Chapters (68)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Chapter One
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Chapter Two
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Chapter Three
- Ten
- Eleven
- Chapter Four
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Chapter Five
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Chapter Six
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Chapter Seven
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Chapter Eight
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Chapter Nine
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Chapter Ten
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Chapter Eleven
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Chapter Twelve
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Chapter Thirteen
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Chapter Fourteen
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Chapter Fifteen
- The Following Summer
- About the Author
- About the Publisher
Instead, she ran to her room and began to thumb through the book. Why was Alfie’s comment nagging at her so much? Since she hadn’t had time to read it all yet, Ali began to flip through the book to see what she’d missed. She stopped at Chapter Two, “How to Recognize Another Copycat.” Why hadn’t she bothered to read this chapter earlier? “Copycats have one thing in common,” wrote Uncle Percival, “every one of them has pale gray eyes.”
Ali took a deep breath. She scanned the table of contents and went to Chapter Fourteen, “What to Do If You Can’t Change Back.” It was a recounting of Uncle Percival’s forty-two days as a rat. Several lines jumped out at her:
I blame my inability to change back on my shock at nearly being a tomcat’s dinner. Nothing I did seemed to return me to my natural form. By day seven, I realized I must try and learn the rat language if I was to do more than simply survive. Given the simplicity of a rat’s linguistic abilities, I managed to achieve fluency by day seventeen. I secured a rat guide named Stinky, who agreed to guide me home, for the narrow streets were like boulevards to me. From days twenty to thirty-six, I hung about my house, doing my best not to be trapped or attacked, for my dear wife is no fan of vermin. Still, I could not change back. It was not until day forty-one, when I met a fellow Copycat named Arthur Smart, that I was saved. Arthur was patrolling the neighborhood in the form of a raccoon and recognized that I was a Copycat straightaway. Given the fact that he could not speak rat, and I was not proficient in any other language but human and yet could not speak it due to my unfortunate circumstances, we could not communicate. Finally, out of desperation, he led me to an alley and transformed back into his human form. For whatever reason, seeing him change made me suddenly understand what I must do, and within one hour I was reunited with my family and in a hot bathtub scrubbing off a month’s worth of grime.
Trembling, Ali went to find Cassie, Emily, and Murray.
“Are you okay?” Cassie asked when they were all in Ali’s bedroom with the door closed.
“I know this is going to sound bizarre, but Emily told me that there’s only one seal left at Tin Can Beach. The sick one. I think it’s Alfie’s dad.”