Author’s Note: This fan fiction is rated PG-13 for fighting scenes, some bloodshed, and some scenes that the reader may or may not find disturbing. I owe a lot of inspiration from the “Balto: A New Threat” series by Balto123. I apologize if I waste your time with this, but hope you enjoy it if you do read it. I realize that in a past fiction, I had one of Jenna’s pups pass away, and that he mysteriously came back, and I changed some names. I was planning on rewriting my first three fictions, so please accept this truth instead, until I finish them, or I don’t, meh.

Created: 6-18-07

Worked on primarily: 3-1-09 through 6-13-09

Words: 82454

Pages: 150 (Depending)

Bloodline Deceiver: 

Prologue:

December 28, 1927

     This December night was particularly cold. Snow gently fell in a rhythmic pattern in Nome, Alaska. Christmas had been celebrated only a few days earlier and the townspeople and dogs were inside someplace where they could stay warm. That is, except for two dogs. Both were huskies and they shared the same owner. One was a female and the other male. They were heading back to their home together from the boiler room. They had been together for some time and had a litter of pups to prove it.

The female nuzzled the male. “Oh I love you so much Bruno.”

The male smiled back warmly. “Same here Lucy.”

Together they walked down an alley. This alley had always had been a shortcut for them. They could see better at this time of year because even the slightest bit of light would reflect off the snow, making it so everything appeared brighter.

Lucy darted ahead of Bruno and turned around. “I can’t wait to get back to them. They’re almost ready for their own humans, and I don’t want to miss any more time with them.”

“I know,” replied Bruno with a grin, “but at least they’ll be out of our hair!”

Lucy half-smiled, “Yeah, but we can still miss them right?”

“Of course we can, you’ll just be the bigger of the worrywarts.”

The two began to giggle together. But heavy breathing could be heard right by them. The two stopped giggling and sighed. A certain ominous feeling could be felt in the air around them. Time would be short for the couple. Every second brought them closer to the inevitable. She was about to head back but then her ears perked, and she looked at her mate to see his ears perked too.

“Did you?” she asked.

He nodded slowly.

“Then we aren’t?” she continued.

He shook his head. She whipped around to face the empty alley.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” she called out.

She took a couple steps forward, the snow crunching under her paws. Then something started to make a gagging behind her. She turned to face the noise to see a second dog. One dog was on top of the other. She could make out the one on the bottom as her mate.

“Bruno!” she yelled.

Lucy couldn’t make out the stranger as clearly though. He was in the right position where she could only see his silhouette, but that didn’t stop her from seeing that toothy grin that shone brightly.

“Now you’ll die!” the stranger shouted to Bruno.

He rose his paw up in the air and slashed a claw across Bruno’s throat, throwing streams of red in many directions. Lucy was panicking by now, but started to get very angry.

She charged at this murderer. “Get away from him!”

The dog couldn’t dodge in time and was knocked off of him. Lucy quickly ran over to Bruno. She checked to see if he was breathing, nothing. She checked to see if he still had a pulse. Her heart sank. There was not a single beat. She turned her head and looked at the stranger with rage in her eyes.

“You’ll pay for this! I’ll kill you!” she yelled.

The stranger nearly stood up and dusted himself off.

He gave her the same toothy grin. “Oh really? I wouldn’t make idle threats that you can’t keep.”

She started to walk towards him. Then, his face suddenly became visible. She stopped dead in her tracks and her blood turned ice cold.

“No, it can’t be you.” she whispered.

He gave an evil laugh that would make your heart stop. “It’s me. In the flesh. By the way, I think I would like to adopt your pups, I always wanted to be a father.”

“Fat chance!” she barked, “I’d sooner die then let you lay a paw on them.”

“That can be arranged…” he chortled. 

This bit rattled her but she didn’t back down. “I won‘t let you! It’ll be a cold day in Hell when I let you take my kids!” she fought back.

He lifted his paw to his chest in a mocking manner. “You’d think of killing your own brother?… I’m appalled, but then that means that you must still remember that deceit runs in our family… And I plan to pass that along...”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh you don’t? Then how about I remind you?”

“No thank you.”

He sniggered at her. “Very well… You could have just let me ramble on and given yourself precious moments to live. Suit yourself Sister Dear…”

At these words, Lucy hunched down and bared her teeth. The time for words was over, it was time to end this once and for all. Her brother did the same, and soon it was a flurry of fur and gnashing teeth. She lunged towards him like she had before, but this time he easily avoided her. He then took his chance and clamped his jaws around the scruff of her neck and flung her to the ground. He launched at her and grabbed her around the throat, twisting his head sharply and smiling as her scream faded away and she fell limp… 

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

A figure walked up the steps of a nearby house and entered through the pet flap. He saw the three little pups lying on a pillow in a pet basket, sleeping heavily. He nudged each one of them gently. They started to stir and open their eyes.

“Momma? Is that you?” one male asked groggily.

“No,” said the new comer, “I’m sorry that I have to be the one to tell you, but your mother has just been killed in a most unfortunate event. But, when I saw her, she asked me with her dying breath, that she wanted me to… take care of you.”

Tears started to well up in each of the small pups eyes. They all started to whimper and burry their faces into the pillow. The larger male looked down at one sobbing puppy, and he put a sincere paw on his head. 

He spoke quietly when the pup looked up at him, “Shh, little one. Everything will be fine, I’ll protect you. You can just call me Uncle… Greg…”

Chapter One:

The waves of a salty ocean sloshed lazily underneath the ice that hugged an old rundown fishing vessel. A brown and tan hybrid rolled around tiredly under a thin sheet blanket as a snow goose waddled around the deck. Finally, after what seemed like hours to the snow goose, the hybrid stretched and yawned, showing signs of awakening. 

“Is about time you are getting up!” the goose complained noisily.

“Take it easy Boris, if you hadn’t been honking at me all last night then I could have actually gotten some sleep,” Balto, the half-breed, replied.

Boris was about to make a sarcastic comment but was cut off by a bark. Balto, who had been lying down, yawned and rose to his feet to greet the visitor. The old wooden plank that ran up to the deck of Balto’s home creaked as weight was put onto it. Balto’s blank expression changed to a smile as he saw that it was his son Kodi who was visiting.

“Hey Dad, how’s it goin’?” Kodi asked casually.

Balto looked over his son. His fur was primarily a deep red with the rest of him being a white that stretched from his muzzle to his tail.

“Well, besides being stuck here with Mr. Optimist,” he smirked, pointing at Boris, “not much. You?”

Kodi chuckled a bit, “We only have a ton of mail to deliver because of the holidays and we’re down a dog, so I was the unlucky one who got short straw and had to come and ask you if you could sub.”

Balto thought for a moment, “You need an old geezer like me? I haven’t pulled on the mail team since last fall, I think I’d be a little out of practice.”

“Nonsense, if you could lead the sled team in that terrible blizzard with no experience at all, then you could do this even if you are ‘out of practice’.” 

“Nice way of putting it,” laughed Balto, “just let me talk with your mother first.”

“Okay Dad, we don’t have much time to wait so make it snappy.”

“Getting ordered by my son, how wrong is that picture?”

They both chuckled as Balto headed off to Jenna’s home.

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

Jenna was snuggled deep in her basket in front of the hearth with a roaring fire in it. She was suddenly woken from her state of sleep by loud scratches at the door. Jenna smiled, she didn’t need three guesses to know who it was. She happily jumped up and opened the pet flap. She was greeted by a “Mornin’ Jen” as her mate walked into the cozy abode.  

“Wow Balto, what brings you here so early?” the red and white husky asked.

He nuzzled her affectionately. “Two things actually. First is that I couldn’t wait to see your pretty face,” he paused for a moment as he saw her blush slightly and then continued, “and two, I may be going out on a run with Kodi.”

Jenna sighed, “Balto, you know how worried it makes me when just Kodi goes out there… and it makes me feel much better if you’re there to keep him out of trouble.”

Balto beamed, “For a second there, I thought you were gonna shoot down the idea!”

Jenna licked him on the cheek and winked, “You should know by now that I’m full of surprises… Just, be careful for me all right? I just don’t want anything to happen to you.” She slipped her orange bandana off of her neck and wrapped it around Balto. “I know you probably thinks it’s stupid that I always do this, but, it somehow helps ease the worry when I know you’re wearing it.”

He smiled and nuzzled her once more, “Don’t worry about me Jen, I’ll be just fine.”

Balto then slowly bowed his head and walked out of the pet flap and headed towards the post office. When he arrived, he saw that all of the other dogs, including Kodi were already hooked onto the sled.

Kaltag grinned when he saw Balto approaching, “Nice to see you could show!”

Balto returned the expression, “Wouldn’t want to let you guys down!”

Mr. Simpson also noticed the wolf-dog approach, “Ahh, so I see that we’ve got ourselves a replacement.” He walked to the front of the sled and unhooked Kaltag from the lead dog position and put him at the back as a wheel dog. “I know you hate it Kal, but you and I both know that Balto deserves it.”

Kaltag cocked his head to side, acting as if he didn’t understand. Mr. Simpson patted him on the head and walked to the back of the sled. Balto looked back at Kaltag and shrugged.

“Don’t worry,” he called to Balto, “I should be used to this anyways!” he smiled.

With a loud command by the musher, the team of dogs barked and set off across the tundra. And from a vantage point atop a house, a familiar shadow watched with a smile as a bitterly cold wind lashed at his face.

“Excellent…” he sniggered.

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

A thin woman had been taking her two huskies out for the early morning walk when she saw something that she wouldn’t soon forget. She had been looking down one of the alleyways causally and spotted what looked to be a giant clump of fur. On closer inspection it was not one, but two dogs that were both soiled with a deep crimson color. The woman let out a shrill scream that pierced the normal silence like a knife through hot butter as she ran to the sheriff’s home. Her dogs stayed behind and looked at the horrifying scene.

“My god…” the first dog said, looking at the female and trying to resist the urge to throw up, “I know, er, knew, this dog… We… We got to be close friends… Who could have done something so,” she struggled for a word, “vile, Ritchie?”

Her mate looked at her with a solemn face. “I don’t know dear…” he walked over to the corpse of the male and shook his head, “I just don’t know.”

“Do you think we should-”

“Tell someone? After Susan’s screech, the whole town'll know with or without us telling,” Ritchie interrupted.

The female, Duchess, shook her head. “No. We have to at least tell Jenna…”

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

A short while after Balto had left, Jenna had decided to walk around town, just to get out of her house. She casually glanced at the wooden buildings as she continued her walk. Suddenly a husky that looked very much like herself, rushed from an alley. She came sliding towards Jenna and came within inches of hitting her.

“Saba? Saba what are you doing here?” Jenna asked her daughter, concern evident in her voice.

Saba, who normally was a cheery individual, looked quite shaken and nervous. “Grams was going to… but she ran into me and told me… I couldn’t believe my ears.”

Jenna frowned, “Told you what? Calm down, just tell me what happened.” 

Saba took a deep breath and sighed, “It was terrible. Two dogs were ruthlessly murdered, and we don’t have a clue of who it was.”

“Couldn’t someone have just gotten the scent of whatever did it?”

“I wish, but the fallen snow and all the… you know, must have covered it.”

“Where are my mom and dad going?”

“Grams said that she was going home to go over this and Gramps was on his way to tell Doc.”

“Thanks for telling me Saba…”

Saba nodded her head sadly and slowly started to walk away, but she turned around, “Be careful Mom.”

Jenna smiled faintly and watched as her daughter took off. She looked at darker clouds on the horizon with a worried face. “Balto, please stay safe and get back here as fast as you can…”

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

“I’m coming Ritchie, I’m coming!” barked Doc.

The brown Saint Bernard huffed behind the smaller husky as the raced down the streets. Doc nearly bowled over Ritchie as he came to an abrupt halt at the entrance of an alley. He was panting, even though it was a short run.

“Who knew you could run so fast Ritchie? I thought you were about as old as me!” he said, cheerfully, but when the red and white husky didn’t even acknowledge his comment, or even turn to face him, he coughed. “So. What was it you, er, wanted to show me?”

Ritchie only lifted up a paw and pointed down the backstreet, he didn’t know how to put what he had to show him in words. Doc nodded and strode down the alley. From farther away, he thought he saw two dogs sleeping in the very middle. He walked closer but then stood there in disbelief as he surveyed the scene. It wasn’t a pretty sight at all for him. After brief seconds he quickly closed his eyes and shook his head.

“This… is awful,” Doc muttered.

He forced himself to take  a sniff of one of the bodies to see if he could find anything. His face scrunched up and he felt a queasiness in his stomach.

“Nothing. It’s all mingled together.”

“What do we do now Doc?”

Doc bit his lower lip and sighed.

“I’ll be perfectly honest with you Ritchie. Nothing like this has happened since I’ve been in charge. I think it’d be best not to cause a panic. I don’t want everyone to start suspecting even their closest friends as a murderer. Let’s just bury this and pretend like it never happened.”

“But Doc, it isn’t right to do this. We have to let everyone else know!”

Doc looked at Ritchie very sternly. “Remember the last time I ‘let everyone else know’? I caused our hero Balto, the innocent one, to become the target of the whole town. You’re lucky that you and Duchess weren’t run out of town with Steele because you were helping him, even if you were just being tricked… Now are you going to help or not?”

He saw Doc move away from the bodies and he started to kick snow onto them. Ritchie shook his head and did the same until all that was left was a patch of snow. Right after they finished, they heard the plodding of two pairs of boots that were rushing in their direction.

“It was right over here!”

Ritchie knew that voice belonged to his owner Susan. She skidded around the corner and stopped, huffing from the run. She bent over and tried to recover as a man came into view with his own dog on a leash. He was one of the very few police officers for this town, and it showed by his blue cap and badge. He looked at where Susan had directed him and scratched his head.

“Um, are you sure you saw something here Ma’am? I don’t see anything.”

Susan looked up. “Yeah, I’m positive it was… Where’d it go?”

The police man loosened his tight grip on the leash a bit and started to wander the alleyway. The dog saw Doc, but Doc just shook his head. The other dog seemed to get the hint and continued to rove about before returning to his master, whimpering. The man looked at Susan and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Uh listen Ma’am, I think it’d be best for you to go home and get a little sleep. There‘s obviously nothin‘ here.”

“Yes, yes you’re probably right,” Susan said rubbing her head as the police man walked her down the street.

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

Inside of a building with the sign ‘Telegraph Office’ a dog sat idly in a pet basket underneath a table as his human sat in a chair, waiting. He had a pen in his hand, even though he hadn’t heard anything lately over the telegraph. He was slightly surprised when he started to hear beeps. He started to talk aloud and scribble down the words he could catch.

“Anchorage to Nome and other Seward Peninsula towns STOP This is a severe warning that must be heeded STOP Refrain from-,” the connection started to fizzle out and he heard the word “whether” beeped in before the line went completely dead.

He shook his head in a confused manner and walked outside. He looked above him and saw that the telegraph lines had large icicles hanging from them but they were still intact, so he went back inside.

“Sure is a funny thing isn’t it Morris?” he asked his dog who just stared at him. “Yep, strange.”

The telegraph operator, Mr. Kode, sat back into his chair. He switched a wire which connected to the town of White Mountain and started to click on the telegraph machine.

“White Mountain STOP Have you received message from Anchorage STOP Connection terminated here STOP”

He paused and waited for a reply, which came shortly after.

“Nome STOP Message was cut short here as well STOP”

Mr. Kode sighed and looked down at Morris. “Whelp, I hope it wasn’t too important, just wish the best of luck on us.” His dog gave him the same stare. “And maybe you should go on a diet, you’re getting quite round ‘round the edges,” he laughed.

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

After long hours of struggle, the mail team finally pulled into White Mountain. The sky was filled with clouds that were all a bleak gray or black. Snowflakes started to fall heavily, and were swept up by large gusts. Mr. Simpson quickly threw his large sack of mail to the postmaster as a bitter wind swept around his nose, carrying large snowflakes with it. The postmaster looked at the musher funnily when he hopped back on the sled.

“You ain’t thinking of heading back in this storm are you young’un?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t have a place to stay, so we’d better start back.” Mr. Simpson replied politely.

“Oh fiddlesticks, I can’t rest easy letting you go when I know this storm’ll get worse. Say, what’d ya think of staying at my place until we can see the clear sun-shiny sky again?”

“But-”

“Now no but’s, I ain’t riskin’ yer wellbeing. Besides, we have a nice barn with plenty of hay that yer dogs can sleep in.”

Defeated, Mr. Simpson nodded his head. He unhooked his dogs and they followed the postmaster down the street. When he came to the barn he opened the door which creaked loudly. He then shooed all the dogs into the barn, threw a few pieces of meat in, and shut the door nosily. As the sounds of the men’s footsteps disappeared the dogs shuffled around and looked at their new sleeping area.

“Not much is there?” said Kaltag

Balto looked around the enclosure straight-faced. It’s floor was the bare ground, and it had catwalk-like structure the ran along the edge of the building, making a semi-second story. In the very middle was an enormous pile of hay. His lips curled into a humored smile as the smallest dog on the team, Star, bounded into the hay laughing. He looked over at his other friend Kaltag, a pale yellow Chinook with a brown patch over his eye, and chuckled slightly as he shook his head and laughed at Star’s antics. Each dog gathered large clumps of hay and proceeded to make beds. Their beds formed a circle around the now smaller lump of hay. The small purple-ish dog lifted his ears and looked at Kaltag who was besides him.

“Do you hear that wind howling out there? We may be stuck here for awhile.” Star said.

“For once Star, you may be right…” Kaltag replied.

The walls of the barn moaned and sighed as it was pushed on by the strong currents of air. As the team listened to the noises they one by one started to drift off into a deep and silent slumber.

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

The storm that was over White Mountain was also smothering Nome with its swirls of fluff. The shudders of a house rattled nosily and the building creaked. The windows were always wide open and it seemed on the verge of falling. The porch sagged and sighed with the slightest bit of pressure. Inside this small, run-down building, a large black and white husky looked down at four figures, his sharp teeth curled into a grin. He looked up through the gaping hole in the roof to see the clouds twisting in the bleak sky. A nod from him dispersed two of the small figures.

“I’m really sorry, I know how bad you wanted to go out today, but I couldn’t let that pass.” the largest of the remaining figures said to another dog who was almost his size.

He walked over and patted the one he had spoken to and he heard a growl. He smiled slightly and leaned his face down to the other. He took one of his claws and raked it across the other’s muzzle, who then let out a muffled yell as red started to drip down.

“I’ve already told you to be polite, and if you chose to disobey me again, I won’t be so kind.”

The husky walked over to the smallest and smiled.

“Come, it’s time for us to take our leave.”

The one who had just been hurt was left alone as the two disappeared into the street through an ancient dog door. As the continued to their destination, the visibility continued to drop as more and more snow was flung around in the gale.

“Uncle Greg, I’m scared.” cried the smaller.

“Oh don’t worry Stevan, we’ll be out of this soon…”

After a brief span of time, they came upon a structure that had wire hanging over it. Greg snickered as he quietly motioned the little puppy inside through a dog flap. He stepped inside after the pup and spied a chubby, tan dog snoring.

“Stevan, you go over there and make sure sleeping beauty doesn’t wake. I’ve got something to do, and we don’t want his yap going.”

Stevan did as he was told and stood over the sleeping dog. Greg though, hopped onto a chair. He looked at the telegraph in the dim light of an overhead lamp.

“Haven’t used one of these in the longest time.” he smiled.

After checking which town he was connecting too, he started to tap on the delicate machine. He muttered what he was sending, but it was so quiet it was nearly inaudible. Stevan watched as the dog before him started to twitch in time with the beeps, but he didn’t even want to know.

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

On the other side, a dog listened carefully. He snickered as the message ended. The dog sent back a message saying “Got it” before he hopped down off the chair and headed out the pet flap of the White Mountain Telegraph Office. He walked down the streets that were still swirling with snowflakes, but no matter how hard they lashed at him, he didn’t even flinch. He stayed close to the left side of the lane so he could tell where he needed to be. He heard a creek from a swaying sign that was above his head. He followed the edge of the building, and when he saw an open hole in the main door, he smiled and walked inside. As soon as he entered he heard a loud laugh.

“Come to see me Burt?” it sniggered, “And what pray tell brings you here?”

Burt grinned, “This should make you happy, we’ve just been given the go-ahead.”

A laugh echoed around this somewhat large room, but the source was no where to be seen.  “Excellent! I’ve been waiting to do something… fun.”

“You and me both Brother. But, before we start, I must go fetch Sister as well.”

“Oh yes, what fun would it be…without her…condition to liven things up?”

“Oh how right, of course, you aren’t much better than her in that respect.” Burt chuckled.

“Dear Brother, you are always such the kidder!” he laughed.

“And I thought that was supposed to be you, Hal.”

Hal snickered from the dark. He was sitting in a clawed up, dark, green armchair that was presently turned away from Burt. He pulled a small chain with his mouth which let loose a dim light from an old lamp. Hal hopped of the chair and walked towards his brother, grinning. His face was soon illuminated, showing his face that was a ghostly white, save for the black circles around his eyes and red painted around his muzzle, which was outlined by even more black. His nose looked abnormally large and red.

“You’re right, how could I forget” Hal chortled.

“But enough of these pleasantries, we must prepare. You can just wait here while I round up Lilith.”

“As you wish Brother.”

Burt gracefully bowed and slowly backed up to the door before ducking through the hole and reaching the outside. The billowing snow did nothing to distract him as he continued his trek to the opposite side, or the southern part, of town. He couldn’t help himself from smiling as he passed a barn and heard snoring and other noises of sleep from inside. Right after the barn, he came to a house that looked to be in pretty good condition. He saw a dog sleeping on the porch and grinned. Burt whistled loudly, immediately waking up the sleeping dog.

“Who’s there!?” she yelled, “Don’t mess with me!”

Burt walked towards her and she relaxed.

“Oh Burt, it’s only you… It is you, correct?” she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Life is controlled by destiny. Everything that we do or do not do affects us in the end,” he said, using a phrase that was supposed to confirm that it was him to his sister.

“Oh good, it is you,” she sighed, relaxing her shoulders, “but what brings you to my neck of the woods? I’m guessing something interesting.”

Burt smirked, “Well, that depends, messing around with others sound interesting to you?”

Lilith’s ears perked slightly, “It sure does.”

She stood up and walked into the storm with her brother, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds.

“Don’t worry Sister,” he comforted, “no one’s out to get you…”

Chapter Two:

“Come on Stevan. I have much to share with you.” Greg said, hopping down from the chair silently. 

He motioned Stevan to the dog flap and looked at Morris, smirking as he exited too. They walked along the buildings that were shrouded in the white gale. After a long pause Stevan’s curiosity finally got the better of him.

“What are you gonna share with my Uncle?”

Greg grinned and lifted his head. “I’m going to teach you certain skills. I think we’ll start now… I’m going to run to our place, and you’ll have to track me, or freeze.”

The pup was surprised at this lack of compassion, but answered with an ‘okay’ anyways. Greg sniggered once more and without warning, bolted into the powdery fluff, leaving the pup completely helpless and surprised. After he had recovered, Stevan ran as fast as he could towards the fading image of his uncle. Suddenly, he disappeared in the wall of snow. He put his nose to the snow and tried to find the scent. After what seemed like forever, he finally found it and started off in the direction. Stevan finally reached the others side of the lane that seemed like it had been widened just for him. His head started to feel a dull ache as he felt himself getting colder and colder. Each tiny leap he did felt like it was higher, forcing him to use more and more energy and tire himself out. After five minutes of hopping through the drifts of snow, he felt his paws becoming numb.

“I’m s-so c-c-cold.” he whispered as his teeth quaked violently along with his tiny body.

He wandered aimlessly through the frost that lashed against his face, forgetting to make sure that he was even following the right path.

‘What did I do to deserve this?’ he asked himself.

He put a paw to his face to try and block the biting wind as best as he could as the cold continued to eat at him.

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

Greg waited impatiently in the abandoned house he called his own. He licked his lips and scratched underneath his chin as time passed by slowly. He turned away from the window he had been staring out of and focused his attention on the dog who was still laying down from before. He went over to the dog and stuck his paw below his chin, lifting his face up to meet his eyes.

“Isn’t it amazing that three pups and myself could imprison you like this? Tied down with rope and a muzzle slipped over your mouth. Just perfect, isn’t it Nikki?” he sniggered.

Nikki, a brown chow, fought the urge to growl. He simply turned his head away from Greg, acting as if he hadn’t even spoken.

“So you’re trying to rebel, in even the littlest way possible. It’s kind of funny actually,” Greg glanced back out the window, “I hope that Stevan does make it though. He was my best candidate, but if he does end up frozen, then I guess that would be most unfortunate.” he said, showing no concern in his face or voice.

“You believe in destiny, don’t you old friend? Everyday we think that we are in charge of our own destinies, but we don’t realize how meager and pathetic our attempts to change it are. Everything that happens, happens because of destiny.”

Greg turned his gaze back to Nikki. He grinned a very wide grin, and showed off his razor-sharp fangs, sending a shiver down the other dog’s spine.

“If I killed you right now, it would be destiny’s decision. Heck, we’re all going to die someday, and I could just end you tonight, but that would be most unwise. See, over these last two years I’ve been able to wise up, and in order for this to work, it would be best to keep you alive. I know you know why I’m here. The typical thing that most like me want… Payback. But not just to anybody in this town. Of course you know who I mean… But how rude of me. I’ve been talking for so long that I’ve neglected to hear your opinion.”

Greg smiled with a false sense of sweetness as he moved closer to Nikki. The other dog in turn tried to move away, but his roped up legs proved this unsuccessful. Greg moved his way behind Nikki, leaned his head down,  and loosened the muzzle strap with his teeth. Nikki wiggled his nose as the muzzle slid down enough so he could speak.

Greg took his place back in front of Nikki, still smiling. “I always love to hear criticism. Please speak old friend.”

Nikki looked up at him with a very unhappy expression. “First of all, you’s ain’t no friend a mine. Second, why do I have to be the one taken hostage?”

“A very good question you’s got’s there. Guess it is just one of them random things there,” Greg said in a mocking manner, “Honestly, you’d think that after all these years you would have broken that accent.”

“What accent?” He asked confusedly.

The husky smiled wider and patted Nikki on the head. “Poor thing doesn’t even realize it.”

Nikki was becoming rather annoyed now. “Now don’t go making fun of da way I speak. There is a thing called respect and decency. But how could I forget? You care for me about as much as them little ones there. How could you be such a cold-hearted devil to ‘em,”

Greg listened to the chow continue to carry on in a somewhat amused fashion. After all, his plan was already unfurling. He suddenly heard a faint crunching in the snow and he instantly shoved the muzzle tight over Nikki’s mouth, hearing a satisfying yelp as he did so.

“How dare you tell me that I don’t care about those kids!? They are the whole world to me right now!” He yelled with a snarl.

“U-Uncle Greg? Wha-What’s going on?” He heard a small voice pipe up behind him.

Greg grinned and looked back to see Stevan shivering tremendously.

“Oh Stevan! I’m so glad you made it! You passed! Of course, I was… worried that you might freeze out there and was about to come get you.” He said with false distress. “I was just listening to this mutt spouting out lies, so I had to shut him up. Mind helping me put his muzzle back on?”

The pup nodded sheepishly. He walked over to the other side of Nikki and held on to one end of the muzzle-strap while Greg tugged on the other, successfully making Nikki incapable of talking once more. Greg looked down at the black and white pup and saw his little body still shaking from the cold.

“Come over here little one. I have a nice blanket for you,” he said while he motioned the pup farther behind Nikki to a fireplace that hadn’t been lit in years, “and while you’re warming up, I can maybe tell you a story.”

“D-Does it have a happy ending?”

Greg scratched the back of his neck, sighed, and stared at the pup. “Well, I guess you’ll have to find out.”

Stevan rushed over and found the blanket. It was blue, worn, and tattered, but he didn’t care. He wrapped himself in, and smiled slightly when he felt a larger presence looming over him. His uncle laid down and curled around him to warm him up even more.

“This story is about your mom and dad. If others try and tell you this is fake, than they’re outright lying to protect themselves, do you understand?”

Stevan nodded and snuggled against this warmth, yawning slightly.

Greg smiled sweetly and began his story. “This is how it all started out…”

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

A fire roared inside the mantle of Rosie’s home. It was very late, and everyone inside was fast asleep. Jenna’s chest rose and fell smoothly as the light of the flames danced around on her white and crimson fur. The quiet was disturbed as a faint scratching noise was heard on the front door. It persisted on for a few minutes until Jenna finally started to stir. Her mouth opened widely as she lifted herself up from her basket and stretched.

“Who’s there? …Balto?” she called groggily.

Jenna rubbed her tired eyes and glanced at a clock above the mantle. She sighed when she saw that it read 2:17 A.M. There was a quiet whisper from the other side of the door which Jenna couldn’t pick up at all.

“Hello?” She said, a little more awake now.

The scraping noise stopped and the tiny voice spoke louder, yet was still inaudible to her ears. Jenna glanced outside a nearby window and saw the wind howling as strong as ever. Maybe that’s why she couldn’t hear the other dog?

“Please, come in.”

She was taken aback when a little black and white furball tumbled through the dog door.

“P-Please help me,” the pup whined, “I’ve been trying to f-find a place to stay all night, but n-no one would take me. I-I’m so cold. Could I maybe st-stay with you?”

Jenna thought for a second, she couldn’t just send this poor thing back out into the harsh elements. She gingerly walked over to the pup, and felt terrible when she saw it cringe.

“Oh it’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you at all. I’d be glad if you stayed. The more the merrier,” she smiled warmly, “now, what’s your name?”

“I-It’s Becca… And I can’t thank you enough!” She jumped up and down happily.

Becca bounded to the pet basket after Jenna pointed it out to her. Jenna laughed softly and walked over to the basket. She laid herself down in the basket and curled around the little one.

“So, what brings you here to my lovely abode, Becca?” She asked.

Becca thought for a few moments before answering, “Well, I’ve been living on the streets for some time now because I was separated from my parents when I was even more smaller. So were my other brothers. I miss them so much…”

Jenna heard Becca start sniffling and her mothering instincts started to take over. She nuzzled the pup tenderly and smiled.

“It’s alright honey. You can stay here with me as long as you like. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I just let you wander around the streets with no one to look after you.” she cooed.

“Really? You’d do that for me?”

Jenna smiled and nodded her head briefly, causing the pup to nuzzle her and laugh with glee.

“Thank you! Thank you very much!” she shouted ecstatically.

“No problem, but we really should be getting to sleep, it’s awfully late.”

Becca shook her head up and down rapidly before cuddling up to Jenna and starting to nod off. She waited until Becca was fast asleep before she too laid her head down and started to dream.

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

The snow fell in sheets upon sheets, covering up the streets of Nome in its white wrath. Another lonely pup wandered the streets, trying to find his way in the whiteout. He was also a black and white husky, except he was more white than black compared to his other siblings.

“Why do I have to be the one to stay at someone else’s home? I wanted to stay with Uncle, not some strangers I’ve never met. Of course he probably likes Stevan more than me, just like Mom and Dad…” he thought aloud, “but at least he kept drilling me and Becca on how to get to the houses though.”

He trudged on through the snow, making little headway. He finally made it to a house, and knew it was the right one from the scent he had picked up before.

“But I’ll show him, I’ll be better than Stevan one of these days…”

He walked onto the porch and started to claw at the door vigorously, howling and whining loudly. There was a noise of footfalls from the other side and he stopped his scratching so he could hear.

“Who’s there?” he heard from a feminine voice.

“Seth, please help me.” he whispered in reply.

“Speak louder, we can’t hear you,” this was more of a masculine sound.

“Help me,” Seth whispered again.

“Still too quiet,” the female said.

“Oh Hun, maybe we should just let whoever it is in so we don’t have to strain our ears,” Seth heard the male say.

“Fine, but if it turns out to be some murderer who wants to kill us, I’ll have your head after I wipe the floor with him,” she countered, and then talked with a manufactured pleasant tone, “oh come in lovely guest!”

Seth jumped through the dog door as childishly as he had been told to and he skidded across the floor as soon as he was inside. He looked up to see two red and white huskies looking at each other. One had a green bandana around his neck, and the other had a purple one around hers.

“Do you always have to be so sarcastic all the time?” The male asked sternly.

She put a paw to her chest and batted her eyes, “Who, me? I’m never sarcastic. I’m just the more sensible one who plans for the worst.”

“Oh that’s it,” he said, rolling his eyes. He then looked down and noticed the pup. “Oh, hello there.”

“P-Please h-help me. I’ve been t-trying to find a place to stay all n-night, but no one would t-take me. I-I’m so cold. Could I maybe st-stay with you two?” Seth whimpered, just like he had rehearsed.

“Well…” the female said with a pause.

“We’d 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 disappeared 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 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 ice-blue eyes were circled with black. 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. 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 mongrel!’ she had yelled as he fled out of our small home. And from that moment on he would have nothing to do with us. Seeing our father leave had brought most of us joy, but not for Lucy. She became angry with our mother, and things became quite hostile between them. On the eve after we turned twelve weeks old, she was quite careless. She was trying to sneak into the meat locker even after our mom had warned us of the butcher’s new dog. She was caught red-handed with a string of sausages trailing from her mouth by the butcher’s dog. But instead of taking the fall for her own stupidity, she cut a deal with this dog. She would tell him why the meat was disappearing and where our small family hid if he promised to let her stay as another pet of the butcher. He had been reluctant at first, but he agreed. This part came from Lucy’s mouth. But we came in when we were abruptly awoken by the sound of shrill barking. There were loud footsteps that echoed to us as we heard a loud click from above. Then suddenly, everything became quiet. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears interfere with all other sounds as we waited for a sound that would hopefully relieve us. There was a loud bang and a bright flash of light as wood splintered from above us. We all looked up in shock and surprise and that’s when I saw the butcher’s face for the first time. It was a bright red and seemed misshapen as his mustache twitched. He grabbed his 12-gauge shotgun in his big hands and we heard another clicking as he aimed the barrel towards Mother. In the blink of an eye, we found ourselves running through a gale-force blizzard as the butcher stumbled clumsily out of his house, cursing. His dog and Lucy watched us run from the door, both having smug faces. Lilith and Hal had run with Mother, Steele had gone the opposite direction, and I, in my cowardice, hid myself in a fallen trash.” 

Burt paused for a moment and let out a deep sigh, as the memory continued to play in his mind.

“I heard another gunshot that shook both my body and my hiding place. I peaked out, heard a howl, and saw a large dark figure fall to the ground. The two smaller figures to both of her sides stopped briefly before they fled into the storm and I quickly lost sight of them. I shrunk back into my can, feeling a small bit of comfort of not being found by this cruel, cruel man. But I still felt that stinging realization that my mother wouldn’t be there to comfort me, or any of my siblings ever again. I can still remember crying myself to sleep in my despair and loneliness that night.”

The black and white husky blinked twice as he tried to hide a select few tears. He couldn’t remember how many years it had been since he had last cried. Usually he was too busy watching over Lilith and Hal to really think of all they had done. He focused carefully at this small dog at his paws. His fur matted with sweat and littered with scars. He bowed his head silently and continued to speak.

“From there on, our stories have varied, but I’ll try to keep the other stories straight. After that night, I tried to pick up the scent of my sister and youngest brother, but it proved more difficult than I thought. I still made it to the town which they had found refuge in, but it took days longer than I had wanted, and I was quite hungry for I still had no proper skill in hunting. When I entered the town, I collapsed at the front step of a small building. The owner saw me and opened up his door. He leaned down, and gently took me in his arms, carrying me inside the building and feeding me his table scraps. I would soon learn that this was this town’s telegraph man, and I became his loyal companion. So overall, you can say that I’ve had a rather plush life.

“Next came Sister. She was not only devastated by seeing my mother’s life taken from her by her very own eyes, but also by how it had been the sibling she had trusted the most that turned on her. She was never able to trust anyone anymore, except her brother’s of course. Her and Hal had stayed together for a short time, before they had a fierce argument and decided to split up for awhile. She became a regular street dog, fighting for survival every day by digging through trash cans and fighting over the smallest scraps. That did nothing to aid her in her mental instability. She would have been a great leader, had she the capacity to trust another soul. But after I found her again, which is harder than you may think, I took her to our veterinarian, hoping that they could do something to help her, and thank the stars, they actually accepted her. Both the vet and his wife did the best they could to gain her trust, and for a second, I thought they had succeeded and I saw a glimmer of the sister that I once knew, but it was never meant to be. She now fakes her trust with them, and only pretends so she can protect herself. Things have been shaky with her.

“On to Hal, maybe one of the more tragic tales of our small family. He completely lost it once he saw our mom die. He couldn’t handle it, and after he had fought with Lilith, he scrounged for food like her. But he made a mistake one evening. He broke into the house of an individual that he wouldn’t soon forget. He had reached the handle of a refrigerator when he felt a rough hand grasp the scruff of his neck and tug him away violently. He was the town clown, and I mean that quite literally, and as punishment for sneaking around his home, he planned to make Hal his pet, and not one that he would love either. As his first act, he took out his paintbrushes and a paint, and it wasn’t a face paint that would come off easily. He painted him up to resemble him in ways, a clown, a thing he would never live down. And as a final hurrah, he put a large, red, abnormal nose on him, but the string would not stretch, so as Hal grew, the string eventually fused within him. As a custom of this clown, before they would leave, he would attach a mask to Hal’s face that was connected to a canister. He said he ‘borrowed’ it from the dentist’s office, and it would make Hal giggle in delight seconds after, setting him up for the part of a clown immediately. If Hal did anything that displeased his master, he would be beaten and hurt. A year of dealing with this torment was really starting to take a toll on his mind and body, and he heard word that a circus was coming to the near area. His master worked him extra hard because he wanted desperately to get out of this town, and join an actual circus, so that made things worse for him. They were accepted into this circus, but shortly after, the human in charge and every human involved was taken by the police. This did set Hal free, but it also freed him from any restraint that his master had laid on him, so there was very little to hold him back. He eventually returned to White Mountain, and I reunited with him, but it was after he had already taken a few lives in the process. He turned his old master’s house into his own place that he could do with as he wished, and that’s where we are now.

“And finally, we move to Gregory Steele. I know you know most of his life from hanging around him. I heard that your group of four used to be pretty close knit and that he was quite the buzz of the town, but I doubt you know everything about your once good friend. That night made something click inside of him. He felt exactly the way about Lucy, as he had felt when our father left. He was the only one of us besides Lucy to stay in Nome, and for most of the time, he was able to hide his anger towards her and to hold himself back. Most of this was because he had other things to distract him, such as being the lead sled dog and a husky named Jenna. But he felt extremely threatened when this character named Balto started to move in on her. So he did his best to try and keep him away from her, but his efforts were simply useless. And after the whole Diphtheria Scare, he was heartbroken and enraged when he completely lost Jenna, and he vowed to return the favor one day. He came to us in White Mountain, but didn’t speak except on the rare occasion, most of the time he would stay isolated to think, but he left one day, and we couldn’t find him. We later found out that he went back to Nome to try and get revenge, but he failed miserably. He returned, and begged us to help him, and of course, we agreed because we couldn’t see him suffer, and now here we are.”

He saw Star looking up at him, completely awestruck and his mouth hung open. Burt chuckled quietly and patted Star on the head.

“I’m sorry, I know it’s probably a lot of information to process.”

He closed the curtains with his tail, plunging the room back into darkness before he silently padded over to the door. He glanced over his shoulder and spoke to Star once more before he exited.

“I also apologize again. See, I’m always quite conflicted, and so this is one side of me. While I’m with my siblings, I won’t be the same as you see me now… Just warning you.”

Burt smiled and stepped out, closing the door most of the way. He saw Hal grinning at him from his torn up chair.

“Shall we continue Brother? Or do you wish to continue spreading our life stories to more?”

“You know I had to say something, besides, this may earn us pity later on,” Burt whispered quietly.

“Ah, excellent thought Burt, but please, don’t be too cunning. I wouldn’t want you taking my job away from me,” Hal snickered.

“Rest assured Brother, I won’t. But we can continue on if you like.”

Hal jumped off the chair and walked over to Burt. They gave each other a brotherly embrace as they both smiled.

“I would love nothing better. But first, could you teach me Morse Code?… Just in case.

Burt smiled. “But of course Hal. It should make things easier lest we are separated by towns.”

“Excellent.”

Chapter Four:

Spirits in Nome ran high as everyone prepared for the celebration of another year passing. Smoke poured from the Manson chimney as squeals of delight roared inside. Rosie and her family accepted this new puppy with open arms. Currently, the time was 9:58, and Rosie was waving a small ball in front of the pup as her parents and Jenna watched and laughed. Jenna heard a scratching on the dog-door and immediately jumped out of her basket and rushed over to the flap. She flipped it up and smiled pleasantly when she saw a scruffy tan and brown hybrid walk through. She nuzzled him tenderly and breathed in his musky scent and sighed happily.

“And here I thought you weren’t going to make it back in time,” Jenna chuckled.

“Well you should know by now that I’m full of surprises,” Balto said, winking.

Jenna’s smile widened and she playfully swatted at Balto, laughing. He grinned back at her and headed towards the pet flap once more, looking over his shoulder at her and motioning to her.

“Well, aren’t cha coming? We’re all headed to the boiler room, and we have Morris on cue for when the clock strikes Twelve. It’ll be a blast.”

Jenna glanced at Rosie for a tick, “But what about Rosie. I’m sure she’d like to have me too.”

“But I think her parents could distract her well enough,” he laughed.

“Yeah, I guess your right,” Jenna said before she remembered something,” Oh! But what about Becca?”

Balto cocked his head to the side, “Becca? The name doesn’t ring any bells.”

“Well, I guess it shouldn’t, we actually just met a few nights ago. Becca, can you come here?”

Balto noticed for the pup for the first time. She pranced over and stood closely to Jenna, eying Balto in a curious manner.

“Becca, this is Balto, my most lovely mate,” Jenna winked and caught a glimpse of Balto turning a slight shade of pink and he rubbed his head with a paw.

“Well, I wouldn’t really use lovely as a word to describe me,” he whispered with a smile.

“Oooh, so you’re Balto. I heard so much about you,” Becca said politely. 

“Is that a good or bad thing, Jen?” Balto chuckled.

“Do you even have to ask?” she nuzzled him once more, “But shall we get going?”

He nuzzled her back and opened the pet flap and grinned.

“After you.”

Jenna left first, followed by Becca, and lastly came Balto, who quickly sped up besides her as they walked down the street toward the boiler room. They could hear that there was quite a bustle inside before they even reached the door. They pushed it opened and a wave of sound and heat hit them.

“Aye! Is about time you were arriving! I almost give up!” called a voice they recognized all too well.

A snow goose waddled up to Jenna, Balto and Becca, honking as he did so.

“Well, I can say I certainly wasn’t expecting you to show up here Boris.”

“You think I give you moment of piece? Ha!”

Becca hid behind Jenna’s hind leg and looked up at Boris. Jenna saw her and smiled sweetly.

“Oh don’t worry about him, he doesn’t bite. He’s just good at barking.”

“Honking, not barking.”

“Don’t forget nagging, he’s awfully good at that too,” Balto chimed in.

“Always last vord vith you! Is no use vith you.”

Becca cautiously padded away from Jenna and began to sniff Boris, which he didn’t mind in the least.

“Do not be vorried. Balto is only one who suffers wrath of me,” he smiled warmly, “you can be calling me Uncle Boris.”

She returned the gesture and looked around this room. There was the main boiler of course that was placed against one wall, and there was a large stack of barrels besides it. The opposite side of the room had boxes underneath a second level. She became preoccupied and wandered away from her small group. Balto, Jenna, and Boris didn’t even notice as they started to rove around. They spied a blanket laid out that had beef jerky spread across it. Jenna looked at the dog behind the blanket. She seemed rather pudgy, and she had droopy, big ears.

“I see you swiped the jerky Dipsy.”

“Yep, and old Gunderson didn’t see a thing. But you best get it before I start getting hungry,” her stomach growled and she stared down at the jerky.

