17 Chapter 1
(Michael Sparkle, Maryanne Dubois)
It was a rainy night in 1881 France.
Young Michael had run away from home. He wanted at all costs to participate in the ball that was held in the tavern in the center of the village square.
When he walked in, soaked from head to toe, he clearly caught the attention of everyone there.
He was just a nineteen years old boy and had seen nothing but a forest all his life.
He lived in a tiny house, hidden deep in the woods.
But he no longer wanted to remain hidden in the shadows.
Something had caught his attention, enough to make him go against the will of his parents who ardently wanted to keep him hidden from the rest of the world.
To protect him, they said.
Michael was young and obeying his parents' orders was no longer his priority, not after that night, when the full moon was high in the sky.
Michael heard noises, branches breaking. Someone was in his forest, the place where no one should have found him. Not quite as safe as you said, mother, he thought.
He walked silently into the trees and saw her. That young girl, human, ran desperately among the trees. She didn't seem to pay much attention to whether those branches were hurting her face or tearing that beautiful dress apart.
Michael hid in the bushes, watching her. She ran but she always found herself in the exact same spot she had started from. She's lost…, he supposed.
The girl dropped to the ground, tired of running.
Michael leaned over from behind a bush, trying to get a better look at her. That slightest movement was enough to attract the attention of that young woman, who was scared and started running again until she found herself in a small clearing illuminated only by the light of the moon.
She was terrified by the noises of that forest, she wanted to escape and get out of it as soon as possible. But that clearing, illuminated, seemed almost a magical place. She was enchanted by its splendor.
Then the sound of a broken branch behind her brought her back to reality.
She was alone and lost in a forest that everyone said was cursed.
Suddenly hundreds of bats sprouted from the trees and headed straight for her. But a howl sent them away just before they reached her.
She was petrified when those bats dispersed and an immense and gigantic wolf appeared in front of her.
Michel stepped forward and she stepped back, trying to keep calm. If she had run, the wolf would have caught up with her in an instant and would have torn her into pieces.
She stumbled and surrendered to her fate. She closed her green eyes, clenched her fists, and waited for her end to come.
But she didn't feel any excruciating pain.
She felt only the warm breath of that wolf touching her face.
The wolf stroked her cheek with his muzzle. She slowly decided to open her eyes.
Their eyes met, but it was only for a moment.
The wolf leapt into the forest. She didn't move, still petrified.
Michael turned to her, as if he was calling her, and waited for her to join him before setting off again.
Finally she decided to follow that wolf. It had spared her, so maybe it wasn't as dangerous as it might seem.
Michael showed her the road that led to the exit of the forest and then went back into the trees.
She went back to look for the wolf but Michael knew how to hide. She couldn't find him so the girl retraced the path – this time without losing the way – and went back to her village, where her mother was waiting for her.
«Maryanne!» the woman cried. «Where were you?»
«I got lost in the woods and you will never believe what I have s– »
«In the wood?! How many times have I told you it's dangerous? Never step on it again! Look what you've done to your dress… »
«I'm sorry.»
«It doesn't matter, we'll mend it in time for the wedding.»
«Please mother, I have already told you that I don't want to get married.»
«It doesn't matter what you want honey. Marriage with Gerard will benefit the whole family, and you know that.»
Maryanne looked down and clenched her fists. «I'm not going to marry someone I don't love, and if you keep telling me what to do, you will force me to run away again.»
Her mother grabbed her arm. «You're my daughter and do what I tell you to.»
«Cécile!», a man approached the two. «Let her go.»
«Maryanne ran away again Tomas.»
«And if you keep treating her like this she'll do it again. She is our daughter, not a puppet. For God's sake, you can't control her!»
Maryanne hid behind her father. He had always defended her and above all didn't force her to do anything. «Honey, if you don't want to marry Gerard, that's fine. If it doesn't make you happy, you don't have to.»
«Tomas… you know as well as I do, what their marriage will bring us– »
«I know you're doing it because you want to have a good life, but not at this price. Her happiness is what matters.»
Cécile gave up. «Fine. I won't force you to marry him. But at least give him a chance, try to get to know him.»
«Let's go home now, it's already quite late. We'll talk about it again in the morning.»
The next day Maryanne was supposed to go to a small party, which was held right at Gerard's house, shortly after sunset. Cécile had made her promise that she would go there. But her daughter had other plans. She made sure no one saw her and then she walked into the woods determined to find out what she had seen.
Maryanne heard a lot of legends in her village. But since last night, she knew that something inhabited those woods, they weren't just stories to scare children.
«Damn!» she almost shouted when her cape got entangled for the umpteenth time in a shrub.
While she was busy freeing herself she saw the leaves of a tree moving.
Maybe it was a squirrel, but she was determined to find out who really lived among those trees, she knew there was much more.
She took off her cape and slowly climbed that tree.
It had never been difficult for her, she had been doing it since she was a child. Her mother had scolded her a thousand times for this bad habit of hers. Tomas, on the other hand, had always encouraged her to be who she wanted to be.
Despite the darkness, Maryanne could see the silhouette of a person hidden among the branches and leaves. Now she was sure it wasn't a squirrel. «Hi!» she said leaning towards whoever it was.
Her green eyes met Michael's black ones.
The boy almost fell from the tree. Maryanne grabbed him, just in time, by his arm.
«You have to go!» Michael said jumping off the tree.
Maryanne couldn't just jump like that boy did. She went down slowly and by the time she touched the ground, he was already gone.
She looked for him on the way back but she couldn't find him.
She ran into Gerard.
«What are you doing in the woods?» he asked her.
«I was just…», she couldn't find a plausible excuse.
Gerard grabbed her wrist. «Come, we have to go back to the village. You're not safe here.»
Maryanne let Gerard take her home. He would never believed her if she had explained to him what she had seen in the forest. And also if she talked, she would endanger that boy, who was clearly hiding.
