor. "I mean, ex-cept for Ripred, we haven't seen a whole lotof resistance from you guys."

"Well, you're wrong," retorted Lapblood."Many of us have no use for thatbloodthirsty, twisted creature or the conniv-ance of those who guide him."

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"That's good to hear," said Gregor. He no-ticed two smaller rats crouched atLapblood's side. They were too big to becalled pups, but they weren't fully grown,either. "Are they ...?" He didn't want to saythe names in case he was wrong. "Who arethey?"

"Flyfur and Sixclaw. My children," saidLapblood.

The children she had gone to the jungle tosave by finding the cure to the plague.Mange's children, too, then, although he hadnever lived to see them again. He'd been en-snared and eaten by giant carnivorousplants. But his pups had lived. Gregorpeered closely at them. They stared back,scared but tough. "You look a lot like yourdad," he said, and was surprised by theemotion in his voice, by how moved and gladhe was that they'd survived.

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"And your mother?" asked Lapblood.

It seemed like an eternity since anyone hadasked him that. People avoided the topic ofhis mother's health in general, as if bringingit up was just a painful reminder of her sick-ness. But Lapblood knew better. "She'sokay, I think. I mean, she was real sick fromthe plague, but she got better. Only last timeI saw her she had pneumonia and theyevacuated her to the Fount. It turned out tobe a good thing, because the hospital atRegalia was so packed, but I haven't hadany news of her since. Ripred says he'll gether home for me. After the war. Since I can't.Ripred says he will." Gregor realized he wasbabbling and pulled himself together."Thanks for asking."

Gregor had a sudden impulse to touchLapblood, to place his hand on her head andfeel that silky fur again. But he knew thatwould seem weird, if not downright

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threatening, to the other rats. So he justheaded up the tunnel. "Come on. Ripred's uphere."

Lapblood followed him while the rest of therats remained deep in the tunnel. This wasjust as well. Gregor was afraid the arrival ofeven one rat might start a panic attack in Liz-zie. But she took her cue from Ripred, andhe was pleased to see Lapblood.

"Good. You made it. How many do wehave?" he asked her right off.

"At least seven hundred. Perhaps as manyas a thousand," said Lapblood.

Ripred raised his eyebrows, a bit impressed."That many? You've been busy."

"Where do you want us?" asked Lapblood.Ripred quickly gave her a time, position, andinstructions. She nodded, turned to Gregor,

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and said, "Thank you for what you did in thejungle."

Gregor had saved her life, but Lapblood hadsaved Boots. "You, too."

Lapblood touched her muzzle to his wrist,then she was gone.

"Just another good-bye," thought Gregor.Another last time. But it was nothing com-pared to the ones he would have to face inthe next couple of days.

Ripred ordered them all to bed. Gregor'sslumber was deep and dreamless. He wasawakened by Ripred's nose nudging hisshoulder. Gregor rubbed his eyes andlooked around. No one else was up. "Overhere," the rat whispered, and Gregor fol-lowed him to the far end of the cave. "This isthe day," Ripred said.

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"The day I die," Gregor thought. But he onlysaid, "So soon?"

"Yes. We have to move fast. But there'ssomething I want to say to you in private,"said Ripred. "It's regarding a certain line in'The Prophecy of Time.'"

The warrior's death. "Here it comes," thoughtGregor. He braced himself for the good-bye,but the rat's next words were something en-tirely unexpected.

"The thing is ..." said Ripred. He glancedaround to make sure everyone else was stillsleeping. "The thing is, I don't believe inSandwich's prophecies."

***

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CHAPTER 23Gregor was floored. "What? But you ... al-ways do what they say."

"No, I don't. If I really believed in them, wouldI have run after the Bane and tried to kill himmyself? It would have been pointless. I pre-tend like I believe in them, even try to con-vince myself I do for short periods, becauseeverybody else down here does. So if youwant to make them do something, it has to fitthe prophecies, you see?" said the rat.

"Not really," said Gregor. What was Ripredsaying?

"Look, there are hundreds of prophecies pre-dicting all kinds of things. If you wait aroundlong enough, numerous events that

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resemble each and every one of them arebound to come up. Take that plague. We'vehad loads of plagues down here. Might havebeen interpreted to fit any of them," saidRipred.

"But you're always trying to interpret them,"Gregor said.

" I have to. If I don't come up with somereasonable interpretation of them first,someone else comes up with a foolish one,"said Ripred. "And then it's a whole lot of ex-tra work changing everyone's minds."

"What about in the jungle? After the antsdestroyed the starshade and we had all giv-en up," Gregor protested.

"I really thought Neveeve might have beenright about the starshade being the cure.When it was gone, you were all ready to startdigging your graves. The idea that we might

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have misinterpreted the prophecy was theonly way to get you moving. I jumped on it.And we kept thinking. And we found thecure. The alternative was to let everyone sitthere boo-hooing until they died," saidRipred.

Gregor frowned. "What about the warriorstuff? And me leaping?"

"Maybe you only leaped because that proph-ecy suggested that was the thing to do," saidRipred. "Maybe that children's song aboutkilling the mice really only was a children'ssong. Maybe Sandwich was a madman wholocked himself up and wrote crazy poems onthe wall. And maybe — you're not going todie."

Not going to die? The words hit Gregor like atruck. Could it be possible? No, everyoneknew he was going to die. He would prove itto Ripred. Gregor tried hard to think of one

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incident that could not be contested. "But...how about Nerissa? When she was a littlegirl, she told Hamnet he would be in thejungle with a hisser and a kid ten yearslater."

"I admit that one's hard to explain. UnlessHamnet sought out a hisser because of hersuggestion and then didn't say no whenHazard's mother appeared in his life. Or itcould be a strange coincidence. They dohappen. Anyway, Nerissa is not Sandwich,and it's him we're talking about," said Ripred."'The Prophecy of Time.' Look how easily webent it to replace Boots with Lizzie. Whatdoes it really call for? A war? We have thoseall the time. A code? Every new war has anew code. The death of a warrior? Well, ifwe can swap princesses so easily, why notwarriors ? Thousands will be dead at the endof this mess. But I'm not convinced you willbe. One rager to another, I think you canbeat the Bane. I think you're better than he

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is. And I don't think any mumbo jumbo ofSandwich's can change that. Unless you letit. So you fight, Gregor the Overlander. Anddon't you let your guard down for a secondbecause you think anything's inevitable!"

Gregor's head was spinning with this newway of thinking. That they were really ful-filling Sandwich's prophecies on their own.Basing decisions on what his words said. Hegave an incredulous laugh. "I thought youwere going to tell me good-bye."

"No such luck," snorted Ripred. "But keepthis under your hat. If everyone finds outwhat I really believe, I'll lose what little cred-ibility I have. Come on, let's wake up the oth-ers. It's going to be a long day."

Gregor went over and blew raspberries onBoots's stomach, so she woke up giggling."Stop! I need more sleeping!" she said, andpretended to go back to sleep three times to

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get more wake-up raspberries. As Gregorhauled her over to eat breakfast, Bootspoked him in the chest. "You seem like youagain," she said.

"I seem like me again?" Gregor asked. Thenhe knew what she meant. He hadn't reallyteased Boots in a while. Hardly ever smiledeven. But Ripred's words had given himsomething he'd abandoned since he'd firstread "The Prophecy of Time." Hope. That hemight live. That Sandwich was wrong.

He wondered if the rat was lying to make himfight his best. But he didn't think so. Ripred'snot believing in the prophecies explainedcertain things. Not just why he had tried tokill the Bane himself but how easily he hadtossed out Boots for Lizzie, and how he hadalways been so sarcastic about Nerissa'sability to see the future. Probably didn't wanther coming up with a whole new room ofprophecies to control people. Not that Ripred

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didn't use the prophecies to his advantage.He had manipulated Gregor repeatedly withthem. Even used the warrior's death to getGregor to let Lizzie stay. But the rat was al-ways doing whatever it took to get his way.

Gregor realized something else, too. Hedidn't want to believe in the prophecies,either. Not just because they forecast hisdeath but because he loathed Sandwich.Ever since he had learned about how he hadmurdered the diggers for the land that wasnow Regalia, Gregor had wanted to distancehimself from the man. To discredit him. Toreject his guidance. Now Ripred had givenhim a way. "It's just me and the Bane. AndI'm fighting him because he killed all of thoseinnocent mice and people, and I have to stophim. Not because Sandwich says so but be-cause I say so. And Ripred's right. I'm betterthan the Bane. And I can do it," he thought.

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So Gregor was able to get through the mo-ment he had dreaded above all others:saying good-bye to his sisters. He fixed upthe pink backpack, refilling the water bottlesand putting fresh batteries in his one remain-ing flashlight, and gave it to them to keep.

"Won't you need the flashlight in battle?" Liz-zie asked with concern.

"I cracked that echolocation thing," Gregorwhispered in her ear, and her eyes widenedin surprise.

"Wow. Will you teach me?" she asked.

"You bet," said Gregor. "And look here." Hepulled out the travel chessboard.

"I found it in the museum. It's yours."

"For keeps?" asked Lizzie. "Jedidiah has achessboard, but not a magnetic one."

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"Yeah. He's going to be real jealous," saidGregor.

Boots tried to poke her nose in the back-pack. "Where's my present?"

"Your present?" asked Gregor. He dug outthe rest of Mrs. Cormaci's oatmeal raisincookies, still wrapped in foil. "You get thecookies."

"Oh!" said Boots. "All for me?"

"Well, you'd better share at least one with Ri-pred," said Gregor.

Boots shared with everyone, even tuckingtwo cookies in Gregor's pocket so that heand Ares could have a snack later. Then itwas time to go. Gregor pulled both of his sis-ters into his arms and held them tight. "Youguys be good, okay?"

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"Okay," said Lizzie.

"I am good," said Boots.

"I know. I love you. See you soon," saidGregor.

"See you soon," they both echoed.

Ripred had already given Ares directions totheir position at the Plain of Tartarus. "Re-member, Gregor, they think you're dead. Sodon't let them see you until the Baneappears."

"Got it," Gregor said.

"All right. Fly you high, you two," said Ripred.

