Author Description

Fifteen-year old Dani likes the blues, bad boys, and trouble, and has no problems attracting any of them. When she moves with her dad for the summer from Minneapolis to the rural Ozark town he was raised in, she assumes her summer is going to be boring as hell. At least she'll get in plenty of guitar practice. But soon she meets two locals who make things a lot more interesting: a boy named Eli, and a giant black bear.At seventeen, Eli is already a semi-professional musician and an expert on the local Indian sites. Dani talks her way into his bluegrass band, which is preparing for the big music festival at the end of the summer. Despite herself, she finds Eli all the more alluring when she discovers his penchant for resolving disputes around town with his fists. As for the bear, well, Dani has no idea why she keeps seeing it on hikes and canoe trips, but it seems to mean her no harm. Perhaps it's drawn to the mysterious bear claw necklace her late grandfather left to her.Before long, Eli reveals to Dani a hidden Indian burial site and his plans to perform a ritual there to keep his sick father alive. He needs Dani because he believes her bear claw allows her to harness the site's spiritual energy. Unfortunately, the ritual also requires a human sacrifice, and Eli has the perfect victim in mind: Dani's annoying little brother. Turning against Eli may put her own life in danger, and to tell the truth, Dani's not even sure she wants to. As the date of the music festival nears, Dani confronts choices that require her to decide who she really is and what her values truly are.