back to Saba, as her mother shut the door. “Don’t go anywhere girl. I’ll be back soon.” She petted Saba for a minute, then stood, and ran to the house.

Saba sighed. All of a sudden she felt very tired. Saba stood, and walked under the porch to her home. She laid down, and soon slipped into a peaceful sleep.

Saba opened her eyes, and blinked a few times. She was being shaken. She yawned and shook her head.

Jenna stood in front of her. “Saba, you’re alright!”

Saba was still half asleep, and nodded. “Yeah…” She said.

“I thought we’d lost you!” Jenna said, sitting beside her daughter. “What happened to you? Why did you wander off and leave poor Kelly?”

“I didn’t run off mom.” Saba said. “I just went down to this spring to get a drink, and I was attacked by a bunch of wolves.”

“WOLVES!” Her mother cried. “My goodness, are you okay?”

Saba nodded, and got up. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Knowing she couldn’t tell anyone about Everest, she’d already prepared a story to accommodate her absence.

“So what happened?” Jenna asked.

“I don’t know really.” Saba said. “The last thing I remember is the wolves attacking me. I thought I was dead, but I woke up alone. I don’t know what happened. I got up and started to find my way home. It took me a while to find Nome.”

“Are you hurt?” Jenna asked.

“Actually my shoulder hurts a little.” Saba said.

Jenna stepped around to her daughter’s side. “Well let me see.”

Jenna looked at her daughter’s shoulder. “My goodness!” She said. “That looks like it should hurt.” Then she saw Saba’s leg. “Oh Saba...” she said. “… that’s it, we’re going to see Doc, come on.”

Saba sighed. “Mom I’m fine, I don’t need to see…” Jenna cut her daughter off. “Don’t argue with your mother. Now come on, we’re going to get you checked out.”

Saba smiled. “Alright mom.” She crawled out from under the porch, and Jenna followed her. “See.” She said. “You’re not all right, you’re limping.”

“Mom you’re always worried about us. It’s not that bad.”

Jenna sighed. “Well it looks horrible.”

“How did you even know I was back?” Saba asked.

“Drake saw you limp into town.” Jenna answered. “He came and told me about an hour ago. I guess he’d been looking for me for a while, but I was in the old mill, talking to Gemini.”

Saba’s vision swam, and she stumbled. Her head started to throb.

“Saba!” Jenna cried, leaping to her daughter’s side. “Are you all right?”

Saba smiled. “Mom, stop worrying about me, it’s fine. My head hurts, that’s all.”

“Well we’re going to see Doc, now.” Jenna said. “We’ll let him decide if it’s fine or not.”

“Okay.” Saba said.

Mother and daughter walked out of the yard and hung a left, walking toward the hospital.

Saba sat on the doctor’s examining table. He was looking her over real good. “My goodness.” He said. “Looks like you got into quite a scuffle.”

The doctor took a q-tip and dipped it in a dish of clear liquid. Then he poked and prodded at the wounds on Saba’s neck and shoulder with it.

Saba didn’t know what the clear stuff was, but it t burned like crazy. She whined, and bit at the q-tip.

The doctor smiled and laid the q-tip on the table. “I know it burns.” He said. “…but it really will help. This stuff will keep it from getting infected, but I’m done with that, so you don’t need to worry about it anymore.

Saba sighed. “At least there’s that…” She thought.

“Now, let’s look at that leg.” Doc said. He gently laid Saba on her side, and picked up a small metal tool, which he poked around her leg with.

Saba winced in pain. This is the response Doc had been looking for. “Well, there doesn’t seem to be any nerve damage girl, so I guess you’ll be all right. The wounds on your neck and shoulder have closed over, and should head on their own. Your leg though… I think I’m going to go ahead and stitch that up.”

“Great.” Saba thought. “This ought to be fun.”

Doc opened a jar on top of the table, and extracted a small needle from it. Then he threaded a length of white string through it. He laid this on the table, and grabbed a small bottle on the shelf above the table. “This will help with the pain.” Doc explained, as he got a syringe from a drawer, and pulled some of the green liquid, from the bottle, into it. Then he stuck it in Saba’s leg.

She felt a little light headed, and then her leg stopped throbbing. “Wow,” she thought. “This stuff actually works.”

 Saba looked behind her, to see that Doc was already stitching up her leg. It didn’t hurt at all, just tingled a little.

Soon, Doc cane to the end of the gash in her leg, and tied a tight knot in the end. Then he ran the needle under the new stitches, and over the top of them, looping it several times, so that the stitches wouldn’t come out. He then tied another knot at the end, and used a pair of scissors to cut the string. “All right.” He said. “Now I don’t want you to mess with this, so I’m going to go ahead and cover it up.

