Dad dozed off, but Amy remained frozen. Her relaxation from the weekend at Marguerite’s was totally gone; instead, she felt edgy and uncomfortable from the interrupted night’s sleep and her father’s accident. She’d hoped that Rover had just been bothering her in retaliation for using him as her science fair experiment. But if Dad’s story was true, Rover had given him stitches … for making him go in his kennel?

So much for only bad masters, she thought.

The idea made her feel lousy. She headed upstairs to her room, hoping to follow Dad’s lead and get a nap in.

She found Coop and Hutch backed against the wall in the hallway across from her door. Both cats were doing their bizarre feline contortions, making themselves as flat and tall as possible; a low moan rang out of Coop’s throat. Their eyes remained locked on her bedroom door.

Amy didn’t understand. That meant—

She stormed in and froze, as angry as she was scared.

Rover sat in front of her full-length mirror, staring at his reflection.

“Hey!” she said.

Rover didn’t budge.

She walked over to him, too upset to care about his stupid powers, furious that he would disrespect her room.

“Rover, get out—”

She stopped short when she saw his shoulder. A hot spot had bloomed there, the fur gone to reveal pinkish, cracking skin with horrible red flesh showing where it had split open. Amy reared back, disgusted by the wound. She could even smell it, meaty and sour.

“Get out of my room,” she whispered meekly.

Rover looked up at her, his eyes colder and more hollow than she’d ever seen them.

“Rover?”

Both Rover and Amy looked up suddenly. Katie stood in the doorway, a little pout on her lips.

“Rover, you shouldn’t be in here,” she said softly. “Go to my room. Leave Amy alone.”

Rover glanced at Amy momentarily, then did as he was told. From the hallway, Amy heard the frantic hiss and scramble of the cats going ballistic and fleeing.

“Sorry,” said Katie. “He likes the mirror. He likes to see himself. Like he did with the iPad.”

Amy found herself breathing heavily. She realized her heart was racing. She put a hand to her chest and sat back down on her bed.

“Katie,” she said, “this has to stop. We need to do something about …” She gestured to the door. “About Rover.”

Katie bit her lower lip, and Amy knew she understood.

“He’s a good dog,” said Katie. “He just wants you and Daddy to leave him alone. He won’t be bad if you’ll just be nice to him and let him sleep in my room.”

Katie turned and walked out, calling for Rover.

Amy watched her go, wondering what her family was going to do.

Chapter 13: Only Bad Masters