To me she says, ‘If you go, Gabriel will pay for failing to stop you.’ And then Mercury’s gone.
Rose looks from Gabriel to me and blushes, saying, ‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’ She giggles and reaches out to hold Gabriel’s hand. ‘But I’m on Team Gabriel.’
Gabriel snatches his hand away from Rose and looks at me. ‘I knew there was something wrong all the time I was with her, Nathan. She’s a spy. She’s working for the Council.’
I shake my head. ‘She isn’t.’
‘She’s come to capture you or spy on you or kill you. They are using her to get you.’
‘You’re wrong.’
‘Am I? She’s a White Witch. Pure White. I bet half her family are Hunters or Council members.’
‘That doesn’t mean she’s like them.’
‘Oh, of course not. She’s different.’ His voice is mocking. ‘And she thinks you’re special, she understands you, she knows you’re not bad really, she doesn’t mind that your father is the most wanted Black Witch, she’s not interested in him, just in you. She sees the real you. The kinder, gentler you. And she swishes her blonde hair and smiles her bright smile and –’
But I’m out of there.
I run. It feels like the only good thing to do, running until I can’t run any more. I sleep in the forest, badly, even though I’m exhausted. I stay there for most of the day, walking, staring at the sky. It’s only five days until my birthday and I feel like everything is spinning out of control. I can only imagine Annalise is here because things have got bad back at home with her family. And for her to risk coming to Mercury it must be really bad. But she is not here for her Giving; she was seventeen in September.
Late in the afternoon I go back to the cottage. Preparations are underway for stealing the Fairborn from a house full of Hunters.
As I walk in Gabriel continues what he’s doing, which I’m surprised to see is cleaning a gun.
‘Do you know how to use that?’ I ask. I can’t stop myself from sounding angry, even though I told myself not to be.
‘I lived in the US of A for more than a year, didn’t I?’ His voice is soft, joking.
‘But have you ever actually shot anyone?’
He stops cleaning the gun and looks up at me but doesn’t answer.
And I almost see the Black Witch in him.
‘Who did you kill?’
He keeps his eyes locked on mine and says, so I can only just hear, ‘A spy.’
‘That’s your speciality, is it? Killing spies.’
‘Nathan, don’t.’ He starts cleaning the gun again.
‘I’ve known Annalise a long time. She’s not a spy. I trust her.’
‘Those are the ones they choose.’
‘So that’s it? There’s nothing she can do to convince you otherwise? Everything she does will be suspicious because of who she is.’
He doesn’t reply, just carries on cleaning the gun.
‘And if Mercury told you to shoot Annalise, would you do it?’
He doesn’t look up from the gun but at least he’s stopped cleaning it.
‘Would you?’ My voice is quiet but unsteady.
He shakes his head but looks me in the eyes as he says, ‘If I was certain she was betraying you I’d kill her, whether Mercury told me to or not.’
‘So you’re not certain?’
‘Not one hundred per cent. But Nathan, if there’s one thing I’m good at it’s reading people and there’s something not right about her.’
‘Or maybe you just want to see that but you can’t actually find anything wrong with her, because there isn’t. Because she won’t ever betray me. Because she’s actually a good person. But you don’t want to believe that. You want her to be a spy!’ And I realize I’m shouting and shaking with anger.
‘Nathan. I know this is difficult for you.’ He comes to me and puts his arms round me. I don’t hug him back but I don’t hit him.
Rose appears from her bedroom, sees us and blows me a kiss.
I swear at her and go and sit in the corner.
Rose is dressed as inappropriately as ever in a long, swirly, figure-hugging grey dress a bit like Mercury’s. Her hair is immaculate, piled on her head in a sleek twisting knot. She looks like she is going to a Halloween Ball, except that her feet are bare. She shows Gabriel her hairpins, which are decorated at their ends with skulls. Small black skulls are for picking locks of doors, small red skulls for opening safes or more complex locks and the large white skull is … she blushes … for killing Shites.
Mercury blows in. She is smiling in her own way.
‘Before you go for the Fairborn, Gabriel, I’d like you to bring Nathan’s friend to us.’
Gabriel looks uncertain.
‘If she’s been sent to spy on us I want her in my hands and unable to give any warning.’
And I know she really wants Annalise in her hands so that she has another hold over me.
‘When you and Rose are ready to go, bring her here. Give her no chance to do anything.’
Gabriel and Rose go through their plan. Then we eat in silence. Even Rose looks serious.
At sunset Gabriel goes on to the roof and through the cut.