With an expression of extreme surprise on his face, the Tiger tumbled down into a pit, where the earth was heaving like boiling porridge. I caught a glimpse of the golem’s hands, the Tiger’s leg . . . For a second, I thought I could see a long, stripy tail sticking up out of the ground like a giant worm . . .

Then it all disappeared.

“I’m afraid the golem hasn’t killed him,” said Jermenson. “I’m afraid the Tiger simply didn’t think it necessary to fight . . .”

The colored cobweb faded away. Gesar and Jermenson looked at each other, slowly breaking into smiles.

I leaned down to Nadya and asked in a quiet voice: “How did you help him?”

Glancing round at Kesha, Nadya went up on tiptoe and whispered in my ear.

“I said that if he didn’t speak out his stupid prophecy right now, I was going to give him a thrashing and tell everyone that he’d been beaten by a little girl.”

“And he believed you?” I asked.

“I punched him in the nose.”

I took my handkerchief out of my pocket and walked over to the boy. Handing him the handkerchief, I said: “Tilt your head back and press this against your nose. Now we’ll call a . . . doctor.”

And as he tilted back his head in confusion, I parted his fingers, took the toy that was clenched in them, and stuck it in my pocket.

“We were lucky,” said Gesar, coming up to us. “The prophecy hasn’t been revealed, the Tiger has gone. Congratulations, my lad, all your troubles are behind you!”

“We were lucky,” I said, echoing Gesar.

The toy phone I had taken from Kesha was burning a hole in my pocket. I didn’t know if I would risk pressing the button to play back what was recorded on it. Or whether there really was anything recorded on it at all.

But it was certainly a good thing that the Twilight Creature didn’t understand anything about modern children’s toys.

Part Two - Dubious Times

Part Two

Dubious Times

Prologue

Prologue

“I’LL BE TAKING THE LESSON TODAY,” SAID GORODETSKY. “Anna Tikhonovna is ill.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Pavel asked anxiously. “Something magical?”

“Cholecystitis,” Anton replied.

“That can be cured with a spell,” said Pavel. He was not much older than twenty, from the generation that had grown up on computer role-playing games and Harry Potter.

“It can,” Anton agreed. “But why bother, when you can take a medicine to expel the bile?”

“Magic’s quicker,” Pavel persisted.

“And more complicated. Strangely enough, the illnesses that respond best to magical treatment are the deadly ones. Plain ordinary colds, gallstones, colic, and hemorrhoids are easier to cure by ordinary means. And anyway, it’s always best to economize your Power and your capacity for magical intervention.”