But he said he’d lead them away.
How else could they know to come here?
If they’ve captured him and tortured him … how quickly would he tell them about the apartment?
A car swings into the street from the far end. A black jeep, the one I saw at the Hunters’ house. Clay parks the jeep in the middle of the road and gets out. He doesn’t look pleased. He goes to the hidden Hunter and then to our apartment building and in. The Hunter gets into Clay’s jeep and reverses it fast up the street and away. A minute later she is running back to her position. The road is quiet again.
I have to leave.
I’m covered in blood; fains will stop me if they see me.
I need to find somewhere to rest and get clean. I set off, although I don’t know where to.
Twenty minutes later I spot her. She’s at the end of an alley, partly hidden by a small van, but I can tell it’s her straight away. And I know I should walk on by but there’s Rose and Gabriel and a whole bunch of other stuff that stops me from doing the sensible thing. I don’t know where her partner is but I’m not going to hang around for long.
I heal before I approach her, sneak up as quiet as can be and draw the Fairborn out of its sheath.
And, in that instant, things change.
The Fairborn is almost alive in my hand. It’s part of me, but I’m part of it too.
I reach the Hunter and pull her round, the Fairborn at her throat.
‘Looking for someone?’ I ask.
She flinches. Even now she hates me touching her but she gets over the surprise in less than a second and starts transforming into a huge man. But I’m her little half-brother and I’m ready for her tricks, and so is the Fairborn. We stab Jessica’s shoulder and slam her half-morphed body into the wall. We stab her other shoulder and she squeals. If her partner is nearby, she’ll be here in less than a minute.
Jessica is fully changed into a man but her arms are useless and I have the strength and the Fairborn to hold her back against the wall.
Jessica transforms quickly again, into Arran.
Arran’s voice pleads with me, ‘Please don’t hurt me, Nathan. I know you don’t want to hurt me.’
‘Shut up.’
‘I know you’re a good person. I’ve always known that. Please. Don’t hurt me.’
And I know I should run. But seeing Arran is so amazing. I just want to look at him. But it’s not Arran; it’s Jessica, and she’s an evil witch. I’m holding the point of the knife to Arran’s eye. And the Fairborn wants to cut it out.
‘Nathan, please. You’re a good person.’
And I know it would be a good plan to cut out her eye. She’d never be able to disguise that. But I can’t do it. I don’t want to. Not to Arran, even though I know it’s not Arran and I’m telling myself it’s Jessica but I don’t even want to do it to her … but the Fairborn wants to cut …
I’m shaking again, trying to get the knife in the sheath. And Jessica pushes me back, weakly but it’s enough, and I raise the Fairborn and then it slashes down across her face.
I’ve broken into a small house in the suburbs. There’s no alarm and no one around. I think they’ve gone to work. I shower. My body keeps shaking, shivering.
My gunshot wound is a neat round scar but if I touch anywhere near it I feel like I might faint. I’m not even tempted to try to get the bullet out. Besides, the energy drinks and sweets seem to be working well enough.
I help myself to a huge bowl of cereal and a banana and then another while I think how to get back to Mercury. I’ve a vague idea where her cottage is. Gabriel said that he sometimes went by train and sometimes hiked. Hunters are bound to be at the train station and also watching the roads, but maybe I can get a bus. There must be one that can take me out of Geneva to somewhere that I can get a train. It’s four days until my birthday. Caution is more important than speed.
I need a map.
There’s a computer but I’ve no idea how to use one. In the drawers I find a road map of Switzerland but I need a walker’s map so I can find Mercury’s valley. I’ll have to buy one. The one good thing that’s happened is that the small battered rucksack I took from the shopkeeper had his wallet and till money in it. Normally I wouldn’t steal money from someone like him but I didn’t mean to, I didn’t know the money was there, and this isn’t normally.