Chapter 17 - Gift
Summer sunshine was particularly bright that day, basking the neighbourhood in a warm glow. The light that filtered through the canopy leaves of the birch trees painted the asphalt road in chequered yellow. Along the bushes that lined the road, two children crept behind the shrubbery, keeping a low profile.
One was an Asian boy and the other a Caucasian girl, both had jet-black hair. The girl had a white band of cloth covering her right eye. Their quarry laid several feet away from them, parked by the roadside, it was an ice cream van. The skinny man dressed in white closed the shutters of counter window and climbed onto the driver seat.
"现在,走! (Now, go!)" the boy barked in a hushed voice. The two children burst out from the bushes and to the tailgate of the ice cream van. The girl peaked around the edge of the van and kept an eye on the ice cream man, the boy took out a pick and small tension wrench from his pockets and began picking the lock on the tailgate.
The whining sound of a starting engine filled their ears.
"伟剑,快点,(Wei Jen, faster,)" the girl urged him. "车要走了.(Truck's leaving.)"
Humming in acknowledgement, the boy continued on his job, working harder under the pressure of time. A few more seconds and both of them were greeted with a satisfying click of the lock opening. The children swung the tailgate open and silently climbed aboard the ice cream van. Not a moment too soon and the van began to move as it drove off down the road. The two children took off their backpacks and began filling them up with ice cream bars.
The pair swept through the refrigerators, taking out their favourites in a mechanical fashion. They took just enough to avoid the notice of the ice cream before zipping their bags shut. The girl took out a mirror and reflected the sun's rays onto the driver of a motorbike who had been tailing the van. Four flashes and the motorbike sped up, coming up to just two feet from the van. She threw her backpack to the driver who caught it with one arm. The driver slung the bag over his shoulders before catching the second one from the boy. With his part done, the driver broke away and turned into an alleyway, disappearing from sight.
The two children waited in the van for a red light before hastily leaping off it, shutting the tailgate behind them with practiced silence. After checking that the ice cream man remained oblivious to the whole operation, the pair took off into a jog towards their designated meeting point. Several twist and turns and they wound up in a parking lot.
"Anya! Jen! Over here!" a voice called out, it was the driver of the motorbike, holding up their spoils. The motorbike was parked beside one of the many birch trees and the driver was lounging under the shade with two other children who were sporting blonde hair. Anya and Jen walked over and accepted an ice cream bar each.
"Thanks Dimitri," said Anya as she peeled off the wrapper, enjoying the cold treat which was a great welcome during the summer.
"Cards?" a girl with strawberry blonde hair held up a deck innocently.
"Tanya, do you bring that with you everywhere you go?" the blonde boy beside her sigh in mock exasperation.
"You bet, Kiel," she replied in a singsong voice. "So? Anyone up for it?"
There was a chorus of agreement and the children soon sat in a circle, alternating between the various card games they knew how to play as they indulged in their ice cream treats.
"You're bluffing," Tanya grinned, tossing in a few more rubles in. "I'll raise."
"Fuck you, fuck me," Dimitri swore, dropping his cards in defeat and raising his hands dramatically. "Why do I even bother with you? You should not be allowed to play poker, I'll fold."
Laughter erupted around him at his reaction.
"Tanya, you do know that's borderline cheating?" Anya wheezed out between her laughs.
"It's not," said Jen. "It's full blown cheating."
"Not my problem that you guys can't lie properly," Tanya giggled, collecting the pot.
"No," Kiel shook his head. "It doesn't work that way, Tanya. That's literally abusing your ability. Everyone here is a great liar."
"As much as I hate to break the fun," said Jen as he checked the time. "It's time to head back, Aleks is probably mad enough with us stealing his motorbikes, us being home late will probably make things worse."
"That's true," Tanya sighed petulantly as she collected the cards back. "He's only fun to poke at from a safe distance. We should probably have him in a decent mood if we're to go back home where he's within arm's reach."
