‘What were you two talking about?'
Wendy asked when Jenner helped Justin through.

She had noticed their conversation
under the window and was pleased that it didn't result into an argument for
once.

‘You know... Just a conversation
from man to man.' Jenner replied as he sat down with her on the bed. ‘You
should rest, you know.'

‘I know, dad, I know.' The young
female replied and she relaxed a bit.

‘He's not too bad.' Jenner replied
and without waiting for an answer, he went over to Jonathan to go through the
rest of the plan.

‘No dad, he's not that bad at
all.' Wendy thought to herself and she felt something she hadn't felt for a
while: pure happiness.

 

Justin made it out without a
problem. His shoulder was killing him and he felt warm again. But he had no
time for that kind of nonsense. He had work to do.

‘Ages? Ages are you here?' Justin
yelled when he got to the infirmary.

‘Justin! Where have you been?'
Nanny asked, there was a touch of worry in her voice.

‘It's a long story, Nanny. I need
to talk to Mr. Ages as soon as possible. It's been a weird day.' He said and he
removed his sweaty forehead with his sleeve.

‘You sit down immediately. I'll go
find Ages. And don't you dare to move young man!' Nanny said angrily when she
saw the sweat on Justin's head. ‘I'll also get Gabriel to check on you.'

Justin didn't even have time to
say something back. He sat back in his bed and started to laugh. ‘And I always
thought I was supposed to give the orders around here!'

‘Hey Justin, when did you get
back?' Brutus asked as he entered the room.

‘Just now, I saw Wendy again.'

‘I figured that one out. You've
got a grin on your face as big as... as....'

‘As what?'

‘Well it's just huge....' Brutus
said.

‘So... How have you and Isabella
been lately.'

‘Good... Although she thinks that
I've been spending too much time with you.'

‘She does, doesn't she.'

‘Well, yes... a bit.'

‘Well, I agree with her.'

They looked at each other and started
to laugh.

‘What is so funny?' Ages mumbled
as he came in.

‘Oh nothing, we were just talking
about you.' Justin said, and Brutus started to laugh even harder. ‘Kidding, of
course.' He added, knowing that his little mouse-friend didn't have a thing for
humor.

‘Hmmm.' Ages replied raising an
eyebrow. ‘Nanny said you were looking for me?'

‘That's right, Ages. Can you help
me with a huge amount of sleeping powder?'

Ages frowned, thought hard and
deep and eventually replied: ‘No.'

‘No?' Justin asked with a pinch of
desperation in his voice.

A small smile appeared on Ages'
face. ‘Kidding, of course.' He replied.

‘Not funny.' Justin said, but he
was smiling, too.

‘Good, now you know how I feel
sometimes. What do you need it for, anyway?'

So Justin started telling him the
entire story, finishing it with the magical words ‘Jonathan Brisby'.

‘Are you saying that Jonathan
Brisby is alive?' Ages said, while he pushed his glasses up his nose a
little more. ‘That's the worst joke I heard from you since I know you!'

‘It's not a joke, Ages! I saw him,
I talked to him! Brutus saw him, too!' Justin yelled and Brutus nodded his
head. ‘He said that ‘Dragon must have punched his memory out', or something. I
guess that he only lost his memory.' Justin said, partly thinking out loud.'

‘But then how was he able to
survive? Where did he stay all this time? It's been over a year!'

‘My guess is that the barn-rats
took good care of him, the way they did to Jenner and Sullivan.' Justin
answered. His version made sense if you'd tell him.

‘Sounds acceptable.' Mr. Ages
said, though he wondered why Jenner never mentioned anything to Jonathan. ‘Does
his wife know yet?' Mr. Ages asked.

‘No, she doesn't. Not yet. She'd
better see him in person. She would never believe it if we'd tell her.' Justin
replied.

‘I guess you're right, my son, I
guess you are right.' Mr. Ages said.

‘Well, don't just stand there, get
the powder! Brutus will help you.' Justin said, and the mouse and the much
larger rat left the room. As he followed them with his eyes he started to smile
and whispered: ‘David and Goliath.' He shook his head and laid on his side.

‘What's your plan, Jonathan?'

‘I told you over and over again.'
Jonathan replied.

‘I know, but we have to make sure
that it works!' Jenner said again, this time a little louder.

‘I'll take the bag with the powder
between my teeth. I'll climb up the branches underneath the kitchen window.
I'll open the window and the bag, for the kitchen stew is directly underneath
the window. I'll drop the powder in the pan carefully... and stir it.'

