Two days on the road brought them to the rabbit colony, Fluffle.

Along the way, Mousey had stopped at a stream to wash out his clothes, and rinse the dried mud out of his fur, but now that he had arrived he’d have a chance to take a real bath. He could already see steam rising from tin chimneys as they drew close.

Each of the hutches appeared to be grass-covered hills with doors, windows, and slanted wooden roofs.

And in the streets between those hutches stood the colony’s rabbits. Their eyes all turned to face Mousey, his mother, and Sir Ranae as they came down the hill toward Fluffle.

There approached a rabbit wearing a gray suit, a top hat, a monocle, and carrying an umbrella under his arm. Most of his fur was white, except what was just under his nose and over his lip. There the fur was black, and the dark spot curled up on either side of his face, like a mustache.

“Oh, I say!” said the rabbit as he approached them. He cleared his throat and adjusted the monocle on his nose. “Weary travelers, welcome to our colony. ‘Tis jolly good to have visitors here, wot wot!”

“I thank you kindly, ol’ chap,” said Lexi, matching the rabbit’s strange accent. “We’re here to see Mr. Lapin. Is he present?”

The rabbit’s face brightened. “Ha ha! You must be the mother of those little rapscallions he’s been caring for! Adorable little ones, I must say! And too small to cause too much trouble around here.”

“’Tis good to hear they have behaved themselves,” said Lexi. “Sometimes they can be positively beastly, the way children are, you know.”

“Quite right, quite right,” said the rabbit. “Well, don’t let me keep you. Lapin is in his hutch, tinkering away at some new invention, no doubt.”

“No doubt,” repeated Lexi.

The three of them continued further into the village. Once Mousey thought they might be out of ear-shot of the rabbit who’d come to greet them, he whispered, “Why talk like that?”

“Around here, they consider that the proper way of speaking,” said Lexi, “And they like it if you at least try to speak as they do.”

“Such an outlandish way to communicate!” croaked Sir Ranae.

The three of them soon arrived at the door to one of the hutches, and Lexi knocked four times.

A few moments later, the door creaked open, and in the doorway stood a gray rabbit wearing a red military uniform. The collar was popped up around his cheeks, and the right side of his chest was covered in medals. On his chin rested a tuft of brown fur, and one of his ears was just slightly shorter than the other, as if a part of it were missing. For a moment, he looked over all their heads, not noticing them. Then, his eyes fell to Sir Ranae, and finally to Lexi and Mousey.

“Dearest Alexandra!” he said, a smile across his face. “It has been an honor watching your little ones during your time away, I must say.”

“Lapin! It pleases me that they’ve been such a joy,” said Lexi. “How can I ever repay you for all your help?”

“Oh, pish posh!” said Lapin, folding his paws behind his back. “Don’t forget, I owe my very life to your kindness, dear girl.”

“Well, just know that your hospitality is appreciated.”

“Yes, yes, quite, indeed.” He cleared his throat and sniffed, then his eyes fell to Mousey. “Ah, and who is this strapping young chap?”

“The only one of my pups you’ve not yet met,” said Lexi. “This is Mousefred Souris.”

“I see,” said Lapin, nodding his head. He offered a gloved paw to shake Mousey’s.

“Pleased to meet you,” said Mousey, allowing the rabbit to

shake his tiny paw.

“And you, young sir,” said Lapin. “I say, but you do look much like your father, don’t you?”

Mousey’s heart sunk, but he forced a smile. “Thank you.”

“Oh…” Lapin’s ears drooped. “Terribly sorry, lad. Didn’t realize that was still a sore spot, your father being gone and all.”

“It’s alright,” said Mousey, scratching behind one of his ears. “I… I guess I should be over it by now. He disappeared so long ago…”

“No, lad, listen to me,” Lapin pointed a finger at him. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you’ve mourned too long over the loss of someone dear. Only you can decide how much time you need to properly work through your emotions.”

“Um… thank you,” said Mousey.

“Anyway,” said Lapin, turning back to Lexi. “Do come in! I’m sure your litter will be joyful to see you, wot wot.”

“Uh… yes,” said Mousey, “Tallyho!”

Lapin stared at Mousey as if he’d just grown a second head.

Mousey folding his paws in front of his lap, looked down, and walked into the hutch.

Sure enough, no sooner were Mousey and Lexi inside Lapin’s home than a stampede rushed to greet them. All of Mousey’s brothers and sisters nigh smothered them with hugs. Even Button had put aside all judgments for a moment and showered the two of them with affection.

