Abigail sat staring at the gem Justin had given her, on a makeshift little sofa the rats had furnished their new living space with. Willy and Michelle sat beside her. They were alone for the moment; Russell went to find something to eat, while Gadget, Dale and Edgar had gone on a tour of Thorn Valley. Willy stayed behind to nurse his injuries. Naturally Abigail stayed with him. And also naturally, Michelle wanted to stay with Abigail. So, they were having a nice day in. Though their room amounted to essentially a more comfortable prison cell.
"That sure is a pretty necklace," said Michelle as she looked at the gemstone too, leaning against Abigail, "Why'd Justin give that to you?"
"I wouldn't mind knowing that either," Willy said, raising an eyebrow.
"I guess he thought I was special somehow," Abigail said, staring at her reflection in the jewel, "It's supposed to help us when we really need it."
"Like magic or something?" Michelle asked.
"I guess so…"
"Uncle Cornelius said there is no magic," Michelle said, "There's only science that hasn't been explained yet."
"He did say that," Abigail replied, "Maybe there's some kind of science to this thing. I don't know. I mean, Justin and the other rats are supposed to be a lot smarter than we are, maybe we should just take their word for it."
"I think he just likes you," Willy said, folding his arms.
"Ha! Come on, he's gotta be twenty years older than me," Abigail said, elbowing him in the side with a giggle.
"I need to look for an even prettier gem to give you now," Willy said, rubbing his side where he'd been elbowed, "Can't have some charmer come out of nowhere wooing you with gifts."
"I'm not into gems anyway, Willy, and he said I had to give it back later so it isn't a gift. It's funny seeing you all jealous. I suppose it's fine for you to have your little crush on Gadget huh?" Abigail stuck her tongue out at him.
"You've got a crush on Justin so that makes us even," Willy said, sticking his tongue out back and pulling an eyelid down.
"Stop fighting you guys," Michelle said, shaking her finger.
"Ohhh alright," said Abigail, "I'll agree that Gadget must be pretty attractive when you're a boy. As long as you think I look good too."
"I do, trust me," Willy said, holding her hand.
"And even though Justin is charming and handsome, you're handsome too, not to mention more my age, and you've done more for me than I think anybody else ever has," Abigail said, smiling and giving him a peck on the lips. Willy returned the smile and hugged her.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in," said Abigail, turning.
It was then that Teresa Brisby entered, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, I just didn't get to talk much with you guys last night so I thought maybe I'd get to know you better, and maybe hear what happened between you guys and my mom."
"Oh! Well sit down and we'll tell you," said Abigail, "It's no trouble. I'm Abigail, and this is Willy and Michelle."
"Hi," said Willy.
"Hello," Michelle said shyly, hugging onto Abigail.
"Nice to meet you all," she said, "Weren't there more of you?"
"They're out at the moment," Abigail explained, "Getting a tour I guess. Willy got hurt yesterday by that Brutus character so I stayed behind with him, and Michelle didn't want to leave me."
"That's understandable. I'm sorry how you were all treated yesterday. I guess Thorn Valley isn't the most welcoming place."
"Got that right," Willy muttered.
"You'll get used to it," Teresa said, "I never felt like I fit in anywhere else, due to, well…I'm sure Justin told you about it Abigail."
Abigail nodded, "Your father had an injection at NIMH."
Teresa nodded, "Well, I ought to get to know you guys better. So you said this boy's name was Willy? Is he your boyfriend?"
The two of them exchanged glances and blushed lightly, nodding. There was no denying it.
"Aww how adorable," she smiled, "And who's this little cutie? Michelle?"
"She's our friend," said Abigail, "She's been through an awful lot. She's like a little sister to me."
Teresa tilted her head, "What's wrong with her eyes? Why does she have glasses?"
"The poison gas made me have bad eyesight and asthma," said Michelle.
"Oh no, poison gas?"
"It's a long story," said Abigail.
"You know, we might be able to help her with that," said Teresa.
"Really?" Michelle asked.
"Dr. Brannigan is the doctor for Thorn Valley, he knows how to fix eyesight. He's done it before. Since his eyes got experimented on at NIMH too."
"Truly?" Michelle asked, bewildered.
"Uh huh! Why don't you let me take you to him and you can tell me about your adventures on the way and in the waiting room. The doctor should be more than happy to help."
"What's he gonna do to my eyes to make them better?" Michelle asked.
"He developed this treatment that shoots lights into each eye and reshapes it to work right," Teresa explained.
"I-is it gonna hurt?" Michelle asked, nervously clinging to Abigail.
"It shouldn't hurt, and it could fix your eyes. Don't you want that?"
Michelle nodded.
