open as her body quickly sprang up. Her breathing was heavy and ragged as her heart raced in her chest. Her eyes were wide and full of attention as she frantically scanned the room. She padded quietly from her basket and leapt onto the windowsill, still not saying a word. She looked out into the blowing snow, but could barely see anything past her window.

Jenna’s eyes snapped open as her body quickly sprang up. Her breathing was heavy and ragged as her heart raced in her chest. Her eyes were wide and full of attention as she frantically scanned the room. She padded quietly from her basket and leapt onto the windowsill, still not saying a word. She looked out into the blowing snow, but could barely see anything past her window.

“… Aunt Jenna?… Where are you?” piped in a small voice.

“Hold on Becca, I’ll be right there,” Jenna spoke softly, not wanting to worry the pup. She landed on the floor and daintily stepped into the pet basket again, leaving plenty of room for Becca to sleep in. The pup snuggled up to her and she smiled slightly as she tried to fall asleep once more.

A dog was watching outside her window on the steps of the porch, wishing her silhouette would return to the clear portal so as he could gaze at her once more. He whispered something as the wind covered it up and piled more snow onto his black and white fur.

Chapter Three:

Kodi glanced back at White Mountain as his paws thumped at the ground. He shook his head and looked distastefully at the sled behind him, and his father in front of him. Balto looked behind him in time to see this look. He sighed quietly as he kicked up flurries of snow.

“I’m sorry Kodi, we couldn’t stop Mr. Simpson,” he apologized, shaking his head as well, “but hey. It’s New Year’s Eve. We could maybe do something if you like.”

Kodi ignored his last comment and looked into the sky. The storm had cleared only this morning, and they had looked high and low for Star, but to no avail. Mr. Simpson had asked the postmaster if there was anyway he could borrow a dog until their next return, and he had only happily obliged by giving them the location of the vet’s house. There they met a black and white husky. Her tail was all black, and her back was mostly black with white specks that dotted her all over, giving the effect of falling snow on her body. She also wore a small red ribbon on her left front paw, it’s small bow seemed in perfect form. This husky called herself Lilith and she seemed to be a pretty good sled dog even though she was running behind Kodi. He noticed something about her that was kind of odd though. From what he had seen, she would periodically peek over her shoulder, as if someone was following her. He thought it like some kind of a nervous tick, so he tried ignoring it.

“Hey, Lilith!” he called back, “hanging in there?”

She smiled at him, “Just great!” She glanced over her shoulder once again, “I just hope they’re alright…”

“Hope who’s alright?” he asked.

She looked at him like she had just said something wrong, but she quickly shook her head. “Ugh, just my owners, they must be worried sick about me, heh,” she bit her lower lip and her eyes drifted back again.

Kodi smiled at her and looked ahead, his head riddled with questions and his pace steady as they pushed onward through the snow that glistened in the sun.

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

“Someone… Anyone… Help me.. Please.”

“No one can hear you my little pup. Sorry to disappoint you.”

A dim light cast itself through an opening door as a figure emerged into the room. Before him lay a small purple dog. His breathing was heavy and forced, and his fur seemed untidy, matted down with sweat and small trickles of blood. He coughed loudly as speech came to him, albeit softly.

“Why… Why are you doing this to me?”

The dog stepped the rest of the way through the door, kicking it open with a laugh, sending the light into the rest of the room.

“Well my little, Star was it, we accidentally grabbed the wrong dog, but you’ll suffice. But, just to make sure you don’t try and cross us-”

He grinned widely, his eyes staring down at Star with a sick pleasure in them. He stepped over daintily to Star and circled around him before raking a claw viciously across his back. His face showed smugness and a satisfaction as he heard a shriek of pain. Star groaned and turned over, focusing on this dog’s features as his ragged breaths came out in puffs of steam.

His twinkling teeth were as ghostly white as the majority of his face. Around his mouth was painted in a black, which was traced around with red. Both of his eyes were circled with black, and there were designs, similar to arrows, that pointed from his ears to his eyes. There were also two rosy red patches that sat on both of his cheeks. His nose jutted out from the rest of his muzzle, and was a bright red with nostril holes, and he could see a small part of a string, but it seemed to sink into his skin very shortly down his muzzle. On top of his head, lay a small, comical hat, and the string to that also disappeared into him. Star blinked and tried to focus his eyes. Now that he looked, this dog looked exactly like a clown, but the way his eyes seemed to pierce through him was much less than humorous or carefree.

