knew she couldn’t have fallen asleep that fast, but he padded over to the other side of the barn and lay down. So much for Dusty’s foolproof plan. But then, she hadn’t expected him to say those words to her.

The mail runs to two other towns and the journey home were quiet than usual. Dusty seemed fully focused on getting back to her sick mother, so, almost unknowingly, she ran faster and pushed the team harder. Kirby and even Ralph complained, and Ralph pestered Kodi on what was bothering Dusty, but Kodi kept his mouth shut. It was up to Dusty whether or not Kirby or Ralph were trustworthy enough to know about her mother.

Yet Dusty seemed to even be withdrawing from Kodi. Normally the two of them would stay up after every run and joke around. Not anymore. Dusty simply marched over to her own little corner, flopped down, and remained dumb the rest of the night no matter how hard her friends tried to get her to talk. It was almost a relief to see Nome in clear sight and getting closer. Maybe here things would return to normal.

The team pulled up to the post office just as the pale sun started its downward arc in the milky blue sky. Kodi shook out his ruffled fur as the musher hooked the harness off, and he glanced at Dusty as she too was set free from the leather straps that bound her. With her face set and determined, she raced off down the street without even a look back.

“Alright, I’m sick of this crap,” Ralph groaned irritably, “What is up with Dusty?”

“Following her would be one way to find out,” Kirby said absently.

The two looked at each other.

“It would be spying on her,” Ralph said.

“We might embarrass her,” Kirby added.

“It would be disrespecting her privacy,” Ralph murmured thoughtfully.

“It would be…awkward if she caught us,” Kirby replied.

“…Let’s go,” Ralph said.

“Okay.”

Kirby led the charge as the two mail dogs slipped down the street and disappeared amid the crowd.

Kodi sighed in frustration and bolted after them. Maybe he could catch up with them in time to stop them…

Almost immediately he found there was no need for him to come to Dusty’s rescue. Kirby had been pulled over to tell his usual long, exaggerated tale about the latest mail run, and Ralph was adding humorous little details that made Kirby frown with annoyance and Kirby’s audience chuckle appreciatively.

Relieved, Kodi scooted down the street as he followed Dusty’s scent into the poorer part of town near the alleyways. He was surprised; Dusty was such a well-bred sled dog he thought the neighborhood she grew up in would be a little fancier than this. Dusty kept too many secrets from him.

He padded carefully along the roads, perking up his ears when he heard voices. He backtracked a little, then turned a corner and wound his way to where the voices were coming from.

Dusty had found Danni sitting outside her mother’s house with an anxious look on his face. He turned when he heard her footsteps, and a grim smile flitted across his face. “You’re back.”

“How is she?” Dusty asked in a low voice, sitting beside him. She was scared to speak normally, in case her voice started to waver and Danni would see how worried she was. She had to be calm. Getting upset wouldn’t help anything.

“She’s better,” Danni said in the same hushed tones as his half sister, “Her owner let her in the day you left. The doctor treated her, and said it might be for the best if he, um…‘fixed’ her…” Dusty winced at the word. Danni continued with hardly a stammer, but it was obvious he wasn’t comfortable talking about things like that. “…but her owner didn’t want to pay for the operation, so the doctor just prescribed some meds and told him to keep Mom in the house most of the time. When she has to go out, she should be on a leash.” He took a deep breath. “In sum, at least from what I can tell, she’s doing better.”

“Good,” Dusty said, the tension in her body relaxing itself after many days. She smiled wearily up at Danni, who looked as exhausted as if he was the one who had done a mail run that day, not her. “Thanks for watching her, Danni. Mom and I owe you big time.”

“At your service,” Danni said, bowing extravagantly until his nose touched the ground and he looked like he would topple over onto his face. He looked up at her with a small sparkle in his eye. This was about as goofy as Danni ever got.

Dusty hugged him tight, wishing all her brothers and sisters could be as caring as Danni. She rubbed her head against his shoulder, playfully bumping him to the side. He pretended to be offended and gently butted her back, and soon they were play-growling and pushing each other until they slid freely on the icy ground.

