These are not the werewolves of the Twilight series.  Wolf ~ Whale ~ Flicker tells the story of tɫókʷali, and of the young man whose carving brings them back into the world.

Unblinking, the old woman held him in her gaze. “This young man does not know all the things a flicker can do. He thinks those elders of his have taught him all there is to know about it. But still, he has come here, to the Home of the Birds, because his elders know, and somewhere deep in his heart, he know, too, that human beings don’t know everything.”

Quileute legends, mythological creatures, and spirit helpers swirl around Duncan as the teen struggles to become a carver. Discovering his life’s work leads him into a thicket of unearthly encounters as deep and mysterious as the coastal rainforest where the story takes place.

Duncan is apprenticed to Howeto, a masterful but malevolent wood carver who has stolen the soul of the ancestral “Old Carver.” As his own carving skill matures, Duncan vows to release the ancestor’s captive spirit, but only if he can survive Howeto’s deadly manipulations.

Will Duncan’s sincere desire to use his gift and become a carver in the old way be overshadowed by Howeto’s greed and jealousy? How will the tɫókʷali return?