"I'll be by her side the whole time," said Abigail, hoping for the best.
If they couldn't give Michelle her parents back, and if things went awry trying to give her Cornelius back, at least maybe they could give back her eyesight. It was worth a try.
Gadget stared at Thorn Valley's underground electrical generator, amazed by its ingenuity. Dale was bored and his legs ached from walking, while Edgar and Zipper were a bit more impressed. It was built within a massive underground cave made by the rats themselves, consisting of a mill wheel beside an underground stream connected to a massive engine constructed of parts from a car battery among other odds and ends. The generator was looked over by three rats, in charge of making sure it worked, though it was fairly automatic anyway.
"Hydroelectric power? Golly!" Gadget exclaimed as she got closer.
"Yes yes, came up with it ourselves," said Mr. Ages, "Justin didn't want us stealing our electricity from the humans anymore. Of course, we're using one of their batteries, but we got it from an abandoned car I'll assure you."
"Back home I used to make mine through solar power." said Gadget.
"Solar power? Like from the sun?"
"Yeah! You just use panels to collect rays of sunlight and convert it into energy."
"Interesting…and you can do this discreetly?" Mr. Ages asked.
"Sure can. I mean, NIMH did find us eventually but we didn't exactly live in the middle of nowhere."
"Right in the middle of a city correct?" Mr. Ages scoffed, "It was bound to have happened some time."
"It was only because an old enemy of ours joined them," Gadget explained, "His name was Dr. Nimnul. We were fine until then. No one noticed the solar panels high up in the leaves."
"This doctor was human?" Mr. Ages asked.
"Yes, he is…he's an awful one at that."
"Direct conflict with a human. I can't say I've ever heard of a rodent surviving something like that."
"We have our ways," Gadget said.
Dale yawned as they walked along the of the power station, "All this technology and you guys don't do anything fun with it?"
"We put it to good use. Our minds have developed beyond the need for mindless entertainment," Mr. Ages said with a sarcastic snort.
"Mindless?!" Dale frowned.
"Yes, mindless. I've heard about those television things humans numb their minds with," Mr. Ages said, "If you ask me humans squander the gift of electricity, which was why I had little problem with our stealing it back when we lived at the farm."
"It still wasn't ours to take, regardless." came a voice from behind.
They turned around, only to see Justin entering the cavern from a doorway.
"You're never one for announcing your entrances are you?" Mr. Ages remarked.
"I was under the impression that I just did," said Justin, "Anyway, I just wanted to converse with some of our new guests for a bit, before attending to other business."
"It's an honor to finally meet you," said Gadget.
"Likewise…" Dale said nervously.
"Thanks for your help so far," said Edgar.
"I've tried, but I know it hasn't been enough," Justin sighed, "The council didn't quite see it the way I did."
"And you know they'll have to stay here forever," Mr. Ages added.
"If I could have just changed one mind, they wouldn't have had to," Justin said, an obvious jab at Mr. Ages.
"Rules are rules, even leaders have to follow them."
"I know you tried your best," said Gadget, "I was just admiring the electricity you have here, and talking about the kind of power I used."
"And what kind is that?" Justin asked.
"I used solar power for my lab. Maybe I can help you guys use it too. You have that big tree at the entrance after all. It'd be perfect."
"Sure, if you can show us how it works," Justin said.
"If I could get the materials I'd be happy to."
"That could be problematic, but we'll see," said Justin, "As you can see we've needed to make use of what we have."
"Our guests will be wonderful, permanent additions to Thorn Valley I'd say," Mr. Ages said, emphasizing that they weren't going anywhere.
"They certainly would be," Justin said as a subtle counter.
Mr. Ages narrowed his gaze, wondering what sort of harebrained scheme Justin was concocting.
"Anyway I would like to apologize for that misunderstanding yesterday," Justin continued, "Brutus certainly jumps the gun sometimes."
"We're all right," said Gadget, "Well, except for Willy, who got pretty roughed up."
"It was a regrettable mishap. I'll be having a talk with Brutus about that later. Speaking of which I would like to invite you all to a private dinner tonight, over which we'll have a discussion of your current living arrangements."
"Oh! Well thank you!" Gadget said.
Justin bowed, "Of course. Now if you'll excuse me, I hate to make my visit so brief but I've business to attend to. We will talk more this evening."
He turned, his cape flowing behind him as he exited the area, followed by two guards.
"Where are you going now, Justin," asked one of them, "The meeting isn't for a while yet."
"Take me to the entrance. I'd like to have a word with Brutus as well."
"Brutus? Right now? What for?"
Justin smiled, "Why, to invite him to dinner of course."
The guard gave Justin a dumbfounded look. Justin was a concoctor of harebrained schemes indeed.