The moon was full, and as it shone upon Nome, Balto looked up at it. He still couldn't believe what had happened four months ago. Rosy and all the other children had gotten really sick, and when Steele and his dogsled hadn't come back with the medicine, everyone had lost their hope. But then Balto went after the medicine and managed to bring it back, and at the same time the kind that Balto had been before; an outcast. Balto had become a hero and everyone accepted him for who he was.

He sighed and stood up. Boris had not returned from his trip to town yet. Balto didn't understand why Boris had convinced him to stay at the boat during the day that had passed. He wanted to meet Jenna!

Jenna…

Balto smiled and went out on deck. He put up his front paws on the riling and looked towards Nome. He sighed again and let his head fall down on his paws and closed his eyes.

The sound of a snapping twig caused his eyes to fly open and his head to lift up. He turned around and came nose to nose with Jenna.

"Jenna!" he exclaimed, "what are you –"

Jenna silenced him with a small puff at his neck with her nose. She turned away and motioned for him to follow her. Balto obeyed with a slightly confused expression upon his wolf-like face.

Jenna hopped up on the starboard riling, and with a swift and well planned jump, she landed on a barrel several feet away. She continued making her way towards Nome, careful not to touch the ground.

Balto stood frozen on the spot for a moment, shook his head and walked down the plank that was tilted down to the grass that was covered with snow throughout the whole year except during the summer.

Just as he was about to put his left front paw on the soft grass, Jenna shouted at him.

"No, Balto! Don't touch the ground!"

Balto backed away and looked up at the red husky twenty feet away. Jenna began bounding back, using only the barrels and rotten timber. She took a huge jump to the plank from the first barrel she landed on when she had jumped from the riling.

"Balto, whatever you do, don't touch the ground," she said. Balto raised an eyebrow, now a very confused look on his face. "What will happen if I do?"

Jenna sighed. "That's just it. I've got no idea, but something does happen. You see..." She sighed again. "Just come with me to Nome. I have to show you something, and make sure to stay away from the ground."

Incredibly perplexed, Balto nodded and leaped to the nearby barrel.

When the odd match of dogs reached their destination, Balto noticed that something was indeed strange. There was no living creature in sight, except for the two of them and birds that where either flying or sitting on the houses.

"Jenna, will you just tell me what's going on?"

Jenna gave him a sharp look and didn't answer. Instead she made her way up on a terrace and opened the door. Balto followed her and stepped inside.

"Jenna!" a voice shouted, "did you bring him?"

Jenna barked to confirm that the answer to the question was yes.

More baffled by the second, Balto looked to the door from where the voice came. He perked up when he saw that Rosy came running, but then he sensed that something was very wrong. Rosy seemed to be crying, as was Jenna now that Rosy hugged her.

"Jenna…" he said softly, "what is going on?"

Jenna turned to him when Rosy walked away again. "Several animals in town have disappeared. No one knows why or how."

"Does it have anything to do with 'don't touch the ground'?" Balto asked suspiciously.

"I think so, actually," Jenna answered him, turning towards the door. She exited the house and sat down on the terrace. "It's horrible… mostly cats have disappeared, but two dogs and a bird are missing too."

"Who?" Balto questioned as he walked over to Jenna and sat down next to her.

"Steele and Kaltag," she answered.

"Jenna, those where only the missing dogs. Who is the missing bi–" Oh no, he thought.

Jenna took a deep breath and looked Balto in the eye. "It's Boris."

Balto was absolutely beside himself. Boris was missing, and not a living soul in Nome knew where he was.

A voice far away from his mind suddenly started saying his name. The voice grew stronger and stronger, and suddenly it was as if his thoughts had been ripped away from him by a red blur that tackled him to the floor.

"Balto!" Jenna shouted, "snap out of whatever trance you are in! I'm trying to talk to you and besides, you've been pacing for so long that the floor boards are losing their polish!"

Balto blinked a few times and looked up at the irritated husky above him.

"Do you promise that you'll concentrate now?" she asked.

Balto just nodded and gently pushed her off, but she immediately pinned him down to the floor again. "Don't move. Stay still and listen."

Balto sighed and nodded again.

"Good. Now," Jenna said, getting off of Balto, "as I was trying to say earlier, Rosy has offered to try something that might be the reason the how the animals have disappeared, and she is also willing to give up her hamster for it."

"Okay, but how will that help us to get Boris back?"

"Balto…" Jenna warned, a small growl growing in her throat.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I meant how is it gonna help us get Boris, Steele and Kaltag back?"

"I've got no idea," Jenna said honestly, "but I hope that Rosy knows what she's doing."
"So do I," Balto agreed. "So do I."

Five minutes later – Only five minutes? Geez, it's been an eternity, Balto thought – Rosy came out on the terrace, holding a beige hamster in her hands.

"Okay, Belle," she whispered, "this is it. If you disappear, remember that you were always my favourite hamster." With these words, she put down the hamster on the lowest step. Her parents came outside as well and watched as the beige rat-like creature scurried down on the ground.

A puff of orange smoke and it was gone. Balto looked incredulously at the spot where it had been, not believing his eyes. "Did that… just happen?"

Jenna nodded, stunned. "It… did."

Six hundred and twenty miles from Nome, the small hamster appeared in a field with foot high grass. It looked around for a second, and then it ran off.

But it didn't come far before a huge creature – not unlike the big thing her mistress called Jenna, except that this was white – stopped her. She saw two long teeth move towards her, and then there was a burst of pain and all went black.

.~*-*~.

Chapter one is finished! :D Please Rate & Review, this is my first story on this page. The more reviews you write, the more encouraging I get to continue writing. And please, if you like this story but don't review because "someone else will": that is not true, I've done it myself, and there didn't come another chapter. You don't even have to be a member of the page! So pleease R&R! :3

Toodles! /JasperPony