𝑮𝑯𝑶𝑺𝑻 |✔️

Eyes in the shadows

☁︎

Two dog sled teams are racing side-by-side with each other. A rocky hillside stands to mark the end of the three-mile marker not too far off. Steele led one of the teams, followed by a worrisome dog named Star, who felt uneasy. Steele glances over menacingly at the lead dog of the other team and hurries the pace " Steele, whoa!" His musher calls and Star calls after his leader, "Steele! We're not going to make it!"

Steele kicks Star's face with his hind leg. He looks at the other team, slowly beginning to pass them. Then, he watches the dog's foot movement next to him. Smirking, he leans over and snaps at him. The dog loses his balance, causing the whole team to trip over and smash into a heap of hens. Then Steele's team races away. "Oohhhh...STEEELLLEEE!!!" The other musher yells frustratedly. "Get in line, Steele! Get in line!" Steel's musher calls, and as they pass the hills, a man shoots a flare to signal their arrival at the three-mile marker. Close by, an emotional street dog named Balto is having difficulty getting his goose friend, Boris, to stay with him to watch the race.

"It's the three-mile marker," Balto says, exited. "Yo, dude! Get your slobbering mouth off me!" Boris yells as he tries to get out of the wolf hound's mouth. "C'mon, let's go, Boris! We can cut around the back and catch the end of the race!" Balto says, ignoring his friend's protest. "Oh, dear, oh, dear." The goose grabs Balto's tail making sure he doesn't go anywhere. "I'm a delicate country bird! I hate going into town!" He yells, and Balto rolls his eyes. "Awww, come on, what's the worst that can happen?" Balto says, and Boris tries to argue, but Balto then drags him off, slinging him across a clothesline on the rooftops.

A slight misstep causes Boris to slide off the rooftop. Unfortunately, he gets caught by the Butcher and is almost decapitated when Balto comes and pulls him out in the nick of time.

♡

"Every time there's a race, you run around like you're in it!" Boris yells as his friend moves from rooftop to rooftop. They're both unaware of those blue eyes who watch them from below. the creature smiles a toothy smile and slinks into the shadows again. "Heel, boy! Boris Goosenov is no spring chicken!! WhoooooOOOOA!!!!"  Boris yells as he suddenly falls through a window, and a pile of snow lands on top of him. "And no spring penguin either," he mutters. He tries to fly in the air but is held down by his shivering. " Why it's cold!" he exclaims, and Balto laughs as he catches Boris. Meanwhile, another flare lights the heavens, marking the pass of the two-mile mark. "Look! The two-mile mark!" a man in the crowd calls, and Balto busts through a door. "C'mon! We don't want to miss the finish!" he says, and Boris rolls his eyes, saying, "Aw, that would be a tragedy." He falls in the snow as Balto runs past him. 

"I was being sarcastic," he says. In another part of the city, a young girl named Rosie anxiously awaits the surprise her parents are having Mr. Yohanssen, the local carpenter, make for her. He takes a newly created miniature sled down from his worktable. "Okay, you can open your eyes now," he chuckles. Rosie takes her hands off her eyes and cannot contain her excitement at the sight of the gift placed before her. Her dog, Jenna, also happily barks behind her. "I love these runners; I love this brush bow; I love this sled! Jenna, Jenna! You're the lead dog! Okay...just a minute...come on, mush!" she calls, then Rosie's mother takes out a musher's hat ": Then you'll need...this." she says and places it on her daughter's head.

Rosie smiles and exclaims, " A real musher's hat! We're a real sled team now! Mush!" she then takes off with Jenna, and Rosie's father laughs. "Mr. Yohanssen, the sled is beautiful!" he says and smiles. "We're very grateful." the young girl's mother says, and the local carpenter smiles. then they watch outside Mr. Yohanssen's shop as Rosie happily tries out her new sled ": I don't know, honey, I think we should've gotten her the dollhouse," he mutters, and his wife sighs as another flare hits the sky "The one-mile marker! Mush, Jenna, Mush! Let's win this race! ...Whohoo!" she calls and her mother smiles. "..I think she'll learn to like it." soon, Jenna and Rosie arrive at the race lane's sidelines, unaware of the blue eyes looking at them from the shadows. So that's the little girl I've heard so much about in this town. That must be her dog, a wolf thinks. As Jenna walks, she is met with her two friends, Dixie and Sylvie ": Good morning, Jenna! It ought to be a close race. Maybe even neck, and...neck," Dixie says and hints towards her new collar.

" ...Say something about her new collar before she gets whiplash.." Sylvie whispers in Jenna's ear, and she smiles at the smaller dog, saying, "Um, Dixie, what a pretty collar. Is it new?" Dixie looks down t her collar and plays embraced, "What, this old thing? ...Yeah. Do you think, um, Steele will notice?" Beside Jenna, the Afghan Hound rolls her eyes. "I'm afraid the only way Steele notices anyone is if they're wearing a mirror," Jenna says calmly. The three dogs watch on the sidelines as Steele's team makes their way to the finish. Finally, Steele's team rounds the corner. He watches the crowd as they cheer him on; Steele puts on a good look for them. Farther off, Balto slips through the crowd. He suddenly catches sight of Jenna and can't seem to take his eyes off of her.

Behind him, a snicker sounds, and he turns around, tearing his eyes away from Jenna. He only sees two fiery blue eyes. he narrows him, but the eyes are gone as fast as they came. Rosie finds Jenna and starts hugging her. She laughs as Jenna starts licking her face. Balto smiles at them. " Hold on...Come on, Steele! ...Oh, no!" she laughs, but then a sudden gust of wind blows Rosie's hat from her grasp, and it lands on the track, a ways from where Balto and Steele's team are. "My hat!" Rosie calls and tries to get it, but Jenna bites back her sleeve. The eyes from the shadows glint as she sees Steele's team fly by Balto. Suddenly, Balto runs after them. He starts to pass each doguntil he is with Steele. but she growls as a man calls out, "It's that stray dog! ...He'll ruin the race!" The white shadow follows the grey hyrbid through the shadows making sure no one sees her. 

Steele grwols at balto ": Hey...Out of my way, Lobo!" Balto ignores Steele as he keeps his eye on the hat.  Steele tries tosnap at Balto, but Balto jumps out of the way and snatches the cap in his mouth. He thenjumps off onto the curb. ") When will you learn to stay on the sidelines?!" Borris yells at teh hybrid but suddenly gets showered by snow as The sled kicks snow at him. 

♡