Chapter 21
Kashchey the Immortal
I ran through the woods in the direction of the noise. Tree limbs stung my face, but I didn’t care. The roar of the engine got louder. It was deep, hoarse, and different from how a car sounded. I reached the edge of the forest, pulling the branches out of the way, and saw him.
Quinn Alastair was sitting on a motorcycle, revving his engine, staring straight at me.
He was wearing clothes the color of the forest and could easily blend in with the trees, were it not for his motorcycle.
It felt like a punch in the gut. Out of all the inventions I’d discovered in Virginia, motorcycles were my favorite.
I’d even mentioned to Lisa I wanted to ride one.
They were so much like horses, only incredibly fast.
Horses! I looked around, trying to locate Harry, but the pony was nowhere in sight.
Lisa’s ex-husband looked gaunt, with his cheeks sunken in.
His eyes shone darkly from under the helmet.
He revved the engine once more and rose up on the back wheel, so that the motorcycle stood up in the air.
He rode like this past me, then dropped the front wheel and killed the engine.
Slowly, he dismounted without taking his eyes off me.
I stood still, reminding myself to breathe deeply.
Just like Lisa had told her students at the yoga studio.
“In, out, don’t forget to breathe,” I told myself as Quinn clenched his jaw and approached.
As he stepped closer, I noticed the resemblance he bore to the most frightening monster in all fairy tales in Zorya. A monster much worse than Baba Yaga. Quinn Alastair looked like Kashchey the Immortal.
Kashchey was a true villain. Whereas Baba Yaga had some redeeming qualities, Kashchey had none. Kashchey destroyed things and was vengeful and murderous. He was pure evil. The similarity hit me, and I fumbled for a moment too long. Just enough to embolden Quinn.
“Jonathan, is it?” He snickered. “Thief.”
“I took what belonged to Vasilisa.”
“Despicable.” Quinn spat on the ground. “Where is she? Is this the best she can do? A brat like you?”
“The Fabergé egg is Vasilisa’s. And so is the deed.” I raised my head high.
“Pathetic, both of you. I’ll take the egg back, and the title.
” Quinn narrowed his eyes. And that’s when it hit me: The Fabergé egg was just like the magical egg in the fairy tales.
My old nurse had told me Kashchey could only be killed if one got hold of the magical egg that contained a needle where Kashchey’s soul was hidden.
Was Quinn after something other than the title?
Had he hidden his soul in the Fabergé egg?
“Get out of here. The Seven Birches belongs to Lisa,” I squeezed out.
“Oh yeah? It sure does! Let’s see what’s left of it once I’m done here,” Quinn turned back to his motorcycle and opened the top box.
He produced an axe, its face reflecting the sun.
Quinn flipped the axe in his hands as he curled his lips into a cruel smile.
“The Seven Birches belongs to Lisa,” he mocked me. “How ’bout this?”
He swung the axe, making a half circle with it, then hit the wooden steps of the yoga studio with full force. Chips flew in all directions. Quinn bellowed as he aimed the axe, chopping at the steps again. He made a terrible screeching noise as he did so, lifting the axe high above his head.
“Yii-hah!” he yelled. “This feels good. I will destroy this place and she’ll have nothing. Nothing!”
“Stop! What are you doing?” I yelled, but that only encouraged Quinn.
“Yeah, what are you gonna do now, brat? You can only sneak and steal, not confront a man like me!” He guffawed and hit the steps again.
As he did, I realized Quinn didn’t know how to use an axe. At the hands of an expert lumberjack, they would have already been demolished, but all Lisa’s ex did was produce deep cuts.
He didn’t chop at the correct angle, and though the slashes in the wood were bad, they were completely reversible.
I considered waiting until he tired out.
Already, as he lifted the axe for the third time, he looked worn-out.
But he was angry. And I knew anger gave a man strength.
So I did the only thing I could think of to stop the rampage.
