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“Yes. We’re all going,” Oscar said, snapping his beak shut. He’d learned not to argue when Walt got that tone in her voice. Besides, there was safety in numbers. Surely the monsters couldn’t eat them all.

“So we’re just doing a quick check?” Oscar said after Madison and Mrs. Food had gone to bed. “We’ll just pop down to the loading dock, have a quick look around, and then come right back. Just to put Biscuit’s mind at ease. Agreed?”

It had already been a tense night in the apartment. Madison, in particular, had been in a bad mood since she came home from school. She was still irritated at Walt and Butterbean and showed it by glaring pointedly at them whenever they crossed her path.

From what Butterbean understood, she’d gotten a tardy, which was bad, like getting whacked on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper, except without the newspaper part. Or the whacking. To be honest, Butterbean didn’t really understand.

Butterbean had tried to make amends, though, by licking any exposed skin that she could find whenever Madison went past. But it had been hours before Madison started to soften up. The last thing they wanted to do was get into more trouble.

Butterbean wrinkled her nose.“Agreed.”

“Unless we need to do some monster fighting,” Marco said. “Then it’ll take a little longer. Should we bring weapons?” Not that they had any weapons to bring, but it seemed like something they should consider.

Oscar shook his head. He wasn’t planning on any monster fighting. “We might need to reassess once we see what we’re up against. But this is just a reconnaissance mission.” He paused significantly. “Since we’re spies.”

“Oooohhh, right,” Polo said. “Reconnaissance.”

“Reconnaissance, so that means we’ll just be snooping around?” Marco asked. “No weapons?”

“Right, no weapons,” Oscar said. “Well, except for Walt.”

“Anything goes wrong and I’ll go for eyes,” Walt said. Going for the eyes was her go-to attack method.

“Good. Now as soon as Wallace gets here, we can…” Oscar trailed off as he stared in the direction of the couch. Four sets of eyes turned to see what he was looking at. And four sets of jaws dropped simultaneously.

Wallace stood next to the sofa. He blushed when he saw them looking and struck a fashion-type pose.“Hi, guys! What do you think?”

“What do I think?” Oscar was dumbfounded. He didn’t even have words to describe what he was seeing.

“What are you WEARING? Are those CLOTHES?” Walt said, squinting her eyes, as if that might change things.

“Well, um, yeah,” Wallace said, fiddling with his outfit. “Kind of. I mean, do you like it?”

Wallace was wearing a rat-sized sailor shirt complete with dark blue neckerchief around the collar. It was a little bit big for him and hung around his knees, but he made it work. He posed again, ending with a twirl that made the collar swing out in the back.

“What IS that?” Butterbean said, pressing her nose against the fabric and almost knocking Wallace over. “Is that a sailor shirt?”

Wallace blushed again.“Um, yeah, I think that’s what you call it. Looks good, right?”

“But where did you get it?” Marco said, rushing over to examine it too. He’d never seen a rat in clothes before, not in real life.

“Do you think it comes in a small?” Polo said, right behind him. She’d never really considered wearing clothes, but now that she saw Wallace in an outfit, her whole outlook had changed.

“Maybe? I don’t know.” Wallace shrugged. “It was a gift.”

“Okay, Wallace, spill it. Where did you get the clothes?” Walt said, lashing her tail impatiently.

Wallace shifted uncomfortably under her stare.“Mrs. Power Walker. She left it out for me,” he said. “She’s just nice like that.”

“Left it out for you?” Oscar said. “Or just left it out? There’s a difference, you know.”

Wallace shrugged again.“Well, it wasn’t labeled or anything. But she left it on the table, so I just ASSUMED…”

“You can’t assume!” Oscar squawked, puffing his feathers out.

“Wallace, she’ll notice it’s gone. You have to put it back,” Walt said. “She might enjoy doing cute things for fairies—”

“Brownies,” Wallace interrupted.

“Remember? I told you.” Butterbean nodded. “Like flat—”

“Flat cake, sure,” Walt said, gritting her teeth. “But Wallace, if she figures out she’s got a rat in her apartment I can guarantee you she won’t be happy. No matter how nice she seems now.”

Wallace made a face and stared at the floor.“Well, duh,” he said. “I know I can’t KEEP it. I just thought I could wear it a little. Just for tonight. You know, as a disguise.”

“That’s a great idea!” Polo said, her eyes gleaming. “We should all wear disguises! OOOHHH what should I go as?”