But that morning, Amber's mother was Embraced. Barley Beard was taken a day later.

By then, all of Amber's brothers and sisters had gone, and though there were still plenty of pet shop mice in the cage, Amber felt uprooted, completely alone.

She longed to be free of her dull surroundings, and only hoped to be Embraced.

#

All week long, Ben coddled the monitor lizard. He took baths with it and found that the lizard, whose name was Imhotep, loved to dive and thrash his tail. Then Ben would take Imhotep out, dry him with a blow dryer, and they would watch cartoons beneath a special lizard lamp.

Ben made sure that Imhotep got plenty of water to drink, and kept him warm.

And late in the afternoon on Ben's birthday, March twenty-sixth, Mom told him, "Hop in the car. We're going to the pet shop."

Though Noah's Ark Pet Shop was only three miles from his home, this was the first time that Ben had ever been allowed to go inside. He immediately felt drawn to the hedgehogs that rooted in their sawdust, merrily grunting.

But his mother marched him to the back of the store, handed him a dollar, and said, "Ugh, pick a mouse."

"Which one?" Ben asked.

"Any mouse!" Mom said. "Just buy it, and put it in a bag. I don't want to see the horrible thing." She sneezed and covered her nose. "I've got to get away from these cats before I choke." She took off running.

"A mouse," Ben whispered. "I never thought of getting a mouse!"

But it made sense. Dad had said that if he showed that he could be responsible, he could get a small pet. And what was smaller than a mouse?

He imagined what fun he could have. He could hold it, and pet it, and carry it to school in his lunchbox. He'd let it run around the room while he did homework.

It wouldn't eat much, and no one was allergic to mice. A mouse could be a wonderful pet!

Ben peered into the cage. Dozens of fine mice burrowed in the wood shavings, drank at the feeder, or raced around playing tag.

They were plain brown with beady black eyes. A cage nearby had white mice with brown spots, but they were two dollars each. Ben didn't have enough money for a fancy mouse. The ones he looked at were only fifty cents.

He finally noticed one mouse that was different, the smallest of the lot, sitting in the shavings. It had a yellow tinge to its fur, and it folded its paws across its belly. It peered right into Ben's eyes, as if it had been waiting all of its life for Ben to appear.

"May I help you?" a clerk asked, stepping up behind.

"Yes," Ben said. "I want the little one."

#

"I'll name it Amber," Ben said in the car. He sat in the back seat, with his mouse in its sack. It peered up at him as he petted it with one finger. The mouse sniffed at him, its little whiskers pulling back. Ben didn't know where he got the name Amber. It had just popped into his head.

"I wouldn't get too attached," Mom said as she drove.

"What do you think it eats?" Ben asked. "Would it like pickles? Do we have any pickles in the fridge?"

Mom just kept driving.

"Do you think it's a boy, or a girl?" Ben asked.

"I don't think it matters," Mom said. "Just keep it in the sack."

Ben sneaked his mouse out. His mouse, his first pet. It climbed up the front of his shirt. It perched in a fold of cloth on his chest and closed its eyes. Ben kissed it.

"Did you just kiss that mouse?" Mom asked, peering at him through the rearview mirror.

"No," Ben lied.

"Never kiss a mouse," Mom said. "They're like rats. Like midget rats. The dirty things carry disease."

"What kinds?" Ben asked, suddenly worried.

"Like the Poopopolous virus and the Black Plague. Now put it back in the sack!"

Ben frowned. He picked up his mouse and hid it in his cupped hand. It didn't look dirty or sick. It just sat with its eyes closed, sleeping. He held still, afraid that the mouse might wake if he moved. Amber rode without making a sound until they got home.

When the car stopped, Ben rushed to the living room, where dad was watching Samurai Jack. "Dad, look," Ben called. "I got a mouse, a real mouse. Its name is Amber!"

Dad leaned forward in his chair, eyes on the TV. "Fine," he said in an annoyed tone. "Now march upstairs and feed it to the lizard."

Ben's stomach sank. "Why? What do you mean?"

"You read Hakim's note," Dad said. "You have to feed the lizard once a week."

It seemed to Ben that the heavens opened and the pure knowledge coursed through him. Hakim had said that his lizard didn't eat much, but it had to eat something. Of course! Mice. It ate mice!

