Page 25

Vera

The alarm we set goes off after what seems like only a moment. I blink my eyes open in the dim light and fumble for Erik’s phone, which is still beeping.

He sleeps on, one muscular arm flung across his eyes, his mouth slightly open. When I shake him softly, he reaches for me and I sink into his hold, not wanting to prize myself away. I should though. We have to get back to Heartstone today. He has to work. Maybe I could go in with him and see where he works.

“Come on.” I kiss the parts of his ruggedly handsome face that I can reach until he finally stirs.

“Mmm alright. I’m up. I’m awake.”

When I stop though, he rolls right over again.

Laughing, I climb onto his chest. “Hey, sleepyhead, we need to go.”

He groans. “I know you’re right, but I also want to stay in bed with you all day. ”

I make a tsking sound that is probably not very convincing, seeing as I’m having exactly the same thoughts myself.

We drag ourselves out of bed and pack up the tent. It’s so early we creep into Erik’s parents’ house, trying not to wake anyone. Snickers comes racing along the corridor moments later, yipping with delight as her little paws skitter on the floorboards.

So Erik’s whole family ends up rubbing tired eyes and yawning as we exchange final hugs and kisses and another round of congratulations.

“You promise you’ll come back soon to visit again.” His mother holds both my shoulders and fixes me with a very serious look.

I can’t help but smile though, and we promise we will.

When we’re finally in the car, Erik turns the radio up loud and plays me a selection of his favorite tunes. Soon the sun comes up, and by the time we’re approaching the city limits, the sky is blue and cloudless and my spirits are high.

They come crashing down the moment Erik drops me at the apartment before heading to work.

The second the key turns and the door opens, Snickers freezes. Her thin tail sinks between her legs and her head drops. A low growl rumbles from her tiny chest.

“What is it, Snickers?”

She looks up at me and whines, licking her chops.

I really don’t want to go further into the apartment. There’s clearly something wrong. But we can’t stand in the doorway all day until Erik comes home.

I strain, stretching to peek further inside, but I see nothing out of place .

When I take a step forward, Snickers doesn’t follow. She plops her little rump on the ground and looks up at me with the whites showing around her eyes.

Oh I hate this.

I wish there was someone I could call. But Erik told me he has been in trouble at work lately. He was running late as it was with our long morning drive.

I don’t want to get him fired.

Steeling myself, I throw the door wide open and fumble in my pocket for my phone. At least if I’m about to get attacked by a home invader, I’ll capture it on video and the police can catch my murderer.

I know this is not the wisest plan, but really, what else can I do? Dragging Snickers by her leash, I march into the apartment, head held high.

If there’s an assassin here to kill me, he’s not going to catch me cowering in the doorway. I am Konstantin Ilyich’s daughter after all.

With that thought in mind, I make straight for the kitchen and snatch up the biggest knife I can find. I feel better with the solid blade in my hand.

I had to drop Snickers’s leash, but now that I’m inside, she trails behind me, tail firmly tucked between her legs.

I search every room. I open all the doors and drawers. I turn down the bed and fling open the curtains.

Nothing looks out of place.

No intruder jumps out at me.

Finally, I turn to Snickers. “What has gotten into you today?”

She whimpers .

With a sigh, I go to her empty food and water bowls and fill them both. What a drama queen. The place probably just smells musty because we haven’t been home in a couple of days.

I open all the windows and start a clean down of all the hard surfaces.

By the time Erik comes through the door that evening with his usual cheerful greeting, I have my hair tied up, rubber gloves on, and I’m wiping the baseboards with Snickers as my timid shadow.

She doesn’t even run to him when we hear him come in.

“Inessa? Snickers?” He pokes his head around the doorway with a frown which only deepens when he spots me on my knees. “What are you doing? You don’t have to do that.”

I look up at him, wiping the back of my hand across my forehead. “Something is not right. Can you feel it too?”

Erik drops his bag and walks further into the room. “No. What is it? Is everything OK with you?”

He gets to his knees beside me, so I stop and give him what I hope is a reassuring smile. “Oh, I’m probably being stupid. It’s just this feeling I’ve had all day since I got home. Snickers got funny when we walked in the door and I kept imagining—” I break off, shaking my head. Now that I’m saying it out loud, it's ridiculous. Who would break into our house and leave everything untouched?

