lisette Bellamy
Lisette was born to unknown parents in the small town of Domremy-la-Pucelle, France, the birthplace of Joan of Arc. Reportedly, no one knew who left her on the doorstep of the Church of St. Remi of Rheims in Domremy. She was adopted one month later by Antoine and Camila Bellamy of Chamonix, France, where she was raised.
Lisette was a sweet-natured child, full of adventure and energy. As an only child, she was pampered and praised yet far from spoiled. Her parents came from great wealth but raised Lisette to believe she was no different from any of the girls she played with. Lisette knew from an early age, however, that she was anything but normal. She simply wasn’t like the other girls in school. Her adoptive father, Antoine, claimed to be a direct descendant of Henry IV, founder of the Bourbon dynasty of France, but that claim lacked definitive proof. Her adoptive mother, Camila, however, was descended from François-Marie Arouet, the leading writer and philosopher of the 18th-century French Enlightenment. He went by the pen name Voltaire.
Despite her self-awareness that she was different from other girls, Lisette managed to lead a quiet, normal life. She blended in well at the exclusive elementary academy Ecole Billingue. Her family attended church at Eglise Saint-Michel, a quaint Catholic church built in 1709, which is where she was baptized. It was also in this church that she had her first vision.
She was five years old. She and her parents were attending Sunday morning mass when her maternal grandmother entered the church and sat down next to her. She adored her grandmother. The only problem was that her grandmother had died in her sleep six months earlier. Nevertheless, Lisette was very glad to see her. She was puzzled, however, that her mother said nothing to her. When questioned about her silence after the service, Lisette’s mother dismissed her experience as an overactive imagination and stressed that she should never share her stories with others. But it wasn’t her imagination. Her grandmother really visited her.
As did several other apparitions through the years, most commonly in her bedroom at night. A great-grandfather, who died in 1897. An aunt who died in an automobile accident one year before. A cousin who drowned six months prior. None of these visions spoke to her. They hovered over her bed, faint holograms from her past. Somehow, she knew who they were. Then one day, the visions ceased. She waited for them at night, but they failed to appear. In a way, Lisette missed them. Life continued as before. Soon, the visions became a distant memory, nearly erased from her young mind.
At age nine, the visions returned. This time, they began to speak. Actually, they were no longer visions. Just a quiet voice she heard only at night. A female’s voice. She told stories of Lisette’s family in Normandy, Paris, and Chamonix. Some of whom she had heard her parents mention. One day, the voice told the tale of a woman named Nadia from the city of Brasov. This didn’t confuse her. As far as she knew, Brasov was a city located somewhere in France. Although she could never quite remember the details of the story itself, she clearly recalled the names Nadia and Brasov.
At age fifteen, the visions and voices once again ceased. They would lie silent for ten years. Lisette was never quite sure what to make of them. Was it, as her mother insisted, just her imagination? The product of an overly active mind? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
Following high school, Lisette attended the Sorbonne in Paris and graduated with a degree in International Language. She found employment with the French Government as an international translator for the Federal Courts. She spoke five languages, including German, Italian, English, and Spanish. She met and married another translator, Finn Schneider. He was handsome, intelligent, and possessive. Emphasis on the possessive. He and Lisette had a contentious relationship, almost from day one. The marriage lasted seven years. Shortly after the divorce, Lisette had a dream in which three words sounded in her head: Nadia, Brasov, and Domremy-la-Pucelle. The first two words she had heard before. The third was the village from which she was adopted. She reached out to the Church of Saint Remi, and, through dogged determination, uncovered a handwritten birth certificate. It recorded her father as unknown. Her birth mother was recorded as Nadia Cristian, who was from the Romanian town of Braslov. Nadia’s ethnicity was recorded as Romani, which meant her mother was a Gypsy.
Two years later, at age 25, the voices returned. Or more precisely, one voice returned. It spoke to Lisette in a man’s voice, calm, gentle, soothing. It was quite unlike any of the previous voices. This voice told her things she couldn’t possibly know. The accidental death of an aunt before the accident. A freak flooding of the River Arve that would damage large portions of the city of Chamonix. Her mother’s cancer diagnosis prior to her announcing it. Lisette had read of others who had similar gifts. They were called clairvoyants, psychics, or mystics. Regardless of what they called it, Lisette felt it was a gift from God.
And so, when the voice of God spoke to her, Lisette accepted it in stride. God told her she had been chosen for a mission. A mission of great consequence. She was to seek out a man living in Cologne, Germany. His name was Henri Laurent. This man, God told her, possessed a wonderful treasure. A diary that contained information the world needed. God instructed her to ingratiate herself with Henri, gain his confidence, then steal the diary. Afterward, she was directed to deliver this diary to an unknown college professor teaching at the Catholic Institute in Paris. His name was Michael Shaw.
One week later, Lisette resigned her position with the government, packed her bags, and left for Cologne. It was easy to find Henri. It was easy to date Henri. It was easy to begin sleeping with Henri. After six months, he was smitten. One night, over a nightcap of brandy, he told her of the diary. It was another week before she finally saw it. Another week before she stole it and left town. She was on a mission—a mission from God. And Michael Shaw held the key to her mission’s success.