That is, until she actually caught whiff of them. “Oh! You smell like garbage!” she said, holding a paw over her nostrils.

“Buttondale Souris!” Lexi scolded.

“It isn’t my fault you both smell horrible!” Button said, retreating from them.

Mousey chuckled and shrugged. “I could use a bath.” He turned his gaze up to Lapin. “If that’s alright, Mr. Lapin?”

“Yes, of course, lad,” said Lapin. He pointed a paw down the hall. “Just over that way, the room on the right, you’ll find a bathtub. If you need any help lighting the coals underneath just let me know.”

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“Thank you,” said Mousey. He walked down the hall to the bath,

and on the way noticed that the door to the room across the hall was open. Up on the walls in the room across the hall, he saw a plethora of schematics hanging on the walls, designs for all sorts of odd inventions. Curious, he entered that room to look over the plans.

Mousey tilted his head to one side and smiled when he saw Lapin’s schematics for a flying ship. The shape looked mostly like any other boat, but instead of sails on a mast it had sails upon wings stretched out from the starboard and port sides. He laughed lightly at the idea of flying in a boat that soared among the clouds and did his best to memorize the calculations and schematics before him. Maybe, someday, he could build the flying ship with Mr. Lapin.

But then another schematic caught his eyes. The drawing pictured a mouse, but he wore something on his back. In one iteration it looked like a cape, but in another spot the mouse stood with his arms outstretched, and bat-like wings hung below his arms.

“He said he found his wings in the ruins… He claimed they were old magic…”

Mousey sighed, realizing that this was yet another of many lies surrounding his father. That was, if Nycht really was Topo Souris.

He resolved not to think about it too long, if he could help it, and crossed the hall back to the bath. The tub inside that room was enormous, big enough for seven of him to fit inside. Above the tub was a pump, like one often found on a well, and below it was black coals.

Mousey closed the door, undressed, then held his paws over the tub and recalled steaming hot water, and all the baths he’d taken before. Soon, the tub filled up with hot water, and Mousey climbed in.

“Mr. Lapin can probably answer some of your questions about your father,” Sopher spoke in Mousey’s mind.

“I don’t want to know,” Mousey thought.

“Yes, you do,” said Sopher. “At the very least, you want to know if Nycht was telling the truth.”

Mousey whispered, “If he really is Topo Souris… then that means he abandoned us. If he became Nycht that means he did so for his own, selfish glory. He’s no father of mine.”

A landscape of black and red.

Sopher looked around at their surroundings and sighed. Mousey’s mind had twisted his dreams into something grotesque and terrifying. The pages of the book upon which they stood now appeared charred. The sky above them was blood red, and streams of black in swirled all around them.

“Mousey… what’s wrong?” Sopher asked.

“I don’t know…” he said, looking at the dreamscape with as much confusion as she had.

“You’re holding onto anger, aren’t you?” Sopher asked, her blue, ink eyes scanning their surroundings. Faces of snarling beasts appeared in the black ink floating all around them, and she cringed.

“This is because I’m angry at someone?” Mousey ducked as some of the black ink flew close to him. “How… how does that work?”

“Your imagination shapes both your dreams and your magic,” said Sopher, constantly watching the swirls of darkness around them. “If you’re angry you’ll conjure up these terrible images. That’s why the boat sank, Mousey. You’re angry with your father.”

Mousey looked away from her, and both of them heard a screech from one of the dark streams. Smoke billowed all around the book, rising from some glowing blaze far beneath them.

“Mousey…” Sopher floated over to him and held both of his paws in her own. “Let’s talk through this. If you hang onto anger like this the results could be disastrous.”

He refused to look her in the eye. The ink swirling around them turned into hundreds of vampire bats, each clad in black armor. Then, in an instant, they were all engulfed in flames. Their high-pitched screams gave Mousey chills, but also brought a smile to his lips.

“Don’t start down that path!” Sopher pleaded. With a paw on his cheek, she forced him to turn his head and look at her. Even so, his eyes avoided hers, staring instead at her chin. “That’s the difference

between you and Queen Felicia; your magic isn’t tainted with hate. You said yourself that you never want to burn anyone again, and now—”

“There’s only one more I want to see burn,” Mousey said, pulling away from her. “He abandoned us when we were young. There were some nights we went to bed, our tummies aching from hunger, because Mom couldn’t get enough food to feed us all on her own. There were some nights when I couldn’t sleep, so I’d get up from my bunk and go to find her. She’d be in the kitchen, sitting at the table and crying her eyes out.”

