CHAPTER 1

When Gregor woke up, he had the immediate impression that this day was going to be weird. He uncertainly opened his eyes and looked around suspiciously, nothing strange was going on so far.

Gregor smiled. His life was far from normal, he'd been dragged down to an underground world called the Underland after his toddler sister Boots had fallen down the grate in his laundry room.

There he fought in the ancient war between the humans and the enormous rats, and played as someone called "he warrior" in four prophecies by a guy named Bartholomew of Sandwich, who lived and died over four hundred years ago. There Gregor made friends and enemies, Luxa, who would become queen when she turned sixteen (she would be Gregor's age now, twelve), Temp who was an enormous cockroach, Ripred, a near-invincible rager rat that could kill basically anything (a rager is a term in the Underland, a person with special abilities to kill with lethal accuracy and power, Gregor was a rager too). And most of all, Ares, his bond. A bond was a mutual understanding between a bat and a human, and they swear to keep each other alive no matter what. Ares had died from a white rat named the Bane, huge even by the Underland rat standards.

Now Gregor lived in depression, grieving his long-lost friend, missing Luxa, who Gregor fell in love with, and Luxa loved him too, and not knowing if he belonged above ground or below.

Things weren't all down though, it seemed with the death of Gregor's warrior self, came life to everyone else. His dad made a huge turnaround from his Underland sickness he picked up while in the custody of the rats for two and a half years, and he was teaching high school science again, with the occasional fever. His mom took off some work to spend more time with her kids, and they were going to spend the rest of the school year in New York City then move to their family's farm in Virginia.

Evidence of Gregor's past rager self seemed to buzz on the surface at times, when he was angry, embarrassed, or even when he was playing video games at his friend Larry's house. He'd forgotten his echolocation he had picked up in the Underland, but something inside of him new he would always be a rager.

Gregor got up slowly and put some clothes on. Just one more day and it would be the Weekend, where he could relax and play his saxophone, maybe take Boots out for ice cream. She loved ice cream.

He went to school, still suspicious of the day being abnormal in some way.

When he went home, he did some chores, the last of which was the laundry. Entering the laundry room made a sigh escape out of Gregor, as it always did. If his had dad slept well that one night about three years ago, Gregor would've never have been pulled into this mess. Then again, Sandwich's prophecies had always seemed to latch on to Gregor.

Part of Gregor wanted to hop down that grate, and meet his old friends, including Ares, who was of course undoubtedly dead by now. The rest of Gregor wanted to pack for Virginia and never look back.

After putting the laundry in the wash, he stared at the grate in between two laundry machines. So much changed after Boots fell down there, there in that horrible yet wonderful place, Gregor's—wait—was that a note stuck in there? It was! Gregor got on his hands and knees and pulled it out. Then, he read it.

Dear Gregor,

Ares is alive! He is barely surviving in the Dead Land, there is no time to waste. Get a weapon, a compass, and head to the Dead Land entrance in the Overland. Then head north according to the compass, we are counting on you for Ares's life, as you are the only Overlander we have contact with. Good luck.

-Vikus

Below was the address to the entrance and instructions on how to get to it. Was Gregor imagining this somehow by means of depression? Was this a fake letter? No, it was signed with Vikus's signature, he remembered it from past letters. Forgetting about the laundry, he rushed to his apartment, quickly explained to his mom what was happening, and grabbed a flashlight, a compass, and an ax, as that was the only weapon-like item they had in their apartment.

"Now wait a moment!" Gregor's mom said. "You're not going to that horrible place again!" She grabbed Gregor's arm and pulled him back.

"Mom, Ares is my bond. You would do the same for me, or Lizzie, or Boots." Lizzie was Gregor's other sister. "I'm not going to let him die alone in the Dead Land."

"This is completely different." Gregor's mom said. "You're one of my children, Ares is just a bat."

That really stung. Gregor loved his mother, but he couldn't help scowl at her. "I'm going to save him whether you like it or not." He said sternly. He didn't like talking back to his parents, but after the long weeks grieving over Ares, he wasn't going to take no for an answer on an opportunity to save him.

Just then dad entered the apartment, seeing Gregor and his mom, he said, "What's going on?"

Gregor quickly explained everything, and his dad nodded. "Go get him," he said.

He hugged his parents, his mother in tears, and rushed out of the apartment before he would tear up himself. "Wait!" His dad suddenly shouted behind him. "Before you leave, you should take an adult with money to buy you a cab and get you there."

Gregor and his dad stood by the tree with the hole in it, staring at the hole. "Gregor, I should come with you."

"No," said Gregor. "I don't want you pulled into this. Ares is my bond, you have no say in it."

"But as your parent, my duty is to protect you." His dad replied.

"But as the warrior, my duty is protect the Underland, Ares falls into that category. No offence, but you're just a science teacher, you would only get in the way." It struck a bad cord in Gregor to say something like that, but it was the truth. He didn't want to have his father down in the Underland, he might get hurt.

"What if you die?" His dad said.

"I'm not going to." With that, Gregor dropped into the hole. His dad at first reached out to him as he fell, but then stopped.

Gregor dropped down about six feet, and turned on his flashlight. In front of him was a huge very steep staircase, chipped out of the stone, worn out and with sand, moss, and dents on it. It was more worn out and steep than the stairs at the entrance in Central Park, and he peered down at them. They were perilous, he thought, a slip and he could slide down far, possibly getting himself killed. That would be a very unlikely scenario, however. He walked down, carefully, he wanted to get to Ares quickly, but something about the stairs scared him.

The climb down was long, and by the time he made it down he was very winded.

"Gregor . . . " a purring voice came from the small tunnel he was now in, he cut through the darkness with his flashlight, and what he saw made his heart skip a beat.

"Ares." He said.