"Don't destroy me again," I begged.
"Never again."
He tangled his fingers in my hair before he came to lay his lips on mine. His kiss was as impatient as it was deep. A long shiver ran through my whole body. He pressed his forehead against mine while his hand pressed against the hollow of my loins to prevent me from falling backwards. It was with difficulty that I managed to move my face away from his, my breath being irregular. Faïz inhaled deeply before releasing me with regret and taking a step backwards while plunging his eyes into mine.
"Give me a chance, Zoe. One last chance."
"OK, but first you save the world."
A slight carnivorous smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
"I'm going right now!"
He looked at his watch and frowned:
"Shit! I'm really late."
Before I had time to react, he pulled me up against him and put a quick kiss on my lips that I gave him back. Then he hurriedly opened the door and rushed out into the cool night.
There wasn't a sound in the villa. Everyone was asleep. Faïz hadn't come home and something told me it would be a long night for him and everyone else at the Mansion of the Seventh Earth. I stared at the dark horizon through my room's windows and felt a feeling of infinity as I looked out at the ocean of clouds, lit up by a strange light, due to the dark color of the Dome. Why couldn't I move forward with my life? The past was still tormenting me and remorse was still chasing me. Unlike Faïz, I had no blood on my hands. Yet, I was haunted by all these faces that mixed and tortured my mind. Would my soul ever be at peace? I sighed deeply before tearing myself away from the contemplation of this ocean, from this silent spectacle which sent me back to my own anguish.
Lying in bed, my last thought was for Elijah. I secretly hoped that he was safe in my house right now. My eyelids closed and I fell into a deep sleep for the first time since William's death.
Light touches on my face forced me to open my eyes. Feathers, with white and gray tints, shone all around me. They seemed to caress the air as they swirled slowly before coming to rest gently on the ground. Where was I? The celestial blue walls and the floor were unfamiliar to me. The room was in the spirit of French castle architecture. The refined, chic and authentic setting was reminiscent of 18th century decor. The existing furniture had been replaced by antique furniture such as wing chair, benches and a marquetry desk.
I put my foot down by getting rid of my heavy blanket made of velvet and silk, printed with animal motifs. The feathers tickled the soles of my feet. My eyes searched for a ripped pillow or cushion to stop the sudden avalanche, but nothing seemed to explain this phenomenon. On guard, my senses alert, I slowly approached the small window overlooking a green garden surrounded by stones. In it, a few goats and sheep lived together in the greatest serenity.
"Can you feel it?"
I immediately recognized the deep, soft voice behind me. This fresh and penetrating tone froze me on the spot. I didn't dare to turn around and start breathing heavily to try to pull myself together.
"William?" I whispered in a voice trembling with emotion.
His hand came and stroked my neck to pull my hair to the side.
“How's the peace? Do you feel it better here?"
I shook my head before answering:
"No, I feel it around you."
With my heart beating, I turned on myself and finally faced him. His radiant face, in the light of dawn, left me speechless. My knees gave up, but William's arms immediately caught me. His broad smile faded as his steel-blue eyes solidified.
"Zoe, are you OK? Stay with me."
My mind was foggy, I was trying to gather my thoughts.
"You're here, right next to me. It means I'm dreaming again and my gift came back."
My hands touched every millimeter of his face before I reached his hair. I clung to him, hugging him as tightly as I could, my head buried in his neck. I could feel that strength radiating from him, the same strength I felt when he was alive. At that moment I was filled with an almost heavenly feeling of well-being, even if I knew deep inside that the time for this reunion was short.
"I would have liked to say goodbye sooner so you could find the relief you deserved, but..."
"I know," I cut him off while moving my face back to look at him again. "I spent a lot of time in the dark, rehashing my old memories, preventing your soul from getting rid of its bark to better rise."
"It was my duty to look out for both of you. Georgia has this wonderful gift of communicating with the deceased who haven't yet crossed over. Did you know that?"
I bowed my head in shame as a sign of response. He wrapped my hand in his, and came and kissed me gently, and sat down on the windowsill overlooking the countryside.
"So I suppose you two meet often?" I asked, curious.
"Yeah, almost every night. Her sceneries, straight out of her imagination, are more... childish. The last one: we were in a huge gingerbread castle with chocolate fountains."
I burst out laughing sincerely, my eyes still fixed on William. The latter smiled before resuming his seriousness:
"She deserves to be happy, Zoe. You have to make an effort to play, laugh and look at these pictures with her before they turn yellow in the boxes at home."
A lump formed in my throat. I took a step back and scanned the enchanting room with my eyes. Thousands of feathers littered the floor, making it even brighter. And then I imagined Georgia with her angel wings rolling in it. I was sure she would have liked it. She would have laughed, which was a rare thing when she was with me.
"Zoe?"
William's voice suddenly brought me back to another reality.
"She deserves better than a dented mom like me."
"You danced today. She liked it very much."
"Who told you that? Georgia?"
My voice cracked.
"You looked like a goddess. Those were her words. Your daughter is so proud of you. You see, one little thing can change everything in her day. A child forgives faster than an adult. Don't wait until it's too late."
