‘It won't
be long now, they'll be here any minute.' Justin's voice spoke softly. It was
completely dark outside so the only things Wendy could see were Justin's shiny
eyes. She winked hers a couple of times to try to get used to the darkness, but
it didn't help. There was no moon so this was the perfect night to travel.
Besides the darkness there was also a complete silence. The only thing Wendy
was able to hear was Justin's breathing, which was calm. She couldn't believe
it! She was sure Justin was able to hear her very fast breathing AND her
heavily beating heart which was beating like crazy. She was extremely nervous
and for some scary moments she thought she was making the wrong choice. What if
Mrs. Jones had already died, or what if she said something annoying while
Justin was around. What if they wouldn't even be able to find the airport after
all in this darkness! Jenner would haunt her for the rest of her life with
stupid jokes and painful remarks. They were standing there for ages... or were it
just minutes? Wendy couldn't think straight anymore. Saying goodbye to all the
other rats might have looked easy, but actually it wasn't. She was indeed fed
up with all the nasty words, the laughing the act-like-she-wasn't-really-there,
but this also meant safety, shelter and food.

The sound
of silence was enormously loud until the silence was finally broken by the
sound of wings. A cold wind blew across Wendy's fur. The crows had landed. Now
the nerves really took control over Wendy's body and mind. Cold sweat ran over
her back and she stood there paralysed on the cold ground.

‘It's time
to leave, Wendy.' Justin said and he softly touched her shoulder. Wendy thanked
God he wasn't able to see the terror on her face. She pulled herself back
together and climbed onto the crows back, and firmly held it by its feathers.
Justin also climbed up his crow and before she knew it they were up in the air.
This was the first time she was actually on a birds back! She was grateful that
she wasn't able to see anything below so she didn't know how high they actually
flew. Now she understood why rats were made with legs and only legs: they
simply HATE flying.

What are
those...lights? Are those lights? Yes they are... but they are growing bigger, and
growing fast! Wendy's bird suddenly ducked down so Wendy had to hold on to the
bird even firmer. It happened really fast so she didn't even have time to
scream. ‘Wendy! Are you ok?' It was Justin's voice; he flew in front of her.
‘Justin, what on earth was that!?'

‘That,
Wendy Elisabeth, gave you an opportunity to have a good look at an airplane!'
He started laughing. ‘Justin! I nearly died and you are laughing!?'

‘Wendy, I'm
sorry but admit it's kind of funny isn't it?' He said while still laughing.

Wendy
ignored that last remark. Justin immediately felt sorry he laughed at her, so
he decided to make it up to her later. Almost running into an airplane also
meant something positive...they were near the airport. Wendy Elisabeth got more
and more used to the idea that she was really going to London.

Her heart
started beating faster, not because of fear but because of anxiety. She was
actually looking forward to going and there was no way Mrs. Jones could ruin
it!

Wendy
noticed that the birds were flying lower and she was able to see more now. They
finally landed on a place where people couldn't see them. They thanked the
crows for the safe flight and hid in the bushes. ‘Well, that was alright,
wasn't it? To tell you the truth I was a bit scared up there.' Justin admitted.
‘Well, you weren't the only one, I can guarantee you that much.' Wendy
answered, and they both started laughing. They took off their clothes, although
it's against Wendy's principles, and they started walking in the direction of
the airport's main entrance. Thank goodness it wasn't very busy, although an
airport is never deserted. This was the best time for two travelling rats. It
was three A.M.

‘Hmmm,
let's get a shelter near one of those monitors. We can read when the next
airplane departs to London.' Justin said.

‘London Heathrow.' Wendy
added, completing Justin's sentence who gave her a smile.

They found
a brilliant hiding place behind a huge box with a huge plant in it near one of
the monitors. Justin quickly found out that the plant was fake, but Wendy
didn't care. She was completely focussed on the screen.

‘Oh Justin!
There it is... British Airways, London Heathrow, departing time 5:30 A.M flight
number 20960 gate 20... let me see... gate 20 is that way!' She pointed to the
right.

‘Yes, it is.
Well, we'll wait here until it's 5:30 and in the meantime you can catch a
little sleep.' Justin said.

‘Sleep? Oh
no, I won't be able to sleep right now, I'm far too nervous! You can take a
nap, I'll mind the time.' She said and looked at Justin.

‘No, I'll
keep you company and tell real stupid jokes until it's time for departure.' He
gave her a wink. ‘Oh, I'd rather just kill the time by looking at people if you
don't mind.' Wendy replied.

‘Oh alright
then, let's go ‘people spotting' then, oh look there's a man with funny hair on
his chin and a lady with very unnatural red hair, gosh that almost hurts my
eyes!' They both laughed and continued spotting people as the minutes passed.

Suddenly
Wendy jumped up. ‘Justin look! There's security everywhere! There are camera's
all over the place!' Wendy's whiskers dropped.

‘Ah, cheer
up Wendy, we'll think of something.' Justin started looking around to find a
way to get by the security people and the camera's without being seen. ‘That's
it! Wendy I have the perfect solution and it's sitting right next to you.'

Wendy
looked at her left side and saw a chubby looking lady with a huge bag. ‘No,
Justin, I'm not going to hide inside a bag again! I was very much bruised when
I did that last time!' ‘No no, we won't get inside the bag, but this lady has a
HUGE dress on! We could run under there and walk with her as she starts walking
towards the gate.'

‘Ok, good
thinking, but how come you are so sure that this lady is going to London?'

