Pure (Book 1, Pure Series) (29 page)

           
Aleksandr smiled at her.
 
"Odette, you don't recognize them?
 
This is Anna Rost and Ekaterina – Katie Wickliff."
 
Aleksandr turned to GM and me.
 
"Ladies, may I present to you, after an absense of many years, Odette Wickliff."

           
GM drew in her breath sharply and brought a hand to her mouth.
 
"Can it be so?"

           
Odette turned to GM in surprise.
 
"Annushka, is it really you?"

           
"Yes, my dear girl," GM replied.
 
"I haven't seen you since you were ten years old.
 
How lovely you have become."

           
"Oh, Annushka, I have missed you," Odette said.
 
She gave GM a hug.

           
Aleksandr turned suddenly and looked off into the night.
 
He looked back at us and a faint wariness had crept into his eyes.
 
"Forgive me for breaking up this fond reunion, but I think we should all be going.
 
What are the two of you doing out here in the dark anyway?"

           
Odette laughed.
 
"Yes, don't you know there are vampires in these parts?"
 
Her tone was teasing, and she looked up at Aleksandr.

           
I shivered and looked around, but I couldn't see anything beyond the beams of light from the car.
 
Aleksandr had also mentioned vampires back in Elspeth's Grove.
 
I was about to ask him if he really believed there could be vampires around us when Aleksandr answered Odette.

           
"The vampires are nothing to laugh about," Aleksandr chided her gently.
 
"And there are darker things than vampires in the night.
 
We should get out of here."

           
He turned to GM.
 
"Is something wrong with your car?"

           
"Yes," GM replied.
 
"We have a flat tire and no spare."

           
"In that case," Aleksandr said, "may we offer you a ride?"

           
"Thank you, Aleksandr," GM said.
 
"That would be most helpful."

           
"Where are you headed?" Aleksandr asked.

           
"We were actually headed to see you and your mother," GM replied.
 
"It is a marvelous coincidence."

           
"Yes, isn't it," Aleksandr said.

           
"No, Annushka, I insist," Odette said.
 
"You must come to stay with me.
 
I have more space."

           
"All right then," GM said.
 
"We will be delighted to stay with you, Odette."

           
"It's settled, then," Odette said, smiling.

           
"Do you have luggage with you?" Aleksandr asked.

           
"Yes."

           
"Then, please allow me to assist you with it," Aleksandr said.

           
Aleksandr, GM, and I transferred our things to Aleksandr's car.
 
Then Aleksandr and GM got in the front, and Odette and I sat in the back.
 
We were soon back on the road, and I was grateful to be out of our stranded car.

           
"Thank you, Aleksandr," I said to him.
 
"I'm really glad you came along."

           
"It was my pleasure," he said.

           
"You seem more amused by our arrival than surprised, Aleksandr," GM said.
 
"You knew we would come?
 
Even after that scene in our kitchen?"

           
"I didn't know, but I did hope for it."

           
"Oh, yes," Odette said.
 
"Our little princess is home at last.
 
You know, Katie, with your spun-gold hair you actually look the part."

           
I was surprised by Odette's tone, and I didn't quite know what to say.

           
Odette must have noticed the look on my face, as she touched me on the arm and laughed.
 
"I only meant that Aleksandr's mother will be very excited that you are here.
 
She has been talking about you for years.
 
You must not mind my sense of humor."

           
"So what happened?" Aleksandr asked GM quietly in the front seat.
 
"What brought you back to us so suddenly?"

           
I leaned forward.
 
I wondered how GM would handle this.

           
"There were disappearances," GM said slowly.

           
Aleksandr glanced at her, and I could see his profile in the dim light.
 
"And anything else?"
 
He looked back at the road.

           
GM shifted in her seat uncomfortably.
 
"Our house was attacked.
 
We may have seen him."

           
"Him?" Aleksandr asked.

           
GM sighed heavily and shook her head.
 
"You know the man I mean.
 
The idea is just too ridiculous.
 
I saw his funeral after all."

           
"You mean Gleb Mstislav?" Aleksandr said.

           
"Yes," GM replied.
 
Though it was only one syllable, it was clear she uttered it with reluctance.

           
"What did he look like?" Aleksandr asked.

           
"Horrible," GM said.

           
"So seeing has made a believer out of you?" Aleksandr said.

           
"Not necessarily," GM said stiffly.
 
"I don't know what to think."

           
Odette laughed.
 
"Annushka, you think you have seen one of Aleksandr's dark creatures?
 
A dead man walking?
 
And here I thought maybe you had come to visit me because you missed me."

           
I hadn't meant to say anything, but the memory of that terrible, white-faced creature moving toward William rose in my mind, and a question burst out of me.
 
"How do you stop a dead man walking?"

           
"That's a question for Baba," Odette said slyly.

           
"Baba?" I asked.

           
"Odette means Galina," Aleksandr said.
 
"Some of the locals refer to her rather unkindly as Baba Yaga."

