It was an accident that I ended up sitting apart from the Others.
My feet automatically took me to the armchair by the fireplace – the broad leather armchair in which I used to curl up, half sitting, half lying, watching Zabulon at work, looking at the smokeless flame in the hearth, the photographs hanging all round the walls.
And when I realised that I’d unwittingly separated myself from the Others, who had taken appropriate places on the sofas by the wall, it was already too late to move. It would only have looked stupid.
Then I kicked off my sandals, pulled my feet up and made myself comfortable.
Lemesheva glanced at me in astonishment before she began her report. The others didn’t even dare look – their eyes were fixed adoringly on the boss. The sycophantic toadies.
Leaning back in his chair behind his huge desk, Zabulon didn’t react to me at all either. At least not visibly.
Well, don’t look then …
I listened to Lemesheva’s smooth voice – she gave her report well, speaking briefly and to the point, nothing superfluous was said and nothing important was omitted. And I looked at the photograph hanging above the desk. It was very, very old, taken a hundred and forty years earlier, using the colloidal process – the boss once explained to me in detail the differences between the ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ methods. The photograph showed Zabulon in old-fashioned clothes as a student at Oxford, with the tower of Christ Church in the background. It was a genuine original by Lewis Carroll. The boss once remarked that it had been very difficult to persuade the ‘dried-up prim and proper poet’ to spend some time on one of his own students instead of a little girl. But the photograph had turned out very well, Carroll must have been a real master. Zabulon looks serious, but there’s a lively glint of irony in his eyes, and he looks a lot younger too … but then, what does a century and a half mean to him?
‘Donnikova?’
I looked at Lemesheva and nodded.
‘I entirely agree. If the absolutely essential goal of our mission was to free the prisoner, then forming the Circle of Power and threatening to perform the sacrifice was the best approach.’
I paused for a moment and then added sceptically:
‘Of course, that’s if that stupid idiot was worth all the effort.’
‘Alisa!’ There was a metallic ring to Lemesheva’s voice. ‘How dare you debate the chief’s orders? Chief, I apologise for Alisa, she’s overwrought and not … not entirely well.’
‘Naturally,’ said Zabulon. ‘Alisa effectively ensured the success of the entire operation. She sacrificed all her power. It’s hardly surprising that she feels like asking questions.’
I raised my head sharply.
Zabulon was quite serious. Not a hint of mockery or irony.
‘But – ’ Lemesheva began.
‘Who was just talking about respect for seniority?’ Zabulon interrupted her. ‘Be quiet.’
Lemesheva was silent.
Zabulon got up from behind the desk and walked over to me without hurrying. I kept my eyes fixed on him, but I didn’t get up.
‘That stupid fool,’ said Zabulon, ‘was not worth all the effort. Of course not. But the actual operation against the Night Watch was extremely important. And all of the injuries you suffered in the battle are entirely justified.’
I felt as if I’d been stabbed in the back.
‘Thank you, Zabulon,’ I replied. ‘It will be easier for me to live through all these years, knowing that my efforts were not in vain.’
‘All what years, Alisa?’ Zabulon asked.
It was strange … we hadn’t spoken at all for a whole year … I hadn’t even received any orders from him in person … and now when he spoke to me, there was that cold, prickly lump in my chest again.
‘The healer said it will be a long time before I can restore my power.’
Zabulon laughed. And suddenly he reached out his hand! And he patted me on the cheek. Affectionately … in that old, familiar way …
‘Never mind what the healer said,’ Zabulon declared peaceably. ‘The healer has his opinion, and I have mine.’
He took his hand away and I had to struggle to stop my cheek following it …
‘I think no one will disagree that Alisa Donnikova was substantially responsible for the success of today’s operation?’
Aha … I’d have liked to see anyone try to object! Lemesheva simply observed cautiously:
‘We all made a significant effort.’
‘From your condition it’s not hard to see who made what kind of effort.’
Zabulon went back to his desk. But he didn’t sit down, he just leaned over with his hands on the desktop, looking at me. I think he was studying me closely through the Twilight.
But I couldn’t sense it …
‘Is everyone agreed that the Day Watch should help Alisa?’ Zabulon enquired.
A glint of fury appeared in Lemesheva’s eyes. The old witch had once been Zabulon’s girlfriend herself. That was why she had hated me when I was in favour … and why she had become fond of me as soon as the chief had turned his back on me.
‘If it’s a matter of help,’ she began, ‘then Karl Lvovich made a good comparison. We are prepared to share our power with Alisa, but that would be like giving a dying person a piece of fatty bacon instead of light broth. But I am willing to try …’
Zabulon turned his head and Lemesheva shut up.
‘If light broth is what is required, then she shall have light broth,’ he said in a very calm voice. ‘You can all go.’
The vampire brothers were the first to jump to their feet, then the witches stood up. I started shuffling my feet about, looking for my sandals.
‘Alisa, stay, if it’s no trouble,’ Zabulon said.
The glint in Lemesheva’s eyes flared up – and then faded away. She had realised what I was still afraid to believe in.
A few moments later Zabulon and I were left alone. Looking at each other without speaking.
My throat was dry and my tongue wouldn’t obey me. No, it couldn’t be true … I shouldn’t even try to deceive myself …
‘How are you feeling, Alya?’ Zabulon asked.
Only my mother ever calls me Alya.
And Zabulon used to call me that …
‘Like a squeezed lemon,’ I said. ‘Tell me, am I really such a terrible idiot? Did I exhaust myself doing a job that is no use to anybody?’
‘You did very well, Alya,’ said Zabulon.
And he smiled.
The same way he used to smile. Exactly the same way.
‘But now I …’
I stopped, because Zabulon took a step towards me – and I didn’t need words any more. I couldn’t even get up out of the chair: I put my arms round his legs and hugged him, pressed myself against him – and burst into tears.
‘Today you laid the foundation for one of our finest operations,’ said Zabulon. His hand was ruffling my hair, but even so at that moment he seemed to be somewhere very far away. Of course, a great magician like him could never afford to relax: he carried responsibility for the entire Day Watch of Moscow and the surrounding region, for the fates of the ordinary Dark Ones living their calm and peaceful lives; he had to fight the intrigues of the Light Ones and pay attention to people’s needs … ‘Alisa, after your stupid trick with the Prism of Power, I decided you weren’t really worthy of my attention.’
‘Zabulon, I was a conceited fool,’ I whispered, swallowing my tears. ‘Forgive me. I let you down.’
‘Today you made up for everything.’
Zabulon lifted me up out of the armchair in a single swift movement. I stood on tiptoe, otherwise I would have been left dangling in his arms, and I remembered how astonished I had been the first time by the incredible strength of his skinny body. Even when he was in his human form.