Half Bad

by Sally Green

  When we land Mercury strokes my cheek. “I’ve heard of a vision about the Fairborn and you, Nathan. And I think you have heard it too.” She pinches my chin and looks into my eyes. “Definitely.”

  She strokes my cheek again before turning to Gabriel and saying, “It will be interesting to see how Nathan changes with that knife in his hand.”

  Gabriel looks confused.

  “Nathan can explain to you about the vision. And tonight we will discuss how the Fairborn can be taken from Clay and put into my—no . . . Nathan’s hands.”

  * * *

  We lie on the mossy bank of the small lake. We have run there, swum, and now we are letting the sun’s rays dry and warm us. But my head’s in a different place.

  Gabriel says, “This morning I went to the house where Pilot said Clay was staying to check it for myself. Pilot gets things wrong sometimes. But she wasn’t wrong. Clay is there.”

  “How do you know it’s him?”

  Gabriel shrugs. “They have that look, don’t they? Arrogance. He’s the most arrogant of them all. The king of arrogance.”

  It’s him.

  “He has a girlfriend,” Gabriel says.

  “You serious?” I remember his truncheon and being on the ground, trying to protect my head with my arms.

  “Even more surprising . . . she’s attractive. Tall and slim and young . . . young for Clay, you know what I mean. Some women go for looks, some go for money, some go for power. She obviously goes for”—he shrugs—“arrogant old men.”

  Gabriel’s trying to make me laugh, but I can’t see anything funny about Clay.

  I say, “He’s not that old. He’s powerful. Has a certain position in society. He’s cunning . . . intelligent.” And brutal.

  “So, a good catch for a White Witch.”

  I sit up and look at the lake, the deep blue surface reflecting the sky, lime green underneath from the weeds growing in the water. It reminds me of Ellen. I tell Gabriel. “I met a Half Blood in London. She had amazing eyes. A bit like the lake, that mix of blue and green, only hers had turquoise and . . .” I run out of things to say. Clay’s eyes were like ice.

  Gabriel sits up too. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ve met Clay. Twice.” I remember his breath on my neck.

  I want to tell Gabriel about the Fairborn and my tattoos and Celia’s training and Mary’s warning. But I don’t know what the first word is . . . where to begin. . . . Where do I start with all this stuff?

  He says, “Tell me about this Half Blood. She sounds interesting.”

  “She is. You’d like her. She’s smart.”

  And once I start to tell him about Ellen it gets easier and I explain about Bob and Mary and then the assessments and Clay and all of it.

  When I’ve finished Gabriel says, “Mary said you should trust no one. But you trusted Ellen and you’re trusting me.”

  I shrug. I do trust him, though.

  He leans over and hugs me. It feels a bit awkward.

  Gabriel is convinced that Mercury will want to steal the Fairborn. Then she will pair me up with it and set us against Marcus. He says that if I work for her for a year she will use all her powers to manipulate me to kill Marcus. He thinks that is part of the pleasure she will have, setting me against Marcus, having power over his son. He says, “You’re right to believe in your father.”

  He says he no longer wants Mercury’s help.

  I remind him. “But I need her help. It’s only six days to my birthday. I need three gifts.”

  “Yes, that’s a problem,” he says. “We need a plan.”

  But a plan is hard to find. We agree that we need to destroy the knife, or throw it into the lake where it can never be recovered, but Mercury will be furious and out for revenge if we do that. And anyway my father may not believe what we have done. We could try to give the knife to him, but clearly this has the twin dangers of both getting it to him and giving it to him when he doesn’t trust me.

  We decide to go along with any plan Mercury comes up with to steal the Fairborn as it’s better in her hands than the hands of the Hunters. We can only hope that after I have three gifts and I’m working for Mercury I will get an opportunity to destroy it. It’s not much of a plan.

  * * *

  That evening Mercury is in a celebratory mood. Rose has been to Geneva and is back. She tells us what she has seen: the same as Gabriel. Clay is staying in a house in the suburbs of Geneva. There are at least twenty Hunters in the area around the city, which is nothing to celebrate in my opinion. Pilot has left for Spain.

