The door is open a crack. I poke my snout through and look inside. The room looks the same as the last one. Except instead of a fish tank, there’s a small metal cage. A blue ribbon is pinned to the front of the cage, blocking my view of what’s inside it. On the wall behind it are more pictures—too many to count. They show kids holding big rats and kids hugging small rats and kids playing with a whole family of rats. But there are no actual humans to be seen in the room. I slip inside. “Oggie?” I whisper. “Are you in here?”
A head pops up above the blue ribbon. It’s a tiny, sleepy rat head. A tiny, sleepy rat head with an I ♥ NY sticker pasted to his ear.
The rat blinks sleepily. “Who’s there … Raffie?” The rat springs to his paws. “RAFFIE!”
It’s my brother.
CHAPTER
36
Happy as a Clam
I don’t remember dashing across the room, but suddenly my snout is poking through the bars of Oggie’s cage. I fight back a sob as Oggie nuzzles his snout against mine. “Oggie,” I whisper. I can’t stop saying his name. “Oggie Oggie Oggie.”
“Raffie Raffie Raffie!” Oggie sings. “You came for me! I knew you would. I knew Raffie the Unstoppable would come!”
I rise onto my hind legs and tug at the latch with my front paws. The cage door springs open.
Oggie scampers out. “Raffie! I missed you missed you missed you!” I’m fighting so hard not to sob that I can’t talk. Instead, I nuzzle Oggie all over. He smells different than he used to—like wood chips and too-clean water—but still, it’s him. His big eyes. His round ears. His long, wavy tail. I nuzzle him harder. I know I’m acting just like our mom does when one of us is sick, but I don’t care. Oggie is here. Oggie is back with me. I dreamed for it and wished for it and worked for it, but deep, deep down, I’d been terrified to believe in it.
I remember suddenly what Tiny the Central Park rat said about Oggie being viral. “Do you feel ok?” I ask breathlessly. “Are you sick?”
“I feel great,” Oggie says happily. He curls himself into me, so close he could be another one of my paws.
I glance back at the door. “Then we better get out of here. Before any humans come.” I nudge Oggie toward the exit, but he pauses. “What about my photos?” He points his tail at the wall of pictures.
“Who are they all?” I ask.
“They’re my fans,” Oggie says proudly. “I’ve gone viral, Raffie!”
“I heard,” I say grimly. “Which is why we need to get you out of here. Now.”
I nudge Oggie toward the exit again. But Oggie slips out of my grip. “At least let me take my ribbon,” he begs. “There was a big competition yesterday, and I was voted best class pet!”
“There’s no time,” I say. There’s a new sound coming from down below. It’s deep and pounding. It thrums through the building, making the floors vibrate. “I think lunch is over.” Even as I say it, I hear footsteps pounding up the stairs. I look at the door. If we leave that way now, we’re bound to be spotted.
We need another way out. My gaze falls on the window. It’s wide open, letting in a warm breeze. Outside, I spot the metal ladder thing Rex had called a fire escape.
I curl my tail in my paws. If Rex could use the fire escape to get up to Marigold, then maybe we can use it to get down to freedom. “This way,” I tell Oggie. I lead him onto the ledge of the window. Outside, there’s a small metal floor. A rickety ladder connects to it. It looks old and slippery. I peer down. The ladder leads all the way to the grass below.
“We’re climbing that?” Oggie says.
Behind us, footsteps pound. Voices fill the hallway. I nod. “It’s time to go home.”
CHAPTER
37
Straight from the Horse’s Mouth
“And then I tried gnawing through the bars of the cage!” Oggie is telling me about his escape attempts as we scurry down the ladder. His paw slips and I grab the scruff of his neck in my teeth before he can fall.
“Careful, Oggie,” I pant. The ground swims in my vision, far, far below. Back in the classroom, this seemed like a brilliant plan. But now, balancing on our paws high up in the air, I’m having second thoughts. We don’t have thick, strong paws like Rex to steady ourselves. If Oggie slips and I don’t catch him … I tear my eyes away from the ground.
