Half Lost (12 page)

Back to the Bunker

We're back at Mercury's bunker: me, Gabriel, and Nesbitt. We came through the cut in Germany, the one that we used to get to the meetings in Basle. They seem like the distant past, but now that I try to work it out, I think it was only six or seven months ago. Nesbitt has brought us here to show us the way to Ledger but he says he's not coming with us. So this is where we'll finally part.

I've questioned Nesbitt a few times about where Ledger is and all he says is “Patience, kid.” Now that we're at the bunker I ask him, “So you went to Ledger from here? Through a cut?”

He says, “Van went. I didn't go with her.”

“You didn't tell me that before!”

“I didn't think it was relevant.”

“
What?
”

He shrugs.

“But Van told you where she went?”

“Yeah. Kind of.”

“Kind of!”

“Look, Van wanted to go on her own. Said there was nothing to fear from Ledger and she could handle it. And I had my own stuff to do. Well, stuff for the Alliance:
scouting out camps, checking up on Hunter movements. Van was quite capable of doing it herself. You know, working together is a balance of familiarity and distance. Just like you and me when we're partnered together. I'm friendly and familiar but you're not—”

I swear at him and call him useless.

Nesbitt frowns. “I'm hurt, kid. You know I love you.” And the way he says it is real and honest and not joking. “And I was going to say I'm friendly and familiar but you're not the sort of person who would want me treading on his toes.” He grins at me and I'm not sure if he's kidding about the whole thing or what.

“What exactly do you know, Nesbitt?”

“Enough to get you there, so stop your flapping.”

“Good.” I stomp off, saying, “We need to check the bunker first. Make sure it's secure.”

It's unlikely that Hunters have been here and laid a trap since Van and Nesbitt were last here, but we can take nothing for granted so we check it out, room by room, from the kitchen on the top level, down through the bedrooms and into the numerous storerooms on the lower levels. Everywhere seems the same as when we left it months ago. The great hallway is still a mess from the fight when Mercury died, when I killed her. In the blood room, where all the bottles of witch blood are stored, everything looks undisturbed.

There'll be a bottle with my mother's name on it here.
A small amount of blood, stolen by Mercury from the larger samples kept by the Council. Soul would have used it to perform my Giving. I'm sure Celia's right: Soul wants to control me; he has always wanted that.

Nesbitt says, “This stuff's valuable.” He's right. The Alliance could use it to help Half Bloods, or any young witches, Black or White, if their parents aren't around to give them blood at their Giving.

“Does Celia know about it?” I ask.

“Van told her. I guess she's got other things on her mind right now.”

“I'm sure she'll have a plan for it. And it's probably safest left here for the moment.”

* * *

When we've been through the whole place and are satisfied that there aren't any Hunters hiding in cupboards, we go to the library.

Nesbitt says, “Before Van went to Ledger we came here and went through Mercury's diaries and maps. I'll show you the stuff Van read before she left. It might give you an idea about what to expect from Ledger.” He opens the hidden bookshelf at the back of the room and retrieves a sheaf of large parchments.

Me and Gabriel sit on the floor and Nesbitt drops them in front of us. The first parchment is one I've seen before: a plan of Mercury's bunker and the location of eleven cuts that lead to different places in the world.

Nesbitt jabs his finger on one of the lower-level rooms and says, “She went through that cut to New York.”

Then he spreads the other parchments in front of us, saying, “These maps show territories: areas belonging to White Witches and those belonging to Blacks. They're all dated and go back two hundred years.”

I love looking at maps. I can't read books; most sentences are beyond me and I struggle to even make sense of some words, but maps are something that I can read easily. Looking through them, it's obvious that the extent of White Witch territory has grown in Europe. Britain has become a place only for Whites, and there are smaller changes in other places too, but this change only happened in the last forty years. Before that, for decades—in fact, for over a century—the areas seem to have hardly changed, and on some older maps the White and Black territories even overlap. There's a similar pattern in Australia, Africa, the Far East, and the USA. But in the rest of America, from Mexico and through South America, and in Canada and Russia, the territory of the Black Witches has grown. The major change is that two hundred years ago there were more and bigger areas that overlapped, and some are labeled “mixed,” which I guess means Blacks and Whites lived together, and amazingly Britain was one of those places. But on the map made last year there are only five areas where this is still true. I'd like to visit them and see what they're like but it looks as if I'd need to go a long way: China, India, Tasmania, Mexico, or Zambia.

Nesbitt flicks through the top of the pile of maps, saying, “It's these recent ones that show the map room.”

“The what?” I'm thinking of the rooms in Mercury's bunker and which one the map room might be.

But before I can ask Nesbitt pulls out a map from 1973, saying, “To get to Ledger you have to go to the map room. It's in Philadelphia. Here.” And he points to a brown dot, barely visible, that's marked near the east coast of the USA. “The key says what it is: it's the ‘Map Room.'”

I look to Gabriel and ask him, “Do you follow this at all?”

He shrugs and smiles. “If it was easy everyone would go there.”

