Who would go to bed this early? Is she serious? Sending me to bed at ten! She’s ridiculous.

For the hundredth time, I counted the patterns on wallpaper by the glow of my nightlight. Getting to use it had been my little victory.

That witch doctor must be a great brainwasher.

Mom had looked agitated when she got back from her visit to him. Over evening tea, she was totally out of it: antsy, laughing strangely, and checking the time every two minutes. Don’t ask anything, Anya. I can’t tell you about it.

As if I were going to ask.

Enjoy your real-world psychic challenge if you like. But why force this fake stuff on me?

What a rotten start to my fall break.

Break. This word became my bridge away from this lunatic house, to better memories.

Kostya. What wonderful eyes he has. Sea-gray and deep as the ocean. And his charming voice, deep and lulling. His every word comes out like song lyrics.

No guy has ever spoken to me like that before…as if I were an adult.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow I have a date with him! My first date ever. We’ll have lunch in a restaurant, and then…then…what?

Will he want to kiss me? I’ve never kissed a guy before.

Blushing at this thought, I squirmed in my bed. The tingling sensation all over my body reminded me of last night. In my ears, I heard another voice, deep and resounding, as if echoing through a cave. This was our first meeting. Tomorrow, I’ll come again.

A strange language, but I completely got the message.

The past day had faded those scary memories. I had almost convinced myself it was just a bad dream, but now…

Was it ever a dream?

Listening, I heard the ticking clock and the car wheels rustling softly on the road outside just as I’d heard them that night. But the force that had pressed me into the pillow so hard I could not move…I shivered at the thought of it.

Was it a dream? Well, that’s a good question.

Suddenly, a deafening blow from below shook my bed—and the entire house.

The windows rattled; the crash of breaking dishes came from the kitchen.

I jumped up.

In the silence that fell, I heard the plaster crumble.

From the hall, a crackling, electrical sound came, followed by an oddly familiar smell.

What’s that? Smoke?

The word sulfur popped into my mind, and I remembered where I’d smelled it before.

At the circus!

Clowns shooting each other from large canons with very broad openings. A “killed” clown would fall down on his back and roll over the arena, lifting their round-toed shoes high. The smoke from their guns smelled just the same. Just like what I smelled now, sitting on my bed in shock.

The electrical crackling was joined by a new sound, something in between a howling wind and a soft, high-pitched chant. It drew nearer, getting louder and transforming into baby talk that made my hair stand on end.

Baby talk? Is it…children?

I heard a pair of small feet trampling right outside the door.

Then another pair joining it.

And another.

And still another.

The sound was tapping, as though all of them wore high heels.

Or…small hooves?

Yes! It was dozens of small hooves clicking on wooden tiles and dozens of high-pitched voices chanting rapidly in a strange language.

Suddenly the chanting stopped. The voices dropped to scared whispers and then vanished, as did the sound of hooves.

I collapsed into the deafening silence surrounding me, feeling nauseous, as if the fall were real, my ears ringing from the complete absence of sound.

But before I could crash onto the invisible rocks at the bottom of this silence, a voice broke into my mind. The same voice that belonged to last night’s bad dream.

This time I definitely wasn’t hearing things. It rumbled right outside the door, shaking the walls, each word hitting my chest like a bass drum at a rock concert. Again, the language was strange, but somehow I understood it.

“I AM HERE. ARE YOU READY?”

These words resounded through my numb body.

The chanting voices were back, babbling in the same language. Ready, ready, ready, ready!

My soul, knocked out of my body by the powerful rumble, froze beneath the ceiling like a lost balloon.

The demons opened the portal. These words flashed across my mind, coming from who-knows-where.

I felt carried away rapidly by a river that suddenly transformed from a slow, navigable waterway into a rushing, bubbling torrent.

Then I saw the door handle turn down. Before a scream could escape from my tight throat, in came…Mom. Slamming the door shut behind her, she blocked the blazing crimson and the clouds of creeping gray smoke at her feet, preventing them from following her in.

Mom!

I hadn’t thought about her this whole… How much time had passed? Hardly more than a minute or two since that powerful blow, but it already felt like ages ago.

How did she make it here anyway? Through all that…through what?

