“Lots. I figure if they can find them then let them keep busy doing that.” He glances at me. “It gives the Hunters something to do!” He laughs. “I should fill the world with them.”
We’re in Basle the afternoon before the meeting. Marcus insists on scouting the city and says I can’t help as I’m too conspicuous, and I know that the Hunters do know what I look like. He arrives back at the walled garden when it’s dark and says, “Two Hunters. One of the benefits of being able to turn invisible is that I can follow them and listen to them for hours without much danger. They’re talking to informants or rather they would be if they could find any. It seems that the Half Bloods have disappeared. I guess they’ve fled or gone over to the Alliance, which is a good sign, though it’s making the Hunters very curious.”
“But they know nothing about the meeting tomorrow?”
Marcus shakes his head. “Those two definitely don’t.”
We sleep on the ground and I look at the stars and wonder about the future. A war is definitely coming and I have to admit that I’m curious to see my father fighting in it.
*
The next morning Marcus does another check of the city and the two Hunters and he returns, saying, “No change. Let’s go.”
We head to the Red Gourd. He becomes invisible for the journey, guiding me by my arm and keeping me moving fast. We approach the alley that the bar is in from a different side and I only recognize it at the last moment. As I push open the heavy wooden door and step inside, my father says, “I’ll stay like this for the moment.”
I don’t nod or acknowledge what he’s said but move down the first of the stone steps, and as I pull aside the heavy curtain I see the inside of the Red Gourd for the briefest moment before it’s gone and we’re sucked through a cut. It’s black and swirling and as empty of air as ever but I feel Marcus’s hand tight on my arm and, although I don’t know why we’ve gone through a cut, I’m reassured. I feel indestructible when my father’s with me.
And we’re out. It’s the shortest and widest cut I’ve been through. I don’t fall to the ground like I’ve done every other time, possibly because the cut is so wide and possibly because my father is holding me up.
I look around for Hunters but there are none.
We’re in a bar but not the Red Gourd or at least not the original one. This bar is in the open air, in a forest clearing. It is laid out the same as the Red Gourd with tables along the wall, only here there is no wall, though the booths at the far end are still booths. To my right is the long bar but there’s no wall behind that either and instead of the low, timbered roof of the Red Gourd there is a canvas sail that is tied taut between trees.
Gabriel, Van, Celia, and the other White Witch, Grace, are sitting at the furthest table and Gus is standing with them, his back to me. I take a step toward them but my father holds me still.
Gabriel sees me, and Gus turns and says, “Talk of the devil.”
My father lets go of my arm.
I say, “Hi.”
They all look at me expectantly and I’m not sure what to say or what my father wants me to do.
Celia says, “Are you alone?”
“My father is . . . thinking about your offer.”
“So you’ve failed,” says Gus. “You were supposed to bring Marcus with you.”
And then Gus screams and grabs at the right side of his face, blood pouring between his fingers. He drops to his knees. Blood is running down his neck, his arm, and onto the floor. He’s still screaming and grasping at the side of his face as Marcus appears, standing over him. The Fairborn is in his left hand and something else, something small and bloody, is in his right hand. I think it’s Gus’s ear.
Everyone is still and silent, except for Gus, who is wailing now.
Marcus says, “Gus. I really must thank you for working with me over the last few years, acting as such a . . .” Marcus looks at me with a mock confused expression on his face. “What was the phrase, Nathan? An ‘extremely discreet and equally cautious’ messenger. However, pulling a knife on my son strikes me as being neither discreet nor cautious. So I felt I had to do the same to you. You can take that as an end to our working relationship.”
Gus looks like he’s going to be sick.
Marcus drops the ear on the ground and wipes the Fairborn clean on Gus’s shoulder. “So, Nathan, do you want to introduce me to your friends? I’d particularly like to know which one is the Hunter who kept you in a cage.”
Celia moves to stand but Marcus says, “No, don’t get up.”
He doesn’t say it out of politeness but as an instruction. I can see Celia is thinking about it but she remains sitting, cool as ever. She says, “And I have always wanted to meet the man who killed my sister.”
Marcus smiles. “Really? I had no idea.” He moves to stand behind Celia but speaks to Van. He says, “Thanks for the invitation to come here today, Van. I get very few, as you can imagine.”