Chapter 5 #2
“Come on, let’s walk to my apartment. Lean on me, Ivan.” I did as I was told and took a hesitant step forward, feeling weak.
Whatever good impression I’d hoped to make, I was sure I’d ruined it.
“You poor thing,” she said. “Come on, just a little more, you’ll be able to sit down there.” She pointed somewhere behind the curtains.
We walked out of the studio and into the corridor with the fountain, toward a side door.
Lisa opened it, and we walked into her apartment.
The first thing I saw was a large table that stood right in the center of the room.
There were four chairs around it, one on each side, and in the middle of the table stood a bowl filled to the brim with fruit.
Never in my life had I seen such an abundance.
It was like a feast at the tsar’s palace I’d heard of in fairy tales. There were pears, apples, plums, and then other fruit I’d never seen before, round orange ones.
“May I?” I asked, picking up an apple.
“Of course.”
I bit into the apple, swallowing it in three large bites. There was something different in how it tasted, but its sweetness helped me and I didn’t feel as faint.
“Have something to drink,” Lisa said, and immediately pressed a glass into my hand.
I smelled something strange—it was tingly and made me sneeze.
“This is lemon-infused water, Ivan. Drink some, it’ll help you with the electrolytes.
I’m just going to pop over into the kitchen,” she muttered to herself, opening a side door and disappearing from view.
Not bothering to ask what electrolytes were, I took a sip of the water. It was delicious, and my head stopped spinning. I looked around the room. Other than the table, there was a sofa and a low table.
Lisa emerged with a steaming bowl of oatmeal with berries on top. They looked like raspberries but were enormous, twice the size of a regular berry I was used to eating.
Lisa placed the bowl on the table in front of me. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to call Harry over. I didn’t want anyone to see me sneaking a horse into the studio.” She handed me a spoon. Before I had a chance to respond, she disappeared.
I leaned over the bowl and took a bite, then another. By the time Lisa walked back in, followed by Harry, I’d devoured the oatmeal.
Seeing the empty bowl, she gasped.
“I should have warned you, please eat slowly, Ivan. If you haven’t eaten in a long time, you might have cramps.”
“Thank you, Lisa,” I responded. “My old nurse used to tell me the same thing.”
“Let me see if I’ve got anything else for you.”
Lisa walked into the kitchen, then appeared with what looked like a loaf of bread, only it had already been sliced into even, thin pieces.
Then she reached into a clear bag, produced something that smelled like meat, only sliced really thin, placed it on the bread, covered with a sliver of cheese, and pressed it together by putting another piece of bread on top.
Watching these preparations made my mouth water, and it took all my willpower not to drool and wait until Lisa had placed it on a plate and handed it to me.
“Here’s a turkey and cheese sandwich,” she said. I figured turkey had to be some kind of meat, but I’d never heard of it. And the cheese looked very different from the cheese we ate in Zorya, especially the color.
“Why did you put another slice of bread on top?” I asked, taking the plate from her.
“That’s how sandwiches are prepared. Haven’t you ever had one?”
“No.” I shook my head.
Hesitantly at first, I bit into what Lisa had called a sandwich. The flavor was incredible. I tried to chew slowly, but I practically inhaled it.
Immediately, I thought of how I would prepare this meal for Ilya and Peter and how I’d feed my father.
How happy the three of them would be to taste something this delicious.
Absorbed in these happy thoughts, I missed what Lisa was telling me, but she was looking at me, the expression on her face expectant.
“This sandwich,” I said, carefully pronouncing the unfamiliar word, “was delectable.”
“Let me make you another,” Lisa offered eagerly.
“Thank you very much,” I said. “But what about you? I thought we would be sharing a meal?”
“Of course, but maybe later. Harry, why don’t you join us at the table?”
Lisa waved at the pony, who had been standing in the corner of the room in quiet observation. Seeing a pony indoors didn’t strike me as overly unusual, but when he walked over to the table, I wondered what exactly was going on.
As if reading my thoughts, Lisa said, “I was very worried about you, so I asked Harry to come in to help. Since you and Harry already know each other.”
“I’m sorry I fainted earlier. It’s just that things are so new for me here,” I responded.
“Ivan, this is exactly what we need to figure out. Why is everything so new to you?” Lisa sat at the table across from me, propping her face with her hands.
“I’m not entirely sure.”
“Harry told me you came through a hole in the roof? Into the bathhouse? Did that actually happen?”
“Yes, that’s where I landed. I don’t really know how that happened. But I kind of woke up like that. The bathhouse is very nice, by the way. And the water was warm.”
“Yes, it’s a historical bathhouse, it’s been around for three hundred years. Some say the founding fathers used it. And it was built on a spring that has healing powers.”
Lisa placed a cup on the table and was now stirring its contents with a spoon. The liquid was dark and resembled tea, but its smell was different from the tea we drank in Zorya.
“Who are the founding fathers?” I stared at Lisa in bewilderment. “I’m not related to them.”
“They were these men who had founded America. The country where we live. But this isn’t the point. Ivan, we need to figure out where you come from. Harry says you need my help, so I’m trying to help you.”
“Yes, of course.” I nodded eagerly, preparing to tell Lisa about the Firebird and my quest. I turned to look at Harry and gave him a grateful nod. It was wonderful to have a friend like Harry, even if he was just a horse.
Harry held my gaze. Again, he had that look, as if he were trying to tell me something silently. I tilted my head, trying to decipher Harry’s signals, but to no avail.
“Ivan, listen, where were you before that? Do you remember?” Lisa asked.
“Before the bathhouse? Of course I remember. I was at Baba Yaga’s hut.” I shrugged.
“What?” Lisa gasped, and the spoon fell out of her hands, landing on the table with a clank.
“Baba Yaga, you know? The old witch. I was wandering through the woods and then came upon an old oak tree. Only it was because Baba Yaga had made it appear. And then I saw her hut. And then it was just one thing after another.”
“I’ve heard of Baba Yaga, of course I have.
That’s what they called John Wick. But Ivan, she’s not real.
” Lisa held up her hands. “I mean, I thought a talking horse was weird enough, and of course, the world is changing, everything is colliding, we’re moving into the unknown, 5-D, all that.
” She was speaking fast, and though I was trying hard to understand what she was saying, her words made little sense. “But this is really on another level.”
“It’s how it’s supposed to happen. With the oak tree and the hut. That’s how Baba Yaga traps people. I’m not sure about 5-D, but what I’m telling you is true. I found a magical feather.”
“What does a feather have to do with anything? Please, I don’t understand.”
“Here it is!” I reached into my pocket and took out the glowing Firebird feather. Immediately, it lit up the entire room, the golden glow spreading through Lisa’s apartment. “It’s the Firebird’s!”
“The Firebird’s?!” Lisa exclaimed, extending her hand and reaching for it.