Empire of Wild

Joan drives herself and Zeus back to her home so they can rest. The next morning, she and Zeus immediately go to see Ajean. Ajean takes Joan to an isolated patch of earth, explaining that members of Joan’s family (including her mother and brother) sometimes grow extra bones. When those bones are removed, they are buried.

Ajean and Joan dig up the bundle of bones and take them home, where Ajean scrapes some down into a fine powder that she calls “bone salt.” Ajean gives a pouch of the salt to Joan, explaining that she can encircle the rogarou with the salt if she needs to keep him contained, or she can encircle a place or person with the salt and the rogarou will not be able to get at them: “It’s like Indian Alarm Guard” (147). However, Ajean has no other suggestions as to how Joan should proceed in her quest to save Victor.

Joan drops Zeus off and goes home alone. After falling asleep on the couch, Joan has a nightmare in which she sees Victor back in their home. However, Victor becomes panicked by the sight of something that he can see approaching outside.