Nome!”
One of the German shepherds chuckled. “That’s the way it goes, miss. You travel away from home one day, minding your own business, and suddenly a dogcatcher ruins your life. Besides,” he added with a raised eyebrow, “isn’t Nome a couple hundred miles away?”
Aleu tugged at the ropes on her feet once more. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she muttered. She growled in anger when the ropes kept tight. “I’ve got to get out of here!”
“No chance of that, miss,” another dog said. “I once got out of the cage, but even if you get out the door, it’s a maze in getting outside. There’s no escape.”
Aleu gritted her teeth. “I haven’t come all this way just to have my journey end here!” Then she bit down as hard as she could on the four ropes that were tied to her feet.
They split.
The dogs all stared. “Wow!” one exclaimed. “She really is a wolf!”
Aleu ignored him and then proceeded to bend the bars of her cage with her teeth. Luckily, they were extremely thin, so it did not take much to bend them. It was not long before she had bent a hole large enough for her to fit through.
Once she hit the floor, the entire room broke out in a cheer. It was as if she had instantly become a celebrity to the other dogs, but she knew as well as they did only half the battle was won.
She ignored the dogs; they were doing nothing but making noise, and that was the last thing she wanted. Instead, she ran toward the door, and threw her body against it, desperate to open it.
It was locked tight, and did not budge. Aleu felt the breath leave her, and fell to the floor. While she lay there, she began to lose hope; there was no way out of here.
But then she remembered a technique her father taught her. She jumped back to her feet and, using her claws, she tore the door’s hinges off the wall. Then she kicked the door in. The door opened just enough for her to get through.
Aleu smiled in satisfaction, before bolting straight ahead. She only ran a couple of feet before a man saw her. “Hey, stop!” he shouted, and began to follow her.
She started running faster, getting to a point where she was at least two hallways ahead of him. The building quickly turned into a maze, with one hallway leading into another one, which branched out into several.
It was just as the other dogs had warned: the building was a maze. Aleu was not good with mazes, but she felt that, if she kept running, she was bound to find the exit sometime.
She only had to run for a few minutes before she found a staircase, one that only went down. After running down as fast as she could, she found herself in a new labyrinth of hallways.
Her impatience began to catch up to her. Come on, she mentally screamed. It shouldn’t be this hard!
But to her relief, the hallway led straight to another door—the exit. Aleu ran at it all the faster, anxious to return to the outside world once more.
She barked in frustration when this one, too, proved to be locked. She once again found herself on the floor, out of breath. She was barely aware of two humans running up, one with a net and the other with a pistol.
“Thought you could get away, didn’t you, wolf?” one of them asked.
Aleu regained her air, but continued to lie on the floor. She waited until one of the humans laid a hand on her, and then suddenly became animated, biting down hard on the hand.
The human yelled in agony while the other raised his gun. Aleu jumped up, hurriedly kicked the gun aside, and proceeded to work at this door the way she had the last one. She managed to get the door open just before the two men recovered, and jumped through right before the gun fired. To her relief, the tranquilizer dart missed her by inches.
Aleu didn’t bother looking back. She ran forward as quickly as possible, into the blinding snowstorm that had just started up. It was only when she was several miles out of town that she finally slowed her pace.
She smiled in satisfaction. Looks like I just had my event of this journey. Then she turned north and began walking again.

Balto stared at his unusual gift. He knew what it was by the shape of the box—a huge board, big enough to fill half his window—but he was a bit surprised that it was all tied up in wrapping paper and a bow.

“How’d you get that on, Malena?” he asked.
His daughter only shrugged, a smile plastered on her face.
Balto started unwrapping the present. It would have been an easy process, except that he liked to keep the paper, which caused him to carefully slice one tiny section away at a time.
Finally, an impatient Malena said, “Just rip it off, Pop.”
So Balto tore his claws into it and flung the paper all over the floor. Then he started biting on the cardboard box until it split apart.
The plywood board now lay in the middle of his boat, surrounded by unnecessary wrapping paper bits.
