Justin gazed into Wendy's eyes in terror, still
holding her shoulders firmly. Did she just say what he thought she just said?
Was his dear friend Jonathan actually killed by the cat? But the look on
Wendy's face was enough to be sure; Jonathan was dead. ‘Does his wife know?'
Justin asked, and he noticed that his voice sounded different, due to the huge
lump that was stuck in his throat. ‘I don't know, but I think Ages will tell
her... as soon as he's past the first shock himself.' She replied and another
tear rolled across her cheek. ‘I'm so sorry, Justin... I know the two of you were
very close friends. If there's anything I can do for you, anything... then please
let me know....' Justin forced a smile of his now sad face. ‘Thanks Wendy,
another one of your hugs might do the trick.' Wendy smiled through her tears
and she answered his wish by holding Justin close. Jonathan was a very special
friend to her, too. He used to be an excellent listener and he would entertain
her with stories of his children. She had the feeling that she knew Jonathan's
family, even though she never met them. ‘It's so hard that his family doesn't
have a clue who we are. We could have at least help them through winter.'
Justin sighed. Wendy nodded sadly. When their embrace ended she felt lonelier
as she ever felt before in her entire life. ‘I have to see Nicodemus to ask him
who is going to tell his wife and children. For as far as I know Ages is too
emotionally involved. He might tell her more than she is to know for now.'
After these final words, their ways parted, but Wendy waited until Justin was
completely out of sight. She thought about Jonathan's wife, and sighed. The
poor lady didn't know anything about Jonathan's other life. She and her
children didn't know about NIMH, about the rats and about the fact that she
would grow older and that he would stay young...

She remembered the long conversation she had with
Jonathan when he met his wife. He told Wendy that he felt lonely and that he
didn't want anything else than becoming a father. Wendy had smiled and told him
that she didn't share this point of view. But now she admitted she was missing
something, too. Someone who you could laugh and cry with, a soul mate.  She never realized it before that
much, but the emotions she shared with Justin suddenly changed her, like she
was struck by lightning. She was ready for love. She was still able to feel his
soft fur and his warm body tightly against here... she took a deep breath. ‘Oh
dear, what am I thinking? I'm hoping for a miracle!' She softly sighed. ‘He was
just being nice! He'd do that with anyone....' She shook her head. ‘What am I
thinking! My friend Jonathan has died and I'm rattling about love!' 

She decided to go back to her
room. She felt like crying like crazy. She turned around and made a quick dash
towards the other side of the hallway.

‘Ouch!!'
She suddenly bumped into something hard, but soft. She shook her head and
looked up. She bumped into Jenner. Once considered Nicodemus's confident and
loyal friend, now his enemy. He looked down with his typical grin, which always
gave her the creeps. ‘Well, what a pleasant surprise.'

‘Speak
for yourself....' Wendy spoke softly, but he had already heard her comment.

That
didn't stop him from continuing. ‘Well, it really is a coincidence that I find
you here, or should I say, that you found ‘moi' in a way?' His evil grin was
filled with a huge amount of self-esteem, something that made Wendy's neck fur
rise. She realized there was no-one around, nobody who could safe her....

‘Oh
Jenner, please give me a break... I just found out that Jonathan Brisby was killed
today.'

‘Yeah,
I know about his death, which is terrible, but this will only take a minute... or
two....' As he spoke he put his hand on her arm, which seemed to disappear under
the size of it. She looked down, and pulled her arm away before he even had the
chance to pad it.

‘Oh,
I'm terribly sorry, I never knew that that was a sacred area, I am deeply
ashamed, would please accept my humble apologies?' The smile on his face showed
he wasn't sincere, but she didn't need to see the expression on his face to be
sure.

‘What
do you want from me? I promised to help Nanny and I still have some old minutes
to run over again.' She lied.

‘Wendy,
Wendy my dear... I don't want you to get a burnout. You seem to have tons of
obligations lately, so many that you even started to forget your real obligations!'

He
started laughing. The words and the laughing made Wendy even angrier, not just
because his words were upsetting, but she hated the way he always imitated her
British accent, even though he knew she hated that. Besides that, she wanted to
cry over her dead friend.

‘Well,
this'll better be good.' Wendy said.

‘Follow
me.'  Jenner said, while piercing his
green eyes into hers.

‘Where
are we going? I'm not going anywhere! If it's really that important to you,
then you might as well just tell me here!'

‘Wendy...
you know how they are, they love to gossip, and I don't want them to think we
are ‘dating each other'. That would mean the end of your already very unstable reputation, wouldn't it?
Not to mention, the end of your little cozy adventures with our lovable Captain
of the Guard, hmmm?'

‘What!?
What are you talking about! You really are insane!'

‘Wendy,
Wendy, this is not the right time for making compliments....' The grin on his
face grew and grew, and the corners of his mouth nearly touched his ears.

‘Come
on, let's go to my room, we can make us a bit more comfortable.'

After
some struggling and angry words, she finally agreed to going up there. When
they reached his room, he made a ‘come-in-and-be-welcome' gesture, and closed
the door behind them.

‘What
are you doing!' Wendy turned as she heard the door falling in the lock. She ran
back at the door, and was relieved when she was able to open the door without
any effort.

‘Wendy,
did you seriously think I was going to lock it!? I am not a naughty rat, you
know....' That irritating accent again. She gave him a sharp look.

He
turned around, pouring himself some juice, and offered her a glass as well.
‘No, thank you, I don't intend to stay long', she said, still holding the latch
of the door, in case things were getting nasty.

‘It's a little dark in here isn't
it? Let me light some candles....' Jenner said and he immediately started looking
for some candles.

‘I didn't know you didn't have any
electricity in here?' Wendy asked.

‘Well, of course I do! I just
enjoy the dim light of the candles. They are so much more romantic, especially
when I'm in the company of such a lovely lady such as yourself.'

Wendy took a deep breath of
irritation as Jenner lit the candles.

As the light filled the room, a
complete arsenal of knifes and swords got exposed, as they hung on the wall.

Wendy gasped after seeing them,
and made a step closer to the way out, pushing the latch harder, so it nearly
opened. Jenner noticed the fact that she had seen the weapons and smiled.
‘Don't you just love my hobby? I collect weapons. They are my... passion.'

Still shocked by the sight, she
forced herself to relax a bit, and nodded briefly. ‘Let's get to the point.
What did you want to ask me?'

‘I wanted to ask you, Miss Wendy Elisabeth,
if you were interested in a more... meaningful job. A job, which everybody would die
for. A job perfectly suitable for somebody with your temperament.'

Wendy thought for a while. For as
far as she knew there were no other jobs available.

‘What kind of job would that be?'
She asked, and looked up at Jenner.

‘Come and sit down.' He smiled at
her and padded his bed.

‘No, I'd rather stand.' She said,
becoming more and more aware of the fact she was alone, alone with him! There
were no guards around, not a soul that could hear her, nobody...

‘Just say it, okay?' She said,
feeling more and more nervous.

‘Okay, I'll cut to the chase...
would you like to become my personal Assistant.'