Half Bad

This summary section includes Chapter 39: “Jima and Trev (Part 1),” Chapter 40: “Jim and Trev (Part 2),” Chapter 41: “Hunters,” and Chapter 42 Arran.”

Nathan’s new contact is a seedy character named Jim, who lives in a rundown neighborhood on the edge of London. Jim offers to make two passports for Nathan and give him directions to find Mercury. For this, he demands 3,000 pounds. Another man named Trev arrives. He is the expert on tattoos and says he must take skin, bone, and tissue samples from Nathan. Once Trev analyzes his samples, he will determine what the tattoos do and if they can be removed. Then, he leaves without quoting a price for his service. Two weeks later, Jim gives Nathan his passports but hedges about supplying Mercury’s address. Jim says Trev will handle that part of the deal when he finishes his analysis.

A few weeks later, Nathan receives a train ticket and directions to a house in Liverpool, where Trev plans to meet him. Liverpool fains have driven out all the Fairborn Witches, so they tend to stay away. Before Nathan leaves London, he checks Cobalt Alley to ensure that Bob has escaped safely. He sees a van belonging to the Council parked outside the building but no Bob.

After Nathan reaches Liverpool, he goes to a rundown house on Mill Hill Lane, where Trev joins him. The latter says that Bob left for Europe and that Jim and Trev are leaving too because the Council has caught on to their operation. He also says that he can’t remove Nathan’s tattoos, but they aren’t tracking devices.

You see, the three little tattoos mirror the tattoos on your body. The one by your nail reflects the one on your neck, the middle one is the one on your hand, and the lower one the tattoo on your ankle. They planned to make some sort of witch’s bottle (270).

Trev speculates that Wallend intended to amputate Nathan’s little finger and cut it into three pieces, placing each segment in a witch’s bottle. Then, the boy could be controlled through the tattoos to do whatever the Council wanted or suffer the consequences. Fortunately, Nathan escaped before the amputation could be performed. Trev returns the blood, bone, and tissue samples and instructs Nathan to burn them because these could also be used to make witch’s bottles.

Their conversation is cut short by shouting outside and the sound of broken glass. Three fains are throwing rocks at a woman who is obviously a Hunter. Nathan concludes that she must be on Trev’s trail and that she probably has a partner. The two flee the building through the rear. Trev gives Nathan a note with Mercury’s address, and Nathan helps hoist the older man over the back wall. After running for several blocks. Nathan pays Trev, and they part ways. Only then does Nathan realize that he left the sample bag behind at the house.

By the time Nathan returns to the house, the bag is gone. He then sees two Hunters involved in a scuffle with a gang of fains, and one of the witches has his sample bag. Nathan launches himself into the fray and manages to knock out the Hunters. He says the fains can have them. By now, the gang has grown, and Nathan is surrounded. One of the gang returns his bag and tells him to leave and never come back.

Nathan returns to the train station, where he is met by Nikita, whose real name is Ellen. She confirms that Bob got safely away to France. She wanted to go with him, but he refused. Ellen is a half-witch and hates the Council. Since nobody is tracking her, she has agreed to help Nathan find his brother Arran. Nathan’s sibling is now at Cambridge, where he intends to study medicine.

After Nathan and Ellen arrive at the university, Ellen has no trouble finding Arran. She gives him an update about Nathan, and he records a short video for her to take back to his brother. Nathan is relieved that Arran is doing well and has discovered that his Gift is healing. Deborah is planning to get married and is happy too. Gran died suddenly, and Arran suspects she poisoned herself to avoid being further interrogated by the Council.

Even though Nathan misses his remaining family and wants to see them, he knows that doing so would put them in peril: “I have to walk away for a bit after watching it. And I so want to see Arran for real and be with him, and I know I can’t. I can’t ever do that” (284). Before Nathan and Ellen part ways, she warns him about Mercury. According to rumor, the old witch is dangerous and not to be trusted.

This summary section includes Chapter 43: “Geneva,” Chapter 44: “Gabriel,” and Chapter 45: “The Roof.”

Using Trev’s written instructions and Jim’s forged passport, Nathan flies to Geneva and meets his contact there. This turns out to be a young man named Gabriel, who always wears dark sunglasses. He leads Nathan to the sixth floor of an apartment building and says that this is his flat. When Nathan demands to meet Mercury, Gabriel says she will make contact when the time is right.

Gabriel is the first Blood Witch Nathan has ever encountered, but all he talks about is literature and poetry. Nathan expected a much fiercer attitude. However, Gabriel is helpful because he finds a roof terrace where Nathan can sleep and keeps the apartment stocked with food. Despite Gabriel’s questions, Nathan is close-mouthed about himself, but he learns he is quite famous among Blood Witches because of his father.

After being cooped up in the apartment for days, Nathan grows restless and goes out to explore the city. Unfortunately, he spies a few Hunters and returns home before being discovered. Later, Gabriel finds out about Nathan’s excursion and warns his guest to stay put. The two boys get into a fight, and Nathan knocks off Gabriel’s sunglasses. The latter has fain eyes. Nathan grows suspicious of the entire arrangement until Gabriel explains that he shapeshifted into human form and can’t change back. Mercury says that she will help him with that problem eventually.

Because Gabriel can go about in fain form undetected, he spies on the Hunters and learns that there are nine in Geneva. Nathan assumes they are looking for him. Fortunately, Mercury has finally decided that the time is right for a meeting. Gabriel finds a rift in the roof terrace drainpipe and transports them to Mercury’s cottage in a far-off, rural part of Switzerland: “The mountaintops that teethe the valley wall are snow-covered, and across the valley another glacier hangs in them. The whole valley is a huge fortification” (316).

The two boys land on the cottage’s roof but must wait for Mercury to help them down because the property is warded. Gabriel explains that Mercury knows how to create cuts, or rifts, that allow transport between one location and another. Her main Gift is controlling the weather, but she collects powers as presents from those she helps. At this point, Mercury finally appears and welcomes her guests. Nathan says, “I reach for her. At last! It’s like holding hands with a skeleton” (318).