The Speaker — Sandra Leigh

In a world where magic has to hide itself, Sooneawa is no ordinary Native American girl. For centuries her tribe, the Mainganoden, have collected to themselves the wonder workers of all tribes, to protect them, and teach them how to use the gifts the Great Spirit has given them. Nea is a Speaker, a talker of animals, a rare talent among her people. Most who can Talk with animals can only communicate with one kind: birds, canines, deer etc. Nea communicates with them all. What Nea wants more than anything, is to become a veterinarian. With her spirit companion, a great cat named Gaganan, she leaves the reservation to brave the white man's world to go to college. To her surprise, she meets a young man who is ‘unmagic' and two of the white man's version of the wonder worker. One she befriends. The other... is a power hungry young wizard who will stop at nothing to possess her. But Nea has a secret beyond her magic, one not even she knows. And another being greater even than the wizard has marked her for its own.