"Hmmm..." Olive scanned the ground outside the Stephens house with her ground-scaninator gadget. "Are you sure this is where you saw the green tiger?"

"Yes!" Mrs. Kravitz responded, looking around nervously. "It was right there, plain as day!"

Olive switched off the gadget. "There don't seem to be any footprints..."

Mrs. Kravitz pondered. "Maybe... Maybe it was a little to the left..."

Olive nodded and walked over to the area Mrs. Kravitz indicated. "Here?"

Abner Kravitz and Otto watched them, sipping lemonade. Darren and Samantha hovered nearby.

"Sorry to have you two dragged out here like this," Abner told Otto.

Otto shrugged. "Hey, it's our job."

"Yeah, but if I had a nickel for every time that wife of mine said she 'saw something' out here..."

Abner Kravitz continued talking but Otto didn't hear what he said. He was too busy staring at the enormous green tiger paw that had just emerged from the Stephens' open window.

"I... I... I..." He looked from the paw to Darren and Samantha. "Did you see that?" He looked toward Olive.

"Um..." Darren shifted nervously as Aunt Clara leaned out the window to grab the paw and pull it back behind the curtains. "See what?"

"That! That..." He looked again. "I... thought I saw..." He shook his head. "I dunno."

"You saw it, didn't you?" Mrs. Kravitz dashed over and seized Otto by the shoulders, shaking him like a rattle. "I can tell, I know you did!" She smiled smugly at her husband and the Stephenses. "See? He saw it too!"

Olive trudged toward her partner. "What did you see?"

"I'm... not sure," Otto admitted. "It was just there for a second..."

"It's inside the house! It's inside the house!" Mrs. Kravitz was jumping up and down with excitement. "Now I'll prove I'm not imagining things!" She dashed toward the door, only to have Olive stop her.

"Maybe you'd better wait here," She insisted. "Green tigers can be dangerous if cornered. My partner and I will investigate."

Mrs. Kravitz was crestfallen. "But I wanna see..."

Abner sighed. "Gladys. Listen to the nice girl. Let the two children endanger themselves while we wait here."

Otto was crestfallen too but for entirely different reasons. Still, swallowing hard, he followed his partner up the steps and through the door back inside the house.

Darren looked at his wife. "Sam..."

Sam smiled sweetly. "More lemonade?"

#

Olive and Otto entered the house, Olive boldly, Otto cautiously.

"I'm pretty sure I saw a green tiger paw. A huge green tiger paw..."

Olive nodded absently. "What I can't figure out is the husband. It's like he doesn't know..."

Just then, Otto saw the green tiger emerge from a room. As he gasped, pointed, and tried to alert his partner with various high-pitched squawking sounds, it disappeared into another room.

"There... There... There it is!"

Aunt Clara emerged a second later, looking around.

"Did, um, did you see..." She noticed Otto pointing. "Oh, that way. Oh, thank you." She followed the tiger into the kitchen.

Otto stared at Olive, who was talking on her badge phone. "Great. We'll see you soon." She hung up.

"There was... There was... There was a green tiger just now!"

Just outside, they heard Mrs. Kravitz scream. "I KNEW IT!"

Olive sighed and patted her partner on the shoulder. Samantha, meanwhile, had gone around and re-entered the house through the glass sliding doors.

The tiger roared and all Otto's hair stood on end. Mrs. Kravitz charged through the door, followed by her husband and Darren Stephens.

"Did you hear that?" Otto and Mrs. Kravitz asked simultaneously.

"H-Hear what?" Mister Stephens' smile was very strained. He looked around helplessly.

The tiger roared again and Mrs. Kravitz screamed. While everyone was distracted, Olive motioned to Samantha and pointed toward the kitchen.

"IT CAME FROM THE KITCHEN! IT CAME FROM THE KITCHEN!" Seizing Otto and Olive as human shields Mrs. Kravitz propelled them through the living room. Samantha gestured toward the kitchen just before they were pushed through the doors.

"Oh! Oh, um, I, er, eh..." Aunt Clara was standing by the refrigerator with a saucer of milk. "Would anyone, um, like some cereal?"

"But what was that noise I heard?" Mrs. Kravitz demanded. "Don't deny it, I know you heard it too!"

