[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.By the warm glances her daughters-in-law cast toward the ladder, Zorana suspected they enjoyed similar memories.‘‘It’s safe,’’ Rurik assured them.‘‘We looked it over,’’ Jasha said.The bottom floor was taken up with stalls, with logs for the Wilder Fourth of July bonfires, with buckets to douse the Wilder Fourth of July bonfires, and with great piles of things covered by horse blankets.‘‘I wonder what’s under the blankets,’’ Tasya mused.‘‘I don’t know.Whatever can it be?’’ Ann walked over and started to kick one.Jasha moved with the speed of light, blocking her foot.‘‘Don’t.kick.the detonators.’’‘‘I never intended to,’’ Ann said sweetly.‘‘I just wanted a little payback for all that smelly testosterone you’ve been spreading around lately.’’He wiped at his pale face.‘‘Very funny.Want me to carry the basket up to the hayloft?’’‘‘We can do it.Just’’—Ann pushed at him—‘‘get out.’’‘‘Adrik will stay out here and patrol the area,’’ Rurik said.‘‘While the men plan the battle.’’‘‘Only the finest warrior is left to guard the Wilders’ greatest treasures.’’ Adrik smiled smugly at Jasha.Zorana patted her second son’s cheek.‘‘A wise man recognizes defeat when he experiences it.’’ She shut the doors in their faces.Tasya and Ann were already helping Karen up the ladder to the hayloft.When they reached the top, Zorana handed Aleksandr into their outstretched arms and climbed the ladder herself.The women shed their jackets and unwrapped Aleksandr.‘‘The men won’t be able to hear us up here.’’ Ann spread the tablecloth on the floor and pulled mounds of hay over to act as chairs.‘‘And I have something to say that they’re not going to like.’’‘‘In that case’’—Tasya unloaded the picnic basket— ‘‘please tell us.Right now I look forward to making them miserable.’’‘‘When Jasha and I first got together.’’ Ann blushed and tucked the afghan around her crossed legs.‘‘I mean, when I first realized he was part of the pact, he was shot with an arrow and I had to pull it out.’’‘‘Euw.’’ Karen wrinkled her nose.‘‘I know.’’ Ann pressed her hand to her stomach.‘‘Worse, while I had my hand inside his shoulder, I sliced my palm open and his blood mixed with mine.It changed me.Ever since, I’ve felt stronger, tougher.’’ She leaned forward and shook her finger to make her point.‘‘But more important—when I faced off with a Varinski, I developed claws.Just for a second! But that saved my life.’’‘‘Yes!’’ Karen eased herself down on a seat and set to work slicing off chunks of Brie.‘‘When I tasted Adrik’s blood, I was fiercer, and I know I seem weak, but less than a month ago, I suffered a dozen broken bones, and my internal injuries were enough to kill me.The doctors say I have healed at an astonishing rate.I’ve thought all along it was Adrik’s blood that gave me back my health.’’Tasya looked at Zorana.‘‘I haven’t shared blood with Rurik, but if I could be a better warrior for it, and help with the battle.I would.’’‘‘I haven’t shared blood with Konstantine, either.’’ The tension Zorana had borne since suffering that horrible vision relaxed, and she took her first full breath in almost two years.‘‘But now I intend to.Of course, for me, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.’’‘‘What drawbacks could there be, Mama?’’ Tasya opened the bottle of wine and filled their glasses.Ann was the most clear-thinking of the girls, and she answered promptly.‘‘If we share the bond of blood with our husbands, we may share the same fate—if the pact isn’t broken and we are killed, we may be condemned to hell as demons.’’‘‘Pfft!’’ Tasya waved that argument away as minor.‘‘I choose hell over an eternity alone.’’‘‘Yes.’’ Zorana sat on the floor, settled Aleksandr in her lap, and let her daughters-in-law prepare her plate.‘‘I would rather burn with Konstantine than enjoy all the wonders of heaven.’’‘‘Me, too,’’ Karen said.‘‘And I,’’ Ann agreed.Zorana offered her hand, palm down, over the tablecloth.Ann’s hand covered hers.Tasya was next, and Karen finished it off.The women met one another’s eyes and nodded in unison.‘‘Our own pact,’’ Zorana said.‘‘A good pact, to fight the evil that every night creeps closer.’’‘‘Gramma.’’ Aleksandr tugged at her sleeve.‘‘Treasures!’’The women broke their handshake, lifted the wine-glasses, toasted one another, and drank.Then Ann handed Zorana the wooden box, and the girls leaned closer as she opened it.‘‘What are your treasures?’’ Karen hadn’t been in the family long enough to know.‘‘Mementos from my former life with my Gypsy tribe, and the only possessions I brought when I emigrated from the Ukraine.’’ First Zorana pulled out a ball of yarn.‘‘Here is the wool I spun as a girl.’’ She gave it to Aleksandr, who first rubbed it on his face, and then, like a basketball player, threw it in the basket.Tasya applauded.