Page 80 of My Trojan Horse Majesty

“He has a pretty face, so it’s confusing, but Iz, trust me. He’s the bad guy,” Gabe says. “He threatened Mom and Dad before, and he almost killed Mandy.” He nods. “Honest.”

“Are you tied to him?” Mom asks.

It makes me rethink what Lechuza said. . . That she ‘linked both of the bumbling idiots who were spraying magic all over.’ I thought she meant me and Leonid, but I can’t spray magic. I didn’t have any. Did she mean. . .Gustav? I’m pretty sure she linked him to Gabe,but I want more info. “Tell me about Gabe and Gustav.”

“You took Leonid,” Mom says, clearly ignoring my demand. “On the day I called, Oliver was right. He’d seen you—you were talking to the stallion who was set to be killed, and you stole that horse to save him from being killed. Am I right?”

More or less. I could explain that I stole him tosellhim for my criminal boyfriend, but I feel like leaving that out doesn’t hurt anyone, so I just nod.

“You discovered he wasn’t really a horse, and then he was kind to you, and he listened to how we’d all disapproved of Tim, and then. . .” Mom shrugs. “Then what? He convinced you that he needed your help?”

“He was a horse for quite some time,” I say. “And the second we reached Tim’s place, he tried to run away. But when he did, he passed out.”

“See, they’re tied too,” Gabe says. “Sounds just like me, except, like, probably more running away for them. I wonder what Tim thought. I wish I’d been there to see his face when Leonid turned into a man.” He’s smiling—of course he is. It’s all a game.

“It was several days before I turned him back into a human,” I say. “And Tim was in jail during all that time.”

“Jail?” Mom’s eyes widen. “Why was?—”

Steve wraps an arm around her shoulders. “Focus.”

“Right,” Mom says. “Okay, so you’re stuck. You’re somehow linked to Leonid, but we have a plan to get you unstuck.”

“You—what is it?” Leonid asks. “Because we understand a bit about the connection, and we were told it’s not something that’s breakable.”

“We know who will know.” Katerina looks smug. “We found the spell you used to summon Baba Yaga before.”

“That’s not a good idea,” Leonid says. “The person who linked us was another witch, the one who monitors this area, geographically speaking, and she’s not happy that we’re here. In fact, she made it sound like any additional magic used in this area would be a very bad thing.”

“Convenient,” Katerina says. “You always have all the answers, but this time, we’re all going to hear them together.”

“But that spell might summon Lechuza,” I say. “I doubt she’ll be happy to see us again either.”

“Who?” Mom asks.

“Wait, is he telling the truth?” Katerina asks. “You saw it too?”

I nod. “She came to talk to both of us—she wasn’t happy that Leonid was using his magic. She told us I was supposed to be a governor, of sorts, keeping him from using any magic at all, thanks to my dark-magic-half.”

“Why?” Steve asks. “Why does she care? Is your usage pulling on her magic since we’re here?”

I shrug. “She didn’t say, but she’s worried about us waking up a horseman—some kind of death-bringing-balancer.”

“Ridiculous,” Aleksandr says. “If that existed, we’d have heard of them before.”

“Yes,” Kris says. “Because Baba Yaga’s been so clear with us.” She looks a little nervous.

Aleks frowns.

“I’m doing it,” Katerina says. “Gustav can’t use his powers unless he’s touching Gabe, and?—”

“Actually.” Gustav clears his throat. “My powers are gone right now.”

“Yours are too? I knew ours were, but. . .” Katerina freezes, and then her eyes swivel toward Leonid. “You did that too, I assume?”

Leonid shrugs.

“What?” I ask. “What’s going on with them losing their powers?”

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