“No!” Sophie said too loudly. She dropped her voice again, not wanting to risk waking her friends. “I’m sorry. I’ve never been to Russia before. I get things wrong!” She smiled in apology.
The girl nodded, as if she accepted the explanation. Sophie decided she had a kind face, curious and intelligent. Certainly not the sort of face that belonged to someone who would suffocate her.
The girl carried on staring at her. Sophie picked up the glass of tea. “Why don’t you tell me your name?”
“Masha,” whispered the girl. Her hand crept toward Sophie’s. She was clearly struggling with the temptation of stroking Sophie’s arm.
“I am real,” Sophie laughed. “Look.” And she pinched herself.
The girl laughed as well. And then, as if she still didn’t quite believe her eyes, she put a finger out to Sophie’s arm and prodded it.
“How old are you?” Sophie asked. The girl was staring at her own finger as if it might speak to her.
“Ten!”
“Are you Ivan Ivanovich’s daughter?” Sophie smiled.
“I no from him!” She shook her head vigorously.
“I’m sorry,” Sophie said quickly. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
The girl snorted. “I serve Volkonskys!” Her eyes flashed.
“You know the boy? The boy who looks after the horse … the boy who met us with thevozok…”
“Dmitri!” The girl smiled with delight. “He my brother. He see you, talk to you!” She said this as if it was quite the most amazing thing that anyone could have done. “He tell us you arrive.”
“And you both work for the princess?” Sophie asked.
The girl shrugged. “Princess?” She blew air through her lips. “We live too near the woods to be frightened by owls.”
Sophie, to hide her confusion at the girl’s words, took another sip of tea. A horrible thought. The girl might not be an evil spirit, but was she mad? How did she get into the room? Sophie glanced at her over the top of the glass. The girl was picking at the fur pelt that was Sophie’s blanket.
“You tell no one you see me? I not allowed in Over Palace.”
“Over Palace?”
“I live in Under Palace.” Masha was backing away from the bed. “And I have many busy work to do.”
“Watch out,” Sophie called, as Masha was about to bump into the wall. The girl’s hand reached and pressed something. A panel slid away to reveal a shadowy passageway. A sour draft stirred from the unseen depths.
The girl hovered, then, smiling, beckoned to her. “You come?”
Sophie looked across at the sleeping forms of her friends. Marianne was curled up like a conch shell. Delphine lay on her back, her hair tumbling over her pillow. The thought of being in the room on her own with only two sleeping girls for company suddenly seemed unbearable. Sophie pushed back the heavy quilts and bearskins, swung her legs out of bed, and hopped onto the floor. The silversarafanlay on the chair beside her. She threw it on, ran across the room through the squares of moonlight, and before she could think whether it was a good idea or not, Masha had grabbed her hand and pulled her through the wall.
They ran down a narrow staircase, Masha’s felt-clad feet making no sound. Flickering pinpoints of light illuminated the way. But the speed of the girl! Sophie could scarcely keep up, and she had to keep her head down and her elbows in just to get through the cramped space. Her chest hurt.
“I can’t bear this,” Sophie gasped. “I have to go back.”
“No time!” Masha yanked on Sophie’s arm. She was surprisingly strong. “If feel scared, close eyes. I can see for two!”
“But can’t you slow down?” Sophie could hardly catch her breath.
“Nyet … nyet!”The words came at her out of the cramped darkness. “Never walk in the Under Palace. Always run. Faster! Faster!”
If the Volkonsky Palace had once been magnificent, gilded, and ornate, here — in the space behind the rooms and along service corridors — everything was the exact opposite. The Under Palace was modest and plain. Even at the speed at which they ran, Sophie could sense the pride taken in the dull shine of the floor and the wrought-iron brackets in which small torches flared. Not a cobweb or speck of dust to be seen.
Corridors crisscrossed each other, branching off in different directions. There were steps up and down, changing levels just when Sophie didn’t anticipate them. And still Masha ran.