Doc grabbed a roll of gauze, and wrapped it around her leg, then he covered the gauze with a roll of white bandage. “There we are.” Doc said, stepping back to look over his work. “That ought to fix you up.”

Doc picked Saba up and sat her on the floor. “You can leave now, I’ll call your owners and let them know when they can come in to have the stitches removed.

Doc walked out of the room, and into the office portion of the hospital, where he picked up a phone, and dialed the number to Saba’s house.

“Satisfied?” Saba asked her mother.

“Yes I am.” Jenna said. “Now you need to get some rest. I’ll come see you later on, just to check up on your, make sure you’re doing okay. You know you don’t have wait for me to tell you to come here. If you start feeling bad, come back. I’m sure Doc will help you out. He’s never let us dogs down before.”

Saba sighed. “Mom I’m an adult now. You really don’t need to tell me all this.”

“You’re my daughter Saba.” Jenna said. “No matter how old you are, that will never change. Now like I said, I’ll be by to check on you later.”

“Alright.” Saba said. “I’m really tired. I’m going to go to sleep.”

“Okay,” Jenna said. “You do that.”

“I love you mom.” Saba said.

“I love you too Saba.” Jenna replied. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”

Jenna walked out of the hospital, and headed back to her own home. Saba left as well, but in the opposite direction, headed for Kelly’s house, and some much needed sleep.

Chapter 4

Jenna was walking quickly down the sidewalk, away from Kelly’s house. She continued down Main Street, and turned left, walking toward Luke’s home, where Balto would be.

 “Hopefully...” Jenna thought. “I hope he’s there. I really need to talk to him.”

Jenna kept walking for another ten minutes before Luke’s cabin came into view at the end of the street.

Much to Jenna’s delight, Balto was sleeping on the porch. She ran through the gate, and jumped up beside him, neglecting the stairs.

The sound of her landing beside him was enough to roust Balto awake. He yawned and smiled. “Hey Jen.”

Jenna smiled, but her tone was forced. “Hey Balto.”

Balto rolled over on his side and stood up. “Is something wrong Jen? You don’t sound too happy.”

Jenna sighed. “Have you heard about Saba?”

Balto yawned again and nodded. “Yeah, Drake came by here after he left your home.”

“So what are you doing here asleep?” Jenna asked.

Balto smiled and patted her head with his paw. “I figured you’d probably handle it a lot better on your own than with me getting in the way. I was planning on stopping by later and checking on her.” He paused and closed his eyes.. “So how is she?”

Jenna sighed again. “She was hurt pretty bad. I took her to Doc and he stitched up her leg.”

Balto’s eyes snapped open. “Stitches?” He asked.

Jenna nodded. “She said she was attacked by wolves.”

“Wolves?” Balto said. “That’s not natural. Wolves usually leave us… you dog’s alone.”

Jenna smiled at him and laid her head on his shoulder. “Balto, it is us. You’re a dog too.”

Balto smiled. “Yeah, I suppose.”

Jenna sighed again.

“Is there more?” Balto asked. “You seem more than worried.”

“I don’t know…” Jenna said. “I don’t… I don’t really believe her story.”

“What do you mean?” Balto asked.

Jenna sat down. “Well, the part about the wolves I believe. She was cut up pretty bad… but… but after that she says she doesn’t remember anything else. That she just woke up in a field, and then she started home. She says she got lost, and that’s why it took so long… but… but she doesn’t look like she was out in the woods for several days. She looks cared for… and her wounds did too….” Jenna’s voice trailed off.

“So what do you think happened?” Balto asked.

“I don’t’ know.” Jenna responded. “…but I don’t like the thought of our daughter hiding things from us… I mean… what’s there to hide?” “So what do you think we should do?” Balto asked.

Jenna sighed. “Well at this point… nothing I guess… I mean… I don’t really know anything for certain.”

“All right.” Balto said. “Tell you what. When I stop by to see her later I’ll talk to her. Okay?”

Jenna nodded and snuggled up close to Balto. “I’m just worried about her. I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

Balto smiled. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.” He said.

“You’re probably right.” Said Jenna. “I’m just overreacting.” She stood up, and walked to the edge of the porch. “I told Dixie and Sylvie that I would meet them in the boiler room in about ten minutes, so I better go, or I’m going to be late. Thanks for listening Balto.”

“Always.” Balto said. “You know that.”

She smiled. “I’ll see you later tonight.”

“I’ll be here.” Balto said. “Those last flights tired me out. I’m going to catch up on some sleep.”

Jenna smiled and ran down the porch, and out the gate.

Balto smiled, and laid back on the porch. He put his head on his paws and closed his