"How, for example?" I barked, annoyed by the whole thing.
"That's our trump card. It's a mean of pressure in case the government wants to use the people as a shield. You of all people should know that we're just pieces on a chessboard for them."
I put my elbows on the table and joined my two hands. A wave of anxiety swept over me.
"I'm afraid this front page is a death sentence for Jul. Do you really think the FBI or the CIA will let him write anything he wants, or knows, without interfering? Wake up! We're not playing games here."
I stuck my eyes into Lexy's, but she refused to look at me. That feeling of anger never left me, and with good reason: it was easier for me to control it than fear. I'd spent so many hours in its presence...
"Besides," I continued against my friend. "What exactly does Jul know? What have you told him?"
A silence full of expectation fell at that moment at our table. Lexy's panicked face took on a bright pink complexion. Suddenly a feeling of horror gripped me.
"No, you told him everything... He knows everything, right?"
"He knows everything! And it's better that way," Lexy confirmed. "He knows about the Maestro, the legend, Faïz, you..."
"Stop!" I shouted before holding my head in my hands.
Her words were much harder to hear than they should have been. I raised my head before I asked her, distraught:
"Why do I feel like you've betrayed me? That's not you."
Asarys flew once more to her rescue.
“You're mistaken. Exactly the opposite. We love you too much to let the Almighty of this world play with your life. You don't know it yet, Zoe, but this article probably just saved your life, and Faïz's."
"How about you? Who will save yours?" David asked in a toneless voice.
With my eyes fixed on him, without looking at us, I saw the shadow of grief cross his face. I wanted to find something to answer that, but it all blended into my mind. It was as if I was suddenly missing a piece of the puzzle.
"Us?" Asarys wondered. "We're counting on you."
She grabbed the nape of David's neck to bring his face close to hers and crushed a huge kiss on his cheek. Smiles appeared on all our lips except our friend's. David seemed to be tormented by something that was beyond us.
"Well, come on, now we can eat until we explode!" exclaimed Lexy, happy to finally change the subject.
FAÏZ
In this gloomy and unhealthy place, Faïz took care to step over the comatose bodies that littered the floor of this open-air squat, facing the ocean, not far from Playa Del Rey. Above his head, an incessant noise of car engines on the wet bridge seemed to never end.
The young man stopped in front of a thick trail of black liquid that flowed for several meters, like a small stream, giving off a strong smell of gasoline. He observed the place with an almost petrified look in the face of so much misery. In addition to veterans or lonely adults, there were also whole families with small children and elderly people all living together on this small piece of land.
That's when Faïz saw him in the distance. Relieved to have found him, the young man took the time to observe him for a few moments before joining him. Elijah was sitting on a plastic bucket, upside down. He was having a conversation with a woman, dressed in an Indian Sari, who seemed distraught with a baby in her arms. From where he was sitting, Faïz could hear nothing of what they were saying to each other except the screams of the child. He cried without being able to calm down, despite the arms that rocked him. Suddenly, Elijah stretched out his hands and the woman immediately gave him her baby. The man carried the baby in front of him and what happened then completely confused Faïz who was examining the scene, concentrated. The toddler calmed down immediately, as if hypnotized by the gaze of his interlocutor. This moment, where time seemed suspended, lasted for long seconds, then Elijah again entrusted the child to his mother. The tears had disappeared. The woman then threw herself into the hands of the man she undoubtedly considered her healer. She kissed them to thank him and to show her gratitude.
"The baby is cured. His future will be better from now on."
Faïz turned his head towards the hoarse voice. An elderly woman, with a dirty face and a sloppy appearance, was sorting a cart full of clothes and materials of all kinds, while keeping an eye on the young man. She didn't hide her reluctance towards him. Her long, unkempt hair, grayer than white, accentuated her vagabond appearance.
"Have you come to see him, too?" she asked awkwardly, inspecting him from head to toe. "Yet you seem to be able to afford a good doctor."
Faïz averted his eyes from this woman he was beginning to think was too curious. He suspected that his appearance wasn't the norm here. When he had received Zoe's message in the morning to give him the address of the place where he could find Elijah today, the latter had omitted to specify its characteristic.
"Does he come here often?"
"I would say one morning per week," replied the vagabond without bothering to look at Faïz. "The penniless people come from all over California to meet him. We regulate the visits beforehand for him, so he isn't overwhelmed by the crowd. Our healer doesn't like much people."
"Your healer?"
"Yes, Elijah. The man who talks to angels."
He stared at the ocean to clear his mind. That was his favorite part. Healing humans was a must for him, however, he didn't necessarily appreciate this task, except when it came to those tiny little beings who hadn't asked anyone for anything. Elijah raised his head to the barely visible sky because of the Dome's color. He knew that misfortune was approaching.
"Can you save souls too?"
The voice, that he recognized immediately, drew him out of his torpor. He turned around to face the individual who had just called him.
"Not yours!" Elijah grunted. "I can tell you that the Devil already considers you one of his favorite little champions."
A cheeky smile cracked the face of the dark brown haired man.
"I would have been bored in Heaven anyway," he replied, confident as usual.