"I'll take care of her, I promise you," I whispered as I stared into his eyes.
A small smirk appeared on his face. My heart almost stopped beating. I approached him and sat on his lap.
"The bumblebee, after my car accident, was you, right?"
Snuggling against his body, I buried my chin in his hair.
"The Sylphs communicate with nature. You know that. I've always looked after you."
Suddenly, an anger rose to the surface and I abruptly moved away from him.
"That's good, we're getting there," he said as if he guessed my thoughts. "It has to come out, Zoe. Let it out."
My scalp was tingling. I started walking around the room with furrowed brows, dying for answers to my questions, but part of me wasn't sure I wanted to know. William was ahead of the conversation:
"I thought I could defeat him alone. I had investigated Pavel for many months. I knew his plans..."
"NO! You didn't know them, otherwise you wouldn't have died," I rebelled, my eyes full of tears. "How could you get into this without a safety net? Without thinking about the consequences? You abandoned us."
William, still seated, gave me an intense, burning stare. He pursed his lips and shook his head before adding:
"I wanted to try and stop the inevitable so that no one would have to pay with their life. Then Faïz wouldn't have to..."
He stopped talking like he'd said too much. My eyes wrinkled as I listened to his last words.
"Continue, William! I must understand."
A painful glow briefly crossed the expression on his face.
"Although we are here together, our two worlds are still quite distinct. In mine, I can't free my words as I would like. You have to find the answers in the people around you in life."
I raised my head towards the ceiling to regain my calm and concentration.
"How do you intend to reveal to Georgia the true nature
of her ties to Faïz?"
"She's still too young to understand," I replied, crossing my arms and looking at him with a hostile look in my eyes.
William rose abruptly from the windowsill and came towards me with a hesitant walk. His eyebrows frowning, he seemed to disagree completely with what I was saying.
"Are you kidding, Zoe?" he said softly but firmly, "She has a thousand questions. Her biological father now knows about her, you can't ignore him anymore. I know you'll find the right words to explain it to her."
Now he was just inches away from me. His hand grazed my cheek. Anxiety disfigured his face as his eyes turned an icy gray.
"I have to let you go too," he whispered, sincerely. "Your life is with him. It's always been him."
My hand closed on his, preventing him from slipping off the surface of my skin.
"Indeed, maybe one part of me has always wanted him, but the other part chose you, and did from the first day I met you."
His arm closed around my waist to pull me against him.
"So I'm leaving in peace," he said, relieved. "You never belonged to anyone. Possession is the opposite of love. Let my soul rise and I promise you that tomorrow, sorrow will have disappeared from your heart."
With my head resting against him, I tried to fight my heavy eyelids. I didn't want to go back to my world, no, not right away.
"Just a few more minutes," I begged, "Wait…"
My mind was disobeying me, preferring to let myself go to a nearby awakening. I sank, in spite of myself, into total darkness.
My breathing was slow and peaceful. I didn't know what time it might be and delayed, as much as possible, the moment my feet would touch the ground. A strange, dark light came through the windows. Although the cloudiness of that morning was abnormal, I felt in my heart and in my soul an emotional and physical upheaval. I felt liberated from something that I had buried deep within me a long time ago. My gaze fell on the pillow next to mine. A feather was resting on it. I touched it with my fingertips, in fear of damaging it.
"Farewell, my beloved," I whispered.
Lily was pouring her coffee very intensely into her cup before she said to me:
"That must have been Faïz who dropped Georgia off at school this morning. Charles left the villa much too soon. Barthey wanted to speak with him."
"Talk? But Charles was always kept out of it."
She took a sip of her coffee and squeezed her still hot cup with her clenched hands. Outside, Mrs. Arlette was actively tidying up the terrace to clean it in the afternoon. My eyes returned over to Lily's porcelain-skinned face, where her high cheekbones gave a pleasant relief to her impeccable face. Her long black hair, perfectly done, fell back onto her shoulders without a single strand of rebellious hair sticking out a millimeter.
"Did you see the daylight today, Zoe? It's very disturbing. The Dome is warning us about the first days of what will be a dark time. I'm afraid that tomorrow I'll never be able to hug my son again. The world is counting on him, even if no one knows about it. If he fails, he will leave without the world knowing what he has done for them. Without flowers or medals. Am I selfish to want to keep him for myself? To expect someone else to sacrifice themselves instead?"
Both shaken and terrified by her words, I walked towards her and decided to break the silence by trying to find the right words:
"He won't sacrifice himself, Lily. Faïz has a beautiful five-year-old daughter and she's his biggest motivation. He'll fight for her, so that they can have all these moments together."
A feeling of hope lit up his face. I crouched down beside her without looking away from her piercing irises.
"No, his soul isn't damned for eternity and even though he believed it for a long time, your son managed to capture the unspeakable. People die every day without having tasted for a single moment of their life that infinite happiness, the one of loving a child one day. So rejoice. You can't keep him to yourself, because possession is the opposite of love. A good man explained that to me."
