“But if the Tiger hunts Prophets simply in order to induce them to speak, not to make them remain silent . . . why did he want to kill the boy-Prophet in Moscow?”

“He did not want to kill him,” Fan said firmly. “He was trying to urge him on. Make him hurry.”

“When we tried to protect the boy, the Tiger demanded that we leave. And he said . . . he said that the prophecy must not be heard.”

Fan gazed at me unblinkingly. His expression had suddenly shed all its geniality.

“Did he lie?” I asked.

“No, the Tiger cannot lie. You misheard. You didn’t catch what he said.”

I reached into the Twilight, shuddering as I remembered Fan’s words . . . how was I doing this? How did I control energies that I didn’t understand? How did I perform what people called miracles? It wasn’t important, just at the moment it didn’t matter if Fan was right in what he had said about the Twilight . . .

“Here, catch,” I said, tossing a replica of my memory to Fan.

Fan stared into empty space, watching us standing in the Tiger’s path in the basement corridor of the Watch . . .

“Inconceivable,” he said slowly. “The Tiger does not want the prophecy . . .”

“Has that never happened before?” I asked. “Not ever?”

“There have been cases . . . but I thought . . . they were a matter of misunderstanding and stubbornness . . .” Fan looked at me again. “It is good that no one will hear this prophecy.”

“Why?”

“I am frightened by what might have been said.”

“It can still be heard,” murmured Arina. “Anton, the sly dog . . . Anton has preserved the prophecy, I don’t know how, but he kept a recording—I sensed it.”

“Destroy that recording,” Fan said quickly. “Do not toy with the Primordial Power.”

“The Primordial Powers are the Light and the Darkness.”

“The Primordial Power is the Twilight! All the rest are merely its manifestations! Destroy the recording!” Fan jumped to his feet.

“Don’t you dare!” Arina exclaimed, also getting up. “Don’t you dare, Anton! What if . . . if there’s something in it capable of annulling a prophecy? Of destroying the Tiger!”

“Back off, will you, both of you!” I shouted. Fan and Arina were closing in on me, with their eyes blazing so brightly that I was frightened. “I’ll decide for myself what to do! Stop it!”

Fan halted, shook his head, and put his hand to his forehead.

“Please forgive me . . . that news was simply too strange. Please forgive me.”

But Arina didn’t stop. She kept advancing on me with small, mincing steps, until she bumped into me and froze with her face close to mine. Her eyelids were trembling, her eyes were insane.