Half Wild (7 page)

They all wait, looking at me.

I say, “My father gave me three gifts.”

Van blinks. “That must have been very special.”

“Yes.”

I notice Van glance at my hand and my ring. I ask her, “Do you know him? Marcus?”

“I met him briefly a couple of times, years ago. He doesn’t come to Black Witch gatherings anymore. Hasn’t for a long time.”

“Do you know where he lives?”

She shakes her head. “No one knows that.”

We’re all silent for a second or two, then Van says, “And your Gift is like your father’s, I’m assuming, from Nesbitt’s little jibe. That is a rare Gift.”

I try to remain blank. I don’t want to think about the animal now. I haven’t felt him at all since I killed Kieran this morning.

“And then what happened?” Gabriel asks.

“My father left. The valley was swarming with Hunters. Mercury was furious with me. She told me she had Annalise and would only release her in exchange for my father’s head or heart. Then the Hunters were on us and I ran. Eventually, after about a week, I lost them. I went back to the cave and waited for you.”

“You waited a long time.”

I shake my head, but I can’t tell him I was about to give up.

Van says, “Yes, it’s fortunate for us all that Nathan is so patient.”

Gabriel’s mouth twitches. “I’ve always thought that—Nathan: such a patient person.”

“And that brings us all rather wonderfully up to date,” says Van. “Nesbitt found you at the cave when he went to collect the letters. Ah! Talking of the letters, please may I have them now?”

I say to Gabriel, “What do you want me to do with them?”

“I promised I would give them to Van.”

“And you want to keep that promise?”

“She saved my life.”

I look at Van. Her face is serenely victorious.

I say, rather pompously, “Of course, Gabriel, they’re yours and I must give them to you, just as Van should return the Fairborn to me, as it is mine.”

Van smiles, still serene. “Yours? You stole it from Clay. In fact, Rose stole it.”

“And it was stolen by Hunters from Massimo, my great-grandfather. It belongs to my family.”

She sips her tea and then says to Nesbitt, “Do you think we should give him the Fairborn? After all, you retrieved it.”

Nesbitt bares his teeth like a bad dog and shakes his head once.

“I have to agree with Nesbitt. You were rather careless with it the first time. If Nesbitt could take it from you . . . well, a child could. It needs to be kept in a safe place. It’s a dangerous and powerful object. For the moment, I think I’ll look after it.”

“It’s mine!”

“Actually, my darling boy”—Van looks at me and her eyes sparkle in a dramatically blue haze—“I agree with you. However—and I mean this in the kindest way possible—I don’t think you should have it. Not yet. It’s an unpleasant thing, full of evil magic. I can assure you I will keep it safe.” She reaches for the teapot. “More tea?”

No one answers. As she pours she says, “Nathan, the letters are Gabriel’s. Do return them to him, please.”

I look at Gabriel and he nods.

Gabriel opens the tin, flicks through the letters, and takes one out from the middle of the pile. It has a smudge of soot on it from when I first went through them months ago, when I found the tin hidden in the chimney in the apartment in Geneva.

Gabriel puts this letter on the table between himself and Van, saying, “The amulet. It’s yours. Thank you. I’d be dead without you.” He opens the folds of the letter and we all lean forward to look.

Van says, “Thank you, Gabriel. It really is beautiful.”

I move closer still. I’m not sure
beautiful
is how I’d describe it. It’s a fragment of parchment, yellowed, with faded black-ink markings on it—writing, but not like any I’ve seen before. This is laid out in a series of circles. Only there are no full circles, just semicircles, because the parchment is ripped in half.

“What did your mother tell you about this?” Van asks.

“Not much. She thought it might have some value because of its age. She told me her grandmother found it in an old house in Berlin. By ‘found’ she meant her grandmother stole it. But that’s all she knew.”

“Did she know where the other half was?”

“No, this is all we ever had.”

“And Mercury never saw it? You never told her what it was?”

Gabriel shrugs. “I didn’t tell her it was ripped in half. I thought she wouldn’t be interested if she knew that. I told her I had an amulet that my mother had given me, that it was old and valuable. She didn’t ask any more about it, I supposed because there are quite a few like it.”

“There are quite a few amulets, that’s certainly true, and most are poor magic. I think it was lucky for me that you didn’t describe it. In fact, I suspect it was lucky for you too. I think Mercury would know what this is and she’d have killed you for just this half.” Van folds the amulet back into the paper with great care and slides it into her jacket pocket.

“Why?” Gabriel asks. “What’s so special about it?”

Van turns to Nesbitt. “I think we need champagne, don’t you? I’m sure there’ll be a wonderful selection in the cellar.” She smiles at Gabriel. “Or would you boys prefer to stick to tea?”

