Halfway down the spiral staircase, I paused, trying to hold my breath. It wasn`t so easy as I`d expected. There was nothing to breathe in the cramped stone chimney, and the stench rolled in thick sickening waves from below. The cold seeped from the brick walls, and the slick of dampness covered the steps, long worn by the hundreds of feet that had trod them. I had to watch my every step. Gritting my teeth so that they didn`t chatter with fear, I stubbornly continued to descend into the twisted darkness. One step for Pulcino, one step for Julia…

How bitterly she wept in the convent when she received Ricardo's letter! I didn't know what to do when I saw her in such despair.

“I'm not going to Venetta! I don't believe them! My mother didn`t want that wedding – and now she's dead!” Julia sobbed. "A weak heart? Nonsense! Looks more like poison! Don Arsago would stop at nothing to get the sorceress chiamati into his family! When he finds out how weak and insignificant my gift is, he`ll kill me, too!”

I'd been replacing Julia during her lessons more and more often. The nuns praised me. But now our innocent deception could backfire.

With a sniff, Julia jerked her head up, smearing tears on her cheeks.

“I'm not going to Arsago's. Roberto will take me away, he has long promised to marry me, from the first meeting. We will go to Ariminum where his family will be able to protect me!”

I shook my head doubtfully. A patrician whose name was written in the Golden book was not supposed to marry a foreigner. Julia's lover, signor Roberto d'Este, of whom she had long been buzzing in my ears, was, of course, all good, but he was not a Venettian. Ricardo would have been furious at the news of their marriage. And the Council of Ten would have flown like a flock of gulls for sure! It was Julia's destiny to bestow her hand (and dowry) on one of the senators, thus sealing a lucrative political alliance. However, fate decreed otherwise when a romantic signor from Ariminum, a collector of songs and fairy tales, reached our seedy island, looked over the fence of the convent and saw a girl with eyes as bright as amber, her face as beautiful as the dawn. His heart flared and fluttered. He and Julia had become very close, the chestnut could testify that. And now, when don Arsago appeared like a black cloud on our horizon, my friend decided to escape.

At this unfortunate moment I had an idea.

“You don't need to go to Venetta. I'll go for you.”

At the time, I thought it was a good idea. I'd find out who had killed donna Beatrice. And then I would show him such chiamata terrors that he would die of fright! I could swear by Horro itself, that his death would be easy! Besides, my heart was pounding excitedly ads I was going to live in the same house with Ricardo... in those early days I was still in love, so the possibility to see him seemed an unprecedented gift of fate to me.

Of course, I knew that I would have to pay for this adventure. You couldn`t summon those-who-live-under-the-waves and just and get away with it. I didn't tell Julia the details, of course. But I wasn't too worried about myself. I couldn`t escape my fate. The life of chiamati would flow into the sea sooner or later …

Our escape from the island went off without a hitch. Signor d'Este picked up the clothes of a poor fisherwoman for me and conspired with an old man who agreed to take me to Venetta. I left my monk's robe in the crypt, and let the nuns think what they want! Julia was to go to town in a barque with the other nuns on their way to worship the image of St. Viadora, for our departure was just on the eve of the feast. We took it as a happy omen, as if we were blessed by the sea itself. Julia wrote to her brother, saying that there was no need to trouble Fabrizio and drive him to a distant island; she would get there with the holy sisters and wait for Fabrizio at the hotel on the Piazzetta, where the pilgrims usually rested. In that hotel we changed. Julia, reunited with her lover, boarded the ship to Ariminum. I put on airs and prepared for my role of a proud patrician and went to the house of Granacci with a pounding heart.

So I set out on the winding path of lies that finally led me here, to the secret crypt of the house of Arsago. Towards Pulcino, as I timidly hoped.

On the last steps I stumbled and clutched at the slimy wall, shuddering in disgust. The stench was getting thicker, so I could only breathe through my mouth, otherwise my head would spin. What the hell was don Arsago doing here?! Fear and bile seemed to permeate the place.

The stairs ended, bringing me into the cramped space beneath the house. The faint light from the room above had already faded, but it wasn`t completely dark inside. There was a layered gloom which must have been created by the light from the street, reflected in the shimmering murk of the water. There seemed to be another passage leading into the crypt – from the outside. Some inconspicuous grating in one of the side facades of the house…

That dark fetid dungeon had nothing to do with our crypt on Terra dei Miracolo, where I used to spend long hours. Instead of a vast cavern filled with sunlight, there was a narrow stone gap between the towering bulk of the house and the murky water. The clenched fists of masonry were smeared with sticky mud, which looked like dried blood.

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"Pulcino?” I called. But nobody answered.

Darkness and silence surrounded me. I could see nothing at all. Though I was really afraid to attract attention to us, I had to light the lantern. The pathetic circle of yellowish light made the surrounding darkness even thicker, but it allowed me to move without the risk of breaking my legs. I held the lantern high. To the right, the water glistened oily-black. On the other side, among the rocks, I thought I saw a metallic gleam. A cage! I rushed there. There was something white inside the cage. Setting the lantern down, I slipped my fingers through the metal bars, touching the soft feathers. I feared the worst, but a living warmth fluttered under my hands. Oh, Pulcino!