Balto smirked and picked up a few pieces in his mouth. He turned one of them so it pointed straight out. Jenna saw him wink at her, and she got the idea. He kissed her softly while also exchanging the meat.

“Aw, what a pretty picture!” sang a voice.

Jenna held the jerky in her mouth as she saw her parents pad towards them. Her mother glanced at her father.

“Do you always have to be such a softy?” Duchess asked.

“Well someone has to,” Ritchie replied casually.

“And unfortunately that someone is you."

Ritchie stuck his tongue out at her and laughed. Duchess rolled her eyes and placed a paw to her forehead.

“I apologize for his behavior. I promised myself I wouldn’t bring him back into the public again, and now I know why.”

Jenna giggled at her parents antics and crossed her front paws.

“Aw, c’mon, you’re both embarrassing me,” she said in the whiniest voice she could muster.

“Well Honey, it’s not that hard to do, sorry to say,” Ritchie chuckled quietly before Duchess playfully smacked his head.

Ritchie fell to the floor and covered his head with his paws. “Ow! Ow! My self-esteem! She’s abusing it!” he cried out.

“Vhat a ham,” Boris started before looking at Duchess, “ I vish you the best of luck, you vill be needing it.”

Duchess failed at hiding a smile. Ritchie stood up and dusted himself off before he eyed Boris and rose an eyebrow.

“Joining her side, Bernard? I see. This means wahr.”

Duchess hit him in the head again, but this time it wasn’t so fake. Ritchie rubbed the spot where she had struck and received the message.

“Ahem, so, what have you been up to Jenna? Anything exciting to share?” Ritchie asked, trying to start a conversation.

“Well, actually yes. The other night I heard a scratching on the door, and that’s when I met this little pup named Becca.”

“Huh, strange,” said Duchess, “the same exact thing happened to us a few nights ago too. Only his name was Seth, speaking of which, where’d the little guy go to?”

She looked around them and saw no sign of Seth. Jenna and Balto did the same, but they couldn’t find Becca either. Ritchie had spied Doc wandering around the edge of the room, and figured that he to clear up some things.

“I’ll be right back, just going to have a word with a dog,” Ritchie muttered to Duchess before he walked to Doc.

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

Meanwhile, Becca had sat down gazing out of a high window at the cloudless night sky. The stars twinkled every so delicately and really made her think about some of the things that had gone on, but she was quickly taken out of her little world when a familiar paw touched her shoulder. She turned around to see Seth staring at her.

“What do you want?”

“I want our mom and dad back. I want to snuggle in our nice warm basket, to hear their voices. But that’s not going to happen…” Seth sighed unhappily as he looked down at his paws.

“Oh cheer up, things will get better, especially since we have Uncle Greg to watch over us,” she said, patting him on the back.

“Ch, he sent us off to live with other’s the first time he got the chance.”

“Don’t say that. He said that we were really important to him, and that he was only allowing us to get out and see the world.”

He looked at Becca distastefully and frowned, “But what about Stevan? He kept that good-for-nothing, and sent us packing. I’m twice the dog he could ever hope to be. I should have been the one who stayed to learn from him.”

Becca’s voice faltered and she fell silent. Seth started to walk away from her quietly, but it was her this time that put a paw on his shoulder.

“Don’t walk away angry. It only makes things worse.”

He shrugged her paw away and continued.

“I’d love to stay and talk, but I have my new mom and dad, and they’re probably worried.”

She wanted to stop him, but she really didn’t know how. They all had to grow up so fast in so short of time, and she wasn’t ready for it. Sure, they didn’t have to fend for themselves, but they had to cope with the fact that they’d never see their parents again. She whimpered quietly as she turned her head back up towards the heavens.

“If you’re watching, please help us to get through. And please, can you watch Seth? I’m started to get worried about him,” she whispered as the stars glimmered through the high windows.

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

Ritchie pushed his way through the crowd of furs until he reached a St. Bernard. Currently he was talking with a smaller scruffier dog.

“Now Mel, you can’t believe everything you hear. Do you honestly believe I would let something like this happen under my watchful eye?” Doc said.

“But now there’s lost dog posters plastered around everywhere. And there were shouts a few mornings before. I heard them!” Mel looked around cautiously and started to gnaw on his toenails, “What if we have some psychotic nut job running around and, you know? It could be anyone! We don’t even know who it was that was taken out, they must have been hidden really good!”

“Or perhaps they just went missing, and it was the owners shouting. Really now Mel, anything could have happened.”

“Well, maybe you could be right. But I heard it from Sylvia and Dixie, so we should be extra careful.”

“Please don’t worry, everything’ll be taken-”

“Excuse me, but can I speak with you,” Ritchie cut in.

“Alright,” Doc began as Ritchie led him away from the crowd, “but you do realize it’s rude to interrupt.”

“And it’s polite to lie to everyone?”

Doc paused for a moment before he spoke, “… It is if you’re protecting them. Normally I wouldn’t condone such a thing, but this isn’t exactly a normal circumstance.

“But what happens if everyone finds out Doc? What’ll happen then? It’ll just cause a bigger panic then it would cause now. I’m usually a fun-lovin’ dog, but I can’t do that when I’m debating whether I should look over my shoulder just to make sure I can live.”

“And that’s exactly why we have to keep this hushed. A first step to chaos, is paranoia. One rash decision can lead to pandemonium. As head of our town, I have to be careful with what I do and don’t do. It’s my duty to protect them from these fears.”

“And here I thought that you were chosen to be fair. Well it isn’t exactly fair to keep everyone in the dark like this, is it?”

“If you were in my position, you’d understand.”

“Don’t worry, I already do. See ya later Doc.”

Without another word, Ritchie did an about-face and padded back into the crowd, leaving Doc to think about the things he had said. The St. Bernard exhaled heavily and looked over the partygoers.

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

“No, I can’t believe you.”

“But it’s true! I heard it straight from Grams, and I told Mom too.”

“How could it have happened, Saba? I mean, there had to be someone there that could have stopped it.”

“Dingo, for the last time, I’m telling you exactly what I heard! It chills me to the bone,” Saba countered.

Denali, another sibling pushed into the conversation, “Guys, guys, there’s no point in arguing.”

“Yeah. You two can destroy each other on your own time,” smirked Haida, their brother.

Kodi glared at Haida “Now is no time for joking, and you know that.”

Haida looked at him sheepishly, and everyone turned to Kodi.

“So, what did you want to tell us again?” asked Denali.

Kodi looked around to his siblings and cleared his throat, “Does it seem like anyone’s missing to any of you?”

They all shook their heads after looking around the room.

“Well, if you look carefully, you’ll notice that a certain little purple dog isn’t here.”

“You mean Star? ..Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him at all,” Dingo stated.

“Exactly. He went missing while we were trapped in White Mountain, and we couldn’t stay long enough to find out why. I’m suspecting fowl play.”

Denali scratched under his chin. “Is there anything that seemed suspicious. It’s possible that he went out and lost track of time, but you can never shoot down any possibilities until they are proven true or false.”

“Good point, but there has to be some way to find out.”

“Well Kodi, in all honestly, you aren’t getting anywhere until you get back there,” Saba pointed out.

“There is one thing I noticed though. Our replacement dog, Lilith, seems a little off. I tried asking her about it, but she ignored me. I know it’s not right for me to invade her privacy, but something just doesn’t set right with her.”

“Well maybe she’s nervous that there are people like you that are snooping around. I mean, if you were trying to go through my dirty laundry, I certainly wouldn’t take kindly to that. Maybe even knock you one or two,” Haida smirked and shrugged, “hey, don’t blame me. I gotta try everything at least once.”

“But you could be a little bit pickier in your timing.”

“I could. But I’m not you Denali.”

Saba giggled as she saw her brother roll his eyes from Haida’s comment. She cleared her throat and fell quiet when she realized that no one else was laughing.

“C’mon you guys? Where’s your sense of humor?”

“Out having a party, and I wasn’t invited,” Denali spoke in a monotone voice.

Saba couldn’t help but laugh quietly, “But we have our own party right here, and we should be having a good time.”

“I’m with crazy,” Haida chuckled as he nodded towards Saba.

“You always are,” smiled Dingo.

The siblings started to laugh as they heard a shrill bark. Doc lifted his ear and listened. He stood up in front so everyone could see him and he spoke ecstatically.

“Alright everyone! One minute to go before we can say goodbye to 1927!”

Everyone started to cheer as they anxiously awaited the arrival of the new year. Even the townspeople couldn’t wait. They had all gone through the painstaking trouble of setting their clocks as close as they could to each other’s so they could all exalt in unison.

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

A black and white husky with a red ribbon attached to one of her paws wandered around Nome. She hadn’t seen this place in years, and so much had changed. As her paws crunched through the delicate drifts of snow, she suddenly stopped and perked her ears up. She listened intently as she felt her heartbeat increase its rhythm, her breathing quickly following suit. She slowly looked over her shoulder and then righted herself.

“Who’s there?” she called warily.

She was only answered by the ruffling of a flag as a small burst of wind hit it. This silence only furthered her nervousness.

“I’m serious. Tell me who’s there, or I’ll come in after you.”

She crept forward until she was at the open mouth of an alleyway. She scanned her surroundings before bolting down the alley. She stopped halfway down and sidled along a wall, immersing herself in the shadows.

‘I know someone’s following me. I heard there footsteps right behind me. What do they want with me? … Are they going to try and-’ Lilith gulped as she thought about this.

She edged farther and realized that two trashcans were right near her. Her tail stood out straight as an arrow as she thought. Did she dare check the cans for this unknown stranger? She dared. She pushed one of the lids off and flinched when it banged loudly into the other can. Lilith peaked into the can and gave a sigh of relief when she found it empty. But something still didn’t feel right. Her ears and mind did love to play tricks on her after all, so they once more made the sound of a footstep ring in her head. She bit her lip and checked the area, and she still saw no one. She was starting to get agitated by this silent treatment, and she couldn’t take it much longer.

She gritted her teeth and barked. “If you don’t show yourself I’ll just rip you limb from limb!”

Normally by now she would have passed out. But the thing she lacked now was her medicine. Her owners had a bottle of pills that would cause her to become extremely drowsy if she ever fell to one of these episodes. But her owners had been incompetent and had forgotten to transfer these pills to Mr. Simpson, so now her paranoia could reign supreme.

Suddenly, something occurred to her. There was a very, very faint smell. It seemed to emanate from right beneath her, and with her curiosity aroused, she started to carefully dig through the layers of snow. She felt one of her claws catch on something, and brushed away more snow as a familiar face became visible. She gasped and quietly whispered the name of her sister Lucy.

“What happened to you?” she murmured as she looked over her face that had been stained with red.

At first she felt remorse and sadness, but that quickly changed. She gripped the scruff of the dogs neck and growled.

“I can never forgive you for what you did! You betrayed us. You ripped our family to shreds…”

Lilith dropped the body of Lucy back into the snow and covered her up with more snow than had been there previously, maybe leaving a paw or two uncovered, but she really didn’t care anymore.

“Serves you right.”

Her lip curled as she surveyed the site. She was suddenly taken out of her thoughts as shouts were heard and her body froze up.

“Three…”

“Two!”

“ONE! Happy New Year!”

She fled away from the alleyway as noisemakers and other loud sounds echoed around her.

Chapter Five:

Two dogs sat staring up at a piece of paper that was nailed to a telegraph post. The smaller of the two was a light purple and white. She looked very prissy and had a gleaming new collar, and she was less than half the size of her friend. Her friend was a blond color and she had long droopy ears which were tipped with brown. Her name was Sylvia, and the smaller was named Dixie.

“Now this is news to me.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” replied Dixie, “who would have guessed?”

What they were discussing was a poster. It was the third in a succession of posters. The first poster had a picture of five dogs, and the other one had Star. Just about everyone knew that Star probably got lost, and would be found soon, but the new addition was a little shocking to them. It was a brown, stocky chow. It was one of the sled dogs. Sylvia read the words under the picture aloud to Dixie.

“Can you find me? Name: Nikki. Breed: Chow. Gender: Male. If found, please contact Jefferson family. He went missing a few days before New Year’s Eve, and we miss him very much. January 8th, 1928.”

“But Sylvia, it’s been a week since the new year.”

Sylvia nodded, “I know, but I wonder how long he’s really been missing. I say we spread the word. But why would they have waited so long to get something this juicy out?”

“What can you expect? They are humans after all,” she smiled.

“True, I almost forgot.”

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

Jenna barked excitedly as she tugged on Rosie’s coat. Rosie staggered behind her giggling as she slipped her arm through the other sleeve of her coat and swung around the whicker basket in her little hands.

“I’m coming Jenna, I’m coming!” she said gleefully.

Tom and Nancy watched their daughter open the door and disappear as they smiled after her. Tom sidled up to Nancy and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Well, the dog and kid are out. Is there anything, specific, you’d like to do?” he asked.

She smirked and rested her head on his shoulder. “You bet.” She then spun around. “I’ll get the deck of cards!”

Tom paused for a moment. “.. And I call the chess board!” he said excitedly.

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

Rosie sang merrily as Jenna triumphantly led her to the outskirts of town. Jenna started to quicken her pace as the familiar derelict boat appeared in the distance, and Rosie found it harder to keep up with her. She looked up into the clear blue sky and saw the sun shining down on them in a brilliant glory, making every drift of snow they passed look like small mountains of sparkling diamonds. By the time she walked up the plank to the deck of the boat, she was already grinning. She saw her wolf-dog still under his tattered, pale-blue blanket, most likely dreaming. She laughed as she walked over and was greeted by Boris.

“Oy! Thank goodness you are showing up! Maybe you can vake this mushugina mutt up. I have been trying all morning, but is no use.”

“Well it’s worth a shot,” she replied cheerfully.

She stepped beside the blanket and knelt down until she was by Balto’s head.

“Good morning sleepy head,” she whispered quietly.

Balto suddenly shot up sending the blanket tumbling through the air. He was breathing quickly as the blanket fell back and covered up his face. He lifted it up and saw Jenna staring and he quickly started to blush.

“Oh it’s you Jenna. I was expecting to see Boris standing in front of me, screaming like usual,” he said hoarsely. He cleared his throat and sat down. “So, what brings you out here?”

Jenna looked at him sweetly and pointed to the plank as Rosie rushed up. “You forgot we were having a picnic here, didn’t you?” she giggled and licked his cheek.

Balto saw Rosie and shrugged the blanket off of him, “You’re not mad are you?”

Jenna laughed and nuzzled Balto, “You know I could never be mad at you.”

He wiped a paw across his forehead and smiled, “Phew, because I heard that you never want to anger a woman.”

“And how right you are being! They have vays of getting even,” honked Boris.

Just then Rosie stumbled over to them, dropping the basket down as she stopped. She patted Balto on the head and giggled as she opened up one side of the basket. She suddenly screamed in delight and surprise as Becca jumped out of the basket, flew onto the deck, and skidded right to Balto. Rosie quickly reached back into picnic basket and brought out a large cloth. She took it at each end and fanned it out, covering the deck with it.

“So that’s where you were hiding! And to think we were looking for you for fifteen minutes!” Jenna laughed as she patted Becca on the head.

“Well I did learn from the best,” the pup chuckled.

“Time for food!” Rosie called as she finished setting out the plates.

Each animal sat in front of a different plate as the nine-year-old called out which plate belonged to whom. Of course, she had one less plate for a reason, and made Jenna and Balto share the same plate, which had a small string of sausages strung out upon it.

Balto stared down at the sausage and laughed. “Does this remind you of anything Jenna?” he asked.

Jenna joined in on the laughing as she remembered what had happened a long time ago. “It sure does. You can say I ‘burned’ him on that one.”

Balto had just taken a bite of one of the sausages when she said this and started to cough.

“You okay there?” Jenna said, stifling more laughter.

Balto nodded as he swallowed it. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine, just as long as you don’t want any cooked meat.”

Jenna giggled again and nuzzled Balto. They heard a gagging sound as they saw Becca pretending to choke from their actions. Meanwhile, Boris was eyeing the fish that she had laid on his plate. He shrugged and picked up the fish, and right before he was about to slip it into his beak, they heard a stomach growl. They all looked at Boris for a tick and started laughing even more.

“Vhat!? It was not me!” he squawked, making the others roll around in a merriment, except for Rosie of course since she couldn’t understand them, but she still was enjoying herself nonetheless.

The picnic continued on for another hour before Rosie saw the sun setting in the sky. She knew that the day was far from over, but she had to get home before her parents worried. She called to Jenna and Becca and all three left Balto’s boat with a spring in their steps. Unbeknownst to them however, a forth figure departed after them, hiding carefully in the long shadows that they cast as the sun set deep into the sky and the few clouds darkened above.

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

The figure separated from the trio as they entered town. He dodged down alleys and around buildings, making sure to keep a close eye on anyone that could potentially spot him. His breathing was silent, but quick as streams of mist poured from his nostrils.

He suddenly stopped and whirled around. He had heard a sound, he knew it. He had no time to waste checking though, so he made a break for it, making a last sprint toward a familiar building. He rushed through the dog door, panting heavily.

“So, I take it you found her.”

He nodded his head as he recovered. A large husky walked up to him and patted him on the back.

“Good job Seth, I’m glad at least one of you has a sense of time. So, what kept her away.”

“It seems that Becca is getting really close to Jenna and them… Sir.”

He chuckled and grinned, “Sir.. I like that. But anyways, maybe I should speak with your sister, until then, you can leave. I have much to work on with Stevan.”

Seth gritted his teeth at the mention of this name, but regained his composure quickly. He didn’t want to anger his uncle, so he bowed his head and backed out of the house. Gregory Steele muttered to himself for a moment before he twirled around, finding a pup right behind him.

“Ah, there you are Stevan. I have a job for you. When next my niece visits, I would like you to teach her a lesson about punctuality. By yourself of course.”

“But-”

“I don’t want to hear it. Remember what I told you about your parents?”

“Yes…”

“And do you want Balto and the others get away with what they did?”

“No, but-”

“That settles it then,” he walked past the pup and spoke to him over his shoulder, “and I wouldn’t want you to displease me. I strongly advise against that.”

Stevan gulped quietly as he remembered what had happened the last time he had been less than desirable with Steele.

“So old friend, have you changed your mind yet?” Stevan heard Steele say.

The husky was stooped over the familiar chow, eyeing him up a down. Nikki looked like he hadn’t eaten in days, which was probably true. His once proud brown fur was completely soiled. The ropes and muzzle that bound him were chafing, increasing his discomfort more and more. But despite this, he shook his head indignantly. Steele held up the leftovers of a steak.

“Are you sure? All I ask is that you be my puppet for awhile, and I’ll keep you well fed and I’ll treat you like the preppy dog that you are.”

Steele smiled proudly as he gently loosened the muzzle enough for Nikki to speak again. The husky lifted up his paw and showed a black claw, and then proceeded to open his mouth and lick around his razor-sharp teeth, daring Nikki to make another stupid move.

“I’m as sure as that settin’ sun that I won’t never break to you’s. Besides, if you go takin’ me outta the picture, then that does nothin’ to help your cause. You’re nothin’ but a low down, good-for-nothing, son of a-”

“Please! Watch your language around the child! I thought you were raised better,” tutted Steele in a mocking manner.

“I would spit in your face right now if I didn’t have this blasted thing stuck on my mouth.”

“And that’s exactly why you have it on you. But you have a point, I still need you, so maybe I shouldn’t do anything too drastic… yet,” Steele clenched his paw tightly and heard it crack, which amused him slightly.

“You’d better not do anything. You’s is already in enough trouble already, and who knows what my pals’ll do,” he said with a hint of uneasiness.

This constant struggle between him and Steele was really starting to weaken Nikki’s will. He didn’t know long he could stand this kind of torment, not only from Steele, but even his own body was rebelling against him, demanding that he give in so he could have a decent thing to eat and drink again. His body and head were aching like he had never felt them before, and he felt quite weak since he hadn’t been able to walk around in what seemed like forever. The only that helped to soothe these pains was the dim hope that he would be rescued, and his determination to not let any of his friends down.

“Oh how right you are,” Steele said, putting in a tone of sympathy, but then he had an idea, “I’ll make a deal with you.” He held up the piece of steak and dangled it in front of Nikki’s face. “If you can just say that Balto is a terrible dog, and throw in anything else, I’ll give you this steak, and some fresh water.”

Nikki’s thoughts started to flee him, along with his reason. His stomach growled angrily at him, and he realized how badly he was starving. The hunk of meat was close enough to his nose that every time he took in a breath, the scent flooded him and made him drool. He didn’t know what to do. Balto was his friend… But this… He needed this to live, and he could just apologize to Balto later… right? Besides, he wouldn’t mean it. This was only to keep him breathing another day. Yeah. He’d just lie to Steele, get the food and water, and everything would be right. That’s what he’d do. Nikki thought for a moment, because he knew he needed to add something else to that.

“Balto’s a terrible dog, and, uh, he’s a menace to society,” Nikki whispered quietly.

Steele didn’t push him any farther. He took the muzzle off carefully and laid the steak down carefully down in front of Nikki. Nikki lunged for it as best as he could while the ropes tugged him down, now aware of how desperate he was for it. He ripped piece by piece of the raw meat and swallowed it hungrily. Something tasted different about this meat than any other he had had. Normally when they were fed, it was meat that had already been cooked, and that had cooled. But this, there was something in it that made it have a peculiar taste. He suddenly realized what it was. The blood hadn’t been cooked out of the meat, and it added to the flavor, and to him, made it much more enjoyable to eat.

Steele picked up the water dish and walked out of the house. He scooped a hefty amount of snow into it. Sure it wasn’t tap water, but it’s the best he could get, besides, it was better than what Nikki had had previously. He set the dish down and smirked to himself. He wasn’t able to defeat Nikki’s castle in one blow like he had hoped, but that wasn’t going to stop him. All he had to do was pick at a wall enough until it would collapse, and then Nikki would be putty in his paws just like he had used to be.

“All in good time my old friend,” he whispered softly.

Steele lifted the dish again and backed back into the house. He walked past Nikki who was now finishing up with his meal, and Stevan who sat in awe as he watched the desperate dog. He set the dish by the empty fireplace and rolled a few logs into. He stepped into the kitchen and found the small box he was looking for on the kitchen table. He hopped into the chair and reached into the box with his muzzle and pulled out a match. He carried it back into the parlor and struck it on the rough surface of the floorboards, casting a dim light into the room. The match was set into the fireplace carefully as the smaller logs started to fall to the flame. Soon the fire grew larger, and quickly melted the dish with snow. Steele kicked the dish back to Nikki and he heard a lapping sound as he quenched his thirst. 

Gregory seemed transfixed by the fire though. The way it destroyed everything in its path, the power it held, yet how vulnerable and fragile it could be. It flickered in his eyes as it continued its delicate dance, jumping from one piece of wood to another, and turning each corner it touched into a gray, ashy, wasteland. He was quickly thrown out of his world when there was a rapping at the door. He idly wandered to the front door and leaned against it.

“Is this where Steele is staying?” he heard a feminine voice say from behind it.

“Depends,” he replied, “who’s looking for him?”

“His sister, Lilith.”

His eyes widened and he opened the dog door quickly, making Lilith jump back from the other side. He motioned her inside quickly and looked up and down the deserted streets for a tick before looking at her.

“Lilith? What on earth are you doing here? You were supposed to stay in White Mountain.”

She traced a circle with her paw and looked down in shame. “I wanted to, but I was forced here. They were down a sled dog, Star I think was his name if I remember.”

Steele nodded and then suddenly looked at her in surprise. “Wait… Did you say Star? I thought I ordered you to grab Balto…”

Lilith bent down even farther, hiding her face. “Well… we… ugh… made a mistake. Please. Forgive us.”

Steele started to pace back and forth uncomfortably, his tail swishing back and forth fiercely as the fire played with his shadows. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. He had to think of something, and quick. He kept looking at Nikki and then at Lilith out of the corners of his eyes. His frown then turned to a smile, and then to a grin. He patted Lilith and escorted her out of the room so they could talk in private.

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

Seth walked into his ‘guardian’s house, and flopped onto the green and red rug that was laid ever so exactly in front of the fireplace. He rolled onto his back and stared into the crackling fire. Why was Stevan always treated so well? Why couldn’t he stay? Did his uncle think him useless? He frowned as he continued to pour over these questions. Maybe Uncle thought that Stevan was better than him? …Seth could prove him wrong. But he’d have to wait for a good time, right when his brother would be at his weakest, and then he’d strike, and once and for all, show that he was the superior dog.

“See, I told ya he’d be back Honey.”

“Is it even any use to tell you not to call me anything sweet? It messes with my reputation.”

Seth rolled back onto his stomach and turned behind him, trying to hide his disgust through the mask of a smile. Ritchie was the first to walk up to him and he noticed for the first time how his fur made it appear like there were large, black half-moon shapes under his eyes.

“So Pup, where were you on the eve of today?” Ritchie inquired.

“Just out playing games with the other pups,” Seth forced a wider smile until he felt it start to hurt.

Ritchie put on a mock tough-guy face, “Alright, we’ll let it slide this time, but never let it happen again.”

Duchess opened her mouth to reply, but paused for a moment as she actually focused on the pup. She had a hunch, but she couldn’t be sure right now, so to be polite she shut her mouth and stood there as she let Ritchie finish up.

“Now that’s a good boy, now, go get some rest!” Ritchie called as he gave Seth one last noogie and walked back to Duchess.

When he was in earshot, Duchess whispered to him, saying they had to talk. She sounded serious enough that he didn’t think it would be wise to trifle with her, so he followed her without a word. As they padded up the steps, Seth stuck his tongue out at them as he tried to get comfortable. Duchess stopped Ritchie when the reached the top of the stairs. She glanced back to the first floor and then down the short narrow hallway before she spoke.

She pursed her lips as she spoke. “I know this’ll sound crazy… but I think that’s one of Lucy’s pups.”

He gave her a dumbfounded expression which she blew away a lock of fur and frowned at him.

“The dog. She was my friend… The one who didn’t.. make it.”

“Ooh! The one‘s we found in the alley!” he exclaimed but was quickly shushed by her.

“Not so loud!” she hissed, “But she mentioned having pups, it was only on the rare occasion though, so no wonder I forgot.”

“Or maybe there’s the possibility that it’s just some street dog that we decided to take in.”

“Perhaps. But I have this gut feeling. Didn’t Jenna say that she had a pup come to her too? They could be related.”

“But we never even saw what she looked like. I say that it’s just a coincidence.”

Duchess rubbed her head as she tried to think. “You’re right. We’ll just wait until we can see Jenna again.”

Ritchie walked to a door to their left, revealing an empty, crimson bed reserved for them. “After you M’lady.”

He held it open as Duchess did a form of a curtsy and walked through. Ritchie followed soon after and hopped up onto the bed and moved closer to her.

“Sweet dreams Dear.”

“Say that again and I’ll rip your lips off.”

“Sounds wonderful,” he yawned as the room fell silent to the sounds of shallow breathing.

Chapter Six:

“Well, unfortunately, it’s that time again.”

“Balto, must they take you away on the mail run again?”

“Yeah. Fresh outta dogs, and besides, the others wanted my help in looking for Star.”

“Well the best of luck in finding him. The town’s been such a bore without him to liven things up.”

“That it has Jen, but alas, I must depart.”

Balto nuzzled her tenderly and she licked his cheek. He gave his usual cheesy smile and she giggled.

“Just take care of yourself and the others, and I’ll be waiting here like the overprotective mother and mate that I am.”

Balto chuckled as she gently lowered her orange bandana from her neck and placed it around Balto’s. She eyed him over and smiled.

“Careful now. You look so handsome, especially when you wear that, that I may have cause to be jealous.”

Balto grinned cheerfully and couldn’t help from nuzzling her once again.

“Alright, I’ll see you in a day or so, okay Jen?”

“I’ll be fine as long as you are.”

“I love you, bye for now.”

“I love you too. See ya!”

Balto turned around and exited through the pet flap. He walked briskly down the main street as he saw the sled team waiting for him eagerly. He ran the last stretch and skidded to a halt as he waited for Mr. Simpson to see.

“Ah! There you are!” he called.

The man grabbed Balto gently by the scruff of the neck and led him to the front. As they passed the rest of the team, Balto identified each one of the more familiar faces.

He saw the new dog, Lilith. She seamed to have a look of fear or discomfort. When he was hitched to the front slot, he spoke back to her.

“Everything alright back there Lilith?”

She jumped from her trance. “Y-Yeah. Everything’s okay on my end,” she said shakily.

“If you’re sure then.”

“Oh, most definitely!”

She crossed her front paws and tried to look as content as she could. Balto was about to speak again but was interrupted by Mr. Simpson.

“Alright team, let’s get moving. The sooner we get to White Mountain, the sooner we can hand out these posters to help find Star… Hike!”

Within an instant of the uttering of this last word, the team had already started, kicking the powdery snow high into the air. Within minutes they had already passed the sign that indicated their town, and were well on their way.

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

The ice creaked noisily under the paws of a red and white husky. He could hear the sounds of the river as he saw his small village appear before him. He quickened his pace as his kill, a dead rabbit, hung limply in his grip. He noticed that the sun was starting to rise, casting its bright gaze across the tundra.

‘Guess it must be close to lunch time anyways,’ he thought.

His pace quickened as he entered his small village. He walked down the narrow main street and glanced at the overhanging signs, many of which had the name of the village, Solomon, somewhere in them. There were some people roving around in the street, but most chose to stay in there nice warm homes. It must have been nice to have a home for this husky sure didn’t have one. It was for good reason though. No human wanted a dog like Douglas. He was thought to be too much of a danger to even think of taking him in.

Douglas threw up the rabbit and jumped high to catch it again. “Got cha!” he said triumphantly.

He went through a few more volleys of tossing the rabbit and catching it before he became board and decided to stop messing around with his food. He set down his kill before he started to greedily chow down. He licked his lips as he discarded the carcass, burying it under the fluffy snow. Douglas rose his head suddenly as a series of barks came closer to his ears. He walked up the lane and just caught the sight of Balto as he and the team flew past the village.

“Him again,” Douglas hissed through gritted teeth.

He took a step in the direction that the team had disappeared, but quickly stopped himself. There was a sigh as he regained his self-control.

“No. I promised her that I wouldn’t let myself go this easily… I promised. But… I will have my day.”

He rubbed his cheek and felt the scar there. He wanted so badly to do something he might regret, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it now. Douglas laid down onto the blanket of snow, resting his muzzle on his paws while the sun slowly started to warm him with its rays.

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

“So, which is it Becca? You can do the former, or you can have your very own brother learn you. You should be lucky enough that he even convinced me to give you an option,” Steele said coolly.

Becca whimpered pathetically as she laid before her uncle. Her submissiveness gave Steele a sense of pleasure. He put a heavy paw on the back of her head and leaned down until he was right in her face.

“So, which is it my niece?”

Her eyes darted back and forth frantically as she whined. Both sounded like horrible things to do or endure.. That’s probably why they were punishments. But being punished, over something like that? She didn’t understand.

“Well?” he said, more impatiently now. Steele clenched his paw slightly and saw even more panic flood her face.

“The first one! The first one! Just please, don’t hurt me!” she wailed.

“Now that’s a good girl… Remember, tomorrow evening. No later, no earlier.”

Becca tried to hide her fear and frustration, but she still felt the tears come forth. What had she just done? But before anything else could happen, she whirled around and fled out of the run down shack. Steele smirked and looked back at Stevan.

“And now, the real training begins.”

Stevan looked at him confusedly for a moment, and the next moment he found himself lying on the floor. He felt a wet drop fall onto his paw, and he looked down and saw the droplet of blood.

“First lesson of combat. Never be taken by surprise.”

Stevan stood up and was ready to brace himself this time. He nodded silently and then felt the wind knocked out of him as Steele had flung him by the scruff of the neck.

“Second lesson, never fight fair.”

Before he could get up, he felt the full weight of the larger husky forcing him down. He felt like he could barely breath, and he desperately tried to get out of this hold, but it was to no avail.

“Third, use your size to your advantage. Since you’re still small, it’s best to jump on them so they can’t reach you.”

“I understand! Please let me go!” Stevan shouted in panic.

“I don’t think you do pup. I want to see you get out yourself.”

Stevan struggled and squirmed with all his might, but the weight was too much. He twisted himself around and blindly clawed at the larger being. There was a soft hiss of pain and Steele stood up off the pup.

“Good, good,” he commented as he saw the claw marks on his back leg, “but I want to see what else you can do.”

Stevan regained his breath and lunged at his uncle. He dodged a paw that swiped at him and dove at Steele’s other hind leg, raking his claws across the haunch. Steele started to kick his leg back and forth until he could finally shake the pup off of him.

“Excellent, you’re already improving,” Steele snickered as a grin plastered itself across his muzzle.

Stevan hunched down and prepared himself to strike again before Greg halted him. Without looking back, he spoke in a clear tone directed towards the door.

“If you wanted to come in Seth, all you had to do was ask.”

Seth stumbled through the pet flap and walked towards his uncle, his head down and his ears lowered.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“That’s quite enough. You’re only sorry because you were caught.”

Seth stopped in his tracks and looked even more shameful, he was even tempted just to cover his face to hide it.

“Now, I want to see you back here tonight at around Seven. And don’t forget what I asked to bring with you. Oh, and next time, don’t ruin any more lessons that I may have with Stevan, no matter how jealous you may be.”

He looked at his uncle in total shock and disbelief. Seth turned around and felt a familiar anger burning in him once more. The pup bared his teeth and scraped his claws across the wooden floor loudly.

“This is unfair…” he whispered softly.

Steele’s attention was now on Seth, “And what do you plan to do about it.”

“Change it.”

“It’ll change as soon as you can prove it to me,” Steele muttered even quieter.

“Oh I can do that. Just give me the chance.”

“You can have that chance… But not now. When it’s time to show me what you can do, you’ll know.”

Seth couldn’t stand this a minute longer and he stormed through the dog door, kicking it as he exited. Steele stood there smiling before he faced Stevan once more.

“Alright. Let it begin once more.” he announced.

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

“We’re tellin’ ya Doc. He’s missing!”

“But how could this be?”

“Well, I heard that Nikki’s gone missing because of the same reason as those other two.”

“What other two?”

Sylvia’s jaw dropped, “You mean to say that you didn’t hear of them either? Wow, you’re really out of the loop.”

“Well I have more important things on my mind than the gossip corner!” Doc snapped as he shook his head in dissatisfaction and annoyance. He quickly realized that he had been rude and apologized.

“Doc, there’s no need to fl-…ounder about just because you’re not in-the-know,” Dixie said matter-of-factly.

“I think you mean… oh never mind, Dixie,” Sylvia whispered.

“What? What did I say wrong?” she asked, now being clueless once more.

Sylvia rolled her eyes but tried to keep her focus. “Besides her vocabulary, she’s right Doc. I didn’t know we offended you so.”

Doc sighed, “No, it was my fault. I should have taken it the way I did. But I’ve had so much on my mind with the murders and missing dogs as of late…”

Sylvia had been gazing at the barrels by the furnace when she suddenly did a double-take. “Wait, what was the last part you said?”

Doc’s mouth went as dry as a desert as he realized the dire mistake he had just made. “I, um, what I meant to say-”

“I don’t believe this!” Sylvia exclaimed, “There’s a murderer afoot! Dixie, quick! We have to tell everyone!”

And before Doc could get out another word, the two had already fled into the streets. Oh this wasn’t good… This was really, really bad. He looked into the fire of the furnace.

“Oh dear… What have I just done?”

He bit his lip and began pacing to and fro in deep distress. Now he had to think of a reason why he hadn’t told anyone sooner. There had been one before, but he couldn’t remember it now. He knew within the hour that everyone would know.

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

The grandfather clock chimed seven times in the parlor of the Whitley home. Seth had been anxiously watching this, and he was grateful that he no longer had to wait. He heard a creaking and spied Duchess padding daintily down the stairway. He grinned for a brief second before he put on a face of fearfulness and sprinted over to her.

“Aunt Duchess! I need help!”

She kept her head held high as her eyes drifted down to him, “With what?”

“I-I was playing in this abandoned house when I lost my favorite toy! Can you help me find it!?” he pleaded.

“Why on earth would you even consider going into such a place anyways?”

Seth’s voice faltered. “I, uh, thought it would be… fun?”

“Well then, I think we should leave it there so you can learn a lesson.”

“But pleeeease! It was my favorite!”

She tilted her head up and tried to hide her look of frustration, “…Fine. But next time you do this I’m leaving it there.”

“Oh thank you!” he cried out giddily.

“But don’t think this means I’m going soft on you rug rat.”

“Of course not Aunty Duchess.”

Seth led her through the front door and out into the street. A rush of frigid air greeted them as a cool wind breezily blew by them, neither of them taking a notice to it. They began the walk as their breaths came out in short puffs of mist, and their footsteps echoed as the snow crunched through their paws. He looked up into the evening sky and saw the near full moon and admired the way that it effortlessly suspended itself. It’s blue beams filtered down through the starry blanket of the heavens and molded the new shadows of the night. As he gazed up at the hollow reflection of the sun’s rays, he felt an emotion that he hadn’t expected. A satisfaction. A feeling of delight at what he was about to do. He realized as they came within feet of the house that they hadn’t seen a soul on their way there, but it was for all the better he guessed.

“It should be right in here!”

He stood aside as Duchess pushed open the ancient dog door and he walked in behind her, snickering. There was a sudden feminine screech from inside the confines of the decrepit shack. Shuffling feet and loud snarls and barks pushed their way out as the street, devoid of life, listened and engulfed the sound. No one would be hearing their struggle tonight. A sole pup walked back out onto the porch. He marched down the lane, grinning in pride. He was only half done.

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

“This is an outrage!”

“We won’t stand for this!”

“Please settle down… I ask for your patience… QUIET!” Doc shouted.

The mob before him immediately hushed. Doc gave a stern and intense look at each one of the faces, but very few softened their glares towards him. The entire room and every body in it was dead silent, save for the fire that crackled and spat as it devoured more fuel greedily.

“Good, now that I have your attention, I will proceed by taking your questions in a polite and orderly fashion.”

A paw shot into the air, and the St. Bernard nodded to the dog.

“First and foremost… Why? Why keep this hidden from us?”

Doc cleared his throat uneasily and tried to remember everything he had planned to say. “This was all for a very good reason. I didn’t want to cause a huge panic, for fear of what might happen.”

Boo’s and shouts of disapproval reverberated from every corner of the boiler room but the St. Bernard stood steadfast.

“Well it looks like you put a band-aid on a broken leg! Smart move Doc!”

“Hey! Oh brilliant one! Waddya of done if more of us were knocked off!? Lied ‘bout them too!?”

Doc chose to endure these catcalls for a few moments more before he rose a paw and the assembly fell silent once more.

“Next question,” he managed to say without any emotion.

“My turn. So, leader, you mentioned your fear. And what was that fear?”

“The fear was exactly this. That you would all immediately jump to conclusions, blame others, mistrust your closest allies, and destroy the integrity that we have tried so hard to maintain.”

The volume instantly rose to a roar as more frustration and fear took hold in the minds of the crowd.

“If you had told us sooner, than you wouldn’t have had to worry about this! We could’ve prepared for this!”

“So yer plan was to let us find out via dem gossips, eh? Were ya too afraid to tell us yerself? … Or maybe this was some kinda scheme!”

“What’re you talking about?”

“I’m sayin’ that what if he is using this thing here to try an’ better hisself? Ya know, start some terror an’ save us from near disaster an’ make hisself like a hero!”

All conversation shut down as every ear heard this accusation and within an instant, the room began to buzz again but in a near inaudible intensity. Doc tried to pick up the conversations, but they had all mingled into one blur of noise. And right when it seemed like it would erupt once more, silence gripped the room once more. One dog stepped forward towards the St. Bernard. He spoke solemnly, but this is what had been decided.

“Doc, all of us are going to talk about this for the next few days while we decide on our next course of action. Some of us feel very let down by your decision making.”

“I understand fully,” Doc said as he sat down.

He watched them file out of the boiler room in a swarm, muttering still thriving. He caught a glimpse of a dog kicking the stacked barrels and watched them quiver. He knew that they would eventually collapse upon themselves, just like his plan of action had crumbled and fallen apart.

Chapter Seven:

Snow flew high into the air as the sled team skidded into White Mountain. Mr. Simpson saw the postmaster walk out of the post office with a large sack of mail in his grip, but the musher put his hand up to stop him.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t take that yet. We have to find a lost teammate of ours… I hate to be a bother, but would you mind if we spent the night or so, just long enough to search.”

The postmaster’s white mustache twitched as he thought for a moment. He opened his hands and spread out his arms, dropping the hefty bag of mail.

“Sure thing young fell-AR!” he suddenly shouted as the sack fell like a brick onto his foot.

He began hopping around on one foot as he grabbed the other with both hands. Mr. Simpson rushed over to him, stabilizing him before he had the chance to fall.

“Are you alright?”

The old man winked at him, “You bet. You can’ take out an ol’ geezer like me that easily!” he chuckled as he bounced towards the door of his office, “Just need ta get in here. The Mrs. had a kit just in case I did this again.”

“How many times have you done this exactly?”

“Ha ha! Let’s just say I lost count!” he laughed merrily before coughing. The postmaster looked behind him briefly before speaking again. “If ya guys wanna stay, then I can’ argue. Go take ‘em to the barn, I’m old enough to take care of myself.”

“If you say so.”

Mr. Simpson walked down the rows of dogs and uncoupled each one. He led them down the street towards the barn they had last stayed in and motioned them inside.

“We can start looking for Star as soon as I make sure that old man’s doing okay. Alright?”

When he received no indication of their understanding, he simply smiled and proceeded to shut the heavy barn doors. As soon as Mr. Simpson’s footsteps faded away, Kaltag sauntered up to Balto.

“So, how are we gonna look for our little runaway?”

“Well, I planned on splitting into two teams. One look around the northern part of town, and the other team does the opposite.”

“Sounds good. But I don’t know about you guys, but I want this search and rescue started,” Kaltag said.

Kaltag looked around and grinned at what he saw. He padded to the far corner of the barn and saw an opening that was mostly hidden by planks of wood. He pushed them out of the way and then started out.

“You guys coming or what!?” he called back to them.

The rest of the sled dogs bounded after him in great haste, save for Lilith who hesitated for a few moments before she cautiously followed them. She found herself biting her tongue as they were separated into teams and began to scour their selected area. This was going to be a long day for her.

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

“Nome calling Nenana STOP Do you copy STOP”

There was a pause, and then the sound of wires being switched around before the tapping and the voice started again.

“Nome calling Fairbanks STOP Do you copy STOP”

Mr. Kode was given the same response he had received multiple times, nothing. He sighed heavily and patted his dog with a heavy hand. Morris yawned and clicked his chops before lazily opening his eyes. The little dog’s ears began to pulse with the telegraph as Mr. Kode contacted White Mountain. He didn’t have to ask the same question since he had been asking whether they were able to receive any replies just minutes ago. He put the latter question through once more and the reply was not surprising. They couldn’t reach anyone else either.

“Are your lines secure STOP Ours are in tact STOP”

“As are ours STOP No visible problems STOP Sending team to check farther down STOP”

“Please respond with results STOP”

The telegraph machine went silent once more and Mr. Kode took off his hat and ran it across his forehead. He stared up from his chair and saw a dusty red leash hanging from a nail on his wall. His face lit up and a smile stretched across it as he looked down at Morris. He lifted himself up from the chair and ignored a set of popping noises as he shuffled to the leash, grabbed it up, and walked back to Morris. He knelt down and attached the leash to his dog.

“C’mon Morris. We can inspect our wires and still have some fun, can’t we?”

He saw Morris start to wag his tail as he stretched and then followed Mr. Kode out into the street.

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

There was a gentle rapping on the door before a bright red and white husky entered, behind her entered another husky of a similar persuasion.

“I’m telling you Denali, they aren’t here,” said Saba.