Dimitri and Kiel took a motorbike each – Kiel had his parked nearby in one of the lots – and started their engines. Jen picked Tanya off her feet, much to her protest, and dropped her behind Dimitri before swinging himself over the seat. Anya hopped on behind Kiel and the blonde sped off, with Dimitri at his wings.
Wind whipped through their hair as they rode down the neighbourhood roads, occasionally letting out squeals of excitement when they swerved around a particularly tight corner. Soon, they ended in front of the flat they had long called home, Dimitri and Kiel parked the motorbikes and everyone dismounted.
"Everyone sneaky now," Dimitri ordered. "Don't want Aleks to see us."
There was a collective nodding among the children and they crept to the door, Jen tried the knob and peeked in through the crack.
"Clear."
"Where's the elf?"
"Nippy? Not here, probably in the kitchens."
He held the door open and everyone snuck in swiftly, taking up positions, moving from cover to cover and keeping a 360-degree view of their surroundings with a fluid cohesiveness that could only be achieved through countless hours of practice.
"Footsteps, left corridor," Tanya whispered, picking out a dampened sound that no one else could.
"Right it is," Kiel whispered and everyone followed suit.
"Where the fuck are those kids?" a familiar voice rang through the floor.
"Right indeed," Jen muttered in agreement.
Another minute of surreptitious tiptoeing and the children found their way into one of the living rooms. They immediately settled themselves down into an air of relaxed ease, as though they had not been sneaking about just a few minutes ago. They had just made it in time as Aleks burst in not a moment too soon, scowling at the children. He looked accusingly at the children who all wore faces of complete innocence.
"Funny thing really," the lanky Russian seethed. "I could have sworn that two of my bikes were missing, as were the lot of you."
All fingers pointed at Dimitri.
"Dimitri(Dim) did it, we were all here lazing around the whole time."
"Wait what? What the fuck?" Dimitri yelped in surprise, looking at the pointed fingers around him.
Aleks grabbed a fistful of his hair in frustration, letting out an annoyed groan.
"Alright, I don't have time for any of this. Everyone to the dining room."
With that, he herded the children out and to the dining where greeted with a table filled with food, almost all of which contained Anya's favourites. Grey sat at the head of the table, looking through documents with complete disinterest. Nathaniel stood beside him with a soft smile.
"Happy birthday, Anya! Seven years old now!"
Cheers exploded around Anya and she found herself crushed under a group hug. Anya had a megawatt smile plastered on her face as she soaked in the affection. Everyone soon took their seats and tucked in to the meal prepared for them, Anya spooning in the delightfully fragrant pilaf rice that Nippy was so good at. Hearty conversations broke out quickly around the table, the children talked about almost every single topic there was. From day-to-day happenings to their training to even magical theory.
When the meal came to a close, Nathaniel called for Nippy to clear the table before placing a long rectangular box on the table. He looked at Anya expectantly who took a moment to realise that it was her birthday gift. Anya gazed at the package in awe, the box was about four feet in length, too short to actually be a broomstick but exciting nonetheless. Gingerly, she unwrapped the box and removed the lid, letting out a soft gasp as she saw its contents.
An SVD-63 Dragunov sniper rifle lay in the box, looking in mint condition with its polished wooden stock and unmarred frames, that is if one excluded all the runes etched on it. Anya lifted the rifle and inspected it, as did all the other children around. The runes on the Dragunov was well made and expertly designed, building on each other in a harmony that Anya could only describe as a masterpiece. There was no way Nathaniel himself could have made this.
"Grey?" Anya stared at the old man in amazement. "You made the runes on this?"
The ashen-haired elder simply grunted and carried on with his documents.
"But how?" Anya muttered, peering through the scope. She gasped as the lens in her vision lit up like a heads-up-display, showing the bearing and range of where her crosshairs were aiming as well as various other useful information such as wind speed and ammunition count. In fact, the weapon felt alive in her arms, warmth coursing through her arms. It was not like the other magically enchanted firearms she had used. "This isn't like the normal modified firearms, you need a powerful central magical core to keep this operating."
