“Sorry” she mumbled. She walked over and lay down next to me.

            The next morning was better. Now that it wasn’t dark, the trail didn’t seem nearly as creepy. Atka led our little pack, Yukonfollowed her, silent as always and I followed them. It was easy to see that Atka was happy to be wild. She held her tail high in the air and almost pranced. I was anything but happy.

“Shouldn’t we have found him by now?” I complained.

            “No, I found his territory hours ago. I think he left. We’re still following his scent and I think we’re getting pretty close”

“Oh” I mumbled.

We followed Atka a little longer, but my stomach started grumble. Now that I had thought about it, I was really hungry. When was the last time I had something to eat?

“Can we stop and eat?” I whined.

            “Do you have food with you?” Atka said over her shoulder.

“No”

            “Then I don’t think I can help you” she shot back. “You’re in the wild now, get your own food”

“Is that a river down there?” Yukon asked, finally talking.

            “Yeah, why?”

“What are in rivers?” Yukonsaid, smiling at his own brilliance.

“Water?” I guessed.

            “Fish” Atka said slowly.

Slowly, we picked our way downward to a river that trickled nearby. When we were in the clear, Yukon and Atka raced toward the river. I hated not being as well adapted as them… but running was one thing I was best at! I charged past them and leapt into the shimmering water. Too late, I realized it was still winter.

“COLD!” I barked as soon as my feet touched the water. As fast as I was in, I was out, like my feet had skipped over the water. Yukonand Atka just laughed.

            “Are you sure you’re part wolf?” Atka grinned.

I shook off and glared at her. Yukon lay down and started to lick something.

“How did you catch that?!” I sputtered.

Yukon dropped the fish and smiled.

            “That’s for me to know and you to learn!” he replied.

“Then teach me?!” I shot back.

Yukon just smiled and started to eat his fish. I watched Atka as she watched the fish and leapt in after one. She didn’t catch anything at first, but after a few attempts, she trapped a fish and proudly pulled the wiggling thing out and started to eat.

“What about me?” I whimpered.

Yukon shook his head. “You are such a pup!”

Then he got up, did what Atka had done, but stood still like a statue. His eyes followed one fish, and like a flash, he pulled it out and threw it at me. The fish flopped around, but I smacked it down with my paw and gulped it down. Still, Atka and Yukon were finished and ready to go before I was. We found our way back to the trail and picked up our pace. We walked for what seemed like eternity. When night finally, fell, I couldn’t have been more relieved.

“I thought I’d never be so happy to see the sun go down!” I sighed sitting down. “Now where are we stopping?”

            “If we’re going to find him, we have to move at night” Atka said, glancing at me.

Yukon mulled it over but nodded.

“You’re not going to ask me what I think, are you…” I droned..

            “Nope” said my wilder siblings.

“Didn’t think so” I said mostly to myself

                        “Just pretend you’re on a long sled race” Yukonsuggested, trying to ease my exhaustion.

            As we continued on, I started to fall asleep as we walked, and we didn’t even stop once the sun came up. And someone would have thought I’d be able to see Yukon in broad daylight with bright white snow around us. But once again, I bumped into him. In front of us, Atka stiffened.

“Whatsgoingon” I mumbled, eyes just managing to stay open.

            “Look” he said pointing a paw.

Off the trail, a lonely wolf figure travelled the trail towards us. But it wasn’t just a wolf- it was a hybrid… and a very familiar hybrid at that.

“Aleu?!”

The figure snapped to attention and trotted towards us.

                        “What are you guys doing out here?!” she asked, looking between us.

I bet she thought we came out here just for her… but she was still my sister and I felt bad that she was all alone.

            “We’re going to live here. What are you doing?!” Atka said, brown eyes cold.

Aleu, a little apprehensive, started talking slowly again, but as usual, started to ramble on again.

“I’m going back to Nome. I hate it out here! At first I liked it, but its not-.”

It was clear that Atka was starting to lose patience. But Aleu couldn’t take the hint.

            “Would you just stop talking for once in your life?!” Atka snapped.

Aleu snapped her mouth shut and laid her ears back.

“Sorry” Aleu mumbled, clearly confused. Atka had never been this mean to Aleu before. But then again, there was nobody to stop the fight. It was always a power struggle between the two of them… it might finally be ended today.

            “Out here, you’re not the center of attention” Atka spat “That’s why you hate it!”

Aleu glared at Atka, but when Atka took a step toward her, the smaller sister backed off. She didn’t want to fight. I let out a sigh of relief and I was sure Yukon did too.

            “You always had to be the center of attention for everything” Atka spat, following Aleu. “You had to be special and had to have all of Mom and Dad’s attention! That’s probably the only reason why you ran away too, isn’t it?! We’re just as much wolf as you are! Deal with it!”

Aleu’s ears flopped sideways and she stared at the ground in front of her. In a way, I did feel kind of bad for her.

            “Let’s go” Atka growled, turning away from the disgraced Aleu.

“See you” I murmured to Aleu, hurrying so I wasn’t left behind.

            “Yeah, see you” I heard Yukonrepeat.

Leaving her felt bad, but Atka was stronger and she seemed to know where she was going.

When we were far enough away from Aleu, Atka let us take a small nap, which was way too short for me, but at least I wasn’t sleep walking after I woke up. Walking in an almost straight line was starting to crack down on me. Suddenly, Atka stopped and dove into a bush. Yukondived in after her, not giving me enough time to think properly.

“What’s going on?!” I yelped as I jumped into the bush after them.

            “I don’t know” Yukonmumbled, watching Atka.

 Her ears twitched then she crouched and crawled, ears laid back. Yukonand I exchanged looks, but mimicked her, so far, she’d done everything right. She stopped just enough to be able to see out of the bush but still be hidden. Yukon and I followed.

In the clearing was a black wolf with a white chest and paws, sniffing around furiously. I looked at Atka, who looked confused, like she was making a decision.

            “Is that Buck?” I heard Yukonwhisper excitedly.

                        “I don’t know…” Atka answered. “Dad talked about some bad wolf that was black and I have no idea what Buck looks like… I only know what he smells like”

Yukon and I just stared at her. She noticed us looking at her and met eyes with us.

            “What?!” she snorted.

We turned back to the wolf, but he was gone.

            “Where’d he go?!” Atka said, worried.

Before either of them could stop me, I walked out into the clearing. I was tired of being the scared, tame one. This was a simple enough way to prove I was brave. Whispering for me to come back, Atka and Yukonfollowed me but didn’t come out into the icy clearing.

“I guess he’s gone” I shrugged, like I didn’t even care.

Atka and Yukon just looked behind me, eyes wide and mouths open. I let my tail drop and