Free Black Moon Sing (The Turquoise Path Book 1) by L. M. Hawke

insistent until Ellery felt sick and sweat beaded her brow.
    Whatever is trying to get my attention, it doesn’t like me heading away from it . That realization only inspired Ellery to walk all the faster, even though her stomach churned and her heart felt fluttery and weak.
    After several blocks, she arrived at Vivi’s cottage and made a careful search of the exterior. The small white house was absolutely still. No signs of distress marked the yard—no gouge-marks in the rock garden that would indicate anyone being dragged away, nothing broken or out of place.
    All the blinds on the windows were open. Ellery made her way around the cottage, peering into every room, but Vivi was clearly not there. Nor did the inside of her home reveal any signs of a struggle.
    Ellery breathed deeply at the doorstep. Even with her stronger-than-average senses, she couldn’t find any trace of Vivi’s scent—no recent evidence of her presence. In her coyote form, she would be able to sort through the smells more deftly. Dusty’s nose was even better than her own.
    She slipped to the back of the cottage again, away from the street where end-of-day traffic was rolling steadily past. Several neighbors’ yards shared a fence line with Vivi’s home, and anyone might be looking out those windows at that moment. Ellery tried to avoid shifting in front of Typs whenever she could; Hosteen was a recent exception, and she had only shifted in front of him thanks to the urgency of their situation. She crouched down between Vivi’s garbage and recycling bins, reached through the coyote-tooth amulet, and found Red Dust on Paws, good old Dusty, waiting eagerly to make the trade.
    The blue light flashed and the rushing sensation cascaded over her body, but Ellery felt her human body and her coyote gasp in surprise as the shift occurred. The usual flow of energy was much stronger than usual. In fact, she was tempted to call it forceful—even violent. But in the next moment she felt pavement beneath four paws, and her senses raised in a sudden crescendo like the volume cranked up on a music player. Despite the strangeness of the magical atmosphere, the shift had been successful.
    Even in the midst of her turmoil and fear, Ellery reveled in the feel of her coyote form. There was something special about Dusty. The coyote had lived in this mortal world many generations ago, and had consistently chosen Diné traders to work with ever since her death. The tooth pendant was the last known remaining scrap of Dusty’s original body, the final link through which a trader could connect with the wise old spirit.
    Roanhorse had given the tooth to Ellery when she was very young, when her paranormal abilities had first become evident—and Dusty had been her constant companion, her most patient and gentle teacher, ever since. The coyote was more than a trade animal to her; she was the last connection Ellery still had to her home. On a day fraught with danger and fear, spending some time in her coyote form felt like a warm, encouraging hug to Ellery.
    She trotted out from between the trash cans, muzzle held low, sniffing the ground to find the freshest trace of Vivi’s scent. Circling the house twice left Ellery no wiser. She could certainly smell Vivi more clearly with her coyote’s nose, but the freshest track was at least twenty-four hours old: a direct line leading from Vivi’s front door toward the street, with no whiff of sweat or fear, no bitter note of anger.
    Ellery followed the scent down the short driveway and up the sidewalk, but it was soon lost among the variety of smells that overlay it, lacing the world like an intricate web.
    Maybe I’ll pick it up again if I keep moving…
    She pressed on, searching the ground with her nose. But the scents remained a jumble, and her thoughts began to wander. She ignored the dogs who barked insults at her as she passed their yards, and ignored, too, the stares of people in the passing cars—a coyote in broad