Chapter 30

"Ican"t believe you killed her already," Katya said, nudging Anya softly with the toe of her boot.

"We haven"t killed her. She asked Baba Zosia to undo a memory spell, and she couldn"t handle it," Aleksandra argued. "She"ll be all right soon enough."

"You don"t think you pushed her too hard? She almost died yesterday."

"We know that better than anyone," Aleksandra snapped.

Baba Zosia added something in their language, and Katya sighed, loud and sarcastic.

"I"m Anyanka," Anya whispered and opened her eyes slowly. She saw Katya looking at her, a teasing look on her face.

"I thought Yakaterina was a mouthful. May I call you Anya still? I think if I start calling you Yanka, it might cause a riot," she joked. "Anya suits you better anyway."

Anya rubbed at her eyes, trying to clear away the tears and the flashes of memories and emotions. Magic was dancing under her skin, warming her fingertips, waiting for her to reach for it.

"So many memories, my magic, all pushed down and taken from me," Anya whispered.

Katya smiled crookedly down at her. "Aw, did they take the magic but leave the fun?"

Anya scowled at the hunter. "Fuck you and your Frozen jokes."

Katya burst out in a big belly laugh. "She"s going to be fine."

"My skin won"t stop tingling." Anya flexed her hands to try to relieve it.

"It"s your magic. That"s why you have to learn to control it, so it doesn"t try to get out at unexpected times," Aleksandra explained.

"That would be a killjoy when you"re having sex," Katya quipped.

"Silly Katya go to Mir and tink she know everyting," Baba Zosia mocked, her accent becoming thick with scorn. "Leaves tribe to run with men and become a harlot."

Katya rolled her eyes at Anya. "I"ve no time to be a harlot. I"m too busy killing things that stupid people can"t see."

"You hunt in the human world? Where? How do you get in? I thought the gates were all guarded."

"They can"t stop us, little Anya. We move between Skazki and Mir as effortlessly as you do. We"ve roamed since time began. We are of both worlds, and both worlds recognize us as belonging to it," Katya said. "I have an apartment in Budapest, one in Moscow, and one in Paris. It depends on where the trouble is brewing and how quickly I can get there."

"All you are doing is cleaning up other people"s mess. You and your friends cause more trouble than the monsters," Aleksandra huffed.

"You know other hunters in the human world?" Anya asked.

Baba Zosia"s magic had knocked her down hard, and her brain still felt like it was vibrating in her skull.

"A few. We are loners by nature, but there are people I can call if I ever need backup."

"You were amazing yesterday. You"re half the size of Izrayl, and you were kicking his ass."

Katya grinned. "Thanks. I could show you a trick or two."

"I could show you both a trick or two," Cerise said, strolling in. "I was wondering if you were up yet. I came to do the nurse thing and check on you. What the fuck are you doing on the floor?"

"I"m fine," Anya lied as Cerise helped her up and into a chair.

"I talked to the boys, and they said you are heading to Paris," Katya said to Cerise.

"What of it, hunter?"

"I was thinking of heading back that way myself, and from what Trajan said, you have Vasilli after you." Katya flashed a bloodthirsty grin. "Hunting the Darkness is my fave kind of sport."

"You want to come with us?" Anya asked in surprise.

"If you"ll have me. Trouble is following you, and you need an extra warrior in your group. Not that Fido doesn"t do an okay job." Anya smiled and wondered if Katya would ever have the guts to call Izrayl "Fido" in front of him. One look at her sharp, scarred face, and Anya suspected she would.

"I have contacts in Europe. If Vasilli and the Darkness are starting to cause trouble, the hunters will know what activity is going on," Katya said. "Vasilli would have his allies looking everywhere for you, and he would"ve alerted the Darkness throughout Russia. You killed Vischto and added insult to injury by turning him down in that dream of yours."

"Because that turned out so well for me," Anya said, waving her bandaged hand at them. "He"s going to know the thorns are out."

"Not necessarily. Baba Zosia said that if they remain in your blood, he may not be able to," Aleksandra replied.

"Well, that"s something, at least," Anya said.

Cerise tapped her long nails on the arm of her chair. "We can deal with the Darkness and train Anya how to defend herself, but it"s the magic we really need to find you a teacher for, and we don"t know any shamans."

"I have some friends who might be able to help, seeing how you can"t stay here with us and learn with Aleki," Katya said.

"You know gates magic?" Anya asked, turning to Aleksandra.

"Not in the way that would be useful to you. We are a world walker tribe, which means we know of many back ways that cross into the human world and other worlds. The magic to find those weak places is what I can use. But I can"t open and close them on command, especially not established ones. It"s more like scrying than what a real gatekeeper can do," Aleksandra explained. "Baba Zosia doesn"t want you to stay with us. We won"t risk our people if Vasilli comes for you."

