Pure: Ignis Part 39

I continued. "I went to see Galina yesterday, and I accidentally left it at her house." This was true-in my haste to get away from Timofei Mstislav, I had been forced to leave the bicycle behind.

"I went over to Galina's to retrieve the bike this morning, and I rode it back. Making the trip over there took me a little while."

This was also true-I just happened to leave out the fact that I'd gone looking in the Pure Woods for a vampire.

GM seemed mollified. "Well, I suppose you can't leave rental property lying around. It was a good idea for you to retrieve the bike as soon as possible. But you should have mentioned that that's where you were going in your note. I would have worried less."

"Sorry, GM."

She was right, of course. Mentioning the bicycle in the note would have given her a good reason for my long absence-I hadn't been thinking clearly.

And that was due in no small part to my anxiety over Innokenti.

My stomach twisted itself into knots at the thought of him.

"What's wrong, Solnyshko?" GM asked. "Are you ill?"

"No, I'm not ill," I said. I thought back to Galina's empty house. "It's just-Galina wasn't home, and neither was Aleksandr. And then I heard they were missing."

GM sighed.

"You knew?" I asked.

"Galina and I were in contact when we first returned to the U.S. in October," GM said. "And then Galina broke off contact rather abruptly, which was unusual, as she had been quite a voluble correspondent. I suspected that something must have changed for her, so I tried to be noncommittal when you asked if we would see her and Aleksandr. I didn't know if she would see us or not. And then once we arrived here in Krov, I too learned that Galina and Aleksandr had gone missing."

"Do you know what happened to them?"

"No," GM said simply.

"You don't seem very concerned."

"Katie, my relationship with Galina has always been difficult, and Aleksandr I'm sure, is a nice young man, but it may be for the best that they are out of our lives at the moment."

"GM, what if something terrible happened to them?" I asked. "What if they're hurt?"

Or worse, I thought.

"I do not want any harm to come to Galina or Aleksandr," GM replied. "But look how much simpler things are without them. There hasn't been so much as a whisper about the supernatural since they've been gone-except for that little bit of nonsense about the witch-fire. The atmosphere around here is much healthier without them."

I supposed from GM's perspective that that was all true. So far, I had been able to keep her out of all the supernatural terrors I had encountered on this trip. In fact, the worst thing that had happened to her was that her granddaughter had met her former fiance.

I just hoped I could continue to keep her safely out of everything that was going on.

GM's cell phone rang, and she quickly answered it.

"Yes, yes, she's here now, Maksim. Thank you for looking. No, I think I'd better not. I don't know about tomorrow. I'm sorry. But I thank you for your concern."

GM ended the call and looked up at me apologetically. "I called Maksim when I thought you had gone missing. Good man that he is, he went out looking for you."

I could hear GM's fondness for Maksim in her voice, and I felt the stirrings of conscience.

I didn't want to tell her what I'd found out about Maksim's family ties last night, but I felt like I had to. If there was any chance that he could be dangerous, as Odette had suggested, she had to know.

"GM," I began, "I heard yesterday that Maksim was related to the Mstislav family on his mother's side." I paused. "And then, this morning I saw him walking on the grounds of the Mstislav mansion."

GM looked amused. "I know about his mother, Solnyshko. I did meet him long before you were born. And I am not surprised to hear that he was over at the mansion. Since the horrible things Timofei did there, Maksim has been called in by other members of the family to go over both the mansion and Timofei's finances to make sure that there are no more terrible secrets he hid away."

She ran a hand over my hair. "Not all the Mstislavs are bad people, though I can understand why you might think so. And I don't blame you for the way you feel. That's another reason why I didn't want you to meet Maksim. I didn't want his family a.s.sociations to cause you any distress."

I was greatly relieved-I had really liked Maksim, and I didn't want to be suspicious of him.

GM began to steer me toward the kitchen that she had recently stocked.

"Now, I have a feeling that you did not eat anything before you left," she said. "I insist that you eat something now."

Once in the kitchen, GM pushed me into a chair and began to bustle around.

