Darker Angels - By Daniel Abraham Page 0,98
does anyone begin again? When everything changes-changes for the better, changes for the worse, a little of both-it isn't just the world that's called into question. It's you too. Who you are, and what that means.
The eight of us sat at the same table Karen had brought us to the first day in New Orleans. The same waiters brought us three huge platters of bright red crawfish. The breeze that stirred the palm fronds was warm, the light pressing down through the hazy late spring sky was probably going to sunburn my nose. If I hadn't been quite so thoroughly bruised and abraded, I'd have been wearing shorts and a halter top. I wore slacks that went down to my ankles and a billowy cotton blouse with long sleeves and a high collar. Getting out of the hotel shower that morning, I'd looked like something from the unpleasant part of a David Lynch film.
Sabine, on the other hand, was wearing shorts and a halter top. She looked beautiful and serene and in command of the table in a way utterly unlike a sixteen-year-old orphan girl who'd lost her grandmother two days before. Daria, sitting to her left, fidgeted and frowned in what I thought of as school-uniform chic. The adults-Chogyi Jake, Aubrey, Ex, Dr. Inond茅, and my lawyer-seemed like the disciples here; the city revolved around Sabine Glapion now.
"Well," my lawyer said, scooping the papers out of the way as the third platter of crustacean floated down before her, "I think that puts it all in order. Actually filing will take some time, of course."
"You're sure no one's going to object?" Dr. Inond茅 said. It turned out he'd grown up in a part of Brooklyn my lawyer knew.
"Emancipation proceedings at Sabine's age aren't at all unusual," my lawyer said. "And with no surviving adult relatives, I can't see anyone raising an objection."
"But it does look awfully strange," Dr. Inond茅 said, wringing his hands, "an old man like me being a business partner with, well..."
"A little girl?" Sabine said with a grin. She scooped up one of the crawfish, snapped off the head, and sucked at it while Daria made a theatrical gagging sound.
"I'm just saying it looks odd from the outside," Dr. Inond茅 said.
"However it looks, it will be legal and binding," my lawyer said, "and Jayn茅 here has put aside a little something to cover expenses if anything does come up. You have my number. Only call, and I'll see it's taken care of."
Dr. Inond茅 nodded, but his brow didn't lose its furrows.
"Something's bothering you about it?" Aubrey asked.
"He doesn't want to fold both businesses together," Sabine said. "Thinks that the Voodoo Heart Temple and the Authentic New Orleans Voodoo Museum ought to stay separate, like two different... franchises."
Her use of the last word was careful and not, I thought, entirely correct. For a moment, the persona slipped, and Sabine wasn't the voodoo queen of New Orleans, but a kid thrown into an adult world and doing her best. It was temporary. The lost little girl would appear less and less over time, and before long she'd be gone forever, and some new, still-forming Sabine Glapion would take her place, same as with anyone. Dr. Inond茅 waved his hands. I picked up a crawfish. Its shell was still hot from the boiler.
"I just think they pull in different types," he said. "My museum's a roadside attraction. Very touristy. The Temple is more local. Part of the community."
"But if you combine those and cut overhead," Ex said with a shrug.
"It will be better as one thing," Daria said solemnly. "Believe me, I know."
Dr. Inond茅 blinked, and Sabine slapped her sister smartly on the shoulder.
"Don't go lying to him, or he's not going to believe you when it's important," Sabine said, and Daria grinned impishly.
"There may be a middle path," Chogyi Jake said, his voice abstracted and thoughtful. The conversation moved on to business planning and maximizing profit, building reputation and reaching out to the tourist trade, what to put on the Web site and whether to advertise outside of the city itself. I let the talk wash over me, a rush of sound and meaning like a wave tugging at the sand.
I was exhausted. My ribs hurt badly. The ACE bandage that I'd wrapped myself with helped some, but it was going to be several deeply uncomfortable weeks before I was whole again.
When our lunch was over, we all walked out to the street together, Sabine and Dr. Inond茅 still