“And what, precisely, is that?” the Queen asked, wrinkling her regal nose.
Bella grimaced. “I’m afraid that is all that remains of Brenna, Your Majesty. My Chudo-Yudo took the attack on me rather personally.”
There was a moment of silence as everyone present held their breath.
Then the King gave a loud laugh and said ruefully, “So would I if anyone dared to attack My beloved.”
He patted the Queen’s hand, and she smiled at him fondly before saying, “Ah well, I suppose it could not be helped.”
She made a gesture, and the ashes rose up out of their ignominious wrappings and swirled around like a miniature glittering tornado. When the air cleared, there was a silver statue of Brenna in the process of melting, metal flames captured in the act of immolating her.
“Let this be a reminder,” the Queen said in a soft but still menacing voice, “of what happens to those who would threaten Our Baba Yagas.”
THIRTY
THE QUEEN BECKONED to the Riders to approach her, and Bella and her sisters stepped back, grateful to have the Queen’s steely glance aimed at someone else for a bit.
The King and Queen exchanged looks filled with concern, and the Queen actually rose from her throne-like, bejeweled seat to give each Rider a kiss on the cheek. Alexei practically turned pink with pleasure at this unusual display of affection from the normally chilly and distant royal.
“We have been most concerned for your welfare,” the Queen said. “And We can see that Our apprehension was not without reason.” She put one slender hand on each Rider’s chest in turn, and if anything, her expression grew even more distressed.
“We are grateful to the Baba Yagas for rescuing you and bringing you safely home to Us, but sadly, We must tell you that while they were in time to save your lives, their efforts came too late to save your immortality.” She shook her head with regret. “We are sorry to say that you are now as mortal as any Human, and there is nothing We can do to change that.”
A few of the more sympathetic courtiers burst into tears at this pronouncement, but the Riders themselves barely reacted.
“I wish we could say we were surprised by this news, Your Majesty,” Gregori said. “But we had already come to such a conclusion ourselves. We only needed your ability to sense magical essence to confirm it.” The three Riders bowed again, Mikhail taking a little longer to straighten back up than the others. Bella could tell that he was still feeling guilty, but she didn’t have any idea what to do about it.
Barbara took one step forward. “Your Majesty,” she said, and then hesitated before going on. “Does this mean that they aren’t the Riders anymore?”
Bella’s heart squeezed, and it was all she could do not to start crying too.
“I am afraid that is true,” the Queen said, going back to sit next to her consort, who placed his hand gently over hers. “It is hard for Us to imagine a world without the Riders, but the Baba Yagas will just have to manage on their own from now on.”
“But what about Mikhail, Alexei, and Gregori?” Beka asked. The youngest and most softhearted of the three Babas, she had tears openly streaming down her cheeks and did nothing to try and conceal them. “What will happen to them now?”
The Queen straightened up, her diamond-tipped crown sparkling in the artificial sunlight. “They will stay in Our lands, here in the Otherworld, of course, for as long as they like. They will be tended to and cared for as they recover from their ordeal, as the beloved friends to Our kingdom that they are. They have served long and well and deserve a rest. Their every whim shall be indulged, and they shall lack for nothing as long as they are Our guests.”
The Riders exchanged glances among themselves, obviously in agreement about something as yet unsaid, and Gregori stepped forward to bow deeply to the Queen and King.
“Your Majesties are most gracious, as always, and we will happily and gratefully accept your generous invitation to stay here while we recover. It has indeed been a long and difficult time, and we are all tired and in need of healing.”
The Queen bent her head gracefully.
“But,” he went on, “we belong in the Human world, having spent most of our long lives there. And none of us would be comfortable sitting around and doing nothing; it is simply not in our nature. So when we are well again, we will return to the world and see who and what we are now.”
The Queen’s countenance showed her dismay, and even the King, normally the more accommodating of the two, looked tempted to put his royal foot down.
