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“WALT!” Oscar jumped onto the bars of his cage. “Butterbean needs backup!”

“SHH!” Madison hissed, freezing in place. She stared anxiously down the dark hallway toward Mrs. Food’s bedroom door. “Quiet, Oscar!”

“Calm down, I’m on it,” Walt grumbled from her bed. She hadn’t had a hard time getting to sleep. She stretched and shook her back leg. “Apartment key?”

“I put it back. Thank goodness I put it back!” Oscar felt a wave of relief wash over him. He couldn’t believe how close he’d come to forgetting to put back the key.

Walt nodded and slunk over to Madison, rubbing significantly against her legs.“I’m coming too.”

Madison looked down at her, frowning.“Not now, cat…”

“Protection!” Butterbean wuffled softly. Oscar was right. She definitely needed backup.

“Hmm. Okay,” Madison said, scooping Walt up in her arms. “This is probably kind of silly, right? I mean, it’s not like it’s really a ghost, right?” She laughed a little too loudly. “Well, we’ll prove it either way,” Madison said before Butterbean could answer. She picked the key up off of the counter. “It’s all up to us.” Then she slipped silently into the hallway.

“This is going to be bad, Butterbean,” Walt said, blinking in the bright lights on the elevator ride up. “When Madison sees that cocktail sauce, she is going to FREAK OUT.”

Butterbean swallowed hard. Eating all of those shrimp tails had been a bad idea.“Forget the cocktail sauce. When she sees JEROME, she’s going to freak out.”

Walt narrowed her eyes.“He said he’d hide.”

“No, he said he’d be good.” Butterbean looked up at her. “Do you think he will?”

Walt snorted.“Nope. No chance.” She wished the rats had woken up. They could’ve tried to warn Jerome, at least. But it was too late now. Mr. Wiggles was on his own.

“Fifth floor,” the elevator lady voice said.

The doors opened. Madison took a step out of the elevator and then hung back.“You don’t think it’s really a ghost, do you?” she asked in a low voice. She stared uneasily at the door to Apartment 5B.

“No. It’s an octopus named Jerome. He’s Mr. Wiggles,” Butterbean said, wagging her tail in her most reassuring way.

Madison didn’t pay any attention. Typical.

“I mean, there’s got to be some explanation, right? Some non-ghostly explanation?” Madison said softly. She didn’t sound convinced, though.

“It’s an octopus. Mr. Wiggles,” Butterbean said again. “You saw him at the zoo. You need to keep a closer watch on your water bottle, Madison.”

Madison smiled weakly and patted Butterbean on the head.“Don’t be scared, Butterbean,” she said. “I’m sure it’s not a ghost. We’re going to prove it. We’ll go in, solve the mystery, and be heroes. Got it?”

“Okay,” Butterbean said. This was going to be a disaster.

Madison put Walt down and marched over to the door, dragging Butterbean behind her.

“I can’t look,” Butterbean moaned as the door opened. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the screams.

There was silence. Then Walt cleared her throat.“Butterbean, open your eyes.”

Butterbean opened her eyes. The apartment looked perfect. No cocktail sauce. No shrimp tails (although Butterbean thought she deserved the credit for that). No sign of Jerome or Chad.

“What the heck?” Butterbean barked as she looked around. “Were we dreaming?”

“I know, right?” Madison clicked on a lamp. “It doesn’t feel haunted to me. Not even a little.” She put her hands on her hips and scanned the room. “Huh. You guys wait here.” She walked down the hallway and disappeared into the bedroom.

“WHERE’S THE COCKTAIL SAUCE?” Butterbean said, her eyes huge.

Walt shook her head.“It was definitely here before. Maybe Jerome cleaned it up?”

“You mean maybe CHAD cleaned it up. CHAD. NOT JEROME.” A grouchy voice came from the kitchen. Chad was sitting on the countertop angrily waggling his tentacles in the air. “CHAD must’ve worked his tentacles to the BONE!”

“Do tentacles have bones?” Butterbean whispered to Walt, cocking her head to the side.

“NOT THE POINT!” Chad said, waving his tentacles wildly. “Look at this. JUST LOOK. DISHPAN HANDS!”

“But he doesn’t have hands,” Butterbean whispered under her breath.

“AGAIN, NOT THE POINT!” Chad snapped. He flung a soggy sponge at the wall, where it slid onto the countertop. “I am DONE. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going home to BED!”

Walt shot a look behind them. Madison came out of the bedroom for a second before disappearing into the office.“Thank you, Chad,” Walt said softly. “We appreciate it, we really do. But where’s…”

“Where’s MR. WIGGLES? The CELEBRITY?” Chad folded his tentacles in front of him. They really did look a little red. “He’s just where you’d expect him to be. NAPPING. In the TOILET.” He snorted. “And don’t worry. I put the lid down.”

Chad gave one last huffy snort and slipped down into the sink without another word.

“I guess that’s… good?” Butterbean said, standing up at the sink to see where Chad had gone.

“Maybe we really can trust Jerome,” Walt said thoughtfully as Madison came back out into the living room.