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She screams into my ear, and her arms have a stranglehold around my neck. But she makes no move to bang my shoulder, so I continue.
I race us through open fields and then through the forest path. I tear up the side of a mountain and down the other side again. We both become so covered in snow I can barely make out the color of her jacket anymore. But her arms stay tight, and she gives no signal to stop.
So I go. And go and go and go.
When she finally pounds my shoulder, I smile and slow. She’s sputtering as I release her. I lower her to the ground, anticipating her legs to be stiff. Indeed, they are. She tries to stand up and stumbles. I steady her quickly, and she immediately doubles over with her hands on her knees.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” she says.
I rub her back, instantly anxious. “I’m sorry. Perhaps I should have gone slower.”
She puts a hand to her head. “How much farther?”
I shake my head. “We are here.”
“What?” she stands up rapidly, too rapidly by the way she stumbles backward, looking around. I steady her, then point toward the city in the distance.
“Oh my god!” she cries. “You did it!” She turns around and throws her arms back around my neck.
I welcome her touch again, lamenting it as soon as I had to let her go. But she releases me almost as soon as she touches me, frowning. “What do we do now? I have to take a train to St. Petersburg. Do you really think your shadow thing will fool people?”
I smile. “People are good at not seeing what they don’t want to.”
Letting go of her, though I am loathed to, I demonstrate, stepping into shadow.
She continues staring right at me. I frown and wave my hand. She waves back. “Hello?” she says. “I can still see you.”
I frown. “You shouldn’t be able to.”
“Well, I can.”
“Hmm,” I say, frowning deeper in confusion. “I am in shadow. Perhaps. . . it is because you have been to the other realm?”
She frowns. “Are you sure? What if it’s just. . . I don’t know, broken or something? What if we walk into the city, and everyone can see you?”
I shrug. “There’s only one way to find out.”
I start to walk forward. She makes a shocked noise, then runs up to join me after a few steps as I head toward the road leading into the city. “Don’t take off without me. Let me lead or else I’m going to look like a crazy person arguing with the air. Assuming people can’t actually see you. Then, we’d have bigger problems.”
I nod, allowing her to take the lead.
“Do you know where you’re going?” I quietly ask.
“The center of town. Train stations are always in the center of town.”
It is solid as far as logic goes. And soon, as the road widens and we get closer to the city, I hear her breath hitch when we catch sight of the first human we’ve seen since we left the castle.
I go still at Ksenia’s side even though I’m usually quite confident in my shadow disguise. It’s still quite early in the morning, so not many people are up and about. An older man in a thick coat and winter gear only pauses briefly to look Ksenia’s way before continuing down the sidewalk.
“Oh wait,” she says. “You can ditch the backpack. I’ll get us a private car down to St. Petersburg, but it will be a tight fit with the both of us if we try to take that, too.”
I don’t want to leave us without provisions, so I take out the tent and one of the sleeping bags so the backpack is all but empty on my back. She nods, and we continue into town.
The tallest buildings rise perhaps ten stories, and we see more and more people as we go. Some watch Ksenia curiously, but no glances come my way. Which makes me more curious about why Ksenia can see me when the others can’t. Have I done something irreversible to her by taking her to the other realm?
Soon there is no more time for thinking, for we’ve come to the train station. I stay back near a pillar while Ksenia goes up to order tickets. There are even more people here, and though I know I’m in shadow, my heart beats quickly around so many humans. They look very different than the last time I knew them.
They are dressed differently for one, and most stare down at devices in their hands. It is good because they are even less liable to investigate shadows. Yet it is disconcerting to be near so many of them at once.
I’m glad when I see Ksenia finish at the ticketing station and nod discreetly to follow her toward the train.
