‘Wendy? Do you think you are strong enough to leave?'

Justin's voice was soft and there was a pinch of worry
in it.

‘I guess so, although I was running a fever not too
long ago. I feel a lot better today, perhaps due to Mrs. Ages' overdose.'

‘He overdosed you? What kind of quack doctor is he?'

‘Hey, I heard that! And may I add in my defense that I
am NOT a doctor, but a medicine-mouse!'

‘Ages! What a pleasant surprise!' Justin quickly said
when he heard the angry tone in the voice of his small, cranky friend.

‘What are you doing here? You are far too early! She's
not ready to go yet!' Ages continued, ignoring the words Justin said.

‘I came to see how she was doing.' Justin tried to lie
himself out of it.

‘Yeah, right... Typical....' Mr. Ages muttered.

‘I think I'm strong enough to go home, Mr. Ages.'
Wendy carefully said.

‘Eh... no, eh...yes, maybe....' Mr. Ages stumbled, but he
wasn't so sure about that yet.

‘Let's say this; you can take her, but I'll be
traveling with you two to keep an eye on Wendy.' Mr. Ages said, thinking he had
found the right solution. He knew he wasn't able to stop Justin from taking her
to Thorn Valley, he just wouldn't take ‘no' for an answer.

Justin and Wendy looked at each other with large eyes,
but Justin's face started to smile that same boyish,
don't-worry-I've-got-a-plan-smile she had seen before.

‘Great plan, Ages! Let's do it!' Justin said, and he
got up.

‘Wait just one moment! We are NOT leaving tonight! Do
you realize what kind of creepy animals are out there?' Mr. Ages shouted.

 

‘I really don't understand how I let you talk me into
this!' Grumbled Mr. Ages.

The-party-of-three was walking though the thick, dark
forest. They had thanked Mrs. Brisby and said goodbye to the children. Wendy
even woke up the two smallest children; she couldn't bare the idea of leaving
without saying goodbye to them. She promised them that they'd always be welcome
in Thorn Valley, but that they had to wait until they were older. The children
had given her the drawing which they had been working on all day. It wasn't
completely finished yet, because of Wendy's sudden departure, but it was
lovely. She promised the kids that she'd give it a beautiful place in her new
room.

Now, the two rats and the grumpy medicine-mouse were
already on their way to Thorn Valley. Justin was thinking hard to find a plan
to get rid of Ages. But he didn't want to abandon the poor, scared mouse in the
middle of the night. He agreed that the woods would be far to dangerous for the
small mouse to wander all by himself, so he decided to do that when they were
almost in Thorn Valley. Before they reached the
waterfall, of course, because this was the place where he was going to pop the
big question. Suddenly he felt real nervous. He looked at Wendy who was smiling
and walking right beside him. Mr. Ages was behind because of his broken leg. It
was healing quite well, but the mouse was already old, so healing didn't go as
fast as it used to. ‘Hey! Let me keep up, will you? You wouldn't even notice if
some creature got me, would you?' He shouted angrily, and the two rats paused
for a moment.

‘You know, we could bring you back, Mr. Ages. Maybe it
is better when you move when your leg is completely heal....'

‘No way, Justin! And leave her? I told you three
weeks! Not a day sooner! And what do you do? You pick her up ONE WEEK sooner
than we agreed, ONE WHOLE WEEK!'

‘Mr. Ages, I'm more than ready to go... to go home, I
haven't been dizzy for quite some time, the fever is gone and the headaches are
a lot less....' Wendy pleaded, but the mouse shook his head. ‘I have promised
Nicodemus that I would keep an eye on you, and that's exactly what I will be
doing.'

Wendy and Justin looked at each other and shook their
heads and moved on, slowly this time.

 

After a while they decided to rest a bit. Justin sat
closely to Wendy, in order to keep her warm. Mr. Ages noticed it: ‘Justin, why
don't you sit on the poor girl's lap, in that case you are even closer to her!
What in the world is going on with the two of you, anyway?'

‘Nothing is going on! Is there Wendy? Mr. Ages, are
you sure you are okay? You're seeing things that aren't there.' Then Justin
turned to Wendy and whispered: ‘I wish he stayed at farmyard. I wanted to discuss
some things with you, but I can't with him around.'

