Haunted (20 page)

If the source was unknown, if Lily’s story is true, then would that mean that my power isn’t really from Viktor and the Brotherhood? Would that explain what’s been happening inside me?

I don’t know what to believe. But I know what I saw back at the Jewel Box. I know what we did.

“Mom,” I say. She pauses from her chest compressions. Ben’s eyes flutter, just a little. “I need you to help me. I need you to do what I say. Please. Just for a few seconds. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll go back to the CPR. But please. Please, Mom.”

I will be forever grateful that she doesn’t argue with me. Ethan doesn’t either, but I can see the quizzical look in his blue eyes. He wasn’t at the Jewel Box with us. He didn’t see what I did.

So I tell my mother what to do. She places her hands on top of mine as I press one palm to Tess’s forehead and the other to Ben’s. I visualize myself healing the cut on Ethan’s thumb, try to access the magic that allowed me to that—the magic I’ve been toying with since last fall.

Nothing.

“No.” I know I’ve spoken the word, but my voice is so soft, I don’t hear myself. It isn’t enough. Whatever I have isn’t enough for this. I need more.

“Don’t,” Ethan says sharply. I wonder if he’s read my mind. Or does he just know that there’s finally no other option?

I don’t raise my palms from Tess’s and Ben’s foreheads. My mother’s hands remain pressed over mine.

“Baba Yaga,” I say slowly and firmly. “If I promise to drink from your stream, will you help me?”

“No,” Ethan is saying. “No, Anne. No. You can’t. Don’t.”

But it’s already done. She stands over us, huge and imposing, her hands impossibly large in the sleeves of her coarse brown dress. Her iron teeth gleam as she grins at me. A red kerchief is wound around her head. Her skin is wrinkled and ancient.

“You really shouldn’t trust me, daughter.”

“I’m not your daughter. My mother’s right here. And I don’t trust you. But I don’t really have a choice anymore, do I?” My mom’s hands tighten over mine. My gaze is fixed on Baba Yaga, but out of the corner of my eye, I see Mom’s mouth move silently. I wish I had the time to tell her not to panic.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not.” Slowly, she slides her tongue over those horrible metal teeth like she’s shining them. Stares at me in a way that’s strange and familiar at the same time. Like there’s a link between us that I just need to understand. I try to pull the pieces of this crazy puzzle together before it’s too late.

More of Mrs. Benson’s raving story echoes in my head.
A secret beyond what even that Brotherhood of men could understand. They were destined for something that was yet to come. One of their own blood would betray them and use them, but even he wouldn’t really know the truth of who they were, of what they were.

“It’s not just Viktor’s bloodline is it?” I ask. “I’m connected to him, but it’s more than that, isn’t it? This has never been only about Anastasia, either, has it? That’s what I still don’t get. I dreamed about Anastasia. I dreamed her dreams. Her life. Her death. Saving her was supposed to be my destiny. But it’s always been more than that, hasn’t it?”

She cocks her head to the side and observes me. Next to me, I feel Ethan move. The witch’s reaction is lightning speed. She flicks out a finger from one of those enormous hands, and by the time I turn my head, she’s somehow blocked him.

“Don’t touch her,” he manages, and then clutches at his throat in silence. It’s like Baba Yaga has hit his mute button. My mother’s too. Her eyes are huge with fear, but there’s nothing I can do but just let her keep holding my hands until the witch and I are finished.

“Leave them out of it,” I tell her. “Haven’t enough people been hurt already?”

“Their silence pleases me, daughter, nothing more. As for your destiny, that will be up to you.”

“I never wanted all this.”

“Girl, you’ve already taken it.”

“Then let me give it back. Just help me save my friends, and I’ll give it back.”

I glance at Tess and Ben. Tess’s eyes are still closed, but I can see her chest flutter up and down slowly. Ben’s eyes twitch again, but his skin is gray. Whatever bargain I’m about to make, I need to do it now.

