The Great Pet Heist

by Emily Ecton

  “He totally noticed her buttons,” Butterbean said.

  “Oh no,” Polo said weakly.

  “But that’s good for you, Polo,” Butterbean said encouragingly. “He’ll never suspect you.”

  “What have we done?” Polo said softly. “We have to fix this!”

  “It’s too late, Polo,” Marco said, patting her on the shoulder. “There was no way to get it back. Madison will probably be fine.”

  “Marco’s right, Polo,” Oscar said brusquely. “It’s too bad that the button was left behind. It really is. But it can’t be helped. We need to move ahead with our plans.”

  Walt nodded. “Remember what Bob said. We don’t want to go to the shelter.”

  “But…”

  “I’m sure nothing will happen to her. After all, she didn’t take the coins. They won’t be able to blame her,” Walt said.

  “She’ll have an alibi,” Oscar said.

  “I guess you’re right,” Polo said. “I don’t feel right about it, though.”

  “She’ll be fine,” Walt said. “You’ll see. She’ll be here after school—you can see for yourself then.”

  “Oh! Right! I forgot about that,” Polo said, brightening.

  “In the meantime, we need to get these coins out of sight. Butterbean, do you think you can carry them into the office? I’d fly them, but… you know. My back,” Oscar said. His back felt fine, but he was done carrying that heavy bag. He was pretty sure it made him look ridiculous.

  “Sure,” Butterbean said, grabbing the handle of the bag and pulling it onto the floor. Half of the coins fell out, but Butterbean didn’t worry about that as she dragged the bag toward the office.

  “We’ll just gather those up too,” Walt said, batting a gold coin in the direction of the office.

  It took much longer to stash the coins away than they’d thought, and when they were through, Polo flopped down on the floor exhausted. “Wake me up when Madison gets here,” she said, closing her eyes.

  Marco looked at the clock on the wall and frowned. “Okay, but…” he said, looking worried. “Isn’t she supposed to be back now?”

  They all turned and looked at the clock and then at the door. There was no sound from the hallway outside.

  Polo looked back at the clock. “Walt?”

  Walt’s eyes were still on the door. “She’s late. It’s not a problem.”

  “The clock says she should be here,” Polo said.

  “My bladder says she should be here,” Butterbean said.

  “She’s probably fine,” Marco said weakly. “Maybe they made her stay late?”

  “They didn’t make her stay late,” Polo said, standing up. “Something is wrong. I’m going to find out what’s happened.”

  Polo turned and marched toward the vent without another word.

  “I’m going too,” Marco said, hurrying after her.

  “I think you’re overreacting, Polo,” Walt said.

  “Well, we’ll see,” Polo said as she climbed into the vent. Marco scurried after her with one last apologetic look at Walt.

  * * *

  “She’s probably fine,” Oscar said, looking out of the window at the street below. He saw lots of adult people, but no small, child-sized people. “It was just a button. Who would even notice that?”

  “The Coin Man,” Butterbean said, her head on her paws. She was stationed by the front door, nose pressed to the gap underneath. “The Coin Man will notice.”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter. She wasn’t part of our plan anyway,” Oscar said. “Not to be mean, but we need to look out for ourselves. We don’t have Mrs. Food to take care of us anymore.”

  “If something happens to Madison, we don’t have anybody to take care of us anymore,” Butterbean grumbled. She really needed to pee.

  Oscar looked back out of the window. There was no doubt now that something was very wrong. Madison had never been this late.

  “Ahem, excuse me?” A small voice came from the direction of the vent. “Knock knock?”

  “Who’s there!” Butterbean said, whirling around. A small rat was standing nervously by the couch. And even though he’d said “knock knock,” it didn’t sound like he was telling a joke.

  “Um, I’m Wallace. I’m here about Marco and Polo?” Wallace cleared his throat. “I met them in the vents?”

  Walt jumped down from the top of the couch and landed next to Wallace, who was visibly startled. “You know Marco and Polo?”

  “Um, yes?” Wallace eyed the vent like he was planning to make a dash for it.

