“You think so?” I asked. “What will you do? Reveal the prophecy to humans? It doesn’t state that the Tiger will be killed. It only tells us that Nadya can kill the Tiger. Do you want to make her do it? That will be pretty hard. And not only because you’ll have to get past me and Svetlana . . . I don’t know how I’ll manage, but Sveta will twist you into a fancy pretzel. She’s a mother. Do you understand that? But you’d still have to persuade Nadya. Battles like that aren’t won through fear. And Nadya won’t destroy the Tiger. She’s very fond of furry little animals in general.”

“Furry little animals . . .” Arina laughed bitterly. “Is that right? I’ll think of something.”

“You can tell the prophecy to humans,” I said magnanimously. “If that’s what you want. There’s nothing inevitable in it. All you’ll achieve is to set the Tiger on your own trail.”

“I’ll think of something,” Arina repeated stubbornly. “For instance . . . wait, where are you going?”

“What do you mean, where?” I asked. “To work. I turn through the gates right here.”

There was a pop behind me—and Arina disappeared. The Night Watch office is shielded by so many magical barriers that Arina could have been left stuck outside the gates forever—despite all her great wisdom and the power of the Minoan Sphere.

I parked in my own space, with a gloating laugh, only to discover three of our guys getting into our SUV field vehicle—Semyon, Las, and Alisher! A strange kind of team! I clambered out of the car and waved to them.

“Where are you off to?”

“Another Schuchart’s turned up. Want to go with us?”

“What level?” I asked.

“Fourth. But the guy’s pumped himself full of Power.”

The picture of Arina tormented by demons flew right out of my head, along with all the prophecies in the world. When someone throws a Schuchart, it’s bad. Very bad. I know: it nearly happened to me once. And as yesterday evening had made clear, it could even have happened to Svetlana . . .

And if this young guy had already pumped himself up to the gills . . .

“Let’s go,” I said as I climbed into the car. Las was in the driver’s seat. He turned and looked at me intently.

“Yes, thanks for reminding me,” I said, then closed my eyes and started removing the block on my magical abilities. “Note that this is a matter of urgent necessity. I think I’ve already proved that I was right!”

Las didn’t argue. He just stepped on the gas.