Justin took
Wendy by the hand and led her towards her handbag. Her airline ticket was
sticking out a bit but just enough so they could read the words. This lady was
travelling alone to London Heathrow at 5:30 A.M. flight 20960. ‘Wow, Justin,
you're a genius!'

‘Hey, I
know, I know.' Justin replied and Wendy gave him a glance with a small smile
around her lips.

‘Justin,
what time is it?' Wendy asked. ‘People spotting' was becoming a bit boring
after a while. ‘It's 4:59, so it won't be long now.' Justin answered.

Wendy took
a deep breath. ‘Justin, are you nervous?' She finally asked.

‘Are you?'
He replied with a teasing look in his eyes.

‘Sure, I'm
nervous. I have the courage to admit it, unlike you....'

‘Hey, I
would admit it, IF I was nervous, which I'm not!' Justin said.

‘You really
aren't nervous? Not at all?'

‘How can I
be nervous? With this beautiful lady by my side who knows a lot about a city
called London, who is definitely going to give me a tour around London...no, why
should I be nervous about a beautiful prospect like that!?'

Wendy
blushed a bit. ‘So I'm stuck on giving you a tour, aren't I?'

‘Yep! As
stuck as a fly on one of those sticky things people hang up in the air to get
rid of them.' They both laughed. Justin's sense of humour was endless and the
final 30 minutes passed like crazy. The lady with the long dress got up from
her chair and took her handbag with her. This was their chance... they ran to
hide under the lady's dress and started walking like idiots to keep up with the
lady. ‘Good Lord! You'd better not look up, that really is disgusting!' Justin
said while running and Wendy was so helpless with laughter that Justin had to
take her by the arm to keep her on her legs.' They made it safely into the
airplane and found a save place underneath the seat of the cubby lady. She was
seated near a window so it was unlikely that people could see them. ‘You'd
better hang on to something Justin, this could become a bit bumpy.' Justin
nodded and crawled towards an iron obstacle, which belonged to a chair. The
captain welcomed the passengers on board and the stewardess showed the people
what to do with some silly instruments when there was a problem. After that the
plane departed. Both Justin and Wendy held on to their part of the chair and
everything went well, except for the fact that Justin was constantly
complaining about his ears. Wendy later said that she should have informed
Justin about the pressure one could feel when a plane departed, but that she
had forgotten about it. When the plane was in the air everything was steady and
the passengers received their beverages. Justin and Wendy also took drinks with
them and food as well. They both also took a book or two along and they decided
to read a bit. After about an hour Justin fell asleep. Wendy thought it was
really cute and she read on. She had chosen a real good, though sugary novel.
She opened up her bag to see if she could find some water when she suddenly
found the notebook that belonged to Jenner. She had totally forgotten about it.
She looked at Justin who was still sound asleep and she opened the book. She
had already read the first page, so she moved on to the next. All next pages
were full of hatred towards Nicodemus. Wendy couldn't believe it! Wendy just
couldn't continue reading the notebook. She had to tell Justin when he woke up.
She really got worried about Nicodemus now. Jenner wouldn't harm Nicodemus
while they were gone, would he?

Suddenly
the plane had to cope with turbulence. It shook Justin out of his sleep. The
captain requested everyone to go back to his or her seat and put the seatbelts
on. ‘Whoa.. What's happening?' Justin asked. ‘I don't know, but everyone seems
to be calm.' Wendy replied, but she wasn't sure if they were ok. Thank goodness
the turbulence didn't last long, and the two rats were able to relax a bit again.
She wondered if she should hand the notebook to Justin. She decided not to keep
the notebook from him. Luckily the turbulence didn't take long and the
passengers ordered some more drinks and some of them took a little walk through
the airplane.

‘Wendy, you
really should get some sleep, it'll do you good.' Justin said, rubbing his
eyes.

‘Yes, I
guess it would be better, but I want to show you something first.' She handed
over the notebook to Justin. ‘Wendy, what is this?' Justin wondered.

‘It's
Jenner's notebook. I found it in the library, and I accidentally put it in my
bag! I found it back while you were asleep. It's not good, Justin. he really
hates Nicodemus.' Justin opened the notebook and started reading it with a
serious look on his face. ‘I was right. It's a good thing I made Philip watch
over him.'

‘You knew?
You knew he was in danger? How come you are here, shouldn't you be with him
instead?' Wendy looked at Justin with an astonished look on her face.

‘Nicodemus
wanted me to go with you. He wouldn't take ‘no' for an answer. You weren't
allowed to leave without me. He really loves you Wendy, he considers you as his
own daughter.'

‘He... he
does?' Wendy felt a lump in her throat of pure love and warmth.

‘Yeah, so that's why I'm here, to
keep you company and safe throughout the journey and learn from it myself.'
Justin smiled at her as he saw the tears and he softly ran his fingers through
her neck-fur. He was surprised of the softness of her fur. Wendy closed her
eyes and enjoyed Justin's comforting touch.

He closed the notebook and gave it
back to Wendy. ‘Keep the book on a safe place. We'll keep it so we can use it
against him if necessary. Now, you try to get some sleep and don't worry about
Nicodemus. He's in good hands.'

Wendy closed her eyes after
Justin's reassurance. She suddenly felt really tired and she fell in an
instant, long, dreamless sleep. She woke up when Justin shook her arm. ‘Wendy,
we are about to land...'

Wendy set up and held the iron
thing which was attached to the chair above her firmly. She suddenly realized
she was in London again. Her heart missed a beat and she suddenly got really
nervous. In a while she'll face the person who she hated that much all these
years. The person who kept her in isolation. The person who refused finding new
parents for Wendy, the person who made her life a living hell.