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HALFWAY BACK TO THE HOUSE I MET KSYUSHA AND ROMKA THE CHIL-dren were striding briskly along the dusty street, holding hands I waved to theone for a walk to the river with her granny!"

I laughed Ludranny"¡ªand like any other fifty-year-old Moscooman, she hated the very sound of it

"Okay, I hope they enjoy it," I said

"Have you found the wolves yet?" Romka shouted

"No, your wolves have run away," I answered

Maybe, for strictly psychotherapeutic purposes, I ought to have said that I’d caught the wolves and handed them over to the zoo? But then, the little boy didn’t see fear after his encounter with the olves Arina had done a good job there

Greeting the s the way, I reached our house Svetlana had occupied my hammock with a bottle of beer and the book Fuaran¡ªFantasy or Fact? open at the final pages already

"Interesting?" I asked

"Uh huh," Svetlana said with a nod She was drinking the beer rustic fashion, straight from the bottle "It’s more fun than Tove Jansson’s Moominpapps at Sea Now I understand why they didn’t print all the stories about the moomintrolls before The last ones aren’t for children at all Tove Jansson was obviously suffering from depression when he wrote theet depressed too," I said

"Not if he writes children’s books, he doesn’t!" Svetlana exclai Otherwise it’s just like a tractor driver ploughing a field crookedly and then saying, ’Ah, I was feeling depressed, it wasto drive around in circles’ Or a doctor who prescribes a patient a co draft and then explains, ’I’ht it would cheer me up’"

She reached out to the table and put down the false Fuaran

"Why, you’re very strict, mother," I said with a shake of my head

"That’s why I’m strict¡ªbecause I’m aThe books are still wonderful anyway Only the last ones are very sad"

"Nadiushka and your one for a walk to the river," I said

"Did you meet theranny have gone for a walk___’"

Svetlana tittered, but then she ihtened face "Don’t tell my mother that She’ll be upset"

"Do you think I’?"

"Why don’t you tell ot away," I said "We chased her down to the fourth level of the Twilight, but she still got away"

"The fourth?" Svetlana’s eyes flashed "Are you serious?"

I sat down beside her The hanantly and the trees creaked, but they held I gave her a short account of our adventures

"And I’ve never been to the fourth level" Svetlana said thoughtfully "How interesting The colors coht there were some smells"

Svetlana nodded absentmindedly "Yes, I’ve heard ru"

I kept quiet for a few seconds And then I said, "Svetlana, you ought to go back to the Watch"

She didn’t object as usual She didn’t say anything Encouraged, I went on: "You can’t live at half-power Sooner or later you"

"Let’s not talk about it, Anton I don’t want to be a Great Enchantress," Svetlana said with a wry grin "A little bit of doate banged¡ªLudlanced quickly at her and was about to look away¡ªthen I stared at her, puzzled My ht that she’d just put soirl in a shop firmly in her place, found a hundred rubles in the street, and shaken hands with her beloved Yakubovich

She was even walking differently¡ªwith light steps, her shoulders held straight, and her chin held high And she was s in a soft voice, "We were born to make a fairytale come true"

I shook my head hard to clear it My mother-in-law smiled sweetly at us, waved her hand, and in two strides she was past us and heading for the house

"Mo up "Mom!"

My mother-in-law stopped and looked at her, with that same blissful sht, Mom?" Svetlana asked

"Wonderful," Ludmila Ivanovna replied affectionately

"Mo her voice slightly

"She’s gone for a ith a friend," my mother-in-laered imperturbably

I shuddered Svetlana exclai already children can’t go walking on their own hat friend?"

"With a friend of"Don’t worry You don’t think I’o off on her own, do you?"

"What friend of yours?" Svetlana screa with you? Who’s Nadia with?"

The siving way to an uncertain expression "With that that"¡ª she frowned "With Arina My friend Arina my friend?"

I was too slow to catch exactly what Svetlana did¡ªI just felt a chill treht was parted Svetlana leaned slightly toward herair in shts is pretty difficult It’s much easier to make them speak But we can take an instant snapshot of information from close relatives in exactly the same way as we do between ourselves for the sake of speed

But then, I didn’t need the infor

And I didn’t even feel afraid¡ªjust empty As if the entire world had frozen over and stopped dead

"Go to bed!" Svetlana shouted at her mother Ludmila Ivanovna turned and walked toward the house like a zombie

Svetlana looked at me Her expression was very calether After all, a htened

"She just came up and blew on her Took Nadienka by the hand and went off into the forest with her," Svetlana blurted out "And she’s been walking around for another hour, the stupid fool!"