* * *

Later Gabriel and I are alone together in his bedroom. We’ve both drunk champagne. I don’t understand why I was drinking and what I was supposed to be celebrating and I didn’t really like it. I’ve never had champagne before, never drunk any alcohol before. Gabriel and Van talked about it as they would discuss a good book.

As we walked to Gabriel’s room the corridor seemed to be tilting. When I pointed this out Gabriel called me a “lightweight” and then went on ahead. He turned back to watch me make my way toward him. It was good to see him smile; almost as if he was back to his old self. And now we’re alone, sitting together on his bed, and finally I can ask him for his story.

“After I left you I ran. That was it, nothing more complicated. I ran and the Hunters followed. I shouted, urged you to hurry as if you were with me. It fooled them enough to think we were together. I was lucky. The best protection I had was other people—fains, I mean. I stayed where it was busy, and there was lots of confusion, lots of people, things Hunters hate: fains, fain police, noise, panic, and lots of shooting. I hoped they’d think I was a fain but at the same time I had to keep them after me. I was shot, twice, as I was running. Neither were serious wounds but the poison from the Hunter bullets weakened me and, as I can’t heal, I knew I wouldn’t last long. All I could think was that I should keep running. I remember seeing a car drive up to me, which must have been Van. Then I remember nothing until I woke up here in this room days later. I’d been ill but I think after that, after I’d recovered, Van drugged me and I told her everything. Everything about me, about my family, the letters, and the amulet . . . and about you. I’m sorry, Nathan. I know it’s private. I—”

“It’s OK. I don’t care about that. I’m just glad you’re alive. That’s what’s important. I thought you were dead. I didn’t want to believe it but it was the only logical explanation; I knew you’d be at the cave if you could be.”

“I’d be dead if it wasn’t for Van.”

“But why was she there in Geneva? Why risk her life for this amulet—half an amulet?”

“I don’t know. She told me that she’d recently learned that I might have half of it. It wasn’t hard to find out that I was in Geneva and working with Mercury. At first she was afraid that Mercury would get it but after Nesbitt said that you’d died she became much more concerned that it would fall into the Hunters’ hands.”

“Why? What does it do?”

“It doesn’t do anything. It’s only half an amulet. But amulets, whole amulets, heal and protect. She’s gone to a lot of trouble to get this and I think she intends to get the other half, and maybe together they’ll work again.”

“And you really know nothing else about it?”

“No. It was just one of those things my mother had. I value the letters more.” We’re sitting together on the bed and now he shuffles back and leans against the wall. “Van can keep it. I’m not interested in any of that.”

“Any of that?”

“Things. Stuff. Amulets, knives, whatever.”

“I never thought you were.”

He leans his head back, keeping his gaze on me. “It’s good to see you, Nathan. I’m glad you’re alive. Very glad.” He looks tired: his skin is gray and there are dark circles beneath his eyes. He says, “Who’d have thought we’d be here? Alive. Sitting in a beautiful house. Drunk on champagne.”

But his comment about “things” and “stuff” is making me wonder if it was wrong for me to want the Fairborn. I thought that if I had it I could show my father that I won’t kill him. Maybe I don’t need the Fairborn to do that.

“What are you thinking?”

“About
stuff
. The Fairborn. My father.”

“What’s he like?”

“My father? I don’t know. I really don’t know him. He’s a lot smarter than I expected; cleaner, I mean. He wore a suit. By looking at him you couldn’t tell that he’s killed hundreds of people.”

“I asked what he was like, not what he wore.”

“So what do you want me to say? He’s amazing? Powerful? Well, he is. Only more than I thought was possible. He did this thing that sort of stopped time—snowflakes were hanging in the air, waiting to fall, but we carried on talking as if it was all normal. I still had the Hunter bullet in me. He cut it out. Then he gave me three gifts: a ring, the bullet from my body, and my life.” I hold the ring out to show Gabriel. “Then he cut his palm and I drank his blood. I think all along, all my life, he was planning to give me three gifts. He was waiting for me to return to Mercury’s; he knew I’d head back there. And he did all that, stopped time for me, saved my life by giving me three gifts, and then . . . then he left! He left me again! Left me to Mercury and a valley full of Hunters.”

Gabriel doesn’t say anything.

“I always thought that if we met I’d explain to him,
show
him, that I would never kill him. And I tried to do that but it was as if he wasn’t listening. He could have killed me but he saved my life. It was the most amazing and wonderful thing and then . . . it wasn’t.”

“He’s your father but he also believes the vision—that you will kill him.”

“He said, ‘I’m not a great believer in visions. But I’m a cautious man,’ or some crap like that. Basically he doesn’t trust me. He didn’t believe that I’d lost the Fairborn. So it seems stuff
does
matter, Gabriel, because I couldn’t give it to him and so he left me again. The stupid thing is that I hate him for that. Not for killing people, not for eating their hearts, but because he left me when I was a child and then he left me again.”