Oggie is still chattering proudly about his escape attempts, unbothered by his near nosedive. “And when that didn’t work, I gnawed a key out of a wood chip! That’s what Raffie the Unstoppable would do, right?” He rushes on without waiting for an answer. “The key almost worked too! But I couldn’t reach the latch from inside the cage. That was the first time Tyler filmed me. He said my key was a work of genius, and other people had to see what kind of rat he’d found. A work of genius, Raffie! Can you believe that?”
“You are the best gnawer I know,” I agree, but Oggie is too busy babbling to notice.
“Tyler put my video online and called me Houdini Rat! And guess how many humans watched it, Raffie? One million! ONE MILLION! I’m pretty sure that’s all the humans in the world.” Oggie puffs out his tiny chest, and one of his front paws goes sliding off the ladder.
“Help!” he cries. His eyes widen as he teeters on the edge of the ladder. “I—ahh—ahh—RAFFIE!”
He slips off the ladder with a scream.
I lunge forward and grab one of Oggie’s back paws in my teeth. He’s dangling headfirst in mid-air. I hold tightly to his paw, but the ladder is slippery, and I feel myself sliding forward. Oggie dips even lower.
“No,” I gasp. I just got my brother back. There’s no way I’m losing him now.
I yank at Oggie with all my might, but I’m not strong enough to pull him up with just my teeth.
“R-raffie,” Oggie stammers.
I have only one choice. I grip the ladder with my back paws. Then I lift my front paws and reach for Oggie.
I lurch forward.
My head dangles above Oggie’s.
“Ahhh!” Oggie screams.
I wrap my paws around my brother and pull with every ounce of strength I have. We jerk back up to the ladder and land in a tangled heap. I’m panting so hard, I can barely speak. “You okay?” I choke out.
“I think so,” Oggie squeaks. He carefully pulls himself to his paws. “That was … that was…”
My eyes dart over to the space where we were dangling only seconds before. Wide open air—and then nothing.
“… not good,” I finish for him. “Really not good.” Oggie presses himself against me. He’s shivering all over. “Come on,” I tell him. “We need to keep going.”
Oggie peers down the ladder. “It—It’s too far.”
I think about how I got Kaz through the pipe using a story. I give Oggie a reassuring nuzzle. “Why don’t you tell me more about Houdini Rat?” I suggest. Oggie hesitates, his eyes locked on the long descent to the ground. “I really want to hear more.”
“You do?” Oggie squeaks.
I nod. “It’s a great story.”
Oggie’s snout lifts, just a little. “Well, after Tyler posted that video,” he says slowly, “people left messages online for me. They called me funny. And clever. And adorable.” Slowly, the tremor fades from his voice. “The next time I tried to escape, I used a string I rolled out of pizza cheese. Tyler filmed it again, and that’s when the emails started.” Excitement creeps back into Oggie’s voice. I give him a gentle nudge, and he doesn’t seem to notice as we climb down a rung. “Kids emailed me pictures of themselves with their pet rats. Tyler called it fan mail.” Oggie climbs another rung, then another. “Did I mention I have fans?” he asks proudly.
We climb down several more rungs. “It almost sounds like you liked it at school,” I say.
“Sometimes I did,” Oggie says. “Did I tell you I was voted best class pet in the whole school? And Tyler figured out that I liked pizza, so this morning he brought me a whole entire slice!” Oggie relaxes as we make our way farther down the ladder. “I li
ked my friends, but I missed you so, so much.”
“Friends?” I give him a doubtful look. “You mean the humans? You know humans and rats can’t be friends, Oggie.”
Oggie pauses on the ladder. I stop next to him. We’re nearing the grass now, only a few more scurries to go.
“But why not?” Oggie scrunches up his snout. “They were nice to me. We had fun together!” Oggie looks down at his paws. “I’m going to miss them.”
“But they’re humans,” I sputter.
“So? That’s just because their parents are humans.” Oggie shrugs his tail. “You can’t hate someone because of their parents, right?”
I curl my tail and think about it. I never would have guessed I’d be best friends with a pigeon, but look at Kaz. Maybe, when it comes down to it, there are good pigeons and bad pigeons, good rats and bad rats, good humans and bad humans. Maybe the only way to tell if someone is good or bad is by getting to know them. “You’re one smart little brother,” I tell Oggie.
