"Ge-go, Boots, go home. See Mama," she sobbed. "Ma-ma! Ma-ma!"
That was her ultimate cry of distress. When she was upset and none of the rest of them could fix it. "Mamaa!"
Gregor sunk down on a seat and rocked her back and forth, patting her back, and trying to soothe her with words. How much had she seen? And what had she seen him do?
While he held her on his lap, Howard appeared with a pail of water and cleaned her off. Somehow he distracted her with some silly rhyme about washing her toes.
"two tiny rows,
Of five tiny toes,
Give Boots ten good reasons to wiggle her nose."
At this point, Howard would press her foot against his nose, sniff her toes, and go, "Whew!" as if the smell about knocked him out.
"Wiggle your nose,
At eight, nine, ten toes,
Then give them a bath so each tiny toe glows. "
Boots began to laugh between sobs, especially whenever Howard said "Whew!" and soon she was completely caught up in trying to say the rhyme with him. Gregor had spent a lot of time amusing his little sisters. He recognized a good toddler bit when he saw it.
"You make that up?" he asked Howard.
"Yes. For Chim. It was always hard to get her to take baths," said Howard, avoiding his gaze. It crossed Gregor's mind that he had not been particularly nice to Howard. He had lumped him in with Stellovet and the other cousins, but Howard hadn't liked what his sister had said to Luxa about Henry. And he had not bragged about their dad being in charge at the Fount.
They got Boots dressed in fresh clothes and gave her a cookie. She trotted off to teach the rhyme to Temp, who lacked not only toes, but legs.
"Temp, do you need some bandages, or medicine?" asked Gregor.
"No. More legs, I will grow, more legs," said Temp. He didn't seem too upset about the loss.
Photos Glow-Glow and Zap were uninjured and very pleased with the bounty of squid parts that littered the boat. Apparently, squid was a real delicacy for fireflies, and the two had no time to squabble as they embarked in a heated race to see who could wolf down the most.
Andromeda and Twitchtip had a couple of sucker marks, but Gregor's were the worst, as the squid had held on to him the longest and he had no fur to protect his skin. As they all cleaned the slime off their bodies, he saw the swollen red circles were beginning to ooze pus. His whole body felt hot and shaky.
"I think maybe it poisoned me or something," Gregor said, and suddenly his knees gave way and he was lying in the boat. Everything was swimming around. Someone pressed something against his lips and ordered him to swallow. He managed to obey just before he blacked out.
A fevered dream followed. He was submerged in bubbly fluorescent green water, wrestling with writhing tentacles, while hideous fish dug their fangs into his arm again and again. His whole family watched over the side of the boat, reaching for him, trying to pull him to safety. He screamed to Boots to get back, but she kept singing the rhyme about her toes. Temp appeared in the water beside him, bobbing around in his life jacket. He pulled off his legs, offering them to Gregor. At some point, thankfully, he sank into nothingness.
When he came to, he could tell that a lot of time had passed. His arm was bandaged and pulsating with pain. It hurt to open his eyes.
And when he did, he had a moment of confusion.
For there, sitting in the bow of the boat and smiling down at him, was Luxa.
***
CHAPTER 13
"I let you go off for one day, and look at the trouble you get into," Luxa said.
"I bet I know somebody else who's in trouble," Gregor croaked with a smile.
"Much trouble," he heard Mareth say behind him. Gregor didn't have to turn his head to see the soldier's expression. He was angry.
"I cannot go back," Luxa said with satisfaction. "It is too far now, and Aurora and I would most surely perish in the deep."
"Yes, you timed that nicely," said Mareth.
"I know," said Luxa.
"I know you know. Everyone will know you knew if you ever arrive home in one piece to tell the tale," said Mareth. Gregor had never thought much about Mareth's relationship with Luxa. She was his queen, or would be when she turned sixteen, but there was another side to it he recognized after the day of training. Mareth was her coach, and he wasn't afraid to chew her out.
"Oh, Mareth, how long are you to stay angry with me?" said Luxa. "It has been at least a day already. No one will blame you for my disobedience."
