Gregor upended his backpack, dumping the contents on the ground, and snatched the binoculars. He trained them on the mice and felt his heart start to pound.
"What do you see, boy? What's happening to them?" said Ripred.
Gregor stammered as he tried to describe the nightmare unfolding before his eyes. "I don't know! They can't! They —" The mice were rolling on the ground, pawing at the air, at their necks, their bodies wracked with terrible spasms. "They can't breathe!" he finally burst out. "They're suffocating!" Luxa was screaming like a maniac. Hazard pushed on Ripred's shoulder, trying to move him. "Let her up! Let her up!"
Howard grabbed Hazard and forced the boy's face into his shoulder. "No, Hazard. She cannot go. She cannot help them," he said. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
Now they could hear the desperate screams coming from the pit. Cartesian limped to the cave opening and tried to fling himself into the air, to either catch a current to help the other nibblers or simply kill himself. Gregor didn't know which. But Ares caught Cartesian before he fell.
"It's poisonous gas," said Ripred. "It must be leaking from the volcano."
"But I can't see it! I can't see anything!" said Gregor. His hands shook as he tried to adjust the binoculars.
"It has no color," said Howard.
"Nor odor that I can detect," said Ripred, his nose twitching furiously. "Of course, the wind carries it away from us — will you hold still!" he growled at Luxa. "Temp, are we in any jeopardy here?"
"Heavy, the poison be, heavy," said Temp.
"Then it's all settling in the pit," said Ripred grimly. When Gregor saw a pup, gasping to draw air, fall lifeless from its mother's back, he had to drop the binoculars. But now that the currents had cleared the air, the nibblers' agony was visible from the tunnel. They went into convulsions, teeth snapping on empty air, claws lashing out to battle an enemy they couldn't see.
"Nike, can you shield Thalia's view?" said Howard. "She has seen too much!" Nike enveloped Thalia in her wings.
"Come here, Boots!" said Gregor, scooping up his sister and laying his hand over her eyes to block the gruesome scene, although it did not seem to be upsetting her. She wriggled to get free.
"No, Gre-go, I want down!" said Boots.
"Get off of me!" Luxa freed her sword and stabbed it into Ripred's shoulder.
"Aah!" cried the rat, leaping back. Blood poured from the wound. His gums pulled back, showing his newly sharpened teeth.
Aurora righted herself and Luxa sprang to her feet, Ripred's blood dripping off her blade.
Gregor dropped Boots and was pulling his sword to step between them when Ripred snarled at Luxa,
"Fine, you stupid brat! Fly right into it and get yourself killed!"
"Shh," said Boots, putting her forefinger to her lips. "You are too loud."
Luxa spun around to the cave mouth, preparing to mount Aurora. Then Luxa saw the mice and froze, one hand clutching the fur at her bat's neck.
The screams had faded away. Here and there was a bit of movement. Then all was still.
The only sound in the cave was Howard, softly weeping.
"Shh," said Boots, patting him. "Shh. The mouses are sleeping."
CHAPTER 23
"They sleeping? Right, Gre-go?" asked Boots, frowning slightly.
"That's right, Boots," said Gregor, trying to keep his voice steady. "They're sleeping." This was what he always told her when something died. Even if they found a dead bird on the playground, he'd tell her it was asleep and then pick it up with an old newspaper or something and hide it in the trash when she wasn't looking. Later she'd see it was missing and be happy it had flown away to its home. And Gregor would act happy with her. If he couldn't tell her that a pigeon had died, there was no way he could tell her about the mice.
"I know. They take a nap. Like in the song," she said, reassured.
"That's right. Like in the song," said Gregor.
"Ripred. Is there anything we can do?" said Luxa hoarsely. "Please."
"No, Luxa," said Ripred. Gregor thought this was the first time he had ever heard Ripred call her by name. "Nothing can be done for them."
"May I see your glasses, Gregor?" she asked.
Gregor was reluctant to give her the binoculars. It was bad enough from a distance. Magnified, the scene was even more horrific. "They're not really working," he mumbled. But she took the binoculars from his hand and pointed them at the mice.
"So this is it," she said. "This is how they plan to kill them all."
"Without the nibblers resisting," said Ares.
"You may let me go," said Cartesian quietly, and Ares released him. The mouse curled into a ball and buried his face.
"I thought they would starve the nibblers, attempt to drown them perhaps. But this ... this has no precedent," said Nike.
"This has too much precedent," said Ripred grimly. He began lapping away the blood from his shoulder.
"Let me," said Howard. He gave Hazard to Luxa and got out his medical kit. "It is not too deep," he said, examining Ripred's shoulder.
"It's deep enough," said Ripred, shooting a look at Luxa. "I consider my debt paid. My life for your life."
"Yes. Paid in full," said Luxa.
Everyone sat there stunned, watching Howard bandage Ripred's wound. They avoided looking out where the murdered mice lay in the pit.
Gregor could not make sense of what had just happened. He had seen death before, plenty of it. But nothing like this. It was not just the number of dead. When they had fought the ants in the jungle, the ground had been covered in corpses. But that had been a battle, with two armed forces facing each other. It had been horrible, but at least everyone had had a fighting chance to survive. What had happened to the mice ... trapped in the pit... unable to even defend themselves against the gas ... not just soldiers but everyone, even the pups ... it was murder on a grand scale. It was a massacre. And probably only one of many.
Only Boots seemed unaffected by what had just occurred. "Hazard dances with me?" she said, tugging on her friend's hand.
"No, Boots, I cannot," said Hazard.
"I dance myself," said Boots. She began singing as she spun in a circle.
"Dancing in the firelight
See the queen who conquers night.
Gold flows from her, hot and bright.
Father, mother, sister, brother,
Off they go. I do not know
If we will see another. "
Gregor vaguely wondered if he should stop her. It seemed disrespectful to the nibblers. But he could not seem to speak.
Boots turned into a mouse now, pawing the air and spinning here and there.
"Catch the nibblers in a trap. Watch the nibblers spin and snap. "
It was too awful, watching her dancing around like a mouse after what they had just witnessed. With Cartesian lying beside him. "Stop it, Boots," Gregor said, but she was caught up in the song. She curled right up on the ground and pretended to sleep.
"Quiet while they take a nap. "
"Stop it!" repeated Gregor, more harshly than he had intended. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet. Her lips pressed together and he could see tears filling her eyes. Gregor hugged her close to him. "Sorry, I'm sorry. It's just not a good time for dancing," he told her.
"Mouses do dance," she said. "I just do dance like mouses."
"I know," said Gregor. "You didn't do anything wrong."
"I want to dance like the mouses do dance," said Boots, sniffling.