CROOK

Chapter 7

Casimir blinked his eyes until he has woken to breathing on his face. He sees Aramis' face in front of his face than does a disgusted look. "Good morning sleepyhead!" Aramis said. Casimir screeched and threw Aramis on the ground. "Yikes talk about wrong side of the bed!" Aramis groaned rubbing his forehead. "You didn't have to wake me up like that!" Casimir said blushing in embarrassment. "Aww man I said I was going to be your alarm did I not?" Aramis snickered. That's when Mae woke up to Casimir and Aramis facing each other.

Casimir felt Mae fur collide with his which got his attention. "Good morning Mae." He muttered. "Good morning sleepyhead number 2!" Aramis said after. "Good morning to you both." Mae said yawning. She jumped out of bed to stretch. Casimir got out of bed and went into another room. He searched through his cabinets twitching his nose vigorously. "Well whenever you guys are ready to leave I'll be outside." Aramis said leaving the home. Bobo awoke from his slumber and bowed to Mae.

She returned him with a smile and nudged his head. "Good morning Bobo!" She said gleefully. Casimir came out the room he was in with 2 pieces of white clumps in each of his paws.

"Cheese?" Casimir said holding it out to her. Mae looked at the object sniffing it taking it from Casimir. The aroma of the cheese stung her nose but smell so delicious to her. They ate cheese at the castle but only on special occasions and dinners since how rare it was to have normally. Casimir eyes Mae waiting for her to take a bite. Mae grabbed one of the pieces and put it in her mouth. She chewed slowly and softly moaned in delight. That's when Mae wondered.

Why wasn't there much cheese at their home. The delicacy did not seem common there but many bakers had something called cheesecake. Mae hopped out the house with the taste of cheese still in her mouth. "Alllll righty then let's get going." Aramis said bounding off. Bobo was standing in the entrance of the house. "Clean up the house for me little bud!" Casimir called out from the outside. Then Casimir and Cedar followed behind Aramis at the same pace. Again here they were. Dodging human feet and strollers once more. Mae couldn't really keep up to Casimir and Aramis. They were very fast for normal rats but Mae still wore a dress on.

But that didn't stop her she tried to keep up with her pals. Her paws scurried against the pavement floor and her heart was thumping rapidly. Finally Aramis turned to an unfamiliar alley and Casimir followed. Mae did as well making her trip and fall after the speed she was in. "Ouch seems like you had a tough landing." Aramis sniggered. Mae grunted in frustration and stood up. "Oh put a cork in it Aramis." Casimir growled shoving him. Aramis laughed and walked to a huge empty dumpster. He slithered through a crack and disappeared.

Casimir turned to Mae and gave her a confused look. She replied with a sarcastic smile and nudged him in the crack. He went in with Mae behind him the huge dumpster space was great but why wasn't there trash in it.All rusted on the sides with peeling paint and graffiti. "Hey fayre!" Aramis exclaimed standing in front of a black spiked figure. The creature screeched and jumped in fear quickly running behind a small wooden table.

"What did I say about scaring her Aramis!" A cream mouse same color as leonie with a shell necklace barked out. "Aww come on Keokuk she's fun to mess around with." Aramis chuckled. Keokuk rolled his eyes to Mae. His eyes twinkled with wonder and made him pad up to her. "The king's daughter right?" Keokuk asked. "You know my father?" Mae gasped. "I've known you since you were a wee bean." Keokuk said smiling brightly. "Sadly I don't know where you've went." He continued. Mae didn't really remember who he was strange enough. "But enough of all the sadness I'm Keokuk but feel free to call me keo."

Fayre snuck out from her hiding and stood beside Keokuk waiting for Aramis' next trick. She was an odd colored dark red rat with a dark grey streak of spikes on her back down to the top of her tail. "A-And I-i-I'm Fayre." She muttered . "Ahem." Casimir signaled Mae. She was lost in a trance. There were so many questions to ask about these two pair of rats that there's ever been of a rat. "Sorry I have a lot to ask you both." Mae said. "A-ask away I'm always o-o-open for q-q-questions." Fayre said with a soft high pitched voice. "Why don't you look so normal? it's fascinating!" Mae said.

