Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane

  And of course, Gregor couldn't deny Boots food. When lunch was passed around, she gobbled up her bread and cheese in record time and then pointed at Gregor's. "I hungry!" There was nothing he could do but give her half his food. But after eating that and half of Temp's ration, she was still not full.

  "Oh, here, give her this," Twitchtip said, and scooted a chunk of cheese over to Boots, who gnawed on it happily. Everyone gawked at Twitchtip, who snarled. "It reeks of humans, I can barely choke it down, anyway!" And everyone looked away. But Gregor was pretty sure he had witnessed a first -- a rat giving a human her food.

  Howard was the least concerned about the food issue. "We are surrounded by food, we need only reach in and get it," he said. He lowered nets into the water and sent the bats out to dive for fish. He was right. It didn't take long to assemble a good-sized pile of seafood. Unfortunately, there was no way to cook it. This wasn't a problem for anyone but the humans; most of the others preferred their catch that way. But, raw fish! Gregor stared at the cold, white flesh with distaste. He knew they couldn't waste fuel to cook it. It crossed his mind that he might try warming it up on Photos Glow-Glow's butt, but he didn't like the bug enough to ask.

  "You should try it. It is not as bad as you think," Howard said, popping a big piece into his mouth and chewing it up. "Sometimes we serve it this way at the Fount, although it is not done in Regalia."

  Gregor nibbled the edge of a chunk and decided it was edible. Then he remembered that a lot of people ate sushi; that was raw fish. He'd walked by Japanese restaurants with beautiful displays of fish and rice and seaweed assembled in bite-sized pieces. It was expensive, too. He'd never had it, but his friend Larry had and he'd said it was okay, if you put a bunch of soy sauce on it. Gregor closed his eyes, pretended he was at a fancy restaurant, and stuck a whole piece in his mouth. He wished he had some soy sauce.

  Luxa was trying to get it down, too. Gregor could see she didn't like it much better than he did, but since she wasn't supposed to be here, she couldn't really complain. Besides, she wouldn't want to look like she couldn't handle eating something her cousins could eat.

  Boots took a bite and unceremoniously spit it out, then wiped her hand repeatedly over her tongue. "No like! No like!" They were still working on getting her to eat breaded fish sticks with ketchup at home, so that wasn't surprising.

  Twitchtip, who had put down about half a dozen fish in a snap, suddenly lifted her head and began to scrunch her nose around. "Land. We're coming to land."

  Mareth pulled out a map and scrutinized it. "We should not be, not for several days. I hope the whirlpool has not thrown us off course."

  Howard consulted a compass. "No, we are going in the right direction. Can you tell the nature of the land?"

  "Perhaps one mile around," Twitchtip said, wriggling her nose.

  "Around? Oh, then it is an island?" asked Howard. He pointed to a spot on the map. "I place us here. But there is no island recorded in this area. Although it has been many years since these waters were charted."

  "I believe it's recently formed," said Twitchtip. "It has the smell of fresh lava."

  "Is there life on it?" asked Mareth.

  Twitchtip closed her eyes and concentrated. "Yes, a great deal. No warm-bloods, though. It's all insect. But I don't have a name for their scent."

  Gregor started fastening Boots up in her life jacket. The last time Twitchtip didn't have a name for something, they had all almost drowned. An island of unfamiliar insects. That just didn't sound good.

  After about another half an hour of sailing, the bats began to raise their heads. Now they were picking up the island on their radar, too.

  "How big are the bugs? Can you tell?" asked Gregor. Everything was so oversized here.

  "Not large," said Ares. "Tiny, in fact."

  That made Gregor feel a little better.

  Until Aurora added, "But there are millions of them."

  "Can you recognize them, Pandora?" Howard asked. The bat shook her head. "No, they are most like the mites we encountered on the Island of Shell. But these have a different voice."

  "What were the mites like?" asked Gregor.

  "Oh, they were harmless. As small as the head of a pin, and while they did bite, it was not lasting," said Howard.

  "And they were very tasty," added Pandora. "Not unlike bluebits."

  This comment seemed to arouse the interest of all the bats. Whatever bluebits were, Gregor had a feeling that, for bats, they beat out raw fish by a mile.

