Heaven's Chaos

With a gentle drip drip drip, the water falls down from the musty rafters and down my cloak, making me jump. I curse myself then, for breaking position. If someone sees me...

I don't think about it. I can't think about it. Father Guillarme needs me, Paris needs me, in fact the whole world might very well need me. If I falter, if I even flinch, it could mean the downfall of The Circle, just when I was brought into their good graces as well. If I fail it means no Change, no purpose to the world anymore. The thing I have waited for, thrived on the promise of, and slaved for over three years for will vanish just as it is in my grasp. One petty mission, one guardsman's post and it will be mine. The Change of a lifetime, as it has been promised to me.

Just then, the moon emerges from where it has been waiting in shadow. The moon, normally dulled with Paris smog, shines as if washed anew. I give great reverence to the moon, for which I owe my life according to my parents. "Calypso," My mother used to say, "You are a daughter of the Moon first, France second."

"Amelie, don't speak such falsehoods, you know what will happen if you're caught." My father always chided. According to them, the moon gives life, the push and pull of the oceans is thanks to the moon, and without tides my father would have never been able to catch fish to support our wretched existence in Benet. Without those fish I would not have ended up here, 58 miles from the destitute fishing village I once called home. A sharp feeling rises in my gut and I feel I am going to vomit, but I push it down. Ghosts are ghosts and they deserve to remain as such.

Notre Dame is silent, her gargoyles remain but mute guardians of the night, quietly fading into the abyss of Parisian darkness. I change my footing, hopping down one row of statues and ease myself into a crack between St. Louis of Toulouse and St. Vincent de Paul. I take a deep a breath to steady myself and take a running start at a row of gargoyles, using their cracked and crumbling head as stepping stones, all the while daring myself not to look down. One wrong step and I'm silenced, a quick and final farewell to the Prideux dynasty's last living heir, no one but stillness and saints to mourn my loss.

Finally, after a gut twisting jump I catch a grip of my final destination. One of the church's flying buttresses, where I can see and not be seen by any midnight visitors. I lean against the stone and catch my breath, watching it come out in short puffs. The cool ancient limestone behind me chills me to the core, and I arch away, balancing like a walker on a tightrope as I make my way back toward the roof to sit. The church bells ring in the new day and I take out the apple I've been saving in my breeches for this very moment. I take a bite and out wriggles a worm, now missing his head. I spit the apple back out and fling away the worm. If I were to swallow even the smallest piece it could spell death. In caution I take out my carving knife and cut the apple into pieces before proceeding to eat it. My job now: to wait.

I jump at the sound of Notre Dame ringing the new hour, losing my footing and taking a stomach churning drop, realizing too late that I must have fallen asleep. The scream I let out is silent, as I'd rather die than be found out. My shoulder catches on the roof causing my legs to fishtail around, slamming into a stone carving below. I let out a sharp cry of pain but manage to grab onto the spear of a gargoyle and hoist myself up. Assessing my leg and shoulder, I ascertain that nothing's broken or dislocated, just bruised. And it's then that I realize someone is watching me. Just standing in the church courtyard and staring up.

I scramble back into the shadows but I fear they've already seen me. By the build I would guess it's a man, no older than twenty, no younger than sixteen. Which puts him in the perfect age range to be-

But suddenly he's moving and I realize he's the one I'm supposed to be watching for and all at once I'm flying down the side of the building just as he's opening the cathedral doors. "Don't let them get to the altar." That is the only order Guillarme gave me. I, in my foolish pride, affirmed they'd be dead before they reached the door but as that's already slipped through my fingers I don't plan to let anything else fall through.

Then a curious thought pops into my head. The cathedral is open at all times for those who seek shelter inside it, but The Circle paid off the archdiocese to keep all but one door locked. The main entrance remains uninhibited, but the one the figure entered into is a side door. How did he get it open? As I approach the door I see scorch marks on the ancient wood and on the steps, but there is no fire and nothing else has been damaged. What kind of hellish magic is this?

With that chilling thought seeping into my bones, I slip inside, pulling the door shut behind me. I've no time to waste and whoever this is, they will not leave the cathedral alive. A flash of light comes from about ten yards to my left. I scurry behind a pillar closest to me, flying through the shadows as quietly as, well, a church mouse. I stop and take a few breaths to calm my racing heart. My father would shake his head at the mess of nerves I've become and so I change my mindset. I am the hunter. He is the prey. And I will wait as long as I have to to pounce.

