and after he had fought with Lilith, he scrounged for food like her. But he made a mistake one evening. He broke into the house of an individual that he wouldn’t soon forget. He had reached the handle of a refrigerator when he felt a rough hand grasp the scruff of his neck and tug him away violently. He was the town clown, and I mean that quite literally, and as punishment for sneaking around his home, he planned to make Hal his pet, and not one that he would love either. As his first act, he took out his paintbrushes and a paint, and it wasn’t a face paint that would come off easily. He painted him up to resemble him in ways, a clown, a thing he would never live down. And as a final hurrah, he put a large, red, abnormal nose on him, but the string would not stretch, so as Hal grew, the string eventually fused within him. As a custom of this clown, before they would leave, he would attach a mask to Hal’s face that was connected to a canister. He said he ‘borrowed’ it from the dentist’s office, and it would make Hal giggle in delight seconds after, setting him up for the part of a clown immediately. If Hal did anything that displeased his master, he would be beaten and hurt. A year of dealing with this torment was really starting to take a toll on his mind and body, and he heard word that a circus was coming to the near area. His master worked him extra hard because he wanted desperately to get out of this town, and join an actual circus, so that made things worse for him. They were accepted into this circus, but shortly after, the human in charge and every human involved was taken by the police. This did set Hal free, but it also freed him from any restraint that his master had laid on him, so there was very little to hold him back. He eventually returned to White Mountain, and I reunited with him, but it was after he had already taken a few lives in the process. He turned his old master’s house into his own place that he could do with as he wished, and that’s where we are now.

“And finally, we move to Gregory Steele. I know you know most of his life from hanging around him. I heard that your group of four used to be pretty close knit and that he was quite the buzz of the town, but I doubt you know everything about your once good friend. That night made something click inside of him. He felt exactly the way about Lucy, as he had felt when our father left. He was the only one of us besides Lucy to stay in Nome, and for most of the time, he was able to hide his anger towards her and to hold himself back. Most of this was because he had other things to distract him, such as being the lead sled dog and a husky named Jenna. But he felt extremely threatened when this character named Balto started to move in on her. So he did his best to try and keep him away from her, but his efforts were simply useless. And after the whole Diphtheria Scare, he was heartbroken and enraged when he completely lost Jenna, and he vowed to return the favor one day. He came to us in White Mountain, but didn’t speak except on the rare occasion, most of the time he would stay isolated to think, but he left one day, and we couldn’t find him. We later found out that he went back to Nome to try and get revenge, but he failed miserably. He returned, and begged us to help him, and of course, we agreed because we couldn’t see him suffer, and now here we are.”

He saw Star looking up at him, completely awestruck and his mouth hung open. Burt chuckled quietly and patted Star on the head.

“I’m sorry, I know it’s probably a lot of information to process.”

He closed the curtains with his tail, plunging the room back into darkness before he silently padded over to the door. He glanced over his shoulder and spoke to Star once more before he exited.

“I also apologize again. See, I’m always quite conflicted, and so this is one side of me. While I’m with my siblings, I won’t be the same as you see me now… Just warning you.”

Burt smiled and stepped out, closing the door most of the way. He saw Hal grinning at him from his torn up chair.

“Shall we continue Brother? Or do you wish to continue spreading our life stories to more?”

“You know I had to say something, besides, this may earn us pity later on,” Burt whispered quietly.

“Ah, excellent thought Burt, but please, don’t be too cunning. I wouldn’t want you taking my job away from me,” Hal snickered.

“Rest assured Brother, I won’t. But we can continue on if you like.”

Hal jumped off the chair and walked over to Burt. They gave each other a brotherly embrace as they both smiled.

“I would love nothing better. But first, could you teach me Morse Code?… Just in case.

Burt smiled. “But of course Hal. It should make things easier lest we are separated by towns.”

“Excellent.”

