Nightwatch

«Yes, I know.»

«Science came close to killing us off. They didn't believe in us; they wouldn't believe. That is, while they still believed science could change the world for the better.»

The boy came back into the living room. He sat down on the couch and started adjusting the silver chain around his neck.

«What is better?» I asked. «We were people once, but we've learned to enter the Twilight; we've learned to change the nature of things and other people. And what's changed, Olga?»

«At least vampires don't hunt without a license.»

«Tell that to the person whose blood they drink…«

The cat appeared in the doorway and fixed his gaze on us. He howled, glaring angrily at the owl.

«It's you he doesn't like, Olga,» I said. «Move deeper into the Twilight.»

«Too late,» Olga replied. «Sorry, I let my guard down.»

The boy sprang up off the couch, far faster than is possible in the human world. Clumsily, without even knowing what was happening to him, he entered his shadow and immediately fell on the floor, looking up at me. Through the Twilight.

«I'm leaving…« the owl whispered as she disappeared. Her claws dug painfully into my shoulder.

«No!» shouted the boy. «I know! I know! You're here!»

I started to get up, spreading my hands.

«I can see you! Don't touch me!»

He was in the Twilight. He'd done it, just like that. Without any help from anyone, without any curses or stimulants, without any magician to tutor him, the boy had crossed the boundary between the ordinary and the Twilight worlds.

The way you first enter the Twilight, what you see and what you feel there, goes a long way to determine who you'll become.

A Dark One or a Light One. Olga's voice in my head:

«We have no right to let him go over to the Dark Side; the balance in Moscow would completely collapse.»

Okay, kid, you're right on the very edge.

That was more terrifying than any inexperienced vampire.

Boris Ignatievich was entitled to have the boy taken out.

«Don't be afraid,» I said, not moving from the spot. «Don't be afraid. I'm your friend and I won't do you any harm.»

The boy crawled as far as the corner and froze there, never once taking his eyes off me. He clearly didn't understand that he'd shifted into the Twilight. It looked to him as if the room had suddenly turned dark, a sudden silence had fallen, and I'd appeared out of nowhere…

«Don't be afraid,» I repeated. «My name's Anton. What's your name?»

He didn't say anything. He kept gulping, over and over again. Then he pressed his hand against his neck, felt for the chain, and seemed to calm down a bit.

«I'm not a vampire,» I said.

«Who are you?» the boy yelled. It was a good thing that piercing shriek couldn't be heard in the everyday world.

«Anton. A Night Watch agent.»

His eyes opened wide, as if he were in pain.

«It's my job to protect people against vampires and all sorts of vermin.»

«You're lying…«

«Why?»

He shrugged. Good. He was trying to assess his actions so far and explain his reasons. That meant the fear hadn't completely paralyzed his mind.

«What's your name?» I asked again. I could have influenced the boy and removed his fear. But that would have been an intervention, and a forbidden one.

«Egor…«

«A good name. My name's Anton. Do you understand? I'm Anton Sergeevich Gorodetsky. A Night Watch agent. Yesterday I killed a vampire who was attacking you.»

«Just one?»

Excellent. Now we had the makings of a conversation.

«Yes. The girl-vampire got away. They're searching for her now. Don't be afraid, I'm here to guard you… to destroy the vampire.»

«Why is everything so gray?» Egor suddenly asked.

Good boy. That's really good thinking.

«I'll explain. Only first let's agree that I'm not your enemy. All right?»

«We'll see.»

He held on to his absurd little chain, as if it could save him from anything. Oh, kid, if only everything in this world were that easy. Silver won't save you, or poplar wood, or the holy cross. It's life against death, love against hate… and power against power, because power has no moral categories. That's how simple it is. In the last couple of years I've come to realize that.

«Egor,» I said, walking slowly across to him. «Listen, I want to tell you something.»

«Stop!»

He shouted the command as sharply as if he were holding a weapon in his hands. I sighed and stopped.

«All right. Now listen. Apart from the ordinary world that the human eye can see, there is also a shadow world, the Twilight world.»

He thought. Despite his fear—and he was terribly afraid, I could feel the waves of his suffocating horror washing over me—the boy was trying to understand. There are some people who are paralyzed by fear. And there are some it only makes stronger.

I was really hoping he would be one of the second kind.

«A parallel world?»

There, now he was bringing in science fiction. But never mind, it didn't matter. Names are nothing more than sounds.

«Yes, and only people with supernatural powers can enter that world.»

«Vampires?»

«Not only. There are werewolves, witches, black magicians… white magicians, healers, seers.»

