Wendy Elisabeth opened her eyes.
She had to wink a couple of times to get used to the light. It was morning and
the sun was shining brightly, just as brightly as it did the day before. When
she looked beside her she saw Justin. He was still sound asleep. His arm was
still wrapped around her. She lived in a dream for a short while, but that
dream suddenly turned into a nightmare. Today was the day she was going to meet
Mrs. Jones after all these years. She carefully sat up, not to wake Justin. She
took a deep breath and thought: ‘I have to do it today, I can no longer
postpone it.' She thought about Nicodemus and the words in Jenner's notebook.
She also thought about the Plan. The only thing she knew was that it had
something to do with a place called Thorn Valley. According to Jenner Thorn
Valley is a wilderness. ‘Oh, you're up. Any idea what time it is?' Wendy turned
and saw that Justin was already sitting up. ‘Penny for your thoughts...' He
teased.

‘Oh, I was just thinking about
Nicodemus and Jenner. And the Plan.'

‘The Plan? Oooooh, you shouldn't
worry about that one at all.' Justin smiled.

‘Yeah, I know, but.. aren't I
allowed to know what it's about? I mean, it would be good background
information in my minutes.'

‘Hmm... good reason, very good
reason indeed, but I'm afraid it's not good enough. I'll give you the
information, but of course, I won't give it to you that easily...' Justin said
while rubbing his chin.

‘Ah, come on Justin! You could
just tell me. It's not a deep dark secret, is it?' Wendy pleaded. Justin looked
at her with one eye closed, pretending he could see her better. Then he got up
and started walking around under the bush in circles. ‘Yes, it is indeed a deep
dark secret. Very deep and very dark...' Then he moved closer to Wendy and he
continued his story in a whisper. ‘it's far, far away, in a land you've never
been before. There are creatures there..' ‘Creatures?' Wendy interrupted ‘Yeah
creatures...' Justin whispered. ‘Well', Wendy also started to whisper now, ‘Are
those creatures dangerous?' Justin looked up, like he was thinking very hard.
‘No... no, I wouldn't say they are dangerous... but they do have this nasty habit.'
‘nasty habit? What is it they do,' Wendy asked, still whispering.
‘They...TICKEL!!!'

Justin jumped up and threw himself
on poor Wendy Elisabeth and starting tickling her like crazy. ‘Nooooooo,
Justin, STOP IT!' Wendy shouted and tried to get Justin off of her, but without
success. Justin's firm grip loosened and he smiled at Wendy. He was still on
top of her and wasn't planning of moving away soon. His handsome face was
extremely near and Wendy gazed deeply into his eyes. By now she was able to
smile as well. Justin's whiskers softly touched hers and he closed his eyes a
bit. Their noses gently touched when suddenly there was a loud scream and a
thumb sound. Justin lifted his head and was suddenly very alert. ‘Darn it,' he
whispered and got up. He offered Wendy a hand and pulled her up. ‘That noise
came from down there, let's a have a look.' Justin said.

They both started walking in the
direction where the noise came from. As they came nearer, there were sounds of
breaking branches. ‘careful now, I'll check it out, you stay here, ok?'

Justin looked over the thick
branches and suddenly saw what caused the noise. It was a squirrel, and it had
probably fallen out of the tree. It was still a young squirrel, probably
Isabella's age and it was stuck between two branches. ‘Wait, don't move! You'll
hurt yourself.' Justin shouted, and he made himself a path through the thick
branches. ‘Oh I really do hope you won't harm me,' the squirrel said in a very
high voice with an even heavier English accent as Wendy's. ‘Don't worry, I'll
free you. Don't be afraid.' Justin said.

‘Justin! Are you ok down there?'
Wendy asked and she started running to the place where Justin and the squirrel
were at. ‘There you go... Wendy, could you give us a hand here? She's kind of
stuck.' Wendy hesitated a moment. She was always taught that rats didn't help
other creatures. It was like that at the orphanage, and it was like that in the
Rosebush as well. Justin never seemed to care about that rule, he never cared
about rules, so Wendy decided that she wouldn't either.

She pulled a few thorny branches
gently away from the young squirrels fur. She was able to remove one of them
and she started removing branch number two. A few minutes and a lot of branches
later the squirrel was set free.