"Dragon heartstring," Nathaniel answered. "Embedded into the bolt carrier."
"That's essentially a wand," Tanya cried out.
"That's not all," said Nathaniel, handing Anya a stack of papers.
"Homework?" Dimitri laughed. "Big yikes there, Anya."
"Not homework, Dimitri. It's an option."
There was a wave of confusion from the children. Anya took the stack of papers and leafed through them, scanning what appeared to be a document of various experiments and research. They were theorems on both magical and Muggle topics but Anya found where Nathaniel was going with this.
"You're planning on fixing my eye?" Anya gasped, looking through a blueprint of what was possibly the most complex runic script she had ever seen.
Nathaniel nodded.
"But all these runes," Anya's brow furrowed. "They rely on chaos theory to operate the magical regeneration of my eye, is it safe? It could screw my eye even more."
"Not like it matters," Grey sneered from the side. "You can't even see with that eye, any damage done will be of no detriment. Stop whining."
"There will be side effects for sure," Nathaniel nodded. "Active Runes on a human body is complicated enough, but added to an organ affected by dark magic is something else. That's why I left it as an option to you, to see if you want to know what fate had in store for you."
"Have you tested this before?"
"Yes, on several blinded subjects. Most come out alright, almost all have their vision altered. Some turn out worse, some turn out better and some turn out completely off the charts."
"Off the charts?"
"One subject was able to see through solid objects and another could see electromagnetic wavelengths."
Anya simply sat down, pondering over the choice presented to her. Everyone looked at her, awaiting her decision. She knew this was something that required an extensive amount of consideration, but she trusted Nathaniel to make the right choice for her. Presenting this notes to her already stated his choice.
"I'll do it," said Anya firmly. "As Grey said, any failure is of no detriment."
"Are you sure? The surgery will not be pleasant at all, no painkillers. Can't have them affecting the body and by extension the spells and runes."
Everyone around her grimaced. But Anya stood firm and nodded. Nathaniel ushered her to one of the rooms refitted into a hybrid of an operating theatre and a laboratory, Anya laid down on an operating table and the surgery began. The process was surreal and painful, Anya would never forget that experience, it was unlike another of the other runes that had been carved on her. A flash of a scalpel, the burning sensation of the right eye splitting open. She was infinitely thankful that she could not see with her right eye as the sight of the scalpel entering would have been to sickening for her.
She could feel something in scratching in her eye, leaving a scalding trail in its path. For two hours she gritted her teeth as Nathaniel and Grey worked in hushed concentration, the silence only punctuated occasionally by the short instructions Grey would give Nathaniel. She could tell that runes were being carved within her eyeball, from the iris to the retina. A spark of magic, dancing within her eye, electrifying and cooling.
When the runes were carved and the nerve bundles magically reconnected, they wrapped a bandage embroidered with runes around her eye. The Active Runes were all activated and Anya sat around, waiting for the healing to complete as the other children watched on.
"So, how do you feel?" Jen asked.
"Weird," Anya replied as she sat on the couch, focused on the television in front. "Like there's something gnawing my eyeball."
"It's just doing its thing, the runes," said Dimitri from his beanbag chair, munching on a skewer of meat. "Anyone wants some leftover shashlik?"
Kiel accepted the offer and another wave of silence fell over the room. Night descended over Arkhangelsk and they went to bed, Anya climbed up onto the bunk bed she shared with Tanya and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
When morning came, Anya found herself seated in the dining room, surrounded by everyone. Grey was prodding the bandages with his wand, muttering to himself - or incantations, Anya could not really tell.
"Khorosho. Poluchilos' khorosho," said Grey with satisfaction. "Take it out, devushka."
Slowly, Anya peeled off and unravelled the bandages, the strips of rune-filled cloth descending onto her shoulders. Just as slowly, she began to open her right eye, it felt alive. Her eye fully opened and she gasped.
