Stone Circle I was weak, I was broken, I was tossed out in the ocean

Merrit gave a soft shake of his head. "No," he said. A friend of Arlette's -- he wondered, briefly, if perhaps it would help to give this identity. But he remembered what his sister had spoken to him that day long ago in the Glade, her venom against their mother. "He was brown. Other than that," he only remembered the witch, who had turned out not to be the witch at all. His stomach turned. "I'm sorry, I didn't get a good look at him."

Ursus. His skin crawled at mother's explanation - and even more, at her naivety and lack of knowledge at the extent of the evil that lurked beyond the thin wall of the mountain between themselves and the Valley.

But his mother was resourceful and familiar with the world, and this, perhaps, is what had kept her safe. What always did, but for how long? "I'm glad you didn't go," he said, "they are dangerous, mother. More than troublemakers," in this, he did not question how much he should tell her, "they're murderers. They kill for pleasure. I wouldn't be surprised if half the Wilds are after them. Hydra and all of Moonspear have been hunting them," and now his mother would know, "and so have I. They are allied with the witch -- the black-face -- " and while he did not pause, his voice did strain, enough for any attentive ear to catch, "the one who tried to kill Leta."