The evening sunshine sparkled on the snowy streets of Nome. Children dived in and out, wrapped up like furry bundles, shrieking and shouting and laughing. Jenna watched them playing from the porch of her house, the very picture of serenity. Suddenly two dogs appeared and seeing Jenna, they barked a greeting. Jenna got up and ran towards her best friends.

"Dixie! Sylvie! How are you today?" Jenna greeted them.

"Urgh, I feel awful!" Dixie groaned, not to Jenna's surprise. "My fur hasn't been washed in ONE WHOLE DAY, and if I leave it for much longer, I'm afraid my serious skin condition will start to break out again, you know how sensitive my skin is..." Jenna rolled her eyes at Sylvie, and switched off her ears to Dixie's rambling speeches about how terrible her life was, which in reality it wasn't. Infact, most dogs would kill to get the pampered, luxurious life-style which Dixie took for granted. They began to stroll down a narrow alley, and soon found the favourite place where they chatted, the barrel stack. Each settled them self on their favourite barrel and it was only a few seconds before Sylive blurted out-

"Have you two heard that there's a new guy in town?" The other two looked up, obviously interested. Sylvie saw the hungry look in Dixie's eyes and she sighed. "No Dixie, not a new dog, a  new human!! Infact he's...RIGHT THERE." The other two whipped around to see a rubbery-faced man with a lop-sided smile and small piggy eyes. He was wearing a dusty brown coat and heavy boots which clomped on the snow as he walked. Jenna felt her body tense, he was heading straight for them. Suddenly a leather-gloved hand reached out. Jenna's lip curled in warning, nothing was going to stop her from biting him if he......was stroking Dixie. She was making soft purring noises as he caressed her smooth, glistening fur.

"Such a pretty little lady. No doubt a pedigree class Lapso Aspo. I'm telling you, you don't find fur like this every day!" He gave her one last stroke before walking away, smiling to himself. Jenna warily took a sideways glace at Dixie, and she looked so smug Jenna was nearly sick.

"Did you hear that girls? He called ME pedigree class! Finally someone who recognises my true potential! He was obviously a showman, who couldn't help but recognise my beauty and charm as he walked by. Well it's not easy looking this wonderful, believe me! You just try 7 hours of beauty sleeep on goose-down cushions, and once a day's shampoo of natural ingredients and hibuscus and nectarine fragrance, and special mostuirisers for sensitive skins, and I tell you, I will only ever eat top quality dog chum made with the best nourishing reindeer meat ! So as you can see, looking so amazing can tire you out so much...."

Jenna stared at her friend in vexation. How could someone be so vain? But Dixie carried on.... "I mean, I feel it's my responsiblity as a female to look my best and make the most of my appearance, wouldn't you agree? (Before they could even answer she went on) Well, there are a lot of people out there like that show-man who I need to impress, and I do the best job I can. Some girls have it easier than others though, all some have to impress are rough mongrel hybrids...." Jenna stopped her train of thought, and whipped around to face Dixie. Her hazel brown eyes burned like two fire coals, boring into Dixie's soul. Dixie's mouth buttoned up sharpish, but Jenna got up and leaping off the pile of barrels, she began to circle, snarling upwards at Dixie.

"So, after all Balto has done for you, you still consider him as a street beggar? After he survived the blizzards and the ice caves and the forests, to bring back the supply of medicine that would save your little girl's life, and everyone else's children aswell? After he proved to you that he was the greatest hero ever to live? You are still narrow-minded enough to think of his ancestors and mark him as a low-life. You arrogant snob!Well I'll tell you something, Miss.Butter-Wouldn't-Melt, if you stopped turning up your polished nose at everybody, perhaps you'd find someone who's decent and patient enough to accept you as a mate! But not until then!....GOODBYE!" With that she strode off, her silky tail held high in the air, her mind seething with rage. There was a tiny part of her that regretted what she had said (even though she believed every bit was true) but ANYONE that insulted Balto  insulted her aswell. Besides, she wasn't going to go back and beg for forgiveness, not now- Dixie wouldn't get her satisfaction.

"Jenna! Wait! I'm....sorry!" Dixie called helplessly after her, but Jenna had gone. After that, she looked at her paws, grumbling bitterly to herself. Sylvie looked uneasy, and made a move to step off the barrels, but Dixie's voice cut through her actions. "Well, are you running after her, or staying here with me?"

                                              *******

Jenna stormed into the kitchen, her brow bent in an angry frown. Balto looked up at her from the rug he had been dozing on, surprised to see her so angry.

"Can you believe her?"

"Who?"