Lily nodded several times and swallowed with difficulty her tears that threatened to escape.
"Do you love him?" she asked me in a whisper.
"Yes," I said vigorously. "And with all my heart. Don't worry, he already knows. My eyes betray me every time I am in his presence."
She emitted a sincere smile, that famous smile that was capable of making every wave disappear from the soul of anyone to whom she addressed it. That famous smile that had saved me many times in the recent years.
I slowly straightened up and began to reach the exit of the living room.
"I'm meeting the girls and David for lunch. Then I'll stop by work to pick up some files so I can work from home. It's gonna be a long day with Barthey and the FBI team wanting to see us in the early evening."
"I confirm," Lily said in a restrained tone. "Lexy will probably give you the most trouble today."
Hearing her words, I turned around and looked at her. It was then that she raised the newspaper above her head. The front page of the Los Angeles Times was in full view.
God bless America, but the government must save the world first.
"Lexy!" I'm roaring with anger. "That bastard's going to hear me."
"I was all for eliminating your work colleague, but go for Lexy."
Lily shrugged and took a sip of her coffee.
As I walked into the Hill Street Bar, I looked around. The place was darker than usual. It was noon, but it felt almost like the middle of the night with that unusual lack of light. Despite the apocalyptic atmosphere outside, people were eating, drinking and laughing, not caring about the color of the Dome.
"Gaston!" called the bar owner from the entrance who was looking up at the sky next to me.
A stocky man in his sixties with a bald head and round nose rushed to meet her.
"Gaston," she continued. "I have a bad feeling about all of this!"
"But no, Margarethe. It's nothing more than one hell of a storm brewing," the husband told his wife to reassure her.
She grumbled a few words and then went back to work, frowning. My God, you don't know what storm it is, I thought to myself.
The smell of grilled chicken floated through the room, reminding me that I hadn't swallowed anything since the morning. My eyes wandered around the bar, looking for my three friends, but the celebration of the second half of the Dodgers' game against the Yankees made it difficult. Suddenly I saw Asarys waving at me at a table at the back of the room. I made my way through the noisy and hysterical crowd, elbowing my way through.
I arrived at my three companions' table as if I had run a marathon.
"You missed the beginning of the meeting," David said, raising his voice to be heard. "We waited for you to order."
I almost smiled in spite of all the anger that was overwhelming me, but my mood of the moment took over. I threw the Los Angeles Times on the table with its front page before sitting down, killing Lexy with my eyes. At that moment I couldn't understand why Asarys spoke, perhaps she felt her friend needed a little help.
"Zoe, listen. I'm as surprised as you about the article in the paper, but you can't blame Lexy. She did what she could with Jul last night. Anyway, it was only a matter of time before the government had to explain the current situation."
Her soft tone were meant to soothe me, but it did the opposite. Indeed, trembling shook me from head to toe. I wondered how my dear friend, to whom I had entrusted an important mission, was going to surprise me again, and what false explanations I was going to get this time.
"Alexia Terranova," I whistled as I narrowed my eyes. "I'm waiting for your fucking explanation on this article."
My index finger pointed to the front page of the newspaper. David and Asarys put their cocktail in their mouths and appeared to beg her to come out alive. Then Lexy put a big smile on her face as she moved her arms away from her body.
"I think I'm in love! Be happy for me, Zoe."
Yes, she managed to surprise me, but not in a
good way. I was pounding the table with my fingertips, waiting for her to continue. Realizing she wouldn't get away with it, Lexy looked up and continued:
"Jul invited me to his house and I went. I didn't chicken out, and as it turns out, I even put my anger aside."
"What happened to keep him to changing his mind about publishing his article?" I cut her off, preferring to get straight to the point.
She sighed, staring into the void, then a dreamy smile was painted on her lips.
"One of his friends owns a Vegan restaurant that has very good press in L.A. Jul told him about me and yesterday, this friend offered to share the realization of future menus with him. I will then become his partner."
Lexy was staring at me with that brilliant look on her face. Her facial features changed. Her adoration and devotion to my co-worker didn't go unnoticed. I raised a hand in front of me so that she would let me speak.
"OK, I'll look forward to another day when the world is safe and we can be sure no bombs fall on our faces, because you see Lexy, normally that's what's planned, right. In the meantime, explain to me why you haven't tried to turn this around in our favor?"
"I tried! But I realized that this article, his work, could also be useful to us."
Intrigued by this sibylline comment, I interrogated her with my eyes.
"Zoe, he sees the world as it really is. I'm telling you. The press has enormous power over society today, you can't deny that. If the public knows the government is hiding something serious, it will avoid any misguided moves on their part. It will force them to be twice as careful about their decisions and to answer for their actions if they decides to sacrifice human lives."
Her voice broke over the word sacrifice. I took a quick look at David, who also seemed annoyed by Lexy's words. I preferred to retreat into silence before saying some nasty things that I might regret later. Asarys chose this moment to support what our friend said.
"I know Jul's article puts you and us in an uncomfortable situation, but just try to look at it differently."
DARK FAÏZ Book 3: Dawn never keeps its promises Page 11