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"Oh, good!" said Gregor Maybe they had so "Hang in there, okay, Vikus?"

"Yes Fly you high, Gregor the Overlander," said Vikus

"Fly you high," said Gregor

"See you soon!" Boots said as they took off, but there was no response from the dock Last time, he had been horrified to think that they would ever return Noith Luxa and the others on his mind, he felt reluctant to leave

"You let me know!" he called to them, but if anyone answered, he couldn't hear them Ares carried theh the tunnels, and back to the foot of the steep staircase that led to Central Park He cli to be okay?" he asked Ares

"As well as you," said Ares "Fly you high, Gregor the Overlander"

Gregor lifted his hand to grasp Ares's extended claw "Fly you high, Ares the Flier"

Ares took off into the dark of the tunnel, and Gregor and Boots headed up the stairs

It took a little while to or was able to wiggle it loose It was night The park was eht shone down on the foot of snow that covered the ground It was beautiful

"Sedding? We go sedding?" asked Boots

"Not now, Boots," said Gregor "Maybe another time" If he could find another park with a hill He'd never bring her back here

They caught a taxi New York City was ablaze with Christhts "Do you know the date today?" he asked the driver, who tapped on a cheap block calendar on the dashboard December 23 They hadn't missed it They would all be home for Christmas And that idea, which had been so impossible a few hours before, made hiled up under his arht now they were so alike that the entire Underland could misinterpret the prophecy and mistake therew up in a year or so? Would it become the monster predicted in the prophecy, or an entirely different creature? He hoped Ripred would do a good job raising it

Although even if Ripred did all the right things, it reat, and here he was, a rager He was going to have to be very, very careful not to get into any fights now that he was home He wished he'd talked to Ripred o down there --" Gregor thought, and a jolt went through him Because he suddenly knew there would be a next time He was too tied up in the Underland now, there was tooLuxa and Aurora and Te Ares; helping the friends who had helped hior paid the driver froiven him

The elevator was out of order, so he hauled Boots up the stairs They cah the front door and ht them in his arms Inhi fro at him, but he must have looked whipped, because his or, you need to go to bed, baby?" And that was exactly what he needed

The nexthe told the whole story He softened some of the bad parts, because everybody looked so scared "But it's okay Boots wasn't the baby It was the Bane So there's no reason the rats would want her now," said Gregor

"I not baby I big girl," said Boots, as sitting on her dad's lap, lining up little plastic ani the arm of the couch "I ride bat I swim Temp seepy I tell flutterfly tiny, tiny toes"

"And what about you, Gregor?" said his mother

"Well, I had my chance to kill the Bane and I didn't do it, so I don't think the rats will coht "Oh, hey, look what I brought for Mrs Cormaci It's a clock She's been so nice and all, and you kno she loves all those old clocks --"

Gregor pulled open the pack, and a cloud of money floated out Confused, he eht But Vikus had ordered them to pack it in hter now, because there were literally thousands of dollars in cash on the sofa

"Oh,to do with all that?"

"We're going to pay off the bills," histo have Christmas"

And they did They had to rush around like crazy to pull it together, ith Christor, Lizzie, and their randma and Boots watched Christmas specials on TV, while his dad cleaned up Mrs Cormaci's cuckoo clock

Even after the money had been set aside for the bills, there was plenty for Christmas First they took the old roceries For a feeeks, anyway, Gregor would not have to feel tense when he opened the kitchen cabinets Then the guy on the corner who sold trees gave them one half-price, since he was about done for the season, anyway Lizzie stayed hoor and hishisthat was a surprise since she wouldn't let hiiant rat is going to cohty-sixth Street," he said "There's a million people out"

"You just stay where I can see you," she answered

He finallyeverybody socks

That evening, when Mrs Coror answered the door

"So, you're finally up and around, Mister," she said

At first Gregor didn't knohat she was talking about; then he remembered he was supposed to have had the flu "Yeah, that pretty much wiped me out"

"You're thin as a rail," Mrs Coror wished he had a picture of her face when she opened the clock He could tell it blew her away "Oh, et this?"

There was a pause

"In one of those places that has old things," said Lizzie

"An antique shop?" said Mrs Cormaci

"Oh, no, just a secondhand place," said his dad In a way, it was true

When she left, Gregor carried the clock ho in the next day and tickets she'd gotten for so at Gregor's feet

Gregor looked down The boots were a mess Badly scarred from Ares's claws, streaked with blood and squid slime, one toe bent in Before he could think up a story, she spoke

"Well, looks like you're getting a lot of use out of those," she said

Gregor didn't answer He couldn't lie to her again; she had been too good to the to realize you can trust or," she said

"I do trust you, Mrs Cormaci," he mumbled

"Do you? Flu Hmph," she said "I'll see you next Saturday" She shook her head and closed the door

The tree was decorated, the fridge was packed, the stockings were hung, everyone was in bed except Gregor and hispresents in his room When they were down to the last few, he left her to finish while he tiptoed in to tidy up the living roo peacefully on the pulled-out sofa --maybe that medicine would help after all Their coats were in a pile on the floor where Lizzie had dus by the door As he gathered them up, the cell phone fell out of his coat pocket He stuffed it back in and felt so the bottoiven him It had been there all day, but he hadn't noticed it What had she said? He was supposed to reflect on it? He wasn't sure what she'd or unrolled the scroll and held it in the Christ with the prophecy It took him a moment to realize it ritten backwards He traced the title fro the words "The Prophecy of Bane" -- no wait! The last asn't "Bane" It was "Blood"

He released the top of the scroll and let it snap shut as hispile of presents

"You ready for this?" she said

Gregor slipped the scroll in his back pocket and held out his arms "Sure," he said "Ready as I'll ever be"