lined the inside of the basket. Jenna sniffled for what seemed like the hundredth time. She blinked away more tears as the small flames of her fire quickly died, plunging the room into a dreary dimness. Why?… Why was fate so cruel? Jenna shuddered violently. She felt a dull numbness in her mind, limbs, and heart. She rolled herself into a ball, covering her face with her tail and she began to whine. Jenna sat up suddenly and let out a violent sneeze. If her eyes hadn’t been watery before, they sure would have been now. She shook her head to try and clear her head from that stuffed up feeling when she saw something peculiar. There on her tail was a long patch of something black. She combed a paw through her tail and the black spread right onto her paw. Her curiosity had definitely been aroused now, so she leaned down and took another sniff, before her body trembled from another vicious sneeze. There was only one thing that this powdery blackness could be. It had to be soot! But what the heck would it be doing on her tail?… Unless…

Her thoughts were interrupted when a wind whistled into her home. A dog with a thick, brown coat walked up to her, his eyes sparkling and a spring in his step.

“Doc? What’re you doing here so late?” she asked.

He smiled at her sweetly. “Well Jenna my dear, I can say that for once, I actually have some good news to bring to you. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind it, especially after the, ugh, events that took place earlier.”

“Of course not! Right about now I’d accept anything.”

Doc chuckled. “Quite eager I see. Alright then. Tell me how you would feel if you could see Balto again?”

Jenna stood up, a warm and happy smile stretching itself across her muzzle. “Oh you know that that would make me the happiest dog on the planet if you could do something like that!”

“Excellent!… Now, here’s what we’ll have to do. I’ll come get you in a few short hours, after Midnight. We’ll go to your children’s homes and collect them up as well, and under the cover of the night, we shall sneak out of town, meeting Balto at the sign for Nome. From there he’ll take all of you into the forests to watch over you all until I come to find you to let you know when it’s alright to come back. If we play our cards right, there’s no way that this can possibly fail.”

Jenna’s smile suddenly faded. “Or maybe he could come here? You could manage that, right?”

Doc arched an eyebrow and looked at her quizzically. “Unfortunately, it would be much harder to do something like that than you may think. Trust me, we could get you all out of here before sunup tomorrow.”

Jenna paused briefly and looked towards the direction of the door. “You don’t understand Doc… I… I can’t leave.”

Chapter Sixteen:

A frigid wind rushed around the sign leading into the town of Nome, sending chills down to the bone of anyone dumb enough to stand outside, stealing the warm breaths that they gave off before they even left their lips. Balto shivered as a bitter wind danced through his thick fur. This night had been much colder than he had anticipated and he heard a sneeze from Boris beside him.

“Oy! Is so c-c-cold!” he shouted, his teeth chattering comically, “Vhat possessed you to bring me to frozen plain of death!?”

“Oh c’mon Boris. Don’t you want to see Jenna and them too?” Balto asked with a smile.

“Of course I do!… But you could have been letting me stay somewhere much warmer,” Boris nodded his head.

“But then you would have missed out on all the fun.”

“Oh no, we wouldn’t be wanting that now, would ve?” Boris asked sarcastically.

Before Balto could reply again, a gust of wind turned them back towards the town. If you didn’t know about the recent events that had taken place, you would have thought it was rather peaceful looking, especially from afar. Every light in Nome was turned off, and you could see the drifts of snow piled high on the roofs even from the distance that they were. The hill that the two sat upon gave the perfect semi-aerial view. The evergreen trees wrapped around the outside of Nome so delicately, and the mountains gave the perfect backdrop even after they slid into the icy ocean. Boris looked down from this wondrous scene and nudged Balto before pointing down the hill. A figure was approaching them, and at first, the wolf-dog’s ears rose in happiness, until he saw that the figure was completely alone. The St. Bernard walked to Balto, hanging his head as snow piled onto his old back.

