Pure: Ignis Part 30

It was strange to be both afraid that Anton was watching me and afraid that he might not be.

After GM and I had filled up both the trunk and the back seat of her little car with our luggage, we got in ourselves.

As we pulled out of the driveway, I glanced back at the house. I loved my home.

I wondered if this would be the last time I would ever see it.

I told myself once again not to be so fatalistic.

GM drove on with her usual expert speed, and I watched the scenery flying by as time pa.s.sed, and the light slowly faded. GM did not play music as she had on our previous trip to the airport. On that other, terrifying trip, GM had played Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, a favorite of my mother's, to give me a measure of comfort.

Such a thing wasn't necessary this time around.

Eventually the day gave way completely to night, and we continued on through the dark. I lost track of time-possibly I dozed a little-but I grew alert when the airport materialized in front of us, large and luminous in the night.

GM found long-term parking, and then we took a shuttle to our terminal. As we checked our luggage and went to our gate, I was surprised to see how many people were flying to Moscow with us. I stood, surveying the crowd. People sat talking, reading, and tapping away on cell phones. Everything seemed very normal.

Even so, I started to feel nervous.

I was at a point at which it was still possible for me to turn back. I could run from the airport-run back to the car, and GM would be forced to follow.

Neither one of us would go on the trip then, and I would never have to find out what waited for me in Krov.

But I knew that I wouldn't leave.

I would wait quietly for the plane, and when the time came, I would board it.

I was going to Russia now, no matter what. I felt as if I were being pulled along inevitably by an invisible cord.

I wondered for a moment if this trip was truly a choice I had made, or if it were something that would have happened no matter how hard I'd tried to avoid it.

GM pulled on my sleeve, and my reverie was broken. She'd been surveying the crowd too, and she'd just spotted two empty seats next to each other.

We sat down, and GM looked around the waiting area with sparkling eyes.

"Well, here we are," she said. "From now on all we have to do is sit back and let others get on with their work. We can truly relax now."

She glanced over at me. "Dinner was some time ago. Are you hungry, Solnyshko?"

I could feel my stomach tying itself into knots. "No thanks, GM. I don't think I could eat anything right now."

GM beamed at me. "Neither could I-I am far too exited."

I had brought a book to read, but I found myself unable to focus on the words. My mind was suddenly full of images that I had tried to bury forever-images of underground tunnels in Krov where I had been trapped. Images of a man named Gleb Mstislav, whose lifeless body had been resurrected. Images of Timofei Mstislav, who had freed his cursed father so that he could kill me.

I jumped up from my seat suddenly, unnerved by my own memories. I walked to the huge windows nearby that looked out on the runway. There I watched the planes take off and land while I fought to banish the nightmares from my mind.

At long last, boarding for our plan was announced, and GM positively glowed as we walked down the narrow tunnel into the body of the plane and found our seats.

"So very different," GM murmured as she settled in, "such a very different experience from last time."

I looked over at GM. She was right about that. There was none of the urgency, none of the terror. And yet I felt uneasy, and my uneasiness was steadily growing.

Had I made a terrible mistake? And had I dragged GM right into the middle of it along with me?

For her part GM seemed completely happy-she saw only a good trip ahead of her. I hoped she was right.

"We should speak in Russian from now on," GM said to me in that language. "I am very glad that you kept your Russian up. But then, you are very smart girl, and I am sure that it is easy for you."

I couldn't help but smile at this little speech of GM's. And I told myself to reign in my feelings of panic and to focus on being normal. I told myself further that if I stayed alert, GM and I could both survive this trip.

"Russian it is," I said.

GM searched in her purse then and produced a small, slim object which she pressed into my hand. "This is for you. I have one too. I bought us cell phones that will work in Europe. This way we won't be stuck by the side of the road again without a working phone. How lucky we were last time that Aleksandr and Odette happened to be driving by."

I thought back to our rescue by Aleksandr and Odette-it was yet another instance in which I would never be able to explain to GM what had truly happened. The whole incident had not come about by luck-it had been engineered.

