Suzanne Collins - Gregor and the Marks of Secret

"I'm all right," Gregor repeated, although this was one of the worst days of his life.

Aurora and Nike flew up. They had discovered a tunnel that led upward to cleaner air. Everyone could squeeze on to the two bats, except Ripred, who said he would wait for Ares, anyway, and then follow their trail. It was only a short flight to the passage. The higher they traveled the sweeter and cleaner the air got. Eventually they broke free of the tunnel and came out on a rock formation with a flat top and vertical sides. Fresh breezes washed over them. A cold spring burbled out of a crack and fell hundreds of feet, where it disappeared into a dimly lit tangle of thick vines.

"We're back at the jungle," said Gregor.

"Yes, it borders the Firelands," said Howard.

They took turns gulping down the spring water and washing the ash from their skin. Boots said she was hungry, and Howard gave her the last piece of stale bread. She curled up next to Hazard on a blanket and went to sleep. Cartesian had fallen into some kind of stupor as well, although he often sat up and looked around, squeaking rapidly, before collapsing back on the ground.

No one else seemed able to sleep. Or talk. They just sat around, staring at the flashlight, or down at the jungle. Gregor watched Luxa watching the spring for a while. She seemed unnaturally calm.

About an hour later, Ares arrived with Ripred. "Where did you take her?" Howard asked.

"Back to the queen. So she might lie with the nibblers and not alone," said Ares. "The lava will claim them all soon. Half were already covered."

"Yes. The Bane does not only want to kill them. He wants them to disappear without a trace," said Ripred.

"So, it seems the Overlander was on to something about the song."

"You mean that it's a prophecy," said Gregor.

"If it is, we should name it," said Aurora.

"I have already done so in my head, but the name need not stick," said Nike. "I call it 'The Prophecy of Secrets.'"

"It is well named," said. Ares. "Since the marks of secret led us to it."

"And even its nature was a secret," said Howard. "No one suspected our childish song to be a prophecy."

"One we still need to break," said Ripred. "I think we understand the first two parts now. We know who the queen is. We know about the nibblers. How does the last part go?"

Luxa spoke the last verse. Without the playful melody, they were just words. And loaded words at that.

"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. "

"I suppose the first question is who the guests are?" said Howard.

"Well, if the door opens to Regalia, which I'm assuming since Sandwich called it 'our door,' then given the circumstances, the guests are probably someone Her Highness has recently declared war on," said Ripred.

"The gnawers," said Luxa. "And we will greet them as we have before."

Gregor remembered that this was the part in the dance where everybody pretended to pour tea and serve cake.

"Some will slice and some will pour."

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"Swords slice," said Luxa. "And when the city is under siege, we pour boiling oil over the walls and onto our enemies."

She said the words without any particular sense of fear or revulsion. But Gregor was filled with both.

"I wonder when the attack will be," said Howard.

"Someone must return at once to warn the Regalians," said Nike.

"No point in me coming, of course. Neither side would welcome me. No, I think I may hang around here for a while," said Ripred.

"And do what?" asked Gregor. Ripred always had a plan.

"Those nibblers we saw today ... they're only a fraction of the ones who've been driven here. The others might still be alive. I was thinking ... they'd make a likely army," said Ripred.

"For you?" said Luxa. "They would never follow you."

"That's where you come in, Your Highness," said Ripred. "If we go together, we might be able to mobilize them."

"I might alone. What do you add to the mix?" asked Luxa.

"Don't be impertinent. Is it yes or no?" said Ripred impatiently.

Luxa only took a second to consider the proposition. "Yes," she said. "Howard, will you come?"

"I will have to, Cousin, if you insist on doing this," said Howard doubtfully. "Cartesian will want to join us."

"He's too beat up," said Ripred. "But with you two on fliers and me on the ground, we might be able to break them out."

"I am sure they will follow me, if we can get in close enough for them to hear my voice," said Luxa.

"I'm counting on that," said Ripred. "Let's say four hours' rest, and we begin."

Gregor had begun feeling like he was invisible. No one was involving him in the plans at all. "I'll be ready," he said.

"No!" Ripred and Luxa spoke in the same breath and with the same intensity.

"What?" said Gregor in surprise.

"Not you, boy. You're taking the pups back to Regalia," said Ripred.

"No, I'm not!" said Gregor. "I'm going with you!" "You cannot!" said Luxa. Her eyes darted around as if she was trying to find a reason. "What about Boots and Hazard?"

"I don't know, they can ... Howard, you could take them back," said Gregor.

Ripred, Howard, and Luxa exchanged glances. Gregor had an awful realization. They didn't want him to come. They were thinking about how he had choked in the fight with Twirltongue and they thought he would fall to pieces again.

"You don't think I can fight," he said bluntly. "Well, fine, okay. Maybe I did freak out when I lost my light, but it's not really dark here, with the volcanoes and all and I think there's been a few other times when I've shown that —"

"It's not that, Gregor. Everyone knows you can fight. Far better than I can," said Howard.

"Then what? You're still mad at me?" he asked Luxa.

"No, I am not," said Luxa.

"So?" said Gregor.

"Has he not been told anything?" asked Howard.

"About what?" said Gregor in frustration.

"Just this. You've got to get back to Regalia. Now that the war's begun, you're of no use to us without your sword," said Ripred.

Gregor's hand went to his hip in confusion. His fingers wrapped around the hilt of his weapon. "I've got a sword."

"Not any sword. Your sword," said Ripred. His eyes narrowed. "You didn't lose it in the tunnel, did you? When you fought Twirltongue?"

"What?" said Gregor, totally confused. "Yeah, I lost that sword. I threw it behind me at the rats. So, what? There's, like, thousands of them."

"No, Gregor. He means the sword Vikus gave you. Sandwich's sword," said Howard.

"Oh, that," said Gregor. It was true, Vikus had tried to give him an impressive, jewel-studded sword that had once belonged to Sandwich, but Gregor had refused to take it. He knew where it was, though. It was in the museum, which had always seemed an odd place to keep it, since the museum held items from the Overland. It was on a shelf wrapped in the same silken cloth that Vikus had originally presented it in. For the first time Gregor wondered if Sandwich's sword was there because everyone believed it belonged to him now, whether he had accepted it or not. "That's not really mine."

"Yes, it is. It says so in that prophecy I mentioned to you, about killing the Bane. 'The Prophecy of Time,'" said Ripred.

"And it says I need Sandwich's sword?" asked Gregor.

"Among other things. I had assumed Vikus had at least let you know of the sword's importance. That you were destined to inherit it," said Ripred. "That we all believe it is your sword. Any of that sound familiar?"

"No. He just seemed happy I wouldn't take it," said Gregor.