Half Lost (The Half Bad Trilogy #3) - Sally Green Page 0,35

cuts to get to Camp One, with a bit of a run in between them, but even so it will only be a few hours before I see Annalise. I’m not sure how I feel, other than impatient.

At the first cut Gabriel grasps my left hand in his right and we interlock fingers while Celia guides Gabriel’s left hand to the cut. I take a deep breath as Gabriel is sucked through and I’m pulled after him and I breathe out as we slide through the darkness. The cut is so short that a faint light appears ahead immediately and then we’re out and on the forest floor at the other side. The others come through and Celia sets off again. We keep close to her. The pace is slower than I’d like but we quickly settle into a rhythm. The woodland thins out to open meadows and there’s snow on the ground.

I ask Celia, “How far to the next cut?”

“A mile, beyond the river.”

I’m about to ask how far to the river when the ground steepens and we’re jumping down a riverbank into freezing- cold water. The current is strong. And then we’re scrambling up the other bank and running through knee-deep wet snow to a stand of trees.

At the next cut, Celia guides everyone through, holding me back. She says, “Nathan, you wait and go with me.”

Once the others have gone through, Celia says, “I need you to be clear on what you’ll do when you see Annalise.”

“Don’t worry—I’m clear.”

“And what is it that you’re clear about?”

“I told you: I want her to go to trial.”

Celia studies me. “Is that the full truth of it?”

“I won’t kill her unless the trial fails to provide me with justice. If they let her go, then I’ll . . . reestablish justice.”

“What if they say she should be imprisoned?”

“You want the full truth of it, Celia? I don’t know what I’ll do. But if they let her go then I will do something.”

“She won’t go free. Not if the system works.”

Celia grabs hold of my jacket and slides her free hand through the cut.

At the other side of the cut it’s raining a fine drizzle. Celia says, “Nathan, stay close to me. It’s a fifteen-minute run to the camp.” It’s only when I say “OK” that she lets go of my arm. Then she sets off hard.

Soon I’ll see Annalise. I want to see her. I hope she’s chained up. I want her to see me looking at her.

We must be almost at Camp One when Celia slows the pace, then stops. She looks around and I know from the way she stands and moves that something’s wrong.

“What?” I ask her.

“There should be a lookout here.”

The others join us and Nesbitt asks, “What’s up?”

“I’m not sure,” Celia replies. “The camp’s four hundred meters ahead. Nathan, use your invisibility and check out the camp. Nesbitt, Gabriel, you scout the perimeter to the left. I’ll go to the right with Adele. Kirsty, you wait here with Donna. Meet back here in five minutes.”

I go invisible and set off cautiously. I’ve only gone about a hundred meters when I hear a faint hiss. It’s the noise that mobile phones set off in my head. No one in the Alliance uses phones. Shit!

I keep going, slowly. The hissing from the phones is barely there. But I creep onwards and it gets a little stronger. I’m still about two hundred meters from the camp. There have to be Hunters ahead. I move forward, not seeing any sign of them. Everything is still and quiet except for the faint hissing in my head.

Shit! It’s too still, too quiet.

I run back to Kirsty and Donna. Gabriel is there as well but none of the others. I tell Gabriel, “I can hear a hissing. It must be Hunters, but I don’t know how many. I think they might be on the far side of the camp, getting ready to attack. I need to get in there and warn them. You tell Celia.”

“No, Nathan, wait.”

But I’ve already turned invisible again and am running. I go fast, listening and looking all the time. I’m scanning for Hunters but see none. I slow at the edge of the camp. Camp One is not set in a clearing but the tents are dotted among the trees. There’s no noise of people. No noise of birds or anything. The only sound is the electric hiss of mobile phones in my head. But it’s very