“Squirrel.” Timir’s eyes narrowed.
Timir became a fluffy blur as he raced toward the squirrel.
The squirrel took one look at Timir and dashed off, jumping over the fence and shooting off into the dense forest of trees.
“Don’t worry,” the trainer called to Luma. “Timir won’t be able to get past the fence. Now, this is a very good opportunity to practice recall.”
Timir did stop at the fence.
He paced up and down and … wriggled through a gap at the bottom!
“No! Timir!” Luma cried, racing toward the fence. “Come back! Come back!”
Luma reached the fence and climbed over, racing off to where she’d seen Timir disappear.
“Luma, stay here!” she heard the trainer shout. “We will find him together!”
But Luma could not stop.
She saw a flash of his dragon tail among the trees and ran.
And then there was a growl in the other direction.
Luma turned around and sprinted toward the noise, but Timir wasn’t there.
Luma sped farther and farther into the dense forest of trees.
“Timir!” she shouted. “Timir!”
There was silence.
Too much silence.
No growls or squeaks from Timir to tell her where to go next.
But worse, there was no chatter from the other owners, no woofs from their dogs or even calls of her name.
Luma walked around in a slow circle. She wasn’t sure which direction she had come from and had no idea which direction she should go.
She was lost.
Luma sat on the ground and burst into tears.
“Oh, Timir,” she cried. “Where have you gone and how will we find our way back?”
Luma wiped her tears away and that was when she noticed something. A light, coming from somewhere, just like when Timir had run after the squirrel in the morning.
Luma stood up, carefully looking around her.
Where was the light coming from?
She tried walking forward.
The light dimmed.
She stepped back and it glowed.
“How strange,” Luma said, but she had a feeling inside. The light was important, she just knew it.
Luma looked all around her and then…
“Of course!” she cried, seeing the twinkling at her side. “The charm bracelet!”
