corrected, “It wasn't hours. Maybe half an hour.”

Angel shrugged. “Oh, I just hid really well, that's all.” After all, that wasn't exactly a lie. Still, she decided not to mention her new friends just yet.

Toby leaned over her and sniffed. “At the butcher's?” he asked.

Angel thought fast. “Uh, yeah I figured the meat would, uh, hide my scent.”

Toby sniffed again. “You decided to mask your breath too,” he observed wryly, drawing a cringe from the pup.

“Angel,” Luna chided, “You know we're having lunch as soon as we get back.”

“Oh, I know,” she said, embarrassed at being caught. “I didn't eat much.”

Toby and Luna exchanged a look, apparently trying to decide if they should be worried or not. Finally Luna gave a slight nod and Toby announced their verdict. “Alright, but from now on try to stay closer.”

“Yeah,” agreed Balthasar. “We can't turn the whole town into a place for hide-and-seek.”

Caspar gasped excitedly. “Can we, Dad? Can we, please?”

Toby looked like he wanted to say yes, but wasn't sure he dared.

“Can we go home now?” asked Melchior, breaking off the topic. “I'm hungry.”

Typical, thought Angel. Melchior was always thinking about his creature comforts and never seemed interested in having fun.

Luna smiled. “I think it is about time we headed home. I'm sure you pups are hungry, right? I know I am.”

“Me too,” agreed Star, who was always eager to do whatever Luna suggested. Which, Angel guessed, was why Luna always seemed to spend the most time with her. The other pups were quick to voice their agreement.

“Alright,” Toby said, “We'll go home.” In response to a groan from Caspar, he added, “And later, we can talk about hiding around town.”

As they were heading back, Angel began to fall back in hopes of getting another glimpse of her friends. Toby started to call for her to keep up, then thought better of it and dropped back to trot alongside her. She was so engrossed in scanning every alleyway that she didn't notice him until he spoke up.

“What's up?”

“Ah!” she jumped and stared up at him. “Nothing,” she blurted quickly.

Toby nodded, trying to process this. When he was a puppy, such jumpiness would have at least meant some kind of paranoia. But then, if her imagination was anything like his had been, that could mean little if anything. There was something else he wanted to know. “Angel, that was pretty clever of you to hide so thoroughly at the butcher's, but you didn't have to go so far as to mask your breath. Even I can't track that down over a distance.”

“Oh, okay.” Taking a guess at where this was leading, she added, “And I'm sorry I didn't wait like you and Mom always say to. I guess I just sort of forgot.”

Toby was oblivious to the fib. Oh, he had noticed that there was something odd about the scent of the beef, but he decided not to pursue the matter. Oftentimes he himself had been frustrated at that age when his parents assumed the worst about his shenanigans, and he thought it best not to repeat that. “It's alright,” he said. “Just try to remember next time.”

She put on a fake smile. “Sure Dad.” And she raced to catch up with her brothers and sisters.

Toby slowed to a halt, staring after his progeny with a swelling of pride in his heart. 'They grow up so fast,' he thought. Angel in particular seemed quite prodigious. Barely old enough to eat solid food and she was already foraging it for her own. Oh, she needed to learn a thing or two about heeding her elders, but that would come in time as it had for him. Faster than him, if she took after Luna as he believed she would.

Caspar turned and looked back at him. “Dad, hurry up!” he yipped. “You don't want to go hungry, do you?”

Toby shook his head. Caspar was forgetting that he didn't live with them, but the pup was right about one thing: he was hungry. Shaking for the moment his thoughts of progeny, he headed for his own house where, no doubt, lunch would await him as well.

The pack found her again the following day when she was playing a spirited game of “Follow the leader” around the storage lot with her siblings. Toby was manning the rear of the troop, and Luna was keeping an eye out in front, lest the stunts get too dangerous and someone need rescuing. Angel was tailing the others up a stack of boxes when a voice hissed to her from behind some barrels. “Psst! Angel!”

