'That she acted in the heat of the moment. She insists that she was only trying to help her brother.'

And now I'm not feeling anger but disgust at Annalise, her lies. I tell Celia, 'Connor was already dead when she shot Marcus.'

'This will be proven in the trial then. There will be truth potions for all witnesses to take. Trust me, Nathan. The truth will come out.'

'Then trust me when I say this is the truth: my father killed Connor O'Brien, a Hunter, who was reaching for a gun. Annalise shot Marcus when Connor was already dead, then she ran off and left us to deal with the consequences. Because of her my father is dead. Because my father is dead there was no one to stop the Hunters and a hundred Alliance members died. All their deaths are on her hands.'

'Your testimony will be heard, Nathan. It's right that it should be.' Celia pauses and then adds, 'And it's also right that you allow the court to deal with Annalise. That you don't seek your own revenge.'

'If they let her go I'll seek what I like.'

'Well, then the courts will have to deal with you too.'

'Let them try.'

Celia says, 'I take it you know what her Gift is?'

I've given it a lot of thought and I have my suspicions. After Annalise shot Marcus, a huge gun battle started. Gabriel pulled me to the ground to protect me and when I looked up again Annalise had gone. At first I thought she'd run off and hidden in the trees, but I think I've always known that she disappeared, literally.

'She can become invisible,' Celia confirms.

'How appropriate that she's got the same Gift as her esteemed father and glorious brother. How perfect. Now we know that she's just like them.'

'Yes, that's Gus's argument but, some would say you're just like your father.'

'I can be proud of that.'

'Be careful, though, Nathan. There are many White Witches in the Alliance, many more White than Black, and, while they have no love for Annalise's family, she has the advantage of being seen as weak and insignificant, despite her Gift. You are neither of those things. They see that you are like your father. They know what you did to take his Gifts from him.'

'What I had to do!'

'It isn't good if they fear you, Nathan. And many White Witches fear what you are or may become. They feel sympathy for Annalise acting out of love and devotion to a misguided brother, but you they see as a murderous Black Witch, son of Marcus, eater of hearts. You killed Marcus. Some are saying that it is you who should be put on trial.'

'I wanted to save him! It was hopeless. He was dying. I didn't want to do it!'

'Calm down, Nathan,' Celia says, her voice low and quiet.

I swear at her.

'There are some White Witches, supporters of Annalise, who think the best way to defend her is to focus on you. They say the law must be applied equally.'

'You want to arrest me? Is that it? For eating my father's heart after she shot him?'

'You can't be treated differently. I have to take you to answer the charges too. You can explain. I don't think it will '

'You going to put me in a fucking cage?'

And I know they'd love that, all the Whites would love to see me in chains. And there is no way, no way, I'll ever let them do that to me again. And before I know it there's lightning shooting out from my hands, hitting the ground to either side of Celia's feet and then I breathe a ball of fire and Celia is already stepping back from me as the flames burst between us.

And then her noise fills my head and it's agony and I hate it and I'm on my knees.

She stops it quickly, though.

'I don't want to hurt you, Nathan. I don't want to use my Gift on you, but I will have to if you don't calm down.'

I look up at her and get back on my feet. I hate her noise so much and all I know is I'm going to stop her, stop everything. She's never going to use her noise on me again.

Never.

I rub the palms of my hands together and feel the world moving, and I move my hands faster and faster and then stop. I hold my hands close to my head and think of stillness.

There are no noises at all now. All is quiet. All is still.

Celia is standing in front of me, her face calm, concentrated. Gabriel is staring at me, still angry. Nesbitt is poised on one leg as if he was backing away and Greatorex has her gun pointed at me. And further back from that group are all the trainees. They must have heard the shouting and come to watch and listen. Most look afraid; one looks gleeful. Donna is there too, her hands still tied, looking serious.

And I walk away from them. I don't know how long time will be stopped for. I don't care. There is no way they'll get me in a cage.

I walk away and behind me I hear shouting. Time has started up again. I run.

drugs.

I'm sitting in the forest. It's getting late. I'm not sure what to do. I haven't hurt anyone. But I could have. I was close to it. And I spat in Gabriel's face. How could I have done that?

It's almost dark when I hear footsteps. They stop, then they get louder, clumsier. He's making sure I know he's coming and when the footsteps get nearer they stop again and a voice calls out, 'That was some fancy magic you did back there, mate.'

I don't answer and after a minute Nesbitt comes and squats next to me.

'No one could work it out at first. It was like you'd vanished into thin air. Gab said you must've done the trick with stopping time.'

'Yeah.'

'Nice!'

'Yeah.'

'So, anyway, a few of us thought we'd see if we could find you. And ... so ... here I am. Mind you, it wasn't hard cos as usual you left a trail a mile wide.'

'I'm not trying to hide. I just needed to think.'

'Yeah, well, that's understandable.' Nesbitt manages to stay still and silent for half a minute and then says, 'They won't put you in a cage. Celia won't let them. She said that.'

I'm not sure what to believe, though I don't think Celia would lie to me.

Nesbitt adds, 'Van won't let them do it either. Nor me, and definitely not lover boy. And I don't think Greatorex would be too happy about it. You've got more friends than you think.'

I wonder if that's true. If I have friends how come I always feel alone?

'Is Gabriel still mad at me?'

Nesbitt hesitates and then says, 'On a scale of one to ten, I'd say he's at nine and a half.'

'So, it could be worse then.'

'He'll calm down.' Nesbitt nudges me and says, 'The best thing about arguments is the making-up after. I see a big reconciliation ahead for you two: you apologize and he takes you into his arms and '

'Nesbitt, shut up.'

