bananas?” she asked. “Argh! I want bananas!”

 

Jason looked at Sandy and rolled his eyes. Then he turned to Sandy. “Sandy, I’ve already told you, we don’t have any bananas up here in Nome…”

 

“This is really amusing,” Saba whispered to Angel. The little dog giggled at her friend’s comment.

 

Maria heard Angel giggle and turned around. “There you are!” she said. “Sandy, these are my dogs. Love, Angel, Music, and Baby.”

 

“Yes, I know,” Sandy replied. “Dingo told me about them.”

 

Maria raised an eyebrow. “Dingo told you about them?” she asked in disbelief.

 

Sandy blushed, realizing how weird what she had just said sounded. “Uh…that’s not what I meant…I was trying to say…uh…hey, are you going to stay for supper?”

 

Maria gave Sandy a weird look. “Does she do that a lot?” she whispered to Jason.

 

“I’m afraid so,” he said grimly.

 

Maria shuddered. Then she turned to Sandy, trying to fake the best smile she could come up with. “Sure, I’ll stay for supper.”

 

Saba smiled and shook her head. Maria would definitely be an interesting person to have around. She had actually been able to get Saba’s mind off Dingo and Kodi and all of her other worries for a few minutes. But now Saba began to think about them again, and her heart sunk. Had Kodi found Dingo and the other dogs on the team yet? If he hadn’t, would he ever find them? And if he did, would they be able to make it back to Nome safely?

 

All Saba could do was wait…

 

-----

 

Dingo embraced his brother as soon as they finally were reunited in the storm. “I’m so sorry, Dingo,” Kodi said. “I’m sorry about the way I treated those dogs from Anchorage…and you, especially.”

 

“It’s ok, Kodi,” Dingo said. “Once again, you came around eventually…and I can’t stay mad at my own brother.” He smiled.

 

“I was worried that we would never find you guys,” Kodi said. “But we kept searching, and look where we are now. I’m so happy to see you again, Dingo.”

 

The two brothers embraced again. Then Dingo cleared his throat. “Well, I’m not sure what to do now,” he said. “Should we just continue on to Nome or stop here for a while?”

 

Kodi hesitated. “Both of our teams have had a stressful couple of days,” he said. “I think we should rest for a while and catch up with each other about everything that’s been happening lately.”

 

“Good idea,” Dingo said. “I can’t wait to hear about what’s been going on in Nome since I left.”

 

-----

 

A few minutes later all of the sled team dogs had been unhooked from the sled and were talking to the search party. Dingo, Matteo, and Sam lay down near Kodi. “So,” Dingo said, yawning because he was so exhausted, “tell me what’s been going on at home.”

 

“Hmm…where do I start?” Kodi began. Then he told Dingo about everything that had happened in the last week or two: the Anchorage and Nome dogs always bickering, Saba finally standing up to them and telling them to get along, and finally Kodi himself trying to knock some sense into the dogs. “It worked, too,” he added. “All of the dogs are getting along together perfectly now.”

 

Dingo was amazed. “Wow…” he said. “I’m…speechless. I can’t believe that you and Saba both confronted all of those dogs like that…”

 

“That’s awesome,” Matteo said. “So everything’s back to normal in Nome. Man, I would give anything to be there right now…”

 

“Don’t worry,” Dingo said. “We’ll be back in Nome in a few days. I can just feel it.”

 

“I hope you’re right,” Sam said. “I just want to be back home…”

 

“We all do, Sam,” Matt piped in. “We just have to be patient…tomorrow we’ll get going again…and the day after that…we’re not going to let this storm stop us from getting home. Right, Dingo?”

 

“Exactly, Matt,” Dingo said. “We’ve gone this far. I know that we’ll be able to make it back to Nome. And soon, too.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 17

 

After a good night’s rest, Dingo, Kodi, and the others prepared to set out again. The storm hadn’t cleared up at all. In fact, it had gotten even worse (if that was possible). But Dingo was standing firm by his decision to continue on to Nome no matter what, and the other dogs had no choice but to go with him.

 

As the musher hooked the dogs up to the ropes connecting all of them to the sled, each of the dogs were deep in thought. Matteo was thinking about how he missed life back in Nome, especially his friends. He was glad that he had resolved the whole situation about Liko with Dingo, too, because he didn’t have to worry about that anymore. Sam was anxious to get back to Nome and make new friends. He had always been a loner in the past, knowing that none of the dogs from Nome would accept him anyway. But now that they had learned to get along with the dogs from Anchorage, they might actually give him a chance, just like the dogs on the sled team did.

 

Dingo, however, wasn’t thinking about being back in Nome like the rest of his team was. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on running if he thought about Liko for even a few seconds. Instead, he turned his thoughts completely to leading the team through the storm and hopefully to Nome. But it didn’t matter what he was thinking about, for his thoughts were interrupted a few seconds later.

 

“Are you ready to do this, bro?” Kodi asked. He and the others who had been in his search party weren’t being hooked up to the sled like the rest of the dogs. They were going to run alongside of the team.

 

Dingo grinned. “You bet,” he said. “I can’t wait to get home. But I have to stay focused, or else none of us will make it to Nome.”

 

Kodi put a foreleg over his brother’s shoulders. “Just don’t stress yourself out too much, bro,” he said. “Relax. I know that you’ll be able to lead us back to Nome without a problem. Just don’t worry too much about it.”

 

“Thanks, Kodi,” Dingo said, smiling. “You know, I feel a lot better now that you and the others are here. Even if I never make it back to Nome, at least I got to see you one last time. I mean, Matt and Sam are two of my best friends, and having them here if I died would have been a good thing. But it means so much more to have a member of the family here in case we…well, in case we don’t make it back.”

 

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Kodi said. He was going to continue, but just then the musher whistled for the dogs to get ready to start going. Kodi made sure all of his companions were ready to run along with the sled team, and then they were off.

 

Dingo felt both relieved and anxious at the same time. He was relieved because he had finally found Kodi and his company (or was it the other way around?), and because they were getting close to Nome. But he was also anxious because he was worried that he would let the team down. What would they do if he made a serious mistake that cost them the race…or even their lives? Especially after making it this close to Nome…Dingo would never be able to forgive himself if he let them down.

 

Dingo was relying completely on his wolf instincts now, because the snow was so fierce that he couldn’t see a single thing in front of him. The rest of the team seemed willing to follow him wherever he led them…but then again, they had no choice but to do so. No one, however, was as willing as Sam. Dingo was surprised that Sam was so eager to trust him in the storm…after all, he had been the one who had almost fallen off the cliff the last time they were in a situation like this.

 

Dingo wasn’t the only one who had a lot to think about. Thoughts and worries were spinning around Kodi’s mind. He was afraid that Dingo was going to crack under all the pressure he was putting on himself. If that happened, the team would probably not last much longer in the wilderness. And the last place Kodi wanted to die was in the middle of nowhere.

 

After an hour or two, Dingo suddenly slowed down. His heart was starting to beat more slowly. ‘Oh no!’ he thought. ‘As if I didn’t have enough to worry about…man, I completely forgot about my heart problems…’

 

The other dogs on the team could sense the decrease in speed. “Are you okay, Dingo?” Matteo called out. “You’re slowing down!”

 

“I know, Matt,” Dingo shouted, panting. “Don’t worry, I’ll be

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