Free Kaleidoscope Eyes by Karen Ball

controlled power. Body relaxed as she trotted along, her strong legs moved with ease and purpose. Mouth set in a typical shepherd grin, Kodi’s panting sent tufts of fog circling into the air, trailing behind her like steam from a locomotive.
    Annie waited where she was, bracing herself. Kodi’s steady stride didn’t break until she reached her mistress. Then she leaned forward, poking that cold nose against the collapsible water bowl hanging from Annie’s belt.
    “Good girl, Kode.” Annie kept her tone upbeat, encouraging. She couldn’t let her growing concern bring Kodi down. The dog drew alongside Annie and poked her snout at the water dish again, all business. No begging for ear scratches now. Like all search dogs, when Kodi was working, nothing mattered but finding the subject.
    “Thirsty, huh?”
    An enthusiastic bark filled the morning stillness, so Annie undipped the dish and filled it with water. Many handlers justtipped the dish, keeping it attached to their belts as they filled it, then held it for the dog to drink.
    If Annie did that, she’d get a bath.
    Kodi might be one of the best wilderness air scenters in the country, but one thing she was
not
was dainty
    Annie watched until she was done drinking, then shook out the bowl and clipped it back in place. Kodi started to turn, then stopped when Annie touched her neck.
    “Hang on a minute, girl.”
    Kodi turned those soft brown eyes up to her. Was anything more soulful than a German shepherd’s gaze? Annie knelt, draped an arm around that powerful neck, closed her eyes.
    Breathed in the fragrance of the woods, the heady scent of dirt and pine.
    Be still.
    Listened to the whisper of life around them. The chorus of chirruping insects. The song of birds greeting the day …
    Be still
    Kodi leaned against Annie, resting her chin on her mistress’s shoulder. Annie stroked the dog’s long ears.
Help us, Lord. Help us to see …
    A breeze kicked up, brushing Annie’s face and lifting her hair with invisible fingers. A tremor shuddered down her spine, but not because of the breeze. Annie opened her eyes.
    The sun was coming up.
    Rays of light slipped through the clouds, spilling onto the trees, the bushes, the grasses. Colors and light shifted, blended, reflecting all around them like diamonds in the dew. All around them … except …
    There.
    About twenty feet away, near the bottom of the ravine. Something about the grass, the bushes, was different.
    Annie’s heart tripped and she stood, walking with slow, careful steps, keeping her eyes on the subtle difference in sheen. When she reached the spot, she knelt and studied it more closely.
    Yes. Someone had walked here. And not that long ago. The grass was bent, pressed down. Dew was wiped away from a section of branches on the bush, as though someone had brushed against it as she hurried past.
    Annie glanced at Kodi. The dog had straightened, ears perked, her eyes flitting from Annie to the area beyond them, then back to Annie. She felt it too. She had to. That sudden quickening inside, the feeling she needed to catch her breath.
    Standing, Annie gripped Kodi’s collar. “Bertha’s out there, Kodi.
Find
her, girl!”
    Kodi was off like a shot. Annie followed, heart pounding. They were going to find Bertha. She knew it as surely as she knew daylight was coming.
    She watched Kodi range back and forth, and even the jingling of her bell sounded more assured.
    Doris was right. Kodi was beautiful. Annie never tired of watching her work. Growing daylight filtered through the trees around them, sending rays of gold and rose across the ravine, making Kodi’s black fur shine as she zigzagged with that easy, comfortable gait, her nose lifted to the air then lowered to the ground as she sought the elusive scent cone. Those strong legs and immense feet moved with determined grace. She was in her element, on task, and loving every minute of it.
    As the shepherd headed farther down into the ravine, Annie followed, eyes