✧ ✧ ✧

Now

"And what's that supposed to be?" Standing beside the university's cafeteria, I wrinkle my nose at a thumb drive in Ady's palm. My knuckles throb after I've hit Euklas, and I rub the back of my hand, wincing. Hurting someone hurts, damn it. And I wasn't even the one who broke Euklas's nose, I only gave him a black eye.

"Euklas says it's the proof." Ady shrugs, starting down the alley, toward the eastern part of the campus.

"The proof of what?"

"I don't know, Yara. Maybe if you and Mir weren't that impulsive, Euklas wouldn't have run off before he could explain."

I snort. "We found him once, we can do it again."

"No." He slips the thumb drive into his pocket and adjusts the front of his beige overcoat, obviously unnerved, when he catches two girls stealing glances at us from across the alley. "Apparently, even without your magic you still can make things...bloody. So we'll do it quietly from now on. A friend of mine lives in the dorm nearby, we can use his laptop to check the drive."

"Yara's right," Kadri says all of a sudden, stepping to walk between me and Ady. "Euklas used her situation for his own gain. He deserved more than a few punches."

I glance at Kadri, but she refuses to meet my eyes, staring straight ahead, and I can't say why she's so sympathetic to me after calling me a sinner less than half an hour ago. "Thank you, Kadri."

She doesn't reply.

We pass a couple of blocks and cross a miniature bridge over a gurgling stream running across the campus when another company of students gapes at us through a dusty window of the local library building. They whisper to each other, and Kadri clasps Ady's hand tighter as if scared that those whispers can push them two apart or--scared that she can want to push apart?

"Is there a charm or a magical sign to draw across the lawn to force people to stop staring?" she asks, sullen.

"Well, I know one magical sign." In response to Kadri's intrigued expression, I throw my head up to look at the window and demonstrate my middle finger to the gossiping company. Shocked, their faces scurry away.

A peal of giggling rushes past Kadri's lips, this pious girl keeps surprising me. Adélard only groans though.

"You're impossible, Yara," he says. "No one taught you the manners?"

"Saintly sinners, you grumble like a TV sitcom old grandma."

"And don't use foul words."

"Fuck me!"

Just as I expected, he shudders at the word, proving my peculiar suspicion. Ady has been raised to be a part of the so-called cream of the high society, from a young age being around respectable people who show nothing but respect themselves. But that's also the problem. Nobody taught him the fun of the world outside that golden cage.

"Are you intimidated by swear words?" I wiggle my eyebrow at Ady, teasing. "That's kakologophobia."

Kadri coughs, trying and failing to conceal her laughter. And, honestly, I want to think of anything right now, just not about Euklas, and Mir, and my missing bones. Even if it means pranking Ady a little.

"You just made that up," he scowls.

"No, I didn't. I read it somewhere a long time ago, but I'm good at remembering letters." Better than at remembering faces. "And you know what, I think I can help you. Let's start with something less foully to your ear? In Blakfait, I learned quite an exquisite language. Like sterva, which means a bitch."

The sun pouring its light onto us is blinding when we leave the park area behind, but that's not the reason why Adélard dips his head to bury his gaze into the ground underfoot or why Kadri keeps giggling.

"Here's another one. Pizda," I continue, tapping my finger against my lip, struggling to appear thoughtful and not amused. "You say it when you realize you screwed up. My personal favorite, though, is gondon, you use it when you're really pissed at someone. Literally, it means a condom, but metaphorically...well, you don't want to be called a condom, do you? Besides, I'm not sure it implies one yet in a wrapper or--"

"Someone's in a good mood," Ady finally cuts me off, realizing that that's the only way to gag my inspirational outburst. "Is it the sight of broken noses that makes you so giddy?"

I shrug. "Havoc and destruction in general."

"I'm not intimidated by the words, okay?" His shoulders sag when he scans the lane ahead of us as though looking for a distraction. "I just don't like them. When you speak in that manner, people think you're--"

"Frank?"

"Wayward."

That's not the answer I expected, yet it makes me wonder. "Why do you fret about people's opinions so much?"

Indecisiveness flickers across Adélard's face, melting into sadness when he seems to reflect on something he's not willing to share. "Because when people find us fickle, they turn their back on us, and when they turn their back on us...No offense, Yaroslava, but then we end up as you did. We can't survive alone."