“Daughter Anne, this is no trifle.” Baba Yaga’s voice booms so loudly that my ears feel like I’m right in front of one of the giant speakers at a concert. She reaches out with one huge hand and touches her horribly wrinkled, brown finger to Lily’s shell-shaped ruby and pearl clip, still tangled in my hair. I’d forgotten it was even there. “No mermaid’s frippery. This power has been your destiny forever.” Her fingernail grazes my temple where the clip had scratched me while I was putting it back in my hair. My skin stings, and I feel blood start to ooze and trickle down the side of my face.

“Whatever.”

She smiles again. I really wish she’d stop it because each grin forces me to think about what those iron teeth can do. She stares at me, her eyes dark as night, a skull glowing inside each pupil. I start to shiver.

“Here’s what I did not expect, my girl,” she tells me. “I did not expect you to love him.”

She shifts her gaze to Ethan, still sitting in forced silence on the sand. “You—you I was more sure of. Oh, not that I didn’t meddle a little. When one wants a certain outcome, one must tinker a bit. But it does add another element to the story, does it not? You transferring over your power to this girl, leaving yourself helpless. Such wonderful heroics, Ethan. Viktor will be delighted when he hears. I will have to tell him when I return to the hut. Some days he listens to my stories. Others, he is less—well, less able. But eventually, he’ll hear. And I’m sure he’ll find it quite in character.”

“You know, all this rambling is great and all, but we don’t have much time left here. Are you going to bargain with me or not?” My mouth spits out the words while my brain busies itself digesting what she’s just said. Did she really know that Ethan would love me? Did she really think that I wouldn’t love him? “What is it exactly that you really want?”

Baba Yaga’s skull-eyed gaze burns into mine. “What I want is to undo the harm that has been done to me. What I want is to take back my rightful legacy. I am the Death Crone, girl. I have been weakened. I have been used. And I will take back what is mine. This is what I want—what I need. This is what your destiny leads you to. This and only this is the true source of your power. It is a story you do not yet know. But you will learn. You will do. You will listen. And in the end, more choices. But it’s choice that makes you strong. Oh, girl, what I have in store for you! Quite the adventure.”

“But what do you need me for? You’re the big bad witch. I’m just a girl. That’s what you keep saying. So what do you need from me? Whatever it is, just tell me. I said I’d drink, I’ll drink. But help me save my friends.” How can she talk about choice when it always feels like I don’t really have one?

“I am what I am, my girl,” Baba Yaga says. Above us, a seagull cries out. I risk a glance at the lake. Lily and her band of rusalkas are still lurking at the water’s edge.

“I cannot be otherwise.” Baba Yaga grins at me. “But I know this. It is you who doesn’t know. I have come to you. Now you must come to me. See what is really in my hut—what it really means to go to Baba Yaga’s. Not in a dream. Not to save a girl who is beyond saving. But for yourself. Like Vasilisa in the fairy tale. You will go on your own terms and return on your own terms. And then we will see what you truly want. If you are to take what I am about to give you, if you are to be worthy, then you must know. You must know the desires of others. If you cannot look into people’s hearts, then you will never know your own. Does it not concern you that I am surprised you might love this man?”

“What do you care about that? What are you saying? You’re a witch. What do you care whether or not I fall in love?”

Baba Yaga doesn’t respond. She just reaches out one enormous hand again and strokes it across my cheek. The blood from the cut she’s made on my temple has dripped there, and when she pulls back her ancient, wrinkled hand, some of my blood is on her fingertips. I shudder violently when she flicks out her tongue and licks her fingers clean, then rubs her tongue over her creepy iron teeth.

“You have offered. I accept.”

She presses one giant hand over mine and my mother’s. Our three hands are on Tess. Our three hands are on Ben. Her power courses through me from feet to scalp. My body thrums and vibrates with it. I see stars. My pulse pounds in my ears. Underneath my hand, Ben’s heart begins to beat firmly and steadily. His chest begins to rise and fall. I look down. He opens his eyes.

“Did I save Tess?” Ben coughs. I ease my hand off his chest. My mother and Baba Yaga do the same. Mom sucks in a loud breath—a heavy wheezing sound—but her voice is back.

