We sleep outside at night, although Ledger has made it so we could stay in the cabin. The first night we sleep by a fire but the second night I make a bramble den like my father had. I've found the Gift now that means I can make plants grow fast or die. The den is just a simple dome of brambles with a short tunnel as an entrance. It isn't big enough to stand up in but feels cosy. We have a fire there and there are gaps in the roof we can see the stars through and the smoke finds its way up through the branches. Me and Gabriel lie together and look at the stars.

On the fifth night I say, 'We should go back tomorrow.'

'If that's what you want.'

'You like it here?'

'I like you here.'

We kiss and make love and Gabriel falls asleep. I listen to his heartbeat some more.

I've decided on the present I'm going to give him, but the problem now is how to do it. I don't want to do the wrapping-in-paper-and-waiting-to-see-what-he-thinks-of-it thing and yet I do want it to be special.

I hold my right hand up and in the glow from the fire the skin on my wrist is warped and smooth. The shape of my hand looks odd with the missing finger. On my index finger is the ring my father gave me. I remember being amazed that he'd given me something so special and how proud I was of it, of having him for my father, of him giving it to me. I slide the ring off and hold it to my lips and kiss it. I remember the first time I saw Gabriel at Geneva Airport, the time Rose told me he loved me and the first time he told me he loved me. And I know I love Gabriel more than I've ever loved anyone, more than I thought was possible for me. He makes me a better person. I slide the ring on to Gabriel's finger. It looks good on his hand. And I lie down close to Gabriel, and imagine our future together living peacefully in a beautiful place by a river.

The next morning I wake to Gabriel saying my name quietly. I'm lying on my back and I can feel Gabriel's body next to mine.

'Nathan?'

I open my eyes. He's propped up on his arm, looking at me, all serious but also nervous. He says, 'I need to talk to you.' Then he looks away he really is nervous. And he holds his hand up, the gold ring on his finger and says, 'About this.'

'I said I'd give you a present. That's my present to you.'

He looks at me and he really is serious and he doesn't say anything and then he looks down and turns the ring round his finger as if he's thinking about it and he opens his mouth to say something but before he does I say what I planned to say.

'You're pissed off, aren't you? I knew you would be.'

He looks confused. 'I'm not pissed off.' And he says it sincerely with a small shake of his head. 'I'm definitely not pissed off.'

'And I can understand that you are, because you think you're good at presents and niceness and all that shit, and I've actually outdone you and given you an even better present than what you gave me.'

He smiles now, realizing I'm teasing him, and shakes his head again. 'I admit you've outdone me. I never thought you'd give me anything like this. In fact, if I'm honest about it, I never thought you'd give me anything at all. But this was your father's and ...'

'It was my father's and my grandfather's before that and probably his father's too. It's an ancient and valuable Edge family heirloom.' I'm teasing him but it's also the truth.

'Nathan, it's too precious.'

'It's precious, yes, and it's important to me: it's the only thing I have that my father gave me. Well, apart from the Fairborn and a Hunter bullet. Anyway, it's the one good thing that my father gave me; that's why I want you to have it.'

'Nathan ...'

'I've thought about it carefully and I'm sure. I want you to have it and I know that my father would approve too.'

Gabriel's eyes fill with tears.

'It's yours. Forever.'

And now his tears spill out and we kiss and kiss more.

Part Three.

HALF LOST.

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 snivelling 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 armour 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 re-elect 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.'