Half Lost (The Half Bad Trilogy #3) - Sally Green Page 0,28

speak to you too,” Adele adds, and I glance up at her but realize she’s talking to Gabriel, not me.

Adele leads Gabriel and Nesbitt back to Celia. Greatorex must be there too as she’s not with the trainees. I wonder when I’ll be summoned.

It’s less than an hour before Adele comes back and asks me to go with her. Celia is sitting near the fire, Greatorex sitting to her right, Nesbitt and Gabriel standing to her left. They’re all watching me as I approach. Nesbitt seems nervous and is muttering something in Gabriel’s ear.

Gabriel comes toward me as I approach. He looks so serious I feel instantly on alert. I’ve no idea what this is about but it isn’t good, whatever it is.

I stop. Gabriel is facing me, half blocking my way to Celia, his shoulder close to mine. He’s near me, not holding me back but touching my arm with his body.

“What’s happening?” I ask him.

“Celia will explain, but please, Nathan, try to keep calm.”

Celia says, “Sit down, Nathan. We need to talk.”

“I can talk standing up.”

Celia stands too, as does Greatorex. “There have been some developments that I need to tell you about. There are some Black Witches at Camp One who aren’t happy. Gus and a few others are causing some trouble.”

I’ve met Gus on a couple of occasions, one being when my father cut his ear off for attacking me. I’m not surprised he’s causing trouble.

“That’s why I asked Van to go back,” Celia continues. “She’s a well-respected Black Witch. Well respected by both Blacks and Whites. She’ll calm things down.”

“Are you going to get to the point?” I ask.

“The unrest is because of a prisoner we have there.”

“A prisoner?”

And I feel like I can’t catch my breath, like I already know what’s coming next, but I daren’t think it in case I’m wrong and there are no clues on Celia’s face and even when she says “Annalise” I daren’t quite believe it in case I heard wrong so I say, “Annalise?”

Celia says, “Yes, she’s our prisoner. She’s at Camp One.”

And I need a second to get my head together. I know this isn’t straightforward, and the way they are all being with me is like they don’t trust me, but they have her. She hasn’t got away. I find I’m saying, “I need to go there, to Camp One.”

“We’ll come to that in a minute. First, you need to understand the situation, Nathan.” Celia hesitates and then goes on. “We caught Annalise a few days after BB. She—”

“What? But then . . . you’ve had her for weeks? Months?”

“It’s three months.”

“And no one’s bothered to tell me?”

“I’m telling you now.”

Celia’s voice is low and quiet. Mine is not as I say, “I’ve been scouring the fucking country for her!”

“Yes, I know.”

I swear again.

“And who else knew you had her?” I ask, glaring around. Nesbitt at least doesn’t look away so I know he didn’t know, and Gabriel, still close to me, meets my eyes too, but with a look that says everything.

“You knew?” I ask him. “You knew and didn’t tell me?”

“I’d heard a rumor. I had an idea what might have happened and—”

“You didn’t think to share that rumor with me? Didn’t think to tell me what idea you had?” I swear at him and turn away. “So all the time I was out searching for her, with you telling me not to risk my life attacking Hunters, you could have stopped me at any time by telling me about your ‘idea’?”

“I didn’t know you were going to attack the Hunters.”

But I can’t listen to him. I can’t make sense of it. I don’t know why he wouldn’t tell me about Annalise. He knew it was driving me insane. “You knew about her and told me nothing!”

“I was trying—”

“You told me nothing.” I lean forward to shout in his face. “Nothing!”

“I was—”

“I trusted you,” I hiss at him.

Now Gabriel leans in to me, close to my face, and hisses back, “No, you don’t trust me—not anymore. You don’t tell me what you’re doing or what you’ve done. You disappear for days and don’t tell me where you’ve been, who you’ve killed. You tell me the minimum when you have to. When it suits you.”

I can’t believe he’s blaming me. He’s hidden Annalise and he’s blaming me! I spit at Gabriel. The spit lands on his cheek.

Gabriel stares at me. I’ve never seen him angry before. And Nesbitt is getting in between us, pushing Gabriel