Coming to the Underland is the most difficult endeavor of Lizzie's eight year old life.

But maybe, what came before was even harder.

Grandma had her heart attack. She fell over in her bed and there was so much fear on her face. It had been in the morning. Boots was gone. Mom was gone. Gregor was gone. So Lizzie was the first to know. She had called Dad, and he had run so fast he could hardly breathe afterwards. And Lizzie? Running too, to fetch Mrs Cormaci, in a stream of non-stop panic. Sirens, an ambulance. Dad had cried in the hospital because he couldn't stay. Dad had cried a lot. And he got sicker, too. Lizzie made food. Lizzie took care of him. Lizzie called the school and made lies about the flu. Lizzie went to meet Mrs Cormaci, who couldn't be two places at once but tried anyway. Lizzie had panic attack after panic attack. Lizie thought, If Gregor could do this, I can too.

But she couldn't.

She can't.

Dad doesn't want her to go. Mrs Cormaci doesn't want her to go. Lizzie doesn't want to go. But she has to. Because she can't keep everything going.

Hermes is there. He's a messenger. She's sent enough messages through him to trust him. With her words. Now it's all of this. He's surprised, but he lets her ride on his back. He's nice.

She's got her backpack packed, all markers and paper bags and light. She won't come unprepared.

She comes unprepared.

She knew there was a war on. She just hadn't thought it would come this close to her. But at the bottom of the shaft they lie in wait.

The rats.

Lizzie has pictured them in her mind before. Large and furry. All muscle. But people, too. Like Ripred.

These want her dead. Snarling, leaping, and they know who she is. The warrior's sister. And she thinks, with terror, Is this how Gregor feels every day? Hermes dives and shouts, "Through the crevice, through the crevice!" He slashes off the eyes of a rat that stands in the way. And Lizzie falls from his back and throws herself through the gap. Her chest heaves, it pounds with fear that she has no breath for. For the first time in her life, she has something tangible to run from. And she does run. When Hermes catches up to her, his orange fur runs red. "Get on, get on, fear not, I have halted them!" he says, and what can she do but obey? Her fingers shake and shake and shake, far too much to reach for her paper bag.

Hermes flies so fast. His wings are torn and bleeding. Lizzie's eyes blur with black and red. All the colors become a murky painting. "You will see your brother, you will see your sister, you will see your mother, you will see them, and you will be safe. Never before have I failed to deliver a message, and neither will I now."

Gregor has told her about the High Hall. It's a cool concept. Hermes goes straight through it and ignores calls directed at him. "Where is the warrior and his sister?" he shouts, and then it's down halls and corridors. She can hear his strained breathing so clearly, but everything else is muted. The blood splatters all the way over the floor. She shouldn't have come. She shouldn't have come.

But she had to. Because it all, it couldn't— couldn't, she couldn't—

—couldn't…

She can't breathe. "Lizzie! Lizzie!" comes Boots' little voice. Her hands on Lizzie. Boots is here. Where's she been for so long? Where has anyone been?

Lizzie is terrified.

But she came.