“Find others!”

Which others?

He waited, but the Lord shared no further guidance.

It is only now, as Stefano skulks past the galley in search of a place to hide himself, that he recognizes his salvation.

The galley is far more spacious than San Giovanni’s kitchen was. And the pantry is larger still. No one else is around, as the captain has called the entire crew, including Cook and his assistants, to the assembly deck.

The dried food bins stacked at the side of the pantry might prove to be his salvation. He pops the lids off the containers full of flour, rice, and even corn chips. When he finds the three bins piled with dried cereal, he recognizes them as the ideal temporary home for the rats.

Stefano was going to bring all six rats, but he decided not to, opting instead to leave three of them in the bag in his room. After all, when they do find him, how will they know how many animals he has brought on board?

The knapsack is squirming as he lowers it to the floor. The rats sense the danger even more acutely than Stefano does. He slips his glove on and extracts the first of the animals by the tail, recognizing him as Puzzone by the ear that was gnawed in a previous fight. As soon as Puzzone falls onto the bed of cereal, he burrows down through the flakes until his whole body disappears. “Well done,” Stefano whispers.

He drops the other rats into the two other bins of flavored cereals. Tuma tunnels through the chocolate rings as quickly as Puzzone did the flakes, but Ormea perches warily on the surface, his whiskers twitching with suspicion. Eventually Stefano has to reach into the container and scoop the flakes over Ormea until he is finally concealed.

Satisfied, Stefano snaps the lids back on the containers and piles them against the wall exactly where he found them.

The stomping is louder. They are close now. His hand trembles again as he snatches the knife up off the floor where he laid it earlier. He had overheard Cook bragging that it was sharp enough to cut through bone. Stefano wonders if he will have to find out for himself.

He hurries across the pantry to a shelving unit that is stuffed with boxes. He has already nudged the unit a few inches away from the wall, but he still has to suck in his breath just to wedge his thin frame into the narrow space he created behind it.

The footsteps are heavier. They are in the galley now. But Stefano cannot see anyone through the crack between boxes that offers only a sliver of a view. Suddenly a blur of dark green darts across his field of vision. Stefano tenses as the source pauses and comes into focus. A soldier wearing a full body suit and helmet stands a few feet in front of him, pointing a rifle directly at him.