tell him how I feel. No matter what the others think.

 

Suddenly, the scent of smoke reached her nose. She leapt up, sensing that something was wrong, and saw gray clouds coming from underneath the doorway. Helyana, who was sleeping in the bed next to Felicie, picked up her head up and asked groggily, “Do you smell that?”

 

Suddenly, Sanak and Hyder burst into the room, confirming the girls’ suspicions. “Guys, we have to go!” Hyder cried. “There’s a fire!”

 

Felicie felt her heart leap into her throat and she and Helyana bulleted out the bedroom door. The fire was towering over the hallway, and by the looks of it, the ceiling was about to give in. Felicie wanted to faint as she saw the scarlet flames coming over her and her team, about to eat them alive. Was this the end?

 

Meanwhile, at the vet’s office, Aslak woke up from a restful night’s sleep. He still felt pain in a few areas, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been the night before. He figured he would be ready to leave the vet’s that morning, but for now, he was just going to rest a little more and give his body some more time to heal.

 

“Good morning, Aslak,” the vet said, coming up to Aslak and scratching him behind the ears. “Looks like you had a pretty rough night, but you seem a lot better this morning. I called your owner, you should be good to go in about an hour or two.” Aslak wagged his tail gratefully and licked the vet’s hand.

 

Suddenly, a woman walked into the vet’s office with her little chihuahua who needed an appointment, and she sighed in agitation. “Oh, Dr. Thompson, did you hear? There’s a fire over at Mr. Ward’s house. It’s not looking too good. The place is going to burn down, I’m afraid.”

 

Mr. Ward… now where have I heard that name? Aslak thought to himself. Suddenly, his brown eyes widened. “Felicie’s musher!” he whispered to himself. He suddenly stood up in alarm, leaping down from his bed and bolting out of the vet’s office, ignoring the doctor’s calls for him to return. He felt a bit of pain when he ran, but he didn’t care in the slightest. All that mattered to him was that his dear Felicie — and the rest of the team, no matter how cruel they were to him — would be okay.

 

 

He darted to the other end of town and gasped when he saw the flames that were ripping the house apart. He yelped when he realized none of the dogs were outside, and that the firefighters hadn’t arrived yet. Without giving it any further thought, Aslak used all the strength he had and pumped his legs forward, darting into the flaming house. There, he heard the sled dogs howling and crying out in fear, as well as the voice of sweet Felicie, who wounded as terrified as ever. Aslak’s heart lurched; he couldn’t stand to hear her so scared.

 

 

“Hey, guys!” Aslak shouted at the top of his lungs. “It’s me, Aslak! Where are you?”

 

“Aslak!?” he heard Felicie say in surprise.

 

“We’re in the parlor, Aslak!” Helyana shouted.

 

Panting in fear and coughing from the smoke entering his lungs, Aslak bolted towards the parlor. The scent of the smoke was more pungent than ever, and all Aslak could see were black clouds circling around him and the other dogs. He could just barely make out the silhouettes of the team, but he knew he needed to find them no matter how hard it was.

 

Suddenly, he bumped right into Sanak, and noticed the rest of the team was hovered around him. “Is this all of you?” Aslak asked loudly.

 

“Yes,” Felicie answered, her voice trembling, “I believe so.”

 

“Okay, follow me.” Aslak gestured in the direction he wanted the dogs to follow him, and they slowly made their way through the clouds of smoke. The fire was growing rapidly, making its way across the floor and up the ceiling. Aslak had to keep an eye on it to make sure it wouldn’t reach them, but he also kept an eye on the little source of light that signified the exit of the burning house, and he knew he had to keep going in that direction.

 

Surely enough, all the dogs made it to the exit. Out ran Hyder, Sanak, Helyana, the two wheel dogs Zak and Junco, and even Flash, who for once didn’t have a bone to pick with Aslak. But wait, where was Felicie. Aslak searched around desperately for her, and suddenly heard a blood-curdling scream emerge from inside of the house.

 

“ASLAK!!”

