Ilya laughed quietly and took another wand out of his belt. This one was less bright—he must have charged it himself.
Had he been carrying a weapon designed personally for Zabulon, then? Had the boss already known our enemy?
I looked around the roof. At first glance, everything was under control. Bear was lying on the girl-vampire, pounding away with his paws, with occasional muffled sounds emerging from under his body. Tiger Cub was dealing with the two Day Watch agents, and it didn't look as if she needed any help. The white cobra was throttling Zabulon.
We were left with nothing to do. Ilya was watching the struggle, holding the wand at the ready, evidently trying to decide which tussle to throw himself into. Semyon had never taken any interest in the Day Watch agents and Zabulon, and now he'd lost all interest in the vampire and was wandering along the edge of the roof, looking down. Was he worried about new reinforcements for the Dark Side?
And I stood there like an idiot, holding the useless pistol in my hands…
The shadow sprang to my feet at the first attempt. I stepped into it, feeling the searing chill. Not the chill that humans know, not the chill that every Other knows—this was the chill of the deep Twilight. Here there was no wind; here the snow and ice under our feet had disappeared. Here there was no blue moss. The space was entirely filled with mist, thick, glutinous, and lumpy. If mist can be compared with milk, then this was curdled milk.
My friends and foes had all alike been transformed into vague shadows that were barely moving. Only the fiery cobra fighting with Zabulon was still as swift and scintillating as ever—that battle was being fought at every level of the Twilight. Thinking about the amount of energy that must have been transferred to that magic wand made me feel dizzy.
What for? Darkness and Light, what for? Neither the young vampire nor this young Other, the kid, were worth that kind of effort!
«Egor!» I shouted.
I was beginning to feel frozen. I'd only ever entered the second level of the Twilight twice: once in class, with an instructor beside me, and the day before, to get through the closed door of the apartment. I didn't carry any protection for this level, and every moment I was losing more and more strength.
«Egor!» I took a step through the mist. I could hear muffled blows behind me—the snake was pounding someone against the roof, clutching his body in its jaws… and I knew whose body it was…
Time down there moves even more slowly, and there was just a tiny chance that the kid might not have lost consciousness yet. Struggling to make anything out in the gloom, I walked toward the spot where he'd dived down to the second level of the Twilight, and I didn't spot the body under my feet. I stumbled and fell, then got up, squatting on my haunches, and found myself face to face with Egor.
«You okay?» It was a stupid question to ask, because his eyes were open and he was looking at me.
«Yes.»
Our voices had a hollow, rumbling sound. There were two fluttering shadows right beside us: Bear was still tearing at the vampire. She was really holding in there for all she was worth!
And so was the kid!
«Let's go,» I said, reaching out and touching his shoulder. «It's… tough being down here. We could get stuck here forever.»
«So okay.»
«Don't you understand, Egor! To be dissolved in the Twilight means suffering, eternal suffering. You can't even imagine what it's like, Egor! We're leaving!»
«What for?»
«To stay alive.»
«What for?»
My fingers wouldn't bend. My pistol felt heavy, cast out of ice. I might last another minute, or two…
I looked into Egor's eyes.
«Everyone decides for himself. I'm leaving. I've got something to live for.»
«Why do you want to save me?» he asked curiously. «Does your Night Watch need me?»
«I don't think you'll join our Watch,» I said, surprising even myself.
He smiled. A shadow slowly ran through us—Semyon. Had he spotted something? Was someone in trouble?
And there I was, wasting my final strength trying to prevent a little Other from committing esoteric suicide—when he was doomed anyway.
«I'm leaving,» I said. «Goodbye.»
My shadow clutched hold of me, freezing to my fingers and growing onto my face. I began tearing myself out of it in jerks, and the Twilight hissed in displeasure at such behavior.
«Help me,» said Egor. I only just caught the sound of his voice; I was almost out already. He'd left it until the very last moment.
I reached out and grabbed his hand. I was already being torn out, the mist around me was melting. All my help was purely symbolic; the boy had to do the real work for himself.
And he did.
We tumbled out into the upper layer of the Twilight. The cold wind struck me in the face, but this time it felt good. The listless movements on every side were transformed into a furious struggle. The blurred tone of gray looked bright and colorful.
Something had changed during those few seconds we'd spent talking. The vampire was still twitching under Bear… that wasn't it. The young warlock was lying on the roof, either dead or unconscious; Tiger Cub and the witch were rolling about nearby… that wasn't it.
The snake!
The white cobra was expanding, inflating to fill a quarter of the roof. As if it had been pumped full of air and it was rising, or flying up of its own accord into the low sky. Semyon was standing by the twined coils of the fiery body, half-squatting in one of the ancient combat stances, with small orange spheres streaking from his palms into the clump of white flame. He wasn't aiming at the cobra, but at someone else underneath it, someone who should have been dead a long time ago but was still struggling…
There was a sudden explosion!
A vortex of Light and scraps of Darkness. I was tossed onto my back and as I fell I hit Egor and knocked him down, but just managed to grab hold of his hand. Tiger Cub and the witch, locked together, shot across to the edge of the roof and froze against the barrier. Bear was torn off the vampire, who was badly mauled but still alive. Semyon staggered but stayed on his feet, protected by a dimly glowing defensive shield. The only thing blown off the roof was the unconscious warlock: On his way he broke through the rusty bars of the barrier and plunged downward in a helpless bundle.
But Ilya just continued standing where he had been, rooted to the spot. I couldn't see any defenses around him, but he just gazed curiously at what was going on, clutching his wand.
The remains of the fiery cobra soared upward, spreading out into glowing clouds, melting away, scattering in showers of sparks and fine rays of light. Beneath this fireworks display Zabulon slowly rose to his feet, extending his arms in some complex magical pass. He'd lost his clothes in the struggle and now he was completely naked. His body had changed, assuming the classical features of a demon: dull scales instead of skin, an irregular skull, covered with some kind of matted fur instead of hair, close-set eyes with vertical slits for pupils, a massive, dangling male member, and a short forked tail hanging from the base of his spine.
«Begone!» cried Zabulon. «Begone!»
The things that must have been going on at that moment in the human world… Outbursts of deadly depression and blind, irrational joy, heart attacks, ludicrous behavior, quarrels between best friends, betrayal by faithful lovers… People couldn't see what was happening, but it touched their souls.
But why?
Why did the Day Watch want all this?
And at that moment I suddenly felt calm, a state of icy, rational composure I'd almost forgotten.
It was all one complex maneuver. If we started from one simple idea, made one initial assumption—that everything was happening according to Day Watch's plan—and then connected up all the chance events, starting with my hunt in the metro—no, starting with the moment when the young vampire had been allocated a girl to feed on, a girl he couldn't help falling in love with.