The next morning, Sebastian left the house carrying a bowl, a water bottle, and a bag of sausages from breakfast he had to hide in a napkin. Since his mother was still convinced there was a bear roaming around downtown, he had to sneak out to avoid confrontation.

  When Sebastian arrived at the junkyard, the dog walked right up to the chain link fence. The dog was skinny, with matted, gray fur and small, floppy ears. A male. There wasn’t a collar. Did he not have an owner? Did whoever owned the property know he was there? Sebastian squinted off in the distance. The place looked abandoned. Did someone decide they didn’t want their dog anymore, so left him here?

  Sebastian slipped bits of sausages through the fence. The dog gulped them all down. He filled the bowl with water, and tried looking for a spot he could stick it through. The whole area was dirt. He managed to claw enough of it away to slip the bowl under the fence. The dog lapped it up, his slim tail wagging.

  There had to be a way to get inside. The fence connected to cement walls that ran alongside buildings. But directly across the lot, off in the distance, was more fence. Sebastian walked down the sidewalk, turned a corner, and walked past the buildings. He turned another corner to reach the opposite side of the fence.

  There were two doors padlocked shut together, also made of chain link. It made Sebastian wonder if the dog was supposed to be a guard dog. If so, the owner wasn’t taking very good care of him. But how else had the dog gotten locked inside?

  Maybe he should call animal control or something. They could rescue the poor thing and charge the owner with animal cruelty. And Sebastian could keep the dog. He’d always wanted a dog, but his father said no. They were too much work.

  The dog noticed Sebastian at the other side. He ran over, and put his mud-caked front paws on the fence. On two legs, he was the same height as Sebastian. It was intimidating. He barked a friendly bark, and put his paws back down.

  The pads of his paws were cracked and bloody. Sebastian tugged at the doors helplessly. He couldn’t leave a neglected dog there.

  Animal control was the only thing he could think of. So he looked up the number for the nearest one on his watch, and called them.

  About a half hour or so later, an animal control van pulled up. Two men jumped out to greet Sebastian. He showed them the locked fence, and pointed out the dog. “Can you get him out?”

  The men had no problems. One used bolt cutters to break the lock. The other held some sort of rod with a noose. The dog cautiously walked out, towards Sebastian. Sebastian held out his hand. The dog sniffed it.

  “Be careful,” one man warned. “We don’t know if he’s dangerous.”

  The dog proved how dangerous he was by rubbing his face against Sebastian’s palm. Sebastian scratched his ears. “Now what?”

  “We’ll transport him to the nearest animal shelter. They’ll check him for a microchip. If there is one, they’ll contact the owners. If not, they’ll keep him for a week. If no one claims him, they’ll put him up for adoption.”

  The dog looked up at Sebastian with rounded eyes. As though he wanted to come home with him. Sebastian wouldn’t be opposed to that. But he knew his father would say no to the dog. Still, he asked, “What if I want to adopt him for myself?”

  “We can give your number to the shelter. They’ll contact you before putting him up for adoption. Since you found him, you’ll have first priority.”

  “And one of the servants thinks it could be a scientific experiment,” Stellaluna said to Zailey. They sat in the garden, drinking tea and eating cookies.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised. You said it was at a junkyard?” Zailey took a sip of her tea. “Maybe some mad scientist threw it out. And it came to life.”

  “I was thinking the government might have something to do with it,” Stellaluna said. “I mean, it’s right by Waylon’s house. He insists there wasn’t anything there… What if he knows something?”

  “That would be something. Didn’t Barry think it was a rat? What if someone’s doing experiments on rats that makes them the size of wolves? And that was one of them?”

  Stolen story; please report.

  Stellaluna shuddered at the thought of wolf-sized rodents. “I hope not! I don’t want to think about wolf-sized rats roaming about here!”

  A group of women walking by stopped at gawk at them.

  “Did you just say there’s wolf-sized rats here?” one of the women asked, eyes widened in horror.

  “No, not here-”

  But the group ran away, shrieking. Stellaluna noticed one of the women stop long enough to talk to a passing couple. Probably telling them about the wolf-sized rats.

  “Why do I have a feeling everyone is going to think this place is crawling with wolf-sized rats by noon?” Zailey ate the last of her cookie.

  They moved on to talking about how Zailey’s son got in trouble at school for cheating. It made Stellaluna wish she had a son of her own. Or a daughter. Then again, even if she could bear children, Barry would probably assign one of the servants to take care of them.

  Her life was so dull. The monster she came across was the most exciting thing to have happened to her in the last decade.

