The underground seemed even less
busy than it did when Justin and Wendy went to the St. Paul's Cathedral. It was
very late, about two a.m. so most of London's human population was sound
asleep. The journey to Westminster was an easy one, and once again a pleasant
one. Wendy looked at Justin. She cleared her voice and said: ‘I guess we'd
better start thinking about home, I mean, we have everything with us so we can
take the next underground to Piccadilly and then move on to Heathrow again, if
you don't mind that is...' 

‘No, I don't mind, Wendy. I won't
forget this journey, it's been a pleasant one, but it'll be nice to go home
again.' Justin said while smiling.

They took the escalator upstairs
again and within no time they stood on the square which lead to a few of London's most beautiful
buildings. They were standing near the Thames and the Westminster
Bridge, also one of the many popular
bridges which leads to the other side of London.
They already saw the Houses of Parliament from where they were standing. ‘Wow,
this building is very impressive! And look at that tower with that beautiful
clock!' Justin said, staring his eyes out. ‘That's the Big Ben, it's incredibly
old and look at those lights!' Wendy never saw the greenish light which
illuminated the Big Ben before. It was a beautiful night. There was a full moon
and the weather was calm. Autumn was in the air. Justin looked at Wendy and he
noticed she was having tears in her eyes. This Big Ben obviously meant a lot to
her while she lived here. ‘We'll leave for Heathrow in a few minutes, okay?'
Wendy said, but she kept her eyes on Big Ben.

‘If you'd like to stay longer, we
can.' Justin said, but Wendy started shaking her head.

‘No, it's time, I did what I
wanted to do and heard what I wanted to hear, well, kind of. This was the
perfect way to say goodbye.' She smiled and the two rats started walking
towards the underground again.

Off they went, to Heathrow
airport. They arrived about thirty-five minutes later and again the airport
wasn't very busy, though not deserted either. ‘Ah, look there are the monitors!
Justin, what time is it?' Wendy asked.

‘It's a quarter past three,
Wendy.' Justin answered and he looked at the monitor as well.

‘Oh my! Then we'll have to hurry!
Gate 14, quick!' Wendy shouted.

Justin and Wendy grabbed their
suitcases and dashed off to Gate 14 without paying a lot of attention to
safety. Wendy heard the sound of a falling coin, and realized the coin had
fallen right behind them. The woman who picked up the coin saw the two running
rats. ‘Rats! Oh my God! There are rats here!' The woman shouted.

‘Come on, Wendy, we have to keep
on running!' Justin shouted and Wendy followed him.

There were more humans screaming
and shouting when they heard the panic-signal of the coin-woman, but it didn't
slow them down. They had a plane to catch.

They finally reached Gate 14 and
they were just about to get in when their way was blocked by two funny dressed
men. ‘Oh no! Bobby's!' Wendy shouted.

‘Bobby's?' Justin asked.

‘I'll explain later.' Wendy said
angrily, ‘We have to find a way to distract them!'

‘Wendy look out!' One of the
Bobby's tried to catch Wendy with his bare hands.

She duck away just in time. ‘That
was close!' Justin said and he looked around, hoping to find a way to distract
the Bobby's. That, however, was not necessary.

‘Help! Stop thief!' A lady shouted
from one of the shops. A shoplifter obviously stole some of her goods. The
Bobby's looked at each other and forgot about the two rats for a moment. This
was their chance! Justin grabbed Wendy's arm and pulled her into the terminal.
They jumped into the airplane right behind some businessmen. Then the doors
closed. They made it!

‘Gosh, we ARE lucky, that was far
too close if I may say so.' Justin said.

They were sitting under one of the
airplane seats, holding that iron thing again which kept them from tumbling
through the plane. ‘Yes, it was. Well, one thing is for sure, this trip was
everything except dull.' Wendy said and she laughed. Justin also started to
laugh and after the airplane took off they installed to go to sleep. This had
been a long night with lots of adventures. Now they were going home again, to
the safety of the Rosebush.

They woke up when the airplane
started to land. ‘We're already here?' Wendy asked and couldn't believe how
fast time had passed. This time they had to be less careless. It was morning
again, so the airport was a lot more busy. ‘Justin, how are we going to get to
the Rosebush?' Wendy asked.

‘I have a way to alarm the crows.
Look I have a special whistle.' He showed Wendy Elisabeth a whistle. ‘Nicodemus
gave it to me when we left the Rosebush. It's known by crows all over the
world, so even in London the crows were able to help us, if that was necessary
of course.'

‘That's good, let's get out of
this place and let's call the crows. I've certainly missed Nanny!'

‘I missed her, too... and her food,
and Nicodemus and Arthur. I sure hope Philip didn't have to cope with Jenner too
much.' Justin said.

They carefully looked around them
and made it safely outside.

Justin blew the whistle and within
a few moment two crows appeared. ‘To the Rosebush.' Justin said and the crows
nodded their heads.

Justin and Wendy climbed onto the
crows again and off they went into the air. ‘We'll probably fly higher this
time, Wendy, cause we don't want anybody screaming again, do we?'

‘No, but... higher? A lot higher?'
Wendy asked with a slight sense of terror in her voice.

‘Nah, not a lot more higher, just
higher.' Justin answered.

