As planned, Luna trailed Toby all the way to the granary the following afternoon. Hoping to avoid being seen, she slipped into a crowd of dogs nearby and watched as Toby approached a sandy-colored female dog outside the granary.

"Toby!" the dog barked. "Thanks for showing up! I've been waiting and waiting for you to get here!"

She's excited, noted Luna, but that's no crime. I'm usually excited to see him too. But the rising suspicion in her mind argued, You have a reason. What's hers?

"Yeah, I'm here," replied Toby. "I told you I'd come. Now let's get up there and I'll show you how it's done."

The girl laughed. "Did you make that rhyme up yourself?"

Toby shrugged. "No, it just came out. I'll have to remember it the next time I drop by Luna's."

Luna's heart sank as Toby followed the female into the building. Still, there might be a logical explanation. Maybe she was a friend of his, just like he'd said. But what had Toby meant by showing her how it's done? With a sickening sense of distrust, she followed them inside. She got there just in time to hear the door upstairs close.

Soon after, strange noises emitted from the closed door. She could hear running, as if Toby were chasing the female around. "You're getting better at this," he said at one point.

No, it's not possible! Luna thought. But those sounds and more talking kept coming until finally Luna left in despair and disgust. It looked like her sisters had been right after all. I gave him everything, she thought. My love, my support, myself…and he went and threw it away. Love had been a challenge sometimes, and support hadn't always been easy, but most of the time they'd been pleasant to give and the last had never been anything but a joy until now. But now she felt as if he'd taken everything she had and thrown it to a pig.

After about an hour, Toby nodded to Terra. "I'd better get going," he said.

"Thanks, Toby," she said with a smile. "I think I'm getting the hang of this."

"Good," Toby grinned. "I'm going to go see Luna again. She's been acting kind of strange the last couple of days. I think somebody might have seen us around here and told her about it."

"Uh-oh," remarked Terra.

Toby nodded. "You know, maybe I should just tell her…"

"No!" insisted Terra. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"But Terra―"

"You promised!" Terra looked at him hard. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but Toby always keeps his promises."

Toby groaned. "Okay, I'll keep quiet." It killed him to keep a secret from Luna, especially now.

"Okay, see you," called Terra as Toby nosed the door open and left.

As Toby exited the building, he ran smack into an unexpected and very unwelcome face. "Toby," Pete exclaimed, as if they were lifelong friends. "How's it going?"

"Until now, just fine," Toby muttered.

"So, I hear you're a bad boy now," remarked Pete.

"A bad boy?" asked Toby. "What does that mean?"

"You and what's her name up there," replied Pete with a nasty grin. "You're giving Luna the runaround, aren't you?"

Toby growled. "No, I'm not," he snapped. "I wouldn't even think of doing that to her, and you know it. I'm just helping someone learn to do her job, that's all."

"Well," replied Pete offhandedly, "you might want to tell her that."

Toby's eyes widened. "And what's that supposed to mean?" he asked testily.

"Well, not that I really care, but I saw Luna running out of here about an hour ago. It looked like she might even be crying."

"Oh, no," gasped Toby. Without any further thought about his urge to rearrange his brother's innards, he ran off toward Luna's house.

"Hey! If she ditches you, tell her I'm available," taunted Pete.

I'd rather die, thought Toby.

Luna lay on the floor, crying. "How could he?" she asked the empty room again and again. "How could he do this to me? I love him, and he knew that. He…"

"Luna!" came a voice at the door, interrupting her misery.

Luna lifted her tear-soaked head. "Go away!" she sobbed. "I know it's you, Toby."

"Luna, please, let me explain," Toby called, unsure how he could do so without breaking his promise to Terra.

Luna got up and came to the door. AThis had better be good. Toby licked a tear away from her eye, making her flinch away. "Toby, don't do that," she told him in a voice that was halfway between a plea and a threat.

"Luna, I know you think I've been double-crossing you, and it's not true."

"Then what were you doing up there with that…" She trailed off, not even able to finish her sentence.

Toby sighed. "Terra," he answered. "Her name is Terra. Listen, I can't tell you everything, but I promise I would never do anything like that. She just has something she has to do, and she asked me to help her with it. That's all."

Luna was starting to calm down a bit, although Toby wasn't sure if that meant she believed him or was just giving in to despair. "What kind of something?" she asked.

He groaned. "I, uh…can't tell you that."

She sighed. "I wish I could believe you, but I don't think I can."

Toby was desperate. "Please, Luna. I love you more than anything, you know that."

"Then why won't you tell me what's going on?"

Toby paused to think for a moment. "All right," he conceded. "Just give me one day to get Terra's permission to tell you."

"Why do you have to ask her?"

"She made me promise not to tell because she's embarrassed about her job. I can't explain everything right now, but I promise. If I don't explain everything by sunset tomorrow…you can do anything you want to me. You can even kill me if you want."

Luna lifted her head. "Toby, even if you are lying, I don't want to do anything to you. I just want you to stop doing this to me."

"I'm not, honest. I just need a little time."

She nodded. "Alright," she conceded. "One day."

Toby sighed with relief. "Good. I'll see you tomorrow." As he turned and left he added, "If not sooner."

Suddenly remembering something, Luna stuck her head out the pet flap. "Toby!" she called. Toby turned. Luna opened her mouth to ask about the dog in the alley, then changed her mind. "Don't let me down," she said instead.

Toby nodded. "I won't. I promise."

Luna withdrew her head and lay down once more by the fire. He said he wouldn't let me down, she thought. And he never has. He'll come through. But another part of her mind asked, If he was being honest, why didn't he say anything about the other dog? Another thought kept nagging at the back of her mind. She was sure she'd heard of this Terra before. Toby had mentioned her once or twice, she was certain. Now that she thought of it, she felt as if she had even seen Terra somewhere before today, or at least a relative of hers. But when? And where? Luna kept wondering, guessing that this might hold the answer to the mystery. If only I could remember…

At that moment, Connie came into the room and noticed that Luna's food and water were still full even though she had filled them hours ago. "Luna," she asked, "aren't you hungry?"

Luna just groaned. With the way she felt right now, food was the last thing she wanted. All she wanted was for things to go back to the way they had been, and all she knew was that by the look of things, they never would.

That night at supper, Connie told her parents about Luna's lack of hunger. "She didn't touch her food today."

Her mother shrugged. "It's probably nothing to worry about," she said.

"But what if she's sick?" asked Connie.

"She could be," agreed her father, "but chances are she's just not hungry. If she hasn't eaten by tomorrow, I'll take her to the vet."

"But what if she's really sick?" insisted Connie. "We should take her there right now!"

I'm not sick, thought Luna. I'm just dying.

"Maybe she just has a stomach bug and it's nothing to worry about," suggested Eugene.

"Like I said, I'll ask the vet about it if she hasn't perked up by tomorrow afternoon," repeated their father.

Connie nodded. "Okay," she replied.