He showed up the second day of school during lunch hour. Lily was sitting by herself on the dried-out patchy lawn outside the back door. She dug into her backpack for the sandwich she brought from home. There was no way she’d eat with everyone else at one of those horrible fast food places near the school.
Chewing her peanut butter and banana sandwich, Lily saw the shadow of the dog out of the corner of her eye. When she looked up, he was standing about ten feet away from her. He must have come from around the corner of the building. He sat down and cocked his head to the left. His brown and gold coat shimmered in the hot mid-day sun. He wore a large red collar and looked harmless.
She stood up to get a better look. He was huge, about four feet to the shoulders. She had never seen such a large dog, or had she? He gave a short, friendly bark and she felt a wave of familiar-something go up and down her spine. “Who are you?” Lily asked as she stared at him.
“Hi Lily!” a soft voice called. She turned around to see who had come out the door and called to her. No one was there. Her heart racing, Lily felt dizzy and sat back down, reaching for the comforting blue stone she always wore around her neck. Finally catching her breath, Lily looked back over to the dog who had now laid down and put his head between his paws. The small stone began to vibrate in her hand. Lily jumped to her feet as she felt a flood of recognition and happiness wash over her.
“Sam!” she called out, leaping to throw her arms around him like she had done so many times before. “How could I have forgotten you?”
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The vibrating stone here is a really nice device! Although this book is fantasy, there's a logic to the fantasy that makes it all very believable, very real. This is true about all of your fantasy scenes - and the stone is just one terrific example. Nice!
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