‘Wendy? Wendy, wake up dear.' The voice sounded from
afar. Wendy did recognize the voice, but she couldn't quiet place it. She
softly moaned, and tried to open her eyes. When she realized she couldn't, she
moaned again, this time louder and angrier. ‘Wendy! Come on! Wake up!' She
tried again, and this time with success. She opened her eyes with a tremendous amount
of effort, and tried to find the face that matched the voice she heard. ‘Ah,
there you are, we were worried about you! How are you feeling? I gave you some
medicines to get the fever down. I guess you've got a rather bad cold.' Now she
knew who called her; it was Mr. Ages, the medicine-mouse. He stood next to her
and he padded her hand.

It was hard for her to focus her eyes. The world
around her was one big blur and Mr. Ages had two heads. She was dizzy and sore.
She shook her head to get rid of Ages' second head and a terrible pain struck
her head as if she were hit by an electrical shock. She immediately closed her
eyes again. ‘Oh good Lord, I guess I overdosed her....' Mr. Ages softly said. ‘I
never know how much of this stuff I have to give to a rodent her size.'

‘Well, what can you do about it?' Another voice spoke
now. It was Mrs. Brisby. Wendy was fully aware of where she was, although she
wasn't able to speak or see.

‘I cannot do anything about it for now, I'm afraid.
We'll have to wait until the medicine is out of her system. I don't know
exactly how long it will take. Stay here and keep an eye on her.'

Mrs. Brisby obeyed and Wendy felt someone stroking her
cheek. She tried to smile but lost herself again in a deep tunnel of sleep.

Mr. Ages took Mrs. Brisby to the other room. ‘What
made her so upset?' He asked.

Mrs. Brisby replied: ‘The nightmare did. Of course it
was just a nightmare, but there was something strange going on, too. Her right
ankle is scratched and her bed was covered in mud.'

‘She went outside? No wonder she's got a cold like
that!' Mr. Ages said, more to himself than to her.

‘She claims that Jenner is alive!' Mrs. Brisby said,
while she looked at Wendy's room with a concerned look on her face.

‘Jenner? Alive? No, it couldn't have been! Is she
losing it? Mrs. Brisby, please lock all your doors. Wendy is probably
sleep-walking because of the trauma. And, whatever you do, don't mention the
mud. She is better not to know.'

When she finally woke up, it was already dusk. She
opened her eyes a lot easier now and gazed in the poorly lit room. She heard
children's voices in the other room. The thought of having the Brisby children
nearby gave her a comfortable feeling. She tried to carefully sit up a bit but
noticed that the dizziness hadn't gone away completely yet. And God, she was
thirsty! Suddenly she remembered the vivid nightmare she had the other night...
or was it two nights ago already? She pulled away the blanket and stared at her
legs. There were no mud or branches down there anymore, but her scratched ankle
was wrapped in bandages. She stopped breathing in terror. ‘What happened out
there? What exactly did I see?' Her mind was loaded with questions. ‘Mrs.
Brisby!' Wendy shouted.

Mrs. Brisby came running in as fast as she could.
‘Wendy! What's wrong?!' She shouted. As she rushed in she found the rat with
huge, bewildered eyes.

‘Mrs. Brisby! Did you put the bandages on my ankle?'

‘Eh... yes... but....'

‘It was covered in mud and such, was it not?'

‘No, Wendy... calm down! There were no such thing. I
swear it, believe me! Relax, you need to calm down! Would you like some water,
dear?' Mrs. Brisby asked, trying to get the rat to calm down.

‘But why is my ankle scratched like that? That must
have happened after I came here!'

‘Your ankle was already scratched the night you came
in! It is not scratched that badly, so I guess we never noticed it. Your head
and neck were much more important for medical care. You were on medication so
you probably never felt that injury in the first place. But the injuries were
already there, please don't worry, ok? Everything will be just fine.'

Wendy sat back again and she nodded her head, which
caused another electrical shock again. She instinctively grabbed her forehead.
‘Then I guess I must have dreamt it... It was all just a silly dream.' She added
with a nod and sat back in the pillows again.

‘I know you have slept al lot already, but sleep is
good for you. And now that you know that there is nothing to worry about, you
might even have a more pleasant night.'

‘I guess you are right, Mrs. Brisby. Sorry for all the
problems I've caused. I guess I scared the heck out of your children.'

‘No... no Wendy, you haven't caused any problems and you
sure didn't scare the children. In fact, they started to like you very much. I
guess they'll be very sad when you leave.' Mrs. Brisby said, but Wendy didn't
hear her words, she was sound asleep already. And this time she dreamt a
pleasant dream, one without Jenner but with Justin. Oh how she longed to see
him again...

The next morning she was woken by Cynthia Brisby, who
was playing with her doll, right next to Wendy's bed. She was playing silently,
but loud enough to wake Wendy. Wendy smiled when she heard Cynthia talking
softly to her doll, which she had named Rosa. ‘Good morning, Cynthia... oh and Rosa, of course.' Wendy softly said and the small girl
jumped up and suddenly hugged Wendy. ‘Are you better now?' Cynthia asked and
she looked at her with her large, bright eyes.

‘I'm doing much better than yesterday, and even more
better than the day before yesterday. So I guess I'm getting better each day.'
Wendy said, and she stroke the girl's cheek.

‘Cynthia! You shouldn't be playing here!' Theresa
shouted as she rushed into the room.

‘I was....' Cynthia stumbled.

‘She was just entertaining me a bit. But thank you for
your concern, dear.' Wendy said, and she gave Theresa a wink.

‘Oh, ok... tea Wendy?' Theresa continued.

‘Yes, please! Oh and Theresa, could you ask your
mother if she could ask Mr. Ages to come by? I'd like to get up and walk a
bit.'

‘Then you play with us!' Cynthia said, while she was
jumping with joy.

‘Well, I certainly do hope so!' Wendy answered,
and she watched the two girls leaving the room.

A few hours, a difficult bath (a very clumsy bath in
which Wendy needed help from Mrs. Brisby) and breakfast later, Mr. Ages arrived
to check Wendy another time. He was amazed by the progress she made. Two nights
ago he thought she wasn't going to get through the night and now she was hoping
to get out of bed as soon as possible. She looked better and her fever was
gone. Of course it had just been two weeks since the accident, but she was
healing pretty well. Later that day Wendy was even teaching the Brisby-children
some new words. Well, except for Cynthia and Martin. Martin was outside with
his friends and Cynthia was far too occupied with her doll ‘Rosa', who she
decided to call ‘Wendy' instead. Wendy even spend some time outside. She
decided to make a small walk through the high grass, where Dragon wouldn't see
her. She really enjoyed her walk, but there was something about the Fitzgibbon
barn which wasn't at all pleasant. She was overwhelmed by cold shivers when she
got near the barn. She had felt it before. It was so bad that the feeling made
her avoid the spot completely.