The young squirrel was obviously
ashamed that she needed to be rescued by a couple of rats, so she was looking
to the tip of her toes and softly thanked the rats while her hands were on her
back. ‘Are you sure you aren't hurt, dear. Let me check your fur, you're probably
scratched.' Wendy said and the little squirrel obeyed. Justin moved away to
give the two of them a little privacy. Wendy came back a few minutes later.
‘Well it's a good thing you're already getting your Winter-fur. You'd be a lot
more scratched if it wasn't for all that hair!' Wendy said and she smiled at
the squirrel. ‘You'd better go back to your parents.' Justin said. ‘Yes, I
suppose so, thank you so much, if you'd ever be in trouble you could always
call my name. My name is Mitzy.' Mitzy said and she disappeared into a high
tree.

‘I seriously doubt it.' Justin
softly said and he smiled at Wendy. ‘So... where were we?' He softly added with a
small blush on his face. Wendy smiled at him with a similar looking blush on
her face. ‘Perhaps em... we ought to have breakfast and pay a little visit to a
certain woman-monster called Mrs. Jones.' Justin said. ‘First work and then
back to pleasure.. besides, we have a date with Saint Paul tonight.' Justin said while
forcing himself to smile.

‘Woman-monster Mrs. Jones', Wendy
repeated and she started to smile. ‘Yeah, let's go, but first I need to change...
I need to put on my best dress. I'll make sure she'll be completely
speechless.' Wendy said and she looked happy for the first time Justin ever saw
here when she spoke about Mrs. Jones.

‘Way to go, Wendy. Make us proud!
Now, would you like a piece of bread?'

After breakfast, Justin and Wendy
both changed. Justin also decided to put on some clothes. He didn't want to
appear naked next to Wendy who definitely took her most beautiful dress with
her. He softly whistled when he looked at her. She looked like a beautiful,
successful business-ratty, although she wasn't anywhere near that. When they
were all set they decided to go. They had to be careful, though... again two dressed
up rats would appear a bit strange, even in the big city of London. Thank
goodness the orphanage was housed in the park. They traveled underneath the
bushes, but even there it wasn't at all that save. Humans weren't the problem
here, but dogs were. One time a dog almost pulled his boss under the bush where
Justin and Wendy were at. Lucky for them, the boss pulled the dog back and
punished it. After a while, Wendy suddenly stopped walking. Justin looked at
her and then looked in the direction where Wendy was staring. It was a little
wooden cottage, perfectly hidden under a thick tree in the center of Hide Park.
‘Is that the orphanage?' Justin asked. ‘Yes, that's the place.' Wendy answered.
‘Well, shall we knock on the door?' Justin asked again. ‘Yes, I suppose.' Wendy
answered with a slight hesitation.

Justin knocked on the door. The
door was made out of wood, like the rest of the orphanage. The orphanage was
old, most of the wood was splintered and dry. The small windows were broken and
most of the attic was destroyed by a branch of the tree which grew into the
house. It was very poorly and Justin wondered if it had always been like that.

‘Nobody seems home, let's go.'
Wendy said. Suddenly the door slightly opened. ‘Who's there?' said a cracking
voice that came from an eye which looked through the small opening. ‘My name is
Justin and this is Wendy Elisabeth, but you've already met before.'

‘I don't know either one of you,
so scram!' The eye said.

‘Hold on ONE minute!' Justin said
while he placed his hand firmly against the door.

‘Mister... Jason...'

‘Justin' Justin interrupted.

‘Mister Justin, would you please
step away from the door and leave me alone!'

‘Mrs. Jones, we HAVE met before
and I won't leave until I had a word with you.'

‘Ms Elisabeth, I have no idea what
you are doing here after all these years.' Mrs. Jones said. ‘So you DO know me!
Please let me in, I really need to speak with you!' Wendy said.

‘Oh alright, just give me a
minute.' Mrs. Jones growled and she slammed the door.

Justin and Wendy waited for about
ten minutes. ‘Come on Wendy, sit down for a second. You're making me dizzy.'
Justin said. He was sitting on a small wooden block in front of the orphanage's
doorstep. ‘I can't help it. I'm sure this door won't open again. At least not today!'