Ben looks only at me. “God. I can’t think. My mind’s a mess. There was a woman in the water again. Like the one at the—I was swimming to Tess when she grabbed me. She kept saying that you don’t love me. Then she pulled me under the water. You know it’s really beautiful down there, Anne. You have no idea—”

“Anne.” Her voice is weaker than Ben’s, but it’s Tess. My Tess. “Anne,” she says again. She clears her throat, turns her head sideways, and spits out some water. We all remove our hands from her as well. Baba Yaga steps away. In less than a blink, she’s back in her mortar in the sky. But my attention stays on my best friend.

“Am I dead?”

I’m laughing then, on top of my tears. Classic Tess.

“No, really,” she rasps. “Am I? Because maybe you just don’t want to tell me. You know, because you’re my best friend and all. Maybe you—”

“Idiot.” I stroke my hand over her wet, tangled blond hair. “You’re alive. Do you think I’d let you die? Who would be here to annoy me?”

“You saved me? Where’s Ben?” She looks over at him. Ben reaches for her weakly. His hand pats her shoulder and then rests itself there. “Did you get hurt trying to save me, Ben?”

“Tess.” Ethan too has his voice back. “Tess. Oh, Anne. What have you—?”

Tess—because she’s still Tess—interrupts him. “Ethan!” She clutches at his arm. “You’re okay! Thank God. I was so worried. I didn’t know what was going to happen with all those mermaids, and you were acting drugged or something, and then…what did happen out there? Everything’s so fuzzy. I just can’t remember.”

“It’s okay, Tess,” I tell her. I stroke her matted hair. “It’s okay.” I lean over to wrap her in my arms. As I do, the cut on the side of my face—the one that Baba Yaga etched into my skin with her sharp nail—begins to drip blood. One drop falls onto Tess’s arm. Another falls onto the sand between her and Ben. The third drops onto Ben’s hand, still resting on Tess’s shoulder.

“Destiny has a mind of its own, girl!” Baba Yaga calls to me.

“No, Anne,” Ethan says. “Oh, no.”

The beach and the lake beyond it shimmer and flicker and disappear. Baba Yaga’s forest flashes into view just inches from us. Her three horsemen gallop through the trees. I recognize my mistake—and the truth behind it—too late to stop what begins. Ethan and I had been wrong. Our entrance ticket into the forest last fall had never been about the lacquer box. It was always about me. About my blood.

“Whoa,” says Ben. “Horses.” He reaches out and sticks his free hand into the forest.

And then, just like that, Ben, Tess, and Ethan are gone.

My mother starts to scream. The shock of what’s just happened careens into me, a runaway El train colliding full force with my heart.

“You made your choice, Anne.” Baba Yaga’s voice is everywhere. “You promised. And now you will have to act. In the end, girl, each of us is always alone. Didn’t you know?”

“Anne!” Mom’s voice is totally panicked. Suddenly, I can feel the enormous pain her heart, in her soul. I need to tell her something, anything.

But it’s all too late. I’m reaching out for her, calling her name, telling her it will be okay when Baba Yaga’s giant hands swoop down from the sky, grab me, and pull me up and into the mortar.

Ethan

My head slams against the ground in Baba Yaga’s forest hard enough to make me see double. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to quell the nausea rising in my throat. Something wet and rough flicks against my eyelids, followed by a puff of fetid breath. I open my eyes, then manage to sit up. Baba Yaga’s black cat, her koshka, watches me with his gold-flecked stare.

Behind me, someone groans. Ben sits slumped against a thick tree, rubbing his head. No more spell-induced giddiness—just confusion and fear mingling on his face.

“Ethan.” From the opposite direction, Tess stumbles toward me. She’s barefoot, as are Ben and I. Her blond hair is matted with blood on one side, and she’s sporting a cut over her left eye. “Where are we? What the hell just happened?”

I stick to the basics. No sense panicking anyone more than necessary. “Baba Yaga’s forest. Anne’s blood was the key. I guess it’s always been Anne’s blood, only we didn’t know it. Some dropped on each of you, then Ben put his hand in the forest, and—well, here we are.”

