Chapter 1: On the Shores of Newport

"C'est des conneries," the short woman muttered in very broken French, pushing past Tobias and grabbing the terrified woman's wrist rather forcefully as Gabriel continued to chant. "Vous êtes conneries," she sneered at the well-dressed gentleman, yanking Nadiye free of his grip and proceeding to drag her the opposite direction. "And so is your cane!

"I knew something was rotten in this city," she continued to mutter under her breath, not sounding dissimilar to a lunatic as her boots struck the ground. The woman continued to struggle against her, and Adeline's short stature forced her to stop and pull on Nadiye's wrist like a farmer trying to coax a stubborn donkey into moving. "Hey! Êtes-vous stupide? You are not well! I know medicine--if you are going to trust a knife-slinger before a witch, then perhaps it's not worth my time to save you!

"You!" Adeline continued, jabbing a finger at the dumbfounded Tobias. "If you care about this woman in the slightest, you'll make her move!" Her face was becoming pinched, and the two had come to a complete standstill in the street, pulling one another in opposite directions.

Nadiye shook and shuddered, her body becoming cold as she was yanked around like a rag doll by the members of the scene. Her chest convulsed, as if she were about to vomit. Her ears rang and vision blurred as her mind shut down completely and she fell into a black abyss of her own psyche.

Her blue eyes rolled up, only to be replaced with pure black vats of nothingness. She stood straight up and down, as if a string was through the center of her body. She opened her mouth and gobbledygook poured out like a rushing waterfall. The voice was neither male or female, human or beast, but the sound invaded everyone's ears like molasses that had a mind of its' own.

The sound ceased and Nadiye gasped, falling to her knees. She gasped for air, as if she were drowning, and she coughed, droplets of blood falling onto the cobblestone road. She looked up between Gabriel, Adeline and Tobias, terror filling her blue eyes.

"Cher Seigneur."