Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 PETER'S PLAN WAS SIMPLE. First they brought Shadow into the village. As soon as she crawled out from under Peter's hat, she saw the rats. And the rats saw her. Rats do not like kittens. Kittens do not like rats. Of course, there were other cats in the village. But the village cats were old, and lazy, and not at all interested in chasing around big, cheese-eating rats. Not when the cats could curl up in the sun and swish their tails about. But Shadow was young, and full of energy, and very much interested in chasing a bunch of cheese-eating rats.

The rats dropped their cheese wedges. Shadow hissed. The rats shrieked. Baron Von Grump had not mentioned anything about a kitten to the rats. He had promised cheese, and lots of it. But he had failed to mention anything about a spitting, biting, scratching kitten. And what if she woke up the rest of the older lazy, napping cats? What then? No way! "Run for your lives!" the big rat yelled. Then he burped. He really didn't have any manners at all. Rats hopped out of windows. They scurried up chimneys. They ran under doors and along rooftops. Everywhere they ran, Shadow followed, darting left and right, right and left. She chased them all in one direction... out of the village. Shadow did not really want to catch any of the rats. This was just a fun game for her. But the rats didn't know this, and the rats

were scared. There was a lot of pushing and shoving as the rats fled for their lives. "I feel bad for them," said Wolfy. "All they wanted was cheese." "They look pretty scared," said Vampyra. "I have an idea," said Franky. He leaned over and whispered into Peter's ear.

Franky was not telling secrets. That would have been rude. Rats have very good hearing, and Franky didn't want the rats to know what the Junior Monster Scouts were up to. Franky was quite clever. Peter grinned. "That is a very good idea," he said. He picked up his flute and played. It was a happy song. It was the kind of song that might make you think of ice cream, and your favorite toy, and warm, fuzzy blankets. When the rats heard it, they felt happy. Very happy. Even the big, burping rat with no manners was happy. The rats were so happy that they stopped running. They stopped pushing and shoving. They formed one line of happy, smiling rats, following Peter and his flute. "It's working!" said Wolfy. "But where should we lead them?" Franky asked. "Where can they be happy too?"

"I know!" said Vampyra. "There's plenty of room in the castle! I'm sure my mom and dad won't mind. We have a great big basement with more than enough room for all of these rats. They can even have Ping- Pong tournaments!" Peter played his flute and followed Vampyra, Franky, and Wolfy to Dracula's castle. The rats followed Peter. Shadow followed the rats. It was a very long line. They crossed the drawbridge over the moat. They marched into the castle. They went down, down, down into the basement. Then Peter stopped playing. "Here you go," said Vampyra to the rats. "You can stay here for as long as you like."

She was right. There was lots of room! And lots of dark places and lots of cobwebs. It was perfect for a rat. "Thank you!" said the big rat. Well, maybe he had some manners. "What's this? What's going on?" said Vampyra's dad from the basement steps.