"Um, uh..." Darren and Samantha looked at each other. Darren thought of something first. "Probably a motorcycle backfiring!"

"A motorcycle?"

"Yes, of course!" Samantha chimed in. "I heard Mister Krenshaw down the block just got one. He's going through a bit of a midlife crisis and he..."

"BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GREEN TIGER?" Mrs. Kravitz was on the verge of tears. "I KNOW I SAW A GREEN TIGER!"

There was a knock on the kitchen door. A little girl peeked in. "Excuse me, have any of you seen my green tiger?"

Mrs. Kravitz's face turned almost as white and Mister Stephens'. "Your green tiger?"

"Oh, there he is!" She fiddled with the knob of the remote control gadget she was holding and a large plastic green tiger rolled over from behind a corner of the house. "I'm sorry. I just got it this morning and I'm not too good at working it yet..."

Samantha smiled sweetly. "That's all right, dear. No harm done."

Mrs. Kravitz looked from the plastic toy to the Stephens to Odd Squad to her husband, then back to the tiger. "But that's not what I saw... Was it...?"

Abner sighed. "Come on, Gladys. Let's go home and you can have a nice nap. And later, we can take you out for a new straitjacket."

"But that's not what I saw!" Mrs. Kravitz protested as Abner gently but firmly led her out the door. "I know that's not what I saw!"

"Come on, Gladys. Time for your pill..."

"But I'm...I'm almost certain that's not what I saw!"

"Sorry, Mister and Mrs. Stephens. And sorry, Odd Squad. I'll make sure she doesn't bother you any more."

"It's all right, sir," Olive bounced on her toes. "All part of the job."

The door closed behind them and all but Otto breathed an enormous sigh of relief.

"So..." Otto was still trying to figure it out as they walked back into the living room. "It was just that motorized toy tiger that we... YEOW!"

The green tiger perched on the couch, big as life, snarling. Darren swallowed, grabbing Otto, as Samantha and Olive looked at one another. The little girl clutched her toy tiger to her chest.

Then Aunt Clara came from the kitchen, beaming. "Oh, of course! That's the spell!" She pointed her hands at the tiger. "Aldernai vaisu beragus!"

There was a billow of smoke and the tiger was gone. In its place sat a small jade tiger statue. Aunt Clara picked it up and put it back in its place on the mantelpiece.

"There. That's rather better." She looked at Otto, who was almost hyperventilating. "Hm?"

Darren, meanwhile, was fidgeting wildly, looking from the kids to Aunt Clara. "Well, you see, kids, what happened was that... And she... And that was... Samantha!"

"It's okay, honey," Samantha hugged her husband. "Odd Squad knows all about witches."

Otto's jaw dropped. "We do?"

"We've had an non-interference agreement with The Witches Council for over three hundreds years," Olive explained. "I'm sorry, Otto. I thought you knew."

"Well, I knew about that..." Otto coughed.

"In fact, some members of the Squad are witches." Olive turned to the little girl. "Isn't that right, Agent Obeah?"

The little girl gestured and her green tiger toy was gone. Another gesture and her play-dress was replaced with an Odd Squad uniform.

"Well, if you don't need me any more, I'll be getting back to headquarters. See you soon, guys!"

She waved her arms and vanished to the chime of a harp glissando.

Darren collapsed into the nearest chair. "I need a drink. Scotch and Soda."

Otto collapsed on the couch. "Me too. But could I just have a soda?"

#

"But I'm positive I didn't see a toy tiger!"

Abner was back to his newspaper as Gladys Kravitz stood by the window watching the Stephens house.

"Gladys, would you leave those poor people alone? Haven't you made a big enough fool of yourself already?"

"No! I mean..." She saw Olive and Otto leaving the house, waving goodbye to Darren and Samantha. "I'm going to talk to Odd Squad. I'm sure there's something going on over there..."

Abner sighed as Gladys started out the door, running across the lawn. Olive and Otto, not seeing her, walked toward a nearby mailbox.

"ODD SQUAD! ODD SQUAD!"

Crouching, they ducked behind the mailbox. There was a flash of light.

"Odd Squad, I just need to..."

Gladys Kravitz looked behind the mailbox. Both kids had vanished without a trace. She stared, screamed, and ran back to her house.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRR!"

#