She checked on her parents and found them distracted long enough for her to slip out if sight. There were her mess mates, looking pleased to see her.

“Hey guys,” she said, “You want to play?”

Max drew back the left side of his mouth. “Ehh, I dunno, kid. We were thinking of, you know, helpin' the butcher out some more today.”

She shook her head. “Nah, no thanks. You go ahead, I'm not all that hungry. Besides, Mom and Dad said not to wander off.”

“What, they don't want you to have fun with other dogs?”

Angel's ears began to droop. “No, it's just...”

Sammy held up a paw. “No need to explain, we get it. Gotta do what they say, sure thing.”

From the other side of the barrels, she heard her parents talking to one another. “Honey, have you seen Angel?”

“No, I thought she was with you.”

“Angel?”

She wanted to go back to her family, but she was starting to remember the taunts from the day before. “Okay, okay, I'll ask them,” she caved in. “Next time I'm hungry and you guys are around.”

“Who said we were just going to eat?” asked Lily. “Come on, I'll go with you and ask if you can hang out for a while.”

“Why can't all of you come?” she asked, puzzled.

The Akita frowned. “Well, grownups sometimes don't like their pups hanging out with large groups of us older dogs. They don't think you're big enough. We'll introduce them to the others later, okay?”

Angel nodded. It seemed reasonable enough. “Okay,” she said, “Let's go.”

The two came out from behind the barrels and bumped into Toby, who was just heading their way. Lily being the bigger of the two, he noticed her first. “Oh, sorry. Have you seen...?”

“Here, Daddy,” said Angel, stepping out from behind Lily's front legs.

He looked down. “Angel, where were you?”

She jerked her head up towards Lily. “Talking to my friend,” she said. “Her name's Lily.”

He smiled and looked up at Lily. “Well, nice to meet you,” he said. “I'm Toby.”

“Hi,” said Lily. “Angel was just talking about you.”

“Really?” said Toby. “Well, I don't believe I've heard about you.”

“We just met,” explained Lily, lying without so much as a twitch of her eye.

“Ah,” said Toby. “Well, that makes sense.”

“So Toby, can Angel and I go hang out?”

Toby hesitated. Lily seemed harmless enough, but there was something not quite right about her. “Sorry, we don't generally let her play with strangers unsupervised. Family rules.”

“Oh, I understand,” said Lily.

“Could she play with us, Dad?” asked Angel.

“Sure,” said Toby. “If she wants to.”

“Lily?” asked Angel, looking up at her friend.

Lily rolled her eyes heavenward as if in thought, then cast a sideways glance toward the barrels. “Not today,” she said. “I, uh, hurt my paw on some broken glass last week and can't really play much.” She raised her back paw as if favoring it, and frowned regretfully. “Maybe some other time.”

Angel was confused. “But you didn't say anything about...”

“I know,” Lily said. “It was just, you know, something stupid I did. It's kinda embarrassing.”

“Oh, believe me,” said Toby, “I understand. Take care of that paw, and uh, I guess we'll see you another time.”

“Yeah,” Lily smiled. “See you around Angel, Toby.” And she hopped away, still putting little weight on the paw.

Angel watched Lily leave. She was fine yesterday, she thought. What gives here?

“Toby?” came Luna's voice. “Any sign of Angel?”

“Yeah, I found her,” he called back. He turned to Angel. “Come on.”

As Toby turned to head back to the others, Angel cast a look the way Lily had gone. This doesn't make any sense, she thought.

After the pack left, Angel found the game... less interesting. She kept thinking back to the adventure in the butcher's meat locker, the taste of the meat. It had been fun sneaking in, and spending time with the older dogs. Angel didn't realize it, but those dogs had been feeding a hunger within her. A need she didn't know she had. Companionship.

As the pups continued with their game, Toby took Luna aside for a brief conference. “Angel made a friend today,” he told her.

“Oh? Who was it?”

“Her name's Lilly. She's an Akita, I'd say about six months old. Seemed pretty mice.”

She gave him a puzzled look.