that,” he said warmly.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

A cool breeze blew along the sandy coastline as Jenna and Balto watched six joy filled pups frolic in the frigid ocean water. Jenna sprawled herself out as her fur was gently ruffled. Her tan wolf/dog laid down beside her, gently caressing her in a nuzzle. She looked at her six glorious pups and then back at Balto, licking his cheek.

“Did I ever tell you how much I love you?” she said sweetly.

“Only every day,” Balto replied happily.

Jenna laughed quietly and glanced back to her pups just as a larger wave came and soaked them. She smiled, but then frowned soon after. She stood up and walked past her little ones, Balto following close behind her. She stepped up to another pup, only this one wasn’t like her others. This one was black and white. Its back was turned to her, and it looked as if it were sobbing. The water lapped at its legs and each time it hit, the small dog would shudder violently. She peered over her shoulder and gasped in shock. She had only counted five of her pups.

“Balto… Balto, where is Alue!?”

“Gone Jenna… Just like the others will be…”

She saw as right before her eyes, each one of her pups started to fade in color and soon they were translucent as they continued to play, yip, wrestle. Soon they all completely disappeared as Jenna watched on in disbelief.

“Our babies. Balto, what happened to our kids!?”

She frantically turned to him and also found him gone. Jenna turned in circles, calling out the names of all who had just vanished. All the color started to evaporate, leaving the entire scene gray and bleak, and even that darkened until the canvas around her blackened into nothingness. She started to feel tears well up in her eyes and her breathing quicken. Right before she was about to lose it, she jumped as she suddenly heard a voice from behind her.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?”

Jenna whirled around and saw that black and white pup again.

“I-I’m sorry. What was that?” She asked, trying her hardest to keep herself together.

“I said it hurts. Having your entire family ripped away from your grasp. To be left alone to fend for yourself in this big world. No one to help or protect you. It becomes a nightmare, but you can’t wake up from it no matter how hard you try.”

Jenna took a step away and bit her lower lip. “I’m afraid I don’t quite understand.” she whispered quietly.

The pup turned around, revealing his pale and somewhat sunken face.

“No one ever does, until it’s too late. A pity you could say.”

She blinked twice and took a small step back as the pup started to rise.

“Wh-What are you!?” Jenna shouted.

The dog had started to grow in size until he was a little bigger than Jenna. A white light encircled her and the stranger quickly faded into the shadows before she could have seen his face. But what she did see kept her locked in her tracks. Before her were a pair of piercing red eyes and a grin of white, shiny, sharp teeth. Her body trembled as fear slowly crept into her body, numbing her senses. After a few moments which seemed to last forever, the eyes faded leaving only that sick twisted grin. It spoke quietly to her in an almost mocking manner.

“A friend. An enemy. An acquaintance perhaps. Or maybe I’m just your nightmare. Anything‘s possible…”

On either side of this set of teeth, two others appeared. Both were smiling, but not as much as the center one. They spoke to her in perfect unison, their voices blending into one smooth voice.

“We’ve come back for you Jenna. We love you so much.”

“Yes Jenna. We all love you.” Jenna cringed as she heard this and even more smiles leapt from the darkness and showed themselves, totaling eleven.

“What do you want with me?” She asked loudly, trying to sound braver to hide her own fear.

The reaction she got was most unexpected though. She had focused her attention back onto the center set of teeth before she saw it open. She found herself confused as it seemed to bounce in an awkward manner. And that’s when she heard it. It started out inaudible as first, but it soon crescendoed until Jenna was on the verge of tears once more. A laugh. A bone-chilling cackle that shook her soul and left her stunned. Soon, all of the others joined and laughed, forming a grand chorus. Jenna found herself unwillingly adding her own voice in the form of a scream.

~-~-

Jenna’s eyes snapped open as her body quickly sprang up. Her breathing was heavy and ragged as her heart raced in her chest. Her eyes were wide and full of attention as she frantically scanned the room. She padded quietly from her basket and leapt onto the windowsill, still not saying a word. She looked out into the blowing snow, but could barely see anything past her window.

