Without saying another word, he turned the bottle upside down. With quick, frantic motions, he splashed the blue liquid all over him. Over his cheeks. His forehead. His hands and arms. His chest.

He rolled up his jeans and rubbed the mixture onto his knees and legs. He pulled off his socks and sneakers and smoothed the blue liquid over his ankles and feet.

“It’s got to work!” he cried. “This time, it’s got to!”

Andy and Kermit stared up at him eagerly.

They waited.

Evan waited.

Nothing happened. No change at all.

Then Evan began to feel it.

“Hey—I’m tingling!” he announced happily.

He felt the same electric tingling he had felt before. The itchy feeling he had every time he was about to grow a little more.

“Yes!” Evan cheered. “Yes!”

The tingling grew sharper, stronger, as it spread over his entire body.

“It’s working! I can—HIC!—feel it!” Evan shouted. “It’s really working! I’m tingling! I’m itching! I can feel it! It’s working!”

“No, it isn’t,” Andy murmured quietly.

“Huh?” Evan narrowed his eyes at her.

The tingling became a violent itch. He started to scratch. But pulled back his hand because his skin felt so strange.

“It … didn’t … work …” Andy said sadly, her voice trembling.

“Yuck! He looks so gross!” Kermit declared, making a disgusted face.

“Huh? HIC!” Evan replied.

He uttered a horrified gasp as he stared at his arms. “F-f-feathers!” he stammered in a high, shrill voice.

He checked out his arms. His stomach. His legs.

“Noooooo!” A long, low wail burst from his chest.

His entire body was covered in fluffy white feathers.

“Noooo—HIC!—oooooooo!”

“I’m sorry,” Kermit said, shaking his head. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I thought I had the mixture right this time.”

“You look like a big eagle,” Andy commented. “Except eagles aren’t blue.”

“HIC!” Evan cried.

“And eagles don’t get hiccups,” Andy added. She gazed up at him with concern. “Poor Evan. That must itch like crazy. You’re having a real bad day.”

Evan frantically scratched his feathery chest. “It can’t get any worse than this,” he muttered.

And then he saw a police car pull up in front of the house.

“HIC!” Evan cried. He backed off the driveway and crouched low against the back wall of the house. “The police!” he whispered.

His throat tightened in panic. His feathers all stood up on end.

What should I do? he asked himself, pressed against the house, ducking his head. Should I run? Should I give myself up?

“One more try!” Kermit cried, leaping into the house. “Let me try one more mixture. I think I can get it this time!”

The door slammed behind him.

“Hurry!” Andy called from the driveway. “The police—they’re climbing out of their car.”

“How many are there?” Evan whispered. His feathers itched, but he was too frightened to scratch.

“Two,” Andy replied, staring through the gray evening light to the street. “They look kind of mean.”

A sudden cool gust of wind ruffled Evan’s feathers. His huge body trembled.

“They’re walking up the driveway,” Andy reported. “They’re going to be here in a few seconds!”

“I’d better make a run for it,” Evan declared. He took one step away from the house and nearly fell. It was hard to run when your feet were covered with stiff, prickly feathers.

His entire body itched. He pressed himself against the house again. “I’m doomed,” he murmured to himself.

“They stopped to check out the front door,” Andy told him. “You’ve still got a few seconds.”

“Hurry, Kermit! Hurry!” Evan urged out loud.

He turned to the kitchen door. No sign of Kermit.

Would Kermit get the mixture right this time? Could he get the mixture to Evan before the two police officers entered the backyard?

The screen door opened. Kermit burst out. He tripped on the back stoop. The blue bottle nearly went flying.

He caught his balance. He handed the bottle up to Evan. “Good luck!” Kermit called up to Evan. Kermit raised both hands. He had his fingers tightly crossed on both hands.