Page 99 of Cry of the Firebird

"Show me." Stepping carefully over fallen beams and piles of ash, they came to a neatly pegged area.

"You see, sir, that's definitely a humanoid skeleton, but see this section here? Well, that's a wing."

Aramis leaned down for a closer look. One pale finger touched the fan of bones. Images bombarded him, and he pulled his hand back quickly liked he'd been burned.

"It was a site used by the Darkness. This was a failed experiment. Were there any other bodies?" he asked.

"Three human and another messed-up experiment with bird features. Beak with human teeth."

Aramis fought back a shudder. "Sounds horrific. Can you find out if it's been mixed with bird DNA or if it was some kind of transmutation?"

"I won't be able to give you full details until we are back in the lab, sir."

"Very well. Organize the remains to be shipped for examination." Aramis pulled his vibrating cell phone from his pocket and answered it.

"Aramis, we have a problem," a curt male voice said at the end of the line. "I've just received information about a powerful witch in Paris."

"Is she one of ours?"

"She's neutral at this stage, but she has the potential to wreak havoc if we don't find her. The Darkness is already onto her, so be careful."

"Not a problem, sir. I'll organize a team to search her out and arrange a meeting."

"Oh, and Aramis? There is something else about the girl that you should know."

"Yes?"

"She is a Venäläinen, and of Yanka's bloodline, not by marriage. That won't be an issue for you, will it?"

"No, sir." Aramis hung up the phone quickly and tried not to drop it as he put it in his coat. His hands shook as he tried to maintain a calm, professional façade.Yanka's blood. He had to find the witch and fast.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Anya woke to the smell of chemicals and decay. Her vision was blurred and scratchy, and there was a low distorted murmur to her right. Her head pounded from the blow she had received from an invisible attacker.

What the hell happened?Anya rubbed her eyes, and they grew accustomed to the darkness. She was in a large room with only one boarded up window that let in small beams of light. Iron manacles encircled her ankles, and she lay on a damp, bare wood floor. Fear rushed through her, and she pulled desperately at the chains. They were bolted into the wood and were covered in runes that she didn't recognize.

"Don't move," a voice to her right wheezed in Russian. "They will know you are awake."

Through the gloom, Anya made out the pale, naked figure of a woman shackled to the wall. Her long brown hair hung in ropey tendrils over her, concealing her nude figure as best as it could. Her skin was covered in tiny pearlescent blue fish scales that were peeling rapidly, and her lips were bloody and cracking. A large bowl of water was a couple of meters from the creature.

"What are you?" Anya asked.

"I'm a Shishiga," she whispered. "I don't have a name." Anya looked at her and then the bowl of water.

"It's their idea of a joke," the Shishiga continued. "My chains aren't long enough to reach the water so I can have some relief."

"Who arethey?"

"The Darkness, of course."

"I was afraid you were going to say that."

"You should be afraid," a new voice came out of the shadows.

What Anya took to be a pile of rags on the floor folded out to be a small gnomish creature that wouldn't even reach Anya's knees.

"She knows that, Ovinnik," the Shishiga hissed. "She's the shamanitsa they have been hunting for."

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