her face, she started to speak again,

“Well, last night. I met this dog…”

“Oh! Tell us, tell us! Who is he?” Sasha asked.

“No, no! What’s he look like? Is he handsome?” Jess laughed, excited to hear Kari’s story. Kari began her story, “He’s a new dog, he just moved here from Anchorage. He’s a racing sled dog, and wants to race the dogs here,”

“What does he look like?” Jess asked again. Kari laughed.

“Well, kinda striking actually! He’s large, and strong. He has jet black fur and bright blue eyes,” Kari told them. Sasha and Jess both looked at each other.

“From Anchorage? And he’s large, black fur and blue eyes? Handsome?” Jess and Sasha said together. “Yea, that’s what I said,” Kari said surprised.

“Oh my goodness! I think you have just described Steele!” Jess shouted with joy, not even realising how this might affect Kari. Kari looked astonished, but also furious again, “What?!”

 Jess and Sasha looked worried. They didn’t want Kari to get angry and upset again. “Honey, don’t get upset!” Sasha said quickly, then gave Jess a cross look, “Jess doesn’t know what she’s talking about…”

“Can I not say anything without you bringing up Steele?!” She shouted, furious at what Jess had said.

“Kari! Please don’t get upset again! Don’t storm out!” Jess panicked.  Kari stood up out-raged. The woman that was bathing her tried to sit her down again but Kari wouldn’t budge.

“Storm out?! I have every right to ‘storm out’! Can you not mention that stupid dog’s name for one second! I can’t believe you!”

Kari suddenly jumped out the tub, soaked to the bone, infuriated.

“No, Kari, please! Finish your bath first, get dried off! You’ll freeze to death if you go out in the cold like that!” Sasha said, trying to stop Kari from storming out again. But Kari didn’t listen, she ran out the door, dodging all the humans and out into the cold. She shivered the second she got outside. She was wet to the bone, and she could feel her fur freezing. She had too get back home. Kari ran as fast as she could to get home, shivering and shuddering. Suddenly she bumped into someone and fell to the snow. She got up and violently shook it off. She was still in a very bad mood. It was Shadow she had bumped into.

“Oh, Kari! I have to… um… tell you…  umm,” He started, but then noticed she was soaking wet, “What are you doing so wet?” Kari suddenly burst at him in rage,

“I am wet because someone couldn’t stop talking about that stupid, idiot dog Steele!”

Shadow gasped at her then said quietly, and quite angrily,

“My father is not…   an idiot,”

“What? Your…  father?” Kari asked, still shuddering because she was so cold.

Shadow didn’t say anything. He looked around him quickly then began to run.

“I gotta go now,” He said anxiously. Kari suddenly became livid, and she wasn’t going to let Shadow get away again. She ran in front of him.

“NO! Tell me what is up with you?! Why are you running away from me?! Do you NOT like me! Is that it?! What?!” Kari shouted in his face, furious again. Shadow stared at her. Then he sighed. 

“Ok,” He admitted, “Your father…   doesn’t go well with mine…”

Kari fuming face suddenly disappeared as she stared at Shadow. She just remembered what he had just said. Shadow’s father, Steele…   Kari’s father, Balto.

“Oh…  no…” She said slowly as she suddenly realised why he was running away. Steele and Balto. Not a good match. Kari herself felt like running away.

“Yea, I know. What am I gonna do?” Shadow said, worried.

“Your father…   is Steele?” Kari said slowly. Shadow nodded and sighed again.

Kari slowly turned to an angry tone, “Your…   father…  was Steele? The same Steele, that made fun of my dad, attacked him when he was trying to help, made him lose his way by marking the trail wrong!” Shadow was baffled at what she was saying. He had never heard such nonsense in his life,

“What?! He never did that! It was Balto who did all the bad stuff!”

Kari got even more infuriated with this, “My father! He was the one who saved Nome! Steele was the one who was so greedy and wanted everything for himself and made my father’s life a misery!” Shadow also got infuriated,

“No! Balto made my dad’s life a misery! Balto was the one who made him leave town! You don’t even know what he did to my father, do you?! You know nothing! Cause your father won’t have told you the awful things he has done to my father!”

