Sergei Lukyanenko - The New Watch

‘But how can all that be interconnected?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said honestly.

‘And what exactly is it that frightens you? Surely not what was said about a “tiger”? This policeman of yours calls us “dogs” and the Dark Ones “wolves”.’

‘What frightens me is the intense concentration of strange elements,’ I said. ‘It all started this morning. Only eight and a half hours ago. There’s so much, and all at once!’

Gesar nodded. He seemed satisfied with what I’d said.

‘That’s right. Too many strange things. It can’t be a coincidence, so there must be a common reason. Can you suggest any possibilities?’

‘You’re just like Dr House, Boris Ignatievich,’ Svetlana said ironically.

‘What?’ asked Gesar – it was one of the rare occasions when I’d seen the boss bewildered. I don’t believe he ever had any interest in the cinema and all he watched on TV was the news and the figure skating, which he found attractive for some reason.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Svetlana. ‘Just this… famous doctor. He used to propose crazy theories to his junior colleagues, and then choose the correct one himself.’

Gesar gave Svetlana a rather dubious look. Then he nodded and said: ‘I hope he had more enterprising colleagues than mine. I haven’t heard a single theory so far.’

‘A divine being,’ Jermenson said unexpectedly. ‘No, I’m not talking about God or a Messiah, but perhaps we’re dealing here with a manifestation of some sacral, mystical entity…’

‘Retirement’s having a bad effect on you, Mark,’ Gesar said irritably. ‘The only mystical entity in our world is us – the Others. All the rest is human folklore.’

‘Well, some Others don’t think so…’ Jermenson muttered, but without any real conviction.

‘So this is Other folklore, then!’ Gesar snapped. ‘Are there any serious theories?’

‘An emanation of primal Power,’ suggested Glyba. ‘The Light or the Darkness…’

‘That’s the same “divine entity” again, only in different words,’ said Gesar.

‘But the Light and the Darkness exist,’ said Glyba, with a shrug. ‘When we swear on the Light, it confirms our words.’

Gesar frowned. ‘Sophistry. We don’t know how or why it happens. Do you know? I don’t. Possibly one of the Great Magicians of ancient times created a spell that’s still working now. To suspect the Light and the Darkness of conscious action is—’

‘It’s just like expecting the Twilight to create a Mirror and send it to the side that’s losing…’ Olga said in a gentle voice.

Gesar shut up.

He didn’t simply stop talking, he shut up. He sat there for a while, gazing at the tabletop, and then said: ‘The theory is accepted. It’s absurd. I don’t like it – because I’m afraid of something of the kind. But as a theory, it’s accepted. Anything else?’

Nadya raised her hand again. ‘Boris Ignatievich, I don’t think we should be trying to guess right now,’ she said. ‘What difference does it make to us who has appeared? After all, we already know that he’s very powerful and he does strange things. So all right. We need to understand what he wants.’

‘And?’ asked Gesar.

‘Da— Anton…’ Nadya blushed.

‘It’s all right, we know that he’s your daddy,’ Gesar said in a surprisingly gentle voice. ‘Go on.’

‘It all started when daddy saw the boy-Prophet who was afraid to fly in the aeroplane because the aeroplane was going to crash,’ said Nadya, clearly embarrassed. ‘Well, he saved the boy and his mummy, didn’t he? But what if someone else wanted to save him too, only he did it a simpler way: he saved the whole aeroplane all at once? And that’s why the aeroplane didn’t crash. And then, when he realised the boy wasn’t on it any more, he set out to look for him…’

‘That business with the policeman? Why did he give himself away like that? He left witnesses and a trail as well.’

‘He didn’t give himself away. He… he introduced himself,’ Nadya said quietly.

‘He left his visiting card,’ exclaimed Olga, snapping her fingers. ‘That’s right. He realised that one of the policemen had recognised him as an Other and deliberately affected his partner. But what made him think we’d find those policemen, and so quickly?’

‘If that policeman is an ordinary person, but he can see Others, it could be the result of his contact with daddy,’ said Nadya. ‘They taught us that a spell can leave a side effect, a trace… and that trace is usually connected with the magician who cast the spell. What if someone saw the trace on the policeman and realised he was connected with my daddy? For him it was… well, like kicking a dog to make it whine so that its master would look round.’

‘A fine comparison,’ Olga said drily.

‘Sorry,’ Nadya answered, ‘I was judging from the point of view…’

I noticed that Gesar had been sitting with his eyes closed for about half a minute. And slowly turning crimson. Then he opened his eyes and stood up.

‘Right. I can’t hear Semyon. And I can’t contact him. Someone else try!’

Olga closed her eyes too.

Glyba applied his palm to his forehead picturesquely.

Jermenson chewed on his lips.

Svetlana frowned intensely.

But I took out my mobile and pressed one of the ‘hot keys’.

‘Yes, Antokha?’ Semyon answered cheerfully.

‘Where are you?’

‘Me? I’m at Olya and Kesha’s place. Drinking tea. Telling them all about our wonderful school for artistically gifted children.’

‘Gesar can’t make contact with you,’ I said

There was a brief pause, and then Semyon said: ‘You know, I can’t make contact either. With anyone. It’s like… everything’s gone blank…’

‘Tell him we’re on our way,’ ordered Gesar, walking rapidly towards the door. ‘Anton, Mark, Olga, you’re with me! Svetlana, Sergei, you’re in charge of the Watch.’

‘I’m not on the staff!’ Svetlana exclaimed indignantly.

‘Consider yourself drafted,’ Gesar flung out without looking round.

‘Sveta, if we start arguing now, the child might be killed,’ Olga said gently as she got up to follow Gesar. ‘And Semyon too. Do you understand?’

And Svetlana, who I could remember beating off Gesar’s attempts to get her involved in the Watch’s business at least a hundred times, backed down immediately. She just asked as we left: ‘What exactly do I have to do?’

‘Kill everything strange that tries to get into the office,’ Gesar replied.

‘I’m a doctor, not a killer!’ Sveta exclaimed indignantly.

‘Every good doctor has his own graveyard,’ snapped Gesar.

When we ran out into the yard, the boom across the entrance was already raised and Alisher and Garik were getting into the patrol van – a battered old Japanese SUV. They were obviously on duty-call today.

‘Mark Emmanuilovich, please join the two young watchmen, if you would be so kind,’ Gesar said briskly.

Apparently he seriously believed that we needed to have at least one Higher Other in each vehicle.

We got into the old BMW that Gesar had been riding around in for as long as I could remember. I sat in the front, Olga was on the back seat and Gesar was at the wheel. He didn’t usually sit there, I wasn’t even sure that the Great One knew how to drive a car.

But it turned out that he did – and how! We went flying out into the street and roared straight off up the oncoming lane, which apparently seemed less crowded with traffic to Gesar. We were spared the choruses of loud curses from drivers about wild, irresponsible Duma deputies and bureaucrats by just one thing.

The car was invisible.

And moreover, Gesar didn’t use an ordinary spell like the Sphere of Negation or other similar ones. We were entirely invisible. We were an empty space, hurtling along the road like a draught, a void as far as any other driver could see.