‘What was that? Did you hear that?' Mr. Ages jumped up
in terror. The two rats listened carefully but didn't hear a thing.

‘Come on, Ages!' Justin yelled, but he was immediately
hushed by Wendy, who also heard a sound now. She also felt the cold, scary
shivers again which she felt when she was near the farmer's barn. ‘Somebody's
out there.' She whispered, and she took a few steps forward. There was clearly
a sound of footsteps; sometimes running, sometimes walking slowly, but now they
froze. Justin had finally heard the footsteps as well and his ears told him
that the stalking ‘something' was right behind them in the thick bush. Justin
didn't hesitate one second and pulled the bush away, revealing a small
lady-rat.

‘Who are you?' Justin asked, but the rat ran for her
life and soon disappeared in the forest. She obviously headed back towards the
farmyard.

‘I think I know what that was! It was a barn-rat!'
Wendy said, while she pointed in the direction where the small rat disappeared
to.

‘Hmmm, possible... But, why are you so sure about that?'
Justin asked.

Wendy had to come up with something soon. She couldn't
possibly tell Justin and Mr. Ages about the creepy feeling she had when she had
approached the barn while she stayed at the Brisby's, so she quickly said:
‘Well, it came from that direction. It might have been wondering why the
Rosebush had been abandoned.'

‘Yeah, I guess more creatures wonder where we are. We
have been living there for five years, so I guess you are right.' Justin said.

Mr. Ages nodded, and picked up his walking-stick from
the ground. ‘Let's move on before more creatures come to sneak up on us.'

Justin looked at Wendy who had a worried expression on
her face. ‘Are you ok, Sweetness?'

‘Oh, I'm fine. I just wonder why a barn-rat would
follow us like that.'

‘Well, we don't know IF it was a barn-rat, of course.'
Justin said, and he softly stroke her cheek. Wendy smiled but thought to
herself; ‘oh, it was a barn-rat, alright.'

 

Justin, Wendy and Mr. Ages moved on slowly through the
night. Mr. Ages was constantly complaining about the fact that the two rats
were moving too fast, that Wendy needed more breaks and that Justin shouldn't
be bothering Wendy too much with all his nonsense about Thorn Valley. Justin
completely ignored the old medicine-mouse and continued talking to Wendy about
way Thorn Valley looked and where they would live in. The new home was
popularly called ‘the Castle' by the rats. It actually looked like a castle with
the four huge, thick walls and the two towers that were sitting on top of the
construction. The rats of NIMH lived inside the walls, together with the many
crops that they were growing. The seeds had been planted last fall, so many of
the crops were almost ready to be harvested soon.

Justin told Wendy that her room was next to his, and
that he already spend a lot of time decorating it. Wendy was happy about
hearing the stories about Thorn Valley, and she was very eager to see it with
her own eyes, but she had the feeling that Justin was holding back. There was
something about Thorn Valley which Justin hated. She didn't want to ask him
while Mr. Ages was there, but she had a feeling that Justin was going to change
that soon.

 

When the sun was coming up over the hills, it was
clear that they hadn't made a lot of progress yet. Justin didn't really mind,
he wasn't very keen on returning to the place where he had felt even more
miserable than at NIMH. At least he was respected at NIMH because it was he who
escaped right under the noses of the lab-people. His first attempt failed, but
gave him time to have a look around. He discovered the ventilation system, and
that was the first step to freedom. Some rats wanted him to be the leader back
then, but he didn't want the leadership. He even stepped back in position by
taking the part of Captain of the Guard, while Jenner was elected for the
position Head of the Council. That was the biggest mistakes the rats could have
ever made. But neither Justin, nor the rest of the rats could have known that
the entire situation with Jenner could escalate like that. Even Nicodemus
thought that Jenner was going through a temporary phase. He used to be so
different. Why on earth did he change into that monster?

‘I certainly do not hope you are thinking about me
looking like that!' Wendy's voice sounded from afar, but brought Justin right
back to earth again.

‘Ah no, I was thinking about Jenner.' Justin said; he
put his arm around Wendy and pulled her close against him. ‘I can only think
about you with an enormous smile on my face.'

Wendy
smiled and pushed herself even a little closer towards him, placing her head of
his shoulder. They were aware of some angry muttered words grumbled by Ages,
but they both couldn't care less.