Light, colours and lines. The information smashed against her head like a sledgehammer. She could absorb every tiny detail all around her, the number of insects across the room, the distinct veins of the leaves falling outside the window and the colossal mass of lines swirling all around her as though she was surrounded by a hurricane. Her mind and body strained against the unrelenting torrent of visual input and she dropped off the chair and on her knees, clutching her eye in pain.
Grey held her steady before her face could follow the same fate as her knees and with a tug, pulled her back to her feet. Keeping her right eye shut, she feel the searing pain ebb away and she finally released her hand. Anya glanced down at her hand.
It was stained with blood.
"What did you see?" Grey asked calmly.
"Everything."
XXXXX
From that day, Anya slowly learned to control her right eye. It started with acclimatision, getting used to the overwhelming sensory input at seemed to crush her head. Gradually, she learned that the sensitivity of her right eye can be adjusted. It was like a new muscle she had to learn to use, like learning to write with one's feet. Mostly, she kept the sensitivity of her right low as she did not need an information overload at all times. There was no point in seeing a myriad of lines when she had yet to understand the meaning of them. In fact, she learned that keeping her sensitivity high would inevitably result in a headache and bleeding from her eye.
Trial and error. Trial and error. Trial and error. She experimented and figured out – with the aid of Nathaniel and Grey – the capabilities of her eye and everyone was amazed by the results. Magic became visible, her field of view expanded significantly and her could easily see objects miles away.
When viewed with the Dragunov rifle, her birthday gifts appeared to be a set rather than two different presents. This managed to bring to a smile to Grey for once.
"Miss. Adjust right by two mils." The crack of the rifle reverberated through the air. Nathaniel and Anya lay on a hilltop, the former with an omniculars in his hand and the later with her rifle. "Control your breathing, you're getting too excited."
"Of course it's a miss," Anya mumbled. "The target's one kilometre away. A Dragunov is only meant to hit up to eight hundred metres."
"No excuse," Nathaniel said firmly, handing Anya another fresh magazine. "This Dragunov is meant to hit up to three kilometres and with your right eye, Grey says that you should be able to hit targets even further than that."
Anya slid the magazine in and pulled the charging handle with more force than necessary. Sighing and mumbling, she settled back into her scope which provided far more magnification than it should be able to given its size.
Her rifle seemed to warm itself up in tandem with her concentration, powering up the runes required to accelerate the bullet to a hypersonic speed. Drilling in the breathing techniques Nathaniel had taught her into her body, she forced herself to calm down. An inhale, an exhale and the rifle jerked back in recoil as the bullet flew towards its target.
"Hit," Nathaniel declared, causing Anya to groan in relief. "But you can do better, you only hit the shoulder, the centre mass should be your goal."
And so weeks and months passed by with Anya firing round after round with her Dragunov, Nathaniel mercilessly trained her marksmanship in addition to the normal training regime. The results were impressive and Anya found herself to be a natural, shooting turned out to be relaxing in its own way as she had to calm down in order to fire accurate shots.
By the spring of 1989, Nathaniel had deemed her fit for operations.
XXXXX
"And by incorporating Euclid-type scripts in the second layer, the rate of bone regrowth can be stabilised to levels safe for use," Anya pointed to the three swirls of runes equidistant from one another. "That would sum up the modifications we have made in the past two weeks."
"However," Hermione picked up where her partner left off. "There are still various flaws and problems yet to solve in this runic script. Hopefully, by the next presentation, Seryy and I would have figured out how to eliminate the side effects of severe thrombosis."
The two girls were greeted with applause from the class, especially from Professor Babbling. The Runes professor could not be prouder at that moment, truly the girls were the highest calibre of students she ever had the pleasure of teaching. Most of the class had presented Active Runes to perform simple feats like levitation and illumination, these two girls were already attempting to replicate the runic system St Mungo used for long-term treatment of certain patients.
The runes were far from perfect, Professor Babbling reckoned that the runic script will probably perform more harm than good on an injured person. However, give it a decade or two and there could very well be a new patent on the horizon.