  Mercury doesn’t sit, she stands and paces, but the fabric of her dress is dancing around in glee. She doesn’t seem to care how many Hunters there are. She wants the Fairborn and thinks Rose can steal it.

  Gabriel says, “If Clay has it. Pilot has often been wrong.”

  Rose says, “Pilot told me there’s a rota of people who guard the Fairborn. It’s Clay’s turn at the moment. Wherever he goes, the Fairborn goes.”

  “Getting it from Clay isn’t going to be easy.”

  “No, not easy,” Mercury agrees. “But quite within the capability of my wonderful, darling, genius Rose of a White Witch, who has the talent to take anything, however securely it is kept.”

  Rose blushes and giggles.

  Mercury says, “Tomorrow, Rose, you and Gabriel go to the house, find the Fairborn, and bring it to me.”

  Just like that.

  “And how—?” I begin.

  Gabriel puts his hand on my arm. “It’s fine. We’ll be careful. Mercury is right. Rose is very good. Even Hunters are fooled by her mist. But we won’t take any chances. If the house is protected by trespass spells we won’t try. It would be impossible, even for Rose.”

  Rose adds, “But Shites don’t like to use them in case fains get hurt. They wouldn’t want to kill a fain burglar. It can bring them into the limelight too much. Cleaning up after fains is a chore.”

  I say, “So you’ll just walk into a house full of Hunters, pick up the knife, and walk out again.”

  “They won’t see me,” Rose says.

  “It’s too dangerous,” I say to Gabriel.

  “You are becoming more fain than me,” he says. “We’ll be careful.”

  Mercury laughs again.

  “Then I’ll come too,” I say.

  Mercury says, “No. You stay here.”

  I curse her and she laughs. There is a clap of thunder above the cottage and hairpins spin around the room.

  “And the girl?” Rose asks.

  “Ah yes. The girl . . .” Mercury looks to Gabriel. “What did you say her name was?”

  “Annalise. Annalise O’Brien.”

  And when Gabriel says her name, it doesn’t make sense. Annalise can’t be trying to find Mercury. She can’t need Mercury’s help.

  Gabriel asks me what’s wrong.

  When I don’t answer he stares hard at me. “You know her?”

  I don’t know what I say.

  “She’s the one you . . . like?” And I can see the disgust on his face.

  I say to Mercury, “I need to see her. She’s a friend.”

  “How lovely.” Rose blushes.

  Mercury stares at me too, her eyes flashing wildly. “A friend? Who arrives just as your birthday approaches, just as Geneva fills with Hunters?”

  Mercury says to Rose, “You are going to get the Fairborn tomorrow night.” She stands to leave and goes to the door but then turns back and says to Gabriel, “Make sure Nathan doesn’t see the girl. Not yet. I need to think about her.”

  To me she says, “If you go, Gabriel will pay for failing to stop you.” And then Mercury’s gone.

  Rose looks from Gabriel to me and blushes, saying, “The course of true love never did run smooth.” She giggles and reaches out to hold Gabrie
l’s hand. “But I’m on Team Gabriel.”

  Gabriel snatches his hand away from Rose and looks at me. “I knew there was something wrong all the time I was with her, Nathan. She’s a spy. She’s working for the Council.”

  I shake my head. “She isn’t.”

  “She’s come to capture you or spy on you or kill you. They are using her to get you.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  “Am I? She’s a White Witch. Pure White. I bet half her family are Hunters or Council members.”

  “That doesn’t mean she’s like them.”

  “Oh, of course not. She’s different.” His voice is mocking. “And she thinks you’re special, she understands you, she knows you’re not bad really, she doesn’t mind that your father is the most wanted Black Witch, she’s not interested in him, just in you. She sees the real you. The kinder, gentler you. And she swishes her blonde hair and smiles her bright smile and—”

  But I’m out of there.

