Half Wild by Sally Green Read Free Book Online Page A

for ages; it would be good to rest before we go. But I don’t want to sleep near Nesbitt. I still don’t trust him. And I don’t trust the animal inside me either.
    “Tomorrow,” I say. “I’ve got something to do. I’ll be back in the morning.” Though all I’ve got to do is rest and think.
    As I’m about to leave I ask him, “Do you have a Gift, Nesbitt?” He’s a Half Blood but I think he has one.
    “I can see in the dark. Real well.”
    “Useful.”
    “And you?” he asks. “You were trying to get back to Mercury for your birthday. I’m guessing you had your Giving. But have you found your Gift yet?”
    “I was brought up to think it rude to ask a witch about their Gift.”
    “So how come you asked me? You forgetting your good manners, kid?”
    I swear at him, telling him where to go to.
    “Whites have strange ideas of what’s polite, that’s for sure. And you’re a lot like them. Half White, brought up by them . . .”
    Nesbitt is just pushing buttons, trying to find one that gets me going. Everything he says is some kind of niggle or angle or joke.
    “So?” he asks. “Have you found your Gift?”
    I don’t answer. I’m too tired. I just turn and walk away. I know I’m nothing like any White Witch I’ve ever met, neither the good ones nor the bad. And Nesbitt is not like anyone I’ve ever met before.
    * * *
    The night’s cool. It’s late July and, although the days are hot, we’re high in the mountains and there are pockets of snow in the gullies on the north-facing valley wall. As I trek away from Nesbitt I try to work out how much of what he said is true.
    It sounds like Gabriel was shot by Hunters as he tried to lure them away from me. He saved my life and risked his own in the process. And Van and Nesbitt rescued him but I don’t understand why. Surely they didn’t go to all that trouble just for some letters. It sounds like Van and Nesbitt came to Geneva at the same time as the Hunters. Could they have come for me? Could they be working with the Hunters in some way? Gabriel did tell me that Hunters use Half Bloods as informants. For all I know, Victoria van Dal doesn’t exist and Nesbitt has been sent by Hunters. But that doesn’t feel right. Why wouldn’t they just come themselves?
    And, if Victoria van Dal
does
exist, what does she really want? Me? The tin of letters? Gabriel told me that in the letters is something special—a recipe for a potion or instructions for a spell is what I’d always assumed. Whatever it is, Gabriel was going to give it to Mercury if she succeeded in helping him turn from a fain back into a witch. But Mercury never seemed in any rush to do that. If this thing was so amazing, wouldn’t she have been more keen to get her hands on it?
    Then there’s the biggest question of them all: is Gabriel really alive? He must have told Van about the cave but who knows what’s happened to him since?
    There’s no way for me to know the truth of any of this. All my life I’ve been told how untrustworthy Black Witches are but so far they seem just about as trustworthy as anyone else. All I can do is go with Nesbitt and hope he’ll take me to Gabriel. I don’t have any other options.
    On the positive side (and positivity is my middle name) Nesbitt says Van has the Fairborn. We went through so much to get that knife, to steal it from Clay, and I want it back. If I do ever get the chance to return it to my father I will.
    I find a sheltered spot on a steep hillside and curl up between the roots of a fir tree. I take a deep breath, exhale slowly. I need to sleep, I need to rest. Tomorrow I’ll see Gabriel.
    * * *
    I jump awake. It’s still dark. I’ve no idea how long I’ve slept. A few hours, maybe. I listen out for any noise, scan for any movement in the dark shadows of the trees.
    Nothing.
    I lie back down and close my eyes but I’m wide awake. I don’t want to sleep anymore. I want to go to Gabriel.
    I’m fully dressed and I always sleep with