“… Aunt Jenna?… Where are you?” piped in a small voice.

“Hold on Becca, I’ll be right there,” Jenna spoke softly, not wanting to worry the pup. She landed on the floor and daintily stepped into the pet basket again, leaving plenty of room for Becca to sleep in. The pup snuggled up to her and she smiled slightly as she tried to fall asleep once more.

A dog was watching outside her window on the steps of the porch, wishing her silhouette would return to the clear portal so as he could gaze at her once more. He whispered something as the wind covered it up and piled more snow onto his black and white fur.

Chapter Three:

Kodi glanced back at White Mountain as his paws thumped at the ground. He shook his head and looked distastefully at the sled behind him, and his father in front of him. Balto looked behind him in time to see this look. He sighed quietly as he kicked up flurries of snow.

“I’m sorry Kodi,  we couldn’t stop Mr. Simpson,” he apologized, shaking his head as well, “but hey. It’s New Year’s Eve. We could maybe do something if you like.”

Kodi ignored his last comment and looked into the sky. The storm had cleared only this morning, and they had looked high and low for Star, but to no avail. Mr. Simpson had asked the postmaster if there was anyway he could borrow a dog until their next return, and he had only happily obliged by giving them the location of the vet’s house. There they met a black and white husky. Her tail was all black, and her back was mostly black with white specks that dotted her all over, giving the effect of falling snow on her body. She also wore a small red ribbon on her left front paw, it’s small bow seemed in perfect form. This husky called herself Lilith and she seemed to be a pretty good sled dog even though she was running behind Kodi. He noticed something about her that was kind of odd though. From what he had seen, she would periodically peek over her shoulder, as if someone was following her. He thought it like some kind of a nervous tick, so he tried ignoring it.

“Hey, Lilith!” he called back, “hanging in there?”

She smiled at him, “Just great!” She glanced over her shoulder once again, “I just hope they’re alright…”

“Hope who’s alright?” he asked.

She looked at him like she had just said something wrong, but she quickly shook her head. “Ugh, just my owners, they must be worried sick about me, heh,” she bit her lower lip and her eyes drifted back again.

Kodi smiled at her and looked ahead, his head riddled with questions and his pace steady as they pushed onward through the snow that glistened in the sun.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

“Someone… Anyone… Help me.. Please.”

“No one can hear you my little pup. Sorry to disappoint you.”

A dim light cast itself through an opening door as a figure emerged into the room. Before him lay a small purple dog. His breathing was heavy and forced, and his fur seemed untidy, matted down with sweat and small trickles of blood. He coughed loudly as speech came to him, albeit softly.

“Why… Why are you doing this to me?”

The dog stepped the rest of the way through the door, kicking it open with a laugh, sending the light into the rest of the room.

“Well my little, Star was it, we accidentally grabbed the wrong dog, but you’ll suffice. But, just to make sure you don’t try and cross us-”

He grinned widely, his eyes staring down at Star with a sick pleasure in them. He stepped over daintily to Star and circled around him before raking a claw viciously across his back. His face showed smugness and a satisfaction as he heard a shriek of pain. Star groaned and turned over, focusing on this dog’s features as his ragged breaths came out in puffs of steam.

His twinkling teeth were as ghostly white as the majority of his face. Around his mouth was painted in a black, which was traced around with red. Both of his ice-blue eyes were circled with black. His nose jutted out from the rest of his muzzle, and was a bright red with nostril holes, and he could see a small part of a string, but it seemed to sink into his skin very shortly down his muzzle. Star blinked and tried to focus his eyes. Now that he looked, this dog looked exactly like a clown, but the way his eyes seemed to pierce through him was much less than humorous or carefree.

The dog-clown was panting heavily, his tongue lolling out as he eyed Star, laughter escaping from him again. He licked his lips and cracked his jaw. He leaned down close to Star and chuckled as he saw him shudder, but his head quickly shot up towards the

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