“We’re in a witch’s forest?” Ben looks at me as though I’ve gone insane. I have no idea how much he remembers of what’s just occurred.

Tess doesn’t comment. She just holds out a hand and hoists Ben off the ground. The koshka narrows his gold eyes to thin slits and draws his ears back. Around us, the forest feels close and heavy, so thick with trees and vines that only the barest trickle of sunlight slips through the heavy canopy of leaves and branches.

“It’ll be okay,” I say idiotically. My hand sinks momentarily into a slimy mass of dead leaves and dirt as I push myself up. “We’ll get out of here. We just need to—”

“To what, dude?” Ben snaps out of his shock. “Who are you, anyway? And where’s Anne?”

“She—she’s not with us?” Tess’s voice quavers, then steadies.

“I don’t think so. She wasn’t—we were all connected, all touching. But not Anne.” I sound more positive about the explanation than I really am.

Tess puts her hand to her mouth. “She saved me. I almost drowned back there, didn’t I? Anne saved me and now—it was all so fast. The rusalka dragged me under. Oh, my God. I really was dead, wasn’t I?”

“Yes.” I see no point in lying to her. “Yes, I think you were—mostly, anyway. Both of you, actually. Anne brought you back. She—” My heart sinks. Do I explain the bargain that Anne just made—do I even understand it? What we really need to do right now is figure out if we can get out of here.

“She what? What did she do?” Ben looks from Tess to me. His tone borders on dangerous, with a little crazy thrown in for good measure. “And where is she? If you did something to her—”

He lunges toward me, but the cat has other ideas. It swipes at his bare foot with one paw, razor-sharp claws drawing blood. Ben yelps in real pain. The cat flees before any of us can stop it. “Shit! Ow!” Blood drips from the long scratch on the top of Ben’s foot, and when he steps backward, he leaves a dripping trail of blood in the dead leaves. A few feet away, something stirs under the detritus. I see a flash of eyes, a thin, furry body. And I hear the skittering sound of small feet. The smell of dead things around us gets a little stronger.

“She made a bargain with the witch.” I say it slowly, as though it’s a matter of simple fact, but my pulse kicks in my veins and my heart tightens. “I don’t know exactly what Baba Yaga wants from her in return. But she—she helped Anne save you. It happened very fast. I had no idea that Anne was going to—”

“She did
what?
Are you kidding me?” Tess smacks a hand against her forehead. “Oh, Ethan. This is bad. Really bad. How could you let that happen? You came back to help her, and this is what you let happen? How could you? You have some magic left, Ethan. You could have done something. You could have—”

“I did what I could.” I place a hand gently on Tess’s shoulder, but she shakes it off. “I gave her everything left in me. That’s what brought both of you back from the rusalkas. I gave her all I had. But I didn’t think that she—” I stop. What else is there really to add?

“You mean we’re here in this place, and you don’t have any magic? Is that what you’re telling me?” She makes a sound that’s part laughing and part crying at the same time.

“Well, I—”

“Thank you for not letting me croak, I guess. But seriously, Ethan. We’re in big trouble, aren’t we?”

I believe we both understand the answer.

“We need to stop your foot from bleeding.” Cautiously, I approach Ben. The last thing we need right now is for him to—

His fist slams into my face harder than it had at the lake. “Son of a—”

He hits me again. This time, I punch him back. My fist plows into his solar plexus, and the force of it sends him stumbling backward. But he keeps his balance and runs at me again, barely deterred.

“Stop it!” Tess shoves herself between us. “Stop it. This isn’t getting us anywhere. And I think there’s something really creepy under those leaves.” She points to her right, and I see the small furry creature again—a rat of some sort?—its eyes glowing red, and its feet making a scuttling, scratching sound as it dives back under cover, kicking up a residue of dirt and what look like tiny bones as it goes.

