admiring every picture of she could lay her eyes on. “Oh, you’re soooooo dreamy!” she said. She fluttered her eyebrows at a peculiar poster. She got on her hind legs and tore the poster from the wall. She rolled it up and carried it in her mouth. She exited the room and gave one final glace at her love. “I’LL COME BACK FOR YOU!!” she sobbed.

She was back in the hallway, and suddenly stopped to listen. She heard...birdcalls. Wait...that was no birdcall...that was Hark! She lay the poster on the ground and shouted.

“Haywire! Blitz! Over here! I think Hark (And I) found something interesting!” She picked up her poster and continued on her way. At the foot of the stairs, she saw another thing that caught her eye...but it wasn’t pretty. It was a trail of sawdust, it was shaky, limping on four legs, and it was headed upstairs.

“Haywire,” she said, unsurprised. She ran up.

Blitz rounded a corner, running for dear life. “Please,” he shouted as he ran. “I’m too brave to be eaten!” He heard the moaning and thumps come closer. Blitz looked back and saw the ghost follow his every move. Blitz yelled and stopped. He looked up, horrified. The corridor ended. It was a dead end. Blitz turned around to see the ghost come limping ever closer to him. Blitz whimpered and covered his eyes with his paws. “You don’t want me – I’m loaded with fat and I’ll give you indigestion!”

Blitz was surprised at how far he was willing to diss himself, just to avoid being eaten. But apparently, it didn’t work. The ghost came limping over, calling his name.

“Blllliiiiittzzzz,” it moaned.

“No!” he shouted. Blitz covered his eyes and waited to die. But then he heard another voice.

“There you two are!”

“Huh?” Blitz looked up to see Ambyr, a paper roll in her mouth, standing at the end of the corridor.

“Ambyr! Watch out! It ate Haywire!”

Ambyr calmly trotted over to the ghost. She spat the paper roll from her mouth and turned around. She dusted off Haywire’s face with her tail. Haywire coughed and sneezed.

“I present to you...your ghost.”

Haywire coughed again. Blitz just sat there, dumbfounded. “But you...I...We were...I saw...”

“You saw Haywire get covered in sawdust, and chase you around the entire house, calling out your name for a tissue. Now if you two are quite finished, Hark’s looking for us downstairs.” She grabbed her poster and trotted off.

Blitz walked over to Haywire and growled. Haywire sneezed again.

Hark was almost out of breath by the time the three dogs came bounding up to his room. Haywire shook the sawdust off of him. Hark pointed to the bottom of the toilet. “It’s down there,” he said.

Blitz, Haywire, and Ambyr looked at one another. Ambyr stepped back. “Idiots dressed in sawdust and scardey cats I can handle. There are only two things I can’t stand in this world – Balto, and plumbing.”

Blitz and Haywire then turned to each other. They raised their paws in the air and brought it down three times. Haywire laughed. “Ha! Machine Gun beats Human!”

“Yeah, but Hammer beats Machine Gun! And Human beats Hammer. I had Hammer.”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“THAT’S ENOUGH,” exclaimed Ambyr. She pointed a finger at Blitz. “YOU! GET YOUR PAWS DOWN THAT TOILET!”

Blitz pouted. “Awwww, why me?”

Ambyr flared. “Because you’re the youngest!”

Before Blitz could react, Ambyr stole his paw and shoved it in the toilet. Blitz’s fur raised on end as he fished around the water. Finally, his ears perked up. “I think I got it!” He withdrew his paw, dripping with brine, and looked at his prize.

All anyone could do was gape.

Ambyr’s mouth dropped to the ground. “THIS is what we came here for?!”

The dirt and muk dripped off the object to reveal a gold animal. Blitz threw it out, and it made a squeaking noise.

“You had us all holed up in here for a RUBBER DUCK?!”

Hark took the rubber duck in his talons and lifted off the ground. “You three were really quite brilliant.” He smiled. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”

Ambyr, Blitz, and even Haywire started to growl and bare their teeth at him. Hark gave a nervous laugh.

“Heh...well...I’ll be shovin’ off now.” He struggled to keep in the air with his prize. Hark headed for the front door.

“Get him!!” Blitz yelled.

The dogs leapt up, snapping and barking at Hark. The hawk flew faster, and the dogs followed.

“Oh, don’t be like that! I promise to pay you all back as soon as I can!”

“Yeah? In what? Pebbles?” Ambyr snarled.

Hark flew faster in the house, and the dogs struggled to keep up, dodging coffee tables a chairs. Hark reached the front door, but it was still closed shut. Blitz, Haywire, and Ambyr came running in way too hot.

“Whoa, whoa, watch it!” yelled Blitz. But it was too late. The dogs were too late to stop, and they slid across the floor, crashing right through the door. Bright sunlight hit their faces for what seemed like the first time. Hark stared at the dog heap, starting to fly away.

“I never forget a favor!” he said, and disappeared with the Treasure.

The dogs groaned.

“Well, that was a complete waste of time,” said Blitz. He stormed away, but Haywire caught up to him. “Hey wait! Don’t forget to wash your paws!” The two disappeared, leaving Ambyr alone. She chuckled.

“Well, maybe not a complete waste of time.” She took the poster tucked under her collar and looked at it. Then, she sighed, and walked off in the horizon as well, a dreamy expression plastered onto her face.