"Run like the river, Ripred," said Gregor. Andthen Ares took off. They flew through thedarkness that was no longer darkness toGregor. While clicks and coughs producedbrighter results, he concentrated on using

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his breathing to see. The images were notquite as clear but they were continuous,since he was either inhaling or exhaling as amatter of course. And the longer he relied onthe breathing, the more distinct his surround-ings became. In about an hour they hadreached their destination. Ares landed on thefloor of a small tunnel just before a wallmade of a pile of large rocks. Beyond it,Gregor sensed emptiness. He dismountedcautiously and made his way to the wall.Hanging his head over, he let out a deepbreath. His mind registered a cavern so vasthe could not find the other end of it. Thewalls sloped up at a steep angle. Far belowhim, the floor was occupied by the singlelargest gathering of rats Gregor had ever en-countered. There must have been well overa thousand, sleeping, fidgeting, nursing theirwounds. Ordinarily Gregor would have beenmore concerned with them catching hisscent. But the air was heavy with the smell of

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rotten eggs, which he remembered from hisfirst journey, when Ripred had dragged themall through dripping caves, soaking them insulfurous liquid to conceal their natural odor.This time, the smell seemed to be comingfrom a mist that rose out of a foul river wind-ing its way along the side of the cavern.Even at this distance, Gregor was pretty surethat there was nothing alive in that water.

"So this is the Plain of Tartarus?" Gregorwhispered to Ares.

"Yes. You can see it?" the bat whisperedback.

"Yeah. Ripred finally knocked echolocationinto my head," said Gregor. "I have to admit,it's cool. You see the Bane anywhere?"

"No. He must be nearby, though. He is thereason they have come here," said Ares.

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They settled themselves down to wait.Gregor passed Ares a cookie and ate theother. If he did end up dead, he was glad thelast taste in his mouth came from Mrs.Cormaci's kitchen. But he was no longer soresigned to dying. Not after what Ripred hadsaid. Then it occurred to him that he was notalone; he was only half of a team, and itmight be important for Ares to know Ripred'sthoughts as well.

"Hey, Ares, can you keep a secret?" saidGregor.

"I would say it is one of my few talents," saidAres.

"Ripred doesn't believe in the prophecies. Hethinks Sandwich was a crazy fool, and thatwe're all running around trying to make whathe said come true," said Gregor. Ares wassilent for a while. "I would be a liar if I said

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similar thoughts had not crossed my ownmind," said the bat.

"Why didn't you say so?" asked Gregor.Were there other Underlanders who hadtheir doubts?

"Because everyone treats his words withsuch reverence. But who was he, really? Nota kind or wise man. His words are full ofdoom and only terrorize us into killing oneanother," said Ares.

"You know, when I first got down here, Ididn't believe in his stuff at all. Then, asthings happened, it seemed like it was com-ing true. But what if we did just makeSandwich's words fit? Take 'The Prophecy ofGray.' That whole thing about me leapingand then Henry dying. I could have died andthe prophecy would have still made sense.So maybe the only really remarkable thing

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that happened that day ... was that you de-cided to save my life," said Gregor.

"I was not thinking of Sandwich's words. Iwas thinking of what was right," said Ares.He crunched down on his cookie. "Do youknow, when a prophecy does not fulfill itselfin a coherent manner, we always say it wasnot yet its time. And we blame ourselves fornot realizing it."

"I'm beginning to think the main thing weought to be blaming ourselves for is lettingSandwich boss us around instead of doingwhat we think is right," said Gregor. "Usinghim as an excuse to kill one another. At theend of the day, we're the ones holding theswords."

"There must be better words to follow,"agreed Ares.

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"Sure there are. You and me, we could makeup better words in our sleep," said Gregor.

Suddenly Ares lifted his chin, his earstwitching.

"What? What is it?" asked Gregor.

"It has begun," Ares said.

They rose and looked out over the rock wall.At first, Gregor could detect nothing new,only the army of rats sleeping fitfully in thegaping cavern. Then a faint ripple of air hithis cheek, and the scene in front of himexploded.

It was a well-coordinated attack and unlikeanything Gregor had ever seen. The ripplehe'd felt came from the beating of a thou-sand wings as a wave of humans flewthrough the darkness toward the rats. Thebats were carrying large unfamiliar packages

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of some sort in their claws. When they wereover the rats, they released their cargo. Thepackages exploded into small bonfires whenthey hit the ground. They must have hadplenty of fuel because they continued to burnbrightly after they landed.

The rats' warning system was not workingwell. Ripred had probably sent in soldiers tokill their scouts ahead of time. Gregor hadheard a few cries of alarm, but they had notbeen enough to rouse the Bane's army. Sothe rats were still sleeping when the fire-bombs were dropped, and the swords andclaws began to assault them.

At the same time, other adversaries were at-tacking from all sides. Cockroaches andmice were pouring in from the left and right.Spiders — who had apparently decided tojoin with the humans — began to drop fromthe ceiling. And then Lapblood's rats ap-peared from the tunnels behind the rat army,

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essentially cutting off any possibility of re-treat. They had dipped their tails in somekind of glow-in-the-dark coating, somethingphosphorous maybe, so that their alliescould distinguish them from the enemy.

Awaking under these conditions, the Bane'sarmy panicked. Some were on fire, othershad already received mortal wounds. Thehuman/bat teams and the rats carried thebulk of the fighting, but the smaller creatureswere inflicting a lot of damage, too. The miceand cockroaches targeted wounded rats,swarming them and finishing them off. Thespiders would drop suddenly on unsuspect-ing rats, sink their poisonous fangs into theirbodies, and whiz back up their silk lines be-fore their victims knew what had hit them.But the Bane's rats were hardened soldiers,and after the initial shock, they pulled them-selves together and fought back.

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Silently, from their perch high above, Gregorand Ares watched. By the time the groundfires died down, torchbearers had lit the areasufficiently so that Gregor didn't need to useecholocation to see the hell unfolding belowhim. The battle soon lost any sense of or-ganization and deteriorated into a killingfrenzy. Everywhere, every second, creatureswere dying. Human, rat, bat, mouse, cock-roach, and spider bodies accumulated onthe ground, until those who still survivedwere fighting on a carpet of corpses. Panicand confusion reigned. Fighters had to bewary even of their allies. A human ran asword through a nibbler, a rat blinded a raton the same side, a torchbearer set a spin-ner on fire. The clear purpose that had takenthe soldiers into the battle was becomingmuddied in the turmoil. Remote and safe forthe moment, Gregor had a hard time makingsense of the picture. It seemed unreal, as ifhe were watching a movie on television and

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he could make it stop by clicking to the nextchannel. This couldn't really be happening,this carnage, this waste of precious life. Whowould do something like this? Why wouldthey do it? What could they possibly accom-plish? They were killing, killing, killing oneanother and then at the end they would havediminished one another's ranks but... whatwould have changed? The whole thing sud-denly seemed like a ridiculous game thatcould easily have been replaced by anothergame, a hand of cards, a chess match, a rollof the dice. A game from which everyonecould have gone home alive.

"Gregor! There! Above the river!" Ares said.

Gregor unglued his eyes from the battle andscanned the wall above the river. In the dis-tance, they found Nike's black-and-white-striped wings fluttering in the mouth of acave or tunnel — Gregor couldn't tell which— as she fended off a rat on the shelf of

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rock before her. About twenty yards aboveher, a digger's claws were widening a freshhole in the steep wall. A stream of rats wasemerging from the hole and half-climbing,half-sliding down toward Nike.

"What's she doing here?" asked Gregor. Shewas supposed to be with Boots and Lizzie,far from the battle as Solovet had promised.If Nike was here, where were his sisters?Stuck somewhere with only Temp, Hazard,Reflex, and Heronian for protection? Andwhy didn't she just fly off? She wasn't bigenough to be taking on that rat without a hu-man teammate. What was she — ?

And then Gregor saw something thatstopped his heart. A thin beam of light shin-ing out of the opening behind Nike. It wasflashing in a pattern that Gregor recognized.Played on the bedroom wall, tapped out witha fork on the kitchen table, the flashlightsignaling... dot-dot-dot-dash-dash-dash-dot-

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dot-dot...dot-dot-dot-dash-dash-dash-dot-dot-dot... SOS. SOS. SOS.

"Lizzie," he whispered. Then he began toscream. "My sisters! My sisters are in there!"

***

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CHAPTER 24Gregor vaulted onto Ares's back. "Go!" heshouted. "Go!"

Ares didn't object, but he did remind Gregor:"They will know now! That you still have life!"

Ripred had told Gregor to lie low until theBane arrived, but that seemed of little im-portance now. He hardly noticed — or cared— that his appearance was a huge shockerfor the rats, who began to howl his name thesecond he and Ares left the cover of therocks.

Gregor ignored them. He would deal with theBane later, if the white rat even showed up.Now he had a far more urgent mission. Andhe wasn't going to make it. He wasn't going

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to. He had flown on Ares enough now togauge the amount of time it would take himto travel a certain distance, and they weretoo far. The rats would beat them. Nike couldnot fend them off. His sisters would be tornto pieces and —

Suddenly he saw a form streaking up theside of the cavern wall toward Nike. It didn'tseem possible that any creature could scalesuch a steep incline with such speed. Butone could. The one Gregor would havechosen. "It's Ripred!" he told Ares. "If he getsin, we can attack the rats from behind!"

Nike fell back out of sight as the rats fromthe digger's hole began to rain down ontothe shelf of rock and lunge in after her. Atleast twenty had made it when Ripredreached them. Not stopping to fight, heraced over the backs of the enemy rats andwas swallowed by the darkness beyond. Se-conds later, Gregor and Ares dove in and

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threw themselves into the battle. It was likeold times for Gregor, like when he had firstbecome a rager and the adrenaline rush hadobliterated his awareness of his actions. Buthe was so afraid, so deeply terrified forBoots and Lizzie that he could not containhimself. Every stroke of his blade was adeath stroke, every movement designed tokill. He hacked and sliced and plunged hisblade into rat after rat, oblivious to all else.

Ares had to arch back and crack Gregor inthe face with his head to get his attention."Gregor!"

"What?" Gregor snarled back. "Get in there,Ares!" His bat was drawing him away. "Ihave to kill those rats!"

"Try this one!" Ares said. The bat swungaround and there was the Bane, right in hisface.

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To Gregor, who had been absorbed in thefight to save his sisters, it seemed as if theBane had materialized out of nowhere, as ifhe had simply sprung out of the ground toexact his revenge. Ares veered sharply tothe side just as one of the powerful clawedpaws whistled by Gregor's ear and thenscraped down the side of the cavern, un-leashing a magnified sound like nails on achalkboard.

"We must have more space!" said Ares.They couldn't fight the Bane trapped upagainst this wall. They needed room tomaneuver.

