THE SOMALI DAGGER (Excerpts from chapters)
Fantastic adventure story with illustrations from ALISA ARTIST, commissioned by the author

Chapter 3. The ghost

After a while, they noticed a silhouette at the back of the room. It flowed like smoke from a dying fire, taking the form of a snake, a human figure, or an incomprehensible hieroglyph. Then the smoke began to thicken, whirled like a tornado, and took the shape of a ball. The ball continued to rotate for some time, stretching vertically, and gradually began to resemble the outlines of a human face. Empty eye sockets and a huge mouth with crooked teeth appeared on this face. The mouth began to open wider and wider, and the eye sockets, on the contrary, narrowed. It seemed that the ghost, squinting, gazed intently at the children and wanted to swallow them. Vlad and Lisa froze in a daze.