Free Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods-3 by Suzanne Collins Page A

choked out Gregor's mother. "We are never returning to Regalia!"

    "Please, Grace, I know this to be very unexpected and distressing —" began Vikus.

    "We're going home! We came to your meeting! That's all you said we had to do! So you tell that bat to take us home now!" said his mother as she pointed wildly at Nike.

    "Who told you this? That you were only expected for the meeting?" asked Vikus with concern.

    "Ripred," said Gregor. "He said we just had to come for a couple of hours. That you didn't need us to find the cure. Then he sent a swarm of rats to scare us out of the apartment."

    Gregor could tell by the look Vikus exchanged with Solovet that this was the first they had heard of any of this.

    "I am afraid he was not forthcoming," said Vikus.

    "What do you mean?" asked Gregor's mom.

    "He means Ripred lied," said Solovet.

    "He may in fact have thought their presence was unnecessary for the —" said Vikus weakly.

    "He lied!" repeated Solovet. "Do not defend him. He knows perfectly well there will be no quest for the cure without the Overlanders! He obviously thought there was no other means of bringing them below. I would have done the same, Vikus, if you would not have."

    Gregor bet she would have, too. Solovet would not have cared what Gregor or his family wanted. Not at Regalia's expense.

    "We will not force them to stay, Solovet!" said Vikus. Gregor had never seen him so angry. "They have been brought here under false pretenses. We will not force them to stay!"

    Gregor's mother clutched Vikus's arm as if it were a lifeline. "You'll send us home now, then? We can leave?"

    "No!" said Solovet.

    "Yes!" said Vikus. "Nike! Prepare to take the Overlanders home!"

    "Guards!" barked Solovet.

    Gregor was bewildered at the power struggle playing out before them. He had never seen Vikus and Solovet fight like this, and it rattled him. Who could actually make this decision?
    What would happen if his family tried to leave? What was he supposed to do?

    "Wait!" Gregor took his mom's hand. "Look, Mom, I've been to see Ares. He's really bad.
    He's dying, Mom. I can't leave him like this. So, how about you take Boots back and I stay and try to help? Okay? You take Boots and Lizzie and Grandma to Virginia. Dad will wait for me to come back up. Then we'll come to Virginia, too."

    "That might be an acceptable compromise," said Vikus, eyeing his wife.

    "We could put it to the council," said Solovet, although she did not sound convinced.

    "I can't leave you down here, Gregor," said his mom. "I'm sorry about your friend. I really am. But I can't leave you here."

    "Look, Mom, I don't think all three of us are going to be allowed out of here," said Gregor. "Please, take Boots and go home." He squeezed her hand tightly. It took him only a few seconds to register that something was wrong.

    His mom was talking back to him now, but the words weren't reaching his brain. He moved his fingers over the skin on the back of her hand. No, he hadn't imagined it. It was there.

    "Gregor, are you listening to me?" pleaded his mom.

    He wasn't. He was trying to make sense of what his fingers were telling him. And trying to wish it away. But he couldn't.

    Gregor slowly lifted his mom's hand into the light of a nearby torch and wiped off the yellow powder. A small red bite was swelling up on her skin.

PART 2: The Jungle

    ***

CHAPTER 10
    His mom stared at her hand and became very still. As the rest of the group saw the bite, all movement and sound stopped. There was not a whisper, not a rustling of a wing or robe.

    Curious, Boots climbed up on a seat to see what everyone was looking at. "You need pink," she said when she saw the bite.

    Gregor knew she meant the pink calamine lotion they put on bug bites in the summer.

    "I need to go home," his mother whispered.

    "We cannot let you," said Vikus with a sad shake of his head. "Not now."

    "If the plague were unleashed in the Overland, it could mean the annihilation of the warmbloods