“Then where could they be? If we haven’t seen them in town, and they aren’t here, where else could they hide? Besides, they would have told someone,” Denali replied.

Denali walked over to the red and green rug and took a deep inhale and frowned. He carefully examined the surrounding area, but found nothing to suggest his theory.

“Well, here’s a problem. There’s more than just grandpa’s and grandma’s scent here. But I don’t see any evidence of a struggle, no real disturbances either, and this new scent seems to be all around the house. Curious. Maybe they planned to leave, but where and why? One can‘t be sure from this little evidence.”

Saba stood there gawking at him in awe. “Wow. Tell me again why you aren’t on the force?” she blurted out.

Denali looked back at her smugly “Well me dear Watson, I’ve deduced that those on the force do not appreciate my talent.”

“Who knew that you could have a sense of humor?” Saba giggled.

Denali returned to his straight-faced gaze, “Don’t you worry, it was an accident and shan’t happen again.”

“And here I was getting my hopes up.”

“You should definitely be more careful with your hopes then… But now you’ve gone and made me lose my train of thought.”

“Let’s just hope it doesn’t crash and burn again,” she smiled.

“How about we don’t bring that up again?… Ah. Now I remember. When was the last time you saw them? Saba?… Saba!”

She had jumped onto the window seat and had found a way to preoccupy herself by drawing little figures in the steam of the window, but was quickly brought back to reality.

“Huh? Wha?… I was so paying attention!” she cried when she saw her brother’s less-than-satisfied face.

Denali rubbed his temples and exhaled. “Okay, we’re going to try this again. When did you see them last?” he emphasized heavily to get his point across.

“Well you don’t have to be so uptight!” she exclaimed, but quickly continued when she saw no reaction from her brother, “I think it was around Six last night.”

“Alright, finally some answers. This means that they could have been gone longer than thirteen hours. Did you see them at the town meeting? I know I didn’t.”

She shook her head and started to draw imaginary circles on the floor as Denali continued his thoughts aloud.

“Alright, so if they weren’t at the meeting, then we have to find out exactly who was and wasn’t there, that way we can hopefully rule out most everyone.”

“How do we even know that any dog that was with them is still here? They could have skipped town.”

He paused for a moment, “For once, you could be right. Well, this is quite the predicament, isn’t it? Scents and, if we could find them, paw prints, are basically useless too. There’s too much commute down any given lane to have any solid trail. I think it would be best to tell everyone to look out for anything suspicious that they may see.”

“Aren’t they already doing that? What with the murders and all?”

Denali took a moment to think of how to reply. “Alright, I have an idea. From now on, you aren’t allowed to be right. I don‘t like feeling outdone.”

“Now you know how we feel,” she smiled again.

“Bite me.”

“Where would you like?” she giggled.

He backed away from her slowly and was about to speak again when he heard a thump upstairs. Denali shook his head and looked up the staircase.

“You didn’t bother checking upstairs, did you?”

“Well, I didn’t think that it’d be polite!”

Denali sighed, “I love you sometimes Sis.”

Saba followed him as he proceeded up the stairs. Denali put his ear up to the first door on the right and listened.

“Grandma? You in there?”

“Yeah Grams, it’s us!”

There was a muffled sound behind it, but then a voice came through that sounded like Duchess’, although it sounded rather hoarse.

“Yes. I’m in here. I just have a nasty cold,” she said through the door.

“Mind if we come in?” asked Saba.

Duchess drew in a breath quickly from the other side of the door. “Yes. I don’t want you to get sick too.”

“Are you sure?” Denali asked warily.

“Of course… Just, tell Ritchie when he gets back that… I love him.”

“But Grams-”

Saba was quickly cut off by Denali as he put a paw over her muzzle.

“Alright, we’ll let him know Grandma. Bye.”

He nodded to her and walked back downstairs.

“But Denali, she doesn‘t talk-”

“I know, I know,” he interrupted, “but we can’t take the chance of her getting hurt. But we have to find a way to help her. We’ll keep watch,” he whispered.

They walked out of the house, making sure that they made their exit loud and clear. Behind the door, Duchess stood with a claw at her throat.

“I despise you with a passion that you wouldn’t believe,” she hissed.

Soon she was hastily being ordered to move it as she was pushed out of the window they had opened coming up, getting out just in time to miss Saba’s and Denali’s eyes.

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

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” Kodi said, quite frustrated.

It had been hours since the search had began anew, and they were just as far off as ever. The fliers that Mr. Simpson had handed out didn’t do any good and of course he had been stuck with the rookie on his team. She had spent the whole time doing nothing but standing around gawking as the others worked. They walked up the northern half of the main street for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

“Hey, we haven’t been in here yet,” Kodi said.

He looked up at a sign. It was quite faded, but he could make out a picture of a clown, and the word ‘Chuckles’ but nothing else. Lilith’s look suddenly became fearful and she rapidly stepped in front of the open hole in the door before anyone could enter.

“Oh you don’t wanna go in there,” she said worriedly.

“And why not?” Kodi asked.

Her voice failed her momentarily, “Ugh… You mean you… haven’t heard the stories?”

“What stories?”

“About this guy. He’s a real nutter okay, and very, very mean. You don’t even want to know what he did to the last dog that went in there.”

“Oh c’mon Lilith. It’ll just be a quick-”

“Do you want your head blown off!?” she suddenly yelled.

The other dogs were taken aback by her outburst. She stared at them wide-eyed, her whole body trembling and her breathing quickening.

“Lilith.. It’ll be okay. No one’s going to lose their head,” Kodi said reassuringly and he reached a paw out.

She looked at his outreached paw in horror. “Don’t touch me!”

He withdrew his paw hastily, “Calm down.”

“…I don’t have to…” Her voice suddenly rose to a hysteric wail, “…You’re with her! Oh god! You’re with her!  I knew it! You’re all trying to go behind my back, trick me, just like she did. You’re going to do just like she did to mom! Make friends with me, then get the butcher and his gun, and while I’m running away, he’s gonna blow my brains out, just like Mom! But no… Heh, I won’t let that happen… I’ll get you first, that’s it!”

There was a brief silence as the other sled dogs stared at her, open-mouthed and dumbfounded. Her eye twitched as a grin tugged at the corners of her mouth. They heard a quiet chuckle that was quite unsettling. Her chuckle soared into a shriek of laughter and by now her grin was far past obvious. The dogs started to slowly back away as her eyes opened even wider. Lilith sucked in a deep breath of cold air as she felt tears.

“Ha Ha HA! You’ll get yours! Each and every one of you!” she yelled manically.

She fell to the ground and began to pound it with a paw as she continued to shriek louder and louder. By now she was alone as the others had already fled. She felt a paw tap her from behind and she nearly flipped again, but was brought back to her senses.

“Brother? It is you… right?”

Burt nodded his head and gave a gentle smile. He patted her on the head and she was glad to accept it.

“Come by tonight, and we can talk.”

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

Kodi rushed into the barn followed by his teammates and was thankful when he saw his father already there. Balto saw his son and almost smiled, before he saw Kodi’s troubled look that is.

“Hey Kodi, you alright?”

He shook his head slightly, “Not quite. I think we have a problem. That Lilith, well, she doesn’t exactly seem sane.”

“Are you kiddin’? She’s Nuts!” blurted out another dog, “Said she’s gonna kill us all!”

“Whoa, easy now. Can you start from the beginning?”

Kodi stepped out from the small group and up to Balto. “Well… We were looking around town like you asked, and we came to this building, and when we were about to go in, she flipped out, and I really mean flipped out. But since I don’t know her that well, it could just all be some act. She could be trying to hide something. ”

Balto thought for a moment. “Normally I would advise against something like this, but maybe we should watch her. It may be the only way we can find Star.”

“Good idea, we’ll start when she gets back, then she should hopefully have calmed down.”

The dogs in the room nodded in unison, and as if on cue, Lilith softly padded into the barn. She saw that stares that were directed at her, and her ears folded back and she looked quite ashamed.

“I’m sorry about what happened back there. Just… brought back really bad memories,” she whispered as she crossed her front paws.

Most of the dogs then looked away from her, trying to preoccupy themselves with other things, all except for Kodi who made sure to keep a tight gaze on her. There was a creaking sound as the barn door opened again and Mr. Simpson stepped through.

“Well team, I’ve handed out all the fliers I could, so now we just have to wait and hope someone sees him… Oh! And before I forget.”

He rummaged through his pack and pulled out two bottles and a spoon. The first bottle he opened was a peanut butter container. He scooped a small amount of peanut butter onto the spoon and then placed a pill from the second container into it. He walked over to Lilith and held the spoon eyelevel to her and she quickly lapped it up.

“Good thing I saw your owners on the way, or I wouldn’t have known about this.”

When she finished, he placed all of his things back into his pack. He stepped back to the barn door and opened it before waving goodbye, telling where he’d be, and then shutting the door heavily.

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

The moon by now had risen high into the evening sky, revealing it’s near complete whiteness, except for the faintest of slivers. A bitter wind rolled through the streets, chilling anyone brave enough to be out to the bone. A small dog shivered as she sat on a porch and stared at the stars. She wore a frown as she continued to debate to herself. Finally she walked back into the house and felt a wave of heat suddenly hit her, almost bringing tears to her eyes from a slight stinging. Even though there was a warm fire crackling in the hearth, it only seemed to dampen the mood that she felt. She saw a red and white dog staring into this fire, and she coughed quietly, catching the dogs attention. She walked over to this dog and looked at the clock briefly, catching the time of Six. She tried to distract herself before she spoke by admiring the way her black and white fur seemed to swirl together on her front shoulders. Finally, she drew enough courage to speak.

“Aunt Jenna? Can I show you something.. really cool?” She shuffled uneasily in her place.

Jenna was only happy to oblige, “Sure thing Becca. What is it that you want to show me?”

Becca bit her lip unintentionally, but stopped when she realized, “Well, it’s a surprise, I have to lead you there so you can see it.”

Jenna thought for a moment, it couldn’t be that bad, it was just like a little game that she remembered her own pups doing, and it did feel good to feel needed again, even if it was just for pleasure.

She nodded, “Alright then.” 

She rose from her basket and started for the front door before she heard a shout from behind her.

“Wait!” Becca suddenly realized that she made a mistake and shut her mouth and though quickly. She saw Jenna’s leash dangling from a window seat. She walked over it and looked at Jenna. “We should use this, that way I can lead you and so I know you won’t see.”

Jenna cocked her head. She had to admit this was a bit eccentric, but what could you expect from a pup?

“Well, alright I guess. I haven’t worn that in such a long time, so we’ll have to see if it still fits,” she smiled.

Becca returned the gesture as best as she could before Jenna slipped her head through noose of the leash, and Becca tightened it so it fit snugly. Becca took the other end of the leash and led Jenna through the pet flap. Jenna promised to keep her eyes closed and Becca tried not to show her guilt as the moon continued to look down and the wind ominously blew across the street.

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

Lilith had been trying not to nod off for an hour now. She still had that feeling that someone was watching her. Most likely, one of the dogs was only pretending to sleep. She could hear that one of their breaths was not as shallow and soft as the others, or maybe that was her own, she couldn’t tell anymore. She lowered her ears to try and make any of the others think that she was asleep, and she tried to calm her own breathing, but she still listened intently. Finally after a few moments, she felt a little more at ease as the quick breathing had faded away. She rose as slowly as she could, her body still stiff from her previous position. She heard a bone crack, and she suddenly stopped. She frantically looked over each dog, and continued her ascent and she saw no suspicious movements. She turned herself around at a slowness that seemed grueling to her. She inched herself towards the hole in the barn, and made sure to watch her footing when she almost knocked over a barrel. She finally made it out of the barn, and now she could breath easier.

Lilith walked down the lane, keeping an eye out for any movement. As she gazed at the moon, she felt a sudden pricking on the back of her neck. She knew that feeling anywhere… Someone was watching her again. But she was going to try and stay calm. She knew that if she displayed her feelings, it would only make things much worse for her. So despite her fears, she pushed on, trying to hold her composure. She saw the sign from earlier, and this house that spelled sanctuary for her. She looked over her shoulder and then up and down the street. Spying no one, she walked into the building.

“Ah Sister! I’m glad you could make it!” called a voice that made her feel at home.

“Oh Burt! It was so horrible to be away for so long!” she said, nearly crying.

“And what about me Lilith? Have you forgotten about me?”

Her features hardened slightly as she heard this second voice. She stepped back from Burt and sat down.

“How could I forget about you Hal? You’re humor is always so nice to hear,” she smiled slightly, forcing cheeriness into it.

Burt sensed the tension between the two and tried to quickly change the subject.

“Alright… so now that you have returned Sister, what news do you bear? Anything of importance?”

She nodded her head. “Yes. I was taken on the sled team back to Nome because of our guest, and there I met our brother. He told me that he’s already set his plans into motion there, but he didn’t give me much instruction for what we should do here. I think he only wants us to try and get Star to our side, just like he is trying with the other sled dog he has captive.”

“Well, that shouldn’t be hard with a little… persuasion,” Hal chortled as he hopped from his chair and flashed his white teeth.

“We have to be craftier though. I don’t think brute force alone will be enough to successfully turn one against his own teammates.”

Hal stared at Burt for a moment before rolling his eyes, “You always have to play it safe, don’t you? What’s the harm in a little fun?”

“All in good time, all in good time. We just have to be more strategic about this. You can have your fun later.”

Hal huffed impatiently and then there was silence, more of an awkward pause.

“…Well, how’ll we do this then?” Lilith asked, trying to start conversation anew.

“Hm, how about we first ask him if he’ll join us, just to give him an option. Then we’ll-” Burt suddenly cut off mid-sentence, perking his ears up.

The others had heard it too. Breathing that wasn’t theirs, there was a crunch of snow, and also smells that didn’t belong to them. Burt nodded at Hal and Lilith, and they both began to do a search out of each window. Burt leaned his head near the open hole that they used for their entrance, and frowned. He silently padded to the others and whispered something into their ears. He covered his mouth with his paw as he gave a small indication of where to go. One by one they walked up a creaky flight of stairs. They had moved Star to an upper room just in case. Burt started to talk again, making sure that he could be heard.

“So, as you pointed out, that won’t do at all. I say we brainstorm.”

Hal opened the door and held it open as Burt and Lilith filed in, and then walked in also before slamming the door shut with a kick. And just as they had expected, they heard multiple footsteps entering the house. They saw Star sprawled out on the floor with a patchy blanket underneath him. Burt poked Star and saw the dog nearly fly into the air. And as soon as he opened his mouth, Burt had already shut it again, shaking his head in a disapproving manner. They listened closely as they heard footfalls inching up the staircase and towards them.

“To the office,” Burt whispered in a hushed tone.

He walked Star over to the window and motioned Hal and Lilith over as well. They carefully opened up the window, not letting any sounds escape. Star now heard the sounds and looked like he was about ready to say something.

“Don’t say a thing,” he hissed, “if they hear you, or us, they’ll kill us all. And I’m not joking either.”

Star now looked even more frightened, and he took a huge gulp, but didn’t say a word. After the window had finally opened, Burt led Star onto the window’s edge and looked to his left. There was a stack of crates, barrels, and other things that made a staircase of sorts to the roof. Burt had done this multiple times, but never leading someone like this. A few times, Star almost fell off, but Burt was able to hold him in time. Lilith was the most reluctant, for she also had a slight fear of heights, but she too made it to the top, after shutting the window back down tight of course. Burt looked across the rooftops and saw the way they sparkled as the moon shown off the snow. He didn’t see any other dogs on any roofs, so he breathed a sigh of relief. The roof they were on was in the middle of two telegraph poles, so the wire hung down the lowest here. Hal walked over to the wire and saw a frozen patch hanging on it and smiled, admiring their handiwork Burt walked to the edge of the roof with which he knew the Telegraph Office was closest to. He looked down into the alley below between this house and the next and frowned once more. There were dogs patrolling down there. He turned to Star, seeing him in no condition to jump, or really run for that matter. He walked up to him and kept a straight face.

“Hop onto my back. You have to trust me, because I’m sure you want to live like we do.”

Star was hesitant. Could he really believe these dogs? After all, they had always treated him like dirt before. But he couldn’t really think about this now. He was fearful of what would happen if they really were telling the truth. Then it wouldn’t matter because he wouldn’t live another day.

“Alright,” he whispered, but his voice sounded croaky from its under use.

Burt smiled as he knelt down into the snow and Star climbed on. He nodded at Lilith, and she looked at him nervously. She walked up to the edge of the roof and then backed away slowly before suddenly sailing over the gap and clearing it easily. Hal went next and made it as well. Burt backed up farther than the other two had and got the best running start that he could before lowering himself and springing into the air. He landed just short of the edge, only his front half landing. He dug his claws through the snow and into the shingles below him. He hissed quietly as Star had tried to grab his collar and had also bitten the scruff of his neck quite hard. Hal and Lilith quickly came to the rescue. Both stood on either side and hoisted Star off of Burt first, which was the most difficult part as they almost lost him the first time. Finally they dragged Burt onto the roof. He was panting heavily from their near exposure and injury. They waited a few minutes to calm down and repeated the same process three more times, except without nearly falling.

“Well, now what?” Hal whispered.

They had finally reached the telegraph office’s roof. Burt looked at the chimney and smiled. There wasn’t smoke coming out presently, and he knew what to do. He sat Star near the chimney.

“Do you trust me Star?”

Star didn’t make any real movement for he was already worn out from there roof jumping.

“Close enough. Listen, I’m going to push you down this chimney, but I promise that you shouldn’t get hurt.”

He lifted Star by the scruff and set him on the edge. Star looked down into the black pit and then back at Burt, really questioning him now. But before Star could speak against it, he found himself falling down, and before he knew it, he landed. But not on ground. He felt his claws slipping through tiny holes.

“I take it you’ve landed already,” called down Burt, “you’re on a grating, just take a few steps around until you can find an opening, that way you’re not in my way when I come down. Just tell me when.”

Star started to walk and bumped into a wall, and sneezed when soot entered his nose. After some trial and error, he finally felt an opening and called back up to Burt, who then fell down shortly after. Soon Hal and Lilith dropped in behind him. It was pitch black in this small area, and no one could see, but Burt took the lead, speaking to help guide them.

“Yeah, my owner built that grating to keep falling snow from smothering our fire, and he built a small stairway up here so he could clean it when needed. It goes down from the attic through both floors. We’ll be able to reach the back yard from here.”

They followed him silently as the ceiling slanted down with them as they descended. When they reached the bottom, Burt pushed the door open and walked into the room where the telegraph was. He guided them through another door and then another before the moon was able to look upon them once more. They looked at him quizzically as he walked over to an object that had a tarp spread across it. He yanked it off quickly revealing a small sled.

“There are enough rations to last us a few days. I thought we’d need it in case something like this happened. Guess I was right to do so… Now, help me get Star onto the sled.”

Hal and Lilith gently hoisted him to the sled, no one seeing the look of utter disgust plastered across Hal’s face. There were three slots for the dogs. Burt took the front, leaving Lilith and Hal in back.

“This is convenient, no?” asked Hal as he studied the sled.

“When you’re lucky, you’re lucky,” Burt replied.

He pushed a few vertical boards away from the fence that surrounded this plot of land and revealed a large hole. He nodded to them, and within a few strides, they were already running out of town, their breaths coming out in misty puffs and the wind nipping at their heels.

Chapter Eight:

“We just caught saw a set of paw prints heading way out, along with the treads of a sled. I’m sorry. I wish we could have found out sooner…”

“Darn it!” Kodi shouted in frustration, “They got away!”

“Kodi, it’s no use getting worked up over this. Losing our heads won’t get us anywhere..” Balto said to his son as he laid a paw on his shoulder, “But now is not the time to give up. If we want any chance of getting Star back, we have to catch up to them. We have to get Mr. Simpson up, and fast… Move!”

Within an instant, all of the sled dogs were running down the street, barking like mad. They found the postmaster’s home and began clawing, howling, barking, and making any noise they could before they heard the noises of a human getting out of bed. In a few more moments the saw a very tired looking Mr. Simpson stumble out of the door way, a thick coat hastily thrown on. He yawned loudly as he spoke.

“What is it team? It‘s after midnight so I hope it‘s important,” he looked down at them, “Have you found Star?”

Many of the dogs lowered their heads, bent their ears back and whimpered. Mr. Simpson scratched his head.

“Well, what am I up for then?”

He felt a sudden tugging on his coat sleeve. It was Kodi. Mr. Simpson tried to pull his arm away when Kaltag and Balto joined in by grabbing his other sleeve.

“What’s gotten into you guys!?”

He couldn’t yank his arms free from his dogs, so what on earth could they want? He thought for a moment, stopped trying to get away and, feeling foolish, tried to talk with them.

“Alright.. What do you guys want?”

Mr. Simpson watched his dogs move towards their sled that he had set near the house. They began pawing at it and whimpering. He looked at them in bewilderment before rubbing his head.

“You want to go somewhere, or something?”

They just continued what they were doing, and Mr. Simpson sighed in confusion.

“Er… Alright then,” he walked along and started to hook up the dogs and then ran inside quickly, grabbing the mail bag. He yelled a command and the dogs took off, and after they reached the outskirts of the town, he realized that they were heading back to Nome. “Well this is good,” he said, “I was thinking of getting myself checked out when we get home… Whoa guys, easy now.”

He called as he felt his dogs surge on with a determination he hadn’t seen. Every dog from Balto to Kaltag was racing as fast as they could to make up for lost time.

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

“Jenna! Jenna where are you!?” Rosie called.

She had woken up this morning and had scoured the house to find no trace of her husky. She held a small ball in her left hand, and a hat and coat in her other. She walked into the living room and sat on the window seat, pressing her face against the glass and looking out. Nancy looked out from the kitchen.

“Rosie, c’mon, it’s time to eat Dear!”

The nine-year old sighed as she dropped the objects and rushed through the kitchen and into a dining room. She sat at the table, her knife and fork at the ready as her mom laid a plate right in front of her. She started to nibble on the food before she stopped. Her mom shot a concerned look at her husband, and in turn, he looked at their daughter.

“Is anything wrong Rosie?” he asked.

She pushed a pea around with her fork. “Nothing, I just can’t find Jenna.”

“Oh don’t worry Honey, she’ll be back. You know that she goes out sometimes by herself.”

“But this is different, normally she’s always here for Lunch.”

Nancy rubbed her shoulder, “Well, maybe she just lost track of time?”

“Maybe..”

“Now, let’s just try to eat. You’re wasting away to nothing.”

The family picked up their utensils once more just in time to hear a loud knocking on the door.

“I wonder who on earth that could be?” Nancy said, standing from the table.

She walked to the front door and opened it, revealing a woman with a red face who was doubled over breathing hard.

“Susan! What’s wrong?”

Susan grabbed Nancy by the shoulders. “They’re gone!” she cried.

“Wait? Who’s gone?” Nancy asked, obviously stumped by her sister’s reaction.

“My dogs! They left two nights ago, but I thought they’d be back yesterday, or at the latest last night, but nothing!”

Nancy saw her sister beginning to sob for the first time in a long time. Those two had meant the world to her since her husband’s passing. She embraced her and whispered words of comfort.

“We’ll send out a poster, and maybe someone can find them. But the most important thing for you to do right now is hold yourself together.”

Susan looked at Nancy, her face stained with tears and running mascara as she nodded gently. Just then Rosie wobbled into the parlor.

“Hey mom, our little puppy’s missing too!” she said and then saw Susan, “Hey Auntie, what are you doing here?… Why are you crying?”

Susan opened her arms up and Rosie bounded right into them.

“Oh, no reason. I’m feeling a lot better now,” she replied, smiling.

Rosie smiled back, “Well, maybe you can help us look for Jenna then?”

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

A chubby dog took her long ear off the of the Manson’s door and quickly took to the streets. She spied a familiar looking dog and rushed too her, lifting one of her ears that was long just like hers. She whispered to her, and the other dog’s eyes widened. Her jaw dropped and she looked down.

“Are you absolutely sure?”

Dipsy nodded her head. “Heard it all myself on the way back to the general store.”

Sylvia shook hers, “This year’s sure turned out great so far. I’m sure no one will like this, but I can’t deny them their right to know.”

“Looks like there’ll be three new additions to the Missing Dogs Board… But I gotta go, my stomach’s talking to me, and I’ve never let it down yet.”

And with that, Dipsy took off down the street as Sylvia went to find Dixie.

“I just wonder what Balto’ll say about this. Or Doc for that matter.”

Just then she saw a purple powder-puff flaunting down the street.

“Hey Dixie! Have I got news for you!” she called.

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

Hal looked out towards the frozen ocean as they ran beside it. He saw the first rays of sun and frowned.

“Sun’s already coming up! Almost Noon!” he exclaimed.

“I know that! But it’s a huge area between White Mountain and Nome. Considering that we haven’t been back there in a good long time, I’m glad we’ve made it this far in this time,” Burt yelled back.

Star shifted uneasily on the sled and looked out at the surface of the frozen ocean, now realizing how beautiful it looked. Well, after being locked in a house for a long time, anything seemed beautiful now. There was something on his mind though, and he was really curious to find out now. He saw Lilith quickly glancing at him once or twice over her shoulder, and decided to ask her.

“Hey, um.. Who exactly are we running from anyways?”

Her breathing came out heavily as she tried to do two things at once, “Well… I had to run with them before… and I can tell you that… they’re very ruthless and merciless… ones that you don’t want to see again in your life.”

“But you should just stand up to them, right?”

“Easy now. Curiosity killed that cat. Or, dog in this situation. Asking too many questions right now would not be the wisest of decisions,” Burt called back warily.

Hal heard Star gulp from behind him and grinned cheerfully.

“Do not worry Ally, we are well on our way to safety!” he snickered.

Star stared silently at Hal as his paws thundered against the tundra and the sun began to rapidly ascend. Had he just said… Ally?

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

A red and white husky rose his head from his paws. He stared out from his resting place and saw a team of three dogs with another dog on top of a sled race past him at breakneck speed.

“Wonder what their hurry is,” he muttered to himself quietly.

Douglas stood up, stretching and yawning as bones cracked. He padded off the main street and into an alley. He saw a trashcan with no lid on it and licked his chops hungrily. He hadn’t eaten in a day or so, so it was a ‘take it or leave’ it situation. He pushed against the can and it tipped over, landing with a soft thud into the snow. Douglas immediately rushed to the open end and started to dig through it. He pulled out a half-eaten piece of goose. He chomped down on it, ripping a piece off as he continued to dig through the can. As he pulled back out, a small, square cloth hung lazily in his grasp. It was a bright pink. He suddenly got an idea. Douglas laid the cloth so it looked like a diamond from his angle. He then dragged the farthest right corner to the center, and then the left. He wove one end under the other, put his paw in the center, and repeated this again until it formed a small knot. He smiled and slipped this makeshift bandana over his neck and admired it proudly.

“Always thinking of you,” he whispered.

The husky grabbed up his piece of goose and sauntered farther into the depths of the alley. He stopped when he reached a section of the alley that had a roof of sorts over it, and he laid down. As he ate his meal peacefully, he glanced to his left and saw a pile of soot. He stuck his paw into the black powdery mess and when he pulled his paw back out, it came out just as black. Douglas chuckled softly while the sun climbed up to the mid-section of the sky.

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

“Did you hear?”

“I heard alright. Three more gone missing in the last two days. What’s next?… Who‘s next?”

These were the common conversation starters around Nome with the dogs. Everyone was wandering around, trying to tell anyone that would listen. If they didn’t have a reason to be afraid before, now they definitely had one, or three for that matter. Even the dogs that tended to stay from the rumor mill found themselves getting sucked into the twisting tales. Some claimed they had actually seen one of the dogs being aggressively dragged out of his home by rabid dogs. Others swore that there was some kind of conspiracy, the main theory being spread was that Doc was trying to hide or get revenge on those dogs who were speaking out against him. But no one could really prove the validity of these claims, and just fell victim to these crafty story weavers. And soon, they started to put faces on these characters, making their tales seem that more believable. And this was a win-win situation. They could slip in whichever dog they didn’t particularly like and paint them up as the culprit, even though they gave them some of the most outrageous reasons for doing something so wicked. 

And sometimes they gave no reasons of any sort. They gave claims of evidence that were whipped out of thing air, yet the majority ate it like they were starving for this news. What was worse was when a dog would hear one of these stories made to blame one of their own friends, and they would do nothing to stand up for him or her, and would actually go behind their backs and spread on the tale instead of confronting their friend. Yet, if they were confronted by said friend, they would put on a façade to make it seem like they really believed them, and as soon as this friend finished confiding in them and turned their back, they would spread what had just been said, but in a much more menacing light.

Doc watched this all unfold from the sanctity of his window seat and shook his head dejectedly. He saw how the dogs raced to and fro, frantically whispering in each other’s ears before rushing away quickly. This was his exact fear, and now it was becoming a reality. He sat in silence as he saw an occasional dog glance at his home with a sad, disappointed, or angry expression upon their face. He had noticed that a dog had passed his home more than any other. It was the same dog from before that had accused him of hiding the information so he could intentionally cause panic, only to save the day. He knew deep down that he had intended nothing of the sort, or even thought of doing something like that, but he also knew that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Everyone was letting their emotions run wild, and so he didn’t even have the slightest hope of proving his innocence. And now he even felt like he was under house arrest with all the eyes that sent negative signals. But all he had to do was wait. Eventually this whole thing would either implode, or explode, and they’d need his help and guidance once more.

“Hey old boy, you alright there?”

Doc lifted his ears and turned away from the window and saw his owner ease up from a heavy armchair. His owner waddled over to him and patted him on the head, and Doc laid down, enjoying the attention. Well, positive attention. Doc’s owner looked out the window in time to see another dog shoot a glare towards them.

“Did you have a falling out with them dogs?”

Doc just groaned quietly and rolled onto his back, making his master scratch his belly. He was hoping to avoid bringing that up while being petted, but oh well.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then,” said his owner, “you only want a tummy rub when you’re really upset.”

Too bad he couldn’t really know how upset Doc felt. His reputation would never be fixed to the state it was before this whole mess, and he questioned how many dogs would actually trust him after this ordeal. Doc rolled again and stood up before walking away from his owner.

“Well… Good luck!” his owner called after him.

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

By the time the three dog sled team arrived in Nome, the sun had already set far beyond the horizon, and the full moon was already making its appearance. Some of the clouds had fallen from the sky, leaving a mist that distorted the view of the town.

“Alright Boys and Girls, here we are in Nome!” Burt shouted proudly before looking back at Lilith, “So Sister, where did you say our brother’s crashing place was located?”

Lilith bit her lip as she had tried to remember. It seemed like her whole stay had been blurred together, but she pointed down the lane towards the opposite side of town.

“I think it’s the last house on the right,” she said meekly.

“Alright then, let’s get-” Burt suddenly stopped.

Before them he started to see dogs exiting and entering houses and walking up and down the street. He motioned to his left and they ran to the side of the nearest house, just barely avoiding any eyes seeing them. Hal saw that Star was starting to look most conflicted.

“Uh-uh, I wouldn’t make any drastic moves Friend. I know that there are dogs here that wish to eradicate us as well,” he tutted, wagging a digit.

Any plans that Star had been thinking of were shut down right then. They padded through alleyway after alleyway to the other side of town, the reins of the sled jingling softly as the snow crunched under their touch. The moon was rising much slower than the sun had earlier, and Star could tell as he gazed into it that every inch of it was lit up, a successful full moon. They entered the mouth of an alley and Burt held a paw up, stopping them. They pushed themselves against the wall tightly as two dogs walked past. Hal lifted his ear.

“-heard it was really Doc, just using this whole thing to his advantage. Why do you think he didn’t want anyone to know?”

“Exactly. I say we get another candidate and have a vote to get him out of here. If he did this once, he’s bound to do it again-”

And the rest of the conversation was cut off as they proceeded past the alley. Burt saw their destination directly kitty-corner to their position. He leaned his head out into the main street cautiously and smiled. He pulled ahead slowly, the sled creaking behind them as they made their way across the lane. They walked around to the back of the building and saw a hole in the fenced in backyard, which they entered through. Lilith walked besides Burt and tugged on a series of straps, soon releasing him. Burt stepped onto the back porch and pushed his head through a pet flap.

“Brother Greg? Are you present?”

“Burt? That you?” a voice called back.

“Sure is.”

“Oh! Then come in, come in!”

Burt waved a paw behind him and pushed himself the rest of the way through. He came into a kitchen and another black and white husky walked up to him. Steele gave a wide smile and then noogied Burt.

“So, for what reason have you decided to visit me?”

Burt broke free from his grip and sighed. “I’m afraid that we’re being followed by them. They should be only a few hours behind us.”

“Hm, I suppose that does cause a problem. But I already know exactly what to do.”

As he finished, a purple head poked in through the door, before being shoved in by an impatient Hal. Star rubbed his head as he stood up quickly and saw a husky staring him right in the face.

“St-Steele!” Star stuttered.

He had been expecting to see him again, but he was still shocked nonetheless. Steele smirked at his surprise and just patted Star on the head, causing him to flinch.

“Nice to see you again Old Friend.”

Star gulped quietly as Lilith entered after Hal. Steele looked them over and nodded his head, leading them into the living room. Star saw three small pups by an old set of armchairs. Steele saw then too and spoke.

“Alright you three. I want you where we planned, and I don’t want any dilly-dallying.”

They all jumped up and took up a brisk place as they exited the house in a single file march. Lilith peered around and saw another dog walking towards them.

“Isn’t he supposed to be locked up?” she whispered to Steele.

Steele just grinned at her, “Nonsense, he’s being a good dog now.” He then focused on the other dog. “Alright Nikki, I want to introduce you to the others. This is Hal, Lilith, Burt, and I know you already know Star,” he said as he pointed out each dog.

Nikki seemed rather uninterested until he heard the mention of Star’s name. Star walked up to him quietly and studied him.

“Nikki, is… is that you?”

“I was just about to ask you the same thing there.”

Steele quickly interrupted them. “New rule Nikki!” he commanded, “From now on, you are also commanded to listen to my three siblings. No matter what happens tonight, you still have a obligation to them, and will do whatever they say, no matter what, or else they have full permission to do with you as they see fit.”

Nikki nodded, “Yes sir. You’s can count on me.”

Star gave a somewhat shocked look to Nikki. “Are you sure that it’s really you?” he asked with concern.

Nikki tried to smile. “Yeah Star. ‘t’s me.”

“The Nikki I know wouldn’t take orders from someone like him.”

Nikki leaned down and whispered into Star’s ear. “Well, the Nikki you knew had to start behaving 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 a 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 which they realized was coming from Steele.

“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, rushed over to him. Steele propped himself on top of Jenna and dropped the leash. His little ones began to tie the leash onto an old rusted pipe. Steele lowered himself on Jenna and stuck a sharp claw near her throat and gave a toothy grin.

“Any of you get closer, and Jenna can say goodbye.”

Jenna’s eyes snapped back open and she tried struggling, and she would have screamed too, if not for the bandana quieting her and forcing her breaths to be more labored.

“So, what do you plan on doing? Just having us stand here all night?”

Steele snickered, trying to hide his excitement.

“Now that would be boring now, wouldn’t it Pup?”

The team did an about-face and saw Kodi sprawled on the floor with claw marks across his left cheek and a dog with a pale white face staring at them.

“Oops, did I do that?” he grinned wickedly.

Hal whistled and four more dogs appeared from the shadows.

“Hey boys,” smiled Lilith, “meet your welcome wagon.”

Kaltag turned to his left and saw a dog that he hadn’t expected. His jaw dropped.

“S-Star? What are you doing here?… Are you with them!?”

Star kept as straight of face as he could. The threats he had been given just before were still racing fresh in his mind. The promise of death still echoed in his mind. He didn’t want anyone to be hurt, but he knew that if he didn’t listen to them their would be a terrible price to pay.

“Nikki? You too?”

All the chow could do was give a solemn bow. They had been warned not to speak. Steele took pleasure in the other dogs surprise, and stepped towards them.

“See? Isn’t it amazing how easily it is to break a dog? Turn him against his own friends?” he turned back around and flicked Balto’s nose with his tail before strutting back towards Jenna proudly.

“Why you!” shouted the orange dog.

He leapt towards Steele, and before he knew it, he was thrown to the ground. Lilith stood over him, smiling smugly. Then a sled dog rushed towards her, but she simply dodged him as he flew past her.

“Oh come on. You can’t be serious?… Oh that’s right, you’re all lousy lap dogs. You’ve never had to face the streets.”

At once, the air became heavy with heaving and barking as it all broke loose. Balto was having a stare down with Steele from across the room. He had given them all strict orders on leaving Balto to him.

~-~-

“Now listen lady, I don’t wanna hurt chu,” said the orange husky as Lilith began backing him up.

“What. Afraid that I’ll whip you like the sorry puppy you are?” she said cockily.

“Well no, but-”

He yelped and put a paw to his cheek, and pulled it back with blood dripping from it.

“Oh now that’s it.”

She jumped back away from him as he charged toward her. She decided her claws were more important and looked at them casually. Right as he was about to ram her, she fell to the ground, rolling over, and sending him tumbling through the air before landing on the hard wood floor. He groaned as she loomed over him.

“So, when are you starting?” she asked lazily.

~-~-

“Star? How could you?” Kaltag asked.

They locked eyes and Star frowned silently, something that was new to Kaltag.

“Are they making you do this? Please… Please tell me. I don’t want to hurt a friend,” pleaded Kaltag.

Star turned away. He caught a glimpse of Steele, frowning towards his direction and moving his paw in a circle. Star bit his tongue and tried to think. If he went through with this, then he could forever lose the trust of his friend, but if he didn’t, he ensured that neither he nor him would breath safely again. His decision was made.

“Don’t make me do this,” Kaltag said when he heard a growling coming from Star. Star whirled around and swept his back leg, tripping up Kaltag making him fall face first. Star brought up his paw and sent it crashing down onto Kaltag’s skull. Kaltag immediately grabbed his head and groaned.

“Who knew that you knew how to fight.”

Kaltag swung upwards with his paw and hit Star in the chops. He stood up and wiped across his mouth.

“But you forget. I’m bigger than you.”

The Chinook walked beside the smaller dog and sat on him enough to keep him immobile. Star struggled, but he made it look like he was trying harder than he actually was. This was probably the only way he could get away with not harming Kaltag too badly. He whispered a quiet “Thank you” when Kaltag turned away.

~-~-

Now was Kodi’s face-off. He stood there as the dog/clown was hunched down, his white teeth bared, sparkling white.

“Ya know, I never did like clowns.”

“And the clowns don’t like you half-pint.”

Hal hit a paw down on Kodi’s muzzle, snapping his mouth together, and ran beside him in one fluid movement before he put all his weight on Kodi and forced him down. Hal grinned at him sadistically as he chortled. He had the younger dog right where he wanted. Finally he had control over what he did without anyone there to stop him. He leaned down and opened his mouth wide, wrapping his jaws around the husky’s small throat. How he wanted to end it right there, but he had a thought. This was a boring way to end someone‘s life, he wouldn’t suffer enough, and it would be over quickly, and of course he couldn’t allow that. He grinned wider as Kodi winced. 

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” he cackled, “And this is only the beginning. Oh what fun we can have! And we will have fun!”

Hal moved his mouth towards the wound he had just opened up in Kodi’s pelt. He placed a paw onto the husky’s neck and lapped at the viscous liquid, savoring its taste. Kodi hissed in pain again as a sharp claw raked through him again.

“Ooh, I don’t think Pup likes that,” Hal laughed.

~-~-

“Nikki. Why? I thought we was always pals.”

“Sorry Jack, but things just gotta change sometimes,” Nikki said with an emotionless tone.

Burt wandered up behind Jack and looked at Nikki. Nikki closed his eyes briefly as Jack felt a tap on his shoulder. When he looked back, he found himself out of breath as he had just been hit hard in the stomach. Jack began wheezing as he tried to crawl away feebly. Burt could feel Steele’s eyes on them presently.

“Nikki, either you take him, or I will. It’s what our dear leader wishes.”

Nikki shook his head solemnly, he didn’t want to be a part of any killing. He shut his eyes and covered his ears. There was a snap followed by the sound of tedious breathing, which then ended quickly. Nikki peaked an eye open and then turned away. He never wanted to see something like that again.

~-~-

Stevan scraped his teeth across a brown husky’s leg, causing a red scar to appear. Becca grabbed onto his tail with her teeth and hung on with her life as he wildly flailed her about. And Seth had jumped onto his back and began to gnaw at his ears. The husky howled in pain as he tried to shake them all off, but it was no use. Each one of them was determined to not let down their uncle. Seth suddenly found himself lying on the floor.

“Oh no you don’t,” he growled.

This was his one chance to prove to Steele that he wasn’t as useless as he thought. He was going to be the most ruthless dog he could be, and impress him. With a snarl he ran towards the husky, knocking Stevan off of his leg and taking his place. He looked from the corner of his eye and saw Greg looking at him for a brief moment before looking bored and focusing on something else. Seth growled and latched all four sets of his claws and a set of teeth into the husky, hearing him shriek, giving Seth and odd sense of pleasure. He suddenly tasted a new something that had been foreign to him before… and he liked it very much.

~-~-

Steele stepped away from Jenna, leaving her alone to watch the horrifying scene taking place in front of her. She could hear the pain and agony being cried out by friend and enemy alike. She saw the small pup named Becca being flung about and she frowned. Jenna understood perfectly now. She had trusted this pup, befriended her, but all along she had been working with Steele to drag her and everyone else down. She tried to jerk away from the pipe, but all she got from that was a dull pinging noise. She laid down, her head resting between her paws as she closed her eyes. How could she have let this happen? How could she have been so blind and foolish to this obvious plot? She would have kept wallowing in her self pity, had it not been for the sudden silence. She became curious and stole a peak. They had all stopped fighting, but only for the reason of a stand-off taking place before them.

“Alright Balto. Enough waiting. Your life is two years overdue,” Steele smiled, cracking his neck and staring at the tan hybrid with his icy blue eyes.

Balto held the intensity with his own brown eyes. “Steele. It doesn’t have to come down to this. I don’t want to fight.”

“Typical. You’re too spineless of a coward to even defend the ones you love. Just like a wolf.”

Steele smirked and ran his tongue across his teeth. He knew exactly how to play this wolf-dog, knew how to make his blood boil.

“I never said that,” Balto whispered, “I don’t want innocents getting hurt because of some sick twisted revenge scheme.”

“Well then!” Steele called out in a much higher than normal pitch. “I bet you won’t like this too much then.”

He walked back to Jenna, watching Balto over his shoulder. He sat right down next to her and slipped the bandana off her muzzle. Before Jenna could show a sign of relief, her face screwed up in pain. Steele dug a claw deeper into her side and she screamed. A huge, sinister grin appeared on his face, his eyes widening at this feeling of dominance and power.

“Let her go!” Balto growled.

“Ooh, so Lobo has a little temper,” Steele chuckled.

He stood back up, kicked Jenna in the side, and began to pace towards Balto, leaving her gasping. Steele pushed his way through the other dogs and came within inches of his enemies face. The other dogs formed a semi-circle around the two dogs, keeping them pinned between themselves and the door, the boiler right in the center.

“So… Balto… I say you just go have at your mother, because I’m not leaving here without the girl.”

“She has a name you know..”

“And I’m sure she’ll have plenty more when I get through with her, if you know what I mean.”

Balto had had enough. This was against most of what he believed in, but he wasn’t going to let this monster hurt and degrade Jenna anymore, or anyone else for that matter.

“Steele. This ends tonight.”

The fire blazed fiercely in the boiler, hiding half of their bodies in the shadows it cast. Steele’s teeth sparkled in the light and a harsh wind bellowed through a window, sending the chains above clanking.

“I thought you’d never have such a wonderful idea.”

Everyone watched on in silence as they waited for the first move to be made.

“C’mon Balto!” Jenna shouted.

Steele turned around in surprise, and Balto took this to his advantage. He quickly rammed into Steele sending him flying to the floor. The dogs surrounding them whispered intensely as Steele stood up again. He rolled his shoulders and whipped around to face Balto again.

