"I've always had the sense that an unrestrained me would have lasting consequences."

Beam is not allowed to speak to her uncle-not since she was five and her dad found him catching her blood in a jar. She's not allowed to do a lot of things, like ask about it. And she is certainly not allowed to entertain creatures no one else can see or follow injured mountain lions back to the reservation where she was born (no matter how intriguing they turn out to be in human form).

Today, though, everyone Beam loves is missing, and her late grandmother's old Tribal lullaby pounds through her head like a warning.

"Uncle Joel? It's happening."

Journey with Beam through the Badlands of South Dakota in a wildly imaginative adventure of courage, friendship, and the wisdom of blood. Drawn from Lakota folklore and heralded for the strength of its characters, The Elixir won Neal Serious Writer's Writer of the Year award.

"There's a larger story being written here than your own personal crisis. There is always a larger story."