It was hopeless; Gregor could not stop thinking about her. Those two purple eyes, her short blonde hair, her soft lips the elegant crown that was thrust upon her at such an early age, her arrogant smirk that she wore when she knew that she was right, and she was the only girl that Gregor had ever loved. Luxa. Luxa was the queen of Regalia, the human city in the Underland.
The Underland, the world miles underneath New York City and the source of all of Gregor's troubles. He had lost so much down there, and yet he felt like it was the only place that he belonged. Gregor wanted to go back to the Underland so bad, but his whole family had been forbidden to by his mother.
After they had gotten back from their last trip to the Underland, Gregor's mother had made sure that Gregor would not return to the Underland no matter what. That had been one year ago.
But Gregor was not the only member of his family who missed the Underland. Lizzie, his now nine year old sister, missed the Underland as well. She had friends in the Underland and she was treated like royalty whenever she was down there.
Gregor was lying in his bed remembering all of his memories of the alone time he had with Luxa when someone knocked on his door. "Come in." Gregor said.
Lizzie's worried face appeared from behind the door. "Can I talk to you?" She asked quietly.
"Of course Lizzie, come on up here." Gregor motioned to the empty part of his bed. "What's on your mind, Lizzie?" Gregor asked soothingly. He looked at her and realized that she had been crying.
"I can't take it anymore Gregor!" Her voice quivered as she said it. "I need to go back. I need to see Ripred!" She was crying now, Gregor stroked her hair as he tried to comfort her.
"I miss them too Lizzie, I miss them too." Then Gregor knew that it was time to tell her, now or never. "Lizzie," Gregor whispered, not wanting anyone else to hear through the walls. "I'm going back. I'm running away from home, and I'm going back to Regalia."
Lizzie gasped. "You are? Will you take me with you?" she asked immediately.
"If you do, you may never see Mom or Dad or Boots, or anyone in the Overland ever again. Do you want to do that?" Gregor asked.
"Yes, I want to go Gregor. I want to go where I belong." Lizzie said with a note of finality in her voice.
"Okay Liz, we will leave tonight. Bring two flashlights and a lot of batteries."
"But Gregor, we don't need the light I can use echolocation now, remember?" Lizzie said with a little smile.
"Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot that you were a little stinker and you picked it up in two weeks after I started teaching you." Gregor said giving her a tickle on the stomach.
Lizzie gave a little giggle. "Okay, so we are going to the laundry room after everyone's asleep?" Lizzie asked, quickly getting back to business.
"Yup, and we are going to have to hope the currents strong or else we will have to hope for a bat to be there." Gregor said quickly, and then he added, "We are going home."