Hermione herself was at cloud nine, there was a giddy sense of joy and satisfaction when the first layout of runes were made. That giddy sense only heightened which each further improvement and modification. Anya turned out to be a great partner for project work, the girl seemed to be exceptionally comfortable working in pairs. The girl was still seemed enigmatic and peculiar to her, but she truly was a prodigy in Runes, Hermione had learned more from her in weeks than she did in her entire third year. Even though Hermione could not bring herself to like the girl, she easily brought herself to respect her abilities and work ethics. The girl had an innate ability to bring herself to a level of focus and concentration that seemed unnatural, especially when carving runes. It was as if she fell into a trance, her breath would slow down and her body ease into a relaxed stillness, each motion as she carved done in a meticulous precision.
Making her way back to her seat, Anya sighed. Runes was fun, she adored it ever since she could read, having intellectual discussions about Runes with Jen and even Hermione – the brunette's avid interest had earned her respect – was fun. Explaining Runes to a class full of people who looked like as though she was speaking Cantonese, not so much. She was all too glad when the bell rang. Picking up her bag, she realised Hermione walking up to catch up with her.
"That was very good," said Hermione excitedly. "We should start reading up on some of the Anatolian scripts used in healing runes, there's definitely something there we can incorporate."
Anya sighed, what should have been a simple runic script like all the other students descended into a full-fledged experimentation program under the helm of Hermione. Then again, Grey could always use more reading material or inspiration, she had been mailing this project back to Arkhangelsk in the event it ever caught the old man's eye.
"Let's save it for Thursday, alright?" Anya suggested.
"Okay," Hermione nodded before sharply saying. "Next time, you're doing the runic activation. I just can't."
Anya internally snorted, served the girl right for trying to do healing runes. Hermione did not foresee that showing the results of their runes involved having an injured test subject in the first place. It was simply cups transfigured into rats, but the Gryffindor was too squeamish.
"Anya, Hermione," Harry waved at them from across the hallway. "Ready? Ron's already waiting in the classroom."
The girls followed him, Anya wondering how he even managed to rope her along in the first place. Bagman had revealed the final task to them a week ago, it was a vast hedge maze with obstacles, very classic. There was no more pairings for the Fourth Task, it was a free for all. Harry decided to take the time to train up his combat spells in preparation for the task, inviting her to join him, Ron and Hermione. Hermione had warmed up to her after spending them together in Runes, a mutual respect going between them. Ron had been a lot more aggressive in trying to keep Anya out from their training, but he soon grumpily fell under Harry's pressure. At least Harry kept her identity a secret, it was nice to know that she could trust him.
Anya,
Harry placed himself in danger recently. I have told him off but I beg of you to keep an eye on him when you can. I understand that you are not compelled by any means to do so, but I sincerely hope that you have it in your heart to watch over him. I already know you have the ability to do so, my father had told me about Wizarding Russia when I was young, for you to survive there as a killer speaks volumes.
S.
She had received that letter two days after Mr Crouch's disappearance, she was not sure if the man's disappearance was a concern or a relief. Watching her brother lead them to an abandoned classroom that served as their training room, Anya sighed softly. After the Third Task, the ice between them had more or less broke, Anya still held many secrets and was unwilling to open herself up, but her brother's genuine care was somewhat endearing. She supposed keeping an eye out for her brother once in a while would not hurt.
"So what should we be practicing today?" Harry asked as they entered the classroom.
"Shield Charms," Hermione suggested. "You could do with the practice on that."
"Alright," Harry nodded in agreement. "Anya?"
Simply drawing her wand and nodding, Anya got to work going through the motions of spellcasting. Anya watched as Harry went through the rigours of his training, she had to admit it, her brother was an innate wizard for his age and a prodigy himself in Defence. Hours passed and everyone fell on the chairs, panting in exhaustion.
"Well, at least we will be coming up top in Defence," Ron quipped.
Hermione and Ron had been very tight-lipped when Anya was around, Anya suspected that they were trying to avoid talking about Sirius.
