“Then why do you stay?” Conselyea challenged. “You’re a pretty feline. I’m sure you could find a human family up above who’ll take you in.”
Felina’s eyes flashed. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?”
“You’re wearing a collar,” Conselyea noted. “Maybe you already have humans. Why don’t you just go home?”
“Why don’t you just shut up!” Felina hissed and swung one claw-tipped paw at Conselyea.
Titus threw himself in front of her, taking a mean swipe to the snout. A welt came up instantly, snaking across his nose and mouth in a bloody trickle.
“Here’s the thing,” said Felina. “I’m going to eat one of you. So either you can decide who that’s going to be, or I will.”
Titus could not bear the thought of this monster devouring Conselyea, and he was sure Cassius was not prepared to volunteer. With an ache in his heart he began to step forward. But before he could offer himself up to those gleaming fangs, Ebbets spoke.
“Take me,” the battered little mouse whispered from his bed of rags. “Take me and leave the others alone.”
“Ebbets,” said Titus. “What are you doing?”
“We both know I’m dying, Titus. But you . . . you still have Atlantia to look forward to. You have Conselyea, and maybe one day you’ll have a litter of your own to raise.”
Felina yawned. “Tick tock, rodents,” she sneered, rolling her mismatched eyes.
Titus clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He knew what Ebbets was saying made sense, but it felt wrong. He didn’t want to sacrifice a friend—even if that friend was not likely to last through the night. The only other option was for Titus to give his own life—a life that suddenly seemed to have purpose. He had Conselyea now, and the dream that was Atlantia. For the first time ever, there was a sensation in Titus’s heart that felt like hope.
With a ragged breath he turned his back on Ebbets and gazed up into the blue and green eyes of Felina.
“Take the mouse,” he said. The words tasted like blood on his tongue.
“Very well,” said Felina, padding her way toward the pile of rags. “He’ll do.” Then she purred and flashed a toothy smile at Titus. “For now.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means I like this little arrangement. You give me mousemeat and I don’t have to get my lovely white fur all dusty hunting around in these grungy tunnels. I eat, you live, everybody’s happy. What do you think?”
“I think you’re a fiendish beast!” screamed Titus.
“Yes, yes, of course you do,” drawled Felina. “But I meant, what do you think about you and I striking some kind of bargain? A working relationship. One that will make me happy and keep the target off your back.”
“Never!” Titus hurled the word at her, wishing it were a rock or a hunk of jagged glass. “That will never happen, Felina.”
The cat sighed and flicked her tail. “Fine. Be that way. But just so you know, I have a nice, cozy lair off through that curving tunnel there. If you change your mind about striking an accord, you’ll know where to find me.”
“Not going to happen,” Titus assured her.
Felina merely laughed. Then she leaned her head down toward Ebbets and bared her fangs.
Titus allowed himself one glance—what he saw nearly undid him: The mouse’s head was held high and his black eyes glinted with courage. But trembling in the white fur around Ebbets eye, there was a single tear.
Titus grabbed Conselyea’s arm and motioned for Cassius to join them. As the rats fled, Titus heard Ebbets’s voice following them into the darkness of the tunnel.
“Long live Atlantia,” the mouse sang out.
“Long live Atlantia,” Titus echoed on a sob.
And as he ran away from his dying friend and the feasting cat, he shouted the words he knew would be the last ones that Ebbets would ever hear:
“Long live the Mūs,” cried Titus of the House of Romanus. “Long live the brave, courageous tribe, the Mūs.”
THE END
Lisa Fiedler is the author of many novels for children and young adults. She divides her time between Connecticut and the Rhode Island seashore, where she lives happily with her very patient husband, her brilliant and beloved daughter, and their two incredibly spoiled golden retrievers. Visit Mouseheart.com for more information.
Vivienne To has illustrated several books, including the Underland Chronicles series by Suzanne Collins and the Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective series by Octavia Spencer. As a child, she had two pet mice escape. She currently lives in Sydney, Australia, with her partner and her ginger cat. Visit her at VivienneTo.com.
Bravery isn’t measured by size.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Jacket and interior illustrations by Vivienne To
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fiedler, Lisa.
Return of the forgotten / Lisa Fiedler ; Vivienne To.—First edition.
p. cm.—(Mouseheart ; 3)
Summary: Although Felina the cat queen is gone, the subway tunnels are still dangerous, not only because of Hopper’s rogue brother Pup and his arachnid companion Hacklemesh, but also due to a secret Firren has been hiding that worries her more than the disappearance of her daughter, Hope. Includes a bonus story, “Atlantia Rising: How It All Began.”
ISBN 978-1-4814-2092-1 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-4814-2094-5 (eBook)
[1. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. 2. Mice—Fiction. 3. Rats—Fiction. 4. Utopias—Fiction. 5. Fate and fatalism—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.F457Ret 2015
[Fic]—dc23
2015000179
Lisa Fiedler, Return of the Forgotten
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