if anything were wrong. What did he expect to see, Baba Yaga herself, sitting in the pilot's seat and cackling madly, "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" Come to think of it, she had gotten the little dog, even if it wasn't theirs.
They flew from Rochester to Kennedy without a hitch. Not even the turbulence that had marred the transatlantic flight before. Katerina already knew the rules about seatbelts and when to stow luggage. "You're getting to be an old hand at this," he said.
"I hope I get to use the skill many times in the future," she replied.
Ivan thought about this for a moment. "You mean you want to come back?"
"Don't you think our children should know your parents as well as they know mine?"
"If they can," said Ivan. "I didn't know you'd want to."
"Not like this," said Katerina. "Not watching out for the Widow all the time. But yes, they should fly through the air."
Kennedy was its normal nightmarish self, probably the worst airport Ivan ever flew through. It wasn't as bad leaving as it was arriving, which is rather like saying tuberculosis doesn't kill you as fast as pneumonia. There was the normal chaos and tumult at the gate, and the six-mile walk down tubes and ramps before they got to the airplanes, which apparently parked in Sag Harbor. Through it all, Ivan and Katerina watched everyone and everything that happened; but Ivan knew that it was primarily his responsibility, since he was the more experienced flyer and would be more likely to know if something was wrong.
The maddening thing was that they had no idea what they were looking for. Baba Yaga herself? She could look like anybody, or make herself unnoticeable. Some sabotage to the plane? As if either of them could tell! A passenger or crew member under Baba Yaga's spell? Maybe they could detect that. Or maybe not. They certainly hadn't guessed about Ruthie, and Ivan knew her well. He did notice that she was acting strange - in retrospect, the picnic was an absurd idea even if nothing had been booby-trapped. But Ivan had made allowances for her because he felt guilty. With strangers, guilt wouldn't be clouding the issue.
Ivan had thought first class was nice on the plane from Rochester - roomy seats, a better variety of snacks. As they settled into their places on the international flight, everything was so cushy Ivan began to wonder if the flight attendant planned to sing them to sleep. There were bags for their shoes, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and all kinds of completely useless amenities, including strange aromatherapy soaps and lotions. Katerina looked at them with suspicion, but after opening each one she pronounced them safe. "Except that they all smell as bad as a skunk," she said. Apparently perfume would be a tough sell in Taina.
"Look," said Ivan. "You push a button, and a thing comes out for you to rest your feet on."
Katerina loved it. But then she grew serious. "Look at us," she said. "How alert are we being now?"
"She's still in Tantalus or Syracuse," said Ivan. "We've lost her."
"No," said Katerina. "It's not that easy. Not with her." She unfastened her seatbelt and started to sidle past him to the aisle.
"Where are you going?" asked Ivan.
"To walk through the plane," she said. "To see if I notice anything."
"I'll come with you."
"No," she said. "One of us stays here to guard our place. So she can't leave a curse for us here."
"Then I'll walk the plane," said Ivan. "I'm more likely to notice if something is wrong."
She agreed. Ivan got up and walked back into coach. People were still boarding, but the crowd was thinner - most people were in their seats. At the back, Ivan scanned the lavatories. He even thought of lifting the toilet lids, and then laughed at himself for such an absurd idea - and then had to go in and lift every last one of them, because once he had thought of it, he had to do it, in case it was Aware that had caused him to pick up on some subliminal clue. Naturally, the toilets were normal - stained with blue fluid, in rooms so tiny that you had to be a ballet dancer to turn around. There was nothing wrong with them that hadn't started at the design phase.
"Is something wrong?" asked the flight attendant behind him.