‘Stir it? I never heard that in
one of your versions before.'

‘Well, no, but I suddenly realized
that the powder actually looks a bit funny right on top of the food. A cat
doesn't look at his food before eating it, a rat does. I'll need to bring along
something which I can use to stir it with.' Jonathan replied casually.

‘That makes sense.' Jenner said,
nodding his head. ‘Where did Justin say the powder would been hided?' Jenner
asked, knowing exactly where that would be.

‘Under the bush, right beneath to
where the kitchen is.'

‘That's right.' Jenner said. 

 

‘That should be enough to put a
hundred rats to sleep.' Mr. Ages mumbled as he filled the brown bag. Brutus was
standing next to him, keeping the bag open.

‘Careful now, don't breath the
powder in. It'll knock you out.' Mr. Ages warned. He was standing on a chair in
the storage room. His storage was a lot smaller than the rat's food-storage,
but it contained nearly as much. It was entirely loaded with pots, jars, bags and
boxes. ‘What a mess!' Brutus had said when Mr. Ages opened the storage.

‘There's a system in it.' Mr. Ages
mumbled as he glanced at the rat.

Brutus closed the bag as Mr. Ages
stepped down from his chair again. He carefully stored the box with the sleeping
powder where it belonged.

‘Let me see that bag. I'll have to
make sure that it's completely closed. We don't want to risk Jonathan's life
again.' Brutus did as he was told. He gave the heavy bag to Mr. Ages who was
completely taken by surprised as he felt the weight of it. He stumbled over and
landed on top of the bag. A small amount of powder escaped through the opening.

‘I'm sorry Ages!' Brutus said, as
he pulled the mouse off the bag. ‘Ages?'

But it was already too late. Ages
was sound asleep.

 

‘Justin! We have a problem.'
Brutus yelled as he entered the infirmary. Mr. Ages was hanging in his arms
like a rag-doll.

‘What have you done to him?'
Justin yelled.

‘I haven't done anything! Well, at
least nothing on purpose! He just inhaled some of the sleeping powder, I
guess.'

Justin's face started to smile. ‘I
can see the headlines now! ‘Quack-doctor knock out after a piece of his own
medicine', hahahaha!'

‘Justin, it's not funny! How can
we get the powder underneath the bush without being seen? I'm far too big, I'm
bound to pull attraction!'

Justin stopped laughing abruptly.
‘Yeah, you're right. I didn't think about that. But who else is capable of
doing it?'

‘Well, Mrs. Brisby is.' Brutus
said, thinking out loud.

Justin's face started to freeze. ‘Mrs.
Brisby? She's no option.'

‘But Justin, she's small and fast.
They will not see her.'

‘I know that, but what if she'll
run into Jonathan? Our plan will fail.'

‘I don't follow you.' Brutus said
with a frown on his face.

‘Perhaps she'll scream, drop the
bag, I don't know. Anything could happen!'

‘Then we should tell her straight
away!'

‘NO! I told you that we would do
that later! We must make sure that everyone's safe first.'

‘One of her kids then?'

‘No, no family of Jonathan's!'

‘Excuse me, can I come in?' A soft
voice spoke, the voice of Mrs. Jonathan Brisby.

‘Mrs. Brisby! What a nice
surprise!' Justin stumbled as he watched the lady-mouse come in.

‘I wanted to make sure that you
were alright. I've made you some soup... What happened to Mr. Ages?' She gasped,
as she saw the tiny lifeless body.

‘He's okay, just drugged.' Brutus
said as he gently put Mr. Ages in a bed. He was softly snoring.

‘Thanks Mrs. Brisby. Does that
happen to vegetable soup?'

‘No, it's tomato-soup! From your
own garden!' Mrs. Brisby replied proudly.

‘I love it!' Justin said as he
forced to be enthusiastic. He loved tomato-soup alright, but he was thinking
about a solution.

‘I heard a part of your
discussion. I guess it was about us. I'm sorry that my family and I  came at such a bad time.' Mrs. Brisby softly
said.

‘No, Mrs. Brisby! We're actually
glad to have you around. You and your children are always welcome here. I'm
just really sorry that you had to go through all that. I wish I was able to
make things better.'

‘That's why I'm here, actually. I
wondered if there was anything I could do.'

‘Well, actually....' Brutus started,
but he was interrupted by Justin.

‘Oh, no Mrs. Brisby! I couldn't
possible ask anything of you anymore! Could we now Brutus?'

