an eye out.
When they were walking home, Ilena and Jai stopped. Steele was walking on the other side of the street. They growled at him. Rosie also stopped and looked in their direction. Unexpectedly, Steele was called over to a boy. It was Donny. Rosie strolled over the road. She knew now that Steele had attacked Jai, causing him to be diagnosed dangerous and kicked out of his home. And by the sight of Donny hugging him and chasing him, shouting "Mush Steele!" he was deffinitly using him in the race. There was going to be trouble...
"You little!" Rosie shouted, slapping him right across the face.Her dad saw this and raced across the street.
"Rosie!" he yelled. He tried to pull her away but her anger made her unstoppable. Donny was in tears.
"Wimp! You lied to me! Call yourself a friend?!" she cried. Donny and Steele ran off. No doubt Rosie would be punished, but it was worth it, just to see him shrink with fear. And her parents
did punish her. She had to go to bed at seven all week.
Jai made an excellent recovery. Even his lame leg was fit for a race. Speaking of which, it was only two days away. Rosie put all her time into doing curcuit practising, this time
with the flags in the forest. Her fastest time for a lap was 30min and 22sec. Ilena was always careful about where she was going. At the same time as doing a curcuit, she decided where, if she had to, she would overtake Steele. This was tricky as everyone knew that he'd do anything to keep in the lead. But she dug a hole in the bank where ever she would take control.
It was the day of the race. Rosie had been more excited than at christmas and she had been awake since four o'clock. She crept downstairs, careful not to stir her parents, and made Ilena and herself breckfast. Then Rosie slipped on a coat and clipped a lead to Ilena's collar. The town was deserted. The snow was dry and powdery. The moon reflected everything on the ground that was covered in white. A wolf howled in the distance and Ilena turned around. A quick wisp of wind blew up some snow and it seemed to form the shape of a wolf. Rosie didn't see it. The wolf moved closer. It howled. ilena touched it's nose and the snow fell apart. The sun rose and the first few dogs appeared. They all greeted Ilena and Rosie. Obviously they had everyone on their side. Suddenly Jai appeared from around a corner.
"Come on Jai! Let's get the other dogs!" Rosie laughed as he licked her. She jogged towards one of the houses.
"Better?" Ilena asked. Jai nodded. Mifa padded out of the house and joined them. Once everyone had been gathered, Rosie headed back home to get the dogs something to eat while she sorted out the sled. They were all munching away when Steele trotted past. Ilena had had her brekfast and was on guard. She saw him and growled. The dog ran away with it's tail between it's legs.
That'll show him! Ilena thought as Rosie clipped her in place. Then they set off down the street to the starting line. Donny was there.
Rosie took the other side of the road to avoid him. Soon, all the children were in place, and a gun fired. Ilena shot forwards and ran at a steady pace. They were in the lead. Steele was level with her, though, and she could see Balto watching with horror at the side lines. Coming around the turn, she short crossed Steele. He skidded to a halt. She hadn't pushed him, so it wasn't against the rules.
"Go Ilena!" Balto was shouting. She fastened her pace. The air was crisp and she could smell anything up to a mile away. Steele was panting heavily and sprinted to catch up to her.
"Get lost, wolf!" he growled.
"Hey, Rosie," It was Donny "Sorry."
"For what?" Rosie replied with a bit of attitude.
"For this!" Donny yanked on the rope so that it turned sharply to the right. Ilena saw this and stopped. The team slipped down a slope onto the frozen lake. They started moving again. Steele shakily stood up. Then his legs splayed out and he fell again.
"Curse you wolf!" He barked.
They were running around the lake when Steele caught up again. He had that mad look in his eye which made Ilena startle. He shoved her across, trying to push her into the water. But Ilena wanted to get away from him and bolted into the trees. Steele couldn't stop himself and the whole sled and the dogs fell into the water. It was freezing. They shook their paws from the icy slush and watched the other sleds go by. Steele growled and barked more than ever before.
Jai looked back. He saw the other teams but no sign of Steele. " I think we lost them Ilena! There's no way they can overtake us here, it's too narrow."
"Then you don't know Steele," Mifa yapped "He'll do anything to win."
"Watch it!"
"Woa!"
Mifa nearly ran straight into a tree branch. The exit of the woods was near. Through the trees, Ilena could see another team, running around the woods. A black and white malamute was in lead.
"They cheated!" she yelled. The team got closer, like when a car slips onto the motorway from a junction. Steele bolted infront of her.
"Not so good now, are you, wolf!" Steele taunted with an evil laugh. But this laugh soon turned to a diturbed face, as a wolf howled. He stoipped dead. Ilena had to swerve to avoid him. It was her howling. Donny was fed up.
"MOVE STEELE! RACE LIKE A PROPER DOG! STOP TRYING TO CHEAT!" He strolled over to Steele and hit him. Steele whined and spun around. He bit him. Donny fell over in the snow and the dogs ran off. Steele was too angry to care bout the bruise.
"One less weight off our back. Now it's about me and the wolf."
Balto was pacing nervously. He had heard the howl and was worried. When was she going to arrive?
Ilena saw the gorge. it was only a quater of a mile to Nome. If she was going to win, then they would have to get through here first. She doubled her speed. Steele ran up the side of her.
"You never give up!" she sighed.
"Same to you. But you know what? i always win."
"What? like the way you won Jenna? Like the way you defeated My father?"
Steele growled again. He jumped at her. Ilena was so scared that she ran faster than anything she had accomplished before. Steele landed on the ropes between her and Mifa. Mifa yelped. Steele was trown off in a split second. He landed on the snow, and his team ran over him, the sled following.
They drew closer to the finish line. The wails and cheers of the crowds were amazing.
"What are they cheering for? Us winning or Steele losing?" Ilena joked. But Hale piped up:
"His team ran straight over him."
Ilena slowed down. It was true that she didpised Steele, but if he had been killed...
The thought left her head as she jumped forwards through the finishing line. Balto, Jenna, Borris, and Muk and Luk were ecstatic. Rosie was was cheering with the crowd. The whole experience was wonderful. But all the noise left her mind, as Ilena looked back from where they had just ran from. A howl blew and echoed in the wind. It wasn't a wolf, and it was a howl of pain.
Steele stood up. He was covered in gashes and bruises. He was going to get his revenge on that wolf, no matter what. He staggered towards town, pulling his right hind leg behind him.
Ilena yawned and put her head in her paws. What a day! Rosie was polishing her trophy and she was curled up infront of the fire. He mind switched back to Steele as she looked out the window. "Oh my goodness...."
It was Steele. He hadn't been killed. Was this good or bad? Either way, Ilena slept more peacefully that night, and to was added the pride in making a little girl's dream come true.
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