be honored,” he finished for her, “as long you behave of course.”

Seth grinned and pranced over to them, “Th-Thank you so much! I will, I-I will! My name’s S-Seth by the way, and I can’t repay you for this!”

The mostly white pup ran to the male first and nuzzled him, than to the female and did the same.

“Aww, isn’t he just so adorable Duchess?” the husky wearing the green bandana said.

Duchess couldn’t help but smile, “He sure is Ritchie, what’re the odds?”

“Million to one, that’s for sure,” Ritchie grinned.

‘Well, at least I know the names and how to tell them apart now,’ Seth sniggered quickly before turning his head up to the two. He shivered violent and whined. Ritchie and Duchess looked down at him worriedly.

“Let’s get you into bed-” Duchess started.

“And warm you up.” Ritchie ended.

Ritchie lifted Seth up by the scruff of his neck gently and walked up to the second story of the house while Duchess followed closely behind.

 

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

Balto groaned quietly as he started to awaken. His eyes fluttered open and he stood up, stretching and yawning in the process. He glanced around to the other sled dogs and some that were just starting to wake up as well and others that were down like a sack of bricks. Kaltag was one of the latter, so Balto decided to casually nudge him with his paw. The Chinook batted his paw away.

“Balto, I’m Sleeping Beauty and you are far from my Princess Charming. Let me nap a little longer,” Kaltag protested sleepily.

Balto waited a few moments before pushing him with a paw once more. He sniggered when he saw Kaltag’s eyes shoot open.

“Alright, alright. I’m up!” he complained.

The tan hybrid chuckled as Kaltag started to try and wake himself up. He listened as the wind continued to howl outside and he looked around the dimly lit barn. Something didn’t seem quite right to him though. The patch of hay next to Kaltag was completely empty.

“Hey, Kaltag, wasn’t Star sleeping by you last night?” he asked.

Kaltag didn’t even look at the empty spot as he answered Balto with a more jolly tone, “Yeah of course he was. Little weasel wouldn’t stop whispering stuff last night. Had to drown him out in order to actually get some shut eye.”

“Well, he’s certainly not by you anymore,” commented the dog on the opposite side of Star’s bed. His name was Max who was also a husky, but of an orange persuasion.

Kaltag turned his head to the other dog and saw that Star was defiantly not there. “Where’d the little guy get to?” he asked.

Balto shrugged his shoulders and focused his attention on the other dogs. “Did anyone see Star this morning?”

The sled dogs looked at each other, many shrugging and a series of mumbling started. Each one of them eventually turned to Balto, gave him a simple “No”, and went back to their conversations. The wind was still whistling while the clouds continued to pass over, making the already dim sky that much more bleak. Over the wind, Balto could hear the sound of a pair of boots. Kaltag had just started to sniff around for Star’s scent when the barn door opened and Mr. Simpson walked in with a large load in his hands and shut the door.

“Hey guys… Got some food, and blankets for ya.” he said, staggering forward a little.

Mr. Simpson knelt down and dropped seven blankets. He took some steaks out of the folds of one blanket and began to pass them out. Balto was the first to walk to him and Mr. Simpson patted him on the head, said “Good boy,” and watched him take the steak away. He repeated this routine until he only had one left.

“Alright, who didn’t get one?” he paused, “Where’s Star?”

His dogs just looked at him with dumbfounded expressions and turned away. The musher scratched his neck and sighed.

He stood up, shrugging, “Well, I’m hoping that you guys know. But if you can’t find him, then it looks like we’ll be stuck here… Too much mail to go without him, and besides, we aren’t leaving a teammate behind.”

Mr. Simpson turned away from them and opened the door again, letting loose a frigid gale before forcedly shutting it once more.

“Hurry everyone! I have to find my punch bag before I go insane!” Kaltag shouted in a false panic, chuckling at his own performance along with a few other dogs.

“Seriously, this is not the time to joke. I don’t know about you, but I want to get home,” Kodi said sternly, being the only one not to laugh earlier.

He went to Star’s bed of hay and started to sniff around. He caught a scent that almost smelled like Star, but seemed somewhat distorted. Balto walked over to his son and put a paw on his shoulder and his head turned up.

“Kodi, we all do, just like we all want to make sure Star is okay. Even though some don’t show it as much as others,” he chuckled, motioning his head to Kaltag, “But from past experience, he’s probably just wandering around like he normally does.”

