*
We drive straight through to Barcelona, only stopping to change cars once and using the nightsmoke to make it bearable after dark. We park up on a busy Barcelona shopping street the next morning. Nesbitt looks like shit with stubble and I tell him so. He just says, “And you’re looking beaut too.” We’re all crumpled and tired except for Van, of course, who seems as fresh as when we set off, as fresh as she always does. Gabriel looks good whether he’s crumpled or not.
Nesbitt nips out of the car to get two pizzas for me and Gabriel. We’ve got to wait in the car while the grown-ups go and talk business.
Van eyes the pizza boxes with disgust when Nesbitt returns. “Fortunately, Isch is very hospitable. I’m sure we’ll be well catered to there. She travels for most of the year but always spends a few weeks in the summer in Barcelona.”
It’s August now and I can only hope that Isch does know where Pilot is cos I’m sure we’re running out of time to help Annalise. It’s been two months since my birthday, two months since Annalise was put in her sleep. I’ve no idea if this is all in vain and Annalise is already dead anyway. But, as ever, it’s best not to think about that too much.
“Keep him out of sight, Gabriel,” Van says.
“I am here. You can speak to me.”
“Yes, of course.” Van turns her eyes on me. “Please, don’t get out of the car. Don’t do anything until we’re back.”
Nesbitt says, “Don’t want a stray Hunter seeing you.”
“You’re the expert at being seen,” I reply.
Nesbitt opens his mouth but for once no words come out. He looks genuinely sorry, though.
“How long will you be?” Gabriel asks Van. “When should we start to worry?”
Van smiles. “You really don’t need to worry about us. We’ll be a couple of hours, maybe more. Mustn’t rush; manners at all times.”
It’s mid-morning and the car is hot in the August sun. I sprawl across the seats, open a box, and start to eat a slice of pizza. But Gabriel says, “I’m going to follow them. Stay here.” And he’s out of the car and walking up the road.
I catch him up in a few seconds and tell him, “I’m coming with you.”
“OK, but keep well back. I’ll follow them. You follow me.”
I drop back as Gabriel turns into an alley but I keep him in my sights. He moves fast up another alley, which is darker and a lot quieter. I follow Gabriel down a couple more alleys, still keeping my distance, and then he goes right and when I reach the corner he’s gone.
Shit!
This alley is even narrower. The houses are all four stories high. I move slowly forward. All the doors are shut and I can see nothing through the grubby windows. I reach a dead end and turn to work my way back when Gabriel appears out of a door on the left. He beckons me forward.
“They’re in there. Some sort of meeting. I think this is Isch’s house but I heard them mention the Alliance. Do you want to try to listen in?”
I nod.
He turns back to the door of the house, which is shut again.
Then he pulls a hairpin out of his jacket pocket. It has an unusual black skull on the end of it but I’ve seen it before. It’s one of the pins that unlocks doors.
“Did you steal that from Mercury?” I ask.
Gabriel shakes his head. “Rose gave it to me.”
He puts the pin in the lock and pushes the door slowly open. I follow him inside. This seems to be the entrance to a large apartment. There are cooking smells coming from the room ahead. I follow Gabriel up the wide stone stairs and through a door on the landing into a dining room. At the far end are French doors that lead onto a narrow balcony that stretches the width of the apartment. The doors from the dining room lead onto the balcony but so do the doors from the next room. These other doors are open. I move so that I’m against the wall and out of sight from the room but close enough to hear the people inside talking.
Van is speaking. Talking about a Black Witch. She seems to be assessing whether this person will join the Alliance. Nesbitt gives his opinion, which isn’t very positive. A woman’s voice joins in. Van replies to her. Calls her Isch.
And then I hear another voice. A voice I recognize straightaway. I’d know it anywhere and I feel like I can’t breathe. My impulse is to run. I look at Gabriel and he sees that something is wrong and grabs at me as I take a step toward the doors and he pushes me back against the wall. And I manage to hold myself back. I calm myself, taking deep breaths.
Gabriel mouths, What’s wrong?
I whisper, “It’s OK. I’m OK.”
And he stares at me, questioning me with his look.
“I’m OK,” I insist, holding his gaze. And I think I am. “I know who’s in there. Why they didn’t want me here.”