  * * *

  I run. It feels like the only good thing to do, running until I can’t run any more. I sleep in the forest, badly, even though I’m exhausted. I stay there for most of the day, walking, staring at the sky. It’s only five days until my birthday, and I feel like everything is spinning out of control. I can only imagine Annalise is here because things have got bad back at home with her family. And for her to risk coming to Mercury, it must be really bad. But she is not here for her Giving; she was seventeen in September.

  Late in the afternoon I go back to the cottage. Preparations are underway for stealing the Fairborn from a house full of Hunters.

  As I walk in, Gabriel continues what he’s doing, which I’m surprised to see is cleaning a gun.

  “Do you know how to use that?” I ask. I can’t stop myself from sounding angry, even though I told myself not to be.

  “I lived in the U.S. of A. for more than a year, didn’t I?” His voice is soft, joking.

  “But have you ever actually shot anyone?”

  He stops cleaning the gun and looks up at me but doesn’t answer.

  And I almost see the Black Witch in him.

  “Who did you kill?”

  He keeps his eyes locked on mine and says, so I can only just hear, “A spy.”

  “That’s your speciality, is it? Killing spies.”

  “Nathan, don’t.” He starts cleaning the gun again.

  “I’ve known Annalise a long time. She’s not a spy. I trust her.”

  “Those are the ones they choose.”

  “So that’s it? There’s nothing she can do to convince you otherwise? Everything she does will be suspicious because of who she is.”

  He doesn’t reply, just carries on cleaning the gun.

  “And if Mercury told you to shoot Annalise, would you do it?”

  He doesn’t look up from the gun but at least he’s stopped cleaning it.

  “Would you?” My voice is quiet but unsteady.

  He shakes his head but looks me in the eyes as he says, “If I was certain she was betraying you I’d kill her, whether Mercury told me to or not.”

  “So you’re not certain?”

  “Not one hundred percent. But Nathan, if there’s one thing I’m good at it’s reading people, and there’s something not right about her.”

  “Or maybe you just want to see that, but you can’t actually find anything wrong with her, because there isn’t. Because she won’t ever betray me. Because she’s actually a good person. But you don’t want to believe that. You want her to be a spy!” And I realize I’m shouting and shaking with anger.

  “Nathan. I know this is difficult for you.” He comes to me and puts his arms around me. I don’t hug him back, but I don’t hit him.

  Rose appears from her bedroom, sees us, and blows me a kiss.

  I swear at her and go sit in the corner.

  Rose is dressed as inappropriately as ever in a long, swirly, figure-hugging gray dress a bit like Mercury’s. Her hair is immaculate, piled on her head in a sleek twisting knot. She looks like she is going to a Halloween Ball, except that her feet are bare. She shows Gabriel her hairpins, which are decorated at their ends with skulls. Small black skulls are for picking locks of doors, small red skulls for opening safes or more complex locks, and the large white skull is . . . she blushes . . . for killing Shites.

  Mercury blows in. She is smiling in her own way.

  “Before you go for the Fairborn, Gabriel, I’d like you to bring Nathan’s friend to us.”

  Gabriel looks uncertain.

  “If she’s been sent to spy on us I want her in my hands and unable to give any warning.”

  And I know she really wants Annalise in her hands so that she has another hold over me.

  “When you and Rose are ready to go, bring her here. Give her no chance to do anything.”

  Gabriel and Rose go through their plan. Then we eat in silence. Even Rose looks serious.

  At sunset Gabriel goes on to the roof and through the cut.

  I wait on the grass.

  I don’t have to wait long.

  Gabriel and Annalise appear, holding hands. Gabriel drops hers as if she is plagued. Annalise is sprawled across the roof, her eyes closed.

  Gabriel calls to Rose and she appears, comes to me, kisses me on the cheek, steps on to the roof, over the body of Annalise and into Gabriel’s arms, but Gabriel’s eyes are on mine all the time. I hear Rose giggle as they disappear through the cut.

  Annalise

  Annalise and I are sitting together. Close. She always seemed so much more mature than me, but now she seems much younger. Her face has changed, become longer and thinner, even more stunning. She is dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and a pale blue jumper, but her feet are bare.