“Well half-breed, looks like there’s still some hope for you after all!” he called out shrilly.

This time Steele barreled after Balto who calmly stepped aside, not realizing that Steele had already planned for this. He changed his direction slightly and ran past Balto, but not before grabbing the scruff of his neck with his razor sharp teeth and dragging him across the floor.

“Honestly, is that all you got!?”

Balto groaned quietly as he picked himself up. He could hear both cheers and hisses directed towards him and he gave a small smile. 

“I’m just getting warmed up.”

“Balto! Behind you!” yelled a brown husky.

Balto suddenly felt something land on his back.

“What the-”

“Take this!”

He winced and felt a stinging sensation as teeth sunk into his back, and then he felt claws ripping at him as well. Steele smirked in pleasure.

“Aw, what’s the matter Balto? Can’t handle a pup?”

“Hey! That’s unfair!” Kaltag yelled in anger as he took a step forward.

“All’s fair in love and war.”

Steele looked at his side and nodded to them. Lilith shoved Star and Nikki towards Jenna. Steele’s eyes began to twinkle like a pup’s. Everything was going perfectly!

“Now, any of you interfere, you’ll lose Jenna too. And I don’t think you want that.”

Lilith whispered to Hal and snickered.

“Best part is, Brother Steele made those three pups think that Stevan was his best pick, but in fact, he was the worst. He was just using him to make the others jealous, and I guess Seth was the one who wants to shine.”

“Ooh, how very… deceptive of him,” Hal chortled.

Their conversation was interrupted as they heard Balto growling again. He was bucking and kicking to try and get the dog off his back. He spun around and caught Seth by his scruff and tossed him, leaving him dazed. Before Balto could catch his breath, Steele was in his face once more.

“It’s over Balto,” he grinned madly.

“That’s… what you think,” Balto panted.

Balto reared up and shoved Steele with all his might, sending him flying away. The husky collided into a tall stack of barrels full force and with a thud and fell to the floor. There was a terrible groaning sound as the stack began to sway back and forth. Time slowed to a crawl. The barrels began falling, casting a wide shadow that included both Steele and Seth. Everyone turned around and began to run in the opposite direction, except for Burt. He thought for a millisecond, and without another thought, he raced towards Seth. He suddenly tripped, inches away from the pup. He pushed Seth out of the way with his nose as he collapsed to the ground. Seth and the others looked back as the heavy barrels covered Steele, and then Burt. When time resumed, there was a sickening squishing noise as the wall of barrels came down on the two brothers. Gregory Steele would soon be as cold and bitter as his heart had become. And unfortunately, the same fate would befall his brother who had given his life to save another.

“Noo!!” Seth cried out, his eyes watering fiercely.

Before he could weep any longer, he felt a dog grab him up. It was Lilith. She also had Becca on her back. Stevan was carried out by Hal as the family sped out of the boiler room in a flash. Balto walked to the scene in solemn silence. He shook his head and sighed. This is not how he wanted any of this to go. He turned away and walked to Jenna. The others had already freed her from her restraint. Balto knelt down next to her and began to like her wounds, and she did the same service for him.

“Jen, I’m so sorry this all happened the way it did.”

Jenna shook her head, “You don’t need to apologize. It wasn’t your fault… But, I guess we won’t have to worry about him anymore.”

“Hey! Guess who’s parents I just found!” Kaltag called out as he led Duchess and Ritchie out.

They had been roped to a pipe as well, and had muzzles on them. Their restraints fell off as well after a small bit of work, and they quickly rushed to their daughter, asking obvious questions such as if she was alright. Balto suddenly heard a crushing of snow outside and hushed the others up. They relaxed though when the saw who it was.

“Is everything alright in there?” called Denali.

“Yeah, come on in kids.”

Saba and Denali entered through the door.

“Well, we were staking out Grams and Gramps house when we heard a ruckus so we just wanted to… Oh my goodness!” Saba yelled in shock, “What happened here!?”

“We’ll tell you tomorrow,” said Jenna, “we just… need to rest for awhile.”

“And we’ll talk with you two later,” one of the sled dogs directed at Nikki and Star, who only bowed their heads in shame.

Saba and Denali noticed Kodi on the floor. His breathing was very shallow, and they could see multiple claw marks.

“Kodi!”

He had been lucky. Right at the moment that Hal was about to take his life was when all the fighting had ceased for the final face off. His eyes fluttered open and he moaned.

“Ow, my aching head.”

“Shh, calm down,” Saba said in a motherly tone, “you need your rest… Let’s get him home.”

Kaltag looked down at Jenna and Balto, “And you two need to get home too. I’ll escort you.”

“Thank you Kaltag,” Jenna smiled.

They stood up carefully, and each dog wobbled as he walked from his or her own wounds and pains. They walked in silence past their two enemies and single comrade that had not escaped their fate. They stepped out into the street and a cool breeze ruffled their fur as the mist began receding. As they continued home down the moonlit streets, a thought came to Jenna’s mind. She had counted nine dogs that were technical enemies there, but she couldn’t remember what was significant about it.

“Mind if I crash with you tonight, Jen?” Balto asked, shaking her from her thoughts.

She smiled at him and licked his cheek, “I’d be delighted.”

The two stepped into Jenna’s house, happily reunited once more. As they entered the house, Jenna saw her girl asleep on the window seat, her face pressed against the glass as she snoozed quietly. Jenna barked happily and Rosie quickly woke up, and then ran to Jenna, beaming.

“Oh Jenna! I missed you girl!”

She wrapped her little arms around Jenna’s neck, and then did the same to Balto when she saw him. She then let go of them and rushed up the stairs.

“Mom! Dad!” she called, “Jenna’s back! And Balto’s here to!”

She pressed her ear against the door.

“I told you she’d be back Dear,” Nancy called sleepily.

“Now, please go back to sleep,” Robert added.

Rosie plodded down the stairs again, her red hair bobbing in time with her thumps. She began to stroke the two dogs gently, both enjoying the treatment.

“Oh no! Jenna! You’re hurt!”

Rosie once again bounded out of sight, leaving the two dogs alone to admire her energy. She suddenly rushed back in with a tin of band-aids.

“Here, this’ll make you all better,” she grinned.

She began placing the sticky strips on them until the once full container turned up empty. She shook it a few times to try and catch anymore, but gave up.

“Well, I guess that’ll have to do for tonight,” Rosie yawned, “but I have to go to bed now. It’s way past my bed time.”

Within seconds she was already on the second floor. Balto smiled at Jenna and licked her cheek.

“She’s a good kid.”

“She sure is. But be prepared for when these things get taken off, it’s less than pleasant,” she laughed from her past experiences.

They walked over to the pet basket, the fire crackling and casting a warm glow upon them. Balto held his paw out and Jenna stepped into their pet basket first before Balto took his place right beside her. They cuddled close to each other, and soon they were both being taken into their own dreams, unfortunately not knowing that this story was only half over, and things could only go down from here.

Chapter Ten:

January 13th, 1928

It was approximately 9 A.M. A small group of huskies was pushing on through the tundra, their hearts and mind racing. The two adult dogs felt like their lungs were on fire, and that their legs would collapse at any moment. But they couldn’t just stop in the middle of nowhere. The pup being carried in the female’s mouth squinted his eyes.

“Hey! I think I see a town!” he cried.

The female looked so relieved to hear this. She desperately needed time to cool off and think. They rushed past a sign that read, ‘SOLOMON POPULATION: 202’. Their run slowed to a trot, and then to an easy walk as they approached the town. Lilith and Hal lowered the pups to the ground. Stevan and Becca looked around in awe. They had never been out of the sanctity of their town, and now they had come so far.

“Ooh! What’s that!” Becca called.

She ran across the street and then disappeared out of sight. Lilith had just caught a glimpse of her rushing off.

“Come back here!” she shouted, “I don’t want you getting hurt if we were followed!”

Lilith chased her off in the direction Becca had taken and ran smack dab into another husky.

“Hey! Look where you’re going!”

Lilith stood up and rubbed her head. “I’m awfully sorry. I didn’t mean to knock you over like that.”

“It’s alright. Just… watch where you’re goin’,” the husky eyed her, “you aren’t from around here… are you?”

Lilith shook her head in an embarrassed fashion, “We only just got here. It’s our first time here, well, at least my first time.”

“I can tell… But what are you guys runnin’ from?… I saw you guys tearing down the path just a few minutes ago.”

Lilith hesitated and bit her lip, “Well… I’m not sure if I should say. Can never be too safe, ya know?”

“Yeah, I understand. I have a few stories of my own… None too pretty though, so you probably don‘t want me boring you.”

“Well, I’d like to hear them,” she said politely.

The husky thought for a moment, “Well… alright… If you really are interested. But first, do you know of a dog that goes by the name of Balto?”

Her ears stood at attention, “Yeah, I know him, actually, that’s who we were-”

Hal suddenly walked up besides her and dropped Becca to the snowy ground. “Really, you should watch her more carefully,” he paused, “who’s this?”

He looked the husky up and down. He had brown eyes and his mix of crimson and white fur seemed to be very neat. He noticed a pink bandana hanging from around his neck.

“Name’s Douglas,” the husky replied.

“Hal. He says he knows Balto,” Lilith whispered urgently.

“Know him? I despise every bone in his body,” Douglas said, obviously able to hear her.

“Oh really?” Hal hummed quietly as he began circling this stranger, “Interesting.”

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

“Dead. Three of them. Found ‘em this morning.”

“No way, you must be pulling my chain.”

“Nope. Being one hundred percent honest. Two of ‘em were pretty messed up. Had that huge stack ‘o barrels fall right onto ‘em and crush ‘em. Third one weren’t much better off neither.”

Dixie gasped. “This is so unbelievable! I gotta tell Sylvia about this one, and thanks for the tip!”

The dog nodded, “T’weren’t nothin’.”

Dixie rushed down the street, her collar clanking as it bounced about her small frame. The first signs of dawn were beginning to show themselves as the sky began to warm up beyond the horizon. The prissy dog passed by a lamp post just in time for it to flicker out. She giggled when a snowy wind danced around her, swirling her fur before whisking away. The drifts of snow that lay upon the houses in thick blankets groaned and heaved at each pass of the breeze. A chunk finally gave way and slid clumsily off its roof before plopping to the ground with a thud. Dixie punched her nose through the drift that had just fallen on her. She crawled out of the pile of snow and looked herself over again, gasping unhappily at the sight.

“Oh my fur!” she wailed.

She shook herself vigorously, throwing off the powdery fluff that was trying to decorate itself on her.

“Really now? It’s only snow,” said a familiar voice.

Dixie turned around and saw Sylvia shaking her head at her. Dixie coughed in her paw quietly and then suddenly remembered why she had been looking for her friend.“Oh Sylvia!” she chirped, “Did you hear what went down in the boiler room last night?”

Sylvia quickly took interest, “Actually, no I didn’t. Give me all the details.”

The blond dog lowered one of her long ears towards Dixie as she whispered into it intensely.

“I heard they found three more dogs that kicked the bucket. One was a sled dog, and we couldn’t even tell who the other two were from how badly they were messed up. Apparently, the killer dropped barrels on them and then got away without anyone seeing.”Sylvia’s jaw dropped at the mention of this hot tip. The shocking thing for her though, was that this news could fit into what she had wanted to share with Dixie.

“Well, isn’t this interesting,” she whispered back, “I heard that a dog saw Balto wandering out with Jenna from her house this morning, and they both looked pretty beat up from their appearance. Jenna was exhausted, and apparently Balto was looking quite proud of himself… I wonder.”

“Wonder what?” Dixie asked eagerly.

“I wonder if Balto had something to do with this, maybe even killed them. And Jenna saw and so now he’s forcing her to be quiet. Maybe…” she suddenly paused and then began looking more enthusiastic, “What if Doc is in fact using Balto to do his dirty work for him, because he thought no one would doubt either one of them because of their status in our town’s hierarchy. If so, then we were right about that wolf-dog all along, and now we may have an actually theory linking Doc and the murders.”

“Careful though Sylvia, remember what happened last time we accused Balto of something. We were so wrong, and I don’t want to feel ashamed again.”

Sylvia pondered for a moment, “For once, you actually may be right. We won’t actually accuse Balto though. We’ll just tell everyone to watch him, make sure he doesn’t do anything too suspicious. Oh, and no letting anyone of Balto’s close friends know. We don’t want them to ruin the test. Deal?”

“Deal.”

The two quickly separated and darted off in opposite directions, stopping anyone that appeared onto the streets as the town began to stir to life.

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

The trio, Nikki, Kaltag, and Star, walked casually down the street. Kaltag was in the middle, and he was frequently looking back and forth between his two other friends. He was frowning, not because of a disappointment in either of them, but because of how depressed both of them seemed, their heads hung low and their feet dragging through the snow.

“Oh come on guys, cheer up. I’m sure it won’t be that bad. I’ll be sure to vouch for the both of you,” Kaltag said warmly.

Nikki sighed, “But who’s gonna believe you’s guys? We was helping that scoundrel.”

“But hey, neither of you actually injured anyone that badly. And from what it sounds like, there wasn’t much choice that you had.”

Star turned up to Kaltag, “If the gossip hounds get a hold of this though, no one will believe what any of us have to say.”

Kaltag grinned, “Well, I won’t let them hear this though, and I’ll make sure that none of the other dogs spill either. I just talked with Doc this morning, and he promised to hear what happened as soon as this whole thing blows over with him and the town.”

“What’s going on with him and the town?” asked Star.

“’Member Star, we was locked up there for awhile, so we had to miss somethin’.”

“I’ll tell you guys later. But I’m sure he’ll go really easy on you.”

Star bit his lip. “But Kaltag, we were told that if they came back that we-”

He suddenly held his tongue when Nikki shot him a look. They couldn’t even let their friend know, because Nikki knew that they’d basically under house arrest for an unspecified amount of time, and he didn’t want that. Star fell silent and lowered his head again.

“You’d what?” questioned Kaltag, not seeing the look Nikki had given Star. “You can tell me,” Kaltag encouraged.

“Thing is Kal, we can’t. Wish we could, but we can’t,” Nikki said.

Kaltag opened his mouth in protest, but decided it would be best not to take that route. “Well… I guess if you ever feel like saying anything, you can tell me whenever you like.”

“Thanks for understandin’ there.”

“What’re friends for?”

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

Jenna and Balto walked along side each other as they headed away from town. They saw the shape of Balto’s derelict ship off in the distance and they hurried their pace, making sure to not injure themselves in the process. They walked up a plank to the deck of the vessel which sighed under their weight and Balto called out.

“Honey! I’m home!”

Balto grinned as he saw Jenna giggle from the corner of his eye. A Russian snow goose looked down at them from atop a crate and smiled.

“Oi! Finally you are getting home! I almost call Coast Guard.”

Boris then stared forward again and leaned back against the wall of the cab, folding his wings behind his head.

“Hey Boris, what’re you doing up there anyways?”

The goose stood back up and hopped from the crate and waddled towards the two dogs. He put a wing to his beak and began whispering like he had a secret he was dying to tell.

“To tell truth. Muk and Luk come to play game, and I mention hide and seek,” Boris pointed his other wing back towards the cab, and Balto and Jenna could see a large lump moving clearly underneath Balto’s blanket, “but vhat they are not knowing is that I vill do no seeking. Is genius, no?”

“Until they realize what you’re doing that is,” Balto chuckled.

Boris laughed, “Those two? Figure that out? Is riot!… Ay! Vhat are these things?”

The goose examined little brown strips that were placed strategically over their bodies. He took the end of one strip on Balto and began tugging at it curiously before he started to tear it off, which Balto winced at. Boris quickly stopped and Jenna smiled.

“I warned you about these things Balto.”

Boris saw how the two were nearly decorated with these strange accessories and he scratched his head.

“Vhat on Earth is use of these?”

“They’re used to help heal things if I understood right, but they really hurt when you get ’em taken off. I would know,” Jenna said cheerfully.

“But vhy would you need such things?”

Balto paused for a moment, “Well, let’s just say that a lot happened last night.”

“I knew I should not have left you alone by yourself! You are like magnet for trouble!” Boris fumed, “From now on, you are not to be leaving my sight.”

“C’mon Boris, you don’t need to get overprotective on me now,” Balto protested.

“But-”

Jenna stepped between the two, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he stays out of trouble. I’ll be your eyes.”

Boris laid a wing on her shoulder, “Alright then Missy. But I am counting on you to be keeping taps on this one. He is quite the slick one.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Balto raised a paw, “Don’t I get any say in this?”

“Of course not. Is for your own good,” Boris smiled slyly.

The lump underneath Balto’s blanket began to stir. Muk peeked his head through and looked around cautiously.

“Uncle Boris? Have you found us yet?” he called out innocently, not seeing Boris.

Jenna and Balto began to roll around the deck in a fit of laughter as Balto grabbed his beak and tried to hold what little patience he had available.

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

The moon had risen to a point that signaled bed time for most of the Nome residents. Nikki was circling the edge of Nome once again, nearly board out of his mind. His owners had been so glad to see him, just like he guessed Star’s owners had been. They’d had smothered him with affection, but he needed to get away from it for awhile. He looked down the main street as he came to one end of it. He saw a lantern flicker in the distance. He gazed out into the open tundra, but a little too late to see and successfully move out of the way of a running traveler. The next second he found himself on the packed snow, the traveler in the same position just a few feet away from him.

“Hey there, watch where you’s is going,” he called.

The other dog stood up and walked over to Nikki, lending him a paw, which the chow happily took. The newcomer smiled.

“Oh dear. I’m awfully, dreadfully sorry, I didn’t mean to plow you over like that. I was in a hurry, and then the ice made me slip and slide all over, so that didn’t make things any better,” the dog suddenly sneezed mid-sentence before continuing, “anyway, my name’s Henry, just blew into town, what’s yours?”

Nikki could still make out the features of this dog very clearly even though the sky was dimming. He seemed very slim, but not at all weak. His white fur was perfectly proportioned with his black. There were no real marks that could make him very distinguishable, except for his dark brown eyes and his bright blue collar.

“Ugh, it’s Nikki,” he replied, “where’d ya come from anyways?”

Henry smiled, “Fairbanks. I used to be like the leader of the dogs there I guess you could say, but the town was so boring that I just had to leave. Been searching for a new place to call my own for awhile now.”

“Well then, let me be the first to welcome you to Nome there.”

Henry nodded to him and Nikki turned to walk away. Henry put a paw on his shoulder to stop him.

“Hey, you know where a dog could spend the night at?”

“Oh yeah, sure. You’s could probably stay in the boiler-” Nikki suddenly cut off.

No, he couldn’t go back there again, at least not for a long while. He imagined that they had already found out about what went down and were cleaning up the mess as they were speaking.

Henry looked at the chow worriedly, “Are you alright?”

Nikki shook his head and quickly thought, “Yeah, yeah. Um. You probably couldn’t stay with me, but I’m sure Kaltag could let you stay for the evenin’.”

He and Henry cut through an alley and they appeared on the other side. He glanced to his left and right and walked a few houses down. Kaltag was sitting on his porch, facing away from them and looking out through the gaps in the railing. Nikki knocked on the wood of the porch and Kaltag looked over his shoulder. 

“Hey Nikki, and, Nikki’s friend!” Kaltag smiled warmly as the stepped up towards him, “So, for what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Oh nothin’ really. Just bumped into a newcomer, and they don’t have a place to stay, so I was hopin’ that you’s could take him in?”

Kaltag scanned the husky, catching his name by a tag that hung loosely from his collar. He looked pretty decent, so Kaltag nodded his head.

“Sure thing. I don’t think my owners will mind much.”

Nikki smiled and disappeared around a corner as Kaltag led Henry inside his home. Henry saw a photo of Kaltag as a pup near a sled, his tongue lolling out with a downright excited look spread across his face.

“You run?” he asked.

Kaltag grinned, “Sure do. Best job ever. What do you do for a living?”

“Well, you know, act like a judge when dogs have problems, but there wasn’t anything going on where I lived, so, I moved.”

“Hmm, sounds interesting. You could actually call this perfect timing. Apparently there’s been a lot of trouble going on with our leader lately, and I heard that some dogs were wanting to replace him.. Actually, just a shot in the dark but, would you maybe want to talk with some of the other dogs ‘round town? If you really have experience in this field, then you could be a great back up in case something ever happened to Doc.”

Henry showed a slightly shocked expression. “Don’t you think it’s a little sudden to come up with ideas like that. I’ve only just gotten here.”

Kaltag shrugged, “You never know what’ll happen. It’s good to make plans.”

“I guess,” Henry sneezed abruptly, “but if you don’t mind, I’d like to catch a little shut eye. Quite worn out from running here. You know the deal.”

“Yeah, I got-cha. You can sleep near the fire or anywhere else that you feel comfortable. Just make yourself at home.”

“Will do,” he chuckled, “see you in the morning and all that.”

Kaltag smiled at his guest before he made his way toward his special spot in front of the crackling fire. He laid down and watched Henry out of the corner of his eye as he roved about to find a suitable resting place. Kaltag had drifted off before Henry finally laid down, being extra sure that he was lying on his stomach.

Chapter Eleven:

Kodi yawned widely as he waited. The walls around him were a very bland white color with very little variation. What could you expect from a vet’s office? He ran his claws across the bars of his cage. Even though it was quite roomy in here, he didn’t much like it. He’d rather be outside playing with his siblings or friends. The door to the recovery room opened as the vet let in Balto, Jenna, Dingo and Haida.

“Well, well, well. You weren’t the one I was expecting to find behind bars,” Dingo smirked. “I was thinking that it would be this lunkhead,” he nodded to Haida.

“Oh, ha ha Dingo. That’s a heck of a way to greet someone.”

“I know, and I’m proud of him personally,” Haida laughed.

“So Son, how ya holding up?” Balto asked.

“Doing okay I guess,” Kodi replied casually, “just bored out of my mind. I don’t care if the vet just put stitches in me yesterday, I want out of here ASAP.”

“Are you hurting Kodi? Where are the stitches?” Jenna asked in a motherly tone.

Kodi rolled to his side, showing where he had been sewn back up. He looked at his mother and smiled.

“It doesn’t really hurt Mom. I just can’t really stretch to much, so I feel pretty stiff right now.”

Kodi noticed that there were two figures missing from the picture.

“Hey, where are Saba and Denali?”

“Well,” began Haida, “Tweedledee and Tweedledum had the oh-so-wonderful task of taking over the jobs for you and that other dog. And since the trio ain’t goin’ either. They’re running with four dogs if you can believe that.”

Kodi’s ears perked up. “Wait, which other dog? Is he okay?”

Jenna frowned and turned away as Balto stepped closer to the cage. He looked upset.

“How do I put this?… Kodi, you were probably knocked out at the time, but we lost one of the team during the night, along with Steele and one of his cronies. The humans found out about that later last night before we could really do much to clean up, and, well, you can say they weren’t exactly happy about what they found.”

“That’s an understatement,” Dingo whispered.

“Dingo, please, not now,” sighed Jenna.

Balto continued, “We don’t know what they plan to do about this though. I can imagine that most of us will probably have our owners fussing over us, providing we have one that is.”

The atmosphere of the room felt more weighted than it had earlier as an awkward silence crept in. Haida began to cough obnoxiously.

“Welp, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m pretty much done here,” he announced as he darted out of the room.

“Hey! Wait up!”

Dingo followed closely behind him, hating to always be left behind. Jenna shifted uncomfortably and nudged Balto.

“Well Son, looks like we would probably be heading back.”

Jenna nodded, “Just try and get some sleep, and stay out of trouble.”

“What trouble could I get in, in a cage?” Kodi called after them as they disappeared through the door.

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

“Hey Kaltag, who’s your new friend?” Dixie asked curiously. She sauntered up to the husky and scanned him over, liking what she saw. He reminded her off a certain someone that she had used to pine for. Henry watched her nervously as her circles became tighter and tighter around him.

“Does she always do this?” he whispered to Kaltag.

“Yeah, pretty much. Let me be the first to say that I feel sorry for you.”

“Alright Flirt, you’ve had enough fun,” Sylvia cut in, dragging her friend away by the collar. She ignored Dixie’s whining as she spoke to their new arrival. “So, I’ll try to be the more polite one of the two of us.. Where’d ja come from? What’d ja do? Why’d ja come here? And so on.”

“Fairbanks. Leader of sorts. Got bored.”

Sylvia was very impressed indeed. “Ah, short, sweet, and right to the point, just how I like it. But did my ears deceive me, or did you just say that you were a leader. What kind if I may ask?”

“Well, more or less over the town. Put a few years into that. I heard Kaltag talking about something about your leader, or judge, or whatever you call him, not exactly being up to snuff with your standards, and so that’s the reason why I’m here talking with you, I guess.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Oh, so he told you? I guess there’s no point in me offering it then.”

“But, what did he do to have so many want to have him pushed out? Was it that bad?”

Sylvia scratched underneath her chin. “Eh, I would consider that not warning the entire town about a murderer on the loose is pretty bad, and besides, he’s been losing his edge lately, so I think a lot of us want new blood to take over.”

“I’ve only just gotten here. Don’t you would think that would cause some speculation? There would have to be someone more qualified than myself, right?” he asked modestly.

“Nonsense. No one’s had this kind of burden on them except for Doc and you.”

“But what about-”

“I think that’s enough questions. We’ll talk more about this later. Dixie and I have to tell everyone about you before it gets too late.. Funny thing is, someone was suggesting we get another dog to go against Doc.”

“Heh, talk about your coincidences.”

Henry smiled and rubbed a paw behind his head as Sylvia and Dixie began to do what they did best. Kaltag was about to pat Henry on the back, but Henry saw and dodged out of the way.

“Oops, careful there. I want to look my best for everyone else,” he laughed.

Kaltag chuckled, “If you say so, but good job dealing with them. It takes someone with guts to do that.”

“Thanks for the compliment, but I wonder what they have planned.”

“Don’t try guessing. They’re notorious for their unorthodox schemes, oh, and their big mouths too,” he laughed.

The two dogs continued on with their conversation as they strolled down the lane, quickly becoming friends.

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

The black and white husky stood there in the alleyway, her chest heaving, eyes nearly watering. She looked down at her paws and frowned. She didn’t care about the puddle at her feet, but she did care for the ribbon attached to her front paw. She tugged one end gently, pulling it back to its perfect position. She wiped her now red muzzle off with a paw, revealing partial areas of her actual fur color. She nudged the now lifeless body a few feet ahead, coating her paws in the puddle that had been left. She then lowered her head down and grabbed the red and white husky by its neck, dragging it out towards the street. She stopped and held her breath as a dog passed by the entrance of the alley, but soon relaxed her body as he continued on his way. She decided to leave the body there, as to not risk her exposure. The male that she had taken down had fought well, very well in fact, but he was inexperienced, and was no match for her superior skill. She fixed his posture as to make him seem like he was sleeping, rather than dead. She wiped her paws and muzzle in the snow, trying to rid her fur of the horrid stain, and with some work, somewhat succeeded. She looked over her shoulder and darted out of the alley, leaving the scene behind for others to ponder about. She could see the moon setting beyond one horizon, and the sun beginning to rise from the other. Her to-do list was now complete, and so she hoped that she could finally be left in piece to do as she wished, and to not have to worry. All she wanted now was a semi-normal life.

“Lilith,” he had said, “we are going to avenge or beloved brothers.” He had then looked down at the three pups that surrounded him, “And give these little ones something to live, or die, for.”

Lilith glanced over her shoulder again before walking down another unused alley. She saw a trash can without a lid and smiled. She gave it one swift kick and sent it crashing to the ground, spilling its contents all over the hard packed snow. She dug through it feverishly, and smiled again as she found a decent amount of uneaten food. She gobbled down some for herself, and carried the rest, still checking every once in awhile to make sure no one was sneaking up behind her. A porch creaked as she passed it, making her jump nervously. She let out a sigh of relief as she found that no one was there. She watched up and down the street for anyone suspicious, and not seeing one of that nature, she crossed the lane. A sign above her swayed easily in the wind. She followed the wall that was attached to this sign, and entered the building through a hole in the door. As soon as she did, she felt herself being jumped upon.

“Alright Kids, here’s your meal!”

Lilith flung the scraps of meat high into the air and watched as it swirled and fell back to the ground, before being mauled by an individual pup. She smiled sweetly. She had never had children of her own to love and nurture, and now she had finally had a chance. She felt so lucky. She walked over to Seth and patted him on the head. He had only eaten a few pieces before sitting down. If she didn’t know any better, she could think that he was going through a depression of sorts.

“You okay Seth?” she cooed.

He looked up at her and let out a heavy sigh. He turned away from her, not really feeling in the mood to talk.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine,” he lied, “I just want to be left alone.”

She paused for a moment and nodded, “If that is what you wish.”

Seth pushed around a piece of meat in his paws, before he rolled onto his back and began to stare up into the ceiling. He closed his eyes and relaxed. It was his fault. It was all his fault. If he hadn’t have been so stupid by barging into that fight, then maybe his uncle’s would still be here. He could have finally proved himself to Uncle Steele. But he couldn’t keep beating himself up. Actually, it wasn’t really his fault. If it wasn’t for that Balto, and all his friends, then everything would have gone great. But thanks to him, he no longer had his whole family anymore. Seth turned over to his side and rested his head against the hardwood floor. He peeped an eye opened and watched as Lilith gaily played with his two siblings. 

“Maybe I can show myself to her?” he whispered quietly.

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

“Nome STOP Urgent matter STOP Dog found mutilated STOP Dogs missing STOP Including my own STOP”

“White Mountain STOP Same situation here STOP Three dogs deceased STOP Please send details in letter STOP”

Mr. Kode leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head. The normally jolly man wore a straight face as he gazed into the lantern above his telegraph machine. He felt something rub against his leg, and he sat back up. He lowered his arms beneath the table and brought them back up when he felt his dog jump into them. He began petting Morris’ head softly.

“Welp, things aren’t going how I would’a hoped. Just hope Maurice finds his dog soon. Don’t know what I would do if I lost you. You’re one of my closest friends.”

Morris stood up and placed his paws on Mr. Kode’s chest, nudging him underneath the chin and eliciting a laughter from the older man as he licked his face.

“You never cease to improve my mood. That you do,” he suddenly snapped his fingers, “Ah! Now I remember what I forgot to ask.”

He placed a finger on the machine and began clicking away as Morris began twitching with him.

“White Mountain STOP Any news on connection to others STOP”

“Negative STOP Still cannot find problem STOP”

Mr. Kode patted Morris on the head. “This sure is a predicament we got here. Never had such a problem in all my days. But what would you know about that I suppose?”

He chuckled as he placed the heavyset dog back into his small basket. He gazed out the window as he watched the shadows gain in length and the people hurrying to and fro.

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

Star walked down the darkening street with a spring in his step. Things had been going great since he rejoined the real world again. And was even feeling like his old self again. He had interrupted Kaltag in conversation a few times today, and just like normal, he had been knocked a few for doing so. What a great day. He hummed to himself after he passed a brightly lit street lamp.

“Hmm, now which way is fastest?” he wondered to himself.

He was pondering whether to take the short-cut through the alley, or take the long way around down the main street. He shrugged to himself and strolled down the alley. What the heck. There was nothing to worry about anymore. His footsteps echoed dully down this back road. He passed near a trash can and walked closer to the edge of a building. He realized that something didn’t feel so right now that he was actually down here. He sat down, facing outwards. His tail wagged slowly, until he felt it hit a foreign object that is. He looked back and inhaled deeply before letting out a shrill yell. He whirled around and began digging into the snow, confirming his fears. He began shouting down either side of the alley to attract any form of attention he could.

“Someone! I need some help here! Help!”

He saw a figure stop, spin around, and sprint down the alley towards him. It was a black and white husky, with brown eyes. He skid to a halt in front of Star.

“What is it?” he panted, “I came as soon as I heard you.”

“Look at this,” Star said, still a little unsettled by the whole thing.

The husky looked down and acted as if he were about to lose his lunch. Before him were two huskies that were also black and white. They looked like they had been lying there for awhile, but the snow had kept them very well preserved. But that didn’t make it any less gruesome. 

“We have to tell someone, or everyone for that matter,” the husky said before looking at Star, “name’s Henry by the way. Did you just find out about this?”

Star nodded his head solemnly. Henry shook his head before turning away.

“C’mon, we better get going. I imagine that this isn’t going to be pretty with everyone else.”

He padded away towards the exit of the alley and Star quickly jogged up beside him. The smaller dog shivered slightly as the image of what he had just witnessed danced vividly in his mind.

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

Doc was once again staring out of his window into the real world. Things were even more shaky than the last time he had checked. Instead of the anger and distrust he had witnessed before, what he saw now only disheartened even more. There was a fear running rampant among the dogs. It was clear as day. What he would give to be able to bring hope back into their lives. But how could he do such a thing when he himself had little hope to even make himself feel any better? No one would even want to see him he guessed. What if he had just came out and told the masses to be more careful? Then maybe things wouldn’t have gone this far. But it didn’t matter. He had made one small mistake, and it had been completely blown out of proportion and turned against him. He was starting to lose the hope that he would ever mean anything to anyone ever again. 

“Well old boy,” he whispered to himself, “looks like you won’t be of any use any longer. Might as well accept that fact.”

He lowered himself off his window seat easily and padded over to his place in front of the fireplace. He had just laid down when he heard his pet flap flop open. He turned his head lazily and saw Star staring at him. Doc patted to a spot beside him and Star walked over.

“Hey Doc, you won’t believe this, but we just found some bodies in an alley!” Star squeaked.

Doc sighed and turned away. “It doesn’t matter. I already knew about that.”

Star cocked his head to the side, “You mean… you knew?”

“Star, since you obviously haven’t heard all of what has gone down lately, I wouldn’t expect you to know, but you have no real point in being here since I might as well be suspended.. Go find some other dog that can even be some use to you.”

“But, Doc..”

“But, Doc nothing,” the St. Bernard cut in, “I’ve had about enough of hoping. I’ve been trying to stay optimistic that things would get better, only to be smacked in the face by reality. I’d rather just be left here by my lonesome.”

He turned his head back to Star and heaved out another sigh. He patted Star on the back and forced a smile.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“It’s okay Doc, I understand.”

Star gave a weak smile before he exited the house. Doc laid his head back down and groaned.

“Way to go Doc. You probably just angered one dog who might have actually believed you. Nice,” he whispered to himself.

Chapter Twelve:

Ritchie laid down near Duchess. The grandfather clock that sat in a far corner ticked off the seconds as the two dogs continued to stare at nothing in particular. Ritchie gave a loud yawn and scooted closer to Duchess. She looked at him and smiled sympathetically before pushing him away with a paw.

“You need to learn restraint,” she simply said.

“Aww, c’mon Dear. You’ve been ‘restraining’ me ever since we got back home,” Ritchie whined.

Duchess stood up and patted Ritchie on the head gently, shaking her head from side to side as if she were teaching a small pup. “Well, this is a lesson. Next time someone says that I fell down a well, please, do remember that it’s the middle of Winter, there aren‘t any open wells in this town that I‘m aware of, and that you should go for help. Instead of charging valiantly into some strange house only to get caught by Greg and his puppy minions.”

“Hey, at least my intentions were pure.”

“If only your thinking was as logical as your motives are ‘pure’.”

Just then, there was a scratching on their door before a dog poked her head through. It was Dipsy, still not having finished her lunch from the look of jerky still in her mouth.

“Oh, Dipsy. What brings you here?” Duchess asked.

“Well, it’s been a few days,” she swallowed, “and we’re gonna do that voting thing. Everyone has to be in the boiler room as soon as they can.”

Without another word she vanished from sight, most likely to tell everyone else. Duchess began walking towards the door with Ritchie following close behind her.

“It’s really a shame, that such a thing had to happen to Doc.”

“How are we voting then Honey?”

“For once, I don’t know. I’m split. From what you said, he looked really shocked when he saw how Lucy and her mate looked, but we can’t know if he was acting or not. And the decision he made after that was just not the way to go… I guess it’ll just depend on who else there is to choose from.”

He silently nodded as the two exited from their home. The trip to the boiler room took longer than they would have liked, no thanks to the way they had been bandaged, which stiffened their walking. The sun was already rising, and soon would be at the very center of the sky. They guessed that the meeting was to take place at this time so everyone wouldn’t be scared witless to exit their homes. A gentle breeze carried the scents of many other dogs before they entered the boiler room. As soon as they did, they saw Doc, and another dog standing to their left. From the looks of it, this other dog was Doc’s competition. The other dog turned his head away from one conversation and back to the main door, only to jump in surprise as he saw Duchess and Ritchie.

“Oh, ugh, hi there. I’m.. ugh.. Henry! Nice to meet you!” he stammered.

Ritchie bowed to Henry, and Duchess just nodded. The two walked away and sat down amongst the growing crowd of dogs. Duchess turned to Ritchie, a most puzzled look on her face.

“Is it just me, or did that dog-”

“smell familiar?” Ritchie cut in, “Yeah, he did. But-”

“it’s probably nothing. You’re right. We shouldn’t worry about it unless there’s reason to.”

Ritchie nodded his head and Duchess faced the front. He casually looked back at the entrance and saw Balto, Jenna, and Boris enter. He saw Henry almost stumble when Jenna came through, but he suddenly shot to attention as Balto followed in after her. He thought nothing of it. The three sat down beside Ritchie and Duchess, and the started a conversation to pass the time. Minutes later, the talking began to die down as a dog stepped up before them.

“Thank you all for coming here today. Now that a certain mess was cleaned up, we can finally go on with this issue that is most important. The following two candidates will now step forward and present to you the reasons of why they should be looked up to, to take care of our town. Afterwards, you shall all vote, a rare thing indeed, on the candidate which you believe is most suited for the position. While the speeches are in process though, I ask that you refrain from loud conversation, or catcalling. That will be all… Will the two candidates please step forward?”

The dog left the front, and the two other dogs came on. The St. Bernard stepped forward and cleared his throat. He looked out to the crowd wearily and began.

“Good afternoon. My name is Doc, in case you did not know. I have been the leader and judge of this town since before I, or some of you, can remember, and I must say it has been an honor to do so.” He paused briefly and coughed quietly. “I have given my heart and soul to protect you all over these long years, and I dare say that I haven’t done as bad of job as I could have. 

“But recently, I made a mistake. There was a murder of a most ghastly nature, and I, regrettably, did nothing to let the populous know before it was too late. At the time, I thought that it was the best course of action that I could take. I wanted to prevent fear and mistrust from rearing their ugly heads, but I see now, that in trying to prevent such things, I have only worsened what could have been. Even though I was asked by a few dogs to come out with the truth, I refused to listen as I was too clouded by my own thinking to listen to others. And for causing all this trouble, I give you my deepest of apologies.

“Although I am sorry for this, I do not believe that this warrants my removal. Everyone makes mistakes, including the ones that are in charge. I have made very few of these mistakes over the past few years, of course, I am not saying that I haven’t made them, just not as frequently as I could have. I implore you. Do not replace me. I will do the best I can to fix my wrongdoings. But, if you do indeed choose my competitor, then I wish him, and all of you, the best of luck. That will be all.”

Not a word had been spoken during his speech, and none were uttered afterward. Doc bowed his head and silently walked back to his place, sitting down humbly as the black and white husky walked up and stood before the rest of the town dogs. He looked much more determined than he had before when he was greeting the others. He cleared his throat just like Doc had done.

“Hello to you all. Most of you probably don’t know me, my name is Henry for future references. Yes, I did just blow into town the other day, but I would like to assure you that I have more than enough experience to take over this position. During my two years as a judge, slash leader, I cleaned up the town of Fairbanks. It used to be a crime infested rat hole before I took charge, and now it is a much more peaceful place. I left that city to seek out others in need, and apparently I came here just in the nick of time. 

“From what I heard over my short time here, your most respected of your citizens, has let you down tremendously. Who knows what could have happened, had it not been found out that he was hiding this valuable information from you?” Henry heard murmurs in the crowd, and he tried to hide a smile. “How many more lives would it have taken to open his eyes to his wrongs!?” Henry could hear the whispering starting to build. “Are we going to let this happen again!?”

“No!” cried a voice from the audience.

“Are we going to let this act go unpunished!?” Henry said, getting more and more passionate about his cause.

“No!” shouted a few more voices this time.

The dog who had started this debate suddenly stood up. “The crowd is not to respond!” his voice boomed.

The crowd didn’t seem to care, and ignored him. Henry continued to bellow out his speech, receiving the exact answer he wanted to here. This felt great!

“Are we going to let Doc make this mistake again!?!”

“Never!!”

And after all the hype that Henry caused, he suddenly became calm. “My speech is concluded.”

There was a roar of applause as he took his seat. The original dog retook his place in front.

“Alright then. Now that the two candidates have spoken, it is time to vote. And I urge you to choose wisely. All in favor of Doc keeping his position, please raise one paw.”

There was hushed talking. Doc didn’t even need to guess who would win this round, but it still didn’t prepare him for the hurt he would feel when only a handful of paws rose into the air. And maybe a wing. The dog counted and sighed.

“All in favor of Henry taking over Doc’s current position, please raise one paw.”

It was nearly mesmerizing as a wave of paws shot into the air. The dog didn’t even need to count. It was an obvious landslide victory for the challenger. Doc stood up and walked from the front with all the dignity he had left. He held his head high as the crowd split before him. Even though he had predicted the outcome, Doc couldn’t hide a small tear that broke lose. This is what they had all wanted, and there was nothing he could do anymore to stop them. He saw someone rush up to him from the corner of his eye. It was Jenna.

“Doc, I’m so sorry. If there’s anything I can-”

Doc cut her off. “I thank you for the sympathy, and also for trying to keep me where I was, but you really don’t need to waste your time on an old bag like me.”

“Doc-”

“Please. I just need my time alone to think. If you really must, you can visit me at my home. But now… just isn’t a good time.”

He suddenly broke away from her in a run, rushing out of the boiler room and into the street before disappearing. Jenna stood there, shocked.

“C’mon Jen, let’s head home,” Balto said to her as he walked up.

She frowned but nodded anyways. They walked away together in silence, being followed by a few others as Henry began explaining everything that he would do. And everything that would change..

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

Star had just finished his dinner and was now walking down the street. He didn’t want to be bored any longer, so he had decided to pay Kaltag a visit. He turned down an alley, not the one from the other night of course, but a different one. Half-buried pieces of timber and other miscellaneous items such as crates and chains littered either side. Star slowed and looked over his shoulder, but realized that that cough must have been in his imagination. The cool, blue beams from the moon above lit his way. He began to jog as the end of the alley came closer into view. As he reached the exit, he sat down, looking curiously to his right and left to get his bearings when a cloud bank covered up the moon. He began to walk away when he felt a sudden tugging on his tail. Before he could look back, he was yanked from whence he had come. A paw had clasped his muzzle shut. He would do no screaming. They were against the wall of a building, hidden in the shadows, and Star couldn’t turn his head back to see who had grabbed him.

“Surprised we’re back so soon?” chuckled a voice.

Star’s eyes widened and he struggled with all his might. He didn’t even need to see who it was. He already knew that this was the voice of Hal.

“Shh. Shh, little pup.” Star felt warm breathing on the back of his neck. “You wouldn’t want me to rip your little throat out, would you?” Hal laughed.

Star suddenly quit all motion. He gulped quietly and began whimpering.

“Now listen Pup. I have a little job for you… First. Were you going to visit someone?”

Star nodded, and Hal cracked a grin.

“Excellent. Now. I want you to go there. Tell the dog nothing about me, and lure him or her into this alley. I will then proceed in inducting them into our family. If you don’t do what I say, however… Then neither you nor your friend will live to see the break of dawn. Got it?” he hissed.

Star shook his head frantically.

“Good. I’ll be watching. So don’t betray me.”