As she started to pour out cereal, GM's brief phone conversation with Maksim came back to me. "GM, did Maksim want to meet up with you today?"

"Yes-we had planned to have lunch together, but now it is out of the question."

"Why?" I asked.

"Don't be silly," GM said.

"Why is it silly?" I asked. "I'm not ill. I'm not hurt. I just went to get my bicycle, and now I'm home again. You shouldn't change your plans because of me."

"You pointed out that Maksim was a Mstislav yourself," GM said. "So how can I see him now?"

"I don't dislike Maksim," I said. "In fact, I like him a lot. It's just that someone told me he was a Mstislav and that you should be careful. I was just worried about you."

"You are sweet to be worried about me."

"GM, I'm glad to find out Maksim is not dangerous and that all Mstislavs are not evil."

"That is a good lesson," she said.

"GM, I don't want you to ruin your life because of me. I've seen how happy Maksim makes you."

GM set a bowl and a gla.s.s in front of me.

"Eat your cereal. Drink your juice."

"I will eat if you agree to have lunch with Maksim."

GM and I stared at each other for a long moment.

Eventually, GM smiled and threw up her hands.

"All right, Solnyshko. I will have lunch with Maksim."

I picked up my spoon and took a bite of the cereal.

GM gave me an appraising glance.

"It's a funny thing," she said. "It turns out you are more stubborn than I suspected."

I had to smile then too.

That afternoon, GM went out to lunch with Maksim, and I went out on my bicycle again-this time to buy GM a Christmas present.

I had to pa.s.s the hours until the time came for me to go out looking for Innokenti, and I figured I might as well do something pleasant.

Back in October, Odette had used a shopping spree as a cover for her need to rest during the day. But she actually had gone shopping-she just hadn't spent as much time doing it as she had pretended. Odette had purchased a lot of beautiful things, and I had wondered where she had found them. I knew about the little row of shops not far from our house, but there was no place there that carried the kinds of expensive things that Odette had brought home. I decided to find out where she had gone shopping.

As I rode up to the Mstislav mansion, I pa.s.sed a group of girls who were laden with shopping bags-they had obviously just been doing some holiday shopping of their own. I stopped and asked them where they had done their shopping, and they gave me directions.

As I well knew, there was a road that ran past the Mstislav mansion to the west-that was the road I had been on a number of memorable times already. It ran past the Wasteland and the monastery. But I learned from the girls that there was another, smaller road that ran past the Mstislav mansion to the east. If I followed that road, which was really more of a dirt path at first, I would eventually come upon a paved road that led to the shops.

I thanked the girls and rode on.

I found the dirt path and followed it past a rather precipitous drop that fell away steeply from the south side of the path-the girls had told me it was known as Mara's Drop. There was no guardrail, and I couldn't help but think that a spill on this path could produce a very unpleasant fall.

Eventually, I left Mara's Drop behind, and the path turned into a wide, paved road. The road led me to a small cl.u.s.ter of high-end shops, and beyond the shops I could make out the roofs of a community of large houses. From what I could see, none of the houses could rival the Mstislav mansion, but they looked impressive nonetheless. I remembered that Odette had once told me that her parents had lived in a big, impressive house. I wondered if I was looking at the community where that house had been.

I turned my attention toward the shops, and I quickly discovered that they were out of my price range. I wandered amongst the shops, feeling discouraged, until I discovered a small antiques shop that seemed more down-to-earth. I went inside.

I found a lot of interesting things in the shop-a Russian antiques store was very different from an American one. And one item in particular caught my eye-a necklace.

Lying in a gla.s.s case was a slender silver chain with a graceful pendant-it appeared to be a stylized figure of a woman. I asked to see it.

The figure was indeed that of a woman, and it seemed to be made of iron just like the charm William had given me. The rendering of the woman was more elegant than my cross, but I wondered if it might offer the same protection against the kost. Of course, we were dealing with a kost hybrid now, rather than a regular kost, and I was unsure whether charms of this type had any effect on such a creature.

And it was entirely possible that the necklace had no special properties at all. But I figured any protection this charm might potentially offer would be worth it. GM was very attached to her own cross. But maybe she would wear this necklace too.

