Magic is simply technology we don’t understand. The words of Nika’s physics teacher ring in her head as her third flight in as many days takes off, finally, for Russia. She had expected Mikhail, the fairy tale boy, to have a talking eagle, or a golden horse. Instead, she has been living off of peanuts and overpriced airport food as the hours crawl by.

And he’s hardly spoken a word to me. Nika sneaks awkward looks at Mikhail, who stares absentmindedly out the tiny window. He had been overjoyed when she returned to the ashen ruins of the campground, had showered her in praise for choosing to lift his curse. It was flattering, but he was still a stranger. When she was more or less dismissive of his admiration, he failed to say anything substantive. Instead, he had grown more and more distant, professing that there simply wasn’t time to answer all of her questions. However, now he was stuck here with her for the next seven hours. There had to be time.

“Why did your brother curse you?” She starts with the biggest question, not sure how many answers she will receive. Mikhail turns his gaze slowly toward her, and seems to choose his words very carefully.

“There was a girl, that we had known since we were very young. He was betrothed to her, as the oldest, but we both knew her heart was mine.” He says the last words with an intensity, that warns Nika this story does not end well. “In his jealousy, he sought a magic to be rid of me. When he failed, he bound us both to walk the earth without her.”

Princes, cursed by their foolishness. Another of the many cautionary tales she had grown up with. Not only that, they had dragged the girl they loved with them.

“What happened to her?” Nika asks next, feeling sympathetic toward the brother who lost his love.

“I do not know. There was magic, and light. I pray she has been taken to heaven.” He struggles with the last word, as if it is unfamiliar to him. Perhaps he has only said it a few times outside of church slavic.

“Why do you speak so strangely? Just how old are you?”

Again, he spends a frustratingly long moment debating if he should answer. “I was born on the eve of the 20th century. I have fought the German ranks in two wars, and will fight again on the Volga’s banks if my home is threatened.”

Both World Wars. That makes him over 100 years old, unless someone handed a toddler a rifle. No wonder he was being so weird, he was talking to a girl one fifth his age. Stupid magic- he still had the baby face of a teenager. Stupid magic, letting brothers make curses and causing her great grandfather to bury something on the other side of the world. In Volgograd, near the Volga river.

“Do you know where the artifact would be hidden, since you fought there?” She asks one more question, now much more awkward.

Mikhail shakes his head, “Your grandfather’s name is unfamiliar to me. I do not know where he fought, or where he would consider safe enough when buildings changed hands every day.”

She goes silent, mulling over the surprising number of answers she has received. So, a boy who was not a boy, trying to break a curse so he could join his love in heaven. No magic handkerchief, no advice-giving fox, not yet. Simply mysterious amounts of money for expensive plane tickets, until they found what they were looking for in the renamed city along the Volga’s banks.