Free Half Bad by Sally Green Page A

knife.”
    Now I squirm and grunt and curse them.
    “Hold him still, Niall. To be exact, it’s a French hunting knife. They make great knives, the French. Look at that blade. It folds away beautifully into the handle. Great design. The Swiss go for all the fancy gadgets in their knives, but all you need is a good blade.”
    I hear the rip of my T-shirt and feel the cool air on my back. I buck and shout curses again.
    “Hold him still and shut him up with this.”
    Niall’s legs move and my T-shirt is pushed into my mouth and I’m trying to bite him but then the blade brushes over my back and I try to shrink from it but it follows me and the point stops in the middle of my left shoulder blade.
    “I’ll start here, I think. This half is the Black half, I’d say.”
    Then the point goes in. And slowly the pain cuts down my back and I scream and swear into my T-shirt, the sounds muffled.
    Kieran hisses in my ear. “Niall told you to stay away from our sister, you Black piece of shit.”
    He puts the point back into my left shoulder blade and I clench my jaw and scream while he makes another cut.
    He stops again and says, “You should have listened to him.”
    He makes another slow cut.
    And I am going mad screaming and praying for someone to make him stop.
    But he makes another cut and then another and all I can do is scream and pray.
    “Time for a break.”
    No one makes a noise. But it’s not silent in my head. My head is full of the noise of prayer. Praying and praying to please, please not let him do any more.
    Kieran says, “Nice here, isn’t it, Connor? Good view.”
    I stop praying to listen.
    Connor doesn’t answer.
    Niall says, “Kieran, he’s bleeding a lot.” He sounds worried.
    “I almost forgot. Thanks for reminding me, Niall. I got some powder from camp.” His voice is closer to me. “They use it in Retributions.”
    And I’m praying again, praying louder than ever to please not let him do it, please.
    “It stops the bleeding. Can’t have Black Witches bleeding to death. I have heard that it hurts a bit. We’ll find out, won’t we?”
    And then I start begging. Just in my head, but I am begging.
Please don’t, please don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t—
    * * *
    “Hey. Wake up.”
    I can breathe better. Niall is off my head. The T-shirt is out of my mouth.
    “Wake up.”
    A black boot, polished but flecked with sand and a few drops of blood is all I can see. I close my eyes again.
    Kieran’s voice is in my ear, close enough for me to feel his breath.
    “How you feeling? Okay?”
    I’m feeling frightened.
    The pain in my back has faded. But I don’t want any more. I would do anything to stop him doing more. I would beg and plead, and in my head I’m saying,
Please don’t do any more. Please.
I can’t speak the words, no words come out, but in my head I’m begging,
Please, don’t do any more
.
    “You’re crying. Hey, Niall! Connor! He’s crying.”
    Silence.
    “Do you think he’s sorry, Connor? Sorry that he beat you up?”
    Connor mumbles something.
    “Maybe. But I’m not sure. What do you think, Niall?”
    “Yes.” I can just hear Niall. He sounds angry.
    “Okay . . . Well, that’s good.” And Kieran’s mouth is close to my ear as he says, “So are you sorry you beat up my pathetic brothers?”
    And I want to say yes. I do want to say it. In my head I’m saying sorry. But nothing will come out of my mouth.
    “And are you sorry you met my sister?”
    And I know as soon as he says that, the way he says it, that he hasn’t finished. It isn’t over. He has no intention of stopping there. And nothing I can say will make any difference. All I can do is hate him.
    “I said, are you sorry you’ve been seeing my sister?”
    And I hate him with all my tears and screams and begging.
    “What else have you been doing with her?”
    And I want him to know what we did, but there’s no way I’m going to tell him anything.
    “I don’t think you’re sorry at