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were driven out. Years back, a few even got killed for it. The horde didn’t understand that they were being offered help, and a couple of rats—well, they didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but they did.” She paused for a moment. “It’s hard being different.”
    “What about the seconds, Cobweb and Montague? Why were they accepted into the horde?”
    Oleander stared at the sleeping horde, a dark mass of limbs and fur. “I suppose it’s easier to fit in as an outsider. Cobweb and Montague were only boys when they were found wandering in the swamp, starving to death. The horde would never cast off children. Not to mention that before Billycan came along, they were the only ones to keep the snakes at bay. So they were accepted—somewhat accepted, in any case.”
    “From the outside, they seem like nice enough fellows. Are they really aligned with Billycan? Do they know you or your group exists?”
    “The elders of our group have never been sure of the gray rats, not being family and all, so they’ve never breathed a word. I’ve proposed we tell Cobweb and Montague the truth, maybe we can help each other, but they said no—both of them working for Billycan and all. The elders are rather set in their ways. I doubt they’ll ever recognize Cobweb and Montague as members of the horde.”
    “If the horde is so set against outsiders, why would they accept Billycan?”
    “Oh, he made a big show of things, saving the lives of three rats about to get pounced on by water moccasins. The horde thought he must have been sent to them, this white rat with red eyes. They believed him to be their savior. The elders knew straight off he was not what heseemed, but we were outnumbered. There was nothing we could do to keep him out.”
    Oleander sat at the base of the tree and leaned against its trunk. Carn sat next to her. “Your elders are right about Billycan,” he said. “Let there be no doubt, he’s vicious and depraved in every way, a murderer. He should be in Nightshade’s prison corridor. He’s set on revenge and will use your family to carry it out, leading everyone to their death if necessary.”
    “So Nightshade City wasn’t taken from him as he claims. We suspected as much,” said Oleander.
    Carn scoffed. “The Catacombs were our original home, taken over by Billycan and a monster of a rat named Killdeer in a brutal battle known as the Bloody Coup. Eleven years later the Loyalists, good rats, freed the citizens of the Catacombs. Killdeer wound up dead and Billycan escaped like a coward, afraid to answer for his crimes. Nightshade’s Chief Citizen, Juniper Belancort, was the one who headed up the cause. He is the reason we are all free today. Billycan is dead set on revenge, which is why he’s planning on taking the horde to Nightshade.”
    “I see,” said Oleander. “So you’ve met him. You know Billycan, then?”
    Carn suddenly felt exhausted, as if the act of speaking had drained him completely. “Working as his aide for eleven years in the Catacombs, following each and every order he ever muttered—yes, I know him well.”
    In the dark hours of morning, Oleander and Carn crept back into the heart of the horde. They awoke next to Thicket and Stono, acting as if they were now together, a couple, claiming to have met at the pond during the night. Thicket could not have been happier to have Carncourt her favorite cousin, and gladly welcomed Oleander into their group.
    Carn’s main objective was to finally get to Telula. It had been several days now, and the Council must be thinking the worst. He had to get them the news.
    Oleander and her small faction had been hoping to devise a plan to get rid of Billycan. Carn thought they could join forces with the others—rats, bats, and snakes—all fighting as one.
    They had just finished breakfast, a mealy muck of dried fish and tadpoles. A feeble excuse for a meal, but Carn was glad to have food of any kind. He needed to think clearly, so many new revelations were