“We’ve got to talk to old man Talldeer, that’s what,” the guy holding the floor was saying, and to David’s dismay, there was a murmur of approval, even from some of the guys who weren’t Osage. It was obvious from that it wasn’t just some of the guys, but all of these guys had respect for the old man. Hell, that was all he needed!

“Maybe we oughta talk to Jennie Talldeer too,” said another. “Larry did; he said she’s got the right stuff. Last time I asked the Old Man for a blessing, he had Jennie do my work for me, and she’s good. Old man Talldeer’s training her right.”

Another murmur of agreement—

“She showed up at the first meeting,” said someone else, giving David an oblique glance. “Spotted Horse wouldn’t let her in. He said she was there for Calligan, but what if she was trying to give us some Medicine help? What if the old man sent her?”

Oh shit. Now how was he going to convince them not to go to her when she had the old man in her corner?

So far none of them had gotten wind of the message she’d sent to him by way of the Osage Principal Chief; if they did, there’d be no keeping them away from her or her grandfather. And he wasn’t sure if what she’d sent him was a trick, or if she really believed it herself—

But the message had been, couched in no uncertain terms, that there was Bad Medicine involved in this Calligan mess, and that he’d better butt out or get involved in some constructive manner.

How can she believe that stuff? She went to college!

How had she forced him out of her house when he didn’t want to leave? And how come ever since then, any time he dialed her number, no matter what phone it was from, he always got the “your call did not go through” message? She hadn’t changed her number, and it happened even when he went through the operator. The operator had been just as confused, and had muttered something about a short in the line.

On the whole, for the last day or so, things had not been happening according to David’s idea of a logical and predictable universe. In a perverse sense, he would have liked to blame it all on Jennie, but he doubted that she had gone out and dug holes in Calligan’s land for equipment to fall into. Short of ascribing supernatural powers to her. …

Dammit. And what the hell do they mean by “old man Talldeer’s training her right?” Now that he thought about it, hadn’t her message said something about being her grandfather’s apprentice? Shit, maybe she did believe all that crap!

The entire bunch was looking at him now, waiting for him to say something.