I had to track down whoever had created this vortex...
Just at that moment I got a second jolt. But this time it was different. There was no cramp or pain; my throat just went dry and my gums went numb, the blood started pounding in my temples, and my fingertips started itching.
This was it!
But the timing couldn't have been worse.
I got up - the train was already braking as it pulled into a station. I walked past the girl and felt her eyes on me, following me. She was afraid. There was no way she could see the black vortex, but it was obviously making her feel anxious, making her pay close attention to the people around her.
Maybe that was why she was still alive?
Trying not to look in her direction, I lowered my hand into my pocket and fingered the amulet - a smooth rod carved out of cool onyx. I hesitated for a moment, trying to come up with some other course of action.
No, there was no other way.
I squeezed the amulet tight in the palm of my hand, feeling a prickly sensation in my fingers as the stone started warming up, giving out its accumulated energy. The sensation was no illusion, but you can't measure this heat with any thermometer. It felt like I was squeezing a coal taken out of a fire... it was covered with cold ash, but still red hot at the center.
When I'd drained the amulet completely, I glanced at the girl. The black twister was shuddering, leaning over slightly in my direction. This vortex was so powerful that it even possessed a rudimentary intelligence.
I struck.
If there'd been any Others in the carriage, or even anywhere in the train, they'd have seen a blinding flash that could pierce metal or concrete with equal ease...
I'd never tried striking at a black vortex with such a complex structure before. And I'd never used an amulet with such a powerful charge.
The effect was totally unexpected. The feeble curses hanging over other people's heads were completely swept away. An elderly woman who'd been rubbing her forehead looked at her hand in amazement: Her vicious migraine had suddenly disappeared. A young guy who'd been gazing dully out the window shuddered. His face relaxed and the look of hopeless misery disappeared from his eyes.
The black vortex above the girl was tossed back five meters; it even slipped halfway out of the carriage. But it maintained its structure and came zigzagging back through the air to its victim.
This was real power!
With real perseverance!
They say, though I've never actually seen it myself, that if a vortex is pushed even two or three meters away from its victim, it gets disoriented and attaches itself to the nearest person it can find. That's a pretty lousy thing to happen to anyone, but at least a curse meant for someone else has a much weaker effect, and the new victim has a good chance of escaping.
But this vortex just came straight back, like a faithful dog running to its master in trouble.
The train was stopping. I threw one last glance at the vortex - it was back in place, hanging there above the young woman's head; it had even started spinning faster... and there was nothing, absolutely nothing I could do about it. The target I'd been hunting all over Moscow for a week was somewhere close, right here in the station. My boss would have eaten me alive... and maybe not just in the figurative sense...
When the doors parted with a hiss, I gave the woman a final glance, hastily memorizing her aura. There wasn't much chance of ever finding her again in this massive city. But even so, I would have to try.
Only not right now.
I jumped out of the carriage and looked around. It was true, I was a bit short of field-work experience; the boss is absolutely right about that. But I didn't like the method he'd chosen for training me at all.
How in hell's name was I supposed to find the target?
Not one of the people I could see with my normal vision looked even slightly suspicious. There were plenty of them still jostling each other here - it was the circle line, after all, the Kursk station; there were passengers who'd just arrived on the main line, street traders making their way home, people in a hurry to change trains and ride out to the suburbs... But if I closed my eyes I could observe a more fascinating