Elijah shook his head in disapproval. His aversion for Faïz was unmatched. He bent down to pick up one of his bags before adding without enthusiasm in his voice:
"Why did you come here? I don't think you got lost."
Faïz didn't seem surprised by the coldness of his interlocutor or even destabilized by the detestable mood of the latter. The atmosphere between the two men quickly became electric.
"Could you pick Georgia up from school later?"
Surprised by this unexpected request, Elijah blinked several times. He opened his mouth, but immediately closed it again to take time to think for a few moments about his answer. The man passed his hand over his face and stood still, staring at the man he had considered for so long an abject being.
"Yes, of course," said Elijah.
He looked away and continued to gather his belongings under the stern eye of Faïz.
"She misses you," the young man added in a calm tone. "She talks to me about you every day."
Elijah's heart wrung as he heard this confession. He raised his head and cleared his throat, uncomfortable.
"Not as much as I do. I've held that little girl in my arms since the day she was born. You don't understand."
"Was I at least given a choice? These precious moments, I would have liked to have known them, too, believe me!"
A compassionate expression crossed the face of the speaker who seemed touched by his words.
"I only have to look at her to forget what I am. Near her, I no longer feel any anger," he confided, his eyes in a hazy haze.
The man paused. His gaze came to rest again on Faïz, as if he was expecting a hostile reaction from him, but it didn't happen. He continued:
"I thought you were just a selfish, heartless little prick. Zoe and Georgia are my family. I just wanted to protect them."
A grin appeared in the corner of the young man's lips. He realized that he was looking at a man who was grump
ier than dangerous, and he understood better why his daughter liked to compare him to a mannerless bear.
Suddenly her words echoed in his head. His smile faded and his bloom darkened.
"Who are you really?" asked Faïz in a harsher voice.
Elijah spread his arms and shrugged his shoulders.
"Just a vagabond."
The young man began to walk slowly over the poorly paved ground, touching his chin with his fingertips. He stared at Elijah so intensely that he preferred to lower his eyes. A sigh escaped from him and a disturbing glow crossed his amber and hazelnut eyes. He understood at that moment that the Leviathan held the cards. Saddened, Elijah realized that he would never again be that vagabond. He would miss this life, which he had chosen far from Gods, celestial beings and men.
"My name is Elijah Meleklerin Sahzadesi and I belong to the great Queyum people. I'm an Anhel, but Mankind gave me the name Guardian Angel. To be frank, I find this name ridiculous."
"No one can see the angels in their ethereal form," said Faïz in amazement. "Why do you... well... how do you...?"
"An Anhel can, if he wishes, show himself to Mankind, but none of us have ever done so before. We all know that everything Mankind touches, it destroys. For my part, I have denied my allegiance to my people and my wings, revolted by the behavior of the human race on Earth."
"So you're just like us? I mean, a mere mortal."
"Not quite. I can always get my wings back and decide to resume my original mission, which is to protect this world and the beings entrusted to me. To do that, I would have to know where they are. I'm not going to lie to you, deep down, I'm glad I lost them."
Sometimes I wish I didn't have to wear those wings. I'll keep them until the day he needs them again. He hates them and doesn't know I have them.
Faïz remembered the words of his daughter.
"Condor, is he a friend?"
"No!" Elijah exclaimed angrily, sweeping the question aside with a wave of his hand. "He's an Anhel they've stuck to me to watch over me. A filthy chaperone who talks too much for my liking. I'm the only one who can see him."
"What about Georgia?"
"She hears him. They get along very well together, to my dismay."
"But you still kept one of your gifts. The baby, I saw what you did."
The man shook his head vigorously to contradict his words.
"The Reiki technique isn't a divine power. Many mortals use it. It's a treatment that mixes magnetism, sensitivity and energy. It relieves physical pain, but also mental pain. It's a Reiki master who trained me when I was still in Japan. After that, I moved to Los Angeles and, to my great surprise, I stayed there. I help people in my own way."
Both intrigued and surprised by all these revelations, Faïz tried as best he could to gather all the information. Elijah grabbed his bags and threw them on his back. Before leaving the squat, he looked one last time at the sky and added in a worried voice:
"The wind's gonna pick up soon. The ghosts are coming to the city and the Dome will be unable to stop the invasion. For Georgia, you can count on me tonight. After school, I'll take her back to Zoe's."
Elijah passed Faïz who was still facing him without a single glance, but the young man challenged him before he was too far away.
"What about the Anhels? How do they protect humans? What are you doing that's so useful?"
"We eat the ghosts!" Elijah shouted in the distance, continuing to walk. "We feed on these simulacra and love it."
Faïz frowned, doubtful, wondering if he had well understood the man's words.
9
I walked the last few feet, almost without touching the ground, to the large meeting room where journalists and editors met every morning to discuss the organization of the various articles of the newspaper. I knew I wasn't expected, as I had been on leave after my stay in hospital.
When I opened the doors wide, I was immediately confronted with the stunned faces of my colleagues. For a brief moment I felt confusion in the room.
"We didn't expect to see you today," said Cait, surprised by my unexpected appearance.
