door burst open and a brown blur shot out, knocking Crysa backwards. "Mexico!" A moment later, Junie was there, lifting the brown pup off Crysa's stomach. "Crysa! Your here!" Junie starred at her in suprise. Crysa nodded. "Wheres Mexico!?" an anxious cry came from inside and May was there in the door, sweeping Mexico toward her with her tail. "Mum!" the pup squirmed in his mothers grasp. "Back in the house with you. Now." Miliko order and nudged his son inside. The red akita looked up and blinked in suprise at Crysa. "Your back." he said quietly. Crysa nodded awkwordly. "Oh no! There not with you!" May cried, her eyes round with shock.

Crysa looked around. "Who's not with me?" she asked. Miliko nuzzled May confertenly before anserwing. "A.J, Breezie, April, and Kisha. Their not here. We thought they'd followed you." Crysa stiffened. What have I done! she cried silently. May was in hysterics. "Where could they be? They've never left the clearing before!" she cried despretly. "May, come inside please. You still have your other pups to look after." Crysa was mildly suprised to see Amarie in the doorway. The grey female ussherd the disstressed black female inside as Toner joined them on the porch. 

"Are you sure they didn't follow you Crysa? You didn't see them at all?" Miliko begged.  Crysa shook her head. "They didn't follow me. I would have smelled them." she told him. Junie glanced around warily and Toner's tail twitched as it always did when he was worried. "Didn't any of the other pups see, or hear, them leave?" Crysa asked. Junie shook her head. "No one saw them leave. May noticed them gone when she called them for dinner." Toner said. Crysa bit her lip. Where could four small pups be? "Dad?" Everyone turned and saw a brown pup in the doorway. "Issabella, you should be inside." Miliko said wearily. "But, I heard A.J and the others talking." Issabella said. Crysa's ears pricked, Toner's eyes snapped open, Junie spun to face the pup, and Miliko lept to his feet. "You did?" he asked. "Yeah. A.J was saying something about getting a shiny rock for Crysa. As a apology gift." Issabella told them. Guilt flashed through Crysa.

"Shiny rock? There aren't any shiny rocks around here." Toner said, puzzled. Crysa thought hard. Shiny rocks, a apology gift for her... "Diamonds!" she exclaimed. The others starred at her. "Diamonds? What do they have to do with anything. There aren't any around here." Junie said. Crysa lept to her paws. "Yes there are! Up in the mountains! Theres a rumor that theres diamonds up there!" Miliko brightened. "A.J probley heard about it! They can't have gotten far, lets go find them!" Toner rose to his feet. "Junie, you go toward town, check the passege there." Junie nodded and sprinted away. "Dad, you go toward the forest, and check there." Miliko nodded and dashed off. "I'll head toward the White Mountain pass." his gaze fell on Crysa. "I know where I'm going to look." she told him firmly. Toner nodded and the two ran off in speperate directions.

"A.J! Are you sure about this?" April's voice echoed around the four of them. A.J looked over his shoulder at her. "Of course I am! I heard it from Aunt Margret! Theres a shortcut up ahead!" he called. April looked back at Kisha and Breezie. The two were pressed agasint eachother, their eyes locked ahead on April's black tail. "Come on! It's only a little farther!" A.J shouted over the wind. April shiverd as it ripped through her fur. "A.J, this is crazy! Theres a storm comming! Can't you see the clouds?" she pointed up toward the sky, were dark clouds were looming overhead. A.J looked, then pressed foreward. April sighed. They never should have come.

Snow crunched benethe the steady rythym of Crysa's paws. Please, please let this be the way they took! she begged. Her paws slipped on the ice as she skidded to a hault. Quickly, she caught herself. Looking around, she tilted her head back and sniffed. Her heart lept as she breathed in four different scents. They had been here! Crysa didn't hesitate, she picked up the scent again and ran toward the clump of trees were they lead.

After some time, Crysa slowed to catch her breath. "This is crazy. They'll freeze in this weather if I don't find them soon." she growled. Casting a quick look at the dark clouds threating to snow above, Crysa picked up the scent and was off again.

"A.J! Do you even know were we are anymore?" April shouted over the wind. A.J's head was thrust foreward, so she couldn't tell if he anserwd her. "A.J! I want to go home!" Breezie wailed. Kisha was huddled next to her, her entire brown body shaking. April growled to herself and shoved A.J. "A.J you don't know where we are do you?" she demanded. A.J looked up, his eyes clouded and groggy looking. April gasped. "A.J! Your eyes!" A.J just shrugged. "They don't hurt." he insisted, though he kept blinking, like he was trying to get something out. April growled. "We need shelter, now!" Casting a quick look around, she saw a dark hole up ahead. "Come on." she shoved her brother toward the hole. He stumbled a bit, but went along. April hurried back to Breezie and Kisha. "Shelter up ahead. That dark hole there." she pointed to where A.J was heading and Breezie nudged Kisha foreward.