"My kind stupid sister ... How I hoped you wouldn't find your way here!" Pulcino responded weakly. His one wing hung limply and the dirty stones around us were stained with white feathers. "Don`t worry! I`m here!” I encouraged him. I looked for a stone to knock the lock down. The damned latch wouldn't budge, and my hands were shaking with fear and fatigue. I hit my fingers with the stone and cursed to myself. Then I swore again, out loud, because the thick silence around us was too eerie.

"Hold on. I will get you out of there!”

"It's too late," Pulcino whispered warningly, and there was so much fear in that silent little cry that I involuntarily raised my head. My friend was never afraid of anything! What had they done to him?!”

Something clanked in the depths of the crypt, causing me to extinguish the lantern quickly. It only dazzled, but Pulcino and I could be seen at a glance. A light draft touched my sweaty forehead. Yes, there was definitely another passage! And now I could hear someone`s footsteps.

The footsteps sounded firm and confident. Whoever it was, it wasn't hiding. Faintly outlined in the darkness, a figure moved toward us. A sudden flash of light hit my eyes, making me blink helplessly. The man had brought a lantern hidden under his cloak. The yellow light illuminated the hard crease around his lips, the powerful outline of broad shoulders, the gleam of expensive embroidery on his red velvet doublet. I rose slowly to meet don Arsago, trying to hide the cage behind me.

"Well, well, why put so much effort into it?" he said. “I've wanted so long to bring you here. However, I expected to do it after the wedding.”

After the wedding! Hot anger splashed into my face, spreading warmth all over my body, to my cold hands, to my fingertips.

“How dare you talk about a wedding?! You killed donna Granacci!”

His hard, confident face showed no remorse. The Count merely shrugged his shoulders in annoyance.

“What was I supposed to do? The old witch stubbornly opposed Julia's marriage with Enrique. It was a shame, don`t you think?”

"Let's see what Ricardo says!" I threw away my trump card. “I sent him a letter!"

"First of all, Ricardo is a smart guy. He knows how to leave the past in the past, and his future is connected with me, and he understands it.” Arsago's face twisted mockingly. “By the way, what business should Ricardo have with you? Let him take care of his own sister!”

"What did you say?"

Don Arsago was coming at me like a heavy rock.

“You really think in the weeks you've been fooling your brother I haven't figured out the switch?" he growled.

I froze. So that was why there had been no word from Julia.

“What did you do to her?" I whispered.

The Count seemed surprised.

"You mean that girl? Nothing. Oh, I could have caught these two sweethearts at any minute, but you have proved to be excellent in dealing with paurozo, and I realized that the real force was with you, not Julia. So let them escape to Ariminum, Sanlu or Bharat, wherever! I don't need Julia anymore.”

"You're different," he hissed, grabbing my elbow. A hot whisper burned my neck. “The two of us could rule the whole Venetta. The Council has taken too much power, it's time to end it! Come on, summon them, let the whole city see your power!”

"No!” I jerked my hand away in disgust.

Don Arsago's face was glistening with sweat, his eye sockets were black holes, and the skin on his cheekbones was stretched like old parchment. It was evident that he was mad with his greed, with all that hunger that had been eating him from inside for so many years.

That was a man I`d wanted to kill. Because I hated him so much. For what he did to my mother. For what he did to donna Granacci. For what he'd tried to do to Julia, after all! But now I saw that he had destroyed himself. There was nothing human left in him – only a blind craving for magic, that had burned him all through.

That made him even more dangerous, though. There was a kind of madness that could break through any wall. My feet were suddenly seared with icy water. The Count and I stood at the edge, and the water in the crypt was slowly rising. There was someone`s presence in the musty air, I even felt an invisible hand touch my shoulder. But I was again distracted by don Arsago:

“I know you want to learn their secrets, too! I read it in your face as you looked at Dito, your thoughts drifting farther away, beyond the lagoon and the Long sea! I could order to move your moss-covered convent to Venetta. I could force these grey geese to give you all their knowledge! I just need you to take my side!”

“You don't need any knowledge, " I said indifferently. "And the secrets of those-who-live-under-the-waves are not needed, either. All you want is to extend your power to the sea borders. You wanted paurozos to accompany your ships on long voyages, and make pesquators sneak into other ships to slaughter the entire crew at night, didn't you?”

He seemed to sense the mockery in my words. Don Arsago grabbed my hair in a painful grip that brought tears to my eyes.

"Miserable witch! If you disobey, I'll smash that stupid ball of feathers and feed your "brother" to the morays! Call them now!”

"No!” I cried out, trying to escape. But his hand held me fast.

“Well, then…”

He swung his leg at the cage, and I screamed:

"Look around! They`re here!”

The water in the crypt bubbled. Don Arsago's face lit up with a fierce triumph. Releasing my hair, he tossed me aside in disgust and stepped forward to meet them. Crouching on the rocks, I watched the yawning darkness ahead come to life, glinting with dozens, hundreds of flickering lights.

I'd been preparing for so long. And everything was in vain. When the moment came, I did not even have to call them – don Arsago`s madness of did it for me.