Pure (Book 1, Pure Series) Read online

  "I really think you'll be fine," Aleksandr said, "But if you start to feel ill, you can give me a call. Do you have something I can write with?"

  I quickly found him pen and paper, and he gave me his number.

  "That's my cell phone," he said. "Galina doesn't know about it."

  I had to smile. "Who knew that forest spirits had cell phones?"

  Aleksandr grinned at me and left.

  I hurried up to my room and closed the door. I was glad that I hadn't run into Odette on the way. I wasn't in the mood to engage in small talk.

  I sat down on my bed. As far as I could see, things were steadily getting worse. I had only just found out that I had to find the clear fire, and now the one person who could help me find it and use it – Galina – had turned out to be someone I couldn't trust. I thought back to the moment in the tunnels when my candle had gone out, and a shudder ran through me.

  I reached for my pillow and wrapped my arms around it. I closed my eyes and willed myself to be calm.

  After a little while, I heard someone come into the house. I figured it was GM, and I hurried down to see her. I was feeling a bit calmer, and I thought maybe she would have some good news. Maybe the police believed her.

  I found GM in the kitchen, and as it turned out, the police had not believed her. I also found a note from Odette on the refrigerator that I hadn't noticed before. In the note, she said she was going out and would not be back till later. This gave GM an opportunity to rant about the police without having to worry about what Odette would think. Then she made some alosa tea from Odette's box. It turned out the tea in her smashed box was chamomile – she hadn't noticed what she was picking up in her anger.

  "You should have some tea with me, Solnyshko," GM said. "This has been a trying day for you also."

  After drinking my tea, I went back up to my room. I was feeling warmed both by the tea and GM. GM was definitely fired up, and that made me feel less alone. I knew that GM was on my side no matter how many monsters might come after me.

  I was tired, though, and I needed to think. I had to find the clear fire, and Aleksandr had said he believed it was in the stone ring in the Pure Woods. But I had been in the stone ring, and I hadn't seen anything there at all.

  I decided to close my eyes and let my mind drift. Galina had said that my mother eventually developed the ability to call the clear fire to her at will. I doubted I could do that. But maybe I could still feel something, even if I was not in the stone ring.

  I sat on my bed and just let my mind flow where it would until lunch. Then I went downstairs and ate with GM. I hadn't come up with anything, but the meditation – if that was the right word – had helped me to feel steadily calmer and more confident. I was beginning to feel that the answer was already there in my own mind – if only I could get to it.

  After lunch, I returned to my room and continued my search within. At one point, I felt the spark ignite within me that I had felt back in the stone ring – but it was only for a moment, and then it went out again. It wasn't much, but I was encouraged by it. I felt like I was on the right path.

  I was in a good frame of mind hours later when I came down for dinner. I had thought Odette might be back in time for the evening meal, and I was looking forward to seeing her. GM was, too. She told me she had made the lamb because she knew it was one of Odette's favorites from when she was a girl. But Odette did not show up.

  After dinner, GM and I went for a walk. I was done with my meditations and soul-searching for the day. I was also out of ideas. I had to hope that something would come to me in the morning. Maybe Aleksandr would come with me to the Pure Woods, and I could try to get the inner spark I'd felt to return to me there.

  And then there was William. I missed him more with every passing hour, and I had no way of finding out what had happened to him. I thought back to what Galina had said – about my mother's first visions being about my father. I felt a strange fluttering in my stomach as I thought about it. I wondered what such a thing could mean.

  "Are you all right, Solnyshko?" GM asked.

  I blinked, startled out of my reverie. "What was that, GM?"

  "I asked if you were all right. You had a funny expression on your face. I would almost call it dreamy."

  I felt a blush rising to my cheeks. "I was just thinking. Things have been so strange lately."

  "Don't worry, Solnyshko," GM said. "I will take care of this situation. So what if the police won't listen? Who needs them? I certainly don't. I will take care of this madman all on my own."