The pendant turned out to be inexpensive, and I bought it. I also stopped and bought a powerful flashlight in a hardware store. Then I rode home.

I had lunch first, and then I searched the house for wrapping paper. I was lucky enough to find some in the attic, and I wrapped up my little box and placed it under our tree.

I stood back then and gazed for a little while at our decorated tree. The moment was so peaceful and so pleasant that it was hard for me to believe that there were horrors waiting for me-horrors that hid during the day and crept forth in the night.

It was those very horrors that I would have to go out to meet tonight.

GM came home not long after I had wrapped her present, and then time seemed to speed up-the rest of the day flew by.

All too soon the sun set, and I found myself staring out the window in the back door-it was the same door that Timofei Mstislav had stared at so steadily on the previous night. At any moment, I expected him to show up at our house to resume his grim vigil.

I knew he couldn't come in, but I didn't want GM to see him. I didn't want to see him myself for that matter. There was something inherently evil and unnatural in his shuffling yet powerful body that made him horrible to look at, even when he wasn't actively attacking.

And if he did show up, I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of the house to find to Innokenti. I was not at all confident that I could get past Timofei Mstislav.

I continued to watch, but he did not appear.

I wondered how long my luck would last.

"What are you looking for, Solnyshko?" GM asked, frowning at me. "You have been standing there for a very long time."

"Nothing. Nothing at all," I said. I wasn't sure I sounded convincing.

"Well, come away from the door. It's time for dinner."

I ate, but I couldn't really taste anything, and I tried not to let myself think that this could be the last time I would ever have dinner with GM.

You have to survive at least till Christmas morning, I told myself. You have to give GM her present. It's only three more days.

I smiled a little at my own joke and tried harder to appear normal and unconcerned.

"The Firebird Festival is tomorrow night," GM said. "If it is still what it used to be, it should be a beautiful, joyous celebration. Would you like to go?"

I agreed to go, but I had a feeling that I did so a little too enthusiastically, as my reply caused GM to give me a very strange look. But she didn't make any comment, and she seemed pleased that I wanted to go.

I supposed we talked after that, but at some point I had stopped listening. It seemed to me that dinner pa.s.sed by very quickly, and so did the rest of the evening. Before I knew it, I was climbing the stairs to go to bed.

In a way, it was a relief to go to my room-it meant I could watch out my window for the arrival of Timofei Mstislav. There was no doubt in my mind that he would return tonight. But mercifully, he did not appear.

All too soon, I heard GM come up the stairs and settle in. I knew that as soon as the house grew quiet, I would have to go out into the night. I would have to find Innokenti while avoiding the vampires that were after me. And if I succeeded in finding Innokenti and further succeeded in securing his help, I would have to go confront Timofei. Because I knew he would never stop hunting me.

Don't go to sleep just yet, GM, I prayed. Stay up a few moments longer.

But the house lapsed into silence, and I slipped out into the night. The house, the yard, the street were all quiet. There was still no sign of Timofei.

Even so, I was shaking as I climbed on my bicycle and rode in the direction of the Pure Woods.

The night was clear and cold and seemed somehow unnaturally still, as if the night itself were waiting with bated breath to see whether I would live or die.

I told myself not to think like that.

I kept riding and riding until I reached the vast expanse of the Wasteland. I stopped then to turn on my flashlight-I would be out of range of the village's artificial light very soon. I would go back to the Pure Woods and the stone circle. I would try to find Innokenti from there.

My flashlight did not illuminate the road ahead of me quite as far as I would have liked, so I was forced to go more slowly as I rode on. I stopped frequently, too, to send the beam from my flashlight sweeping out in an arc over the Wasteland.

I didn't want anyone sneaking up on me from that quarter.

I had just finished my latest sweep, when a flutter of movement caught my eye. I felt panic rising in me, but I forced myself to swing the light back in the direction of the movement.

I drew in my breath sharply when I realized what was moving-there was no mistaking what I had seen.

There was a man, not far away, crossing the Wasteland.