“Everybody in!" I said.Which was when we discovered the final problem.Little Echos aren't designed to hold six, count them six, larger-than-average-sized children.And their wings.And a dog."This is like a clown car," Total grumbled front my lap in the front seat."Why does the dog get to sit in your lap?'' Gazzy asked plaintively, as we rattled and banged down the dark streets. "How about a kid?""Oh. 'The dog.' Very nice," said Total."Because you're not allowed to have people on your lap in the front seats," I explained. "It's not safe. If a cop saw us, we'd be stopped for sure. You want Total back there?"Everyone in the back screamed no at the same time.”

“You could have gotten a car with GPS," Total said helpfully.Yes," I said "Or we could have brought along a dog that doesn't talk." I gave Angel a pointed look, and she smiled, well, angelically, at me.Total huffed, offended at me and climbed into her lap...”

“I couldn’t leave Total behind.”“Total?” Iggy asked.“That’s what his card said,” Angel explained.“Totally a mutant dog who will probably turn on us and kill us in our sleep,” Fang said.”

“Dogs are my favorite role models. I want to work like a dog, doing what I was born to do with joy and purpose. I want to play like a dog, with total, jolly abandon. I want to love like a dog, with unabashed devotion and complete lack of concern about what people do for a living, how much money they have, or how much they weigh. The fact that we still live with dogs, even when we don't have to herd or hunt our dinner, gives me hope for humans and canines alike.”

“People, like dogs, love repetition. Chasing a ball, lapping a course in a race car, sliding down a slide. Because as much as each incident is similar, so it is different.”

“'Shotgun!' he bellowed, startling them as he scrambled to the front, passenger-side door.Camael looked at him, an expression of confusion on his goateed face. 'What did you Say?''I said shotgun,' Gabriel [the dog] explained. 'It's what you're supposed to say when you want to ride in the front seat.'Aaron could not help but laugh. No matter how many conversations he had had with the animal, Gabriel's increased intelligence still managed to surprise him.”