Star barreled away as soon as he felt Hal’s grip loosen on him. He saw Kaltag’s house and he started to slow. Should he really do this? He really didn’t want to drag his friend into this, but if he didn’t, then there was a good chance that both of them would die. He could just go to a different house, right? No. No. Hal would surely figure it out. He looked over his shoulder and scanned the row of houses. He tried to think, but his paranoia was already starting to slowly eat away at his thoughts.

“Kaltag, please forgive me.”

He stopped onto the porch, but hesitated before he pushed open the dog door. There was Kaltag, sprawled out on the floor and snoozing. Star padded up to him slowly and nudged the sleeping dog. Kaltag rolled over and tried to bat Star away before he yawned widely and began to stand up.

“What do you want?” he asked drowsily.

“Well, ugh, I… I was thinking we could go get Nikki, and, maybe do something?”

Kaltag gave a long stretch coupled with another yawn. “And I’m supposing that you won’t stop pestering me until I do.” He chuckled when Star shook his head. “Alright then, let’s get this over with.”

Star bolted out of his house, and Kaltag followed, at a much slower pace of course. As he stepped out, he gave a quick shudder from the sudden change in temperature. He spotted Star rushing down an alley from the corner of his eye.

“Hey! Hold on a minute!” Kaltag called as he jogged after him.

He turned the corner down the alley, but suddenly came to a halt when he saw that it looked completely empty. He stepped forward cautiously as a gust of wind ruffled his fur and sent snowflakes tumbling through the air around him.

“Star?” he said with more bravery than what he actually had.

The hairs on the back of Kaltag’s neck were standing up now. He padded farther into the alley and called out for Star again, but still heard no reply. The Chinook began to back away. This was getting a little to creepy for him.

“I’m sorry Kaltag,” he heard Star reply.

It had come from behind him. He started to turn around. “For what?”

“For this,” said an unfamiliar sounding voice.

Before he could say any more, he was flat on his back with a paw at his throat. His eyes fluttered open and they saw a most unpleasant sight.

“Hey! What’re you doing!? Get offa-” Kaltag was suddenly cut off when a paw smacked him across the face.

“Now listen to me,” Hal hissed almost giddily, “you better behave Pup.” He pressed his paw down on Kaltag’s throat, making him gag for a few seconds before he released pressure again. “Star knows especially well that I don’t play around. So if you try and argue with me, or call out for help, I won’t hesitate to rip you to pieces.” His clown nose bobbed as he licked his chops. “Now, you’re going to do what I say. You’re going to do it with a pretty little smile on your pretty little face. Got it?” he growled.

Kaltag looked like he was about ready to protest, so Hal decided to put a claw at his throat. He beamed down at Kaltag and laughed quietly.

“Please, think wisely Pup. There’s only one right answer. And if you give me the wrong one, then maybe I’ll finish off your little friend instead of you, or both, I frankly don‘t care. But the question is… would you really want his death on your conscience?”

Kaltag glanced over to Star and saw the small dog both paralyzed and trembling with fear. Oh now what was he supposed to do? He gulped as he saw the twisted, sadistic grin plastered on this nut job’s face. He was going to hate himself for doing this, but he nodded anyways.

“Good, good!” Hal chirped, “Then let us fetch our other comrade shall we?”

Kaltag suddenly coughed as the pressure on his throat was lifted. He rose to his feet and walked along side Star as they followed at a safe distance behind Hal. He sighed heavily.

“Star… why did you have to drag me into this?”

Star bit his lip and said nothing for a few moments. “… You don’t understand. He was going to kill me, and possibly you too if I didn’t. I’m so sorry.”

Kaltag smiled faintly. “Don’t worry Star. We’ll find a way out of this… We’re going after Nikki next, aren’t we?” The smaller dog simply nodded his head. “Great…”

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

“Easy now, just a two more left,” Jenna encouraged.

“Just make it qui-ICK!” Balto suddenly yelped.

Jenna dropped the bandage to the floor, clumps of Balto’s fur still clinging to it desperately. He soon relaxed as she began to lick the once stinging area tenderly. She smiled at him before she moved to the next band-aid.

“Ready?” she asked.

Balto smirked. “You were right. These things definitely aren’t fun.”

She let out a giggle and took the band-aid in her mouth. Jenna was just about to pull it off when a sudden blast of cold wind caught her by surprise. A black and white husky entered through her door and shook off a powdery mess of snow from his pelt.

“Good evening Henry,” Jenna mumbled because of the bandage still in her mouth. She quickly ripped it off and dropped it as Balto flinched away. “Don’t worry, that’s the last of them.” She walked up to Henry smiled. “So, what brings you here this late at night?”

He gulped and his knees started shaking. His heart began beating faster, and Jenna could see the insides of his ears turning a shade of pink. She giggled into her paw and he started to wear a silly grin.

“Well, ugh, I was, ugh, just getting to know everyone better by, ugh, visiting them,” he managed to stutter.

He continued to stare at her until Balto came up to him. His posture gave a sudden change and he became much calmer. Balto extended a paw out to the visitor and smiled warmly.

“Welcome to her lovely abode. I know we didn’t exactly have the best of greetings earlier, but I hope that I can still have the chance to be a friend of yours.”

“Yes. It would be most pleasurable to have your friendship.”

Henry shook Balto’s paw, squeezing it rather tightly before he pulled away and rubbed his paw on the floor. He looked beyond the two and saw the clumps of fur that littered the floor. He pointed to them.

“Excuse me if I may be intruding on your own affairs, but what is that fur being used for?”

“Oh, nothing. Actually, I just finished up removing some band-aids that my girl put all over him.”

“Ahh. I see… Here. Let me be a good citizen and clean that all up for you.”

“Oh, I’m sure we could get it,” she said.

“Nonsense. I feel absolutely dreadful for my behavior earlier, so it’s the least of what I could do to make up for it.” Henry moved passed them and kneeled down. “And I won’t take no for an answer.”

He gripped the fur in his mouth tightly and headed for the exit, mumbling something that vaguely sounded like ‘Good night’ before leaving the house.

A fierce wind lashed out at Henry as soon as he stepped foot out of the building. His eyes started to sting as snowflakes whirled around his face and pelt him. He glanced up and down the desolate street before walking down the nearest alleyway. He crinkled his nose. The fur he carried smelled most unpleasant. It was almost a dingy, musty smell, and he didn’t care for it in the least. He was so relieved when he finally saw it. A garbage can, half open, and frozen in place by the bitter ice.

~-~-

Henry walked out of the alley only to go down another. His paws made loud crunching noises as he crushed the snow beneath him, and he began to shiver occasionally from his exposure to this most bitter of winds. He spied two figures halfway down the alley, but had no cause for worry. He had stationed these two to guard the scene of the first murder, as to keep it from being meddled with. He was the only one allowed past, and only to inspect for clues.

“Alright you two. You can go home now. I’ll stand watch.”

The two dogs nodded before parting ways to return to their owners. Henry looked over the two bodies, holding his breath as he did so. He let it out in the form of a sigh. He still couldn’t find a single thing to go on from this. It was starting to seem pointless, but he was determined not to let down the town so quickly. He spotted another trash can, only this one was down, open, and looked clean enough to suit him. He tried to make himself comfortable in the hard metal can, and after some effort, he was able to get some rest.

Chapter Thirteen:

The sled seemed to increase in speed as Nome came into the horizon. Along with gleeful barking, there was also much groaning and grunting. This mail run had taken nearly twice as long to get through as it should have. But what could you really expect? The only dogs available had rookie experience at best, and just the clear shortage didn’t help.

“Oh thank goodness!” called Saba, “I thought we’d never see home again!”

“Really now,” Denali panted, “you are so overdramatic. Tired from a little run?”

She stuck her tongue out at her brother as the four dog sled team whizzed past a weather-beaten sign that marked their town. They barked louder and louder until they were finally in front of the post office. The dogs sat down and panted together as Mr. Simpson lifted the sack of mail. The post office door opened and there stood Mr. Conner. 

“Ahoy!” he called, “I see ya finally got here!”

Mr. Simpson could only smile. “Well, for a four dog team, I dare say that we didn’t do too badly.”

The musher threw the mail bag to the post master, who just barely managed to catch it, and stumbled as he did so.

“Careful now Sir,” Mr. Simpson joked, “I had to mend up the last post master, and I don’t want to do another.”

As the two men laughed together, the four dogs began to wander away. After all, they weren’t needed for awhile. As Denali and Saba strolled down the street, they spied a figure coming towards them. He had a limp from what the two could gather, and he seemed to struggle towards them.

“Kodi! You’re supposed to be in the vet’s!” Saba scolded him.

Kodi smirked, “I couldn’t stand being locked up in there any longer. I want to get back to work as soon as possible.”

“Careful now. You don’t want to kill yourself, especially over something like working. You have to learn when to rest,” Denali commented.

“You could be right. But speaking of learning. Apparently a lot’s been going on while we were off the street. Want to help me find out?”

“Sure thing. You know how Denali is about learning. He has to know everything.”

“For once, I have nothing sarcastic to say to that true statement.”

“Now that’s a scary thought,” Saba giggled.

Kodi coughed, “Anyways… Let’s get going. I’m going to Mom to ask about what little I did hear. Apparently, Doc has been replaced by some new guy.”

Surprisingly, Denali was the only to show shock. “Are you positive?”

Kodi nodded his head, “Absolutely. Someone told me when I snuck out of the vet‘s office.”

“Incredible.. I would have never expected something like this to happen to Doc.”

“Well, I vote we go find out from Ma about this,” Saba chimed in.

“Agreed. It wouldn’t be wise to jump to conclusions so hastily.”

The three siblings began their walk to their mother’s house as a harsh wind blew past them and the dark storm clouds on the far horizon inched closer and closer.

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

Henry jumped awake, hitting the top of the can as a clump of snow fell from a roof and rattled his bed. He peeked out, rubbing his head. He sighed heavily as he moved towards the scene of the bodies again. He began to study it once more, obviously not expecting to find something.

“Wait a minute… What do we have here?” he whispered to himself.

Henry knelt down closer to the female and began to carefully inspect her collar. He nearly jumped when he heard footsteps from behind him, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was only the two dogs that had offered to guard the scene.

“Is something wrong?” the first asked.

“Of course not,” he smiled up at them before he went back to pawing at the collar, “but I think I found a clue, and a good one at that.”

He pulled something out from between the body and her collar and smiled.

“Well, I think we have the fur of the very dog that did this. Unfortunately, I’ll probably need help in identifying it.”

“What do you want us to do?” the second dog asked.

“Just wait here. There’ll be a meeting as soon as the sun rises, so I hope you can attend.”

“Sure thing,” the first nodded, but then noticed something, “are you alright?”

Henry looked at him quizzically, “I’m sorry, but what?”

He pointed at Henry’s front paw. Henry looked down and saw a patch of red.

“Huh. I wonder how that got there. Maybe it was from my inspection?” he shrugged. “But never mind that. I must make haste in order to reach all the others in time to tell them about the meeting. See you there!” he called as he trotted down the alley.

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

Kaltag awoke with a groan as he rubbed his head. He sat up and looked around, his vision very blurred. From what he could tell, Nikki and Star were also beginning to stir, and they too were doing something to try and quell their awful headaches. But it was no use. After a few minutes, Kaltag could finally make out his surroundings. There were boards above him, dirt as the floor, and an assortment of wires, houses, and beams around him. There was a chortle from behind him, and Kaltag whirled around before he felt a sudden pain. He grabbed his head again and fell to the ground with his eyes tightly shut.

“Aww, poor Pup. Does your wittle head still hurt?” Hal cooed mockingly.

Hal began to pace around each individual dog, grinning madly as he patted each one of them on the head and they squirmed away from his touch.

“I see you haven’t quite adjusted to your migraines… See, each of my siblings had a different idea on how to cause you suffering. Would you believe the idea of this came to me just a few days ago? Now you will know exactly how I feel most of the time. That dull pounding in your head that increases in intensity each time you move or hear a noise, isn’t it… maddening?”

Hal padded over to Star and lifted his head up. He began to chortle before dropping the dog’s head back to the cold, hard earth, and smiling at the yelp of pain he heard.

“Well, if it doesn’t drive you insane now, it will. The best part is, is that while you try and resist me by combating this mind-numbing phenomenon, your body is completely powerless. Too bad you don’t have the luxury I did though. No laughing gas for you I’m afraid. But this will do… I did hear the most interesting news while eavesdropping this morning though. Apparently they are planning another meeting today, as the sun rises if I heard correctly.”

He looked at each dog carefully. As he circled each one, he mumbled to himself, maybe throwing in a chuckle or too. Hal took a particular interest in Kaltag though. He seemed to be the most determined fighter compared to the other two. He would do perfectly for what he desired.

“Kaltag was it?” Hal moved to the Chinook and lifted him to his paws. “You are going to that meeting. You will tell me every detail that goes on there. And if you even think about spilling anything, then you better prepare yourself for a harsh lesson.” He snickered quietly as he led Kaltag out. “And if you dawdle on your way back, then I will hunt you down.”

Kaltag stumbled out of the exit, a hole that led directly underneath a building. He kept trying to focus as best as he could. To be honest, he felt as if he were about to lose his lunch, well, if he had had a meal of course. Hal watched after him, grinning from ear to ear. He knew exactly what this one would try to do, and that was the only reason why he would be the one to go. He began to shiver in pure excitement as he turned around and disappeared below the butcher’s home.

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

“Alright, is everyone here?” Henry called out to the crowd. He saw no other dogs enter through the door, so he began to speak. “Let us begin then. First of all-”

“Wait, wait. I’m here.”

Kaltag walked in, swaying slightly from side to side. His headache had come close to clearing up, so now he could actually hear without so much pain. Henry eyed him distastefully before he began again.

“As I was saying before. I have gathered you all here to tell you what I have just found… While inspecting the scene of that most tragic murder, I found a most helpful clue… Unfortunately, I do not have knowledge of many of the denizens of this town, so I would appreciate help in identifying the owner of this.”

Henry dragged out a small, pale-brown fluff of fur from his collar and dropped it onto the floor. He scanned the crowd and pointed to Jenna.

“The line will start with you. Could you please walk around here and sniff it, see if you can pick up something. We’re lucky that there’s still a scent on it.”

Jenna had guessed that he would have chosen her first. She had a feeling that this dog had somewhat of a crush on her, but she really didn’t want to hurt his feelings. She nodded her head politely as she strode up to the front. She knelt down and took a sniff of the fur. Her eyes suddenly widened and her jaw dropped nearly to the floor.

“No… No. This can’t be right,” she whispered quietly.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Henry asked, leaning an ear down towards her.

Jenna’s lip quivered as she tried her best to avoid looking at Balto. But she couldn’t hold herself from doing so. Balto stared at her, head cocked, wondering what she had to say along with the others. Henry quickly realized why she was still staring back at him. Jenna turned back around to face Henry, and she looked at him pleadingly.

“Please. I know he wouldn’t have done anything like that. This is a mistake,” she practically begged.

One by one, the other dogs began to catch what was going on, and they slowly turned to stare at Balto. Most of the looks were of utter disbelief, and some were smug, like they thought he would have been behind something so heinous. It took a while, but the situation finally began to sink in for Balto.

“Listen!” Jenna suddenly shouted, catching the crowds attention, “We all know Balto! We know that he would have never done anything like this!”

“But Jenna,” Henry cut in, “how would you explain this fur that I found lodged on the victim?”

She turned to him and frowned, “I believe you took some of his fur last night. I hate to be accusative, but you could have planted it.”

The sound of murmurs resonated from the crowd. Had they made the wrong mistake in who they had chosen? Henry showed no fear though, and he stepped towards the crowd.

“Last night, I offered to take care of the fur because I was trying to be helpful. I did just as I said, and deposited the fur into the trash can near their home. You can even check if you want. And if you notice, this fur has no sign of bandages on it at all. Besides, the bodies were being watched all night and all day, so it couldn’t have been planted. I assure you that this is no mistake. Besides, why would I do this to Balto? I have no personal vendetta against him.”

“But maybe, there’s the slimmest chance that this was put there before your guards could see? He wouldn’t have done it.”

Henry sighed, “Alright. This is what we’ll do. Since there is no conclusive evidence condemning Balto, I will ask him to stay on his boat out of town. He’ll be allowed to come into town during the daylight hours, and only with the company of another dog. If something like this occurs again during this period of his ‘house arrest’, then this should prove his innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt… Moving on. Is there any other matters that need solving while we’re here?” He squinted his eyes as a paw rose meekly. “You there. What is your ailment?”

Kaltag stepped through the crowd and walked up to the new judge. He seemed hesitant to speak at first, but soon regained his courage.

“Listen. I need your help. We’re being held captive. Star, Nikki, and myself by some psycho dog. We can’t do anything by ourselves to stop him, so we need your help.”

Henry looked at him with a most interested expression upon his face. “And, who is this dog?… Give me a description of him.”

“Well, how do I put this?… He basically looks like a twisted clown, and-”

“Did you hear that!?” Henry called out, his tone suddenly changing and the features of his face hardening, “He says there’s a clown holding him and two other dogs captive!”

“But it’s true! I could show you-”

Henry leaned right down next to Kaltag and whispered. “Listen here, Boy… I know exactly what you’re trying to do, and that you‘re a friend of Balto‘s. But you are not going to derail our only lead. I’m a great dog when I’m not on duty, so please, don‘t push me.”

The mass of dogs before him had become silent, their breathing barely audible. They looked on with straight faces as Henry began to speak directly to them again.

“Alright everyone. I realize that he is probably just trying to cause trouble. I order all of you to not listen to a word this dog has to say if it sounds fishy, or follow him if he tries to lead you off. This is for your own safety I assure you. Anyone seen doing what I have just advised against will be brought in for questioning, and may face a sentence. And also, travel in groups from now on, unless you absolutely have to go alone. That is all.”

“But-” Kaltag protested.

“Please now Kaltag,” Henry whispered again, “don’t get yourself in more trouble than you’re already in. Just go home, get some rest, and after this whole mess cleans up, then you can start telling your stories again… This is not a good time.”

Kaltag was left speechless. He glanced over his shoulder and already he saw most of the town leaving the boiler room. How could they not believe him?.. Actually. How could they not even let him finish what he had to say?

“Well, go on now. It’s getting late. And I would hate to have anything… happen to you,” Henry smiled, patting Kaltag on the back as he walked him out.

A thought suddenly came to Kaltag’s mind. What if… What if Hal had heard him just try to give away everything? No. The odds of him actually being able to hear that were next to none. Kaltag smiled back at Henry as he began to walk down the darkening streets. He walked alongside the butcher’s and saw a stack of crates. He stepped through an opening and frowned when he was suddenly surrounded by a pitch blackness. But what if…?

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

Mr. Kode pulled his overcoat closer to his body and brought the collar up, even though this did little to keep the cold wind from nipping at the older man. He stepped up and opened a door, and waved hello to the man behind the desk as a small bell rang over his head.

“Hey there Mr. Conner. You got any mail for an old man?”

The postmaster’s mustache twitched as he sorted through the mail bag. After a few stacks, he finally pulled out something.

“Ah, here ya go there. Have a good evenin’!” he called after Mr. Kode as the telegraph operator exited.

After a few minutes, he finally reached his home. He quickly shut the door behind him as a blast of bitter air tried to force its way through. He lifted his heavy coat from his shoulders, kicked off his boots and sat down in his chair. Mr. Kode ripped open the envelope addressed to him and began to read the letter inside carefully. The envelope accidentally dropped from his grasp and feel from the floor. He leaned down, hearing his old bones crack noisily. He noticed a few small photos that he had missed previously, so he took them out and looked them over. Mr. Kode slammed everything onto the table and quickly dragged the small telegraph machine towards him.

“Maurice STOP You there STOP”

The telegraph began to beep in response, and Mr. Kode began his normal routine of writing down the returning message and reading it aloud.

“Nome STOP Yes I am STOP”

“You sitting STOP I have some bad news and it may hurt STOP”

“Yes STOP”

Mr. Kode paused for a moment as he tried to think of how to put this. He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but it seemed that that responsibility always fell onto his shoulders. He gave a heavy sigh and his small dog looked up at him.

“I received  the photos STOP One of the dogs from a photo looks like one we found dead a day or two ago STOP And from what I read in letter you sent STOP It is more than possible that it is your dog STOP”

There was a long silence. A very long silence indeed. Mr. Kode began to worry if Maurice was still on the other end of the line.

“Was there photo of the deceased dog STOP”

“Yes STOP  I expect that you wish for me to send them STOP”

“Please do STOP I will be waiting STOP”

The line went silent again and Mr. Kode drummed his fingers across the table. He leaned back in his chair and looked up the ceiling, bringing a hand to his face and rubbing his temples. He could only imagine how horrible Maurice had to be feeling right now. The light above the table began to flash momentarily before Mr. Kode stood up. He picked up his dog and carried him up the stairs after he had shut of the light.

“C’mon boy. We’re gonna turn in early tonight.”

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

The moon hung lazily in the sky as Kodi limped down the street, being careful to step as gingerly as he could to avoid any stinging. He was still in a state of shock from the earlier meeting. His dad? How could he, or why would he have murdered anyone? Sure, he had killed Steele and that other dog, but that was purely by accident and self-defense. Right? Of course. He couldn’t lose faith in his dad now. This would blow over eventually. He was suddenly shaken from his thoughts as he heard a conversation coming into earshot. It was still too far away to actually make out any of their word though, so he crept forward. He could tell that the voices were coming from one of the alleyways, so he pressed himself against the nearest building, and held in a hiss as he stepped wrong. He realized that at least one of the two voices sounded awfully familiar.

“So, you have your orders. I expect you to not let me down.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t. So let me get this straight. You want me to-”

The talking suddenly stopped and Kodi gritted his teeth. His paw had made the snow crunch. He probably just messed up the only chance to hear what was going on.

“You’ll do fine. You have the time. Now go.”

Kodi peaked around the corner and saw one of the two figures suddenly bolt down the other end and disappear into the darkness. He pulled his head back quickly as the second figure began to walk casually towards his direction. When the shadowy figure walked around the corner, he gasped.

“Oh Kodi!… It’s only you. You nearly gave me a heart attack!” Henry exclaimed.

Kodi eyed him up and down suspiciously. “So. Who was that you were just talking to?” he asked.

Henry laughed nervously and rubbed a paw behind his head. “You see, I had this idea. I got myself a secret informant. One of the gossips using their talent to benefit the town for once. I just hope it won’t be a waste of my time, and that they’re reliable. But we’ll have to see.”

Kodi raised an eyebrow. “I heard you talking about orders and times.”

“Well, that’s because they wanted to stay anonymous, unless they bring something really useful. I gave them a time that we could meet so they wouldn’t have to worry about snoopers like you.”

He stepped in front of Henry. A rush of wind whipped up snow and whirled it around the two dogs as the moon flashed through an occasional cloud.

“I think that you’re not being completely honest now,” Kodi said, trying to hide any emotions.

Henry didn’t try to smile this time. “Looks like you’re just like your father. He seems like quite the character.”

“Hey! Don’t you go after my dad! You’ve already done enough,” Kodi growled.

“Now calm down. No need to jump to conclusions and prove my point… If you please though, I would like to get some rest for tomorrow.” When Kodi didn’t move, Henry pushed him aside and began walking away. He stopped and turned around, smirking. “I would advise that you behave yourself youngster.”

Kodi watched Henry disappear down the main street with a certain feeling of mistrust. He was up to something, this was Kodi‘s gut feeling. But there was nothing he could do in this condition, and he knew it. So he continued to hobble down the lane towards his home as a sign above him creaked in the wind.

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

Jenna hadn’t moved for a few hours now. She had skipped her dinner, and had refused to play with her girl since the meeting. She was still doing what she had been, lying down and staring into the fire. The flames danced in her brown eyes and seemed to be her only company right now, the only thing to help comfort her. She heard the dog door swing open and sway. She didn’t bother look back.

“Good evening Mom.”

“The same to you Denali. Come to visit me?”

“More or less.” Denali walked up beside her and sat down. He laid a sympathetic paw on her back. “Don’t worry. I’m sure this’ll all blow over soon.”

She turned up to her son and looked at him hard. He was surprised to see how well the worry and pain seemed to shine through her eyes.

“But what if it doesn’t?… I have this feeling… This horrible feeling that this isn’t going to be alright.. I just hope so badly that for once, I’ll be wrong.”

Denali laid down beside her and put a paw on hers. “I know this is coming from me, but you have to stay positive and hold yourself together. As soon as you give up hope, then the battle is already lost. But remember, Dad’ll get off scot-free if something happens while he isn’t in town. So all this is, is a waiting game.”

Jenna gave him a faint smile. “I’ll try. For him, and all of you. First thing tomorrow, I’m heading over to his boat and seeing him. No matter what they tell me what not to do. And right after that, I’m going to talk with Henry about this.”

“That‘s the spirit. We’ll be here for you every step of the way. You can count on that.”

Jenna nuzzled her son and gave more of a smile. He offered to stay the night with her in case she need comforting, and she was only happy to accept the offer.

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

“Is utter nonsense!” squawked Boris.

The goose began to pace back and forth, mumbling here and there. Balto on the other hand, was feeling quite down and out. He sighed heavily and lifted up his blanket, crawling underneath and resting his head against the hard, cold, wooden deck. His tattered and weather-worn sheet was lifted up by a wing.

“Ugh… Listen Boychick. I am sorry for all of craziness that is happening. If there is anything I can do help, please, don’t be hesitating in asking.”

Balto turned away from Boris and his ears lowered. Boris moved himself right in front of Balto again.

“Boris.. If you really want to help, it would probably be best just to leave me alone right now. Besides that, I don’t think there’s anything else you can really do.”

“I could go into town and kick a little puppy rump?” he offered, trying to get a smile from Balto, but it proved useless. He scratched the back of his head and tried to think. “Hmm, maybe we can be going into town tomorrow so you can see Jenna?”

This caught Balto’s attention. “That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

“Alrighty then. We shall be sneaking, so we must be getting sleep,” Boris smiled.

Balto nodded, and he quickly began to burrow deep into his blanket as best he could, accidentally ripping off a small piece of the fragile sheet with a claw. In a few minutes he and the goose were both asleep.

Chapter Fourteen:

Each dog that had actually showed up was bleary eyed and yawning. Some were doing there best to not nod off, but they found it increasingly difficult. The heat that radiated from the boiler did little to help their cause. Henry walked through the half-asleep crowd and stood before them, a most troubled look spread across his face. He pawed at the ground as the other dogs began to wake up fully. Jenna sat near the back, her parents to her left, and her sons and daughter to her right. She could hear all the whispers going around, most of them asking some other dog the question of why they would be here so early in the morning, to which there was not an answer. There was a sudden blast of wind as the door swung open. Boris waddled through the open door first and sat next to Duchess. He sighed heavily and buried his beak into his wing. Balto then appeared from the outside, an unfamiliar dog by his side. The dog led Balto to the front and sat him down behind Henry. He nodded at Henry, and Henry cleared his throat.

“I apologize for awaking you so early this morning, but I thought this was too dire ‘a situation to put off for later hours.” He coughed quietly and scratched underneath his chin. “None of you has a clue about why you have been gathered, am I correct?” Nods were seen throughout the crows, so Henry continued. “I see. Well then… I guess I must tell you myself… Mere hours ago, I was awoken by a most terrible sound that I think may haunt my memory for as long as I breathe. It was a blood-curdling screech that I heard. I rushed out of my bed and ran in the direction of the wail. I looked down that particular alley just in time to see a dark figure rushing South. I walked down the alley, being very careful, and I found exactly what I had feared. Another dog. Murdered in her prime.” There was a sudden increase in whispering and you could tell that the dogs in the room were definitely awake, especially Balto.

“But, why am I here?”

Henry refused to look back. “Isn’t it obvious Balto? Because you were the very one to do it!”

The murmuring suddenly escalated to a dull roar. Jenna began to step towards Henry, a very upset look upon her face.

“Where is your proof? What do you possibly have that could prove that he did this?”

Kodi rushed up beside her. “And what was this whole business with you talking with a shadowy dog last night, huh? What about that?”

Henry smiled at them. “Well, I have the answer to both of your questions. Max, please come here.” An orange husky walked up. “Tell them what happened last night.”

Max nodded. “Last night, I was given a watch by Henry. He told me to keep an eye on Balto’s boat, to make sure that if he left, I could catch the time that he left and then when he returned. But I was told to stay afar so I wouldn’t be seen. I was about ready to pass out when I saw a dog leave Balto’s ship. This was around 11:53 P.M. and so I was left struggling to stay awake until he returned, which was about 12:18 A.M.”

“See?” said Henry, “Conclusive proof that he left and then returned. And that would have given him just enough time to kill that poor dog.”

“But how do you know that wasn’t another dog?”

Henry turned to Balto, completely ignoring Jenna’s question. “Balto, do you sleep with, or without some kind of covering.”

“I have a small blanket, and that’s it,” he said quietly.

“I see… Hmm. Interesting. Because I found a small, tattered piece of fabric on the victim’s body.”

“But-” Jenna tried to cut in.

“Enough!” Henry snarled, “Security! Please, escort Jenna and her family off of the premises until the verdict has been made!”

A group of dogs came up immediately and surround them. They started to force Jenna and the rest of her family out of the door, while they tried to push back.

“Balto! No!” Jenna called out as she desperately tried to get back to him.

She suddenly fell to the floor in tears. One of the dogs grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and proceeded to drag her unceremoniously as she continued to sob.

Balto stamped one of his paws, stood up, and growled. “Don’t you dare harm her!”

“Balto! Sit back down or you will be held in contempt!” Henry yelled near the top of his lungs.

It took Balto most of his willpower, but he was able to regain his composure and sit. After all, he had become very protective of Jenna since their last ordeal, and he couldn’t stand to see her being treated the way she was. The crowd watched, awestruck at this display. But Henry quickly grabbed their attention again.

“Now that that is settled. Doc, would you please come with me? You know the residents better than I do, and I want to make the right decision.”

The St. Bernard lifted his head from the crowd and began to walk through them, his old, tired eyes shifting between each dog as he passed. He walked away with Henry silently. The assembly began buzzing as soon as the two had left. Most were still in complete shock of the whole entire thing. Balto watched on with a sense of dread. He knew that this was going to end horribly. After a few minutes, the two returned, and Doc stepped forward. He glanced back at Balto sympathetically before turning back to the assembly.

“This Council finds the defendant, Balto…” Doc paused and tried with all his might to not show a single emotion. “Guilty with all three counts of murder. The sentence… Banishment… He has ten minutes after this meeting ends to leave town, and he is to never return under any circumstances. If he is found anywhere in town, he is to be…” Doc took in a heavy breath and swallowed quietly, “…Exterminated… Also. If any dog is seen leaving, or coming to his boat, they will be punished severely. And on another note.. Jenna and Kodi are to be placed under house arrest for one week for disturbing the peace… This meeting has come to a close.”

The crowd began to exit the boiler room, most in silence and grief. Doc walked over to Balto and sighed.

“I’m so sorry Balto. I didn’t want it to end like this, but I had little to no choice with this, since Henry is now the official judge. I’ll try and pull strings for you to-”

“Doc.. You don’t have to do anything for me. I just want you to help Jenna. It’ll be hard, but I can get by. Could you do my one favor though?”

“Anything.”

“Could you tell my kids, and Jenna, that I love them with all my heart at least once a day? I don’t want them to ever forget that.”

“I will. Every day that I am able.”

Balto nodded as he began to walk out. Even though he tried, he found it difficult to hold back his tears. After today, he would never be able to see his loved ones again. It felt like his heart had just been ripped clean from his chest. The gathering tears began to blur his vision as he stumbled from the door. Jenna had been waiting outside along with Kodi and Saba, and she frowned when she saw how Balto looked.

“Balto.. What did they say? What’s going to happen.”

Balto gulped and blinked away the tears. “I’m… banished Jenna… I-I’m never allowed to see you or the kids again… You and Kodi are also under house arrest.”

“No… No… You must be joking. You have to be!” she cried pleadingly.

“Please Dad, say it ain’t so,” Kodi said.

Balto shut his eyes tightly and shook his head, and Jenna immediately broke down crying. Tears streamed down her face as she moved closer to Balto and cried into his chest. His own breaths came out ragged as he felt the stinging sensation in his eyes. Saba and Kodi turned away, both trying to hide their own hurt.  Balto nuzzled Jenna tenderly and they tried to get as close to each other as they could for what little time they had left. A frigid, bitter wind blew around them, freezing their tears to their faces. Their sobs echoed through the near empty streets. Doc exited from the boiler room and saw the four.

“Balto.. I’m really sorry to say, and I truly am, but you’re time is up. They can walk with you to the edge of town, but you must leave. I… I wish you the best of luck… Good night.”

Doc walked away from them, shaking his head sadly. The walk to the outskirts of town seemed so long, yet somehow, not long enough. The setting moon looked down upon them, before covering itself with a cloud. The two nuzzled each other. Balto looked into Jenna’s glassy eyes.

“Please Balto. I could hide you at home. That way we wouldn’t have to be apart.”

Balto shook his head from side to side. “You know that wouldn’t work Jen. They’d find me, and you would get in some series trouble. I couldn’t live with myself if I did that to you.”

He turned away from Jenna and his two children. He began to walk away before stealing one last look at them. 

“Just, be careful you guys. And don’t forget, I love each and every one of you dearly, and I’ll be thinking of you every day.”

Kodi and Saba ran up and held Jenna up as Balto ran off. They watched him disappear into the darkness.

“Don’t… Don’t worry Ma. We-We’ll think of something,” Saba stammered as she and her brother tried to hold themselves together.

Their mother looked up at each of them, pain and despair in her eyes. Her children began to lead her back home, their paws shattering the snowflakes below them. Crushing them into nothingness…

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

Star moaned as he tossed and turned until finally awakening. His head pounded dully over and over again, just like it had been all of yesterday and last night. He had barely gotten a wink of sleep because of this pain. It had never let up, and it hurt just to even think about how much pain he was in. He kept his eyes closed shut tightly even as he felt the presence of another figure move up to him. At first, the words that were spoken to him were drowned out by the thumping of his own mind, but eventually he could make sense of them.

“How about now? Can you hear me now?” Star nodded his head slowly. “Good… We’re going on a little trip. All four of us. Here, let me help you up.” Hal began to lift the small dog up before ‘accidentally’ knocking him back to the ground. “Silly Pup. You simply must learn to use your legs,” he chuckled quietly.

Star grunted as he opened his eyes weakly. His vision was speckled with different colors and blurred together in one grand mess. Star’s legs trembled along with the rest of his body as he managed to stand and right himself. He could hear Hal walk over to another dog.

“Arise Nikki.” Star’s vision finally came into focus and he saw Hal lift a paw over Nikki’s head. “I said get up!”

Nikki rolled over and growled. “Don’ chu dare think ‘a hittin’ me.”

“And if I do?” Hal asked teasingly.

“I’ll break yer ankles and snap yer neck.”

Hal laughed and patted Nikki on the head. “Excellent! I thought that you, the brute, would be the first under my control.”

“Who says you have any control over me?”

“No one Pup. But you seem to be the more violent one, which makes it much, much easier to drive you over the edge,” he snickered.

And with that, he left the chow, and headed over to Kaltag. Without warning, he gave a sudden bang to the top of Kaltag’s skull. He awoke with a howl of pain and he grabbed his head instantly.

“That’s for trying to betray me my dear Pup. Next time we won’t try and pull the wool over Hal’s eyes, will we?”

Kaltag shook his head furiously as he began to roll around, gnashing his teeth together. Hal watched on with a silly grin on his muzzle.

“Ooh, Nikki, it looks like you may have a little competition.” Hal chortled. “But now that all of you are awake, it’s time to give you the agenda for today. After I give you a little nourishment, you three are heading into town. I overheard that the mail run will start today, so as to seem normal, you three will be pulling that sled. Of course, I will be with you the whole trip to White Mountain, you just won’t see me. If a single one of you mentions me, then I will surely be in earshot to hear it, and I will make you hurt so much that this will seem like a picnic.” Hal sneered at them.  “And that’s pretty much it.”

He walked over to a small pile of meat he had swiped from the butcher’s meat locker and began to toss pieces to the other dogs. He, himself, began to hungrily rip through his tender steak. Hal looked up for a second and saw the other three just staring at their food.

“Eat up my pups, because you don’t know when you’ll be eating again,” he laughed before he returned to his own meal.

~-~-

The trio walked down the now busy street, each showing concern and discomfort. Star was the first to see the sled, and he jogged to it clumsily, nearly tripping a few times. The other dogs had already been strapped in, and Mr. Simpson had been tapping his foot impatiently. When the musher finally saw his last three dogs come to the sled, he quickly strapped them in. While he walked back to his place, he lifted the mail sack, surprised by how heavy it seemed, and dropped it onto the sled. As soon as he was ready to go, he called out the special command, and the dogs immediately began to run. When the reached the outskirts of town, Saba, who was still being used as a replacement, noticed something. Nikki, Kaltag, and Star weren’t looking the best, almost as if they could collapse at any moment.

“Hey! You three doing alright!?” she called.

Kaltag looked back at her and his eyes fluttered. “Maybe… We’ll be okay though.”

Somehow, she didn’t seem so sure about that.

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

Lilith exited her home a few hours after taking her medication, and she walked down the street. A pleasant wind ruffled her fur gently as she disappeared into another building. Immediately after she did so, she was being jumped on by the three pups. She laid down on the cool floor and sighed happily as they began to chew on her tail that whisked about. Having these pups in her life was the best thing to ever happen to her. For once, she didn’t feel the fear of constantly being watched, or the need to always look over her shoulder. They were able to make her feel at home. The new medicine that she was taking probably had nothing to do with it. After all, it was a lovely day outside, and nothing could go wrong.

“Hey! Auntie Lilith! Look what I can do!” Stevan called.

She looked up just in time to see Stevan climb onto the old armchair. He stood up on the armrest of jumped off, landing cleanly on his paws. She smiled at Stevan and patted him on the head.

“Wow, that was so good.”

“O-Oh yeah! I can do better than that!” she heard Seth yell.

He too climbed onto the chair, but instead of stopping there, he made a leap and hopped onto the back. Seth looked down at the lamp besides the chair and saw the chain hanging from it.

“Careful now,” Lilith warned, “I don’t want you getting hurt now.”

Seth ignored her and hunched down. His tail wiggled back and forth as he leapt from the chair, grabbing the lamp chain with his teeth, rocking back and forth, and then flipping down to the ground. He stumbled slightly as he landed, but he smiled nonetheless.

“How was that Aunt?” he asked excitedly, bouncing around on his little paws.

She gave him the same smile that she gave Stevan. “That was amazing. Where’d you learn to do something like that?”

“I-I’ve been practicing!”

“Well, if you keep it up, you’ll only improve.”

Seth beamed at her and nuzzled her. He had never had anyone actually notice him like this, and he didn’t know what else to really do. Lilith smiled softly down at each of the pups and then she saw Becca. Becca hadn’t let up on her attack, and now she had reached Lilith’s paw. She saw the small, red ribbon and took one end in her mouth and began to tug. Lilith gasped in shock and horror. She stood up instantly and tried to cast away Becca, accidentally kicking her.

“Let go of that!” she commanded with a harsh tone.

Lilith frantically bent down and tugged at each end of the bow, until finally fixing it after much tedious work. She gave a sigh of relief and her body relaxed. She looked over and saw Becca lying on the floor, crying. Lilith’s ears lowered as she realized the mistake she had made. She walked over to Becca and crossed her front paws.

“I’m… I’m sorry if I hurt you Becca.. I didn’t mean to do that.. Can you ever forgive me?”

Becca looked up at Lilith, little teardrops in her eyes. She nodded and gave a weak smile. Lilith wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled back.

“Hey, hey, chin up… I have an idea! Let’s go outside!”

All three of the pups eyes lit up with bright sparkles as they heard this last word. Becca began to whirl around, giggling excitedly.

“You really mean it?” 

Lilith nodded her head. “Of course. But we still have to stay on our guard. I still feel a little uncomfortable going outside.”

“Oh, we will Auntie!”

The pups were out the door in an instant as she followed behind slowly. She peaked out through the hole, checking in all directions before exiting the house. Lilith could see the pups playing merrily in the street, so that gave her some comfort, but not much. All at once, they disappeared down a near alley, giggling all the way. She stepped off her porch and began to make her way to them. She saw what looked like to be a sled down at the far end of the street, but now wasn’t a time to worry about that.

“C’mon Kids, let’s get back out to where Auntie can see you.”

She took the corner slowly as she peered down the alley. Her mouth opened slightly in shock as she saw it completely empty. Lilith took a few steps down the alley.

“Please. Don’t play this game with me. C’mon now,” she called shakily.

Once again, she started to feel that familiar feeling. The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand, and her ears perked, listening for any unusual noises. She took a look over her shoulder and took a few more steps, hearing the dull crunching of the snow between her paws. A flag fluttered clumsily in the delicate breeze and whistled past her ears softly. A lone street lamp flickered momentarily as another breath of wind eased its way. Lilith gave a heavy sigh and she gulped. The lacy, red ribbon tied around her front paw bobbed back and forth. She could see an intersection of four alleys about halfway down, so with quite a bit of courage, she made her way, trying to stifle her fear as best she could. She paused for a moment, and she could have sworn that she heard a noise. Her teeth started to show, releasing some of her fear by occasionally chattering. Was she being watched? She stole a peek back. No. No one had been there. Lilith lowered herself closer to the ground submissively. All around her she felt the dreaded stares of hundreds of pairs of eyes bearing down upon her, watching her every move, plotting her destruction, looking through to her very soul to decide her fate… There it was again. She straightened herself, focusing her mind and body with all her might. A breathing that was slow and calm, a far cry from hers. She sucked in a deep breath, the frigid air stinging her lungs before she began to slink along the nearest wall. Her breathing became shallow and near silent as she edged closer and closer to the corner of the building. She tilted an ear forward, but still heard that inhaling and exhaling from before. It was now, or never. She squinted her eyes shut tightly and with one brave move, she leapt out into the open, exposing herself outright. What she saw when she opened her eyes, shocked her at first, but then quickly brought a scowl.

“Well hello my sister. Come to join the party I see?”

“Not in your dreams, Hal… Now please, I would like to take the children back with me if you wouldn’t mind.”

Lilith walked over to Becca, Seth, and Stevan who had been sitting down in front of their uncle. She turned her back to Hal and began to shoo away the three pups.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to come back to Nome with me? We could have a grand time together,” Hal chuckled.

“Yes I’m sure Hal, so please, just leave us in peace. You promised that if I did that last thing, that you would never ask of me again.”

He put a paw on her shoulder, before putting more of his weight onto her, forcing her down. “Now, now. Where is your sense of helpfulness? I was sure you would be overjoyed to aid in my latest plan.”

Lilith whirled around and hit his paw away. “Don’t you dare touch me… And don’t think I don’t know why you want me included.. I overheard you that night with our brother, Greg. You had come up with that whole convoluted scheme before, knowing full well that it wouldn’t work, and yet you somehow convinced him that it would, and that in fact it was his own idea, when in reality it wasn’t. You planned for his death I bet, and probably for Burt’s as well!… They were probably the only ones that were in you’re way, weren’t they!?”

“My, my,” Hal sneered, “you figured all that out? I am most impressed indeed.”

“Shut up… I’m not coming with you, nor are these pups to do so either. You are nothing but a puppet master… I would even dare to compare you to… Lucy.”

A low growl resonated deep from Hal’s throat as he began to snarl at Lilith, making the three pups cower behind her. “You have the audacity to associate me with such filth! That worthless dog that left her creators feeling ashamed!” Hal began to pace around her, a thin strand of saliva dangled from his maw. He looked her hard in the eyes, and she returned his glare. “Fine then, if this is how you wish to play, then I full well except your challenge.” 

In one smooth movement, he raced around the backside of Lilith, and grabbed up Becca. Hal sat down and dragged Becca closer to her, putting a claw at her young throat. Becca let out a shrill scream as she tried to struggle from his grasp. Lilith was crouched down on all fours, teeth bared, and ready to strike.

“This isn’t her fight. Now let.. her.. go..” she growled.