"But my sisters —!" Gregor began. Then heknew he had to let them go. To trust Ripredand the humans and bats who had flown into save them. Because wherever Gregorwas now, so was the Bane. "All right!"

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Ares swiftly flew back toward the heart of thebattle, drawing the Bane after them. ButGregor had a few moments to assess his op-ponent. Boy, the Bane was a royal mess! Hewas scarred and hurting from their last en-counter. The stump of his tail was cappedwith a huge ball of bloody spider silk. Losingthe tail seemed to have done something tothe Bane's sense of balance, because hemoved unsteadily, almost as if he were intox-icated. But the real change was the look inthe white rat's eyes. One glance told Gregorhe had crossed over the line from damagedto demented.

The Bane came crashing across the plain to-ward them as the other creatures desper-ately fled to escape him. Bodies on theground burst open under his feet. Anyone inreach of his claws was shredded.

"This isn't like before," thought Gregor. "I'mfighting a whole new opponent." For a

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moment, he felt a shudder of fear deep in-side him. Then he pushed it down. "Where'dhe come from?" he asked Ares.

"The tunnel to the right," Ares replied. "Iknow it. It leads farther into the rats' land."

"Is there much room?" asked Gregor.

"Yes. A large tunnel, then more caverns,"said Ares.

"Take it," said Gregor. "Let's make him workfor us." A chase would hopefully wear theBane out a bit and keep him from killing any-one else. It would also give Gregor a lessdistracting place to fight. He wanted quiet.He wanted one-on-one.

Ares shot down the tunnel, and the Banewas right behind them, bouncing off thewalls, roaring. The torchlight was gone, butGregor's breath was coming in pants and he

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had no trouble seeing. The tunnel led into arocky cavern that soared high into the air.Ares flew up higher but the Bane followed,making seemingly impossible leaps upboulders and onto ledges as he followed be-hind. At first, Gregor could sense other ratsin the area, but soon they fell away, eitherunable or unwilling to pursue them. And stillAres flew higher, finding a strange tunnelwith dripping rock formations, and finallycoming to rest on a plateau that seemed amillion miles from anywhere. He was able toland for a minute and rest. They listened tothe sound of the Bane, bellowing in rage andpain as he struggled toward them.

"Will this place do?" Ares asked.

"It's perfect," said Gregor.

As the Bane took one last giant leap onto theplateau, Ares took to his wings. The chasehad been a good idea. The Bane was

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drained, gasping for air, thick foam hangingfrom his mouth. Several wounds had re-opened on his face. The spider silk bandagehad ripped off somewhere and blood ranfrom the stump of his tail.

"Alone at last," Gregor said. But theyweren't.

"Take a minute," said the soothing voice."Calm yourself before you destroy him."

"Twirltongue," Gregor said to Ares. "Where'dshe come from?"

"I do not know," said Ares. "She was not withhim on the Plain of Tartarus."

The Bane must have picked her up some-where along the way. She leaped off of hisback now, onto a pile of boulders. A nicesafe place to observe the match. Gregorcould see she was unmarred, not a wound

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on her anywhere. Her silver coat was flaw-less and unruffled.

It was all Gregor could do not to take her outright then and there. She was the one whohad made the plans and groomed the Baneinto this deranged creature. She'd probablyordered Twitchtip's death, too. Twirltongueand her silken voice. How he hated her."You're looking good, Twirltongue," Gregorcalled. "A little too good. Seeing much ac-tion? Or you just sending the Bane in to losehis tail and such?"

"My tail? My tail?" said the Bane. He beganto move in circles, trying to locate it. "Mytail!"

"A king does not need a tail," saidTwirltongue.

"He's not going to be king," said Gregor. "Areyou, Pearlpelt?"

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The name distracted the Bane from his tail."I am king. I am king now! The rats followme!"

"Then how come they're out there attackingyou? Plus the spinners, the crawlers, the hu-mans, the fliers, the nibblers," said Gregor."Hey, that whole nibbler thing kind of blew upin your face, didn't it?"

"Twirltongue says I'm the king!" said theBane.

"Yeah? Is that how it looks to you?" saidGregor. "Because from up here, it looks likeshe's getting you killed so she can takeover."

"What? What?" The Bane was so far gonethat that was all it took. He turned toTwirltongue, his eyes narrowing into slits."You will not take over. I'm the king! I'm theking!"

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"Of course you're the king. Who would followa nothing like me?" said Twirltongue with alight laugh. But she was backing away. "He'slying!"

"If he's lying, then why are you untouchedand I am like this?!" hissed the Bane.

"Because kings are bold and brave fighters.Your scars are badges of your might. No onewould follow someone as untried and feebleas myself," said Twirltongue, edging along aboulder.

"No. You're right. No one will follow you. Noone will ever follow you again!" The Banesprang and, in one bite, ripped Twirltongue'shead from her body. It hung in his mouth,teeth bared in a final grotesque grimace, be-fore the Bane flung it at Gregor and Ares, al-most hitting them. It smashed into theground with an awful, hollow sound. TheBane stroked his paws over his eyes a few

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times, then looked up in confusion. "Where'sTwirltongue?" he said forlornly. "Where didshe go?"

Neither Gregor nor Ares replied.

The Bane nosed along the ground until hefound the head. "Twirltongue? Twirltongue?She's dead...." he began to whimper. "She'sdead...." And then his distress transformedback into rage. "You killed her!" he spat atAres and Gregor.

"Man, he really believes it!" Gregor said in ahushed voice.

"Just like you killed my mother!" said theBane.

Whether the Bane had just thought that oneup on the spot or Twirltongue had planted itin his brain along the way, Gregor had noidea. He only knew that twelve feet of rat

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was coming at him and the long-anticipatedfight had begun.

Ares dodged the rat's first attack. By the timethe bat had spun back around, Gregor'srager state was at its peak. But he was notovercome by it. In fact, he could control hisactions with a deadly accuracy that left himheady with power. This was a new feeling.This strength. This lethalness. This must bewhat Ripred felt all the time.

"Go for his face!" Gregor said. This strategyhad worked well before and now the Banehad no tail to retaliate with.

But if the Bane had been a challenge back inRegalia, there had been at least some senseto his movements. Now his motions were er-ratic and unpredictable. He wasn't con-cerned with his own state, only that Gregorend up dead. The Bane swiped at themagain and again, not bothering to block

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Gregor's attacks, ignoring his own woundsas his claws found Ares's wing, Gregor'sarm, Ares's ear.

"Pull back!" Gregor shouted and Areswhipped out of the Bane's reach.

"We need a new plan," said Gregor, trying totwist the sleeve of his shirt into a sort ofbandage over a gash on his left arm.

"He has lost his balance," said Ares.

"Use it," said Gregor.

Ares began to dive in wild circles around theBane. The rat soon became disoriented,lurching from side to side, but was still fight-ing bitterly. Gregor did some damage to hispaws, but that was all that his sword couldmake contact with.

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"I've got to get in closer if I'm going to takehim out!" said Gregor.

"Hang on!" said Ares, and suddenly theywere spinning over and over, and Gregorfound himself directly under the Bane's fore-leg. He plunged his sword into the soft flesh.The Bane gave a strangled cry and jerkedbackward, freeing Gregor's blade.

"Get out!" Gregor cried. "Get out, Ares!" Hehad a terrible sense of dread. Somethingwas wrong about their position, their proxim-ity to the Bane. Even before his bat openedhis wings, Gregor knew there was no waythey could clear the claws. He thrust hissword in the Bane's direction but it was toolate. "Ares!" Gregor cried. "No!" Everythingseemed to move in slow motion as the ratcaught Ares's wing, spun him around so theywere face-to-face, and pulled him forward.Gregor dropped Solovet's dagger andwrapped both hands around the hilt of his

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sword. As the Bane sank his teeth intoAres's neck, Gregor's blade pierced the rat'sheart. For a moment, they hung there, inter-connected, supported by teeth and swordsand claws. Then the Bane made an un-earthly sound and rammed his free paw intoGregor's chest. Gregor lost his grip on hissword as he flew back into the air andslammed onto the stone floor. His hand wentto his breastbone. The claws had torn asidehis armor and opened a hot wet hole in hischest. His fingers pulsed with the rapid beat-ing of his heart.

Above him, Ares still dangled from theBane's jaws. The rat opened his mouth andthe bat fell, lifeless, to the ground. The Banepawed at the blade in his chest, trying to dis-lodge it. Then he became still and slowlysank down to four legs, onto his side as if tocurl up, and rolled onto his back.

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He knew they were dead. Both Ares and theBane. Because only one creature wasbreathing. And it was Gregor. Despite thisknowledge, despite the pain, he draggedhimself across the floor to his bond. Ares layon his back, his wings bent at awkwardangles. The entire front of his neck had beentorn off. Gregor pressed his face into thebat's blood-soaked chest, hoping in vain fora heartbeat, a chance to revive him. "Ares?Ares? Don't go, Ares, okay? Don't." But hehad gone. No one could survive a wound likethat. "Ares?" Gregor's right hand reached outand found Ares's claw and latched on to it.

Ares the flier, I bond to you.

The words went through his mind but hecouldn't speak them. Not anymore.

Still clutching Ares's claw, Gregor rolled overonto his back and found himself cradled bythe bat's wing. The blood was leaving his

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body fast. Seeping out of his chest andmingling with Ares's blood, then running ontothe ground to join the Bane's.

"This is it," thought Gregor. "This is the end."The blood was flowing too quickly and noone who could help even knew where hewas. Sandwich was right. He was right afterall. The Bane would die, Gregor would die,and they could even throw in Ares for goodmeasure. This is where they would eventu-ally find them, already buried in this sunlesshole far beneath the earth's surface.

"It's okay," Gregor whispered to himself. "It'sokay. Think of the knight." He rememberedthe calm, smooth face of the knight in theCloisters, a face free of all earthly pain, anda feeling of peace slowly descended on him.He realized his death was not only okay, itwas for the best. He was never going backto New York, anyway. That had been somelaughable dream. How could he go back

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after all that had happened? After what hehad become? Where would a twelve-year-old kid, a warrior, a killer, ever be at home?Not in the Overland. And the Underland? No,he'd eventually end up like Ripred. LikeAres. A dangerous character. Suspicious.Scraping out a life in some desolate place.Because no matter how much the humansloved him during a war, who would want himaround on a regular basis? There was noplace for Gregor. Over, under, or in between.