“But how will you cope?” he asked, almost plaintively. “You have been the Riders for thousands of years. Everything will be different now.”
“Not everything, Sire,” Gregori said, sounding as calm as if his entire existence hadn’t been turned on its head. “I will still have my wisdom, Alexei his strength, and Mikhail will still be absurdly charming. I assure you, we will learn to cope with our new limitations.” He gave them all a small smile. “Perhaps it will be a new adventure. Such things are good for the soul.”
The King turned to his consort. “My treasure? What think you of this plan?”
The Queen tapped a lacy fan against her chin, then swirled it outward in one graceful movement. “We are disappointed, of course,” she said. “But it is their choice. They will always be welcome here, should they change their minds. No matter what, We wish them well.” She shrugged. “After all, they have always been more than Human; perhaps they have gifts as yet untapped, even though they will no longer be immortal.”
“Your Majesty,” Barbara said. “I have a confession to make. And a question.”
One white eyebrow lifted. “Indeed, Baba Yaga? And what would that be?”
Barbara held out Bella’s now-empty silver flask. “When we rescued the Riders, their injuries were most grave. The initial dose of the Water of Life and Death we gave them was insufficient to heal them, so on my authority, we gave them a much larger quantity than would normally be used. And a small amount was given to a Human, the one who helped us to find and rescue the Riders from Brenna.”
“Under the circumstances,” the Queen said, “that seems quite reasonable. We would have done the same. No apologies are necessary.”
Bella bit her lip. She was pretty sure Barbara hadn’t been asking for forgiveness.
Barbara clearly considered saying something along those lines and thankfully thought the better of it. “Ah yes, Your Majesty. Thank you. But actually, I was concerned for the Riders.” She paused, obviously not knowing what to call them now, since that name was no longer theirs, and then forged on. “No one I know of has ever been given that large a measure of the Water of Life and Death. Will there be any side effects from their ingesting so much of such a powerful potion? They won’t go mad like Pyotr, will they?”
“Only time will tell,” the Queen said. “Even We do not know the answer to that question. Although I can say that since the Riders were never merely mortal to begin with, it is unlikely that madness will be an issue. What else might come of this, no one can know.”
Then, as was her habit, she dismissed what she could not control and returned her focus to what she could.
“Baba Yaga,” she said to Barbara. “You and Beka will go with all haste to fetch the journal of Mad Pyotr and all of Brenna’s magical supplies, including any of this potion she so misguidedly created. You will bring them back to Us, immediately if not sooner, so that We may see this book destroyed once and for all.” The “as it should have been in the first place” went unspoken, but the palace librarian turned very pale.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Barbara said, looking relieved not to be scolded (or worse), and she and Beka gave the Riders big hugs, bowed once more to the King and Queen, and hurried off. As they were leaving, Beka made the universal sign of a telephone with her pinkie and thumb and mouthed Call me at Bella before following in Barbara’s wake.
The now-former Riders were ushered away by the Queen’s healers, and finally only Bella and Jazz were left standing in front of the royal couple, Jazz still hovering uncertainly behind Bella as if trying to see everything while remaining more or less invisible.
The Queen sighed heavily. “We congratulate you on fulfilling the task We assigned you, Baba Yaga, although one might wish that the end results had been less heartrending. Still, at least the Riders were rescued and Brenna thwarted at last.”
Everyone stared at the new statue, and one unfortunate lady-in-waiting made the mistake of tittering loudly.
There was a puff of multicolored smoke.
“Darling, was that really necessary?” the King asked, gazing at the small, bewildered-looking lizard nestled amid a pile of pale pink silk, most of its crimson and orange body curled up in a high-heeled shoe.
“I expect it will wear off in a day or two,” the Queen said to him. “And you know how I hate being interrupted when I am speaking.”
She turned back to Bella and pointed her fan at Jazz, who suppressed a squeak. “Baba Yaga, were you going to introduce this interesting creature to Us, or were We supposed to guess her purpose here?” Thankfully, she sounded more amused than put out.
