asked Toby. “Don’t you freeze?”

“You’d be surprised.”

Toby shrugged and started digging. When Kodi finished his he walked over and inspected Toby’s work. “Very good,” he said. “The ceiling is a bit thin and the entrance should be smaller, but it’ll do.”

Toby nodded. “Thanks.”

“Here,” said Kodi. “Look at how I did mine.”

Toby trotted over to Kodi’s den and looked inside. The entrance was smaller and the den was barely any bigger than Kodi himself was. “The idea,” Kodi explained, “Is to have as little airspace as possible to keep it nice and snug. Kirby taught me that when I was a beginner.”

“But if there’s no airspace,” asked Toby, “How do you breathe?”

“Well, some dogs make their dens bigger so there is airspace, and some just sleep with their heads near the entrance.”

Toby nodded. “I wish my den were like this.”

Kodi laughed. “Well, my first den didn’t go so well either. The ceiling was so thin it caved in when a bird happened to land on it. At least, Dusty said it was a bird.”

“I take it you don’t believe her?” asked Toby.

“Well, if you ask me it felt more like a bunch of snow had landed on it. And since the branch right over my den-the same branch Dusty was hanging from by her teeth-didn’t have any snow on it…” he trailed off and grinned. “Yeah, you could say I’m a bit skeptical.” His chuckles died away as he stared in the direction of Nome. He let out a deep sigh and murmured, “I miss her already.”

“Supper!” called the musher, taking parcels of dried meat out of his pack. The dogs raced up to him, each taking their share and running off to eat it in the privacy of their dens. He patted Toby on the head as he gave him his share. “Good boy,” he said. “You worked real hard today.” Then he turned to stop Ralph from stealing an extra ration out of the pack. Toby turned and went back to his den. After he ate his food he curled up into a ball. Tired from running, he was soon asleep. Strangely, his last thoughts were of the boy he met yesterday. Toby had human friends, but there was something different about him…

'The greatest adventure

Luna found herself dreaming about Toby that night. All the fun times they’d had, the secrets they shared, everything. First the day they met, with him crashing into her like a runaway train. Then the games they had played, including the one that put her in the hospital. She dreamt of Toby finding out that she was related to Steele, wincing as she remembered the stab of guilt and shame. But they hadn’t let that stop them from being friends, and they had gone on to beat Steele the next time he came into town.

Then she saw herself, sleeping while he and the team disappeared into the white wilderness without so much as a goodbye.

“Toby, wait!” she called in her dream. “Come back!”

And there he was, standing before her. He didn’t look like himself, though. He looked cold and hard, as if something inside him had turned to granite. “No way, Luna,” he told her. “I’ve got a job to do. It’s my destiny.”

“More like your DENSITY!” she snapped. She didn’t know why she felt so angy all of the sudden, but she went on. “You’re letting your job mess up our friendship!”

Toby looked hurt, then angry. “You should be happy for me!” he snapped. “This is everything I’ve ever wanted! My dream!”

“Toby, I AM happy for you. But you didn’t even say goodbye to your best friend!”

Toby shook his head. “Sorry, Luna,” he said coldly. An image of the mail team materialized behind him. “But I’ve got new friends now.” Luna tried to speak, but Toby cut her off. You wanted me to say goodbye, and I will. So long, Luna.”

“Toby, wait!” Luna yelled. But Toby and the mail team disappeared, leaving Luna alone in shadow.

Then she saw her sisters, gabbing away like always. But there was a third dog with them, gossiping as badly as both of them put together. To her horror, she saw that the third dog was herself. “Noooooooo!!!” she screamed.

Luna awoke, panting. She stared wildly around. “Just a dream,” she sighed with relief. She shuddered as she remembered it all. Herself becoming like her sisters, losing Toby’s friendship…she couldn’t help herself, she whimpered.

‘Get a hold of yourself, Luna,’ a part of her brain ordered her. ‘It was just a dream. Toby’s your best friend. He’d never run out on you.’

