asked.

      John shook his head. "No ma'am, just tell me where it is, and I'll get it."

      "I-It's in the first bedroom."  She pointed in the cabin.  John went inside, and sure enough, and small blue blanket lied on the floor next to the bed, as if who ever dropped it had left in a hurry.

      He put on his gloves, and picked up the blanket.  He walked out side and held it in front of all the dogs, one at a time.  He did the same thing again two more times, just to make sure they had the scent.

     Each person unhooked their dog from it's leash, they five dogs headed in different directions, all trying to find the scent. 

     Ace noticed small impressions in the snow, they were almost invisible.  He walked over, and took a whiff.

      Got it!

     He lifted his head and barked, letting the others know he had found it.  The other dogs rushed over, just as Ace began to go after the trail.  The others followed.

     "They've got it!"  John shouted, he and the others raced after them.

     "Should I go, too?" Mr. Blake asked.

     "No, sir, you stay here."  Officer Scott said.  He didn't want him to come just incase they found the boy after it was too late...

     Ace ran after the scent, the others were right at his heals.  They walked straight for a while, then it took a turn to the left, then the right.  Where was this kid goin'? Ace thought to himself. 

      Suddenly, Waylon stopped dead in his tracks.  "Ace!" He called. 

     "The scent, I-It's going this way!" He looked down a small hill.  "There's even some light shoe prints!"

     Ace looked down the hill.  Waylon was right.  May be he went that way... Ace looked in front of himself, and became very confused.

      There were shoe prints in front of him, too!

     This didn't make any sense.  He bent closer to the ones in front of him.  They looked a little different than the others.  "I think... I think he went this way..."  Ace said, looking ahead of him.  Just as the others started to follow, he spoke again.

      "Then, turned around, and went that way."  He pointed his muzzle in front Waylon.

      "What makes you think that?" Victor asked, very confused.

     Ace looked angrily at Victor.  "Look at these prints, Vic."  He pointed his paw at the tiny impression.  "They're deeper, bigger, and shaped different that the others.  It suggests that he turned around, and went the other way!"

     "Why would he do that?" Waylon asked.

     "May be..He was trying to go back home."  Linette frowned, "And took a wrong turn."

     The image of a little boy running around in the snow came into Ace's mind.  The thought of him shivering, turning around, and heading the wrong way.  He shook the thought out of his head.

     They all stared at each other for a moment, then looked to Ace.  "What should we do?  Split up, or all go that way?"  Waylon asked.

      Ace looked at both trails, then back to his team.  "Waylon.  You, Linette and I will go this way."  he pointed to the trail Waylon had found.  He looked at Victor and Happy Daisy.  "You two follow that trail, just incase."

    John stopped as the dogs headed in different directions.  What the hell? He thought.  "What are they, doin', John?" Sofia asked.    He turned to his team.

     "Lets follow Ace, I don't want us splitting up in this weather."  John directed.  Everyone nodded and they started after Ace and the others.

     Linette and Waylon were running as fast as they could after the scent.  Every few minutes, they'd stop and look around, just to see if the boy was in their sights.  When he wasn't, they'd start running again.  After a little while, it started to snow.

     "You have to be kidding me! It's snowing AGAIN?" Linette growled. 

     "We need to hurry, if it starts to get hard, it might be to late."  She turned to Waylon, who looked very concerned.  He nodded, and they continued running.

     Meanwhile, Ace, Daisy, and Vic were chasing the other trail.  But the farther they went, the trail would slightly harder to smell.  Every now and then they would slow down, and make sure they still had it.  Ace was a little bit ahead of the others, but then, he stopped.

     "What is it?" Daisy asked.

      Ace turned around and faced them, a look of shock on his face.  The look sent a thousand chills down Daisy's spine.  It really creeped her out to see him like that.

      "I lost the trial."

     "What?!" Daisy and Vic gasped.   The three franticly walked around, desperately  trying to find the scent again.  But it was useless 

      "It's...It's gone."  Daisy whined.

      "Lets hope Linette and Waylon are having better luck." Vic sighed.

      Ace couldn't stop thinking of the little boy, he knew his team wasn't always successful, and he hated getting his own feelings mixed in, but even so, he wasn't sure what he'd do if they didn't make it to the toddler in time.  This was one of the prices of his job.

     Just moments later, John and the others caught up to them, they're hearts dropped when they saw the dogs walking in circles.   Ace turned and saw him, but instead of panicking, he ran past him, heading to where the trail had split up.  The others quickly followed.   Ace was happy when the scent started to get stronger.

    -----

     Much farther ahead, Waylon and Linette were beginning to close in on the scent.  They ran faster and faster, until the scent was so strong, the could lift their heads all the way up, and still smell it.

     "He's gotta be around here somewhere!" Waylon said.  A snowflake landed on his nose, he looked up, the snow was picking up speed.  "C'mon, Lin, he's not gonna make it much longer-"  He turned to face her, but she was gone.

      "What the-?  Uhg, Linette!" He called, frustraited, yet their was no answer.

      "LINETTE!"

      Linette just kept running.  She was to close to stop.  She came to a large, icy hill.  She slowed her pace, and looked down the hill.  Then she saw it.

     In the middle of a small opening, their was a small body.  Resting motionlessly as the snow piled on and around it.  Without realizing it, she jumped for it.  She couldn't tell from the top that the hill was just covered in ice, and when she hit it, her paw slipt under her.  She landed on it, hard, yelping in pain. She hit the snow hard, and landed on her paw again, and cried out in pain. 

     This was the first time she'd hurt her paw this bad, the pain was horrible.  She looked down, it was already swollen, and blood was dripping down onto the snow.  She looked up, the now was still falling.

     Then she remembered why she was down their, she looked ahead, and their he was.  She tried to run to him, but fell to the ground when she placed her paw down.  She would have to walk to him.

      Waylon heard a sharp cry.  "Linette!"  He gasped, running towards the sound.  He found the hill, he saw her at the bottom, struggling to her feet.  He watched her as she tried to walk, then fall down.

     He stepped out onto the ice and, he too, slipt.  But he was able to catch himself and slide the rest of the way down.  By the time he reached the bottom, Linette was standing, but wasn't putting any pressure on her front left paw.

     "Linette? Linette!"  He yelled.  She seemed to be ignoring him.  He ran up to her.

     "Damn Linette!  What did you do to your paw? C'mon, we need to get you-"

     "Waylon!" She said, shacking.  "I-I found him"

     "You did! Thats-" He looked up, then he saw it.  His jaw dropped