  "Perhaps I should do a flyover. We could get very full, if they are like bluebits," said Pandora.

  Mareth was reluctant to let her go, but Howard thought it would be okay. "If they are mites, what harm can they do?"

  "Go, I would not, go," Temp said, but no one much ever listened to him.

  "Why not, Temp?" asked Gregor. "Do you know what kind of bugs they are?"

  Temp didn't. Or he couldn't articulate it if he did. "Bug bad" was all he could say.

  "There it is!" Luxa said suddenly, and the place emerged from the darkness. It was visible in the light of a small volcano that slowly bubbled out lava at the center of the island. In a couple of places, the lava spilled over and ran into the water, entering it with a hiss. A junglelike growth of twisted plants covered areas that were not in the lava's path. Gregor guessed they must depend on the light of the lava, since there was no other. Or maybe they only needed its heat. His dad had told him something about that -- how they had discovered some things could grow without light if there was heat. Well, whatever they used, these plants were doing fine.

  Then there was that hum. The whole place vibrated with life that they couldn't see. Gregor didn't like it. He knew Temp didn't, either. But the other Underlanders seemed curious about the new island.

  "It seems a shame to pass it by without any examination," said Howard. "We may gather knowledge that will help future voyagers."

  And there was no holding Pandora back. "Yes, it is our duty to at least ascertain if it would make a hospitable place for resting. Some of our stronger fliers could make the crossing, if they knew they might land here."

  It was agreed that Pandora could make a quick reconnaissance flight to get a closer look at the place. She flew off swiftly and was soon over the island. It didn't take her long to circle it and report back to the bats in pitches the others couldn't even hear.

  "She says it is safe," said Ares. "And the mites are even more delicious than bluebits."

  "Well, you may as well fill your bellies," said Mareth. "But only in pairs. I do not like alt of you away from the boat at once. You may join her, Ares. Then Aurora and Andromeda may go."

  Gregor picked up Boots so she could look, too. It wasn't every day you got to see a volcanic island in an underground ocean. "May as well check it out, if it's safe and all," thought Gregor.

  But it wasn't.

  Ares was almost to the island when it happened. A black cloud exploded out of the jungle and engulfed Pandora. She had no time to react. One moment she was darting around eating mites, the next moment they were eating her. In less than ten seconds they had stripped the writhing bat down to the bone. Her white skeleton hung for an instant in the air, then crashed into the jungle below.

  Then a puzzled little voice next to Gregor's ear asked, "Where bat?"

  ***

  CHAPTER 16

  "Pandora!" Howard cried in horror. "Pan!" He

  scrambled up over the side of the boat and was about to dive into the water when Mareth yanked him back down.

  "Release me, Mareth! We are bonds!" said Howard. He thrashed about wildly in Mareth's grip.

  "She is gone, Howard! You cannot help her!" said Mareth.

  But Howard was unable to accept this. He twisted out of Mareth's hold and made for the side of the boat again. Mareth grabbed him by the arm, spun him around, and with one punch knocked him unconscious. Luxa caught Howard as he flew backward. She staggered back under his weight, but was able to break his fall as he l
anded. In the meantime, Ares, whose first impulse had been to go in to help Pandora, did an abrupt 180-degree turn and began to fly toward open sea for all he was worth. The cloud of mites, which was only a couple of feet from him, rose up into the air and began to chase him. As fast as he flew, the cloud stayed on his tail.

  Gregor felt himself hit by the same panic Howard had experienced a few moments before. "Ares!" he cried. "Hurry! They're right behind you!" He felt so helpless. He couldn't jump into the water to save his bat. It would be pointless, and, anyway, Mareth would just knock him out, too. And even if he could get to Ares, how would he stop a cloud of flesh-eating mites? "Think, Gregor!" he said to himself. "What can you do?" The cloud was gaining on Ares now. The black edge was almost touching his tail. They were going to eat him! He was going to be devoured by insects, and his skeleton would fall into the water and -- and -- wait a minute! That was it!

  "Dive, Ares!" Gregor screamed. "Dive into the water!" At first, Gregor wasn't sure the bat had heard him. "Dive!" he shrieked.

