blur of colors. She would look up at him and he would look down at her, and the sun’s brilliance would shine from his golden eyes, and stars would shine in hers, and everything around them would seem to sing an unearthly melody, and-

Jenna’s imaginings were cut short as she whacked into an old oak tree, and she saw real stars for a couple of seconds.

“Jenna? Are you alright?” Balto’s voice slammed its way through the temporary darkness of her eyes, and she felt him slide to a stop beside her. Balto looked at her worriedly as the dizziness in her eyes slowly subsided, and she shook herself to clear her head.

“I’m fine.” Balto helped her to her feet and looked around with darting glances.

“We’re here,” he said grimly, and Jenna gasped at what she saw.

Dead wolves were scattered everywhere in the clearing outside a massive stone cave set inside a large snowy hill. There were gray wolves, brown ones, black, and even a few white, and they were all lying on the ground as if tossed there by some careless child. Balto and Jenna silently padded around all of the dead wolves, and Balto felt himself choke up as he recognized members of his pack. “Somal,” he whispered, looking at a black wolf. “Mika,” he muttered, staring at a gray wolf with a large, perfectly round white spot on her left side. Jenna watched Balto fight with his feelings about each individual wolf, but as she didn’t know any of them the only feelings she felt were shock at such a gruesome sight, and pity for the poor dead creatures, and sorrow for Balto. But she also noticed each wolf died with its eyes open, and its mouth hanging open with white drool fizzing out. All those lifeless eyes staring at Jenna gave her a creepy, haunted feeling.

“Rabies,” she whispered, “They were all rabid.”

Suddenly, Balto whipped around. “My mother isn’t here!” he exclaimed in a panic, his eyes wildly searching the random clumps of wolves scattered everywhere. “Help me find her!”

“What does she look like?” Jenna asked hurriedly. Balto zipped up and down and in between the groups of dead wolves.

“She’s white, with black-tipped ears and yellow eyes! You’ve got to help me find her, she’s got to be here somewhere!”

“I don’t think you’ll find her here, Balto, my man.”

A dark gray wolf splattered with mud appeared from behind a tree. His blue eyes, blue like a young puppy’s, were dull and glassy. Balto stopped running up and down and stared hard at the stranger’s face. The stranger cackled. “Man, does your memory need a little spark to get it going or what? Here, dumbo, maybe this will make you remember me.” He flopped down in the snow, but popped back up again and pulled a face. “ ‘Man, did you see that? Killer ride. Whoa!’” All of a sudden it cracked through Balto’s head like a thunderclap.

“Nanuq?” he said, stepping forward. The dark gray wolf cackled again and stood up, not even bothering to shake the snow from his coat. White foam bubbled up to coat his mouth and, grinning, he spat it out. Jenna gasped and tugged on Balto’s leg with her teeth.

“Balto, he’s rabid! How can you know him?” Before Balto could answer her, Nanuq cut in.

“Oh, so you finally got yourself a girlfriend! What happened to Rora?”

“She’s dead,” Balto said coldly, jerking his head back to where the gray female lay. Balto was secretly glad she wouldn’t be able to chase him anymore, and he thought Jenna was much more beautiful anyway, but he hadn’t wanted Rora DEAD.

Nanuq grinned again, showing his yellowish teeth and foaming mouth. He spat again, and Balto felt Jenna shudder. How could this be Nanuq, his best friend since his earliest puppy days? One of his only friends, actually. How could this be his secret-sharing, rough-and-tumble playmate from only a few days ago? “Nanuq, how did you become rabid?! Did you kill the whole pack, including my mother?!” Balto cried, a sick feeling swirling around his stomach.

