Penelope patted Haru gently on his nose. “I like you, too.”

  From the other room, Haru could hear Luke calling for him.

  “Haru Haru, let’s go upstairs!”

  Haru glanced at the cat, who said, “Don’t worry, I’m not leaving yet. I will let you know when I’m ready.”

  Relieved, Haru rejoined the boys at the back door to go upstairs. Their arms were filled with snacks and drinks, including some liver treats for Haru.

  “Were you checking on Penny again, Haru?” Luke asked.

  Haru barked in agreement.

  “Such a good boy,” Luke replied.

  Always, Haru thought. He would always be a good boy for his Luke.

  Chapter 6

  SEVERAL DAYS LATER, Luke’s parents finally gave the all clear to go outside again, and the boys planned their excursion to the lake.

  Lake Manakee was located a few miles southwest of Luke’s store, past town, and the factory was on the lake’s eastern shore. The plan was for Luke and Haru to walk over to the Cole brothers’ house and then they would all hike to the lake.

  “Come on, Haru, we’re going on an adventure today.”

  Haru noted that Luke was wearing his big backpack. He could smell the delicious aroma of sandwiches emanating from the bag and he wagged his tail happily. This meant they were going out exploring the world for a long time. Haru loved being outside with Luke just as much as he loved being inside with him.

  Luke put on Haru’s harness and leash and fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the Coles’ house. Mrs. Cole came out and gave Luke a big hug.

  “The boys will be ready in a few minutes. Why don’t you come in and wait?” she said.

  “No, thank you,” Luke replied. “I’ll wait outside with Haru.”

  Mrs. Cole ruffled his hair and went back inside. Luke could hear her shouting for the boys to hurry up.

  Max was the first one to come storming out of the house, holding his backpack in front of him.

  “What’s up, Luke, you got the food?”

  When Luke nodded, Max beamed happily. “Cool. I got Mom to buy a bunch of snacks and candy.” He opened his backpack to show Luke the hoard of snack-sized chips, donuts, cookies, and candies.

  Luke gaped. “Your mom let you take all of that?”

  Max looked around, shook his head, and grinned. “But she won’t know until after we leave.”

  Ben appeared and let out an exasperated sigh. “Max, do you ever think of anything besides food?”

  “Nope.”

  Luke chuckled as Ben shoved past his younger brother. Opening his backpack, Ben showed them both the contents.

  “I packed a flashlight, rope, my utility knife, binoculars,” Ben said. “I couldn’t think of anything else except a camera, but we all have our cell phones.”

  “Good job!” Luke replied. “Let’s go!”

  Ben put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Are you sure about this?”

  Luke nodded. “And if we find something, maybe your mom can write the story up. Bad people shouldn’t get away with bad things just because they’re rich.”

  The friends walked the entire length of Main Street all the way through town, stopping after an hour to sit at Red Leaf Park near their old elementary school to eat their lunch. Afterward, they took Main Street to the outskirts of town and then turned down Lake Manakee Drive, a winding scenic road that led to the lake.

  When they arrived, Luke was struck with how much had changed in the last few years. He could still remember when they would go to the lake to swim and fish. Families lined up all along the lakeside to enjoy a picnic. Now the lake was completely empty of people. The dock where boats could be rented was abandoned, the empty pedal boats still bobbing in the water. And where there used to be tons of ducks and geese, now there was hardly any wildlife.

  “Whoa, we haven’t been here in a few years. Since they found that first two-headed trout,” Ben commented. “It’s got some serious ghost town vibes now.”

  “This place used to be so much fun,” Max said sadly. “Sinclair messed up all the good things.”

  The three boys turned and looked at the Sinclair compound. It had shut down completely after the fire, and the older buildings, including the factory warehouse and the original laboratory, looked ruined. However, the taller, newer laboratory building seemed less damaged. As they approached the wire fencing that surrounded the compound, they were hit with a horrible stench.

