Gregor knocked on Mrs. Cormaci's door; she had called him halfway through the trip that she was at home now, because she didn't have any extreme need to be in the hospital. They had sent her home with a nurse just in case something happened.

"Mrs. Cormaci? It's me, Gregor. Lizzie and Boots are here too. Mrs. Cormaci?" Gregor continued to knock and with no answer turned the door knob to make sure everything was okay.

The door opened wide, revealing the apartment. Random stuff littered the floor, chairs were turned over, and doors were ripped off the hinges. Pictures were ripped to shreds, the frames broken in half. Boxes were upside down, their contents strewn across the floor. Vases were shattered and so were some plates. The place looked as though a couple of thieves had come through, but still, where was Mrs. Cormaci?

Gregor and Lizzie ran through each of the rooms, lifting up turned over furniture and looking in closets for the old woman and her nurse.

"Nothing-here" Lizzie called on the verge of another anxiety attack. She was really worried, not as much as Gregor, but she still had genuinely cared for the women who had gotten them through many hard times in New York. If wasn't for her, who knew what would have happened to them during all that business with the Underland. She had taken care of her Father when all of them but him had gone to help the Underlanders and had taken care of her mother when their grandmother passed.

Boots was looking at the apartment from the door frame still. She wasn't scared to go in, she just was nervous about whether or not the thieves were still there. She thought about it and figured that if nobody had found anything after twenty minutes, nobody was probably there. Boots took a tentative step in the apartment and looked at all the garbage on the floor amongst all of it was a small piece of paper with horrible hand writing on it. It said:

Warrior, to get back your precious

Mrs. Cormaci, come back to the

Underland and meet us.

-The Rats

"Gregor? I found something!" Boots shouted. It sounded like a whole bunch of gibberish, but something at the back of her mind told her it was important. Though she couldn't quite place it, she knew she had the word Underland before.

"What is it?" Gregor asked running into the room.

"Here," She said, handing him the tiny slip of paper.

He swore under his breath because he didn't want Boots to hear. Great, he thought, if I go back there, I may never want to leave. And what if this is some sort of trap? What if I die or something happens else happens? What if Luxa hasmoved on?

"What's going on?" Lizzie asked.

Gregor didn't know whether to tell her or not and what if she had another, really intense, panic attack and Boots freaked out. She didn't like it when Lizzie had attacks. Gregor also didn't want to take Boots with him, but he knew Lizzie would want to go and he couldn't leave Boots by herself in case they were gone for days.

Gregor didn't need to tell Lizzie anything though; the look on his face said it all. But he needn't have worried, because Lizzie had wanting to go back ever since they had moved away. She had searched in vain in Virginia for another passage. She hadn't ever seen Regalia other than when she went down her first and last time, and the city had been at war then. She also missed Ripred and had missed the few times they had talked. So, overall, she was overjoyed by the fact that they would be going back. She knew they would have all gone back anyway, so they at least had a good reason now.

"The Underland?" She said quietly.

Gregor nodded his head, surprised she had said so calmly and still wasn't freaking out. She was the one who said she hadn't wanted to go to Virginia, maybe she misses Ripred.

"Central Park or the Laundry Room?" He asked.

"What are you talking about Gregor? Now is not the time to be thinking about Laundry and walks in the park! Your friend is missing and all you're doing is nothing." Boots looked a mixture of confused and angry.

"I'll explain later Boots! Chill!" Gregor hated being so harsh to his little sister, but she was still that, little. He didn't want to explain about all the prophecies, adventures, and near death experiences now. He wasn't sure if he wanted too. Perhaps he could just say that this would be her first time, even though that was the biggest lie ever. Maybe he would just have Dulcet explain everything when they got to the Regailian Palace, because that's where he decided to go first. He would need a weapon and they had them.

"The Laundry room," Lizzie said, "It's safer since you don't have a flier anymore…" She trailed off feeling Guilty for mentioning Ares, Gregor's old bond who was killed when he and Gregor killed the Bane.

"Okay, let's go." Gregor willed his legs to move, but they stayed in the same spot because as excited as he was that he would be seeing his friends again after four years, he was also scared about seeing his friends after four years. He didn't know whether it would be the same or not. Hazard would be eleven like Lizzie; Vikus would be old if he had survived the stroke; Luxa could have a boyfriend; Howard could be, would be a real doctor; who knows what would have happened to Mareth, Perditta, Dulcet. For all Gregor knew, the whole city could be gone or taken over by Rats or died from the Warmblood virus. He knew he would just have to take his chances though.

"Gregor, where are we going? Gregor?" Boots was getting more confused. She had already concluded that he and Lizzie had already been to this Underland place, but what about her? And what was this Underland? And who were the Rats; a gang, a secret society, a group of terrorists? And why was her brother frozen in place when they were getting ready to go to this mysterious place? So many questions were on her mind right now, she had trouble thinking about each one individually.

Gregor took a deep breath and stepped into the hallway.

"The Underland, Boots. We're going to the Underland." And with that he strode to the stairs and started to descend.