I woke up to a strange mix of comfort and dread. My doggie bed was cozy enough, but Ralph’s words from yesterday echoed in my head: What if you have to decide if you want to stay a dog or go back to being human?

“Decide?” I muttered to myself, rolling over. “What’s there to decide? I’m obviously not staying a dog!”

But even as I said it, a little part of me wondered.

The morning passed uneventfully until Ralph showed up, grinning like he’d just won the lottery.

“Hey, Alyssa,” he said, leaning down to scratch my ears. “Ready for today’s big discovery mission?”

“Discovery mission?” I barked, sitting up. “What now?”

“I’ve been researching that weird stone,” Ralph said, holding up a folded piece of paper. “And I think we can figure out how to undo your wish.”

My tail wagged despite myself. “Finally, some answers!”

We headed to the park, where Ralph spread out his so-called “research.” It looked like a hand-drawn map with a bunch of random locations circled in red.

“Let me guess,” I said, sniffing the paper. “You made this at 2 a.m., didn’t you?”

“Hey, it’s solid research!” Ralph defended. “These are all places in town tied to weird local legends. One of them might have something to do with the stone.”

I sighed. “Fine. Where do we start?”

“The library,” Ralph said, standing up. “It’s the easiest spot to check.”

At the library, Ralph wasted no time flagging down the stern-looking librarian.

“Excuse me,” he said, holding up his map. “Do you have any books about magical stones or wishes?”

The librarian gave him a long, unimpressed look. “Magical stones?”

Ralph nodded eagerly.

The librarian sighed, pointing toward a dusty corner. “Try the folklore section.”

We found a book titled Mystical Legends of Our Town and sat down to go through it together. Well, Ralph went through it—I mostly sat there, wagging my tail and occasionally barking when he skipped a page too quickly.

“Here!” Ralph said, tapping a page with his finger. “Look at this!”

The page showed a sketch of a smooth stone with strange symbols carved into it. According to the description, the stone granted wishes—but with a catch.

“‘The stone’s magic requires the wisher to fully embrace the consequences of their wish,’” Ralph read aloud. “‘Only by learning the lesson tied to their wish can the magic be reversed.’”

I groaned. “Learning a lesson? Seriously?”

Ralph smirked. “It also says the wish lasts three months unless undone earlier by the wisher.”

“Three months?” I barked, horrified. “That’s practically forever!”

Ralph shrugged. “Well, at least now we know you’re not stuck like this permanently.”

As we walked home, Ralph tried to guess what the “lesson” could be.

“Maybe it’s about not taking things for granted,” he suggested.

“Or about appreciating the little things,” I muttered, sniffing a nearby bush.

“Could be both,” Ralph said. “Dogs don’t stress about homework or chores. They just live in the moment. Maybe that’s the point.”

I stopped, staring up at him. “Live in the moment? That’s the big lesson?!”

Ralph laughed. “Hey, don’t knock it till you try it.”

Back at home, I curled up in my doggie bed, Ralph’s words swirling in my mind. Maybe being a dog wasn’t about solving some grand mystery or accomplishing something big. Maybe it was about appreciating life for what it was—messy, unpredictable, and full of surprises.

For the first time since making my wish, I didn’t feel quite so lost.