           
The name stirred a memory.
 
There was a movement in
Pictures at an Exhibition
titled
The Hut on Hen's Legs
about Baba Yaga and her fanciful home.

           
A feeling of panic welled up within me.
 
"But Baba Yaga's a witch.
 
Are you saying that Galina is a—"

           
Aleksandr broke in.
 
"No, Galina isn't a witch."
 
His tone was amused.
 
"That's just the term some people use because they don't understand her.
 
To answer your earlier question – how do you stop a dead man walking?
 
As Odette said, that's one for Galina."

Chapter 13.

After about an hour, we reached Krov, and we drove through the town's tiny streets.
 
Eventually, Aleksandr pulled to a stop before a good-sized house.
 
The street was not well lit, but the house still looked familiar to me.

           
I got out of the car quickly and stood staring up at the house I had seen many times in my memories.
 
The rose bushes were bare, but they were just where they were supposed to be, and I didn't need to see it to know that there was an apple tree in the back yard.

           
I turned as GM got out of the car.
 
"It's our house," I said excitedly.

           
GM came to stand beside me, and a soft light came into her eyes.

           
"Actually, it's my house now," Odette said, slamming her door shut.

           
Aleksandr was last out of the car.
 
"I'll see about getting your car rescued from the side of the road in the morning," he said to GM.
 
"And my mother and I will be back to see you in the morning, too."

           
"Thank you, Aleksandr," GM said.

           
We retrieved our things from the car and went into the house with Odette.
 
Aleksandr drove off.

           
"Would you like to stay in your old room, Annushka?" Odette asked, heading for the stairs.

           
"Yes, that would be lovely, dear," GM replied, following her.

           
I paused in the foyer and looked around me.
 
I'd never dreamed that I would return to this house someday.
 
I had lived here with my parents and GM, and Odette had come to us when I turned four.
 
I had nothing but happy memories associated with this place.
 
I wondered if I could sleep in my old room, too.

           
I hurried up the stairs and found Odette waiting for me on the landing.

           
"Annushka is already settled in her room," she said.
 
"Would you like to stay in your old room also?
 
Of course you were so young when you and Annushka left, I don't know if you remember your old room."

           
"I remember it," I said.

           
"Well, here you are," Odette said, opening a door for me and switching on the light.
 
"Have a good night, Katie.
 
I'm not one hundred percent certain that I'll see you and Annushka in the morning, but Galina and Aleksandr should be by early tomorrow to see you.
 
You should make yourself at home."

           
"Thanks, Odette," I said.

           
She turned to go.

           
"Odette, I'm really glad to see you."

           
She turned back and smiled at me.
 
"I'm glad to see you, too.
 
I really mean that."

           
She disappeared down the dark hall, and I went into my room.

           
I set my stuff down and walked around the room.
 
I even opened the closet and looked into it, remembering how I had once locked myself inside it.
 
The closet had a strange old-fashioned latch, and it could only be opened from the outside – there was no proper knob or handle on the inside.
 
I had wanted to see what the closet looked like when the door was closed – to find out if it magically turned into a domain for monsters or if it remained an ordinary closet.
 
I had shut the door by curling my fingers under the bottom and pulling until I heard the latch catch.
 
I hadn't realized until too late that if there was no knob I could use to close the door that there would be no knob with which I could open it.
 
On finding myself in the dark, I panicked.
 
I scrambled frantically at the door, but I couldn't find any way to open it.
 
I began to scream, and my mother soon came to let me out.
 
She giggled a little when I tearfully explained what I had been doing.
 
But then she sobered and told me I had proved that there were no monsters in the house.
 
At least that was one thing I could be sure of – I was safe in this house.
 
There were no monsters here.

           
I closed the closet door and turned back to the room.
 
It was funny how little it had changed.
 
My clothes, toys, and books were long gone, of course, as was the sunburst lamp that was in my room back in Elspeth's Grove.
 
But my blue rug with the rocking horse that my mother had made was still on the floor, and my butterfly coverlet was still on the bed.
 
The picture of the yellow bird that I had adored was still on the wall, and as I examined the wall next to the door, I found that the spot close to the floor where I had scrawled 'EKATERINA' in pen had not been painted over.
 
I smiled – I still owned the room – after all, my name was on it.

           
I sat down on the bed.
 
I couldn't tell if I was tired or not – my internal clock was really off after all the traveling.
 
I figured I should get settled and try to sleep so I could get myself on local time.
 
I sat still, though, my thoughts drawn to William.
 
The anxiety I felt for him was always with me, and whenever I had time to think, it became so strong that it nearly overwhelmed me.
 
And all I could do was hope for him.

           
I forced myself to get ready for bed.

           
I drifted in and out of sleep.
 
At one point, I started awake, and sat up in bed.
 
I was tense, listening.
 
The house was eerily quiet, and I was reminded unpleasantly of the night not long ago, when the kost attacked our house in Elspeth's Grove.