"That is much beside the point, Luxa!" barked Mareth. "This venture is extremely dangerous, and what if you die? You leave Regalia with Nerissa as a leader, and she is of age. Can you imagine what will happen then? To Regalia? To Nerissa?"
"She will have to abdicate," Howard said from somewhere in the other boat.
"She will do no such thing. She will rule if I die and not Vikus, and never you and your wretched sister!" said Luxa.
There was a shocked silence. Then Howard spoke. "Is this what you think? That I want to be king? I believe you have me confused with another cousin."
Ouch. It was another allusion to Henry. But this time, Gregor thought Luxa might have had it coming.
"And do not judge me by Stellovet. She is wretched. I admit it. But I can no more control her than you could control Henry!" Howard spat out.
"If you think I will believe you innocent, I will not. I have seen you torment Nerissa," said Luxa.
"When? When did I do this? I have barely spent five minutes with her altogether!" said Howard.
"At the festival. When you set that lizard at her!" said Luxa.
"Set it? I did not set it! That was a rare color changer, and I thought it would amuse her to see it!" said Howard.
"But Henry said he saw you -- !" began Luxa.
"Henry said? Henry said? I cannot believe that even now you do not question things that Henry said, Luxa! Is he the one who told you I was after your crown?" Howard's voice rose in frustration. "Henry said!"
"Shh. Too loud. You like Fo-Fo," he heard Boots say.
"It is Photos Glow-Glow!" said an offended voice in the next boat.
"Oh, be quiet, Fo-Fo," said Twitchtip, and Gregor had to pretend to cough to conceal he was laughing.
Boots's feet pattered up by Gregor's head. She leaned over, looking upside down at him. "Hi, you!"
"Hi, you," said Gregor. "What's going on, Boots?"
"I do toes. Whew! I do bekfast. Two times," Boots said, holding up four fingers. She squatted down and pressed her nose into his forehead so their eyes were blinking at each other upside down. "I see you," she said.
"I see you, too," said Gregor.
"Bye," Boots said, and trotted off to the other end of the boat.
Gregor struggled to a sitting position. His whole body ached like he had the flu. He leaned against the side of the boat and looked at his bandaged arm. "So, what's it look like under the bandage?"
"It is not for the faint of heart," said Mareth. "You may thank Howard for saving your arm."
"Saving it? You were going to cut it off?" Gregor asked, instinctively pulling it closer.
"We would have had no choice if the venom spread further, but Howard was able to suck it from the wounds," said Mareth.
"Ugh. Thanks, Howard," Gregor said, gingerly flexing his fingers. Luxa scowled at him. "What? He sucked venom from my arm! I can't say thank you?"
"I am trained in water aid. I have sworn to save anyone in peril related to the water," said Howard.
"If my cousin had been paying attention that night, there would be no need to be so grateful," said Luxa.
Gregor remembered waking, seeing the tentacle...."No, it was my fault. I was supposed to be on guard and I...I fell asleep." He felt ashamed to admit it, but it wasn't fair to let Howard take the blame.
Everyone was quiet for a minute, then Mareth spoke up. "We probably would still have been attacked. But it is crucial to stay awake on guard. Not only our own survival, but that of many
hangs on this journey."
It was even worse than Gregor thought, then. "Sorry. I was tired, but I thought I could stay awake."
"It is something you learn, how to stand guard. There are tricks to keeping your mind alert. You will find them," said Howard. But Luxa and Mareth said nothing, and Gregor knew that, for them, what he had done was inexcusable. Howard came from the Fount; it was not so dangerous there. Luxa and Mareth had fought too many rats to let him off the hook.
Mareth called a break for dinner. Gregor was famished. He stuffed way too much in his mouth, choked, and had to take a piece of bread back out. "Excuse me. I guess I haven't eaten since dinner last night."
"That was two nights ago," said Howard. "You have been out for almost two full days."
"Two days!" exclaimed Gregor. He had never been out that long before. Two days, plus the one he had traveled. They must be at least halfway to the Bane, and he felt no more prepared to face it than when he had left Regalia. He should be doing something! He thought about asking Mareth to give him a few more sword lessons, but he was so wiped out from the squid venom, he doubted he could lift the sword.
