“Your brothers tease you, but eventually they will look to you for guidance. They will need it, too. A few of them are knuckleheads—sweet, lovable, but knuckleheads. But I worry about you, little M. You live a life of mystery, and your words are thick with secrets. Sometimes you tell me things that are not true.”

Matilda looked out the window rather than meet her mother’s gaze.

“I should punish you … but I believe there is an important reason behind your lies. Perhaps you fight evil like old grandfather? He chases off devils, dark creatures, monsters, and invaders from other worlds.”

“More Old Grandfather, Molly?” a voice said from the doorway. Matilda turned to see her father, Ben Choi. Though his ancestors were from Korea, he had grown up in San Francisco. Ben met Molly when he visited her island. He saw her in the street and asked to take her picture. It was love at first snapshot. But lately things had been tense. Matilda’s parents had been arguing for months. “How are you, pea pod?”

“I’m fine, really!” Matilda said. “Maybe old grandfather can tell me how to get my parents to stop arguing?”

Molly set the stone guardian back in its place on the windowsill and turned to Ben. “Have you had breakfast?”

He shook his head.

“Good, then you can cook,” Molly said.

Ben laughed.

Matilda’s heart filled with hope. They were the first smiles she had seen on her parents’ faces in a long time. Just then she let loose a sneeze so strong it ruffled her blankets. Matilda frowned. She didn’t have a cold. Her sneeze was caused by the comlink implant in her nose. It wasn’t long before she could hear Agent Brand’s voice in her ear.

“Wheezer, we have an emergency mission. Can you get to the roof?”

“The roof? Right now?” Matilda grumbled.

Her mother cocked an eyebrow then turned to her father. “The child is so odd. She speaks to herself. I blame you. You have crazies on your side of the family.”

Her dad frowned. “You’re the one talking to statues.”

Matilda led them both to her door. “I’m really not feeling well enough for breakfast. I’ll just go back to bed, but you two go have some fun.”

“We gave up fun about seven kids ago,” Ben said.

Matilda ushered them into the hall then closed the door. She quickly changed into a black shirt and a pair of neon purple pants, then pulled on her favorite pair of combat boots. She took a quick peek in the mirror. Her hair was a little too neat, so she messed it up until she looked like she had been mugged. Perfect!

She opened her bedroom window and climbed out on to the trellis that led to the roof. There she found a rope ladder hanging down from above. She looked up and saw a big yellow jet plane hovering silently over her home. She climbed the rope rung by rung and found the school bus at the top. Agent Brand pulled her into the ship.

“I hope you know I’m skipping a very important breakfast with my parents for this,” she said.

“Sorry if saving the world got in the way of your Rice Krispies,” he replied.

Matilda sighed. No one knew her troubles at home. For so long she had hoped her parents’ fighting would go away. Now it seemed to be getting worse. Her only real break from it came from her work as a spy.

She strapped herself into her seat just as the ship aimed its nose toward the heavens. With an ear-popping blast, its engines shot them all into the stratosphere. She looked over and noticed Duncan sitting beside her. She gave him a smile and got one back.

“Thanks for saving my life,” he said.

“You’re welcome. Who saved mine?”

“That would be me,” Jackson said from his seat behind them. “I used my braces to cling to the ship and found you floating around like a rubber ducky in a bathtub. Thank-yous can be sent as cash gifts.”

Matilda laughed. “What’s the big, important mission now?”

Pufferfish shrugged. “All I know is we’re going to Akron, Ohio.”

“Akron, Ohio? What could possibly happen there?”

“If the reports are true, it’s something very unsettling,” Agent Brand said. “I’ll let the chief of police explain.”

Ten minutes later the ship was rocketing back through the atmosphere. Ms. Holiday opened the hatch, then handed the children their parachutes. Matilda was the first to leap out into the sky, and she studied Akron from above. It seemed utterly ordinary—not the kind of place that needed the assistance of a team of superspies.

She landed a block from a police station. Her teammates followed, and together they gathered their gear before anyone noticed them. At the station, Wheezer spotted a handwritten sign taped to the front door. It explained that the station was currently without electricity.

Pufferfish showed the desk sergeant her badge. Not many people had ever seen a National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society I.D., and the police officer laughed. “This is a joke, right? Hey, everybody, the federal agents they sent are here. Do we have any juice boxes?”

The officer nearly fell over laughing.

“You’re kids?” a portly man said as he entered the room. “Oh, well, it’s not the craziest thing I’ve seen today. I’m Chief Chris Churchill. I’ll show you the … um, problem.”

He escorted the team into the basement lockup using only a flashlight.

“So you kids are spies, huh?”

“Sorry, you don’t have security clearance high enough to know that,” Wheezer said.

Chief Churchill shrugged. “Listen, I’m going to warn you. What we have down here is a bit on the weird side. I’ve got a couple officers who have had to take the day off to get over it.”

“It’s a monster, isn’t it?” Flinch said, rubbing his hands together in satisfaction.

“You’ll have to judge that for yourself,” Churchill said as he led them into a small office where three dogs—a golden retriever, a poodle, and a Chihuahua—were held in a cage.

“This is what has gotten you so worked up, Chief?” Matilda asked. “Are you afraid of fleas?”

“Listen, kids, we found them wandering the streets and thought they were a bunch of strays until …”

Suddenly, Matilda got the shock of her life.

“Let me out of here. I have my rights!” the golden retriever cried.

“No way!” shouted Braceface.

“Incredible!” Gluestick said.

“Better than monsters!” Flinch laughed.

“You can’t keep us,” the Chihuahua barked. “I’m a lawyer. I’ll sue you for every penny you have.”

“I demand a phone call!” the poodle cried.

Pufferfish bent down to get a closer look at the dogs. “Um, how did you get so smart?”

The retriever snarled. “What kind of a stupid question is that?”

“Dogs don’t talk,” she said.

“Yeah, on what planet?” the poodle barked.

“This one,” Matilda replied. The whole conversation was making her feel nauseated. “Are you part of some secret experiment?”

The poodle stepped forward. “Kid, I’m an accountant. I got a boyfriend, and he’s probably worried about me.”

“Are you saying you came from some place where all dogs can talk? How did you get here?”

The Chihuahua whined. “There was this light, then this tearing sound, and then all of a sudden you people are staring at us like we’re freaks in a carnival.”

“Are they saying you came from another world?” Pufferfish asked.

“I’m not saying anything,” the retriever responded. “You’re saying that. We’re from Earth, a place where all dogs talk—cats, too! And a few squirrels and fish. What’s this place called?”

Matilda turned back to face her team. They all had the same stunned expression. “Chief, if you’ve had any other weird events in this town lately, we’d like to hear about them.”

Officer: When was the last time you saw Gerdie?

Linda: Easy. She came down to the backyard yesterday to ruin our lives!