IN THE OVERLAND

"Gregor." I hear someone say as I close my locker. I turn around and see Angelina standing there with here school books in hand. "Hey. What's up?" I ask her. She just shrugs.

I'm now 17. It's been five years since I have been to the Underland. It's been five years since I have seen Vikus, Mareth, Howard, Hazard, Aurora and Ripred. I miss them a lot, but not nearly as much as my Luxa. I miss her laugh. Her smile. Her violet eyes. And everything else about her. She would be ruling Regalia by now. I bring the picture of us everywhere, to make sure it is always in my sight so I will not lose it. She would have responsibilities and she probably doesn't even think about me anymore. The thought brought a frown to my face.

For the years I have been back I have had to watch myself. I couldn't allow myself to get into a fight. Once I came back from the Underland for the last time, everyone started to look at me wearily. Probably because of all the scares. One day when I was getting changed for PE, one of the school bullies saw the large claw scares on my chest. He told the whole school about them and, word got around like wild fire, that I was in a vicious attack with someone who was pretending to be wolverine. Part of that's true, the part about the vicious attack. But what I still wonder about is how they came up with wolverine?

I practice my echolocation every day so I don't lose the ability to do it because if I did lose it Ripred would have my ass. It then dawns on me that I probably would never see Ripred again.

Lizzie is now 12 years old. Still very much the same as she was five years ago. She still has panic attacks but they are very rare. She is still the smart kid that she always was. She has a few more friends now. Their names are Sally and John. They are very much the same as Lizzie.

Boots is now 7. She can't remember much of the Underland, since she was just a toddler when she last went there. She can't speak crawler anymore. She is still the happy, caring kid but she is a bit more wary around strangers. Which I suppose is a good thing.

Mum and dad had another child a few years after we came back from the Underland last. His name is Hamish. He is now 2 years old and is much like Boots when she was younger.

Dad went back to working as a science teacher a few years back and is enjoying it as much as he did before. Mum's staying at home looking after baby Hamish because the money dad is making is enough to get by with the help of Mrs Cormaci.

"Gregor?" I hear my name pulling me out of my thoughts. I look up to see Angelina waving her hand in front of his face. "Sorry. Just thinking." I do that a lot now, just zone out. At the start the teachers were very annoyed with me but after about a month of it they just left me alone. "Ok. See you tomorrow." She said and walk towards the metal doors of the exit.

IN THE UNDERLAND

"Luxa. You are needed in the council room." I hear Vikus say to me. I am now 16 and the council now have no power over my choses for Regalia but they still like to put suggestion forward. And if I'm being honest, sometimes they are helpful. SOMETIMES. Most of the time they are a pain. "Okay. Thank you, Vikus." I say and head down the hall, of my beautiful palace, to the council room with Vikus trailing behind.

I walk through the door and see Euripedes and Aurora in the room along with all the council members. "What is it?" I ask all of them. They all have looks of worry and confusion on their faces, even on the bats. Aurora comes and wraps her golden wing around me. "What is it?" I repeat in a confused voice. Euripedes lowers her wing and I see a young Overlander boy, about the age of 1-2 years, on her back. I walk up to Euripedes slowly and look at her, asking if I can hold the infant. She gave me a slight nod and I slowly reach up to pick up the boy. The boy has short brown hair and is still in his Overland clothes.

"Oh! Oh no. This can't be happening." I say worriedly as I look into the boys eyes. He has his eyes. He's got the eyes that I fell in love with. He's got Gregor's eyes.

A/N Chapters are going to get much longer but I just wanted to have this one short.