Yaga's Blood (Root and Myth Book 1) Read online

  “I don’t see any,” Kosh answered evenly.

  “There are always options. We can think of something,” Yana said, stepped back, and heavily sat in an old shabby armchair behind her.

  “We don’t exactly have much time,” Kosh reminded her. “We can’t fly to Russia and deal with the upyr. They’re hiding it properly, of course. And may I remind you, you have no magic. I couldn’t take down two vourdalaks with what I have. Are you going to fly a witch, a bear, and a wolf with you as well? Or do you happen to have any more untrained magic peeps?”

  “Alright, enough sarcasm, I get your point,” Yana snapped at him, and he leaned back on the couch, crossing his arms at his chest.

  “So, say we decide to add more power to my magic, how do we do it?” Mira asked Kosh carefully.

  When her Mom was in that dark mood of hers she tended to stop answering altogether.

  “With a feather of the Firebird.”

  Kosh’s offhanded tone didn’t deceive Mira. His eyes were tense, and Mira noticed that her Mom pursed her lips tighter after his words.

  “Firebird?”

  Mira seemed to have read something of the sort. It was a Phoenix like bird, and its feathers would glow even after being plucked out. There were Russian fairy tales where a character was on a quest to get a feather, or to catch the bird by setting a lure in a golden cage with some immortality gifting apples as bait.

  “Zhar-Ptiza. They are presumably extinct, but there are a few of their feathers circulating the magic community. Yadviga had one.” Kosh paused and looked at Yana expectedly.

  “I used it to open Kosh’s cage fifteen years ago.” Yana gave out a tired sigh. “It’s still in the lock of the cage.”

  Mira quickly thought the new information over.

  “Is the cage locked? Will it open if we take the feather?” she asked, and Kosh smirked.

  “Smart one, isn’t she?”

  Yana gave him a glare.

  “She shouldn't need to be ‘smart’ like that,” she said. “She shouldn’t be contemplating the intricacies of getting a magical artefact out of the underworld.”

  “Well, it’s still better than her going ‘yay, let’s get me a magical feather than can make the universe implode when applied properly,’” he bit back.

  Mira groaned. Their sarcasm competition was exhausting. Kosh looked at her again.

  “Yes, the door is locked, and no, it shouldn’t open the cage if you just pull out the feather. It’s like a key. Just don’t turn it.”

  “I didn’t take it, because opening that door left me with no magic. I couldn’t pick it up anymore,” Yana explained.

  “And I wanted to be as human as possible. So, I left most of my magic behind, and the feather as well,” Kosh added. “So, it’s still sitting in the lock.”

  “And what? No one took it since then?” Mira asked in disbelief.

  “My cage was set up to contain me at my best. Or my worst, depending on how you look at it,” Kosh answered in a dark tone. “It’s in a charmed room, which is in turn in a bigger charmed room, which is in the next one, and so on, and so on. There are seven of them. The doors are made bespoke, to weaken a person opening them more and more with each next one. It would probably drain Yadviga herself to get through them.” He threw a look at Yana, who sat in her chair with an expressionless face. “Except your Mom had an advantage. So when she got to the cage, she still had enough magic to open the door with the feather. Didn’t you, Yarina?”

  Yana didn’t answer. She was sitting on the window sill now, sideways, her eyes on the garden outside.

  “Why didn’t you tell me, Yarina? That I was your suzhenyi? You had a chance, when I came to you, before I left the country.” His voice broke. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Yana blinked and slowly met his eyes.

  “I was sixteen. You seduced me and broke my heart. You just used me to get out, and then you told me that I didn’t matter, that—” Yana stopped. Her eyes were dry and burning. “I didn’t think you deserved to know.”

  They sat in silence for a few seconds. And then Kosh lowered his eyes.

  “I didn’t. I didn’t deserve it— you. I don’t deserve it still, Yana... but I’d told you at the end not to do it!” His eyes flew up to her face again. Mira thought she saw tears in them. “I’d told you not to go through with it, and you’d agreed! And then you still went, and got the feather, and you let the daemons in those room torture and break you, and—”

  “I loved you.”

  Yana’s words hung in the room, and Mira heard Kosh exhale raspily.

