Page 61 of Ghost of the Ton

“Is someone hurt?” Mia said.

“It’s none of yer business!” Billy said.

“But Billy,” the smaller boy, Jamie, pleaded, “she hurt herself when ye pushed—”

“I said shut yer mouth!” Billy interrupted. “All girls cry. It’s what they do. They’re sniveling little wretches. That’s what my da says.”

Evidently Billy had learned much from his father.

“Has a girl been hurt?” Mia said. She approached the boys.

“Go away, witch!” Billy taunted her.

“Be quiet,” Mia said, “or I’ll cast a spell on you.”

The boy’s eyes widened with the fear that all bullies harbored when faced with an opponent they believed to be stronger. Then his companion nudged him.

“Come along, Billy. Yer da will give ye a thrashing if ye’re late.”

The larger boy cringed, then the boldness returned and he stuck out his tongue at Mia.

The crying had stopped. Were they playing a trick of some sort?

Then, as Mia drew near, she saw it—the crumpled form of a child, a girl, limbs akimbo, with a mass of ebony curls, her white face turned toward the sky. Eyes closed, her forehead furrowed into a frown of pain, lips parted as if she were screaming.

But no sound came.

“Dear God!”

Mia sprinted over to the child, almost stumbling on the uneven ground, then kneeled beside the girl’s prone form. She placed her hand on the girl’s chest, and relief washed over her as she caught the faint thrum of a heartbeat.

The child was alive, but unconscious.

She glanced up at the boys. “Help me, please,” she said. “We need to take her home.”

“I’m not helping a Sassenach witch!” Billy said. “Come on, Calum.” His companion hesitated, then Billy caught his hand and tugged at it.

“Please!” Mia cried.

“No!” Billy said, tugging at Calum’s arm again. The two boys turned their backs and picked their way toward the path. Mia turned to the third, who stood, white-faced, on the rock.

“Will you abandon your friend also?”

“Ada’s not my friend,” he said. “Billy and Calum are my friends.”

“And do you think friends would abandon an injured girl?” Mia said. “Or worse—push her off a rock and endanger her life?”

The boy shook his head and whimpered. “H-he didnae mean to push her! She was just being a stupid girl and wouldnae jump!”

“So he pushed her, yes?”

He nodded.

“Then I’d say he did mean it,” Mia said. She gestured to the girl. “This child’s hurt, and those two boys have abandoned her. What do you think would happen if she were left out here?”

The boy said nothing, and Mia’s temper rose.

“She might die, you foolish child! Is that what you want?”