He wasn't really so different from the Bane.Both of them were pulled into this wholemess without having any real understandingof it. Both of them were used — the Bane bythe rats, Gregor by the humans — to playout this war. And both of them were payingwith their lives. To have them dead would bea relief to everyone.

Except maybe Gregor's family... but they hadno idea who he had become ... how much he

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had killed ... and he hoped they never foundout....

The images of the cavern were dimming. Hisbreathing became shallow. He could feel theworld slipping away. "It's okay," hewhispered to himself. "It's okay."

Far away, a pure, blue light appeared. Itmust be the light people talked about. Theones who'd had near-death experiences.You went down a tunnel. There was a light.People you'd loved who had already diedwere reaching for you. "Maybe Ares isthere," thought Gregor. "Maybe he's waitingfor me."

The pain left his body and Gregor had thesensation he was traveling. He was glidingcloser and closer to the beautiful blue light.In a few seconds he would reach it. Hewanted to reach it. To dissolve into the blue-ness. He was almost there.

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Then everything went black.

***

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CHAPTER 25Something sprinkled across his forehead.Sand maybe. Was he at the beach, awakingfrom a long, warm nap in the sun? There itwas again. People needed to be more care-ful. Kicking sand around. He should havepicked a better spot. But when he'd died inthat cave he'd been thinking more about —Wait! When he'd died in that cave? Wherewas he?

Gregor's eyes flew open. Above him, thehospital ceiling was brightly lit by torches.Boots's face slid into the frame. She took abite of a cookie, showering crumbs down onhis face. "Hi, you!" she said.

Something must have gone terribly wrong.He was still alive.

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Boots took another bite of cookie and heshut his eyes to avoid the fallout. "Yousleeped a long time. I got tired waiting." Shedid seem slightly put out.

"You're getting crumbs on him, Boots," heheard Lizzie whisper.

They were both alive. Ripred had gottenthem out somehow.

"Gregor?" said a voice he had never hopedto hear again. His dad leaned over him, hisface worn, older. "How you doing? How's mylittle guy?"

His dad? What was his dad doing here?What was going on? Why wasn't he dead?Where was the blue light? Who could pos-sibly have found him in that forsaken place?

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"Can you understand me, Gregor?" askedhis dad. Gregor could see the concern in hiseyes.

"Yeah." His voice was rusty and almost in-audible. "Hey, Dad. You're here."

"I came down just as soon as I could," hisdad said. "Come to take you all home."

Gregor slowly became aware of his body.With great effort, he managed to wiggle histoes. Why was he so weak? How long hadhe been here? He struggled to move the fin-gers on his right hand but found it im-possible. His left arm jerked up in a panicand pain spiked through his arm, his chest,oh, man, his chest! He dropped his arm backquickly. The pain ebbed but was still there. Itwas better if he didn't move.

"So, you have decided to wake up?"Howard's smile was so warm that Gregor

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couldn't help smiling back. The muscles onhis face felt stiff and unused.

"What happened?" Gregor asked.

"You were rescued from the Dead Land by apair of daring adventurers, who risked all tocarry you back to our doctors," said Howard."At least, this is how they tell the story.Some, myself included, feel it had less to dowith a love of you and more to do with a loveof cake."

"Cake?" said Gregor. And suddenly it be-came clear to him. "Not the fireflies."

"Oh, yes. Our old and dear friends PhotosGlow-Glow and Zap," said Howard.

That explained it. The beautiful, blue lightwasn't from another world; it was fromPhotos Glow-Glow's butt. Gregor couldn't

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help laughing, even though it hurt like crazy.The whole thing was so absurd.

"They have spent the last two weeks gorgingthemselves in a room off of the kitchen. Yousee, it is quite impossible for them to leaveuntil they are assured of your recovery. AndLuxa indulges them for her own reasons,"said Howard. "So, Gregor, just how bad doyou feel?"

"Very," said Gregor. "Whole body hurts."

"Good. Then your nerves are working. Drinkthis," said Howard, lifting his head to helphim swallow some medicine and a littlewater.

"I can't move my fingers." Gregor glanceddown at his right side, where he hoped hestill had a hand.

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"Yes. Well. They will work by and by," saidHoward. His face was sober as he gently lif-ted Gregor's hand into his line of sight.Locked in his fingers, cemented with blood,was Ares's claw. "The shiners were unableto release your grip. Zap managed to gnawhis claw free. We have not wanted to forceyour hand open, for fear of breaking bones.We can soak it... but you will have to let himgo yourself."

Ares. The last horrible moments of his bat'slife replayed in Gregor's head and hesqueezed his eyes shut tight. Howard askedhim more questions, but he couldn't respond.

"In his mind, all of this happened onlyminutes ago. We must give him time," saidHoward to his family. "He must rest."

"Girls, you go up to the nursery. Give Dulcetsome help with those mouse babies, okay?I'll sit with your brother," said his dad.

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Gregor heard his own voice in his ears. "I'vegot to get in closer if I'm going to take himout!" Wing snagged. Bane drawing them in.Locking his jaws on Ares's throat. Sword inheart. Chest ripped open. Falling. Dying."Don't go, Ares, okay? Don't." Lying in blood.Soaked in blood. Dying. Dying.

The darkness began to close in around himagain. But through it he heard his dad'svoice. "It's going to be okay, Gregor. Youdon't think so now. You don't see how it evercould be. But one day, I promise, it's going tobe okay."

When he woke again, Mareth was sitting inthe chair next to his bed. His dad was asleepon a cot. A couple of nurses propped Gregorup a bit with pillows and brought him somebroth. Mareth volunteered to feed him, andthe nurses accepted and dashed off.

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"The hospital staff is still working around theclock," said Mareth. "Come, you need somenourishment." The soldier spooned broth intohis mouth and filled him in on the last coupleof weeks. The minute the fireflies hadbrought word of the Bane's demise —alongwith Gregor's unconscious body — to thePlain of Tartarus, the Bane's forces hadfallen to pieces and been easily defeated bythe humans and their allies. They werealready weakened psychologically, havingby that time figured out that the Code ofClaw must have been cracked. Lapblood'sarmies fighting against them had been a sig-nificant blow, too. The Bane's death had justbeen the final straw that had broken theirspirit. There would be an official surrender inthe arena soon. Terms would be agreedupon.

As for his loved ones, Vikus was recoveringbut had lost much of the use of his right side.Just as Ripred had predicted, everyone was

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turning to Luxa for leadership. Her uncle,York, was going to come down from theFount for the surrender as well. He wouldbring Gregor's mother with him.

"She's better, then?" asked Gregor.

"Yes. But still very weak," said Mareth. "Yourfamily will have much healing to do."

"Who else was lost?" asked Gregor.

"Many," said Mareth. "Better perhaps to thinkof who still lives. Your family. Luxa. Hazard.Aurora. Nike. Howard. Nerissa. Vikus. All ofthe code team survived."

"And Ripred," said Gregor. "I've got a lot totell him."

Mareth stirred the broth, avoiding his eyes."No, Gregor, he did not make it."

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"What? But everybody got out of that cave,"said Gregor.

"It was a tunnel actually. A short one that ranbetween the Plain of Tartarus and anothercavern beyond the walls. The rats attackedfrom both sides. Ripred was able to fight apath out the back, enabling Nike to flee withyour sisters, Hazard, Temp, Heronian, andReflex. But he was overcome, his body flunginto the abyss below. We sent a rescue teamwhen word came. When they arrived, he hadalready been devoured by the swarms offlesh-eating mites in that nest there. Youknow the ones. We met up with them on theWaterway."

"The mites who killed Pandora," said Gregor.

"The same," said Mareth.

"Then you never actually found Ripred,"Gregor said stubbornly.

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"We found rat skeletons. Three of them.One, a large male who had evidently sur-vived the fall and dragged himself sometwenty yards before the insects overcamehim," said Mareth. "The rescue team sawonly this much, as they were forced to flee.But ask yourself, who but Ripred could havemanaged such a feat?"

"No one," said Gregor softly. Still, it did notseem quite real. That Ripred had died. Ri-pred couldn't die. He was invincible. A rager.Then he remembered Ripred's words. "Evena rager can be outnumbered, Gregor. I startto crack at about four hundred to one." Therewould have been more than four hundredmites in a nest. There would have beenthousands and thousands.

"Beyond that, we have had no word of him. Itis unlikely, having been so instrumental inthis war, that he would be silent in the after-math," said Mareth.

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"Yeah," said Gregor. To his surprise, he feltas devastated by Ripred's loss as he had byAres's. His bond at least knew how Gregorfelt about him. He had never showed anygratitude toward Ripred. Never reallythanked him. Never once told the rat howmuch he admired him. Maybe even lovedhim. It was not the kind of thing theydiscussed.

"I didn't expect... to have to deal with this. Upuntil that last morning, I was sure I'd bedead. Then Ripred—" Gregor stopped. Hewasn't supposed to tell about how Ripreddidn't believe in Sandwich's prophecies. Didit make any difference now the rat wasdead? Maybe Ripred would want everyoneto know his position. And there was proofnow, because he had been right aboutGregor surviving the war. But who couldGregor tell this to? Luxa? Vikus? He was tooweak to go into it now. "Ripred gave me apep talk. Told me I could beat the Bane."

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"And you did," said Mareth.

"Not by myself," said Gregor. His right handcontracted around Ares's claw, not wantingto let go. But he had to let go. Ares wasn'tcoming back. Holding his claw wouldn't bringhim back. It should be buried with the rest ofhim. "Howard said I could soak my hand."

"He left you a basin," said Mareth. He placedit at Gregor's side and then guided his handinto the water.

"You don't have to stay, Mareth," saidGregor. "I know they need a lot of help rightnow. I'm fine."

Mareth seemed to understand that Gregordid not want company just then. "I will checkon you by and by," he said, and left.

The water was warm and comforting. Slowly,Gregor loosened his grip. The blood that

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glued him to the claw dissolved. One by one,his fingers peeled away and he extended hisstiff fingers. The claw broke away from hishand and floated beside it in the basin.

Somehow Luxa was beside him with a towel.She solemnly removed the claw and wipedthe remaining blood from it. When it wasclean, she wrapped it in a white cloth andlaid it on the table beside him. Then she saton the side of the bed, lifted Gregor's hand,and carefully dried it. "It does not seem to beinjured. How does it feel?" she asked.

"Empty," said Gregor. Luxa entwined her fin-gers with his. Her skin was warm, like thewater, but alive. "That's better."