Aleksandr was not who he'd seemed to be.

To all appearances, Aleksandr was the son of my mother's childhood friend Galina. He was, in fact, the Leshi-a Russian spirit of the forest who was impersonating the kidnapped Aleksandr in an attempt to help combat Gleb Mstislav. The Leshi had actually caused the flat tire that had marooned us, and then he had doubled back to pick us up.

So Aleksandr had most definitely not been what he'd seemed to be.

And Odette had not been who she'd seemed to be, either.

GM continued, unaware of my abstraction.

"We will be staying in a very nice hotel in Moscow," she said. "I think you will really enjoy seeing the capital. It is a beautiful city. A city of dreams."

"GM, when we get to Krov, will we see Galina and Aleksandr?" I asked, my mind still lingering on the Leshi.

A slight look of strain tightened GM's eyes, and I wondered if she'd say no. GM's relationship with her daughter's friend had not been a positive one for many years, but by the time we had left Krov in October, it had begun to thaw, and I knew that GM had been in contact with Galina since then.

Despite the thaw, was GM still wary of her?

Perhaps it was one thing to be friendly with Galina when we were at a safe distance from her in the U.S. In GM's mind, it might be an entirely different matter once we were actually back in Krov.

GM remained silent for several minutes, and I realized that even if she said no, I would still go to see Galina and the now-restored Aleksandr on my own. I would also seek out the Leshi in the Pure Woods. Looking for William was out of the question now, but I could at least try to find out who had placed a price on my head-and maybe I could find out how many vampires were actually after me. And I would avoid Innokenti at all costs.

Eventually, GM sighed. "Yes, I suppose we should go see Galina and Aleksandr. Galina is not such a bad woman, really-she's just a bit misguided."

The seatbelt light came on, and we lapsed into silence. Our plane taxied down the runway and took off, and I stared out the window as the plane climbed into the sky. We reached cruising alt.i.tude, and a flight attendant came by and offered us drinks.

After the flight attendant left, GM reached over and patted my hand.

"We are going to have a wonderful Christmas in Krov. We will be in our old home again."

Our old home. I thought of the house in Krov with its apple tree and its roses. I had lived there with my mother, my father, and GM until my parents' death when I was five years old. A year before they had died, my cousin, Odette, had come to live with us. Beautiful, red-haired Odette was five years my senior, and I had adored her.

I had been happy in that house in Krov, and it had existed for me only as a pleasant memory. I had never expected to see it again.

But back in October, GM and I had found our way back to that house. It had been both strange and wonderful for me to enter a house I had believed I would never see again.

And now, only two months later, we were going back yet again.

Krov, it seemed, was unwilling to let us go.

GM continued. "I will be sure to find us a Christmas tree for our house in Krov."

"A Christmas tree?" I asked. I thought back to the decorated house that we had left behind us in Elspeth's Grove. "We'll have a Christmas tree in Krov too?"

"Yes, of course," GM said. "The traditions of Christmas are a little different in Russia than they are in the U.S., but we can add anything we wish to our celebration."

She paused and then went on wistfully. "Christmas is beautiful in Russia. Possibly more beautiful there than anywhere else in the world."

Something about GM's dreamy tone suddenly reminded me uncomfortably of Charisse's suggestion that GM might have a Joshua Martin of her own.

"GM, are we going to Russia to see someone?" I asked abruptly.

"No, no, of course not child." GM looked startled. "This trip is just for us."

"But people usually travel at Christmas to see loved ones," I said. "If we are just traveling to Krov so the two of us can sit around a Christmas tree, then-"

I stopped.

"What, Solnyshko? Go on."

"Well, then, we might just as well have stayed at home. We have a nice Christmas tree there, too."

"You are still worried about the expense, are you?" GM patted my hand again. "You have nothing to worry about on that score-truly. And there will be only the two of us at Christmas. And it will be wonderful in Russia-you will see."

I had a strange feeling that GM was avoiding something, but I decided not to pursue the topic any further.

