“Why do you want me dead, Sophia?” I asked, glancing around for a way to escape.
Sophia’s laughter sent chills down my spine. “Silly girl,” she said. “I want everyone dead.” She flew at me, her arms stretched out and ending in icy claws.
I backed away from her and her rope, rolling across the floor and bruising my shoulder. I still could not see her cold light, so there was nothing I could reach for, or grab on to her with. I could feel her cold presence, though, and her touch was like a spike of ice straight to my bones.
“You are the necromancer my father wants,” Sophia said as she danced around me. “I want you to stay and play with me here. Forever.”
I felt sick. “And who is your father, Sophia? When were you born?”
“I am daughter of Konstantin Pavlovich, tsar of all the Russias.”
I should have expected this all along. Somehow, I should have known the ghost was connected to the lich tsar. “And who was your mother?” It wasn’t Princess Cantacuzene. And Konstantin’s first wife, a Coburg princess, had returned to her home country without ever bearing him any children. Sophia had never been recognized as Konstantin’s legitimate child.
She stomped her foot. “My mother would have been queen of Byzantium and empress of all the Russias. I would have been a grand duchess.”
“But you weren’t. Konstantin hid you away at Smolny long ago, Sophia Konstantinova.” Slowly, I backed away from her, edging along the wall. She still blocked my path to the doorway. I wasn’t even sure if the door led back into the Smolny hallway anymore. I was not even sure where I was. Limbo? Hell? “Tell me your mother’s name. Had she been a Smolny student too?”
Sophia’s eyes blazed white-hot. The rope she held seemed to stretch out in her hands and actually reach out for me. I had nothing to defend myself with. No reason for her not to rush forward and attack me.
“Surely the princess Cantacuzene was not your mother. How did you get along with her? Did she and your father visit you often?”
The walls began to shake with Sophia’s fury. I had struck a nerve with her. Feeling a bit bolder, I pressed on. “She must have resented you a little. And I’m sure you resented her for stealing your father away to Poland.”
“She was a blood-sucking demon,” Sophia hissed, never taking her fiery eyes from me. “She wanted me to become just like her. She wanted my very soul.”
I’d managed to get halfway around the room. The door was very close to me now, but she still blocked my path. I tried to keep her talking. “But you didn’t let her, did you?”
She laughed, and I could see no trace of sanity left in the poor girl’s mind. “Of course not! I stayed here and hid. Now she’ll never be able to get me.”
“That’s true,” I said in an attempt to sound soothing. My mother always did it so well. “You’re safe now, Sophia.” I wondered if I should dare get close enough to try to pat her hand, or something equally comforting.
She spun around and stared at me suspiciously. I guessed I hadn’t sounded soothing enough. “You’ll be safe too, Katerina. I can make it so Konstantin and Johanna will never hurt you.”
I shook my head. “You don’t understand, Sophia. He can still hurt other people if I die.” I swallowed back the heavy lump in my throat. “People I care about.” I took another sideways step toward the door. “Please let me go, Sophia. Nothing will happen to you.”
“No! I can’t let you leave!” The rope stretched out toward me again, this time snaking around my arms. It was so cold, it stung my skin. I cried out in pain and surprise.
Cold light. There was a faint, bluish glow if I looked carefully. Not only could I see it again, but I could definitely feel it as well. I tried not to panic. The rope coiled tighter up my arm and slid around my neck. I had to try even harder not to panic. It wasn’t working. “Sophia, please.” I closed my eyes, trying to will the cold light to rise up in me and push back the binding of the rope. It fought back even harder. The noose tightened.
Slowly she shook her head. “This is the way it has to be, Katerina. You must understand. Johanna will not give you up. Neither will Konstantin.”
I closed my eyes to try to shut out the stinging cold of the rope. It was unbearable. “But Johanna is dead. She cannot hurt anyone anymore.”
“I don’t believe you. She said she would come back for me. They both said they would come back for me.”
“Konstantin has been defeated by the bogatyr. He will not be returning.” I gasped as the rope loosened just a little. “Sophia, I want to help you. There must be a way to release you from this limbo at Smolny, so you can be at peace.”
She giggled. “But I am at peace, Katerina. I want everyone here at Smolny to be just like me.”
I sighed. I was tired of pleading with and coaxing her. “I cannot let that happen, Sophia. You are going to let me go, and I am going to make sure you never hurt anyone else here or anywhere else again.”
She grinned, her black, razor-sharp teeth flashing ominously. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, Katerina. You make me so sad. I wanted you to stay with me, I wanted to protect you from Konstantin and Johanna, but I might let them have you after all. I’ll trade your soul for mine.”
The rope uncoiled from around my neck and wrapped itself around my arms, pinning them close to my body with its stinging chill. I tried to take a deep breath, thankful I wasn’t being strangled anymore, but the rope had my chest bound tight. I could barely breathe.
Sophia laughed again. “I’ll keep you just like that until my father comes looking for me. Then I will give him the best present a daughter could ever give.”
I closed my eyes, trying to block out the freezing pain. I tried to fight down the rising fear I felt in my belly. It would serve me no purpose. So I fought the fear with my own cold light. It uncoiled around me, feeding on the blackest, ugliest emotions I could give it. Darkness to fight light. It felt unnatural, and utterly wrong, but it seemed to be working.
“Nooo! What are you doing?” Sophia wailed. “You’ll ruin everything!”
I opened my eyes and stared at the ghost. “Sheult Anubis.” Her own cold light became wrapped in my shadows, until there was nothing left of her to see. I felt nothing but cold. No emotion, no feelings toward her now at all. I did not feel sorry for hurting her, and yet I had no desire to harm or punish her either. There was nothing but a gaping void inside. And the freezing cold.
“Maman! Maman!” Her cries echoed in my ears. I had no way of knowing if she was crying for her mother’s help, or if she had seen her poor mother in whatever afterlife place I was sending her to.
Sophia had disappeared beneath the shadows, and I could not hear her screams anymore. I shivered as the room fell completely silent. I did not know where the shadow had taken her, but I vowed I would find out before I ever did that to another soul, living or dead, again.
It had been completely irresponsible. What if I’d banished the ghost to a more desolate place than here? What if I’d condemned her to hell itself? Revolted by my own behavior, I was suddenly overcome and retched in the corner of the room.
If I had sent her someplace that awful, then I would no doubt be joining her for my own wickedness at the end of my days. I wiped my mouth on my sleeve, and used the wall to keep me steady as I made my way to the doorway.
The bluish glow was gone. The cold was fading, and I felt my limbs slowly warming back up. My blood was circulating again. I could feel my heart, pounding strong and fast, in my chest. “Hello?” I cried feebly. I had no idea what time it was, why no one was upstairs getting ready for bed.