There were probably a million things theyshould be saying to each other, but they juststayed like that for hours, not talking, untilhis dad woke with a start from a nightmare,and Gregor had to reassure him that

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everything was going to be okay. "Maybe ifwe just keep telling each other that, one dayit will be true," he thought.

For the next few days there was not muchGregor could do but sleep and let peoplefeed him. He was so weak it was an achieve-ment when he sat up himself, a small miraclewhen he could walk across the room again.It wasn't until he took his first bath that hiscondition really hit him. He was so skinny,shaky, and beat up. The wound on his chestwas unreal. They had painstakingly stitchedclosed the stripes left by each individual clawmark. When it healed, Gregor could seethere would be five scars to remind him ofthe Bane's final attack. How would he ex-plain that to someone in the Overland?

His dad kept talking about their new life inthe Overland. And Gregor didn't know how totell him that he didn't want to move to thefamily farm in Virginia, didn't even want to go

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back to New York. That the boy who hadfallen down the air shaft on a hot summer'sday was gone, replaced by someone whocould never find a home anywhere. But therewas his dad going on about planting extra to-matoes so they would have plenty to fry upgreen, and going fishing, and how Gregorcould join the school band again.

The school band? It took him a minute toeven remember what instrument he hadplayed. "Saxophone. I ran track, too. I likedscience class. At least, he did. That other kidfrom that other time," Gregor thought. Andwhat about his sisters? Boots would be fine.She was only three. Eventually she'd stoptalking in Crawler and probably forget all ofthis, which was sad in a way, a blessing inanother. But Lizzie ... Lizzie would forgetnothing. She would just keep turning it overand over in her mind. She hardly talkedsince the war had ended. She just sat withher legs tucked up under her in a chair, her

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face thin and sad. Half the time she didn'teven hear people when they spoke to her.Ripred's death had hit her hard.

One night, when their dad and Boots wereasleep, Gregor asked her about it. Why Ri-pred had even brought the code team soclose to the battle.

"Because of me. He didn't say it, but I knewhe wanted to keep an eye on me. To protectme the way he couldn't —" Lizzie cut herselfoff.

"The way he couldn't protect Silksharp,"Gregor finished for her.

"How did you know about her?" asked Lizzie.

"Heard you guys talking one night," saidGregor.

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"It was my fault he died, Gregor," said Lizzie."If I hadn't been there, he'd still be alive."

And there was nothing Gregor could say toconvince her otherwise.

"Oh, yeah, let's move on down to Virginiaand plant those tomatoes," Gregor thought."That's going to fix everything." But hecouldn't say something like that to his dad.

By the end of the week, Gregor was takingwalks around the hospital. Luxa spent asmuch time as she could with him, but shewas already being consumed by her new re-sponsibilities. With the council members andSolovet dead and Vikus trying to learn tofeed himself with his left hand, everyoneturned to her for answers. More than a thirdof the human population had been wipedout, Regalia was a wreck, and the entire nib-bler nation was homeless. In public, Luxawas steady and strong, but sometimes when

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she was alone with Gregor, she would buryher head in her hands, repeating again andagain, "I do not know what to do." And hewould put his arms around her and hold her,but he had no idea what to tell her. In hismind, Gregor knew how to kill things, notbring them back to life.

At least Luxa had a strong support system:Aurora, Mareth, Perdita, Howard, Hazard,Nerissa, Nike, and several mice helpedhowever they could. York advised her in let-ters from the Fount. And Gregor had to smilewhen he saw her in deep conversations withTemp. But ultimately, all of the decisionswere landing squarely on her shoulders.

Looming over her was the day of the sur-render. Although the Bane's forces hadthrown in the towel when they had learned ofhis death, this was the official acknowledg-ment of the rats' defeat. But what was to bedone with Lapblood and the rats who had

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sided with the humans in the end? Wouldthey all be lumped together with the enemyrats? That wouldn't be fair, but as somepointed out, Lapblood's armies hadn't foughtto save the humans, they had fought to savethemselves from the Bane. Besides, therewas so much hatred between the speciesnow that anything was possible. Everyoneknew the surrender was merely a gesturethat would be directly followed by the ques-tion "What will happen now?" And Luxa, asthe head of Regalia, would be expected tohave answers about who would control whatlands, and how the living would now pay forthe acts of the dead, and if rats could be di-vided into friends and foes. It was very com-plicated stuff.

Gregor once walked in on Luxa and Nerissatrying to unravel the last stanza of "TheProphecy of Time" ...

When the monster's blood is spilled,

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When the warrior has been killed, you mustnot ignore the rapping, or the tapping, tap-ping, tapping.

if the gnawers find you napping, you will rotwhile they are mapping

Out the law of those who gnaw

In the Code of Claw.

... but they stopped abruptly when they sawhim. He wanted to tell them it didn't matter.Couldn't they see that? Wasn't he livingproof that the prophecy was wrong? ThatSandwich was a fraud? But he didn't knowhow to convince them to change their mindsabout Sandwich. They had lived by hiswords for too long.

The night before the surrender, Luxa waseating dinner with his family in the hospitalroom, when Gregor's mom walked in. She

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was way too skinny and unsteady on herfeet, but she walked in and opened her armswithout a word. They all ran to her andwound up in one big embrace. Boots, whowas too little to get in on the main action,began to squawk, "Me! Me! Kiss me!" andhis dad scooped her up and everyonecovered her in kisses, which only made hergiggle and call for more.

After a minute, Gregor noticed Luxa, stand-ing alone by the door, watching his family re-unite. He couldn't help thinking of how onceshe'd had so many people to love her whowere no longer here. He reached out a handfor her to join his family, but she just gavehim a small smile, shook her head, andslipped out the door. And for the first time inforever, Gregor remembered why he waslucky.

The next morning, Gregor met Luxa beforethe surrender. She was dressed in a

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gorgeous gown with a jewel-studded tiara onher head. "Wow, you look so grown-up inthat. At least thirteen," he said.

That made her laugh, although he could tellshe was pretty nervous. Gregor was justwearing a plain shirt and pants. And hisswords. He felt naked without them. Back inthe Overland, he couldn't wear them, ofcourse. He had separation anxiety just think-ing about it.

His sisters and dad had already flown aheadto the arena, but Gregor had promised Luxahe would walk through the city with her.When the platform lowered them to theground, Gregor could see the road was linedwith people. No one cheered. Rather, theybowed as Luxa passed. A lot of people hadtears running down their cheeks. Luxa ac-knowledged the crowds, nodding, occasion-ally lifting a hand. She spoke only oncewhen they came to a crossroads where four

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streets met. She stopped and surveyed thewreckage around her. The rats, with the helpof the diggers, had turned buildings intorubble. The paving stones beneath their feetwere stained with blood and scorch marksfrom the fallen torches. A little girl missing anarm stared at them with empty eyes.

"Look at my city, Gregor," said Luxa. "Lookat my home."

When they got to the doors of the arena,Luxa paused. Gregor reached out and gaveher hand a quick squeeze. Then she took adeep breath and headed in. Gregor followeda few steps behind. The place was packedwith delegations from every species that hadplayed a principal role in the war: crawlers,spinners, diggers, nibblers, fliers, gnawers,and humans. Gregor even noticed PhotosGlow-Glow and Zap sitting on a bench. Hehadn't seen them since the rescue, hadn'teven thought to thank them. He would try to

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remember to after the ceremony. Eventhough a path had been left for them, it washard to make a dignified entrance becausethe floor of the arena was so pitted with thetunnels the diggers had made. But Luxaswept around them gracefully while Gregorsort of hopped along after her. At the centerof the arena was an empty circle. Three ratswaited before it.

When Luxa stepped into the circle Gregorhung back at the edge. Aurora fluttereddown and landed just outside of the circle aswell. Nearby, Gregor could see his dad andLizzie. Mareth, Perdita, York, and Howardstood in a group. Even Nerissa had pulledherself together for the event. Somewhere ina bunch of cockroaches he spotted the topsof two curly heads and knew that Boots andHazard were watching, too.

As Luxa took her place, what little conversa-tion there had been in the arena ceased. If

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she was still nervous, it didn't show. Sheheld herself with dignity and her voice wasclear and steady. "Greetings, all. We havegathered here to mark the end of an un-happy and costly war. I have come to acceptthe surrender and present the terms of thedefeat. Gnawers, who speaks for you?"

One of the rats stepped forward to replywhen there was a commotion. Small stonesand dirt began to fly out of the mouth of oneof the diggers' tunnels. A general ripple ofalarm ran through the arena. Everyone wasstill so jumpy from being under attack. Thenthe bedraggled creature nosed its way out.

He was almost unrecognizable. Half of hisfur and a good portion of his skin had beeneaten away, leaving bloody, oozing places.One of his back legs was useless, trailingbehind him. His face had received anotherdiagonal slash, which crisscrossed with the

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existing scar. But his voice wasunmistakable.

"I do," said Ripred, dragging himself into thecircle.

"I speak for the gnawers."

***

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CHAPTER 26The stunned silence in the arena was brokenby Lizzie's squeal of joy, "Ripred! Ripred!"She pushed her way out of the crowd andthrew her arms around his neck. "I thoughtyou were dead."

"I told you, it takes a lot to kill me. More thana few bugs, anyway," said the rat.

"But they found your skeleton," said Lizzie.

"That must have been Cleaver's. I dove un-der his body as soon as we landed and thenran. The mites had to chew him up beforethey got to me so it bought me some time.Not a lot, but enough to get away. Funny, Ialways despised Cleaver, but I can't helpthinking warmly of him now," said Ripred.

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"How did this happen?" asked Lizzie, reach-ing up to lightly touch the new slash on hisface.

"Oh, a rat cut me. It's nothing. Now up yougo." He nudged Lizzie up onto a patch of furon his back.

"I'll hurt you," she said.

"No. You'll remind me why I'm here," said Ri-pred, and locked eyes with Luxa.

"And why is that, Ripred?" Luxa said icily.

"I told you. To speak for the gnawers. Or didyou think I spent years risking life and limbso that you could dictate our future?" askedthe rat.

Now the creatures in the crowd found theirtongues, and everyone was turning to theirneighbor in either dismay or confusion. Most

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of the rats had long considered Ripred anenemy. And he'd been fighting with the hu-mans and their allies for so long, even they'dbegun to take his allegiance for granted. Buttaking Ripred for granted was a big mistake.Gregor had the feeling that he had alwaysbeen working toward this moment. Maybe hehadn't expected to be dealing with Luxa,maybe he'd thought Solovet or Vikus wouldbe there to negotiate with him. It didn't reallymatter who he was up against, as long as hestood for the rats.

