Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods
Suzanne Collins
 The Prophecy of Blood on a scroll given to him by Nerissa. Soon, a message from Vikus arrives in the laundry room with the announcement that the "Curse of the Warmbloods is upon us". Gregor and his father travel to Central Park and the entrance underneath and meet Ripred, who informs him that the Curse of the Warmbloods is a plague scouring the Underland, and that all warmbloods have united in order to find a cure. Gregor is uncertain that his mother will let him and Boots go, but Ripred encourages him by informing him his own bond, Ares, is a victim of the plague, and adding that if his mother does not comply, the rats will send an escort. Back at their apartment, Gregor's mother will not let them go, but Ripred's escort arrives in the form of hundreds of normal-sized rats in the walls. After being overwhelmed, his mother agrees to go on the condition that she come too (this is the first time she goes to the Underland). They meet the bat Nike, daughter of Queen Athena, in the laundry room and fly to Regalia, where delegations of cockroaches, rats, bats, and humans have gathered. The humans inform the other species that there is a cure for the plague, starshade, found deep in the Vineyard of Eyes. The rats agree to lend their assistance on one condition: that a yellow powder used to keep fleas, plague carriers, away be sent to the rats. A bat flies in from the Dead Lands, plague ridden, and fleas force the audience to retreat, but not before Gregor's mother is bitten. Gregor, Boots, Ripred, Nike, Temp, Solovet, and two rats named Lapblood and Mange agree to journey to the Vineyard of Eyes. When they enter the jungles, they are greeted by Hamnet, Luxa's long lost uncle, his Halflander(half Overlander, half Underlander) son Hazard, and a lizard, Frill. Hamnet agrees to be a guide, but only if Solovet does not come. The pack enters the jungle and run through several trials, such as flesh eating plants, which kill Mange, and quicksand, before arriving at the end and meeting Luxa and Aurora, who had been hiding with the mice the whole time. They make it into the Vineyard of Eyes, but ants destroy the field of starshade and kill Hamnet and Frill, leaving no hope of a cure. Temp mentions offhandedly that "unless this be, not the cradle, unless this be" making them realize there is still hope for a cure. Gregor realizes that Ares did not contract the plague from the mites, as thought, but in a laboratory, and it leads him to believe that the plague was invented by the humans. Luxa is horrified, but Ripred thinks it fits and orders that the first cures be sent to the rats. The plague was actually ordered by Solovet, Regent of Regalia and wife of Vikus, as a military weapon for killing. Back in Regalia, they have developed a cure, and Luxa exposes the project. Nerissa reveals to Gregor that had the quest never happened, the plague cure would never have been given to the gnawers, and so their journey was not in vain. Gregor's mother cannot return to the surface without risking carrying the plague to the Overland, and so the book ends with Gregor confiding in Mrs. Cormaci in order to enlist her help.