  The sun had set while we were out on our walk, and we returned home by streetlight.

  Shortly after we got back, Odette came in, her arms laden with bags. Her hair had been trimmed and styled, and she smelled like strawberries. She swirled into the kitchen where GM and I were sitting and dropped her bags onto the table and herself into a chair.

  She smiled at us over her purchases.

  "How are you this evening, Odette?" GM asked.

  "Tired but happy," Odette sighed. "I spent the whole day shopping, getting my hair done – my nails."

  She turned to me. "They have sprung the surprise. The Mstislav ball is tomorrow night. Are you sure you won't come with me?"

  Once again Gleb's bloated face rose in my mind, and I had to fight off a shudder. "No, thank you, Odette. I don't think I'm really up to it."

  "If you're worried about a dress, I bought several of them weeks ago. I told you I have one you could wear."

  "Oh, no, really – I just couldn't."

  I caught GM's eye. I could tell she agreed with me.

  I looked over all of Odette's bags. "If you have a dress already, what did you buy?"

  Odette laughed. "There's more to your look than a dress. You need makeup, jewelry, shoes, an evening bag, a wrap. And sometimes you need to bring home a few options so you can decided on just the right ones."

  Odette looked over her bags and sighed again. "I guess if you aren't going with me, then I'll have to take Aleksandr – I can hardly go alone. At the very least you'll have to help me make the final decisions on my outfit."

  "Sure, I can do that."

  Odette's face suddenly lit up. "Oh! And the most exciting news is that the Mstislav private jet landed at their airfield late last night. The Mstislav family must be in residence now."

  I felt a flash of panic run through me. Galina and Aleksandr had warned us back in Elspeth's Grove that they feared Gleb had used his plane to come to the U.S. Now, that same plane had returned to Russia. I had a terrible feeling that Gleb was back in Krov.

  I glanced over at GM. I could tell by her expression that she had come to the same conclusion.

  Odette seemed to be unaware of the effect her words had had on GM and me. "Would you like to see what I bought?"

  "Of course, dear," GM said politely. "But first, I made lamb for dinner tonight. Would you like me to heat some up for you?"

  Odette waved a hand. "You are kind, Annushka, but I stopped for dinner on the way home." She pulled a bag toward her. "Now, wait till you see these earrings."

  I stayed with GM and Odette the rest of the evening, and Odette's cheerful chattering helped to take the edge off my fears – but I was uneasy all the same, and I felt my stomach tying itself into knots.

  When I finally decided to go up to bed, GM stopped me and gave me a hug.

  "It will be okay, Solnyshko," she whispered in my ear.

  Clearly, she could tell I was worried.

  I got ready for bed, but lay awake for a very long time. I heard Odette and GM both come up for bed after a little while, and I heard the house settle into silence. But sleep still eluded me.

  Gleb Mstislav had returned and would be after me soon – if not this very night – and I still had to find the clear fire.

  I tried to turn my concentration inward and find the spark within me again, but all I managed to do was make my stomach hurt.

  Find the clear fire, find the clear fire, find the clear fire, I
told myself.

  As the night wore on, I began to feel feverish, and I thought longingly of my mother – if only she were here to help me.

  I wished I could just go down the hall to my parents' room like I did when I was small and tell my parents that I was scared. And then I could just ask my mother where the clear fire was.

  I smiled to myself as I pictured her – she would probably tell me, as she always did, that it was behind the great gate at Kiev.

  Something clicked in my mind, and I sat up. A rush of excitement ran through me. I knew exactly where the clear fire was.

  Behind the great gate at Kiev.

  Chapter 17.

  After changing my clothes, I slipped out of the house and ran through the darkness toward the Pure Woods. I was nearly frantic to get to the stone ring. I ran past the shops, and the Mstislav mansion with its banners and spotlights. I ran on past the fields.

  The night air was pleasantly cold on my too-warm skin.