  By noon, most people had left Callahan Mansion. Every area open to the public was empty. Normally there was a lunch rush at the restaurants. But there were no customers. Stellaluna had a feeling Zailey was right. That news of wolf-sized rats living in Callahan Mansion had spread.

  Zailey left. Stellaluna roamed the public areas of the mansion, relishing in the silence.

  Barry caught her waltzing out of the ballroom. “What is all this nonsense I’m hearing about giant rats?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Stellaluna said.

  “You should, as all the servants are gossiping about it. Our customers left because they think this place is crawling with giant rats the size of wolves! Like rats that big exist.”

  Stellaluna tried to keep her face straight. “I thought they did in New York.”

  “You watch it, missy!” Barry pointed his finger at her. “This is all your fault, isn’t it?”

  “My fault?”

  “Telling everyone about the wild animal you think you saw. Your story got twisted around, and now everyone thinks this place has a rat problem!”

  “People will forget about it by tomorrow,” Stellaluna said.

  “You’re stupid if you think they will. No. We’re going to lose so much money over this. I don’t know how we’re going to recover.”

  “You’re a billionaire. I think we’ll be okay.”

  Barry slapped her across the face. Hard. Stellaluna winced, holding her hand over her stinging cheek. Her eyes watered.

  “I’ll hear none of that sass from you! Now, get out of my sight before I do worse.”

  Sebastian spent all week thinking about that dog. About what it would be like to own him. To take him on walks, and let him sleep on his bed. He’d probably take up most of it.

  The thoughts pushed out his usual thoughts about Axel and his traumatic past. It distracted him from how much he hated himself.

  A week later, he got a phone call. The animal shelter couldn’t find the dog’s owners. The dog was Sebastian’s, if he wanted him.

  His parents were at some event in Redding. So Sebastian hopped in his family’s second car, and went to the animal shelter. He wouldn’t actually take the dog home. He couldn’t. He only wanted to see how he was doing.

  One hour later, Sebastian walked around a pet store with the dog on a leash the shelter provided him with. The dog was surprisingly obedient. He didn’t try to pull away. A tiny dog yapped at him as they walked by. The larger dog pressed his face into Sebastian’s waist, whimpering. Sebastian pet it reassuringly.

  The only downside to walking the dog around, were the constant stares and comments. He just wanted to buy a few essentials and get home before his parents. A few people asked for his name. Sebastian kept having to explain he just got him, and hadn’t thought of one yet. Others asked what kind of dog he was. Sebastian repeated what an animal shelter worker told him. “He’s an Irish Wolfhound. One of the world’s tallest dog breeds.”

  Sebastian beat his parents home. So he had no problem sneaking the large animal up the stairs and into his room. The dog went straight for his bed. As predicted, he took up most of it.

  Sebastian scratched the dog’s head. “How am I going to convince my parents to let me keep you?”

  The dog whined in response.

  “I hope you’re not a barker.”

  A couple of car doors slammed outside. His parents.

  “Stay.” Sebastian left his room, shutting the door behind him. He walked downstairs to see his parents coming in through the front door.

  “How’d the event go?” Sebastian asked.

  His parents stared at him.

  “What?”

  “Since when do you care?” Waylon asked, making his way into the family room.

  “I thought I’d be friendly.”

  A loud thump came from upstairs.

  “What was that?” Celine asked.

  “You got Ellie hiding up there?” Waylon grinned as he sat down on the couch.

  “Yep.” Sebastian chuckled awkwardly. “You caught me. That was her sneaking out the window.”

  “You know you don’t have to sneak around,” Waylon said. “You’re 23 years old, and she’s your fiance. Do whatever you want.”

  “She’s not my fiance.”

  “Well, she should be. You need to ask her to marry you.”

  Sebastian’s heart pounded at the thought, and not in the good way. “We’ve only been dating two months.”

  “So? I know a guy who married a girl on the first date. 20 years later, they’re still together.”

  “Divorce is illegal,” Sebastian reminded him. An idea occurred to him. “Speaking of Ellie, there is something I wanted to ask.”

  “If it’s sexual, ask the internet.”

  Sebastian scrunched his face. “No! God. She was telling me she really loves dogs but her parents never allowed her one.”

  “And for good reason,” Waylon said. “Those things are annoying.”

  “I was thinking I could get a dog, and Ellie-”

  “You two can get a dog when you move out. I won’t have one of those animals in this house!”

  “What about outside? Or in the garage?”

  “Nuh-uh. We already had this discussion years ago. No dogs allowed!”

  Sebastian’s heart sunk. There went that idea. The only other solution he could think of was to hide him. But was hiding such a large dog from his parents even possible?