  “They’re not here, unfortunately. Would you like to wait?” Walt leaned away from the rat. She was trying to be as nonthreatening as possible. Wallace didn’t seem like a rat who’d had a lot of experience with cats. Or at least not good experiences.

  Wallace cleared his throat and clutched his hands in front of his chest. “Yes, I realize that. That’s why I came. There seems to be some sort of… incident going on? In the apartment on the top floor? I thought you might like to know.”

  “What’s happening?” Oscar flew over and landed on Wallace’s other side. He loomed over the rat, eyeing him carefully. He wasn’t worried about being nonthreatening.

  Wallace swallowed. “I’m not sure. I don’t go to those vents. But I saw Marco and Polo go up there, and… well, there’s a lot of noise. Bad sounds. I’m not sure.”

  Butterbean pawed at the front door. “Walt! Open! We need to go now!”

  “Butterbean, wait.” Oscar turned to Walt. “Maybe Chad can help?”

  “I don’t know—Butterbean might be right,” Walt said, looking at Wallace. If he had risked coming to a cat’s apartment, the situation must be bad.

  “Maybe we should—” Walt started, but she was cut off by a screeching noise in the vent.

  A screeching noise that was coming from Marco.

  He skidded into the room and grabbed Walt’s leg, clutching at it in desperation.

  “WALT!” he screamed. “It’s Polo! We went to Madison’s apartment to check on her, but she wasn’t there! But there were signs something bad had happened, so we decided to check on the Coin Man, and he got her! He found the button! And it’s bad! Oh, Walt!” Marco sobbed.

  Walt put her paws on either side of Marco’s shoulders. “Marco. Calm down. Where’s Polo?”

  Marco shook uncontrollably. “Oh, Walt. Polo’s dead!”

  15

  BUTTERBEAN GAVE A LOW MOAN. Oscar put his wing around Marco and led him over to Butterbean’s squeaky carrot. “Sit down, Marco. Now, you’re sure she’s dead?”

  “The Coin Man got her! Of course she’s dead!” Marco wailed. He sat down on the squeaky carrot, which emitted a long, plaintive squeal. “She must be.”

  Oscar and Walt exchanged hopeful glances.

  “So she could still be alive?” Walt asked. “There’s a chance?”

  Marco sniffled and wiped his nose on the squeaky carrot stem. “Hardly any chance. You weren’t there, Walt. It was bad.”

  Walt’s whiskers trembled. “Okay, but hardly any is still a chance. Even if it was bad, it might not have been dead bad.”

  “The Coin Man kicked at her. She went flying across the room.” Marco’s eyes welled up. “Do you think she could’ve survived that? He was going after her when I left.”

  Walt winced. That didn’t sound good at all. But she wasn’t about to tell Marco that. “Marco, we don’t know what happened next. Polo is a very resilient young rat. We can’t give up on her yet.”

  “Walt is right,” Oscar said. “We have to do something.” He looked at the window thoughtfully. “The window in the Coin Man’s apartment may not be open anymore. And even if it is, it would be too easy for me to be seen.” He looked at Wallace, who was eyeing the vent like he wanted to leave. “Wallace, can you take me to the Coin Man’s apartment?”

  Marco blinked. “What? You just said the window might be closed. How are you going to get in?”

  “Through the vent, of course,” Os
car said, fluffing his feathers. “I should fit. You both did it. It will be fine.”

  “You’re going in the vent? YOU?” Marco said. “You don’t even like to have your cage door closed.”

  “Well, it can’t be helped,” Oscar said. “It’s the only way. If we can rescue Polo, it’s worth it.”

  Wallace looked from Oscar to Marco uncertainly. “I can show you how to get there,” Wallace said. “If you really want to go.”

  “I’ll do it!” Marco said, standing up and wiping his eyes. “You don’t need Wallace to show you. I’m not afraid to go back. I owe it to Polo.”

  Wallace shrugged. “I’ll go too, if it’s all the same to you. Just to make sure you don’t get turned around wrong.” He didn’t like the idea of Marco and a bird blundering around in his vents unaccompanied. It sounded like a recipe for disaster.