That hen I realized Svetlana was on the verge of hysterics

I ether

"What could she do against the witch?" I grabbed Svetlana by the shoulders and shook her "You linted briefly in Svetlana’s eyes¡ªand then iently away and said, "Stand back, Anton, or you’ll get caught you can hardly stay on your feet as it is"

I didn’t try to argue After the adventures I’d had with Edgar I wasn’t going to be any help There was hardly any Power inleft to share with Svetlana

I ran back a few steps and put my arms around the trunk of the stunted apple tree that was already in its final years I closed my eyes

The world around ht shift and stir

Svetlana didn’t gather Power froh of her own¡ªobstinately neglected, unused and constantly accu birth, female Others experience a colossal influx of Power, but I hadn’t noticed any changes in Svetlana at the ti hidden, saved up¡ªas it turned out¡ªfor a rainy day

The world was losing its colors I realized I was falling into the Twilight, the first level: The intensity of the ical could remain in human reality The book Fuaran¡ªFact or Fiction? fell through the rough board table and thuround Three houses away clumps of blue moss¡ªthe eht¡ªflared up on the roof and were instantly consumed by flalow She waswith invisible yarn A moment later, the yarn becaossamer streamed away from her hands and spread out, driven by a non-existent wind A stor around Svetlana¡ªand then fell silent, when the thousands of glittering threads had flown off into the distance in all directions

"What?" I shouted "Sveta!"

I knew the spell she had just used I could even have cast a Snowy Cobweb myself¡ªmaybe not so efficiently and rapidly, but still

Svetlana didn’t answer She raised her hands to the sky, as if she were praying But we don’t believe in any gods, or in God We are our own gods and our own demons

A rainbow sphere, like an oversize soap bubble, parted from Svetlana’s hands and driftedslowly around its axis A dark-red spot on the translucent rainbow film reminded me of the planet Jupiter When the red spot rotated to facetouch, like a breath of icy wind

Svetlana had created the Eye of the Magician First level again but to create it immediately after the Snowy Cobweb!

The third spell folloith no perceptible pause, and I realized Svetlana had been holding it in readiness for a long time, for occasions precisely like this She released a flock of ghostly white birds from her hands You could have called thehostly birds’ beaks were too large and sharp, too predatory

I didn’t know that spell at all

Svetlana lowered her hands and the Twilight settled back down It ca our skin with its cautious, predatory chill

I eed into the ordinary world

Followed by Svetlana

Here nothing had changed The open cover of the book lying on the ground hadn’t even slae were yapping, howling, and barking

"Sveta, what?" I asked, dashing toward her

She turned toward ical envoys were still dispersing And then, as they dematerialized tens and hundreds of kilometers away from us, they sent back their final reports

I knehat they said

"Nothing" Svetlana whispered "Nothing anywhere No Nadiushka no witch"

Her eyes caical cobweb had decayed, the white birds had fallen to earth and dissolved, the rainbow sphere had burst in the sky

"Nothing anywhere," Svetlana repeated "Anton We need to calone far," I said "And she hasn’t done anything bad to Nadya, believe e?" Svetlana asked I read hope in her face

"The Inquisition has the district blocked off They have their own et past the cordons"

"Yes" Svetlana whispered "I see"

"To get away, she needs outside help," I said, unsure whether I was trying to convince Sveta or et it voluntarily So she’s decided to blackmail us"

"Will we be able to satisfy her deht aithout bothering to ask if ould want to satisfy the if we could

"We have to wait for the demands"

Svetlana nodded

"Yes wait But what for, exactly¡ªa call?"

Then she i her hand up and looked at theof the bedrooiven her broke the glass as it caht it in her hand as if it were some repulsive insect She looked at the coh her hair

I heard a low, good-huh And somewhere inside my head Arina’s voice said, "Hello there, sweetheart So we meet at last Did my present come in handy?"

"Re the comb out in front of her

"I know, I know, et If I harle little hair on Nadienka’s head, you’ll followht, tear s I know everything you want to say And I believe you’d do it, too"

Arina’s voice was serious She wasn’t ht we ought to deal with her And Svetlana waited without saying anything, keeping the co, she said, "All right Then let’s not waste any time I want to speak toNadiushka"

"Nadienka, say hello to Mommy," Arina said

We heard a perfectly cheerful voice say, "Hello!"

"Nadiusha, is everything all right?" Svetlana asked cautiously

"Uh huh" said Nadya

And then Arina iain "Enchantress, I won’t do your daughter any har stupid I don’t want much from you¡ªlead hter back"

"Arina," I said, taking Svetlana by the hand, "the district is cordoned off by the Inquisition Do you understand that?"

"I wouldn’t have asked for help otherwise," Arina replied coolly "Think, Sorcerer! There’s a weak board in every fence and a tear in every net Lead hter"

"And what if I can’t?"

"Then it’s all the saht my way out And I’irl"

"What for?" I asked in a very calood?" Arina asked in astonishe to break out, next tiain I know someone who likes to have Others do his dirty work for hiirl"

"We’ll try," said Svetlana, squeezing htly "Do you hear me, witch? Don’t touch the child, we’ll save you"

"We’re agreed, then," said Arina, sounding alet past the cordons You have three hours If you think of so sooner, Enchantress, then pick up the coain"

"Only don’t touch Nadiushka!" Svetlana shouted in a tre a swift pass with her left hand

The comb was instantly covered in a crust of ice Svetlana dropped it on the table andcreature Anton?"

We looked at each other for a second, as if ere tossing the initiative backward and forward, like a ball

I spoke first "Sveta, the risk is very great She can’t handle us both in open coives Nadya back"

"We’ll find her a corridor a way out" et beyond the cordons and leave Nadienka there I’ll find her right away She can even go to another town and leave Nadya there I’ll open a portal I kno I can do that I’d be there in a ht," I said with a nod "In a o far And as soon as Nadya’s with us, you’ll want to find Arina and dematerialize her"