‘‘Two points!’’‘‘Yay!’’ Aleksandr lifted his little fists.‘‘This is the spindle I used to spin the yarn.’’ Zorana smiled as a memory sprang to life.‘‘It is also the spindle I used to stab Konstantine when he abducted me.’’Karen laughed.‘‘Really? You stabbed him?’’‘‘He deserved it.’’ Zorana handed it to Karen.‘‘I have no doubt about that,’’ Karen said fervently, and tested the point against her finger.‘‘Here’s my hat, part of the Gypsy outfit.’’ Zorana settled a colorfully embroidered cap on Aleksandr’s head.‘‘My grandmother made it for me.She was very wise.They told me that the first time she held me, a squalling newborn, she declared I had the Sight.’’Aleksandr took off the cap and stood, then walked across the tablecloth and placed it on Ann’s head.‘‘Pretty!’’ he said.‘‘Thank you, Aleksandr.’’ Ann posed for him.‘‘But those are simply tokens of my life.’’ Reverently, Zorana prepared to show her only true inheritance.‘‘Now I will show you the treasure.’’‘‘Treasure!’’ Aleksandr hurried back to Zorana’s side and leaned against her shoulder.Taking an unpretentious brown leather sack from the box, Zorana worked the straps loose and reverently let four stones fall onto the tablecloth before her.One was a chunk of turquoise, worn smooth with handling.One was a shiny, sharp, black slice of obsidian.One was a large, uncut red crystal.Last was a malformed white stone, flat and roughly cut into a small square.‘‘For a thousand years, this collection of stones has been given to the one seer who is born to every generation.’’‘‘If I were still a reporter,’’ Tasya told Karen, ‘‘I’d do a story about this.’’Zorana rubbed the turquoise with her thumb.‘‘This is a piece of the sky.’’ Next she touched the obsidian.‘‘This is a window into the night.’’Karen slid her fingertip across the stone’s edge.‘‘Ouch!’’ She pulled it back and examined her skin.‘‘It cut me!’’‘‘Obsidian is volcanic glass, and the edge can be as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel,’’ Ann told her.‘‘This is a frozen flame.’’ Zorana handed Karen the crimson stone.Karen held it to the light, and deep in its heart, the stone gleamed bloodred with hints of blue.She gasped in awe.‘‘Is that a ruby?’’‘‘The biggest I’ve ever seen,’’ Tasya said.Zorana cradled the white, malformed sliver of rock in the palm of her hand.‘‘This is the greatest of all.This is purity.’’‘‘What is it made of?’’ Karen asked [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.By the warm glances her daughters-in-law cast toward the ladder, Zorana suspected they enjoyed similar memories.‘‘It’s safe,’’ Rurik assured them.‘‘We looked it over,’’ Jasha said.The bottom floor was taken up with stalls, with logs for the Wilder Fourth of July bonfires, with buckets to douse the Wilder Fourth of July bonfires, and with great piles of things covered by horse blankets.‘‘I wonder what’s under the blankets,’’ Tasya mused.‘‘I don’t know.Whatever can it be?’’ Ann walked over and started to kick one.Jasha moved with the speed of light, blocking her foot.‘‘Don’t.kick.the detonators.’’‘‘I never intended to,’’ Ann said sweetly.‘‘I just wanted a little payback for all that smelly testosterone you’ve been spreading around lately.’’He wiped at his pale face.‘‘Very funny.Want me to carry the basket up to the hayloft?’’‘‘We can do it.Just’’—Ann pushed at him—‘‘get out.’’‘‘Adrik will stay out here and patrol the area,’’ Rurik said.‘‘While the men plan the battle.’’‘‘Only the finest warrior is left to guard the Wilders’ greatest treasures.’’ Adrik smiled smugly at Jasha.Zorana patted her second son’s cheek.‘‘A wise man recognizes defeat when he experiences it.’’ She shut the doors in their faces.Tasya and Ann were already helping Karen up the ladder to the hayloft.When they reached the top, Zorana handed Aleksandr into their outstretched arms and climbed the ladder herself.The women shed their jackets and unwrapped Aleksandr.‘‘The men won’t be able to hear us up here.’’ Ann spread the tablecloth on the floor and pulled mounds of hay over to act as chairs.‘‘And I have something to say that they’re not going to like.’’‘‘In that case’’—Tasya unloaded the picnic basket— ‘‘please tell us.Right now I look forward to making them miserable.’’‘‘When Jasha and I first got together.’’ Ann blushed and tucked the afghan around her crossed legs.‘‘I mean, when I first realized he was part of the pact, he was shot with an arrow and I had to pull it out.’’‘‘Euw.’’ Karen wrinkled her nose.‘‘I know.’’ Ann pressed her hand to her stomach.‘‘Worse, while I had my hand inside his shoulder, I sliced my palm open and his blood mixed with mine.It changed me.Ever since, I’ve felt stronger, tougher.’’ She leaned forward and shook her finger to make her point.‘‘But more important—when I faced off with a Varinski, I developed claws.Just for a second! But that saved my life.’’