"Just try to be very careful Harry, whoever's out to get you will have only this one last chance," said Hermione, casting a furtive glance at Anya. "I suppose best of luck to you too Seryy."
Anya nodded in response, subconsciously scratching the back of her head where the runes were still humming. At this rate, she would probably receive back her memory by the Fourth Task. The schooling year was coming to an end and soon Ron and Hermione could no longer join in their training. With the end of year exams nearing, Hermione frequently pulled Ron away forcefully to study for the exams. Since Anya and Harry were both champions and thus exempted from exams, they simply spent their free time practicing various spells they both felt useful.
"Anya."
Anya hummed in acknowledgement, taking a break as Harry worked on the Impediment Jinx. She kept her eyes on him as she took another swig of butterbeer, both to appease Sirius and to observe the jinx in action, she had never learned or used an Impediment Jinx before - a Stunner or bullet was more effective.
"I know I've asked this before," Harry began, stowing away his wand as he took a break as well. "But are you fine?"
"What's with that?" Anya chuckled.
"Your scars..." Harry trailed off. "I'm worried for you, have you been fine in Russia? You keep evading this question and I think-"
"Stop," Anya held up her hand, sighing wearily. "I ask of you, respect my privacy."
"It's just," Harry said in frustration, running his hand through his hair. "I feel like a shit brother right now, not taking care of you."
"You don't need to," Anya replied, tilting her head in amusement, eyebrows quirking. "And in the one moment you could, you have, Third Task."
"That was all you," Harry muttered. "Don't remind me of stealing your points."
"No," Anya shook her head. "You watched my back and you did it well, it was good. Krum and I would have died if you weren't there to help."
Harry sat himself down on a chair and accepted a butterbeer from Anya.
"I think I should be doing something to keep you safe," Harry took a big gulp, enjoying the smooth drink run down his throat.
"You are. You're not telling anyone about me."
"Anya-"
"Sorry Harry," Anya finished off the last of her butterbeer and grabbed her bag. "Runes is starting in five minutes and I've got to go. Don't worry about me, worry about yourself."
With a wave that Harry returned in resignation, Anya left the unused classroom, heading for her class.
XXXXX
"Anya," a cheery Astoria greeted her from across the corridor, the young Slytherin caught up with Anya who was running third wheel for a Nott and older Greengrass who were in their own world.
Astoria gave her sister a quick hug before moving beside Anya, the group of them making their way to the Slytherin common room.
"How was Runes?" Astoria inquired.
"It's alright," Anya replied. "Just glad the project was over, it's a big headache trying to dance to Granger's tune. The girl is too overambitious."
"Did the runic script work? I remember Nott trying to cheat off you and Granger's work."
"It did work, but came with a load of problems. Granger bit off more than she could chew.'
"Of course she did," Astoria snorted. "She a mudblood, they can't really do much..."
She trailed off when she realised that those words were no longer true, spending time with Anya has shown her otherwise. She shook her head slightly as though to shake off her blunder but Anya simply ignored it.
"Omniscient," Anya gave the password and the Slytherins entered the common room, Zabini waved them over from the corner of the room and they settled themselves there.
Everyone took out their reading material and began revising for the coming exams, except Anya who began leafing through a copy of War and Peace. There were a few jealous looks thrown at her from around the common room but the Slytherins kept any ill will to themselves, nobody was tempted to pick a fight.
"Lucky you," Astoria pouted, revising her notes on Charms. "I wish I was exempted from all this exams nonsense."
"Tori, focus," Daphne admonished, handing over her own notes to her sister for more reading material. "And Seryy, shouldn't you be off training for the Fourth Task?"
"It starts tomorrow, so it's better if I start resting my body," Anya reasoned, not taking her eyes off her book.
"I hope you win this," said Astoria. "You're in the lead and with your track record so far, you stand the highest chance of winning."
Shrewd nods followed Astoria's words and soon Anya found herself forcefully ushered by her housemates into her dorms for an early rest. Everyone demanded that she sleep early so that she would have the energy for the Fourth Task.