Mona tugged the handle, but had to use both paws before the trapdoor creaked open. There was a light from below, a lantern flickering halfway down a small staircase.

“Hello?” she whispered. No one answered.

The crying had stopped. She took a few tentative steps down the stairs and peered into the shadows. At the bottom was a cramped space, and—were those silhouettes she saw? Was this a secret tunnel from the courtyard? Maybe the guests and staff had rescued themselves!

“Hello!” Mona called again, eagerly, hurrying down the last steps, only to be disappointed. They were only costumes, hanging from hooks on the walls. There was Mr. Heartwood’s red cap and bag from when he dressed up as St. Slumber, and some other outfits, too. There was even a wedding dress that was full of holes, as though it had been munched by a moth or worn by a porcupine.

This must be a secret changing room, thought Mona.

Or maybe not-so-secret. One of the costumes moved. There was somebody there.

“Hello?” Mona said again.

Still no one answered. But the costume shifted and revealed a red tail she would recognize anywhere.

“Henry?” said Mona. Mona pushed the costume aside, and there was the little squirrel, sniffling and rubbing his eyes.

“Oh, Henry!” She threw her paws around him. But he pulled back at once.

“What are you doing down here?” said Mona. “Did you hear, see, smell…?”

“Uh-huh,” he sniffled. “You…don’t want me. I don’t belong here….”

Right away she knew he wasn’t hiding from the owls. He was hiding from her!

Henry must have come down here right after he heard the fight between her and Tilly. Before she could say anything, however, he gave an extra-big sniffle. “I’m just trying…trying my best….Maybe I shouldn’t be here. Maybe I should go back to Hood’s.”

“Oh.” Mona gulped. “You heard me talking to Tilly, didn’t you?”

He nodded and sniffled. “I know you don’t want me here. I don’t belong.”

It struck her how his words sounded like her own, like the conversation she had in the fall with Tilly when she was new to the Heartwood, and Tilly was treating her badly. Tilly was worried she would lose her job to Mona and hadn’t made Mona feel welcome. Mona wasn’t scared she’d lose her job to Henry, but she was afraid of losing something.

She moved closer to the squirrel. There wasn’t much space, but enough. Room for two.

“I’m sorry for what I said. Really, Henry. I…I was just afraid.”

“Afraid?” he squeaked.

“Yes,” said Mona. “Afraid of losing my place here…afraid everyone liked you better than me.” She looked at the little squirrel.

“But everyone LOVES you!” said Henry, astonished. “All the guests know your name. Ms. Prickles says you’re good with your paws. Gilles says you have the best ideas, and Tilly wishes her heart was as big as yours.”

“Really?” said Mona, smiling. But the smile quickly disappeared. “Tilly…” Mona’s voice caught.

“What’s the matter?” said Henry.

“Tilly’s trapped outside because…”

Henry’s eyes widened.

Mona didn’t want to scare him; still, he needed to know the truth.

“Owls have attacked the Heartwood, Henry.”

Henry’s tail exploded into a poof. “OWLS?” he cried. “Tilly’s outside and there are OWLS?!”

“Not just Tilly,” said Mona.

Henry started up the stairs. “Come on, Mona. We have to do something. We HAVE to!”

Mona shook her head. “It won’t be easy. We can’t trick them away like the wolves or face them like the snowstorm. We’d need an army to attack the owls. But every…everyone else is stuck under the stage.”

She almost felt hopeless again, but Henry looked at her.

“Not everyone,” said Henry. “Not me. And aren’t the…”

“The bees,” Mona finished for him.

There was an army—a squadron—in the hotel. A squadron with stingers.

Mona and Henry climbed out of the secret room and hurried up the stairs to the hive room, in the hollow knot. The hotel was so quiet it was frightening. The higher they climbed, the tighter Henry clasped her paw, and she understood why. Mona could feel the danger, coursing through the tree, thicker than sap.

