When her body finally went limp, Stas was able to open Viola's hand, which she had been clutching to herself in desperation—and I froze. Viola's fingertips had turned black, as if smeared with coal, while her nails were streaked with deep crimson, a sight that could hardly promise anything good.
"It's the darkness," Max said, pulling off his shirt to reveal his torso. His pale skin was marked with old scars, stark against his otherwise flawless appearance. There were so many of them—I would never have guessed what lay hidden beneath his clothes. Shaking myself, I forced myself not to stare. Now was clearly not the time to ask questions about their origins.
Max folded the fabric he had brought into a narrow strip and secured Viola's fingers with it. Arthur stepped forward, reaching out to help lift her from the ground, but Max gestured him to stop.
"I've got this. You're needed here," he said, nodding toward something behind me.
I frowned and, in that instant, heard a soft sob. My eyes involuntarily drifted to Viola's face, but she remained serenely asleep. Only then did I turn fully—and a thousand curses ran through my mind—I had completely forgotten about Dasha.
Dasha, dirt-smudged and huddled against the tree, was covering her face with her hands. Tiny fists pressed to her mouth, trying to stifle the raw scream of fear that had seized her from head to toe. Her cap lay discarded nearby, and her ruby-red hair spilled messily over her shoulders.
Arthur stepped toward her, but as soon as he closed the distance to a few scant meters, Dasha screamed—not with her own voice.
"Don't come closer!"
Arthur assessed the situation and, in a disarming gesture, raised his hands.
"I mean you no harm," he said carefully, taking another step forward. But Dasha, like a cornered fawn, clung to the tree bark, scraping her nails to the point of bleeding, desperate to move herself away from the approaching giant.
Blood. If I could smell its sharp sweetness, surely the others could too.
A sudden gust of wind swept over my skin, dispelling the hallucination: in the blink of an eye, Max and Viola were gone.
"DON'T COME NEAR!" Dasha screamed again, and I realized how dire the situation had become.
"Asya," the sound of her own name snapped me out of my daze. "Can you help?"
"How?"
"Well… you're friends, right?"
I tried to compose myself and stand. I knew I wasn't to blame for the mess, yet a nauseating twist gripped my stomach anyway. Viola shouldn't have revealed herself to Dasha, and Stas had foolishly chosen his sister's side, shifting all the responsibility onto Viola. I had no rational explanation for why Viola had been so desperate to tell Dasha the truth. All I could hope was that today's lesson would be enough to prevent any repeat. Dasha must never learn about our world. She simply couldn't handle it.
"Dasha," I called softly, but she kept her wide eyes fixed on Arthur. "Dasha? Can I come closer?"
She nodded briefly, still staring at him, and in a way, that felt like a good sign. Dasha was too terrified to notice that something was off with me too, since I hadn't reacted to Viola's outburst. Slowly, I took careful steps toward her, afraid to startle her—but luck was on my side today.
My hand rested lightly on the edge of Dasha's shoulder, testing the boundary. At first, she jerked away, but when I tried again, she didn't resist, and I was able to grasp her firmly. A tiny tremor ran up through my fingers; Dasha shivered violently from fear.
I crouched down beside her, keeping our heads at the same level.
"It's okay, Dasha. Arthur won't hurt you."
But she didn't trust me, still reeling from what she had seen. Her voice trembled as she asked,"Then why is he coming to me?"
"He wants to help," I said, gently running my hands along Dasha's back, hoping to pass on some warmth, to calm her trembling. "Arthur is the only one who can help you."
"How?"
"Arthur has a special gift," I began cautiously, keeping my distance so as not to startle her. "If you want, he can help you forget what you saw."
"Forget?" she repeated, a flicker of doubt in her eyes. I nodded absently, though I knew all of Dasha's attention was fixed on Arthur.
"Yes, Dasha. It's happened before—you've seen something beyond the ordinary, and Arthur took the memory of it, letting you return to your life as if nothing had happened."
Finally, she turned toward me, and there was something strange in her expression—something I least expected: relief.
"I've seen Viola do… well, that?" Dasha glanced cautiously at the remnants of the shattered tree. "She said I'd be scared, right? This has happened before?"
Arthur shook his head.
"You've never actually seen her perform magic," he said. "Well, you've seen little things, of course, but you never understood the significance."
I exhaled wearily."We only recently realized she had noticed. That's how it all started: Dasha asked Viola to open up."
Arthur's expression shifted as he studied Dasha with curiosity, weighing something silently in his mind.
"So she decided to confide in you," he murmured. "You must be very important to Viola for that to happen."
"Or rather," I said, "Dasha was very persistent. And someone even encouraged her." I cast a reproachful glance at Stas, but he just shrugged, unwilling to join the conversation. Perhaps it had more to do with the blood still drying in a thin layer on Dasha's fingertips. Stas had been the only one of us who hadn't tried to approach her, and there were probably reasons for that. I had never asked him about the cravings or how easily he could control them. My knowledge of vampires was mostly about the low-blooded, with whom we were at war. Of the Born and the Ancient, I only knew that their thirst for blood was far weaker—but now, seeing Stas's restraint, I began to realize that what seemed simple in words was far more complicated in practice.
