to save his own tail.”

Star was about to speak with Steele spoke again.

“Enough of your talking, we must prepare! But first-” he padded over to a half open door, the floor boards sighing under his weight, “I have a little display to show you. Nikki helped me with them,” the chow lowered his head at the mention of this, “I think you’ll find it most… amusing.”

Steele snickered as the others began walking towards him, and a soft whimpering was heard.

Chapter Nine:

The barking grew louder and louder as the sled team raced into Nome. Precious time was lost as Mr. Simpson forced them to the post office and took his time dropping the mail onto the porch. After he finally released them from their reins, the dogs immediately rushed off, leaving Mr. Simpson rubbing his head again as he walked home.

“See if we can get a trail,” Kaltag murmured to the other five.

They nodded in unison as they dropped their noses to the ground and started to take in deep breaths. They heard faint sounds of chiming as multiple clocks signaled the beginning of a new day. The snow crackled under their paws as the moon rose to its halfway position, sending its cool rays down below. Balto was the first to raise his head, his breath coming out in misty puffs.

“I think I got something.”

They in turn followed him down the road, the mist swirling about them. The wound up on the porch of a decrepit old house which was in the most dire need of repair.

“Are they in there?” Kodi asked.

“Only one way to find out,” replied Kaltag.

Balto poked his head through the flap, listening for any sounds, of which he heard none. Balto pulled out and faced the team.

“Alright, Kodi and I will go in first, and if you hear any yells, that’s your cue.”

They nodded as Balto entered into the house followed by Kodi. It was near pitch black inside the building, except for what little light streamed in from the holes in the roof.

“Alright Kodi. I say we split up. Just call me if you find something.”

“Got it.”

Balto stuck his nose to the floor again and walked around in a circle before finding a trail to follow. He walked by a flight of stairs and found a door that was cracked open. He pushed it open with his nose and found that it was another staircase, but this one led down. He took a cautious step and the stair squealed loudly, causing him to pull back in surprise. Balto gulped quietly as he tried again, but this time when the stair creaked, he continued on, ignoring the other noises that the stairs made. He finally arrived at the bottom of the stairs. The floor here was made of heard packed earth, but he could only feel this since now he couldn’t see a thing. He took a few steps forward and bumped into what felt like a broken chair. This made him stop, and he hesitated, not sure whether to continue or not. He took in a deep breath and smelled a familiar scent.

“Jenna,” he whispered.

“Hey Dad! I found something!” he heard Kodi yell from above him.

Without thinking twice, Balto ran back up the stairs, finding out at the top that the other dogs were already entering and heading into another room. Balto followed them and saw Kodi standing near a back door.

“They’ve already left. I caught their scent heading out of the house.”

“And I just found out that they’ve got Jenna with them,” Balto said, a certain sense of grief coloring his voice.

The others now looked very shocked at this discovery.

“Are you positive?” asked Kodi anxiously, “Is Mom alright?”

“If only I knew,” Balto said sadly, but he then spoke with more determination, “but if we don’t find her soon, then I fear for her safety.”

“I say we start following those tracks.”

“Does this feel like a bad idea to anyone else?” one of the dogs asked.

His question was ignored as they started to file out through the back door one by one.

“Fine! Don’t listen to me!”

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The team moved slowly along the trail of scents, and soon they were even able to see paw prints, which made it much easier to track. The passed a lamppost that flickered rapidly, and the tracks ended at the door nearest it. They all looked at the door and knew exactly where they were. This was the boiler room, where they visited on an almost daily basis. The door right now though was tightly shut, and the weren’t able to open it the normal way. Balto hopped onto the door and memories came back to him as he took the door from its hinges. After he finished, he shoved the door in and the team walked in.

“Hold on Jenna, I’m coming,” he whispered.

The boiler room was surprisingly dark, the fire that normally lit the room up so well being long since extinguished. A bitter wind rushed in through a high window and rattled a set of chains that hung above. Something didn’t feel right… Balto felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as they inched ahead.

“I’ll be the first to say that this is the creepiest, the most disturbing, unnerving, the most ominous-”

“Kaltag… not the time.” said Kodi.

Suddenly, there was a sound of running paws, and they stopped dead in their tracks. Then right after, they heard a voice.