Hal grinned at her, his teeth glimmering in the moonlight. His clown nose moved up and down as he inhaled deeply. His eyes widened as he began to trace a line in the shivering pup’s neck fur. An icy gust soared down the alley, pelting all five dogs with powdery, white snow.

“I think not Sister Dear. See, if you don’t do what I say, then maybe I’ll spill innocent blood. Or I’ll just wait… I’ll keep waiting for weeks on end for the perfect moment to strike.. I’ll follow you everywhere, watching you, plotting your destruction. Oh what fun that will be… I may even use someone that you may or may not know or trust… The possibilities are endless.”

Lilith suddenly lost her edge. He had struck her weakest point. She had just begun to trust the three pups she had been caring for. He had just laid the possibility that he could use one of these seemingly innocent ones to do his very bidding into her fearful mind. Hal grinned madly at her and she backed off.

“So my dear sister. What is your answer now? Because if you really don’t want to come back to Nome, then I know exactly what to do,” Hal snickered.

The very venom of his words began to poison her thinking, making her stutter and shake. He watched her eyes with glee as they slowly drifted to one side and then to the other.

“Well? I don’t have all day for you. What’s your answer now Sweetie?”

Lilith crossed her front paws and looked down in shame. A teardrop or two came to her saddened eyes. She took in a deep breath as she fumbled with her words. She knew that she was going to hate herself, but with much regret, she looked at Becca, and then back at Hal.

“… Fine… We’ll come with you. But so help me if you hurt any one of these children, I will rip you limb from limb. I want you to promise me that you won’t harm me, or them.”

Hal released Becca from his grasp, and she fled to Lilith, crying into her pelt. 

“Oh, you have my word that I will never harm them.”

Lilith sighed. That’s all she really could do now. She felt a rough paw rub over her back gently, but she dared not look up.

“Now, I want you heading to Nome immediately. I must take care of something and get to the new mail sack before the team comes back from their break.” Hal began to walk away triumphantly before he paused for a moment and turned around. “Oh, and please leave any medicine that you are on now here. You wouldn’t want to make your brother unhappy now, would you?”

Lilith shook her head back and forth guiltily. Hal snickered at her as he walked away from her and the pups. Stevan moved up beside his aunt and cocked his head.

“Auntie… Why are you crying?” he asked innocently.

Lilith brushed away her tears with a paw and forced a smile. “It’s… It’s nothing to worry about. Let’s just… go back to the house.”

They began to head out from the alley and again, Stevan had a question. “Auntie. Why do you need medicine?”

She stared at him silently, and then quickly whipped her head away. She was hoping that they’d never have had to hear about her medication. She swallowed hard as she tried to think of how to sort her words.

“Well… Let’s just say that your Auntie is very sick…” She turned back to them and blinked away more tears. “B-But I want you to know, that whatever happens after tonight, th-that I still care for all three of you dearly and-”

Her muzzle hung agape as her train of thought derailed. She raked her brain, but she only came up with blanks. She closed her mouth slowly. She realized that if she was gone too long from her medicine, that she would soon remember less and less, and that logic would soon fail her. A strong feeling of dread showed through to her face as something else came to mind. This was exactly what Hal had wanted. Soon, she herself would be the very puppet that Hal could use to control. She glanced down at the three black and white pups. Seth almost completely white, Becca with the swirls on her shoulders, and Stevan with his two white stripes that ran parallel to his body. She couldn’t risk having the death of a single one of these angels on her paw. She had to do this… for them.

Chapter Fifteen:

Inside the darkened windows of a home, a beeping was heard. The once quiet telegraph machine began to tap furiously, repeating the same thing over and over again. A paper-thin wire was tied around this machine, and was pulled each time the machine bounced. It ran up through the floor of the second story and had attached itself through a hook and onto the end of a bell. The bell was sent into a frenzied ringing and a light switch flipped on. Mr. Kode threw the covers from him and hopped into an old worn out pair of slippers. He lifted up his dog from the foot of his bed and carried him down the stairs. The ball of his nightcap dangled uselessly around his head as he batted it away multiple times. He fumbled around on the first floor until he finally found a light switch and sent streams of light flying from his hanging lamp. He grabbed a pad of paper and a pencil and began to hastily write out the letters as he said the words aloud, his dog moving in time with beeps as well.

“Nome STOP Do you copy STOP White Mountain STOP”

“White Mountain STOP I copy STOP”

“Thank the stars STOP We need your doctor immediately STOP Small girl with dog bite STOP Must know if it could be fatal STOP”

“Roger STOP B-R-B STOP” (‘Be right back’ for those not familiar with this ‘telegraph shorthand’ that he and Maurice had made up.)

Mr. Kode picked himself up from his chair and nearly ran to his coat rack, throwing on his coat hastily and almost forgetting to close his door as he rushed out of it. Within a minute he reached the front porch of Dr. Welsh’s home. He banged on the door loudly and waited anxiously until he saw the old white haired man appear in his doorway.

“A’yes?” he asked. “Ahh, Mr. Kode, a pleasure to see you, even if it’s a tad late. And I love the coat, nightcap, and slipper attire.”

Mr. Kode stared down at his feet and saw the fuzzy slippers. He quickly shook his head and looked at the doctor.

“Listen Doc, we gotta get you back to the telegraph office. We got a little one who could be dyin’ right as we speak!” Mr. Kode spoke urgently.

In an instant, Doctor Welsh was already in his heavy overcoat and black hat. “Then let us not waste a single moment.”

The two moved briskly through the dark snow-swept streets, flinging open the telegraph office door. Mr. Kode sat down in his chair while the doctor, Kurtis, took a pen and pad of paper from his coat.

“Alright Mr. Kode, first I need to get the details of the event, and any symptoms she or he may have,” he said calmly as he grabbed himself a chair from a near corner.

Mr. Kode began to furiously beat down on the small machine, wasting no time. The incoming message was already being beeped in almost right after he had finished. The telegraph operator scribbled down the letters, not even bothering to say them aloud this time. He ripped the sheet from his own pad and handed it to Kurtis. His eyes glanced over the small paper.

“Dog bite. Deep. Girl was alone at time. Says it was some kind of clown. Must be some kind of hallucination. Fever. Watery eyes. Nausea,” he mumbled. He mulled over his thoughts as he took up a pace back and forth across the floor. His pen dropped from his hand, an idea suddenly coming to his mind. “Oh I hope I’m wrong on this!”

“Wait, why? What’s happenin’ Doc?” Mr. Kode asked, standing up slowly from his chair.

“Well, normally, it could be any number of things from a dog bite, if all the symptoms are just nausea and fever, but with hallucinations, it makes me worry if it’s rabies.”

“Rabies!? That hasn’t been seen since nine years ago!”

“Yes. I regret to say, but that’s the strongest of possibilities. Ask if they have any Rabies Shots. That should do it.”

“Alright, I’ll just be a quicky.”

Mr. Kode sat at his desk and beeped the telegraph multiple times, hearing a few replies, and answering a few as well. He cleared his throat when he finished and shook his head at the doctor slowly.

Doctor Welsh laid his chin on his fist. “Darn… Alright, listen. I need you to help me start my car. I’ll come and assist you after I visit the office.”

Mr. Kode saluted and Doctor Welsh ran out the door. He pushed through blasts of bitter wind and down the empty streets. The clouds above were becoming thicker, but he had no time to notice it. He came upon the porch of a dark building, and he fumbled with his keys before finally unlocking the door. The lights flicked on as he made his way to his office. He hurriedly scanned his cabinet, his finger following along the names. He opened the glass of a small cubby and pulled out a syringe from within, smiling triumphantly. Doctor Welsh turned the glass tube in his hands delicately. Something seemed a little strange about the liquid inside. He frowned miserably when he found the reason staring at him through bold, black letters.

“Use by: 5-13-19... Eight years overdue.”

Dr. Welsh sat down heavily and the vile clanked onto his desk. He began to rub his forehead over and over, trying the think. But he realized that it would be better to think on the way, rather than just sitting here doing nothing. He got up from his chair and switched the lights off, but not before grabbing his doctor’s bag. His boats made deep impressions in the snow as he plodded to an alley. He heard the sound of a spinning crank as he caught the glimpse of a silhouette.

“Mr. Kode!” he called out, the figure spinning around as he did so, “Most unfortunate news. The only thing that can do much good in saving the girl, is outdated by eight years. I’m going to head over there now, but while I’m gone, can you please contact other town’s outside White Mountain and see if they have a supply of Rabies shots available?” The telegraph operator shook his head, and the doctor cocked his in return. “Well, why not?” he asked.

“Doc Welsh, Maurice and I’ve been trying our darnedest to get a connection past White Mountain for almost a month now, and so far nothing.”

“And why on Earth did you not tell anyone sooner? This could be a matter of life and death!”

“Because Mr. Kurtis sir, it’s my job to keep that connection alive, not no one else’s.”

“Lawrence, you have to learn when to reach out sometimes. You’ve got to fix this, and soon, or I’m afraid I won’t be able to do much without this medicine. And worse yet, it could spread to other people and our dogs, and then to Nome. I’m counting on you.”

Lawrence Kode nodded as he bent over again and began to crank the crank. The old engine of Kurtis’ Model-T sputtered to life instantly. Doctor Welsh opened the door and threw his bag to the other side of the seat and shut the door again quickly. He put the car into gear and pushed on the accelerator gently. Lawrence stepped aside from the vehicle as it putted into the distance and waved good-bye.

“I wish ya the best of luck,” he whispered after the machine as it disappeared from his vision.

Mr. Kode pushed his door open slowly, sighing heavily. He sat down in his old, creaking, chair and his arms hung limply from either side. Morris appeared from under the table and rubbed his head in Mr. Kode’s palm, but the man was almost oblivious to this.

“Gee whiz Morris.. After all these years, I would never have suspected something like that coming back. Golly, this is gonna be a real doozy.”

He shook his head back and forth slowly, as if trying to tell himself that this wasn’t real. He hoped the kid would be okay though. If only Doctor Welsh wasn’t the only real doctor in the area, then maybe there’d be a better chance. But it wasn’t going to do him any good just thinking about things he couldn’t change, so with a small sigh, he stood up from the hard chair and made his way back to his bed, the nightcap still bouncing around on his head like it had been previously. The house once again went dark, but he hadn’t even realized that Morris hadn’t followed him up. The small chubby dog yawned quietly before he padded to the rarely-used dog-door. With much effort, Morris squeezed himself through this small opening and grunted as he almost got stuck. He padded quietly down the street until he glanced up and headed towards one house in particular. He didn’t bother to scratch on this pet flap and he simply entered through. His eyes blinked independently as they adjusted to the new lighting of this room. He heard a snoring and could see a human sleeping in a comfy armchair. A fire was burning brightly in the hearth and a dog laid in front of it, the embers casting shadows across his fur. Morris walked up to the St. Bernard and nudged him with a small paw. Doc woke immediately and found himself staring at Morris.

“M-Morris?” Doc questioned, “What are you doing here? You never leave the house.”

Morris began to speak, something that he rarely did, or had the luxury to do. “Evenin’ Doc. Stop. I got important message. Stop. Girl in White Mountain sick. Stop. Humans think rabies. Stop. Doctor gone. Stop. No medicine. Stop. No contact with towns past White Mountain. Stop.”

Doc pretended not to notice the fact that Morris clicked his claws on the floor when he spoke. He looked down at the floor and then back to Morris.

“But why do you bring me such news? I’m no longer in charge my friend.”

Morris cocked his head. “Pardon me? Stop. I’m goin’ deaf, or you just said you’re not in charge. Stop,” he said in his tenor voice.

“You heard correct Morris. A dog that goes by the alias of Henry is now in power. But still, this is most dire a’ situation. Best add it to the list.”

“Henry? Stop. List? Stop. Doc, what have I missed? Stop.”

Doc patted the chubby dog on his back and smiled. “I’ll tell you later, Old Friend. I forgot that you have very few visitors, but it’s too much to explain in one night.”

Morris nodded his head, his small ears flopping back and forth as he licked his lips. He waved a small paw as a farewell and left the house. Doc knew that when he awoke next, he would have a long day ahead of him.

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

Balto tossed and turned uneasily under his small tattered blanket. The brown and tan hybrid shivered violently each time a frigid, bitter breeze caressed his body. Boris waddled back and forth in front of the wolf-dog, deep in thought. He squeezed between his eyes and sighed heavily.

“No, no. Could not possibly work,” he muttered to himself quietly.

He could still remember the events of yesterday morning vividly in his mind. When that dog had come to their home, demanding that Balto come with him. Boris had tried to keep the dog at bay and away from the sleeping Balto, but it had been no use. Boris had been shoved aside like a train shoving a stalled car out of its way. He had walked over to Balto and violently shook him, immediately waking him up. The dog would not give a reason of why Balto was needed at the boiler room, but instead he gave harsh commands and a set of snarls and growls. The look Boris saw in Balto’s eyes when he was finally taken away was that of fear. Oh how the snow goose wished he could have done something to protect his little one. Boris shook his head and stopped his pacing.

“Oy. Vhat a horrible year this is being.”

Boris looked up into the sky. The stars glimmered brightly in the night sky, the moon now mostly hidden behind a thickening wall of clouds. And very soon after, the stars began to fade as well. Boris sighed and a small snowflake fell down clumsily and landed on his beak. He felt the snowflake with the tip of his wing and his thick, bushy eyebrows rose. He glanced back up at the sky and his other wing shoot up at it in a scolding manner.

“No! No! No snow! Not right now! You are not velcome here!” he shouted.

The air was clear once again as he gave his command. He smirked happily and began to waddle away when a conglomeration of snow suddenly plopped onto his head. Boris flicked the powdery mess from his skull.

“Bad snow! I said, no falling!” Another flake fell between his eyes to which he blew a sigh out of his beak. “Oy. Is snow use.”

He chuckled at his own pun when he heard a loud yawning. He turned back to see his pooch beginning to show signs of awakening. His webbed feet flopped against the deck as he made his way to Balto.

“Ah, a good morning to you Sleepy Bones,” Boris greeted warmly.

Balto folded his front paws and laid his head on them, staring at the floor sadly. “Not now Boris. I’m just not in the mood.”

“C’mon Boychick. If you are just sitting here, then your life will be wasting away to nothing.” Boris placed a wing on the hybrid’s back.

“But what’s the point in living anymore? I’m even more of an outcast than I was long ago, but what’s worse is that I actually fell in love, and now I can’t see Jenna, or my own children,” Balto sighed heavily.

“Well there is no point if that is how you look at it!” Boris bounced Balto’s muzzle in his wings. “Listen. We are going somewhere so you can be taking your mind off of all these things.”

Boris began to walk away and Balto opened his mouth. “But-”

The goose flung a wing into the air. “Nope! I am accepting none of the objections! You are going to be happy whether you like it or not. I will give you two minutes to be ready before I drag you out by tail.”

Balto actually gave a smile, small as it may have been. “Really? Somehow I doubt that,” he chuckled.

Boris turned back and gave a wry grin. “You would be amazed by what we gooses can do.”

Balto stood up and shrugged of his blanket, stretching out on the ground and giving another loud yawn. He moved over to the bird and nudged him.

“Well, I don’t want to take the chance of that then, so let’s get going.”

“Ah, excellent idea, listening to old Boris. I am liking it already!”

The two exited the boat as snowflakes began to slowly coat them. Minutes later, the plank up to Balto’s boat began to sag heavily. A brown dog with a heavy coat walked up slowly and scanned the old ship, frowning when he didn’t find a single soul.

“Drat. Now what am I to do?” he muttered to himself.

The dog shook his pelt quickly, sending the fluff flying high into the air. He squinted his eyes as he saw the first signs of daybreak showing themselves. The dog sighed as he padded onto the deck, spotting an old bone and water dish.

“I guess I’ll just have to wait here until he gets back.”

The dog walked over the deck and found the cabin of the ship. He studied the small objects littered in a set of boxes before spying an old blanket. He shrugged his shoulders and lifted one end of the blanket, sliding into it easily.

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

Jenna curled herself tighter into her basket. Along with the crackling of the fire, she could hear the delicate sounds of the snow flakes hitting the panes of her windows. Her miserable eyes blinked a few times as she kept trying to sleep the day away. But there was no such luck. She pushed her muzzle underneath one of her legs to warm herself up more. She heard the pet flap open from behind her. A quick sniff of the air told her who it was, and she lifted her head for the first time today and looked at him. Dingo stood there looking at her as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Ugh. Hey Mom. I was just talking with Kodi and Haida, and they told me I should come check up on you. Are you… doing okay?”

Jenna lowered her head again. “I’m still breathing. Does that count?” she muttered.

Dingo sighed, “C’mon Mom, don’t make it any harder than it has to be. None of us are doing that well to be honest.”

“Dingo, what am I supposed to do?” Jenna asked. “I’m locked inside this house, while Balto is locked out of the entire town. Things couldn’t be worse…”

“Yes they could… At least Dad is still alive. And besides, I say that that whole thing last night was bogus. You should be allowed to see Dad whenever you want!”

“Yes, I should, but I’m not. You just don’t understand-”

“Of course I understand!” Dingo cut in, “I’m not a little pup anymore. Listen to me. I don’t care about any rules that that dog makes. We’re going to see Dad right now, and that’s final!”

Dingo went around behind her with the intention to shove her out the door, but she stood up instead, a look of a determination on her face.

“You’re right! I’m not going to let someone tell me who I can and can’t see!”

Jenna padded over to the door and Dingo followed behind her. The stepped through the dog door together and out onto the street.

“One question though,” Jenna began, “when did you get so forceful Dingo?”

Dingo grinned, “I’ve been spending more time with Boris, let’s just say that.”

She gave a small laugh at this comment. “Well that makes perfect sense then.”

They both began to smile as they headed down an alley, the quickest route to Balto’s boat. The snowflakes danced around them gracefully as the sun fought to show itself through the gray clouds. They passed by tall timber fences and two-story buildings with wooden-clad sides. The two came to the exit of the last alley before the town ended and the outskirts began when a figure surprised them both by jumping in front of them.

“Henry… What are you doing here?” Dingo asked, slightly taken aback.

“Now, now, now. Look what we have here,” Henry replied, paying no attention to Dingo, “I see we have a wanderer. I believe that I ordered you to stay inside your own home Miss Jenna. This sure doesn’t look like it.”

Jenna frowned. “I wasn’t going to stay there. What you put into effect last night was completely uncalled for, and unfair…”

“But Jenna, I’m hurt. I was only doing this for your own protection,” Henry sighed as he bowed his head, “I thought you would have appreciated that fact a little more.”

“To be honest, you only made things worse…”

Henry moved along side her and then leaned uncomfortably close to her. “Well, I think I can make things better again,” he whispered into her ear.

Her eyes widened slightly and her jaw dropped. She was about ready to either shoot him down or just shoot him right there, but something came to her mind. She glanced quickly to her left and right and saw a downed, open trash can with its lid right beside it.

‘Well Jenna ol’ girl. We’ll see if you still have it,’ she thought to herself.

Jenna giggled and wrapped her tail around his, smiling enticingly at him. She leaned on him and looked into his brown eyes.

“Hmm, that sounds awfully nice. How about we have a little… private discussion?” she smiled as she motioned to the trash can.

Henry’s knees immediately began to wobble as a stupid grin appeared on his face. His tongue lolled out of his mouth as he dumbly nodded his head. He gave a sudden sneeze, but that didn’t stop him from walking towards the can. She looked over and saw Dingo smiling. He knew exactly what she was planning to do. Jenna turned back to Henry and ran up behind him as he entered the can. She rolled the lid and covered the mouth of the trash can. It immediately jumped to life and the lid burst open with a snarling Henry at its entrance. But Jenna and Dingo were already on their way out of town, laughing in sheer delight.

“Ha ha! You fooled him but good Mom! I didn’t know you still had it in you!” Dingo cheered.

“Heh, neither did I!” She laughed.

Within an instant however, they both found themselves on the ground. Each had a set of growling teeth latched onto some part of their body. Henry strutted up to them, smirking.

“You didn’t think that I wouldn’t have come with back-up now, would you? Now I will have guards watching your homes to make sure that you don‘t break the rules.” He turned to the other dogs. “Now, would you please escort these two back to their respective homes?”

Jenna and Dingo were soon separated as they were dragged away back to their houses that would serve as their own prisons.

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

The sun, although nearly unnoticeable, set deep on the horizon. The clouds above began to darken as a goose and a wolf-dog walked home. The two were actually laughing and having a great time.

“Wow Boris, who knew that you were actually capable of fun?” Balto chuckled.

“Fun nothing! The whole time I vas defending myself from two oversized, slobbering polar bears!” Boris squawked.

The two made their way up the plank of their boat, but paused when they heard snoring. They looked around cautiously, and they found the source of the noise. Balto held a paw to his muzzle and shushed Boris.

“I’ll go check and see who it is. Grab my dog dish in case it’s not welcome company.”

“Vhat on Earth am I to be doing with slobber bowl?!”

Balto couldn’t stop himself from cracking a smile. He leaned down and whispered into Boris’ ear.

“Well, just be creative. I’m sure that out of all animals, you would be the one to find a way to hurt someone with a bowl.”

“That, you could be having point with,” Boris whispered back.

Boris went to grab up the dog dish and nearly dropped it. He looked inside and saw a block of ice inside and hit his wing to his forehead. Meanwhile, Balto was creeping up silently behind their visitor. He saw Boris walking over to him slowly as he struggled with the ‘slobber bowl’.

“Ready Boris?” Balto whispered.

The goose nodded. Balto leaned down and softly bit down on the blanket. Within an instant the blanket was airborne and Boris was already bringing the heavy bowl down.

“Wait! Wait Boris!”

The dog’s eyes suddenly snapped open and thankfully, Boris was able to stop the dog dish from knocking the dog out. Balto walked around in front of the dog and cocked his head.

“Doc… What’re you doing here?”

Doc coughed, stood up, and shook of the blanket that had landed back on top of him. He stretched out along the deck and gave quiet yawn, licking his chops right after.

“Well, I was trying to sleep whilst waiting for your return. I actually have both good and bad news to share. Which would you like to hear first?”

“Bad news. I want to get that out of the way as soon as possible.”

“Alright then.” Doc cleared his throat. “Last night, I was informed by Morris that the rabies infection has in fact returned, and could spread to Nome. The good news however, is that I have a plan of how to protect you, Jenna, and your children. I felt so terrible yesterday, that I’ve been thinking of this since. But here’s what we’ll do, and this is the good news. You’ll wait by the sign for Nome, after midnight preferably, and I’ll bring them. This way you’ll be able to take them into the forests to hide out for awhile. I’ll come and get you when the town is safe again.”

“Well, I hope it works. I’ve been dying to see them ever since.”

Doc nodded and turned away. “Alright, see you then. Take care. Good day.”

“Oh, and Doc.. Be careful. I know that you’re not supposed to be here.”

Doc smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I’m an old dog. They’ve already done everything they could to me. I’ll be fine.”

The St. Bernard trotted away and Balto sat down smiling as he looked at Boris. Boris nodded to him and then grabbed his trusty mop and began to clean the deck of the falling snow.

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

The icicles that hung from the gutters of the tall houses clattered together in symphony as the wind brushed along each individual so softly. A set of four black and white huskies made their way through the blustery, snow-packed streets. Lilith’s ribbon around her paw bounced as she tried to think… Oh where had he told her to go again? She was finding it so very difficult to remember. Her ears perked when she heard a faint creaking. She looked up to see the sign for the butcher’s swaying in the wind. Ah! Now she remembered! She trotted down the nearest alley, the little pups staying as close to her as they could. The wind whisked around her and through her long, coarse fur, but she didn’t mind the numbness that the wind brought, not anymore. She saw a stack of crates looming over her, and a small opening in them. She looked back over her shoulder and shuddered. She huffed in a deep breath and stepped through the whole, shutting her eyes tightly until the space opened up again. She heard a quiet grunting as a small light glimmered through the floorboards above.

“Ahh, Sister. I’m glad you could make it. I was beginning to think that you… wouldn’t show,” she heard a snicker.

“I’m sorry Hal, but we had to wait awhile before we could come… Can I please go home now? I really need my medicine.” Lilith pleaded.

Her brother grinned from the shadows, his teeth having a slight tint of yellow. He walked up to her and ran a paw under her chin and giggled.

“Now, now Sister. You don’t need that medicine, especially for my plans. We’ve got to have you as clean as possible.” Hal sneered.

Stevan peeked around Lilith’s front leg, his pale blue eyes squinting. He looked up at Hal and then back to the darkness.

“Uncle Hal? Is someone else in here?”

Hal grinned and patted the pup on the head. “Ah! I’m glad you asked! These are my new pupils in training.”

Hal led the four deeper into the darkness. For being the middle of winter, it was surprisingly humid down here. Probably from how warm the butcher kept his house this time of year. There was the sound of more moaning, and then it changed to a giggling.

“Hal, who’s here?… Why’re they here?” Lilith asked nervously.

Hal winked and chortled. “Well, if you must have names. This is Star, Nikki, and Kaltag,” he said, pointing each one out. “Our little giggler, Nikki, has kept this up for the past few hours, definitely passing with flying colors. Kaltag’s had the occasional chuckle, so he’s catching up… But poor, poor Star here is still fighting me, which I wouldn’t have suspected. So I’ve been paying special attention to him… And to your other question, you’ll just have to find out later.”

“Hal, don’t go playing games with me. If you don’t stop I’ll-”

“I would never dream of doing something like that!” Hal cut in, “Anyways. It is rather late, and you’ll all be getting up very early in the morning. Just… let me explain a few things. First of all, there is no leaving unless I tell you, or give you the permission to. Second, I will be providing the food and water. You’ll take what you eat, or you’ll go hungry. Understand?”

The four each nodded their heads. Hal laughed and began to twirl around until he was laying down and ready to sleep. He stared at them through wild, icy blue eyes.

“Do get your sleep though. Tomorrow, you four will be helping me break those three sled dog’s spirits… permanently..” He turned to Lilith. “Oh, and do watch your back. We’ve had some rather shady types lurking around her as of late...”

Lilith bit her lip and stole a look behind her. She shook her head suddenly and dragged a claw across her skin.

‘Get a hold of yourself! You’re doing exactly what he wants!’ she scolded herself fiercely.

Hal watched his sister with sheer delight. She was just as much a pawn as the other three sled dogs. Of course, he did have another puppet in his ranks, but he would save that one for later. Eventually, everything would come to past, and just as fate predicted, he would come out on top once more. Forever free of the strings that held him down.

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

A clock ticked loudly in the Manson’s den. The blaze in the stone fireplace flickered delicately. A crimson and white husky laid in her whicker basket that she called her bed. She shuffled around on the blue cushion that lined the inside of the basket. Jenna sniffled for what seemed like the hundredth time. She blinked away more tears as the small flames of her fire quickly died, plunging the room into a dreary dimness. Why?… Why was fate so cruel? Jenna shuddered violently. She felt a dull numbness in her mind, limbs, and heart. She rolled herself into a ball, covering her face with her tail and she began to whine. Jenna sat up suddenly and let out a violent sneeze. If her eyes hadn’t been watery before, they sure would have been now. She shook her head to try and clear her head from that stuffed up feeling when she saw something peculiar. There on her tail was a long patch of something black. She combed a paw through her tail and the black spread right onto her paw. Her curiosity had definitely been aroused now, so she leaned down and took another sniff, before her body trembled from another vicious sneeze. There was only one thing that this powdery blackness could be. It had to be soot! But what the heck would it be doing on her tail?… Unless…

Her thoughts were interrupted when a wind whistled into her home. A dog with a thick, brown coat walked up to her, his eyes sparkling and a spring in his step.

“Doc? What’re you doing here so late?” she asked.

He smiled at her sweetly. “Well Jenna my dear, I can say that for once, I actually have some good news to bring to you. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind it, especially after the, ugh, events that took place earlier.”

“Of course not! Right about now I’d accept anything.”

Doc chuckled. “Quite eager I see. Alright then. Tell me how you would feel if you could see Balto again?”

Jenna stood up, a warm and happy smile stretching itself across her muzzle. “Oh you know that that would make me the happiest dog on the planet if you could do something like that!”

“Excellent!… Now, here’s what we’ll have to do. I’ll come get you in a few short hours, after Midnight. We’ll go to your children’s homes and collect them up as well, and under the cover of the night, we shall sneak out of town, meeting Balto at the sign for Nome. From there he’ll take all of you into the forests to watch over you all until I come to find you to let you know when it’s alright to come back. If we play our cards right, there’s no way that this can possibly fail.”

Jenna’s smile suddenly faded. “Or maybe he could come here? You could manage that, right?”

Doc arched an eyebrow and looked at her quizzically. “Unfortunately, it would be much harder to do something like that than you may think. Trust me, we could get you all out of here before sunup tomorrow.”

Jenna paused briefly and looked towards the direction of the door. “You don’t understand Doc… I… I can’t leave.”

Chapter Sixteen:

A frigid wind rushed around the sign leading into the town of Nome, sending chills down to the bone of anyone dumb enough to stand outside, stealing the warm breaths that they gave off before they even left their lips. Balto shivered as a bitter wind danced through his thick fur. This night had been much colder than he had anticipated and he heard a sneeze from Boris beside him.

“Oy! Is so c-c-cold!” he shouted, his teeth chattering comically, “Vhat possessed you to bring me to frozen plain of death!?”

“Oh c’mon Boris. Don’t you want to see Jenna and them too?” Balto asked with a smile.

“Of course I do!… But you could have been letting me stay somewhere much warmer,” Boris nodded his head.

“But then you would have missed out on all the fun.”

“Oh no, we wouldn’t be wanting that now, would ve?” Boris asked sarcastically.

Before Balto could reply again, a gust of wind turned them back towards the town. If you didn’t know about the recent events that had taken place, you would have thought it was rather peaceful looking, especially from afar. Every light in Nome was turned off, and you could see the drifts of snow piled high on the roofs even from the distance that they were. The hill that the two sat upon gave the perfect semi-aerial view. The evergreen trees wrapped around the outside of Nome so delicately, and the mountains gave the perfect backdrop even after they slid into the icy ocean. Boris looked down from this wondrous scene and nudged Balto before pointing down the hill. A figure was approaching them, and at first, the wolf-dog’s ears rose in happiness, until he saw that the figure was completely alone. The St. Bernard walked to Balto, hanging his head as snow piled onto his old back.

“I’m sorry Balto.. Haida, Denali, and Saba are too afraid to leave town, mainly for their mother’s sake. Dingo is now also under house arrest along with Kodi. And Jenna is the same, too afraid to leave her home for she suspects that she’s being very carefully guarded. I tried warning them about everything, but I couldn’t change any of their minds… Jenna did ask though, if there was any way that you could get into town. She says that’s the only way…-”

“Doc, you know I can’t do that. If I get caught, I could get-”

“Please Balto,” Doc interrupted, “Jenna’s practically losing the battle without you there to fight by her side. She has very few dogs that she can rely on anymore. And I’ll do all that I can to keep you hidden.”

Balto looked to Boris for some kind of answer, but the goose simply shrugged his shoulder. “I wouldn’t be minding piece of quiet from constant moping for few days. Is up to you Fido. I can’t be making all decisions for you now can I?”

Balto rubbed the back of his head as he tried to think. “Well… I guess we can try it. But we have to figure something out since it may be a semi-lasting, or permanent thing.”

Doc smiled. “Sure thing My Boy! But… do you think you could just visit her for the quickest of moments tonight? I think that would help her so very much. And it would probably work wonders for you too.”

“You know I’d love to!… But please tell me, did you see anyone out? I can’t be caught in town, or I’ll… you know what’ll happen. And I wouldn’t want to put Jenna through something like that.”

“Of course not… And no. I didn’t see a single soul wandering the streets this evening at all. It should be the perfect time to go.”

Balto thought for a moment. This could just end up a complete failure from such a bone-headed decision. But he felt that there wasn’t any other option. He had to make sure that Jenna was doing alright. Without any other thought, he nodded his head and began to follow Doc towards the town. The clouds above swirled angrily in the sky as a wind whispered into Doc’s ears, trying to warn him away from town. He did not heed the wind’s caution and continued on with Balto through the snow-swept streets. Balto could see Jenna’s house in the distance and he immediately took off in a run, leaving Doc in the dust. The old dog smiled as he watched the hybrid rush away.

Down an alley that Doc was just about to pass, a figure shifted carefully. His breathing was silent, but irregular. The wind ruffled his brown eye patch and yellow fur so delicately. He could still feel a dull pounding in his mind, but he had grown more accustomed to it, and was beginning to embrace it. A smile crossed his muzzle and he stared through glazed over eyes at the other figure that appeared at the mouth of the alley. He took a few steps forward, his mouth hanging open as he chuckled quietly and the powdery snow crackled under his weight. Over the last few days, it had seemed like torture. He didn’t realize what had been going on, but he had slowly lost touch with who he was, and began to sink to his more primal and cruel ways. By now he could catch the scent of this other dog clearly, and he knew exactly who it was. The dog that his master wanted a message sent to. Within an instant, he was running and already wrapping his teeth around the scruff of this dog’s neck. He threw the dog down, and looked into his fearful eyes.

“K-Kaltag? Is that you!?” the dog asked.

Kaltag smirked. “In a matter of speaking Doc, yes… So, why did you leave town? I thought no one was allowed to visit Balto.”

Doc frowned sadly. “So I see that you’ve joined Henry and his crew.”

“Hehe, close. But I think you’re avoiding my question.”

“It doesn’t matter what you do to me,” said the old dog, “I really have nothing else to lose, and I have aged past my time.”

Kaltag snickered. “Oh, we weren’t planning on hurting you at all. In fact, we figured it would be better to go after any dog we see…”

“Have you lost your mind!? Going after innocents is a horrible thing to do!”

“Close Doc, very close. But if you want to keep that from happening, I suggest that you spill everything that you’ve done in the last few days.”

Doc stood up and Kaltag crouched down, growling. Doc held a paw up.

“Just hold on, I’m going to tell you right now.”

The old St. Bernard walked to the nearest building and began to tap on the wood siding with his claws. This continued for a minute or two. When he finished, he smiled at Kaltag, and saw his features soften. The Chinook moved towards him, his eyes now watery.

“Doc, please, get out of here. And you can’t tell anyone about what happened here, or they won’t be afraid to shatter innocent lives.” Kaltag whispered.

Doc showed no visible motion and said nothing. He turned away from Kaltag and began to head home. From underneath a stack of crates near Kaltag, a smile appeared. Hal walked up to him and patted him on the back.

“Well my Pup, you’re on your way! Too bad you were coming back to your senses towards the end, we’ll have to fix that today. But don’t worry, even from that old-timer’s little ‘Morse Code’ session, I know exactly what’s going on now. That’s one thing I can thank Brother for,” Hal snickered, “but anyways, let us be off back inside to get plenty of rest, after all, you three are in for a most unpleasant day.”

Kaltag nodded, half in sadness, half in obedience. “Yes Sir.”

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

It had been true. Not a soul had been on that lonely street. Balto’s pace quickened as he slinked closer and closer to her house. Jenna’s home. His thoughts and heart raced faster as he came within a few feet. He swallowed hard and his mouth hung open loosely. His paws made a dull thumping sound as he crept onto the porch. He moved to the window sill and peered through amber eyes into the warm living room. He saw Jenna inside, sleeping soundly and peacefully. A small smile spread itself across Balto’s face as he saw her chest rising and falling slowly, mesmerizing him. The glow from the fire radiated off of every red or white hair on her delicate body. Why was he hesitating? Why wasn’t he rushing in there to share that basket with her? His smile faded and he lowered himself from the window. Balto knew the answer to his questions already. He was afraid to get her into anymore trouble. He wanted to protect her from any harm… Balto shook his head and pushed down the fur on his head. He was going in. If what she was feeling was anywhere close to half of what he had felt, then he was certain that this was for the best. Balto took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before edging towards the pet flap, and eventually through it. The warm atmosphere of the room enveloped his body the moment he set foot into the house. The grandfather clock in the room softly chimed out 1 o’clock. Balto tiptoed towards Jenna silently, not wishing to wake her from her sleep. Aside from tripping over the leg of a chair, he did fairly well. Balto came right to the edge of the basket and took in another deep breath through his nostrils and sighed. Jenna smelled almost like a flowery meadow in springtime. So warm and inviting. That’s it, he knew he was going to kick himself later, but he had to wake her up, just to hear that angelic voice of hers that sang in his ears. He leaned his head down near hers.

“Hey Jen,” he whispered quietly.

Jenna cracked an eye open and yawned. “Not right now Balto, I’m really tired right now…” Shortly after she mentioned his name, her eyes fluttered open and she whirled around to look into his face. “Balto!” she cried with glee, “I-I thought I wouldn’t be able to see you again!”

Jenna’s legs shot her straight up, and within seconds she was nuzzling Balto tenderly and crying, but unlike their previous meeting, these were tears of joy. Balto laid a paw on her back and rubbed noses with her, beaming the whole while. Jenna gazed into his amber eyes deeply, and he did the same into her brown ones.

“Balto… Please tell me that you’ll stay here, until you are allowed back. Being without you was so horrible. I felt so miserable and hopeless.”

“I felt the same way too Jen.” Balto thought for a second. It was his duty to keep her happy, so he nodded. “I’ll stay. I promise.”

The red and white husky’s legs began to feel shaky. Balto smiled and licked her cheek.

“C’mon Jen, let’s get to bed.”

He walked her gently over to the basket, both dog’s eyes locked with the others. Jenna laid down on the comfy pillow in the basket, and Balto followed. They snuggled close together and fell asleep, still smiling, their two hearts beating together, as one.

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

Lilith rose from the cold, hard-packed earth. Something felt different. She looked down and could barely make out that the ground was much closer to her than normal. She wagged her tail and realized how short and stubby it was. Where was she? Her eyes blinked a few times and soon the darkness that had surrounded her began to clear. She saw her black and white fur swirl on her shoulders and that the speckles of white on her back were missing. Who was she? The floorboards above her sighed and she chose not to stay a moment longer. She bolted to the nearest exit and found herself in an alley. A flake fell onto her nose, but didn’t melt. Lilith shook her head and sent the flake flying. She took in a deep breath through her nostrils, crinkling her nose soon afterward. There was a curious odor that hung heavily in the air. It almost made her sneeze. She glanced up into the dark, cloudy sky. There was a ominous glow on the horizon, and she could see black powder falling through the clouds. It began to gather heavily on the ground, and turned what white fur she had black. Without warning, she gave a loud sneeze and her eyes watered. It had to be soot that was ruining her fur. Her ears twitched back and forth, and she could here a loud crackling and the sounds of yelling and screaming. She tilted her head back down and was about to head back inside when something caught her eye. Two dark figures raced down the street before, and disappeared down the opposite alley. Being curious, Lilith chased after them, until she reached the entrance of that alley. She saw that the alley ended abruptly with another building, and that shadows were at the far end, but she couldn’t make out the figures easily. She heard the larger one yelling at the smaller one, and he seemed to be angry. In one sudden movement, the larger of the two latched onto the scruff of the smaller one. He threw the smaller figure into the wall hard, and Lilith found herself screaming out in distress and objection.

~-~-

“Noo!”

Lilith’s eyes snapped open as her shriek from her dream carried on into reality. As soon as she realized that she was screaming, she immediately clamped her mouth shut tightly. She scanned around the dark room hurriedly and sighed in relief when she saw the other dogs still fast asleep. But then she felt a sudden pricking on the back of her neck. She swallowed hard and dared herself not to look back. Please tell her that it was just in her imagination…

“You are alright I presume… Right, Sister Dear?” she heard a familiar voice ask.

Her ears lowered against her head and she turned around slowly. A set of wild blue eyes glared down at her merrily. He licked around his painted lips and yellowing teeth before shivering.

Lilith closed her eyes, scrambling for a response. “Just… peachy,” she replied.

Hal tutted. “What a shame. Lying to your own sibling. And what if I were to punish you for something like that. No one can protect you.” Lilith‘s eyes widened slightly. “Lucy isn’t here. Steele isn’t here. Burt is gone. And Mother’s not here either. They’re all dead…”

Lilith stood up and stared at Hal, not sure whether to show anger or plain unhappiness in her expression. “Don’t talk about them like that. Especially Mom.”

“And why not? She’s gone. A bullet through her head proved that. Oh but wait,” Hal gasped mockingly, “is it because of this pathetic ribbon she gave you?” he grinned toothily and stuck a claw in one of the loops, “This thing that you fret over daily. It amazes me. What would happen if it were to… come undone?” 

Hal laughed quietly and began to tug the loops tauntingly. Lilith felt a low, deep growl resonate from her chest, her eyes shrinking to slits, and her teeth baring.

“You untie that ribbon, and I’ll tear you apart…” she snarled.

Hal took his paw away from the red ribbon and went on to pat Lilith on the head, leaving her dumbfounded.

“I’m proud of you Sister Dear… You’re on your way…” Hal smirked.

Her mouth hung open as his words sank in. Darn it! Why was she falling so easily to his influence?! Lilith lowered her head and mumbled under her breath. She suddenly felt an uncomfortable sensation and began to scratch at her collar. Hal gave a crooked smile and twirled around, flicking his bushy, white tail in her face. He walked casually beside each sled dog, bringing an iron, unforgiving paw down on each of their skulls, rudely awakening them.

“Alright Pups. If you thought the past set of sunrises and sunsets were torture, than after today, you will think of them as picnics… Prepare for the worst.” 

Hal gave a merry chuckle while he ran a claw through Star’s headfur. He could see the pups also waking from the corner of his eye. He bowed his head and sweetly whispered into Star’s ear.

“You’re first…”

Hal inhaled the smaller dog’s scent, both eyes and grin widening as he did so. He clenched his scruff tightly and tossed the small dog like a rag doll through the air. Star landed roughly on his head. His body tensed in pain as he yowled. Oh yes… it was going to be a lovely day.

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

Maurice snored loudly into the sleeves of his shirt. His curled, black mustache rose and fell with each inhale and exhale. One of his fingers hung loosely on the telegraph machine and his spectacles hung lopsidedly on his face. A ball of white suddenly smashed into the window and the middle aged man spluttered to consciousness. Maurice fixed his glasses hurriedly, slipped on an overcoat and a worn-out pair of boots, and opened the door quickly. He peered out through the morning’s darkness and spotted two young boys throwing snowballs.

“Hey you crazy kids! Cut that out right now! I don’t want ta be responsible for anyone one of you getting hurt!” He scolded.

The two kids ran down a few houses away, laughing at the telegraph operator. He followed after them to make sure they didn’t hurt themselves, which the two didn’t take kindly too. One heavily bundled lad stuck his tongue out at the older man and threw an iceball high into the sky. Maurice watched the iceball ark higher than the telegraph poles, before falling straight down and snapping a partially frozen telegraph wire in two. The two thick cables plunged down and were left dangling a few inches above the ground in front of Maurice. Fist trembling in irritation, Maurice whipped around to yell at these to troublesome youngsters, but a wind mocked him as the two boys had already fled. The telegraph operator sighed heavily. He proceeded back through his house and out into the fenced in back yard. He opened to doors to a small wooden shed with some difficulty, and finally managed to wriggle out a ladder.

“Darn whippersnappers. Now I gotta be the one to clean up their mess.”

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

Balto rolled over sleepily and yawned. He took in a breath and sighed happily. He didn’t even have to see to tell him that Jenna was right there beside him. The warmth her body gave off comforted Balto and made him feel at home. He cracked an amber eye open and was greeted by an ocean of red fur and two ears.

“Morning Sleepyhead,” Jenna said, her voice sounding like that of the angels.

Jenna lifted her head and licked his nose. Balto smiled a silly grin and nuzzled his love tenderly.

“Heh, the same to you Jen. Gosh… I just can’t tell you how wonderful it feels to wake up to you again.”