I waited until he swung his axe again, then ducked down and rushed at him, grabbing him from behind and kicking Quinn in the shins.
Lisa’s ex-husband stumbled to the ground, still holding the axe.
He tried lifting it, but I pinned him to the ground, wrestling it out of his hands.
He spat in my face and reached for my neck, but I maneuvered out of the way and headbutted him, then jumped off my opponent.
“Get out of here,” I yelled. “Go before I hurt you.”
“You can’t hurt me,” Quinn hissed, moving to his knees. “I’ll be back for you. Just wait.” He stood up, wobbling, then stumbled to his motorcycle. “I’ll get the title. And the egg.”
“Leave Lisa alone.”
“Never.” Quinn got on his motorcycle and, revving the engine, sped off, leaving a cloud of dust.
I stood watching as he rode off, then dropped the axe and walked to the steps to examine the damage. It was minor, and I knew how to repair it.
“Ivan.” I heard Lisa’s voice and turned around. She rushed to me, her eyes wide-open. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, yes,” I said, smiling at her. Even in distress, she looked beautiful.
“I heard everything. Oh, Ivan, I don’t know what I would have done without you. I had no idea he would do this. I just thought he’d leave me alone,” Lisa cried out, clasping her head.
“Don’t worry. It was nothing. And I can fix the steps, it’s not a big deal.”
“But that’s just it. It’s bad. Really bad. I didn’t want to get you into this mess. You’re just a kid, just a young boy, your whole life’s ahead of you.” Lisa wailed.
“I’m not a child. I’m a young man.” I approached, reaching for her, eager to continue what we had started in the forest. She was my magical princess, my Vasilisa, and we’d almost kissed. I wasn’t about to let her pathetic ex-husband ruin what was happening between us.
“This isn’t going to work out. I can’t do this to you. I have too much baggage—you saw for yourself. He’ll never leave me alone. Who knows what that man is capable of?” Lisa pulled back.
“Lisa, please, just listen. I think I’ve figured it out. I know how to destroy him,” I pleaded.
“No, no, Ivan, please, you don’t have to do anything. I should never have gotten you involved in this.” Lisa wrung her hands. “This is already beyond embarrassing. I don’t know what got into me earlier.”
“Earlier?” I furrowed my brow. Does she mean what happened when we almost kissed?
“Yes, when I asked you to help me. And you did, that’s the thing. I just thought I was magical, or we were magical. But it’s all ridiculous. None of this can be real. What am I even doing?”
“But I’m real, Lisa. Look.” I reached out and gently touched her hand. She pulled it away, and my heart sank.
“I don’t know what’s real anymore. Maybe I’m just imagining all of this.”
“Lisa, give me a chance, I just want to show you something. You brought the egg with you, right?”
“Why do you want it?”
“I think the egg contains the soul of Kashchey.”
“What?”
“Kashchey! Kashchey the Immortal. I think Quinn, your ex, is Kashchey.”
“Who’s Kashchey? It sounds vaguely familiar.” Lisa pronounced the name with an emphasis on the first syllable, which sounded adorable.
“He’s the ultimate villain, the scariest creature in the whole, wide world.
Worse than Baba Yaga. He is evil and can only be defeated if you can get to his soul.
And he keeps it in a needle hidden inside an egg.
Kashchey keeps it safe so that no one ever gets to it. Just like Quinn kept the Fabergé egg.”
“Oh, that’s right, it was in one of the fairy tales. That’s where I must have seen the reference.”
“When I saw him just now, Quinn looked just like Kashchey. I think it’s because his soul is in that egg. I just don’t get why else he’d want it back. We should try to open it again and see what happens.”
“I brought it, all right.” Lisa sighed, sounding completely defeated. “I guess it won’t hurt to try to do this. Now, where were the bags?”
“Right over here!” As if on cue, Harry emerged from the other side of the yoga studio. He was dragging the two backpacks with his mouth.