The dog-clown was panting heavily, his tongue lolling out as he eyed Star, laughter escaping from him again. He licked his lips and cracked his jaw. He leaned down close to Star and chuckled as he saw him shudder, but his head quickly shot up towards the door.

“Now now Hal. This is no way to treat a guest. Where are your manners?”

“Aww, c’mon Burt, I was only funnin‘.”

Another husky walked into the small room and looked at Star, and then at Hal.

“Normally, I’d let you have your way, but remember, we still need this one. Since we couldn’t get our main target-”

“For the last time, it was dark! And let’s not mention how some of them started to stir. Lilith and I would have done just fine, had we been able to see that is.” Hal chortled quietly.

“Calm down Brother, it’s all easily fixable.. But speaking of Lilith. Where is Sister anyways?”

“I was hoping you’d know. She seems to have disappeared.”

Burt sat himself down and looked at Hal, breathing in the musty air disdainfully.

“This isn’t good at all. She’s never been late.”

“It doesn’t matter, we can deal without her.”

“What do you want with me?” coughed Star again, trying to be brave.

“It isn’t polite to interrupt my pet. I think you need to be taught a lesson in manners…” Hal said sweetly to Star as he rose his paw up in the air and prepared to strike him once more.

“Hal! Stop!” commanded Burt fiercely, “…Now, I want you to step out so I can have a word with our guest.”

Hal lowered his paw and headed out of the room, muttering quietly. As he passed Burt he whipped his tail into his face before he exited. Burt pretended not to notice as he stood up and pushed the door closed noiselessly. He walked to the other side of the room and dragged a heavy black curtain away from a window and sent a ray of sunlight streaming into the room. There was a sound of breaking dishes from outside the door that caused Star to shake in fear again. Burt didn’t flinch as he started to stare down at Star.

“I’m dreadfully sorry for my brother’s actions. You can say that I’m the most reasonable of our little family, well, maybe except for Lucy, but that should be explained later. But first, I believe you want some answers.. Correct?”

Star thought for a moment before nodding his head cautiously.

“Good good. Now, what better place to start, than the beginning, no?”

He smiled and sat down, still fixated on Star. He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes for a brief moment, before opening them once more.

“It all started back when we were young. Our litter totaled five, myself being the second eldest. Unfortunately, both of my parents were humanless, so we were forced to live under the floorboards of an unused room of the butcher shop in Nome. Lucy and Lilith, my sisters, were like two peas in a pod, they told everything to each other. My older brother favored Hal, always playing games. And I just went along with whoever wanted to have fun. Mother did everything in her power to nurture and care for us, it’s a shame that our dear father didn’t do the same. He would push us around and treat us like we were a form lower than dirt, especially to Hal, the runt of our litter, but Lucy, the middle child, was the exception to his anger. He would treat her like his little angel. One day it got particularly bad. We were eight weeks old and our father was in an unusual rage that was worse than normal, and as expected, Hal was the first on his list to torment. Hal received a few swipes from Father’s paw before he stepped in. It was our eldest brother, Gregory, fresh with scars. He had always tried to stand up against our father’s treatment, but every time he was punished for this, but he never gave up. We affectionately called him Steele, like the metal that resembled his firmness. Anyways, our mother tried to stop Father to try and protect any of us for any more harm, but she was quickly struck down with a heavy paw. This was too much for Steele, and he jumped onto Father’s face and began to claw at his face. From my hiding place behind a lonely pipe, the struggle was dreadful. Father cried out in pain and enragement as he rapidly tried to throw Brother off. Brother latched his teeth onto Father’s ears and clamped down harder each time he was swung around. Finally Father tired of this and swung his paw and hit Steele in the gut, winding him and sending him sprawling onto the floor. Just when it seemed like Brother’s time was up, Mother had already stood back up and then she rammed into our father. She had finally gotten the backbone to stand up to him, and she wasn’t going to let him harm any of us any more.

“‘Get out of here you flea-bitten

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