  I ran until my breath was ragged and my sides were sore. Then I was forced to walk, and I cursed my own exhaustion. I began to fear that I would never reach the stone ring, and that something horrible would detach itself from the darkness and overtake me. The air around me seemed to be full of grotesque shapes, and every sound I heard made me jump.

  As I continued on past empty, featureless fields that seemed to last forever, my feet began to hurt. Just when I thought I couldn't go on any longer, I saw the large, rambling shape of the monastery silhouetted against the moon. Beyond it, the Pure Woods reached its ghostly white arms to the sky.

  I got out the flashlight of GM's that I had brought with me and plunged into the Woods. The flashlight's powerful beam illuminated the forest floor for me, and I was able to make quick progress. I silently thanked GM for picking out good equipment.

  When the flashlight's beam lit up the stone ring, my heart began to beat faster. I stepped into the ring. Then I switched off the flashlight and put it away. I closed my eyes.

  I took a deep breath. I knew I was right.

  I had to be right.

  I turned my attention inward and searched for the spark. At the same time, I began to sing the melody from The Great Gate at Kiev – it was the same theme that ran throughout Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, tying the entire piece together. The melody was strong and beautiful, and I knew now that there was a reason my mother had worked so hard to get me to remember it.

  She knew that someday I would need it.

  As I continued to sing, I concentrated harder, delving deeper within. I felt the spark I was searching for ignite within me. I caught the spark and held it with my mind, willing it to grow brighter. And grow brighter it did.

  I felt a fire erupt within me.

  My eyes flew open.

  There in front of me, hanging in the air, was a sphere of red and gold. I caught my breath – it was a strange and impossible thing. Clear, yet somehow opaque, the sphere shone with a light was brighter than any I had ever seen, yet my eyes were not dazzled – I could look at it comfortably. The air around the sphere seemed to resonate with a sound I couldn't hear but could only feel.

  I had found the clear fire.

  There was a gasp behind me, and I turned, no longer afraid of what might be in the night. The clear fire gave me a deep calm unlike any I had ever experienced.

  The sphere illuminated the area around me, and a tall form stepped into the ring. I saw the face I had most hoped to see in all the world.

  William was standing before me, his face alight with wonder – it was the same image I had seen in my last vision.

  Following an instinct I didn't quite understand, I placed my hand under the clear fire and willed it to rise up into the air.

  William watched the sphere fly up a few feet and come to a stop over our heads, bathing us both in red-and-gold light.

  Then he looked back down at me.

  I don't know which one of us moved first, but within moments, William's arms were around me, and mine were around him. Where his fingers touched, I could feel a tingle run through me.

  I could hardly believe that he was safe. I held him tighter to make sure that he was real.

  "You're alive," I whispered.

  "I'm hard to get rid of," William replied.

  I blinked in surprise and looked up at him. "You speak Russian."

  "So do you."

  I was puzzled, but it wasn't important. What mattered was the fact that he was here.

  "What happened back at the house?" I asked. "How did you get away from that horrible creature?"

  "We fought, and he got away," William said. "But I stopped him from chasing after you and your grandmother. What are you doing here? Don't you know this is the last place you should be? Gleb has returned to Krov, and I’m here hunting him. You have to get out of this country right now."

  "I came here to find this." I pointed up at the clear fire. "Though I had no idea until this morning that such a thing even existed."

  William stared up at the glowing sphere. "What is it?"

  "Oh, William," said a new voice. "Do you really not know?"

  William and I both turned. A man was standing a few feet from us, just outside the stone ring. He had chin-length hair and a trim beard and strangely old-fashioned, almost medieval clothes. There was a hint of amusement in his clear, light-colored eyes.

  William quickly moved in front of me. "You stay away from her."

  "The little one is safe," the man said lightly.

  "Get out of here," William snarled.

  "As I said, the little one is safe. We have not had much success feeding on your kind. Or in turning them either – though as you well know, there are exceptions."

