Cole fidgeted with his necklace as he and Blake lined up with the other team members. It had been a couple of years since he had started going to Nome's school and was now a sophomore in the high school. Blake Wolfen and him had become good friends and they hung out with each other as often as they could. Even when Keith and his posse tried making it hard on them, over time that too had started to grow old and the pain had begun to ease since Blake had Cole to help him intercept Keith's pranks. Cole couldn't help but snicker as he recalled the time he had signed up for the cross country team on his first day at the new school.

"You seriously believe that you can live up to our coach's expectations?", Keith had told him harshly, "You're even more mess up than I gave you credit for."

"Hey, leave him alone Keith.", Blake said firmly, "Our coach will have the final say about who's on the team and who's not so stop being such a jerk."

Keith didn't look impressed, but he smiled snidely.

"Fine.", he answered, "But don't go whining when I beat you in the trial run later today."

Cole's expression darkened.

"You are a horrible person.", he said trying to sound clam, but found it hard to, "I bet you haven't done one nice thing for anybody in your entire life."

Before Keith could voice anything, the bell rang signaling the school session had begun so Blake and Cole had to get to class. Classes at the school were not much different than the ones he had in Idaho, though Cole still missed his old school. Art class was one he found he had a knack for besides track and field and the teacher there seemed like she was a nice person.

"Oh, it's nice to have a new face in our student body.", she said when Cole first came to her class.

As time went on, Cole felt more at ease and Blake often helped him get over his anxiety and stress. Then Cole noticed Blake was staring at a girl around their age with reddish brown hair and often wearing jeans and a red shirt that complimented her warm brown eyes.

"Blake, you okay?", Cole asked.

Blake snapped out of his daze and blushed.

"Yeah, I just…"

"You like her don't you?", Cole had asked smiling slyly as he recalled Balto and Jenna making the exact same look.

Blake sighed.

"Yeah.", he admitted, "Alice is a wonderful person."

Cole then looked up Alice in his Study Hall and found out her last name was Husken which he found a bit weird, but then dropped it.

"Hey, some people are just off.", he would tell himself.

/

"Okay everyone!", Coach Barkly called out snapping Cole out of his trance, "Once around the building and toss the yellow ball back in forth between leads."

It was a warm spring day and the snow as still lingering, but the team was used to the weather and by now Cole was too. Keith wasn't around, but Cole knew why. Last year during the trial run, Blake and him did make the grade as much as Keith complained to the coach that it was off.

"This isn't right!", Keith said right to Coach Barkly.

The middle-aged coach was athletic, but he knew potential and wasn't about to let his once top runner try to tell him how to run his team.

"McSnarl, you can either run three more laps around the gym or you can allow Wolfen and Marty to get the rundown of how we do things here."

Since that time, Cole and Blake often trained after school by running home and talking. Blake had allowed Cole over to his house where Cole met his two adopted brothers Mark and Lars who were cheerful and eager to get to know Blake's new friend. Cole couldn't help but chuckle lightly as Lars had given him a huge hug to welcome him. The man who Blake lived with was Russian, but he seemed nice once Blake got him to let his guard down. Cole came out of his daze again as Coach Barkly held a whistle to his mouth.

"On my whistle.", he instructed, "Three . . . two . . ."

He blew it and tossed a yellow foam ball to Blake who had pulled into the lead with Cole right behind him. As they tossed the ball to each other and to anyone else who got close to them while they continued running, Cole then remembered his near final race of the season and Keith was determined to make sure he and Blake were not attending, but his old posse had by now had gotten used to Blake and Cole on the team. When the race began, it was clear that Keith was cheating by trying to trip Blake and Cole.

"Hey, we're a team Keith.", Cole had complained.

"Not in my book.", Keith answered harshly.

Unfortunately for Keith, as he tried once again to try and trip up Blake, his sneaker got caught on a root sticking up from the ground and the vain kid slipped and fell to the ground pretty hard. As mean as Keith was, Cole couldn't help but feel sorry for him even when he and Blake crossed the finish line. Their team won that race, but Keith was benched for an injured leg and wouldn't be able to compete the following year.

/

As the run concluded, Blake and Cole were as usual the first ones to finish as Coach Barkley clicked his stopwatch and looked impressed.