Chapter Four:

Spirits in Nome ran high as everyone prepared for the celebration of another year passing. Smoke poured from the Manson chimney as squeals of delight roared inside. Rosie and her family accepted this new puppy with open arms. Currently, the time was 9:58, and Rosie was waving a small ball in front of the pup as her parents and Jenna watched and laughed. Jenna heard a scratching on the dog-door and immediately jumped out of her basket and rushed over to the flap. She flipped it up and smiled pleasantly when she saw a scruffy tan and brown hybrid walk through. She nuzzled him tenderly and breathed in his musky scent and sighed happily.

“And here I thought you weren’t going to make it back in time,” Jenna chuckled.

“Well you should know by now that I’m full of surprises,” Balto said, winking.

Jenna’s smile widened and she playfully swatted at Balto, laughing. He grinned back at her and headed towards the pet flap once more, looking over his shoulder at her and motioning to her.

“Well, aren’t cha coming? We’re all headed to the boiler room, and we have Morris on cue for when the clock strikes Twelve. It’ll be a blast.”

Jenna glanced at Rosie for a tick, “But what about Rosie. I’m sure she’d like to have me too.”

“But I think her parents could distract her well enough,” he laughed.

“Yeah, I guess your right,” Jenna said before she remembered something,” Oh! But what about Becca?”

Balto cocked his head to the side, “Becca? The name doesn’t ring any bells.”

“Well, I guess it shouldn’t, we actually just met a few nights ago. Becca, can you come here?”

Balto noticed for the pup for the first time. She pranced over and stood closely to Jenna, eying Balto in a curious manner.

“Becca, this is Balto, my most lovely mate,” Jenna winked and caught a glimpse of Balto turning a slight shade of pink and he rubbed his head with a paw.

“Well, I wouldn’t really use lovely as a word to describe me,” he whispered with a smile.

“Oooh, so you’re Balto. I heard so much about you,” Becca said politely. 

“Is that a good or bad thing, Jen?” Balto chuckled.

“Do you even have to ask?” she nuzzled him once more, “But shall we get going?”

He nuzzled her back and opened the pet flap and grinned.

“After you.”

Jenna left first, followed by Becca, and lastly came Balto, who quickly sped up besides her as they walked down the street toward the boiler room. They could hear that there was quite a bustle inside before they even reached the door. They pushed it opened and a wave of sound and heat hit them.

“Aye! Is about time you were arriving! I almost give up!” called a voice they recognized all too well.

A snow goose waddled up to Jenna, Balto and Becca, honking as he did so.

“Well, I can say I certainly wasn’t expecting you to show up here Boris.”

“You think I give you moment of piece? Ha!”

Becca hid behind Jenna’s hind leg and looked up at Boris. Jenna saw her and smiled sweetly.

“Oh don’t worry about him, he doesn’t bite. He’s just good at barking.”

“Honking, not barking.”

“Don’t forget nagging, he’s awfully good at that too,” Balto chimed in.

“Always last vord vith you! Is no use vith you.”

Becca cautiously padded away from Jenna and began to sniff Boris, which he didn’t mind in the least.

“Do not be vorried. Balto is only one who suffers wrath of me,” he smiled warmly, “you can be calling me Uncle Boris.”

She returned the gesture and looked around this room. There was the main boiler of course that was placed against one wall, and there was a large stack of barrels besides it. The opposite side of the room had boxes underneath a second level. She became preoccupied and wandered away from her small group. Balto, Jenna, and Boris didn’t even notice as they started to rove around. They spied a blanket laid out that had beef jerky spread across it. Jenna looked at the dog behind the blanket. She seemed rather pudgy, and she had droopy, big ears.

“I see you swiped the jerky Dipsy.”

“Yep, and old Gunderson didn’t see a thing. But you best get it before I start getting hungry,” her stomach growled and she stared down at the jerky.

Balto smirked and picked up a few pieces in his mouth. He turned one of them so it pointed straight out. Jenna saw him wink at her, and she got the idea. He kissed her softly while also exchanging the meat.

“Aw, what a pretty picture!” sang a voice.

Jenna held