We walked for at least another couple of hours. During this time, I discovered that the school grounds had its own huge park, complete with a small forest and a small lake with swans and ducks. As it turned out, the students called the forest the Taiga and the lake the Pacific Ocean.
There was also a huge training hall where the students practiced magic, a gym, an indoor swimming pool, several laboratories, greenhouses... and a lot more that I couldn't immediately remember. I'll take a look around later; Gromov is too boring.
By the time the Professor finished walking me around the Kitezh grounds, I was utterly tired of him. Dorian even offered to tickle him with something... Damn, it's like being on a tour in Greece; look left, look right...
But this time, I had lunch completely alone, as I was late. Since everyone else was in class, I was the only one in the cafeteria. So I ate quietly, without attracting any attention, then got my uniform and books, and trudged up to my room. I planned to spend the rest of the day studying books and the school website. Well, maybe I'll go to dinner, we'll see...
By the way, I liked the uniform. Cool. Black, with a white skull embroidered on the left side, with a number 1 underneath. That's probably the emblem of the Dark Arts.
Once in the room, I leafed through the books, then checked the school website on my phone and before I knew it, I fell asleep. When I woke up, it was already dark outside.
Someone was knocking.
I sat up in bed, rubbed my eyes, and walked to the door. There were no bandits on school grounds, so I opened the door and froze in surprise.
Four guys stood in the hallway, their faces smeared with something white, and in their hands they held lit candles that burned with a dim blue flame. I don't know what effect they were going for, but I really liked it.
"Cool!" I couldn't help but say.
"The ritual, Temnikov..." one of them suddenly drawled mournfully. "Every first-grader must undergo a deadly ritual..."
Wow! What kind of ritual is this, I wonder?
"Listen, Max, maybe we should go to bed? What a bunch of idiots! Fuck them!" Dorian suggested, but I was already genuinely curious to learn more about this ritual.
"And what should I do?" I asked my guests.
"Follow us..."
I wonder if this guy was born with such a mournful voice or if he practiced it on purpose?
I quickly pulled on jeans and a T-shirt, went out into the hallway, and followed the guys. They weren't in a hurry and were clearly enjoying every moment. Their steps were slow, and after we left the residential building, they started making strange howls and giggles. The death ritual had probably already begun, and they'd simply forgotten to warn me...
We walked for about twenty minutes. Too long, in my opinion. It had been interesting at first, but by that time the walk had become a bit boring. Besides, Dorian said that when this was all over, I should give them a few tips for the future about performing death rituals, to make it more interesting. He's a real liar, of course, but if you believe him, my friend is a real expert in such things.
Finally, we came to a clearing where quite a few kids had gathered; by my estimate, at least a hundred. Candles were placed around the clearing, and in the very center stood a stump with a metal bowl on it.
As soon as the five of us got closer to the stump, it became quiet and the one who invited me here began to speak.
"On this night, according to a long-standing tradition of the Dark Arts, the second-year students must perform a death ritual on the newcomer and accept him into our ranks," he announced mournfully and very loudly to those gathered.
"It would be nice for him to perform in the theater," Dorian yawned. "So, are we going to bed or are you planning on hanging around here until the morning?"
"Wait, it's interesting..." I answered him mentally, watching what would happen next.
The speaker approached the cup, took it in his hands and solemnly handed it to me.
"Here is the bat's blood, which, among other things, we cursed in the Distortion. You must drink it to the bottom, Temnikov. If you survive, you must perform a ritual dance that will signify your joy at being accepted by the dark forces and rightfully entering this class!"
"Holy shit!" Dorian chuckled. "Did you hear that? What the hell is this?"
I glanced at the boy in surprise, then looked around. Everyone was smiling at me, expecting an interesting ending. Judging by their faces, it wasn't just first- and second-year students here; I saw older kids, too. It's just a shame they came up with such a boring ritual... How could they have come up with anything more fun for such a name?
"Give it to me," I said, picking up the cup, which reeked of alcohol, and placing it on the stump. "Now I'll show you what a ritual dance is, as I understand it..."
As I stood there, I sensed that several people had been buried since time immemorial right next to the clearing, so why shouldn't I drag one of them out? It wasn't for nothing that we were all gathered here.
"Temnikov, if you..." the guy started whining again, and at that moment a woman's scream interrupted him.
A few steps from the clearing, the ground suddenly began to move, as if a mole was crawling underneath it, and then a bony hand appeared on the surface.
The single female scream was joined by a dozen more, and even a couple of male ones. The young man, who had previously played the leading role in the performance, opened his mouth and silently watched as a skeleton slowly emerged from the ground.
First the arms, then one leg, then the other... Click... Click... The ranks of those gathered by this point had somehow quickly thinned out, but about thirty people were still here, which meant that at least someone would see my dance.
Oh, how funny he walks, this skeleton! His knees fly up as if his bones weigh nothing! So funny!
He came up to me, put the bones of his right arm on my shoulder, and at that moment I looked at the guy who was performing the death ritual and smiled:
"Look! Now, Temnikov's ritual dance! Performed for the first time!"
Principality of Vologda. Belozersk. Police station.
The phone rang loudly and unexpectedly. Police Captain Roman Ivanovich Vorobyov, who'd dreamed he was fishing and finally getting a bite, even grabbed his gun to shoot the scoundrel who'd decided to scare off his fish. And then he woke up.
By this time, Lieutenant Morozov had already picked up the phone, was listening to something, asking clarifying questions from time to time and writing down information.
Vorobyov glanced at his watch and frowned: it was half past four in the morning, they couldn't let me sleep in a little longer. I wanted to at least find out what kind of fish were biting; they always woke me up at the most interesting part...
"What's up, Nikita?" he asked when his colleague hung up.
"Roman Ivanovich, here's the deal... They're calling from Dubravino..."
"Well?"
"It looks like they have a skeleton there..."
"What do you mean?" the captain blinked. "Were they drinking too much vodka?"
"No, really," the lieutenant shrugged. "That's the point, the woman who called was sober..."
"And what does it do?"
"He's crying. He says, 'Come and get it.'"
"Fool! What's the skeleton doing, not her?" Vorobyov frowned.
"He steals apples from the barn."
"What nonsense," the captain muttered, buttoning the top button of his shirt. "Although... With this Kitezh, anything can happen. These schoolchildren are always coming up with some kind of crap, and then we'll have to deal with it! Let's go and check it out."
"And if it really is a skeleton, what are we going to do with it?" Morozov asked.
"What, what... We'll just give him a fine for petty hooliganism, what else can we do with him? We can't just throw him in jail..."