"Wolfen, Marty, you never fail to surprise me.", he chuckled.

He then turned to the rest of the team.

"Great work everyone. Go and hit the showers and have a good night."

As the team filed into the gym through the open doors, the team was already praising Blake and Cole.

"Man Cole, you barely kept up with us and look at you now."

"Blake really did a good job helping him out."

"Personally, I think Cole just got lucky."

Cole wasn't listening as he and Blake got into the locker room and soon were removing their gym clothes so they could go shower. As Cole fidgeted with the knob, the shower head above him shot water out that was ice cold at first, but Cole backed off enough before it went to warm.

"Hot showers you can take at home.", Coach Barkley had told him when he made the grade, "Warm can be passible, but save the heat for saunas. If you're a cold-water lover, which I doubt, I can let that slide too."

Cole went with warm since he had tried cold before and it was clearly a mistake. As he massaged his scalp with his shampoo, Blake was doing the same thing next to him and they started chatting the way the team would while they shower.

"Got any plans this weekend Darren?"

"Nah, Dad's taking me upriver so we can go camping."

"I'm going to help my mom with her friend's party tomorrow. Man, she can use some help."

"I'll run some more at home. Maybe it will help me stay on the team."

Blake turned to Cole who was rinsing his hair of the shampoo now that he was done scrubbing it.

"You doing okay?"

Cole shrugged.

"I guess I'll just do my homework and do some reading."

Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Really? What about?"

"Something about wolves and their ties to Inuit beliefs I guess."

Blake chuckled.

"Still thinking about that experience huh?"

Cole flinched, but then remembered something.

"Yeah, aren't we supposed to be doing that totem pole project in Art that's due next week?"

A couple of the team members looked shocked.

"Oh yeah, how could I forget?!"

"I need to get to work right away!"

The two that spoke finished up and were hurriedly dressing themselves while some of the other members started drying off and redressing also. Cole and Blake were among the last to file out, but they didn't care. They were washed off from working up a sweat in the run and as they walked among the trophy case displaying the awards for the school's sports, the cross-country ones stood out more than the rest.

/

Once Blake and Cole had finished packing up, they went out the gym doors that the school janitor was locking and started for home.

"Hard to believe that the year is almost over.", Cole stated looking a bit down.

Blake placed a hand on Cole's shoulder.

"Hey, we'll still be friends won't we?"

Cole smiled shyly.

"Yeah. I just hope I can get my parents to sign my permission slip so I can go with the team to compete in Anchorage."

Blake and Cole had gotten slips from Coach Barkley for their parents or guardians to sign so that they could go compete in the next part of their cross-country season though Cole was sure that his parents would be more than happy to let him go. Blake's parental guardian Mr. Gustov would object at first, but Cole had a feeling he would let Blake go too. Once they reached the playground, Cole recalled the first time he and Blake met. Blake then spoke up and brought Cole out of his thoughts.

"Cole, what kind of totem are you going to make?", he asked.

Cole looked thoughtful.

"I'm not sure.", he answered sheepishly, "Teach told us that our totem needs to tell a story, but I'm not sure where to start."

"Well, maybe if you can come up with a story, it might help.", Blake suggested.

Cole then brightened as he recalled his adventures with Balto and a familiar feeling came over his mind. A feeling of loss and longing that he hadn't felt since he first moved to Nome. It was faint, but Cole tried ignoring it for Blake's sake. It wasn't long before they got to Cole's house where both boys could smell Cole's mom cooking.

"Meatloaf, potatoes, and corn.", Blake guessed smelling the air.

Cole smiled.

"Care to make a wager?"

"If I'm right, next time, you eat dinner with my family.", Blake said.

"And if you're wrong, we run three laps around the block.", Cole added.

"You're on.", Blake said with a smile.

Once they came in the door, Blake and Cole wiped their sneakers to clear off the dirt before they came up the stairs.

"Hi Cole.", Cole's mother said cheerfully before turning to Blake, "Blake."

"Hi Mom.", Cole said very perky.

Blake noticed the meatloaf Cole's mother was taking out and the mashed potatoes on the stove so he had a feeling he was right.

