The flight over the river had been swift, just as Hazard had said. The rushing water made conversation difficult so the five of them spent the short trip in silence. Every once in a while Gregor would look down the water rushing below them, but he had never been the strongest swimmer and after seeing a piece of debris smashed to pieces on the banks, he decided it would be best to look away. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to look at at the present time. There immediate area was lit by the lanterns they had attached to their packs, and the reflection off the water gave a bit more light, but that was about it. So Gregor ended up taking a few more glances at Luxa's back than he would have wanted to. He wasn't trying to be weird or anything, and he definitely wasn't 'in love' with her or even ready to forgive her for how she had treated him when he first arrived, but her simple touch had sent his brain haywire. Every so often he would catch himself noticing the way the light reflected off her silver hair, or how she seemed taller than he remembered, and he would mentally scold himself. The problem was there weren't many other options and somehow his eyes would drift back to where they started.

Before long the bats began drifting to the left bank of the river. Gregor strained his eyes to try and see ahead of them, but the lights gave away nothing. Just as he was settling back down, figuring they must still have a ways to go, they were thrown into the light. Gregor was sure he had gone blind or gone to Heaven or something; this was the most light he had seen in days, the most he had ever seen in the Underland. He blinked his eyes rapidly, but there were stars behind his eyelids and he couldn't make them go away. The bats were landing by the time his eyes finally began to re adjust, and looking around he could tell the others were having a worse time than him.

It took only a few seconds for Gregor to get his bearings back. Once he did, he realized it really wasn't as bright as he first believed. more like a cloudy day, where you can tell the sun is there it's just diluted by the clouds. The shock had been more like going outside after being indoors with the blinds drawn all day; it had hurt his eyes and given him a brief headache, but it was far from actually bright. Yet, looking around at the others, he realized they might have a slightly different definition of the word.

Gregor slid off the bat and glanced around at the group. Hazard had shoved his palms against his eyes to block out the light. Howard had his arm thrown across his eyes and was biting his lip. Carter had his eyes squeezed shut, fists clenched, and was muttering what sounded like curses under his breath. Gregor looked over to Aurora and was somehow not surprised that Luxa had made it further than the others. She alone of the Underlanders had managed to get off her bat. That, however, was the furthest she got before burying her face into her bat's thick fur. Some long buried instinct made him take a step in her direction, but he soon thought better of it and turned to Hazard.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, patting the halflander's knee.

"Swell," he answered, but his voice was smaller than normal and Gregor knew he must be in at least a bit of pain.

"Deep breaths, okay, kiddo? It'll feel better in a minute." Gregor kept his voice low and calm. The words came naturally to him after years of calming Lizzie down after her anxiety attacks. Even as he said the words Hazard was already beginning to peak between his fingers, the first of the group. Gregor supposed it might have something to do with having an Overlander mother. His eyes were probably better equipped to deal with the light.

However, the others were not far behind. Howard, his eyes still closed was feeling his way off his bat. Carter had stopped cursing, and Luxa was opening her eyes fleetingly every few seconds.

Gregor took the time to look at the landscape around them. They were close to the water they had just been over. They had settled on a small open meadow between the grasslands in front of them and the rushing river behind. Gregor assumed the light was just as painful for the bats as the Underlanders and that they had wanted to make a speedy descent. The light was coming from the direction of the grassland. It looked like fields you see in kids books, ongoing and endless, but instead of the neat rows of plants, these fields were wild, no particular order to their growth. They were beautiful in way. Wild flowers, purple, white, red, mixed together with the golden grass. Looking out, there were slight hills on the horizon, each one covered with the plants. Gregor squinted at the horizon. From that angle, hills in the distance, it almost looked like a sunset. He glanced up, and was shocked at the endless dark void that still filled the space above them. For some reason he had almost expected to see a sky. He glanced back down. He blackness above them meeting the fields that seemed to glow with light. But how? He took a step closer to the plants. They were glowing. The light that lit the space was eminating out of the plants.

Gregor's mouth was still open in surprise when he noticed a presence beside him. Looking to his right was Howard, palm pressed against his forehead. "Welcome to the fields of Persephone, Overlander."