"Dixie!! That conceited snitch! You wouldn't believe this, she called you a.....a filthy mongrel hybrid!"There was a slight pause. Balto shrugged casually.

"It's what I am, I guess." he said bluntly.There was something about the look on Balto's face that made the two of them burst out laughing. Jenna beamed at him. 

"Oh, Balto. You're not a mongrel. You mean the world to me." She exclaimed, and nuzzled him affectionately. Then the thought dawned on her. She, Jenna, was the only one out of the three friends that had had a sucessful family life. She had found her soul mate, and they were devoted to eachother, and had been blessed with a big family of strong, healthy pups. Why wouldn't Dixie be jealous of that???? And it was a good chance that Sylvia too was a tiny bit jealous of her. It was a sickening thought, but the theory seemed to tick all the boxes. Dixie was jealous of Jenna's happiness.

Now that she was home again and had had that talk with Balto, all Jenna's anger had washed away. There was only sadness and confusion, and all she wanted to do was be alone and think about what had happened. She curled up in her basket, and breathed in it's warm, comforting smell. She slowly banished all thoughs from her mind, drifting into a deep sleep.

"Jenna. JENNA!" Jenna felt a tufty, shaggy muzzle nudging her. She groaned and opened her eyes. "Jen, you were thrashing around in your sleep, I thought it best to wake you." She groaned again.

It had been her nightmare.

Her old nightmare.

Balto smiled at her. "Anyway there's somebody who wants to see you at the door." Jenna rasied her head sleepily, still half in a dream-world. She padded through the rooms until she found the front door. She opened it to find Sylvie staring wide-eyes at her.

"Sylvie! What are you doing here at this time ?" Jenna yawned.

"Jenna, it's Dixie." Suddenly the memories of yesterday came flooding back to her. Jenna had to stop herself from snarling. She turned away from Sylvie, she wanted nothing more to do with Dixie. What did she want now? To apologise? To insult her even more? Well Jenna wanted no part of it.

"Jenna please....I don't know where she is.....Nobody does." Jenna turned around slowly, and saw that her friends face was streaked with tears, and desperate.

"What do you mean?" Jenna said warily. "You mean she's dissapeared, just like that?" She expected Sylvie to burst out laughing, and say how gullible Jenna was. But she didn't.

"Yeah. Her owners are really scared, they've called out a search but nobody can help. I've asked loads of dogs but none of them have seen her since last night...." Jenna stared into Sylvie's eyes, and could tell she really meant it. "Jenna, I need your help, this is really scary." Jenna smiled at her friend, and put her paw next to hers.

"Ok." She whispered.

So began the search. They asked every dog in Nome that they knew, if they had seen Dixie recently, but none of them had. They sniffed around crates and alleways, looking for anywhere that Dixie could be hiding. They even began to look in the forests on the outskirts of Nome for a sign that could lead them somewhere. The thought of Dixie the Pamper Queen roughing it out in the woods would have made Jenna howl with laughter, but things were getting serious. Suddenly Jenna felt guilty.

"Sylive, could Dixie have run away...because of me?"

"I don't know. Nobody knows." Sylvie muttered. This was an extreme possiblity. Dixie would want to make Jenna feel guilty, to make her look like a criminal, a muderer. And the others would make Jenna feel like that too. Then suddenly she'd appear out of nowhere, back from the dead. She'd be welcomed like a hero and Jenna would beg forgiveness and then...Dixe would be satisfied. Jenna suddenly felt sick to the stomach. They finally returned home, empty handed. There was only one other place they could think of - Applegate, the nearest village.

Jenna wandered through the streets of Nome, exhausted after a day's searching. She passed a fluttering  piece of paper that was tacked to a lampost. On it was printed a picture of Dixie, and aboce it the words: 'HAVE YOU SEEN THIS DOG' in huge black letters. She sighed as she walked onto her porch. Her font door opened and a stream of mellow light flooded Jenna. Suddenly she was engulfed in a massive Rosie-like hug that nearly crushed her!

                                               ********

"Uum, Balto. We still haven't found Dixie, and I really think we should try going to Applegate, is that ok?" Balto looked up from chewing on a bone.

"Jenna, why are you searching for her anyway? Two nights ago you hated her to bits! You said she was a snob."

"Balto, deep down, she's still a friend. I'm worried about her, and besides, I need to sort out this out between us....what's the real reason you don't want me to go?" Balto stared at her innocently. Jenna raised her eyebrows. Balto knew the game was up and grinned micheviously-" I should have known you could see right through me. The real reason is- well I'm worried about you, Jen. Applegate is the last place that...Steele was sighted." Jenna felt the air grow cold. She laughed shakily. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, I've got Sylvie to protect me! Well, I'd better go down to the post office, I said I'd meet her there. If you get scared Kodi will look after you!" Before Balto could say anything she was out of the door.