  I wonder when Mercury will come. She is letting me have some time with Annalise. There will be a motive behind it.

  I take Annalise’s hand in mine and ask her what happened.

  She blinks and tears run down her cheeks.

  “I’m in such trouble, Nathan.”

  I wipe the tears with my fingertips, hardly touching her skin.

  “After Kieran attacked you, he told my father about us. My father was angry, but he said I wouldn’t be punished. I just had to regain their trust. I had to do as I was told in every little detail. And I didn’t have any other options, so I tried to be good. But they never trusted me, however good I was. My father or one of my brothers was always with me if I left the house. I wasn’t allowed to see any of my old friends. I was lonely but it was bearable. But then, after my Giving, the Council asked to see me. They questioned me about you. My uncle Soul was there. He treated me like I was a traitor. I didn’t answer their questions about you, I said I’d forgotten. But it was frightening. I was summoned again that day I saw you in the Council building. Then a few nights later my uncle came to our house, and I overheard him telling my father that you had escaped and that I would have to go back for more questioning. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I knew I couldn’t face any more of it. I thought that if you’d escaped then maybe it was possible for me too. So I ran away.”

  She looks into my eyes and the silver in hers twists slowly. “I thought that if I could find you . . . Well, I didn’t think much beyond that. But I wanted to find you. I’ve always wanted that. And I heard that Mercury helped White Witches for a price. The only thing I did have was money. I can’t believe that I’ve found you . . . that you really are here.”

  I wipe her tears away again, this time tracing my fingers over her cheek, feeling the smoothness of her skin. She tries to smile, and reaches over to brush my hair back from my face.

  “Your eyes are how I remembered them. They haven’t changed.” And her fingers are on my cheek now and before I can think about it I turn to kiss them, and then I press her hand to my mouth and kiss her palm.

 
She strokes her fingers over the tattoo on my hand and looks at my neck and strokes that tattoo as well. But she doesn’t ask about them. And the silver in her eyes tumbles and catches the moonlight and more tears come into her eyes.

  We sit together and still Mercury doesn’t come.

  “I’ll help you, Annalise. But they think you’re a spy. They don’t trust you.”

  “But you do?”

  “Of course.” And I hold her; she’s so fragile and shaking. “I’ll speak to Mercury . . . convince her.”

  Annalise nods.

  “We have to wait for her here on the roof. You mustn’t step off the roof unless you are touching Mercury.”

  “Or else?”

  “Gabriel told me that you fall into a deathlike sleep.”

  “Gabriel doesn’t trust me. He doesn’t like me.”

  “You’re a White Witch, he’s a Black—”

  “Pilot wouldn’t have me in her house.”

  “Mercury is more . . . business-minded.”

  Annalise nods. “I heard Pilot say that Clay is in Geneva.”

  And with that a warm breeze blows over us.

  I wait for Mercury to appear, but she doesn’t. I think she’s hinting that she wants to know more.

  “Do you know anything about a special knife called the Fairborn?” I ask her. “I think Clay may have it.”

  Annalise frowns. “Yes, I’ve heard my father talking about it with Kieran. It’s important, but I don’t know why. Different people take turns to look after it. Only those most trusted by the Council. My father had it for a time last year. My uncle has had it too, and Clay is also one of the ones who guard it.”

  Annalise grips my hand; hers is damp now. “You’re not thinking of trying to get the knife, are you?” She turns to look at my face.

  I shrug.

  “It would be madness. There will be Hunters everywhere.”

  “If someone was . . . invisible, say, and could sneak into Clay’s headquarters.”

  Annalise shakes her head. “There will be trespass spells to protect the building.”

  “Like the one on the roof here?”

  “Yes, Clay will have a spell to protect the house. The spell won’t kill you; it will just make you incapable. Kieran told us a story about a fain who tried to break into a Hunter’s bunkhouse once and was found wandering around in a drunken stupor. They did things to him . . . laughed at him . . .”