“Harry!” I rushed to the pony. “I can’t believe you did this. Thank you.”
“Thank you, Harry,” Lisa said.
Harry dropped the bags on the ground and shook his head. His mane flowed in the wind as he did this, giving him a regal appearance.
“As soon as I heard the noise, I figured it was best to hide,” he explained. “So I moved the bags to safety.”
“That was good thinking,” I said, picking up the two backpacks from the ground and bringing them to the bottom of the stairs, the very place where Quinn had been chopping with the axe. The chipped part of the steps looked raw, a stark reminder of the danger we had been in just minutes prior.
“What would I do without the two of you?” Lisa wiped a tear that rolled down her cheek. “Harry, if it weren’t for you, Quinn would have definitely taken the bags. And I would have lost the Fabergé egg forever.”
“Don’t cry,” Harry neighed tenderly.
“Let’s try to open it up again and see if we can get the soul of Kashchey,” I suggested, lifting Lisa’s bag and handing it to her.
“What’s this all about?” Harry bared his teeth.
“Ivan thinks Quinn is just like Kashchey, some fairy-tale villain. And that he may have hidden his soul in the egg.” She shrugged.
“His actual soul?” Harry turned to me. I felt a knot form in the pit of my stomach. The two of them were working against me again. “So the egg has a secret? But what about the Ring of True Love?”
“I don’t think there’s actually a Ring of True Love in there,” Lisa scoffed. “I’ve tried opening the egg plenty of times, and there’s nothing. It can’t be invisible, can it?”
“Forget the ring. Maybe the egg holds a secret that can help us defeat Quinn so he never bothers you again.” I opened my arms wide. “It’s just an idea. But why not try?”
“Sure, let’s just try it,” Lisa acquiesced.
“So we can go ahead and open the egg now?” With Lisa changing her mind so quickly, I was no longer sure what was going on and decided to confirm.
“Yeah, go ahead, while I’m going to do something else.
” Lisa took out her phone and stared at it for a moment, then started clicking away.
“I see. I’m just figuring something out.
I would need to get what he just did on the record.
So basically, I gotta call the police and get them to come out here right away.
And then I can collect the evidence and bring it to a judge to file a restraining order against Quinn. ”
“What’s that?” Harry and I asked together.
“It’s this document—well, it’s something that will prevent Quinn from coming here.
Or if he came back here, he would be in a lot of trouble.
So I would just need you, Ivan, to be a witness, and then—” She stopped midsentence and dropped the phone back into her pocket.
“Oh, never mind. Of course, I’m so stupid.
I keep forgetting you’re not real.” She frowned at me as she said this, biting her lip.
“I’m quite real!” I said indignantly.
The stark contrast to her behavior in the forest cut like a knife. This was no longer a woman who was falling for me. She was distressed and pushing me away.
“I mean, you’re real, but not really. Like, you’re undocumented. But not like that. But you’re basically from another universe entirely, so you can’t be a witness. And Harry— Oh, never mind.” Lisa sighed, “What have I gotten myself into? A talking horse and a fairy-tale hero.”
“Lisa, I want to help you,” I countered. “Let’s call the police, like you were saying. I can be a good witness.”
“No, Ivan, trust me. I’m all alone in this.
It’s never going to work, is it?” She shook her head in resignation.
Something told me she’d meant anything between the two of us.
“Now, let’s just open this egg, like you were suggesting.
And why not? I mean, it’s not like it’ll be the strangest thing I’ve done all day. ”
“All right. We’d better go inside.” I jumped on the opportunity to win Lisa back.
Before she could change her mind, I climbed up the steps of the yoga center.
It was a long shot, but it was worth it.
If I was right, and the egg had a secret that contained the soul of Kashchey, then I would defeat Quinn forever and set Lisa free.
And then she could fall in love with me.
She was the magical fairy-tale Vasilisa and I would do anything to be with her.