Oggie giggles. “Houdini Rat is very wise.”
We scurry down the last bit of ladder. I blow out an enormous sigh of relief when my paws hit the grass. We made it. Oggie is free.
“Hey, Raffie,” Oggie says.
“Yeah, Og?”
“Nothing.” Oggie giggles again. “It’s just so fun having someone understand me again! No one in that class understood my squeaks. I did learn a lot, though,” Oggie adds as I lead him toward the closest bush. “Like something called grammar! Did you know there are three different theres?”
“Of course I know that,” I sniff. We slip under the bush. It’s cool and shadowy under there. “Words are very important for stories.”
Oggie nuzzles me. “I miss your stories. And I miss Mom’s slop. And I miss Dad’s lessons. And I even miss Lulu’s passion for fashion.”
“We’re going to get back to them,” I promise. “And believe me: I’ve got plenty of new stories to tell you on the way.” I peek out from under the bush. Green grass sways in the breeze. Beyond it, people hurry along the sidewalk. Buildings tower over them—Manhattan-sized buildings. We’re still far from home. “But first, we’re going to need a plan.”
Oggie pokes his head out next to mine. “Which way is home?”
I nod toward downtown. Thanks to Kaz’s dad, I know the answer. “We have a long way to go, though.”
Oggie leans against me. I feel a tremble run through him. “How are we going to get there?”
I watch people walk down the sidewalk. I watch cars zip through the streets. A bicycle zooms past. It has a large basket in the back, stacked with the red plastic bags that hold pizza boxes. Kaz pointed one of those out to me the night we slept outside, waiting for the City Tours bus. “Pizza delivery bikes,” he called them.
I cock my head. “Huh,” I say slowly. “I think I have an idea.”
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Please read to Houdini Rat!!!!!
Dear Houdini Rat,
I watched your video 72 times! My friend Billy said he watched it 99 times but I don’t believe him. I brought in a picture of you for Show and Tell. Some of the girls screamed but then I told them you are the smartest rat in the world and they were okay. Olivia even held your picture. For my birthday my mom said I can get a pet rat. I’m going to teach it to do tricks just like you! You’re my hero.
Sincerely,
Cole
Cleveland, Ohio
CHAPTER
38
Raining Cats and Dogs
We worked out a system.
1. Find a pizza place.
2. Hitch a ride in the delivery bike’s basket.
3. Climb out when the bike stops.
4. Repeat.
5. Repeat.
6. Repeat.
“Thank you, pizza!” Oggie cheers. We’re sitting in a basket on the back of a delivery bike, on top of a red plastic bag. The delicious scent of pizza wafts out from inside the bag. This is our fourth bike ride so far. As soon as one stops going in our direction, we find another.
“I always knew pizza was a useful food,” I agree. “Did I tell you it saved me from death by flying knife?”
Oggie nods. A glob of cheese wobbles on his whiskers. We’d allowed ourselves to forage one teensy, weensy pizza pie on our first ride. I’m sure no one will miss it. “And then you and Kaz escaped from the evil pizza boss!”
“And the E word,” I add proudly. I spent the first three bike rides telling Oggie about all the adventures Kaz and I had while trying to find him.
Oggie lifts onto his hind legs and takes a sniff. The wind blows back his whiskers. “We’re going the right way,” he declares. I taught him the trick I figured out. The farther we get from the grossly sweet smell of Central Park, the closer we get to home.
Oggie lowers back down on the pizza bag. “Hey, what was that?”
I look at him. “What was what?”
“I felt something wet on my back.”
I shake my snout. “I didn’t feel any—”
I stop short. I feel a wet splash on my head. Then another. I look up. Big, fat clouds roll across the sky. Water splashes in my eye. “Rain,” I groan.
Even as I say it, the sky darkens. The air grows cooler. It’s like the whole city is hiding in a shadow. It’s still the middle of the day, but it suddenly feels more like night. Oggie curls against me. “What do we do?” he asks.
I look ahead. The bike is still moving, bringing us closer to Brooklyn. “We get wet,” I decide.
