It was autumn again in Nome. The town had gone to sleep for the night of October 31st after trick-or-treating. Only the canines of Nome were still wide awake. Nikki and Kaltag were sitting around on the path leading into the woods waiting for Star to return from the annual hunt organized by the local canines. They had been waiting for hours after the hunt for Star's return. It was no surprise to them that Star was late. Star had always been the last one to return from the hunt because he was always easily distracted. Kaltag and Nikki both thought that Star was having fun while they were waiting, but such was not the case.

     Star was walking along the worn forest path through all the coniferous trees. The air was ripe with the smell of pine needles and crisp autumn leaves that had fallen from the broadleaf plants. Star was hot on the trail of a Willow Ptarmigan, which was escaping deeper and deeper into the forest. He could smell the ptarmigan from far away, and would hear the occasional cackling call it made as a warning to nearby ptarmigan. What Star and the ptarmigan both didn't know was that the forest was now devoid of any wildlife. Suddenly, the Ptarmigan began to cackle wildly as a loud rustling noise accompanied it. The cackling ended with a wild squeal as the sound of bones being crunched followed. Star was shocked, and then terrified. He heard footsteps in the distance getting louder and louder. He then turned around for a quick escape when the footsteps stopped. He felt the inexplicable urge to investigate the cause of the noise, but ignored it and continued back home. Instantly, he came face-to-face with the creature that was menacing him.

     Nikki and Kaltag had given up waiting for Star and were heading home when they noticed a shadowy figure beside them. "What the-", exclaimed Nikki until he was interrupted by the figure.

     "I'm looking for a Husky. Goes by the name of 'Star.'"

     "You mean the annoyingly hyperactive little gray husky? Follow us and you'll see him a little while after we get to where we're going.", replied.

     "Alright. Lead the way.", said the shadowy figure. Nikki took a close look at the figure. It wore a ripped-up burlap sack over its back like a blanket, and looked like it was a dog no larger or smaller than most sled dogs he had seen. The sack dragged slowly behind the figure, giving it the profile of a canine phantom.

     Star was running in terror from the forest. He did not look behind him or stop to catch his breath. He focused on one thing: Fleeing to the safety of his kennel. He rounded the corner of East K Street and 6th Avenue. His kennel was just ahead. He ran around one side of the fence and hit it. The chain links began to rattle, which spooked him even more. He ran to the right and into the fence again, which made the chain links rattle even more and spooked Star even more. He ran to the right and under the fence. This time, he ran straight into the wall of the house next to the kennel. Star was out cold. Kaltag came out of the house and into the kennel with Nikki following him. "What is going on here?!", asked Nikki.

     "Em llik ot gniog s'ti!", mumbled Star in a creepy and unnatural tone.

     "Repeat. Slowly.", commanded Kaltag. Star got up and walked to Kaltag with a blank stare. He put his paws up on Kaltag's shoulders and stared into his eyes. Kaltag felt as though if Star was staring deeply into his soul. Star prepared to repeat what he had said earlier when the shadowy figure entered the kennel.

     "If I'm hearing crashes and panicked voices, then there must be a problem. Tell me what's going on!", commanded the figure, "On second thought, don't tell me. This must be Star, and he looks bad. Fat dog, get water and food. Dog with eyepatch, tear out a peace of my blanket and rap it around Star's leg. It looks like there has been too much blood loss."

     "We have names, you know!", yelled an annoyed Kaltag. The figure tossed the blanket to Kaltag. He was about to yell again when he finally found out the identity of the figure. It was a wolf-dog with gray fur, three dark gray spots on its back, brown eyes, and notched ears.

     "What are you looking at?! GET TO WORK!", demanded the half breed. Kaltag got to work immediately, but not without hesitation. Who was this mysterious wolf-dog? What was his name? Why did he look forward to seeing Star? These were the questions that echoed in Kaltag's mind along with many others. He knew that he would have to ask the questions later on when there would be less rushing. Little did he know that "later on" was a long ways off, and that the town of Nome would be in a race against time very soon.

     It took an hour for Star to come to his senses. He awoke to the sight of a vaguely familiar figure standing in front of him. He heard mumbling and murmuring nearby. The voices belonged to Nikki and Kaltag. Suddenly, the figured alerted Nikki and Kaltag. "He's awake!", exclaimed the figure. Star fully regained his senses and asked the figure a question.

     "Who are you?!", queried Star.

     "Star, it's me! I'm your older brother!", answered the figure. "You were banged up pretty bad when we found you, so-", the figure was interrupted by a barrage of questions.

