In darkness they fled, through tunnels underneath the colony.

Yet, even through the earth, Mousey and his family could hear the shouting and screams overhead, as the Nocturnal Patrol ransacked the town.

Lapin led the way. “Quickly now, little ones! This tunnel opens up in the woods outside town. There we’ll have a chance to escape.”

Mousey brushed away gnarled roots and hanging earthworms as they ran through that underground path. Up ahead, just past Lapin’s silhouette, he could see some starlight pouring in from outside the tunnel.

Lapin burst through the tunnel’s exit first, followed closely by Mousey, his mother, Sir Ranae, and his siblings.

But while their eyes still adjusted to the light, Mousey heard Lapin yelp. He had no time to call out to see what the problem was, for claws seized his shoulders.

They were waiting for us!

Mousey kicked and flailed as two bats lifted him just above the ground.

One bat snatched up Lexi, and three more swooped in to fight Sir Ranae. Steel clashed with steel, and Mousey’s siblings scattered.

Mousey held up his stave, closed his eyes, and recalled the time he’d made the mistake of looking directly into the sun. Even through his eyelids he could see the bright flash, then hear the bats screech and moan in pain as the light blinded them.

He opened his eyes again and struck with his stave both bats who held him above the ground. As soon as their claws let go, Mousey held his stave over his head again and tried to recall the alarm that went off every morning in the Tower. The sound had been so high-pitched he could barely hear it, but the bats heard it just fine.

Once he could barely hear that ringing coming from his stave, he then focused on making it as loud as he could imagine. The bats writhed on the ground, covering their big, pointed ears the best they could.

A bell resembling the one in the tower formed in the air, swinging back and forth to maintain that terrible sound that deafened the bats.

“This way!” Mousey shouted, then rushed off up the hill, further into the woods. He could hear his family’s many paw-beats as they followed him, as well as Sir Ranae’s sticky foot-steps.

Mousey heard a screech overhead, and a bat swooped down at him. Again, Mousey closed his eyes, aimed his stave, and recalled the sun.

A bright flash.

The bat missed Mousey and collided with a tree nearby.

Another screech. Mousey ducked and rolled as another bat slashed a sword over his head.

The bat turned and attacked again. This time, Mousey raised a brick wall between him and his foe. A loud smack on the other side of the wall told Mousey all he needed to know of that bat’s fate.

“They’re going to keep coming,” said Sopher. “Unless you do something. They’re using sound to figure out where you are.”

Mousey stopped dead in his tracks, allowing his family, Lapin, and Sir Ranae to catch up. All of them stumbled to a halt.

“Everyone,” Mousey said, raising his stave. “Dig a hole to hide in. I’ll hold off the enemy.”

“Mousey!” his mother protested.

“Trust me!” Mousey yelled back.

Without another word, Lapin led the Souris family and Sir Ranae in a frantic dig.

Mousey, in the meantime, focused his attention on the tree branches above. He waved his stave about, and dozens of bells appeared, hanging from the tree branches. Each one let out that same high-pitched tone.

Lapin folded his hears down on his head. He groaned in pain, but continued the dig.

Bats circled overhead. Though they were in pain, they knew Mousey and his family were somewhere around this spot. Their ears folded down on their heads, and they hung from tree branches, their eyes scouring the forest floor.

Mousey aimed his stave downward, and turned his eyes away as dozens of bright, white lights lined the ground. Bats groaned and looked away, now both blind and deaf.

Mousey looked back at his family. They still frantically worked on a hole big enough for all of them to hide within. They’d need more time to make this spot safe.

Though the threat from the air had been neutralized, Mousey soon realized they were not out of danger yet.

In the distance he could spot something enormous walking the forest floor. When the creature stepped into the light, Mousey was shocked at both the size and appearance of this beast.

Most of its body was covered in gray fur, but the fur on its face was winter white. Its eyes were black, and its mouth was full of jagged crooked teeth. Its tail resembled that of a snake, or perhaps a giant worm. On the end of that tail, the beast carried a lantern. In one paw it held a spear, in the other a shield. The beast wore white armor over its body, but the style much resembled the armor of the Nocturnal Patrol.

A possum? Mousey thought. He’d read about such animals, but had never actually seen one before. To him, it looked like a giant mouse, twisted by darkness and wrong.

The creature looked over the lights on the ground, and straight at Mousey. “You!” the possum bellowed, before running across the field of lights. The tip of the spear was pointed straight at Mousey’s racing heart.

But before the possum could draw close, Sir Ranae leapt into action. He landed between Mousey and the possum, and used Worthy to cut the point off the possum’s spear.

The possum snarled, then smacked Sir Ranae with the shaft and pushed him back with the shield.

Mousey held out his paw, and the lantern slid off the end of the possum’s tail and smacked him in the head. Sir Ranae used the momentary distraction to run his sword through the possum and kick him away.

“It’s ready!” Mr. Lapin shouted.

Mousey and Sir Ranae turned and ran over to the hole in the ground Lapin had dug. Both slipped under the soil, and Mousey pulled a pile of fallen leaves over the entrance.

Once he was underground, the bells stopped ringing and, presumably, disappeared. The white lights on the ground faded out.

Mousey and his family waited in total silence. When they heard bats land nearby and start searching the forest floor, some of the pups held their breath.

But he kept his eyes and stave on the leaves that covered the hole’s entrance. He could hear the Nocturnal Patrol crawling around the forest floor on four legs, and their short, sharp sniffs as they tried to pick up any trace of Mousey’s family.

