«You don't need to be afraid of that vampire,» I said. «She's been laid to rest. By order of the court.»
«I know.»
«How?» I asked, surprised.
«Your boss called me.»
«I didn't know about that.»
«He called one day when there was no one else home. He said the vampire had been executed. And he said that since I was a potential Other, even if I hadn't made a choice yet, I'd been taken off the list of human beings. So I could never be selected by chance again, and I needn't be afraid.»
«Yes, of course,» I said.
«And I asked him if my parents were still on the list.»
I couldn't think of anything to say to that. I knew what the boss's answer had been.
«I'll be going, then,» said Egor, taking a step away. «Your cigarette's finished.»
I dropped the butt and nodded.
«Where have you been? It's late.»
«Training; I swim. Tell me, is that really you?»
«You remember the trick with the broken cup?»
Egor gave a weak smile. It's always the cheapest tricks that impress people the most.
«I remember. Look…« he stopped short, staring past me.
I turned around.
It was strange to see myself from the outside. A young guy with my face, walking with my walk, wearing my jeans and sweater, with a Walkman on his belt and a small bag in his hand. And that smile, so faint you could barely see it—that was mine. Even the eyes, those false mirrors, they were mine too.
«Hi, Anton,» said Olga. «Good evening, Egor.»
She wasn't surprised to see the kid there. She seemed very calm altogether.
«Hello,» said Egor, looking first at her, then at me. «Is Anton in your body now?»
«That's right.»
«You're pretty. How do you know me?»
«I saw you when I was in a body that wasn't so pretty. Excuse us now; Anton's got serious problems and we've got to deal with them.»
«Should I go then?» Egor seemed to have forgotten that was what he'd just been about to do.
«Yes. And don't get angry; things are going to get hot around here any moment, very hot.»
The kid looked at me.
«I've got all of Day Watch on my trail,» I explained. «All the Dark Ones in Moscow.»
«Why?»
«It's a long story. You'd better get back home.»
It sounded rude. Egor frowned and nodded. He glanced in the direction of the platform. A train was just pulling in.
«But they'll protect you, won't they?» He was still finding it hard to grasp which of us was in which body. «Your Watch will?»
«They'll try,» Olga replied gently. «But now go, please. We haven't got much time, and it's running out fast.»
«Goodbye,» said Egor, turning and running toward the train. His third step took him out of the circle of non-attention and he was almost knocked off his feet.
«If the boy had stayed, I might have believed he was going to join our side,» Olga said as she watched him go. «I'd really like to check the probability lines to see why you met him in the metro.»
«By chance.»
«Nothing happens by chance. Ah, Anton, I used to be able to read reality lines like an open book, no problem. «
«I wouldn't mind having decent prevision.»
«Genuine prevision isn't something you can just order from a catalog. Okay, back to business. You want to give my body back?»
«Yes, right here.»
«Okay.» Olga stretched out her arms—my arms—and took hold of my shoulders. It gave me a stupid, ambiguous sort of feeling. She obviously felt the same thing, because she laughed and said: «Why did you have to mess everything up so soon, Anton? I had such extravagant plans for this evening.»
«Maybe I should be grateful to the Maverick for disrupting your plans?»
Olga stopped smiling and concentrated.
«All right. Let's get on with it.»
We stood with our backs touching and held our arms out in the form of a cross. I took hold of Olga's fingers, which were also mine.
«Give back what is mine,» said Olga.
«Give back what is mine,» I repeated.
«Gesar, we return your gift!»
I started when I realized she'd spoken the boss's real name. And what a name!
«Gesar, we return your gift!» Olga repeated sternly.
«Gesar, we return your gift!»
Olga switched into an ancient tongue, intoning the words gently, speaking as if it were her native language. It hurt me to feel how hard she had to strain to perform a piece of magic that really shouldn't have been difficult with second-grade powers.
Changing back bodies is like releasing a spring. Our minds had only been kept in each other's bodies by the energy that Boris Ignatievich Gesar had transferred to us. All we had to do was relinquish that energy and we would resume our previous forms. If either of us had been a first-grade magician, we needn't even have been in physical contact; it could all have been done at a distance.
Olga's voice soared as she pronounced the final formula of renunciation.
For an instant nothing happened. Then I was racked by cramps and shooting pains; everything blurred and went gray in front of my eyes, as if I were sinking into the Twilight. For a moment I could see the whole station—the dusty, stained-glass windows, the dirty floor, the slow movements of the people, the rainbows of their auras, two bodies thrashing about as if they'd been crucified to each other.
Then I was pushed and shoved and squeezed into the shell of my body.
«Aaagh,» I gasped as I fell to the floor, just putting my hands out at the last moment. My muscles were twitching, my ears were ringing. The reverse switch had been far less comfortable, maybe because it wasn't performed by the boss.
«Are you okay?» Olga asked in a feeble voice. «Ooh, you bastard.»
«What?» I asked, looking at her.
«You could at least have gone to the bathroom!»
«Not without Zabulon's permission.»
«Okay, let's forget it. Anton, we've got about a quarter of an hour. Tell me everything.»
«What exactly?»
«What you've figured out. Come on. You didn't just want to get back into your own body; you've worked out some kind of plan.»
I nodded, then straightened up, dusted off my palms, and slapped my knees to clean off my jeans. The strap holding my holster was too tight under my arm; I'd have to loosen it. There weren't many people in the metro now, the flood tide had receded. But that meant the ones who were left weren't kept busy maneuvering through the crowd, and they had time to think: Auras flared up in bright rainbow colors and I caught the echoes of their owners' feelings.
They'd really cut back Olga's powers. In her body it had taken me a real effort to see the secret world of human feelings. But then, that was only a simple thing, absolutely simple. Not even anything to feel proud about.
«It's not me the Day Watch want, Olga. They don't want me at all. I'm an ordinary average magician.»
She nodded.
«But I'm the one they're hunting. There's no doubt about that. So if I'm not the quarry, I must be the bait. The same way Egor was the bait when Sveta was the quarry.»
«Have you only just realized that?» Olga shook her head. «Of course. You're the bait.»
«For Svetlana?»
The sorceress nodded.
«I only realized it today,» I admitted. «Just an hour ago, when Sveta wanted to stand up to the Day Watch, she shifted up to fifth-grade powers. In an instant. If a fight had broken out—she would have been killed. We can be controlled too, Olya. Human beings can be turned in different directions, toward Good or Evil; the Dark Ones can be manipulated through their meanness, their vanity, their thirst for power and fame. And we can be manipulated through our love. In that area we're as defenseless as children.»