It had to be some kind of advanced mutant animal. But when Caroline looked around, she didn't see any opening anywhere. "No way. There has to be one close by." She remembered the earlier quake and the falling rocks, and it hit her—maybe the entrance had been buried. Caroline sent Jet up again. He couldn't fly high or far now, but a different angle still helped with the search. She also released Raven, telling both of them to look for any blocked openings or places that looked collapsed. Raven and Jet left right away. In a place full of underground mutants, those two were actually faster than Caroline. About a dozen minutes later, they both returned. They each claimed they found spots that looked like caves, but they pointed in opposite directions. They'd have to check each one. The first spot was buried under rocks. Caroline blasted the rocks away and found a freaked-out mutant earthworm hiding there. Before it jumped at her, she shut the place back up. Then she went to the second location. This one was higher. She could faintly see light from above—maybe 60 feet from the surface. The collapse had buried everything completely, so there wasn't a sign of a cave anymore. It was only luck that Raven spotted it. Caroline blew the entrance open again, and immediately, two red eyes stared straight at her. "So it's you, huh?" She said it flatly, holding an ice blade in one hand and a knife in the other, never taking her eyes off the creature. It took her some time to figure out what she was looking at. It turned out to be a mutated wood mouse.Except this wood mouse had hard scales covering its whole body, glowing red eyes, and two horns sticking out near its tiny ears. It looked like a weird mix of different animals. It took her forever to realize it was just a wood mouse. It was basically a rat with a shorter tail, smaller eyes and ears, and a thicker body—built for living underground. After blowing the cave open, Caroline noticed piles of stored food all around its nest. But she also spotted something else. There were white bones with no meat left, meaning something had chewed them perfectly clean. The newest bones still had some strange, slimy liquid on them, which looked nasty. Caroline frowned, feeling more worried than before. Without another word, she lunged at the mutant wood mouse. Wherever Tyler was, killing this thing might lead her to him. She attacked, and the mutated wood mouse didn't dodge at all. It took the hit straight on. Its scales were insanely strong. Her attack only scratched it. While she was trying to figure out how to deal with it, the mutant wood mouse started throwing up. Its whole body shook hard, its throat heaved, and its eyes rolled back. Caroline stared, confused. She was sure she hit its back. Why would that make it throw up? ... Somewhere else, Tyler landed another strike and did exactly what he had done before. He closed his eyes, stayed calm, and tried to sense any shift around him. The second he felt eyes on him, or anything watching, he attacked right away. After he repeated that a few times, something felt different. The space around him was shifting. In the darkness, there seemed to be an invisible vortex constantly spinning.He chuckled and attacked again. There was no way he was dying in some empty void. He still had to get out and save Caroline! ... Above ground, Denton wore the Rat King's hide over himself. Inside, he was sweating like crazy from the heat. The air felt thin, making everything worse. He clenched his teeth and looked down into the massive pit, fists tight. He couldn't wait any longer. An hour had passed, and there was still no sign of Tyler. Silver had flown around again and again, and the only news was that even Caroline hadn't found Tyler. "Tyler, you can yell at me later, but I'm done waiting. I'm still months away from being an adult. If you think I'm being stupid, fine—I'll admit it."