Half Lost (The Half Bad Trilogy #3) - Sally Green Page 0,24
simply have to hope that you are that person, Nathan.”
Dreading You
Van goes back to camp with Nesbitt, and me and Gabriel go for a run. I ask him, “Are you bothered about Van giving away your half of the amulet?”
“Of course not. I gave it to her in exchange for helping me, for saving my life. It’s hers to do with as she wants. And I told you back then, Nathan, I’m not interested in those things anymore. I never was particularly to start with.”
“And do you think I should go for the amulet?”
“I’m thinking about that.”
So am I. Ledger sounds interesting and so does the amulet but if I’m doing that I’m not looking for Annalise. But I’m beginning to realize—or rather I’m having to face up to what I’ve known for weeks now—that Annalise has escaped from here. She could be anywhere by now.
We run for a couple of hours and then head back into camp. Greatorex, Van, and Nesbitt are sitting with Donna and we go over to join them. Nesbitt is supporting Donna, who looks like she’s going to pass out.
On the ground is one of Van’s small stone bowls with dregs of liquid in it. Truth potion, I guess.
Van looks at me and then back to Donna and asks, “Why do you want to join the Alliance?”
“I can do good if I join.” Donna’s voice is slurred, like she’s drunk.
“What sort of good?”
“Kill the bad guys.”
“Who are the bad guys?”
“The evil ones, the bad guys.”
“But who? Name one.”
“Bad guys.” Donna looks like she’s going to sleep.
Van persists. “Are the Hunters bad?”
“They kill the Alliance.”
“Yes, but are the Hunters bad?”
“They tied me up and starved me and gagged me.” Donna seems to focus on me for a second or two and says, “He killed them.”
“Do you know the name of this person?” Van points at me.
“Nathan. Also known as Freddie.”
Van raises her eyebrows and looks at me. “Freddie?”
I nod.
“Is Nathan a bad guy?”
“He killed the Hunters.”
“So does that make him good or bad?”
“Everyone says he’s bad.”
“What do you say?”
“He let me have all the chocolate.”
Van blows her cheeks out. She looks tired. “Are you a spy?”
“No.”
“Are you an assassin?”
“I’d like to kill the bad guys.”
“Who are the bad guys?”
“The evil ones, the bad guys.”
I get the feeling this is not the first time the questioning has gone round in circles and I leave them to it.
* * *
Later I ask Van how it went. She shakes her head. “Difficult. To work best, any potion has to be tailored specifically to the individual. The one I used was a general truth potion, but even so everything she said should have been the truth.”
“So? What’s the verdict?”
“I don’t like the fact that her answers were always the same. They were honest but not open. But it’s hard to judge. I’ll need to make a potion specifically for her.”
Van offers me a cigarette and I accept it. I inhale the smoke and breathe out. I’m surprised that the cigarettes seem to be ordinary fain ones.
“American,” Van says, as if reading my thoughts.
“I don’t suppose you’ve got any of that other potion, the one that helped me sleep.”
Van hesitates but asks, “Bad dreams?”
I shrug. “They’re just dreams.” I wonder if I should tell her about my vision. Maybe another time.
“I’ve got this.” She reaches into her jacket and takes out a few small pieces of paper. Or, rather, pieces of paper folded over several times to make them small. She selects three. “It’s strong. Only one a night or you’ll never wake up.” She holds them over my outstretched palm. “You wouldn’t be tempted to take all of them at once, would you, Nathan?”
I look into the blue of her eyes. I tell her, “Most days I’m tempted.”
I don’t tell her that the thought that stops me is of Annalise being out there somewhere, alive and free, and if she was alive and I was dead then the injustice of it would consume me in flames. Only when she’s dead will I give up.
* * *
I’ve pretty much decided to go to see Ledger, but Greatorex wants me, Nesbitt, and Gabriel to help secure the camp first. Greatorex is establishing a new routine of daily checks in the immediate vicinity and weekly checks in a wider area. Each Alliance camp is connected to the others by a cut, with one escape cut leading somewhere far away. Greatorex says, “The network of cuts that link them allows us to keep the