As Emre spoke, the rusalka drifted down to the tank bottom, her limbs moving slowly. The container wasn’t large enough for her to swim in, only drift from the surface to the bottom and then back again.

My stomach tightened. Somehow, this was even worse than the previous room’s grisly treasures. It sickened me to think of Galina being put on display like this, not even in a cage large enough to move around in. How could people know that monsters were birthed from pain and cruelty and then subject them to more of the same?

As we stepped up to the tank, the rusalka drifted silently in the water, her plum-dark eyes studying us through tendrils of burgundy hair. Vanya reached out to lay a hand on the glass, and she mirrored the gesture on the other side. He stared at her, his lips parted in wonder.

For how often Vanya had joked about having a rusalka for a mother, it dawned on me suddenly that he believed it. Or he wanted to, because the alternative—that he would never meet the woman who had given birth to him, that she was gone from this world before he’d even had a chance to actually know her, was even more devastating than the possibility of her being alive but changed.

I understood the desire. How many times had I scanned the dark waters, praying for a glimpse of the rusalki beneath—just a look long enough to catch a familiar face peering up at me?

“Did you buy this rusalka from someone?” I asked, tearing my eyes away from the tank.

Emre blinked, looking mildly befuddled. “Uh, no. Didn’t you just hear my story? She was once a fair—”

“Yes, I know, a fair maiden. But do people ever come around trying to buy or sell monsters to you? Did Koschei—”

“What our friend is trying to say here,” Mikhail interrupted, fixing me with a warning look, “is that she would like to see the upyr.”

The man studied me for a long moment before smiling. “Of course. Follow me.”

Vanya lingered at the tank, his palm still against the glass. “You two go on ahead. I just want to stay here for a few minutes longer.”

As we turned to follow Emre out, Mikhail stifled a chuckle.

“What?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing.” A half-suppressed smile twitched on his lips. “Let Ivan have his reunion.”

Emre guided us into the next room, a dim and unwelcoming chamber lit by the glow of a single oil lamp. As we entered, a chain scraped across the floor. My eyes slowly adjusted to the room’s dimness, and I caught a glimpse of a shrunken form huddled in the corner.

The upyr’s body was engulfed in a tattered dress. She shrunk away as we neared, ducking her head low against her chest. She was older than Galina, but not by far. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of her.

“Behold, the fearsome upyr.” Though Emre kept his bombastic tone, he sounded slightly less enthusiastic than before. “A terrifying creature, known to feed upon human flesh and blood. Don’t get too close now. She bites.”