Nikita had been watching Bob’s place when Clay was there. She saw me and followed me. I didn’t notice her until she was standing in front of me. I bought her a hot chocolate.
Nikita’s real name is Ellen. Her eyes are amazing, like a sea, a clear, turquoise sea, currents of blue and green moving through them. She’s a Half Blood. Her mother was a White Witch and her father is a fain. Since her mother died Ellen has been outside the witch community and pretty much ostracized by them. Her nearest relative on the witch side is her grandmother, who pretends she doesn’t exist. She lives with her father in London and says she goes to school ‘half the time’. She also says she’s sixteen, but I’m not sure, she looks younger.
She told me that Jim went to France and that she wanted to go with him but he said no. I told her a bit about myself. And about Arran, Deborah and Gran, and Annalise. She agreed to help me get a message to Arran.
Ellen is waiting for me as we agreed. While I was meeting Trev she has searched the internet for information about Arran. There isn’t much, but his old school website has a small article about him winning a prize and going on to study Medicine at Cambridge. We get the first train out of Liverpool that’s heading in that direction. It’s late by the time we arrive in Cambridge and I tell Ellen she has to stay in a B&B for the night. She doesn’t look too happy when she realizes I’ll be sleeping rough, but the good thing about Ellen is that she quickly gets that there are some arguments she’s not going to win.
The next morning we meet up at nine. The B&B landlady has given Ellen a leaflet about Cambridge and a small map. Ellen says she’s going to suss the college out and see how many Hunters are around. She’s convinced there will be some watching Arran. We agree to meet up again in the evening.
‘I saw one Hunter. She swapped over with her partner at four o’clock so it looks like they’re watching Arran twenty-four seven, doing a twelve-hour shift each. If they believed you’d try to see him they’d have many more than that.’
I nod. I’m not going to try. I don’t want to give him any more trouble than I already have.
Ellen thinks the best time for her to see Arran is in the college dining room at breakfast. She thinks she’ll be able to sneak in and sit with him as his guest. The Hunters hang around outside the building and Arran isn’t in their sight most of the time.
I give her a small picture that I’ve drawn. ‘He’ll know it’s from me.’
‘OK. But I’m going to take a photo of you as well.’
Oh.
‘I’ll just show it to him on my phone. So he can see you. What you look like now. We could do a video.’
I shake my head. ‘A photo.’
‘You could speak to him on the phone.’
I shake my head. I couldn’t.
I wait in a park where we have arranged to meet. I feel sick.
Ellen’s bright. She won’t mess up.
But I still feel sick.
It’s midday when I see her walking towards me. She’s smiling. A big smile.
‘It worked fine. He looked a bit confused at first but then I showed him your drawing and he was so happy. He kept smoothing his hand over it. He wanted me to send the photo of you to his phone but I said that was too dangerous. So he looked at it while we talked.
‘He’s enjoying studying. He’s found his Gift, which is healing, but it’s not very strong. He misses home and Deborah. Deborah is living in Gran’s house. She has a boyfriend called David. They want to get married.’
‘Married!’
‘She wants children. Arran says David is great. He’s nothing to do with the Council or Hunters. He’s a White Witch, from Wales. He works as a carpenter. Arran said that you’d like him. Deborah has an office job in town. Arran says she’s happy there. He says to tell you that she has an amazing Gift.’
‘What is it?’
‘Well, I don’t really get it but it’s something to do with being good at paperwork. I’m not sure if he was joking.’
I don’t think he’d joke, but paperwork doesn’t make any sense.
‘He said that your gran died three months ago, when Arran was home for the holidays. He said she went to bed saying that she was tired. She died in the night.’
‘You asked him, didn’t you? Was it suicide?’
‘I asked him. And he said he didn’t know. He said Deborah thought she might have taken one of her own potions.’
I know Deborah is right.
‘Arran said that, after you were taken, the Council often called your gran down to London for questioning. He said she refused to answer anything.’
‘They never questioned Arran?’
‘He said not, but he’s not very good at lying.’
‘And Deborah?’
Ellen nods.