Blackfeather Woods I just needed a little off the top.

Titmouse had the upper hand; or rather, Mou did, because it was the knowledge of the dark forest that he was using against the intruder.

That's all that Tegan had become—this malignancy that had to be eradicated for the safety of the rest of them. For Maegi. It was a mantra that repeated in his brain, sweeping aside whatever confusion and dizziness had taken hold: Maegi, Maegi, Maegi, she was all that mattered to Mou. She was at the forefront of every decision the ghost ever made—and it was she who brought the rage out of Titmouse now.

He descended full-tilt upon Tegan as the boy faltered, falling upon him like an avalanche of spidering limbs, bear-trap-teeth, a frenzy of stabbing
pecking
biting
tearing —

until there was so much blood that the
ghost was a crimson beacon in the dark.