Arthur moved closer to Dasha and crouched beside her, following my example.
"I can help you forget, if you want," he said, holding out his hand before she could respond, signaling her to wait. "But think carefully. Yes, you're scared now—but isn't this what you wanted from Viola? To be honest with you?"
We gave Dasha as much time as she needed to weigh Arthur's words and make her decision. The rain had stopped, and through the tree trunks, the sunset bled across the forest—its light retreating from the human world, leaving Kserton cloaked in shadows, where mythic creatures and those inadvertently drawn into their lives lurked.
Stas, Arthur, and I settled at the base of the tree opposite Dasha, giving her both time and space. We didn't want even the slightest thought to creep into her mind that we might influence her decision. If only I could do it, Dasha would already be lying safely in her bed, the memory of what had happened fading like a nightmare. But instead, we waited patiently for two things: news of Viola's condition and Dasha's choice.
Stas remained the quietest of all. I nudged his shoulder lightly with mine, pulling him from his thoughts, and asked softly,"How are you? Are you okay?"
He frowned slightly, surprised by my question, then nodded.
"You've gone unusually quiet," I said. "Is it because of the blood?"
"I didn't know you could sense it too," he replied, arching a brow. "But no—not that. I was thinking about Viola. All of this was… strange. Not normal."
"Have you seen something like it before?"
"That's what worries me. What happened feels familiar, and yet I can't remember anything specific."
"Just don't start thinking I wiped your memory without permission," Arthur added solemnly, and Stas snorted.
"To wipe my memory, you'd first have to catch me."
Arthur shrugged and, with an enigmatic look, turned his gaze skyward.
"Why catch you when I could just wait until you fall asleep?"
Stas sobered instantly.
"You're not serious."
"Who knows, who knows… ah, right. Only I know."
"Oh, for—"
"Guys," I snapped, and they both fell silent at once.
After a moment, Arthur spoke again, lowering his voice so as not to disturb Dasha.
"What actually worries me is something else," he said carefully. "Didn't it strike you as odd that Max wasn't surprised at all? The moment he saw Viola, it was as if he already knew what had happened to her. Right before you called, he was pacing the clearing like a caged animal—completely restless. As if he'd felt that something was wrong with her."
"Maybe it's some kind of special bond between witcher twins?"
"Doesn't seem likely," Arthur replied skeptically. "If such a bond existed, I'd have noticed oddities in Viola's behavior long ago. We spend far more time together than Diana and Max do."
"True. And she would have told you about it eventually. It could've been useful for patrol work—she wouldn't hide something like that."
"Exactly," Arthur agreed.
"And what was that 'darkness' Max mentioned?" I asked, seizing the opportunity. The guys often spoke about things I knew nothing about, and it rarely felt appropriate to interrupt them with questions. But now, while we were waiting for Dasha's decision anyway, the moment seemed right.
"Darkness?" Arthur repeated, glancing at his brother uncertainly. Stas nodded.
"Did you see Viola's hand? The one she was clutching while she was screaming?"
"No. Max was blocking the view."
"Her nails looked bruised underneath, and her skin had gone black, like it'd been dusted with gunpowder."
Arthur's mouth fell slightly open.
"That's extremely strange. I've never heard of magic causing anything like that."
"Speaking of strange things," I said, leaning my head back against the tree trunk, suddenly exhausted. "Something's off with Tatyana too."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh—right, you weren't at the volleyball match," Stas cut in. "Tatyana dragged out my personal diary and, absolutely furious, started reading it aloud in the stands. Loudly. With feeling."
"That's not what I meant."
"What, really? Honestly, I'm almost glad it happened."
"How did she even get your diary? Did she rummage through the room? Is she completely fearless—or just stupid?" Arthur exploded.
"No, no. She just barks loudly—she doesn't bite. The maintenance crew was installing new shower panels in Asya's room today, and Tanya opened the door for them. The diary just happened to be lying there."
Arthur looked at me as though I were an enemy of the state.
"Why would you leave something like that out in the open?"
"And who gives a girl he likes his diary and asks her to read it?" I shot back.
Arthur shrugged.
"Viola and I exchange ours all the time. It helps you understand each other better."
My eyes widened even further, though I hadn't thought that possible.
"What, does your whole family keep diaries?"
"Yes," Stas answered for both of them. "Olga's idea. If you'd ever actually opened mine, you'd know that."
"Believe it or not, I did open it," I said. "I just figured anything important, you were capable of telling me to my face."
"That's not so easy when you're constantly either on the defensive or on the attack. You're never boring, I'll give you that."
It sounded like a dubious compliment, and I decided not to drag this thoroughly pointless conversation any further.