CHAPTER 14

Gru and Dru strode into the dining room, trying to keep their faces straight. Gru could barely look at his brother. Dru was wearing a bald cap and the black jacket and striped scarf that Gru usually wore. Gru was dressed like Dru—an all-white suit with this silly blond wig that kept falling in his eyes.

“Here we are!” Gru announced, looking at Lucy and the girls. They were sitting at the table with Fritz and Kyle.

“How’s it going?” Dru tried to make his voice more Gru-like. “It’s me, Gru!”

The two brothers sat down at the table. Lucy and the girls didn’t look amused, but that didn’t stop the brothers.

“What’s for dinner?” Dru asked. “I probably won’t like it. I’m so grumpy all the time!”

“Hey! I laugh a lot!” Gru smiled. “And I’m kind of an idiot!”

Gru and Dru glanced sideways at each other. They couldn’t take it anymore. They both broke into laughter.

“Look at them!” Dru cried. “They had no idea.”

Gru removed his wig. “Look, it’s me—Gru!”

Dru pulled off his bald cap. “And I’m Dru! We switched places!”

Margo and Lucy seemed unimpressed. Then Lucy offered a small smile.

“It’s so nice to see you two are getting along,” Lucy said.

“Oh, we’re getting—” Gru started.

“Along perfectly,” Dru finished.

The brothers turned to each other.

“Wait,” Gru said. “Did we—”

“Just finish—”

“Each—”

“Other’s—”

“Sentences?” they said together.

“Aw, that’s delightful,” Lucy said. “Not creepy at all. And you’re gonna stop, though, now, right?”

“Sorry,” Gru said. “It’s a twin thing.”

“So what did you guys do today?” Lucy asked.

“Nothing!” Gru and Dru said in unison.

Lucy stared at them. Something was up… but what?

“All done!” Agnes said, interrupting them. She hopped off her chair and started upstairs to the guest room. “Pardon me! Out of the way! Good night, everybody!”

She pushed past Fritz, who nearly dropped their fish dinner on the floor.

“Hey, put the brakes on,” Gru said. “What’s the rush?”

“I need to go to bed so I can wake up and find a unicorn!” Agnes said. “Good night!”

Gru watched her go, completely confused.

“Agnes thinks she’s going to find a real unicorn in the woods tomorrow,” Edith explained. “She’s totally freaking out.”

Lucy shook her head. “I feel like someone has to tell her the truth.… Not it!”

Everyone at the table turned to look at Gru. Maybe it wasn’t fair, but he was the best man for the job. Who else would Agnes listen to?

“Don’t worry,” Gru said before heading upstairs to find Agnes. “Parenting 101. I’ve got this.”

By the time he got to the guest room, Agnes was in the middle of her good-night prayer. “Ummm…,” she said. “And please bless that when I find the unicorn, he’ll want to come home with me. And sleep in my room. And that I can ride him to school every day. And he will use his magical powers to help me do math. Amen.”

“So… big day tomorrow,” Gru said.

“I’m finally going to get to see a unicorn! For reals,” Agnes said. “If I do, can I bring it home, please?”

“Tell you what,” Gru said, choosing his words carefully. “Every unicorn you find, you can bring it home. I’d better build a big pen, right? But you know… there’s a chance that you might not find one.”

“Huh?” Agnes said. Her brows furrowed.

“They’re tricky to find them… and I don’t know…” Gru tried to find the right thing to say. “Maybe, just—maybe unicorns don’t really ex—”

Agnes’s smile fell. She stared at Gru intensely, scared of what he’d say next.

“—explore that part of the woods,” he went on.

“But the man said a maiden could find one if she was pure of heart,” Agnes said, pulling the blankets up to her chin. “And I’m pure of heart, right?”

Gru’s heart swelled.

“The purest,” he said, smiling.

“Can we stop talking?” Agnes said. “I need to get to sleep.”

Agnes rolled over and started singing to herself.

Sure, Gru hadn’t really told her the truth. But what was he supposed to say? No, Agnes, your dreams will never come true? Stop wishing and thinking and hoping to meet a unicorn—it is not going to happen. Ever.

No, Gru wouldn’t say that. He’d been mean in the past, but he could never be mean to his Agnes. He turned to leave, fell from the huge ladder that led to her bed, and then stumbled back up to his feet.