“You don’t hate him. You’re angry at him.” Gabriel laughs a little. “Which at least means you’re not giving him special preference as you’re angry at most people most of the time.”

I swear at him and then say, “I’m glad you’re alive, Gabriel. Someone else for me to be angry at.” My head’s swimming still and I slump down. “I need to sleep. So do you.”

* * *

I don’t actually sleep but I stay with him for as long as I can, which isn’t long as it’s almost dark and I can’t stand being indoors at night. I have to go outside.

I check out the grounds. They’re large, wooded, sloping down to the lake, enclosed on all sides by that high wall and razor wire. But the lake cannot be walled and there’s a narrow beach of rocks, a small wooden jetty, no boats. The mountains opposite are silhouettes now. The moon appears as the clouds disperse in a warm breeze. It’s perfect for a swim.

The water is cool. Calm. The moon’s reflection seems to fill the water. I swim out a long way and float on my back, looking at the sky.

Then I feel something brush against my leg and instantly my animal adrenaline is released and races throughout my body. But not so much, not so much, because I tell myself to calm down and take slow breaths, and I tell myself it was just a fish or something floating in the water. And I keep taking slow breaths and the adrenaline has gone, disappeared as if it was never there.

The moon is still bright on the lake’s surface and I wonder if I can make the adrenaline come back. I think about possible dangers in the water, monsters lying in the depths, hiding in the dark, swimming up to me—a long, thick eel that could swallow me whole. I submerge myself, breathing out, feeling the cold, noticing how dark it is and imagining the eel coming to me . . .

Nothing happens. Of course no eel appears but my animal adrenaline doesn’t either. I swim back to the surface and look around, almost hoping for a monster to show up, but it doesn’t and after a minute I kick slowly to land.

Gabriel is sitting on the grass near the shore, watching me. I dress and go to sit by him.

He says, “I’ll sleep out here with you.”

I collect some wood, make a fire, and sit by it, feeding it twigs and branches until they run out, and then I collect more. I wonder if Gabriel’s going to ask why I’m not sleeping but he doesn’t speak. He falls asleep just before dawn. And I feel then that I can finally close my eyes. I’ve never turned into an animal during the day unless I’ve been threatened by Hunters, and I don’t think it’ll happen. But at night . . . who knows?

We both wake a few hours later and already Gabriel looks better. He has more color, and smiles when he sees me.

I need to talk to him about Annalise but want to put it off some more.

“Did you sleep?” he asks.

“The same as you. Enough.”

“Good.” He stands and stretches. “We need breakfast. Coffee and croissants and rolls and eggs . . . I’m in the mood for eggs.”

* * *

Gabriel and I spend the day eating. Both of us are underweight—or at least we are at the start of the day. In the afternoon we swim and lie in the sun to dry off. It’s another day of pure blue skies and throbbing, intense heat.

Gabriel says, “We’ve talked a lot but not about that subject we disagree on.”

“I don’t want to disagree with you, especially when we’ve only just met up again.” But I know we have to talk about Annalise. I need to rescue her, which sounds ridiculous and heroic and stupid, but I have to do it. I can’t leave her a prisoner of Mercury. I say, “I have to help her.”

“No. You don’t.”

“I do, Gabriel. Annalise is in trouble because of me. She’s in a coma or whatever it is because of me.”

“It’s not a coma and you owe her nothing.”

“I want to help her, Gabriel. I need to free her. Annalise is my friend. I like her . . . a lot. I understand that you don’t trust her but I know she won’t betray me, hasn’t betrayed me.”

Now he looks at me. “How did the Hunters know about Mercury’s apartment in Geneva?”

“What?”

“You heard me. How did they get there? You said the apartment was swarming with them. I didn’t lead them there. I didn’t go anywhere near there. So how did they know about it?”

“Marcus told me that Hunters have a way of finding cuts. They must have detected it somehow.”

Gabriel sits up. “No, Nathan. I don’t think that’s how it works. I don’t think they can detect them from long distances. If they could do that they would’ve found the other cut to Mercury’s real home.”

“We don’t know that they haven’t. And anyway Mercury had time to destroy the cut. They won’t have been able to find it.”

“You build up excuses and come up with explanations but the obvious explanation you won’t admit to is that Annalise told the Hunters about the apartment.”

“You said yourself that I shouldn’t leave the apartment but I did. Someone, I don’t know who, an informer, a Half Blood, could have seen me when I followed you. They could have alerted the Hunters and so they were there when I got back.”

Gabriel is silent but lies back down.

I say, “You have to agree that’s a possibility.”

He doesn’t look at me, which I take as an admission that I’m right.

I say, “Gabriel, I trust her. She tried to help us. She told me how Hunters protect their base, what spells they use.”

“She has to build up your trust to convince you of her devotion. Nathan, spies don’t go around with big banners that say, ‘I’m a spy.’ The whole point is that they behave like they’re on your side.”