“No. By no means is every Prophet pursued by Twilight Creatures. And they’re not concerned in the least about the balance between the Watches. If . . . if the legends are to be believed . . . they try to prevent the utterance of prophecies that foretell unpre-cedented disasters and catastrophes. And they eliminate anyone who stands in their way . . .”

“You knew,” I said. “You knew everything, Boris Ignatievich . . .”

“I didn’t know!” Gesar retorted gruffly. “Do you think I’m some kind of computer that remembers everything? Zabulon hinted at Twilight Creatures. I’d never heard of anything of the kind, but I put on a brave face—as if I understood what he was talking about. I set the analysts onto it, they combed the databases, and half an hour ago they came up with the same book you have there . . . plus two hundred pages of analysis and theories. Was it Tolik who tipped you off? I’ll strip him of his bonuses until the end of the century!”

“No one leaked any information to me,” I said, leaping to my friend’s defense. “The book’s on Nadya’s extracurricular reading list and she came to me with a question. I read it. And after that . . . after that we guessed the whole thing as a family. About Erasmus, about Blake and the Tiger . . .”

“Apparently the Twilight Creature didn’t come to Erasmus in human form,” Gesar laughed. “And afterwards he said something about it to someone he knew, who wasn’t an Other, but could see . . .”

“Boris Ignatievich, we have to ask the Inquisition for help,” I said. “If all this about the Tiger is true, then how can we—”

Gesar didn’t let me finish. “They refused, Anton.”

“What?” I asked, bewildered.

“The recommendation of the Inquisition is not to get involved in a conflict and let the Tiger take the boy.”

That was the first time he pronounced the word “Tiger” so that it sounded like a name.

“But he . . .” I said, glancing sideways at Kesha.

“Yes, the Tiger will kill him,” Gesar said with a nod.

“Boris Ignatievich!”

“The boy can’t hear us,” my boss reassured me. “I’ve put up a screen. Just so that our voices won’t disturb him.”

“Gesar, then who is he, this Tiger?”

“No one knows, Anton. He’s far too rare a beast. Either the Prophet manages to utter his main prophecy and the Tiger backs off. Or . . . or he kills the Prophet and leaves. I presume that’s why Prophets are such a rare breed too. He usually finds them before we do.”

“What’s a main prophecy?”

Gesar sighed and glanced ostentatiously at his watch. Then he pointed to one of the chairs and sat down in the one beside it. He glanced round at Kesha and wagged his finger at him. The boy closed his eyes again.