Belle and the Code of Claw

Part One: The Code; Chapter 1

Belle's back pressed against the cold stone floor as she stared up at the words on the ceiling. Her eyes and skin were still stinging from the volcanic ash that had engulfed her hours before. Between the burning in her lungs and the rapid beating of her heart, it was difficult to take in a full breath. To steady herself, she tightened her grip on her newly claimed bow.

As soon as she had retrieved the bow from the museum, she had left Vikus and run to this room. Every inch of it--walls, floor and ceiling--was covered in prophecies about the Underland, this gloomy warring world far beneath New York City, which had consumed Belle's life for the past three years. Bartholomew of Sandwich, the man who had founded the human city of Regalia, had carved the prophecies some four centuries ago. While most of his words were for the benefit of the Regalians, they also made reference to many of the giant creatures who lived in neighboring lands--the bats, the cockroaches, the spiders, the mice, and most often, the rats. Oh, and Belle. Several of them were about Belle. But they didn't call her by name. In the prophecies, she was known as one of "the warriors."

Belle hadn't allowed anyone to enter this room with her. She had wanted to be completely alone when she read the prophecy for the first time. Everyone had taken such pains to keep its contents from her in the past few months that she had known it must say something awful. And she had wanted to be able to react to the awfulness without anybody watching her. Weep, if she needed to weep. Scream, if she needed to scream. But it turned out that it didn't really matter, because she had barely reacted at all.

You must face this, Belle. You must understand, she told herself. So she forced herself to focus on the precisely chiseled letters once more.

As she reread the words, it was as if she could actually hear a clock ticking along with the lines. It was, after all, "The Prophecy of Time."

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...

The war has been declared,

Your ally been ensnared,

It is now or never.

Break the code or die forever.

Time is running out.

Running out.

Running out.

To the warriors give my blade and bow.

He to stay now, she to go.

But do not forget the ticking

Or the clicking, clicking, clicking.

While a rat's tongue may be flicking,

With its feet it does the tricking.

For the paw and not the jaw

Makes the Code of Claw.

Time is standing still.

Standing still.

Standing still.

Since the princess is the key

To unlock the treachery,

She cannot avoid the matching

Or the scratching, scratching, scratching.

When a secret plot is hatching,

In the naming is the catching.

What she saw, it is the flaw