Nathan Byrn
The Council Leader tells her, ‘We’ve made our Assessment.’
The woman has been writing on a piece of parchment and now she pushes it across the table, saying, ‘Please sign to confirm that you agree with it.’
Gran moves to the table, picks up the piece of paper, and comes back to stand by my side. She reads the Assessment out for me to hear. I like that about Gran.
Subject : Nathan Byrn
Birth Code: W 0.5 / B 0.5
Sex: Male
Age at Assessment: 8 years
Gift (if over age 17): Not applicable
General Intelligence: Not ascertained
Special Abilities: Not ascertained
Healing Ability: Not ascertained
Languages: Not ascertained
Special Comments: The Subject was uncooperative
Designation Code: Not ascertained
I am grinning for the first time that day.
Gran walks back to the table, picks up the fountain pen of the female Councillor and signs the form with a flourish.
The Council Leader speaks again. ‘As you are the boy’s guardian, Mrs Ashworth, it is your responsibility to ensure he cooperates in the Assessment.’
Gran looks up.
‘Come back tomorrow and we will repeat the Assessment.’
I could go all year down the Not ascertained route, but the next day Gran says that I should answer some questions, though never the ones about my father. So I answer some questions.
They amend the form to show my General Intelligence as Low, Language as English and Special Comments as Uncooperative and Does not appear to be able to read. My Designated Code is still Not ascertained though. Gran is pleased.
Nathan Byrn - Half Code (W0.5/B0.5)
Nathan is half White witch and half Black witch. He is feared or loathed by White witches.
DOB – 21.06.96. He turns 17 on 21st June - this is the day he must have a Giving ceremony or he will never be able to access his Gift (his magical ability).
Mother – Cora Byrn, deceased (White Witch, Gift - healing others, Gift strength very high).
Father – Marcus, alive and well but no one knows where (Black Witch, Gift – transforms into animals, Gift strength exceptionally high).
Other Close Relatives - Nathan lives most of his childhood with his Gran (his mother’s mother) and older half-sisters Jessica, Deborah and his half-brother Arran. Jessica hates Nathan, and Nathan hates her back, but Gran, Deborah and Arran are kind and loving towards him.
Healing ability - (witches can self heal, but abilities in this as all magical gifts vary, some will heal not much faster than fains (ordinary humans) some will heal almost instantly. On a scale of 1 to 10, if a fain healing is a 1, Nathan will quickly develop to a 10 (11 on a good day).
Gift – (he is a whet in Half Bad, this is a witch who hasn’t yet turned 17 and so hasn’t yet developed his Gift, his one personal magical ability, so we can’t be sure what it is).
Nathan’s physical appearance is not like anyone on his mother’s side of the family, so he thinks he must look like his father. But no one who meets Marcus lives to say what he looks like (or if they do live they are reluctant to talk about it). Nathan is small as a young child but by age 16 he is medium height. He has straight black hair, olive skin, but his eyes are what you will remember if you were to meet him; they are black - not brown, not a very dark brown, but black.
Scars - Nathan has lots of them, some he made, some were made by White witches.
He suspects that he is like his father in abilities and moodiness: quick to get angry/violent, often he is silent.
He develops problems as he goes through adolescence: he feels ill if he stays indoors at night; mobile phones and electrical equipment set off a hissing noise in his head.
Nathan loves beautiful things though – paintings, nature (especially woods and mountains). And there is Annalise too - a White witch and the only White witch outside his family who is ever kind to Nathan.
Nathan is unable to read or write beyond a very basic level. But he is intelligent and articulate (when he chooses to be) and has received by various means a wide and intense education (from his gran, brother Arran and Celia - more of that in Half Bad).
He can tell if a person is witch by their eyes – White witches have silver twisting pieces in the irises, Black witches have other things that seem to move in them (when Nathan looks in the mirror he sees dull, black triangles tumbling very slowly).
YOU ARE READING
Half Bad
Teen FictionYou can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch. You get sick if you stay indoors after dark. You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one. You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen. All you've got to do is escape a...
