Read Online My Guardian Angel by Sylvie Weil - Free Book Online Page B

their fear, and they are eating their bread and gruel in silence. Judah has already left.
    Elvina picks up the lamp.
    â€œHow are we supposed to eat?” protests Samuel.
    â€œOpen the shutter to let in a little light. How much light do you need to swallow your gruel? I need the lamp to look for the potions I’m going to take to Muriel. The jars and vials all look alike. I don’t want to take the wrong ones.”
    A few minutes are enough to prepare her basket. Before setting out, Elvina rushes up to her room, opens her chest, and pulls out a roll of parchment on which her father had inscribed these few lines when she was little: “Thou shalt not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the plague that creeps in the shadows.” This she ties around her neck with a string. Then she takes another parchment and hides it up her sleeve. That one is for Muriel.
    Outside, it is still dark. There seems to be no separation between the earth and the sky, between the world below and that above. Everything is drowning in an icy drizzle. Elvina has her basket in one hand while the other checks that her talisman is still in place around her neck to protect her. Like the servant, she pulls her hood down over her face, and the two walk along huddled close together.
    But they are not really alone. Here and there, shutters are ajar. An old woman empties a basin of dirty water into the street; another is on her way to one of the neighborhood wells, bucket in hand, head and shoulders shrouded in a blanket. Two men on their way to synagogue, their hoods up over their heads, wish them good morning.
    At Muriel’s house, the shutters are open. A terra-cotta lamp burns on the window ledge. Bella and the twins’ mother, whom Elvina at first mistook for Muriel’s, welcomes them inside. She kisses Elvina and offers her a glass of spicy mulled wine.
    â€œDrink up quickly. This drizzle goes right through to your bones,” she said. “We know that your mother and grandmother are in Ramerupt. But we also know that they have taught you their art and that sometimes you can take their place. My sister has gone to fetch water. The girls are in their room. You can go up.”
    The four girls are keeping themselves warm by huddling together under the covers. A wall torch sheds a dim light around the room. Muriel’s face looks flushed, and she has a hacking cough.
    â€œIt’s so kind of you to have come in this dreadful weather,” says Bella.
    Naomi and Rachel have already jumped on Elvina. “Is it true that you invited Crusaders into your house?” asks Naomi.
    â€œRight in the middle of the Sabbath!” exclaims her sister.
    â€œHow could you do such a thing?” says Naomi.
    â€œDidn’t you die of fear?” Rachel says.
    A silence falls on the room. All eyes are on Elvina. “I did what I had to do. My grandfather said I was right to do it. And yes, I did nearly die of fright.”
    Muriel has propped herself up against her pillows. “Leave her alone,” she says in a rasping voice. “She didn’t invite the Crusaders in. From what I understand, they invited themselves.”
    â€œShe didn’t have to open the door,” says Bella.
    â€œThey might have beaten it down,” says Muriel.
    Rachel grabs Elvina’s basket and rummages through it.
    â€œDon’t touch my basket!” cries Elvina.
    â€œWhy? Have you got frogs in there? Or scorpions?” Rachel mocks, holding the basket up triumphantly.
    â€œGive it back!” shouts Elvina.
    Elvina catches hold of the twins, and one after the other, she pinches them and tickles them, pretending to bite their soft, plump cheeks. But they run off with the basket, laughing, and Elvina once again thinks to herself that she would give anything to have two little sisters just like them, even if they always do exactly the opposite of what they are told.
    â€œPromise us you will