die. This is probably why he did not pay attention to the huge posters in front of the cinemas, which depicted Athenais. The same as she seemed to him at the fountain – in a red robe and with a golden sickle in her hand, on which runic symbols appear. She looks more like a deity than an actress.
“Who are you?” Mikhail whispered in the face of a poster hanging on a billboard near the highway. The taxi driver stared at him in bewilderment. Through the rearview mirror, you could see his eyes widen in horror. It’s probably scary to carry dubious types around the city. You never know who will attack you with a knife. It’s easier for bus drivers. They are separated from passengers by a glass partition.
Mikhail leaned back in his seat and pretended to relax so as not to frighten the taxi driver. His thoughts wandered around the boss’s directions.
“What would you do if one beautiful young creature colluded with a whole gang of criminals in order to lay a program for the destruction of the whole world into the mechanical progress of cinema? Find out: did you drag her into this or is she herself the author of the project? Previously, this did not affect us, but now it has reached Russia. This means that soon we will begin what is already happening in other countries.”
These are all the instructions that he remembered, and now he was pondering. What exactly is happening to others? He recently traveled abroad and did not notice any crisis. True, he visited those countries where cinema is not in vogue. This means that you need to take a closer look at the situation in wealthy states, whose residents have funds for entertainment, and not at the third world countries. True, even there he heard something about a movie that drives you crazy and which you can watch for free in the most unexpected places, for example, in mounds, caves or tombs.
Well, almost free. Some poor shaman mentioned that you have to pay with blood and souls. Then Mikhail decided that it was about filming executions and torture, but now he realized that the matter was even more dangerous. Films with Athenais somehow influenced the psyche of people in a special way, forcing them to commit strange and destructive actions.
Divine beauty, captured in frames, brings evil! Who would have thought?
When Mikhail returned home, the TV was on. He definitely didn’t turn it on. On the screen flashed frames from the film with Athenais. She was even more beautiful in them than on the advertising poster. Usually stars are different. One picture is easier to retouch than a whole video.
Athenais either walked through the palace halls of Ancient Egypt, then filmed torture exclusively of priests and clergy with a hand-held camera. What the hell is this? History alternated with modernity, presenting a contrast close to surrealism. The beautiful angel tore out the hearts of modern priests, then ancient priests.
“You only love gold, but I take debts not in gold, but in blood,” she repeated. “You know me! So why did you contact me?”
The footage terrified even an adult man accustomed to difficulties. Mikhail tried to turn off the TV and could not. All buttons on the remote control stuck, the control panel did not work either. And all the bulbs in the chandelier suddenly burned out at once. He fell asleep to the accompaniment of how a beautiful angel tortured the princes of the church. And with this angel he will have a meeting in the morning! Mikhail instinctively reached for the loaded pistol he kept in the bedside laundry drawer. The angel flashing in the frames taught him that even in a dream it is better not to let go of the weapon.
Many-faced tree
Usually reporters rush to the scene of hot events: terrorist attacks, hostage-taking, fires, robberies, events of political and social significance. The paparazzi besieging the stars is a myth invented by the stars themselves to fuel popularity. None of the paid press and television workers will run after famous actors and actresses of which there are innumerable. Many journalists give free tickets to movie premieres to friends because they don’t want to go to them after working day. If only there is no additional payment from the film studio, then no one will write positively about the filmmakers. Usually the actors themselves besiege the press, not the other way around. But this time it turned out differently. No one paid Rik any extra money. Nevertheless, he began to run after the star, and he himself could not understand why. He despised movie actors with their cheap morals (what a decent person would be for money to stand naked in front of the camera and act in erotic scenes), but Rick fell in love with Athenais at first sight. Now he walked through the forest, looking for her and cursing his own stupidity. He took it into his head to do work that the authorities would not pay. After all, no one ordered a report about a movie star. This can only be assigned to novices and journalists of the lowest standard, and it was usually sent only to the place of especially important events. He talked with politicians, with the military, with representatives of the secret services. Stars are just pawns. So his boss loved to repeat. A decent journalist should not stoop to pass off the flaws of stars as merit, unless paid for it at the highest rate. Film studios’ money often changes attitudes towards their offspring.
After crashing his car on the freeway and nearly drowning in a muddy swamp, Rick began to wonder if something unique had happened. One of the pawns from the film studios suddenly turned out to be for him at the price of a queen. In any case, for her sake, he made his way through the thickets, sparing neither new trousers, nor a jacket, nor even his own skin, scarred by branches. And he almost did not regret that he had wandered into the thicket after her.
The only question that haunted him was: why did she come here herself, and all alone. They said in this very forest, there is a section where people most often commit suicide. Probably, the site was fenced off here for shooting the next horror film with Athenais. In such a wilderness, you can neither pay rent for a place, nor get a special permit. There is no one to control it anyway. The nearest police stations are miles away. The place has too bad a reputation for anyone from the surrounding settlements to wander here.
Didn’t it seem to him that Athenais was heading here? Her golden head had long since disappeared from sight, and he wandered at random. The brushwood crunched underfoot. How many fallen branches all around!
“It would be nice to make a grand fire here to cleanse everything with fire,” someone whispered over his ear, and immediately there was a long dull sigh. “Although not worth it, the first time he fire did not clear anything, only infuriated.”
Rick glanced at the screen of the extinct iPhone. He did not vibrate. The sounds are definitely not from an audio device inside the phone. They rang out from above. Above, only the crowns of trees and a glimpse of the sky, illuminated by a crescent. There are not even birds. Did he hear only a whisper in the rustle of leaves? There are also auditory hallucinations. True, he still did not suffer from them, but fatigue could provoke them. You can’t go that long. He rubbed his feet with blood and calluses. How did Athenais not get tired on the way? A couple of hours ago, he saw from afar her silhouette and how easily she varied between the trees, as if she were flying.
The flashlight in the iPhone went out. Probably out of charge. The total darkness scared him a little. Rick groped forward. A faint light flickered somewhere far away. It feels like roaming lights have settled there. It’s good if they don’t lead to the next swamp.
The shimmer led to a huge, spreading tree that must have taken up tens of meters. Probably, this is a whole group of intertwined trees, and somewhere inside the interlocking crowns, a ghostly light seems to flicker. Carved faces, horned heads and groups of angelic figures stand out along the perimeter of the huge trunk. So this is not a tree, but a dummy for shooting! And the star is here! Rick noticed from afar the curly back of Athenais’s head. The curls of her hair sparkled like solar threads. It couldn’t