"Well it's because I w-w-was e-e-experimented o-on." Fayre stuttered. It was incoherent what they said due to a stuttering problem they seem to have but she understood. "W-w-what they did to me w-w-was b-b-bad but luckily Keo s-s-saved me." Fayre continued. "Also she's such a baby." Aramis randomly said behind her. Making her jump and hide behind Keokuk. "Buzz off!" Casimir Snapped. Aramis giggled and went off to look around the room. Fayre gulped and continued. "I-i-i Never was always like this. I was a beautiful albino rat with gorgeous r-r-r-red eyes." Mae realized that Annabeth was the same species of rat. They're called albinos.

"Have you heard of someone named Annabeth?" Mae asked. "My s-s-sister is alive? T-t-thank Goodness!" Fayre cheered. So Annabeth and Mae are sisters that lived in a lab. "Is s-s-she okay r-r-right now? The humans did her a-a-and me dirty." Fayre muttered. "Yes she's fine at least I know she did not come to live with us just to destroy us." Mae said. "K-k-keo told me about y-y-your home and said she w-w-would be okay." Fayre said fidgeting with one of her grey spikes. "Yes I was on a mission to free the captive lab rats but humans are too intelligent for a rodent like me. I saw Fayre and Annabeth first so I let her be my target. A human with a coat was carrying them then some stuff happens and we escape but Annabeth was left behind. I tried to take Fayre back home however.." Keokuk explained

"Solarlandia was deserted I couldn't find you all so we hid in the old castle area in here. You were just being nursed Mae and your sister was much older you didn't know me well." He continued. Mae was puzzled why would they migrate they seem like they were just fine on the surface. Then clapping erupted from the walls of the dumpster. Everyone turned to look at Aramis. "Wow what a tragic story. Could be better and interesting hehehe." Aramis spoke in sarcasm . Keokuk shook his fist at him and growled. "Keokuk we live down in the sewers now." Mae said. "Is that so? Do you know the reason for your migration?" Keokuk asked.

"I'm not sure my father and sister refuse to tell me." Mae shrugged. Keokuk nodded in understanding. "How about my sister leonie? I can't dare to leave her alone she can get clingy to people really quick and I'd hate to see her upset" Keokuk muttered. "I'm sure she's okay." Mae reassured. Casimir chased Aramis as Fayre was telling them in a small voice to stop beside their conversation. "There's a new prophecy that was just sent to Ozias. About the humans coming into the sewers to do an extermination. We need to destroy their supplies before they arrive. We don't really know where it is." Mae said. "In the lab they keep restocking extermination supplies. It will be a dangerous task so I will come with you." Keokuk avowed.

"I'll come too...BLEH!" Aramis croaked. He was being choked under Casimir's paws. "You aren't going anywhere you brat!" Casimir squeaked. "Oh p-p-please put him down you'll hurt him." Fayre murmured. "Alright guys we have an idea!" Mae yelled out. Casimir quickly put down Aramis to listen. "We have to go to the lab to destroy the supplies!" Casimir gave Mae a confused look and Aramis bit his lip. "N-n-no I'm n-n-not going b-b-back there." Fayre stuttered palpating in fear. "Come on Fayre you gotta face your fears." Mae encouraged. "Yeah forget your past." Casimir joined. Fayre's heart beat quickly as she scooted into a lonely corner.

"I-i-I can't t-t-they hurt m-m-me they are bad p-p-people." Fayre said almost looked like she was about to faint from quivering hard. She kept breathing heavily her eyes staring blankly at Mae in fear. Keokuk walked up to her and followed her gaze. "Fay each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it." Fayre wasn't sure of the meaning but she declined once again. She kept shivering vigorously. "H-h-he's right but I-i r-r-rather s-s-stay h-h-home I rather b-b-be safe." Fayre said.

Fayre was afraid to go who knows what kind of bad stuff has happened to her that the others didn't know. Keokuk understood and ordered Aramis to stay with her while Casimir,Mae, and him could go. Of course Aramis whined he didn't want to. "You are staying here now!" Casimir snapped. Aramis flinched and scooted over to Fayre. "You can count on me I guess. Man this is gonna be soooooo boringgggg." Aramis groaned in annoyance. Fayre shook her head no to Keokuk and pleaded for him to choose someone else. "You're going to be fine Fay if anything happens just yell as loud as you can." Aramis chuckled mockingly. Fayre puffed her cheeks in anger.

Mae smiled what Keokuk said was very inspirational and made her feel strong minded. She knew she was going to succeed her mission to destroy the supplies not because she had the swiftness like a rat should have but she also had the one thing special. She had her friends with her alongside her.