“She’s my girlfriend,” Ben says. “Mine. Not yours. Get it, dude? Whatever all this is, wherever we are, when we get out of here, you need to stay away from her. Wherever the hell it is you came from and whatever the hell it is you think you want from her—well, forget it. She’s mine. I love her, and she loves me. I don’t care what happened before. You left. She started going out with me. Whatever you’ve done to make her head all crazy, you’re going to stop doing it. And you’re going to leave us alone.”

“That’s up to Anne, Ben. Not you. And I suggest you calm yourself down. We need to get moving. Anne’s going to end up here somehow. That much I’m sure of. Baba Yaga wouldn’t have it any other way. So we need to find her hut, and I think we need to do it before it gets any darker in here. We can talk about this later.”

This doesn’t make Ben any happier. He shoves himself nose to nose with me.

Tess yanks his soggy shirt and pulls him back. “Stop it, Ben. Ethan’s right. We don’t have time for this. And he’s right about the rest of it too. It’s not up to you. It’s up to Anne. And she’s not here.”

“She’s with
him
now? She was at my freakin’ house last night, Tess. Well, till something happened with her hand. It got all hot—shit, I don’t really know what happened. She was so upset. So what are you saying? She ran out of my place and went to him? Why?”

Ben looks back at me. I deem it safer to neither deny nor confirm.

“She can be with anyone she wants to, Ben. Like I said, it’s not up to you. Things happen. Deal with it.” Clearly, Tess doesn’t feel that saying nothing is the way to go.

“Are you serious? She wouldn’t—there is no way.”

Ben stalks off, but not far. We can’t see much beyond this small clearing and the shafts of light making it through the canopy of trees are dimming quickly. Night seems to be rapidly approaching—or something that’s mimicking night. The dark will only make things worse.

“Do you love her?” Tess whispers the question to me, but this doesn’t hide the intensity of her tone. “You better, you know. Because—”

I’m about to tell her that yes, of course, yes. I do. I love Anne Michaelson beyond all reason. I have no assurance that she loves me back, but I’m a patient man. I’m used to waiting a long time for things I believe in. I’ll wait as long as it takes. She is not someone I will ever give up on.

Only then I hear the all too familiar
whoosh
ing sound overhead. Thunder rumbles, followed by the crack of lightning hitting something not too far from us.

I look up. The canopy shifts in the wind, and through the opening, I catch a brief glimpse of Baba Yaga’s mortar. But the canopy moves again before I can see if anyone—Baba Yaga? Anne?—is in it.

“Hey!” The ground underneath Ben shifts. He stumbles but stays standing. The rat-like creature I’d seen earlier scurries from under the leaves and opens its mouth wider than should be possible for a rodent that small and slender. Its tongue—impossibly long and thin—flicks out toward Ben’s injured foot.

It’s the koshka that intervenes. The cat dashes from whatever dark corner he’s been hiding in, hisses at the rat creature, and bares his teeth. The rat freezes in mid-attack on Ben’s foot, then retreats into the leaves. Ben shudders.

“Gross.” Tess wrinkles her nose. “This place is seriously disgusting. But I think that cat likes you, Ben. That’s good, right?” She directs the last part to me.

I nod, remembering how Anastasia had thanked the cat when it helped us last fall. Even here—especially here—maybe certain manners still apply. I kneel carefully, holding my hand out, palm up. An offering. A gesture of submission. “
Spasiba
,” I say softly. “Thank you.” The cat stares, then blinks. Maybe it’s enough.

Ben gapes at me. “Are you talking to the damn cat? This is nuts. Attacking mermaids and crazy forests and what else? My girlfriend is some kind witch? Are you guys really saying that Anne has some sort of magical power? Shit. This is just a mass hallucination or something.”

Tess ignores his ranting. “So what now? I really don’t want to stick around here and wait for more creepy rat things to attack us. Eventually, the cat’s going to get bored, and then what? If Anne’s here, we need to find her. I’m not leaving without her. So that means finding the witch’s hut, doesn’t it?”

Ben rubs his arms with his hands. The air is getting colder. “You really think that’s where Anne is?” he asks. “Because whatever she is and whatever you are, if something’s happened to her—”

“She can handle herself. She’s really strong, Ben. I know this is all confusing, but trust me—no matter what else happens, Anne’s strong. We’ll find her. And then we’ll all find a way to get out of here.” Tess punctuates her series of pronouncements with a sharp nod.