Luxa raised her voice above the hubbub. "Isthis true, gnawers? Does he speak for you?"The rats were clearly as amazed by Ripred'sappearance as anyone else. They shiftedaround, whispering among themselves, try-ing to reach some kind of consensus.

Then a voice rose, clear and forceful, abovethe others. "Yes! I say he speaks for us!"Lapblood and her two children made their

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way out of the crowd. If Ripred had alwaysbeen an object of suspicion, it was clear thatLapblood was trusted among her own kind.She had been chosen to find the plague cureand had had the influence to lead the dis-senters against the Bane. A moment afterher declaration, the rats united with her andbegan to call for Ripred to act as theirrepresentative.

Gregor could see the tension in Luxa'sshoulders. It was hard enough to have to layout the postwar plan in front of the entire Un-derland. But to do it with Ripred standing byto challenge her every move? Ripred? Shewas out of her league and she knew it. Whowouldn't be out of their league with Ripred?

To make matters worse, Nerissa suddenlycried out, "Oh, Luxa, see you the mark onhis face?"

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Luxa scrutinized the rat's face. "It is but an-other scar among many."

"But look! It forms an X! The mark borne bythe peacemaker!" said Nerissa.

"Many of us have scars that cross!" Yorkstrode out of the crowd.

"Think of the words," said Nerissa. And thearena quieted to hear her recite the poemfrom the prophecy room in her quaveringvoice:

On soft feet, by none detected,

Dealing death, by most rejected,

Killed by claw, since resurrected,

Marked by X, two lines connected.

Finally, they intersected, two lines met, oneunexpected.

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"Do you not see?" insisted Nerissa. "It de-scribes Ripred exactly. Slipping in undetec-ted, deadly, hated, thought lost, but broughtback to life. And the X! One half was givenby a human. One half by a gnawer. Twolines intersecting. And now the human lineand the gnawer line meet in the flesh aswell. In Luxa and Ripred."

The arena went nuts but Luxa remained un-moved. She waited for the commotion to diedown, then said, "Do you fancy yourself thepeacemaker, Ripred?"

"Well, I don't like to blow my own horn, but itdoes make a lot of sense, what Nerissa'ssaying. And if I am, there's really nothing Ican do about it one way or the other, isthere?" said the rat.

Gregor could hear everyone murmuring toone another that this was true, that theprophecies were written in stone. But the rat

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was looking at Gregor, smirking and rollinghis eyes ever so slightly as if to say, "Seewhat I mean?"

While he had no way to prove it, Gregor wassuddenly convinced that Ripred had givenhimself the second wound. It would be asmall price to pay for being designated thepeacemaker.

"Good. Then you should have no problempeacefully leading your fellow gnawers intothe Uncharted Lands," said Luxa.

This surprised even Gregor, although in ret-rospect, maybe it shouldn't have. When shehad started the war, Luxa had told Gregor,"We may as well get it over with. Have thewar that will answer the question of whostays and who goes." But he had thought,with all that had happened during the war,that she might have changed her mind. Ap-parently not.

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With her proposal, everything became uglyand hard.

"Yes, I do have a problem with that, YourHighness. So much so that I flatly refuse todo it," Ripred spat at her. "What do you sayto that?"

"I say that you may go peacefully or by force;it is your choice!" said Luxa.

"If it is another war you are looking for, thenbelieve me you shall have it!" growled Ri-pred. "But I wonder how you will fare, withyour limping army and your broken city andme at your throat instead of your back!"

"I do not need you, Ripred. I have Gregor!"said Luxa.

"Do you? I wouldn't count on it. Even if hestays, I'll wager he finds your measures tooharsh. Perhaps he will even remember past

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kindnesses and take my side instead!" retor-ted Ripred.

Gregor's mouth dropped open in disbelief.What were they talking about? What werethey both doing? Could they actually be go-ing back to war? And did they plan for him tojoin them?

"We will leave it to him to decide," Luxa said,and then turned to him. Everyone in thewhole arena turned to him, wanting to knowwhere he stood.

"You're really going to do it, aren't you?You're really going to go back to war?"Gregor said. He could feel something boilingup inside of him. "So, we'll just forget aboutwhat happened. The jungle, the Firelands,the Bane." His voice was rising and he couldfeel the rager side of him taking over. "For-get about everybody who's dead! Tick andTwitchtip and Hamnet and Thalia and Ares!

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And your parents, Luxa! And your pups, Ri-pred! Let's just forget about everybody whogave their lives so that you could have thismoment where you could — could makethings right again! So you could stop thekilling! We were fighting for the same thing,remember? You two owe each other yourlives! You owe me your lives! And now youstand there and ask me to choose betweenyou? To help you kill each other?" Gregoryanked Sandwich's sword from his belt andswung it so violently that even Luxa and Ri-pred stepped back. "Well, guess what? Thewarrior's not fighting for either of you!"

And with that, Gregor took the sword bladebetween his hands and slammed it acrosshis leg with such force that it snapped in two.He flung the pieces aside, one toward Luxa,the other toward Ripred. Fresh blood wasrunning from his empty hands as he heldthem up. "There. The warrior's dead. I killedhim."

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"And so 'The Prophecy of Time' is fulfilled!"said Nerissa breathlessly.

Gregor shook his head. Would they nevershut up about those prophecies? But he onlysaid, "Whatever. Now what are you two go-ing to do?"

"What, indeed, after such a display?" saidRipred to Luxa. "Although the boy doesmake a point about the perversity of startinga new war while the blood is still drying fromthe last one. Especially when the cutters areamassing at our borders." The crowd re-acted, and Ripred circled around to makesure everyone could hear him. "Oh, didn't Imention that before? Now I'm not sayingthey're taking this opportunity to finish us alloff, but you have to admit it'd be an excellenttime. With them so strong, and us so. weak.Of course, if things were different betweenus ..."

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"Yes, I see. We might deter them," Luxa saidsharply.

"We have done it in the past," said Ripred.

"The past is gone. How do we know we cantrust you now?" asked Luxa.

"Trust us? You just tried to banish us to theUncharted Lands! I think if anyone needs alittle reassurance, it's the gnawers!"answered Ripred. "So — I don't know, writeup a treaty or something."

"No one trusts treaties. They go up in aflash," said Luxa.

"Then you decide, Luxa. Friends or enemies.Trust or no trust. Between you and me.Between our species. You decide how it is tobe," Ripred said.

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It was the moment of truth. Gregor could seeLuxa's internal struggle playing out on herface. Flickers of Solovet's hardness inter-changing with Vikus's desire for understand-ing. All of the old hatreds and sacrifices anddebts and hopes swirling around inside heras she tried to decide the fate of the Under-land. War or peace. Battle or compromise.Solovet or Vikus. It was the very decisionthat had destroyed Hamnet. Made him gomad, then flee, then die in battle.

Finally Luxa's expression solidified. "Therewill be no treaties," she announced. "Theyhave always failed us in the past." Gregor'sheart slammed somewhere down around hisfeet. But she had not finished.

"There will be no treaties!" Luxa repeated."But I offer this." She stepped forward andraised her right hand to Ripred.

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The crowd let out a gasp at what she wasproposing. Even Ripred was initially takenaback. But he recovered quickly. "A bond?"

"A bond between all humans and gnawers. Avow to defend each other to the death. I offerit. Do you dare take it?" asked Luxa.

"Do I dare?" said Ripred. "Yes, I do." He lif-ted his paw up and pressed it against herhand.

After a moment, Luxa began:

Ripred the gnawer, I bond to you, Our lifeand death are one, we two. In dark, in flame,in war, in strife, I save you as I save my life.

To which Ripred replied:

Luxa the human, I bond to you, Our life anddeath are one, we two.

In dark, in flame, in war, in strife,

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I save you as I save my life.

Then the rat dropped his paw and gave a bigstretch. "Don't we get a feast now?"

"Let it be as he says," said Luxa. And thewhole arena broke into cheers.

"Your grandpapa is going to be so proud ofyou," Gregor heard Ripred say to Luxa.

"And my grandmama is rolling in her grave,"replied Luxa.

"She was always too hard to please," saidAurora. Luxa put her arms around her neck,and the bat enfolded her in her goldenwings. "It was the best thing to do," Aurorasaid.

"If you think so, then I can survive it,"answered Luxa.

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"What about me? Don't I get a hug?" Ripredasked.

"Ugh, you are teeming with infection. Lizzie,get off of him before you catch somethingvile." Luxa lifted Lizzie off of Ripred's back."You had best get to the hospital," she toldRipred. "And then I suppose we must meetto determine the specifics of this historicday."

Ripred sighed. "I suppose so. You and Iseem to end up doing everything. Shall wesay four members for each delegation ?"

"Why not?" Luxa said. "Four can be as stu-pid as ten. No need to crowd the room."

Ripred laughed. "You know, I think you and Iare going to get on famously."

"And you, Overlander," said Luxa, turning toGregor finally. "You are bleeding, too."

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"Well... I did kill myself," Gregor said with asmile.

"I do not suppose we left you much choice,"said Luxa. "Come, then. I will walk you twodown to the hospital. I want the pleasure oftelling Vikus what happened. I need one hu-man to genuinely approve of what I just did."

"You've already got that," said Gregor. Hecollected the broken pieces of his sword andthey headed for the hospital.

As they walked into Regalia, Luxa said, "Youshould have made that cut a little deeper, Ri-pred. It may leave no scar at all, and thenwhere will our peacemaker be?"

Gregor laughed. Ripred hadn't fooled herone bit.

"I have no idea what you're suggesting," Ri-pred said loftily.

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"Bet there aren't any cutters on the border,either," said Gregor.

"Well, there might be," said Ripred. "It's theirborder, too. And may I add that I think it'svery ill mannered of you two to be doubtingme. Particularly my new bond."

"I expect you will get used to it," said Luxa.The rat did not deign to reply.

Lizzie went with Ripred to be treated, butGregor wanted to see Vikus first. The oldman was sitting, propped up in bed. Theright side of his body was impaired by thestroke. But his left eye brightened and hisgood hand reached out when Gregor andLuxa came in. Gregor clasped his hand withhis bleeding one. "Hey, Vikus, how you do-ing?" Vikus couldn't really speak yet. "Look, Ijust wanted to return this to you." Gregorheld up the pieces of Sandwich's sword andlaid them on the bed. Vikus raised his

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eyebrow for an explanation. "Luxa and Ri-pred were recruiting me for a new war, thistime against each other. So, I retired thewarrior. Killed him off really."