  “Blech! What the heck is that smell?” Max gagged.

  “Whatever it is, it’s coming from the factory,” Luke said as he held his nose.

  “It smells like death and diarrhea!” Max whined. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Haru began to growl deep in his throat, his eyes fixed on the building.

  “See, even Haru is warning us to get away!” Max insisted.

  “No, wait,” Ben said sharply. “Look! There’s something going on!”

  The boys rushed to where a line of trees bordered the fence. Luke hushed Haru, who was still growling.

  Kneeling in the tall grass, Ben quickly pulled out the binoculars.

  “That’s really odd,” he said. “I thought nobody was supposed to be working right now.”

  “Yeah, didn’t they say it was too dangerous?” Luke asked.

  Ben passed the binoculars to Luke while he pulled out his phone and began filming. Luke peered through the binoculars and watched as an unmarked black van pulled up next to the laboratory building. Several men in silver hazmat suits exited the vehicle. Once again Haru started growling.

  “Quiet, Haru,” Luke whispered. “We don’t want to get caught.”

  Luke watched as the men went down a staircase that led to what seemed to be the basement of the laboratory building. Suddenly, they heard dogs barking and whining before the sound was cut off abruptly, as if a door had opened and closed.

  “Did you hear that? What’s with all the dogs?” Max asked.

  Luke and Ben looked at each other in alarm. Haru stood with his hackles raised, staring intently at the building.

  “Do you think they’re experimenting on dogs?” Ben asked.

  Luke shuddered at the thought. “He can’t be that awful, can he?”

  “Oh yes, he can,” Ben retorted.

  “That’s animal cruelty! We’ve gotta report him!”

  “Yeah, but for what?” Ben asked. “We don’t know what’s happening in there, and look at all the security guards. There’s no way we’re getting inside to find out.”

  Luke bit his lip. Just the thought of dogs being locked up in the laboratory was upsetting him. “Well, they’re supposed to be shut down, but clearly they aren’t! Your mom could investigate that, right?”

  “Yeah, and all those dogs. It sounded like there was a lot of them! What are they doing to them?” Max asked.

  “It’s all so shady. The hazmat suits, the awful smell.” Luke stopped as they all went quiet. “They’re experimenting on the dogs, right?”

  Max shuddered. “We’ve gotta stop ’em!”

  “Don’t worry, I got it all on video,” Ben replied. “Mom will know what to do.”

  Next to them, Haru began growling. The boys quieted in alarm, but it was too late.

  “Hey, you kids! What are you doing over there?” A security guard was heading toward them.

  “Quick, let’s get out of here!” Luke grabbed Haru’s leash and pushed his friends to move. They all bolted for the road, leaving the guard shouting at them through the fence. They didn’t stop running until they were back on Main Street heading into town.

  Out of breath and hot and tired from their frantic running, the boys collapsed under the shade of some trees by the side of the road to catch their breath and drink some water. Max pulled out a pack of powdered donuts and methodically stuffed them into his mouth.

  Luke poured cold water for Haru as they rested.

  “Let’s call Mom to pick us up,” Max whined, white powder covering his mouth. “I’m too tired.”

  Ben nodded. “That’s not a bad idea,” he replied. “We have a lot to tell her.”

  Luke hugged Haru tight as he thought of the poor dogs trapped in the burnt shell of the building. “I won’t ever let that happen to you,” he whispered.

  Chapter 7

  THE BOYS EXPLAINED everything they had seen to Mrs. Cole when she picked them up. Luke could see sharp curiosity overtaking the anger in her eyes, even as she scolded them for going to the factory.

  “That was a dangerous thing to do,” Mrs. Cole said. “They closed off that area for a reason.”

  She paused and then turned to look at each of them. “But you’ve raised some very interesting issues. I think I’ll drop you off at Luke’s place and go back to snoop around.”

  “The dogs,” Luke reminded her. “We have to help them.”

  She returned an hour later with a grim look on her face.

