sensed what I was thinking. She stroked my hand and said softly:

'Don't get upset. He couldn't go against his own nature. What could you have done? Except kill him . . .'

I nodded.

Of course, he couldn't have acted differently.

But I didn't want to admit that, even to myself.

The café door opened and in came Gesar, Zabulon, Edgar, Kostya . . . and Olga. From the lively way they were talking, it was clear that Olga was already up to speed.

'Edgar agreed to call in reinforcements . . .' Svetlana said in a low voice. 'That's bad news.'

The magicians walked across to our table and I saw them glance in passing at the 'compass'. Kostya went over to the counter and ordered a glass of red wine. The woman behind the counter smiled – either he had used a little bit of vampire charm, or she just liked the look of him. Hey, lady . . . don't smile at that young man who rouses your maternal, or maybe even womanly, feelings. He could give you a kiss that will leave you smiling forever . . .

'Kostya and the Inquisitor have searched every inch of the baggage rooms,' said Gesar. 'Not a trace.'

'And we've combed the entire station,' said Zabulon with a good-natured laugh. 'Six Others, all clearly not involved.'

'And an uninitiated little girl,' Olga added, smiling. 'Yes, I was the one who spotted her. She'll be taken care of.'

Zabulon smiled even more broadly – we had a real smiling competition going on here.

'I'm sorry, Great One. She is already being taken care of.'

In an ordinary situation that would only have been the beginning of the conversation.

'That's enough, Great Ones!' Edgar barked. 'We're not concerned with just one potential Other here. This is a question of our very survival!'

'That's right,' Zabulon agreed. 'Will you give me a hand, Boris Ignatievich?'

He and Gesar moved another table over to ours. Kostya brought some chairs – and there we were, all sitting together. Nothing out of the ordinary – like people going off on holiday or a business trip, passing time in the station café . . .

'Either he's not here or he can conceal himself from us,' said Svetlana. 'In any case, I'd like to ask permission to leave. Call me if I'm needed.'

'Your daughter's perfectly all right,' Zabulon growled. 'I give you my word.'

'We might need you here,' said Gesar, backing him up.

Svetlana sighed.

'Gesar, please, why not let Svetlana go?' I asked. 'You can see it's not Power we need right now.'

'Then what do we need?' Gesar asked curiously.

'Cunning and patience. You and Zabulon have plenty of cunning. And you can't expect patience from a worried mother.'

Gesar shook his head. He glanced at Olga and she gave a barely perceptible nod.

'Go to your daughter, Sveta,' said Gesar. 'You're right. If you're needed, I'll call you and put up a portal.'

'Okay, I'm off,' said Svetlana. She leaned over to me for a moment and kissed me on the cheek – then vanished into thin air. The portal was so tiny I didn't even see it.

The people in the café didn't even notice Svetlana disappear. We were invisible to them, they simply couldn't see us.

'She's really powerful,' said Zabulon. He reached out to pick up Kostya's half-empty glass and took a sip. 'Well, you know best, Gesar . . .What next, Mr Inquisitor?'

'We wait,' Edgar said curtly. 'He'll come for the book.'

'He or she,' Zabulon added. 'He or she . . .'

We didn't set up an operational headquarters. Just sat there in the café, ate a bit, drank a bit. Kostya ordered steak tartare – the counter lady was astonished, but she went running into the kitchen and a moment later a young man came out and dashed off to get the meat.

Gesar ordered a chicken Kiev. The rest of us made do with wine, beer and various small snacks like dried squid and pistachio nuts.

I sat there watching Kostya wolf down the almost raw meat, wondering about the behaviour of our unidentified criminal. 'Look for the motive!' had been Sherlock Holmes's advice. If we found the motive, we'd find the criminal. He had already become the most powerful Other in the world – or he could do at any moment. But if that wasn't his goal, what was it? Blackmail. That would be stupid. He couldn't impose his will on all the Watches and the Inquisition, he'd end up like Fuaran . . . Maybe the criminal wanted to set up his own,