The Russian in this chapter was written by two Bulgarian students who have studied it for only 3 years. No comments if it's butchered. Also, sorry for getting rid of the шльокавица, but my friend couldn't stop laughing at the way „царь's" looked, soI'm using it. This chapter is for all the кирилица user.

17.03.2015

22:30; ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

BES

The limousine slammed into pavement, scattering a group of surprised teenagers.

"Can't we go anywhere gently?" Sadie asked.

I hit the wipers and scraped the sand off our windshield. Outside it was dark. A cold wind blew. Eighteenth-century stone buildings lined a frozen river lit with streetlamps. A group of teenagers with piercings, dyed hair, and black leather clothes were screaming at us in Russian and pounding on the hood of the Mercedes. I would have reacted the same if someone had almost run me over.

"They can see us?" Sadie asked.

"Russians. Very superstitious people. They tend to see magic for what it is. We'll have to be careful here."

"You've been here before?" Carter asked.

I looked back at him. I'm a god, I've been everywhere.

Carter looked out the window and noticed the two sphinxes we'd landed between.

"Are those authentic?"

"Farthest-north Egyptian artifacts in the world," I said. "Pillaged from Thebes and brought up here to decorate Russia's new imperial city, St. Petersburg. Like I said, every new empire wants a piece of Egypt."

The kids outside were still shouting and banging on the car. One smashed a bottle against our windshield.

"Um," Sadie said, "should we move?"

"Nah," I said. "Russian kids always hang out by the sphinxes. Been doing it for hundreds of years."

"But it's like midnight here," Carter said.

"There's still an hour and a half." I said. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

Outside was unfortunately too cold for a speedo. I magicked myself a warm fur coat and yelled at the kids:

Вам не сказали, почему вы надо идти домой на ужин?

Then I roared like a lion. The kids screamed and ran.

A hat and some mittens couldn't hurt me. Egyptian gods were not made for Russian springs.

"See?" I said when I got back into the car. "Superstitious. They know enough to run from a god."

"A small hairy god in a Speedo, yes," Sadie said. "So what do we do now?"

I pointed across the river at a glowing palace of white-and-gold stone. "That's the Hermitage."

"Hermits live there?" Sadie asked.

"No," Carter said. "I've heard of that place. It was the царь's palace. Now it's a museum. Best Egyptian collection in Russia."

"Dad took you there, I suppose?" Sadie asked.

"We never went. He got an invitation to speak there once, but he declined."

I chuckled. "Your dad was smart. Russian magicians don't exactly welcome outsiders. They protect their territory fiercely."

Sadie stared across the river. "You mean the headquarters of the Eighteenth Nome is inside the museum?"

"Somewhere," I agreed, "but it's hidden with magic, because I've never found the entrance. That part you're looking at is the Winter Palace, the old home of the царь. There's a whole complex of other mansions behind it. I've heard it would take eleven days just to see everything in all the Hermitage collections."

"But unless we wake Ra, the world ends in four days," Carter said.

"So take the abbreviated tour," I said. "Start with the Egyptian section. Ground floor, main museum."

"Aren't you coming with us?" Carter asked.

"He can't, can he?" Sadie guessed. "Like Bast couldn't enter Desjardins' house in Paris. The magicians charm their headquarters against the gods. Isn't that right?"

Can't get in, can't get out. As a dwarf, that's the closest I've ever been to feeling claustrophobic.

"I'll walk you down to the bridge, but I can't go any farther. If I cross the River Neva too close to the Hermitage, I'll set off all kinds of alarms. You'll have to sneak inside somehow-"

"Breaking into a museum at night," Sadie muttered. "We've had such good luck with that."

"-and find the entrance to the Eighteenth Nome. And don't get captured alive."

"What do you mean?" Carter asked. "It's better to be captured dead?"

They saw us as entertainment. Praised our beauty once they've made it theirs. Ridiculed our culture, our believes, our people. Our gods.

I was worshipped once. Respected. They said respecting me was ridiculous. Look at those imaginary stories, aren't they cute? Look at those superstitions, that even children would laugh at.

And so they laughed.

And now I was a babysitter. How quickly we rise and we fall.

"Just trust me." I said "You don't want to be Меншиков's prisoner."

Speaking of babysitting… I snapped my fingers and gave the younglings fleece parkas, ski pants, and winter boots.

"Come on, малыши," he said. "I'll walk you to the Дворцовый Bridge."

The bridge was only a few hundred yards away. The beauty of St. Petersburg almost outweighed the heaviness of the day.

"We are currently on Васильевский остров." I said as we walked on. "Across река Нева from the center of Санкт-Петербург."

"You've spent a lot of time here," Carter said.

There were a couple of good centuries before they found me.

We walked in silence for a few paces. "Most of that was long ago. It wasn't-"

There it was, across the street. Canary yellow walls, green gabled roof. Lit up in the night, it shone like a ghost.

"Принц Меншиков's palace," I muttered.

"You mean Menshikov as in Vlad the Inhaler?" Carter asked.

"He's a descendant." I curled my lip with distaste. „Этот ублюдок. Back in the seventeen hundreds, принц Меншиков threw a party for Петьо - the царь who built this city. Петьо loved dwarves. He thought we were good luck, so he always kept some of us in his court. Anyway, Меншиков wanted to entertain the царь, so he thought it would be funny to stage a dwarf wedding. He forced them... he forced us to dress up, pretend to get married, and dance around. All the big folk were laughing, jeering..."

My voice trailed off.

Sadie put her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Bes. Must have been awful."

I scowled. "Russian magicians love capturing gods, using us. I can still hear that wedding music, and the tsar laughing"

"How'd you get away?" Carter asked.

I glared at him. "Enough of this. We're wasting time."

Another hundred yards through the bitter wind, and we reached the bridge. On the other side, the Winter Palace shimmered.

"I'll take the Mercedes the long way around," I said. "Down to the next bridge, and circle south of the Hermitage. Less likely to alert the magicians that I'm here."

"How do we find you if we succeed?" Sadie asked.

"When you succeed," I said. "Think positive, girl, or the world ends."

"Right." Sadie shivered in her new parka. "Positive."

"I'll meet you on the Невский Проспект, the main street with all the shops, just south of the Hermitage. I'll be at the Chocolate Museum."

"The what now?" Carter asked.

"Well, it's not really a museum. More of a shop-closed this time of night, but the owner always opens up for me. They've got chocolate everything-chess sets, lions, Владимирр Ленин heads-"

"The communist guy?" Carter asked.

"Yes, Professor Brilliant," I said. "The communist guy, in chocolate."

"So let me get this straight," Sadie said. "We break into a heavily guarded Russian national museum, find the magicians' secret headquarters, find a dangerous scroll, and escape. Meanwhile, you will be eating chocolate."

I nodded solemnly. "It's a good plan. It might work. If something happens and I can't meet you at the Chocolate Museum, our exit point is the Egyptian Bridge, to the south at the река Фонтанка. Just turn on the-"

"Enough," Sadie said. "You will meet us at the chocolate shop. And you will provide me with a takeaway bag. That is final. Now, go!"

I gave her a lopsided smile. "You're okay, girl."