Kodi had found the street the voices were coming from. He had found Dusty. But he hadn’t expected to find anything else.

He watched from behind a shack as Dusty romped and joked around with a guy Kodi was sure he had never seen before, and he had no idea who the stranger could be. And when he saw the hug…

Something blue-hot rushed up inside him. It was jealousy, it was rage, it was an unfair sense of betrayal all mixed together in a whirlwind of fire, and it churned inside Kodi with a single stab of pain and then an ache that went on for eternity. Sure he was going to explode, Kodi spun around and flew down the street, broken pieces piercing new spots inside him with every step he took.

Dusty looked up to see a red and white blur run away from its hiding place. Immediately she knew who it was, and felt a shock of –was it guilt?- at how this must look. “Kodi!”

“What?” Danni said, stopping mid-tackle and falling to the ground. He picked himself up and watched Dusty chase after her friend. “Who the heck is Kodi?” he yelled, but Dusty had already turned the corner. It was a useless question, anyway. Danni already knew.

“Dusty’s got a boyfriend,” he whispered in wonder. He tried the new words out again, tasting the strangeness of them on his tongue. “Dusty’s got a boyfriend.” He tried them again, murmuring, “Dusty’s got a boyfriend.” He looked around to see if anyone was in earshot, and then practiced saying in a teasing voice, “Dusty’s got a boyfriend, Dusty’s got a boyfriend!” Danni laughed, then grinned. Oh, yes. That song would annoy Dusty to no end. Mission accomplished.

Kodi ran as fast and as hard as he could, scared that Dusty would catch up with him and that he’d have to go through a big, awkward scene with her. Right now nothing in the world seemed worse than that.

He could hear Dusty behind him, calling his name, but with every call he picked up speed until he was blasting through town and out of it onto the silent tundra. He stopped once to gasp in some air, but he could almost feel Dusty gaining on him. Wild-eyed, Kodi shot off behind the hills and flew towards a small ice cave between two knolls. It was an old hide-and-seek hiding place from when he was a pup. He knew he was too big, but he denied it to himself as he squeezed into the slick chamber and lay down, breathing hard.

Dusty slid out of town and shushed to a stop in the snow, her blue eyes searching the horizon. “Kodi!” She sniffed around anxiously, plowing a trail through the snow. “Kodi, it’s not what it looks like. C’mon…” Finally she latched onto Kodi’s scent, and the path of huge pawprints helped in her search, too.

Dusty sighed with half frustration, half relief, and turned around to see a gray wolf-dog with blue eyes, that could have been her clone, standing right behind her.

“Aaaaah!” Dusty cried, stumbling back.

“Aaaaah!” screamed the wolf-dog, backing up also. They faced each other with identical expressions of fear and confusion.

“Why do you look like me?” Dusty demanded.

“I don’t know, why do you look like me?” the hybrid cried.

“How would I know, I’m asking you the same question!” Dusty yelled.

The two stared at each other fiercely, as if wondering if this was some kind of joke.

“Okay, this is beyond strange,” the wolf-dog said, “Well, I just want to know one thing.”

“And what’s that?” Dusty practically spat.

“I feel like I’m talking to myself,” the hybrid muttered to no one in particular, and stood up straight. “Why were you calling for Kodi?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Geez, what do you think I am, a spy? An assassin?” she said, rolling her eyes. “I want to know because Kodi is my brother. I’m his sister, Aleu.”

Dusty’s face seemed to enlarge as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “Aleu?” She couldn’t help staring. This was the helpless little pup who had run away from home? This was Kodi’s sister? And…was that a scar on Aleu’s face? “Aleu! Where have you been? Where did you go? How-How did you get back? Why did you come back? Does Kodi know? I thought-”

Aleu laughed. “It’s a long story, Dusty. It’s Dusty, right? But cut all this. Why are you looking for Kodi?”

“Oh, let’s see,” Dusty groaned, “Kodi just told me he likes me, and then he saw me joking around with my brother, and I think he thought Danni was my boyfriend, so Kodi ran off, and I’m trying to find him.” Dusty punctuated her statement with a frustrated moan.