‘I'm sure she will, she's probably
cleaning the mess or something.' Justin said, but judging from Wendy's look he
probably didn't think that was the case.

Suddenly the door opened and an
old, gray, skinny rat stood in the doorway. She was nothing from what Wendy had
told her to be. Wendy was obviously shocked by the way Mrs. Jones looked. Mrs.
Jones had turned old, very old and she was fragile now. They both stepped
inside in what once had been the sleeping hall. It was still filled with beds,
but it seemed like they had been empty for years. It was dark inside, a little
spooky as well. It was damp and hot inside and there was a strange smell in the
hall. ‘Sit down.' Mrs. Jones pointed at two old chairs which seemed to fall
apart any minute. Justin and Wendy looked at each other but did as they were
told. Luckily the chairs didn't collapse under their weight. ‘Why are you here,
Wendy, and why did you bring Mr. Jasper with you?'

‘Justin.' Justin corrected again.
Mrs. Jones simply ignored him and sat down herself. Justin took a deep breath.
‘May I answer that question Mrs. Jones?' Justin asked. ‘Well, you see Wendy and
I... well, we are very madly in love with each other and I would do anything to
marry her, but you see, she can't marry me... not yet. She simply can't.' Justin
started his story as he gave the very puzzled rat on his left side a wink.

‘She can't because she feels that
she cannot become my wife without knowing her family name.'

‘So, you're getting married.' She
looked Wendy up and down with a frown on her face. ‘I can see that you've been
doing very well lately. I knew you'd come back sooner or later. You've always
been the most intelligent child that I've ever taken care of. It's a good thing
you didn't come back a few years ago. I wouldn't have told it you back then,
but now the time has come to tell you who you really are. You see Wendy, I'm
old and I won't live much longer. Unlike you apparently, I'll die alone.' She
started walking around a bit and she opened a small cupboard which Wendy knew
from the days she lived there. Mrs. Jones took out a small box. ‘Your parents
never abandoned you, Wendy, not the way I used to tell you. They were killed,
and if it weren't for me, you weren't be sitting here today either. But on the
other hand, you weren't be sitting here if they were still alive today, you'd
be in Ireland
then. Yes, Wendy Elisabeth, you're an Irish child.'

‘I...I'm from Ireland? So, are you
telling me that my parents did love me and that I'm Irish? So now you are
probably going to tell me that my parents had purple fur and red eyes and that
you were the one who saved me, right?'

‘Yes, I did save you, I saved you
from the claws of the monster who killed your parents, who weren't at all
purple and had brown eyes, like you. He was your father's right hand. Your
father wasn't just a man, and your mother wasn't just a woman. You, see...
Ireland is a Republic for humans, but a Kingdom for rats. Your parents were the
much loved King and Queen from Ireland. Your name is Wendy Elisabeth Victoria Emma
Kenmare.'

‘Kenmare... wasn't that the family
Nicodemus was telling about?' Justin asked but Wendy didn't hear him anymore,
she was in complete shock. ‘You are lying, I'm not! I can't be!' Wendy suddenly
shouted.

‘Yes you are Wendy! You are a
Kenmare! Where's your handkerchief? If you want proof, you'll have proof. The
evidence is in this box!'

Mrs. Jones gave the box to Wendy,
who didn't open it. She wasn't able to make sense out of anything. Didn't
Nicodemus say that the Kenmare family was just a legend?

‘If I was saved by you and you
took care of me why did you treat me like trash! You didn't give a damn about
me! You locked me up in that dark hole down there and you wouldn't let me near
potential parents! And you dare to say that you've saved my life!'

‘I couldn't give you to other
people! I felt responsible for you! I was your mom and dad! I risked my life
for you, and what did you give me? NOTHING! Yes, you scared the hell out of me
if you ran away, and you never obeyed. You didn't give a damn about my rules!'
She grabbed her chest and started breathing heavily. ‘I LOVED you, Wendy
Elisabeth, but you made it so hard for me.'

‘But WHY the isolation? Why that,
if you loved me so much! It doesn't make any sense!'