I had thirteen hours to spend on the plane, and after some time had pa.s.sed, and the lights had been dimmed in the cabin, I tried to sleep. But relaxation of any kind escaped me, and I remained wide awake and jittery, watching a small graphic on the screen in front of me of our plane's progress over the ocean. I knew we were going hundreds of miles an hour, but on the map the plane barely appeared to be moving at all.

I glanced over at GM. She appeared to have fallen into a deep sleep.

On impulse I pulled out the charm William had given me.

Though he was lost to me forever, I couldn't bear to part with the charm. I stared at the roughly hewn cross, turning it over and over in my fingers. It had, I knew, special properties that gave its wearer some protection against the kost-that's why he had given it to me.

I had thought once that perhaps the charm had had some other significance to William-something that had nothing to do with its protective properties. I had thought that maybe William had given it to me for that reason too. It seemed now as if I had been wrong about that.

As I continued to stare at the charm, I felt calmer and less jittery.

Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

I awoke with a start some time later-the cabin was still dark-and it took me a moment to realize where I was.

I'd had disturbing dreams-just images flashing by. All my worst memories had been replayed for me.

I'd seen Gleb and Timofei hiding in the cave in Elspeth's Grove. I'd seen Gleb advancing on me in the tunnels in Krov. I'd seen Joshua Martin snarling at me in Charisse's bas.e.m.e.nt. I'd seen Anton lunging for me in the Old Grove.

I had a terrible feeling that new images of horror would be added to this list.

I tried to shrug the feeling off, but as I sat in the dark cabin listening to the steady hum of the plane's engines, the feeling only increased.

As the moments crawled by in the darkness, an unpleasant idea took hold of me.

What if the next image to be added to the list would be the last one? What if I wasn't destined to survive this trip?

Maybe Krov would be the end for me.

I closed my mind firmly against the thought and tried to sleep again.

After several long hours, the lights came on once more, and the flight attendants began to serve breakfast. Then, after several more hours, our plane touched down in Moscow.

I was relieved to finally be off the plane, and I hoped desperately that I was wrong about what this trip to Russia held in store for me.

When GM and I reached baggage claim, we discovered that all the luggage from our flight had been heavily wrapped in plastic. It took us some time to identify which bags were actually ours.

After that, we spent a lengthy time going through customs. But eventually, we got through the line, and we were free to enter Moscow.

It was early evening, and GM and I took a cab into the city. We checked into our hotel and had dinner at the hotel restaurant.

GM gave me some Russian money then-colorful ruble banknotes, ruble coins with a double-headed eagle on them, and kopek coins which were worth 1/100th of a ruble. I was fascinated by the new money, just as I had been on our trip to Georgia.

After dinner, we went for a walk, just to look around. Strangely enough, I was in a good mood by the time GM and I returned to our hotel that night. The novelty of the new city and all its sights and sounds had gone a long way toward lifting my fatalistic gloom. Back in our room, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

In the morning, GM and I went out to go site-seeing. We were going to spend two days in Moscow before heading on to Krov.

The sense of fatalism that had troubled me before returned suddenly with full force. I couldn't help but think that I had only two days left to live.

And yet the morning was sunny, the air was clear and cold, and I felt excited despite my fears.

GM and I had breakfast at a little restaurant not far from our hotel, and then GM took me to Red Square at my request. I had seen the square and its ornate buildings many times in the movies, and I was excited to realize that I would actually get to see it all in person.

We went first to St. Basil's Cathedral, and as I gazed up at its fantastic, colorful domes, I felt myself transported-the church was surely something from another world.

"What do you think of St. Basil's?" GM asked quietly. "People have varied opinions on it."

"I think it looks like something from a dream," I replied. "It's a wonder. It's exactly what it should be."

GM smiled. "A good answer, Solnyshko. As I said before, this is the land of dreams."

"It's hard to believe this is all real," I said, looking around the square. "It's hard to believe I'm here."

"I have not forgotten my promise to you-the one I made back in Georgia. I mean for us to take proper vacations in the future. Would you like to see Paris next year? Or maybe London? Your father was born in London, you know."