I was sitting on my bed, legs pulled up under my chin, staring at my mother. I wasn’t unable to ask her anything; I wasn’t even able to open my mouth. Mom let down her mane of golden hair. She was holding a dark hairband in her hand, one I hadn’t seen before. She took a step towards me, put my hair up in a ponytail, and secured it in place with the band. Then she took my hand, helped me get up from my bed, and led me to the middle of the room. I obediently followed her lead. She took my face in her hands, looked me in the eyes, and said, “He came for you. Run. Leave your fear there. Then come back and prevail.”

Then she whispered to something at the back of my head. “Keep her safe, Asp.”

Stunned, I was staring straight ahead, knowing that if reality didn’t slow down, my thoughts would never catch up with what was happening. Maybe that’s how people go crazy?

Mom gave me a kiss on the forehead and stepped back.

Then there was a loud clap, a dazzling flash, and a blow of heat stinging my face.

Regaining my sight, I found myself standing in a ring of crimson fire. Soon my eyes got used to the bright light. Through the dancing flames all around me, I discerned…a seashore.

My room and my mother were gone.

The flames started to die down. Soon all that remained of them was a smoking ring on the sand. Without giving it a second thought, I stepped over it, my bare feet feeling the wet coolness of sand. As if waking from a dream, I looked down and then rushed back into the circle. In despair, I tried to get it burning again.

In vain.

The incoming waves kissed my footprints in the sand away. No reminder of the extinguished fire except for a dark trace in the sand, barely visible.

No way back.

Exhausted, I sank down on the sand, shivering all over again, sobbing, and wondering why this was happening to me.

I would give anything to get back to our cozy kitchen, to drink tea and eat cookies while chatting with Mom. All of our fights seemed so stupid and petty now…

I don’t know how long I sat there. Maybe five minutes. Maybe an hour. Gradually my despair diminished.

The cool breeze played with the waves, forming goosebumps on my bare arms; all I had on was my nightgown.

I looked up at the horizon where the golden disc of the sun was rising from the sea. So strange. It looked like I was a long way from home, considering it had been eleven at night where I’d just come from.

But what was I supposed to do? Look for another circle? Or for some people? Where was I anyway?

It looked like the coast of the Black Sea or the Sea of Azov. Geography was never my strong suit.

But what if this wasn’t Earth at all? I turned my head to look around.

The shore looked pretty normal: sea, sand, shells, and thorny bushes. However, there was no trash, no papers, no cigarette butts, or any plastic bottles.

Well, just sitting and waiting here wouldn’t get me anywhere.

I stood up, dusted the sand off my nightgown, and started walking along the beach towards the grassy hills, trying to avoid the thorns in the sand.

I had barely taken a dozen steps when I heard a growl.

I looked up and saw a pack of shaggy, red dogs racing down the hills towards me one by one, their paws pounding on the ground, their noses lowered to the sand. Meeting my gaze, the dogs were baring their fangs and growling.

I froze in place, trying not to move, and, for some reason, I began counting them.

Eight.

All of my senses were sharpened with fear. Colors became extremely vibrant, the waves breaking right inside my head—or was it the sound of my rushing blood, indiscernible from the thundering waves? The smell of dogs overwhelmed me as the animals drew closer.

Slobbering mouths with bared teeth.

Pulsating necks.

Fur covered with sand.

At times they would glance at the pack leader, the only one who had his eyes glued on me.

The leader stopped about five steps away from me as if there were an invisible wall blocking him.

Jumping distance, I thought absently.

The pack fanned out, forming a circle around me.

The band holding my hair came off and…and something happened to my perception. I suddenly saw my own body from above and behind. Time stopped; all sounds died away. Visions flashed through my head: sand, dog teeth, pieces of a bloody, polka-dot nightgown…my wild hair and a torn-off hand in the sticky, dark sand.

I went numb.

The images sped up, and broad webbed wings covered in large, crimson scales appeared over my mutilated body attempting to push the bloody images away, but the visions would not stop. Unable to endure the crazy mental carousel any longer, I screamed internally, ENOOOOUGH!

…and the visions stopped. I saw the world through my own eyes as it stirred into motion, although it moved very slowly.

The leader of the pack smirked, readying to pounce, then launched itself through the air, kicking up a cloud of sand. I could see every grain of sand on its wavy fur.

“Grrrrrr—” The lead dog growled, breaking the silence.

The other seven dogs followed their leader, leaping into the air.

