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The water stops.

But this time, she and her ghastly truck are both gone.

22

The pink truck.

The Prada duffle.

Monster Truck Barbie and all her matching accessories, gone with a snap of her fingers.

“You’re saying she was here, on my family farm?” Kristiana looks like her head might explode.

“She did the same thing to me,” Mirdza says. “She was here, talking, and then she was just gone.”

Kris is pacing. “I hate her. Why can’t she tell us enough? What’s with this cryptic garbage? Is she on our side or not?”

“I think she’s on humanity’s side,” I say. “It was like she was trying to explain something basic to me with the water analogy.”

“What did she say exactly?” Alexei asks.

“She asked me if I had heard of the Time of Troubles.” I start pacing, too, like a horse kept too long in her stall. If we’re not careful, we may wear Kristiana’s kitchen tile down to the wooden framework underneath. “I said I had. And then she said that she helped the Romanovs take over. She said she flipped more valves, splitting the power from the main one into five pieces so that no one person could control it all.”

“No one person can control it all,” Kris says. “But Leonid can use fire and electricity.”

“She did say something else at the end. She said it all comes from the same place.” I think about the last thing she said. “Right before she disappeared, she said, ‘I thought Riurik’s line was gone. That’s why I did it.’ It was almost like she was saying his line wasn’t gone. Leonid says he’s the real heir, right?”

“Maybe he is,” Alexei says. “Does that mean—” He stands up. “But you said you saw Boris using electricity, right?”

I nod slowly.

“It comes from the same place.” Alexei’s pacing now too, and I’m worried he’ll slam into Kristiana or me.

“The very last thing she said was something about the water coming from the same main.” I shake my head. “But if that’s true, then why can Boris and Leonid both use it?”

“You can split it off with valves, but if you split it, the flow strength can go down,” Mirdza says. “Maybe it’s something like that.”

“I hate this,” Kris says. “Why can’t she just be clear?” She hops over the back of the living room couch and flops backward, staring up at the ceiling.

“It felt like she was warning us,” I say. “Like she wants to help us, but she’s not sure how.”

“But if Leonid is Riurik’s line, isn’t he her child?” Kristiana sits up, her eyes wide.

I shake my head. “Maybe, but maybe not. She was pretty upset when she said Riurik moved on from her. I think his son was not hers—but she’d already made him the promise that his kids would have those powers or something.”

Kris’s mouth forms into a big, round O. “That sucks.”

“Right?” I snort. “That’s why you can’t ever really trust a guy.”

“By that logic, you can’t trust anyone,” Grigoriy says. “Male or female.”

“I guess.” I cross my arms. “None of us ever really know what’ll happen next in our lives.”

Alexei stops pacing and turns toward me. “But the surprises are not as bad when you have someone you love standing beside you.”

Grigoriy wraps an arm around Mirdza and presses a kiss to her temple.

“You two are irritating,” Kris says.