I looked up to see a gray owl flying low to the ground and about to land. And knowing there is only one person in town that has that type of owl, my eyes follow the bird as it lands on a roof of one of the buildings. So I look down at the path below.

Sure enough, Lily was walking around by herself on the other end of the square. An unusual thing to see. Rarely did she leave the house, let alone be allowed to walk around without a parent. But seeing that she was alone, I figured I should take advantage of this moment and speak to her.

Naomi was still staring at the ground when I looked back at her, but quickly snapped out of it once I started speaking “I hate to do this, but could you watch after Dog for a moment? There’s something I have to do really quick.”

She looked down at Dog and gave him a little smile “Okay, but don’t take too long, because I’ll miss you the whole time you’re gone.”

I stuttered my step as I looked at her with a head cocked after not being sure if I heard her right. But I decided to take what she said as a joke and turned away to walk towards Lily.

The whole walk over there I was looking out for either my dad or her mom in the case they were nearby. Luckily neither one of the appeared as I approached Lily, who was looking through the window of a magic trinkets store. And once I got close enough, her owl noticed me first and screeches to alert her.

She quickly turned around to see me. A restrained smile curled on her face “Evelyn! You’re here!”

“H-hi Lily. I didn’t think I would see you in town today. Since when are you allowed to walk around here alone?” I asked, standing at a reasonable distance from her.

Through a giddy laugh, she answered “Ever since I got my familiar! Mom and dad are actually allowing me to walk around alone as long as I have Admatha with me!”

I looked up at her owl who was looking down at me with a death stare “That’s really cool, I’m happy they’re finally letting you out. Have you done anything fun so far?” he was creeping me out so I quickly looked away from him and put all my attention to Lily.

She was full of childish enthusiasm “I’ve done so much! I got to go to the lake and see all of the cute otters, then I came back here and got a really cool dress! I’m so excited to wear it for school on Monday!”

“No way, I was just at the lake looking at the otters too! I actually made a new friend who has an otter as her familiar and she’s so cute!”

Hearing about me having a friend for the first time caused her to almost drop her bags “Really?! You made a new friend?! Can I meet her? Do you think she would let me play with her otter?” she was overflowing with excitement.

Unfortunately I knew her parents would never allow me to do that, so I had to lower her exceptions “Yeah, maybe. She’s a new friend, so it may be a bit before I she gets to meet you.”

Lily could feel the wall I began building between us “Well I’ve really missed you since you moved out. Are you going to come by to visit again?”

The puppy-dog eyes she was looking at me with and her pouting lips made it so hard for me to say no. But I didn’t have any other choice but to turn her down “I would love to do that, but I’m not sure when I would be able to. School has been keeping me really busy lately.”

Her eyes only got bigger and sadder looking. It was almost impossible to keep up my lies. So I gave in and gave her a bit of hope “But I’ll try to visit whenever I’m able to. I even have a late birthday present for you. I forgot to give it to you during your summoning ceremony.”

She instantly stopped pouting and jumped in excitement “Yay! A present from you would be awesome! You can come by the house any time to give it to me! Oh and don’t forget to bring Dog! Where is he by the way?”

I looked over to Dog and saw Naomi bent down in front of him right where I left them. Then I pointed them out to Lily “He’s over there watching after a friend.”

She got on the tips of her toes to get a better look “Oh is that the friend you were just talking about?”

Before I answered, her owl flew down and landed between us. Initially I thought he was trying to get between us, but after a second look, he appeared to also be trying to get a closer look at Dog. So I payed him no attention “No, that’s actually a different friend.”

Her head shot back to me “No way, you have two new friends? She looks cool! Can I meet her too? What kind of familiar does she have?”

I was in the process of figuring out what to tell her without lying, but a voice spoke from behind me and stopped me from responding “Evelyn… what are you doing here?” I turn around to see her mother there with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

The both of us instantly knew the conversation was over. Though Lily was desperate for it to not end, I had to leave if I didn’t want to ruin any chance to see her again in the future “I was showing a friend around town when I bumped into Lily. Sorry. I’ll be leaving now.” I said while avoiding eye contact with her mom.

Before I left, I gave a distraught Lily one last goodbye “Bye Lily. I’ll talk to you later, okay?” then immediately turned to walk away. From behind I could hear Lily’s small voice say “Bye Evelyn.”

It hurt to hear the shakiness in her voice as I walked away. And walking back to Dog and Naomi, I was fighting back tears. Though I knew Dog could already feel my emotions, I didn’t want to show Naomi what I was feeling.

My walk up to them was slow. It was hard to push everything down in that short of a time, but I was still successful with it before meeting them. They didn’t even notice me approaching, as Naomi was knelt down in front of Dog and appeared to be talking to him.

They were so distracted I was able to get up within earshot without them noticing “Please stop asking. I already told you why I can’t tell her.” was what I could just barely hear Naomi say to him.

When they finally noticed me, Naomi quickly stood up and frantically spoke like she was hiding something “You’re back! Who was that you were talking too? You looked really over there!”

“T-that was my sister Lily. We don’t get to talk that often, so I was really happy to get the chance to today.”

I was a little thrown off from what I just heard her say. Was I crazy, or did I hear her incorrectly? Because it had sounded like Naomi was actually communicating with Dog. Something that shouldn’t have been possible.