The three of us—Gesar, Zabulon and I—went up to the flat where the small Tolkov family lived. Zabulon had politely confirmed in advance that the Day Watch did not claim any right to initiate the boy-Prophet, but said that he would be interested in taking a look at the child. Simply out of general interest, because a genuine Prophet only turns up once or twice in a generation, and he had never met a Prophet with a “tiger” hot on his trail.

“Do you have any ideas about all this?” Gesar asked him as we were riding up in the elevator.

“Yes, Gesar. I do. That it’s a good thing you met this boy first and he’s not our headache.”

“Well, well, the Day Watch forgoes a Prophet,” Gesar muttered. “I suppose you wouldn’t have fought the ‘tiger’ for him?”

“I would have,” Zabulon confessed regretfully. “Greed would have forced me to. But I certainly didn’t like to see that four Higher Light Ones couldn’t even frighten a single stranger, let alone defeat him.”

“And who is he, this stranger?” I asked.

Zabulon looked at me and something very hostile flickered in his eyes. No, there wasn’t any personal vendetta between us at the moment. But we’d done each other plenty of bad turns in our time. It had just happened that when I was a rank-and-file member of the Watch I’d managed to foul things up for Zabulon . . . and become his personal enemy. Right now, though, we had a quasi-truce.

But Dark Ones don’t become Higher Others because they know how to forgive and forget. They simply know how to wait.

“I don’t know, Anton, I don’t know,” Zabulon answered, with a sigh. “At first I thought we were dealing with a Mirror Magician after all. But a Mirror only reflects Others’ power, not their appearance, and the way he behaved . . .” Zabulon stopped short.

“Finish what you were saying,” Gesar said amicably. “You might as well.”

“By the way, you haven’t already forgotten that I helped you out just now, have you?” asked Zabulon.

We walked out of the elevator onto the eleventh floor.

“I haven’t forgotten,” said Gesar. “And I’m ready to help you . . .”

“The Day Watch,” Zabulon corrected him.

“The Day Watch of Moscow,” Gesar agreed, “in a situation where to do so will clearly not be detrimental to the goals and interests of the Night Watch or human beings.”

“Evasive, but acceptable,” Zabulon said, with a nod. “My dear enemy, I even sympathize with you slightly. I have a distinct feeling that this ‘tiger’ of yours is not a person at all.”

“Why ours?” I asked.

“Why not a person?” asked Gesar.

“I’m prepared to answer one question,” Zabulon declared gleefully. “You choose which.”