Aleu scrambled to the other side of the pack's iceberg. The waves, becoming ever more violent, threatened to throw her, and all the other passengers, off. The ever-worsening weather made her wish she had not eaten breakfast.
    "Mommy," screamed a pup, as he slid right off the edge of the ice. A wave brought him up and over, back onto the ice.
    "KODI," screamed Aleu. This pup had been named for Aleu's brother of the same name. He was one of only two survivors of her first, and only, litter.
    Suddeny, a huge wave came and swept Aleu right off her feet. She was washed out, away from the ice. she found that they had been closer to land than she had thought as she was dashed against rocks once, twice, three times. Aleu saw a raven flying overhead, but it looked strange, like the raven itself was echoing as it flew over the shore. Then, everything went black.
**********
    Balto sat up quickly. It's ok, it was only a dream, he told himself. The images stuck in his mind like a bad aftertaste, and he shook himself as if to shake them off.
    It had been almost two years since Aleu left, and Balto was still having nightmares of a horrible accident, where Aleu drowned. This one, however, was different. The puppy that had almost washed off the iceberg was new, Balto was sure of it. And that raven had never been there before, either.
    "Balto? Balto, are you in there?" Jenna called,"The pups are waiting for you. You promised to take them on a picnic today! Balto?"
    "I'm here, Jenna," Balto said, crawling down the side of his boat,"I just can't seem to stay asleep at night anymore. not since Aleu left."
    "Agh! Zeez puppies are crazy! Zay szeem to think zat I am chew toy," a cranky Borris grumbled," And besidez zat, zoes dreamz are not letting you sleep again."
    "Borris, you weren't supposed to tell Jenna!"
    "Balto, what dreams?" Jenna inquired," What about?"
    "Nothing, just probably something I ate doesn't agree with me," Balto lied. He could tell that Jenna could tell that he was lying. She had that look again.
    Borris gave in to Jenna's stare, even thought it wasn't directed at him," Balto is having dream of Aleu drowning over, and over again. Last time Balto iz having same dream over, Aleu left to be with wolves. I sink eet also came true."
    Jenna gave Balto an angry look for some reason.
    "What?" Balto cried.
    Jenna never got a chance to answer. A grey-brown streak pounced Balto from the side, and it growled playfully. A trio of red puppies ran to catch up with their brother, who was wrestling with Balto.
    Balto tried to pin his young son, but was startled when his yellow and blue eyes lost all color except yellow and seemed to glow, despite the bright sun.
    After a split second, the dog's eyes returned to normal, and he asked," What's the matter, dad?"
    Balto, still stunned, said,"That thing you just did with your eyes...How'd you do that, Nat?"
    Nathon, the only brown puppy of his litter, looked confused."What thing I did with my eyes?"
    Balto marveled at how much Nathon looked like Aleu. If Nathon were female, he could be Aleu's exact twin.
    "You made your eyes glow, Nathon," Jenna cut in, I saw it, too."
    Nathon frowned. He shook his head, saying,"I didn't do anything with my eyes. I think you imagined it. C'mon, let's go on our picnic!"
    Balto grimmaced as the puppys, already more than a year old, ran ahead to find a good spot on the beach."The last time I saw anything like that happen was right before Aleu left. Aleu saved us from an angry bear by reading the bear's mind."
**********
    Kodi yawned as he let himself get hooked to the harness."Morning, everybody. Ready for the return trip?" Kodi smiled as affirmations came forward from all the dogs strapped in behind him. He loved being the lead dog for the mail team. It made him feel important, and he got to hear all the humans gossiping better. The driver was stopped as a friendly neighbor started talking about a familiar subject- wolves.
    Kodi sighed. He was sick about hearing about wolves. Balto had started telling his younger siblings about wolves ever since they could talk. He was preparing Nat for when he found out 'how humans viewed him.' Even so, Kodi got sick of hearing about it. Then Kodi heard something that got his attention.
    "-Wolves disappeared from the Bay Islands. The same ones that came out of nowhere two years ago," the friendly neighbor was saying,"and scientists think they wandered onto an iceberg that got caught in a storm. They found most of them, but a few are missing. Those ones may have escaped to land, and are thought to be roaming the area. Be careful."