And suddenly my patience is rewarded when the figure steps into the eerie light the stained glass windows give off, a lone candle flickers in his hand though I cannot see his face. He's got a thick volume in his hand and I worry that I'm too late. That he has reached whatever was at the altar that was supposed to be under my protection. And so without hesitation I let a throwing knife fly.

It was to catch his trouser and pin him to the floor but, by an act of God, or some very dark magic, he moves at the last second and the knife imbeds itself into the stone at his feet, glinting traitorously in the moonlight. It is as if he heard it flying at him and knew to avoid it. He looks down and I can just make out a broad smile etch itself into his features. Features that are becoming increasingly familiar.

"Calypso Amelie Prideux. Mon ami, mon amour, venez mon cher. Come out, come out wherever you are." I gasp in horror as my suspicions are confirmed. Sebastian whips his head around to glare at the pillar I stand behind, and I stay still dumfounded and too shocked to move. Sebastian uses this to his advantage, appearing at my side in an instant. I stare at him, horrorstruck.

"What is this?" I whisper. His eyes, once a beautiful emerald, glare at me in the darkness, glowing almost supernaturally. "What have they done to you?"

"Exactly what will happen to you mon amour, if you don't let me leave with the Livre de Lumiere right now." He says, suddenly gripping my arm, though I did not see the movement.

"The Book of what?" I ask stupidly. To my surprise, Sebastian laughs.

"I cannot believe The Circle sent someone who doesn't even understand the Gift of the Angels to guard the Book." He shakes his head. Suddenly there comes a ruckus outside. Men. Sebastian brightens considerably. All at once I know I'm doomed. There is far too many out there for me to fight alone and I've no time to call for backup.

"What on earth are you talking about Sebastian? Please, this is ridiculous, you're talking nonsense. If you just come home with me, I'll see to it The Circle spares you and then we can Change together-"

Sebastian's side splitting laugh interrupts me.

"Poor little Cal. Too frightened to see what's really going on. There are much bigger games afoot, dearest, than two teenagers Changing under The Circle. Open your eyes. See the whole picture. This is larger than The Circle, larger than Paris, larger than the world itself. Can't you see it? You're a much bigger part of the events to come than you know." He turns away from me then, the noises outside growing louder. "Besides," he adds almost as an afterthought, "I've already Changed."

"You didn't, Sebastian." I breathe, "You didn't go to them."

"I did. It was the condition of me joining them."

"Your condition or theirs?"

"It doesn't matter now. It's happened. It's happening, and-" The door to the cathedral swings open and a tall imposing man dressed all in black struts in, the moon bathing him in light. "Hide." Sebastian whispers frantically.

Without thinking twice I scale a pillar high into the rafters where I can watch from above.

"Recruit." The man in black says to Sebastian who looks as if someone's punched him in the gut, "Have you obtained it?" The man's voice is marred by a strange accent. Italian?

"Yes, sir." Sebastian says staring ahead.

"Good." The man purrs, stroking Sebastian's face tenderly while removing the volume from him. "You shall have your reward, as I promised. But first, where is the girl?"

Knowing Sebastian as I do, I notice the way his adam's apple moves up and down, the only indicator of his fear. "Girl, sir?"

"The girl you were just speaking with Recruit, where has she gone to?" The malice in his voice causes me to press my back further into the darkness.

The air inside the entire cathedral suddenly goes freezing and putrid, like death. Three wraith-like creatures enter through the open door and my heart stops beating.

They stand at least seven feet with holes for eyes and lips sewn shut with fraying thread. Gore and pus flow freely from the few ripped open seams. Their entire bodies are skeletal and they glide rather than walk across the floor, their bony feet making horrific screeching sounds as they go. "Girl, girl, girl." The three repeat.

The leader, as it appears to be, glides right up to Sebastian. "Where is the girl?" It repeats, glaring down at him, it's voice that of a million screams of anguish.

"T-there is no girl." Sebastian stutters, making it obvious he's lying.

"There is. I smell her. I want her. I want to devour her. Make her scream. Make her mine. Where is she?" The thing hisses. It sniffs the air, smelling for its prey. Smelling for me.

"Tell Ondreb where she is, Sebastian, or by the gods you know what will happen to you. Not to mention your father. What will he do once he's out of health, a job, and a son, hmmm?" The man in black says. And that's when Sebastian accidentally, but noticeably, glances directly at my hiding place.