Chapter 1

Darkness. It was all around him. He attempted to use echolocation, but what came back to him was a blank. Great; that meant it was never-ending. He started to take steps, but knocked into something upon the first. The room suddenly got brighter, and standing in front of him, was the Bane, holding Luxa and Ares.

The Bane was slowly suffocating Ares, choking him to death while gripping Luxa around the waist. He tried to break through to help his friends, but every time, he seemed to get weaker and the barrier stronger. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, Ares died. The Bane tossed him aside and grabbed Luxa, slowly ripping her limbs out. He tried to do something, but couldn't. The Bane grabbed Luxa's throat, and in one last movement, killed her in front of him. Gregor shot up in bed.

Gregor struggled to get out of bed. After three years, the nightmares had only gotten worse. He looked over at his clock; it was 7:00, which meant he had an hour before school started. Gregor let out a certain click, finding out what was going on around the house. The only person that was up was Lizzie, probably studying for a big test, or simply thinking. Gregor looked out his window and realized it was already noon-time bright, which meant he could get ready and take a walk.

He left a note on the counter explaining where he was going, and headed out the door. The soft morning breeze blew through his hair as he walked; making it feel like the time Gregor and his friends had gotten trapped in the currents in the Underland.

Gregor hadn't even made it to the front gate, when Riley, his german shepard, came bounding up to him and looked at him curiously, as if asking him to take him on the walk.

"Alright." Gregor said "Just let me get the leash."

Gregor walked to his dog's little house and grabbed the silver leash that, ironically, was the exact shade of an Underlanders hair, Luxa's, of course. He walked back to Riley and latched the leash onto a pure black collar. Man, his mom was insulting. Riley looked up at him, a challenging look on his face, and took off down the street. Gregor could barely keep up, even though he was the fastest kid in school by far. Riley finally slowed down nine blocks away from his house. They walked another five before Gregor checked his watch, turned back, and headed home.

When Gregor got home, the rest of his family was up and moving. It turned out, Lizzie was studying for a test, her head was buried in a math book. Everybody else was eating breakfast and talking. Boots was talking to a cockroach in Cockroach, and the cockroach was talking back. His mom and dad were deep in conversation.

He quickly said hi and grabbed a coffee. Then Gregor headed to school. After about three blocks he heard someone calling his name, he didn't even have to use echolocation to know it was his friend, James.

"Yo, Gregor! Wassup, how's life?" James asked

"Pretty good, took Riley for a walk, had a cup of coffee." Gregor said, trying to sound cheerful, even though it was clear he wasn't.

James suddenly stopped. "Dude, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." Gregor said, trying to get off the subject. The day usually started off like that.

"I'm sick of you saying that! It's always nothing! But I can tell it's something! Just tell me, I won't tell anybody, I promise." James said, only slightly raising his voice.

"I just can't, okay?" Gregor said, hurt clear in his voice.

James, clearly hearing the hurt, stopped asking and moved on, talking about his favorite subject, video games. Like most boys, James loved video games and talked about them a lot. Of course, Gregor was the complete opposite; he only ever played if James wanted him to. He almost told James that he didn't really care, but he didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings.

He was on the brink of insanity when a cheerful voice came from behind him. He quickly used echolocation to find that it was his friend, Carolina.

"Hey guys!" she said "I almost thought that you guys forgot me!"

That was right; they had just passed her house. They all chatted, mainly about what was going on at school, well James and Carolina did. Gregor just walked, barely listening, due to being in deep thought. Carolina saw it, but said nothing.

They were about two blocks from school, when a man stepped out of the shadows holding a knife. Gregor had already "seen" this and stopped his friends. They had a confused look on their face until the man stepped out. The man eyed Gregor out and clumsily charged.

He easily side-stepped the man and grabbed the man's wrist, flipping him over and sending the knife flying through the air. The man had barely landed when Gregor had the knife in his hand, over the man's throat.

"Rethink your life." He said, before throwing the knife over to where the man had come from and letting loose a sharp kick to the man's stomach, knocking him out. He turned back to his friends and said "Come on guys, let's not be late for school."

"Gregor! Dude! Where did you learn to fight like that?" James asked, totally in shock.

"You gotta know stuff in New York." Gregor replied before walking off to school, stepping over the man, James and Carolina in awe behind him.