"I can do it," said Ares.
"What about training?" asked Gregor.
"He's done for now. Let's see your spin," said Ripred.
After Ares took off, Gregor tried to show Ripred his spin attack. It was hard to do without the real threat of death before him. His feet felt awkward and he got dizzy almost immediately. "I was better in the jungle," he told Ripred.
"Well, you stink now," said the rat. "Let's start with the dizziness. You've got to learn how to spot."
Ripred showed him how to pick a spot somewhere and find it with his eyes each time he turned. "I do it with sound, by echolocation but, of course, that's out."
"Oh. Yeah. Maybe not," said Gregor.
"Can I assume by that smug look on your face that you've finally had a breakthrough?" asked Ripred.
"Kind of. In the dungeon," said Gregor. "I mean, something happened."
"I'll take him from here," Ripred told Perdita.
Before he knew it, Gregor was under the palace in their old practice space, fighting off Ripred's attacks in complete darkness. Except it wasn't darkness anymore, because he could do that thing, that echolocation thing, and somehow "see" things around him. If he clicked or coughed or even spoke in a certain direction, he could register detailed shapes and heat and movement.
"We should have thrown you into the dungeon months ago," said Ripred.
"It's weird. It's like having a whole new sense," said Gregor.
"Yes. Let's try that spin attack now. Pick a distinctive spot on the wall and keep coming back to it," the rat instructed. "Wait, use me to start." Gregor tried. He could find Ripred with echolocation on the first few spins but then he started to get confused and dizzy. It was too many new things — spinning and spotting and seeing with his ears — for his brain to compute all at once. Finally he tripped and his feet went out from under him.
"All right, all right. That's enough for today," said Ripred.
"No, it's not. I haven't got it," said Gregor.
"We'll get it next time," Ripred said.
"There might not be a next time!" said Gregor. "Or next time might be in a cave full of rats!"
"You're too tired. It's counterproductive," said Ripred. Gregor began to object but the rat cut him off. "Gregor! You've made excellent progress today. But it's time to stop!"
What a reversal this was from their old lessons, when it was Gregor who was always trying to cut out and Ripred driving him on. "Will you keep working with me?"
"After you've eaten and slept. Let's go check up on Lizzie. You can rest in her room there," said Ripred.
"Yeah, let's see if they've cracked that code yet," said Gregor. He was starting to get concerned about how long it was taking. "So, we'll really lose the war if they don't break it?"
"If Sandwich is to be believed," said Ripred, "And even if the prophecy were not a factor, I would say yes. We need that intelligence rather badly. Come on."
You could sense the frustration as soon as you entered the code room. The floor was ankle deep in those long white strips of fabric marked with encrypted messages. The team was gathered around Lizzie as she hurriedly wrote down some letters on a strip with a bright pink marker that must have been in her backpack. "So then it would be T ... H ... E ... Q ...oh, no ... another H. That's not it."
The team gave a collective huff of disappointment.
"So, how are we doing? Any luck with the Prime Factorial Ciphers?" asked Ripred.
"No luck," said Daedalus. "Heronian thought to try a two-letter inversion, but that just failed as well."
"It is so maddening. There must be some key. Some simple key. Otherwise, the majority of gnawers could not keep it in their heads," said Heronian. "Something they could not forget."
"How's our new player doing?" asked Ripred, curling his tail around Lizzie's shoulders. For the first time, the mood lightened. "Only once, must you show her, only once," said Min approvingly.
"She thinks in unusual ways," said Daedalus, dipping his nose down to touch Lizzie on the head.