  “I went around the factory and saw people in hazmat suits exiting the laboratory building,” she said. “When I went to the entrance, the security guards wouldn’t let me in, and I couldn’t find anyone willing to talk to me. Nobody from their press office is returning my calls, and when I finally got a higher-up on the phone, they claimed that the factory is currently nonoperational and no one is there but security. But that was clearly a lie.”

  “What is it, Mom? What do you think is happening?” Ben asked.

  “I don’t know, but I intend to find out,” Mrs. Cole replied.

  After the noisy boys and their mother left, Luke had to help in the front of the store and Haru went to spend time with Penelope.

  The cat was napping but became completely alert when he arrived. She sniffed him delicately when he went to greet her.

  “You smell of the bad place,” she said.

  “Yes,” he replied. “I went with Luke and his friends.”

  “Why did you go there?” Penelope asked. “It isn’t safe for you especially.”

  Haru thought of what he had seen there and agreed. “You were right. Something terrible is happening there. I heard the dogs. They were in pain and crying for help. But I didn’t know what to do.”

  “We can’t help them,” Penelope replied. “The important thing is for you to stay away from there, or you will die.”

  Haru was silent. In his mind, he could still hear the pleas of the dogs, asking to be released. The pain and fear in their voices. The anger and the sadness. He’d heard it all and he’d felt powerless.

  “The humans will save them,” Haru said. “Luke will tell his parents and they will save the dogs.”

  “Haru, you are still young and have not seen much of the human world,” Penelope replied with a pitying look. “There is a hierarchy in their society. Your humans, as lovely as they are, do not have power. They will not be able to save those dogs.”

  “What do you mean, power?” Haru asked.

  Penelope stood up and stretched. “Who is the leader of this family?” she asked.

  “Mother and Father,” Haru responded quickly. “They are both leaders, but sometimes I think Mother is the real leader because when she’s not happy, no one is happy.”

  Penelope smirked. “That is power. And yet, I have seen other humans come and yell at them.”

  Haru growled. “I hate when that happens.”

  “Because they are your family and you love them,” Penelope agreed. “But outside of this building, they are merely humans with no greater power than the others.”

  “Then what makes some humans powerful? Because they are stronger?”

  “Yes and no,” the cat replied. “For I have seen a small and gray-haired old human who was so frail, he would fall over if I jumped on him. And yet he wielded power over many who were much younger and stronger than he.”

  “How is that possible?”

  Penelope wiped her face gracefully before answering. “Some humans hold the ability to control others.”

  This reminded Haru of the conversation with Mitten at the VETS. He had said he was the boss.

  Boss. Like my human, who commands this entire domain. All the other humans must listen to us and do what we want.

  “So that is what ‘boss’ means,” Haru said.

  “Yes, that is a word that they use to mean that a human is above them,” Penelope said. “They are strange that way. It isn’t strength that is important to them. I’ve never figured out what it actually is. But it is so odd that a human who would not survive a day in the wild can still be their leader.”

  “Are these boss humans good people?”

  “They are just like animals. Some are good, some are bad. But the more powerful they are, the more evil they seem to be,” Penelope explained.

  “I don’t understand what their power is,” Haru bemoaned. “What is more powerful than strength?”

  “My understanding is that it is an item that they worship,” Penelope said. “All humans want it and need it. Sometimes they will do bad things to get it. And the more they have, the more powerful they are.”

  “I wish I had some,” Haru said.

  “Why? It is a useless thing for animals,” Penelope said. “It is only humans who worship it.”

  “Well, I could give it to my humans so they could be powerful too,” Haru said. “At least they would be good bosses.”

  “Yes, they would be better than the evil human I saw,” Penelope responded darkly. “He is the boss for the bad place near the lake. I’ve seen him there many times before. Everyone was running to do his bidding. He controls them all.”

  Haru growled. “Then he is the reason the dogs are there!”