  “It doesn’t matter now.” Yana shook her head. “It was long ago, and—”

  Yana went quiet, Kosh apparently had nothing to say either.

  “What’s suzhenyi?” Mira asked in a small voice. The grown-ups continued to industriously avoid looking at each other. “Is it that destined thing?”

  “Yes, the Destined Husband,” Yana answered grudgingly. “It’s a stupid Russian superstition—”

  “Stupid superstition? Oh, that’s just brill,” Kosh grumbled, as if not addressing anyone.

  “We’re not discussing this now,” Yana hissed at him.

  “That stupid superstition allowed you to go through the so-called ‘Water, Fire, and the Brass Pipes,’ the three hardest magic tests. How are your scars doing, by the way?” Kosh gritted through his teeth, glaring at Yana.

  Mira knew which scars he was speaking of. Yana’s back was covered in long white lines, from the right shoulder blade down to her waist, and then all the way down onto her right hip. Mira had always been told that Yana had been in a car accident.

  Yana made a scornful snort like noise and purposefully looked at Mira.

  “It doesn’t mean anything, honey.”

  “It led me to that warehouse where we found you.” Kosh’s voice made Yana look at him in shock. “The compass’ string was as stiff as a poker,” he said. “The connection was so stable we didn’t have to add any more blood on the way.”

  “It shouldn’t work now.” Yana frowned in confusion. “I have no magic.”

  “It’s not just about magic, Yana.”

  They looked at each other, and Yana was the first to look away.

  “So, are you guys getting married now?” Mira asked in a nonchalant voice, and Kosh made a choking noise.

  Yana blinked frantically, but pulled herself together quickly.

  “Sure,” Yana drew out in her best passive-aggressive tone. “Right after we invade the Underworld and turn you into a mega witch. Let’s hope we can squeeze a rehearsal dinner somewhere between fighting vourdalaks and Yadviga’s mermaids.”

  “There are mermaids?” Mira couldn’t help but ask.

  “Rusalkas,” Kosh answered. He was still a bit raspy. “No fish tails involved. They jump down at you from birch trees. Especially dangerous in June.”

  “Creepy.”

  Mira shook her head. She really should’ve been more rattled by the news that mermaids were real, had no tails, and apparently attacked people from the air.

  “The rooms surrounding the cage did have the tests in them, but they are empty now.” Yana was back on track, apparently. “The magic in them was supposed to contain you inside. Now that you’re out, there is no need for the guards.”

  “My magic is still inside,” Kosh reminded her.

  “Yes, but it’s contained behind the last door. I locked it after you… came out.”

  Kosh smirked.

  “You mean when I blasted out of it in the shape of a giant raven?”

  Yana gave him an exasperated look.

  “Alright then.” Yana sighed. “So, we assume you can still go down there, your magic will call for you, and will lead you there.”

  “And you still have passage as my suzhenaia. We take Mira with us. She should have enough magic to take the feather,” Kosh finished the thought and looked at Yana.

  Mira watched her Mom’s face, holding her breath. Yana sat for a few se
conds, her face blank, only her long fingers drumming her knee.

  “I wish there was another way,” she whispered, not addressing anyone in particular.

  Mira threw Kosh a side glance. He met her eyes and nodded.

  That was the plan then.

  ***

  “To get to the underworld we need an entrance site: a place of crossroads, an intersection preferably with enough supernatural energy there - a church, a cemetery.” Kosh looked at Yana questioningly.

  “Confusion Corner!” Mira exclaimed. “It’s not actually called this way,” she explained to Kosh. “But there are three major streets that meet there - Osborne, Corydon, and Pembina - and it's kind of a freakish place, totally confusing, and there’s a church.”

  “It’s not a church,” Yana grumbled. “It’s a masonic temple. But yeah, it is perfect. It’s charged. I can feel it even without my magic.”

  “We need a gatekeeper, as well. Someone to hold the door open behind us, so to say. How did you go around it fifteen years ago?” Kosh asked, and Yana shifted in her armchair uncomfortably.

  “I had an obereg left to me by my grandmother. A ragdoll that theoretically could turn into a person at night.”

  “Vasya? You used Vasya?” Mira stared at her Mom.

