ditched important medicine when kids could have died. Rosie could have died”

“His pups are in Nome. They raced today”

            “Watch out for them!”

I nodded and took the advice to heart even though I knew I would never like Dash. Then, Kate ran past me once again.

“Can’t she stay in one place for more then two seconds? Or at least walk somewhere?”

My mother laughed as I chased after Kate once again. She jumped off Rosie’s porch and ran down the street again. I hated running and I needed a break. I kept track of where she was going and decided to walk after her.

            “Hey! Are you Mya?”

“Yeah…” I said, turning to see two more black and white, blue-eyed huskies.

            “Dash told us who you were and if you’re friends with Dash you’re friends with us”

“And who are you?”

            “I’m Sheila” said the tall, white faced female.

            “I’m Shadow” said the female with the white between her eyes.

“Um, good race”

I tried to walk faster; I didn’t want to be rude and run home, but I really didn’t want to be friends with them.

            “Are you a sled dog?” Sheila asked.

“I tried but I’m not very strong”

            “We have a brother like that” Shadow scoffed.

“The one that fell down in the race today? He looked like he was trying hard”

            “Triton is the runt of the litter. He shouldn’t be on our team”

“But he’s still your brother…” I didn’t bother to finish my sentence. Family didn’t seem to matter to them: both had blank expressions on their faces.

“Never mind”

The house was closer and I walked as fast as I could without jogging. But Sheila and Shadow easily kept pace.

            “Are you a purebred husky?”

“No, but I’m pretty close to it”

Sheila and Shadow gave each other looks and I tried to make myself shrink. We finally reached the porch and I leapt up the stairs.

“See you later. Nice meeting you both” I lied, slipping through the doggie door. I was never that happy to get away from anyone. I trotted over to my bed and plopped down. Running around all day didn’t suit me very well.

            The light stopped coming through the windows, the moon started to rise and I was just about to close my eyes when I heard a scratching at the door.

Oh great, I thought, More black and white huskies. I silently walked over to the window and peered out. On the porch were two figures, more wolfish then husky. I crept out through the doggie door to see my father standing there.

“Hey daddy! What’s wrong?”

            “Nothing” he smiled. “Why don’t you ask your sister?”

I thought immediately of Atka but Aleu stepped into the light instead.

“Aleu?! I’m so glad to see you!” I jumped forward and nuzzled her forehead.

            “Thanks” she said, taken aback that I cared.

“Where have you been?!”

            “Nowhere I want to go back to” she mumbled. Her head was low and her tail almost brushed the ground. This wolf was nothing like the Aleu I used to know.

“Nome’s better then the wild anyway”

Aleu looked up and gave me a small smile.

“Where are you going to stay?”

            “With dad for a while, but I want to be adopted, if anybody wants me”

                        “Speaking of which, we need to go back” my dad said, looking at the moon.

“Goodbye! I’m glad you came back Aleu!”

 

 

            The next morning I showed Aleu around town. It hadn’t changed since she’d left but I was lonely since my two brothers and sister left. I never saw much of Kodi either since he was training to be a mail dog. We were walking down the main street when I heard the dogs I least wanted to see.

            “Hi Mya”

Dash strutted up with three of his younger siblings in tow.

“Hi Dash, I was just showing Aleu around Nome”

Dash frowned at Aleu, who tucked her ears back and wagged her tail. Then Sheila and Shadow approached us.

                        “Hey Mya! - who’s she?!” Sheila scoffed looking Aleu up and down.

            “You don’t look like a purebred!” Shadow chimed in. “You don’t even look part husky!”

I expected Aleu to snap back but she stayed quiet and let the insults get to her.

“Leave her alone! She’s my sister!”

Shadow and Sheila’s expressions were a mixture of shock and confusion.

            “I thought you said you weren’t a purebred dog”

“I’m not!” I snapped. “Aleu’s just as much husky as I am! And we’re both part wolf!”

            “Like Balto?” asked the fourth black and white pup, named Nick.

“He’s our father!”

The look on the group’s faces once again changed dramatically. Nick looked almost jealous, Sheila and Shadow looked at us in awe and Dash looked shocked.

            “You do kind of look like him…” Shadow said, taking a closer look at Aleu.

Aleu puffed up her chest, acting a little more like herself. She started to talk to the huskies but I wasn’t listening. Something caught my attention. Something was moving in the back alley.

“I’ll see you guys later… see you later Aleu”

They almost didn’t hear me over Aleu telling stories about our dad. I slipped away and trotted toward the alley.

“Hello? Is someone here?”

Something jumped and knocked into a trashcan, and that in turn knocked into other trashcans and lids. It caused an avalanche of trash that piled up on the poor victim.

            “OOF!”

I cautiously walked over to the pile and pulled off a bag of human things. There, now covered in garbage, was the dog from the other day that had caused his team to lose.

“Hi!”

The husky seemed at loss for words though his icy blue eyes were locked on mine.

            “Um…hi…”

He shook his head, pulled himself out of the reeking pile of trash and shook off. Something flew off of his coat and onto my face.

            “Sorry” he mumbled, embarrassed. “You kind of surprised me”

I cleaned my face with a paw but smiled.

“You’re new around here, right?”

He nodded and shuffled his feet in the slushy snow.

“What’s your name?”

            “Triton” he mumbled again.

He looked at the ground and didn’t say anything. I was going nowhere with this. Losing interest, I started to turn.

“Well I guess I’ll see you around” I said dryly.

Triton finally looked up and looked like he was struggling to say something. I got up and walked away.

            “Uh… miss, please wait!”

I turned back around. Triton walked back up to me, eyeing his siblings who hadn’t yet noticed him.

            “Sorry, I just…I’m just some… I’m not good at talking”

I smiled at him. He still hunched forward even though he was much bigger then me and about as big as Dash. 

            “So, um… what’s your name?”

“Mya”

            “Are you a sled dog or purebred?”

“No” I said, feeling a little sense of dread that he would be like his siblings.

            “Good” he breathed, relieved.

“But aren’t you both?”

            “Not really. I don’t want to be purebred… and if you saw me race… you can bet I’m not a sled dog”

“It’s hard to be a sled dog… I tried it and wasn’t good

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