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Alisa.”
    “I feel sorry for it,” I objected. “It’s blockheads like those two who are responsible for the image of Dark Ones that exists in the mass consciousness, a caricature of vicious sadists and monsters… Why torment the poor mouse?”
    “It does create a certain discharge of energy,” said Olya, screwing the lid onto her nail polish. “But it’s ve-ry ti-ny…” She shook her hands in the air.
    Zhanna snorted derisively. “A discharge! They used up so much energy creating the illusory cat, they’d have to torture an entire kilogram of mice to make up for it.”
    “We could work it out,” Olya suggested. “We torture this mouse to death and count the total amount of Power emitted… only we’d need a pair of scales as well.”
    “You’re terrible…” Lena said angrily. “And you’re quite right, Alisa! Can I take the mouse?”
    “What for?” I asked jealously.
    “I’ll give it to my daughter. She’s six years old. It’s time she was caring for someone and looking after them.
    That’s good for a girl.”
    There was an awkward silence for a moment. Of course, it’s nothing unusual. It’s rare for an Other to have a child who is also an Other… Very rare. It’s simpler for vampires-they can initiate their own child. And it’s simpler for shape-shifters-their children almost always inherit the ability to change form. But the chances are not very good
     
    for us, or for the Light Ones either. Lena hadn’t been lucky, even though her husband was a Dark magician and former staff member of the Day Watch who had retired after he was wounded and become a businessman.
    “Mice don’t live very long,” Olya observed. “There’ll be tears and tantrums…”
    “That’s all right. It’ll live a long time with me,” Lena laughed. “Ten years at least. Pavel and I will make sure of that.”
    “Then take it!” I said, pointing at the mouse with a magnanimous gesture. “I’ll come round some time to visit.”
    “Did you put it in a deep sleep?” Lena asked, picking the mouse up by the tail.
    “It will sleep until the evening for certain.”
    “Good.”
    She carried the mouse to her desk, shook the floppy disks out of a cardboard box and put the little creature in it.
    “Buy a cage,” Olga advised as she admired her nails. “Or an aquarium. If it runs away it will gnaw everything and leave filthy droppings everywhere.”
    Anna Lemesheva thoughtfully observed everything that was going on and then clapped her hands.
    “All right, girls. That’s enough distraction. The unfortunate creature has been saved and it has found a new home.
    Things could hardly have been resolved more elegantly. Now let’s begin our briefing.”
    She’s a very strict boss, but not malicious. She doesn’t make things hard for anyone without reason, and she’ll let you fool about, or leave early, if necessary. But when it comes to work, it’s best not to argue with her.
    The girls all sat in their places. Our room is small-after all, the building wasn’t intended for the present numbers of the Watch. All that could fit into the room were four small tables for us and one big desk, where Anna Lemesheva sat. The room reminded me a bit of a school classroom in some tiny village, with a class of four pupils and one teacher.
    Lemesheva waited until we’d all switched on our computers and logged onto the network. Then she began in her resonant voice: “Today’s assignment is the usual one: patrolling the southeast region of Moscow. You will choose your partners in the guardroom from the available operatives.”
    We always go on duty in pairs, usually one witch and one shape-shifter or vampire. If the level of patrols is raised, then instead of ordinary operatives they give us warlocks or some of the junior magicians for partners. But that doesn’t happen very often.
    “Lenochka, you’re patrolling Vykhino and Liublino…”
    Lena Kireeva, who had stealthily launched a game of solitaire on her computer,