Gregor

And The

Bone of Bane

Chapter 1

Gregor hadn't been sleeping; he had been looking at his photographs, two in particular, on his windowsill. One showed him with a bunch of his friends, and the other showed him with one friend in particular. But these weren't your average friends.

Gregor was a twelve, almost thirteen year old boy living in a small apartment in New York City. You would say he was average, but then you'd have to look at all of the scars, cuts, and scrapes everywhere on his body. These were from battles fought miles beneath New York, in a place called the Underland.

He had been there six times already, and had been the target of a man called Sandwich's prophecies all six times. His friends down in the Underland consisted of humans, pale sinned, violet eyed people, giant bats, rats, roaches, mice, and more.

The one friend standing with him in the second picture was his bat that he had bonded with, or at least, he had been, before he died. His old bat, Ares, had been killed by a terrible gnawer the Underlanders call the Bane. Gregor had killed him just after, during his fifth visit. Now he had bonded to a beautiful female bat, Hera. She was always happy and cheerful, but was highly skilled in battle. At first, Gregor thought bonding with Hera would be like betraying Ares, but after he realized that Ares would have been happy for him, because Hera had been his friend.

Gregor had been back in the Overland for nearly four months now; it was the beginning of January. The bitter cold weather was even worse, now at the dead of winter. Gregor wished he was allowed to return to the Underland; the temperature was always comfortable there. But he didn't dare ask, because his mom would have lectured him n the importance of staying safe.

"G-Gregor?" Gregor's sister Lizzie had stepped into his tiny bedroom. "G-Gregor, c-could we borrow a-a b-blanket?" she stuttered, shivering.

"Sure, Liz." Gregor answered tossing her a blanket. She caught it, wrapped it around her, and walked into the living room to curl up and watch Spongebob, as she always did on Saturday mornings.

Figuring that it would be no use trying to go back to sleep, he went into the kitchen. Mrs. Cormaci had left about an hour ago, leaving a plate of toast for anyone who wanted it. Gregor grabbed a piece, poured himself a bit of hot chocolate, and sat on the couch with Lizzie. As he crunched his toast, he thought about the Queen of the Underland human city, Regalia. As he sipped his hot chocolate, he remembered her evil cousin, Henry. What was Luxa doing now? Did they do anything with Henry's body, or did they just let it sit in that giant cavern? And the rats, were they cool with the humans now? Or had they changed their minds and turned against them? Four months in the dark was a lot for Gregor.

Gregor's mom emerged from Lizzie and Boots's room carrying a sleepy but awake Boots. Boots squirmed out of her arms and ran to the couch to watch Spongebob. She giggled when Squidward hit Patrick on the head with a coconut.

Gregor's mom turned to him. "Gregor, can you go do the laundry? And no delays!" she said.

"Sure, mom." Gregor's family had used the Laundromat down the street since Gregor first fell, but this winter was way to cold to walk down the street once every four days, so they went back to using the apartment building's laundry room.

Gregor got the laundry bag and walked down the steps to the laundry room. When he got there, he began to load up the washer, but was distracted when he heard a rattling from the grate. "It's probably just the currents." Gregor thought, trying to think nothing of it. But it wasn't.

"Gregor!" a voice hissed. Gregor's head snapped to the grate. His bond, the white and gold speckled bat, Hera, was poking her nose through the grate.

"Hera! What the…what are you doing here?" Gregor gaped at her. She smiled at his astounded face.

"I have been waiting all day! I came to remind you. Luxa's birthday is in two days, and I am sure she would love it if you would attend. It would be a surprise." Hera said.

"Yeah, well…I don't…what if I can't?" Gregor stuttered. He wanted to go and be with Luxa so bad, it wasn't even funny. But what if his mom said no? But still, it was just a birthday…

"I do not know, I just thought you would like to come. But if you do not want to, then I cannot force you." said Hera, turning to go.

"Wait, Hera!" Gregor cried, stopping his bat.

"Yes?" she purred, smiling.

"I'll…I'll be there, don't worry." He assured her.

"Very well, I shall come for you in two days, at this same time." Hera said. She held out her claw.

"Thanks, Hera." Gregor replied. He bent down and grasped her claw with his hand to signify that they were bonds, and she flew away. Gregor straightened up and exited the laundry room. How was he going to be able to go to the Underland for Luxa's birthday? How would he get his mom to give him permission to go?

The answer came to him, but he didn't like it. If he wanted to go to the Underland for Luxa's birthday, he would have to tell his mother what happened between him and Luxa during his last visit. Luxa had been the first person Gregor had met in the Underland. At first, they had not liked each other that much, but Luxa had softened up a bit when she was out of Henry's company. Through Gregor's next visits, they became closer and closer until finally, during the War of Time, admitting how they felt about each other. It had been accidental, but during the last visit, almost everyone had found out about them.

That would really be the only way to get Gregor's mom to believe him. Man, she would get a kick out of that. And it would be really embarrassing. But if he wanted to go…

"Mom, can I talk to you?" Gregor was up in his apartment now. His mom had been putting new sheets on his bed.

"Sure, baby, what is it?" she asked, sitting on his bed.

"Umm, you know Luxa?" Gregor took a deep breath.

"Yeah. What about her?" she asked.

"Well…" and Gregor spilled out all he had been holding in about him and Luxa. He started from the time at Hazard's seventh birthday when they had been dancing. He told about how Ripred had noticed and how Howard disapproved. And of how he left for the Firelands because of her and all of the rest of the things that had happened between them. When he had finished, his mom gave him a hug.

"Oh, Gregor, I just knew this would happen one day!" she smiled.

"You mean, you don't think it's…funny?" Gregor asked uncertainly. His mom laughed.

"No I don't! I just wish it were a girl from the Overland…" she said. Gregor gulped.

"Yeah, that's another thing…mom, it's Luxa's birthday in two days…and I wanted to know if I could go." He asked.

"How do you know about this?" his mom snapped, suddenly with a change of attitude.

"Umm, Hera told me." Gregor turned away, not wanting to see his mom's angry face.

"You mean you talked to her recently?" his mom said, astonished.

"Well, yeah…about ten minutes ago." Gregor said.

"Gregor! And what did you tell her?" she snapped.

"I told her I'd be there." Gregor said, his head drooping.

"Gregor, what am I going to do with you?" his mom sighed.

"Please mom, I need to be there!" Gregor begged. His mom sighed again.

"All right! You can go! But I'm really getting sick of this, Gregor!" she walked out, leaving Gregor alone, a grin spreading from ear to ear.