Wendy didn't dare to watch at
first, but short after they went up into the air she decided to slowly open her
eyes. ‘Wow! This is wonderful!' She shouted at Justin.

‘Yeah, good old USA is nice, too!'
Justin said, but he had to admit he was very amazed by the beautiful view.
Wendy sat up a bit more. That way she was able to see a lot more. She could see
the buildings from above. They looked so small! And the cars! It's like she was
easily able to grab them. They slowly moved out of the ‘civilized' world and
Wendy was able to see the fields and woods from above. A while later she saw a
white farm which she recognized immediately. It was the Fitzgibbon farm. ‘Look!
The Rosebush!' Wendy said and she pointed down at a tiny bush. The crows
started to land. A few moments later they arrived safely to the ground. Wendy
and Justin got off the crow's back and they thanked the crows.

‘After you.' Justin said and he
bowed graciously. ‘Thank you, Justin. Oh I... I wanted to thank you for coming
with me to London and I really do hope you won't say a word, promise?' She
asked. ‘You can count on me, and it's been my pleasure, Wendy. I've had a
wonderful time with you in London, I wish we'll be able to travel somewhere
again... just the two of us.'

Wendy smiled at him and repeated:
‘Just the two of us.' Then she hugged him and he answered her very welcome hug.

‘Hey, what's that at the entrance!
Intruders?' It was the voice of Brutus and he rushed outside. ‘Well, it's...Wendy
and Justin!'

‘It is?' A second voice asked, and
Philip stepped outside. ‘Well, don't just stand there! Come in!' Philip was a
tall, handsome, young guard rat and very much in love with a pretty girl named
Shirley, a second generation rat, like Philip is. They make a handsome couple
and are most likely to have many children. Philip embraced Wendy and shook
Justin's hand. ‘Tell us all about it! What was it like? Did you find something
out, Wendy?' Wendy liked Philip very much. He never laughed at her and wasn't
at all prejudiced. ‘Well, let's just put it this way, I've learned a lot about
my trip to London, and yes, I also know more about my parents. They were kind,
hard-working people and I'm proud to be their daughter.' She looked at Justin
who smiled. He knew she didn't want to tell the rats the truth about her
parents, she didn't want the rats to treat her any differently. Brutus also
shook Wendy's hand, muttering something like: ‘I'm glad you're back in one
piece,' and he did the same to Justin. ‘So far so good.' Wendy thought. They
left Philip and Brutus at the entrance and they walked on to Nicodemus' office.
Justin knocked on the wooden door which belonged to Nicodemus' office. ‘Come
in, please.' Said a name on the other side of the door. Justin opened the door
and made a ‘you-go-in-first' gesture to Wendy. ‘Ah, Wendy! Come in my
child!'  Nicodemus said and he smiled at
her when she appeared in the door opening. ‘And Justin! It's so good to see the
both of you in perfect health.' Nicodemus got up from his chair and hugged the both
of them tightly. ‘Please, please...be seated.'

Wendy and Justin sat down in the
two chairs in the room. ‘I had a feeling you'd come home today.' Nicodemus
said. ‘Have you found what you have been looking for, Wendy?'

‘Um, yes... I have. We spoke to Mrs.
Jones and she told me everything about my parents.' She told all about what
Mrs. Jones had said and what was in the file. She showed Nicodemus the picture
and the necklace. Nicodemus didn't seem impressed by the fact that Wendy had
Royal blood running through her veins. Instead he said: ‘Wendy, my dear child.
I knew you were special from the first time I saw you. In a way I knew you
were, but after seeing your handkerchief I knew it for sure. I'm really sorry
about what happened to your parents.' He looked at Wendy with a sad smile. Then
he got up from his chair and deeply bowed. ‘It's an honor to have the daughter
of William and Victoria Kenmare among us.'

‘Nicodemus?' Wendy said while she
hid the necklace under her blouse. ‘I'd rather not tell anyone, except for
Nanny, because...' Wendy started.

‘Then we should respect your
decision.' Nicodemus said. ‘Perhaps you should ask Jenner about Ireland some
time. He was born there.'

‘HE was born there?' Justin asked.
‘I never knew...'

‘He told me when we were... friends.'
Nicodemus said in a sad way. A few moments later they were outside the office
again. ‘I guess most rats are in the Main Hall.' Justin said, so they decided
to go there to announce the fact that they were back. Justin was right, most of
the rats were in the Main Hall. So was Nanny who jumped around Wendy's neck and
cuddled her like crazy. Jenner walked in the direction where Wendy was and just
at the moment he arrived, Nanny released Wendy from the hug. As a result, the
small necklace Wendy got from Mrs. Jones was exposed. When Jenner noticed the
necklace and the crown, he suddenly grabbed it and accidentally scratched
Wendy's neck. ‘Ouch! Jenner let go of it!' Justin jumped between the two rats
and pulled Jenners hand from Wendy's necklace. ‘What are you doing?' Justin
said in shock and he looked at Jenner. Jenner was clearly upset about the
scratch and he apologized to Wendy. Wendy only nodded but she stepped away from
him. She touched her bleeding neck. ‘What...what's gotten in to you?' She
stumbled. Jenner didn't answer that question. Instead he left the Main Hall
without saying a word.