Chapter 17

On Friday, it was too cold for the friends to travel. Kaya dug a better nest for them, piling up leaves and hay and some rags she'd found, and the three curled up together and spent most of the day sleeping. The cat hunted for them, happy to have a job, happy to be treasured.

This morning, the day is warmer, and it smells like snow or rain. Little Zoe sniffs the air, and knows they have to push on.

But between them and where they are going, there is water. Kaya and the cat can see the other side, and it is far away, too far away to swim.

They travel up the bank, though, looking. The cat races here and there, chasing mice and voles. She doesn't catch any, but she loves the chase.

Zoe picks her way along, slowly, slowly. The big dog keeps her on track a little, but there are no cars here, and so she can wander.

Kaya is ahead, and the cat is pouncing under a bush when Zoe smells something, something mean and wild and close. She stops and growls a little, almost under her breath.

Kaya senses it and turns around. She can see little Zoe, frozen in place, staring blindly at nothing. To Zoe's right, a thin, lanky creature is approaching. He slinks along, his head down, skinny legs taking careful, stealthy steps.

It's not a dog, though it looks like one, but it smells different. It moves different. Kaya takes a step toward him, and then another, watching all the time as he slinks closer and closer to her little friend.

She sees the coyote draw back on his haunches. She sees him coil to leap at Zoe. She sees Zoe staring somewhere in the middle distance, her ears perked up and listening, but her blind eyes failing to see how close the danger is.

Kaya growls and snarls deep in her throat, and then throws her head back and howls, and leaps toward the coyote. And out of nowhere, out of a bush on the other side of Zoe, comes a blur of black and white, and it is growling and snarling, too, and the two big dogs charge the coyote, and he turns and runs, baying and yipping and yelping as he crashes through the brush and runs away.

And then they stop, and Kaya pulls herself to her full height, as much as she can at her age, and she stares down at the new dog. Stares at him until he drops his gaze, and then drops down until he is literally and figuratively beneath her.

I'm Joey, the dog says. I've been living here since it was warm outside. My people left me here when they left the beach. I've been fighting the coyotes every day since it got cold.

Kaya tells Joe about herself, and Zoe and the cat, and that they are looking for Zoe's people, the little girl and the woman who smells like flowers. She tells Joe that they think the people are there, across the river, but they don't know how to get across.

I can help you, Joey says. We will all have to get wet, but there is a place where the water is very narrow. I've done it many times.

Kaya gathers Zoe and the cat to her, and they all sniff Joe, and greet him. The cat bristles and hisses at first, but then she is OK.

Joe leads them to the place where the river is narrow. There's wet, muddy sand at the edge, and it smells deeply of fish. But it's clear that they can get across, if they are careful. Joe goes first.

Kaya and Zoe go together. Zoe is floating long before Kaya, and the big dog pushes her along. The water is freezing cold, and it smells, but Kaya only has to swim for three or four strokes before her feet touch bottom on the other side.

She pushes the little dog with her nose, and then puts her mouth on the scruff of Zoe's neck to help her up the other side.

And then they are there, the three dogs on one side and the cat on the other. Kaya looks across the water at the cat, who is clearly miserable.

Come on, she calls over the spit of water, come on! You can do it!

I can't! the cat mews. I can't!

You can climb trees, you can find food, you can walk for miles without getting tired. You can do this.

And the old red dog goes back into the water, calling for the cat, and the cat, finally, walks into the water and swims toward Kaya. When she is close enough, the big dog picks her up by her neck, and drops her on the other shore.

The day is cloudy, but it is warm, and the four animals shake themselves dry and begin walking west, toward the home they hope is waiting for them.