CHAPTER ONE
Dazzle-Paws-Sparkle-Shine One minute Sparkle was dreaming about flying through a dog treat maze, the next she was doing the doggie paddle in her water dish. Of course, there was only one dog to blame for such a
rude wakeup call . . . Moose! For whatever reason, her brother Bumble-Paws-Moosey-Pie didn’t understand that as the biggest puppy in the litter, it was his job to be the soft, squishy, warm pillow they all slept on. Sparkle’s favorite spot was Moose’s neck, right under the chin. It was the perfect place for snuggling, so perfect that she considered it mostly her neck and really didn’t appreciate Moose treating it like she didn’t have any say in the matter. He just got up and shook himself off as if she and the other puppies weren’t even there! She looked around the room and saw that, apparently, she wasn’t the only one annoyed by this. Her other brother, Rocky, the one she called Bossy-Paws-Rockety-Rock, was wasting no time getting his revenge.
Sparkle’s wet tail wagged as she watched Rocky lower his head, run across the room, and smash his head into Moose’s side. They slid across the floor and into the wall. Moose left a huge dog-shaped dent, but Rocky simply ran right through the wall and disappeared. Sparkle experienced that self-congratulatory surge of pride she felt every time she watched her brothers use their superpowers. Sure, she admired Moose’s superstrength and Rocky’s ability to go through solid objects, but she could fly and they couldn’t. She resisted the urge to say “na-na-na-na” or remind them again how impressive her particular superpower was. She’d show them instead. She flew across the room and slammed into the neck that Moose thought he didn’t have to share. “I’m so totally telling! No bones for you tonight!” she yelled. Moose looked back at her with those big, sad, silly eyes he had, and she considered taking it back. After all, she wasn’t the one who decided who got punished and who didn’t . . . unfortunately! But Moose never seemed to remember that. So instead of reminding him, she simply backed up and flew at his neck again.
At the moment of impact, her sister, Tobey-Too-Too-Much, decided that it was a good idea to use her superpower to appear right next to Moose, nip his leg, and then disappear again. That was annoying because Moose was howling about the bite instead of paying attention to her. Sparkle really liked attention and decided that she’d pout for a little bit until she could figure out how to get all the puppy eyes back on her. But it was hard to be noticed with Moose around. She watched as the attention-grabber smashed into a bookshelf and sent books flying everywhere. She just couldn’t help it, she had to say, “Ooooh, you’re in trouble! Mom and Dad and the bigs aren’t gonna like the mess you made.”
Sparkle looked hopefully at the door as if she could will her parents—or some of the other big dogs they lived with—to come through that door and tell her what a good dog she was for telling on her brother. Of course, they never did that. They usually told her to work things out on her own. She sighed and wondered when everyone was going to start listening to her. It was as if they didn’t understand how accurate the nickname she’d given herself, Dazzle-Paws-Sparkle-Shine, really was.
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a familiar smell. “Shadow!” she barked. Her tail wagged uncontrollably as a gray cat appeared out of thin air. Shadow, Majorly-Magic-Cat-Master, was Sparkle’s hero. She was their superpower instructor, which was impressive, but she was also a cat about Sparkle’s size, which made them BFFs . . . At least, that’s what Sparkle liked to believe. She knew none of the other dogs would understand what it was like to be so small and always wondering when you were going to be stomped on by a big brother paw.
Sparkle was getting ready to ask Shadow how much she missed her when the cat blinked in that much-too-long way of hers and said, “I don’t know where the rest of the pack is. They’re gone. You’re the only ones left.” Sparkle understood that this wasn’t good news. She, Moose, Rocky, and Tobey were the newest litter of puppies in a superpack of dogs whose sole purpose was to keep the people in the Earth realm safe. If the big dogs weren’t there, then something must have gone very wrong.
Sparkle was mentally preparing herself for a dramatic scene when Moose, once again, stole her spotlight by nervously peeing inside. There was a puddle coming her way! She flew to the back of the couch and informed everyone, “Moose had an accident! He has pee feet!” She announced this dramatically, hoping to shift the focus back to her, but Rocky was still focused on the problem.
“What’s happening, Shadow?” he asked in a voice so serious that Sparkle’s stomach flipped.
“It’s time for you to meet your first humans,” Shadow said. Moose was instantly excited. He wagged his tail and sent pee sailing across the room. Sparkle had just enough time to take cover behind a pillow, where she considered how she felt about meeting these humans. They didn’t have nearly enough fur for all that skin, and they were big, much bigger than her. She was tired of things being larger than her. She was going to have to talk to Shadow about this and come up with a few alternate plans. The one at the top of her list was definitely going to be “
not meeting my first human.”
From her spot behind the cushion, Sparkle heard Shadow say, “Like I said. The rest of the pack has disappeared. I believe they’re in the human world, and you need to find them.” Sparkle didn’t move. She wondered if anyone would notice if she stayed there and waited until the rest of the pack came back on their own. “One of them left this behind,” Shadow added.
Sparkle was too curious to stay hidden. She just had to know what was left behind. She peeked out from behind the cushion in time to see Shadow use her paw to pull a bright, sparkly, so totally magic ball out of the air. Sparkle felt her heart race. She loved magic almost as much as she loved Shadow. She flew to the floor and landed right in front of her idol. If this mission included magic, then she didn’t care how many of those huge, hairless humans she had to deal with. She was all in!
Shadow continued, “I’ve seen this kind of magic before . . . This ball is one piece of a lock. When we get all of the pieces together, we will, hopefully, unlock whatever it is that’s keeping the rest of the pack from coming back home.”
Sparkle smiled at Shadow. “I’m really good at puzzles, remember?” Shadow didn’t answer. Instead, she flicked her tail and filled the room with sparkles and colors. Sparkle felt a rush of excitement. This was powerful magic, stronger than anything she’d felt before, and she loved it! Four portals to the human world suddenly opened, one in front of each dog, and Sparkle was ready to show off just how ready she was to go through her door . . . when Moose and his giant paws thundered right over her and through his door first. With a frustrated exhale, Sparkle flew through her door and made a promise to herself that no one was going to steal her spotlight in the human world!
Copyright © 2025 by Corey Powell; Illustrated by Kristen Humphrey. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