She rushed towards me to take my jacket, which I held folded over my forearm. I smiled a small smile of gratitude and immediately looked for Jul among the dozen people present at that moment. He wasn't difficult to find. My colleague was leaning over the large table, visibly busy reading notes. He was the only one who didn't seem surprised to see me arrive at this meeting.
"That will be all, gentlemen, ladies," he said without paying any attention to me. "Raymond, please send me the sketch of next week's issue later today."
I moved away from the entrance of the room to let all these people out. Jul glanced over my shoulder. After making sure no one was lurking around, he pulled one of the chairs out in front of him and sat down with a long sigh.
"Sorry, Zoe. I hope you don't get in too much trouble with the government and your boyfriend. Now that I know you're partly working for them, I get a better understanding of all the ways you've thrown dirt into the wheels of that article."
"Sand, it's sand into the wheels!" I said in an uncomfortable voice.
With my arms crossed, I felt my anger soar.
"I don't work for the government. I don't receive any remuneration from the government and I'm free to help them or not in their missions."
"And Faïz?"
"He's something else. And why are you asking me this? My FRIEND must have already briefed you about it! No?"
When I saw him laughing, I frowned and furrowed my eyebrows and grinded my teeth.
"I care about her, you know that. I'm not playing with Lexy to get my way if that's what you think."
"Allow me to doubt that! If you ever hurt her, I assure you I'll rip your eyes out."
Jul raised his hands in front of him as if to protect himself from my verbal attack. His face collapsed, as if his muscles were slackening. He handed me a thick cardboard pouch that he had been careful to place beside him before I arrived. I walked slowly, looking suspicious.
"I haven't revealed all the information that came from my investigation. Faïz's identity hasn't been disclosed, as well as his crimes."
An inexplicable feeling of fear came over me at that moment. I continued to hold my friend's gaze without letting anything show, even though his last words frightened me.
"Of course, these people were far from being angels," he continued. "But they are still crimes. That's the first thing that struck me about the cases I managed to get my hands on. The name of Faïz Mattew came up systematically. So, as a curious nature, I wanted to know who he really was. I did some more digging, and little by little, I went back to other names, like yours for example."
I closed my eyes. Suddenly, I was having a hard time breathing. I forced myself to open my eyelids again to discover the documents in the pocket I was holding in my hands. I pulled out photos of a dilapidated house front that looked abandoned with a detailed plan of the house. There were also a multitude of names lying on a piece of paper as well as many testimonies.
"Why all these picture of this house?" I asked, puzzled.
"It belongs to a man named Pavel. That name must mean something to you."
I gave him a hostile glance in reply, but, carried away by this subject which he found so exciting, he continued with a certain exaltation:
"You've always had a gift for staying quiet, Zoe, while saying a thousand things with your eyes. Just help me understand the truth."
"The truth is that evil exists in its most abject form on Earth," I replied almost detached. "And so do demons and fools like you."
"Is that really how you see me?" Jul insisted, visibly hurt by my words.
"Yes," I said, adamant.
I lifted the documents above my head and resumed, furiously:
"What you've done is completely unconscious. You don't realize the danger you're putting yourself in. This man, Pavel, is anything but human. What are you risking your life for? To get on the front page of a n
ewspaper? To prove you're the best journalist? You're jeopardizing one of the most important missions in the world."
At that moment, I sensed that many questions were running through my colleague's head.
"My goal is really to help," Jul loosed his temper. "Yes, I'm blaming the government in the article. I'm warning the public of a real threat to the city. I explain the true nature of the Dome and its function. There's nothing about Pavel, nothing about the Leviathan, and even less about the ruby. I preserved all your identities. You're a field journalist too, you should understand this job more than anyone. I don't recognize you here! Pavel can come and get me, I'll never give up my job because of him."
Still standing, I bent down slightly, resting my hands on the table. My eyes came and planted themselves in those of my friend sitting across from me.
"It's not Pavel you should be afraid of, Jul," I articulated carefully before turning and walking away.
He didn't answer, just stared at me until I walked through the doors of the room.
As I walked to my desk, I inflated my lungs with oxygen. In the halls of the Los Angeles Times, I met a lot of slanted smiles and shook hands more vigorously than usual. It was obvious to everyone that Jul and I had a disagreement, but little did people know the seriousness and consequences of it.
My assistant called out to me sharply as I was about to enter my office:
"Miss Reyes, there's..."
"Not now, Cait. I'll let you take all my afternoon calls. Pretend I didn't come to the office. Thank you."
She opened her mouth, probably to protest, but I didn't give her time to begin her sentence. I rushed into the room and quickly closed the door behind me. My forehead rested on the glass wall and I closed my eyes with all my strength, trying to release the pressure that had built up inside me. I tried to sweep away my fears before they choked me.
"Let me carry that," whispered someone in the back of the room.
Panicking, I turned suddenly towards this voice whose timbre I knew by heart. Faïz was here, half seated on my desk, hands in his pockets. His presence was at this moment both beneficial and unpleasant. Poor Cait... she who was just trying to warn me. I suddenly felt sorry for the way I'd treated her. I tried to breathe steadily while he watched me with his most neutral expression.
DARK FAÏZ Book 3: Dawn never keeps its promises Page 12