 

Aslak ran right back into the house and found Felicie sprawled on the ground, her body underneath a chair that had apparently fallen on her. “Aslak, help!” Felicie shrieked as the flames grew bigger and bigger.

 

“I’m here, Fel,” Aslak said in a surprisingly calm tone. “Don’t worry.” He lifted the chair with his head and told Felicie to run. She hesitated to go without him, soon ran off, meeting the rest of her teammates outside. Aslak put down the chair and was about to run out as well, until a creaking noise erupted from above, a heavy weight fell down and hit Aslak’s head, and the ground shot up to meet him, his whole world going black.

 

——

 

“ASLAK!!” Felicie screamed as she watched the ceiling of the house collapse. She was in hysterics and wanted to run back into the house to make sure Aslak was okay, but her friends held her back. “Let me go!!” she screamed, snarling at them as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. “I need to find Aslak!!”

 

“Fel, you can’t!” Helyana exclaimed reluctantly. “It’s too dangerous.”

 

The fire department then arrived to the scene and began to put out the fire. Mr. Ward arrived as well, moaning at the terrible state of his home, but grateful that all his beloved dogs were okay. The team watched as the firefighters went inside the house, and Felicie prayed that they would find Aslak okay in there.

 

“They have to find him,” Felicie cried, “they just have to!”

 

“They will,” Flash said, catching Felicie by surprise. “He’ll be okay, Fel. He’s strong.”

 

Felicie was shocked to hear Flash saying such good things about her friend. Her emotions overcame her and she buried her face into Flash’s chest and sobbed softly. Suddenly, the firefighters ran out the house, and Felicie gasped as one carried out Aslak in his arms.

 

“Aslak!?” Mr. Ward said as he and Felicie began running over to the firefighter. “How is he, sir?”

 

“He’s breathing, but he’s in critical condition,” the firefighter said, rubbing his hand across Aslak’s dark chocolate fur. “Seems his head got hit by one of the ceiling boards, and he breathed in so much smoke he needs to be taken to the vet immediately.”

 

“Oh, Aslak,” Felicie whispered as she stared at his limp body.

 

They brought Aslak over to the vet’s office, where he was declared to be in a coma. Felicie was devastated, as was the rest of the team, who were grateful that this dog whom they had mistreated so much went out of his way to save their lives. Mr. Karlsson, Aslak’s owner, rushed over as soon as he heard about his dog’s painful blow. He looked absolutely wretched; from Aslak’s beating the previous night to his coma this morning, Aslak had really had a toll taken on him.

 

“Dr. Thompson,” Mr. Karlsson said in an accent as thick as Aslak’s, “please tell me he’s going to be alright.”

 

Felicie watched intently as Dr. Thompson sighed and placed a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “He’s not doing the greatest right now. It’s too soon to tell what will happen, Mr. Karlsson.”

 

Felicie felt her heart drop as she watched Mr. Karlsson bury his face in his hands and wipe away tears. She wanted to cry as well, so she saw herself out out of the vets office and went over into an alleyway, laying down and letting her tears flow freely.

 

“I should have told him yesterday,” she scolded herself. “Oh, why didn’t I tell him? Because I cared too much about what the others thought. And now, what if he dies before I get the chance to tell him I love him?”

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 7

 

 

It had been three days since the fire, and Aslak had not made any improvements since he first fell into his coma. He thankfully wasn’t doing any worse, but he also wasn’t getting any better, which concerned everyone. Everyone on the sled team was worried for Aslak and hoped he would pull through, but Felicie was the saddest of them all. She would go visit him every hour or so, and gently lay her head on his shoulder, burying her face in his warm, scruffy fur.

 

At one point in the afternoon, she had gone to visit Aslak and check up on him. She was disappointed but not surprised to find him in the exact same state as she had seen him the previous hour. “Please, Aslak,” Felicie whispered as she rested herself on him, “you have to get better.”

 

Suddenly, she heart footsteps coming from the hallway, and an exchange of dialogue between two humans. She leaned in a little closer when she recognized the voices as that of Dr. Thompson and Mr. Karlsson’s.

 

“He’s

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