✧ ✧ ✧

The university residential buildings look out of place amidst the rest of the quaint edifices looming behind us now, they're nothing but several new and unremarkable houses nestled between a park and a road.

Nobody pays attention when Adélard, kicking away the balloons left scattered on the porch after some party, strolls into the hall of one of the buildings, and up the stairs. Students bustle about, shouting and laughing, half-dressed, with their faces painted and their hair half-done.

"Is this a drama school dorm?" I ask rather myself than my companions. Every corner of the house screams of a stage went rogue. And I'm the one acting wayward?

"It's usually quieter here," Kadri shrugs.

When Ady knocks on a room's door at the far end of the second-floor hall, it swings open barely a second later. We find ourselves staring at a shirtless boy who stares back at us. Golden glitter covers his collarbones and shoulders, lines his lips and glints in the corners of his eyes. He looks like an ivory statue painted gold and stirred awake.

"Who are you?" the statue asks, perplexed, his black eyes sweeping over us, inspecting all three at once. "Never seen any of you before."

"Drop the act, Gyoku." Unimpressed, Adélard nudges him aside and walks into the room.

"This is Yaroslava," Kadri says, following Ady inside.

As if a stage lights flicked off, the mask of Gyoku's confusion dissolves, and his eyes finally focus, knowing. "Your witch?"

That same confusion knots my guts then at his tone for a moment. How many people are aware of my resurrection if Ady's friend doesn't even question my existence? And--is it a good thing or a bad thing they do not question it?

"I'm not a witch anymore," I snarl, striding past him.

The room is small, but a big window makes it look spacious, and two beds in the opposite corners divide it into two dimensions around each. The first one that is, as I presume, Gyoku's has stage costumes piled on his bed, a bunch of brushes and skin glitters on the desk. Another side of the room, though, is everything but--the perfect order of books on the shelf and boots lined along the wall suggest it's inhabited by a robot, not a human.

"Where's Ruslan?" Kadri asks, glancing at that flawless stack of books.

"Hell if I know." Gyoku closes the door, his attention still fixed on me.

I narrow my eyes at him. "What?"

"No darkness billowing around? No lighting overhead or dagger-murderous glare? Girl, you look normal!" His golden powder cascades off his shoulder, pooling around his feet, when Gyoku raises his hand to run his fingers through his unruly dark hair tumbling forward into his eyes. A golden snowfall, that's totally normal, right?

"Why, thank you."

"Can we use your laptop quickly?" Ady seats himself behind Gyoku's desk without waiting for permission.

"Quickly," Gyoku nods. "I have a dressed rehearsal in an hour. I'm playing that fae prince I told you about."

While Ady fetches the thumb drive and then browses through the files, I can't help observing Gyoku from the corner of my eye, struggling with this riddle. Gyoku's vibrant smile, his smooth motions as he rummages through his clothes, the slightest mischievous tilt of his head--all reek of performance. He breathes for showing off. Perhaps this is one of those times when, as they say, opposites attract? Otherwise, I can't imagine why someone as law-abiding as Adélard would choose a friend as wayward as Gyoku.

"Here," Adélard clicks on a video. "This is what Euklas was mumbling about when he said he had proof."

The screen is pitch black for a few seconds, then a wide street snaps into view, and I see a building, the lights in the windows are on, but drawn curtains prevent us from seeing anything inside. Music echoes around, and extravagant letters glow in the darkness above the entrance, Crown & Arrow. Then the picture blurs as the person holding the camera ducks into the bushes, sneaking toward the backyard and cursing at the twigs scratching around.

"That's Jasna's voice." Ady frowns, squinting. "What is she doing there?"

For a couple of minutes, we wait for Jasna to wade through the weeds, restlessly pointing her camera at one window after another. At last, she finds what she's been looking for--faint candlelight flicking in one of the windows on the first floor. "Here you are, sketchy clowns," she whispers, zooming in.

Euklas steps into the room with a girl, both dressed as if they've just left a ball, but the girl's the only one wearing a masquerade mask. Her hair is copper-red, just mine was, but it's unmistakably a wig--and a cheap one.

