I’d have to put up with him.
‘There are famous people here,’ Nadya said in a quiet voice. ‘Look, there’s a famous film director – he made cartoons! And there’s a writer… Oh, I’ve read his books!’
‘Yes, a very respectable gathering,’ I said. ‘The Two-in-One should be pleased.’
‘Stop it, Dad!’ my daughter told me. ‘He didn’t kill you, that’s all that matters!’
I remembered how Svetlana had sobbed as she hugged me. I sat there on the floor, pawing at the icy remnants of my shirt on one arm and the singed tatters on the other. Compared with the Two-in-One’s usual blow, it was no more than a goodbye kiss.
But it was a genuine goodbye, because at that moment the Two-in-One was lying on the floor, as dead as a doornail. And the former Watchmen of the Light and the Darkness had died in his gruesome body.
I didn’t even understand straight away what had happened. I was too glad just to be alive. Not even Gesar’s embarrassed stare and the crestfallen look in Zabulon’s eyes alerted me.
Or even the way that Svetlana suddenly stopped sobbing, drew back and peered at me…
Then Nadya told me, with the ruthless frankness of youth: ‘Dad, you’re human!’
Yes, I had become a human being. A perfectly ordinary person. Without even a hint of Other powers. With a ‘magical temperature’ far higher than the threshold at which premonitions and the ability to perform paltry magic tricks are manifested.
I hadn’t run out of steam, the way Others can do sometimes. I wasn’t squeezed dry, the way Svetlana had been after she fought the Mirror Magician.
I had irrevocably become a human being.
‘I think part of the Two-in-One kind of felt sorry for you,’ said Nadya. ‘That’s the reason, isn’t it?’
I didn’t want to offend my daughter. She’s a clever girl. But she’s also an Absolute Enchantress and it would be useful for her to be wise too.
‘No, Nadya,’ I said. ‘The part of the Two-in-One that was cruel was very angry with me. That’s why I’m still alive.’
Nadya didn’t say anything to that.
The minibuses had already left by the time we got into the car – Zabulon hadn’t asked for his gift to be returned. Svetlana took the wheel and I didn’t object – without the ability to read the lines of probability, I would have been like a blind man on the road.
‘You’re not entirely right, you know, Anton,’ Svetlana said. ‘You didn’t become human because someone felt sorry for you or hated you. You became a human being because you were human. You remained a human being, even after living as an Other for a quarter of a century. That’s a very rare thing. And that’s why you’re still alive, even after the Two-in-One killed the magician in you.’
I nodded. She was probably right. That was probably the way it was. But not even my wise wife could tell me how to live now.
I’d just have to learn.
People manage it somehow, don’t they?
About the Book
The newest instalment in the phenomenal Night Watch series.
The streets of Moscow aren’t safe. Vampires are attacking innocent people, and the names of the victims are spelling out a message: ANTON GORODETSKY.
Higher Light Magician Anton is one of the Others, possessed of magical powers and able to enter the Twilight, a shadowy world parallel to our own. Each Other must swear allegiance to one side: either the Light, or the Dark.
But who is after Anton and what do they want? Anton’s investigation leads him to a Prophet, an Other with the gift of seeing the future. Her horrifying vision heralds the end of all life at the hands of an ancient threat – unless Anton can reunite a mysterious organisation known only as the Sixth Watch, before it’s too late.
About the Author
Sergei Lukyanenko is the author of over twenty-five books. In Russia, all volumes of the Night Watch series have sold over two million hardcovers between them. The Night Watch and The Day Watch were both made into internationally successful films. Sergei Lukyanenko lives in Moscow.
Also by Sergei Lukyanenko
The Night Watch
The Day Watch
The Twilight Watch
The Last Watch
The New Watch
Copyright
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Epub ISBN: 9781473535428
Version 1.0
Published by William Heinemann 2016
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Copyright © Sergei Lukyanenko, 2014
English translation © Andrew Bromfield, 2016
Sergei Lukyanenko has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
First published in Great Britain in 2016 by William Heinemann
First published in Russia in 2014 under the title Шестоŭ Дозор by ACT издательство
William Heinemann
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN (Hardback) 9781785150302
ISBN (Trade Paperback) 9781785150319