Is it my birthday tomorrow?
Hey, everyone, I’m nearly seventeen!
But where is everyone?
Where’s Gabriel?
‘Rose, where is Gabriel?’
She doesn’t even giggle.
It’s silent again.
And where am I?
My map! Where’s my map?
And I had some drinks, didn’t I?
I have the Fairborn, though. Yes, I have the Fairborn.
And I have a stream. Don’t need drinks. I have a stream. This was a good place to stop. A good place.
Let’s have a look at the lump.
Not good.
Yellow, very yellow, with a little scar and lots of red veins.
Not good. Not good.
If I touch it …
F***!
Rose is back. She’s dancing around me. She bends over and looks at the lump on my side. ‘Yuk! You really need to cut that out.’
‘Where’s Gabriel?’
She blushes but doesn’t reply and I shout, ‘Where’s Gabriel?’
Silence.
It’s getting dark.
I look at the lump. I think it’s still growing.
I’m just going to be one big lump soon.
What day is it?
I can’t think. Can’t think.
‘Rose, what day is it?’
No one answers. Then I remember Rose is dead.
The lump is full of poison … Gabriel said it was poison … it’s poisoning me …
It has to go.
Just cut it out.
I hold the Fairborn. It wants to do it.
It’s light. I’m lying on the ground by a stream. I’m aching but not as bad as before.
Did I cut into the lump?
I can’t remember.
I look down and my shirt is open and covered in dried blood and dried yellow stuff. Lots of yellow stuff. There’s no lump, though.
The stream water tastes good and I’m feeling better. My head’s clear. I’ve drunk lots of water, a stream-full. My wound isn’t too bad now I’ve cleaned the last of the yellow pus out. There’s still a bit of swelling but nothing much. My body doesn’t ache so much. Maybe the poison has gone but the bullet’s still in there so maybe more poison will come out. The worst must be over though as I’m feeling so much better.
I’m not sure what day it is but I think it’s my birthday.
It must be. I’m seventeen.
I AM SEVENTEEN!
And I’m feeling good. I can make it. Don’t need a map now. I recognize the mountains.
I set off and then realize I don’t have the Fairborn. I have the knife that Gabriel gave me, but not the Fairborn.
I run and stumble back to the stream to look for it.
There’s where I cut myself. There’s all the pus. The Fairborn has to be here. I cut myself with the Fairborn. I was by the stream and I stabbed my lump and … when I woke up the Fairborn had gone.
I don’t have time for this. I have to go to Mercury’s. Forget the Fairborn. I don’t want it. If I maintain a steady pace I’ll get to Mercury’s just after it gets dark.
The rain is back, heavy drizzle and feeling cooler now. I’m walking up the valley along the road. It’s quicker on the road and I need to be quicker. Only a few cars pass by, their headlights dazzling me, but I stick to the road through three small mountain villages and then cut up the mountain itself. I know the trail but the going is slow as it’s sodden and slippery. Still, I’ll be there in less than an hour of hiking.
I have a pain in my ribs but it’s not as bad as before. I don’t heal it. Maybe the healing made things worse. I don’t know but I can put up with this. I’m going to make it. I will get my three gifts and I will help Annalise.
As I get higher the rain turns to sleet and then to snow. Thick snow. The flakes are huge and seem to parachute slowly. I’m high in the mountains but even so this is far too cold for June. The snow is thick on the ground, up to my knees, and it is slowing me but only a little as it’s so light and powdery that I don’t take huge steps but just brush through it. I look back at the trail I’m leaving but it’s not obvious: the snow is light and collapses on to my tracks, almost as if it’s smoothing itself over. I keep thinking I must be near the cottage but there are no lights anywhere except behind me.
I reach the broken tree trunk, its fractured, splintered ends so sharp and thin that little snow has settled on them. I should be able to see the lights from the cottage.
I speed up and then slow down for the last twenty metres. The cottage is in darkness and I go along its side wall and down the far side to the door. As I am about to go in there is a flash, small and distant, below and to the left in the valley. Then sound arrives. A shot. And another. Then lightning followed by thunder. Mercury is fighting the Hunters.