She looked at it and then at me. “And you lie as well,” she added, switching to dialect.
“If I must,” I replied in Russian, “but I didn’t come looking for trouble. You did.”
“Eh,” she said with a shrug, “one must eat.”
She was just out of my reach, and she knew it. She was baiting me, and I knew it.
I looked at Ian. He stood in the water watching us. I could not read his expression.
Realizing at last that I would not take the bait, she lunged at me.
I stepped back deeper onto the shoreline. It did not seem to faze her. She crashed hard into me, knocking my sword from my hand. I saw it shine just once in the moonlight and then fall into the water.
She was unbelievably strong. I fell. She grabbed me by the boot and pulled me back into the water.
Jamie lunged at her. She let go of me, moving to defend herself, and knocked him back. He flew several feet and crashed onto the rocks. Dusty rushed forward and pulled him back toward the bank. It looked like he was unconscious. I heard an arrow whoosh overhead. It caught Rumor in the shoulder.
She paused. In that moment I bounced back onto my feet and pulled the poyasni doe-and wolf-headed daggers from my boots. The guns were soaked. She pulled the arrow from her shoulder and lunged at me. I dodged her advance and took a swipe at her. It connected; I slashed a long line across her face. Blood dripped from the wound for a moment and then healed itself. She smiled at me and lunged again. I bounced back closer toward the shore. Rumor pursued me but her feet had begun to smolder. She jumped, pushing me sideways, knocking me into the waves, knocking us both away from the island.
I rebalanced myself and lunged again, this time cutting a thin line across her throat. It was a close cut, but I had not hit home. Enraged, she came at me. She crashed into me. I fell backward. The water rushed over my face. My head hit a rock on the lake bottom. I struggled but could not move. I opened my eyes but saw only black waves. I could feel the weight of her hands on my neck, her knee on my chest. I tried to push her off but could not.
I heard the sound of gunfire, but she seemed unfazed.
My eyes fluttered closed. In a fragment of a second, I saw my grandmother smile at me. The next second, I felt Rumor’s hands release from my neck, and I was pulled from the water. Someone lifted me and carried me back to the shore, setting me down gently. I coughed hard, spitting out the lake water, and sat up, opening my eyes.
Ian stood over me, my shashka in his hand. Rumor’s body, her red dress fanning all around her, floated, decapitated, in the water. Her head lay on the shoreline. It flickered then burnt into a pile of ash.
Katya shrieked and fled.
Ian handed my sword to me. He looked back at Jamie who lay unconscious and then turned again to me. He smiled softly. For a moment, I saw the old Ian in his eyes. Then he burst into flame. I reached toward him, but within seconds Ian was gone.
Moments later, Buddie and Dusty pulled me, half-drowned and in a state of shock, onto the bank. Jamie was just coming around to consciousness; he was leaning between Will and Larry. At the inferno that was now the HarpWind above us, we heard the shrieking sounds of the remaining vampires. I pulled myself together and went to the front of the group.
“This way,” I said and led them to the far side of the island.
The moonlight barely illuminated our path in the dark, but when we came to stand above the labyrinth, a strange glow filled the place. The rocks which had seemed so mundane in the light of day had an eerie blue hue. The labyrinth’s snake effigy form glowed.
“What is this place?” Summer asked.
“A doorway,” I replied.
“To where?” Frenchie asked.
“Anywhere but here,” I said. I led them down the stairs and into the labyrinth. We turned around and around the labyrinth until we reached the middle.
“Follow it to its end,” I said. “The gateway should be open.”
Everyone looked scared. Buddie nodded at me and took the lead. One by one, they traced the spiraling stones. As each reached the middle, they disappeared. Jamie paused before he passed through. I nodded to him, and he took the final steps. Once they had all gone, I paused. Smoke billowed on the horizon, fingers of fire trailing up into the night’s sky. It cast a haze on the moon. I took a deep breathe. Following the serpent’s tongue, I too passed through the gateway to a new world.
Chapter 33: The Parallel
September
“Tilt-a-whirl, tilt-a-whirl, tilt-a-whirl! Come on ride my tilt-a-whirl! I’ll whirl you round the world,” I barked to the mostly empty aisles at the Bowling Green fairground.
Two young boys came up to my line. They were the only two kids around. The older looked to be about twelve. The younger, a good three inches under my height bar, had pulled himself up to full height and tried not to meet my eye.