Read Online Emmy and the Rats in the Belfry by Lynne Jonell - Free Book Online

was having all kinds of fun visiting Rodent City as a rat, but meanwhile Emmy was stuck waiting around at the back entrance. Because of course she couldn’t shrink now. Ana would need both Sissy-patches—one to turn human and one to grow.
    Ratty had told Emmy she should shrink anyway. “Sissy just went to get the mail,” he had insisted in the professor’s apartment. “She’ll be back soon.”
    But Emmy didn’t want to take the chance. Enough had gone wrong already; she didn’t want to risk missing the party when her parents were coming. Then, too, if the professor was right and it had been Miss Barmy who had stolen the patches, who knew what she might be planning? No, Emmy had better stay full size—and alert.
    But she was getting sick of waiting. Emmy ducked under the spreading branches of the yew and put her mouth to the tunnel opening. “Aaaaannnaaaa!” she called, long and low.
    Silence. Emmy glanced at her watch. Should she go get Ratty? He could run down the long passageway to Rodent City and find Ana in Mrs. Bunjee’s loft.
    â€œMraoow?” A furry head butted under the yew beside her and sniffed delicately at the hole in the ground.
    â€œGet lost, Muffy.” Emmy glared at the housekeeper’s cat, who backed just out of range and curled up under the far branches of the yew, watching Emmy with unblinking eyes.
    Well, there was no way she could leave to get Ratty now. Even if she chased Muffy off the green, the cat would come back. Emmy had a brief, unhappy vision of Ana dangling from Muffy’s mouth and groaned aloud. She would just have to wait.
    She was on her hands and knees, calling into the tunnel for the fifth time, when a voice spoke behind her.
    â€œEmmy! What on earth are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your party?”
    Emmy tipped back on her heels to see her father looking down at her and, past him, her mother getting out of the car holding a bakery box. Across the street, Brian was tying balloons to the door of the Antique Rat.
    â€œI’ll be there soon, Dad,” Emmy said, hoping it was true. “I’m just—I’m just waiting here for somebody.”
    Her father frowned. “When you’re supposed to be hosting a party?”
    Emmy gazed up at him, feeling desperate. “It’s about the party,” she said. “It’s a surprise.”
    Her father looked unconvinced, but Kathy Addison called and he turned away. Emmy watched with a flutter of anxiety as her parents walked across the street into the Antique Rat. Would the professor be awake yet? What would Squippy tell them?
    â€œMrraaow!” There was a sudden soft thump under the yew, and a thin, high squeal from the tunnel’s mouth.
    â€œBad Muffy!” Emmy hauled the cat away by the hind legs and hung on. “Hurry, Ana! Get in the pet carrier!”
    A small and fluffy rat scampered into the blue plastic carrier, reached a paw through the barred door, and yanked it shut, breathing hard. “Oh, my gosh, that cat is a monster! But I had such a fun visit—Mrs. Bunjee had three kinds of cookies, and fresh lemonade, and—”
    â€œAnd you’re late ,” said Emmy as she strode across the green, the carrier bumping at her hip. The door of the Antique Rat slammed behind her, and she was halfway to the stairs before Squippy called out, “Did you get the supplies you needed? You know, for”—she lowered her voice with a roguish smile—“the surprise !”
    Her father turned around. “Emmy told me she was waiting for someone.”
    â€œNo doubt she was doing both!” Professor Capybara spread his hands, smiling. “There are lots of secrets and surprises with a party!”
    Emmy gave him a grateful look, waved at the adults, and disappeared up the stairs.
    Thomas and Joe’s card for Squippy was beyond ugly. The minute Emmy let Ana out of the pet