One tiny little seventh-degree intervention, and he'd feel better. He'd understand that to fight the Darkness, Light has to use every possible weapon available to it…

I looked up at the somber sky and opened my mouth to catch the cold snowflakes. I wanted to freeze. To freeze solid. Not like in the Twilight. To become ice, not mist; snow, not slush; to freeze, solidify, and never melt again…

«Egor, come on, I'll see you home,» I offered.

«It's not far, I'll be okay…« the kid said.

I went on standing there for a long time, gulping down snow mixed with wind, and I didn't notice him leave. I heard the boss ask: «Will you be able to wake your parents up on your own?» but I didn't hear the answer.

«Anton, if it's any comfort to you at all… the boy's aura's the same as it was. Still indeterminate…« He put his arm around my shoulders. He looked small now, pitiful, not at all like a well-groomed entrepreneur or a top-flight magician. Just a sprightly old man who'd won another brief battle in a war that had no end.

«Great.»

That's what I'd really like—to have no aura at all. To make my own destiny.

«Anton, you still have things to do.»

«I know, Boris Ignatievich…«

«Will you be able to explain everything to Svetlana?»

«Yes, I expect so… I will now.»

«I'm really sorry. But I have to use what I have… the people I have. You're linked with her. A standard mystical link, impossible to explain. No one can take your place.»

«I understand.»

The snow was settling on my face, thawing on my eyelashes, melting and dribbling down my cheeks. It felt as if I'd almost managed to freeze solid, but I didn't have the right.

«Remember what I told you? Being on the side of the Light is much tougher than being on the side of the Dark…«

«I remember…«

«It will be even tougher for you, Anton. You'll fall in love with her. You'll live with her… for a while. Then Svetlana will move on. And you'll see her moving farther away from you, see her contacts extending into places far higher than you can ever reach. You'll suffer. But nothing can be done about it. You play your part at the beginning. That's the way it is with every Great Magician, with every Great Sorceress. They achieve greatness by trampling over the bodies of their friends and loved ones. There is no other way.»

«Yes, I understand… I understand everything…«

«Let's go then, Anton?»

I didn't answer.

«Shall we go?»

«Aren't we late already?»

«Not yet. The Light has its own paths. I'll take you there by the short way, and after that, you follow your own path.»

«Then I'll just stand here for a while,» I said. I closed my eyes so that I could feel the snowflakes landing on my eyelids, so tenderly.

«If you only knew how many times I've stood like that,» said the boss. «Just like that, looking up into the sky, asking for something… Maybe a blessing, maybe a curse.»

I said nothing; I already knew there wouldn't be any answer.

«Anton, I'm frozen,» said the boss. «I feel cold. As a man. I want to drink a few glasses of vodka and snuggle down under a warm blanket. And lie there, waiting for you to help Svetlana… for Olga to deal with the vortex. And then take a vacation. Leave Ilya here in charge, since he's already been inside my skin, and head for Samarkand. Have you ever been to Samarkand?»

«No.»

«It's no great shakes, to be honest. Especially nowadays. There's not much good there, except the memories… But they're only for me… How are you doing?»

«Let's go, Boris Ignatievich.»

I wiped the snow off my face.

There was someone waiting for me.

And that's the only thing that stops us from freezing solid.