Nesbitt leans back into the car and says, “So, Gabby? Did Pilot tell you anything before she got shot? You were talking long enough.”
“Yes, but I learned little. At first she said that she didn’t know where Mercury’s home was but I was sure she did. I flattered her as much as I could, telling her that she was unique in knowing Mercury so well, but of course I imagined few people had ever actually been invited to her house. Still she wouldn’t say anything. I said it was strange that, above everyone, Mercury trusted Rose, a White Witch by birth, as the one person to be granted access to her home. That did it. Pilot couldn’t resist saying that she’d been invited too and had gone to Mercury’s home several times. It was she who ‘introduced’ Rose to Mercury years ago. She took Rose there herself.
“But she said that she was honor-bound as a true Black Witch and friend of Mercury to reveal nothing about it. Mercury wanted her home to be secret.”
Van says, “So are you telling us that she didn’t reveal where it is?”
“That’s pretty much it.”
“All that for nothing!” Nesbitt kicks the side of the car.
Gabriel goes on. “I said that perhaps Mercury had abandoned her home now, with the Hunters close on her tail. That perhaps they’d found its location. Pilot laughed at that and said it would never be found. She said that she was planning on taking the girl there as a replacement for Rose.” Gabriel glances down at the girl sitting by his feet.
Van says, “I don’t suppose she would have told the girl where Mercury lives?”
“Pilot insisted that only she knew and that she would never tell anyone. She also said that she was safe in that village. That there had been no Hunters anywhere near it. I think they must have arrived around the same time as us. Which makes me think that either Isch told the Hunters where we were going or they followed us from Barcelona.”
“They didn’t follow us or I’d be dead too,” Van says. “They would have seen the 4x4. And Isch would not have told them voluntarily or quickly. Perhaps one of her girls?” She looks at Nesbitt. He nods.
“So Isch is dead or captured by Hunters. If captured she’ll tell them about your meeting with Celia and that I was there,” I say.
“I think that’s a fair assumption.”
Nesbitt curses and walks round the car and kicks it again.
The girl shifts now and Gabriel says something to her in French. She answers in French.
“Pers?” Van smiles at the little girl. “Her name is Pers?”
“Yes,” Gabriel replies.
There’s more talk. Van joins in, speaking French too, and then, to top it off, Nesbitt reappears at the driver’s door and joins in.
The girl speaks again and looks at me and I’d like to say something to her but even in English I can’t think of the right words, about Pilot and how I’m sorry and I don’t know what will happen to her now and life’s pretty shit all round but maybe Van will look after you although really she’s not a great surrogate mother and Nesbitt would make an interesting father figure but anyway it’s better than being a slave to Mercury.
And then I see her eyes aren’t looking for anything from me. And she starts shouting. I don’t know French but I’m guessing she’s cursing. Her face is close to mine and I’m shrinking right back against the car door and she spits in my face. Gabriel has his arms round her, holding her away from me, saying things in her ear, but I don’t think it’s helping much as she kicks me and Gabriel has to wrap one of his legs over hers to keep her still. I open the door and fall out. I get up, wiping the spit off my face, looking at the tangled coil of arms and legs and hair.
“What was that about?”
“She don’t like mongs much to start with but she seems to blame you for the Hunter attack.”
Van has got out of the jeep and walked round to join us. She takes out a cigarette and Nesbitt lights it. Then Van holds the case out toward Gabriel. Pers shouts something and kicks again, and I realize Van was offering the cigarette to her. Van turns to Nesbitt, saying, “Highly spirited.” And she drags on the cigarette, swallowing the smoke. She says to Gabriel, “Find out what you can about her.”
Gabriel talks to Pers and she speaks to him in a more polite voice. Van listens and translates for me. “Her parents are dead, her father years ago, her mother recently, by Hunters; she escaped. Isch took her in and told her she’d grow up to be a great witch. Pilot was going to take her to Mercury. She’s ten, so she says.”
Van comments, “I’m not sure Mercury would have been that impressed: she’s a nasty little thing. But she might prove useful. If Mercury is looking for an apprentice Pers might be our way in.”
“We have to find Mercury first.”
“Yes, that is becoming a tiresome problem.” Van draws heavily on her cigarette again. “Gabriel, you have asked Pers if she knows where Mercury’s home is, haven’t you?”