Even though I knew that this magnificent body, so healthy and overflowing with vitality, only existed in the human world.

“You’re not surprised,” said Arina.

“Not a bit,” I said, shaking my head.

“He knew,” Edgar put in. And from the way he spoke, I suddenly realized that he was not the most important member of the trio. Perhaps Edgar was the one who had stirred everything up in the first place, and he had supplied the Last Watch’s battle magic, but he wasn’t the most important one there.

“Svetlana guessed?” Arina surmised.

“We decided together,” I said. “By the way, you’re a Light One now, aren’t you? Pardon me, but I won’t risk looking at your aura-I’ve got this little kitten dozing around my neck…”

“Yes, I am,” Arina said calmly. “But you already knew that Great Ones can change color, didn’t you?”

“Merlin changed,” I said casually. “I have a question for you, witch-or whatever you are now. Healer?”

Arina didn’t answer.

“You gave a promise to my wife. Swore an oath. That for a hundred years-”

“I would not cause harm to anyone, neither Others nor people, except in self-defense,” Arina continued.

“Surely changing your color hasn’t released you from your oath.”

“But I haven’t killed anyone, Anton. I outfitted Edgar and Gennady, but that’s a different matter altogether. That didn’t violate the oath.”

“Svetlana took pity on you,” I said. “She took pity on you.”

“Perhaps she was right to, Anton?” Arina said, smiling. “Look, I’ve become a Light One. And I haven’t harmed your wife and daughter, have I?”

“And what about the nuclear weapon that Edgar is threatening to explode beside our house? In how many hours’ time?” I asked, looking at the former Inquisitor.

Edgar raised one hand and looked at his watch. He said: “The thing is, Anton, that to be really interested in the success of our venture, you had to feel a real personal involvement.”

Before he had even finished speaking, I felt a heavy throbbing in my temples and a mist seemed to obscure my vision.

“The explosion took place five minutes ago,” Edgar said dispassionately. “I haven’t broken my oath-the time was set yesterday…And don’t get emotional, please. If Schrodinger’s Cat finishes you off, you won’t be able to help your wife and daughter.”

I had no intention of using magic.

The dead always have trouble with taking revenge. Especially dead Others. I didn’t need that kind of trouble.

I kicked Edgar. Maybe not as elegantly as Olga had kicked open the lock on Saushkin’s door. But I think I kicked harder. And where it counts.

Edgar flew back against the wall, struck it hard with the back of his head, and slowly slid down it, holding onto his crotch with his hands.

Then Gennady jumped me. He grabbed me across the chest with superhuman strength, pulled my head back with his free hand, and bared his teeth…

“Gena!” Arina only said this single word, but the vampire’s fangs were instantly withdrawn. “Edgar asked for what he got. Calm down, Anton. Our gray friend was mistaken.”

Edgar groaned as he rolled around the floor, still clutching his family jewels.

“There hasn’t been any explosion,” Arina continued. She got up and came toward us, then looked into my face. “Hey, Anton! Calm down. There hasn’t been any explosion!”

I looked into her eyes. And nodded.

She was telling the truth.

“What do you mean…there hasn’t…,” Edgar groaned from the corner.

“I told you I didn’t like the idea,” Arina said. “Even if I was still a Dark One, I wouldn’t have liked it! There hasn’t been any explosion. The criminals who stole a tactical nuclear war-head have repented and returned it to the authorities. They are being interrogated at this very moment.” She sighed. “And not very humanely, I’m afraid. There hasn’t been any explosion, and there won’t be.”

“Arina!” Edgar had even stopped groaning. “Why? You could have just delayed it…for a guarantee…”

“I can’t do things like that now,” Arina explained with a sweet smile. “Unfortunately, I just can’t. I told you at the beginning that I would cut out any acts of destruction with massive human casualties.”

“Then why…did you let me start all this anyway…,” Edgar said, straightening up with difficulty. He gave me a glance filled with hate. “Bastard! You’ve…smashed everything up!”

“You won’t need any of it for the next seventy-seven times,” I replied spitefully. “Didn’t you notice the spell that Afandi flung at you?”

Arina laughed. “So that’s it. That old joker Afandi. Yes, the next seventy-five times you can pester someone else, Edgar.”

“Why did you do this?” Edgar asked Arina with pain in his voice.

“So that what you said would sound convincing. Anton could have spotted a lie, even with the Cat on his neck. Saushkin, please, let our guest go. He won’t fight anymore. Boys always try to settle their disagreements by the most primitive methods…”

Gennady reluctantly moved away from me and sat down on the floor with his legs crossed under him. I looked around for a chair that wasn’t a total wreck and sat down too, deliberately not asking for permission. Arina went back to her own chair. Suddenly realizing that he was the only one standing, and that he was still clutching his private parts, Edgar also took a seat.

“All right, now everyone’s settled down and we can talk calmly,” Arina said in a voice that reminded me of a hostess at a literary salon who has just watched one poet pulling another’s curly hair. “Peace, peace, and more peace! Anton, let me explain things to you. You understand that it’s far more difficult for me to lie than it is for Gennady or Edgar. We don’t want any atrocities, we’re not trying to destroy the world. We’re not trying to exterminate all human beings. All we’re doing is bringing the withdrawn back to life.”

“Arina, what did they hook you with?” I asked. “Someone you loved? A child?”

For a moment I clearly saw sadness in Arina’s eyes.

“A loved one…Yes, there was someone I loved, sorcerer. He was here for a while, and then gone. He didn’t even live out his human lifetime, he was killed… And I had a daughter. Earlier, before him. She died too. When she was only four…from plague. I wasn’t there with her, I arrived too late to save her. But not even the Crown will bring them back; they were people. Wherever they might have gone, there’s no way for us to reach them, and no way for them to come back.”

“Then why…” The question was left unfinished, hanging in the air.

Gennady gave a quiet, hoarse laugh. “She’s got ideals! She’s a Light One now, like you. She only kills for noble reasons…”

“Hush, bloodsucker!” said Arina, and her eyes flashed. Then she immediately continued in a steady voice, “He’s telling the truth, Anton. I became a Light One by my own deliberate choice. By the dictates of my reason, not my heart, you might say. I’m sick of the Dark Ones. I’ve never seen anything good come of them. I was thinking of joining the Inquisition, but I had too many old charges to answer. And I don’t like them anyway, the smug hypocrites… I beg your pardon, Edgar, that doesn’t apply to you, of course. I went straight to Siberia. And during that time I lived in Tomsk, a nice quiet town. It inclines you toward the Light. I worked for a living the way I used to, as a local witch. I put an advertisement in the newspaper, and when they came from the Watch to check on me, I pretended to be a quack. It’s not hard for me to wind the average watchman around my little finger. And then I realized that I was only doing good deeds. I only sent husbands back to their wives if I could see their love was still alive, that it would be better for everyone. I healed sicknesses. I found people who were lost. I made people younger again…just a little bit. The important thing there was to use just a little bit of magic-all the rest is making people believe in themselves, making them live a healthy life. And not a single hex, not a single potion to send someone back to a woman he didn’t love… So I decided I’d had enough of playing Dark games. But do you know what it takes for a Dark One to change color?”