“I was just awaiting the proper moment, Your Majesties, since there were other more urgent matters to be dealt with first.”
The Queen nodded. “Quite right. But since those matters have been dealt with . . .”
Here went nothing. Bella tugged Jazz out to stand by her side. “Your Royal Highnesses, this is Jazz. She is a Human girl who I found living by her wits in the forest and took in for a time during the recent unpleasantness. She is clever and independent and quite talented. I took it upon myself to test her on some basic magic skills, and she is surprisingly good. I am convinced she has the potential to become a Baba Yaga in her own right.”
Jazz looked stunned at this introduction, but the Queen and King seemed intrigued, as Bella had hoped they would be.
“We have been saying that the Baba Yagas are spread too thin these days, have We not?” the Queen said to her consort. “What with the thoughtless tendency Humans have of upsetting the balance of nature. What think you?”
The King stroked his pointed black beard thoughtfully. “She is quite old to be starting training, Baba Yaga,” he said to Bella. “It is usual to start with a much younger child.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Bella said. “But I believe Jazz will learn fast and do well. And one advantage of starting with someone older is that, in theory, she could be ready to go out on her own much sooner.” She put one reassuring hand on Jazz’s shoulder, feeling the girl shaking. She smiled at the King. “At least she is an orphan, so that much is traditional.”
The Queen turned her piercing glance toward Jazz and gazed at her searchingly. Apparently she found whatever she was looking for, because she said, “Very well, child. Show Us an example of what you can do.”
“No pressure,” Jazz muttered under her breath. But Bella could feel her gather her focus as she was taught, and slowly a tiny illusion formed in the air, a miniature version of Koshka standing on his hind legs demanding food. Although small, it was a perfect replica, right down to the attitude.
The Queen’s mouth edged up ever so slightly, and she brought her hands together in brief applause. “Nicely done,” she said. “Although I would not do that one in front of the dragon, if I were you.” She bent down toward the girl, beckoning her closer.
“Is this what you truly want?” she asked Jazz. “It is not an easy life, to be a Baba Yaga, although it can be a long and rewarding one.”
Jazz lifted her chin. “More than anything, Your Majesty. Especially if it means I get to stay with Bella and Koshka. They’re the best people I ever met.”
Bella felt a flush of warmth, even though she knew that in Jazz’s life, that bar was set pretty low.
“I like her,” the King said decisively. And that was that. The Queen made most of the important decisions in the kingdom, but on the rare occasions her consort voiced an opinion, she always listened.
“Very well,” the Queen said, clearly ready to get back to watching her polo match now that the difficult issues had been dealt with. “You are officially Our newest Baba Yaga in training, under the reliable care of Bella. We shall expect regular reports on your progress.”
As Jazz returned to Bella’s side, her face lit up like it was Christmas morning, her birthday, and an unexpected snow day, all at once. The Queen added, “She will need a new name, of course.”
Jazz rolled her eyes and said under her breath, “I don’t think so. There are too many people around here whose names start with B already.”
THIRTY-ONE
WHEN BELLA AND Jazz ducked through the cupboard door that led back into the caravan, Jazz was struck by an unaccustomed feeling: she was home. Truly, honestly, home at last. She knew it would take a while before she stopped waking up each morning expecting disaster and rejection, but she was also convinced that no matter what happened, Bella would never toss her away or give up on her.
This realization was enough to stop her dead in the middle of the room, where she stood for a moment quietly hyperventilating until she could get a grip. The caravan was quiet; there was no sign of Sam, and Koshka was curled up on the bed, snoring quietly.
As Bella plopped down on the couch, the dragon-cat opened one eye and said, “Oh good. You’re not a bowl of fruit.”
“Not this week,” she agreed. “Also, the Queen agreed to let Jazz train to be a Baba Yaga.”
