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 . . .”
“All the doors and windows will have the spell?”