“I’m sorry Balto.. Haida, Denali, and Saba are too afraid to leave town, mainly for their mother’s sake. Dingo is now also under house arrest along with Kodi. And Jenna is the same, too afraid to leave her home for she suspects that she’s being very carefully guarded. I tried warning them about everything, but I couldn’t change any of their minds… Jenna did ask though, if there was any way that you could get into town. She says that’s the only way…-”

“Doc, you know I can’t do that. If I get caught, I could get-”

“Please Balto,” Doc interrupted, “Jenna’s practically losing the battle without you there to fight by her side. She has very few dogs that she can rely on anymore. And I’ll do all that I can to keep you hidden.”

Balto looked to Boris for some kind of answer, but the goose simply shrugged his shoulder. “I wouldn’t be minding piece of quiet from constant moping for few days. Is up to you Fido. I can’t be making all decisions for you now can I?”

Balto rubbed the back of his head as he tried to think. “Well… I guess we can try it. But we have to figure something out since it may be a semi-lasting, or permanent thing.”

Doc smiled. “Sure thing My Boy! But… do you think you could just visit her for the quickest of moments tonight? I think that would help her so very much. And it would probably work wonders for you too.”

“You know I’d love to!… But please tell me, did you see anyone out? I can’t be caught in town, or I’ll… you know what’ll happen. And I wouldn’t want to put Jenna through something like that.”

“Of course not… And no. I didn’t see a single soul wandering the streets this evening at all. It should be the perfect time to go.”

Balto thought for a moment. This could just end up a complete failure from such a bone-headed decision. But he felt that there wasn’t any other option. He had to make sure that Jenna was doing alright. Without any other thought, he nodded his head and began to follow Doc towards the town. The clouds above swirled angrily in the sky as a wind whispered into Doc’s ears, trying to warn him away from town. He did not heed the wind’s caution and continued on with Balto through the snow-swept streets. Balto could see Jenna’s house in the distance and he immediately took off in a run, leaving Doc in the dust. The old dog smiled as he watched the hybrid rush away.

Down an alley that Doc was just about to pass, a figure shifted carefully. His breathing was silent, but irregular. The wind ruffled his brown eye patch and yellow fur so delicately. He could still feel a dull pounding in his mind, but he had grown more accustomed to it, and was beginning to embrace it. A smile crossed his muzzle and he stared through glazed over eyes at the other figure that appeared at the mouth of the alley. He took a few steps forward, his mouth hanging open as he chuckled quietly and the powdery snow crackled under his weight. Over the last few days, it had seemed like torture. He didn’t realize what had been going on, but he had slowly lost touch with who he was, and began to sink to his more primal and cruel ways. By now he could catch the scent of this other dog clearly, and he knew exactly who it was. The dog that his master wanted a message sent to. Within an instant, he was running and already wrapping his teeth around the scruff of this dog’s neck. He threw the dog down, and looked into his fearful eyes.

“K-Kaltag? Is that you!?” the dog asked.

Kaltag smirked. “In a matter of speaking Doc, yes… So, why did you leave town? I thought no one was allowed to visit Balto.”

Doc frowned sadly. “So I see that you’ve joined Henry and his crew.”

“Hehe, close. But I think you’re avoiding my question.”

“It doesn’t matter what you do to me,” said the old dog, “I really have nothing else to lose, and I have aged past my time.”

Kaltag snickered. “Oh, we weren’t planning on hurting you at all. In fact, we figured it would be better to go after any dog we see…”

“Have you lost your mind!? Going after innocents is a horrible thing to do!”

“Close Doc, very close. But if you want to keep that from happening, I suggest that you spill everything that you’ve done in the last few days.”

Doc stood up and Kaltag crouched down, growling. Doc held a paw up.

“Just hold on, I’m going to tell you right now.”

The old St. Bernard walked to the nearest building and began to tap on the wood siding with his claws. This continued for a minute or two. When he finished, he smiled at Kaltag, and saw his features soften. The Chinook moved towards him, his eyes now watery.

“Doc, please, get out of here. And you can’t tell anyone about