If my brother was responsible, there would have been a threat left, surely.

After that, Erik insists on turning the apartment upside down, searching in every cupboard and doing everything that I did earlier. Apart from a slightly odd smell, we find nothing .

To be honest, by that point I’m pretty sure I’m imagining the smell.

It’s still reassuring to crawl into bed after dinner and feel Erik’s huge warm presence wrap me up. He holds me close and kisses the back of my neck and I try to relax.

Just a misplaced sense of anxiety. It’s probably just my mind looking for things to latch onto.

Because honestly, it’s hard to believe I could be so lucky. Look at the life I have now. Look at my beautiful monster, my simple home. My new family. Somehow, I’m surrounded by good, kind people, with the things that matter.

All the things that were missing from my life before.

Of course my brain is searching for a problem. I’m so used to being on edge all the time. I literally don’t know what to do with myself now that I don’t have to search for danger at every turn.

I shut my eyes and relax into Erik’s hold. Snickers jumps onto the bed and turns her series of elaborate circles until she finally settles and tucks her head around to touch her tail.

All is well.

There’s nothing to worry about here.

I wake to the blaring of an alarm and Snickers’s wild barking.

My eyes sting.

I’m coughing.

When I switch on the light, it takes me a moment to realize why I still can’t see .

Thick smoke blankets the room, making my throat close in and my chest ache.

I roll onto the floor with a thud. Thankfully the air down here is a little clearer. I crawl to Erik’s side of the bed and shake him. “Erik! Wake up! We have to get out.”

He coughs awake and sits, and I quickly drag him onto the floor.

“What happened?”

I don’t know exactly, but I do know one thing for sure. “Fire.”

“Where’s Snickers?”

I look around. I can hear her barking from somewhere over on the other side of the bed.

I point.

Erik crawls around to grab her and returns with an unhappy passenger tucked under his arm. She wriggles and squirms and tries to get free, but he keeps his strong arm wrapped around her. “We need to get out.”

I realize that I’m on my hands and knees staring at him, the alarm from the smoke detector reverberating through my brain. I can’t seem to make any of my limbs move.

“Inessa?”

Smoke stings my eyes and I blink but I can’t clear the tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Inessa!”

I don’t know what happens next. My brain feels like it freezes up along with my body.

Then I’m being lifted in strong green arms. Erik presses something against my face. Something soft and fabric that smells comforting. It smells like him .

It’s only when we burst into the stairwell I realize it’s his shirt. And it’s not until he puts me down on the grass outside that it registers he must have put Snickers down to pick me up.

I look around frantically only to find her standing at my feet.

Erik bends forward, hands braced on his knees, breathing hard. Did he go back for her? My god, he is perfect!

A siren screams and flashing lights fill the darkness.

Erik’s skin looks gray in the poor light from the streetlamps. I try to ask if he’s OK, but all that comes out is a cough. My throat is tight and achy.

A fire engine pulls onto the curb and more people pour out of the apartment building to join us on the grass. Thick black smoke is erupting from windows on the upper floor. The firefighters take charge of the situation quickly, hurrying from the truck, pulling an enormous hose free.

More sirens drag my attention away and I turn to see a smaller vehicle with blue stripes along the side pull up behind the fire engine. Two police officers get out of the car and walk over to the group. A prickle of worry spikes the back of my neck. Why would there be police? Surely this is just an accident.

They move among the people and monsters crowded on the grass, talking and making notes. There’s nothing to do except wait, so Erik and I sit on the grass and Snickers crawls into my lap. She’s stopped barking, but she eyes everyone suspiciously.

When the police officers approach us, she lets out a low growl.

“You’re the residents of number twelve? ”

Erik nods. He’s been so quiet since everything happened. I shuffle a little closer just to feel his warmth in the cool morning air.

“We’ll need you to come back to the station to answer a few questions about the fire. It seems it started in your apartment and we’d like to get to the bottom of how that happened.”

We’re walking toward the police car when a firefighter jogs from the building and draws one of the officers aside to whisper something.

The police officer is a tall woman with long dark hair tied into a tight bun at the back of her head. “Change of plans,” she says to us. “We’ll need to talk to each of you on your own.”