  And as the mites began to merge over the line of Ares's tail, the bat dove into the water. Gregor wasn't sure exactly what he thought would happen, but it seemed like people sometimes got into water to escape from bugs. Bees and things, anyway. If Ares was in the water, they couldn't get him; that was as far as his plan went. It was somewhat limited in effectiveness since, of course, Ares would soon have to come up for air. But it turned out that Gregor had thought of the right thing, after all, because just then the fish -- all the wonderful fish! -- surfaced and began to feast on the mites. The cloud halted and began to counterattack the fish. When Ares came up for air, the mites had forgotten him and were busy battling a new enemy and a potential meal.

  "Fliers! The ropes!" Mareth ordered, and Aurora and Andromeda grabbed the front loops on the boat and began to drag the vessel through the water. Ares caught up and with him carrying the back end, they soon left the island far behind. Mareth had them fly for several miles before he allowed them to put the boat back in the water and land to rest.

  Ares set his end in the water, but did not join them immediately. He dove into the waves again and again, and finally, after about twenty minutes, came in dripping, exhausted and trembling. "The mites," he explained.

  "Some of them latched on and were eating me. I believe I have drowned them all now, though."

  "Are you okay?" Gregor asked, giving him an awkward pat.

  "Yes, I am fine," said Ares. "I have only some small wounds. Not like --" and the bat stopped himself. They all knew who he meant.

  Gregor toweled Ares off. Luxa helped him go through the black fur, inch by inch, and apply medicine to wherever the mites had bitten off pieces of his flesh. While they found many wounds, Ares was right. He had left all the bugs in the water.

  "It was good, Overlander. Your idea to dive," said Ares.

  "Yes, it was very clever to know the fish would come after the mites," said Luxa.

  "Well, I hadn't really thought it all the way through to the fish part," admitted Gregor. "Sure glad they were there, though."

  When they had finished treating him, Aurora and Andromeda snuggled up against Ares, and the three bats went off to sleep. Gregor was glad Andromeda was no longer shunning his bat. Maybe she'd realized that Aurora would choose Ares over her, and she'd end up alone. Whatever the reason, Gregor thought Ares really needed the company now.

  Mareth had his hands full steering the boat, so Gregor and Luxa did their best to tend to Howard as well. He was still out. They made him a bed, covered him up, and took turns holding cold cloths to his swollen jaw.

  "Do you think we should try to wake him up?" asked Gregor.

  Luxa shook her head. "He has the rest of his life to mourn her."

  They were all very quiet that day. The bats slept fitfully, Twitchtip stared out at the water, Mareth steered, Boots and Temp played little games, the fireflies whispered together on the bow and did not complain.

  Gregor and Luxa sat side by side, watching Boots and Temp. For a long time, they were silent. Gregor kept reliving Pandora's horrific death in his head and he suspected Luxa was doing the same.

  Finally, as if she couldn't stand it anymore, Luxa spoke up. "Tell me about the Overland, Gregor," she said.

  "Okay," he said, badly in need of a distraction himself. "What do you want to know?"

  "Oh, anything. Tell me...what one day is like, from rising to sleep," she said.

  "Well, it's really different, depending on who you are," said Gregor.

  "Then tell me about one of your days," said Luxa.

  So, he did. He told her about the last day he'd been up there, since it was freshest in his mind. He told her about how it was Saturday, so there was no school, and how he'd helped Mrs. Cormaci make scalloped potatoes and bought Lizzie the puzzle book and then had taken Boots sledding. He didn't dwell on the lack of food or his dad's illness, since talking about those things made him feel more anxious and there was enough bad stuff going on around them, anyway. He concentrated on the nicer parts of the day.

  Luxa would ask a question here or there, usually if he used an unfamiliar word, but mostly she just listened. When he finished, she sat thoughtfully for a few minutes. Then she said, "I wish I could see the snow."

  "You should come on up sometime," Gregor said, and she laughed. "No, really, you should come up for a day. Or a few hours, at least. It's pretty cool, where I live. I mean, it's not a palace or anything. But New York City is something else."

  "You do not think Overlanders would find me strange?" asked Luxa.