“It’s getting darker,” I tell them. “At least it will make it easier to see the lights from Baba Yaga’s hut. That’s what we saw last time—the glow from the skulls on pikes around her hut. We didn’t know that’s what it was, but—the cat helped us. I know it all sounds crazy, but everything works by its own rules and time here. You have to just accept it. C’mon. Let’s see if we can do this. Tess is right. We can’t just keep standing here. We need to move.”

So we do. The three of us start our trek through the forest. For a while, Tess and Ben keep up a constant patter of conversation.

“She’s related to the Romanovs,” Tess tells Ben. “Really. Her mom doesn’t know—well, I guess she sort of knows now because of everything—but they are. And Ethan—it’s okay if I tell now, isn’t it, Ethan? I mean, since we’re all stuck here and everything? Ethan was a member of this Brotherhood thing. And he didn’t age for, like, decades, because of this magical spell thing that kept Anastasia—the real Anastasia Romanov—here in Baba Yaga’s. This guy Viktor—he was in the Brotherhood too, and he’s Anne’s great-great-grandfather—well, he found a way to trick everyone and stay immortal if only Anastasia remained in the hut. But Ethan kept trying to find her. And he needed Anne to help him. That was part of the magic. Anne was the one the Brotherhood been looking for. And Ethan found her, and then they used this magic lacquer box to get into the forest and rescue Anastasia, but she wanted to go back and die like she was supposed to, and—”

“Just stop,” Ben says. He pushes through a clump of small trees and low-lying prickly bushes. His foot has stopped bleeding, but there’s a fresh cut on his arm from pushing aside a branch of a strange-looking tree with sharp burrs along every piece of it. “I don’t want to know. I can’t know this. You guys are insane. That’s all this is. I’m in some kind of crazy nightmare, and you’re all here with me. If I can just wake up, I’ll be back in my room with Anne.”

Tess shrugs. “I’m just trying to help and—hey, Ethan.” She stops short, sweat running freely down her face, her hair tangled now with burrs and pieces of dead twigs. The light is almost gone, but I can still see the real fear in her face. “Viktor. What about Viktor? He’s here, right? I mean, isn’t that what’s messing with mermaid Lily’s head? That Viktor’s here, and she wants Anne to get him out so she can kill him or something? But is he really here?”

I push another low-lying branch out of our way and wince as I step on something that feels like gravel and crushed bone.

“I think so. If she was still compelled to protect a Romanov, then she’s been protecting him. Except I don’t think it’s gone very well.”

“But he’s not immortal anymore, is he? Like you’re not?”

“No.”

“So if Anne does choose—or is forced—to let him out, he can die.” She makes it a statement rather than another question.

“Yes. He can die. We both can. The rusalka could have her vengeance, if that’s what she really wants. And Baba Yaga—well, I don’t know that part. I guess I’ve never known that part. That’s the problem. Everything I thought was true isn’t necessarily the way I understood it. But I’m thinking that’s the case for Viktor too. He would never have gone into this without thinking he could control it somehow. So if he really can’t…” The thought is unfinished.

We’re not making much progress. The light is growing even dimmer, and it’s still thundering in the distance. The cat—the koshka—has long since disappeared. I try not to think about what will happen to us if we don’t find Baba Yaga’s hut.

Eventually, Tess speaks again. “Why
do
you think Viktor offered himself to Baba Yaga? To make up for what he’d done? I mean, in theory, he’s stuck there forever, isn’t he? Do you think he knew that when he sacrificed himself?”

I ponder this. Hell, I’ve been pondering it for months now. I think back to the skeletal figure that I saw in the cemetery just a few hours ago—about what he told me.
But that’s the thing about sacrifice, isn’t it? You don’t really get to control how it all turns out. You have what I wanted, and I’ve got this, and if there’s a way to fix things—well, I haven’t quite stumbled on it yet. Not that I haven’t been trying.