April trotted back to A.J and leaned agsint him. "Almost there." she assured him. Once she got him to the entrence of the hole, which she saw now was a cave, she looked back. Breezie and Kisha weren't far behind them. Hurrying her brother inside, April helped him lay down agsint a rock. A.J blinked sleepily, but nodded his thanks. A terrified shriek suddenly pirced the air. April spun and saw Breezie outside the cave, but Kisha was nowhere to be seen. Panic gripping her, April darted over to Breezie. "Where's Kisha?" she asked imeditly. Breezie pointed a shaking paw down, and April saw with horror that there was a gap in the ground. Not willing to belive it, April looked over the legde, her paws gripping the rock.

Crysa scrambled up as the rocks below her crumbled and fell. "Too close for confert, if you ask me." she panted. She'd been climbimg the mountainside for at least an hour, and already she was numb to the bone. "Those pups will be half frozen by the time I find them." she mutterd. The wind howled around her and whipped through her fur. Crysa shiverd, but kept going. It was her fault these pups were out here, and she'd find them no matter what. She'd lost their scent trail awhile ago, but there was only one path upward (she shudderd when she thought of four pups tumbling down the mountainside) so she'd just followed that.

No more then a moment had passed when Crysa heard an ear splitting cry. Her ears pricked. That wasn't the wind, she knew that much. "April!" she shouted, then strained her ears for a response. She heard nothing. "A.J! Breezie! Kisha!" she shouted, so loud that her throat felt sore. Her heart soared when she heard the faintest little call. "April!" she called again, this time heading toward the response. "A.J! Breezie!" she called again. The voices were louder now and she forced herself to go faster. Crysa felt everybone in her body crumble with relief when she saw April's small black body and Breezie's bright red patch.

"Crysa!" April cried and ran over, her paws slipping on the ice. Crysa thrust a paw foreward to stop her. "Are you all crazy?" she demanded, though her body felt weak with relief. "Comming up here to look  for diamonds?" April bowed her head. "We'er sorry. But, Crysa, Kisha fell!" Crysa felt her muscles, once slack with relief, stiffen with horror. "Show me." she orderd. April nodded and hurried back to Breezie. The creamy pup was shaking and looking down over the ledge. "Get back." Crysa told her. Breezie obayed, but her eyes never left the ledge. Crysa peered over, hoping she wouldn't see a endless roll down the mountain. She took a sharp breath when she saw, a few feet below, Kisha's small brown body huddled agsint the mountain, as far away from the edge of the small ledge she had landed on.

Crysa sighed with relief. "Kisha? Can you hear me?" she called down. Kisha's brown head looked up, and Crysa saw a pair of terrified blue eyes starring at her. "Y-y-e-e-s-s!" Kisha called back. "We'er gonna get you Kisha! Don't worry!" April called. Crysa swatted her with her tail to get back. "You two stay here unless I say otherwise." she snapped. Then her stomach clenched. "Where's A.J?" she asked, looking around. April flicked her tail toward a dark spot in the mountain. "He's in there. We were on our way to it when Kisha fell." she told her. Crysa relaxed a bit and concentrated on Kisha. "I-i'm c-co-ol-d!" the pup wailed. "It's alright, Kisha! I'll get you out of there!" Crysa promised. "Can you see allright?" she asked. She saw the brown head nod. "Good. Now, is there anyother ledges near you? Even a little one?"

"N-no-o. B-b-ut th-eres a b-bran-ch!" Crysa could hear the pups teeth chatter with cold. "Drat." Crysa mutterd under her breathe. "Is it thick?" she called. "S-sort o-of!" Kisha shouted. "Okay, fine." Crysa mutterd. "I'm comming down Kish! Don't move!" she called. Looking back at the two pups huddled behind her, Crysa flicked her tail toward the cave. "One of you go make sure A.J's getting warm. The other stays here to help me get Kisha up." Breezie nodded and trotted quickly over to the cave. Once she had dissapered inside, Crysa fixed April with a stern gaze. "You stay back unless I call, got it?" April nodded.

Taking a deepbreath, Crysa felt around until she found a small rock jutting out of the cliffside. Carefully and cautiously, Crysa repeted the step until she could see Kisha's white tail. "Kish, I'm hear. Where's the branch?" she asked. Kisha looked up and pointed a shaking paw to the left. Crysa's breath caught in her throat. The branch was sticking out of the cliffside, and it was