Anya awoke at the noises coming from the living room. Plates and dishes were clattering, paper bags rustling, determined footsteps thundering back and forth.
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Anya looked around. The exact same bedroom, but the faint light of the rising sun was peering through the dusty curtain now.
Was Nikk here yesterday? Or was it just a dream?
The opposite bed was perfectly made, not a single wrinkle on the blanket.
Putting her sneakers on quickly, Anya strode out of the bedroom. She saw Nikk bustling around the fireplace, gathering charred brands.
"Hey," he offered Anya a warm morning smile, and said as he saw a silent question in her eyes, "We can't give the fomoires any clues where to find us, so we need to cover up our presence here. And also, I doubt the owner of the house would be glad to find a piece of rotten pie on the sofa."
Amarillis's flowers were already gone, only the flawlessly cleaned cups standing on the sink.
"And where's Daphne?"
"Still sleeping, I think," Nikk hunched his shoulder in an uncertain motion. "In case you're hungry, I saw the cereals somewhere."
"Thanks, I'll pass. I still feel partly asleep, so I'd better go wash my face," and try to figure out where the reality ends and the dream starts, Anya added to herself.
"As you wish."
When Nikk finished with cleaning and collecting the potential evidences, he carried the garbage outside. The only thing left on the table was the mysterious map. Where could it lead? Anya wondered, holding the chart.
All of a sudden, Daphne bolted out of her room. Seeing Anya, she stopped and looked around, her eyes wild around the edges. "Where's Nikk?!"
"Took the trash bag out," Anya nodded to the half-opened door. "And what's wrong?"
"Everything's wrong!"
Biting her lips, Daphne stormed to the window and drew the curtains tight closed. Then she leaped to the front door and stilled at the threshold, cautiously looking outside, at the street flooded with the scarlet light of the sun. Her whole body tensed as if she was a cat ready to sprint.
"Do you have the map?" Daphne asked without looking at Anya.
"Of course."
Nikk appeared in the doorway, whistling a cheerful tune. Daphne hissed and harshly jerked him inside, shutting the door and turning the key in the lock.
"What's going on?" Nikk raised an eyebrow. He glanced at Anya, but all she could do is give him a confused shrug.
"Leir," Daphne finally uttered, twitching her mouth in disgust. "Ajeeva ni... Leir's friends are here! We can't stay any longer."
"Daph," Nikk said incredulously, brushing a lock of her tousled hair away from her face. "I was in the street less than a minute ago. The village is as quiet as dead."
"Oh, so you think I'm crazy?" She flashed him an angry look, and pulled the edge of the curtain back slightly, pointing at the distance.
Anya and Nikk came close, peering past the blinding sunlight.
At the far end of the street, two stocky men walked toward their house. One of them was bald-headed, wearing military pants and black sleeveless shirt showing his muscled arms. The other one had ash blond hair that could definitely use some combing. He wore black leather jacket, which, if look closer, revealed the handle of a dagger strapped to his waist.
"Nagal and Tane," Nikk muttered. "How could they find us?"
"Who knows," Daphne snarled, shutting the curtains. "But we need to get out of here right now."
"But Amarillis and Eirney aren't back yet," Anya reminded carefully. Daphne's face was so wry and sullen, it seemed as though she had something more than just the desire to leave on her mind.
"We don't know how long we'd have to wait for them," Nikk replied instead. "And if we don't go now, while the sun is still low, it might be too late soon. Daph, can you teleport us?"
Daphne shook her head. "We used my crystal to get to the shop yesterday. The remaining energy would be hardly enough for a hundred feet transpassage."
"Mine hasn't fully recharged too," Nikk sighed. "Won't take the three of us."
Daphne cursed though her gritted teeth, and disappeared in her room again.
"Crystals?" Anya drew her eyebrows together skeptically as she turned to Nikk.
Nikk was nervously drumming his fingers on the window frame, his eyes distant.
"I read in one of your human books," he said slowly, "that it's sometimes impossible to distinguish high technologies from magic. And you believed," he glimpsed at Anya for a brief moment, "Eirney is a great magician when he set those paper bags in the gas station shop on fire?"
"There are no extra crystals, but I have this," Daphne came back with a coldblooded expression, and took a hunting knife out of her purse.
"But it's only in case of emergency, right?" Anya felt a knot of fear forming in her stomach. Oh, yes, Daphne had more than just the desire to leave on her mind.
No one answered Anya's question.
"I think there's one more margastone in the car," Nikk said after a minute of thinking. "If we go get it, we'll be able to teleport even to the headquarters."
"Fine, I'll go," Daphne nodded, her fingers clutching the knife.
It was scary simply to look in Daphne's direction, for her eyes flared with unhuman determination. And what kind of determination was that, no one probably wanted to find out.
Clearly, Nikk's thoughts were close to Anya's as he looked at Daphne. His expression grew ashen.
"No, Daph, I'll go," he said in calm, but persuading tone. "My blood spilled on the ground yesterday was enough. So I'll go. And I'll do it carefully, the fomoires won't see me."
Anya cautiously looked out the window over Nikk's shoulder. The car was parked right by the fence, and Tane and Nagal were just a few feet away now. Nikk's chances to stay unseen were as small as Daphne's purse.
