CHAPTER ONE
Thalia rubbed her eyes, then slowly opened them. She smelt eggs cooking and heard sizzling bacon. Mrs. Cormaci was here. Thalia got out of bed and ran to the kitchen.
"Well hello dear! Your father had to go to work. I'm making some breakfast, so sit down."
Thalia sat down at the small kitchen table. As promised, a few moments later, Mrs. Cormaci set down a loaded plate of eggs and bacon in front of her, then sat down with her own plate. As they ate, Mrs. Cormaci made some small talk, commenting about the weather and such. After finishing her breakfast, Thalia stood up and went to the only mirror in their house. She looked at her reflection. Violet eyes stared back at her, brown hair with underlying silver streaks, and pale skin. She wasn't a normal child. As Mrs. Cormaci joked, she "looked like she crawled out of the Underland". Thalia understood that the Underland was a fictional place her father made up. What confused her were the knowing looks her father and Mrs. Cormaci exchanged, the scars on her dad's skin and the long "business trips" he went on.
"Come on dear, you should get ready," Mrs. Cormaci yelled from the kitchen.
Thalia sighed. Maybe one day her dad would tell her everything. For now, she just had to wait.
Thalia pulled her sweater tighter around her as a cold gust of wind nearly knocked her over. She was walking through the park to "get some exercise" while Mrs. Cormaci did some stuff around the apartment. Her dad had told Mrs. Cormaci that she didn't need to do what she did for them, but Mrs. Cormaci just kept coming back.
"Besides," Mrs. Cormaci had said. "Who would take care of Thalia?" Her dad stopped protesting Mrs. Cormaci's help after that.
Thalia kicked a rock. She was 13, but they were treating her like a baby! "Thanks a lot dad," She grumbled.
"Hey, don't complain. I never met my pop, much less be protected by him." A mocking voice came out of the shadows of the trees.
Thalia spun around. "Who's there?" She pulled out the pocket knife her dad had given her.
"Oh, a pocket knife! I'm so scared!" The voice came again, this time from behind her.
Thalia whipped around.
"Hey kid. You ever heard of the Underland?" A new voice, higher pitched, but definitely still male, asked.
"Actually, yes." Thalia was surprised that she had the courage to speak up. "The Underland is a fictional place my dad made up."
This seemed to send the mystery voices into a frenzy of laughing.
"So the warrior tells his little princess that it's all fake?"
"She should know the truth!"
"What do you mean?" Thalia shouted. "Tell me what you mean!"
"Oh, we won't just tell you. We'll show you."
Thalia let out a gasp as two huge rats stepped out of the shadows. One was slightly larger than the other, and had several scars all over it's body. The smaller one had about half of his right ear ripped off. Both human sized rodents had small black beady eyes, long tails, and deadly claws. Thalia began to back away, but quicker than quick, the smaller rat darted behind her so she couldn't run.
"Wh-what are you?"
"Isn't it obvious?" The larger rat stared at her with it's beady eyes. "We are gnawers. Better known as rats in the Overland."
"How are you so big?" Thalia asked, half curious and half scared out of her mind.
"It's just how big we are in the Underland." The smaller one said nonchalantly, like it was no big deal.
"But the Underland is just a myth!" Thalia yelled with a sudden burst of anger.
"As I said, I think the best way is to show you, princess." Suddenly, the rats lunged. Thalia tried to dodge, but the rats grabbed her. Thalia let out a scream that made the rats flinch. Suddenly, she was falling down a very, very long hole in the ground.