"Oh, my." Gyoku leans over Ady's shoulder to take a closer look. "Why didn't you say you brought a movie for grown-ups?"

"A wha--" Ady stalls off. Once the door is shut behind them, the girl pulls Euklas into the circle of her arms and pins him to the room's wall with her kiss.

"That's Vilta," Kadri says, her face clouding over. "The first girl who was found dead a few weeks ago. Nilam said she'd once asked him for a love potion to get her boyfriend back." Kadri swallows. "But Euklas isn't her boyfriend. Is he going to kill her?"

"So far, it looks like just the opposite." I shake my head.

In silence, we watch the two lovers' impossible dance as their bodies lace together and their kisses grow demanding. Then Euklas's hand skims down Vilta's back, unzipping her dress.

Jasna lets out a choked whoop when the gown slides off Vilta's body, revealing her naked body to us.

"Yep, totally the opposite."

The video is nothing but grasping at straws though. So, Jasna learned that Euklas knew me once, and followed him here, hoping he'd lead her to our supernatural serial killer? To Vlad. But instead, she saw this: a girl dressed up like a witch? Like me. Vilta's gown is black and her wig is red, that's how Nilam described me in Jasna's vision.

No, Jasna wasn't thinking about me when the killer found her--this video simply popped up in her mind. But why? Maybe she blackmailed Euklas with the record in an attempt to figure out more? But had Euklas known anything useful, he would have been dead long ago, too. Jasna realized it when it was too late--because her secret investigation had already attracted the demon's attention.

And when I confronted Euklas, he believed I was accusing him of Vilta's murder, and so he decided it would be better to admit his midnight adventures than to speak up for himself. Crazy.

Adélard clears his throat, blushing seeping into his very voice, as the next minute of the video starts with Euklas's clothes coming off. "I guess we should turn it off now."

"Why?" Gyoku asks, a naughty smirk playing in the corners of his gold-stained lips. "We haven't seen any proof of the murder yet."

"I thought this place was a masquerade tailoring establishment, not a--"

"A sex venue? Ady, nobody goes to tailoring establishments just for the tailoring these days."

"I do."

"You're a paradox, love."

Jasna titters behind the camera when the girl on the video tugs Euklas's pants off, and a second later, Euklas's exposed butt cheeks appear squashed against the window.

"I guess it can be called a masquerade," I shrug, "since Vilta's mask is still on, right?"

Gyoku howls with shameless laughter, and I can't restrain myself any longer, guffawing along with him.

Abashed, Adélard averts his eyes from the screen.

"Fine, Ady," Gyoku makes a teasing gesture, pretending to put an invisible mask on, "turn this naked masquerade off before--"

The door of the dorm's room swings open, sending a cool draft through the place. Kadri's satin scarf flashes at my eyes the instant she storms out, her feet stomping down the hall. She's grown quiet at some point, but now I realize I can't say when and why. Is she angry, or upset, or disgusted by the video? Both Gyoku and I stare after her, at a loss.

Ady sighs, closing the laptop. "Shit." That's quite a word for his unblemished mouth. He's definitely upset. "Yara, can you go talk to her?"

"Me?" I repeat in disbelief. But Adélard's expression is upset and grave serious, and it troubles me. "Why me? I'm not Polina, I can't give her a pep talk on sins and sex or whatever this is about."

"Trust me, it's a good thing you two are nothing alike." When I still refuse to move, Ady looks at Gyoku, a pleading in tawny his eyes.

"Oh! Right," Gyoku nods, theatrically vigorous, deducing something I clearly haven't yet. "Yaroslava, you go. I need Ady to help me put some glitter on my back since he's here anyway. And your perfume is different, too, you know?" He glides toward me, sniffing the air around me. "What is it? White flower? Jasmine?"

I roll my eyes. "Okay, I'll talk to Kadri."

✧ ✧ ✧

Padding along the hall, I yank the collar of my jacket up to my nose, smelling white flowers and jasmine. I borrowed one of Laverna's countless fragrances displayed on the sink at the apartment, picked a random one, but perhaps it was a bad idea? If I'm really so different from Polina that everyone sees me right through, then I can't even think about stealing her identity and running. And I'm not sure I have the guts for this anyway.

I'm about to walk downstairs to look for Kadri when I notice a boy in a warrior's costume persistently knocking on the dorm's bathroom door, sobbing resonating from behind it.

