Annalise has never seen me fighting, which is good, I think. I take her hand and kiss it as gently as I can. I don’t want to talk about fighting when I’m with her. I say, “And how was your day?”
“Oh, OK.” She tries to smile at me and says, “I know Sarah and Laura were driving you mad but I think they’ll get used to you. It’s difficult for everyone in different ways. They’ve both lost family. Sarah’s parents were killed and Laura’s lost her sister . . .”
And again I think maybe now is the time for me to tell Annalise about Kieran. But already she’s talking about the things they did, sorting out stores and the shortage of food.
I ask her, “Are you OK with doing that? I thought you might want to be in with the healers.”
“Ha! I can’t even make a simple medicine. No, Celia is right to put me in Foraging and Stores. I’m good at organizing things, which is not a strength that a lot of the Witches around here have, and everything has to be made use of and accounted for. If all the rebels come here we’ll need more food and sanitation and tents. Boring but essential. And I can only see that more people will flee as the fighting escalates. That means more mouths to feed. There’ll be babies and children. We might need to set up schooling. It’s complicated.”
I’m beginning to realize that fighting is a lot simpler.
We’re silent for a while and then Annalise says, “I haven’t seen Marcus yet but everyone is talking about him being here.”
“The camp gossip seems to be in full swing.”
“Sorry, I’m beginning to sound like Sarah, aren’t I?”
I kiss her and say, “Definitely not.”
Marcus watched me fight but left straight afterward. I say, “He’s not exactly sociable. He likes to be alone.”
I look into the trees, where I met him hours ago, when I was looking for a place to make my camp. He told me he was going to stay away from everyone. “There’s too much staring for my liking.”
Now I say, “I think it’s a good thing he keeps away from people.”
“You haven’t told me what happened when you went to meet him. I didn’t think you’d be gone for so long. I thought you’d maybe talk for a few minutes.”
“Same here.”
“So what did you do for a whole week?”
“You really are beginning to sound like Sarah,” I tease her. “He’s my father, Annalise. I just spent time with him. It was good, for both of us, I think. He’s not what I expected.”
“No? But he sounds dangerous. He attacked Gus? Caroline, one of the healers, told me he cut Gus’s ear off.”
Before I can reply she continues, “You are so different from him. He’s so much a Black Witch, so violent.”
“He can be violent,” I say. “Violent and impulsive. Everyone knows that, including Gus. Anyone who annoys him is stupid. But that doesn’t mean people won’t be stupid. Marcus won’t change. But at least he’s on our side.”
“Tell that to Gus.”
I think I’m best avoiding Gus for a while. I don’t tell Annalise that Marcus attacked Gus because Gus attacked me. And I’m not sure how different my father and I are.
I say, “So I think that’s enough gossip for one evening.”
“Well, there is one more piece of gossip I have to tell you about.” And now she’s grinning. “Guess?”
I shrug.
“All the girls have crushes on Gabriel.”
“Ah, nooooo!” I pull the blanket over our heads and hold her to me, saying, “Please, no more.”
She laughs but carries on. “It’s his hair. They were talking about it for hours; how he tucks it behind his ears, how it falls forward, how it curls. They also like his eyes and his lips and his nose, his shoulders and his legs. But mainly it’s his hair.”
“Do they know they’re wasting their time?”
“Wasting their time because he’s only interested in boys? Or only interested in one boy?” And she points her finger at my chest.
I remember kissing him, holding his hair. But I say, “He’s my friend, Annalise.”
“I know,” she says, and kisses me gently on the lips.
And I kiss her more.
Later she falls asleep in my arms but I stay awake, just holding her and feeling her warmth against me.
I know I’ll have to leave soon. And in a few hours I’ll be fighting and it’ll be bad and here I am now holding Annalise. All of it feels unreal.
She stirs and asks, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s fine.”
“You’re gripping me so tightly I can hardly breathe.”
“I didn’t mean to wake you but I’ve got to go soon. I’m not supposed to talk about it but . . . I’ll be back later.”
Now she grips me tightly, wrapping her legs round mine. After a while she says, “When we were in the Red Gourd in Basle, you said . . . something.”
I reply in a whisper, “And I remember you said something too.” I pull the blanket over our heads so it’s totally dark. I want to be brave and say it before she does. My lips are close to her ear, brushing it as I whisper, “Annalise, I lo–”
“Time to go, partner!” Nesbitt flings the blanket back. “Oh, sorry to interrupt, mate. Thought you were asleep.”
The First Attack