Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane - 2 by Suzanne Collins

bat sat motionless for a moment, then answered. "You broke all the blood balls."

    "I hit them all," Gregor said, still trying to remember it. "But I don't even know how to use a sword."

    "Apparently you learn quickly," said Ares, and somehow that made Gregor laugh a little.
    He looked around the cave. There were food supplies, blankets, spare torches.

    "What's this place? Like, your hideout?" Gregor asked.

    "Yes, my hideout," said Ares. "At one time it was also Henry's. We came here when we did not want to be around others. Now it is less my hideout than my home."

    The implication of what the bat was saying began to dawn on Gregor. "So, you don't live with the other bats anymore? I thought when I bonded with you it made things okay again —
    about Henry and all."

    "It spared me from official banishment. But no one save Aurora and Luxa will speak to me," said Ares.

    "Not even Vikus?" Gregor asked, forgetting his own problems for a minute.

    "Well, yes, Vikus. But he will speak to anyone," Ares said without much enthusiasm.

    He had had no idea things were so bad for the bat. If he hadn't been banished physically, he had been banished socially from his world. And then when Gregor had shown up again, all he'd done was order him around. "Look, I really am sorry about yesterday," he said. "I was mad and scared about Boots, and I took it out on you."

    "I was angry, too, about many things that have little to do with you," said Ares.

    So, it was better between them. But Gregor still felt like Ares was a stranger.

    "How'd you hook up with Henry, anyway?" he blurted out. Maybe it wasn't polite to ask, but it was the main thing Gregor wanted to know.

    "Henry chose me because I was wild and known to disobey many of the rules of my land.
    I chose Henry because I was flattered and he was royal and under his protection I knew I could be absolved of many things," said Ares. "It was not all bad. We flew well together and shared many of the same tastes. In most ways, we were suited to each other. In one, we were not."

    So among bats Ares had been some bad-boy rebel type. Of course, that was the kind of bat Henry would pick. Gregor had picked Ares, too, because the bat had risked everything to save his life — but would he have chosen him if the circumstances hadn't been so extraordinary?
    He didn't know.

    There was a rustling of wings at the cave entrance, and Aurora flew in with Luxa.

    "We knew you would be here!" cried Luxa. She bounced off Aurora and almost danced across the floor, clapping her hands together. "Was it not wonderful? Did you see it? Did you see the look on Stellovet's face?"

    "As if she had a mouth full of vinegar," Aurora purred, apparently also in a good mood.

    "Why?" said Gregor.

    "Why? Because of you and the blood balls!" Luxa said, as if he were dense. "She thought to make you look like a fool, and instead you hit the total! Almost no one has ever done this, Gregor! It was brilliant!"

    For the first time, Gregor felt a tinge of pride in his accomplishment. Maybe he had overreacted, because of the fake blood and all. Maybe he'd actually just done a really cool thing, like running the table in pool, or pitching a no-hitter in baseball. "Yeah?" he said.

    "Of course! And I have not seen Stellovet so put out since the picnic!" said Luxa, giggling at the memory.

    The bats both began to make a "huh, huh, huh" sound, and it took a moment for Gregor to realize they were laughing.

    "Oh, Gregor, you should have seen it. Vikus forced us all to go on this picnic with my Fount cousins because he thought it would help us get along better. And Stellovet kept pretending she heard rats, and making Nerissa terrified. So Henry tricked her into eating moth cocoons. She spent the whole afternoon picking silk out of her teeth and saying, 'Ah will noth forgeth thiseth!'" Luxa said, doing a pretty great imitation of someone with their mouth full of silk.

    "How'd he get her to eat cocoons?" Gregor asked, both amused and