Luna nodded, relieved by these thoughts. “And no way am I ever gonna be like my sisters,” she added aloud.

Toby awoke the next morning, bitterly cold. One of the dogs-Norik, he thought it was-was pawing at his face. “Hey, kid, wake up.”

“Huh?” Toby asked. “What’s up?”

“You’re sleeping in, that’s what’s up,” said Norik tersely. “C’mon, we’re hitching up. You missed breakfast.”

Toby shivered as he stepped out of his den. “Jeeze,” he couldn’t help complaining, “Why’s it so c-cold?”

Norik looked at Toby, then at the den he had come out of. “Bad digging,” he answered. “Come on.” Then he allowed a moment of concern to show through his grim mask. “You’d better warm up quick, kid. You’re looking a little bit blue.”

Toby ran to the sled and got in his place. Norik went to the end of the line, the wheel dog position. Toby felt sorry for him, running in the back. But right now he had to worry about getting warmed up.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Toby tried his hardest, but the problem was that during training he had never slept outdoors. He had always been warm when Kodi woke him up for practice. But now he was starting cold, and no matter how hard he ran, he couldn’t seem to get warm. He realized he was barely managing to keep the same pace as the others, or so he thought.

“I don’t get it,” grumbled the musher as he set up camp that night. “We should have gone almost twice this far today.”

Kirby turned to the dogs who had been behind him. “Alright, who slowed us down?” he asked. “I know I felt one of you guys dragging.”

“I was just going as fast as Colt went,” answered Norik.

“Well, I was just sticking to the same pace as Rocky,” Colt defended himself.

“And I was matching Ralph’s pace,” Rocky said firmly.

“It wasn’t me,” Ralph protested. “It was Toby. He was going slow.”

All eyes turned to Toby. “Well, Toby?” asked Kodi.

Toby shrugged. “Sorry,” he said meekly. “I was cold this morning and couldn’t seem to get going.”

Kodi tilted his head. “Sleeping problem?”

“Yeah, sorta,” Toby agreed. “My den was freezing.”

“Poorly dug,” said Norik.

“I’ll help you out this time,” Kodi promised. When he was done with his own den, he showed Toby exactly what to do step by step. Toby’s den was a lot better than the night before, but when he crawled in he was still cold. “Kodi,” he called, “I’m still cold.”

“Well, maybe you’ll warm up. It takes time to build up heat inside the den.”

Toby sighed and curled himself tighter. The opening to his den was so small he had to slither like a snake to get in and out, the roof was only an inch or two above his back, and the whole thing slanted uphill towards the back to trap more warm air. ‘If anything keeps me warm, this will,’ he thought. With a slight shiver, he fell asleep.

But as well-designed as it was, the den was still not enough to keep Toby warm. The next morning he was, if not as cold as the first morning, still too cold to run effectively regardless. The musher noticed as they ran along the trail. Mile by mile, space by space, he stopped several times and moved Toby back along the line in hopes of increasing their speed. Toby’s half-bloodhound fur just wasn’t thick enough for the job, and he lost body heat faster than he could restore it. Finally the musher called the team to a halt for the fourth time.

‘Now what?’ wondered Toby, mad at the musher and sick of himself. ‘There’s nowhere farther back for him to move me.’

Unfortunately he was wrong. One problem many people have discovered is that nine times out of ten, when you think you’re at the bottom of a hole you only discover a trapdoor leading further down. This case was no different. The musher unfastened Toby’s harness from the rest of the team and put him on the sled. Toby tried to get off, but the musher took a leather strap and used it to make a leash, tying him to the sled. “Let me go!” Toby protested, struggling as the musher wrapped blankets around him. But of course his protests were about as effective as talking to a brick wall.

It wasn’t being tied to the sled that bothered Toby. What really made him mad-mostly at himself-was the fact that that with him off the team, they really did go faster.

Back in Nome, Luna was going ballistic. Without Toby around to talk to, the town seemed deader than dead. No wild wrestling matches, no madcap practical jokes…she was even