"When something bad happens, you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you." -Unknown

As we moved deeper into the jungle, the small path worn down by the mice disappeared quickly and the thick vines got so close together they almost touched. I was the only one strong enough, so I moved ahead of Frill to pull them apart long enough for her to pass through since she had her hands (claws?) full carrying two slightly drugged fliers.

Luxa passed under right after before I had a chance to let them go and it almost made me laugh. Once a royal, always a royal, I suppose. It didn't bother me though. To me, it was the old Luxa coming back that I had been missing for the last few months. All her little quirks seemed cocky or annoying before, but without them to frustrate me on a daily basis, I ended up missing them. Don't worry, it didn't really make sense to me, either.

Not long into the trek, I lost the other quest members, even though they were not even two feet in front or behind me at any given time. Hamnet quickly assigned us numbers and had us count off often. I always held my breath right before Boots's number, nine, came up until she happily cried out "Nine!". Temp was ten, and he often forgot that it came after nine, but she didn't miss a beat encouraging him to say his number. I felt for him because crawlers were not good at mathematics, even simple counting or addition. For example, when he 'negotiated' with Luxa to buy my sister when she first fell to the Underland and got the numbers mixed up.

After pulling the latest vines apart for Frill, I noticed Luxa had appeared out of the fray. She needed to walk nearly on top of me to stay within eyesight. "How's Aurora doing?" I asked as an icebreaker when she didn't offer anything but clearly wanted to talk.

"She is much better, although she does still have some pain." She paused and leaned in a little further. "Who is that boy, the one who speaks to the hisser?"

I glanced back and for a moment, I was able to see Hazard walking next to Hamnet behind Frill. The man was listening patiently to whatever the pre teen was saying. I thought it was pretty obvious, but maybe she didn't want to admit it. "Hament's son, Hazard." I paused and thought about it for a second. "Your cousin, I guess."

She continued looking over my shoulder at the halflander, confused. "He has green eyes, dark hair. How is that possible?"

I sighed, feeling like a family mediator between two relatives that didn't want to talk to each other but still needed to know what the other wanted for dinner. "His mom was an Overlander that Hamnet met out here. He hasn't talked about it much."

Luxa stared at the vines as I moved them, eyes slightly narrowed with a deep frown like she wasn't sure how she wanted to deal with that snippet of information. I realized maybe she was probably conflicted about having another cousin, especially one she hadn't had personal experience with. Her current score was one traitor and one crazy psychic, plus the narcissist and a conflicted love hate relationship. One bad, one good, and two questionable. That's a twenty-five percent chance of success.

"He's a good one," I said quietly, bumping her shoulder to knock her out of her own head. "Like Nerissa, or Howard."

She gave me a small nod of appreciation. "So it is true? Nerissa is queen now?"

"Yeah. I guess she was old enough and the council thought it'd be a good idea to keep the citizens calm." I scratched the back of my neck, trying not to look at her. "There are plenty that thought it wasn't the best idea, though."

A few beats of silence passed as we climbed over vines. "How fares Nerissa?" I noticed right away her tone was concerned, protective, and it made me smile. "Have they been dreadful to her?"

I almost laughed. "I think she's hanging in there as much as she struggles. She took one out of your book before we left. Stood up to Ripred and the council in the quest meeting, you'd be proud of her."

"I am always proud of Nerissa." Luxa nodded shortly. "Only fools wish to belittle her and it does not affect my judgment of her."

I smiled sideways at her, impressed by her confidence in her somewhat off kilter relative. I came to love Nerissa in the short time Luxa was gone with the time we spent staring into the same mirror, trying to see 'The Prophecy of Blood' and figure it out. Even the silent periods when she came to sit with me in the map room or the few times she found me in the museum and I showed her around, explaining items she questioned.

"I agree. She helped convince everyone Ares and I were innocent of treason after I didn't kill the Bane." I couldn't help but smile at the memory. "She finally figured out what the 'Prophecy of Bane' actually meant. She's great at that stuff."

Luxa glanced away from me and I had a feeling it had to do with my comment about the Bane, she probably thought it was treason too. "She has a similar mind to Sandwich, it is only natural she understands his words." She paused for a breath. "Tell me, Gregor, why is it so good the Bane lives?"

I rolled my neck and decided to start right at the beginning with the serpent attack when she got separated from us. She was emotionless through most of it, keeping her head forward while I told her about tracking the Bane in the Labyrinth, sparing his life and leaving him with Ripred, and the reaction from the Regalians when we got back. Then, of course, Boots making it back to the palace and Temp's heroics. When I started talking about what we did in an attempt to look for her, she cast her eyes to the jungle floor.

Then I got to my actions. Locking myself in the map room, hardly eating, the only contact I got was sitting silently in front of Ares's quarantine cell while he slept because he was too knocked out on painkillers, Serenity dragging me to the kitchen or silent moments with Nerissa. I also told her about ignoring Ares in the process, forcing him into his cave where he contracted the plague until he had to be dragged in for treatment.

I looked sideways at her and Luxa looked...well, guilty. Not that I was mad at her, she didn't get separated from us on purpose; she was doing it to save Boots. Aurora's wing being dislocated and stranding them in the middle of a (nearly) inhabited jungle wasn't anything she could anticipate. I wasn't bitter at her for not trying to leave her bond wounded and alone to get help because I wouldn't have done it either; in just a few short months, I'd rather die in a cavern with Ares than leave him.

I cleared my throat to get her attention, and maybe push down some emotions, to continue from the cure meeting, how we met Hamnet, and the quest through the jungle before we ran into her. "That's when we ran towards the spring, not realizing it was guarded by quicksand until it was too late. Of course, that's where you found us, so I guess you're caught up now. What happened to you and Aurora?"

