Chapitre 01
A Flash in the Darkness
That night, New York was exhaling white vapor that seeped out of the openings in the sidewalks, while the cold bit at the few passersby. The flashes of blue and red reflected off the glass facades of the old buildings near a museum with an ancient frontage, as if the walls themselves were standing under the interrogation light of the patrol. The engine hummed at a steady rhythm, and a paper cup of coffee swayed in its holder, when the policeman sitting behind the wheel said, staring at the narrow back street:
"No one passes through here at a time like this… only cats and their troubles."
He did not finish his sentence. The night air was cut by the cry of a child. It was not a loud scream, but a broken sobbing, coming from a corner drowned in shadow between an iron service door and a huge trash container. The two policemen froze for a moment, exchanged a brief glance, then moved together, their hands on their flashlights, the white beam dragging a streak across the damp asphalt ground.
There, amid torn bags and the smell of cold metal, was a child wrapped in a sturdy black cloth, a cloth with a strange texture as if woven from threads unknown to any store. A thin layer of dust covered it, and on the surface of the cloth were delicate symbols - intertwined lines and arcs that had lost their shine beneath the dust, yet remained clear to anyone who looked closely.
The first policeman bent down, his eyes widening as he shone the light on the small face: cheeks reddened by the cold, a damp nose, and a trembling mouth as it caught the air. He said in astonishment, the words leaving him before he could think:
"A child in a place like this! As if he came out of… a war."
He carefully extended his hands and lifted the infant. He was unusually warm despite the freezing night. His crying eased a little as soon as the policeman's hands touched his chest. His partner noticed something hanging from between the folds of the cloth, so he bent down and held it between two fingers: a small pendant made of a gemstone with a turquoise-blue hue, reflecting the flash of light in a strange way. The stone was set in a simple metal frame, and on its back was a clear engraving in Latin letters: LIAM CARTER