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THE THREE RATS RAN BACK to the apartment as fast as they could. Polo even vaulted over the white cat in her rush to be the first to break the news. But by the time they got there, they were too out of breath to talk—they just collapsed in a heap in front of Oscar’s cage. They’d spent the last five minutes doubled over, taking deep cleansing breaths.

“Isssttteeeeeee,” Polo wheezed.

Walt patted her on the back absentmindedly.“Any time.”

“Take deep breaths, and try again,” Oscar said patiently.

Polo nodded and did her best not to pass out.

Finally, the white cat stood up and stretched.“As fascinating as this is, I’ll get the recap later. I have better things to do than watch a bunch of rodents breathe.” She sniffed in the direction of the panting rats. “But believe me, rats, I will be back.” She smirked at them and stalked off through the vent.

“Was that…” Marco huffed as he stood up. “Was that a threat?”

Walt rolled her eyes.“Of course not. You could take that cat down with one paw tied behind your back.”

“Now, Wallace,” Oscar said. “Why don’t you start?”

“You should’ve gotten here way before I did,” Walt said, her ears pricked forward anxiously.

“Because Walt was locked in the bathroom forever!” Butterbean said. “That fancy cat had to rescue her.”

“What?” Wallace squeaked.

“That’s not important,” Walt said, shooting a look at Butterbean. “Just tell us what happened.”

“Okay,” Wallace said, puffing his breath out. He stood up straight and did a couple of stretches. Walt rolled her eyes. It was a little much, to be honest. He’d had plenty of time to catch his breath.

“When the ghost men went for Walt, I ran back to tell you all, right?” Wallace started. “But I wasn’t looking where I was going, and I took a wrong turn somehow. I think I was panicking,” he said sheepishly.

“We found him over by High Heel Woman’s apartment,” Polo said. “The one with the hair spray smells.”

“And no sane rat would want to go THERE,” Marco said solemnly.

“Because of the hair spray,” Polo added.

Butterbean wrinkled her nose. She knew that hair spray.

Wallace nodded.“When I figured out where I was, I turned around to go back. But when I did, I heard them say his name. So I thought I needed to listen.”

“Them who?” Butterbean had a lot of questions.

Oscar frowned.“Whose name?”

Butterbean nodded approvingly. That was one of them.

Wallace rolled his eyes, like it was totally obvious.“MR. WIGGLES.”

Oscar cocked his head at Wallace.“Mr.—”

“It was on TV,” Polo interrupted, bouncing up and clasping her hands. “They were talking about him on the TV.”

“It was on the News,” Marco added.

“Oh no, the News!” Oscar whipped his head around to look at the clock. “I missed it again!” He snapped his beak shut in irritation. This ghost situation had completely ruined his viewing schedule.

“What were they saying about Mr. Wiggles?” Walt asked. She didn’t understand this obsession with the News. Oscar needed to find a new hobby.

“It was the man at the zoo,” Wallace said. “He was saying… Well, it was crazy, so I didn’t want to tell you all without being sure. So I decided to wait for the next broadcast. High Heel Woman always watches the News on both channels.”

“THERE IS MORE THAN ONE NEWS BROADCAST?” Oscar reeled back in shock. Why had no one mentioned this before? How could he not have known? “Which channel?”

Walt shot him a look.“Just tell us, Wallace. What did they say?”

“The man at the zoo said they hadn’t found Mr. Wiggles yet,” Wallace said.

“Duh,” Butterbean said under her breath.

“But he said if they don’t find him in the next few days, it’ll be okay, because…”

“THEY’RE REPLACING MR. WIGGLES!” Polo shrieked. Then she blushed. “Sorry. I just couldn’t keep it in anymore.”

“WHAT?” Oscar reeled back again. This was too much. He hoped his heart could take it. “How can they replace Mr. Wiggles? He’s one of a kind.”

“Well, not according to the zoo guy,” Marco said. “We watched the second News with Wallace, and the man said that—”

“YOU WATCHED THE SECOND NEWS WITH WALLACE?” Oscar’s voice came out as a strangled squawk.

“Um, yeah?” Marco said. He hadn’t thought that would be the part of the story that would get a big reaction.

“We found him right as the segment was starting,” Polo explained.

“I needed witnesses!” Wallace said apologetically.

“Easy, buddy,” Walt said, patting Oscar on the back. “Focus.” She turned back to the rats. “He said that…”

Wallace nodded.“He said that they’d looked everywhere, and that it didn’t look like they’d find Mr. Wiggles. So they talked to another zoo. One in Europe. And that zoo has an octopus they’ll give them as a replacement. Monsieur Octavio. They call him the Annihilator.”

“He’s super famous in Europe,” Polo said. “Everyone goes crazy for him there.”

“He’s like European royalty, according to the TV guy,” Marco said.

Walt frowned.“So why are they willing to give him up, then?”

Polo shrugged.“They didn’t say.”

“Just being nice, I guess,” Marco said.