Dropping the glove by his side, Mickey licked Lucky’s face. “I thought that was the end of me,” the Farm Dog murmured. Lucky could feel his whole body trembling.

Lucky nuzzled the Leashed Dog’s neck and allowed him to catch his breath. Then he got to his feet. “Come on,” he said, as though nothing unusual had happened. “Let’s catch up to the others.”

Arriving at the top again, Lucky saw that Snap was helping Martha loosen a burr branch from her thick black tail. It must have gotten stuck there when the water-dog had turned the sharp bend in the hill. Once free, Martha lowered her large, gentle face to lick Snap’s nose before turning to hurry through the forest.

Alpha is nowhere to be seen. He must have gone ahead, Lucky thought. Why hadn’t he stopped to help the other dogs?

Mickey bounded after them between the tall trees and Lucky followed, enfolded in the sweet scents of the forest. In the distance, he heard the hum of the dark cloud as it pulsed from the ground, and another sharp crack had him bolting past Mickey and beneath the trees. Lucky zigzagged between trunks until something like a path opened before him, following the scents of the other dogs. He passed Moon and Fiery, whose pace was slower because each carried a puppy. Bella and Sweet kept level with them, looking out for hazards such as foxes and sharpclaws. Lucky paused to watch them, struck by how they appeared to have put aside their hostilities to protect the vulnerable pups.

Mickey sprang past Lucky, followed by Daisy. Most of the other dogs had pressed ahead but Lucky held back, remembering how the smaller dogs had struggled on the rocks. He had to make sure that no one had been overlooked. Retracing the path toward the entrance to the forest, he found Dart, the brown-and-white female from the Wild Pack. She was cowering beneath a tree, her eyes wild.

Lucky approached her slowly. “It’s this way, Dart. Come and join the Pack.”

Dart flinched, backing away from him and glancing in the direction of the strange black cloud. “The camp,” she whimpered.

Lucky tried again. “There’ll be another camp,” he told her. “A better camp, with good air and tasty water. Trust me.”

Her ears pricked up. Slowly she took a step toward him. “Are you sure it’s safe in the forest? I’ve heard things.” Her wide eyes shot across the shadowy branches. “My Mother-Dog used to tell me stories about giantfurs ten times the size of dogs with claws as long as branches and as pointed as a sharpclaw’s.”

Lucky shuddered inside but tried to sound confident. “There’s nothing like that here. You’ll be safe if you follow the Pack.”