have a right to know.”

“You’re right. Jenna I need to talk to you.” he looked at Kodi. “A private talk.”

Kodi nodded his head to signal that he knew he was not included. As soon as Kodi was out of earshot Balto began his story. It took a good five minutes for him to finish.

Jenna looked amazed. “Wow, are you okay? That must have been a terrible dream.”

“Yeah, well I’ll live. I better get back to the boat now. See you Jenna.” he gave a happy wave and started back.

To his relief nothing strange happened to surprise him on the way back. Nevertheless he kept checking every so often behind him. He decided that he would just relax today and gather his sanity. Boris was there to keep him company while the sun crept across the sky. Soon it was sundown and the two started to say their goodnights, and Balto started to dream.

A clearing came into view. Tall pine trees surrounded it. A clear blue stream slowly flowed through the clearing. Birds were chirping and everything was peaceful. It wouldn’t last forever…

“Please don’t let them return.” whispered Balto.

On cue he heard the first voice. “Welcome back.”

The second voice chimed in. “Did you miss us-”

The third voice cut in. “Like we missed you?”

‘Oh great.’ Balto thought.

“Yes it is great.” chuckled the third voice.

Balto froze. ‘Had that voice heard his thought?’

“Yes, isn’t it wonderful? That we can read your every thought.” rang in the first voice.

“Now shall we continue from the previous night?” asked the second to the third.

“Why yes we shall. And Balto, have a good time, because I know we will.”

‘Oh no.’ he thought, afraid of what they would do. Balto looked around. Everything was starting to fade, fade into oblivion. Soon he was engulfed by a blackness. He looked around. Every glance given him a sinking suspicion that whatever they had planned was going to be terrible. Then he heard a mysterious voice call his name.

“Balto…Balto where are you?” it faintly cried.

Balto somehow knew this voice. He called back to it, “Jenna? Jenna is that you?”

The scene flashed into focus. He was back in Nome. It seemed around five o’clock and people and animals were busily doing their business. People were going in and out of houses and the post office was busy as usual. It looked just like in real life. He saw her in the crowd. She had a worried face and she was wandering around, calling his name. To his relief it was Jenna. He started to run to her.

“Jenna I’m so happy you’re her!” he exclaimed.

His running didn’t get him any closer to her. Instead she started to slip away. He looked around him. The houses and people were also slipping past him.

“Jenna!” he yelled.

He kept running and running. A mix of panic and confusion filled his mind. The last thing he saw was the house at the end of the land and then everything completely  disappeared and was replaced by a new image. It was a circus. Carnival music played and laughter could be heard. Laughter from people who weren’t there. Behind him and to his left and right empty stalls with different striped roofs formed lanes. In front of him stood a red and yellow striped tent with an overhead, wooden, sign that read “Hall of Mirrors”. He started to walk away but hit a barrier.

“Ow, what was that?” he asked.

He put his paw in front of him in the air and felt a wall. It was completely transparent. He carefully walked to his right and left to find he was surrounded by these “walls”. He headed back towards the tent to find no barrier. ‘Well I don’t think I want to stay where I can’t do anything.’ he thought. He went into the tent. Different mirrors with different heights and widths surrounded him. He paid no attention to the funny figures that appeared.

“I’ve never really been a huge circus fan.” he said looking at one mirror that made him look fat.

He then walked into a maze of mirrors.

He chuckled. “The classic mirror maze.”

He stepped into it, not knowing that he was not alone. He took even more steps until the maze was all around him. All of a sudden his ears perked up. Had he just heard footsteps? He was alone in this maze right?

He heard a voice from the shadows. “Welcome back…Wolfdog.”

Then the music halted and Balto spun around to see another dog. He couldn’t see this stranger very clearly. Before he could see say anything the stranger bolted to the depths of the maze. Balto ran to catch up with him until he stopped to listen. There were no footsteps now. He continued through at a slower pace. Just then all the mirrors flooded with one image.

Balto growled. “Steele.”

All the images around him laughed. “That’s right half-breed. Miss me?”

Suddenly the mirrors around him folded into one huge room with no escape.

Balto muttered to himself. “Great now what am I going to do?” He then spoke loudly to all of the images. “Why would I miss you? You’ve been nothing but a pain ever since I came here.”

Steele laughed harder. “Aw, now I’m hurt. You’re always so mean.” Steele said sarcastically.

“Why are you here?” Balto asked.

Steele smiled. “A better question would be what you’re gonna do now. Because I’ve got you surrounded.”

Balto laughed. “Oh yeah? They’re just knock-offs that aren’t even real. They’re just a reflection.”

If only he knew how far from right he was.

Steele grinned. “You’d think that, wouldn’t you?” he said darkly.

Balto looked around at the images, clearly confused. “What? There’s only one of you…”

Then all the images disappeared. Balto could feel his pulse quicken. ‘What is going on here?’ he asked. He felt a tap on his back. He nearly had a heart attack. He turned around as fast as he could to see no one. He slapped his forehead with his paw.

He was annoyed now. “Oh great! Now I’m feeling things that aren’t there!”

The fur on the back of his neck was standing on end at this point. Something was going to happen and it wouldn’t be good. Then the mirror that Balto was facing started to crack.

He looked at it, completely bewildered. “What the?”

He heard another cracking behind him. He turned to look at it. The rest of the mirrors, heading out from the two that had cracked, started to crack also. Balto backed into the center.

“What’s going on here?”

Then everyone one of them shattered simultaneously. The music started back up but was much slower. The normal happy music sounded scary and evil. Balto looked where the mirrors once stood. Then he saw a figure step out from the hole in one mirror. And then another, and another. They just kept coming. They started to surround Balto. They were all Steele.

The first Steele that appeared smiled smugly. “See? I told you that you were surrounded.”

There were about at least a hundred of them.

The same Steele looked at his ‘team’. “Get him.” he ordered.

The Steele’s started to come closer. He had to admit that he was scared. Balto tried to drive them away by growling and snapping his jaws. But it didn’t work. They just kept coming.

“WAKE UP!!!!” yelled a voice.

Balto suddenly woke up. He felt a sting on the side of his face.

“Balto! Balto let go! I want to keep my leg!” yelled Boris.

Balto looked to see that he had a death bite on Boris’ leg. He let go immediately.

“What happened Boris?” he asked.

“Oh same as usual.” Boris began. “I wake up, see you tossing and turning, I go to wake you up and get attacked. Typical morning.” he finished sarcastically.

“So sorry Boris. I didn’t mean to.” Balto apologized. “I don’t know why but I can’t sleep or relax. It’s driving me crazy.”

“Well maybe you need to go to relaxing place. Like the beach?” Boris said. “Me myself, am going to talk to Jenna about how paranoid you are getting.”

Balto sighed. “Alright Boris. I’ll take a walk on the beach. I’ll be back later.”

            Boris looked at him and was about to walk off. “Okay Balto. Just try to have a nice time.”

            Balto sighed again. He hopped off the boat and onto the beach. He had to admit, it was a nice day. The sun was just peeking through the clouds.

            “Winters so close now. I wonder why we haven’t