  It was a problem. That translucent skin, those violet eyes . .. "We'll put you in long sleeves and a hat and sunglasses," Gregor said. "You won't look any stranger than about half the people who live there." Suddenly he felt almost enthusiastic about the idea. "And we could go out when it's kind of dark, so the sun won't blind you. I mean, even if we just went down the block and got a slice of pizza, that'd be like nothing you've ever seen!"

  They were both happy for a minute. Thinking of being in New York. Thinking of being somewhere else.

  Then Luxa sighed and did that thing where she pushed at her crown. "Of course, the council would never permit me to go."

  "Oh, yeah, and that's the kind of thing that would stop you," said Gregor.

  She gave him a grin and was about to answer when Howard let out a moan.

  "Pandora?" he said. Howard sat up so quickly, he had to grab hold of Temp to steady himself. His eyes darted around and landed on the three bats huddled together. He looked upward as if maybe he had dreamt the whole thing and Pandora was flying just overhead. But of course, she wasn't. "Pandora?" he said. His hand touched his bruised jaw, and he turned to Mareth.

  "You could not save her, Howard. None of us could," Mareth said gently.

  Gregor could almost see it, the whole weight of Pandora's death coming down on Howard, crushing him. The Underlander dropped his face into his hands and began to sob. It was heartbreaking to watch.

  Boots went over and patted him on the back of the neck. "Okay. You okay. You okay, baby," she said soothingly. This was what they said to her when she was upset. Her sweetness only seemed to make Howard cry harder. Boots looked over at her brother. "Ge-go, he cry."

  Gregor knew she wanted him to help. To make it better. But he didn't have a clue what to do. Then something unexpected happened.

  Luxa stood up, her face paler than usual. She went to her cousin, sat beside him, and put her arms around him. Pressing her forehead into his shoulder, she said, "She will fly with you always. You know this. She will fly with you always."

  Howard buried his face in her lap. She leaned her cheek against the top of his head. And it was a long time before either of them stopped crying.

  ***

  CHAPTER 17

  Gregor's supper consisted entirely of raw fish as he gave his small ration of bread and meat to Boots. Temp, Howard, and Ares did the same, and she seemed satisfied. Giving a big yawn, she said, "We shut eyes?"
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  "Yeah, we shut eyes, Boots," Gregor said, and she snuggled up next to him on the floor.

  Howard, ghost-white except for the purplish bruise that stained his jaw, insisted on steering so that Mareth could get some rest. Temp went on watch with Zap for light.

  Before the rest went to sleep, Twitchtip spoke up. "We're getting close now. I can smell rats ahead."

  "What of the serpents?" asked Mareth. "Do they still sleep?"

  "Yes, but it won't be long before they surface. And they are deadly," said Twitchtip.

  It really wasn't the last conversation Gregor wanted to hear before he went to bed. Rats...serpents...deadly...especially when he was already preoccupied by words like rager...killing...Bane. He could not get his mind to settle down. He went in and out of a sort of doze, never really losing consciousness, so he was the first one to rouse when Temp sounded the alarm.

  "Going, the shiners are, gone!" he croaked.

  Gregor sat up and opened his eyes and saw...nothing. It was pitch-black. He could hear Howard fumbling around behind him, muttering, "Conniving, vile creatures!"

  He flipped on the flashlight he always kept right next to his bed. Everyone was stirring now.

  "What is it? What has happened?" Mareth asked, springing to his feet.

  "The shiners have deserted!" Howard said, getting a torch lit.

  "Deserted? They were bound for the entire journey!" said Mareth.

  "By what? Their honor? They have none. Their word? Equally worthless! The shiners are bound only by their stomachs, and as we cannot satisfy those, they have broken with us!" said Howard.

  "But where could they go?" asked Gregor. It was days and days back to where they'd first hooked up with the bugs.

  "They'll go to the rats," Twitchtip said flatly. "They'll receive food and safe passage home in exchange for information on our whereabouts." She looked around at their dismayed faces. "On the good side, we won't have to listen to them whine anymore."

  For an instant, everyone else was too startled to speak. Twitchtip had made a joke! Then, everybody -- humans, bats, roach, rat -- laughed. If there was one thing they all could agree on, it was how annoying the fireflies had been.

  "Yes," agreed Luxa. "That will be a blessing." She and Twitchtip eyed each other. "It is a shame you did not get to eat them, though."