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The fact that the other code-breakers were also shy seeave them each a polite "hello" as they were introduced They an to come out of their rooms Daedalus fluttered out almost at once, but bats and hued slowly She was an old cockroach, so old in fact that shenoises when she walked, and her shell had a funny grayish tint to it Heronian struggled to her feet, dragged herself up to Lizzie, and gave her a little bow, to which Lizzie gingerly bowed back And finally, Reflex delicately stepped out, greeted her, and scurried back to his web Then Ripred took her over to the tree carved on the wall "This is the Tree of Transo todistances Humans, rats, ether, which was, in itself, an extraordinary achievement It was in one of our rare tih Look at it a moor gave the tree a hard look and this is what he saw:

"It looks like a Christor's first thought But even he could see it an Lizzie hesitantly

"Go on, don't worry about being wrong," said Ripred

"Well, maybe you use these soundsclick, scratch, tapto make letters," said Lizzie "One click is an E, one scratch is an A, and one tap is an I Right?"

"Exactly right," said Ripred "So what if you heard one scratch and then two taps?"

Lizzie followed the tree branches with her finger as she spoke "One scratch takes you up to A, the first tap takes you to the right to D, and the second tap takes you to the right to the letter O" Her eyes lit up "It's sort of like Morse code The e use sounds to send raph With dots and dashes"

"Yes, except Morse code only uses two sounds and we use three sounds How do you know about Morse code?" asked Ripred

"My dad showed me," said Lizzie "Only he didn't have a tree; he had a chart with dashes and dots next to each letter"

"More like this?" asked Ripred, nodding to the floor

For the first tior noticed the chart carved into the floor He stood up to get a better view of it

"Yes, this is like the Morse code chart," said Lizzie "So, it's just another way of showing the Tree of Transain," said Ripred "So tool Of course, the best way to learn it is by hearing it Scratch-scratch-click Tap-tap-scratch Because that's how it's trans the Morse code lesson with his dad, too It had been so but hadn't stuck h, and wanted him to learn it as well so that they could send each otherhe could ever decipher was the SOS distress signal that they used on ships and stuff to call for help Dot-dot-dot-dash-dash-dash-dot-dot-dot SOS It was sent as one string with no gaps to even indicate there were three separate letters SOS She'd really drilled that one into him She had played it on the bedroom wall, tapped it out with her fork at dinner, and even used a flashlight to send it with quick flashes for the dots and longer ones for the dashes Finally Gregor had to cut her off Lizzie would have had theh ho him more

"Well, if you already kno this code thing works, what's the probleor This is just a way to send any e Like if you picked up a phone and talked into it," said Lizzie "And anyone could understand what you were saying"

"You've heard it before Rat claws scratching, tapping, and clicking," said Ripred

Gregor reht in a cave in the Firelands to such sounds Ripred had told hio back to sleep "Like in the cave," he said

"Like in the cave Those es weren't in code The rats didn't believe there was any danger in sending thelish," said Ripred "But noith the war in full swing, everything is in code" The rat pulled one of the strips of white fabric covered in chicken scratch off the table and waved it about "This code! The Code of Claw! The one in 'The Prophecy of Time'! And this is e need Lizzie to help us break!"

Gregor finally understood The clicks, scratches, and taps were not the code They were as sies the rats were sending now ht be a B or a Q or a V, depending on how the Code of Claorked

Lizzie took the strip of fabric and sat down on the ground with it, studying the letters "Is it like a cryptogram? One letter stands for another letter?"

"Not exactly," said Heronian, settling down by Lizzie "We would have broken a regular cryptogra else involved"

"There is some trick to make it more complicated Some sort of substitution," said Daedalus

"Found it not, have we, found it not," said Min, creaking her way over

"But the thing is, we haven'this head in frustration "Oh, now I'ain" He went over and stuck a whole roast chicken in his et the cookies I helpedup froet the cookies you helped or "Where are my cookies?"

"In ht theht et them now?"

"I do I'd better come with you to make sure there are no one to your father," said Ripred He touched Lizzie lightly on the head with the tip of his tail "Will you be all right here now?"

"What?" said Lizzie, pulling her attention from the letters "Oh, I think so"

"Good I'll be back soon," said Ripred

Gregor stopped at the doorway to double-check that Lizzie wasn't going to beco some letter sequence with the others Even Reflex had ventured out to join theether on the floor Freakish, but cozy

Ripred waited until they were out of earshot before he began His voice -- in fact, the whole conversation that followed -- was strangely subdued "Listen, don't fight me on this Let her stay We need her to break the code to save people you have come to love"

"I love her, too She's ," said Gregor "Not like you have to be to survive down here"

"I know," sighed Ripred "I know But Solovet will know she's here by now and have already given orders to prevent her fro while the war is on And after the hat then?"

"Then it's not a probleor came to a standstill as he remembered "The Prophecy of Time"

When the warrior has been killed

He would not be around to take anyone anywhere "I've got to get Lizzie home now, soor muttered more to himself than to Ripred

"You can't No one can But if you let her stay noithout a fight, I swear I'll get all three of them home safely after the war," said Ripred

"No," said Gregor angrily "What kind of deal is that? If the war's over, there's no reason to keep them here, anyway!"

"Think about it, boy If in the war, Solovet will call the shots Do you really believe she plans to let any of them return?" His voice had dropped to a whisper "She has told me otherwise If Solovet has Boots, she has the cockroaches on her side, and if Lizzie is who I think she iswell, she'll be worth her weight in gold as well No, your father will come to find them and your family will essentially be prisoners down here for the rest of their lives Unless I help you"

This was a frightening dior had never even considered: his whole family condeor kneas not only possible, it was likely "How do I know I can trust you?" asked Gregor

"I give you or bitterly

"As a rager," said Ripred "As one rager to another I will get theer's orth, if anything, the horns began to blow Ripred cocked his head and listened to the pattern "The rats have reached the walls to the north The ones that surround the faror could be ordered out there at any ht not coor the Overlander? Do we have a deal?" asked Ripred

There was no choice but to trust hio find yourself some body armor," said Ripred "I'll see you on the field"