Vikus's face was registering alarm.

"Do not worry," Luxa said. "Yes, Ripred isalive and leading the rats, but there is to beno war. Do you not wish to keep the sword,Gregor? For memories' sake?"

"No, thanks. I've got more memories than Ican handle." Gregor removed Solovet's dag-ger from his belt and put it with the sword."Besides, my mom won't even let me have apocketknife," he said.

Vikus gave him half a smile. With great ef-fort, he worked a word from himself. It wasdifficult to distinguish, but Gregor thought heknew what Vikus wanted to say. "Hope?"Gregor asked. The old man nodded and

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pointed at Gregor's chest. "I give you hope?"Vikus nodded. "Well... just wait until you hearwhat Luxa did." Gregor leaned down andkissed him on the cheek. "Take care, Vikus."

Gregor left so that Luxa could tell Vikusabout what had happened in the arena.Besides, he was dripping blood everywhere.He found Ripred and Lizzie in a room. Ateam of doctors was trying to put the rat backtogether, putting his leg in a cast, cleaningand bandaging his mite-eaten flesh. Forsomebody who was so tough, Ripred wasputting up an awful big fuss. But not as bigas it would have been if Lizzie hadn't beencomforting him.

By the time Howard had bandaged Gregor'shand, the meeting of the delegates wasabout to begin. Lizzie wanted to go to benear Ripred, so Gregor went, too, to keep aneye on her. It was held in a room with alarge, round table. Gregor and Lizzie sat up

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against the wall, but four delegates of eachspecies, humans, rats, bats, mice, spiders,cockroaches, and moles gathered aroundthe table. There were twenty-eight in all, butit was soon clear that Ripred and Luxaplanned on doing most of the talking. For acouple of characters who had just bonded,they sure didn't agree on much. Not land di-vision, not restitution, not military control.Other voices chimed in and soon the conver-sation had moved away from the future andback to the past evils they had done to oneanother. Things looked like they might actu-ally turn physical when Ripred jumped on thetable and shouted, "Don't feel superior! Don'tanyone in this room feel superior! We haveall inflicted unspeakable evils upon one an-other! Let's admit that or we're just slidingbackward!"

"Hey, like in the prophecy," interjectedGregor. "Time is turning back."

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"Shut up!" Ripred spat at him. The ratclimbed off of the table and no one knewwhere to pick up the conversation. Then Liz-zie timidly spoke up. "I have an idea." Shewasn't really supposed to talk, but everyonerespected the code-breaker.

"I am sure we would all welcome it, Lizzie,"said Heronian encouragingly.

"I think there are too many of you. I thinkeach group should only get one delegate."Lizzie licked her lips. "And that that delegateshould be chosen by the other species."

There was a long pause while everyone con-sidered this. Of course, everyone liked theidea of choosing the others' delegates. Butto let the others choose theirs ...

"We make no headway here. I believe weshould give Lizzie's suggestion a try," saidLuxa.

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"Well, I'll just leave now, shall I?" said Ri-pred, giving Lizzie a wounded look.

"Oh, stop sulking! It is not as if I will be in-vited to stay," Luxa snapped.

"Well, I wouldn't vote for either of you," put inGregor. They both glared at him but that onlymade him grin.

The delegates were chosen. The sevenwere Mareth, Nike, Temp, Heronian,Lapblood, Reflex, and a mole whose nameno one could pronounce.

"Oh, look, all the reasonable delegates areleft," said Gregor as he left with the rejects.

"All the weak ones, you mean," muttered aspider who Gregor didn't know.

Gregor looked into the room. "No," he said."There's nobody weak in that room. Good

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luck, you guys." He took Lizzie's hand. "Andgood idea, Liz."

"It's kind of like the logic puzzle about thecheese. Only you turn it inside out. Sothere's one cheese and seven creatureshave to share it. The trick is, you have to fig-ure out who are the most likely to share,"said Lizzie. Then she added sadly, "But nowRipred's mad at me."

"On the contrary," said Ripred, tugging onher braid. "Ripred's very cranky that no onevoted for him, but very pleased that he cango to the feast now. Hop on," he said, andLizzie scampered up onto his back. "It's idealreally. They will come up with a plan. No onewill like it. Everyone will feel they have beentreated unfairly, but will be happy that theirneighbors feel the same. And that is thenature of compromise. Now let's go eat anawful lot."

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Gregor and Luxa lingered in the hall as theothers went to the feast.

"When must you go?" asked Luxa.

"My mom wants to go today. In a few hours,maybe," said Gregor. "My dad convinced herit was important for us to stay for the sur-render. But she wants to get to Virginia assoon as possible." , They collected a basketof food from the kitchen, and Aurora carriedthem out of Regalia to Ares's old cave. Thenshe flew out around the lake, leaving themalone.

"We finally can have that picnic," said Luxa.

"Yeah," said Gregor. But neither of themcould eat. They just sat with their armsaround each other.

"Where is Virginia?" Luxa asked.

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"A long way from New York. Hundreds andhundreds of miles," said Gregor.

"We shall never see each other again," saidLuxa.

Gregor found himself wishing Sandwich hadbeen able to cough up a few more proph-ecies about the warrior. "Probably not. Won'teven be able to write."

"Will you be glad to be home?" asked Luxa.

"No," Gregor said. "I can't even imagine be-ing back. Anyway, Virginia isn't my home. It'sjust a place I've visited."

"It will be easier for you. Here there will al-ways be talk of you. In the Overland, whobut your family even knows my name? Andthey will not want to dwell on your timeshere. It will be quite simple to forget me,"said Luxa.

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"Never," said Gregor. "I'll never get rid ofyou, no matter how hard I try." It was nolonger an effort to say the words. "I loveyou."

"I love you, too," said Luxa.

And after that, there was nothing left to say.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick,tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. ...

In no time, horns were blowing from Regalia.Aurora fluttered in. "They are calling usback," she said.

Gregor had trouble believing it was reallyhappening. The quick flight back. His familywaiting on the docks, ready to go. His fewpossessions from the museum alreadyneatly packed in a bag. There were hugsand good-byes but only Boots said, "See yousoon," as she showered Temp with kisses.

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Ripred made a point of giving Gregor somelast-minute rager advice. "Watch yourself.That rager thing isn't going to magically dis-appear. It's part of you. There won't be any-one you can't take. And you've killed enoughthat you don't have to think twice to do it. Re-member, it's a lot easier to lose your headthan to keep it."

The words made Gregor's blood run cold. "I'llremember," he said. He'd better remember.Or who knows what he might do? "Run likethe river, Ripred."

"Fly you high, Gregor the Overlander," saidthe rat, and then turned his attention to Liz-zie, who was crying her eyes out.

Nike and Aurora flew his family and Luxaover the Waterway and dropped them at thestairway beneath Central Park. Gregor saidgood-bye to the bats, then held Luxa's hand

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while his dad pushed the rock aside. Coolnight air rushed in.

"Come and look, just for a second," saidGregor. But Luxa would only climb up towhere her head and shoulders were above-ground. It was a clear night. A few stars werevisible and the moon was magnificent.

"This is where I will think of you," she said."You know where I will be."

Gregor kissed Luxa good-bye and climbedout into the park. Then she backed down afew steps and they held each other's gazeuntil Gregor's dad slid the rock in place, part-ing them forever.

***

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CHAPTER 27It was late. Two-fifteen by the clock on thetaxi's dashboard. The driver was tired, un-communicative, and didn't seem to wonderwhat they were doing hanging out in CentralPark at that hour.

When they got to their building, the elevatorwas broken, so they took the stairs up totheir apartment. Gregor's mom had to restevery couple of flights. His dad finally gavehim the keys and told him to take the girls onahead. When Gregor opened the door to hisapartment, he couldn't believe how smalland cramped the place looked. He and Liz-zie slumped back on the couch while Bootsimmediately dumped a basket of plastic an-imals on the rug and arranged them in a

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parade. When she came to a little black batshe'd gotten last Halloween she held it uphappily. "Look! Ares!" Gregor could think ofnothing to say as she flew the bat aroundher head.

His parents came in about ten minutes later,and even though she was dropping from fa-tigue, his mom went right in to check on hisgrandmother. That's when Gregor realizedshe didn't know that Grandma wasn't there.His dad had been waiting until they gothome to break the news. "It's her heart,Grace. She's in the hospital. We'll go see herfirst thing tomorrow," his dad said.

They went straight to bed. Gregor didn'teven bother with pajamas. He just strippeddown to his Underland briefs and crawledbetween his blankets. They had a dusty, fa-miliar smell. A siren went by. Music from acar radio blared then faded. A toilet flushed.

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The old comforting sounds of New York Citylulled Gregor to sleep....

The tunnel was dark. The flashlights longdead. Gregor was relying solely on echo-location. It had been stupid to go this way.Ripred had told him that but he hadn'tlistened. Now they had found him. As he ranhe could feel the rats panting so he turnedand swung, slashing open several faces,splattering himself with blood. But thensomething happened to his sword. It becamerubbery, melting in his hand. He tried to runagain but the floor was crumbling beneathhis feet and then he was falling, falling, fall-ing into a black pit. He screamed for Ares butthere was no Ares and he could see thesharp rocks as they rushed up to meet him,feel the agony as they pierced his chest!

Gregor bolted up in bed, heart pounding,sweat-soaked, his right hand clutching histhrobbing chest. Had his own voice woken

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him? No one came running in. No one calledhis name. The screams must have stayed inhis dream.

The falling nightmares that had plagued himgrowing up had stopped when he'd hadAres. Now they were back again, filled withrats and blood.

Dawn was just breaking over the city. He'dbeen in bed only a few hours. He knew heshould go back to sleep. But the nightmarehad been too real. He sank back on his pil-low and watched the sunlight brighten until itstung his eyes.

Gregor cracked open his window and took adeep breath of the exhaust-scented air.What day was it? What month was it? Hehad no idea. He hadn't been home sinceHazard's birthday. That had been in thedead of summer. This air was crisp. Sud-denly he had an urgent need to know how

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much time had passed, to ground himself insome kind of reality. The calendar in the kit-chen would be worthless, but he could turnon the TV.... No, that would wake every-body.... He could go down to the corner andcheck the date on a newspaper. He flung offhis blanket and froze as he got his first lookat his body in sunlight.

