Witches Burn at Dawn ✔

45. Mir (Part II)

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Yaroslava halts, taking in the scene. Her eyes sweep over my bloody temple, my ruined clothes, my arm clutched clumsily to my side, and sympathy crumples her face.

For a beat, I almost let myself smile. Yara is here. When we're together, nothing bad ever happens to me, right? Then my smile shifts into a new sort of panic, when Tatya's prying eyes run over Yara's black outfit, confident posture, and hands balled into fists. When we're together, nothing bad ever happens to me, but what about her? What if Tatya recognizes her?

"My, my, a special girl indeed," Tatya says, arching a brow. "You have a type, Vlad. She dresses like my sister, wears makeup the way my sister did, and follows you blindly, just like Dimples. What's your name, girl?"

If Dimples is surprised to see her big sister alive, she is good at concealing it. "I'm Polina," she says flatly. I've never seen her so emotionally this guarded before. The enigmatic mask has always been my forte. "And I'm here for Vlad. Let him go."

Vlad, not Mir? She remembers. And you still came to rescue me, Fire Girl?

Tatya dismissively scoffs. "No can do, Polly. Do you know how many crimes this monster is due to pay for? You better leave, or you risk dying with him." She still holds the Soulwrecker in her palm, and beyond the tower columns, a hint of crimson begins spreading over the horizon. The dawn is near. The single hour of the month when the Soulwrecker can be shattered has arrived. Of course she scoffs. She has counted the timing perfectly.

Meeting Yara's gaze, I slowly nod at the stairs. Please, leave. The three of us form some sort of a circle, where I'm the one still on my knees. And I don't even bother to rise up. I know I look pathetic, beaten, vanquished. Good. Yara should see all the worst, she should be terrified, she should leave! If her memory is back, doesn't she remember who started the fire she burned in? Doesn't she see that a nuthouse longs for Tatya to check in? If Tatya can't recognize her, she will never stop hunting her little Dimples.

Yara doesn't understand it, or doesn't want to. Because instead of leaving, she pulls Nilam's gun from behind her back. "I wasn't asking," she says. "And I don't like it when others take what is mine, Tatya. Vlad is mine, so let him go. Please."

Alarm flashes in Tatya's eyes but then dies out as she scoffs again. She doesn't believe Yara--Polina--has the courage to pull the trigger.

I want to scream. A gun, Yara, really? Tatya is a ticking bomb: injure her, frighten her, enrage her--she crashes the Soulwrecker, and we're undone, not a breath of our existence. I realize I've never asked Nilam how it works. Will the flames eat us alive, along with our souls? Or we'll just drop dead and won't feel a thing? Or we'll feel everything, every cell of our bodies turning to ashes, with our souls shredded into hundreds of pieces, like a story ripped into a meaningless number of words?

I don't want Yaroslava's story over. Even if I have to die for it. Suddenly, this realization rouses another one. I have to die, not Yara. She has their mother's pendant and Tatya has the ring, both protecting each of the daughters. My soul is the only one at stake.

Still, there is more than one way to hurt a soul and torment a body. Fire Girl isn't afraid yet? I can change it. "Tatya, so I get to have a dying wish?"

Excitement sparks in her eyes. I've just accepted my fate, haven't I? Instantly forgetful about everything else, she turns to me. "Why not."

"Will you tell me who was next after Dimples was saved?"

Tatya thinks for a moment, her shoe tapping against the floor. "Vilta. She used a love potion to get back with the boy she'd been cheating on, so I made her rip her own heart out. Romantic, isn't it? She wanted to give her heart to that boy so desperately, and I helped her. Then, there was a boy, what was his name?.. Whatevs. He was a football player, failed his exams, and enchanted the teachers to let him stay in school so he could keep playing. He was dumb as a log, but creative. Honestly, I'm surprised he managed to chop his both legs off before bleeding to death."