The rain picks up. It soaks my fur. It streams down my snout. Oggie shivers next to me. “Think what a good story this will be when it’s over,” I tell him. But my incisors are chattering so hard, I’m not sure he understands me.
The sky grows darker. Thunder booms so loudly, it rattles the bike. A flash of lightning streaks the sidewalk golden. I catch a glimpse of a squirrel darting toward a tree. Then the lightning is over, and the streets are dark as night.
The bike keeps moving. I huddle close to Oggie and wrap my tail around him. “We’ve seen rain tons of times before,” I assure him. “We’ve seen it pour down the subway stairs. We’ve seen it pool on the tracks. We’ve heard it pound against the ceiling above our beds.”
“But there are no ceilings here,” Oggie sniffles.
He’s right. Rain lashes against me, stinging my fur. Thunder claps so loudly I can barely hear my own thoughts. The wind picks up, howling like a dog. There’s another flash of lightning, and a tree branch crashes to the ground up ahead. Water dumps from the sky in heaps.
“That’s it!” I hear the deliveryman shout. He jerks the bike to the side of the road so quickly that Oggie and I go sliding forward. I claw desperately, trying to get a grip, but the red plastic bag is soaked and slippery. My claws slide right over it. The bike skids to a stop. I tumble headfirst out of the basket.
I whip through the air and land in a puddle. Oggie crashes on top of me. “You okay?” The wind is so loud, I have to shout to be heard. This isn’t just rain. It’s a storm.
“I’m okay,” Oggie shouts back. The wind blows harder. It whips around us, screaming in our ears. A branch flies through the air. Across the street, a treasure chest tips over and slams to the ground.
My gaze falls on a nearby sewer. The wind has blown its cover askew, leaving a narrow opening. The storm would be so much better down there. “Not a chance,” I whisper to myself. I know exactly where sewers lead, and it’s worse than any storm. The wind blows harder, whipping my tail into my face.
“Over here!” I shout to Oggie. I dart under a nearby window ledge. Humans are everywhere, running into shops and down the street. But their heads are down so low, not a single one notices us.
“This storm came out of nowhere!” a man shouts.
“I don’t have an umbrella!” a woman cries.
Oggie and I huddle together under the ledge. Water drips down my snout and off my whis
kers. My incisors chatter harder. In the distance, another tree branch crashes down. “We’ll just have to wait it out,” I say. I use my bravest voice so Oggie won’t be scared.
Oggie hides his snout in my fur. “Just tell me when it’s over,” he says with a shiver.
A sudden gust of wind knocks me off my paws. I land on my back, my paws sticking straight up. I have to fight the wind to pull myself up. “We need someplace safer to hide,” I tell Oggie. “Away from the wind.” I spin around, searching frantically for a solution. The wind whips dirt into my eyes. We need to take cover. But where?
I look at the sewer entrance again. Down there, we’d be away from wind and rain and humans … No. I can’t break the most important rule of rathood. “Do you have any ideas, Og—”
I don’t get to finish. Because next to me, Oggie is swept into the air. He swirls above me, tossing wildly in the wind.
“Oggie!” I scream. I rise onto my hind legs and grab his tail in my teeth. The wind pulls us left; it pulls us right; it throws us backward. I dig my back claws into the ground and fight against it with all my strength.
With a squeak, Oggie comes hurtling back to the ground. A sob shudders through him as he lands at my paws.
“I was wrong,” I gasp. “Nothing is worse than this storm.” We have to get out of this wind. No matter what rule it means breaking. “This way,” I tell Oggie. We push through the wall of rain until we reach the sewer. I poke my snout into the opening and feel around with my whiskers. There’s plenty of room. “In here!” I shout to Oggie.
“Where are we going?” Oggie shouts back.
I take a deep breath. I shake the water out of my eyes. “We’re going down to the Roadway.”
CHAPTER
39
A Drowned Rat
I wiggle through the sewer cover first. Oggie slips in after me, and together we start the climb downward. I hear Truella’s voice in my head. Go down, down, down, until there’s no more sunlight and no more street light and no more fresh air.
Raffie on the Run Page 14