Unbearably slowly, I stumbled backward and, losing my balance, collapsed, extending my palms.

“—rrrr!”

Everything went black.

The growling seemed to last forever.

…growing closer…

…and closer…

…when something whizzed through the air over my head. As the movement of time completely unfroze, restored to normal, tiny grains of sand hit my face and hands.

A dull thump, like that of two heavy bodies colliding, came from above. The dog’s growl turned to a high-pitched yelp. A heavy body fell by my side, spraying me with warm liquid. Removing my hands from my face, I saw the pack leader’s corpse with a lifeless grin and glassy amber eyes.

A roar came from the sea. Turning my head to look, I saw a cloud of dust over the running dogs’ backs and tails. Dancing over them in the air like crimson lightning was a huge, winged serpent covered with large copper scales; its jaws were wide-open, showing its razor-sharp teeth, and it was swinging its sharp-tipped tail.

The monster soared over the pack. Hovering, it spread its wings and bent its body like a question mark, making the dogs jump as they growled and snapped at the attacker who was beyond their reach. The pack’s howling diminished to a low rumble before crescendoing as though they were obeying an invisible conductor. Choosing its next victim, the serpent dove like a seagull after a fish, its shriek blending into the dog chorus, breaking off on a ringing note—and another dead body remained in the sand.

Again I heard Mom’s words in my head. The words she’d said less than an hour ago. “Keep her safe, Asp.”

An hour ago? It couldn’t have been an hour! It’s been an eternity! Before I could give it any further thought, my hand shot up to my hair, feeling for the band, but it wasn’t there.

Another prolonged yelp made me look back at the sea. The pack had been thinned out, the serpent’s broad wings flapping slowly over them. Crimson scales flashed and the harpoon-like tail sliced downwards through the air, striking a dog and lifting it upwards. The dog pawed at the serpent helplessly, but its captor held on, pulling it away from the pack. Flying through the air in a broad arc, the dead body landed near me in a mess of purple entrails.

The world melted in front of my eyes, a warm wave rolling up my throat. Falling to my hands and knees, I vomited, my whole body going into a series of spasms, my heartbeat hammering into my head like nails. No, no, no, no, no!

Suddenly everything fell silent.

Struggling to my feet and glancing around, I saw the slaughter was over. Dog corpses were scattered all over the beach, the sea breeze rustling through their red fur. The bodies lay next to and on top of each other, as well as on prickly shrubs, the sand, and near the surf line where the rolling waves lifting them as though trying to pour some life into their mouths. But the surf’s attempts failed. Darkened with blood, it rolled back in annoyance.

Where is the serpent?

Hearing a rustle from behind, I spun around. The flying monster had landed on the sand behind me, folding its wings like two huge umbrellas, and was shrinking rapidly until it was reduced to a maroon leather hairband at my feet.

“Keep her safe, Asp.”

“Keep her safe…”

Asp.

Still trying to get a feel for this new word, I squatted in front of my tiny savior, reaching my hand towards it. I froze as my eyes caught sight of dog bodies once again.

I’d never seen death before, let alone that many deaths…and that fast.

Was it really necessary to kill them all? Maybe they could’ve been scared away.

I remembered the pack leader’s cold, intelligent eyes.

No. They didn’t look like the kind who could’ve just been shooed away. If not for Asp, it would have been my dead, glazed-over eyes staring blindly into the sky and not the dogs’. The pack of predators would’ve been dragging my bloodied remains over the beach, just like in the vision I’d had before the massacre.

What was that—that series of visions? A hallucination?

But that silence. That frozen time. Wasn’t all of it too surreal to just be a product of my imagination?

Those dogs were really strange too.

A normal pack of strays would’ve dispersed once their leader was killed by a monster. But these dogs had fought back. And was it just me or had they made no barking sounds at all?

Picking up the hairband, I gently brushed the sand off it and wrapped it around my hair, waiting for the tiny, leather body to quiver in my hand, but it didn’t. The snake showed no signs of life except its teeth clasping onto the tail, apparently without my help.

A wave of apathy washed over me, making me indifferent to everything. I didn’t care whether the snake was alive or not, whether I was alive or where I was, how I got here, and whether there were any people nearby. If they were as friendly as those dogs, I’d rather stay away from them.

Spitting out the gritty sand, I plodded along the surf.