Besides, hitting things with a sword didn't seem to be his problem. In fact, if anything, he couldn't stop hitting things. It was like something took over his whole being, something beyond his control.
In a weak attempt to better his chances with the Bane, he lay on his back for a while, practicing echolocation. Click! But his mind kept going back to the squid and how he hadn't been able to stop hacking away at it. He couldn't really even remember fighting it, the same way he couldn't really remember hitting all the blood balls. Click! Sometimes that happened to people who were crazy....They had blank spots and couldn't remember how they'd gotten somewhere or what they'd been doing. Click! Oh, and there was that guy in that werewolf movie, same thing happened to him. He'd just wake up all bloody, wondering what had happened to his clothes. Click! Gregor knew there weren't really werewolves. Click! Then again, how did he know that? If you'd asked him six months ago, he'd have said there weren't giant, talking rats!
Click! Click! Click!
He was getting nowhere with this echolocation stuff. Maybe Ripred was right, he had to focus. But who could focus when they were in the middle of an underground sea, full of squid venom, on their way to killing a monstrous white rat? Not him.
Gregor sat up and saw Luxa sitting nearby, sharpening her sword on some kind of stone.
"How do you feel?" she asked.
"Better since I ate," said Gregor.
Luxa tested the edge of her blade by splitting a strand of rope. She frowned in dissatisfaction and continued to work on it.
"That looks pretty sharp to me," said Gregor.
"Not sharp enough for what lies ahead of us," said Luxa. "It is doubtful many of us will survive."
"So why did you come?" asked Gregor.
"I thought you might need my help. You have depended on it before," said Luxa. "And Aurora and I, we have Ares to think of as well."
While all of that might be true, Gregor had a feeling there was more going on inside Luxa. "Is that all?"
"Is that not enough?" Luxa asked, avoiding his gaze.
"Sure, I just thought, well, maybe it had something to do with..." Gregor stopped himself.
"With what?" said Luxa.
"With nothing," said Gregor. "Forget it."
"I can hardly forget it now," said Luxa. "Why else would I come?"
"Because of Henry. I mean, if I were you, I might come to show people I wasn't like him. I might come to make Stellovet shut up," said Gregor.
Luxa didn't admit that what he said was right, but she didn't deny it, either.
"So, what's the deal with who gets to be king and queen here?" Gregor asked after a while.
"My father's family has been on the throne for some time. As his only child, I am to rule next. If I have children, the oldest will follow me," said Luxa.
"Even if it's a girl and she has brothers?" Gregor thought that girls only got to rule if there were no boys in the family.
"Oh, yes. Girls have equal claim to the throne," said Luxa. "If I have no children, the crown will go to Nerissa. But she is the last in our line. So if she dies, or abdicates without children, Regalia will have to choose a new royal family."
"And Stellovet thinks it will be her family," said Gregor.
"She is probably right. Vikus and Solovet will be the most likely choice. Their oldest child, my aunt Susannah, would follow. And then her children, my Fount cousins. Howard is the eldest," said Luxa.
"Sounds like Stellovet's a long way from being queen, anyway," said Gregor.
"Not as long as you might think. Not in the Underland," said Luxa.
The bats, who had been out flying around, came in for bedtime. Mareth put Howard's red bat, Pandora, and Ares on guard. Gregor had a feeling he wasn't going to be assigned that duty for a while.
Twitchtip was restless. "Something's not right," she said. She lifted her nose into the air, and her head made an involuntary jerk to the side.
"Is it more squid?" Gregor asked, looking into the deep.
"No, it's not animal. But something's not right," she repeated.
"In what way?" asked Ares.
"With the water," she said.
"Is it tainted? Frigid? Filled with debris?" asked Howard.
"No," said Twitchtip. "I'd recognize those things. It's something I don't have a word for." But she could not explain further, so there was nothing to do but settle down to an uneasy sleep.
A few hours later, Gregor awoke to the sound of rushing water and Howard's frantic voice screaming the word that Twitchtip didn't have:
"Whirlpool!"