     "What's your name? Where are you from? When did you get here? Why are you here? What's going on? Why do I have something on my leg? Where am I? Why do I have a blanket on my back? Why is there drool on the floor below me? Is there kibble? Is it Christmas? Did I get my new collar yet? Did Kaltag give me the two bones he owed me? Is there room service in here?", asked Star rapidly.

     "You should be resting, you know. If you want your questions answered, I'll try my best. In order, the answers are: Dauntless, outside Ophir, some hours ago, because I was sent here, you're recovering from a terrible accident, to stop the bleeding, in a boiler room, to keep you warm, you drool while you sleep, yes, no, I don't know, I think not, and no.", said the figure. "Now, what happened?"

     "Umm.... I was being chased by some cliche horror monster when it cut me and jumped on top of me. Then I felt a pain in my back and now it's gone. That's all that I can remember.", replied Star.

     "Monster?! That is the dumbest, stupidest, most unbelievable-"

     "IT REALLY DID HAPPEN!", shouted Star at the top of his lungs and interrupting Kaltag. Kaltag prepared to let his fist have a less-than-happy reunion with the top of Star's noggin when Dauntless stopped him.

     "Don't. Even. Think about it.", said Dauntless.

     "Oh yeah. He's recovering.", remembered Kaltag. Suddenly, something caught their attention. Without warning, Star began to shiver. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and his mouth began to foam. His back started to arch, and a hideous wolf-being emerged from his back, with the blanket combusting spontaneously into ashes. Star toppled over as everyone stared in awe at what had just happened. The wolf being was black with menacing red eyes that gleamed like rubies in the sun. It bared its drooling yellow fangs at them.

     "Um... I think this is the part where we commence running.", said Nikki.

     "Was this even in the script?!", asked Kaltag, who was frantically flipping through the pages of the script.

     "Yes, it's in the script! Less cliche, more acting!", shouted the author angrily, who should have been shutting his mouth.

     "KALTAG! Never mention the script! You very well should know that cliche is already overused as is!", shouted Dauntless. "Now get Star and run!!!" It was a flurry of fur as everyone scrambled out the door. Nikki ran for Star, and dragged him out the door first. Dauntless followed Nikki out the door.

     "HELP ME!!!", screamed Kaltag as he was dragged back into the house. The door slammed shut immediately after Kaltag was dragged out of sight by an unknown force. Scratching and struggling was heard inside the house.

     "Good thing our musher isn't home. He'd hate the drool stains and murder scene struggles being all over the floor.", said Nikki.

     "Nikki, If you're trying to be optimistic, you're failing miserably.", pointed out Dauntless.

     "Hey, yous remembered my name!", squealed Nikki with delight. Unfortunately, Nikki had no time to celebrate as Dauntless was dragging Star's body to safety. They made their way to the boiler room without haste, so they could plan their next move. "Do yous know about what to do?", asked a worried Nikki.

     "We need bark from the Sitka Spruce to burn. Then, we light it on fire and make the balck wolf touch the blaze! It's all part of the clan folktale!", thought Dauntless aloud.

     "Legend?! What legend?!", asked Nikki.

     "The legend of my clan, the Sitka clan, that is. It says something about a black wolf menacing the latest born member of our clan or something. I rarely pay attention to stories. I only remembered the last part. That's the part about banishing the wolf.", replied Dauntless. "Hmm... This boiler room floor made of Sitka Spruce. Think we can rip out the floorboards?"

     "Yeah, but what are yous thinking about?", questioned Nikki.

     "Thinking about? No, it's what I already thought about. C'mon, I have a great plan!", declared Dauntless. They ripped out the floorboards one-by-one, putting them in a neat bundle on the floor. When they finished, they had to drag the boards into their trap's location with care, for the boards still had nails in them. They set up the trap, which was located in a forest clearing. They laid down the boards into a circle formation, and had taken care to clear out the fallen leaves and pine needles in the area. After inspecting the trap, they proceeded to procure the final materials: matches and a container holding highly flammable liquid. Looking around the boiler room, Nikki found some matches next to the boiler. Dauntless found a can of oil in a wheelbarrow outside.

     "Won't the wolf need some kind of incentive to enter the trap?", asked Nikki.

     "You're right. We need bait. According to the story, the wolf wants to kill the youngest clan member most and will attack anyone nearby, so it'll go for Star first, and we'll be its secondary target.", declared Dauntless. He saw Star right where he had left him. Not wanting to waste time, they ran with an unconcious Star in tow.

