Rover sat on the opposite corner, staring at them.

Amy froze, electrified at the sight of him. Her mouth hung open in shock, and the whole world seemed to go silent around her.

How had he gotten out?

She’d closed the door.

Slammed it.

Rover didn’t move a muscle. He sat there, back rigid, head straight up. With his ears standing pointed over his head, he reminded Amy of some Egyptian god, all sharp angles and cruel eyes. Even worse than any sort of specific thing he did was his stillness, the way he looked at them dead on and never so much as shifted his weight. It was as though they were caught in his gaze—and he wasn’t letting them go.

Then it all happened at once:

Stormy trotting out into the street, the leash slipping from Amy’s hand …

The rolling hiss of an oncoming car’s tires growing louder in the distance …

“Stormy!” Amy cried out. “Stormy, get back here!”

Stormy stood in the center of the street, perfectly still, her eyes locked with Rover’s.

Amy realized what was about to happen, and another cry escaped her throat.

She sprinted out into the street. The horn of the car filled her ears, louder and louder. Its brakes screeched horribly. She wrapped her arms around Stormy’s middle, yanked her up, and tossed her toward the curb, then did her best to leap out of the car’s path—

The bumper of the car punched her in the side. She let out a deep, ugly grunting noise and flew to the asphalt, rolling over twice and feeling the grit of the road beneath her scrape her elbows and knuckles raw.

Amy stared at the sky, trying to focus and failing. As her vision began to blur and the sounds around her echoed into nothingness, she looked up and saw Rover sitting over her, staring down at her the same way he did at his morning chow.

Chapter 15: Something’s Wrong with Rover

Dr. Ferraro placed the cold pack against Amy’s side, sending a shiver up through her ribs that made her hiss through her teeth. Then she tied it on with a length of bandage before putting fresh Band-Aids on Amy’s knuckles and elbows. Amy winced but said nothing. She was too shocked by everything that had happened to complain.

“That should be fine,” the doctor called over her shoulder to Mom. “Give her some Advil and replace the ice pack if you need to. Maybe keep her home from school tomorrow.”

The thought of being home all day made Amy feel sick to her stomach. The smells of disinfectant and cotton balls in the doctor’s office were overwhelming.

“I wanna go to school tomorrow,” she said out loud.

Both Mom and Dr. Ferraro looked down at her like she’d just said something in Latin. The doctor smiled.