his own pack and was thankfully found by Chief before any damage could be done. Most of the pack was used to Chief’s acceptance of pups from other packs, but they still hadn’t liked it. Most of the packs wanted to keep their own pack pure, ignoring any wolf that had split from their own packs, but Chief refused to follow the old traditions and was bent on changing them.

                        “This is a nice surprise!”

Odin jumped but Everest smiled. Fly smiled back. Odin, not knowing who the stranger was, bristled and jumped at Fly.

“Odin! Don’t! She’s going to beat-.”

In a second, Fly had knocked Odin flat on his back.

            “Everest!” Odin yelped.

“Odin… that’s Fly. That’s the wolf I’ve been meeting”

            “Oh…” said Odin sheepishly. “Then would you mind getting off of me?”

Fly grinned, clearly amused and let Odin get back to his feet.

            “I meant to do that anyway” he stated. “Beating up a girl isn’t nice”

Everest grinned at his friend.

“Guess we just kind of stumbled back here…again”

                        “What’s it been, like a few minutes?”

“Do you know where you came from?” Everest interrupted suddenly.

Fly raised an eyebrow but shook her head.

“I think I do. Chief told me that I came from the Illiivat pack and he said one other wolf from the Illiivat still existed. I think we kind of look alike… and we smell too different to be related…do you think…?”

Before Fly could answer, a chorus of howls rang out from the Ublureak pack.

            “We gotta go... again. They’re probably looking for us”

Everest nodded and with a quick nuzzle, sprinted after Odin.

            “Do you think we’re in trouble?” Odin worried.

“I think so, they sounded pretty urgent”

As they got closer, they slowed to a walk, panting and huffing. Everest stopped, ears twitching.

            “What’s wrong?” Odin puffed. “I don’t hear anything”

“That’s what worries me” Everest replied quietly.

They proceeded slowly until a few forms were visible: Echo, Ice and Wave.

“What’s going on?!” Everest called unsurely.

All three whipped around, shouted something and broke into a dead run, right towards Everest and Odin. Everest spun and took off.

            “Why I oughta-!”

“Odin now’s not the time!” Everest growled, grabbing his friend by the tail and forcing him to run.

They galloped away from their familiar territory and away from Fly’s territory, but Everest and Odin’s pursuers stayed right on their tail. Everest glanced over his shoulder. They couldn’t keep running like this forever! But new territory meant new hiding places.

“Let’s split up” Everest barked.

            “What?! Are you crazy?!”

“They might not be after both of us”

Odin nodded worriedly and broke off to the left. Everest hoped he was right and broke off in the opposite direction. Echo and Wave took off after Everest, and Ice flew after Odin. Odin glanced over his shoulder and whimpered. Adrenaline kept him running, and he knew that if he stopped, Ice wouldn’t waste a second in hurting him. The sandy wolf slid down a hillside in front of a few fallen trees. But before he could continue running, something grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him under the trees. A paw slammed over his mouth and prevented him from yelping.

“Shhhh. It’s just me Odin” Everest whispered.

Ice jumped over the fallen trees and followed Echo and Wave’s footprints. Everest took his paw off of Odin’s mouth.

            “You scared me half to death!” Odin whispered loudly.

“Sorry” Everest apologized sheepishly.

Suddenly, Arrow jumped down from where Ice had but a strict voice called him back. Someone’s paws clicked on the trunks that Everest and Odin were hiding under.

            “Let them go” the voice said.

The voice sent chills racing up Everest’s spine and Odin shrank into the snow.

                        “They’re going to get away Hiatus!” Arrow pleaded. “The pack’s gonna think-.”

            “Don’t worry about the pack” Hiatus replied calmly. “I’ll take care of them”

Arrow sighed and leapt back over the trees, following whoever Hiatus was. A few moments later, Ice, Echo and Wave followed Arrow, leaving Everest and Odin in silence. The two waited to make sure that they were gone, then Everest cautiously stepped out.

“Wonder what that was all about…”

Odin followed Everest out, fuming.

            “I don’t know but I’ve got half a mind to follow them back and show them a thing or two!”

“I don’t think we should go back”

            “What?!”

“Chief’ll understand. I don’t know what’s going on, but I have a feeling that we shouldn’t go back”

            “What about… Fly?!”

“She’ll understand too” Everest replied quietly.

Odin paused and thought it over. But with renewed confidence, he followed Everest.

            “Okay. How hard can it be anyway?” Odin chuckled.

            Cold winds tossed the thick, falling snow in Everest and Odin’s faces, blinding them.

“How hard can it be!” Everest yelled dramatically.

            “How was I supposed to know!” Odin yelled above the howling wind.

“Never mind…” Everest grumbled.

            “WHAT?! I can’t hear you!” Odin yelled.

Turning back and trying to see the outline of his friend in the white out, Everest yelled, “I SAID, NEVER-!”

Suddenly, Everest’s feet slipped and sent him rocketing down the unseen hillside. Odin desperately tried to catch his friend, but Odin’s feet slipped as well, and both tumbled down the snowy slope. Finally, they somersaulted to a stop, almost completely buried in snow. They paused for a second, groaning until both realized they weren’t hurt.

“Very graceful…” Everest mumbled, picking himself up.

            “Well at least we found shelter” Odin offered, nodding to the small cave they had plummeted to. Without another thought, the pair hurried into the dark opening, finally getting out of the storm. Then they looked at each other and burst out laughing. The snow had crusted all over both of them, making them look like completely different wolves. Everest shook off his layer off snow and plopped on the ground.

            “It’s a lot harder then it looked” Odin yawned warily, slipping to the floor.

Within seconds, both were sound asleep.

            Everest and Odin’s next day wasn’t much better. Neither had ever hunted without the pack before, so the only thing they could think of catching was fish.

            “Have you ever caught one before?” Odin moaned, hopelessly looking at the flashing silver figures.

“Nope” Everest sighed.

They stared at the fish a little longer before Everest sighed again.

“But the only way is to try”

Everest stared at the fish for a second, crouched, and then plunged into the water, breaking the thin film of ice. He splashed around for a little, but came up with nothing. Dripping and cold, he returned to the bank.

“There’s one way not to catch them” Everest grinned, shivering. “You try”

Odin glanced hesitantly at the water and took a step back.

            “I don’t know…”

“They don’t bite” Everest offered, hiding a smile. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of those tiny little things!”

            “I’m not!” he glanced at the water again. “It’s just-.”

Everest raised his eyebrows. Odin shut his mouth