Half Lost (18 page)

The Fifty-First Problem

We're back at Celia's camp, the new Camp One. We stayed at Ledger's cabin for a week in total, resting, learning, working on my Gifts, and testing the amulet's protection as much as we could. Then Ledger guided us back to the map room and from there we made our way to New York and then another day later we arrived here.

I don't tell Celia much about Ledger—he likes his privacy—but I tell her about the amulet and my invulnerability.

I'm curious to see what will happen if Celia tries her Gift on me. I hate her noise. If there's one thing I dread, it's that. It's not just the pain but the memories, the shame, the number of times I've been left sniveling and groaning on the floor because of it. But now I want her to use it on me. She is also keen to try it, it seems.

I grin at her and say, “But first punch me in the face.”

She cracks her knuckles, makes a fist, and swings at me, a solid right hook.

And I do feel something: not pain but a thrill at seeing Celia double over holding her hand to her body. She stands up, healing as fast as she can, no doubt. “It's like hitting steel,” she says.

Of course that doesn't stop her trying more things:
stabbing and shooting, though I draw the line at her hanging me. I tell her to use her noise.

She says, “You're ready? You don't need to prepare or anything?”

“No, the protection is like armor I'm always wearing.”

And then the noise hits me. Only it isn't painful, and hit isn't the right word. It's a faint sound, high-pitched, unpleasant, and screeching, but no more likely to stop me in my tracks than someone singing out of tune.

I fold my arms and say to her, “Are you actually trying?”

She ignores my comment and looks to Gabriel and says, “Have you found any weakness to the protection?”

“He can drown, but it would take a long time. He can be tied up or imprisoned. He can't fight mind control. If someone with the Gift for mind control suggested he surrender, Nathan would do it. But in a battle, in a straight fight, he can't be hurt.”

“Bombs?” Celia asks.

I roll my eyes. “We haven't tried them.”

“You could get buried by rubble?”

“Yes. But I'd be buried alive, if that's any comfort to you.”

“Are you expecting bombs?” Gabriel asks.

“Explosives, possibly,” Celia says. “Booby traps, like the one that killed Kirsty.”

“I'll be fine against that.”

“You want to try?” Celia asks, taking a grenade from her pocket and holding it out to me.

I admit I'm nervous now. But then again bullets didn't
penetrate the amulet's protection so the grenade shouldn't be able to either.

I take the grenade and pull the pin. Celia and Gabriel rapidly back away. My heart is racing and I look at my hand, my arm, wondering if I'll lose both.

The explosion is blinding and loud and I stagger back, my eyes closed.

My heart is still racing and my hand and my arm are tingling, but I'm relieved to see they are both still attached to me. I flex my fingers and they still work. It's not an experience I'm desperate to repeat, though.

* * *

Later that night I'm sitting with Gabriel, Celia, and Greatorex by the fire and I'm laughing. Celia has been outlining her plan for the attack on Soul: the plan she has been formulating while we have been away.

When I stop laughing, I say, “It's taken you a week to come up with that? Walk into the Council building and kill everyone. That's the plan?!”

Celia says, “I'd thought you'd appreciate its simplicity.”

I resist swearing at her and just glare.

“The annual Council meeting is coming up. It hasn't been hard to find out the date. It's an important event to reelect Council members and the Council Leader. Soul, Wallend, and Jessica will be there. It's a perfect opportunity to remove them. You go in first. Take out those key personnel and then we come in and deal with the Council members and Hunters who are there.”

Gabriel frowns. “And what if they're not there? If you've got the date wrong?”

“If they're not there, then Nathan will have to make the best decisions in the circumstances. Which I have every confidence he will do.”

I'm thinking already that I know what I'll do if that is the case: I'll burn the Council building. Destroy everything that I can.

Celia continues. “The major problem with any attack is that the Hunters can become invisible. With that Gift they will always have the upper hand. Whatever happens to Soul, the Hunters will carry on fighting and we can't win against an invisible army: we can't catch or kill what we can't see.

“We have used truth potions on two Hunters we caught but haven't found out much. It seems that even the Hunters don't know a lot about how the magic is made to work, but we do know that Wallend controls the ability through the use of witch's bottles. The Hunters who have the power to go invisible control it themselves but Wallend gives them the Gift.”

Much as I want to kill Soul, I agree with Celia. I say, “So getting rid of the Hunters' power of invisibility is the first objective, then Soul.”

“Yes.”

“What's Soul's Gift?”

“Potions. The same as Wallend. But Soul doesn't have
a strong Gift; that's why he uses Wallend. Wallend has an exceptional Gift.”

“And Wallend works from the Council buildings, does he?”

“Yes, all the information we have received about him shows that he spends most of his time there. I can see no reason why he would change his habits.”

Nor can I. He always struck me as someone who was obsessed with his job and had no life outside it. With the success of the Council he's had no reason or need to move.

Celia goes on. “Knowing Soul's desire for control and also his lack of trust in the Hunters, I'm sure he will be keeping whatever magic it is that gives the Hunters their powers of invisibility close to himself. It's all got to be in that building somewhere. If all you do is get in, find the witch's bottles or whatever they are, and neutralize the Hunters' ability to go invisible, I'd count the mission as a success.”

“You might; I won't.”

“Well, I agree; we should aim for more. We need to remove Soul, Wallend, and Jessica, and we need to ensure no one escapes the building: capture all those in it.”

