The frantic yaps of the other dogs broke over another roar far away, and Lucky turned to Alpha, wondering if he would silence them. The dog-wolf was frozen to the spot, staring into the sky.

“What’s that?” Mickey yelped. Lucky turned to where a dark smudge was rising beyond the forest, his breath catching in his throat. It was like a storm cloud, but even darker. It looked more like the cloud of smoke Lucky had seen in the city once, after a pack of loudcages had attacked one another in the road and burst into flames.

That was where the foul smell was coming from. The city. Had the earth torn again, as it had during the Big Growl? But they hadn’t felt the Earth-Dog shaking. . . .

One after another, the dogs fell into stunned silence, taking in the dark cloud.

Mickey’s pointed ears were pressed back. “Can it hurt us?”

Bella shifted from paw to paw. “Surely it’s too far away.”

“Let’s not risk it,” Sunshine barked. “We should leave.”

“And go where?” asked Snap. She eyed Moon and her pups. “It isn’t practical to start moving the camp, is it?”

“I really don’t think it’s safe to stay,” whined Mickey, his dark eyes fixed on the smudge that rose in the distance.

Spring, the long-eared black-and-tan female, growled at him. “Go where you like, Leashed Dog! This is our territory and we’re not about to abandon it!”

“I’m not scared of a cloud!” barked brown-and-white Dart, but her voice quavered and her tail hung low behind her.

Sweet shuffled her paws indecisively. “I’ve never seen anything like this. What do you think, Alpha?” She tore her eyes away from the dark cloud in the distance to look to the Wild Pack’s leader.

Alpha was still standing on the same spot, his tail limp and his flanks heaving. Lucky watched the dog-wolf for a moment, amazed at his transformation.

He doesn’t know what to do, Lucky realized. Some dog needs to take control here.

He turned back to the sky. Plumes of black smoke rose from the distant woods. The dark cloud was swelling as it caught the wind and seemed to be drifting toward them. It was still far away but Lucky could smell that it was filthy—even from a distance, the rancid scent that stung his nose also made his belly and chest heave. What would happen if it reached them? Could a cloud hurt them? Lucky had never heard of such things—but there had been a time when he’d never heard of foul water, and hadn’t Bruno gotten sick from a poisoned river? They were learning new truths every day.

“I think we need to get out of here,” he told Sweet. Several of the other dogs heard and they turned to him.

Twitch growled stubbornly. “It’s our camp. We shouldn’t abandon it!”