LITMIR.BIZ

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attire.

      «Hi, babe! May I join you?» the youth said, coming nearer than good manners permitted.

      «He is not a bad guy,» Marina thought, «but he had never been interested in her before. He had his own life, his own little whims, those of a typical golden boy. A real Pinocchio; rich, but a blockhead nonetheless. And what’s he doing here anyway?»

      «I came to relax. Went to the disco and here you are,» it was as if she had asked the last question aloud. «What a pleasant and unexpected encounter».

      «Yes, glad to see you. How are things?» Marina tried her best to be polite. «Have you been accepted to any schools?»

      «I’m going to be an economist. But let’s forget about business, it’d be better to talk about us,» Boris’ answer was disconcerting.

      «About us?» Belova’s eyebrows went up. What’s wrong with him? The speed at which he moved surprised her, but he was appealingly forthcoming at the same time. Why not flirt with him a bit? She is at a sea resort, there’s nothing serious about all this. Just holidating, there’s nothing wrong with that. Her thoughts seemed to belong to somebody else and they surprised her.

      «Well, let’s talk about us.»

      «You are so beautiful, smart and attractive», the guy started talking a mile a minute. «Why don’t we start dating?»

      No sooner had Marina responded than a third character of the play interrupted:

      «Hello, Marina. Do you remember me?» there he was Grisha Poryvayev, as large as life, by the bar. He had on quaker-blue jeans and a black T-shirt that accentuated his well-muscled body. His pitch-black frowzy hair was harnessed in a baseball cap. Tennis shoes and a complete absence of any jewelry emphasized the youth’s sporty look. He didn’t even have a wristwatch. Boris screwed up his face in revulsion when looking at Grisha.

      Marina and Grisha lived in the same apartment building, just different entrances. They had known each other since they were little. They were not exactly friends, but their relationship was close and warm. Something else was disturbing: what was it about this disco that drew everybody to it as bees to honey?

      «It is the best disco in town. I was sure I would find you here,» it seemed as if she kept talking aloud. Or is he able to read her mind?

      «It’s all very strange,» Marina thought, «but if Fate decided to rule this way why don’t the three of us keep having fun together? The party is in full swing, spirits are high. They are young; their whole lives are ahead of them. «This night will belong to us,» Marina decided, «we will put off answering questions until the morning.»

      «Shall we dance?» this suggestion was accepted with more enthusiasm than was warranted. They plunged into a foot-tapping rhythm and remained happy for a while.

      However, this mood didn’t last long. Trying to decide who would take the lady home, the young men had a serious quarrel. Marina vainly tried to make them listen to reason; neither wanted to give up. The quarrel threatened to turn into a fight. The girl didn’t expect to see what happened next.

      First complete silence fell. The spotlight, people’s silhouettes, even a moth that was flying by froze for some inexplicable reason. Only at the very far end of her consciousness did Marina notice a guy and a girl keenly observing what was going on. The time stoppage seemed to have no effect on them. They kept exchanging whispers and tried to call a minimum of attention to themselves. The young men were too busy with their quarrel to notice anything around.

      «Today is not your day, little angel,» Boris hissed, towering over Poryvayev, his eyes narrow, a fire raging within. «Give up and I won’t take your life.»

      «The time has not come yet for Heaven to fall and for me to get out of the way,» Grisha answered him accordingly. His powerfully built figure seemed to be charged by the surrounding energy.

      Could it be that she is asleep and seeing all this in her dream? However, then something extraordinarily weird occurred; although how much worse could it get?

      Suddenly Marina found herself on a rocky clint. Looking down, she was paralyzed with fear. The girl was standing on top of a cliff many kilometers high, at the base of which the endless sea was seething. No, not sea, but rather myriad weird and scary creatures fused into one shapeless mass. It was throbbing and causing an uprush of fear. Emitting on the horizon, the sea of creatures swelled up as a gigantic ugly sprout and started rising up into the air.

      An even more fantastic view was happening in the skies. A cloud of sparkles that proved to be consisting of angels and cherubims kept fusing and breaking apart in an attempt to form something meaningful. At last they have succeeded; Marina gasped. Covering the whole sky and obstructing the view of the clouds, glistening wings stretched; a huge sword held by a gigantic angel fell on the head of a terrible leviathan that jumped out from inside the pile of mutilated bodies.

      Shrieks, moans, screams, all merging in one grandiose outcry almost made Marina faint. The pain was intolerable. Still she had time to notice the two frozen silhouettes of her two admirers on a clint a bit above her. Their eyes were closed, either sweat or tears where streaming down their cheeks, in short they were wet as if after a heavy rain.

      Suddenly the apparition dissipated. The quiet came back but gave way to loud music. All of them are in the bar again; the idle audience is dancing around them. The young men were staring around.

      «Who cancelled my curse?» Borya shouted, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

      «Sorry for interrupting, but it is late and time to go home,» a short slim young man was standing in front of them. He had a black leather collar on. The studs on it were gleaming in tune with the lights in the hall.

      «Something’s fishy here,» Grisha said, breathing heavily.

      «That’s what I’d say,» Boris agreed and looked at Grisha very attentively. His eyes narrowed. He hissed: «Look, kid, don’t get on my nerves, or you’ll be sorry…» Marina could swear that she saw a forked tongue in Zimin’s mouth.

      «We haven’t decided yet who will take Marina home,» Poryvayev muttered. The quarrel that ended abruptly was going to start anew.

      «We are all going together to our place,» Kid stressed the word «together».

      «Where is this „our place“?» the blond young man sniffed in disdain.

      Marina coughed:

      «To my place. This guy is my aunt’s butler. I am staying with her.»

      «We’d better go, the ice cream is melting,» Kid smiled and they set off.

      ***

      «What a huge house,» Poryvayev rolled his eyes admiringly. «A whole medieval castle!»

      «Is this some kind of joke or do you really live in this museum?» Boris asked when they stopped at the openwork wrought iron gate.

      «Castle? Museum?» Puzzled, Marina studied the mansion. It was nothing but a typical two-storey building; there were lots of this kind in this little resort town. She turned round towards Kid and asked:

      «Maybe there’s something wrong with my eyes, but are we in the right place?»

      Kid hurried to calm her down:

      «It’s all right. It is our home. Welcome!»

      When Marina passed the gate, he looked at Marina’s companions, made a grimace, and teased them:

      «Castle! Museum! Scared the gal! She knows nothing!»

      Indeed, how could she, the most ordinary 16-year old girl, know that this house is older than the entire town, that it is five stories high, and that it does look like a knight’s castle? She could not see the gargoyles on the downspouts rapaciously bearing their teeth into darkness.

      A few

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