Jenna leaned against the wall, her breaths short and raspy. Steele?? What was he doing around here?? Her brain had turned to ice and all her thoughts were numbed by terror. She could feel her old memories coming back to her, her old fears. Black. White. Blue eyes. Steele.

"Jenna? Are you alright?" Sylvie was walking towards her, ready for their trip to Applegate. Jenna faked a smile.

"Oh no, it's nothing. Are you ready?" Sylvie nodded and the two set off.

"Where am I?" Dixie thought. All around her was darkness, and a terrible smell. She tried to gain vision, but all around her was a smudgy blur. Her head rolled dizzily and flopped forward, but to her surprise it collided with a wire mesh. A cage. She was in a cage. She scrabbled at the wires, trying to escape, but it was of no use. Sighing, she got up and sniffed around, and found the bounderies of her cage. It wasn't very big at all, half of the space taken up by an old blue towel. Was she expected to sleep on this rag? Dixie stared at it in horror- it was torn and covered in dog hairs and grungy dirt, and reeked of things she didn't wan't to mention. She eyed it squeamishly, and walked over to the other side of the cage to sit down. Why was she trapped here? She whimpered bitterly to herself, she was trapped in this awful cage and she could do nothing about it. She stared gloomily into the darkness outside her cage- and found a pair of yellow eyes staring right back at her! She yelped and jumped backwards in fright, and it took her a few seconds to recover properly. Eventually she found the courage to walk back over.

"Uum, do you have a name?" She asked cautiously. The eyes blinked at her.

"What's one of those?" A little pup's voice asked. "Is it food?" The eyes shone with glee. Dixie was baffled. He didn't even know what a name was, let alone have one of his own!

"Well, my name's Dixie."She said finally.The pup peered at her.

"I can't see it! You haven't got anything!" He said indignantly. Dixie sighed. How could she explain this?

"Surely someone has called you something before?" The puppy shrugged.

"Well, when a human gives you your own special word which they call you and you only, then that is your name. And you should treasure it when you get one." The pup smiled in understanding.

"I can't wait till I get a name, I can't wait to be adopted!" He cried.

"What?"

"I think that's what happens. We get taken away from Mom and Dad and then humans come and adopt us."

"What am I doing here?" Dixie cried out loud, without meaning to. "I've alread got an owner, why am I here?!?"

"Don't you know?" a weak voice mumbled from  a cage opposite Dixie's. "Well, you'll find out soon enough."

"What do you mean?" Dixie yelled desperately. "I need to know! Why am I here?" The voice didn't answer.

                                          *********

They had finally reached Applegate. They were wandering through the lonley strreets, sniffing and searching for any sign of Dixie. Jenna heard a group of dogs burst into laughter and shuddered.

"Do you think we should head back at the end of the day?" She said.

"Nonsense, Jen! We can sleep out here, it's only little old Applegate! It's no different from Nome really, apart from..."

"Apart from we're surrounded by strange dogs and people we don't know." Jenna snapped. Sylvie stopped and eyed Jenna cautiously.

"Since when did you get so paranoid about it?" She asked. Jenna's breath caught in her throat. She sighed and looked away.

"I told you, it's nothing." She said through gritted teeeth. "Let's just continue and forget about it." Sylvie shrugged and the two of them continued their search. They passed gangs of dogs hanging in the alley ways, many of them gave them suspicious glares or amused grins. The two of them held their heads high and tried to look as dignified as possible as they sniffed crates or inspected pawprints. Suddenly Sylvie's face lit up and she scampered towards a small snow-white poodle.

"Gina! How are you?" Sylvie cried and greeted her old friend.

"Fine thanks Sylvie. You and your friend come with me and we can get some good gossiping done...there's so much I've been meaning to tell you about certain people..." Jenna glanced despairingly at Sylive, who quickly blurted out-

"Err, sorry, Gina. No can do today.  We're on a mission."

"Ooh! Tell me!" Gina squealed, her eyes gleaming. Jenna felt defeated. They'd have to let this blabber-mouth in on the secret, or else they wouldn't be able to get the imformation they needed. After Sylvie had briefly explained, Gina nodded slowly. "Well, I haven't seen this Dixie, but a truck pulled through here a couple of days ago....no-one knows where it went...apart from that there's been no sign of anything." The two of them beamed their thanks, now at least they had something to go on. Gina made to leave, but then turned round again. "Are you sure you couldn't stay for just a tiny chat?"

