In Chap­ter 27, Gre­gor is reunit­ed with his younger sis­ter, Boots, who arrives in the Under­land accom­pa­nied by cock­roach­es but with­out their friend Temp or Queen Luxa and her bat, Auro­ra. Boots recounts frag­ments of her adven­ture, men­tion­ing a “flut­ter­fly” ride and swim­ming, but her scat­tered descrip­tions leave Gre­gor con­fused. The cock­roach Pend explains that Temp, weak­ened and unable to trav­el, had urged a moth to take Boots to safe­ty while he remained behind. Vikus, des­per­ate for news of Luxa, ques­tions Pend but learns lit­tle beyond that Luxa and Auro­ra faced a rat attack. Gre­gor clings to hope, but the uncer­tain­ty weighs heav­i­ly on them both.

Gre­gor pieces togeth­er clues from Boots’s vague rec­ol­lec­tions, the­o­riz­ing that Luxa and Temp might have escaped the Tankard through a sub­merged tun­nel. Boots men­tions a “baby pool” and bump­ing her head, hint­ing at a nar­row, water-filled pas­sage. She also ref­er­ences Twitchtip, the rat with a ban­daged nose, sug­gest­ing the group encoun­tered her before being sep­a­rat­ed. Gre­gor spec­u­lates that Luxa may have stayed behind to fight the rats or was cap­tured, though the lat­ter pos­si­bil­i­ty is grim. Vikus, though vis­i­bly dis­tressed, acknowl­edges the lack of cer­tain­ty but clings to Gregor’s reminder of hope.

Vikus insists Gre­gor and Boots return home, rec­og­niz­ing the dan­gers of stay­ing in the Under­land. He pro­vides Gre­gor with med­i­cine for his father, a ges­ture of grat­i­tude and good­will. As they pre­pare to leave, Gre­gor exchanges farewells with Howard, Androm­e­da, and Ner­is­sa, who gives him a scroll of the prophe­cy. Vikus’s gifts—a flash­light, a pack­age, and the medicine—underscore the bond between them. Despite his wor­ries for Luxa and the oth­ers, Gre­gor accepts the neces­si­ty of depart­ing, though he promis­es to return if need­ed.

The chap­ter ends with Gre­gor and Boots board­ing Ares for their jour­ney home, leav­ing the fate of Luxa, Auro­ra, and Temp unre­solved. Gregor’s inter­nal con­flict mir­rors Vikus’s grief, but both choose to hold onto hope. Boots’s inno­cence con­trasts with the grav­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion, as her cheer­ful excite­ment about return­ing home pro­vides a bit­ter­sweet coun­ter­point. The chap­ter under­scores themes of loy­al­ty, loss, and the resilience of hope amid uncer­tain­ty.