VOICES:

-Mya: Hillary Swank

-Triton: Sean Murray

-Dash: Patrick Warburton

-Aleu: Lacy Chabert

-Buck: Mark Harmon

-Klondike: Viggo Mortensen

-Balto: Kevin Bacon

-Jenna: Briget Fonda

       Ever since Aleu had come home, things had been easier for me. I was almost never alone because Aleu stuck to me like glue and my newest friend, Triton, always wanted to be with me too. Sheila and Shadow could be pushy, but for the most part stuck with me because I was more then a little popular. However, Sheila and Shadow’s brothers, Dash and Nick, could be absolute pains. Poor Triton still cowered away when Dash came around. I was still working on building his confidence even though he could now stand up to any other of his siblings besides Dash. The first time I had seen the two brothers clash, I had used my feminine side to break it up and knew that it would make the road ahead harder. And I was right.

            “Hey Mya” Dash said smoothly.

“Hi” I greeted, shuddering.

            “Did you see my race yesterday” he asked, puffing out his chest.

“Yes” I said, trying my hardest to keep from rolling my eyes. This must have been the tenth time he had asked me. And that was only today. Yesterday, he wouldn’t keep his mouth shut. I had no idea what other dogs saw in him. Suddenly, Triton ran up to me, thankfully giving me an excuse to talk to someone else.

“What’s wrong?!”

                        “My musher’s putting me up for sale!” Triton puffed, eyes darting nervously between Dash and me.

Horror vibrated in my gut.

            “Oh, I almost forgot” Dash grinned, stepping in front of Triton. “My musher adopted Aleu to replace Triton. So we’ll never have to deal with that screw up again”

“He’s not a screw up!” I barked angrily. “Come on Triton”

I whirled around, walking away from a stunned Dash. Triton didn’t waste a second and was walking beside me in an instant.

“We need to find Aleu” I muttered.

            We tore through town until Triton was able to pick up her scent. I didn’t smell anything, but I trusted Triton. In a matter of seconds, Triton’s incredible nose led us right to my older sister.

            “Mya! Guess what!” Aleu said, rushing up as soon as she saw us.

“You got adopted!” I smiled, noticing the sled dog collar.

            “How’d you know?” Aleu asked, a little disappointed.

“Dash” I mumbled. “So what exactly happened?”

Aleu explained that her new owner was planning to sell Triton anyway and that after she had won a play race with Sheila, the musher came outside. Apparently he was watching. He asked around about Aleu and eventually talked to Rosie, who recognized Aleu and gave all ownership to the musher.

            “And the musher decided to keep my name as Aleu so I didn’t get confused!” Aleu finished.

I smiled but that still meant that Triton was going to leave. I was only just starting to get to know him and we were very close. He had to stay. I closed my eyes and thought deeply. Suddenly, my eyes flew open.

“I have an idea!” I barked.

Aleu and Triton looked blankly at me.

“We just need to find you a new job! Then they won’t want you to go!”

Triton grinned, eyes sparkling.

                                    *                                  *                                  *

            The next day, I met Triton at my front porch. Triton’s blue eyes were filled with determination, and we set off at a brisk walk down to the sheriff’s office. The Sheriff’s dog, Klondike, was in charge of checking out dogs that wanted to do those kinds of jobs and with Triton up for sale, could easily get Triton noticed. With Triton’s amazing nose, I was sure they’d accept him for a search and rescue dog right away. We trotted the whole way there and when we arrived, it was Triton that entered first. But as soon as our nails clicked on the old wooden floor, we could see that it was empty.

“Where-?”

Triton jammed his nose to the ground and circled for a second before going back out the way we came. I followed him without a word. The closer we got to Klondike, the faster Triton went on. I was letting my mind wander and let my feet follow when suddenly, CRASH!

Both Triton and I jumped.

A few feet away was Klondike… pinned to the ground by some wild animal. I broke into a sprint with Triton in stride. Dogs around us rushed towards the two canines to see what was happening too.

“-Now I can’t call you a good dog” the black wolf said smoothly.

The dogs around me laughed and I couldn’t help but to smile myself. The wolf stepped away from Klondikebut circled him dangerously.

            “Ever get into a real fight before Sheriff?”

It was funny at first, but real fights were dangerous and never happened.

“Triton, do something!” I whispered, nudging him.

His blue eyes widened in surprise.

            “You can’t expect me to break that up!” Triton whispered back. “I’m afraid of Dash and both of them could whip Dash!”

The wolf crouched down like he was going to pounce and my heart started to race. If the Sheriff was injured, there was no way he could help Triton!

                        “Buck!”

Just in the nick of time, my father broke up the fight. The wolf, presumably Buck, broke his concentration and did a double take.

            “You better have a good reason for interrupting!” he growled.

As my dad talked it out with Buck, the rest of the dogs, including Klondike, started to go back where they’d come from. Triton and I rushed after the grey husky, calling his name.

Klondikespun around but slumped when he saw who it was.

            “What do you want?” he grumbled.

“A job” I said breathlessly.

 He looked me up and down in surprise.

            “I really don’t see what job you’d be fit for!”

“Not me!” I snapped. “Him!”

I shoved Triton in front of Klondike and the sheriff studied him.

            “What kind of job do you want?” Klondike finally asked.

Before Triton could answer, my mother, Jenna, came running up.

                        “Sorry to interrupt” she said politely, “But your father wants us to go to the boiler room… that wolf was your uncle”

Klondike’s expression darkened.

            “You know that wild animal?!” he spat.

Triton stuttered and I tried to explain but Klondike just turned his back on us.

            “Sorry, no jobs open” he muttered.

Anger started to build up but my mouth couldn’t form any words. Not understanding what had just happened, my mother looked between Klondike and us.

“Let’s just go” I snapped.

            Jenna led us to the boiler room where Aleu, Kodi and Mindy had also gathered. We sat and waited until dark had set, but still no Balto or Buck. The whole while, all I could think about was meeting the wolf that helped the sister I hated and was most likely responsible for Nero’s death. We sat there for a few hours and I only got madder. Eventually Balto pushed the door open with his nose and entered.

            “Still no Buck?” he sighed.

We all nodded.

            “If I have to bail him out again, he’s in big trouble”

We waited a little longer and finally, the black wolf with a white chest and paws skulked in. Immediately, I disliked him. There was the reason that so many bad things had happened to me.

            “What were you doing