“Maren is not a sneaky little mouse.” Lishta unwrapped the candy and popped it in her mouth. The harsh scent of clove stung Maren’s nostrils. It was rude of Henri not to bring her one, too, but she was glad he hadn’t. “Though perhaps it isn’t a bad idea to test the dust on one,” continued Lishta. She let out a thoughtful hum. “If only one of us could speak mouse language.”

Maren rolled her eyes at the parrot, who busily scattered beetles across the counter. Lishta refused to put Henri in a cage—she said it gave him anxiety and terrible gas—and Maren always ended up cleaning up the stray feathers and droppings.

“You must promise never to tell anyone about this dust—or give it to your sister.” Lishta’s gray eyebrows formed a straight line. “The same consequences apply to you as everyone else. I’ll have to ban you from the shop.”

Maren’s left foot slid out, tapped, then slid back in. “I promise.” Maybe if she kept this new promise, it’d lessen the wrongness of having broken the other one. Maren wondered if Lishta could see the guilt in her eyes.

An electronic melody trilled inside Maren’s backpack. She dug her phone out, grateful for the interruption.

“Sweetie?” Her mom’s voice, staticky and shrill. “Can you hear me? I’m at the hospital.”

Maren’s stomach plummeted. “Is Hallie all right?”

“Yes, yes,” The line went crackly and then blank. Then Maren’s mother’s voice came back midsentence: “…not to read too much into it, but oh my goodness I just called your father and he—”

“Mom, wait.” Maren cut in. “Can you start again?”

“She smiled!” her mother yelled. “And the nurse said she laughed for a couple of seconds.”

Maren’s phone slipped off her shoulder and almost fell. “Hallie did? When?”

Lishta lifted her eyebrows, and Maren gave her a giddy thumbs-up as her mother spoke.

“Very early this morning. I’m with her now, but she hasn’t done it again. The doctors said it doesn’t mean she’s going to fully wake anytime soon, but it’s a good sign.”

I did that, thought Maren. The dreams are helping her.

“I’m coming there now,” she said.

“That’s great, sweetie. I really need to get to work now. I had to reschedule all my morning meetings for this afternoon.”

“I’ll be there as fast as I can.” As she hung up the phone, Maren wanted to shriek with joy. “Hallie laughed!” she said to Lishta as she struggled into her backpack. The idea of having her sister back was Christmas and the Fourth of July and a litter of brand-new kittens and winning the lottery all rolled up into one stunning event.