He gave Brutus an angry glance.

‘Justin... I....'  Brutus stumbled.

‘See, he agrees.'

‘No Justin! I don't agree!' Brutus
protested.

‘Brutus? What do you suppose I
could do for you then?' Mrs. Brisby said without paying attention to Justin's
reaction.

‘You could make a delivery, if
you'd want.' Brutus continued, also ignoring his leader completely.

‘Brutus, STOP IT!' Justin yelled.

‘A delivery? What kind of a
delivery?' Mrs. Brisby asked.

‘Well someone's gotta do it?'
Brutus said while he shrugged his enormous shoulders.

Justin sighed.

‘I would do anything to help you,
anything.' Mrs. Brisby said to support Brutus.

‘Alright, I'll tell Mrs. Brisby
what has to be done.' Justin said, rolling his eyes.

‘Great! I'll get the powder.'
Brutus said and he rushed down the Hallway.

‘The powder?' Mrs. Brisby
wondered.

‘Yeah, the same powder we used to
drug Dragon.' Justin said, while his memories brought him back to that terrible
night. Mrs. Brisby was caught by the farmer's son while slipping the powder
into Dragon's dish. Back then he didn't think the night could get any worse...
but he had been wrong.

‘Alright, just tell me what I have
to do.'

Justin explained to Mrs. Brisby
where the powder should be placed by a drawing. She nodded the entire time,
understanding every word. He also briefly explained her why she had to
do it. The last thing he told here was to wear a hooded cape. No-one was to see
her.

He sighed again as she left the
room. He stared at the ceiling and thought ‘why did I even listen?' And he
closed his eyes.

 

Wendy had a strange dream that
night. She dreamed about the Amulet. Justin wore the Amulet from time to time,
but he mostly kept it in a safe place. The Stone, as it was always referred to,
saved her life. She wouldn't have believed it, if there hadn't been so many eye-witnesses.
In her dream, the Stone was right in front of her. She was able to see the
reflection of her own face in it. It had a pleasant, red glow. Suddenly, her
reflection started to change into Nicodemus. ‘You are the Key, Wendy
Elisabeth.' He said, just like he said to her right before she left the Castle.

‘The Key?' Wendy asked dreamily in
her sleep. ‘What is the Key?'

Suddenly, the Amulet started to
turn. Now she could see the back-side of it. She had never paid attention to
the back-side of the Amulet before. She had never read the inscription: ‘You
can unlock any door, if you only have the key.'

‘Unlock... door... key? It doesn't
make any sense....'

The Amulet started to turn back
towards it's original position. Nicodemus' face was looking at her again. He
was smiling.

‘Nicodemus, what is the key?' She
asked again in her dream.

‘You have to find out yourself,
but I'll give you a hint.' Nicodemus disappeared from the Stone and Justin's
face appeared. She smiled at him and tried to touch the Amulet. ‘Justin? Are
you the Key?' She frowned. ‘No, you cannot be the Key. Nothing happens when you
wear the Amulet. But how can Nicodemus know for sure that I'm the Key? I've
never worn the Amulet myself!' ‘Perhaps that has nothing to do with it....' She
thought to herself.

Now, Justin's reflection also
disappeared and Jenner's face was shown in the Amulet.

‘Daddy? Are you the Key?' She
shook her head; ‘Impossible! Nicodemus always tried to do what he could to hide
the Stone from you.' Then the Stone turned again and showed Wendy the
inscription once more. ‘Unlock any door....' She thought. ‘What kind of door is
he talking about? Is he talking about a real door? Or is it more... spiritual?'
The Stone turned back again. She saw the face of Nicodemus again. ‘Very good, my
love. You're in the right direction. Let me show you something else....' Again
his face disappeared and what she saw made her gasp. ‘Oh, look at you! You must
be Joshua.' She whispered as she gazed into the eyes of a little baby-boy. He
was beautiful and looked happy and healthy. Her eyes filled with tears and her
heart filled with love. ‘I love you already.' She whispered. ‘And I love your
father so deeply that I can hardly breath without him... And your grandfather... I
think I love him, too. He's made a lot of mistakes, but I believe that he's a
good person.' The images disappeared and Wendy saw her own reflection in the
Stone. In the back of her head, she heard Nicodemus' voice. ‘You are the key,
my child, listen to your heart, you are the key.'

Wendy abruptly woke up. ‘Of
course!' She said. ‘I've got it!'