  “And that is why your humans won’t be able to do anything,” Penelope remarked. “He has many more people that do his bidding. They cannot fight him.”

  Haru slumped down on the ground. “I do not understand the human world.”

  “We are not supposed to,” Penelope sighed. Stepping out of her little bed, Penelope walked over to Haru and cuddled up against his side.

  “Don’t go over there again,” she said. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  Haru licked the top of Penelope’s head affectionately. He was going to really miss her when she left.

  Chapter 8

  THE WORST DAY of Haru’s life started with Penelope’s disappearance early in the morning. He could hear Luke calling for her, but Haru knew she was gone. He sensed it as soon as he woke up. She had left them. It wasn’t a surprise, but Haru was filled with sadness.

  “Dad, Penny’s gone!” Luke shouted.

  His father was making the morning coffee and preparing to open up the store.

  “Yes, I thought I saw her slip out last night when I was taking out the garbage,” his father said.

  “But why didn’t you stop her? What if she gets hurt again?” Luke was upset.

  His father placed a comforting arm around Luke’s shoulders. “I know you wanted to keep that little cat safe, but I don’t think forcing her to stay is the right thing. I think she’s more comfortable in the wild.”

  Luke looked angry as he called for Haru to follow him outside. They searched the entire back woods for the little cat, but she was gone. Her scent trail was too faint to track.

  Seeing how worried Luke was, Haru wished Penelope hadn’t run away, but he knew that she’d been set on returning to the wild. He could only hope she would continue to visit as usual.

  In the early afternoon, the heat grew sweltering and Luke and Haru stayed in the back of the store because it was the coolest place in the building. With nothing to do and no customers coming into the store, Luke began one of the new graphic novels he’d borrowed from the library, Superman Smashes the Klan. Just as he became absorbed in the 1946 setting of the story, he heard Haru start to growl and then the nasally voice of his least favorite person. Opening the door to the store just a crack, Luke could see Mrs. Sinclair-Greene, one of the largest landowners in the entire county and the store’s landlady. She was Sinclair’s cousin and extremely proud of that relationship. She was also a terribly nasty woman who liked to come by and harass all her tenants for no other reason than boredom. Today, she wore a black dress with some fur shawl, and her dyed blond hair was swept into a tight bun.

  “I am here to tell you something important,” Mrs. Sinclair-Greene said as she helped herself to a cheese Danish from the glass container on the counter. “But first a black coffee,” she said as she took a huge bite of the Danish. She then sat down at the table, expecting to be served.

  Whenever she came into the store, she would help herself to drinks and food without asking or paying. She acted as if everything in the store was hers, just because she was the landlady. And Luke’s parents could never say anything to her.

  After she scarfed down the Danish and drank her coffee, she wiped her hands on a napkin and threw it on the floor. Standing up, she said, “I am increasing your rent with the new lease.” She passed a piece of paper to Peter.

  Luke’s mom gasped and his dad crumpled the paper in anger. “This increase is outrageous! We don’t make enough revenue to justify it!”

  “I can’t help it if you aren’t good at your business,” Sinclair-Greene replied. “Maybe it’s because you’re foreigners that you don’t have customers.”

  Luke balled his hands into tight fists that shook with rage as he listened from the back room. He could see how angry his father was and how his mother was trying to calm him down.

  “Ma’am, my wife and I were both born and raised in this country. We are Americans, not foreigners.”

  “Whatever,” Sinclair-Greene said with an uncaring wave of her hand. “I should’ve never agreed to rent to you people in the first place. Maybe I’ll just tear up the lease renewal and get one of those coffee franchises in here. It would suit the aesthetic better with the antique store next door.”

  Luke rolled his eyes. It was a huge stretch calling the thrift store next door an antique shop.

  Lydia Sun pushed her husband back as she leaned forward to speak with the landlady.

  “Please don’t do that, Mrs. Sinclair-Greene,” she pleaded. “You know that we just invested a lot of money into renovating the whole store last year.”

 

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