The Seeker and the Curse of the Warmbloods: A Gregor the Overlander Fanfic

Chapter 21

Previously...

Gregor tried to get Boots up on Temp's back but she was still enamoured with her dance. She would take a couple of steps into the jungle and then say, "'Turn and turn and turn again,'" and run back in the opposite direction.

"No, Boots, that way leads to Regalia," said Gregor.

Back to Regalia where everybody was counting on them.

Gregor scooped up Boots and planted her on Temp's back. "Come on," he said. "The cure's this way."

.

.

.

There was a small path, probably worn by the mice traveling from their nests to the spring, but it quickly became overgrown, and they were just wading their way through the jungle again. It was harder here. The vines grew more thickly so that, in places, they had to separate them with their hands to get through. Then the stems snapped closed behind them. At times, Stella couldn't even see most of her fellow travellers. She stayed right on top of Leo, making sure he didn't get lost in the foliage.

Hamnet assigned each of them a number, one through fourteen, and made them sound off periodically. Boots loved this and never failed to shout out, "Nine!" with great enthusiasm. It was trickier for Temp, who had trouble remembering he was the number ten and also that it followed nine. Stella knew math was not the roaches' strong suit; they had trouble with the simplest addition. Boots, kept jumping in to help Temp. "Temp, say 'Ten'! Temp, say 'Ten!'" she'd cry when he missed his number. Stella hoped this wasn't embarrassing him, but if it were, he didn't show it.

Leo looked like he was getting annoyed saying his number so many times. "Thirteen," he said in boredom. "Thirteen. Why did I even get this number?" He muttered to himself. "It takes effort to say a number with two syllables."

Stella laughed, "Good for you."

"No," said Leo. "Not good for me."

"Whatever," said Stella. "We'll be home soon anyway. And then..." Stella realised that there was more to it. A lot more actually. "And then... we'll have a mountain of homework to go through," she sighed.

Leo groaned, "Ugh! No! Why? Why did you have to remind me?" He sighed. "I'm not looking forward to it."

Stella tried not to focus on what she would have when she would go back; what lay ahead was more important.

"So, Nerissa is queen now?" Stella heard Luxa ask Gregor. Luxa had fallen behind and was right in front of Gregor, who was in front of Stella.

"Yeah, but you'll be queen again when we get back, right?" asked Gregor.

"Oh, yes. I will not be relieved of this crown so easily. How fares Nerissa? Have they been dreadful to her?" asked Luxa.

"She seems to be hanging in there. She stood up to Ripred and everybody in a meeting. You'd have been proud of her," said Gregor.

"I am always proud of Nerissa," said Luxa. "If fools wish to belittle her, it does not affect my judgment of her gifts."

"That goes double for me. You know, she's the only reason Stella, Orion, Ares and I are alive. She's the one who finally figured out what the Prophecy of Bane meant. Why it was good we didn't kill the Bane," said Gregor significantly, looking back at Stella.

"Then tell me, Gregor, Stella, why it is good that the Bane lives?" said Luxa with a sigh.

So Gregor started back at the fight with the sea serpents where they had lost Luxa. He told her about sparing the Bane's life in the Labyrinth, leaving it with Ripred, the angry reaction back in Regalia and how Nerissa had saved Stella's and his life by cracking the prophecy. He told her of Boots's return, and the months he'd spent waiting for word up in New York City.