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“Okay, I get the hint, guys.” Madison hesitated just inside the door and grinned. “You’re all weirdos, you know that?”

Walt waited until the door closed and then stood stock-still, listening until she heard the elevator ding. Then she relaxed.“She’s gone.”

“Weirdos and CRIMINALS, am I right?” Marco said, high-fiving Polo.

Walt rolled her eyes.“Right. Everyone know what to do? Butterbean?”

Butterbean picked up her squeaky carrot and nodded. She was on hallway duty. Obviously. She was pretty clearly the queen of the hallways.

“Oscar?”

“Window,” Oscar said. He snapped his beak nervously. He wasn’t big on flying outdoors, but it had to be done. He was going to be independently wealthy if it killed him.

“Marco? Polo?” Walt said.

“VENTS!” Marco and Polo cheered as they crawled out of their aquarium and raced to the sofa. “Vents, here we come. See you guys soon!”

They disappeared into the vent shaft, still cheering as they went.

“Ready, Oscar?” Walt turned her back on the vent.

“Ready,” Oscar said, taking a deep breath. Walt hurried to the ledge by the dining room table and pushed at the window crank until the window opened. “Chad will open the one upstairs. Ready, Butterbean?”

Butterbean squeaked her squeaky carrot. She just wished she had a bigger part.

Walt hurried back to the front door.“Then let’s go. It’s on.”

Marco and Polo peered through the grate into the Coin Man’s apartment. The Coin Man’s Number Two Guy was there, lying on the couch with his feet up on the cushions. He was looking at his phone.

“Yuck. Unsanitary,” Polo said, looking at his dirty shoes on the beige sofa.

“Shoot! I was hoping he would be gone too,” Marco said under his breath.

“Let’s hope Chad can handle him,” Polo said. She scanned the room. “He should be here any minute, right?”

“Right,” Marco said. “There! Hi, Chad!” Marco waved through the grate. Chad had just emerged from the drain in the kitchen sink and was pulling himself up onto the kitchen counter. He waved a tentacle in the direction of the grate.

The man on the sofa didn’t notice.

“Shh! Marco! We’re heisting here!” Polo said, pulling his arm down.

“Sorry,” Marco said. “SORRY, CHAD!” he yelled.

“Marco!” Polo said. “Shh. Just watch now.”

She pointed at Chad, who was making his way across the counter toward the dining room. He slid off the edge of the counter, down the cabinets, and crawled across the floor. Then he pulled himself up the curtains, stretched out one long tentacle, and quietly cranked open the window.

“He’s very good,” Polo whispered.

Marco nodded.“Professional.”

Chad slid back down the curtains onto the floor. He had just started the trek toward the kitchen when the man on the sofa put his phone aside, stretched, and stood up.

“Chad!” Polo squeaked. “Watch out!”

Chad froze, instantly changing color to match the darkness of the curtains. One minute there was a big obvious octopus lying on the carpet, and the next, he was just a dark fold in the fabric of the curtains.

“Whoa. How did he do that?” Marco breathed. “You can hardly see him.” If he hadn’t been watching, he never would’ve known Chad was there.

“Do you think he does that a lot?” Polo asked. Seeing an almost invisible Chad lying in wait made her more than a little uncomfortable.

“Shh. He’s moving.” Marco grabbed Polo by the arm.

The Number Two Man walked into the dining room and got an apple out of the bowl on the table. He looked at it for a second and then dropped it in disgust. He was less than a foot from Chad the whole time, but he never even looked down.

“He’s going to notice the window!” Polo squealed.

“Forget the window—Oscar will be here any second,” Marco said, clutching Polo by the shoulder. “He’ll see Oscar! It’ll blow the whole heist!”

“Chad! Do something!” Polo squeaked.

A long dark tentacle snaked out from the curtains where Chad was hidden. It snagged the end of Number Two’s shoelace and pulled carefully, untying it.

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The man didn’t notice.

Chad’s tentacle tapped Number Two on the leg, retreating back into the folds of the curtains so quickly that Marco wasn’t even sure he’d seen it happen.

The man looked down and rubbed his ankle just as Oscar appeared in the window.

“Ack!” Oscar squawked, desperately flapping his wings to gain altitude again.

“Ack!” Marco gurgled, pointing at Oscar in the window.

“Ack,” Number Two muttered, noticing his untied shoelace for the first time. He stomped back to the couch, threw himself down, and started tying his shoe just as Oscar made a clumsy landing and ducked behind the curtains.

Polo let out a huge sigh of relief.“This is way too stressful. We should’ve gotten rid of this guy too.”

“No kidding,” Marco said. His heart was racing, and all he was doing was standing in a vent.

The elevator in the hallway dinged.

Marco and Polo looked at each other. It was time. They were all in place.

“Ready?” Marco held up his hand.

“Ready,” Polo said, high-fiving Marco.

Marco leaned out of the grate, put two fingers in his mouth, and let out a loud whistle.