“Just one question,” Balto said. “How do we put it onto the window?”
Malena froze, and it was immediately obvious that, while the gift was her idea, she had no answer. “Uh…uh…uh…” She cleared her throat. “I don’t know.”
Balto looked at her. “Malena, your eye is twitching.”
“Sorry,” Malena quickly replied. “Lack of calcium.”
Balto smiled, glad to see his daughter was still her same old self. Then, after a few seconds of thought, his eyes lit up. “Wait, I’ve got it!” He gave a loud whistle, and almost immediately Muk and Luk ran up the gangplank and into the main room. Upon seeing Balto’s posture, they both saluted.
“Watch this,” Balto whispered to Malena. Then, turning to the bears, he said, “Report!”
“Polar bears Muk and Luk reporting for duty, sir!” Muk shouted, speaking for both himself and Luk.
“At ease,” Balto said. When they had dropped back down onto all fours, he continued, “Now, I’ve got a game for you two to play.”
“Does it involve Uncle Boris?” Muk asked, a look of hope on his face.
Balto’s smile vanished for a second. “Uh…no.” Then, hoping he was quick enough to stop the bears’ disappointment, he added, “But it is still fun!” Knowing their interest was peaked, he continued, “Okay, look through my drawers and find the nail guns.”
Malena was suddenly uneasy. “Uh…nail guns? Those two with nail guns?”
Balto just winked.
Muk and Luk ran around to the other side of Balto’s boat and threw open the trunk chest sitting there. Inside were all sorts of things, ranging from toys to tools, and the two started searching for the guns. Muk found his first, but was followed closely by Luk. They came back, waiting for their next orders.
“Okay, here’s how it’s going to work,” Balto said. “While Luk and I hold the board in place, Muk, you will shoot the board and nail it into the window.”
Malena started backing up. “Are you crazy, Pop?” she asked, her voice betraying her worry.
Balto smiled, already positioning himself by the window as Luk heaved over the board. “Trust me, Malena; I know what I’m doing.” 
“I trust you,” Malena said, still backing up. Indicating Muk, she murmured, “It’s him I’m having trouble trusting.”
Muk ignored her statements—quite an achievement for him—and patiently waited for his big moment.
“All right, Muk,” Balto said after the board was in place. “Shoot!”
Muk raised his gun and shot. Malena shut her eyes, not wanting to watch. Then, after a few more seconds, she heard the shot again. And again. And again…
She opened her eyes just in time to see a nail drive straight into the wood, puncturing it and connecting the board to the windowsill. She watched as Muk did this a few dozen times. Finally, the board was secure enough for Luk and Balto to step away from it, and Malena marveled as it stayed put.
After a few more minutes, the nails had all flown into the board. Balto smiled, satisfied. “Good job, guys. Now you can go and torture your Uncle Boris.”
The bears, more than happy to accept the offer, raced outside, dropping the guns on the floor. As Luk’s landed, however, it discharged and fired a nail into the air. The nail bounced off the ceiling and landed on the floor—driving through Balto’s foot in the process.
Balto yelled into the air, his wolf’s heart forcing him to howl. As Malena watched, Balto continued howling through the air, cursing every once in a while.
Malena gasped, horrified at the scene. “Are you all right, Pop?” she asked.
“Does…it…look…like…I’m…all…right…to…you?” Balto asked, fighting to control his voice.
“Uh…good answer.”
Balto looked at his foot, trying to see the nail through the blood. He found it, and started pulling at it with his teeth. Not only was the nail stuck tight, but it also hurt him more than anything else in his life.
This is ridiculous, he thought. Then, giving one final tug on the nail with his teeth, he pulled it out of the floor, freeing his blood-dipped paw.
Malena grimaced at the sight of it. “That has to be the most gruesome thing I’ve ever seen.”
Balto looked at her. “Apparently you’ve never been to White Mountain.” He raised his paw, taking a closer look at it. “Oh, that hurt,” he groaned through gritted teeth.
Malena turned away. “That…is gross.”
“No kidding,” Balto snorted, starting to limp to the