"What happened?" I ask as the warrior shifts from foot to foot, restless and vexed.

"You tell me what happened," he grumbles. "Is this girl there came with you? Tell her to get out, I need to pee!"

At his arrogant tone, something snaps inside me. I'll never be the one being told what to do again. I poke him in his paper armor, crumpling it. "Don't you hear she's crying? Visit your neighbors, the last thing she needs now is to see you pee."

"Can't she cry in the bushes outside?"

"Can't you pee in the bushes outside?"

The paper warrior sucks in a breath to bristle back, but I raise my hand balled in a fist, showing him my knuckles which are still red from hitting Euklas. "I'll smash your face just in time for the dressed rehearsal."

He hesitates for a second more but then turns to leave. "Sterva."

"Gondon."

Glancing around to make sure nobody else is in the hall, I rap my red knuckles on the door.

Listen.

Nobody answers me.

"Kadri? Are you alright?"

The sobbing ceases, but the door doesn't open. Of course, it doesn't, I scold myself. What a stupid thing to ask? She's weeping in there--obviously, she's not alright. Yet, I have no clue how to soothe Kadri. Usually, I used to be the one sobbing in dark corners, not the other way around.

"I'm not Polina," I try again.

Something rustles behind the door, and then it cracks ajar. Kadri peeks out, her eyes swollen. "I know you're not her," she says, and steps aside, letting me it.

At the sight of the bathroom, I groan with nausea. It is exactly what everyone expects a dorm's bathroom to be: a heap of dirty laundry on the floor and a terrible smell of urine. Thank Angels that at least there's nothing unflushed down the toilet.

Kadri drops onto the rug, propping her back against the bathtub and pulling her knees to her chin. She doesn't cry now, but her eyes still brimming with tears suggest the emotions overpowering her aren't gone yet.

Unable to find the right words, I simply sit on the floor beside her.

"Polina was my best friend," Kadri says without looking at me.

"Was?" I struggle not to stare at her and her shining tears. "You do know that Mir promised me only a year, don't you? Once I'm gone, Polina's consciousness will awaken."

Kadri nods.

Mulling over the facts that Laverna's told me, I remember that Polina grew up in an orphanage. What are the chances that it was the one funded by St. Daktalion's Angel Church Order where Kadri's mother is the High Priestess? It makes sense then for Kadri to spend time with the other children there. And that's why nobody is looking for Polina so far--how many friends an orphan can find outside the walls of the found home?

Laverna hasn't found many, since she lives under Mir's roof now.

"Twelve years ago, when I was five and Pol was six, we gave each other an oath," Kadri holds out her left hand, her palm up. There's a pinch of a scar on her porcelain skin, closer to the thumb.

Involuntarily, I look down at my own left palm and see an identical mark, so small I haven't even noticed it so far.

"We swore we would always be friends." A doleful smile tugs at Kadri's lips. "We would share everything, no secrets. And then Pol said...She said, may the one of us who breaks the oath die first. And whoever lives should come to the funeral with a bouquet of dried flowers as a symbol of the perished friendship."

"That's big." And creepy.

Kadri thinks for a moment, her expression going blank. "Yara, do you know that the High Priestess helps the girls from the Angelic Orphanage start a life? Kind of."

Did she just call her mother the High Priestess instead of Mom?

"No." I shake my head. "I don't. How?"

"You'll be surprised how many people want their sons to marry a religious, obedient girl who's never even kissed a boy before. Polina had a fiancé, too. Zoryan."

"A fiancé? But--" It doesn't fit. If Polina had a fiancé, some boy whose parents chose a spiritual girl who's never even kissed a boy before, then Laverna lied. Polina has never dated anyone else. She's never dated Mir.

Kadri sniffs, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. "But?"

"Nothing. It doesn't matter." For now. "What about Zoryan?"

"At Zoryan's birthday party, Pol argued with him over her gift to him or something, and left early, without me. Zoryan was angry then and...I don't know why we ended up alone in that room and..." Tears begin streaming down her face again, her breath hitching. "And he told me if Polina had left, then I'd be his gift for the night. He never stopped, Yara. Even when I told him not to touch me."

My heart sinks. The moment that breaks a person.