The Characterisation of Annabelle le Roux

Chapter Sixteen: A quick and dirty mentor

James had an epiphany. Ferne' looked up to Phoenix, Little Larry looked up to Annabelle, and although it wasn't spoken of, Phoenix had grown up on the rough streets of Zilby where he had learnt from the school of hard knocks. But who had Annabelle learnt from? Maybe that was why the public was turning against Annabelle, she had no-one to learn from, and instead seemingly had gotten all her knowledge complete.

He imagined a kindly old lady that Annabelle could have tea with. Perhaps an old language teacher or a priestess that had taught Annabelle everything that she knew so that Annabelle can go ahead and complete the mission that the teacher started out on.

As Annabelle walked past the school, she saw Veronique, the girl that had approached her after Phoenix's funeral. The girl waved her over."

"I've found her" said Veronique "The woman who gave Phoenix the potion"

"That's fantastic" said Annabelle with more enthusiasm than she felt "What can you tell me about her"

"She lives on Short street, her name is Madame Green, although nobody knows what her real name is. She moved into the apartment two and half years ago. The whole aura about her is very mysterious."

Annabelle was surprised that she hadn't heard of Madame Green before. People didn't just move into and out of Zilby very often.

"Nobody knows where she comes from" said Veronique. "She doesn't keep company"

"And the potion?" asked Annabelle "Do you know what is in it?"

"No, but she makes a lot of tea and drinks it all day" said Veronique. "We haven't been able to see her make anything like a potion since we found out about her"

'Can you take me to her" asked Annabelle.

The two set out on the path though the city, the streets were narrow and windy. They sometimes had to wait for people to step out of the way in order to get passed.

Veronique never stopped talking as they walked. "You know that Phoenix used to be a beggar as a child" she said.

"Yes, he told me about it, but he didn't like talking about his childhood, so I didn't press him for details" answered Annabelle.

'The burly guards used to get a little rough with him. They said that he made the streets look dirty. Which is ironic because he used to spend his time picking up rubbish and taking it to the landfill. He recycled some of it, but of course that was illegal."

"One day, while the guards were busy beating him up, a little lady walk in and saw what they were doing. She told the guards to stop otherwise she would report them to the authorities" continued Veronique.

"I doubt that would do any good" said Annabelle.

"Of course, they laughed at her and said that they didn't care, but her words left the burly guards feeling ashamed and so they left Phoenix alone. After all the old lady was right: They were exceeding the limits of their authority."

"Later the old woman came over to told Phoenix to drink the potion and then she left him alone. Any case he drank half of the potion and I am sure that you know the rest of the story" finished Veronique.

Annabelle nodded as she thought of her own transformation.

"Why didn't she give the potion to anybody else?" asked Annabelle.

"I don't know" said Veronique as she shook her head "But I will say that people say that the street children were dying under mysterious circumstances a couple of years ago. In the six months prior to the transformation of Phoenix the badly misshapen bodies of four children were found. Two more were never seen of again. "

The two women came to a door in the street. All the walls in the street were the dark colour of granite. The street was a prized location for living, because the Mamlish didn't require the wall to be walls to be repainted on a biannual basis.

In contrast to the darkness of all the other doors on the street, the one that Veronique knocked on was a bright green.

"This is it" said Veronique, 'Wish me luck"

"Why would you need luck" asked Annabelle.

"Well I don't, now that you are here" answered Veronique.

An old woman answered the door. She was dressed like nobody that Annabelle had ever seen before. Her top was made from a patchwork of materials. She wore bangles up and down her arms. On her nose were large glasses that magnified her eyes and those eyes were a colour unlike any that Annabelle had ever seen before. They were a purply grey colour. They matched her hair, which was wiry and extremely grey.

Annabelle gasped as she took it all in. "How do you get away with it." She blurted out. "I'm sure that your clothing is against all regulation."

'The Mamlish don't bother with me, Annabelle, just like they stopped bothering with you Annabelle" the woman said in response. 'But don't feel safe here because there is a spy on the corner watching us." She turned to Veronique "You are a foolish young lady to come here. I worry about your army. But I suppose that I had no way of warning you not to."

"How do you know about it" stammered Veronique.

"I look at my cards. They tell me things. Well come in, we have much to discuss."

Once inside Annabelle saw that the house was a long narrow one. The kitchen was right next to the front door. Pots boiled on every stove. The steam made the roof mouldy.

'Would you like something hot to drink" offered Madame Green. "I received a bunch of new ingredients this week and I would love to try them out"

'Who is sending you stuff?" asked Annabelle.

"I can see that you aren't a trusting one. I have my contacts" answered Madame Green.

"I'd rather not have anything to drink here" said Annabelle looking at the ceiling boards.

'Annabelle." Said Madame Green and Annabelle flinched still feeling disconcerted that Madame Green was calling her by name despite not having a proper introduction. But she supposed she also knew Madame Green's name.

"Annabelle you need to look after yourself. I may have made you immune to physical damage, but you can still get hurt spiritually."

"What's tea got anything to do with that?" asked Annabelle quickly.

"That. Just the fact that you said it, shows how much you have been struggling, you have been treading water. Struggling to breath" answered Madame Green looking at Annabelle over the top of her glasses.

"I'm fine. I don't know what you are talking about" said Annabelle looking away.

"Drink the tea, it won't hurt you, I promise. See I will have a cup with you"

Madame Green went into the kitchen and started pouring from different pots before adding some unidentified leaves in too.

"So what are you going to do about the Lesser Lord George?" said Madame Green conversationally. "Are you going to try and kill him or are you going to try and talk to him. I'd recommend killing him because he is never going to listen to anything that you say, but I do worry about his replacement. You never know. Some of the Mamlish are worse. It's a bit of a lottery"

"I don't want a better life under the Mamlish" said Annabelle clenching her fists. "I want the Mamlish to leave. It is what Phoenix wanted and it is what I want too."

"How about a compromise. You know there are advantages to living in a huge empire. It makes travel easier for one" said Madame Green.

"Veronique" said Annabelle "Where is the furthest you have been from your place of birth."

"I went to Gammon's cave once. It was a forty-five-minute walk."

"So still on the island then?" said Annabelle.

"Of course, they will never let me on a boat, because if I try, they will ask for a letter of permission from my master and I don't have master. Which makes things a little bit awkward for me."

"Ah yes, I forgot about passports, I suppose travel is harder if you don't have a passport." Said Madame Green.