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It’s time that everything Koschei touched turns to ashes. Whatever legacy he had, it must be destroyed. This compound is a start.
Ben nods and I put my finger in the middle of the red button. There is a second delay between my touching the screen and the string of explosions in the distance.
The ground doesn’t shake and nothing around us collapses. We go out and I see five burning buildings. The explosions were measured and controlled, like everything Ben does. Like a drop of cranberry juice in a vodka shot. The perfect amount to make things work.
“Now it’s time to rise from the ashes, Firebird,” Ben whispers only for me to hear and plants a kiss to the top of my head.
My superpower is surviving. But right now I don’t feel like a weed. I feel like a stalk in a field, surrounded and supported by others just like me. I can’t wait for us to grow together.
Epilogue
Two weeks later
Tanya brought me to the docks tonight, after a quiet date at a restaurant. We’ve been taking things slow, making reasonable decisions every step of the way. Part of Tanya’s healing process is to take control of her life and shape it into something that fits her. And that will take time because what fits most people won’t accommodate Tanya’s complicated past.
She peers into the dark ocean, lost in thought, when she finally speaks.
“I know now that Salvation from Darkness will never truly leave me. At random times, memories will come up and I will have to learn to deal with that. Watching Jenya open up to you and Ivo taught me that. She’s so quick to embrace change, and I’m like a dying tortoise next to her.”
We’re sitting on top of a shipping container, same as a few weeks ago, but now we’re on the same side. It feels fucking great not to worry about being hated.
“You deal with your past at your own pace. The fact that Jenya has taken so well to the outside world is thanks to you. Don’t be modest. You taught her things patiently and you never doubted she had the capacity to adapt. And Ivo, he’s a thug, but he’s got a kind heart. The way he grew up in Eastern Europe is very similar to your cult’s origins, it seems, so they connected on that. The Empress is quite smitten with Jenya as well. Maybe the lack of grandchildren finally got to her.” I plop on my back and trace lines between the stars with my index finger.
“The Arcana is a bit culty, though, isn’t it?” Tanya joins me by my side, propped on one elbow.
“That’s rude,” I say with a smile. “We just like nicknames. We’re one of the least ruthless gangs in Chicago.”
“I know, I know,” Tanya says. “I worry she’ll get trapped in an abnormal world again, that’s all.”
“We’ll guide her.”
“You know, there’s only one thing I can’t understand,” Tanya says. “Why was Comet International involved with my grandfather? They have made a name for themselves in Big Pharma, but a small-scale cult leader?”
“Do you really want to know?” I ask with a wince. Joshua’s report was bone-chilling.
“Is itthatbad?” Tanya sits up, her expression instantly changing to guilt.
“Well, I’ll tell you two things—money laundering and human trafficking. The cult was Koschei’s personal endeavor, which is why it was allowed to run out of Comet International’s donations. All the other services he was providing more than made up for a side cult.”
“I know about the trafficking. Damien told me long ago that they were Russian babies to be adopted by American families and whoever got too old got sold as a slave worker. And charity and money laundering go so well together, don’t they? Typical.” Tanya rolls her eyes.
“The CEO Alex Aster, back when he was young, studied abroad in Russia. In Murmansk, to be precise, the Marine Biology Institute. We presume that’s where he met Gregoryi Gagarin, who was a dock worker at the time,” I continue.
Tanya sighs. “Ah, the good old times. The first time my grandfather told me he’s Koschei Bessmertnyi, I believed him. He told me the tale of the misunderstood giant who couldn’t die because he cleverly hid his soul in a needle’s point, which was inside an egg, which was inside a duck, which was inside a hare, and… Very well hidden, basically.
“I had no reason to doubt my grandfather was a mythical creature. When he said the eternal night was upon our village, it came and settled around us, its harbinger only the wind from the sea. And when we performed the rituals and appeased him, we called back the light. And when we performed above and beyond, the day would stay. It would stay longer and longer until there was no more darkness. Inevitably, someone from the village would anger him, and he would set the night upon us. Once uttered, this curse would never be broken. The night always came, cold and unforgiving.
“??????????????, Salvation from Darkness, was the name of the church in our little village. I was Malaya Zhritsa, and part of my job was to keep the darkness at bay. I never succeeded. No matter how devout I was, it always came back.” Tanya takes a deep, sad breath.
“Wait,” I say. “Murmansk is way up North. Was he using the polar day and night to sell you this story?”
“Yep. And when we had to move to America because the Murmansk Police started sniffing around us, he told me it was time to have a new home. A home where the darkness was always balanced by light. We took a plane, which was horrible, and smelled awful, and left most of our followers behind us.
“It was only me, him, and a bunch of kids of different ages. My friends were gone. It wasn’t until Damien infiltrated the village and burned it to the ground that I realized that my whole life was a lie. There was no darkness, and no need to perform rituals. The cycle of the day and night had nothing to do with how long I spent kneeling on the floor or how much purifying tea I drank. The outside world spanned in front of me and I knew nothing about it. Nothing but how to appease a needy man.” Tanya shakes her head.
“It’s not your fault, you know. Everything that happened to you. And all the stuff after. Lavender and Valerie and having to face your nightmares again. Hardship is a part of life, but you don’t have to face it alone. I’ll be here every step of the way. And so will Sophie’s people, and Jenya.” I sit up too and take her hand. It’s small, pale, and cold. I bring it to my lips, planting a chaste kiss on her knuckles.
“You’re going to make me cry,” Tanya says and blinks rapidly, looking up.