Balto looked deeply into her sparkling brown eyes and she returned the gaze. Her ears lifted slowly as she heard the sound of her girl waking. Within a few minutes, the nine-year old Rosie rushed down the creaking steps, her red hair bobbing back and forth along with her pink nightgown. She saw Balto lying alongside Jenna and her face immediately lit up. She ran to the basket and knelt down, petting Balto’s head and receiving a lick of appreciation.

Rosie giggled delightedly. “Hey Boy. How’ve ya been?”

Balto gave her another lick on the cheek and Rosie beamed happily.

“Rosie… It’s time to get dressed Dear,” called a voice from upstairs.

“Aww, but Mom!-” she started to protest.

“C’mon Missy. You know it’s Mommy’s shopping day. And if you come along… I may get you a lollipop.”

Bribery. Pure, unadulterated, sugarcoated bribery. That simple mention of tasty, multi-colored sweets made the little girl‘s eyes widen and her mouth water. Rosie sprinted up the stairs with an unbridled amount of energy and slammed her door suddenly. While Rosie was hurriedly throwing on clothes, Nancy walked down the steps calmly, a smart, white hat covering her black curls, a fitting maroon shirt across her torso and black skirt swishing about her legs. Her tongue was semi-visible through her cheek as she fully concentrated on getting an earring to fit. She stepped over to the coat rack and donned a loose overcoat when she finished with that pesky jewelry.

Jenna and Balto ignored the goings-on of the rest of the family. They were too busy relishing the precious moments that seemed to drag on when they were with each other. Balto gave a tender lick to Jenna’s cheek, making her giggle quietly before running a paw through his scraggily brown fur. She let out a contented sigh. Everything seemed right. Practically perfect. The husky nuzzled her love that brought up a certain sensitivity in the wolf-dog. Balto felt a shiver run down his spine not out of his own freewill. A small silver teardrop shimmered from the corner of Balto’s eye. A concerned frown tugged at the edges of Jenna’s mouth.

“What’s wrong Balto?”

The hyrbrid sniffled and smiled warmly. “Nothing… Absolutely nothing. And that’s the reason… I… I didn’t know what I had, until I almost lost it all… Until I almost… lost you…”

Jenna couldn’t stop herself from smiling wider. It didn’t matter if what he said was cheesy or not. The mere meaning of his words brought a strange sense of joy to her. She ran a paw along his cheek.

“Balto… You’ll never lose me. No matter what anyone tries to do to separate us, we’ll still have each other. Forever. Whether we be nose to nose, or thousands of miles apart, we’ll live on in each other’s hearts and souls.”

Another tear snuck its way from Balto’s eye and Jenna wiped it away. Balto nodded and nuzzled his head into her fur, inhaling her wondrous scent and enjoying this type of embrace immensely. The fire crackling before them seemed to brighten and intensify, casting a soft glow on the two.

There was a sudden rumble as Rosie thundered down from the second floor, her boots plodding along, musher’s hat bouncing, and mittens tossing back and forth. She latched onto her mother’s arm and tried dragging her towards the door as fast as she could. She was bound and determined to get that lollipop.

“C’mon Mom!” she called enthusiastically.

Jenna turned her head and watched the mother and daughter, Balto doing the same. Nancy began to chuckle as her munchkin led her out. The door slammed behind them and the two dogs could clearly hear their steps on the porch.

“Hey Boy. Did you come to see Jenna?” the two heard Rosy ask, “Well, she’s kind of busy right now.”

“That’s strange…” Jenna thought aloud, “the only one’s that Rosie calls like that are…”

She didn’t even need to finish her sentence before it dawned on both of them. Their eyes widened in unison and they both began to scan the room.

“Jenna, where am I gonna hide!?” Balto whispered urgently.

She bit her lip and suddenly saw their answer. She pushed Balto in the direction of a broom closet and shut the door behind him, just leaving a crack open. Jenna turned around and bolted to her basket, lying down just as soon as a figure stepped through the pet flap. A frigid breath of cold air and snow sailed into the room, sending a small shiver down her spine. She shut her eyes tightly as the paws came closer and closer from behind her. She knew a dog was coming, but of which one she had no clue. Her ears plastered themselves to her skull as she heard that voice.

“Well, well, well… Good morning to you Jenna. I see your still fast asleep.” The dog leaned his muzzle right down beside her head. “Or… are you?” he whispered.

Her heart thumped faster in her chest and she knew he could see her body tremble. She opened a nervous eye and jumped when she saw a brown eye inches away from her. Jenna stood up shakily and Henry eyed her.

“That’s what I thought… Now… Why would you try and feign slumber? Are you… hiding something from ol’ Henry?”

Try as she might, Jenna couldn’t stop her eyes from darting towards the broom closet before shaking her head. A wry grin appeared on his muzzle and he padded closer to the closet.

The black and white husky gestured to the mostly-shut door. “So… something of interest in here? Well, I think I can help myself.”

Henry stepped over in that direction at an agonizingly slow pace. Jenna bit her lip as she tried to hold out, hoping he would stop moving. He lifted his head and she heard him take in a deep breath.

“Hmm… Now why do I smell something… strangely… familiar?”

He was now within a few feet of the door. Just as he was about to make a rush into the small room, the crimson and white husky cut him off. He lifted an eyebrow and she gave a sheepish grin.

“A-Actually, um, instead of looking for nothing in there… you, ugh, wanna go for a walk together?” she asked nervously.

“Well… I suppose I could be persuaded to take this walk, as long as you promise not to do anything… deceptive.”

“Of course. I give you my word,” she smiled as she led him away from the closet.

Henry brought himself closer to Jenna and took in her sweet scent, releasing a smile. As they headed towards the pet-flap, Jenna could swear that she heard Balto sigh in relief. He was safe, for now at least.

“Now Jenna,” Henry said as he held the flap open for her, “after this walk, there’ll be a meeting in the boiler room, around Six O’clock sharp. It is of a most grave matter, and I expect you to be there.”

“Oh, you can make sure of that!” she replied, realizing that she sounded a little too perky for her liking.

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

“Doc… Is she gonna be okay?” asked a burly, middle-aged man.

Kurtis closed the bedroom door quietly behind him as he left. He took the stethoscope from around his neck and began to fidget with it.

The doctor sighed. “I bandaged up her hand as best as I could, and gave her antibiotics to fight any bacterial infections, but if she really does have rabies, then I can’t do anything about it, unless by some miracle we could get the proper shots in time.”

A medium-sized woman appeared from behind her husband. “Please Doctor, there must be something more you could do… She’s our only daughter.”

“I realize this… But Madam, there’s not much else I can do…” He suddenly received a most unpleasant glare from the woman. “But I guess I can try to do anything I can to save her. I must warn you though, it would be best if you spent as much time with her as you possibly can. The chances for anyone pulling through this disease without proper medication are marginal at best. Especially if she develops hydrophobia, the fear of drinking any liquids. At that stage she will be gripped in a paralysis and may… pass away from dehydration.” He saw tears welling up in both the mother’s and father’s eyes, and he shook his head. “I’m… dreadfully sorry. I didn’t mean to be so blunt… I promise you, that I won’t give up on her, not yet.”

The mother spoke in a whisper. “Thank you… But… can we please spend some time with our daughter?”

Kurtis nodded. “I think that would be best.”

The couple opened the bedroom door silently and gazed upon their daughter under a mound of covers. They stepped up to her bedside. She had long, auburn hair that was draped halfway across her young face. A clean, white bandage was wrapped around her right hand. The mother began to weep quietly and her husband pulled out a neckerchief which she used to dry her eyes.

“First we lost Lilith, which brought our girl so much joy… And now we’re losing her too… Why did all this have to happen?” she sobbed into his shoulder.

He patted her on the back and replied softly. “Don’t worry… She’ll get through it. She’s my girl, and she’s a trooper. And I’m sure Lilith will come home. I know she will. We just, have to have faith is all.”

Doctor Welsh had been listening from the hallway, when an idea struck him. He entered the room, being as silent as possible. He whispered to the couple.

“Does this town have a veterinary clinic?”

“Well, of course it does,” the woman replied.

“Alright then… I was wondering. I don’t know how different the formula is for rabies shots between human and animal, but maybe, using the animal version would have the same effect on a little girl.”

“There’s no way that would work,” the man said, “we’ve already checked our stock, and all of our rabies medication is outdated by a few years. It’d be too risky to do.”

“Wait, so that means-”

“Yup,” the mother cut in, “we’re the veterinarians of this town. My husband and I.”

“Then you two should  have been able to pick up on the rabies, instead of bringing me all the way out here."

“Remember Doctor, we only deal with animals. We didn’t know if the symptoms and treatments were the same for humans as they are for animals.”

He was about to reply when they heard a slamming from downstairs. All three adults stood up and rushed down the flight of stairs. In the doorway stood Maurice, doubled over and catching his breath.

“Doctor,” he panted, “I fixed the connection. We’re gettin’ everything from Anchorage to Juneau loud n’ clear.”

“Oh thank the heavens! Quick! I need to get them on the horn!” Kurtis replied, smiling along with the two parents.

“Already did sir, the medicine should be on its way. Unless, the storm worsens.”

“Storm? You mean this little flurry?” the man asked.

“Apparently this thing stretches far south and east, and in some parts its gettin’ really bad.”

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

Lawrence Kode rocked back and forth in his chair, trying to keep himself somewhat entertained. He set the chair back onto its four legs, stood up, and walked slowly over to a dusty bookcase. He eyed the different titles sticking out at him and was about to reach for one in particular when he heard a little bell go off from his side. There was heavy breathing and when he turned to look, he saw a woman standing, her face red, her chest heaving.

“Can I… help you Ma’am?” he asked.

She held up a finger, asking for a minute while she caught her breath. “Where… Where is Doctor Welsh?… This is an emergency!”

“What seems to be the problem?”

“My daughter, is at home, crying her eyes out! I did the best to bandage up the wound, but I don’t know what else to do. I went to the Clinic, but there were only nurses there, and I don’t think any of them can see if everything’s okay like Kurtis.”

“Now just hold on a second. What’s this talk about a wound?” Mr. Kode asked, walking back towards his chair and sitting down in it.

The white hat on her head drooped over her eyes. “We were shopping, and my nine-year-old daughter rushed off ahead of me through a shortcut to the candy store, and suddenly she came running back to me, crying. She was holding her right hand, and I had to pry her other hand off of it when we got home. She had a deep gash on her hand that only could have been caused by a dog bite, and an extremely nasty one at that! So tell me, where is Kurtis!?”

The woman saw a very troubled look on the telegraph operator’s face. She bit her lip and stepped closer to him.

“Mr. Kode… Is something wrong?”

Lawrence nodded his head and looked up at her. “Just the last evening, I received a distressed message saying that a girl got bitten in White Mountain. And Kurtis left over to help her... She had rabies.”

The woman clasped her hand over her mouth and suddenly began sobbing into her hand. “Dear God, please no… That’s… something I wouldn’t wish on my worst of enemies… Least of all my own daughter… Lawrence, you have to get Kurtis back here now! It was bad enough seeing her go through the diphtheria, and being completely helpless. But rabies is much, much worse. Please… Get him here.”

“I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee you anything.”

She put a gloved hand on his shoulder as she tried to regain her composure. “Thank you. But, I have to get home right now… Oh how am I going to tell my husband about this? What are we going to do if we lose her?”

Lawrence looked her hard in the eyes. “Listen to an old man’s words. I swear that I’ll get in touch with him. But I’ll need to fetch you when I do, so you can tell him any symptoms that she may have.”

The woman wiped away a few shed tears. “Alright… I’ll be waiting at my home. I’m pretty sure you know where that is.”

“Sure do. Now, you best be getting home.”

She nodded and she quickly rushed out the door, leaving the old man to his beeping telegraph machine.

Chapter Seventeen:

January 19th, 1928

The dog-door swung open slowly as a crimson and white husky peered inside. He looked around, not spotting his mother in her basket, nor any other real signs of life except for noises from upstairs. He stepped inside, followed by another dog with a similar persuasion to him. Haida turned around to his lagging brother and held up a paw.

“Shh. Be vawy, vawy quiet. I’m hunting mothers.”

Denali swatted his paw away and shook his head. “You are such a bonehead.”

“And you aren’t?” he smiled smugly.

“Oh be quiet. The only reason I brought you was because out of all of us, you’re the only one idiotic enough to make Mom smile again.”

“Ahem, I do believe that I was the one to convince you to come with me.”

Denali sighed. “I knew I should never have never let you talk me into it. But let’s get looking. She has to be hiding somewhere.”

Haida shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

The two lowered their muzzles to the floor and began to sniff about. Denali suddenly caught a strangely familiar scent and began to follow it. He came upon  a broom closet and he pushed it open slightly. A dim ray of light shot into the confined space and he saw a brown and tan lump buried deep inside. There was only one dog that that could be.

“Dad?” Denali asked curiously.

Balto suddenly shot up and whirled around to see one of his children. He quickly relaxed his shoulders and sighed.

“Oh, Denali, it’s good to see you again.”

“The same. But what are you doing here? Not to sound rude, but you’re supposed to be… banished,” he said at a whisper.

“I know. But Doc came and told me how badly Jenna was doing, so I had to come here.”

“She knew about this, and didn’t even bother to come and tell us? Shame on her.”

Denali jumped as Haida pushed through him. Balto chuckled and opened the door wider.

“Glad to see your manners are as stellar as ever,” he said with a smile.

Haida held a thumbs up and gave a wink. “Just trying to make you proud Pop.”

“Now I know why he’s such a bonehead,” Denali cut in plainly, “he’s been rewarded for being idiotic.”

“And think of how you wouldn’t be able to compare yourself to me, had I not been spoiled rotten. What a tragedy that’d be.”

“I’d rather not.”

Balto looked up at his two sons, his face now serious and full of thought. They noticed this and sat down.

“Listen, I think something really serious is happening. Rosie came a little while ago, crying and holding her hand. I heard later that she was bitten by another dog, did you two hear anything about that?” The two looked at each other and shook their heads, making Balto sigh again. “Great… Something else to worry Jenna, if that Henry stalking her wasn’t enough…”

“That guy is some real creeper, huh? If I was twice as big and a year younger, I’d teach him a thing or two.” Haida chuckled.

“Haida.” Balto said warningly.

“Oh,” he lowered his ears and head slightly, “sorry Pop.”

The front door opened quickly and Nancy rushed through and then ran upstairs. Jenna made it inside the house just before the door slammed shut. She gave a quick sign of greeting towards her boys before stepping up to them, clearly out of breath.

“What…What is she so worked up about?” she panted.

Balto stood up and scratched behind his head, “Well, Jen, I don’t know how exactly to put this-,”

Haida interrupted, extending a paw, “-and that’s why he hired us to tell you!”

Denali quickly shoved his brother and mouthed the words ‘shut up’.

He stepped closer to Jenna. “Jen, Rosie’s been hurt. A dog bit her while they were out.”

Jenna let out a quiet gasp and took a step back. “Is… Is she alright?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Nancy wouldn’t let me in to check on her…”

“Well we have to get in there right now!” Jenna was about ready to run up the stairs when Balto stood in front of her.

“We can’t go in there. She’ll only yell at us and keep us away. I’m pretty sure we’ll hear how she is when Tom gets home.”

“Let’s hope so,” she murmured quietly.

“Soo… When were you planning on telling the rest of us that Pop was home?” Haida chimed in.

Jenna sighed, “As soon as I could actually get out of the house without worry. I’m not supposed to leave still, remember?”

“Oh yeah, heh, forgot about that,” he shrugged.

“But since you two are already here, would you mind telling Saba, Kodi, and Dingo?”

“Sure thing Mom.”

Haida saluted with the straightest face he could manage before smiling again. He began to follow Denali out when Jenna stopped them again.

“Oh, and tell them and your grandparents that there’s a meeting at around Six. That’s from Henry.”

The brothers nodded and stepped into the streets swirling with snow. Jenna wandered over to her pet basket and flopped down into it, Balto curling in around her soon after.

“Speaking of Henry, how did that talk go?”

“Ugh,” she grunted, “he was trying to hit on me the whole time, and it was all just the worst form of unpleasant.”

Balto smiled and nuzzled her softly. “Glad to see you still have your sense of humor.”

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

Kurtis slipped on his trench coat and bustled after Maurice into the windy, dim-lit street. His stethoscope swung around his neck and his doctor‘s case jingling with miscellaneous items. For some reason, the telegraph operator had come running into the house, only saying that he would tell the doctor everything as soon as they got to the office. It took little time to reach their destination before they burst through the door. Without even bothering to strip himself of his heavy outerwear, Maurice hurriedly tapped the machine briefly.

“Alright Doc, I don’t have much time ta explain, but we have a problem in Nome. ‘Parrently, ‘nother girl was bitten.”

Kurtis scratched his head. “Another? But how? No dogs were coming in or out of White Mountain since we found out about this in the first place.”

“Could have been a’fore we found out. But that doesn’t matter right now,” he flung up his hands and flung his coat down, “we gotta fix this up an’ quick.”

Maurice motioned to a chair towards a far corner and Kurtis was all to happy in taking a seat. He rubbed his hand on his near bald scalp and looked up to a hanging light.

“Do you know when she was bitten?”

“Ugh, I think a few hours ago at least.”

“Hmm, let’s hope she doesn’t show any symptoms. One doctor can’t be in two towns at once.”

The telegraph machine began to bounce and Maurice quickly took out his pad and pencil, scribbling down the message as quickly as he could.

“Alright, he brought the mother and the daughter. Let’s begin.”

“First, ask if the girl has any real indications of sickness. Like a fever, nausea, etc.”

He sent the message, the line going silent for a brief period before he received his own. Maurice began that habit of speaking aloud as he wrote.

“White Mountain… Girl only feels pain… Nothing else…”

Kurtis breathed a sigh of relief. “Well that’s a good thing. She should be safe for now.

Maurice was about to send this message through, until there was a loud rapping on the door and a figure barged through. She looked immediately at Maurice and Kurtis.

“What was it? You came running inside and-”

“No need to worry Stacy. I just needed to get Doc here.”

“What for? If our little girl has some kind of attack, we’ll need him there!”

“Now calm down. He has to be here. There’s the possibility that another child about as young as yours could have the same disease.”

“That’s right Miss,” Kurtis said politely, “the only way we can tell though is if she develops symptoms in the near future. For now though, she appears to be fine.”

He turned away, missing the obvious look of confusion on her face. “Near future? But our little girl felt bad right before she was bitten.”

The doctor turned back towards her, this time his face was riddled with bewilderment. “I’m sorry, but did you say that she was starting to get sick before?” She nodded her head, and he shook his. “You do realize that rabies isn’t an airborne virus, correct?”

“Well, I know for animals it isn’t,” she replied with a perfectly straight face.

“Madam, a virus is a virus. It isn’t going to magically transform any part of itself, least of all the way it transports itself, to deliberately infect a human.”

Kurtis stood up from his chair, shaking his head in minor irritation. He walked to where he had thrown down his stuff and found his black bag, opening it and taking out a small notepad. He took a pen from his pocket and flipped to a certain page.

“What on earth are you doing?” Stacy asked.

“Thinking of which disease it could possibly be… but it’s hard to…”

His voice trailed off as he started to think. He paced around the room, lost in thought. He snapped fingers and looked at Maurice.

“Ask what the dog looked like that bit her.”

He did so, and the reply was just what the doctor ordered. “Says it was a… clown.”

“That’s what our daughter-”

“said bit her. Exactly,” Doctor Welsh smiled, “so it wasn’t a hallucination after all! She must just have influenza.”

“So, that’s good?” the mother asked.

“Not at all,” said Kurtis, “but it’s a heck of a lot better than rabies. In fact…” he rummaged through his bag and found a medical kit, “I should have the thing in here to make her better. But I’ll have to stay for an extra day or two to make sure that she’ll be fine.”

“Oh that’s great! I have to go back and tell my husband!”

Within an instant, she was flying out the door and away from their sights. Kurtis smiled at Maurice.

“Tell them that their little girl is going to be just fine.”

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

The chilling wind blew fiercer and carried more snowflakes by the minute. Two dark figures watched from the mouth of a backstreet, both silent and smirking. The dim light from across the way wavered as a gust rattled the lamppost. They watched the swirling black clouds above until another figure appeared into their vision. The light caught the figure, and in an instant, told the two that it was Doc, the St. Bernard. As the old dog was just exiting their gaze, he abruptly halted as a series of barks were heard. He lifted his ear, and one of the figures did the same. The round of shrill barks ended as quickly as they had begun and the St. Bernard began to make his way. The second figure whispered into the ear of the first before smiling and running off into the darkness. The first figure stepped out into the shadowy street. His steps were as silent as his breathing and his brown eyes blinked. He was now within a few inches of Doc.

“Evening Doc,” he grinned when the old dog jumped and spun around to see him, “now… what was that that you just heard?”

“Nothing of real interest to you I’m sure,” Doc said as he slowly turn away.

Henry put a paw on Doc’s shoulder and stepped in front of him slowly, a smug smile played across his face.

“Now, you and I both know… that I would be glad to hear everything you have to say.”

“Well unfortunately, Henry, I really don’t have anything to say to you, no offense intended of course.”

“Oh, I understand completely,” Henry nodded, his features softening as he led Doc down the alley, “but see, you’re not the only dog who can understand Morse Code. And I know exactly what that dog said. But I really am ashamed of you,” he tutted, “I would have expected someone like you to be honest to good ol’ Henry. But I guess some dogs never change.” When Henry saw no real emotion enter the old dog’s face, he began to feel frustration. “Listen here you,” he growled, “if you so much as whisper what you heard from me or that dog, then you’ll be dead meat, and so will many others.”

Doc eyed him carefully. “You don’t have the nerve.”

“Wanna bet Gramps!?” he snarled.

Doc suddenly squinted his eyes shut and gritted his teeth as Henry dug a set of claws into his back leg. Henry smirked viciously.

“Now that I’ve caught you’re attention, I suggest that you listen to what I’ve told you. Now be a good doggy and behave.”

If Doc was a few years younger, he would have showed this ruffian who was in charge. But because of how dated he was, he knew he wouldn’t stand a chance now, so with a reluctance, he hobbled back towards his home.

“Oh! Meeting’s in less than an hour! Have a good evening!” Henry jeered after him cheerfully.

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

“Now don’t worry Sister Dear, what I ask is simple,” Hal nudged Lilith out of his little ‘home’, “all you need to do is go to that meeting, come back, and tell me all about it.”

“B-But won’t you come with me?” she asked nervously.

“Nonsense. I would only be out of place there. But I will help you stay safe, if you like..”

Lilith’s darted back and forth quickly and she stole a glance over her shoulder. She gave a feverish nod and Hal smiled crookedly. He put a gentle paw on his sister’s back and began to lead her deeper down the dark alley, loving every second that he could watch her squirm. The icicles overhead were a symphony of clatters and clanking as the biting wind whipped around them. They watched one dog lead the other around to a fenced in area behind the butcher’s home. Hal guided her over to a small pile of something powdery and black.

“Now, are you ready Sweetie?” he cooed, trying to hide the joy from his voice.

Lilith slightly nodded and she closed her eyes, just in time to avoid getting soot in her eyes. Her brother rained more soot down her white fur until she was a pitch black from tail to snout, patting down a certain few areas before stepping back and admiring her new look. She opened an eye with much hesitation and then began to slowly look herself over. Lilith bit her lip and she crossed her forelegs.

“Are you sure that this’ll keep me safe?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” Hal smirked, “no one… will recognize you…” he suddenly let out a dramatic gasp and he covered his mouth with a paw, “But wait! What about Becca? I thought you didn’t want to leave them alone with me.”

Lilith closed her eyes tightly. She began to rake her brain for this name. Becca… Becca. Oh come on. She knew this… That’s right! Now she remembered.

“Well… I guess that you can watch them while I’m gone. They shouldn’t be too much trouble.”

“Alright then Sister, if you say so,” Hal grinned, “now, you best get going before you’re late to that meeting.”

Lilith nodded and scratched at her collar for what seemed like the hundredth time, trying to stop that uncomfortable feeling, but it was useless. She began to walk away when Hal’s voice stopped her briefly.

“Oh, by the way, you’re girl in White Mountain, she was bitten the other day, and I heard she’s really sick. Just thought you might want to know.”

He smiled, a façade of innocence playing across his face. Lilith barely remembered the girl, but she acted hurt nonetheless. She said nothing as she stepped through the fence and into the alley. All around her, she felt the stares of thousands of eyes, and the whispering of their plans. She lowered herself to the ground submissively and tried to crawl away from all of these horrible things as fast as she could, but her mind kept her completely surrounded, trapped…

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

The boiler room felt more uncomfortable than usual as an even greater amount of bodies packed in tighter than sardines in a can. The giant furnace greedily swallowed more coal and belched out flames, making the temperature rise further. The usual whispering and gossip that you would have expected was absent from the crowd of dogs. They had a feeling that this meeting, like the one’s previous since Henry had taken over, would be depressing or be just as insane as a circus gone awry. A completely black dog walked in from the snow-swept streets and took her seat behind Jenna and followed by her came the dog of the hour, their leader, Henry. He didn’t bother shaking the snow from his pelt before standing up in front of the assembly. His tail twitched as he cleared his throat, going over his speech in his head.

“Thank you for gathering here this evening. I’m sorry if I disturbed any slumber. But unfortunately, I must be the bearer of bad news once more. A few days ago, a girl was bitten in White Mountain, and it is thought that she caught the rabies virus… And today, another girl was attacked, but this time it took place in this very town.”

Now something like this did catch the attention of the onlookers, and they turned to each other, whispering quietly. Rabies? No dog had ever seen that deadly disease in action. They thought that it had long since disappeared and that it had no intentions of returning.

“This means that we have to be even more careful with who we trust than before, and no one is to leave their homes, unless I, or an associate of mine, comes and calls for you, most likely to be questioned… But this leads me to something else. The other night, one of my associates saw Balto, which means that he is in direct violation of his banishment. This made me think though. I think I found a connection. It’s very possible that Balto could be infected with this vile virus, giving reason to his recent violent actions…” Henry tried to hide a small smile,  “And this is why I am stressing the suggestion of staying home… I don’t want to see a single one of you get hurt, or worse, infected.”

Kodi, who was now fully recovered and sitting by his mother, was by now trembling with rage. “Why that dirty, lowlife,” he growled quietly.

He felt another paw on his shoulder and he turned to Denali. His brother shook his head without any expression.

“Easy. You’re lucky you were even allowed to come. If you’re thinking about crossing Henry, don’t. You’re too hotheaded to hold an argument with him.”

The dog behind them perked her ears up for a moment, before realizing she was eavesdropping. Denali watched his brother’s frustrated face and sighed.

“Fine. If you must gain pleasure from stirring trouble, at least let me do this, so you specifically, don’t tick him off.”

Denali stood up and began to push through the whispering crowd, gaining some attention.

“Excuse me, Judge, but I have a question or two for you.”

“Aww, sit’own. Can’t we just have a meeting without a argument?” called an irritated voice from the assembly.

“Pardon me,” said Denali politely, “but isn’t a meeting meant to have some debate? Anyways,” he turned towards Henry, who was giving him an interesting expression, “how are you so sure that my father is the one to have this rabies?”

Henry smirked, “It’s one of the only ways to describe his recent violent behavior and-”

“That’s just an inference from very shaky evidence and your own opinions,” he interrupted, “next, are you even so sure that this virus is indeed active?”

“Well, I heard that a girl got bitten by-”

Once again Denali cut him off. “Children are bitten all the time by dogs if they don’t learn how to treat them right. Common knowledge that any respectable dog would know. Moving on, why are my brothers and mother being locked up in their homes? Your real reason please.”

“Because they would not listen and-”

“Who could blame them? No one in their right mind would believe half of the insane logic that you spit out.”

Henry was starting to fume by now. “Listen here you, you better start listening and stop interrupting me or else-”

“You’ll what? Put me under ‘house arrest’ because you don’t like being proven wrong? Well, that seems rather logical to me.”

There was a whistle of surprise from the crowd. Dogs on either side of Denali began to push farther away from him, not wanting to get caught up. Others stared in awe and their mouths hung open at his insubordination. Henry was visibly shaking at this point, while Denali was on the opposite end of the spectrum, completely calm and straight-faced. Henry looked over Denali and at Jenna.

“Jenna, please control your little… scoundrel.”

“Ooh, hoo, hoo, resulting to name-calling now. Very mature,” Denali retorted.

Jenna gave a wide smile. “Sorry Henry. No can do. He’s more like his grandma than I could ever hope, and besides, I’m sure a lot of us are thinking the same things.”

Everyone could see Henry grinding his teeth angrily. Haida thought it was his time to enter the arena. He got up and stood beside Denali.

“Oh come on! Denali does this to us all the time and you can’t handle a little taste of it? Psh, anger management is definitely going to be your thing,” he smirked.

There were a few giggles from the crowd and you could swear that steam was pouring out of Henry’s ears. He suddenly straightened his posture. He had forgotten something… but what? He put a paw to the back of his neck and pulled it back, seeing black on his pads. He didn’t have time to fool around with these idiots!

“Silence!” he commanded and the crowd immediately fell silent. “I will not lower myself to their level and I expect you all to do the same... I want to keep the importance of this meeting clear, however. I wish that you all stay inside unless we call on you, whether or not the rabies virus is indeed here. This is just to stay safe. Now if you excuse me, I have other places to be right now.”

Without another word, or a gesture of departing, he rushed off from the front and out the door, leaving the assembly still silent. As the moment got more and more awkward, they filed out. Saba walked up to Denali and saw a somewhat smug expression on his face.

“Wow, who knew you could be such a rebel?” she giggled.

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

A black dog trudged through the blinding snowstorm. The soot covering her paws melted away and soon, a greater amount of the artificial covering disappeared from her pelt and soaked into the snow below until she was completely clean. She looked wearily over her shoulder and shivered from a sudden gust of bone-chilling wind. The red bow around her paw bobbed uncaringly about, its bright red color now returned. She pressed herself closer to the side of the nearest building as she pushed her way on. The iced over wood siding did nothing to add protection, but it gave her a false sense of security. From above she heard the familiar sound of a creaking sign and the jingle of icicles. She felt her way around a tight corner and stumbled to the other side of the alley. She paused for a moment and her ears perked. She could swear that she had felt someone behind her. She turned her head slowly and her eyes squinted... No one. She felt a growl resonate from her throat. She knew that she wasn’t alone… The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and her tail was straight as an arrow. The wind whipped around her unflinching face, singing merrily and mocking her. Her pupils narrowed to slits and she bared her razor-sharp teeth. She looked behind her… The presence was there. She could feel it… She snapped her head back forward and yelped in surprise, jumping back quickly. Hal had been literally nose to nose with her.

“B-but h-how did you-” she stuttered.

“Please, Sister Dear, you know that I’m always keeping a protective eye on you,” Hal laughed giddily, “but please, do come inside. You must be… frozen.”

He wrapped a bushy tail around her neck and led her towards the entrance to their home. Lilith bit her lip as she tried to think. There was something she wanted to ask him, something she needed to know… But what?… A name? Henry?… That was it!

“Ugh… Hal?” she started to ask.

Hal turned to her as they were engulfed by darkness and warmth. He gave her a toothy smile and uncurled his tail from around her throat.

“Yes?”

“I-if I remember right… Isn’t Hal, a short name for… Henry?”

“Hmm, could be,” he said curiously, “but what would it matter to you?”

“N-nothing but… didn’t your old master call you Henry, and he gave you a collar too… T-there’s this dog who has the same name, and the collar looks familiar.”

“There is, is there? Well how about that,” he smiled with a sinister sweetness and delicately patted her on the head, “but I don’t think that it’s something you should have to worry about now Sweetie. Now, how about going to bed, we have plenty of things we need to do to prepare.”

“Prepare for what?”

“You’ll find out soon enough Sister Dear.”

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

Henry waltzed through the blizzard as if he were dancing, the lashing wind having no effect on him whatsoever. His black fur began to run, covering the rest of his white fur in a viscous mixture of melting snow and soot. 

“That was a close one,” he whispered to himself.

He stopped in his tracks as he tried to get his bearings. He heard an intolerable squeak that could have only come from the butcher’s rusty hanging sign. He walked blindly around the nearest corner and stayed as close to the wall as possible.

“Well hello there.” Henry whirled around and saw another dog staring at him, well, grinning. He returned the gesture and the other dog continued to speak. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. It’s not every day that I get to see… Leader Henry.”

Henry stuck his chin out further and smirked. “Well maybe I’ll try to come ‘round more often.”

The dog managed to mask his disgust perfectly behind a friendly smile, “That would be most wonderful. But my, my, you seem to have gotten quite arrogant since we last saw each other. I wonder, has this position gone straight to your head?… I wonder…”

Henry gave a confident smile. “Of course not. I have everything under control,” his face quickly became more serious, “but enough of this idle chat, Henry, I want some answers.”

“Please, call me Hal, I prefer it much more… But please, ask away.”

“Alright then, first, when will this whole thing end? I think I’m starting to gain suspicion from the local dogs.”

Hal lifted and studied his paw, seeming like he was ignoring Henry. “Hmm, it should be over in a day or so. By then, everything should have fallen into place…”

“Good,” Henry nodded, “and second, and most important, when am I getting my reward? I’m a very patient and understanding dog, but one can only wait for so long.”

“And what a very modest dog you are too,” he said, covering his sarcasm in a laugh, “but we’ll get it tonight if it makes you feel any better.”

“Good, good… Now what time will you get me, and where will we meet?”

“We will rendezvous when I call on you, and it will be under the good doctor’s empty home. There you can take your reward wherever you want. Providing that you held up your end of the bargain… of course…”

“I can assure you that everything is taken care of. The dogs will be staying inside their homes no matter what they see, and I think fear has been spread throughout a few of them.”

“Only a few?” Hal asked disappointedly, though still grinning, “I am most surprised, I thought that after all of my advice to you that you could have frightened more than a few,” he shrugged, “but it’ll do I suppose.”

Henry snorted. He didn’t appreciate being, in a sense, scolded, but he didn’t want to lose his cool either. He mumbled a few words that were lost in the wind and he calmly walked off into the blizzard. Hal twirled around and began to hum merrily to himself as he walked through the crates and into his home.

Chapter Eighteen:

The day before had been horrible. It had been one painful, maddening blow after another. Each time sent a drill through their heads, making them whimper and beg for mercy. But the mercy would never come. Kaltag and Nikki were already long gone. As long as this incessant migraine was poisoning their minds, they would never return. Star felt another sudden stabbing in his mind. He gnashed his teeth together and grunted, his eyes rolling back into his head, sweat dripping from his muzzle. He grabbed his head and rolled back and forth, moaning and whining. There was another nail clawing through the chalkboard of his mind and he slammed his head against the ground uncontrollably which somehow eased the pain. The small dog rolled onto his back and began to claw at the ground, his tongue lolled out and eyes glazed over. A dull laughing made its way into his frazzled mind and his ear twitched towards the sound. Suddenly, Star let out a quiet chuckle and he started to smile. The intense pain turned to a dull ache as something else took its place. Laughter. Singing. Music. Wonderful, beautiful sounds and melodies. He squinted open an eye and bright colors danced in his vision, and whatever the others were laughing about, he was doing so too. Heh, he understood their amusement now. More chuckles escaped his throat until laughter exploded from his maw. He smacked his head on the ground again and howled with glee. His eyes fluttered shut as he rolled around in a fit of joyous laughter.

“Don’t hide your eyes from me… Open them and see me now.”

His eyes snapped open and he stared straight into Hal’s grinning face. Little brightly colored dots flickered in and out of his vision as he returned the devilish grin with much vigor.

“You’ve finally joined us Star…” he laughed excitedly, “I’m very proud of you My Boy.”

Star stood up slowly, his head hanging near the hard earth. He lifted a paw and wiped a strand of drool from his grinning muzzle. “Heh, thank you Sir.”

Hal chuckled, “Please, call me Hal… But you’re timing is most impeccable… I have an assignment just for you and your friend Kaltag.”

A set of ears twitched and the Chinook stood, his eyes dull and bloodshot, his muzzle twisted into a crooked smirk. “Ha! Some action at last!”

“Ooh, Kal, I didn’t know you wanted in on it so badly,” Hal sniggered, “very well. Tonight you will be retrieving something for a friend of ours, a reward of sorts. It means very much to him, and you will have to be most crafty in collecting it.”

He whispered what they were to collect and where to bring it into their ears quietly. Their grins widened and Star laughed.

“Oh that’s rich!”

“I know! Isn’t it!?” Kaltag snickered, “I’m up for a challenge.”

“Good, good, good,” Hal hummed a familiar tune, “now, if anyone gets in your way, just… knock ‘em out with a good fist to the skull… Now get going…”

The two friends left quickly, giggling like schoolgirls. Hal heard a dog walking up to him, chuckling softly.

“So Nikki,” Hal began without looking towards the other dog, “you want to help out too?”

“Heh, what would you’s have me do?”

“I’m glad you asked…” he turned and gave a wide smile, “you and I will be doing the most important job. I shall explain on the way.” 

Hal turned his attention to his half-asleep sister. He whistled and she suddenly jumped.

“Y-yes?” she stuttered.

“Lilith… After Star and Kaltag finish their assignment, and I give you the go-ahead, I want you to contact one of three dogs. I will tell you what to tell them when we return… And do watch over the children. I wouldn’t want anything… bad to happen to them.”

She looked at the pups, somewhat nervously and she nodded her head slowly. Hal nodded back and led Nikki out into the frozen wasteland that was now Nome, Alaska.

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

Jenna woke up again, her eyes still shut and her body shivering. Had the fire gone out during the night? She suddenly felt a dull pounding in her mind. She rubbed the back of her head and felt a lump that stung when she touched it. When did she get this? She stretched her paws out and they dug into something unfamiliar. Dirt? But what was-? Jenna opened her bleary eyes and couldn’t see a thing. It took awhile for her eyes to adjust, and furthered her confusion. There were floorboards above her head, so she had to be under some building.

“Well, good morning Jenna…”

That voice… It sounded somewhat familiar.

“H-Henry?” she asked with a great deal of uncertainty.

“Close… Very, very close.”

A dog entered her vision. His crimson and white fur blended together perfectly, and his brown eyes shown, even in this dim climate along with a small, pink, makeshift bandana that hung from his collar. Jenna even saw the scar on his cheek that she had left there before. Her eyes widened in a horrible fear, and then she felt a growl resonate from her throat. This dog was much, much worse than the one she had thought it was. And now she knew exactly why Henry had been after her the way he had. This dog’s name had never been Henry in the first place. His true name was Douglas…

Back when Jenna had been born, she had had three brothers and one sister. But because of this one dog, she had been the only other one left. Her parents, nor their owner, told anyone, including Jenna, about this dog and for good reason. He was sick in the head in many ways. A nut job from birth. Her parents had run Douglas out of town, and they thought he had died long ago. But towards the beginning of 1927, he had reappeared, trying to win Jenna over, but it backfired when she had told him that she was already taken by Balto. That’s when her parents finally confessed to her about him. She had gotten him to leave, but only after making it painfully obvious that she was not interested, and that scar on his cheek was the proof.

Douglas was her brother. Her sick, twisted brother that had killed off their siblings because they were viewed as his ‘competition’.

“Well, well Sis. Lovely to see you again,” he said smoothly.

“I wish I could say the same…” Jenna muttered, “What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to leave for good.”

“Oh come on, no love for your own brother?” he asked disappointedly, “But you know that I love you…”

He edged closer to her until he was within a foot of her face. His eyes fluttered in a somewhat flirting manner. Jenna backed up slowly.

“Well you know that I don’t feel to same way at all, so back off and leave me alone.”

He made a sudden advance towards her and put a claw under her chin, bringing her muzzle right up to his. “Now… why would I let you go again? I lost you once, and I don’t plan to lose you again.”

Jenna jerked away from him and suddenly felt cold wood behind her. She glanced back and saw that she had been backed into a corner.

“Well, well, it looks like you aren’t going anywhere,” he grinned happily, “just how I like it.”

Now that she was trapped, she didn’t know what to do, but she knew what he was going to try and do. She started to panic, trying to find a way to get out of this tight spot. Douglas turned his body, cutting out any spaces that she could have slipped through.

“Let me go!” she cried.

“And what if I--Ooh, nice try.” Jenna had tried to slash him across the face, but he predicted her move and blocked it easily. “Now it’s my turn…”

He brought a paw up quickly and slammed her chin up before swiftly backhanding her and sending her flying into the wall. Her head slammed against the firm surface and she was knocked out as cold as the frozen wood. While she slumbered, Henry opened her delicate muzzle and slipped her orange bandana in before tightening it. He dragged her sleeping body out from under the building and towards the edge of town.

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

This room was as dark as it ever had been since it was first built all those years ago. A stack of cardboard boxes blocked any light that could have escaped through the window, which was broken in itself anyways, and unlike the rest of this rundown shack, there were no holes in the ceiling. The room reeked of a lovely, acrid, yet intoxicating smell that swirled around the enclosed area. Hal’s nostrils flared as the scent overpowered his being. The paper at his feet was damp and smothered with a potent liquid. He licked his black lips and gave a delightful chortle as his head swam. Hal stole a peek into a toy baby carriage, one that you would see a merry female human pushing about on a sunny afternoon. He lifted a paw and brushed it tenderly over the porcelain face of a little doll. The paint that made up some of the more prominent features such as her rosy lips and blue eyes melted and burned away as this liquid ran down her delicate face. Her short, black hair and lacy dress, a very tender ruby red, were heavily soaked, somewhat ruining her more elegant appearance. He could just imagine it… The sweet gurgling sounds of another life slipping through his claws, and the begs and pleas of mercy that he pleasantly ignored. The feeling of another dogs throat in between his jaws or the taste of sweet, delicious blood on his tongue made his mouth water hungrily. The greedy flames in his eyes danced fiercely as if they were about to leap from his eyes and catch the entire structure ablaze. After tonight, these flames that demanded power and control would be set free, once and for all. All who had, and would have opposed him would cease to exist in this cruel world, just like all the useless pawns that would be of no use to him. After that, he frankly didn’t care where they went. A paw on his shoulder actually startled him, and he whipped around to face another dog.

Nikki gave him a smirk, “We’re finished here. Now what’a’we do?”

Hal began to hum quietly to himself. He walked to the nearest wall and began to peel the dusty paint with a sharp claw. On second thought, maybe he’d let a few live, spare them so they could live out the rest of their lives in mediocrity, just a thought.

“Alright,” he snickered, “go fetch Henry, he’ll most likely be far out of town on a boat. After you do, run back here so I can give you your next assignment.”

Nikki nodded cheerfully as he walked away from Hal, his eyes dim and his mind scattered beyond belief. He padded to the door and gave it a strong nudge. It swung open and thumped against the ancient hallway, sending a dull echo all around. Hal stopped Nikki briefly with a laugh.

“Now, don’t take too long My Boy, because your life is definitely on the line,” he snickered.

The chow didn’t even seem to be affected by his words, and he just laughed back as he left Hal by himself in this dusty, foul-smelling room.

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

Douglas paced impatiently back and forth across the wooden planks of a derelict boat. He eyed his prize with an insatiable lust. Her crimson and snowy fur blew in the frozen gale and her eyes were still shut. A collar was fastened snugly around her leg and a rising pole. Douglas took a few steps towards her, wondering how to wake her from the slumber he had caused. There was a sudden shouting that made itself known to his ear.

“You are to be getting away from her this instant you flee-bitten mongrel!” the gander honked.

“Shut it you overgrown chicken, I’ll be happy enough to have you for dinner, but not right now,” he hissed.

Boris, who was currently held down by heavy ropes, was far past the point of frustration. “You try that and I will be giving you one horrible case of indigestion!”

Douglas, now successfully distracted, stepped over to the goose. He lifted a paw and put a claw dangerously close to Boris’ neck. Boris gave a quiet gulp and shut his eyes tightly.

“You, Bird, are truly insufferable beyond the shadow of a doubt. I think I have enough reason to end your pitiful life here and now, or at least clip you of those scrawny wings.”