When at last they reached the sticky hallway, Mona knocked on the tiny door.

“We are off duty and packing,” came the captain’s voice from within. “Leave us be.”

“It’s Mona the maid. Please, Captain, it’s an emergency.”

The door opened, and Captain Ruby looked up at her. Mona could see, behind the captain, the hollow chamber that was built into the knot in the tree. All the honeycombs were empty. The bees were buzzing loudly behind the captain, arguing about where to go next. They must have been arguing for a while and had not heard the attack.

“I am serious when I say we are leaving,” said the captain.

“You can’t,” cried Mona. “We need your help.”

“With honey production?” said the captain.

“No, with protection, not production,” said Mona. “Owls. Owls have attacked the Heartwood.”

“BZZT!” Immediately, Captain Ruby sprang to attention. The bees stopped arguing and were on the alert. “Owls! I heard some shrieks but assumed that was part of the festivities. That explains it. Our flank was exposed. What of your defense?”

“We don’t have any,” said Mona. “We only have Tony to warn us. But he’s stuck under the stage in the courtyard.” As she described everything that had happened, the captain paced.

“Owls, you say. More than one? Owls don’t usually attack in squadrons. This is highly unusual. I could lead a counterattack but…”

“But what?” asked Mona. “Buts” were never good when it came to plans.

“Their feathers are thick. Our stingers might get stuck.”

Mona gulped. “So you can’t attack?”

“No, I didn’t say that. I doubt we’d need to sting them; a good swarm would scare them away. Especially a precise, persistent formation that stays with them until they leave. I could lead that type of counterattack, but in the dark it is difficult to maneuver. Or even find the owls. We must wait until daybreak….”

“We can’t,” said Mona. “By daybreak it’ll be too late.”

Just then, to prove her point, there was another shriek. The unmistakable shriek of the Robinsons, louder than it had ever been before.

Henry tugged Mona’s paw. But Mona was lost in thought.

“What about lanterns?” she suggested.

The captain shook her head. “We can’t carry lanterns. They will weigh us down. No, we must find another way….”

Henry tugged Mona’s paw again.

“What is it, Henry?” she asked.

“The fireflies,” he said. “The fireflies are here, too. They could light up the sky, Mona. They could do it. I know they could.”

“Henry, that’s it!” said Mona.

But the captain didn’t seem to think so. “Florian and the Flares? I could never work with those fireflies!”

To Mona’s dismay, the fireflies didn’t want to work with the bees either. Mona and Henry gathered both groups in the lobby, on the rug in front of the fireplace.

“We’re artists. We’re not trained for this,” said Florian. His light trembled. “You are. You always boast you have the best formations. Isn’t this your chance?”

“Believe me, I’d rather we attack on our own,” the captain buzzed back.

Every second wasted felt like a whole season. Mona couldn’t hear any more shrieks outside, but silence was almost worse. She didn’t know what might be happening.

“Please,” said Mona. “We have to save everyone. We have to save the Heartwood!” She tried to think of how the captain would say it, but all she could think of was, “If we work together, we stand a chance.”

Captain Ruby paused. “I see the makings of a captain in you, Mona. And in time of need, a good captain does what she must, but…it’s not like they know the Encircle Maneuver.”

“You mean Ring Around the Treetop? Of course we do,” said Florian. “It’s one of our favorites.”

“You do?” The captain looked surprised. “What about Thread the Needle?”

Florian and his troupe nodded.

“Blast Off?”

“Do you mean a sudden burst of flight? That’s what we call a Flash of Fire,” said the firefly. “We’ve done that a thousand times. We could perform it in our sleep.” He hesitated, then at last said, “I suppose we are trained. I suppose—”

“Just this once…” interrupted Captain Ruby.

“We can work together,” they finished at the same time.

“Oh, thank you,” cried Mona.

“Don’t thank us yet,” said the captain. “The night is far from over. The real battle has yet to begin.”