“I understand,” Joe says. “Thanks anyway.”

“I didn’t say we wouldn’t help,” Jack tells him. “What you’ve got seems like it’s a bit more time sensitive than our gig. It’s not like those bogans won’t be around tomorrow.”

He turns to me to see if I agree.

I hesitate. I think about what had happened to Walker’s daughter, what might happen to somebody else who got in the way of this pack of bogans.

“Who’s Jilly?” I ask.

“A human with a shine on her like you wouldn’t believe,” Jack says before Joe can answer. “And she’s got friends in high places: Raven, the crow girls, us. Not to mention the Old Woman herself, or at least the aspect of her that people call the Mother of the Wood.”

“Who’d mess with someone carrying that kind of medicine?”

Joe’s gaze goes flat and hard—the clown in his eyes completely gone.

“Somebody who’s tired of living,” he says.

“They go way back,” Jack explains to me. “Jilly and Crazy Dog here. You’ve never met a woman like her. The world can’t seem to stop throwing crap at her, but all she does is shrug it off and keep on trucking. Always has the time and a kind word for anybody that needs it. Sort of like Walker’s daughter—you know, that deep, peaceful nature the cerva have down pat—except Jilly’s proactive, too. She’ll try and fix anybody’s unhappiness, if it comes to her attention. And if it can’t be fixed, she’ll comfort.”

“Sounds like a saint.”

Jack shakes his head. “No, she’s just a person who lives her life the way we all should.” He smiles, then adds, “Short version: she’s a big story in a little package.”

That actually wakes an answering smile from the grim-faced Joe.

“I know I promised I’d help you,” Jack goes on, turning back to me, “but I’m wondering if we can put a hold on tracking down our little bogan freaks—just until we get this business with Jilly resolved.”

I guess I don’t really have to give it that much thought. It’s not hard to weigh the fate of someone still nameless that the bogans might hurt against that of someone who needs help right now. And like Jack had said, it’s not like the bogans won’t still be around tomorrow, or the next day.

“What can we do?” I ask.

“Let me check in with Cassie,” Joe says. “See if she’s got any news.”

As he walked over to the bar to use Jimmy’s phone, Jack puts a hand on my shoulder.

“I appreciate this,” he says.

I shrug. “Like the rook said, nobody keeps a tally for this kind of thing. It’s what sets us apart from the ones that came after.”

“Humans aren’t all bad.”