In Grossman's Pet Store he hurried down the aisle of dog food and squeaky toys to the back, where Mr. Grossman kept the rodent cages. Hamsters, gerbils, and guinea pigs lazed around in their cages, but he had no interest in them. "Looking for a pet, Joe?" Mr. Grossman asked.
"It's more of a science experiment, Mr. Grossman," Joseph said. "I need some of your rats to, you know, run through mazes and all that." Joseph didn't dare explain his true purpose for fear Mr. Grossman wouldn't sell him the rats.
"How many do you need?"
"All of them," Joseph said. He reached into his pocket for the money he'd brought. "Is this enough?"
"That should more than do it. Are you going to need anything else to go with them? Some food maybe-"
"Just the rats and a cage," Joseph said. "A strong cage."
"We got some nice sturdy ones over here, should make a nice new home for your little friends." Joseph left the store with six white rats scurrying back and forth in a clear plastic cage.
He didn't see the car in the driveway when he got home, nor did he find anyone inside the house. He left Pop's spare keys in the toolbox underneath the sink and then went upstairs with his test subjects. "You guys ready to be part of history?" he asked the rats. They cowered in one end of the cage, compacted into a furry ball. "Too bad."
Joseph sat down at the computer to review his notes on the nineteen potions he'd recovered from the underground chamber. In no time at all he identified a combination that would make him attractive to Samantha. He separated the necessary elements from the potions, combining them in a vial to produce a gray liquid. He held it up to the light with a smile.
He opened the top of the cage to lower an eyedropper filled with the potion. "Come and get it," he said to the rats. One emerged from the furry ball to sniff at the end of the eyedropper. Joseph squeezed a few drops onto the rat's pointed snout, finally managing to get a couple into its mouth.
Nothing happened for five minutes and then ten. After fifteen minutes Joseph slammed his fist against the table, rattling the clay jars. What had he done wrong? From all his calculations, something should have happened.
He turned back to his computer screen to study his notes. What did I miss? he wondered. Then he heard a shriek come from the cage. He swiveled in the chair in time to see the rat's body quivering as though with a seizure. The rat's body started to expand like a balloon, the muscle's in the animal's legs swelling up to twice their normal size. Even the creature's tail grew thicker. The reaction stopped a few moments later with the bulked-up rat clawing feverishly at the cage to escape.