“Exactamundo,” Nesbitt agrees. “I don't know where Ledger lives but I know that Van got there through the map room.” He goes to the hidden shelf again, coming back with a few of Mercury's handwritten diaries, saying, “These are what Van got really excited about.” He clears his throat and starts to read, then stops and looks at Gabriel and me and says, “It doesn't tell you much but I reckon it'll be useful for you guys. But if you'd rather I didn't bother . . .”

“Nesbitt, just read it,” I tell him.

And he reads:

“
First of January,
2005. Dawn of the n
ew year for some, th
ough the end of an e
ra for others. Anoth
er Black territory i
n Mississippi was ab
andoned last month a
fter the oldest of t
hem, Destra, died. S
he was a fine witch.
Destra's Gift was a
strong ability to h
eal others, an unusu
al Gift for a Black
Witch. I met her a f
ew times. She was co
nfident, serene, and
capable—an
impress
ive witch. I heard t
hat Marcus and Destr
a have become acquai
nted in the last yea
r. Destra is suppose
d by some to be the
mother of Ledger, th
ough I don't believe
this. I've heard se
veral other stories
about Ledger's paren
tage and Destra indi
cated to me when I m
et her that she had
no children. I wonde
r why Marcus was int
erested in Destra; b
ecause she was an in
teresting woman or b
ecause he's trying t
o find out about Led
ger? If so, he's was
ting his time. Destr
a can't help him. I
met Ledger once, yea
rs ago—awful woman (
man? thing?)—though
one rarely hears of
her these days and I
rather hope never t
o hear of her again.
”

Nesbitt closes that diary and puts it on the floor. He looks from me to Gabriel, saying, “Good, huh?”

We both look blankly at him.

“Knew you'd appreciate it, boys. So we found that and then we checked back through all the diaries looking for when Mercury had met Ledger. And we found this from 1973.” Again he starts to read and then stops, saying, “You keeping up with me? The map”—and he points to the parchment—“is from 1973.”

I resist rolling my eyes.

Nesbitt smooths the diary open and reads:

“
Finall
y found the map room
in the cellar of th
e house in P and it
was simple from ther
e. She loves that: m
ixing the extremely
complex spells of th
e maps with a simple
request to gain acc
ess to them. The map
room is very much L
edger's style: her i
dea of being clever.
And her way of scre
ening visitors—if yo
u can find the map r
oom, work out how to
enter it and how to
use
the map, then
you are worthy of vi
siting her. I'm not
sure what would happ
en if you used the w
rong map. I suspect
you'd go to that pla
ce and be unable to
get back, at least n
ot without a long wa
lk. The maps are imp
ressive. Their magic
is complex and Ledg
er is, I admit, powe
rful. Indeed, she ha
s more power than I
thought possible. Bu
t what is the point
of having that power
if she never uses i
t?

“Ledger and I tal
ked for a while, tho
ugh most of what she
spouts is almost un
bearable waffle. I a
sked her about the l
oss of Black territo
ries and her concern
s. She said, ‘I have
none. All will come
back to balance in
the end.' I replied,
‘How exactly will t
hat happen when the
Blacks are being wip
ed out?' And she sai
d, ‘Because it must
be so. The nature of
our Gifts means it
will be so. The worl
d will become more u
nbalanced but then .
 . . we have to beli
eve that balance wil
l return.'

“I was ge
tting extremely bore
d with her at this s
tage and I said, ‘We
ll, I don't see that
happening. I see th
e Whites wiping ever
yone out. Everyone e
xcept me, you unders
tand.' And she looke
d at me for a long t
ime and said, ‘No. I
don't see a White W
itch wiping you out,
Mercury.'

“At anoth
er point she asked m
e, ‘Who is your moth
er, Mercury? The win
d or the rain?'

“I t
old her that my moth
er was Saffron, a fi
ne Black Witch.

“Led
ger said, ‘Isn't you
r Gift like a parent
to you now? Teachin
g, guiding, helping,
and, even for you w
ith all your power,
a source of comfort?
'

“It took a huge am
ount of self-control
to resist the urge
to freeze her jaw sh
ut at that point.

“I
asked her what her
Gift was and if it w
as her mother. I was
n't sure I wanted a
reply as I was sure
it would be more non
sense and I'd alread
y had to put up with
hours of it. She re
plied with a non-ans
wer, as ever. She sa
id, ‘I'm still learn
ing about my Gift, M
ercury, and still it
eludes me.'

“Of cou
rse she was being ‘h
umble.' She has lear
ned
many Gifts, and
I am trying to copy
her in that, I admit
. She delights in di
sguise and shape-shi
fting. (I won't both
er to say what appea
rance she took on fo
r me, except that it
was extremely tires
ome.) In any case, s
he is the most power
ful witch I know of.
The irony is that a
lthough she has lear
ned to access many p
owers she has failed
completely to be an
ything but tedious a
nd absurd. She says
things like ‘The Ess
ence is our true hom
e' and that she is ‘
merely climbing thro
ugh a window to stea
l a few gems.' To ma
ny questions she sim
ply replies, ‘The Es
sence is the source
of all Gifts.'