  “Thank you, Wallace.” Oscar put one foot into the vent and tried not to think about how much he hated vents. Or how narrow they were. Or how dusty they were. And he definitely couldn’t think about how likely he was to get trapped inside them forever. When he was a fledgling, he’d heard stories about an aunt who’d gotten stuck in a chimney once. He’d had nightmares about it more than a few times. But he had to think of Polo now. If she was still alive, they had to do something.

  “Yeah, um, excuse me,” Marco muttered, finally pushing Oscar aside. He took a few steps into the vent then looked back. “Oscar? You coming?”

  Oscar took a deep breath and climbed in. It wasn’t that bad, actually, especially knowing the exit was right behind him.

  “I’m going too,” Walt said, slinking over and wriggling inside. “Move over, Oscar.” It was going to be a tight fit, but nothing she hadn’t done before. She’d once managed to fit herself into a tissue box. One of the pop-up ones, not one of the more spacious horizontal kind.

  Oscar squawked in dismay. He wished he’d brought a paper bag to breathe into.

  “I’m going too,” Butterbean said, hurrying over to the opening. She wasn’t about to be left behind.

  Butterbean managed to squeeze into the vent up to her ears, but getting her whole head inside was trickier than she’d thought. That didn’t mean she couldn’t do it. It was just a matter of willpower.

  “Bean, no,” Walt said, her eyes gleaming in the darkness. “You need to stay here. We need someone to guard the apartment.”

  “No, I’m going too,” Butterbean said, twisting her neck to try to get her whole head inside the vent. “I know I can squish. I’ve got a squishy head. Just give me a second.”

  “But what if Bob comes back?” Walt said. The last thing they needed was for Butterbean to get stuck in the vent. “You’ve got a powerful bark. We need you here, to bark for us if there’s trouble.”

  Butterbean stopped and pulled her head back out of the vent. She hated to admit it, but it was probably for the best. Her head wasn’t even the widest part of her body. “Fine,” she finally said, staring at the floor. “I’ll stay here. I’ll be ready to bark.”

  “Good. Thank you, Butterbean,” Walt said. “You guard the coins.” Walt waited a minute to make sure Butterbean was really staying behind and then turned and disappeared down the vent.

  Butterbean suddenly sat up straight. The coins. Her eyes gleamed. She knew just what to do. “Right, I’ll guard the coins!”

  * * *

  Polo sat in the dark thinking about her life choices. Ever since Mrs. Food had gone away, things seemed to have taken a bad turn. And Polo was pretty sure a lot of it had to do with some questionable choices on her part.

  Madison, for instance. It had seemed like a very good idea to go check on her when she didn’t show up. And when Polo had seen the trashed apartment and realized Madison was gone, it had seemed like a very good idea to go check the Coin Man’s apartment.

  And when she realized he’d kidnapped Madison, it had seemed like a very good idea to throw herself repeatedly against the vent grate until she broke through and fell kamikaze-style into the living room. And since she was down there anyway, within striking distance of the Coin Man’s ankles, attacking those ankles had seemed like the logical thing to do. Anybody would have done the same thing, right? It had all seemed like a very good idea—until he’d kicked her across the room, that is.

  The last thing she remembered was hearing Marco screaming as she flew through the air. She’d thought it would be the last thing she ever heard. But instead she’d woken up in Madison’s pocket, so in a way she’d been pretty lucky.

  Polo sighed. If her bad choices had gotten her into this mess, she was just going to have to make some good choices to get out of it. She stuck her nose out of the pocket and looked around. It was dark, and Madison seemed to be sitting on the bathroom floor. Interesting choice. Maybe Madison should evaluate her life choices too. Polo shook her head. That wasn’t fair. Madison wouldn’t even be in this situation if it wasn’t for Polo and her button.

  “You okay, little guy?” Madison said in a low voice. “You awake?”

  Polo craned her neck to look up at Madison. Her face was streaky looking, like she’d been crying. Polo twitched her whiskers at her.

  “I thought I’d better get you out of the way before he kicked you again.” Madison gave her a weak smile. “Now you’re stuck with me, but it’s better than being stomped.”

  Polo couldn’t argue with that.