Mousey paced back and forth, wringing his paws. All around him bats appeared in the ink and smoke, only to catch fire again, and turn to ashes. “All the while we thought he was dead. My Mom’s friends would come by, and they always spoke about what a great mouse Topo Souris was. ‘Your father was a good soul. Wish he were still here,’ they’d say.”

An ink bat swooped down at Mousey, with a sword in its claws. Mousey held up his paw, forcing the bat to stop in mid-air, merely hovering above him.

Sopher rested a paw on his shoulder. “Don’t do this…”

“Then he comes back into our lives,” Mousey continued, his nostrils flared in rage. “And he hits Mom in the face, then takes me off to some prison, where he tries to make me just like him! Why should I not hate him?”

“Because it will torture you!” Sopher yelled, forcing him to look at her again. “Holding hate in your heart is like swallowing poison because you expect someone else to die. Ultimately, you are the one who suffers from your anger, not them. Not your father.”

Mousey groaned, then lowered his paw, and the ink bat disappeared. The smoke started to die down, and Mousey hung his head.

“No need to be ashamed,” Sopher said. “You understand justice, so you recognize injustice when you see it. What your father did to you and your family was terrible injustice, but you mustn’t obsess over it. Most beasts are good in their own eyes, so understand that, to him, he did what seemed right at the time.”

Mousey scoffed. “How could what he did seem right? How could it ever seem like a good thing for a mouse to abandon his wife and

pups?”

“I’m not saying I understand it,” said Sopher. “Just that he must have had reasons at the time. And, even if he didn’t, it doesn’t do you any good to hang onto your anger. You’re letting him hurt you, even when he’s not here.”

Mousey nodded, and the swirling ink faded from the air all around them. Soon, the red sky turned white again, and the pages of the book on which they stood were no longer black and charred.

“I’m sorry, Sopher,” he said. “You’re right. I want to be better than this, I really do.”

“You are better than this,” said Sopher, as she pulled him into a warm embrace. “You’ve always been better. That’s why I chose you, Mousey.”

Mousey held her tight. “I wish I could see what you see. Right now, all I know is that there’s a monster within me, the same as there is in him. Now that I realize it’s there… I’m terrified that it will get out. By teaching me magic you may have made someone far more dangerous than he ever was.”

“An oven can be dangerous too,” said Sopher. “But how often did warm bread make you smile?”

Mousey chuckled. “I see your point.”

Sopher kissed him on the forehead, causing Mousey’s cheeks to flush and his heart to tremble. She looked him in the eye again. “This is my charge to you, cause far more smiles than frowns in this world. There’s enough anger and cruelty. Show the world kindness.”

Mousey was about to say something in return, but a high-pitched screech snapped him out of the dream. He jolted awake and sat up in his bedroll.

It was still dark, with only a little starlight pouring in through the window. His brothers and sisters lay all around him, snoring.

Again, he heard the high-pitched screech, and he recognized the sound.

The Nocturnal Patrol…

Mousey stumbled through the room in the dark, trying to find his stave. He tripped over one of his brothers and crashed down on

another.

“What?”

“Mousey, what are you doing?”

All of them started to squirm and wake up.

Mousey finally found his stave. “Stay here,” he told his siblings. He stumbled out into the hall, then created a small, candle flame to light his path. First, he hurried to the front door, and peered through the small peephole.

At first, all he saw were the colony’s streets, lit by a few lamp-posts. He could only barely see the sky but could not tell if any bats flew in it.

Then, black, leathery wings wrapped around one of the lamp-posts, and the light went out. Then it happened again, and Mousey could only watch as what little light had shown on those streets died out, and darkness consumed the colony.

They’d only put out all the lights if they intend to attack…

Mousey grabbed his coat off the hook by the door and threw it over his shoulders.

“Maybe you don’t have to fight them,” Sopher whispered in his thoughts. “Wake Mr. Lapin, Sir Ranae, and your mother. They may know of another way out of here.”

“Yes…” Mousey thought. “Perhaps an escape tunnel.”

Mousey hurried over to Mr. Lapin’s bedroom and rapped the door three times with his stave. Before he heard an answer, he did the same to the adult guestroom door, where Lexi and Sir Ranae slept.

In a few moments, all three of them came out to greet him, rubbing their eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Sir Ranae croaked.

“Shhh…” Mousey held a paw to his lips, then whispered, “The Nocturnal Patrol is outside. We need to leave immediately.”