Yet, the purse had a surprise inside—a knife. Nikk knew was he was doing, right?
"Do you see those trees, Daph?" Nikk went on, leveling a finger at the end of the village. Thick forest took its beginning there, stretching far toward the horizon. "See you two there."
Daphne scowled, but when Nikk bobbed his head in an inflexible nod she reluctantly handed him the knife. "Take this anyway. Just in case."
Without any objections, Nikk drew a deep breath and tucked the knife into his waistband.
"Good luck," Anya whispered the moment he disappeared behind the door.
In unison, Anya and Daphne sprung to the window and froze, their eyes following Nikk's every move.
Pressing his back against the wall of the house, Nikk skulked across the landing and stopped in the shadow. Waiting.
The fomoires were strolling squarely toward him. Were they to raise their heads, they'd stare right into Nikk's face. Probably, they could even glimpse him on the edge of their vision. But they didn't. They were quibbling so passionately, throwing up hands and nudging each other from time to time, they saw nothing beyond the topic of their conversation.
In two wide steps, Nikk reached the car. Swung the backseat door open. And ducked inside.
Anya practically sagged in relief as she saw Nikk succeed.
Daphne, though, gathered her wits quickly. "Our turn now," she said formally and grabbed Anya's arm. "What's the color of my eyes?"
"What? What does have to do with—"
"My eyes, what's the color?"
"Gray... Bluish?" It was hard to tell in the semidarkness of the room, but within a second Anya found herself standing among the trees, the sunlight falling on the daitian's face.
"Right," Daphne nodded in approval, hiding a large sapphire stone into her pocket.
"What was the question about?" Anya asked, squinting.
"To make sure your mind doesn't interrupt mine. If you'd thought of the North Pole, for example, the both of us would have ended up smeared all over the planet. Literally."
With that said, Daphne peeked out from behind the tree, scanning the street.
Still slightly taken aback, Anya glanced at the street, too. Was she shaking because of the sudden teleportation or because she was so worried about Nikk? Where was he, by the way?..
The fomoires stood on the landing of the house now, hopelessly trying to see anything through the dark window. Then one of them, with the ash blond hair, sauntered to the car. Oh, no. He exchanged a few words with his bald friend that left him guffawing like a mule, and flung the car door open.
Anya gasped. Daphne made an edgy sound and hunched, barely forcing herself not to dart forward.
"Everything's fine," Nikk's voice stopped her just in time. He himself materialized only a split second before that. "I'm fine."
Nikk could have said more, but Daphne squeezed him so hard in her arms he only managed a soft huff.
Anya felt awkward if not embarrassed at the sight of Daphne's expression that at that moment turned into something between motherly endearment and childish devotion. Suffice to say, Anya had never seen that Daphne's face before and doubted the daitian was capable of such feelings at all.
But Daphne got her emotions under control pretty soon. A second later, she stepped back, putting an impassive mask back on.
"I'll be worse than a fomoire if I let you risk like that again," she groaned with a straight face, jabbing her finger at Nikk's chest.
Nikk just chuckled in reply. "I've got the crystal," he said, showing them a purple gem veined with pale pink lines. "But we need to hurry. I'm afraid Tane caught the sight of me."
Daphne frowned. "To the headquarters?"
"Do you have a better idea?"
Vexed grumbling was heard from the direction of the village. The fomoires were shouting at each other, pointing at the car.
"Whatever," Daphne put her hand on Nikk's shoulder. "Any place is better than where we are now."
Nikk closed the fingers of his right hand over the stone, and held out his left hand to Anya. "Don't think too loud, please," he said with a quirk of a smile on his lips.
Again? Anya wanted to protest, but bit the question off before it rolled off her tongue. Of course, Nikk asked her not to tell anybody about their midnight adventure. So the dream was not a dream after all, Anya mused. Yes, it was much more than that...
Once Anya linked her hand with Nikk's own, her skin prickled. The foliage above her head slowly became lucid, and the whole world spun in shady circles. Anya felt nauseated and dizzy, as if her legs had been cut from under her. And she felt like fading.
Though, Anya hadn't a chance to understand what had happened and let the panic consume her. The clarity of vision was back, her feet on the solid ground.
In the snow, actually.
A range of mountains with the snow upon their peaks surrounded the three of them. The endless whiteness blazing under the midday sun was so stunning that Anya wouldn't even feel the cold at first. She just stared at the luminous brightness. Shocked.
"You seem wan." Daphne gave Anya a concerned look. "How are you feeling?"
Anya slowly shifted her disoriented gaze at the daitian, "I'm not smeared all over the planet." Right?
A suppressed smile tugged on the corners of Daphne's lips. Nikk smiled just like that when he was amused and worried at the same time.
"Okay, let's go then," she said and started across the snowy clearing, sinking in the snow to her ankles. "We didn't come here to freeze to death, did we?"
"Are we still on Earth?" Anya asked, raising her head to see the majestic summit lifting high above the horizon. If it was just a hallucination of her deluded mind... Hell, it was the best.
"We sure are," Nikk said, walking beside her. "Somewhere in Tibet."
The only dark spot amidst the eternal snows was a small archway, leading deep under the mountain. Without any hesitation, Daphne stepped inside the arch, and Nikk followed her. And so did Anya.