"Oh, what a terrible thing," Arina exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "Oh, how awful… I feel so sorry for the poor people…" She sat down. Then looked across at me and asked: "Well, Light One, do you think I was working for the Dark Ones too?"

If she was lying, it was very convincing. I shrugged.

"Everything was done correctly," Arina said stubbornly. "The basic ingredients were mixed into the flour… do you know how difficult it was in those years to carry out any subversive activity? The retardant in the potion was plain sugar…" She suddenly flung her hands up in the air and stared at Edgar triumphantly. "That's what went wrong. Those were hungry years, the workers at the bakery stole the sugar… That's why it worked too fast…"

"An interesting theory," said Edgar, shuffling his pieces of paper.

"I'm not to blame for any of this," Arina declared firmly. "The plan for the operation was agreed. If the wise men of the Watches failed to think of a simple hitch like that-then whose fault is it?"

"That would be all very well," said Edgar, lifting up another sheet of paper. "Except that you conducted the first experiment on the workers at the bakery. Here's your report-recognize it? After that, they couldn't have stolen the sugar. So there's only one explanation left-you deliberately sabotaged the operation."

"Why don't we consider some other explanations?" Arina asked plaintively. "For instance…"

"For instance-your friend Louisa's report," Edgar suggested. "About how, during the operation, she happened to see you in the company of an unidentified Light Magician near the stand at the racetrack. About how you argued and haggled for a long time, until finally the Light One handed you some kind of package, and you nodded, and then you shook hands. Louisa even heard the words: 'I'll do it, and in less than a year…' Let me remind you that for the duration of the experiment you were forbidden to have any contact with Others. Weren't you?"

"Yes," said Arina, bowing her head. "Is Lushka still alive?"

"Unfortunately, no," said Edgar. "But her testimony was recorded and witnessed."

"A pity…" Arina muttered. She didn't say exactly why it was a pity. But it wasn't too hard to guess that Louisa was fortunate not to be around any longer.

"Can you explain which Light One you met with, what you promised to do, and what you received from him?"

Arina raised her head and smiled bitterly at me. She said, "What a muddle… I'm always getting in a muddle… over little things. Like that kettle…"

"Arina, I am obliged to deliver you for further questioning," said Edgar. "In the name of the Inquisition…"

"Try it, second-ranker," Arina said derisively.

And she disappeared.

"She's withdrawn into the Twilight!" I shouted, tearing myself away from the wall and looking around for my shadow. But Edgar still delayed for a second, making sure that the witch hadn't averted our eyes.

We appeared at the first level almost simultaneously. I was a little wary of looking at Edgar-what would the Twilight world transform him into?

It wasn't too bad. He'd hardly changed at all. His hair had just thinned out a bit.

"Deeper!" I waved my hand insistently. Edgar made a movement of his head, raised his open hand to his face-and his palm seemed to suck all of him in.

Impressive. Inquisitors' gimmicks.

At the second level, where the house turned into a log hut, we stopped and looked at each other. Of course, Arina wasn't there.

"She's gone down to the third level…" Edgar whispered. His hair had completely disappeared and his skull had stretched out, like a duck's egg. But even so, his face was still almost human.

"Can you do it?" I asked.

"I managed it once,'' Edgar answered honestly. Our breath turned to steam. It didn't feel all that cold yet, but there was an insidious chill in the air…

"And I managed it once," I admitted.

We hesitated, like over-confident swimmers who have suddenly realized that the river in front of them is too turbulent and too cold. And neither of us dared take the first step.

"Anton… will you help?" Edgar asked eventually.

I nodded. Why else had I come dashing into the Twilight?

"Let's go…" said the Inquisitor, gazing down intently at his feet.

A few moments later we stepped into the third level-a place where only first-level magicians were supposed to go.

The witch wasn't there.

"Well that's inventive…" Edgar whispered. The house of branches really was impressive. "Anton… she built this herself… she stays down here for a long time."

Slowly-the space around us resisted sudden movements-I walked over to the wall, parted the branches, and looked out.

It was absolutely nothing like the human world.

There were glittering clouds drifting across the sky, like steel filings suspended in glycerine. Instead of the sun there was a broad cloud of crimson flame way up high in the sky-the only spot of color in the hazy gray gloom. And on all sides, as far as the horizon, there were low, contorted trees, the same ones the witch had used to build her house. But then, were they really trees? There were no leaves, just a fantastic tangle of branches…

"Anton, she's gone deeper. Anton, she's beyond classification," Edgar said behind me. I turned and looked at the magician. Dark-gray skin, a bald, elongated skull, sunken eyes… But still human eyes. "How do I look?" Edgar asked and bared his teeth in a smile. He shouldn't have, his teeth were sharp cones, like a shark's.

"Not great," I admitted. "I suppose I don't look any better?"

"It's just the appearance," Edgar replied casually. "Are you holding up okay?"

I was holding up. My second immersion in the lower depths of the Twilight was going more easily.

"We have to go to the fourth level," said Edgar. His eyes were human, but there was a fanatical gleam in them.

"Are you beyond classification then?" I asked him. "Edgar, it's hard for me even to go back!"

"We can combine our powers, watchman!"

"How?" I was perplexed. Both the Dark Ones and the Light Ones have the concept of a "Circle of Power." But it's a dangerous thing, and it requires at least three or four Others… and anyway, how could we combine Light Power and Dark Power?

"That's my problem!" said Edgar, and began shaking his head about. "Anton, she'll get away. She'll get away on the fourth level. Trust me."

"A Dark One?"

"An Inquisitor," the magician barked. "I'm an Inquisitor, do you understand? Anton, trust me, I ord-" Edgar stopped short and then continued in a different tone: "I ask you, please!"

I don't know what made me do it. The excitement of the hunt? The desire to catch a witch who had destroyed thousands of people's lives? The way the Inquisitor asked?

Or maybe a simple desire to see the fourth level? The most mysterious depths of the Twilight, which even Gesar visited only rarely, where Svetlana had never been?

"What do I do?" I asked.

Edgar's face lit up in a smile. He reached out his hand-the fingers ended in blunt, hooked claws-and said: "In the name of the Treaty, by the equilibrium that I maintain, I summon the Light and the Darkness… and request Power… in the name of the Darkness."

He gazed insistently at me and I also held out my hand-and I said: "In the name of the Light…"

In part this was like the swearing of an oath between a Dark One and a Light One. But only in part. No petal of flame sprang up in my hand, no patch of darkness appeared on Edgar's open palm. It all happened on the outside-the gray, blurred world around us suddenly acquired clarity. No colors appeared; we were still in the Twilight. But shadows appeared. It was like a TV screen with the color turned down, when you suddenly turn up the brightness and contrast.

"Our right has been acknowledged…" Edgar whispered, gazing around. His face looked genuinely happy. "Our right has been acknowledged, Anton."