Наталья Соколова – LIMBO (страница 15)

"Maybe he swallowed the car too?" Jake smirked. "Like Godzilla."

Yawning, the guy put his arm on the back of the bench and sat closer, practically hovering over Liz. From the side, it looked as if he was hugging her, and the greedy glances in our immediate vicinity decreased. He was kidding, of course, but for some reason I still felt lonely and hurt. Two against one – did they conspire or what?

"I knew you'd laugh at me," tears rang in my voice again. "If you don't want to – don't believe it!"

"Let's assume it's true," Gill responded patiently. "So what? Well, he took out four drug addicts, and rapists at that – big deal!"

"He didn't get lost, stood up for you – good for him!" Liz echoed, but still moved away from Jake and even put her bag between them, as if hinting that it was useless for him to flirt with her. "The world will only get cleaner."

"You don't understand! They are the same people as you and me! Well… almost the same. You can't kill anyone – neither bad nor good! Because if someone crosses that line even once and commits murder, then they won't stop at anything afterwards and will continue taking lives – whether guilty or innocent!.. By the way, Liz, you recently said that girls are disappearing from our institute. What if these ritual sacrifices are also the work of Mr. Black?! Remember how he spoke yesterday about the blood of virgins?!"

"Nonsense," Lizzy shrugged. "It's just his image. Fatal hottie. I think he's already spoiled more than one virgin's blood…"

"Have you seen his tattoo?" I persisted. "I bet it's some kind of devil's seal! And all these satanic crosses in his ears and rings with inverted pentagrams?!"

"Well, actually, a pentagram might not be inverted," the redhead noted knowingly. "It depends on which side you look at it from – it's a circle after all…"

"I'm more disturbed by his car with the ram's head," Jake bent forward, removing his hand from the back of the bench. "The Horned Beast – that's a clear reference to 'Baphomet'. Though, if he only recently came to St. Petersburg, he has an alibi for the disappearances of the female students…"

"Hmm, not exactly," Liz suddenly became serious. She finally ran out of arguments in Mr. Black's defense. "Last academic year he was already teaching here. Ran a piano playing club. And this club, if I remember correctly, opened in February, and in March the first girl disappeared. Then, in August, LIMBO went on vacation, all the teachers and students left, and during the last new moon there were no victims…"

"See!" I exclaimed. "What did I tell you! Maybe he was hunting for me in my vision too, and those guys got ahead of him, for which they paid with their lives! Do you think he became our curator just by chance? And enrolled me in his group against my will – accidentally? Of course not! He's stalking me, waiting for the right moment!.. When is the next new moon?"

Now it was Jake's turn to go on the internet, but Liz stopped him:

"I know this. Mom always prepares for them in advance. In the twenties of September – we still have three weeks to spare."

"Great!" I rejoiced. "We have time, but we still can't delay. Let's write a collective statement to the rector right now to assign us another curator!"

"Whoa there, birdie, slow down," Liz took a pack of strawberry candies out of her bag pocket and rustled the wrapper. A sour-sweet berry scent wafted through the park. "Here, better chew on this. If Mr. Black is guilty of something, he hasn't shown his hand yet. We don't have any proof or evidence. Telling anyone now about what you saw in the future is pointless, but we'll keep a close eye on him, and the fact that he dared to become our curator won't hurt, but rather help us. We won't take our eyes off him now! Don't panic, we won't let anyone harm you! Right, Gill?"

Chapter 9: At the Speed of Thought

On the weekend, Liz dragged me to meet some guys. Two students from group "M", former third-years, now in their fourth and final year of bachelor's. Max, according to her, had been hitting on her all through the second semester while she was dating someone else. She wasn't interested then, but now that spot was open, and she decided to give the guy a chance. Why not? A tanned, smiling blonde with light blue eyes and broad shoulders – just like Ken from a dollhouse. But his groupmate Paul, whom they wanted to "match" with me, was almost the complete opposite of his friend: slightly pale, lanky, serious, with black hair, brown eyes, and judging by the dark clothing and chains, also into alternative subculture. He reminds me of someone…

"Listen, I don't think this is for me," I mumbled uncertainly, closing his social media page and shutting my laptop. "He seems a bit too… gloomy or something."