  William turned to me, startled. "My kind?"

  "Yes, William," the man said patiently. "She is part Sídh. Your senses are not as keen as they should be – otherwise you would have detected that fact yourself. That's what you get for not feeding properly."

  William looked at me as if I had betrayed him. I was at a loss to understand his expression.

  "You must not blame her," the man said. "From what I understand she didn't know herself, until recently."

  I felt a little stab of panic run through me. The idea that this strange, light-eyed man had heard news about me was not a pleasant one.

  "You know about me?" I asked.

  "Yes, Katie Wickliff, we know you are the Little Sun. New travels swiftly in the supernatural community."

  The look on William's fact changed to shock. "Katie's the Little Sun?"

  A tiny smile curved the man's lips. "Such a pity. Not either one, yet you could be stronger and sharper than both if you chose. Please try to think, William. Why do you imagine that Gleb Mstislav has been tracking her?"

  The lines in William's face hardened.

  "Who are you?" I asked the strange man before us.

  The man gave me a stately nod. "My friends know me as Innokenti."

  Following an instinct that left me feeling uneasy, I asked him another question. "What are you?"

  "I am a vampire," he said simply.

  Fear lanced through me. "Really?"

  Innokenti smiled broadly so that I could see his very sharp teeth.

  He was indeed a vampire.

  "Don't look so shocked," Innokenti said in amusement. "We have lived in these woods since long before you were born." He titled his head to the side. "I think you may not quite understand us. Ultimately, we are beneficial. Your friend William here is a vampire, too. Well, he is after a fashion. His situation is rather complex."

  I looked up at William. "Is this true?" I felt a chill slither down my spine. "Are you a vampire?"

  William's face seemed set in stone. He didn't answer me.

  I turned back to Innokenti. "Why are you here?"

  He glanced up at the clear fire. "I was attracted by the bright light, and I had to see what it was. Speaking of bright light, would you mind dimming that thing? It hurts my eyes."

 
I didn't know how to do what he asked, and I stared at him in a way that I hoped looked defiant. I had heard that the clear fire wasn't harmful to vampires, but I'd also heard that they didn't like it and could be driven away by it. It seemed to me the only defense I had against him. I didn't want him to see that I didn't know what I was doing.

  "Very well," Innokenti said. "If it makes you feel safer, leave it on. But I can assure you that you have nothing to fear from me or others of my kind. On the contrary, I am very pleased that you have made your discovery. A kost, when he is unleashed, will make no distinction between the supernatural and the mundane. He preys just as freely on vampires as he does on more fragile humans."

  Innokenti turned his attention to William. "You see? This all works to the good. You need not look so miserable. Our Little Sun here has found what is known as the 'clear fire.' You may have heard of it, but you haven't seen it before, I am sure. I have seen it, and I know what it can do. Katie's purpose is the same as yours, William. The two of you should work together."

  I seized on his words. I still didn't want the vampire to know how little I understood about the clear fire, but I felt it was worth questioning him.

  "Galina Golovnin," I said, before I lost my nerve.

  Innokenti raised his eyebrows.

  "Do you know her?" I asked.

  "Yes."

  I went on in a rush. "She said I can use the clear fire to separate the evil spirit from the body of the kost and stop it for good. Is that true?"

  Innokenti smiled. "Yes. There are two ways to stop it – one is open to you, the other to William. With the clear fire you can drive out the evil spirit, but you must make it glow with the fire of a thousand suns. That takes a great deal of power."

  Innokenti's eyes flicked to William for a moment, and then back to me. "As I said, the other method is open to William. He must wrestle the creature back into his grave. Gleb died and was buried and rose again as a kost. He must be forced back into the Mstislav crypt and then into his stone tomb – not an easy task, considering the kost's power. No human could do it, nor an ordinary vampire. In ancient days, we would have said it required the strength of a hero."