Saba crept along on her belly the way she'd seen some of the town's few cats do. She knew she was probably terrible at it but she didn't care. Kodi hadn't seen her yet and, to her, that was all that mattered.

'Three... two... one!'

She leapt out from behind the tall grass and pounced on her brother. He squealed loudly and struggled beneath her firm grip.

'Gotcha!' Saba cried, 'Loser!'

'Get off!' Kodi yelped, 'Leave me alone, Saba!'

The two six-month-old dogs wrestled until Saba finally gave in and Kodi wrenched himself free. He glared at his sister and licked his cut paw.

'Thanks a bunch.' he sighed, 'Now another reason to slow me down in my training.'

Saba shrugged.

'Sorry, Kodi.' she said.

But her cheeky grin returned.

'Do you know where Dingo or Dakota are?' she asked, looking around, impatiently.

Kodi shook his head, sighing.

'Probably playing near their homes.' he gussed, 'Ever think of that?'

'See ya!' Saba yelled, running off.

She ran into the town, a blur of dark red. She saw her best friend, Summer, up ahead and ran to catch up with her.

'Summer!' she yelled, cannonning into her.

'Wha? Saba!?' Summer cried as she was knocked over.

'You great lump!' Summer growled, 'Get off of me!'

Saba did as she was told and sat down next to her friend, panting happily.

'You act like such a boy!' Summer sighed.

But she smiled at her excitable friend. The blond and white husky was very different from her hybrid friend. She was one of the prettiest dogs in the town and acted very girly and proper. Many found it weird that she acted like the excitable, adventurous Saba. It actually stemmed from something that happened shortly after they'd both been adopted and Saba had helped Summer. Summer couldn't not be friends with Saba after the help she'd been given.

'So, where are ya going?' Summer asked.

'I'm trying to find Dingo or Dakota.' Saba replied, 'Kodi was being a spoilsport.'

'Again?' Summer said, rolling her eyes.

Saba nodded and scratched her ear. She looked around. There were many dogs all around and finding her sisters would be hard if she wasn't the kind to get her nose into everything.

'What about Aleu?' Summer asked, 'Surely she'd be happy to play.'

Saba's ears perked up and she jumped to her paws.

'Great idea!' she said, 'Aleu's a lot more fun than Dingo or Dakota anyway. I'll see you later, Summer.'

The golden dog nodded and smirked as she watched her friend bound away.

'Aleuuuuu!' Saba howled when she reached Balto's boat.

A light brown dog jumped over the side of the boat and landed clumsily in front of Saba.

'Wanna go play?' Saba asked.

'Sure!' Aleu replied.

The two sisters ran off towards the trees. They laughed as they crashed into each other and raced to the biggest tree ahead of them.

'I win!' Saba cried, smacking her paw down on it's trunk.

'No fair!' Aleu whined, 'You tripped me!'

'You're a terrible loser!' Saba replied.

'Whatever.' Aleu replied, grumpily.

But she cheered up when Saba pounced on her in a wrestling match.

 

It was late when they finally decided to give up. The moon was already rising in the sky and the night was already settling in. A cold breeze ruffled the two hybrid's fur and they shivered.

'I'd better get back to dad.' Aleu replied, 'He's such a worrier.'

'Alright.' Saba said, grinning, 'I suppose Shannon will be worried too.'

They said their goodbyes before departing. Saba returned home, panting, a hot sweat on her from the run.

'There you are, Jess!' Shannon cried, letting the young dog in, 'I was getting worried!'

Saba barked, happily, and played with Shannon before they both tired.

 

Two weeks later, Saba, Dingo, Summer and Kodi were walking along the beach when Saba suddenly stopped and sniffed the air.

'What's wrong?' Dingo asked.

'I can smell something.' Saba replied.

She looked towards the smell and saw smoke rising in the distance somewhere in the forest. A grin spread across her face.

'Let's go check it out!' she said.

'Um, OK.' the others replied, shrugging.

They followed Saba as she walked closer to the edge of the woods. Looking back at them with a twinkle in her eyes, she darted off through the trees.

'Saba!' Summer yelled, 'Wait for us!'

Saba laughed, loduly, and continued to run. She narrowly missed a low branch of a tree and bit her lip as she slipped under.

'Close one.' she muttered to herself, smiling.

She skidded to a stop next to a fallen old log and waited for her siblings and friend to catch up.

'Saba!' Dingo cried, 'Don't do that to us!'

Saba stuck her tongue out and looked to a small cabin standing several metres from them. Smoke was rising rapidly from the chimney and, although only Dingo saw it, a flame flickered behind the glass.

Time for an explore!' Saba grinned.

'No!' Kodi snapped, 'We won't let you. There's no point going in there when you'll only get in trouble! It could be dangerous.'

