“Strangely enough, I’m glad that you got away that time,” I said. “Despite all the mischief you got up to.”

“I had to help the departed to find rest,” Arina said, with a shrug. “And I think the outcome justified that. And Saushkin the elder ended his . . . activities. And Edgar found rest too. The world became a better place. Your nerves suffered a bit, I admit that, but it all turned out well in the end . . . Peace?”

“Peace,” I said after a brief pause. “That’s all in the past now. I’ll mention in my report that I met you, but I won’t do anything rash.”

“Thank you,” said Arina. “That’s precisely the right decision! And anyway . . . I came looking for you for a reason.”

I said nothing. I didn’t ask how she had found me and what she wanted me for. She wouldn’t tell me how, in any case: a witch has her own cunning methods. And she was going to tell me what for without being asked.

“Have you already met Erasmus?” Arina asked.

I smiled and didn’t answer. Arina’s sources are pretty good, but not omniscient.

“I assume you have,” Arina went on. “Are you going to share the news?”

“What for?” I asked.

Arina sighed. “Now that’s the right question. Anton, how do you intend to deal with the Tiger?”

“I don’t. He’s gone.”

“And when he comes back for you?”

“Why would he do that?”

“You’ve always tried to avoid actions with irrevocable consequences, Anton. I don’t believe the boy’s prophecy was simply lost in the void.”

I shrugged.

“Arina, if I had heard the prophecy, the Tiger would have come after me, right? That’s the first thing. The second is that I was physically nowhere near him. The boy was egged on by Nadya. And then she left him too. Surely you don’t think I would have left my daughter unsupervised if I had even the slightest suspicion that she had heard the prophecy . . . and was therefore in danger?”

A shadow of doubt flickered across Arina’s face.

“Yes, that’s true . . . that’s right. I understand that. But something doesn’t fit! You must have tried to save the information and keep it for yourself. You wouldn’t be you if you hadn’t!”

I laughed.

“Well, Arina, that’s all fine and dandy, but how could I have done it?”

“A tape recorder?” Arina suggested.

“A tape recorder is an ancient device for recording and reproducing music . . .” I said pensively. “Yes, yes, I remember . . . when I was a kid I had one: you put these cassettes into it, they had this tape coated in iron oxide . . .”