Boris opened his eyes and tried to sound more brave than he really was. “Feh, I am old bird. It would be doing you no good to harm me, but…” he raised his thick, bushy eyebrows, “I could take the pain if you would be letting Jenna go.”

Douglas scoffed and turned away from the bird, “That’s one thing I don’t understand about you animals! None of you care about your own lives! You all say that you don’t care what happens to you, as long as others are safe… but let’s test that shall we.”

He whipped back around and without a second thought, dragged a claw through the goose’s skin near his wing. Boris yelled out in surprise and in pain, trying to wriggle away from the dog. Douglas sneered viciously as he waited for the goose to claim defeat, but that would never come. A quiet voice quickly stopped his actions, her voice like a choir of angels to his ears.

“Now, Jenna, why on Earth would I stop? I’m only proving a point,” he said innocently.

Jenna shook her dizzy head. “No… No… It’s me you’re after… Leave Boris alone, please.”

Douglas licked his teeth and sauntered over towards his sister arrogantly. “Why yes, you’re quite right, I did come for you. And I really don’t want to waste much more time.”

He walked behind her shaking form and snickered with sheer delight. But he didn’t know that he would never have her, ever. His ears perked to the sound of running paws. A chow rushed up the plank of Balto’s boat and skidded to a halt in front of Douglas. Jenna gave a weak smile.

“Nikki, I’m so glad you’re here! I-” her sentence cut off when he gave a crooked grin. “Nikki?”

“Douglas, you’re needed by Hal for one, last assignment. He promises that this’ll be the last thing you’ll do. Then you’ll be free to have your-” he gazed down at the now fearful Jenna, “prize, without any of us bothering you.”

Douglas looked down at her as well, rather unhappily. “Are you sure it can’t wait?”

Nikki shrugged, “It depends if ya really wanna tick him off. Which I wouldn’t try.”

Douglas huffed impatiently. “Fine, I’ll go… Lead the way.”

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

Becca stretched before lifting her sleepy head. She gave a thoughtful gaze around, but quickly remembered that this was no world of dreams and happiness. She saw her tired brother by her side, and her now fearful aunt to her left. She gave a heavy sigh. When had everything gone so wrong? It had seemed like so long ago when she last saw her mother’s shining face. She missed her soft basket more now than she ever thought that she would. She even longed for the time a few days ago when her aunt had come to seem more and more like a mother to them, but ever since her uncle had come back, she became something that frightened Becca. She licked a wound on her front paw. Seth had scratched her when they had been fighting for the food scraps that were left over from the grown-ups. Becca heard her aunt shift about, and she gave a sad look to her.

“What do you want?” Lilith asked suspiciously, scratching at her collar.

Becca cocked her head, “Why you keep scratching your collar? Is it itchy?”

Lilith shook her head, “No, but it’s getting to be downright annoying… Why would you want to know?…”

She scratched again and something small suddenly fell from her collar. Both the females looked down at it, with obvious confusion. It was a tiny, white tablet. Lilith twisted her collar and more of these tablets rained down, pattering against the hard dirt.

“What are these?” Becca asked.

Lilith studied them carefully. She knew what these were, or at least, she hoped she did.

“I think… I think this is my medicine,” she almost questioned herself.

Becca’s face suddenly lit up. “You mean that stuff that makes you fun?!”

Lilith was still uncertain, “Yeah, that stuff. But, what would it be doing in my collar?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Becca was now on her feet, “Just take it, pleease!?” 

She shook her head, “I’m not sure… Something doesn’t feel right.”

“Auntie,” Becca said, staring at Lilith, “please just trust me and try it. You’re no fun like this.”

“But what about your uncle? He wouldn’t be happy if I did it. Trust me, he’d-”

“He’s nothing but a jerk! I don’t know why you keep listening to him. I promise that he won’t find out if you take it. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

She glanced down at the little tablets scattered across the ground. Maybe Becca was right? But what if she was wrong?… No… She had to… trust her. Something about trusting unnerved her. Lilith leaned down and took one of the white tablets between her teeth. It was now or never. Her eyes glanced over towards the empty doorway and she gulped heavily as her ears flattened against her head. With a great deal of courage, she let the tablet enter between her lips and she quickly swallowed it, coughing at the somewhat bitter taste. Becca stared at Lilith hopefully.

“Do you feel any better yet?” she asked.

“Well I don’t know, we’d have to-”

She stopped short. The sound of crunching snow had come to her ears. She stood up slowly and looked towards the pitch black entrance. She took a few sluggish steps forward, passing a sleeping Kaltag and Star. The two peeked open their eyes and watched her move with interest and silly smirks played themselves across their muzzles. The dank air began to surround her as she crawled closer and closer to the outside. Her breath came out in a puff of steam as she looked into the blackness. Something drifted in and out of her vision but she left it to her imagination. She closed to her eyes tightly, trying to somehow burry herself in her mind, to shut everything else out. But there had been a noise… She knew it! Her body trembled as the multiple scenarios flashed through her mind’s eye. Her eyes squinted open once more, but still saw nothing but the blackness that had been before her. She gave a sigh of something that resembled relief. Maybe it had all just been in her head? Lilith stepped back slowly, turned around, hit her muzzle against a brightly colored red nose, and screamed.

“That certainly wasn’t the greeting I would have expected from you, Sister Dear,” Hal snickered.

Lilith pushed him away, a growl escaping her voice. “Stop doing that! I’m getting sick and tired of it!”

“Ooh, hoo, hoo,” Hal put a claw under her chin and stared into her eyes, “since when did you get so rebellious?”

She suddenly began stuttering as she realized what she had just done. She crossed her forepaws and looked down. “I-I’m sorry.”

Hal’s eyes closed half-way as did his smile. He patted Lilith on the head softly and nodded.

“Go…” he said softly.

Lilith lifted and cocked her head. “What?”

He spoke with a much more commanding tone this time. “Go!”

Lilith didn’t need to ask any more questions, especially with the tone of his voice. She turned around and bolted into the dark, frozen streets. Hal grinned toothily as he gazed at Kaltag and Star. He nodded to them as well, and without having to be told, they stood up and causally walked after Lilith. Becca went to try and fall asleep again, hoping to avoid her uncle, when something popped into her mind. She looked around the room, which only proved her thoughts. Seth was here, but Stevan wasn’t. As if reading her thoughts, Hal stared down at his niece cheerfully.

“Oh, don’t worry about your brother. I assure you that he’s doing well. I just sent him to join another dog for tonight. He’ll be just… fine.”

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

Mr. Simpson flopped the hood of his furry parka down as he stepped up to a wooden door. He gave a few knocks and waited briefly until the door swung open, revealing an older man and his little, pudgy dog. Mr. Kode grinned and motioned the musher inside, taking a seat back down on the chair in front of the telegraph machine.

“What brings you here?” Lawrence asked, not looking directly at the other man.

Mr. Simpson shifted uncomfortably. “You know how Nikki, Kaltag, and Star are getting up in years right?”

Lawrence nodded. “Yup. What about it?”

“Well, they haven’t been showing up, so the mail’s been going later than usual. I was thinking that I may need to bring in replacements. Right now though, it seems like Nome is tapped out for decent sled dogs.”

“Yeah, I know what ya mean… I’ll get on the horn, see if they have any up for grabs.” 

“Thanks, Lawrence.”

He smiled. “Nothin’ to it. Now you best be getting back home if you want to catch some shut eye.”

Mr. Simpson returned the gesture before exiting the telegraph office. He definitely hoped that any replacements would be up for the task.

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

Balto gave a loud, drawn-out yawn and opened a drowsy eye and noticed something. The sea of white and red fur that he had fallen asleep to wasn’t there anymore. He stood up and staggered when a dull thump made itself known in his mind. He shook his head and blinked.

“Jenna?”

Maybe she was out? No. She was supposed to stay inside still. He took in a deep breath through his nose. Her scent was there, but there were others mixed in with it… Something about this seemed painfully similar… When Star had disappeared, the same thing had happened… The difference was that these other smells were very familiar, but he couldn’t put his paw on where they came from. If this was anything like last time, he had reason to worry. She had to be in trouble… but if he dared go outside by himself, then he risked being killed, and he would be no good to her if he were dead. He paced back and forth slowly, his bushy brown and light tan tail swishing along with him. He gazed into the fire and the flames danced in his eyes.

“What do I do?” he asked himself quietly.

He watched the fire until the flames burned down to a dull flicker and the embers started to die one by one. He was suddenly shaken out of thoughts when the dog door swung open. He whipped around, listening to his first instincts and trying to hide, but when he saw who it was standing there, his shoulders relaxed. It was Kodi, obviously disobeying his ‘house-arrest’. But something wasn’t right about his appearance. He was very shaken, and his face had concern written all over it, including his reddened cheeks.

“Where’s… Mom?” he asked, out of breath.

Balto sighed, “I have no clue… I wasn’t sure to go looking for her or not…”

“Well I think we better,” Kodi panted, “I just heard that a dog saw her being dragged out last night!”

“Did they say where, or even when?”

Kodi shook his head, “They only said what I told you.”

“Darn it! Now how’ll we-”

A ball of purple fur burst through the dog door and skidded across the floor before falling flat on its head. Star stood up, and shook his head while a practiced franticness covered his face. He saw Balto and Kodi and he tried to hide his excitement.

“Balto! I’m so glad I found you!”

“But how did you know-”

“No time to explain!” Star cut him off immediately, his voice sounding more commanding. “We have to go right now!”

Kodi stepped up to Star. “What are you talking about.”

“Sheesh! Do I have to spell it out? I saw them dragging Jenna into this house, we chased ‘em off, but she needs you really badly!”

“Woah, calm down Star. No need to be rude.”

As soon as those words were uttered, Star immediately fell silent and his features softened enough that he seemed half asleep. Balto looked at him curiously.

“Star? Are you okay?” he asked cautiously.

Star padded over to Balto slowly, his eyes were dull enough to match his pupils and his expression. He came within inches of Balto’s muzzle, breathing very softly.

“Now, why wouldn’t I be okay, Balto?” he asked in a smooth voice, “I’m feeling perfectly fine…”

Kodi coughed nervously and Balto pulled away from Star. Star continued to stare, as if he were in some kind of trance. Suddenly, his eyes brightened again and he grinned at the two.

He spoke in an overly-chipper voice. “Well, let’s get going! Don’t wanna keep her waiting!”

Star turned on his heal, his tail swishing back and forth without care. He glanced back at the two, who were still somewhat freaked out and motionless.

“You two coming or not?”

Balto nodded slowly and followed behind Star, at a distance of course. Kodi quickly got the hint and rush up beside his father, unsure of what to think of what had just happened. Star hummed merrily as he pushed the dog door open and held it that way with his tail while the other two exited the nice, warm home. The stiff, wooden boards begged the two dogs not to follow, but it fell upon deaf ears. Visibility outside was zero. The wind blew in a harshness not seen in quite some time, thrusting snow into the eyes of anyone stupid enough to leave the safeness of their houses. Star led the two dogs at an agonizingly slow pace. He walked with a swagger in his step that was ignored by Balto and Kodi. The path ahead of him was nothing but a blur of snow and brightly colored dots. Soon, Star saw wood sidings appear before him, signaling they had crossed the street. He turned to his left and followed the building, not bothering to check behind him. They took this direction for a few more minutes until Star came to a sudden halt. He turned around and had to yell in order to be heard over the howling wind.

“We’re here! But I think it would be best if you waited outside Kodi! She’s really emotional and all, and I don’t want her to break down!”

A streetlamp near them flickered momentarily, lighting up Kodi’s concerned face before it was once again engulfed in darkness. Star led Balto onto the porch of another building, and Kodi tried to follow anyway. Balto saw this and shook his head.

“Just stay out here Kodi! I’ll come get you when she’s ready!” he shouted, his voice sounding somewhat hoarse.

Kodi frowned. “But Dad! Something doesn’t feel right! Just let me come in with you!”

Balto put a paw on his son’s shoulder. “Just trust me! Everything’ll be fine!”

With some reluctance, Kodi finally nodded his head. Balto turned back to Star and stepped into the building after him.

Chapter Nineteen:

January 20th, 1928

Douglas hummed quietly to himself as he waited with the pup named Stevan. All Hal had told them to do was wait here until the time was right, but he hadn’t told them anything else besides that, so he felt rather frustrated. Another thing he wanted to know, was why on earth he had to baby-sit some rug rat. He took in a deep breath and coughed loudly, his eyes watering. He forgot that this room smelled horrible and burned his nose. He shifted his weight uncomfortably from one side to the other. The pup looked up at him.

“Why’re we here? Nothin’s happening.”

“That’s an excellent question, er, Steve.”

“Stevan,” he corrected.

Douglas rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

The pup was right though. So far, there had been no reason for calling him here. He was missing precious time with his trophy and his new plaything. He padded over to the wall and leaned against it. Not only did his paws hurt, they were wet from whatever was on this floor. Probably snow, or something. He looked back towards the far wall and realized that there was no way snow could have gotten in like this. There was a stack of boxes against the window that only left a crack. How peculiar… He was shaken from his thoughts as a horrible grinding sound made itself to his ears. He fell to the floor instantly and covered his ears as best as he could with his paws. It lasted for only ten more seconds before stopping as quickly as it had begun. Douglas stood up and shook his head before shaking.

“What the heck was that?” he asked.

He ran to the door to check for intruders, but was thrown back. He landed flat on his back, dazed and surprised. Stevan walked up to the door slowly and placed a cautious paw on the hard wood. He tried to push it open, but it didn’t budge an inch. He whined and whimpered helplessly as he kept trying over and over.

“Move it!” Douglas demanded.

He pushed the pup aside and put his full weight against the door, but the door just mocked him by staying put. Douglas scratched his head. Another noise came to his ear, but it was quick. He turned around and saw a light flickering from behind the boxes. It began to gain in intensity and soon, it was obvious of what was causing this light. The flames ran around the boxes and began leaping onto anything that would burn, or that was coated in gasoline. Douglas’ eyes widened in horror when the haunting words that Nikki had said to him earlier rang in his mind.

“He promises that this’ll be the last thing you’ll do.”

The phrase just kept repeating itself, laughing at him. He had been played like a fool!

“Why you no good son of a-!”

He growled angrily and Stevan cowered at his feet. The greedy, dancing flames were coming closer and closer to the two dogs, eating and torching anything they came into contact with. They leapt onto a baby carriage. The delicate porcelain doll became an immediate target. First her hair went up in smoke, leaving nothing but little stubs. Then the flames ate the lacy, red dress. Finally they attacked her innocent face, which charred and melted in the intense heat. The pink wallpaper around the room peeled and burned like matchsticks.

Nikki jumped from the crates that made a stepstool up to the broken window of the bedroom. A box of old matches fell along with him and scattered across the snowy ground and were quickly covered by more bucketfuls of snow. He grinned with pure, sick, pleasure. Kaltag on the other hand, ran from the bedroom door as quickly as possible. The chair he had placed between the door and the wall would be good enough to hold those two dogs for enough time. They’d either suffocate first, or they’d just plain burn.

~-~-

Lilith yawned loudly and she stretched. She stood up slowly and shook the snow from her pelt. She blinked her eyes to wipe out the tiredness when she noticed something. She felt, different… There wasn’t that fear of being watched hanging over her head like normal. She wasn’t hearing any noises that weren’t there either. So wait… That had really been her medicine! And it had really worked! She smiled like she hadn’t in a long time. Oh this was great! She couldn’t wait to tell Becca! Oh boy, would she ever be pleased. She began to walk through the blinding snow, back towards the butcher’s, when something caught her eye. A crowd of dogs was walking down the street. An old St. Bernard was leading them, and by the looks of it, they weren’t very thrilled about something. She perked her ears up and leaned in to see if she could hear them.

“Alright everyone, now is the time to take back our town from fear and paranoia! You… We have all been lied to by this so-called ‘protector’! I say that we do not waste another moment listening to these lies that he has promoted! This is our town, and he has no right to wreak havoc! Now… who’s with me!?”

She heard the crowd give very distinct shouts of approval and praise. At last, the true judge had taken his rightful place once more among his fellow dogs. The assembly suddenly halted. Lilith wondered why, that is until she saw what they all saw. It was hard to notice at first, but it caught one’s attention very quickly. Atop one of the buildings, something stirred. It grew bigger and bigger until it was obvious that it was a fire, and a large one at that. The assembly started barking and shouting. This definitely was not good… A light suddenly flicked on inside the building nearest the blaze. There was a deathly shriek that was heard even over the bellowing blizzard. Lights began popping up instantly and humans came rushing out of their homes in slippers, nightgowns, coats, anything that could be easily thrown on. Single men and husbands alike ran back inside to grab buckets, anything they could get their hands on that could  hold water, to fight the fire. Even the dark clouds above sent their snows to try and quell the blaze, but it did no immediate good. The assembly of dogs below watched in awe as humans ran in and out of the nearest building, tossing water onto the fire. Suddenly, a window frame on the side of the house burst, and two objects shot out of it, their fur ablaze. They rolled on the frozen ground over and over, trying to put the fire on their bodies out, but it was no use. The two dogs were slowly turning into roasted marshmallows, need more be said. Lilith’s jaw dropped along with the rest of the dogs in the crowd. They had a very good hunch of who one of the dogs had been from one of the yells. The crowd started to slowly break apart. Some didn’t have the stomach to watch any more of this horrendous scene. Others just thought that staying there would be pointless now.

~-~-

As soon as Balto had entered the house, he was starting to believe his son’s words more and more now. It was completely silent inside except for the ticking of a grandfather clock which soon began to chime eleven times.

“Hello?” he called out, somewhat nervously.

It was weird. One minute, Star had been in front of him, the next, he had completely vanished into thin air. Balto took a few steps forward, his ears alert and his body crouched. He heard foot-falls and the sound of a scratching needle on a record. Balto listened silently as the needle continued on its track. The music came all at once. The trumpets blared loudly on a high note as the rest of the brass and the woodwinds ran down a chromatic scale. Immediately after, the trumpets moved up a half step, playing the same rhythm as before, and the rest of the band rushed down from a higher chromatic scale. The trumpets and coronets moved up yet another half step, only this time the band moved up the scale before bursting into an oh-so-familiar circus tune. As Balto listened closely to this unfitting music, he could hear a humming that moved along with the tune. Bright light was suddenly cast throughout the room as a lamp flicked on from somewhere out of his sight. Balto covered his eyes with a paw  as they quickly adjusted to this brightness. There was a couch right in front of his muzzle, and the sound of paws on the floor was right on the other side of it. They moved around the left side and he heard a tenor voice ring through his ears.

“Entrance of the Gladiators, composed by Julious Fucik, a tantalizing piece of music in itself, wouldn’t you agree?It used to be played for me all the time when I was growing up… Glad to see the good doctor has a good selection of music,” said the voice with a chuckle.

Balto looked carefully and he saw a red nose stick out. He cocked his head and he heard the voice speak again.

“Oh, but you might know this as just plain circus music.” 

The rest of the dog walked out. The dog was purely white except for the paint all over his face. His cheeks were painted a sweet, rosy red, and his lips were black and outlined with red. His nose was bulged and unnaturally red. The string fused with his skin which, in itself, was pretty disturbing to Balto. The thing that he noticed first though, was his cold, ice blue eyes.

“I don’t believe we’ve met before,” Balto said.

The other dog smirked and took a few light-footed steps right up to Balto. He stuck a claw underneath his chin.

“No, I didn’t think you would know me, but we have met before My Boy. You just must not remember it,” Hal replied cheerfully.

Balto pulled away from this strange looking dog. “Listen, not to be rude, but I don’t have time to mess around. Star brought me here, so you must know where Jenna is.”

Hal tutted. “You really are that gullible? What a pity.”

There was a sudden shattering sound and the room went pitch black once more. Balto felt a paw rest on his shoulder.

“I personally have nothing against you My Boy, but it seems that everyone that I’m concerned with has some grudge against you, so, of course you had to become a target of mine.”

The paw slipped from his shoulder. “What are you talking about!?” he called to the darkness.

“You don’t get it do you?” Hal laughed, “You’re the whole reason that I’m able to get rid of all these pests that keep getting in my way! If you hadn’t taken the glory and that filthy mistress of yours, then my brother wouldn’t have caused a huge deal and then come running to me to help him. Sister Dear and Brother Burt would have never fallen for any of my traps unless I used Steele. Killing Sister Lucy, her horrendous mate, and one of her pups was just a bonus for me. And that dimwitted brother of your mistress should be burning up with my sister right now, so, everyone wins!”

“Jenna is not my mistress…” Balto growled quietly, hunching down once more.

“Oh, you prefer I call her something less polite?” he taunted from the safety of the shadows, “And you better keep you’re cool little pup. I’m in control here.”

“How so? Seems like an even one-on-one to me.”

“Oh, now that’s rich! You thought I would come alone!? How very naïve of you Pup,” Hal sneered.

“Heh, I thought you just said you got rid of your help,” Balto replied coyly.

“Hey Balto, you okay?” he heard Star ask from beside him.

Balto gave a small smile, “See that, whatever-your-name is, I’ve got Star on my side.”

“The name’s Hal, Pup, and I think it might do you some good to remember that. But if I remember right… he and Kaltag were the ones who dog-napped your little mistress, while Nikki and I took care of some business.”

“And why would I believe some clown who’s killing his own family?”

“I may be a clown, but I am no fool, I assure you… But if you’re so sure, ask him yourself.”

Balto turned to where he guessed Star was. “It isn’t true, right Star?”

The answer he got was not immediate but it was giddy. “Heh, in my opinion Balto, you’re the clown in all this.”

“Now that they’re all out of the way, we can finally join in on the action!” Hal chirped.

The room suddenly went deathly silent, save for the unfitting circus music that was still singing merrily in the background. Balto felt completely vulnerable. His eyes still hadn’t been able to adjusted to the sudden absence of light and so it was as if he were blind. He staggered forward and he slammed his shoulder into the stiff back of the couch. He let out yelp, more out of surprise than hurt.

“Peek-a-boo, I see you,” Balto heard someone whisper in his ear.

He whipped around to find the dog, that is until a set of razor sharp claws slashed across his muzzle. Balto let out a loud yell and grabbed his mouth, already feeling blood trickling from his wound. He blinked quickly, and his vision was starting to come back, but only at an agonizingly slow rate. He stepped forward again, finding that he wasn’t alongside anything, completely out in the open. The music in the background suddenly grew in intensity, blaring out of the bell of the record player. Balto stood completely still, his eyes shut and his ears perked. They were barely audible, but he could hear steps coming towards him. Wait for it… He snapped his jaws and grabbed onto something soft. He threw the dog by the scruff of his neck and sent him sprawling to the ground.

“Ooh, hoo, hoo! Maybe I was wrong about you Pup! You‘re more intelligent than meets the eye!” Hal chimed in delightedly from somewhere behind him.

Balto smirked, “I guess you could say I’m a quick learner.”

“Indeed…” Hal whispered thoughtfully.

The hybrid turned towards the shadow clad Hal. The clown flashed a wide, toothy grin. He began laughing quietly, and in a much darker tone. This sent a chill tingling down Balto’s spine.

“Ladies and gentlemen… boys and girls… for his last performance here, or anywhere else… I proudly present Balto the Magnificent.”

The music abruptly ended, plunging the room into perfect silence. Balto took a few steps forward, before feeling a kick in his side and being sent roughly onto his back. A black shadow stepped overtop of him and laughed.

“All good things must come to an end, and sadly, this is yours,” Hal said, his voice cold and dark as sleet.

Hal put a paw on Balto’s throat and pushed down enough to make the hybrid gag and struggle. He took in a deep breath and smiled sweetly, lifting his paw from his throat just a little.

“I just realized, you’ll be the first wolf-dog that I’ve ripped the throat out of. You must feel honored.”

“Ecstatic,” Balto sarcastically replied.

“Ooh, very nice,” Hal giggled.

He hadn’t realized that he had let his guard down. Balto took his chance and kicked the clown off of him. Hal landed like a cat and smirked.

“You’re pretty clever My Boy… That’s it… I’ll let you duke it out with Star instead, and if you manage the simple task of beating him, then you’ve earned your life, and caught my interest.”

Hal twirled and sprinted out the door before anyone could stop him. Balto turned around when he heard the sound of heavy breathing. He could now see Star, dull-eyed and grinning…

~-~-

Kodi was thrown back to the ground, sending more snow into the air. A few seconds later, his brother was lying beside him. Haida stood up quickly and shook his head.

“Alright Kodi, you dragged me into this, so I won’t let us lose.”

Kodi closed his eyes as another blast of icy wind lashed against his face. He got to his feet much slower than his brother and looked at their opponents. Whatever had gotten into Kaltag and Nikki, he would never know. He had been standing outside when Kaltag had chased him away from the doctor’s home, and right into Nikki. It had only been pure luck that Haida had been on his porch and heard Kodi through the howling wind. 

“C’mon you’s. We don’t have all night to wait,” Nikki growled.

Haida smirked confidently as he crept back towards them. Kaltag laughed quietly and pointed at Haida.

“This kid thinks he can take us? That’s the most entertaining, the most comical, the most sidesplitting-”

Kaltag yelped as he felt a kick to his face. He fell back to the cold ground while Kodi quickly ran around and slammed a paw to his head, sending him into dreamland. Nikki jumped away from the fallen Kaltag and stared at both Kodi and Haida.

“And they say I’m cocky,” Haida chuckled. 

He saw Nikki crouched down and growling at him, completely forgetting about Kodi. Haida thought for a moment and smiled when he saw Kodi sneak right up beside Nikki.

“Hey Nikki, someone’s behind you,” he pointed to Kodi.

The chow scoffed, not turning his head. “Like you’s could trick me.”

“Apparently we can,” Haida smirked.

Now this caught Nikki’s attention. He turned around and saw Kodi a little too late. The husky hit him on the head, the same spot as he had for Kaltag to knock him out as well. Haida looked at him.

“Remind me never to tick you off. You don’t play nice,” he laughed.

Kodi rubbed the back of his neck and smiled, clearly embarrassed. “We better get these two home before they try anything else.”

~-~-

As soon as Hal had left the building he plowed into an unsuspecting dog. She was instantly thrown to the ground while Hal just barely managed to stay standing. He walked around the side of the stunned dog and stared into her face… His eyes widened in shock for the first time in a long time when he realized just whose face he was gazing into. She lifted her head slowly and looked back at him.

“You… You’re not supposed to be here.”

There was an ominous glow on the horizon that was visible even through the snow. The wind wasn’t just blowing snow, but soot and ash along with it as well. That’s when he knew for a fact that she was definitely in the wrong place. He smiled with as much self-control as he had as he grabbed her by the scruff of her neck with a paw.

“Excuse me, Sister Dear, but, didn’t I tell you that if anything went wrong with ‘Henry’ that you were to help him?”

Lilith gave a small, unafraid nod. Hal closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Then, if I may ask, what are you doing here, and not there?”

“The house caught on fire. I wasn’t going to risk my life for him…” she replied calmly.

Hal chuckled and shook his head sweetly. “So, you directly disobeyed me… Well then, I guess that-”

He paused. Something was very different about his sister. Her heart wasn’t thumping in her chest, and she wasn’t acting afraid… There was only one explanation. But how?… The image of her scratching at her collar flashed through his mind. He dropped her head to the ground and grinned a yellow, toothy grin.

“I underestimated you Sister. Heh, hiding the smell of your pills under your scent. Very clever.”

Lilith got to her feet and brushed the snow of her back. She stood nose to nose with her brother, her face showing no emotion.

“Guess it didn’t take that much to outwit you. You’re slipping…”

“Oh I’m slipping now am I?” he laughed amusedly.

He jammed all four of his sharpened claws into her back leg, grinning maliciously. She let out a yelp and her eyes watered as she bit her lip.

“Well it looks like my claws are slipping too,” he chortled as he dragged his claws at an agonizingly slow pace, watching her squirm and squeal. Hal put his muzzle to her ear and whispered. “I’ll give you five seconds…”

Lilith felt the claws retract from her flank and she glared into his twinkling eyes. She backed away little by little, still staring at him.

“Five…” he began to count down.

Lilith continued her pace and snorted at him.

“Four…” Hal crouched down, readying himself.

Lilith quickly turned around and began to sprint.

Hal waited just long enough to see her partially disappear in the blowing snow. “One…” he whispered.

He charged after her, taking long and joyous strides. She quickly came back into view, but what fun would it have been to take her down so quickly? Lilith looked back and could see her brother just a few feet behind her. She kicked up mounds of fluffy snow as she pushed herself harder, but no matter how fast she ran, he managed to stay right on her tail.

“Oh Sister Dear!” he called mockingly, “I just want to play!”

Her breath caught in her throat as her confidence suddenly vanished. Adrenaline dumped into her veins and her heart rate shot through the roof. Lilith ran faster and faster, her breaths coming out ragged and in puffs of steam. She stumbled as her back leg started to give out, just barely managing to recover. A lamp flickered as she hurried past with all her might. She saw the mouth of an alleyway, and she, thinking that it would be a great place to lose her brother, rushed down it. She slammed her paws into the ground and came to an immediate halt as her plan backfired, horribly. She was surrounded on three sides by tall buildings. It was a dead end, its name was going to be quite literal in time. Lilith turned around slowly to the sound of shallow breathing. Here in this three-walled entrapment, no wind blew. She could clearly see him, and he could clearly see her.

“Looks like the end of the line, Sister Dear,” Hal sneered.

She gulped quietly as he closed the gap between them. Hal hummed merrily as his head bobbed back and forth.

“You look just like Lucy did before I snapped her pretty little neck. How delightful.”

“You lied… Y-You said you’d never hurt us,” she stuttered.

Hal smirked. “No I didn’t… Nikki technically killed Stevan… and if I remember right, I said that I would never harm them. And you are a ‘you’ not a ‘them’…”

Her dark, blue eyes widened with fear. If there had been any question before of what he was going to do, it had dissipated. His pupils were little slits and dark as the very night itself as he stepped even closer to her. He put a claw under her chin and grinned. Out of pure desperation she shut her eyes and blindly slashed at Hal. She heard a hiss and she peeked an eye open. There wasn’t a soul in her vision. 

A voice came from right behind her. “Close Sister, very close…”

She barely had time to scream before she was thrown by the scruff of the neck into the hard building. The icicles above jingled and shook as she slammed the side. One weather-beaten icicle as large and as sharp as a butcher’s cleaver snapped loose from the roof. It plummeted like a bullet, and with a sickening, bone shattering sound, plunged through Lilith’s back legs. The intense pain slammed through her entire body immediately and her mouth hung agape. A patch of blood hit Hal on the cheek as his small sense of surprised vanished into a twisted grin. Lilith tried to scream, but she was voiceless. Tears welled up in her eyes and streamed out. A small chuckle escaped Hal’s throat as he watched his sister with much amusement. Hal raised his head high to the heavens and laughter exploded from his muzzle. His eyes twitched as his body shook from an intense sense of joy. He had done it! They were gone! At long last he was free from their clutches! Fate was smiling on him! He let out a shrill squeal before looking down at his barely-breathing sister. He gave a sigh and stepped closer to her. He dipped the tip of his tail into the puddle of crimson at her legs. He lifted his dripping tail and painted a series of dots on his back, almost like a snowflake pattern, totaling eleven. One for each that had perished by his plans or his own paws.

He leaned down and quietly whispered. “Goodbye, Lilith…”

As a final kick in the face, he slipped a claw through the bow of her lacy, red ribbon, the one given to her by her mother the day before she had been killed, and undid it in one satisfying movement. She looked down at the untidy ribbon which had held her together for all those years. He chuckled quietly as he left her there, words just beginning to come to her muzzle. A short while later, there was a small whimper from behind a nearby box. A little pup with white swirls on her black shoulders stepped over to her aunt cautiously.

“A-Aunt Lilith?”

“Becca…” Lilith swallowed hard, “come here… please.”

Her breaths came out hard and shallow as she struggled to talk. She lifted her front paw weakly.

“Take it…” she whispered, motioning to the undone ribbon.

Lilith dragged her paw across the ground, slipping it off. Becca looked at it unbelievingly.

“But I can’t!” she protested, “You’re going to need it when you get better!”

Lilith shook her head feebly. “Becca… I… I’m not going to get better…”

Becca swallowed as small, silver tears came to her eyes. “But you have to…”

She gave the best smile that she could. “Thank you… for making me whole… and giving me someone to…”

Lilith closed her eyes for the final time as her breathing slowed to a stop and her pain ended. Becca nudged her aunt’s head with her muzzle.

“To what?… To what!?… C’mon… please get up… Please!” she pleaded, now just beginning to truly understand the pain of death.

Becca backed away slowly, taking the ruby red ribbon in her mouth. She sprinted from the alley filled with death out into the blinding blizzard, sobbing. She passed by a lamppost just as the bulb inside flickered… and died.

~-~-

Balto hobbled out of the doctor’s home, dragging Star’s body. He didn’t know when the small dog was going to wake up, but he wanted to make sure that he couldn’t harm anyone when he did. He was surprised that Star had been so vicious. Balto paused to catch his breath after they were both on the porch. He rubbed the back of his neck and winced, pulling his paw back and seeing a streak of blood.

“Hey Dad!”

Balto’s ears perked when he heard his son’s voice. Kodi rushed up to his dad, followed by Haida. Balto smiled in relief.

“Glad to see a friendly face.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. We just got through with Nikki and Kaltag… I still can’t understand what would make them act like that…” Kodi murmured.

Balto shifted uncomfortably. “I met the dog responsible for whatever happened to them… And from how messed up he was, it makes sense I guess. We’ll just have to wait for them to tell us… Unfortunately, all I know is that Kaltag and Star dragged Jenna out, not where they took her…”

“Wait, Mom was dog-napped?” Haida asked.

“She was…” said a familiar voice.

All three dogs turned around and could only see a swirling mass of snow. A slender figure immerged from the blizzard and smiled, her crimson and white tail flickering about.

“But you’re mother’s good at getting out of certain restraints,” Jenna laughed.

“Jen! You’re okay!” Balto grinned.

He pushed passed his two sons and ran to embrace his love. The two nuzzled each other tenderly as their sons looked away out of embarrassment. Haida was the first to speak again.

“I know that, whatever you’re doing, is really romantic and all in a freezing blizzard, but I think we should vacate the premises and get the sleeping dogs home before they freeze to death… Who’s with me!?” he commanded heroically.

Jenna smirked, pulling away from Balto slightly. “You certainly do know how to ruin a moment, don’t you?”

“When it affects my dinner, yes I do.”

Balto licked Jenna’s cheek before walking back to the sleeping Star and lifting him onto his back. Kodi and Haida did the same with Kaltag and Nikki, of course, Haida nearly fell to the ground a few times from Nikki’s weight. As they walked down the blustery streets, Balto gave a casual look at Kodi.

“Kodi, next time you‘re down a dog, don’t come and ask me at least until next spring.”

Kodi chuckled. “You got it Dad.”

Epilogue:

Tom sighed heavily as he made the climb up the stairs. After what had seemed like forever, the townspeople had finally managed to put out the fire without it spreading to other homes, of course without the storm, it would have been much more difficult. Half-way up, he heard the sound of a swinging flap. Jenna must have come back. She must have been afraid of the fire. Whether Balto was with her or not, well, he’d find out in the morning. The grandfather clock downstairs began to chime softly twelve times… Scratch that, he’d find out when he wasn’t too tired to move. He lifted himself up the last few stairs, his wet, pink, bunny slippers squishing when he reached the landing. Tom pushed a half-open door and slipped inside. His little girl was fast asleep under a dark green comforter, her hands splayed across it. He walked to her bed side, bent over, and gave Rosie a kiss on the forehead.

“Good night Rosie,” he whispered quietly as he gently rubbed his hand over her healing one.

Tom gave a small smile and left her room, shutting the door ever so slowly behind him. He crept across the hall and entered another room that he shared with Nancy. The sound of the clicking door handle echoed dully through the house, a pair of red ears catching it. Jenna smiled as a tan hybrid slipped into her basket along with her.

“Looks like they‘re going to bed,” she said.

Balto nuzzled her softly and she licked his cheek. “Yeah, and we should be too. I think we‘ve both had enough excitement.”

“Amen to that,” she giggled.

Balto laid his head overtop of hers and took a deep breath of her sweet scent. The two watched the slowly dieing fire in comfort until both were soon fast asleep. The wind outside swirled outside the window with as much vigor as it had before. It whipped across the street and spied an older man fiddling with his keys. Doctor Welsh was home at last, feeling quite proud of himself for successfully saving the little girl in White Mountain. After a few tries, the key slid into the keyhole and twisted. The door opened and he stepped inside. He reached for his lamp, but found none. He lit a match from his back pocket and the room illuminated, showing the shattered lamp, stains on the floor, and a still playing record player. He showed little surprise.

“Should’ve expected something like this to happen. I mean, I was only gone for a few days. Gotta throw a riot when the Doctor’s not around.” 

He was about ready to start to clean up when he decided to instead head for his bedroom with a ‘It can wait ’till morning’ comment. A curious dog turned away from the doctor’s home and padded slowly back home. His old joints were stiff as he wandered back to the boiler room. He knew that he’d have to pick up the pieces left by that ruffian, Henry. Doc hoped that he would never have to go through anything like that ever again. He passed by another home along the way where there was an audible grumbling. Star pushed open his weary eyes, stood up from his blanket that was his bed, and stretched. It felt like he hadn’t slept in days, which probably wasn’t too far from the truth. Through his bleary vision, he saw two dogs.

“Saba, Denali, what’re you two doing here?” he asked.

Saba smiled smugly and pointed to her brother. “See, Denali here was worried that you’d kick his butt when you woke up, so he brought along a girl.”

Denali shook his head. “I believe that she was the one that begged me to come. I wasn’t so much worried about dealing with you.”

“Oh come off it already!” she laughed, “You are such a blowhard!”

“Darn skippy,” he actually smirked.

The small dog looked at them confusedly. “What’s going on? Why were you worried about me?”

Denali nudged Saba. “Oh boy, looks like it’s going to be fun with the questions.”

Saba looked at Star sympathetically. “Just go back to bed. It’s a long story apparently.”

The three listened as the wind outside howled. It loosened the snow from the roof and sent it plummeting to the ground. A few flakes from the drift were caught in the wind and thrown this way and that. They danced to the outskirts of town and across the frozen plains to an old, abandoned fishing vessel. A Russian snow goose waddled on the deck, mop in wing. He ran the semi-wet, semi-frozen mop across a stain over and over until it at last disappeared.

“That mutt, coming here and causing trouble and messes,” Boris huffed. “why, if I could get my wings on him, I’d… I’d!” 

He paused for a moment as he tried to think of what he’d do. He looked at the mop in his wings and scratched his chin thoughtfully. A small drift of snow hit the goose’s beak and he spluttered. He dropped the mop and pointed to the clouds above accusingly.

“Is all your fault! I say, no snow, but of course not, you come anyway! Bad!” he scolded.

He soon felt satisfied with this bit of anger relief when the wind blew another conglomeration of snow past him and continued on its way as he began to yell at it once more. The icy wind whipped around back towards Nome and through the empty streets. It flew through the shell of the once burning roof, down the nearest alleyway, and over a few lumps in the snow that used to be dogs. One of the two dogs was just a week away from being three months old, but that would never come for him. The wind blew onward and whirled around a nearby telegraph post, to which two posters desperately clung to. Both had black and white pictures and a small description underneath with the headline, “Missing Dog”. The first showed five dogs. Three small pups were in a round basket, their tongues hanging out as they looked everywhere but the camera. One was near white, the other had white swirls on her black shoulders, and the final had two white stripes running down his back. Their parents looked very proud as they watched their children. The description below read as such.

“Five missing dogs, all being husky. Their names are Lucy (Adult Female), Bruno (Adult Male), Becca (Female Pup), Stevan (White Striped, Male Pup), and Seth (Near White, Male Pup). If found, please return to the Nome Butcher. Reward of Five Dollars for each one returned.”

The second poster showed only a single dog in the picture. She was a black and white husky as well. The pattern on her back was like falling snow in slow-motion. Her forelegs, one having a lacy ribbon wound around it, were crossed and her ears were laid back submissively, as if she were very camera-shy. In the picture, a little girl with long, auburn hair had her small hands wrapped around the dogs neck. She was grinning from ear to ear and obviously enjoying herself.

“Please help us find our missing dog. Her name’s Lilith, but she’s timid, so it would take some coaxing. We’ve missed her so much, and we hope she comes home soon. We’ll pay up to Fifteen Dollars to see her safely returned home.”

The wind caught underneath the second poster and ripped it from the pole. It sailed along over the head of a dog named Dingo who was going to visit his mom, and past the telegraph office where Lawrence Kode was busily working. As it continued its course the direction of the wind suddenly shifted, carrying it over the partially covered body of the dog that was also in its picture and above the rooftops. The poster flitted through the air until being sent flying at a fast pace. The freezing wind took it far outside of the town, towards the forests and mountains. The poster descended rapidly after spying a set of three dogs. It bounced along the ground, kicking up snow with it until a paw stepped on it by accident, halting any further movements. The owner of the paw looked down at the poster, the lacy, red, ribbon around her neck bobbing. She saw the picture of her aunt and gulped, her eyes still not dry from before. She quickly knelt down and picked up the poster in her teeth, crumpling it before her uncle could see it. She stuffed the poster in between the ribbon and her neck and looked up at Hal. He was watching the horizon in complete silence, a rare thing.

“Hmm, interesting…” Hal whispered.

“What?” Seth asked, curious.

“I gave a time that the trio were to meet us here. That must mean that they’ve been defeated…” he let loose a grin and chuckled, “which means that Balto succeeded in beating Star…”

“And why’s that a good thing?”

Hal patted the pup on his head. “Because Seth, this means that Balto isn’t as much of a pawn as I thought. Thus, he’s caught my interest… Maybe that’s why the others wanted him dead so badly…”

Hal looked down at Becca and noticed something. He stepped over to her slowly and put a paw on her head, pushing it down to get a clear picture at the back of her neck. Hal knelt down and lifted Becca’s head with a claw under her chin, locking his eyes with hers.

“Now, where did you get this thing?” he asked quietly, motioning to the red ribbon.

“I… I got it from Aunt Lilith…” she gulped again.

“You don’t say… What happened to her anyway?” he asked, acting innocent, “And, how did you get that?”

Becca shuffled her paws. “Well, uhm… I found Aunt Lilith in the snow, and she was crying… She gave me her ribbon and… and…” Becca couldn’t the sentence and she looked down at her paws. Hal put a soothing paw on her shoulder.

“I understand perfectly… Did you happen to see who did that to her?”

Becca shook her head back and forth as she shut her eyes tightly to block any tears. “I got there too late. They must’ve been gone.”

On the outside, Hal put on the best concerned face he could. However, he was grinning on the inside. 

“What a pity… Don’t worry, we’ll find out who did it some day, and avenge her…” he cooed.

The small pup opened her glassy eyes and stared up at her uncle. “R-Really?”

He nodded and patted her on the head. “But of course. Would I lie to you?” Hal hid a snicker as he turned her around slowly. “Now, you two start off ahead, I just need to be alone for a few minutes.”

Seth walked over to his sister and began to pull her away. At first she wouldn’t budge, but after a few more seconds she followed after Seth. The wind, intertwined with snow, whirled around Hal’s body. He stared into the barely-visible town of Nome, talking with himself.

“Even beyond the grave you’re trying to stir up trouble Lilith... But you won’t stop this time…” Hal snickered, “You’re powerless to stop me now. You weren’t even smart enough to tell your little niece that me, her own uncle, took you down.”

Hal licked his lips and turned his back to Nome. His tail swished as he began to walk away, but he stopped. He stole a glance over his shoulder.

“Oh, and Balto, be prepared. One of these days, I’ll return to find you. I think you’d make a most excellent addition to my little ‘family’.”

He took a few steps forward. Before the puppet master turned back around into the swirling blizzard, he said with pure gratitude and glee this simple phrase.

“Thank you Balto… I would have lost without you…” 

~Fin

By: Walto Disney.