'Killjoy.' Saba replied, sticking her tongue out again.

She leapt at her brother and pinned him to the ground.

'I'm bigger than you anyway.' she said.

'Please don't go, Saba.' Dingo pleaded, 'I think there might be fire in there. I saw something in the window.'

'Don't be daft.' Saba scoffed, looking round at the three of them, 'You guys are all just scaredy-cats! There's no fire!'

She jumped and leapt over the log.

'Coming?' she asked, raising an eyebrow to them.

'No!' Kodi said, firmly, 'And neither are you. Come back here!'

'No way.' Saba replied, baring her teeth, 'I wanna explore. The town's boring and this is the first I've seen of the house. I wanna know whose in it!'

'Well, we won't let you!' Dingo replied, jumping over the log and standing beside her sister, 'We don't want you to get hurt, Saba.'

Saba snarled and pinned her sister to the ground, teeth bared. Don't be such a baby!' she spat, 'There's nothing dangerous about this house!'

Dingo scrambled to get out of her sister's grip and looked sadly at her.

'Please, Saba!' she begged, 'Let's just go back and play or something. Aleu is always fun. Please!'

'No!' Saba finally snapped, 'I'm not letting you ruin my fun. You only live this life once.'

'Which is why we don't want you to end yours so quickly!' Summer chipped in, angrily.

Saba shook her head, angrily and ran off, towards the house.

'COME BACK!' Dingo yelled, running after her.

Kodi stopped her.

'It's one thing getting her in trouble.' he said, 'We'd better go get someone.'

'Let's go back and get Shannon and Balto.' Summer said, 'They'll help.'

Kodi and Dingo nodded and the three dogs ran back to town.

'Wimps.' Saba snuffed, looking over at her shoulder when she reached the house. She stepped up to the door and searched for a way in. She could smell smoke and it seemed to have gotten even more than before. She looked up at the dark smoke coming from the chimney. She shook her head, assuring herself it was nothing and carrie don looking for an opening. She soon found a broken window and leapt up at the windowsill and scrambled in.
 

'I'll fetch Shannon.' Kodi said, 'You two find mum and dad.'

He ran off towards Saba's house. Shannon was just leaving, her dad following. Kodi barked loudly, running up to them.

'Hey!' Shannon cried, 'What's this?'

Kodi barked again and ran forwards and few metres before turning back to bark again. Shannon watched him, slightly confused. Kodi shook his head and ran back to her, pulling on her coat before running off again.

'Maybe he wants us to follow.' Shannon's dad said.

'Maybe.' Shannon mumbled.

'I think we should. Something might've happened.'

The two humans ran off after Kodi.

Summer, Dingo, Jenna and Balto soon joined them as they raced through the forest.

'What do you think's going on?' Shannon asked her dad.

'I don't know.' he replied, looking at the dogs before running round the same branch Saba had almost smashed into earlier.

Kodi's bark made them focus on what was ahead. They heard a frantic bark from a cabin. Flames had now started to flicker in the chimney and could be seen through the windows.

'Saba!' Balto and Jenna yelled.

Saba had crawled into the house, looking for adventure. Now, she was surrounded by fire. The window that she'd climbed in through had been blocked off when a large portion of the roof had caved in. There was a massive rip in the side of the cabin now but Saba was too afarid to get close to it.

Flames flickered dangerously close to her as it set a chair alight. Saba yelped.

'My baby.' Jenna whispered, pawing the ground in fear.

'Is that Jess?' Shannon cried, seeing a small red husky cowered behind the flames.

'I think so.' her dad replied, eyes wide, 'What's she doing in there?!'

Balto ran a bit closer, looking for an easy way in. It was no use, everything seemed to be blocked off.

Saba's eyes grew wide in terror. Her ears were flat against her head and she was backed up against a wall, crouched low with her tail between her legs. She gazed round at the rising flames.

'Mama...' she whispered.

A large piece of burning wood fell from the ceiling close to her and she leapt to her feet with a scream.

'MOTHER! FATHER!' she yelled, jumping out of the way of another fallen piece of burning wood.

She small house was collapsing all around her and she cried out as she seared her tail.

'I wanna go home.' she whimpered, tears streaming down her face.

She started to cough at the amount of smoke that was getting to her. Her bright auburn eyes were shiny and her cheeks were wet with tears.

'SABA!' a voice yelled, faintly at first.

Then it got louder and louder until it matched the loudness of the roaring flames.

'PAPA!' the red dog yelled out.

She charged forwrads, blinded by her own terror and want for safety.

'Saba, stop!' a female voice, Jenna's, yelled out.

But the red hybrid was too late. Another chunk of burning wood fell and smashed into her face. She roared out in pain and landed on the floor, her face now burned, unconscious.

Balto didn't waste another moment. He ran back and

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