The bogans appeared by The Doonie Stane in a jostling crowd, a half-dozen plus one of them, followed a moment later by Odawa and Big Dan who arrived at a slower pace. The bogans cursed loudly when they found Gathen, his body sprawled near the stone, head bent at an awkward angle. Big Dan stepped over to where it lay and frowned.

Lairds help them, there was no doubt about it. Gathen was as dead as the doe they’d taken down in that hunt the other night. But it made no sense. How could this pluiking slip of a girl have killed him with only her bare hands? Big Dan had been there at the crossroads. He’d seen her tremble and shake, for all the brave stance she took. She had no magics. She had no power. There was nothing special about her except for her relationship with Grey.

“She’s there,” Odawa said, pointing to a section of the woods.

Big Dan looked up, his gaze moving from Odawa’s face to the direction he was pointing. The blind man appeared to be taken off guard by something, but whatever it was, he wasn’t sharing it.

Fine, Big Dan thought. Keep your secrets. You won’t have them forever.

He turned his attention back to his men.

“Well, you little shites?” he said. “What are you waiting for? Go fetch her.”

The bogans ran off in the direction Odawa had indicated. Big Dan heard one of his men shout in surprise as he followed them.

Bother and damn, he thought as he picked up his pace. However she does it, don’t let her kill another one of my boys.

But when he and Odawa caught up to the others, it was only to see the girl disappear, riding bareback on a pony as she shifted out of this world. He caught a flash of her unnaturally bright red hair, a flick of the pony’s tail, and then the pair were gone. All that remained behind were a discarded T-shirt and the knife the woman had stolen from Gathen’s body.

Big Dan turned to Odawa. “That was a doonie she was riding.”

“So it seems.”

“I hate the stink of those do-gooders,” Big Dan said. He waited a beat, then added, “I thought you’d killed him.”

“I did,” the blind man said. “This woman has power indeed if she can raise the dead.”

Unless you never killed him at all, Big Dan thought. But all he said was, “She didn’t seem so powerful at the crossroads. We could have had her easy if Grey hadn’t shown up.”

Odawa nodded. “But he did, and you lost her, and now we’ve lost her again.”

“We can track her,” Big Dan said. “Rabedy’s got a nose like a Church Grim.”

Rabedy flushed and the other bogans snickered.

“Not to mention the ears and tail to match,” Scantaglen said.