Liko got up. “Thanks, Saba,” she said. “I feel a lot better now. I’m glad you came to talk to me. But there’s one more problem I need to fix.” She started to walk out the door.

“Wait!” Saba said. “Where are you going?”

Liko turned around. “I have to talk to Matteo,” she said. Then, while walking out the door, she muttered, “I hope he takes all of this well…”

-----

Dingo walked into the boiler room. He could make out the figure of his brother Kodi on the other side of the room. Luckily, they were the only two dogs in the room.

“Hey,” Dingo said, walking over to his brother. “I’ve been looking for you. Have you been in here all day?”

Kodi grunted in response and rolled over so his face was to the wall.

Dingo bit his lip. “So…I’m guessing you don’t want to talk right now, huh?”

Kodi shook his head and continued to stare at the wall.

Dingo rolled his eyes. “What’s wrong with you?” he said. “I don’t even know why you’re mad at me. Do you know how weird you’re acting right now?”

Kodi sat up and glared at Dingo. “Oh, so you think I’m acting weird? Take a look at yourself. You haven’t been the same since you came back from Anchorage. I can’t believe you’ve actually accepted those jerks.”

“I can’t believe that you’re refusing to accept them!” Dingo said, his temper rising. “What’s so bad about them, anyway?”

Kodi ignored his brother’s question. “I heard that you won that race yesterday. I can’t wait for you to leave.” Then he turned to walk out of the room.

Dingo shook his head in disbelief. He ran to get between Kodi and the door. “What have you done with my brother?” he asked.

Kodi began to growl. “Let me through,” he said fiercely.

Dingo embraced his brother. “Can’t we just be friends again? I hate this!”

Kodi roughly shoved Dingo aside. “Back off,” he said. “If I never see you again, it will be too soon.” Then he ran out the door and down the street.

Dingo shook his head. What was wrong with his brother?

-----

Matteo couldn’t be happier. He and Dingo had made it onto the sled team, and everything was going great. Matteo thought that nothing would be able to spoil his good mood…but he was wrong.

Matteo’s ears perked up when he heard someone say his name. He looked up to see Liko standing in the doorway. He grinned. “Liko!” he said, running up and nuzzling her.

Liko pulled away uncomfortably. “Is something wrong?” Matteo asked.

“Uh…well…” Liko bit her lip. “I’m not sure how to say this…okay. I’ll just put it this way…I used to think I loved you…but the truth is…that I don’t.”

Matteo’s eyes widened. “You…don’t?”

Liko shook her head. “No…I’m sorry…it’s really hard to tell you this, because I know that you love me so much…but…I realized that it isn’t you that I love. It’s…Dingo…”

Matteo’s jaw dropped. “Dingo?” he asked in disbelief. He put his face in his paws. “I don’t know if I can take this,” he muttered.

Liko walked over to him. “I’m really sorry about this,” she said. “I just don’t think we’re meant for each other. I think you’ll find the right one for you someday…but it just isn’t me.”

Josh nodded and looked at the ground. He was trying to hide the fact that he was crying, but Liko could tell he was anyway. “I understand,” he said. “I just feel…rejected now, I guess.”

Liko stared into Matteo’s eyes. “Please don’t feel rejected, Matt,” she said. “I still want to be friends. That is, only if you still want to be friends…”

“Yes…” Matteo said slowly. “Yes, I do. I just need some time to think about this.”

Liko smiled. “Thanks for being so understanding,” she said. “I’ll miss you. Good luck in the race.” She nuzzled him and ran off.

Matt sat in silence. He wasn’t sure how to feel. He was angry…and depressed…and relieved…all at the same time. He only knew one thing for sure: his good mood had disappeared completely. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 8

 

It was finally the big day that everyone in Nome had anticipated for so long. Sled teams had come from many different parts of Alaska to be in the big event. Dingo couldn’t remember ever seeing so many dogs in one place before. All of them looked tough, and only a very small amount of them looked friendly.

 

Dingo was walking around, gazing in wonder at all the excitement. He wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, and suddenly he bumped into a large dog that didn’t exactly look friendly. “What’s your problem?” the dog snarled. Dingo was too scared to respond. He quickly backed away and ran off to find Matteo.

 

Dingo found his friend talking to a bunch of dogs on a team from Anchorage. He was about to walk up and start talking to them when he had a sudden gut feeling to walk away instead. He didn’t know why he was getting the strange feeling, but he decided that it was probably right and walked away from Matt.

 

After looking for a few minutes, Dingo found the sled team that he would be leading. There were eight dogs on the team: Dingo, Matteo, five dogs from Nome, and one dog who had been in the group that Dingo led from Anchorage to Nome. The Anchorage dog was sitting a few feet away from the others. The Nome dogs completely ignored him, with the exception of the occasional scowls they shot at him.

 

Dingo felt that the dog from Anchorage needed someone to talk to. He walked up and sat beside the lonely dog. “So, you’re on my team, huh?” Dingo asked with a smile.

 

The dog turned to look at Dingo. His eyes widened as he realized who was talking to him. “You’re Dingo, aren’t you?” he asked. Dingo nodded. “I can’t believe it! You’re the dog who led us all the way from Anchorage to Nome!” He stood up and bowed. “It’s an honor to be on your sled team.”

 

Dingo blushed. “Thanks,” he said. “This is actually my first time running in one. So, what’s your name?”

 

“Sam,” the dog responded. He gave Dingo a hopeful look and lowered his voice as he said, “Are there any other dogs from Anchorage on the team? These Nome dogs haven’t exactly been friendly…”

 

“Well, my friend Matteo is on the team,” Dingo said. “He was from Anchorage originally.”

 

Sam scratched his head, apparently racking his memory to see if he knew anyone named Matteo. “I think I’ve heard about him before. I’ve never met him, though.”

 

“I’m sure he’ll be friendly toward you,” Dingo said confidently. ‘Unless that strange feeling I got before means something important…’ he added to himself.

 

Dingo stared off into the sky, thinking about the strange feeling he had gotten when he was near Matt. When he finally looked at Sam again the dog was staring at someone behind Dingo. “Who’s that?” Sam asked.

 

Dingo turned around and felt his heart sink as he saw Matteo walking toward them. “That’s Matt…” he said slowly.

 

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

 

“N-no…” Dingo stuttered. “Of course not.”

 

Sam still looked doubtful. “Whatever you say,” he said. Then he called out, “Hey, Matt!”

 

Matteo looked up and seemed confused when he saw that a dog he had never seen before calling out his name. But his confusion seemed to turn to anger when he saw Dingo standing beside the dog. When he finally reached the two dogs, he tried to put on a smile. “So, who’s this?” he asked, sizing up Sam.

 

“My name is Sam,” the husky replied. “Dingo was just telling me about you.”

 

A sudden fire came into Matt’s eyes, but it disappeared as soon as it came. Then he turned to Dingo, smiling again. “Ready for the race, lead dog?”

 

“Uh…I guess…” Dingo said. “Hey, Matt, can I talk to you in private for a second?”

 

Matt shook his head. “Not now. We’ll talk later. There’s something I need to talk with you about, too.” Dingo thought he caught a tone of indignation at the end of Matt’s sentence, but he ignored it.

 

Suddenly a loud voice was heard above all the noise. “Attention, everyone!” it called out. “The race is about to begin! Sled teams, please get into your positions!”

 

Dingo and the rest of his team scurried to get to where they needed to be. Now the husky was even more worried about Matteo. Why did he seem so angry? And why was he trying to hide it?

 

All of the teams were assembled at the starting line now. Once again there were huge crowds gathered on each side of the street. Most of the spectators were from

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