"Well, what do you expect, he's an experienced mage after all," Lizzy climbed onto my bed with her feet up. "A straight-A student, by the way. On track for an honours degree."

"That's great. But still, I wasn't planning so soon to…"

"That's what you weren't planning in Moscow, but here you'll have to!" Charm decisively interrupted. "The place itself demands it. Have you noticed that in St. Petersburg there are hundreds of prostitutes' ads on every pole? Such a high-frequency city vitally needs proper grounding! Otherwise, not only LIMBO but all this beauty will teleport along with us to the higher worlds – what will the tourists have to look at then, huh?.."

"What do you mean, higher worlds?!"

"Did you think we all fit inside the cathedral in the real world?"

"I suspected magic was involved, but…"

"Okay, Antipova, don't change the subject. Tell me instead, what are you wearing to the club tonight? This?" she waved first one hanger in the air – with my dark blue school skirt, and then another – with gray jeans. "Or this?"

Without waiting for an answer, she critically examined my tops and shoes. Considered something in her head. Grimaced:

"Nah, this won't do at all. Get ready, we're going shopping. Dad just gave me some money yesterday…"

The bouncer at the club entrance gave Lizzy's Audi parked nearby a heavy look from under his brows. Then he switched back to me and, flaring his nostrils like a horse, snorted:

"You sure you're of legal age?"

"Of course! She just forgot her passport, but here's her student ID, look!" Liz slipped a large bill inside and handed it to the security guard.

The banknote quickly disappeared. The hulk softened, even gave us a conspiratorial wink. Out of curiosity, he opened the ID and in the semi-darkness tried for a long time to read the name of our university:

"Leningrad Institute of Modeling B… What are you modeling? Huh, girls? There's an ink blot on the most important part… Alright," he finally took pity and stepped aside, clearing the way. "Have fun."

Following my friend down the steps into the darkness, I asked, trying to shout over the music:

"Do you have an ink blot there too?"

"We all have such ink blots," Liz waved her hand. "Relax, we didn't come here to think about studies. Oh! They're already waiting for us! Hi, Maxie! Meet Niki. This is who I told you about."

Ken in real life turned out to be even more tanned than in the photos. Flashing us a dazzling smile, he pecked Liz on the cheek and shook my hand. His palm was hot – the touch sent heat through me. An energy wave rose to my shoulder, circled around my body, and returned back.

"Very nice to meet you, Niki!" he finally let me go. "And this is my friend, Paul Warlock."

The second guy stepped out of the darkness and offered me to shake hands. This time no heat. The fingertips slightly cool, but without special effects.

"A phoenix, then?" he said insinuatingly, taking advantage of the fact that the current song had ended and silence briefly hung in the club. "Twelve spirals?"

"That's what Mr. Black says," I felt embarrassed.

"Mr. Black wouldn't lie. I heard he's your curator?"

"Since yesterday…"

"I see, I see," a soothing, calm voice. "I was thinking of choosing him as the scientific advisor for my thesis… But I'm still considering. Would you like something to drink, Niki?"

Max pulled Liz to the dance floor, where the next track had just started playing, while I was led to the bar against my will.

"Listen, I'm not sure. It's just…" I mumbled on the way. "We're not supposed to…"

"If you're not going to practice at night, then a little is allowed," having seated me, Paul ordered two cocktails from the bartender. "Here, you see, it's like with a car: if you've been drinking, you can't drive today. But tomorrow no one will forbid you. It's the same with magic. Well, to our acquaintance! I hope it will be… productive."

His gaze fell on my knees. I started and nervously adjusted my flared leather skirt with metal studs. I told Liz we should have taken something more modest and, preferably, longer! And now that I was sitting, it became indecently short!

My outfit clearly appealed to my companion, he kept glancing at me, studying the curves of my figure and lingered longest on my red and black checkered top. Or rather, on the deep neckline, where a super-push-up bra, borrowed from Lizzy, was pushing out a good half of my modest breasts. Well, at least I refused the red lipstick, despite the witch's protests! Otherwise, I would definitely look like one of those who put up ads on poles in the center of St. Petersburg.