He opened the other eye. “The kid stays?”
“The kid stays.”
“Booyah,” he said. “Alexei owes me twenty bucks.” He stretched leisurely and oozed off the bed in typical cat fashion, then walked over to lean heavily against Jazz’s legs. “Welcome to the family, kid. You’re going to do just fine.”
She patted him on the head, trying not to act like some kind of snively wimp. “Yeah, it will be cool,” she said. “Probably.”
The dragon-cat snorted, clearly not fooled for a minute.
“Speaking of cool,” Bella said casually, “will you two be cool if I go find Sam? I should probably let him know how things turned out.”
“Uh-huh,” Koshka said. “You know it’s the middle of the night, right?”
Bella looked out the window where, in fact, it was completely dark except for a small glimmer from the lantern by the door. “Oh,” she said.
Jazz reached over to check her phone, which was sitting on the counter, and rolled her eyes. “Since when is nine o’clock the middle of the night?” she asked the cat. “I’ll bet Sam is still up.”
“I hate to run out on you when I just got back,” Bella said, her forehead creasing.
“Are you kidding?” Jazz said. “I get to live with a witch and a dragon and learn how to be a Baba Yaga. I’m great. Go do what you gotta do.” Then a thought hit her and she said, “Um, Bella? I’ll still get to stay with you if you and Sam get together, right?”
Bella got up from the couch and gave Jazz a big hug. “I don’t know if there is any possibility of that happening—Sam and I have some pretty big issues to overcome, and I don’t even know if he wants to get together. But rest assured, there is no way I am letting you go.
“Besides,” she added, “if I did, you’d probably turn into a juvenile delinquent. I’d hate to have that on my conscience.”
“That would really suck,” Jazz agreed. “For you, I mean. I think I would kind of enjoy being a juvenile delinquent. I’d get to hang out on street corners, spray graffiti on random buildings, and wear a leather jacket.”
“I’ll tell you what, Jazz,” Bella said. “How about you skip the first two and I promise to buy you a leather jacket.”
“And my own dirt bike?”
Bella grinned. “I guess you’l
l need one to keep up with me. Deal.”
“Cool,” Jazz said. “Now stop stalling and go talk to Sam.”
“We’re going to have to have a discussion about which one of us is the parent figure here,” Bella muttered. But she disappeared out the door anyway.
Jazz and Koshka stared at each other.
“What do you think the odds are that things will work out between them?” Jazz asked.
Koshka shrugged. “I only bet on sure things. Human emotions are way too uncertain.”
He gave a big, sharp-toothed yawn and walked over to the kitchen area. “By the way, the first duty of a Baba Yaga is to make sure that her Chudo-Yudo gets fed. We should probably start working on that part of your training right away.”
* * *
ALL THE WAY to the tower, Bella tried to figure out what on earth she was going to say to Sam. I really, really like you sounded completely lame, and honestly, not strong enough to encompass the way she couldn’t stop thinking of him, even in the midst of disaster, and woke up every morning from dreams in which he was heavily featured (and usually barely dressed).
I know that things between us are weird and I’m barely Human, but how do you feel about dating? didn’t come across any better, and she completely dismissed I think you’re the most gorgeous, kindest, sexiest, most wonderful man I’ve ever met out of hand.
By the time she parked the Enduro at the base of the tower, she was down to I’m so sorry I almost set you on fire, but hey, I’m a passionate woman and that can be a good thing or Screw it, I think I love you. She almost turned around and went home.
But before she could chicken out, the door to the tower opened and Sam stepped outside, bending down to peer at the ground below him.
“Is that you, Bella?”
She opened her mouth to greet him but was rendered speechless by the sight of his perfect body clad only in a pair of denim cutoff shorts that showed off his muscular biceps, taut abs, and strong legs. So instead, she just ran up the many stairs as fast as she could, driven by the need to have her arms around him as soon as almost-Humanly possible.
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