Chapter 11

"Time to awaken, Overlander. Let's go."

Gregor jumped up immediately at the sound of Ripred's voice, eager to continue their search for Luxa. The less time they wasted the better. Boots, however, was not so easily persuaded.

"No. I'm tired." The five year old was merely a mass of dark curls under her blanket, curled up in a ball. "I don't want to get up."

"C'mon, Boots, we have to go find Luxa."

"No no no no no!" Boots drummed her fists on the ground. Gregor ha no choice but to lift his sister off the ground and get her onto Hera, something he avoided doing because she was growing so fast and was now pretty heavy.

"Morning, Hera." He locked hand and claw with his bat in greeting.

"Good morning, Gregor." She responded, but Gregor could tell through her eyes that the beautiful gold and white bat was troubled.

"What's up?" he asked his bond. She just sighed and flicked her head to the side. Gregor followed her gesture with his eyes and saw Aurora. Her eyes were blank, as if she had lost all feeling that had ever been mirrored in them. Her wings fell limply to her side, as if she no longer possessed the ambition to spread them and fly. If Gregor thought he was affected by the possible loss of Luxa, he could only imagine how Aurora felt.

"I worry about her." Hera sighed. "Well, we should be going. Up you get, Boots." She gave the stubborn little girl a push with her nose, and Boots reluctantly reached a small arm over Hera's neck and pulled her little body onto the bat, a skill she had been to small to master the year before.

Gregor left his sister with his bond for a second to make sure Lizzie was safely with Ripred in the boat they shared.

"Ready to go, Liz?" he asked her. The ten-year-old nodded and smiled at him, and Gregor was reminded for just a second of the carefree seven-year-old she had been before their family had become so tied up in the Underland and its many plights.

"I'm ready." She said, and turned back to Ripred to talk to him. Gregor still had not figured out how his sister and that cynical rat could manage to get along as well as they did.

He walked back to Hera and sat behind Boots, and seconds later, Temp scurried up behind them. The way it had always been. Even with Ares. Except even in that area, so much had changed. You only had to look down at Hera's fur and realize it was white, not black. And Boots was now too big for Gregor to hold. And Temp's shell was taking on a grayish color. Yes, things were changing. And far too fast for Gregor. But all the same, he wrapped his arms around Boots and tried to imagine that they were in a time warp, about two years back and flying, carefree, on the back of Ares as they made their way down to Regalia for a visit to their mom in the hospital. Maybe Gregor would have an echolocation lesson with Ripred, or maybe he'd have the day to spend with his friends. Three year old Boots might play with Hazard and Dulcet, or maybe the two kids would go to a younger children's training session in the arena, with Thalia, Hazard's would-be bond.

"Ouch, Gregor! You're squishing me!" Boots gave a squeal that brought him back to reality. Gregor realized his hug had been becoming more of a strangle, and he quickly loosened his grip on his sister and wiped his eyes, which, to his surprise, were tearing up fast. But no, he was being stupid. He had Hera, who was not the same as Ares, but she was just as good of a bond and friend as him. And changes were a part of life, he would just have to accept that.

Perdita and Theia flew out in front of the boat as the head of the group for this morning. Howard and Nike flanked the left side, and Nyx and Aurora teamed up on the right. Gregor and Hera were left to cover their backs, which Gregor had no problem with. He didn't think he was in the mood to be the head of the group today, even if Ripred even thought about letting him take the job.

After about an hour, Boots was getting cranky. "Gregor, why isn't Hazard here to play with me? Why?" she asked. Gregor told her that Hazard couldn't come, but she wasn't satisfied. So finally, he started a game of I-spy to keep her busy. Temp played as well. She was much better at it now that she was older, but since there wasn't much around to spy, she was very often pointing at a rock, a part of the water, the boat, or one of the bats. Sometimes she would accidentally say the name of the thing she was looking at, like 'I spy Nike!' and then she would have a giggling fit when she realized her mistake. Temp made that clicking sound which Gregor had decided was roach laughter along with her, and then they'd play again.

"We come to the rapids!" Perdita's voice saved both Temp and Gregor from the game about a half hour later. Ripred's nose was in the air immediately, and he was peering over the side of the boat.

"What? But the scouts said that they were a good ten kilometers farther south!" the rat stated angrily, and began lashing his tail.

"Well, whether or not the scouts said that, we approach them now! What would you like me to do?" Perdita argued.

Gregor was beginning to hear them now. The rapids sounded almost as strong as a waterfall, and all he heard was rushing, running water.

"Is there an alternate path?" Ripred questioned, over the roar of the coming rapids.

"None that I can see! The river does not fork off until we near Queenshead!" Perdita replied, her higher pitched, female voice even harder to make out.