«And they all really exist?»

He was soaking wet. His hair was clumped together; his sweatshirt was clinging to his body; beads of sweat were rolling down his cheeks. But still the boy never took his eyes off me and was getting ready to thwart me. As if he really had the power to do it.

«Yes, Egor. Sometimes people appear who can enter the Twilight world. They take the side of either Good or Evil. Light or Darkness. They are the Others. That's what we call each other, the Others.»

«Are you an Other?»

«Yes, and so are you.»

«Why?»

«You're in the Twilight world right now, kid. Take a look around, listen. All the colors have turned gray. The sounds have faded away. The second hand on the clock is barely creeping along. You entered the Twilight world… you wanted to see the danger and you crossed the boundary between worlds. Time moves more slowly here, everything is different here. This is the world of the Others.»

«I don't believe it.» Egor glanced around quickly, then looked back at me. «Then why's Gray here?»

«The cat?» I smiled. «Animals follow their own laws, Egor. Cats live in all the dimensions at once; for them there is no difference.»

«I don't believe you.» His voice was trembling. «It's all a dream, I know! When the light fades like that… I'm asleep. It's happened to me before.»

«So you've had dreams about turning on the light and the bulb not lighting up?» I already knew the answer, and anyway I could read it in the boy's eyes. «Or it lights up, but only very, very faintly, like a candle? And you're walking along with the Darkness swaying all around you, and you hold out your hand and you can't even make out your own fingers?»

He didn't answer.

«That happens to all of us, Egor. Every Other has dreams like that. It's the Twilight world creeping into us, calling us, reminding us about itself. You are an Other. Still a young one, but you are. And you're the only one…«

I didn't realize immediately that his eyes were closed and his head was slumped to one side.

«You idiot,» Olga hissed from my shoulder. «This is the first time he's entered the Twilight independently! He hasn't got the strength for this! Pull him out quickly, or he'll stay here forever!»

Twilight coma is a novice's problem. I'd almost forgotten about it, because I'd never worked with young Others.

«Egor!» I leapt across and shook him, grabbing him under the shoulders. He was light, very light—it's not only the movement of time that changes in the Twilight world. «Wake up!»

The boy didn't respond. He'd already done what it takes others months of training to do—entered the Twilight on his own. And the Twilight world just loves to suck the strength out of you.

«Pull him out!» said Olga, taking command of the situation. «He won't wake up himself.»

I'd done the emergency rescue courses, but I'd never had to drag anyone out of the Twilight for real.

«Egor, snap out of it!» I slapped him on the cheeks. Gently at first, then I started putting real force into it. «Come on, kid. You're slipping away into the Twilight world! Wake up!»

He was getting lighter and lighter, melting away in my arms. The Twilight was drinking his life, sucking out his final ounces of strength. The Twilight was changing his body, claiming it as permanent resident. What had I done?

«Seal yourself off!» Olga's sharp voice focused my mind. «Seal yourself off, and him too…«

It always used to take me more than a minute to form a sphere. This time I did it in five seconds flat. I felt a stab of pain—as if a small shell had exploded inside my head. I threw back my head when the sphere of exclusion emerged from my body, shrouding me like a shimmering soap bubble. The bubble expanded, reluctantly enveloping me and the boy.

«That's it; now hold it there. I can't do anything to help you, Anton. Hold that sphere!»

Olga was wrong. She'd already helped me, with her advice. I'd probably have realized that I ought to form a sphere, but I could have lost precious seconds in the process.

It started getting lighter. The Twilight was still draining our strength—mine with an effort, the boy's with ease—but now it only had a few cubic meters of space to operate with. The ordinary laws of physics don't apply here, but there are parallels. A balance was being established between our living bodies and the Twilight.

Either the Twilight would dissolve and release its prey or the boy would remain an inhabitant of the Twilight world. Forever. It's what happens to magicians who have pushed themselves beyond the limit, either through carelessness or because they had no choice. It's what happens with novices who don't know how to protect themselves against the Twilight properly and allow it to take more than they should.

I looked at Egor. His face was turning gray. He was slipping away into the infinite expanses of the shadow world.

I threw the boy across my right arm, took a penknife out of my left pocket, and opened the blade with my teeth.

«That's dangerous,» Olga warned me.

I didn't answer. I just slashed my wrist.

When the blood spurted out, the twilight hissed like a red-hot frying pan. Everything went blurred. It wasn't just the loss of the blood; my very life was seeping away with it. I'd ruptured my own defenses against the Twilight.

But the dose of energy was too large for it to absorb.