  “Who’s Vasya?” Yana frowned in confusion.

  “She’s animated your obereg.” Kosh chuckled. “Sorry, we forgot to tell you. It’s now a non-binary teenager.”

  Yana’s mouth fell half-open.

  “I told you, she’s good,” Kosh said.

  “Anything else you forgot to tell me?” she asked Kosh, and he smiled at her widely. She shook her head. “Alright, we use the obereg again.”

  “It won’t harm Vasya, will it?” Mira asked. “I kind of feel responsible for them.”

  “You should,” said Yana, turning to her. “It’s a life you created. When I used it, I just turned it into a clay figure. Basically, a door stopper. If it’s now alive—”

  “Oh it is,” Kosh drew out. “Eats an incredible amount of crisps and doesn’t like to be called ‘it.’”

  “So, we use… Vasya,” Yana said. “To keep the door open. We will need the key as well.”

  “Well, we have all the ingredients,” Kosh joked and wiggled his fingers in the air.

  Yana cringed.

  “What ingredients? For what?” Mira asked.

  Her Mom answered grudgingly, “There’s no key to the underworld. One needs... a crowbar. It’s a stupid magical pun. A crow bar. Raven magic, or crow magic, no matter how you call it, allows to create sort of... a staff. It rips through reality and allows you access to the Underworld. And we do have a raven here.” Kosh gave Mira a wink. “The procedure isn’t pretty, though,” Yana added.

  Kosh shrugged. “Just a bit of blood and hair.”

  “And a nail.” Yana gave him a pointed look.

  “I find there’s a poetic irony to it.” He smirked at Yana. “It’s the second time I’m helping to break into my own prison. I assume you'd used what Yadviga had of me last time as well.”

  “She had your feather and a claw,” Yana answered quietly.

  “Makes sense. She was one of people who captured me last time.”

  “Wait, what?” Mira asked. “You said you spent two hundred years in that cage. How old is Yadviga?”

  Yana scoffed, “She’s ancient. After a person accumulates enough magic in them, they basically stop being human. And they don’t age like mortals.”

  Mira looked at Kosh wondering how human he was. He did say he’d left most of his magic in that cage, but she still couldn’t forget that terrifying black bird-like creature he turned into in the warehouse.

  “Last time I had enough magic to make the staff,” Yana said. “This time we’ll have to rely on Janice.”

  “Who?” Kosh asked.

  “The witch who owns this house. She’s very strong, just doesn’t know how to channel it. Uses it in her work, in the hospital. A better use for it, if you ask me.”

  Yana rose. She swayed once up, and Kosh jerked up his hand to support her.

  “I’m OK,” she mumbled, and waved at him shakily. “We all need rest. Janice will be home at nine. It’ll be dark by then. We make the staff, and then we still need to drive back to the city. So, I say, you sleep first,” she addressed Kosh. “I’ll wake you up, and you’ll keep guard, and I’ll get an hour as well.”

  “Are you always so bossy?” Kosh asked, looking up at her from the couch.

  “Yes,” Yana answered curtly, and he barked a short laugh. “Mira, you can sleep in Janice’s bedroom,” Yana said. “I’ll wake you up when it’s time.”

  No one argued, and Mira went to the next room. The bed was large, and she climbed under the cover. She was asleep just a few seconds later.

  Chapter 8. Sesame Open

  Janice had short, grey hair, large calloused hands, and laughing wrinkles in the corners of her eyes. She looked to Mira like a typical nurse, just like the ones who worked in the hospital where Mira once had to spend three days with appendicitis.

  Yana met her in the living room, while Mira and Kosh were ordered to sit in the kitchen and ‘be quiet.’ The two women spoke in the other room for about twenty minutes, and then Yana yelled to Kosh and Mira to join them.

  Janice gave them both a look over, her eyes lingering on Kosh, and then she turned and gave Mira a warm encouraging smile.

  “You’re Mira, right? Your Mom told me a lot about you. We met at a local women’s group a couple years ago, she’s been telling us all about you, how smart you are, how well you’re doing at school.”

  Mira gave the woman a polite smile.

  Janice seemed… normal. Mira remembered how strange Kosh had seemed immediately, even besides the half-corporeal snakes at his feet. She guessed, it all depended on the amount of magic in a person.

