“There is, but it’s expensive, and—well, come with me, and we can figure it out,” said Dr. Chevram. “Amy, we’ll be right back. Keep an eye on that beautiful canine of yours.”

Amy saluted, and Dad and Dr. Chevram stepped out into the hall. She heard their muffled voices talking and knew what the vet was probably discussing with her dad—did he really want to spend too much money on a stray he found? It broke her heart to think about, but she also understood. Rover had sort of fallen into her family’s lap, and Mom had always taught her that money didn’t grow on trees—

Something in the room was rattling.

She turned back to the examining table and started back with a gasp. Rover was shaking all over, his limbs tense, his head staring straight forward. The dog’s body shivered and shook like he was being electrified, even while his expression remained totally unmoved. The rattling, Amy realized, was his toenails against the metal table as his paws bounced up and down.

“Rover?” she said. “Rover, are you all r—” She reached out for him, and Rover’s head swung quickly over to face her. The look in his eyes pulled the breath out of Amy’s lungs—it was as though all warmth had gone out of him, like there was something cold and definitely not a dog staring at her from behind those big dark eyes.

Look away, she thought, but even if she’d wanted to, she couldn’t. And why should she? Why was this so strange and horrible? She wanted to see something, a whimper or a snort, or a raise of the ears, to remind her that Rover was a dog … but there was only that dead stare and the rattling of his spasming body.

She was paralyzed. Drawn in.

But to what?

What did he want her to see?

All at once, Rover stopped shaking and went limp, his body heaving with breath.

The sound of the door opening made Amy spin around. Dad and Dr. Chevram walked in and stared at her; their expressions told Amy that she must have looked very afraid.

“Everything okay here, kiddo?” asked Dad.

“It’s …” She looked back at Rover. The dog appeared perfectly normal, like the shaking fit had never happened. “Rover started shivering. It scared me. I thought he was having a seizure or something.”

Dad smiled in that way that sometimes made Amy angry, like her idea was so wrong it was cute. “I think you’d know if he was having a seizure, Ames. He was probably just stretching, and he made some sort of weird noise. And after all, he looks fine now—”

“It’s gone.” Dr. Chevram held Rover’s paw and looked very confused. “His hot spot’s gone! But that’s impossible. It was too severe to have just vanished.”