We sit in silence for a bit and then I ask him, 'So, what's the plan?'

'The plan is that I use my charm and charisma to persuade you to calm down and come back to camp. Then when Celia is sure that you aren't going to kill Annalise with a bolt of lightning or whatever ... then we go to Camp One, where you give evidence in the trial of the century. Annalise's, I mean. You're not going on trial, at least not yet. Celia says best case it'll never come to that. Course that means that worst case it will. But if Annalise is found guilty you won't have a case to answer. Celia says she'll make it clear to everyone that you have come voluntarily to give evidence. She says I have to emphasize that you haven't been arrested and that so far there are no charges against you.'

'She better not try to arrest me. I'm not going on trial. Not ever. Not for anything and definitely not for killing my father. I don't have to explain myself to them. And I'm never going back in a cage, never going in a cell, never going behind a locked door.'

'OK. Well, that's pretty clear.' After a minute Nesbitt adds, 'To be honest, mate, I think they'd struggle to arrest you, and even if they managed to get you in a cell I think you've got enough Gifts now to get out pretty easy, so I wouldn't worry about it.' And he nudges me with his elbow. 'Mind you, if you were struggling, I could bake a cake and do the old trick of smuggling a file in to you. Or Gab could disguise himself as the big fat sweaty jailer and steal the keys and '

'Nesbitt, shut up.'

'I was just saying '

'When I was fourteen they put a collar on me. If I went too far from the cage, the collar would open and let out acid. They'd do that again.'

Nesbitt is quiet for a moment, then says, 'No wonder you're so messed up.'

'Thanks.'

'Anyway, I don't think even that's really going to be a problem for you. You managed to walk away from a load of seriously Gifted witches. I mean, Celia was doing her noise thing and you vanished. Greatorex and the trainees '

'Nesbitt, can you shut up? Just for a minute?'

He manages to stay quiet for almost a minute before saying, 'You got any food? I haven't eaten a thing since that disgusting porridge.'

I don't have any food but we light a fire and sit looking at it and poking it and Nesbitt chats on into the night. When he falls asleep, I go over it all again. I can't let Annalise get away with it. Because of her, Marcus is dead. I said I'd kill her and maybe that's what I have to do. But I'd like to see her on trial. I'd like to see her questioned. I'd like to see her in a cage, wondering if she'll ever get out. So I will go and give evidence. Let's see if the Alliance can make a fair trial work. If not, well, I can decide what to do later.

I take out the packets of potion that Van gave me. Perhaps she knew I'd need them when I heard about Annalise. Probably. I'm not tempted to take all three. I want to see Annalise. I want her to see me too. I want to spit in her face. And then I think of Gabriel again. How could I have done that to him?

I open one of the packets and inside lies a smudge of fine yellow powder. I lick a few grains from the tip of my finger but only taste a faint suggestion of mint, so I pour the contents to the back of my throat and the mint flavour fills my mouth and then changes to become a dry bitterness and I wish I'd got some water, but then I realize I don't need to bother and my body feels like it's floating away into the darkness.

The blackness is empty and silent. It is perfect. It is complete.

calm.

'Are you calm now?' Celia asks.

'No thanks to you.'

But I say this quietly and slowly. I do feel calm, clear. I'm not sure what was in that powder that Van gave me more than just sleeping potion, I think. I'm feeling remarkably level-headed and in control. Even so, I've stayed away from camp for most of the day, only returning in the evening. Nesbitt walked back with me, and for once he kept relatively quiet.

'I only used my Gift on you because I thought things might get out of control,' Celia says. 'The trainees don't know you like I do. They might have thought you were going to hurt me. But I trust you, Nathan.'

I remember her face when she was frozen in time and she's being honest, as she always is. She looked calm, like she was making a calculation.

I nod over to the trainees sitting across the fire from us and say, 'I get the feeling everyone else expects me to rip their heart out and eat it for supper.'

'The question is, what would you do if you saw Annalise?'

'I hate her and want her dead. I want to avenge my father but I want to see her stand trial. I want justice. I want her to be found guilty. I want her punished. Severely punished. I'm thinking that being shot in the stomach and left to die slowly and painfully would do it.'

'But you won't try to kill her the minute you see her?'

'Not that first minute. But if she's found not guilty, or let off ... I don't know.' I shake my head. 'What will they do to her if they find her guilty?'

'I think she'll be imprisoned. Probably for years.'

'She killed Marcus. She should die. She should be shot.'

'I doubt the court will want to shoot her. And if you were to do that, or take the law into your own hands in any way, then I'd have no option but to arrest you. It's the way the Alliance must work, Nathan. Fairness to all.'

'Fine.' I smile at her. 'You'd have to catch me, of course.'

'Let's hope it won't come to that.'

It's dark when I finish talking with Celia and I can't see Gabriel anywhere. I ask Nesbitt and he says, 'Try his tent.'

I didn't even know Gabriel had a tent. Nesbitt nods to the one at the end of the row and I can see a green light coming from it.

I go over and drum my fingers on the canvas, saying, 'Gabriel?'

He doesn't respond but I'm sure he's in there so I stick my head in. The tent is full of a green haze from the bowl of nightsmoke that's on the ground near Gabriel's head. Gabriel is lying on his side on a mat on the ground, a book open beside him. He doesn't look up.

I say, 'Hi.'

He doesn't reply and still doesn't look up.

'I hope you're just pretending to read,' I say. 'And really you can't concentrate on the book because all you can think of is beating the living shit out of me.'

'I'm not sure what living shit is, but you're not far from the truth.'