  “So, I brought the supplies, like you asked,” Janice said to Yana. “But I have to say, I’m still not sure—”

  “We need your help, Janice,” Yana interrupted. “I’ve shown you what the magic can do. You need to trust me right now. We’re protecting my daughter, and this is the only way.”

  The nurse still seemed to be doubting - and then Kosh stepped forward.

  “Janice...” He lifted his hands, his palms opened, and the nurse put her hands into his, as if under hypnosis, her eyes locked with his. “You want to help us, you want to believe us.” His voice was low and soft, and Janice nodded slowly. “It is your gift, and it is who you are.”

  He searched her eyes, and then smiled widely, in all his white teeth. Janice inhaled sharply. He leaned closer and pronounced quietly as if confirming something he saw in her eyes, “It’s the gift from your grandmother. She’d want you to do it. To help people. To help us… To save this child.”

  “I’ll help you,” Janice breathed out, and Kosh nodded.

  “Of course, you will.”

  He bent down, softly let go of her hands, letting her arms slide down along her body, and she blinked and stirred.

  “I’ll get the stuff to the kitchen then,” Janice muttered, picking up her tote bag, and rushing out of the room.

  Once the nurse was gone, Yana punched Kosh on the shoulder, and he winced away from her theatrically.

  “That was too much!” she hissed at him, and he grinned back. “You pushed too hard, Bone Man! She was already helping us, no need for your stupid mumbo-jumbo!”

  “I only made sure she didn’t change her mind,” he whispered conspiratorially, and Yana made a scornful noise.

  “You could have pressed too hard, and she’d realize she was being manipulated. No one likes to be manipulated!” She exhaled loudly through her nose, and glared at him. “God, I wonder if I looked that loopy when you used it on me.”

  “I never used this magic on you, Yarina,” he said in a low voice, but she already twirled on her heels and marched to the kitchen.

  “Is she always this nippy?” Kosh asked Mira, and she snorted.
<
br />   “You haven’t seen anything yet. Try making a mess in her cupboards. She’ll bite your head off.”

  It felt nice to joke. It distracted Mira from the disgusting hospital smells that were coming from the kitchen. Kosh was sitting on the couch, flipping through some book now, as if nothing was happening.

  “Kosh!” Yana called from the kitchen, and he got up.

  Passing by, he softly patted Mira on her shoulder.

  “Chin up, kiddo. It’ll be alright. We’ll make the staff, get the feather, and you’ll be safe.”

  Mira threw a worried look towards the kitchen.

  “Mira, look at me,” Kosh called to her in a warm tone, and she sniffled, avoiding his eyes.

  “I’m glad to do it for you. It’s just a few drops of blood. We are mates, Mira,” he added in a joking tone, and patted her shoulder again. “I’m sure you’d do it for me.”

  “I would,” she answered firmly, and he smiled at her sincerely.

  “Yeah, you would.”

  He then shook his head and disappeared in the kitchen, closing the door behind him tightly.

  ***

  Three hours later Mira was feeling restless, both from boredom and from worry. The noises from the kitchen - which she tried not to listen to, but couldn’t help to catch - made it only worse. There was some more clanking of glass, thumping, and banging, and once there was some loud rustling, or flapping, as if a giant bird had gotten into the kitchen. She tried reading, but couldn’t concentrate on anything.

  “Where are we?” a sleepy voice asked, coming from the bedroom.

  Mira jumped up and almost fell off the couch. Vasya was standing in the door, dressed in Mira’s shirt and a pair of unfamiliar PJ pants, rubbing their eyes and yawning. Mira guessed the sun had set.

  “Carman. We’re in the house of a witch, and they are making a staff to open a passage to the Underworld there,” Mira answered in a squeaky voice and pointed at the kitchen.

  “Ah, raven blood, feather, and claw.” Vasya shuffled to the couch. “Shouldn’t you be resting? I mean, if we’re going to the Underworld later, you need energy.”

  “How can I rest?” Mira exclaimed. “God knows what they’re doing to Kosh there, and he feels so guilty about my Mom that he’d let them sacrifice himself altogether if needed.”