My Path to Magic (45 page)

Mrs. Hemul slowly nodded.  "I see your point."

"I don't think that I'll sign it," the sergeant growled.  "So far, all this talk about the shield is your personal opinion.  As for the dark magic background around the town—maybe it's there, maybe it's not, I'm no expert, I won't lie.  The town has a NZAMIPS representative," he nodded at Clarence, "we have liquidated the phenomenon, the killer is found, the report is sent out; now we are waiting for the order.  What they say, we'll do.  Address your complaints to the coordinator."

Clarence was silent, although he clenched his jaw so hard that his cheeks became white.  I only shrugged melancholically: "Well, Mr. Axel is not suicidal and understands that if he loses the town after two warnings, the official investigation, and his subordinates' report, the
shackles of deliverance
will be a lucky escape.  The moon will be the only place for him to emigrate to."

"Who is going to tell him about this?" Claymore chuckled.

I kindly smiled to the sergeant.

"You, and you have already told him."

He didn't get it, and I explained: "You sent off your report to the authorities yesterday, didn't you?  Right when I was there.  Likely, you didn't count pages before putting them in an envelope."

"Right, but how..."

At that moment Max sent him a contented canine grin.  It wasn't difficult for the zombie-dog to jump into the window of the second floor, was it?

Sergeant Claymore quickly put two and two together.

"You fag!" the sergeant exclaimed.

I pretended that it was about my zombie.

"What does it mean?" Rispin got frightened.  "We're stuck here?"

"We'll see," the sergeant sullenly broke him off.

Mrs. Hemul hid a contented smile behind a cup—a white mage was not supposed to rejoice at other people's misfortune.

Luckily, I did not have to experience the anger of the combat mages on myself; that evening I left Mihandrov.  Without Lyuchik.  Mrs. Hemul tried to convince me fervently and at length that all would be well at the school from now on; Petros would be taken care of even if they didn't find Mrs. Kormalis.  For my brother, it would be very important to see a happy ending of the story and the triumph of justice.  I thought about it and backed off; after all, it wasn't such a joy to coddle a white youngster.  I was doubtful, though, regarding the triumph of justice.

I didn't take Lyuchik to the station.  My zombie-dog waited for me there under the supervision of Mrs. Parker.  What if the kids would want to cuddle him?  The lieutenant personally gave me a lift in the car that now moved without squeaks or squeals, but with a soft predatory murmur.  Gorchik and Rispin were in the back seat (surely they were going to the train station for vodka).  The sergeant apparently still hung on the phone, trying to catch his report before it would reach the desk of Senior Coordinator Axel.  Good luck to him!  I was interested in nobody and nothing anymore, except for the train and the departure horn.

My escort barely lifted my luggage onto the steps of the sleeper, Mrs. Parker waved, and the combat mages burst into indistinct cries and vigorous gestures.  Assholes...  After saluting everybody, I followed to my compartment, longingly poised for the conductor's usual show: "Please put your animal in a cage."  All conductors are terribly predictable: no matter how much you pay for the ticket, they still try to lock your dog in the baggage car.  Why would I buy the second ticket, if I intended to follow their advice?

The conductor rolled my suitcase into the compartment and broke into a saccharine, idiotic smile.  "Let's put your dog in a doggy house!"

I looked at him as if he were a birdbrain.  His face maintained a strange expression for a couple of seconds, and then he turned a bit pale.  "Excuse me, sir!  I beg your pardon!  The white usually travel with pets, and I decided that you were...

Oops!

The question of placing Max in the cage was no longer debated.

In the state of quiet madness, I locked myself in the compartment and started biting my nails.

What was going on?  People had started taking me for a white!  What a shame...  I was lucky that none of my friends witnessed that.  I would hardly ever come back to Mihandrov.

I must urgently undertake something to improve my image: the first thing in Redstone I would have a good fight with Quarters.  Also, I could catch Sam (if he wasn't in bed with the flu) and cram in feathers behind his collar.  Oh!  I could also piss on the steps of the police headquarters.  Will they identify me by a puddle of urine?

The platform and my escort left behind; Rustle gently tossed in my head, trying to figure out what I had been busy with in its absence.  My life was slowly getting back to normal.  In the suitcase I carried five kilos of dried fish and two dozen bags of wax paper with quite harmful ingredients: souvenirs from Mihandrov.