"I understand," Anya replied with a nod. She didn"t want Vasilli anywhere near innocent people, especially not because of her. She could only imagine what kind of damage the black dragon could have done to people to get at her.

Aleksandra looked at Katya thoughtfully. "What about the Twins? They might be able to show her some things. They walk the paths of the dream worlds and understand boundary magic. They could help."

"I can call them when we get to Paris. We need to teach her something easy now, though, to stop her from trailing so much magic everywhere. It"s like breadcrumbs for Vasilli and any Power in the area. If I"m going with them, I don"t want that kind of heat always after us. How about something easy like scrying? She"s got her own runes," Katya suggested.

Aleksandra hummed. "That will be a useful skill. If you"re serious about going with them, I suggest teaching her to mind-link with you too."

"No. I don"t need another voice in my head," Katya argued. "You breaking in my thoughts is bad enough."

Baba Zosia said something long and terse at Katya. The hunter threw up her hands in defeat, snapping something back before storming out of the caravan. Aleksandra sighed and went after her. Baba Zosia went back to the tiny kitchen and lit a pipe.

"I"ll leave you to it, Anya. I"ll let the boys know you"re doing okay," Cerise said. "They are worried senseless, and Yvan keeps igniting."

"Literally or figuratively?" Anya asked.

"Literally. Both. His skin was dripping flames last night without the bird trying to push its way through."

Anya"s brows shot up. "Really?"

"The firebird"s troubled as well."

"Aren"t I lucky to have all of these people worried about me all of a sudden?" Anya said as she tried to braid her hair. Cerise moved her hands away, and after they had found Anya"s brush in her pack, she braided it tight for her.

"I haven"t seen Trajan this anxious for a mortal before," Cerise commented as she wove the strands together. "It concerns me."

"Why?" Anya asked. She didn"t know if Trajan had told Cerise about their kisses the night before and wasn"t about to share it if he hadn"t.

"Our kind and humans are on different sides of reality. It"s unheard of and discouraged for any of us to get attached to mortals."

"Why?"

"Because they die, or we kill them."

"Accidentally or on purpose?"

"Pick one, honey. It"s our job and our very nature. I know you saw what Trajan did to that creature. Doesn"t that frighten you?"

"He wouldn"t hurt me," Anya argued. Trajan was the one person in the world she could say that with certainty.

And Yvan. The previous night, he had stayed with her, the firebird warming her. That meant more to her than she could articulate.

"Trajan wouldn"t do it intentionally, but in the heat of the moment, he could lose control, and it would happen," Cerise explained.

"Nothing has happened for you to be so concerned about any potential heated moments." Anya wanted to reassure her, but she couldn"t stop thinking about the kisses the night before. Maybe he did it because she had been dying.

The first one perhaps, but what about the second one? She had no answer for that. It had been so long since she had been kissed that it had shone light on the loneliness that had been eating away at her.

Cerise made a frustrated sound. "I still feel like I need to warn you. I"ve known him for sixty-five years, and I"ve never seen him look at anyone like he looks at you."

How does he look at me? Anya bit her tongue to stop herself from asking. She was saved from answering when Aleksandra reappeared.

"I"ll be back later," Cerise said, giving the end of Anya"s braid a playful tug. "Have fun learning magic."

Baba Zosia turned to give Anya another cup of coffee when nausea hit her. Baba Zosia said something, but her voice was drowned out and far away.

"Oh, shit, something is happening," she gasped. Memories started to fill her mind in a rush. Anya could taste blood and ash, smell mud and lake weed, as images flashed before her.

Humiliation was prickling her skin as a boy with blonde hair picked up another handful of mud. The first one had hit her in the face bruising her cheek and filling her mouth with blood.

The three boys had been teasing her about her tits that had started to grow in the last two months. When she ignored them, they had started throwing things at her. Anya summoned magic in her fingertips, and the next time the boy raised his arm, water surged out of the lake beside him, grabbing the arm and holding tight. His friends started to scream as the reeds stretched out and pulled them into the water. The blond boy was crying as he struggled, and she stepped toward him, curling her fingers as the power sent water up to his mouth. He tried spitting it out, but he couldn"t keep it up and started to gurgle.

Anya smiled, watching as he pissed himself…as he stopped struggling.

"Anya! Stop!" Eikki"s voice shouted, and then Baba Zosia"s strong hand was shaking her. "Anya!"

The memory vanished, and she was in the wooden caravan again.

"I-I remembered the boys," she stammered, and the old woman let her go. Anya got up and stumbled past her. Baba Zosia didn"t try to stop her as she hurried out of the caravan. The camp blurred through her tears, and she ran for the forest.