‘‘Yes!’’ Karen eased herself down on a seat and set to work slicing off chunks of Brie.‘‘When I tasted Adrik’s blood, I was fiercer, and I know I seem weak, but less than a month ago, I suffered a dozen broken bones, and my internal injuries were enough to kill me.The doctors say I have healed at an astonishing rate.I’ve thought all along it was Adrik’s blood that gave me back my health.’’Tasya looked at Zorana.‘‘I haven’t shared blood with Rurik, but if I could be a better warrior for it, and help with the battle.I would.’’‘‘I haven’t shared blood with Konstantine, either.’’ The tension Zorana had borne since suffering that horrible vision relaxed, and she took her first full breath in almost two years.‘‘But now I intend to.Of course, for me, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.’’‘‘What drawbacks could there be, Mama?’’ Tasya opened the bottle of wine and filled their glasses.Ann was the most clear-thinking of the girls, and she answered promptly.‘‘If we share the bond of blood with our husbands, we may share the same fate—if the pact isn’t broken and we are killed, we may be condemned to hell as demons.’’‘‘Pfft!’’ Tasya waved that argument away as minor.‘‘I choose hell over an eternity alone.’’‘‘Yes.’’ Zorana sat on the floor, settled Aleksandr in her lap, and let her daughters-in-law prepare her plate.‘‘I would rather burn with Konstantine than enjoy all the wonders of heaven.’’‘‘Me, too,’’ Karen said.‘‘And I,’’ Ann agreed.Zorana offered her hand, palm down, over the tablecloth.Ann’s hand covered hers.Tasya was next, and Karen finished it off.The women met one another’s eyes and nodded in unison.‘‘Our own pact,’’ Zorana said.‘‘A good pact, to fight the evil that every night creeps closer.’’‘‘Gramma.’’ Aleksandr tugged at her sleeve.‘‘Treasures!’’The women broke their handshake, lifted the wine-glasses, toasted one another, and drank.Then Ann handed Zorana the wooden box, and the girls leaned closer as she opened it.‘‘What are your treasures?’’ Karen hadn’t been in the family long enough to know.‘‘Mementos from my former life with my Gypsy tribe, and the only possessions I brought when I emigrated from the Ukraine.’’ First Zorana pulled out a ball of yarn.‘‘Here is the wool I spun as a girl.’’ She gave it to Aleksandr, who first rubbed it on his face, and then, like a basketball player, threw it in the basket.Tasya applauded.‘‘Two points!’’‘‘Yay!’’ Aleksandr lifted his little fists.‘‘This is the spindle I used to spin the yarn.’’ Zorana smiled as a memory sprang to life.‘‘It is also the spindle I used to stab Konstantine when he abducted me.’’Karen laughed.‘‘Really? You stabbed him?’’‘‘He deserved it.’’ Zorana handed it to Karen.‘‘I have no doubt about that,’’ Karen said fervently, and tested the point against her finger.‘‘Here’s my hat, part of the Gypsy outfit.’’ Zorana settled a colorfully embroidered cap on Aleksandr’s head.‘‘My grandmother made it for me.She was very wise.They told me that the first time she held me, a squalling newborn, she declared I had the Sight.’’Aleksandr took off the cap and stood, then walked across the tablecloth and placed it on Ann’s head.‘‘Pretty!’’ he said.‘‘Thank you, Aleksandr.’’ Ann posed for him.‘‘But those are simply tokens of my life.’’ Reverently, Zorana prepared to show her only true inheritance.‘‘Now I will show you the treasure.’’‘‘Treasure!’’ Aleksandr hurried back to Zorana’s side and leaned against her shoulder.Taking an unpretentious brown leather sack from the box, Zorana worked the straps loose and reverently let four stones fall onto the tablecloth before her.One was a chunk of turquoise, worn smooth with handling.One was a shiny, sharp, black slice of obsidian.One was a large, uncut red crystal.Last was a malformed white stone, flat and roughly cut into a small square.‘‘For a thousand years, this collection of stones has been given to the one seer who is born to every generation.’’‘‘If I were still a reporter,’’ Tasya told Karen, ‘‘I’d do a story about this.’’Zorana rubbed the turquoise with her thumb.‘‘This is a piece of the sky.’’ Next she touched the obsidian.‘‘This is a window into the night.’’Karen slid her fingertip across the stone’s edge.‘‘Ouch!’’ She pulled it back and examined her skin.‘‘It cut me!’’‘‘Obsidian is volcanic glass, and the edge can be as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel,’’ Ann told her.‘‘This is a frozen flame.’’ Zorana handed Karen the crimson stone.Karen held it to the light, and deep in its heart, the stone gleamed bloodred with hints of blue.She gasped in awe.‘‘Is that a ruby?’’‘‘The biggest I’ve ever seen,’’ Tasya said.Zorana cradled the white, malformed sliver of rock in the palm of her hand.‘‘This is the greatest of all.This is purity.’’‘‘What is it made of?’’ Karen asked [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]