"Blake, would your guardian be alright if you ate over?", Cole's mother asked.

Blake pulled out his cell phone and dialed before he went into another room for a bit. Cole couldn't make out everything that was being said, but Blake soon came back looking cheerful.

"Looks like I'm eating over.", he said to Cole's mother, "Thanks for inviting me Mrs. Marty."

/

When Cole's father came back, Blake had been right about what dinner was so after a short talk, Cole would be eating over at Blake's house next night. While they all ate, they usually had conversations which they did.

"So Blake, how come Mr. Gustov wound up raising you?", Mr. Marty asked interested.

Blake looked a bit insecure, but answered.

"My parents had an accident a long time ago so I had to be in an orphanage for a while, but Mr. Gustov must have felt pretty sorry for me cause he showed up about when I was seven and raised me ever since."

Mrs. Marty looked apologetic.

"Oh my goodness.", she said, "I'm sorry to hear that."

Cole then stepped in.

"Yeah, but at least now Blake and I have each other now."

Mr. Marty looked amused.

"Yep. This Mr. Gustov seems like a great person. I'd sure love to meet him more often."

Cole couldn't help but roll his eyes comically as he recalled the first time their families had met. It was during a parent teacher conference at school and Cole's parents arrived with him just as Blake and his guardian did. The weathered looking station wagon didn't look promising, but as the elderly looking Russian hopped out and noticed Cole and his parents, he looked a bit firm as he turned to Blake.

"And who might these people be?", he asked.

"We're the Marty family.", Mr. Marty told him, "We moved here just last month."

Mr. Gustov looked to Blake interested while pointing to Cole.

"This is classmate you say runs as good as you that you tell me about?", he asked.

Blake nodded.

"Yep, that's him."

Mr. Gustov looked interested at Cole, but then looked firm again.

"You not one of those kids from detention center are you?"

"Not at all.", Mr. Marty answered, "Cole's a good boy."

Cole's thoughts came back to reality as the conversation kept going.

"It was nice to meet Mark and Lars too.", Mrs. Marty put in, "They seem nice though a bit overeager."

"You have no idea.", Cole stated.

Soon, dinner had concluded and Mrs. Marty brought out the bread pudding she had made for dessert. It was pretty tasty and Blake even asked if he could take some home before he left.

"So, I'll see you in school?", Cole asked before Blake left.

"Always.", Blake answered before he dashed off and vanished rather fast.

/

While his father helped his mother clean up, Cole retreated to his room so he could think of a story for his totem pole project. His laptop which he had gotten last year was sitting on a desk on one side of the wall so he pulled up a chair and started looking into totem pole carvings.

"I wonder how Balto's doing.", Cole couldn't help but wonder as he noticed the "Balto" DVD sitting near the laptop.

As Cole went through some totem images, one that had a white wolf caught his eye. It reminded him of the white wolf that had appeared in a dream and then showed up when he and Balto had fallen off that cliff.

"Who are you?", he asked before noticing his necklace and changing the subject, "Why did I say that I was on a sled team and had a musher when I ment to say that I was on a track and field team and coach?"

Cole's mind started pondering. Was it because he was in a dog's body that his mind had been altered slightly? And how come he couldn't tell Balto his real name or talk about his own life? Cole recalled an old history project he did on Togo and Balto once. Togo had gone on to have litters of pups while Balto had been sprayed and therefor was unable to. He felt kind of bad that Balto died in a zoo and Togo passed away naturally, but it was history and he just had to accept it. Could that be connected to his necklace somehow? He then spent about another hour researching images for the totem before he found some he thought would be useful.

"Okay, I'll start with the man carving on the bottom, then a decorative circle above that, then a wolf, and a bear, then the raven on the top."

As Cole finished up, he saw the mirror and couldn't help but smile as he touched his necklace.

"If I could only go back again.", he sang softly to himself, "To the places where I have been."

Then a wolf howl caught his ears making him stand up. Was it happening again? Cole was startled when he saw ice form over the mirror's surface and the image of Nome in the past came to view. This time, Cole wasn't worried as the wind whipped around his body urging it to the mirror.

"Well, here we go again.", Cole said as he touched the mirror and vanished once more.