Page 14 of Even Angels fall
The rooster is the French emblem, or used to be, and they say it was picked because roosters keep singing, even with two feet stuck in shit.
I used to think it was fitting for Emmanuël. Fate gave him a shitty situation—a bird stuck on the ground—and yet he kept smiling and found something that made him happy, and in return, he made people happy each time they visited him.
But today, it’s like he’s a whole other person and I know it’s because of me.
I’m tempted to try to comfort him, but I already went out of my way by telling him I am going to miss him.
I can’t startfeelingthings about my departure or I’ll shatter.
“I don’t know, Em. Maybe I won’t even miss my next appointment.”
Yes.
I need to convince myself I’ll be back in no time.
No.
It’s my only opportunity.
I can’t wish that I’ll be back.
The only thing I can wish for is that I manage to evade the extraction team and that I can flee as far from Paris as I can.
This is my ticket to freedom and I can’t waste it on friends.
They didn’t go through what I had to go through. I’m scared to think what my father would do of me if I came back to Versailles.
No longer a virgin. What use would I have to him?
I shudder at the idea.
“Did I hurt you?” Emmanuël asks.
”No, don’t worry. You’re perfect, like always,” I answer, still half lost in my mind.
Emmanuël keeps shaving me slowly while he hums a song I don’t recognize.
When he’s done, he rinses my head and adds some oil.
I should ask him what it is and take some with me. He’s right, I don’t know who is going to cut my hair when I’m in Notre Dame, or if they’re going to take as much care of me as he does, but then he gets me up and engulf me in a bear hug, and I completely forget.
It feels like a goodbye. One when people know they aren’t going to see each other again.
Maybe everyone knows it’s my only chance at freedom.
He finally releases me, goes behind a shelf, and sticks something in my hands.
“I was told you can’t bring much with you. Take that. At least with that, I know that you have everything you need to make that beautiful head of yours shine.”
He doesn’t give me any time to ask questions or to thank him before he pushes me to the door, where Léandre, Anne, and Ariël are waiting for me.
They aren’t alone, though. Emmanuël’s shop is two streets down from the main entrance of the Versailles’ palace, and just on the other side of the street, four shifters are waiting for me. Two of them are in their half-shifted forms, and the other two are in bird form: vultures. From the matching colors of their wings, the two who are half-shifted are vultures, too.
If there is one kind of bird I would have pegged for mercenaries, those are it.
One of the half-shifted men is holding my bag at arm’s length, as if it is poisonous.
It might be if he broke any of my jars, though, so he better be cautious.
