Yay! Some people actually like my story so far! Sweet. Well, I'm going to try and update pretty often. I can't tomorrow though; don't have any time. Oh, and by the way, sorry if Luxa doesn't talk like she normally does, I'll probably miss a lot of the Underland way of talking, but oh well. So here is chapter two!

Chapter Two

Gregor almost missed the note. It was a dark green scroll that was under a corner of the rock. His friends must have put it there, knowing that only he would pay close enough attention to that particular rock to notice it there.

Gregor cautiously walked up to the rock ahead of him, his heart beating a mile a minute. There was a scroll! A note from his friends! He gingerly pulled the dark green parchment out from under the rock and just stared at it for a moment. "Sweet!" he yelled, unable to hide his enthusiasm. Several pedestrians that were passing by turned and stared at him. He turned bright red to the tips of his ears. He decided that this was probably not the best place to read it so he starting to walk quickly back to his apartment.

Gregor's quick walking soon grew to sprinting. His apartment was about a mile and a half away, but it didn't matter to him. He ran through the streets with the warm spring breeze in his face. He didn't mind the fact that the wind only made it hotter out, he was too excited to care. As he was racing down the sidewalks, his hope began to drain, though. He thought what his mother would say about the note. His mother might not let him go down into the Underland. In fact he was pretty sure she wouldn't even let him go near the laundry room. But then… there had to be hope. It was one of the things Vikus, one of his favorite Underlanders had always taught him to keep close. Vikus always had good ideas and morals that he tried to pass to Gregor, he was Luxa's grandfather and the first Underlander Gregor had met that he actually liked when he first fell down the grate so long ago.

Gregor finished climbing the stairs to his apartment. The elevator was broken as usual. He walked, panting, to his door and hesitated for a moment. Finally he pushed it open and walked inside. Gregor's mom, Grace, was in the kitchen washing dishes as he walked by. "How was your day honey?" asked Grace. He said the usual response of "fine," but she didn't miss the smile that he couldn't hide. "Anything special happen today?" she questioned him.

"Nope, just was a good day; no problems with anyone and barely any homework," he said in a rush, running a hand through his thick brown hair nervously. Gregor kept walking, trying to reach his room so he could read the note alone, but was soon stopped by Boots, his three-year-old sister.

"Gregor! Look, I'm a princess!" she squealed, wearing a tiny plastic tiara that his mother must've bought for Boots.

"That's great, Boots, but I gotta go to my room."

"No! Not yet! You have tea party with me, and Temp, and Ares!" Gregor cringed as she said Ares's name. Boots had a little tea party set up on the coffee table in the TV room, with her little plastic toys set up, one of a cockroach, and one of a bat, as Gregor could see.

"Sorry, Boots, but maybe some other ti-," Gregor stopped as he saw Boot's face droop. "Actually, sure Boots. I'd love to have tea with the princess!" Gregor said trying to cheer his little sister up. "I see you got another bat!" he said, thinking of the bat Boot's gave him that he kept under his pillow.

"Yes! Mommy and me went to the toy store and I got more!" Boots cried gleefully.

"That sounds like fun!" Gregor said. He sat there playing tea party with "princess" Boots for about twenty minutes before she let him excuse himself.

Gregor entered his room and closed the door behind him. He carefully took the scroll out of his pocket and read it to himself.

Dear Gregor,

If you receive this, then that means that you are still here, and have not moved to Virginia. How fare you in the Overland? There are no words to describe how much I have missed you, but things have still been well down here when you left. There has been peace for most of the species down here. Very few rebel outbreaks have happened. I hate to inform you, but it appears that you are needed down here once more. There was a hidden prophecy in the room and we believe that "The Prophecy of Loss" is upon us. Please place a letter to respond to this tomorrow at the same place you found this scroll, about when you would be ready to come down if you are able to.

Love,

Luxa

Luxa—just reading her name sent Gregor's heart ablaze. Of course, he wanted to go back down, more than anything else in the world, actually. But there was one problem. He could never get his mom to let him go back down. He sat there and thought for a while. He decided that he would at least right back to her. Gregor started searching through his house for a pen and some paper everywhere. He finally found a pen in one of the kitchen drawers, but he couldn't find paper. He got impatient and took a school book out of his backpack. It was his pre-algebra book, perfect he hated that class. He took some pages in the front that were blank in the back and tore them out. His teacher was gonna flip when he found out that Gregor ripped pages out of the book, but he didn't care. He quickly got to work writing a letter back to Luxa.

Dear Luxa,

Yeah, I'm glad to say that we haven't moved. Everything is going fine up here. I miss all you guys a whole lot. I'm glad to hear that everything has been pretty peaceful after I left. I would love to come down and visit you guys more than anything, even if it means I have to fulfill another prophecy while I'm down there, but there is one problem. My mom would never let me go down there, and even if I snuck down, she would for sure make we move to Virginia when I got back. I'm sorry, I would do anything to see you all again, but I need a way to convince my mom.

Love,

Gregor

Gregor went through the rest of the day in a daze. The Underland was on his mind. His parents noticed how he was acting and asked if he was ok, but he just replied that he was tired and didn't get a good night sleep the night before.

Before Gregor knew it, it was bedtime. He lay in his bed, wide awake for awhile. After about fifteen minutes, sleep finally overtook him with thoughts of Luxa and all his other friends on his mind.

The next day on the way to school, Gregor tucked his letter under a corner of the roc. He hadn't told anyone about the letter he had received, knowing that his mom would freak out, Lizzie would go crazy excited ranting on about seeing Ripred, and Boots would go insane about Temp. His dad actually might have been ok with it, and probably just as excited as Gregor, but Gregor knew that his mom would find out some how if he told his father. He wished he could convince his mom to let him go down, even just to see his friends once in a while, but there was no chance of that, especially with the fact that there was a prophecy. But Gregor kept Vikus's lesson about always having hope in his mind. He knew there had to be a way.

Sorry, kind of a lame ending to this chapter, but in the next couple of chapters I'll write the prophecy! Yay! It probably won't be that good though, but whatever. Thank you, everyone who has reviewed! I've tried to take your advice. I won't post another chapter for a couple days probably because I'll be super busy tomorrow. And yes there have been lots of changes thanks to ILikeAres betaing skills. She helps my stories so much so worship her. Worship her!