     The trap was set. Oil had been spread across the boards, and everyone was hidden except for Star, who would be acting at bait at one end of the clearing. The plan called for the wolf to enter through one end of the clearing where a forest path used by many a wild animal ended. In the center was the circle of floorboards. The entire circle was loosely covered in leaves, so that a circle of fire would form when the boards were lit up. At the opposite end of the clearing, Star's limp body would be acting as bait below a tree. Nikki and Dauntless would hide next to Star's body behind a bush, and jump out when the time was right so that the wolf would be even more encouraged to head towards the circle. They had made the perfect trap. Now, all they had left to do was wait for the inevitable. The wolf would be tracking their scents into the forest clearing at any moment now. They heard a distant rustling. It got louder and louder until they could see bushes moving. A dark and shadowy life form approached them. It was none other than Kaltag, who was scratched and scarred from his encounter with the beast. Nikki did not hesitate to jump out of the bush and into the open to warn Kaltag.

     "Kaltag, NO! Don't go one step closer! Yous is in the wrong place!", he cried. Suddenly, Kaltag's eyes grew red in color. His body began to tremble, and out came the black wolf. Kaltag's body fell limp, with the wolf standing behind it. The wolf snarled at Nikki, and then howled triumphantly.

     "I finally have you right where I want you, Star.", the creature said in an eery tone of voice. The creature stepped closer towards Nikki, who was petrified with fear. There was no escape now. Nikki's heart sank faster than the Titanic. Now, it looked like the end for Nome. "I'm in the mood for a meaty appetizer. I'll start with you first, brown dog.", growled the beast.

     "Meaty?! If I weren't so petrified, I'd- I'd- I'd...", Nikki was now closer than ever to his bringer of death, and began to cower in fear.

     "Not one step closer, Sir Creepsalot!", cried Dauntless. Instantly, a lit match was thrown into the clearing. The fire spread from the match to the boards, and a circle of fire was formed. The fire creeped steadily towards the center, where the wolf was standing.

     "NO! Not again! I was so close!", screamed the beast. The flames engulfed the wolf, who instantly imploded into a sphere of light, which rose above the flames and into the night sky, where the aurora borealis streaked through the air and destroyed the sphere. Just as quickly as it came, the aurora borealis flickered away and disappeared. The fire died down, too. It was as if the inferno new that its job was done, and had decided to leave.

     "You okay, Nikki?", asked Dauntless.

     "Yeah, I'm fine. What about the others? Will they be okay?", wondered Nikki.

     "I'm sure they will be. I'm sure Nome will be, too. The story says this only happens once, so the worst is over.", Dauntless reassured. Suddenly, the aurora borealis lit up the sky once more in an encore performance. It danced with the stars for the last time that night as the sun began to break the horizon. Nome was safe for the time being, but how long would it remain safe? This was the question Nikki and Dauntless pondered as they stared up into the morning sky, which looked to them like a sea of peace in a chaotic world full of adventure and excitement.

     Later that morning, when Kaltag and Nikki had gone back to sleep in the Kennel, Dauntless and Star were the only ones remaining awake. "So, if you're my brother, where's the rest of my family?", pondered Star.

     "They're outside of Ophir, and that's a long ways away from Nome. I doubt you'll ever get to see them. If you want to know how much they cared about you, I can give you a good idea. They were the ones that sent me here to see that you pass a certain test that only the youngest member of the clan born during the full moon can go through. I can't tell you what it is, because even I don't know what that test is. It's a test unique to the individual recieving it. They wanted to see that you passed it safely and alive.", Dauntless said.

     "Test? Like the ones humans take in schools?", Star asked.

     "I don't know what a school is. Maybe you should tell me about it when we get the chance. As for me, I'm calling it a day.", Dauntless said as he proceeded to lie down on the concrete floor of the kennel.

     Star stared into the morning sky, just as Nikki and Dauntless had a few hours earlier. This time, the sun climbed higher into the sky as though if it were staring at Star, wondering what he was thinking. What was this test? Star was questioning this. The answer to this question he did not know. One thing he did know was that a test would indeed be coming soon, and that it would most likely be rigorous. The sky was turning blue, and the birds began to chirp as life began to come back to Nome. The air was clear again with the scent of fall on the wind. One thing that wasn't clear was the many challenges that would lie ahead waiting for Star. He would have to wait and live for this moment of temporary peace amidst a sea of chaotic uncertainty called life.