“Yeah, I killed the whole pack,” Nanuq said with the faintest hint of regret, “But I’m not sure about Aniu, man. She could be alive, I don’t know. You don’t really pay attention to who you’re biting when you’re rabid, you just bite.” Nanuq stepped closer to Balto, his grin still plastered all over his face. “Do you remember only a couple nights ago when my mom went nuts? She bit me on the ear, man, and even that first second I just felt this kind of jolt of insanity. I managed to push it away and keep myself from going loony for a little while, but I was freakin’ scared that I would bite some of the other dudes in our pack during the night, so after you dozed off to la-la land, I ran to the woods. Then the rabies kicked in full blast, and I went nuts, man! I can’t even remember what I did that night, I went so bananas. I guess I headed back here and bit everybody. I couldn’t stop myself, man. It was like some kind of creepy spell. All I can remember is Aniu howling, and then I must’ve blacked out. Your girlfriend woke me up when she nearly knocked her brains out slamming against that tree.” Nanuq’s eyes had gotten glazed over, and his huge grin had twisted into a crazed smirk. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth and he was slowly increasing his speed as he slunk towards Jenna. Jenna froze, her heart pounding hard and fast enough to hurt her chest, and blood boiled in her ears and muzzle.

“Nanuq, don’t!” Balto cried, standing in front of Jenna protectively. He stumbled in surprise as she shoved him away.

“Balto, he’s after me,” Jenna said through clenched teeth, “Let him. I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself because of me. I can’t let you go rabid!”

“Jenna, I love you. Don’t do it!” Balto blurted out. Jenna stared at him, and her eyes were hot and determined.

“I love you, too,” she said, but pushed him away so hard he landed on his back maybe two feet away. “That’s why I can’t let you save me. Go!”

“No!” Balto said, and he pushed himself to his feet. Nanuq was slobbering all over the ground, his jaws dripping foam, but he didn’t notice. After his first few sane moments explaining himself to Balto, the disease had finally taken complete control. Nanuq lunged, his mouth open wide. Jenna was about to turn and run, but she would be a moment too late. Balto leaped the distance between him and his girl, cutting through the space between Nanuq and Jenna. A sharp pain shot through his left back leg, and he yelled in pain the only word that came to his mind.

“Jenna!”-

Spring 1931

Balto stops, the harsh memories fading from his mind like snowflakes melting on a windowpane. He realizes it is night, a black endless night, and the only lights that are letting him see are the silver moon and stars in the inky sky and the flaming golden stars that dance inside the lanterns of Nome’s people. The whole town of Nome is lit up, and Balto watches Jenna’s face as a tear slips down her cheek. She is still leaning against him, staring into his face. He hears her swallow, and prays that she will accept the secret. Jenna looks up at him with those starry red-brown eyes.

“So Nanuq bit you?” Balto nods. “And you have rabies?” Balto hesitates, then nods again. Jenna buries her face in his warm fur as she realizes the great danger they have been in all these years.

“You could’ve gone rabid at any moment! You would’ve bitten me, or the puppies, or one of the town dogs!” she mumbles into his side. Balto licks her cheek. Jenna rubs her face against his wiry fur, then looks up at him. “Why didn’t I remember that? After you brought me home, I didn’t see you again until six months later! After spending so much time in town afterwards, I must’ve forgotten everything except your face and name. Why did I forget what happened? How could I forget so much?…Balto, why didn’t you tell me sooner!?” She pushes him over with her paw and scrambles onto his back and pins him down. “Balto, you could’ve killed anyone at any moment! Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“I was waiting to see if you would remember,” Balto says, sliding out from beneath Jenna. She gets up and starts to back away from him. He catches her by the leg with his paw and pulls her down. She stares at him with her heart in her eyes: love, anger, sadness, confusion. Balto sighs. “When I saw you again at the race that day, I waited for you to say something about our adventure, but you didn’t. You recognized my face and name, but the chaos of town life for six months before seeing me again had almost completely erased your memory of our adventure, Jen.” He remembers her eyes after he had returned Rosy’s musher’s hat: recognition, surprise, amusement, confusion. He remembers how he had searched her face for a clue, a hint, that she remembered. ‘She was still beautiful,’ Balto thinks, ‘But she just didn’t remember.’ “I was trying to look for the right moment to tell you, but over the years we were so busy with the puppies and everything else that I never got the chance,” he admits.

Jenna stares hard at him. Suddenly her eyes soften and she looks up at him with a familiar fierce glint in her eye. “I’m sorry, Balto,” she says, and licks him all over the face. “I’m really sorry.” Balto smiles a little, but his face quickly turns serious.

“We’ll have to let the