‘I wanted you to grow up
respecting me, but I guess I handled it the wrong way, and I regret that.'

‘Yeah right.' Wendy said and she
crossed her arm and turned away from the old rat.

‘Are there files you can show us
or give us that intensify your story, about Wendy's name and parents perhaps?'
Justin quickly asked, hoping to prevent one of Wendy's famous outbursts, which
worked.

‘I do have those files, and I will
give them to you, but first I want Wendy to open the box I gave her. She'll
recognize what is in there.'

Wendy did as she said, but she didn't
do it for Mrs. Jones. She did it because she had become curious. Inside the box
there was something which was indeed familiar to her. It was a necklace with a
silver crown on it. The same crown which was embroidered on the handkerchief.
The Irish Crown was what Nicodemus had said, and he was right. She thought
about Nicodemus and Nanny, and she suddenly felt the urge to go home. Home to
the Rosebush. She now knew that London was not her home anymore, a country
where her home supposedly should have been was never her home, so the Rosebush
was the only home she ever known. This thought confused her but it had also
made a lot clear. She felt like going outside, she couldn't stand this house,
she couldn't stand Mrs. Jones and she certainly had enough about hearing that
she was some sort of living legend who was much loved by her evil stepmother
all this time.

She got up from her chair. ‘I'm
sorry, I need some air.' Wendy Elisabeth took off.

Once in the open air she had the
feeling she was finally able to breath again. She enjoyed the warmth of the sun
on her fur and she suddenly realized she was crying. She sat down on the wooden
block where Justin sat on before and gazed at the silver crown. She opened the
lock of the necklace and she put it on her neck. Suddenly the door behind her
opened. It was Justin. ‘Gosh, that was a strange conversation. That's a weird
woman. I guess loneliness hit this woman HARD.'

‘Yes, she's crazy. Do you think
she's telling the truth?' Wendy asked.

‘We'll find out soon, I've got
your files. I don't suppose you'd like to say goodbye to Mrs. Jones, do you.'
Justin wondered.

Wendy hesitated and eventually
said: ‘Actually, I do.'

Justin was quite amazed by this
answer, but he realized that Wendy was sincere. She got up from the wooden
block, smiled at Justin and stepped in side the orphanage again.

‘Mrs. Jones?' Wendy looked around
but she wasn't able to spot her. She decided to take a look around in the place
where she grew up. The sleeping hall looked very sad. It was once filled with
children's voices and laughter, yes laughter. She wished she had been able to
enjoy that more. She moved on to the stairs. They lead to the attic, the place
where Wendy spend the final months of her life here. She decided to have a
look. When she arrived upstairs she saw that nothing had been changed. Her bed
was even covered with the same sheets! Her pillow was still there and so were
some of her clothes. They were hanging on a chair, similar to those downstairs,
for she didn't have a wardrobe. ‘Oh my, the radio is still here as well!' Wendy
thought and she walked over to where the radio was standing. She turned on the
switch and she found out that it still worked.

‘Yes, it still works.' Mrs. Jones
was standing in Wendy's former room. Wendy turned around. ‘Why did you keep all
these things? Why didn't you just throw it all away?' Wendy asked.

‘Like I said, I knew you were
coming back one day, so I decided to leave it here. Wendy, you really look very
well. I've always known you were a smart lady. You are lucky finding a mate
like Jackson.'

‘Justin, his name is Justin.'
Wendy said, but she was smiling a bit. ‘Thank you for giving us the files,
we'll read it carefully.'

‘I see you are wearing the
necklace,' Mrs. Jones said.

‘Yes, I put it on when I went outside.
Did it really belong to my parents?'

‘That necklace belonged to your
mother. You look just like her. You are both beautiful, strong women.' Mrs.
Jones said, and she stared in front of her. ‘Oh, I really do miss your mother,
she was a wonderful person.'

‘What about the rat who killed
them, do you know more about him, was he ever caught?'

‘No, he wasn't caught, but he
disappeared. He was a large rat, black, green eyes. He used to be very loyal to
your father, in fact, he was your father's right hand.'

‘What was his name?' Wendy
wondered.

‘I cannot really recall it, but I
think his name was Jeffer... Jefferson or
something like that.'