Read Half Lies for Free Online Page A

to smile at me, but he looked sick.
    He sat with his back to me, just looking out over the gardens and the road, then he lay down and I think he was crying before he fell asleep.
    I went to town and phoned Sam, but that went wrong because he said he wanted to come to see me since I sounded so depressed, and I told him that him getting caught on Black Witch territory really wouldn’t cheer me up. And although of course I want to see him I know it would be stupid. I told him not to come, but I’m not sure he got the message. He said, “I won’t take any stupid risks.”
     
    21st January, 2014
    I told Dad about Gab this morning. He said, “He’s got a strong Gift. He’ll find the solution.”
    So Dad was about as much use as ever . . .
    I’m going to tell Skylar to see if she can help.
     
    22nd January, 2014
    I don’t know what’s happened to Sam.
    Yesterday Sam and his friend Ethan (another White Witch) came onto Black Witch territory, to see me. Aiden and his Half Bloods caught Ethan. I don’t know what they’ve done to him, but I know it’s bad. I don’t know if Sam got away.
    It started after I went to see Skylar to tell her about Gab. I hoped she’d know something—her Gift is potions so maybe she’d have something to help him. I’d waited for Gab to wake up as I wanted him to come with me, but he didn’t stir till the middle of the afternoon—he really was exhausted—and then he wouldn’t come with me. He said he was trying to work things out himself.
    So I went to Skylar’s house on my own. Thankfully she was in, though she wasn’t really much help. She said she couldn’t do anything herself and she’d never heard of it happening before, but she’d ask some of the other witches. There’s one woman whom Skylar can ask, who has a similar Gift (more like mine—she can transform into one other person), and a few old-timers who might know something.
    After seeing Skylar I wanted to be alone somewhere quiet so instead of going straight home I went to the beach.
    I sat there and sat there and sat there staring out to sea and next thing I knew it was dark and I felt so tired and miserable. I had such a bad feeling about Gab. I thought I’d sleep on the beach, but it started to rain a little and I was cold so I started to walk home. It must have been past midnight and the roads were deserted, but on the way through town I saw two of Aiden’s Half Bloods running along the street, checking between parked cars and in doorways. Aiden was behind them. He saw me and came over. He said that he’d heard about Gab. Then he said, “There are a couple of Whites around here somewhere. They came over for a dare. You oughta get home.”
    And of course I had a bad feeling that Sam might be one of the Whites. The two Half Bloods were calling for Aiden and he ran off with them, shouting at me to “get home.”
    I had gone a few blocks when someone appeared on the other side of the street, walking in the same direction as me. I glanced across. It was a boy. I couldn’t see his face: he had a cap on under his hoody, low over his eyes, but I knew it was Sam. I slowed (I had been walking really fast) and Sam ran over to me. Next thing I knew we were in a side street standing very, very close to each other. I told him he was taking a stupid risk and he said, “It’s worth it. I’ve been desperate to see you. I drove over with Ethan and went to your house. And as you’ve told me everything about your house I knew you’d be in your bedroom or on the roof. But you weren’t—”
    “You went to my bedroom?”
    “Don’t be mad, but I peered in the window. You weren’t there so we came into town.”
    “I was at the beach.”
    “Ethan wanted to come over for a dare as much as to help me. He wanted to get a souvenir, a road sign! But we were spotted by some Black dude, I mean a Black Witch—”
    “Aiden.”
    “You know him?”
    I nod. “You don’t want him to find you. He’s bad enough on his own, but he