‘We’re all going to be so busy, you’ll hardly notice she’s gone,’ Dad said encouragingly.

Megan held Ellie tightly, feeling the warm weight in her arms. She didn’t want to send Ellie away. Not when she was already upset. She was sure Ellie would hate it.

‘She won’t understand,’ she said sadly. ‘I know she loves Gran, but she’s never stayed with her [63]. She’s never stayed anywhere without me! She’ll think I’ve abandoned her… She’s really confused with all the packing already, and she doesn’t understand what’s going on. Couldn’t I [64] just be really, really careful and keep her in the garden and not let her get in the way?’ Megan begged. ‘I know Gran will look after her, but Ellie’s used to having me. She’ll be miserable somewhere else. And Gran’s got a cat – that’s not going to work! Sid will hate having Ellie in the house!’

Megan looked down at the puppy. Ellie quite liked chasing cats…

‘I’m sure your gran will sort them out,’ Dad said, smiling. ‘Sid and Ellie will probably be curled up on the sofa together by the time we go and pick Ellie up.’

Megan shook her head disbelievingly. ‘Please…?’ she whispered.

Mum sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Megan. We’ve already had one accident. And I nearly squashed Ellie with that box this morning. This just isn’t the right place for a puppy right now. And the new house, too. We don’t really know what it’s like – there might be all sorts of places where she could get herself into trouble. We need to check everything out first to make sure she’s safe.’

Ellie gave an anxious little whine. She could feel that Megan wasn’t happy, and she didn’t like it. She licked Megan’s cheek lovingly and looked at her with big, worried eyes.

Megan pressed her cheek gently against Ellie’s soft ears. It wasn’t just Ellie who was going to hate this. Megan had been counting on [65] having Ellie to cheer her up over the next couple of days. It was going to be so hard to leave her old home and her best friend. And now it looked like she was going to have to do it all on her own.

Gran drove up from Westbury later that afternoon to pick Ellie up. Ellie had a special dog cage for travelling, and it just about fitted on the back seat of Gran’s car. Megan carefully packed up Ellie’s basket and blanket, and her bowls and food – including her favourite bone-shaped biscuits. Then there was a bagful of toys, her lead, her blanket – the list went on [66] and on.

‘Goodness,’ Gran murmured. ‘How many dogs am I looking after? [67]’

‘Thanks so much for doing this,’ said Megan’s mum. ‘It’s a huge help.’

Ellie was trotting backwards and forwards after Megan as she carried all her things to make a pile in the hall. She was very confused about what was going on, but she’d seen Megan’s dad moving her travel cage into Gran’s car, so she thought she and Megan must be going somewhere [68] with Gran. They had driven out for special walks in the woods with her before. It must be that. Though Ellie didn’t see why she would need her basket and everything else just to go out for the day.

‘Right.’ Gran finished her cup of tea. ‘We’d better be off then, if we don’t want to get back too late. We’ll see you all on Tuesday.’ She hugged Megan. ‘Oh, I’m so excited about having you all living so close. It’s going to be lovely.’

Megan hugged her back. She was excited too, but she couldn’t help worrying [69] about Ellie. ‘Gran, you will make sure she’s not lonely tonight, won’t you? She usually sleeps on my bed,’ she reminded her anxiously.

‘I’ll do my best [70],’ Gran promised. ‘I think Sid would leave home if a dog came and tried to sleep on my bed with him, but how about I give Ellie a hot water bottle?’

Megan nodded sadly, as she pictured Ellie spending the night on her own.

‘It’s only for two days, Megan,’ Dad said, putting an arm around her shoulders. ‘Ellie will be fine.’

Ellie hopped into her cage happily enough, expecting Megan to come and sit next to her on the back seat. She would probably waggle her fingers through the door and tickle her ears.

But Gran was getting into the car without Megan. Ellie looked around anxiously, and barked to tell her she’d made a mistake. Gran looked back over her shoulder, and smiled. ‘It’s all right, Ellie. Shh-shh. Don’t worry, we’ll see Megan again soon.’

Ellie stared back at her. Yes, Megan. Gran must know what was wrong. Why were they going without Megan? She felt the vibrations as Gran started the car and howled in despair. Megan was being left behind! [71] Ellie stood up on her hind legs in the cage, trying to look out of the window, but she could only see the side of the car and Gran’s seat in front.

Megan was clinging to her mum’s arm, trying to stop herself racing after Ellie and yelling at Gran to stop the car. ‘Oh, Mum, listen to her howling,’ she said miserably. ‘She’s so upset. Does she really have to go to Gran’s?’

Her mum just hugged her.

Ellie couldn’t see Megan, but she could hear her, and she sounded unhappy. She scrabbled frantically at the bars of her cage with her paws, desperate to get back to Megan.

As the car pulled away down the road, Ellie barked and barked.

At last, when it hurt to bark any more, she stopped. She pressed her nose against the door of the travel cage.

Gran had taken her away from Megan, and Megan hadn’t wanted her to go. [72] Of course she hadn’t! Ellie was Megan’s dog. Ellie didn’t understand what was going on, but she was absolutely certain about one thing.

She had to get back to Megan. [73]

At Gran’s house, everything smelled different. Ellie had been there before, but only with Megan, when it had been fun. Gran was doing her best – she’d taken Ellie for a walk when they first arrived, to stretch her legs after being shut up in the car. But Ellie had trailed along behind her with her ears drooping, and in the end Gran had turned back.

But it was worse in the house. Ellie didn’t want to be here, and she hated cats. Sid was huge and black and old, and very grumpy. He didn’t like dogs at all, and he really didn’t like dogs who barked and jumped around all over the place. He stood on the back of an armchair and hissed angrily when he first saw Ellie. With all his fur standing up like that and his tail fluffed up like a brush, Sid was nearly as big as she was.

Gran carefully made sure they were kept apart after that, shutting Ellie in the kitchen. But then the phone rang, and she forgot to close the kitchen door when she came out to the hall to answer it. Ellie trotted out after her – she might not want to be here [74], but Gran was her one link with Megan.

Sid was sitting in the middle of the hallway like a furry black rock.

Ellie bounced at him bravely and barked, but Sid shot forwards [75] and scraped his claws across her nose. Ellie yelped. She’d chased cats before, or tried to anyway – Megan didn’t like her chasing things. But the cats had never fought back before. She stared at Sid worriedly, and he hissed again. It was a clear warning.