was the magick of Faerie. But though ordinary ghosts could not touch humans, the same did not apply to creatures of the supernatural.
Bodicea dodged to one side with such swiftness that even a Faerie could not have caught her. The handmaiden snarled and began to turn, long fingers only claws now, mouth open wide to reveal silver needle teeth set into black gums and a thick black slug of a tongue. The lesson of beauty, Bodicea thought, is that one never knows what is beneath it.
The ghost queen raised her spear like a staff and brought its length around in a fast arc that connected with the handmaiden's skull. In the eyeblink during which she was staggered, Bodicea continued the spear's arc and thrust it behind the Faerie woman's legs, knocking her to the ground. She tried to get up, but Bodicea was no mere spirit in this wood. She slammed her foot down upon the handmaiden's chest and pressed her to the ground.
The others began to shriek in banshee wails and they threw their arms up and tore at their hair, even as they rushed toward her. The first to reach her was a handmaiden whose bright red hair was tied back with flowers into a long tail that hung far down her back. Amongst them all she seemed the most formidable.