One more thing hid inside the suitcase: a letter from the deceased artisan.  The next day after the death of Fox, I received a mail with no return address, no note inside, but the sender's identity could not be doubted.  At the top of the weighty package there were yellowed newspaper clippings a decade old with reports of strange events (the mass death of bees, the disappearance of gerbils, the rabies of horses) and an article about a bank robbery committed with extreme cruelty.  Do you remember that story with the robbery in Mihandrov?  I wondered how they were going to slip away.  They weren't: two farmers shot their families and continued having fun in town, imitating the characters of a then recently acclaimed thriller.  The locations of the incidents from the clippings fell on the map along a straight line, accurately pointing to Mihandrov.  I do not know; maybe in his shoes, I would not stand it either.

Why did he not turn in his allegations to NZAMIPS?  Perhaps his habit of conspiracy let him down, or Fox, like myself, was confronted with incapacity of the local authorities.  And you know, I couldn't care less about his circumstances, especially because he did not want to discuss them with the investigators of the robbery.  I have never encountered a situation that could not be turned around in the direction a trained magician wanted.  From the perspective of the dark, the artisan just lost his battle again (once in Nintark, the second time in Mihandrov), and if anybody wants understanding and sympathy, go to an empath.

* * *

Gorchik looked at the departing train with a characteristic goat squint.  The dark magician was habitually outraged.  "He could have finished the job, that hack!  His zombie marked only six graves, and where can we find two more?"

"I wonder which group he belongs to?" Rispin was thoughtful.  "I had never met him before.  I would like to have a better look at his zombie..."

"No problem, we'll meet him in the office!  Axel must be happy this time."

Lieutenant Clarence decided to demonstrate his knowledge of the situation (he was tired of the boorish guests, treating him as a speechless vegetable).  "He's from Redstone."

Gorchik turned to him, surprised, as if a zucchini had started speaking.  "What does Redstone have to do with us?"

"He came from Redstone," the lieutenant explained patiently, already regretting that he had gotten into the conversation.

"What the hell did he do there?" Rispin wondered.

"I do not know," the white tried to look independent, "but his traveling document was issued by Redstone's division."

For some time they stayed silent.

"Why was he sent in?" Gorchik cautiously clarified.

"To study the work of educational institutions.  I'm not kidding!  It said so in his papers."

Lieutenant Clarence could not decipher the expression that showed up on the faces of the combat mages.

"Hmm," Rispin summed up, "we won't get our bonuses again."

"Why? 
Witch's baldness
has been cleaned out well!" Gorchik got angry, but his colleague looked askance at him with compassion, and the former was forced to face the truth.  "Well, at least the boss will not beat us this time."

Lieutenant Clarence tried to keep a straight face and vowed to himself never to deal with that nutty company again.  Let them do with each other what they wanted!

EPILOGUE

The monotonous rumble of wheels continued day and night—the transcontinental express barely made any stops.  The conductor was perfectly polite and attentive after realizing his mistake.  I flipped the pages of the deceased artisan's notebooks, which Fox did not want to leave to NZAMIPS for some reason, and I tried to sort out my feelings.

My soul was dull, as if something had been stolen from me, but I could not understand what exactly.  Amidst the pages of the notebooks, the last record in which was made twenty years ago, I discovered a large yellowed photograph.  The age-faded picture rescued images of people posing on the background of a strange pedestal.  A photographer must have captured the graduation moment of some educational institution: three teachers and eight students.  Fox, young and cheerful, in a light coat with a handkerchief in the upper pocket, sat first to the left of the teachers.  Behind the backs of those in the front row, a girl and boy were hugging; the boy's face was carefully painted out.  He wore a stylish black suit, and the girl looked vaguely familiar; the note on the reverse side read: Millicent MakKoran.  It was my mother.  Joe was not in the picture.

I couldn't ignore so many oddities.

I thought if the artisan had told me anything, I would have not believed a word from him.  But now I needed to know who my father was and how he died.  Why had mother run with me into the backwoods?  What was Uncle Gordon silent about, and what was that moronic book about, over which he was killed?

Outside the window rain transformed into wet snow—I was returning to Redstone.