Chapter 5

Fawkes crept closer, and I gave him half my attention as he slunk across the floor. He kept glancing at his owner, but when Tru didn’t admonish him, he stood up, walked right over to me, then stood on his hind legs, placing his front paws on my knees. I reached to pet him, and he tried to do a weird sort of hop. He wanted in my lap.

“Fawkes is a lap dog, huh?”

Tru gave a tiny, almost imperceptible jerk, like he actually had forgotten I was there. He let out a chagrinned chuckle. “Sure is. You can hold him if you want. But if you don’t, just tell him to go to bed and he will.”

I picked up the dog, and Fawkes settled right in. I rubbed his ears. “Fawkes is kind of an interesting name. Like Guy Fawkes?”

Tru’s laugh was musical. There was no other word for it. He shook his head. “No. Like Harry Potter.”

I cocked my head to the side. “The phoenix?”

“You’ve read it?” Tru stopped rinsing the soap from Aldo’s back to look at me.