The train soon reached its destination, and Illya and his traveling companions got off at the station. To his utter amazement, Illya found himself in the New York City of 1968.

"What is this?" Alexandra demanded as she and the others looked around, frightened out of their wits.

"This is New York City in the year 1968," Illya told her.

"But how on earth did this happen?"

Illya shrugged. "The Faberge egg must be able to work its magic even from a distance."

"Where did you find it?" she asked again.

"In an antique shop in St. Petersburg," he told her.

"They insisted that we leave the palace right away. I went to fetch it, but it wasn't in its usual place. I searched all over for it but couldn't find it anywhere. They were getting impatient and insisted that we go with them anyway. It broke my heart to leave it, but I had no other choice."

"I'm so sorry." Illya could think of nothing else to say. "Where did they take you?"

"To Tobolsk, and from there on to Yekaterinburg. They told us that we were going to be relocated again and that they were going to take our picture first as proof that we were still alive. Then their leader told us that we were to be executed instead. I heard the shots and saw Nicky fall, and then suddenly I saw you." Her eyes were soft with wonder. "You saved us, Illya."

"Well, I couldn't just stand there and let them kill you," he said modestly, awkwardly.

"So what's to become of us now?" she asked.

It occurred to Illya that they did indeed seem to be in a quandary. What would become of a group of ten, including a teenage boy, from fifty years in the past? They knew nothing of modern times, of course, or indeed, much about American culture, probably even less than he himself knew.

"I'd be happy to let you stay in my apartment," he said. "Although it has only one bedroom so would be a bit crowded."

"Is there not an inn in this town?" asked Alexandra.

"Of course there is!"

"Money is no object," Alexandra said. "The girls and I sewed jewels into our clothing for just such an occasion and, of course, we will provide for the doctor and the servants as well."

Relief flooded through Illya. Quickly he called several cabs for the group and directed them to the nearest motel, then returned to his apartment quite shaken. Although glad that they all had a place to stay for the night and means to get by for awhile, he was worried about their long-term survival. How could they ever hope to make it in a foreign country fifty years in the future from their own time? He couldn't get Alexandra's beautiful blue eyes out of his mind. He knew that they'd haunt his sleep that night, just as they had every night since the first time he'd laid eyes on her.