  “You know, you look like another rat I know. Down on the fourth floor. I’m supposed to be taking care of her right now.” She sniffled. “Two rats, actually, and a bunch of other animals.”

  “It’s me. And don’t worry—Marco will find us,” Polo squeaked softly. She wasn’t sure it was true, though. Marco hadn’t been screaming like he was planning a rescue. He’d been screaming like he was running away and never coming back.

  “They’re not going to let us out, little guy,” Madison said softly, tentatively touching Polo’s ear. “They think I stole from them. But I didn’t do it, I swear.”

  “I know,” Polo squeaked. She crawled out of Madison’s jacket pocket and climbed onto her knee. She tried to look understanding, but it wasn’t easy. She mostly felt guilty. And she really wished she’d learned to speak Human. Speaking another language was always useful.

  Madison sniffled again and wiped her nose. “And the worst part is, except for those animals, nobody’s even going to miss me. Not for a long time. Can I tell you a secret?”

  “Sure,” Polo squeaked.

  “My aunt that I live with? I don’t exactly live with her anymore.” Madison watched Polo’s reaction carefully. “Are you shocked?” Madison whispered.

  Well, no. But Polo tried to look shocked. She actually wished she had someone to high-five. She KNEW there was nobody else in that apartment. She and Butterbean had been right. She just hoped that she would be able to see Butterbean again to tell her.

  “I did, but she’s in the army. And she got deployed. So she set it up so I would stay with my friend Christie’s family while she was gone. It was all planned out. Then right when she left, their grandma got sick, and so they couldn’t take me. So I just… didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t say anything to my aunt, and I told Christie’s parents that my aunt had found someone else to take me. And then I just stayed at my aunt’s place. So there’s not even anyone to miss me.”

  Polo’s heart sank. As glad as she was to be right, it made everything worse. Because that meant it was all up to her. There were no parents coming to help Madison. No aunt. No one. She couldn’t even depend on Marco and the others to come help her.

  She and Madison were totally alone.

  * * *

  “I don’t know why you can’t just fly,” Marco grumbled. Oscar was taking forever. His bird feet were not made for walking in slippery metal vents.

  “I’ve told you, Marco, it’s too low for me to fly. I’ll hit my head. Or rather, hit my head AGAIN.” Oscar had already given in to Marco’s pestering once, and it had gone pretty much how he’d expected—with Osca
r smacking his head against the top of the vent. The resulting clang had been so loud that some people in an apartment nearby heard it and peeked through the grate. They hadn’t expected to see a mynah bird. (They didn’t think they had, either. They’d decided Oscar was either a pigeon or a mutant cockroach. Luckily, Oscar had been out of earshot by the time they’d come to that conclusion.)

  Once he’d gotten over his initial panic, Oscar had to admit the vents were a lot cleaner than he had expected, and a lot less claustrophobic. Even so, he was going to need a good bath when everything was said and done. And there was no guarantee Madison would be there to change the water in his dish. Maybe Walt knew how to work the faucets.

  “It’s just ahead, through that up vent,” Wallace said, ignoring the squabbling. “I’m going to leave you here. Marco will be able to show you the apartment grates.”

  “Thank you, Wallace,” Walt said as she squeezed past him to slip into the up vent. “We’ll be sure to bring you extra seeds when this is all over.”

  “Uh, thanks.” Wallace flattened himself against the wall as Walt squeezed by. He was not used to the idea of a cat in the vents, no matter how polite Walt was. It made his stomach squirm just thinking about it.

  Oscar hopped up to the next floor and shuffled over to the grate as quickly as he could, with Walt right behind him. Marco was waiting, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently.

  He pointed out through the grate. “See? That’s the living room,” he whispered. “The Coin Man and the other guy are still there.”

  Oscar put an eye to the grate and peered around the room. The men were angry and arguing, but Oscar didn’t pay any attention to them. Right now he was worried about one thing and one thing only. Polo.

  “Madison’s not there,” Walt said, peering through the grate next to him.

  Two things. Oscar was worried about two things. Polo and Madison.

  “I’m betting she’s behind that door.” Walt nodded toward a door on the other side of the living room. It had a chair wedged under the handle. Oscar shivered. That did not look good.