"And how long will that take?"

"It does not matter, Ripred! Either way, we will have to pass through the rapids! Now what shall we do?"

The river was widening quickly, and the waves were churning up foam. Even though the river had been lower and calmer lately, there were still select spots, such as this one, that remained extremely treacherous to cross through. They could manage it if they only had fliers, but with the boat, they could never make it through. And the boats carried all of their survival items; food, water, and medicine. Not to mention Ripred and Lizzie. Wait…Lizzie! She couldn't stay down there, not in these rapids!

"Liz—" he began, but could not finish. Because at that moment, the group reached the first stage of rapids.

It all happened so fast. Lizzie had been holding onto the side of the boat for dear life, her face ghost white with fright. Suddenly, as they came to the rapids, she was jerked to the side. Ripred lunged desperately for her, but missed. She was thrown overboard, and the water quickly pulled her under.

"LIZZIE!" Gregor cried, and was about to pointlessly launch himself off of his bat in pursue of his sister, but Hera's wing came flying up, preventing him from jumping.

"Don't you dare jump off, Gregor!" she snapped, with such ferocity that Gregor drew back, surprise.

"Jump, do you not, not jump!" Temp cried from behind. "Look you!"

Gregor followed the roach's gaze and saw that Lizzie had managed to resurface herself. Ripred was tearing through the numerous packs on the boat that was being flung from left to right, looking for the lifeline they had somewhere. But they didn't have time for that.

"Quick, Nike!" Gregor heard Howard's voice call to his bond. It made sense; Nike and Howard were closest to here Lizzie was gasping for a breath in the vile rapids.

Nike immediately dove, and Howard reached out to grab the ten year old girl. But in a flash, she was pulled under again, and Howard was flung off Nike's back along with her. Nike shrieked and went for him, but he quickly resurfaced and screamed, "Lizzie!" to her before going under again. Nike hesitated, but suddenly, Aurora was there, and she went for Lizzie instead, while Nike frantically dragged her bond out of the water and tossed him onto her back.

But now Lizzie had disappeared again, and Gregor was frantically calling her name. Just when he thought she would never resurface again, Aurora dove, submerging her entire body in the water. And then came those ten deadly seconds, the seconds in which Gregor was afraid he would have to explain two deaths when they got back, if they ever did. But then there was a flash of gold fur just below the surface of the water, and Theia, and Nyx automatically dipped down and lifted a sodden Aurora, who was barely clinging onto consciousness, out of the rapids. And in her claws was Lizzie, unconscious, but otherwise unharmed.

Hera flew over to them, and Gregor took his sister's limp body in his arms. Theia and Nyx flew Aurora over to the wildly jerking boat that Ripred was in, and the bat immediately began to cough up a whole lot of water. But now what were they going to do about the boat?

"The ropes!" Perdita cried, and just as they had done on the Prophecy of Bane trip, Nike, Theia, and Nyx, with the first two still carrying riders, grabbed the rope loops on the boat and lifted it as far into the air as they could manage. Howard and Perdita tumbled into the boat beside Aurora and Ripred, so their fliers would not have to worry about their riders. Hera flew up beside them, since she was carrying four riders and wouldn't have been able to lift the boat with them on her back.

It only took about ten minutes of flying to get out of reach of the rapids, and the fliers gently lowered the boat into the water. Perdita didn't bother to move, she looked exhausted. But Howard, still drenched, rushed over to Aurora and pumped the bat's beautiful golden chest to try and steady her breathing.

"Is she okay?" Gregor asked fearfully, knowing he owed the flier so much for saving his sister.

"She has torn her wing on a rock below the surface." Howard exhibited Aurora's left wing to them, revealing a long gash, which was quickly spreading crimson over her beautiful fur. "She will be okay, though. I must stitch her up."

"Well, you can't do it here." Ripred insisted. "And you're pretty bashed up yourself. Come on, there's a beach over there. We've had enough excitement for one day."

Theia and Nyx reached for the boat's ropes and pulled it along to the beach the rat had spotted. Howard immediately grabbed his medical kit, which thankfully had survived the rapids, and quickly began to stitch Aurora up. Ripred inspected the remaining packs.

"We lost the food." He reported solemnly.

"We can fish." Nike said.

"Anything else?" Nyx asked.

"One water pack, but that's nothing. We're surrounded by water."

"Good." Perdita nodded. "We will get by."

Howard finished up with Aurora and came over to Gregor, who was still holding Lizzie. "Does she breathe normally?" he asked. Gregor felt his sister's chest and nodded. Though the girl was still unconscious, her breathing was still even, and her chest was still rising and falling, proving that she still had light.

They had been lucky this time.