Dark Faïz ( Book 1 ) [ COMPLETED]

Chapters 2-5

Our literature course had just ended. By midafternoon, the three of us were gathered in the campus parking lot near Asarys's Red Bentley. I looked over the parking lot.

— "What are you looking for, Zoe?" Asarys asked.

— "Faïz has probably already left. I can't see his car," I answered.

As we were about to get into the convertible, a black BMW X6 stopped in front of us and a male voice called out,

— "Hey, girls, what are you doing?"

Two young men were sitting at the front seats. The driver revved the engine.

— "Baudoin, Lucas!" shouted Asarys, apparently happy to see them.

She turned to me.

— "Guys, this is Zoe. She arrived today. She's from Paris."

— "Hello, Esmeralda," the driver kindly shouted to me. "I'm Baudoin."

I looked at the second one, who waved to greet me.

— "And you are Lucas," I guessed.

— "Yes, madam."

— "We're go to Venice Beach to skate. You want to come?" suggested Baudoin.

Lexy turned to us, putting her hands together and begging us to accept. I had noticed that she was literally eating Lucas with her eyes. Asarys looked at me and I accepted without hesitation.

— "We'll meet you there," Asarys told them.

The BMW went off in a hurry and Lexy jumped up and down on the spot, clapping her hands. Asarys looked up to the sky.

— "It's about time you made a move, Lexy, since you've been hanging around together!"

— "How long has it been?" I asked Asarys.

— "A week," she confessed to me.

— "Only one week? Is this a joke?" I asked.

I climbed into the back of the Bentley while Asarys laughed. When it started, Taylor Swift's voice invaded the car's speakers. We left, singing at the top of our lungs, our hair in the wind, towards the beach.

**

Wilshire Boulevard was endless. After swallowing many kilometers and waiting in traffic jams, Asarys finally turned off the engine in the Venice parking lot. We could already hear music coming from the beach in the distance.

— "There are groups that settle here and play all day," Lexy explained to me. "There are a lot of them, especially on weekends."

— "A real open-air museum," Asarys added as she got out of the car.

She immediately looked for Baudoin's car.

— "There they are!" she exclaimed, waving her arms at them.

Venice Beach offered a permanent spectacle where painters, musicians, and many other communities rubbed shoulders. I looked all around. There were more or less atypical people with a diverse culture. The cult of the body and beauty seemed to take an important place here. Lexy walked in front of us with Lucas, laughing foolishly with them. Baudoin, skateboard in hand, began a conversion with me.

— "So, Zoe, how was your first day?"

At my side, I realized how big he was, with square shoulders and an imposing build. His short, brushed hair gave him an almost military look.

— "I'm happy to have met the girls. I was very apprehensive about that first day," I confided to him.

— "Do you sleep on campus like Asarys?"

— "No," Asarys said, "Zoe follows the same program as Lexy. However, she is with a host family."

A group of dancers surrounded us. One of them had a Bluetooth speaker in his hand that played a hip-hop beat.

— "The later the night gets, the better the atmosphere," Baudoin shouted in my ears to make himself heard in the middle of all the noise.

After a few minutes of the show, the dancers walked away with a good-natured atmosphere. I then resumed the conversation by addressing Asarys.

— "I didn't know you lived on campus."

— "I live with the Alpha Mu sorority. I just finished my rush period."

She went through her bag and proudly showed us her brown t-shirt. Her sorority's signature was marked with a yellow letter.

— "You'll get us into your VIP parties," I said, smiling.

— "I intend to do that," she said, replying with a broad smile.

Asarys then addressed Baudoin.

— "Zoe's looking for a job on campus. As captain of Baylor's football team, maybe you could play your connections?"

Baudoin thought for a moment before saying,

— "In the cafeteria they're looking for someone to help David with the service. I'll go and find out tomorrow," he promised.

We stopped in front of an oil painting stand. The painter was focused on his work. I admired it, with its magnificent landscapes that seemed so real. One of his paintings caught my attention. You could see the rooftops of Los Angeles bathed in sunset. In the foreground, on one of the roofs was a silhouette that could be seen from behind. Its immense shadow covered the city. There was something melancholy about this disturbing painting.

— "It's The Black Shadow," Asarys whispered to me.

— "A legend of this city," Baudoin told me.

— "I heard about it yesterday on the news. Do you think it really exists?" I said.

— "No one can say for sure. It's an urban legend. The man is supposed to save us from the end of the world,"Asarys replied.

— "You mean, like a modern-day hero?" I insisted.

The mystical old man holding the stand stopped painting and turned to us.

— "The fire of hell cannot reach him. It is in darkness that we can meet him."

At that moment I wondered if the old man was talking about The Black Shadow, or the evil Asarys had referred to.