“Are you my mommy?” it cried out meekly.

It sounded just like a little puppy. Balto stepped away from the rest of the dogs.

“Hello? Who’s there?” he called bravely.

“Can you help me find my mommy?” it asked him.

“Maybe. But first I need your help finding someone.”

Soon after he uttered these words, the door shut behind them quickly, plunging them into a complete blackness, save for a few rays of moonlight that shown through window.

“You’re not my mommy… You’re not my mommy!” the voice started to wail.

The voice started screaming loudly, as if it were throwing a temper tantrum. Then all at once, the voice went silent along with the rest of the room. Balto held his breath as he eyes were just now starting to adjust to the change of light.

“Hello Bingo,” a voice whispered into his ear.

Balto whirled around and felt a body right next to him. He jumped onto this body and heard Kodi grunt as he fell to the floor, stunned.

“Sorry Kodi.”

“Just be more careful.”

Balto was actually able to see his son stand back up, so it must have meant that their eyes were adjusting. He turned back to the team and saw a figure weaving in and out of them, and within that instant, a match lit up and was tossed into the boiler, igniting it and sending a bright wave of light immediately. They were all blinded momentarily as they covered their eyes from this now harsh light. When at last they could see again, there were three pups sitting right in front of them. The three just sat there staring at the adult dogs, giving a more unsettling feel to the situation. Past them, a figure walked from behind a crate. Balto smiled at first, but then frowned as he saw more than he had expected. It was Jenna, only she also had a purple bandana tied around her muzzle, and a leash around her neck. Followed by her was Steele, carrying the leash in his mouth.

“Hey wolf-dog!” he called, “Jealous?”

He yanked the leash in his direction forcing Jenna closer to him. She glared at him in return and tried to pull away, but Steele just pushed even tighter to her.

“Ooh, I see we have a feisty one here,” Steele growled suggestively.

“Let her go Steele. We can just end this all now if you let her go.”

Balto took a step forward and Steele put a paw to his chest in disrespectful manner.

“Just let her go,” he mocked.

“Wow Dad, he sure is a lot more immature than you described him. How could you take him for a threat?” Kodi chuckled.

Steele looked at Balto with an obviously fake sense of hurt. “I’m in awe Balto. I thought you were supposed to instill manners into your young ones. But how could I forget, you were pretty screwed up in the first place. Poor things never had a chance.”

Steele smiled smugly when he heard Kodi and some of the others growling. “Ooh hoo hoo, did I strike a nerve?”

None of the dogs replied, most of them still glaring at Steele, Balto wasn’t however.

“Please, Steele. I don’t want there to be any fighting. All I ask is that you return everyone safely.”

“You just don’t give up when you really should half-breed. Do you think I’d let go of Jenna, now that I finally have her?”

“I’m sorry to say, but she isn’t exactly with you willingly.”

There was a low grumbling sound as it was Steele’s turn to growl.

“Ooh, I think the little puppy didn’t like that.”

The other dogs began to laugh, except for Balto, Kodi, and Kaltag.

“Hey guys, shut up.”

Steele looked past the team of six and then down at that pups, a smirk appearing on his face.

“Get ‘em,” he whispered.

“Ha! He expects them little ones to take us down!” hooted an orange husky.

“Hey beautiful,” said a voice, “we think you may be mistaken.”

Jenna’s eyes widened as a familiar sound rang around the room. It was a shrill laughter that seemed to resonate from every corner. It sang through the hanging chains and darted around the ears of every dog. Then another joined in, this one sounding much more feminine, but no less hysterical. And then three others added theirs to the noise before Steele and all three pups joined in. Jenna sunk to the floor and covered her ears tightly with her paws, but still they could be heard. She began to cry out. This was exactly like the dreams she had had. Tremors shot through her body and she slammed her eyelids shut tightly.

“Jenna! Jenna are you okay!?” Balto stepped closer to her and Steele snarled, “Steele, please. I beg you! Can’t you see she’s hurting?”

But Steele didn’t tear his eyes away from Balto. And then the sounds of sick joy suddenly ceased. The other dogs gathered beside Balto, building up a front, all except Kodi who stayed a little ways back. They all focused on Steele once more.

“Pups! Over here!” Steele ordered.

The pups, who had grown since Steele became his guardian,

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