***
CHAPTER 14
Whirlpool? The only thing Gregor could think of was that game. His cousins had an old, round, aboveground pool. All the kids would try to run around in a circle and make the water swirl around so there was a sort of funnel effect in the middle. He knew there were real whirlpools in the ocean, but he'd never even seen a picture of one.
Gregor jumped to his feet and tried to make sense of the situation. Everyone was up, but they were confused, too. The Underlanders usually faced an emergency with precision, as if they'd drilled for the crisis a million times. Gregor had a feeling that none of them had ever dealt with a whirlpool, either...and that they had no emergency response at the ready.
Photos Glow-Glow and Zap were burning at full brightness, but there still wasn't enough light to see far out into the water. Gregor pulled out the biggest flashlight he had, one with a wide sweeping beam, and clicked it on. What he saw took his breath away.
The boats were on the outer edge of a huge vortex. The whirlpool must have been at least a hundred yards wide. The water was rushing at a dizzying speed, grasping at anything in its reach, carrying it around and around until it was sucked down into a black gaping hole in the center.
Howard and Mareth were shouting at each other across the rope that tethered the two boats together.
"I am cutting loose!" Howard yelled as he began to hack away at the rope between them.
"No!" Mareth cried. "The fliers will carry us out!"
"They can only take one boat! Do it, Mareth! Pandora can come back for me!" Howard shouted, and the rope severed under his sword. It was just in the nick of time. The lead boat containing Howard, Pandora, Twitchtip, and Zap was snagged by the outer ring of the whirlpool and carried off into the maelstrom.
It was only a matter of seconds before the second boat would meet the same fate. Gregor lunged for the stern for Boots, who was half-asleep, so he could get her back in her life jacket. He'd taken it off so she could sleep comfortably. Obviously that had been a bad decision. He fumbled with the jacket's tangled straps.
The boat suddenly yanked to the side. "It's got us!" Gregor cried out. But then there was an upward jerk. Gregor sprawled forward, barely avoiding crushing Boots, and found they were rising out of the water. The bats! The bats were liftin
g them using the rope loops on the sides of the boats. Aurora and Andromeda were in the front, Ares and Pandora in the back.
"Go, Pandora. Ares can take it! Go!" Gregor heard Mareth order.
Ares spread his feet, holding his own loop in one claw and grasping Pandora's in his other. The boat dipped down a bit, but the big black bat soon had it under control. "Man, he's strong!" thought Gregor.
Pandora hovered for one moment, to make sure Ares had things covered, then dove. Gregor leaned over the side of the boat to see what was going on.
They were fifty feet above the water now, safe from the clutches of the raging whirlpool, but below them it was another matter. The lead boat, with Howard and Twitchtip clinging to the mast, was spinning helplessly around in the whirlpool, smashing into debris, buckling under the pressure of the current. Except for the light from Gregor's flashlight, the boat was in complete darkness.
"This is certainly an inconvenience," said a whiny voice by his ear. Gregor turned to see Zap sitting on a coil of rope. "It was my time to sleep, too. I hope Photos Glow-Glow does not think this means I will cover his next shift."
"Zap! What are you doing? Get down there so they can see!" said Gregor.
"Oh, no. We never agree to go into dangerous situations. We are not fed enough for that," said Photos Glow-Glow. And then he actually yawned.
Gregor spun back around to the whirlpool in time to see Howard launch himself out over the water, arms straight out to his sides. Pandora caught him by the arms and carried him straight up to safety. She set Howard in a soggy pile on the floor and took her rope handle back from Ares.
Down in the water, Twitchtip still clung desperately to the mast. The boat was quickly approaching the inner rings of the whirlpool and the black hole in the center.
"Wait a minute!" Gregor cried. "Aren't you going back in for Twitchtip?"
There was no answer. He looked to Mareth, to Luxa, to Howard dripping and panting on the floor. Something in their faces made a chill go through him. "She's going to drown, you know! We've got to get in there!"
"It is not possible, Overlander," said Mareth. "We cannot reach her by boat. A single flier could not get hold of her. It is not possible."
"Luxa?" said Gregor. She was a queen; she could probably make them if she wanted to.