Ben had never felt so awful. He got sick to his stomach, and the room seemed to sway.

Dad commanded, "Just drop the mouse in the cage. The lizard knows what to do."

"No," Ben pleaded in a small voice. "Please. I . . . can't."

His dad gave him a hard look. "Ben," he said. "You agreed. Imhotep is your responsibility."

"But Dad—"

"Butts," Dad rumbled in his sternest tone, "are for spanking." He pierced Ben with his steely eyes. "Now be a good Marine."

Mom spoke up. "Look, if you go feed this mouse to Imhotep, maybe we'll get one for you next week."

His father sent a piercing look to his mother. They hadn't talked about this.

"Really?" Ben asked. "Can I get my own mouse?"

Dad's face grew angry, but said, "Maybe."

"What if, what if I keep this one?" Ben asked. "I'll pay you for it with my own allowance." Ben's mom was really lousy at paying allowance. She would put it off and put it off, until she owed Ben a small fortune. He figured that right now he had about fifty dollars in back allowance owed to him. "We could go back down to the pet shop and get another mouse," he said eagerly. "That way I could keep Amber."

Dad bayoneted him with a stare. "The pet shop is closed now. The lizard is hungry. Do your duty, soldier."

Ben faltered. Dad never called him "soldier" unless he was in deep trouble.

Ben's heart sank. He tried one last desperate plea. "Couldn't we just feed it . . . Spam, or something?"

Mom looked up at him and said in a sad voice, "Honey, no one—human or animal—should be forced to eat Spam. That's just too cruel."

Caught between his father's threats and his mother's promise, Ben didn't have a choice.

Cupping Amber in his hand, Ben marched upstairs, lumbering painfully up each step. As he reached the top, his heart pounded in his ears. He wondered if he dared fake it. Maybe he could hide the mouse under his bed, and pretend that he'd fed the lizard?

No, he decided, that would be too dangerous. The lizard might get hungry and die. He opened his bedroom door.

The beautiful Nile monitor stood regally in his cage, front paws on his sunning log. Imhotep flicked his dark tongue and eyed Ben expectantly. It was as if he'd been waiting for this moment.

Maybe I could give him some candy, Ben thought. He still had some marshmallow chickens in his drawer, leftover from Easter. But that wouldn't do, Ben knew. The lizard ate mice. Candy might make it sick.

Amber huddled in Ben's palm, fast asleep. "I'm sorry," Ben told her. "I'm so sorry."

Amber half woke. The mouse sniffed the air.

Ben couldn't think of anything else to do. He carried Amber to the lizard's cage and slid the screen lid partway open. He took Amber by the tail and lifted her gently.

"Good-bye, Amber," Ben said with quavering lips.

Amber woke. Her dark eyes peered at the lizard. She began squeaking fearfully and wiggled from side to side, swaying as she tried to escape.

The mouse's terror riveted the lizard.

Imhotep flicked his forked tongue, tasting the air, and he stood eagerly with head raised, ready to pounce.

Then something strange happened.

The mouse shrieked louder and louder, until the whole room echoed with its cries.

Ben heard a rumbling sound, like thunder. A blinding blue light flashed.

In an instant, everything changed. Ben shrank out of his clothes, or else his shirt suddenly grew as large as a circus tent. At the same time, something yanked his nose and ears, and pinched the skin at the top of his butt—stretching him in impossible directions. His thumbs shrank to nothing, and his front teeth grew enormous.

Tears of pain blinded Ben.

The mouse was screaming. Screaming.

Ben let out a high shriek.

Amber's tail grew huge. One second, Ben held it between two fingers. The next, he could hardly hold it at all.

He fell with Amber, headfirst, and landed—splat!—right into the deep sand by the lizard's water dish.

Ben blinked. He was no larger than Amber, who sprawled next to him. The glass walls of the cage rose like cliffs around them.

The lizard Imhotep towered above him, too. Ben suddenly knew what it would be like to stare into the face of a hungry dinosaur. "Allah be praised," the lizard said, flicking his tongue. "Now, if only I had some fava beans and a nice Hawaiian Punch. I love having friends for dinner."