ictor! Breakfast!”

Up in the attic, Victor sat up and rubbed his eyes. He must have fallen asleep on the floor. Sparky was lying next to him.

“Victor?” his mother’s voice shouted. “Are you up here?”

Hearing the sound of her footsteps on the attic stairs, Victor panicked. He couldn’t let her see Sparky! Looking around he tried to find a place to hide his dog. For all his inventions and creations, he didn’t have a lot of good covers. Finally his eyes settled on a big tin bucket that had been part of his monster-movie set. It would have to do. He grabbed the bucket and put it over Sparky just as the door opened and his mother peeked her head in.

“French toast or waffles?” she asked.

“Waffles,” Victor answered. The sooner he could get her out of there the better. But it had been the wrong answer.

“Then I’ll need my waffle iron back, Mr. Director.” She scanned the room, looking for the iron. Noticing it right by the tin bucket that was currently hiding Sparky, she walked over to pick it up. The bucket moved. Turning, Mrs. Frankenstein gave her son a confused look.

“Uh, it’s my science project,” Victor said, thinking quickly. “It’s a robot.”

“A robotic bucket?” his mother asked, confused. Victor nodded. “For mopping, I suppose?” He nodded again.

Picking up the waffle iron, Victor’s mom gave the bucket one last look. “Maybe when you’re finished, you’ll let me use it.” Then, with a smile, she headed back downstairs.

Victor raced over and shut the door behind her. Then he turned around and leaned against it, letting out a deep breath. That had been too close for comfort. He took the bucket off Sparky and scratched the dog behind his ears. “Sorry, boy,” he said. “But I can’t let anyone know about you. They might not understand. You need to stay here today.”

Giving his dog one last pat, Victor turned and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Sparky heard the lock click and the sound of Victor’s footsteps. Then it was silent in the attic. Lying down, Sparky put his head on his paws and waited.

Sparky had every intention of being a good dog while Victor was at school. He jumped on his treadmill for a quick run. When he got thirsty he had a drink. It bothered him a little when the water leaked out his stitches, but he got used to it pretty quickly. Everything was going fine. And then the cat showed up.

MEOW!

Mr. Whiskers was perched in the open attic window. Seeing Sparky, the cat hissed.

Letting out a bark, Sparky jumped on a chair, then up onto the workbench. Rocking back on his hind legs, Sparky lunged up, up, up, right at the cat! Hissing, the cat slipped out of his reach—but not before Sparky had landed on the roof outside. Digging his claws into the shingles, he tried to stabilize himself. But the roof was just too steep. With a yelp, he slid down, down, down, landing with a thump in the bushes right below the Frankensteins’ picture window.

In the living room, Mrs. Frankenstein was vacuuming while reading a romance novel. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw something. But when she looked over, there was nothing there. Shrugging, she went back to her reading.

Meanwhile, Sparky emerged from the bushes and shook himself off. When he went to walk, though, he noticed that his back leg was dislocated. He shook it a few times but that didn’t work. Finally, he rolled over on the grass and the leg popped back into place. Much better.

But Sparky now had a bigger problem. How was he going to get back into the house? He looked up at the attic window. There was no way he could go back in the way he came out. Sparky was just about to try the front door when Mr. Frankenstein’s car pulled into the driveway. So the front door was out of the question.

HISS!

Turning around, Sparky found himself face-to-face with Mr. Whiskers. It let out another hiss and then raced into Mr. Burgemeister’s yard. Forgetting all about getting inside, Sparky let out a bark and began chasing the cat.

Sparky chased Mr. Whiskers through Mr. Burgemeister’s prized tulips, crushing all of them. Mr. Whiskers jumped on a pink flamingo and paused there until the one-legged bird toppled over. When the cat leaped into the bushes, Sparky followed. Everywhere the cat went, Sparky went, too. Even when the cat vanished, Sparky kept going. He ran down the street past two mothers walking. One of them was pushing a stroller with a baby inside. Seeing the dog, the baby began to clap. But when Sparky got closer, the baby screamed. Sparky quickly ran away, leaving the mother to wonder what was wrong with her child.

Soon, Sparky found himself racing past Victor’s school. He was tempted to try and find his boy, but he knew Victor wanted him to stay home. Then he saw one of the kid’s from Victor’s class. He was pretty sure his name was E. Or Edgar. Or something. Stopping, Sparky wagged his tail.

E had been on his way to the nurse’s office after a small run-in with a maypole in gym class. He was shuffling along, mumbling about dances and maypoles when he heard the sound of paws on pavement. Looking up, he saw…Sparky? E did a double take. Sparky was supposed to be dead! As Sparky raced off, E’s eyes narrowed. Something was going on. And E was going to find out just what it was.

Sparky was exhausted. He had finally made it home, but now he had to wait until Victor got back before he could go inside. He flopped down in the shade of a big tree to rest. As he lay there, a fly buzzed by, trying to land on him. With a flick of his tongue, Sparky ate it.

He had just closed his eyes when his nostrils began to twitch. He smelled something good. Looking over he saw Persephone. She was looking at him oddly, as though she knew something wasn’t quite right. Rolling over on his belly, he waited for her to come closer. Persephone inched closer. Then she leaned down and sniffed. Her nose touched one of the bolts on Sparky’s neck.

ZAAPPP!

A shock of electricity knocked her down. She quickly popped back up, no worse for wear, and now sporting a white streak through her trademark black head poof à la the Bride of Frankenstein. Sparky let out a sigh.

Finally, Victor came home. Following him up the stairs as quietly as possible, Sparky snuck into the attic and ran into a corner. Victor began calling his name. Sparky waited until Victor’s back was turned and then he ran over and nudged his leg, as though he had been inside all day.

“There you are! Good boy!” Victor said happily. He leaned down and gave Sparky a hug. “Sorry you had to stay here alone all day.”

Sparky just wagged his tail.

“You’re a little low,” Victor said, noticing that Sparky seemed tired. “Are you hungry, boy?”

Sparky barked.

Quickly, Victor ran an extension cord from the wall to a socket on Sparky’s thigh. Plugging it in, Sparky’s eyes began to glow. Leaving his dog to recharge, Victor began to fiddle with his equipment. He heard the doorbell ring downstairs but ignored it until his mother called out, “Victor, your friend is here.”

Running downstairs to the kitchen, Victor found his mother baking and E waiting for him at the kitchen bar.

As his mother stayed close by, Victor asked quietly, “Edgar, what are you doing here?”

“I know,” E replied.

“Oh,” Victor said.

“I know,” E repeated.

This was getting weird. If E knew that Victor couldn’t work on their project, what was he doing at his house? “Know what?” he asked finally.

“You know,” E answered.

“No.” This was getting downright annoying.

E narrowed his eyes. “I think I know what you know I know.”

“I don’t know what you think I know,” Victor said, shaking his head, “but I don’t know it.”

“Your dog is alive,” E said, ending the confusion.

Victor gulped and pulled the door shut so his mom wouldn’t hear. “That’s impossible!”

E nodded his head. “I know, but you did it.” When Victor didn’t say anything, E went on, “So show me how, or I’ll tell everyone.”

It looked like Victor didn’t have a choice. He was going to have to show E how to bring an animal back to life. He just hoped it worked again…or else he was going to be in a lot of trouble.