Heaven's Chaos

Paris in the early morning is a nightmare. More so than the one I've just witnessed.

Especially when you take into consideration that a cab costs more than a day's earnings for most. The streets hustle and bustle around me as I am pushed and pulled along the great tide of the city. I am lost in my own world, clutching the Book to my chest as if it were my own beating heart. I'm trying to riddle it out, make sense of it all, because if I don't I fear I shall go mad.

I'm still wandering around like a deranged lunatic when I run into someone. Hard. "Pardonnez-moi Monsieur, I did not see you."

I've fallen to my knees, still clutching the Book as if my life, and I look up to see the smart polished uniform of an officer of the guard. "Non, non Mademoiselle, the fault was mine." He's a kind looking older man with a bushy mustache and blue eyes. He reaches down a hand and helps me to my feet. "Where were you headed in such a hurry? I'd be happy to escort you. My, what is it you have there?" He points to the Book and I reel away from him.

"I have to go." I say as an excuse, though there is nothing that will make up for my appalling lack of manners, and I'm hurrying off in the opposite direction, toward the river. The kind officer calls after me, causing several passersby to scowl and whisper, but I don't look back. I don't stop running until I hear the call of the dock workers and the smell of the river. Oh, it is so very much like the smell of the ocean. The smell of home.

Until the scent of pollution hits me. I scowl but I'll take it. It's better than nothing.

I take a seat on the wharf and curl my knees to my chest. The Circle never told me that...creatures existed. Or that a crazy man in black would come looking for the object I was supposed to protect that I now know is the Livre de Lumiere. What ever that is. They never told me Sebastian had Changed...

We were to Change together. I was to shed the proud title of the Prideux dynasty and his title of indentured servant and we were to travel. See the world. Escape Paris forever. But he went missing three months ago and I've been searching ever since. The Circle told me that if I protected Notre Dame I would be Changed and then given all the assistance I needed to find Sebastian, little did I know I wouldn't have to look far. And now there is no point to Changing because Sebastian has been lost to me forever.

Ever since Father Guillarme told me the truth I have counted down the days until they made me a true Circle member and I would be allowed to do as I pleased. That is all I've ever wanted growing up in a family of boys with no money for a dowry. Which is why, obviously, I ran to Paris at the first opportunity. As it turns out, the devil you know is far better than the devil you don't. I was sleeping in the gutter within three weeks of arriving in the city. If Guillarme hadn't found me I'd probably be lost to the sweatbox or selling myself for meager rations of food.

The wind whips at me harder, a cold wind rushing in from the countryside. Storm clouds rise within seconds, billowing dark and threatening. Run, they say. Run from what you do not understand little girl.

With a sigh I heave myself up and start the long walk down quiet streets which only an hour ago had been bursting at the seams. Children too young to do work peer out at me from behind grime covered windows for I have reached the edge of the Glittering Paris and am now in the slums. The children pop up and smile at me from time to time but mostly they look cautious and weathered, left alone to fend for themselves from sunup to sundown they know what monsters lurk these streets. This is the price a society pays, I suppose, for "modernization".

The first drops fall, fat and warm, on my coat sleeve. I relish it as the pick up frequency. I want to dance. I want to sing. I want to thank and praise whatever greater power exists that they have sent me this wonderful, mind numbing rain to wash away the events of the past few hours.

But the Book is still in my hands and I realize it is most likely a priceless artifact as three drops fall onto its cover, permanently staining it. St. Denis Cathedral is within sight and so I sprint toward it, stopping only when I reach the side door. I take a deep breath and whisper the same prayer I always do, "Lord Almighty have mercy on my soul and protect us." Even though I no longer believe in God.

I head straight to the confessional and sit down. After a few moments' silence Father Louis, Father Guillarme's undersecretary, takes a seat on the other side of the screen.

"Forgive me Father for I have sinned." It comes out as a whisper for I find that is all I'm capable of.

"Catherina." Father Louis says, calling me by the Christian name the Circle gave me. "Where have you been?" He adds brusquely. He's never much liked me.

"Does it matter?" I sigh.

"Is the artifact safe?" He asks, finally turning to look at me.

"Yes, in fact, I have it here." I say holding it up. His expression slowly changes from relief to horror.

"Come." He says in clipped tone, hiding his emotions from me. We exit the confessional and head to the altar, genuflecting before the sculpture of Christ crucified. He taps a particular stone, one that only the priests and the members of the Circle are allowed to know about, and a staircase is revealed heading down into the darkness. "Father Guillarme is waiting for you." I take a step down and suddenly the stone slides back into place and I'm left clutching for footing in the pitch black.