Balto smiled at Kodi, but the gesture wasn’t returned. Kodi’s face showed an upset expression.

“Well, what if he isn’t Dad? What if he doesn‘t come back?”

“Then we’ll go looking for him,” Balto saw that it wasn’t helping much, “I promise we’ll go looking soon, if that makes you feel better.”

Kodi nodded and sat down sighing, “Yeah Dad, that’ll make me feel much better. I don’t want to leave anyone behind.”

Balto smiled and placed himself near his son. “We won’t leave anyone behind. You don’t have to worry about that,” he said warmly.

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

A cool breeze blew along the sandy coastline as Jenna and Balto watched six joy filled pups frolic in the frigid ocean water. Jenna sprawled herself out as her fur was gently ruffled. Her tan wolf/dog laid down beside her, gently caressing her in a nuzzle. She looked at her six glorious pups and then back at Balto, licking his cheek.

“Did I ever tell you how much I love you?” she said sweetly.

“Only every day,” Balto replied happily.

Jenna laughed quietly and glanced back to her pups just as a larger wave came and soaked them. She smiled, but then frowned soon after. She stood up and walked past her little ones, Balto following close behind her. She stepped up to another pup, only this one wasn’t like her others. This one was black and white. Its back was turned to her, and it looked as if it were sobbing. The water lapped at its legs and each time it hit, the small dog would shudder violently. She peered over her shoulder and gasped in shock. She had only counted five of her pups.

“Balto… Balto, where is Alue!?”

“Gone Jenna… Just like the others will be…”

She saw as right before her eyes, each one of her pups started to fade in color and soon they were translucent as they continued to play, yip, wrestle. Soon they all completely disappear as Jenna watched on in disbelief.

“Our babies. Balto, what happened to our kids!?”

She frantically turned to him and also found him gone. Jenna turned in circles, calling out the names of all who had just vanished. All the color started to evaporate, leaving the entire scene gray and bleak, and even that darkened until the canvas around her blackened into nothingness. She started to feel tears well up in her eyes and her breathing quicken. Right before she was about to lose it, she jumped as she suddenly heard a voice from behind her.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?”

Jenna whirled around and saw that black and white pup again.

“I-I’m sorry. What was that?” She asked, trying her hardest to keep herself together.

“I said it hurts. Having your entire family ripped away from your grasp. To be left alone to fend for yourself in this big world. No one to help or protect you. It becomes a nightmare, but you can’t wake up from it no matter how hard you try.”

Jenna took a step away and bit her lower lip. “I’m afraid I don’t quite understand.” she whispered quietly.

The pup turned around, revealing his pale and somewhat sunken face.

“No one ever does, until it’s too late. A pity you could say.”

She blinked twice and took a small step back as the pup started to rise.

“Wh-What are you!?” Jenna shouted.

The dog had started to grow in size until he was a little bigger than Jenna. A white light encircled her and the stranger quickly faded into the shadows before she could have seen his face. But what she did see kept her locked in her tracks. Before her were a pair of piercing red eyes and a grin of white, shiny, sharp teeth. Her body trembled as fear slowly crept into her body, numbing her senses. After a few moments which seemed to last forever, the eyes faded leaving only that sick twisted grin. It spoke quietly to her in an almost mocking manner.

“A friend. An enemy. An acquaintance perhaps. Or maybe I’m just your nightmare. Anything‘s possible…”

On either side of this set of teeth, two others appeared. Both were smiling, but not as much as the center one. They spoke to her in perfect unison, their voices blending into one smooth voice.

“We’ve come back for you Jenna. We love you so much.”

“Yes Jenna. We all love you.” Jenna cringed as she heard this and even more smiles leapt from the darkness and showed themselves, totaling eleven.

“What do you want with me?” She asked loudly, trying to sound braver to hide her own fear.

The reaction she got was most unexpected though. She had focused her attention back onto the center set of teeth before she saw it open. She found herself confused as it seemed to bounce in an awkward manner. And that’s when she heard it. It started out inaudible as first, but it soon crescendoed until Jenna was on the verge of tears once more. A laugh. A bone-chilling cackle that shook her soul and left her stunned. Soon, all of the others joined and laughed, forming a grand chorus. Jenna found herself unwillingly adding her own voice in the form of a scream.

~-~-

Jenna’s eyes snapped open as her body

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