"Oh, geez," he said. He knew he'd gottenbeat up pretty bad in the Underland, butthings healed up and you moved on. Only hehadn't accounted for the accumulation ofscars that dated all the way back to his earli-est visits. Marks left by squid suckers, vines,pinchers, teeth, claws. Then there were thewounds he'd made on his hands when he'dbroken Sandwich's sword less than a dayago. His skin was like a map where youcould trace all of the terrible things that hadhappened.

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The Underlanders had given him more ofthat fish ointment. Maybe it would help. Butsome of these things ...like the five clawmarks the Bane had left on his chest... Theywere going nowhere fast. They were part ofhim forever. How could he ever explainthem? Say he'd been in a car wreck? Fallenthrough a plate-glass window? Wrestled apack of tigers? If he couldn't explain them,he'd have to hide them. Forget the beach,forget gym class, and forget even going tothe doctor unless he was on death's door-step. A doctor wouldn't accept some lameexcuse. He'd want answers and the truthwould land Gregor in a mental ward.

Gregor dressed in a long-sleeved shirt andpants, both of which seemed too short. He'ddone quite a bit of growing in ... in howeverlong he'd been gone. He put on his socksand his only Overland footwear, a pair ofdress shoes he'd gotten for the spring con-cert. His toes felt cramped and they looked

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stupid with his outfit. He wanted those greatsneakers Mrs. Cormaci had sent him butthey'd been ruined in the war.

He left quietly, but as he passed Mrs.Cormaci's apartment, the door opened. Shehad always been an early riser. "So. Youstayed in one piece," she said, looking himup and down critically. "Your pants are tooshort. Want some French toast?"

Gregor followed her into the kitchen and satat the table while she made breakfast. Shefilled him in on his grandma's condition."She's not doing too well, Gregor.' She's inintensive care. If your mother has some ideaabout taking her on a road trip to Virginia,well, that just isn't going to happen." Shepiled the thick slices of challah bread fried inegg batter on Gregor's plate and placed aplatter of bacon in front of him. "I don't seehow we can stay here," he said, pouring syr-up on the toast. "Maybe she'll just take us

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kids." It would be awful breaking up the fam-ily again, though. They'd just gotten backtogether.

"Maybe. So, what's been going on with you,mister?" Mrs. Cormaci asked.

Gregor thought about all that had happenedsince he'd last been home. All he'd seen anddone. He couldn't form any of it into words.

"Cat got your tongue?" asked Mrs. Cormaci."It's okay. You don't need to tell me or any-one else about it unless you feel like it." Shedipped a piece of bacon in his syrup andchewed it thoughtfully. "You know, Mr. Cor-maci fought in a war. He didn't want to talkabout it, either. I knew there'd been someterrible things, though. That man had baddreams until the day he died."

"One woke me this morning," said Gregor.

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"It won't be the last," said Mrs. Cormaci."Want some juice?" She poured him a glasswithout waiting for him to answer. "It's likethis. You spend your whole childhood hear-ing about being nice to other people andhow hurting someone's a crime, and thenthey ship you off to some war and tell you tokill. What's that going to do to your head,huh?"

"Nothing good," Gregor said.

"You'll be all right, though, Gregor," said Mrs.Cormaci.

"I don't know. In my dream, I fell to mydeath," said Gregor. "I used to have fallingdreams before, but this was the first time I hitbottom."

"Don't worry. If you hit bottom, there's awhole lot of people here to help you up," saidMrs. Cormaci.

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"Help me up?" Gregor thought. "Wipe me upis more like it. Nothing left to help once youhit those rocks." And even if people wantedto help, Gregor was alone in his dreams. Noone could help him there.

While he ate, Mrs. Cormaci found a pair ofold sneakers that had belonged to one of hersons about twenty years ago. They weren'texactly in style but they fit pretty well andlooked better than the dress shoes.,

"You're going to need new clothes forschool," she said.

"Has it started already?" he asked.

"Weeks ago," she said. "We're halfwaythrough October, Gregor."

"I didn't know," he said.

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The morning was spent watching his sisterswhile his parents and Mrs. Cormaci went tothe hospital. While Lizzie and Boots atebreakfast, Gregor stood at the kitchen win-dow watching the neighborhood kids go offto school. He thought of his friends Larry andAngelina and wondered what they mustmake of his disappearance. Did they thinkhe had moved? Was sick? Part of himwanted to see them badly and another partnever wanted to see them again. He hadbeen through so much, changed so much,that the idea of hanging out with them andpretending everything was back to normalseemed impossible.

His parents got back around lunch. The visithad been a shock to his mom. No one couldsay when his grandmother would be able toleave the hospital, and even then she'd prob-ably have to go to some kind of nursinghome with full-time medical care.

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"Can I see her?" asked Gregor.

"Not now, son. Maybe when she's stronger,"said his dad.

"What are we going to do now?" askedGregor. "About Virginia?"

"I don't know. We'll work it out," said his dad.

"I don't want to go to Virginia," said Lizzie,and they all looked at her in surprise.

"But you said you did, Lizzie," said theirmom. "You were the first one packing when Imentioned it."

"I don't want to go anymore. This is ourhome. I don't want to run away," said Lizzie."Ripred says if you run from things that scareyou they just chase you."

"What about you, Gregor?" asked his dad.

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Gregor tried to imagine living in Virginia.Tried to imagine staying here. "It doesn'tmatter. I don't care where we live," he said. Itwould be awful wherever he was. He pulledhis jacket off of the hook by the door. "I'mgoing for a walk."

He hadn't had a destination in mind whenhe'd left, but in a few blocks he knew wherehe wanted to go. He checked his pocket.Thirty-five bucks. That would be plenty. Hehopped on the subway and headed to theCloisters. He had to see the stone knightwho had gotten him through these lastweeks. Maybe that would help him makesense of things.

The day was cool and sunny. The trees werestarting to turn. But Gregor kept thinking ofanother world, one without sunlight and pre-cious few trees, that he seemed to belong tonow. What if he'd told his parents he wantedto go back and live in the Under-land?

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Where he was not such a freak? Where hehad friends? Where he had Luxa? Theywould never let him go. And did he reallywant to go? He didn't know. He only knewthat he felt like a stranger in what used to behis home. And he felt very alone.

The woman at the booth hesitated when hetried to buy a ticket. What did she see?Some kid in mismatched clothes showing upalone in the middle of the school day. Weirdbandages on his hands. And Gregor couldn'tremember the last time he'd had a haircut.He tried to cover. "I have to do a school re-port. We're supposed to write about thecoolest building in New York. I picked here.Do you have any information or anything Icould look at?" She was still wary, but she lethim in with a couple of glossy brochures anda warning not to touch anything.

The place was almost empty. Gregorianchants were being piped in, which were sort

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of eerie and calming at the same time. TheCloisters reminded Gregor of Regalia, withthe carvings of strange animals, thetapestries, the stone walls, floors, ceilings.He wandered through a couple of rooms be-fore he found the tomb. The knight was justas Gregor had last seen him, lying beneaththe window, his hands resting on his sword,sleeping away eternity. Thinking of thisknight had gotten Gregor through sometough times. He had made the trip today be-cause he expected to find some comfort inthe stone figure. But now, he realized it wasno longer of use to him. He had spent thelast months learning how to die, and now hewas going to have to learn how to live again.The knight couldn't help him with that.

It was late afternoon when Gregor got homeand he wasn't one step in the door when hismom descended on him. "Where on earthhave you been? Do you know how long

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you've been gone? You had the whole familyworried sick!"

Boy, she was upset! Her eyes were red as ifshe'd been crying.

"I'm sorry," Gregor said. "I just went for awalk."

His dad laid a hand on his shoulder. "It'sokay. You've just got to get used to havingparents again."

"I'm sorry," Gregor repeated. His parentswent in the bedroom to talk. Lizzie and Bootswere playing some game with the plastic an-imals on the floor. Gregor turned on the tele-vision and flipped through the channels. Hestopped on the news. A bomb had blown upin a marketplace somewhere, killing forty-nine. There were body parts and smoke andrelatives wailing. The next story was aboutrefugees dying on the road, driven from their

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homes by an enemy army. The news anchorwas just starting to show a grainy video of asoldier who had been taken hostage whenhis mother reached in and switched off thetelevision. She looked so sad. "I think you'veseen enough, Gregor."

It had all looked pretty familiar. The bodies,the fear, the desperation. These things hadalways been here in the Overland, he sup-posed, but he had never really paid any at-tention to them until now.

"Why don't you take your sisters out to theplayground?" said his dad. "They've beencooped up in here all day."

"Are we moving to Virginia or staying here?"Lizzie asked.

"We're still working that out," his dad said."You kids go on out and play a while." Whenthey reached the playground, Boots

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immediately ran off to build castles withsome little boy in the sandbox. Lizziewandered around alone with her hands deepin her jacket pockets and her eyes on theground.

Gregor sat on a bench. He had walked a lottoday and all of his injuries were hurting.Seeing the news had made him think. Hewas safe for the moment, here in the play-ground, but people all over the world weresuffering, starving, fleeing, killing one anoth-er as they waged their wars. How much en-ergy they put into harming one another. Howlittle into saving. Would it ever change? Whatwould it take to make it change? He thoughtof Luxa's hand pressed into Ripred's paw.That's what it would take. People rejectingwar. Not one or two, but all of them. Saying itwas an unacceptable way to solve their dif-ferences. By the look of things, the humanrace had a lot of evolving to do before thathappened. Maybe it was impossible. But

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maybe it wasn't. Like Vikus said, nothingwould happen unless you hoped it could. Ifyou had hope, maybe you could find the wayto make things change. Because if youthought about it, there were so many reas-ons to try.

One tugged on his jacket and lifted up herarms. "Hold me." Gregor pulled Boots uponto his lap and

snuggled her inside his jacket. She restedher head on his shoulder and studied hisface. "You feel sad," she said.

"A little," said Gregor.

"You miss them," said Boots.

"Yeah, I do," Gregor said. "But I've still gotyou." He remembered all of the times he'dthought he had lost her, and tightened hisgrip around her.

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"Here." Boots dug in her pocket and pulledout the little black plastic bat. Ares. She put itin his hand. "You can have this, Gregor."

"Thanks," he said. They leaned back andwatched as the streetlights came on.

Suddenly Gregor smiled. "Hey, Boots," hesaid. "Hey. You can finally say my name."

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