"No!" The two of them cried together. Gina shrugged and walked off. After that, Jenna and Sylvie decided to split up. They would cover more ground that way.

Jenna was wandering through the streets, thinking deeply. Had Dixie really left because of her? That was a terrible thought. Who knew where she could be at this moment. Suddenly Jenna jumped as she realised she was  wandering into an side alley she'd never seen before. She peered through the musky half-light, her eyes straining to see something in the darkness. Her heart began to thud in her ribs, but she didn't know why.

"Hello?" She called into the dim dark, trying to make her voice sound more confident than it actually was. "Anybody there?" Nothing. Nobody answered. She waited for a few seconds then turned to leave, but heard something.

A wet, rasping sound.

Like a tongue against the metal of a tin can.

Jennna stepped up again. She raised her head and called again- "Anybody there?" The rasping stopped. Jenna felt her body tense. The first thing she noticed was a light flickering through the hazy darkness. A blue light. The shadows infront of her were moving. Then suddenly, the sillouete of broad, muscular shoulders formed infront of her, and suddenly there stood a large malumute. His black-rimmed eyes blinked at her. She stared back into them, her huge brown eyes wide  with disbelief.

"J-Jenna?" He asked in surprise. "...Is that really you?" There was no mistaking it, that deep, husky voice. It echoed through her memories, striking her  like a splash of ice cold water. Jenna, Jenna, Jenna..... The same word, that same voice, repeated itself over and over in her mind. Yes, it was him. Steele. Thinner, scruffier, but Steele. She felt herself tremble.

The shocked look had left his face. He leaned against the wall, smirking silently at her. He almost looked like his old self. "Well, well, well, it is you. Long time no see." He swished his tail casually. "What brings you around these parts, then?"

Somehow Jenna found her voice. "Dixie's been missing for a couple of days and no-one's seen any sign of her. We've come to Applegate as a last resort, but we don't know many dogs here. You've been here for quite some time now and we wondered if you could help us find her." She tried to stay on top of the conversation. Steele wasn't the dominant of her anymore, and she had to keep tellling herself that.

Steele hesitated before saying-"I mi-i-ght be able to help you, I know the area around here like the back of my paw. It just so happens that I have got some valuable information, too...."

Jenna was overcome with ecstasy.

"Oh Steele, thankyou..."

"Woah!" Steele raised his eyebrows at her. "Don't come too close now Jenna, I don't want to catch any dirty hybrid fleas....." he laughed. She had the urge to smack him right in his arrogant face. But she had to keep her cool- she exhaled slowly and looked straight into his eys. And it was then that a brilliant thought struck her.

She  walked right up to him.

"Oh no, Steele. I don't think you mind it at all." She said in a soft, silky voice. The remark seemed to surprise him, and he took a step away from her. "Oh no you don't...." Jenna giggled and wrapped her tail around his leg to stop him retreating."Face it Steele, deep down you can't help yourself. It's your weakness....." she whsipered huskily. His mental resistance was wavering, she felt it. She slowly slid her head under his chin, but then he suddenly tensed and backed away.

"Don't think you can fool me again! Old tricks won't work this time."He half-growled at her. She knew what he meant as images of the boiler room, a hot furnace and a string of sasauges came to mind. She bit her lip to stop herself from bursting out laughing. But she saw that she was losing her game and thought fast. She pretended to look hurt as he turned away from her.

"So, you're not going to help me find one of my best friends? She was your greatest admirer, you know. Would I have come all the way out here if it wasn't so urgent? I needed to find you, I knew that only you had the brain and the streetwise to help  me find her." He was considering it. She wondered if she should take the risk, and finally she cleared her throat and said-

"Besides, if you agree , I might reward you afterwards...." There was a slight pause as Steele tried to understand her, and then it dawned on him and his mouth slowly spread into a sly smile.

"I never thought you'd be that type of person," Neither did I, she thought to herself." but you have to expect surprises in life. You've certainly changed the outlook of it all." He began to stroll away, still grinning to himself.

"I might consider your offer, Jenna. But be warned, don't send me on a wild goose chase- when double-crossed I'm not a very....patient guy." Her heart was in her mouth as she watched his tall figure stride down the street and away round the corner. As soon as he was out of sight there was a plop and a splash- as Jenna dived into the water trough.

When she was sure every little trace of Steele had been washed clean off her fur, she emerged from the cool water and shook herself dry. She couldn't stop thinking about the terrible deal into which she had got herself.

It was an awful bargain, but she was prepared to risk everything, to risk her life..............to save Dixie's.

TO BE CONTINUED....