CHAPTER 3

Olivia wasn’t my favorite person, if I could have such a thing, but she didn’t deserve this. Studying the TV, I determined where the cameras had to be located. The girls were changing their clothes, so I needed to be quick. I decided on the bathroom camera first—Claire was preparing to get into the shower.

Scampering down a space in the flooring, I raced down the wall toward the room, feeling about and sniffing for wires. I’d chewed through quite a few in my time. Rubber has a delicate taste, compared to its strong aroma. I found the camera easily, taped against the drywall with duct tape, another favorite thing for me to chew.

It was easy to tear the tape with my incisors, sending the camera to hang down the inner wall, now recording blackness. I figured I’d dislodge the cameras first, then chew the wires at my leisure.

I was on my way to the first bedroom when I saw two glowing pink eyes watching me. The white mouse was back.

“Squeakity,” I told him, then in my haste, switched to human language. “I wish you’d help me with these cameras.”

His eyes widened and nose twitched. “Which ones?” he asked.

I’m glad I was on solid footing because I sat back on my haunches like I’d been struck. “The…the ones in the bedrooms.”

“I’ll do the ones in the back,” he told me, and dashed off.

Vibrating with adrenaline, I ran to the first bedroom, found the camera, and ripped it from its perch. Next, I ran to the second bedroom. The camera was hanging on its wires, having been removed from the duct tape. The white mouse was at the last camera, hovering next to the hole in the wall.

“Should we chew the wires now?” he asked.

I nodded. “How do you speak human?”

He ran his paw across his whiskers. “I was born and raised in a lab. They did a lot of…stuff…to me.”

He sounded pitiful when he said that last bit, which made me sad. “Well, why don’t we chew up these wires, then we can get to know one another?”

Nodding, he picked up one of three lines and stuffed it in his mouth. It took exactly four bites before the camera hit bottom with a thud. I ran around to the bathroom wall and did my work. Chewing through the wires didn’t take as long as running to each location. We met at Olivia’s bedroom, all four cameras having been dispatched down the walls.

“Squeaks-squeaky?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t speak that language. I lost it all with the testing.”

“I’m sorry. My name is Hazel. What’s yours?”

“M Ten Ninety-Two.”

“What kind of a name is that?”

“We all have names like that. F Nineteen Twelve was my mom. M Twenty Fifty-Three was the white in the next cage.”

“The white mouse?”

“What’s a mouse?” he asked.

“Umm, us.” I pointed to him and me. “We are mice, mice being the plural of mouse.”

“Is that so?” He closed his eyes. “I never knew.”

“Olivia!” Brina called. “Your hair looks fine, let’s go!”

I heard the jumble of voices and footsteps that ended with a door slamming. The noise faded as the girls took the path away from the bungalow, supposedly toward the party. Glancing back at my new friend, I told him, “M Ten Ninety-Two is a big name. Can I just call you Em?”

He twitched his whiskers. “I guess…Hazel.”

“Look, the girls have all left. Let’s go exploring.” I waved at him to follow me, then descended down the wall to the crack I had first entered, the crack where my family lived for so long. Creeping out, I sniffed the space, gazing around the room to make certain it was empty. Much like her bedroom at home, Olivia had semi-organized her space, hanging a couple of dresses in the closet and setting an open bag out for dirty clothes.

I was halfway across the bedroom floor when I glanced back to see if Em was following. He wasn’t. Sighing, I turned to leave and jumped a mile straight up.

Em was before me, sitting on his haunches and cleaning his whiskers.

“Squeak!” I shouted, before remembering his disability. “I mean, catsnjammers, you startled me. Let’s see what’s in the kitchen.”

I ran off, listening to his claws tapping the wood floor as he followed.

The rooms in this house were small compared to my current home. At least Olivia’s grandfather had done his best to reconfigure the common living areas by opening them into a single great room. I spent a few moments crossing the room toward the table. At the nearest leg, I stopped and listened for any sign of humans.

“Why are we stopping?” Em asked.

“Shh.” I held my paw to his mouth. “Who knows if that Leo guy is still around?”

After a few moments of silence, we climbed the table leg to see what the girls had left. I knew for a fact that Olivia was not a fastidious housekeeper, and that the snacks on the porch earlier were probably now in the middle of the table—if they’d been moved at all.