    Kodi was confused. Was this the same pack Aleu was with? If it was, where was Aleu? Was she all right?
    Kodi rushed the team home that day, so he could tell the news to Balto and Jenna.
**********
    Dingo waited for his father. He had some news from his job at the newspaper office.
    Since he didn't know where Balto was, he could only wait.
    Dingo hated waiting.
    As Dingo looked for Balto, he saw a greyish lump floating lazily on the waves.
    Having nothing better to do, Dingo waded out to inspect it. It was furry. And alive. And looking very tired and knocked out. Dingo dragged it onto shore.
    'Great. Now I have to make sure whoever this is doesn't die,' Dingo thought crossly. He pressed on the strange creature's stomach, and it spewed seawater.
    And then, it spoke, in a soft, tired voice.
    "Paws off, shrimp. Don't touch me!"
    Feeling annoyed, Dingo retreated a few steps. The shape stood up and shook the water out of it's fur.
    It was a female, obviously a purebred wolf.
    "You probably expect me to thank you for saving my life," she said.
    "Not really," was Dingo's reply," I've heard that wolves aren't ones to talk to dogs all that much."
    With an angry growl, the wolf whirled and stuck her nose in Dingo's face. "Who told you that?!"
    "My dad," said Dingo calmly, "Here he comes now."
    "I'm gonna give him a peice of my mind, is what I'm gonna-"She stopped mid-sentence. Looked at Dingo, the at Balto, then back to Dingo. "Your father is Balto?"
    Dingo stared the wolf straight in the eye, and said "Yes. Why act surprised?"
    Balto approached and studied the wolf, then asked, "Who is this, Dingo?"
    Dingo explained the situation, and the wolf introduced herself as Snow Tracks, of the Western Ice pack.
    "I was chosen to deliver unfortunate news to one Balto of Nome. Seeing as how I've found him, I will now deliver my message."
**********
    Sira sniffed around for any sign of her mother. Finding nothing, she slowly walked back to the beach where her pack had landed. Her brother, Kodiak, came back at the exact same time from the other direction. Seeing he had also found nothing, she sat and shook her head sadly. After almost a whole day of searching, the only thing uncovered was that they were indeed back on the mainland.
    A sudden yell from the woods startled Sira out of her thoughts. Two polar bears burst out of the woods, hugging Sira for some odd reason.
    "Aleu! Aleu, is it really you? Please tell us it is, oh, please tell us it is!"Screamed the smaller bear, while the other one just whimpered as if he was crying, though that wasn't the case.
    "KODI! Kodi, help! Kodi," shrieked Sira at the top of her lungs. 'These bears are trying to suffocate me,' thought Sira with a gasp.
    The bears looked confused. The bigger one whimpered some more, and the smaller one said," You're right, Luk. Kodi's still in Nome, so why is Aleu calling him?"
    A redish-brown blur, and the small bear was pinned to the ground. Kodi was on top, and growling angrily.
    "Claws off my sister, bucko!" Kodi roared.
    The bear shuddered, then exclaimed,"Your sister! I thought it was Aleu, I swear!"
    Now it was Kodi's turn to look confused. "Aleu is the name of our mother. How do you know her?" demanded Sira.
    "We know her parents. I'm Muk, and this is my brother, Luk. He can't talk," stated the small bear, "Where is Aleu?"
    "We don't know. For all we know, she is..." started Sira, then stopped herself,"No. She's fine. She has to be! We already lost dad, so we can't also lose mom."
**********
    Aleu opened her eyes. She slowly lifted her head, then flinched. She was hurt, but she didn't know how badly.
    "Oh, good, you're awake. For a while, I wasn't sure you would make it."
    Ignoring her pain, Aleu spun around. The voice had come from a wolf with black fur and a grey underbelly.
    "Niju? You saved me? Why?" Aleu was confused. This was the same wolf that had attacked her on the first trip...Wasn't it?
    "Let's just leave it at it wasn't my idea." Niju intoned as he sat on the other side of the cave where they were.
    Aleu grinned. Nava. It had been Nava's idea to save her. Niju's thoughts told her so.
    Niju suddenly jumped up and backed away from her. "Creepy! Creepy eyes! Get away from me, you!"
    Aleu ignored Niju's reaction and said,"I see you still think as much