Wanting Rose to have as much practice time as possible, she picked up the little mouse to give her another try. Emmalyn placed the mouse in the palm of her hand and leaned in close. “Now, Rose, you are doing brilliantly. We only have a few more minutes of practice, so keep up the hard work.”

She gently placed Rose at the start of the maze and nudged her little rump in the right direction. There was still a little bit of cheesecake residue left over along the trail that Night made, and a fresh chunk of cheesecake at the end. Rose sniffed and licked her way through the maze, much faster than the two times before. “You’re almost there. Keep going.” She encouraged.

Rose finished the maze in record time. “Look how fast she was!” she exclaimed to Night and Daisy. “She gets better every time.” She was proud of her little mouse. Little Rose was pink and perfect. Then her heart sank. She realized that soon Professor Marchand would turn her back into nothing more than a toy. Emmalyn’s eyes filled with tears at the thought of losing her new little friend.