Luxa adjusted to fully stand shoulder to shoulder with me as the vines started to thin out and the roots weren't as thick or as difficult to step over. I didn't have to move any more vines and there was more head room above me so I could even relax a little. I was able to straighten my posture but still had to crane my ear towards her since Luxa was so much shorter than me.

"When I caught Boots, Aurora dove into the nearest tunnel but it was too low; waves filled the cavern and we could no longer get out." She started, her voice already tight like she clearly didn't want to talk about it, but I sounded exactly the same, so she pushed through. "We floated for hours in chilled water until we reached the Labyrinth. That is where we met up with Twitchtip. She tried to bring us somewhere safe but we were ambushed."

I nodded. "That's when you had Temp run with Boots?"

Luxa confirmed. "Yes. Twitchtip and I fought until she told me to flee. It took us two days time to find our way out of the maze. When we finally got to the jungle, we were attacked by a giant twister. If the nibblers had not found us and given us refuge, neither of us would be alive."

I understood a little better now why she was protective of those little mice. They saved her, but they also cared for her injured bond. They had the former Queen's loyalty for the rest of her life. "Do you know what happened to Twitchtip after you separated?"

"I do not know, Warrior." She sighed heavily and I could tell it bothered her. "She was so weak from her injuries…"

Luxa trailed off from her sentence with a dramatic shake of her head. We both knew it was a long shot for an outcast like her to get any help, and on her own catastrophically injured, there was just no hope. I opened my mouth to respond when I felt the air around us change. I couldn't explain it, but something felt off like we were being watched, but different. Like something or someone was about to attack.

Before I could stop us and warn the others, I noticed something hiding in the vines seconds before it struck. From what I remember of what I could see through the blur of it moving and the fuzziness of my own sight, it was some kind of snake.

In two seconds, I found myself three steps to my right, turned one hundred and eighty degrees. Luxa's wide, frightened eyes stared up at me when she realized what had happened.

I felt it right away, the stinging in my right shoulder and the paralysis that followed. I was stuck where I finished in my move to protect the princess, stuck staring down at her. All I could do was watch as her expression morphed from initial confusion, to fear and worry, then to alertness, looking around to find or fight more assailants; all in about three seconds. I wasn't sure if there were more snakes attacking because I didn't feel any more bites, but I did hear lots of shouting and shuffling around me.

"Gregor?" I could see Luxa calling me but my fuzzed vision from my rager reaction was getting worse, or maybe it was the snake bite, and it was progressively getting even harder to see her. "Gregor?"

My chest was burning with the strain of taking breaths, my eyelids were getting heavier, and my head began to bob as I couldn't maintain muscle control to hold it up anymore. Someone's arms locked under my armpits just as I lost legs. The last thing I saw was a head looming over me, the face shadowed out by the torch light behind them before my eyes finally closed.

A cold, wet cloth ran over my forehead and I slowly came out of unconsciousness. I noticed right away all my muscles burned like the time I ran from one side of Boston to the other in an hour. There was a lot more to that story but I didn't have the brain capacity to fully reminisce the memory.

"Gregor? Are you awake?" A soft voice coaxed me as my eyelids fluttered. It was dimly lit, wherever I was, which made it easier for my less adjusted pupils.

"Wha…" I groaned, clenching them closed again as my stomach lurched into my throat uncomfortably. "What happened?" Before they could answer, I rolled on my side for an agonizing session of dry heaving. Cool hands gripped my shoulder and ribs, gently rolling me towards my back enough to slip some liquid down my throat.

I quickly lost consciousness.

The next time I came to, I felt like someone had moved me. Not just a few feet, but a long distance. I opened my eyes easier this time and even managed to roll my head around, searching for familiar objects. A cold cloth dabbed my forehead a few times, turning my attention to the side it came from. It took my eyes a second to adjust but her silver hair and violet irises were sharp even through my foggy vision. "Luxa?"

Luxa turned for a moment and came back to touch my forehead with the cloth again. "You saved my life, Gregor." She said simply, her face was neutral but her voice had a strain I didn't quite recognize; almost like she was still worried or...I wasn't sure how to explain it, struggling with something, I suppose.

I tried to smile and ease whatever conflict she was experiencing, but my face felt tight and almost numb, so I wouldn't be surprised if it came out a little lopsided. "Always, my Queen."

Luxa let out a small breath and rolled her eyes, trying to hold back a laugh but got serious again most immediately. "It was as if...you sensed it. Before it happened."

I sighed, catching on to what she was asking; I couldn't keep it from her anymore, she was too suspicious. "Twitchtip...she told me I smelled." Luxa's eyebrows frowned and her head jerked back at the strange admission. I swallowed what felt like a heavy load of saliva but I think it was really just my numb throat. "Do you know what a rager is?"

Her reaction was immediate, casting her eyes away from me and glaring at wherever she was getting water from. Was she mad at me? It wasn't my fault that I was born with these abilities; heightened by years of danger and hardship on my own and put to the test during strenuous quests ever since I fell to the Underland. To save her city, no less.

I could see her lips moving as she mumbled, which I had never seen her do before because she always spoke with so much conviction, but if she was going to say something, Ripred cut it off. "Wakey wakey, Warrior." He sang, kicking at my shin with his tail. "Welcome to the Vineyard of Eyes."

So sorry it took an extra week to get this one out. I'll admit it was a difficult chapter to write with all the internal thoughts and kinda boring dialog of explaining.

Plus, I got this crazy cool idea for an original piece that has just been flowing like butter outside in Arizona during the summer. I've been enamored with it.

*Sorry I was going to post this yesterday but I got distracted and forgot :D

Yours,

Artemis.