I am beginning to question my decision to go along with Ms Pink’s investigation. When she said investigate, I imagined scouting out crime scenes, suspects’ accommodation, questioning witnesses and friends. You know, the crime novel-slash-drama usual. What I was not expecting is this: walking through a filthy, smelly, sewer deep underground.

“Who are we looking for?” I ask when I think the stench has abated. Bad news. It has not and I am reduced to a coughing fit which does not help in the least. Ms Pink rolls her eyes and takes a packet of something from her pocket. She rolls up a small strip of green into a ball and stuffs it in my nostrils.

“Breathe.”

I inhale and am surprised to find that the wads of green in my nose are not hindering me at all. And most importantly, the stench is nowhere to be smelt. “What is this?”

“Fabric mimea.”

“Oh.” I am curious to know more about fabric mimea but this is neither the time nor the place for it. “And who are we looking for?”

“Rats.”

“Rats?” Ms Pink answers with a blast of her ice-cold glare but I hold my ground. I am beginning to see through Ms Pink’s ways.  With me, she is all-bark-no-bite. So far. It seems. I clear my throat. “Real rats or . . .”

“Rats.”

“Okay.” I also feel like asking how safe the sewer is for us to walk through but I don’t. Ms Pink may be all-bark-no-bite with me but that’s no reason to test her limits.

The sewer is rather dark so I have to follow Ms Pink closely and in this instance, I am glad for her luminous pink jacket. It isn’t the usual posh fabric coat she wears to work. This one is like latex and it appears to be waterproof—a useful quality for the conditions down here. Not that I am unprotected. Ms Pink put me in a waterproof suit that covers me from the neck down to my fingers and toes and I am very thankful for it. Even if I am all pinked up.

Turn after turn. Sludge and more sludge. The darkness is beginning to brighten as my eyes grow accustomed to it and I am starting to wonder why Ms Pink isn’t carrying me and going at vampire speed to reduce the suffering when we come to a sudden stop. I am an inch away from bumping into Ms Pink but fortunately, I don’t. I say fortunately because it would be embarrassing to appear clumsy in front of such disgusting looking pests.

Ms Pink wasn’t kidding when she said rats. Right in front of us, standing on their hind legs, are a bunch of good ol’ dirty, filthy rats. Their coats are covered in slime and their whiskers drenched in gloop. And might I add, they are so big that they are almost as tall as us when they stand on their hind legs. It’s all I can do not to run away screaming in disgust and terror.

One of them transforms into a shaggy, ratty man. He isn’t much taller than Ms Pink and in human form, he is , thus losing quite a lot of his fearsome factor. “Who is this.”

Ms Pink’s eyes don’t leave the rats as she answers, “The Erika.”

Whiskers quiver and beady black eyes turn to me. “That is all? We are supposed to trust in this tiny mite of a human?”

“Size is irrelevant. Great energy can be stored in the tiniest of spaces. You ought to know that well.”

“She has not proven her powers yet.”

“She killed Praneso.”

The rat-man gestures at the pack of rats behind him. “We did not witness it.”

“You may not trust my account of the incident, but the Federation has found it to be true. It has been proven.”

“Have you forgotten why we are down here?”

“I remember—vividly—why you are down here.”

“If they can kill Olympias, there’s nothing to stop them from killing us.”

“If you think there is nothing left to stop them, you have nothing to lose by placing your faith in the Erika.”

“If we place our faith as you say, we stand to lose hope when she fails.”

“You also stand a chance to secure your freedom, your right to stay here.”

“It’s a gamble.”

“The Erika is not a gamble.”

“The book could be wrong about everything.”

Ms Pink folds her arms. “Is extermination what you want?”

“That is a rhetorical question.”

“Here is a literal question. Have you heard the name Max mentioned anywhere?”

The rat-man’s eyebrows rise and fall as his thin lips curl into an uneasy smile. “I see. This is why you came down to see us.”

“I would not intrude if not for an important cause.”

“Funny you should ask about Max.”

“I am not the first to ask.”

The rat-man shakes his head with a creepy smile. “No, you’re the second.”

“But you will tell me more.”

The creep smile widens. “Since you said so.” The creepy smile narrows. “Without others. Erika or not.”

Ms Pink looks at me as she nods and this is when