“I thought the plan was to walk in and kill them?” And I'm reminded again of my father's advice to kill them all. I've killed so many minor players, unimportant Hunters, that it would almost be an insult to them if I let Soul, Wallend, and Jessica off.

“Kill or capture,” Celia says.

“Fine.”

Celia continues. “There are several problem areas, of course.”

“Of course.”

“The first problem is getting into the Council building. There are three entrances. The main entrance, the one on the high street, is the simplest way in but is too public. The last thing we want is some fains noticing something.”

I know that entrance. It's open and clearly going to be guarded and protected. Even invisible, I don't fancy that route.

“OK, I agree with that,” I say.

“The rear entrance isn't used now and is sealed off as far as we can tell. I think they saw it as a weak spot: it was always difficult to guard, with poor sight lines and fain properties very close all around. Anyway, it's no longer an option.”

The back entrance is the one Gran and I used to use when we went for my Assessments and is a way I know well but that doesn't matter now, it seems.

“The entrance in Cobalt Alley is still in use but too dangerous.”

“They're all dangerous,” I say, “but I know how the magic in the alley works. It draws you into the building, right? Can't we use that to our advantage?”

Celia shakes her head. “The alley leads into an internal courtyard, which is an exposed area where we could be contained and picked off. If I was in charge of security I'd make
this option look tempting but the next access door would be impenetrable. I'm certain that is what Soul will have done.”

“So what's it to be then? The roof? The windows?” I'm only joking a little. I'm sure the whole place will be protected against intruders.

“We go in through a cut from another Council property. From the Tower.”

“The Tower?”

“Roman Tower, to give it its full name. It's the Council-run prison for White Witches. I know it well. So does Greatorex, so do all the Hunters. Part of Hunter duty every year is spent there working as a guard. There's a cut from the Tower into the Council building.”

“And you can get us into the Tower?”

“I've had it watched for weeks. We know the routines of the guards, the numbers and times they change. There is a system of passwords and checks but you, Nathan, will be able to enter with the guards while you're invisible. Once you're inside, you overpower the guards and let us in.”

“How many guards are there?”

“Six Council guards and four Hunters at any time. Each on eight-hour shifts. The prison is easy to guard and patrol. None of the prisoners are ever let out of their cells.”

“Nice.”

“It's not meant to be nice.”

“OK. So I slip in, deal with the guards, and let you guys in. Then what? I go through the cut to the Council building and find Wallend, Soul, and Jessica?”

“Precisely. But that brings us to the second problem: Jessica.”

Celia rubs her face with her hand, then says, “Even if Soul, Wallend, and the Council are defeated, the Hunters will still be against us. The Hunters do the bidding of the Council but they don't follow Soul; their true loyalty is only to their leader, to Jessica. While Jessica is alive, the Hunters will fight. Whatever has happened to Soul or Wallend, she'll never surrender.”

“And?”

“You let her live in Geneva,” Celia says.

I laugh. “Oh. So the problem is that you think I
won't
kill her?”

“Is it a valid problem?”

“No.” At least I don't think it is. Jessica is my half-sister, the daughter of my mother, but I hate her. I do believe she's evil. And I know she'd kill me without a second thought. It's true I let her go in Geneva. But we weren't at war then. Things have changed, and I've changed too.

I tell Celia, “Don't worry. I'll kill or capture her.”

Celia nods and moves swiftly on. “Problem three is also to do with Hunters. There is a myth about them that they won't surrender or run—ever. But, as you know, that isn't totally true. Many will die rather than surrender but the truth is that they are all human. Some will choose to live. And I think when they see that they can't win they will make a tactical withdrawal, and they may even surrender. If they do, then we don't harm them. The organization will
need to be disbanded. We need to break the history of the Hunters.”

I remember my dream of a long line of Hunter prisoners.

“Executing them all would be a good way to do that.”

“No it wouldn't. Hunters come from virtually every family of White Witches. We need to show tolerance and fairness. They are soldiers. They aren't evil.”

I shake my head at Celia.

“We don't kill prisoners, Nathan. And we don't kill those who surrender.”

“So what exactly is the third problem?”

“Nathan, I need to be sure that you won't kill them if they've surrendered, and if they want to surrender you let them. I need to believe that you know it would be wrong to execute prisoners.”

“You mean you need to believe I'm not like my father. That I don't want revenge for my ancestors who were all killed by them. And what about all the other Black Witches who've been killed by Hunters? Can't I get a little revenge for them too?”

“I want us to win this battle, not get revenge.”

“‘Kill them
all
' is my motto.”

“Even if they've surrendered? That makes you no better than Soul.”

“Yes . . . No.” I'm not sure how I feel except that I'm pissed off. I sneer at her and say, “You can try them all first for war crimes if that makes you feel any better. Then execute them.”

Celia says, “My plan is to run the Alliance with Whites and Blacks and Half Bloods working together. We will have to investigate carefully and publicly the crimes that the Council and its members have committed. But we must all be careful not to commit similar ones. Or we too will be in the dock.

“We will work together and we will have to be, and be seen to be, fair to all. Just and fair. To
all
, including you, Nathan. I'm warning you that this will happen. That is the society that we need to establish and we all must be subject to the same rules. The battle is the easy bit; what comes after will be the real challenge.”

“Thanks,” I say. “Glad everyone appreciates what a doddle of a job I've got on my hands.”