“You’re the one who doesn’t know what your father actually did!”

“That’s not true!” Shadow barked then turned around so he wasn’t even facing Kari.

Kari realised that she didn’t want to fight with Shadow. He was her friend, even if he was Steele’s son. But what if Shadow was telling the truth? She thought. No! She could never betray her father like that, and go to Steele’s side. Steele had obviously told Shadow lies, and Shadow didn’t know to believe them. She could see that he doubted that what he himself had said…  was true. Kari changed her tone to a soft, calmer tone, “I’m sorry Shadow…  I didn’t mean too…”

“No! I…  have to go…” Shadow said quietly then ran off.

“Wait, Shadow! Where are you going? Shadow!” Kari shouted after him, but he didn’t reply. She sighed. Suddenly, Kari could feel a sudden chill run up her spine. She shivered and realised, that she had get home before she froze to death.

“What are we gonna do, Kirby?” Ralph whispered to Kirby. The sun was just rising, and the team were getting ready to set off.

“What are you talking about?” Kirby asked.

“You know…   Kodi?” Ralph whispered as quiet as he could when he said Kodi.

“Oh! That thing…” Kirby said, “Umm…  we need a plan,”

Ralph nodded along. Suddenly, the musher yelled, and Kirby and Ralph had to stop their conversation and run through the snow.

When the team got running, Kirby looked behind him to see Ralph smiling at Dusty again. Kirby stopped himself again and leapt on Ralph.

“I’m not gonna let you, win her over that easy!” Kirby barked in his face. Kodi and Dusty were furious that Kirby had done the same thing again. The musher was too. He walked over to them and began to speak, “All right, looks like you two can’t be anywhere near each other, I will move you Kirby…  hmm…  over here at the back, and you will be replace you with…  Dusty,” The musher said as he took Kirby by the collar and swapped him with a dog at the back, “And it looks like you were having some problems with Dusty as well, Ralph. So I have even more reasons to move her too the front. I think you deserve to be at the front with Kodi,” He moved Dusty next to Kodi then moved the other dogs around.

“Wow!” Kodi said, excited about running next to his best friend.

“I know! I can run right next to you now!” Dusty laughed. Suddenly the musher yelled his command and they were off again, with Kirby and Ralph in a terrible mood.

Kari woke up from a long sleep. She was lying next to a roasting fire in Jenna’s house. The room was warm and cosy. It seemed to be early afternoon, and Kari was supposed to be at the dog salon. But she didn’t really care too much. She didn’t really want to go back just yet. She was still really angry at Jess and Sasha.

“Have a good sleep?” Jenna asked her as she walked into the room.

Kari looked over to her and smiled, “Yes, thank you. I still feel a bit dozy though. It’s so cosy in here!” She walked over and sat next to Kari.

Kari had stayed the night at her mothers. She was tired and upset, and wanted to talk to her mother and get a good rest that she deserved.

“What happened to you last night, Kari? Why were you wet and frozen?” Jenna asked in a worried tone that mothers have. She hadn’t asked last night because she had looked so angry and confused. Jenna just left her to curl up by the fire and dry off. Kari told Jenna the whole story, even about Shadow and Steele. She wanted to tell someone, and Jess and Sasha were no help at all. Jenna was surprise to hear all this, “Steele’s son?”

Kari nodded then said quickly, “But, mum, he is really nice! Not anything like the Steele you knew! But there is another problem…”

“What?”

“Well, Shadow has been told another story…   and he hates dad,”

“What?! Hates Balto!”

“Yea, Steele told him some really bad stuff about dad and I told him the true story, but he doesn’t believe me!” Kari was panicking.

“Calm down Kari!” Jenna said, “We’ll sort this out, ok? Don’t worry so much,”

Kari smiled then gave out a long, unexpected yawn. Jenna smiled back and licked her daughter’s forehead.

“Your still tired, you have to wake up so early every morning, and what a day you had