Another landed. This one directly on top of them.

“Report!” came Nycht’s familiar voice from above.

“We lost track of them,” one bat shrieked back.

“They could be anywhere,” shrieked another. “We don’t know if they ran or hid, or what direction they could have gone.”

“Incompetence!” Nycht shouted and stamped his foot. Bits of dirt fell down onto Lapin’s head, and his ears twitched. “You! Lead a patrol to circle the forest. They can’t have gotten too far. You! Report back to Commander Delphis. He’ll get the Day Patrol here soon, in case Mousey isn’t found tonight. We cannot let him escape!”

“Yes, lieutenant!” both bats shrieked, before flapping their leathery wings and taking off.

Nycht paced on top of their hole for a few moments, causing more dirt to fall on Mousey’s family, then spread his wings and flew off as well.

Though the momentary danger seemed to have passed, Mousey kept his eyes on those leaves that blocked their hiding place off. He and his family were up for hours after that, unable to take their eyes off the thin layer keeping them out of danger.

But, at some point, sleep must have claimed them, for Mousey awoke to warm sunlight on his face, shining through the leaves. He heard bees buzzing nearby, but no bird songs.

The Day Patrol must have arrived, he thought to himself. Those weasels would circle the area on foot, and some were surely searching the woods for Mousey even then.

But for how much the Day Patrol was worthy of their fear, Mousey felt a much deeper terror grip him when he heard his mother say, “Where’s Button?”

He whipped his head around and looked over the faces of his brothers and sisters. He silently recited each of their names in his head, and found that his mother was right, Button wasn’t there.

“No!” Lexi squeaked and started scrambling towards the entrance. “We have to find her! Button!”

Lapin held her back and covered her mouth. “Shh!” he whispered in her ear. “If you call out for her they’ll find us!”

Lexi squirmed and fought in Lapin’s arms, but her strength was nowhere near enough to overpower the rabbit.

Though, all of her flailing came to an abrupt stop when they heard paw-steps treading on the roof of their hiding place. Everyone went silent and still as they saw the leaves shift. Mousey held tight his stave, Sir Ranae to his sword, both prepared for a fight if they were discovered.

“Mousey,” came Nycht’s voice from above. His tone wavered, as if he fought back sobs. “I’m not going to hurt you or anyone in there with you, alright? I just want to talk. I’m going to move some of these leaves, please don’t attack me.”

Sir Ranae looked at Mousey, his eyes implying his request for permission to attack the Nocturnal Patrol’s lieutenant.

Mousey shook his head, but kept his stave trained on those leaves.

One leaf fell aside, and Nycht looked in, his face covered with his helmet and body with black armor. But he held up both paws, showing that he was unarmed. Well, he wasn’t holding his weapon, anyway. In his belt rested a longsword.

“Mousey, I need you to come with me,” said Nycht.

“I’m never going anywhere with you!” Mousey hissed. “You’re one of them! Just one more predator to feed off the suffering of our kind!”

“It’s about your sister,” said Nycht. “I think it’s important for you to see this.” Nycht tossed a black cloak with a hood down into the pit. “Put this on, and I’ll take you right past the Day Patrol. Leave your stave here.”

“How can I trust you?” Mousey asked.

“Will you just put on the dumb cloak and come already?” Nycht snapped, his voice sounding even closer to sobs. He swallowed hard, and wiped his eyes on the back of his paw.

Mousey’s stomach felt like a pit far deeper than the one in which he and his family hid. “Yes… I’ll come…” he said. He threw the cloak over his shoulders and pulled the hood over his ears.

Lexi stood and started towards the hole’s entrance.

Nycht held up a paw to stop her. “I can only sneak one of you there. I’m sorry.”

“You cannot keep me from my daughter!” Lexi snapped.

“No, but the Day Patrol can,” said Nycht. “And you have other pups to think about.”

“Get out of—”

“Mom,” Mousey interrupted her, “please, wait here. I swear I’ll be back with news soon.”

“Mousefred…”

“This is the best we can do to get Button back,” Mousey said. “Don’t be afraid.” He held out his stave to her.

Lexi sighed, then kissed Mousey on the cheek. “Hurry back.”

Mousey nodded, and when his mother took his stave, he turned to follow Nycht.

In short time, the two of them arrived back at Fluffle.

As they walked, Nycht on all fours, his father said to him, “You should have listened to me from the beginning. You never should have left the Nocturnal Patrol!”

“You never should have joined them,” Mousey retorted.

“You may not understand this,” said Nycht, “But we do more good than harm.”

“Ha!” Mousey scoffed. “You arrested me for helping a stranger, then tried to force me to execute that same stranger. Some good you do.”

“It’s better than what’s happened as a result of your rebellion,” Nycht snapped. “Queen Felicia only wants you, only you. You have a chance to swear your allegiance to her. You can serve the queen yourself, but instead you choose to put your family in danger!”

“I will never serve the Queen!” Mousey snapped back. “Her wrongness is… beyond—”

“Stop!” Nycht cut him off, then pointed with his paw, “And look at the cost of your rebellion!”

Mousey looked where Nycht was pointing, and his heart felt as if it would fall into an infinite abyss.

He thought, at first, that it was a round stone with rags resting upon it. Then he recognized the rags as his sister’s patched dress. Then he realized that the shape of the rock was that of a mouse pup curled in a ball. Finally, he recognized the face on that statue as Button’s.

“No!” Mousey cried and ran to the statue. “No! Button! No! Oh, Heavens, no!”