"I may not be able to visit you in the stables tomorrow," Jocelyn spoke up.
"Oh, yes, your birthday is tomorrow."
Jocelyn looked slightly shocked that he had remembered, or even known for that matter.
"If it's alright, I'd like to give you your gift tomorrow," he started off slowly, forcing the words to come out. "Should I come at a certain time?"
Jocelyn felt her heart pounding faster than ever, and for a while, she didn't think she could speak. "After dark, but not too late. My father likes to ‘celebrate’ with me during the day," she finally answered.
"Alright then, I'll look forward to it." He smiled, getting up to head back to the stables. He felt happier than ever. It may be just a quick meeting to give her a gift, but it was much larger than that, and they both felt that way about it. He looked back at Jocelyn, wondering if she would go back to the stables with him, or go talk with Victor.
"I should go inside. Father will want to talk to me eventually," she said sadly, as if reading Gaspard’s mind.
"I will see you tomorrow then," he tried to sound normal, but failed horribly.
Jocelyn smiled weakly and headed back to the mansion slowly, glancing back at him before she went inside. Gaspard watched her until she left, and then headed back to the stables just as slowly as she had, not wanting to be in there alone.
Chapter 16 Metamorphosis
The morning and afternoon of Jocelyn's birthday was a little
to hectic for her liking. But, she went with it. Her father insisted upon taking her shopping around Paris. She tried to tell him there was nothing she wanted, but there was never any arguing with her father when it came to her birthday. She always thought of it as his way for making up her mother’s place. Birthdays were her mom’s thing, as Victor wasn’t very good at them. She missed her mom most on her birthday, but she would never tell her father that. He was trying too hard as it was, and she didn’t want him to feel bad.
Dinner was another heavy matter, as Victor had the entire mansion work up a small banquet in honor of her birthday. Jocelyn was flattered, but she ate lightly as she was too nervous thinking of when Gaspard would come. She was distracted the rest of the night with her thoughts of Gaspard, so when it came time to tell her father goodnight, he had no objections of this early bedtime and actually took it upon himself to go to bed early as well. She was thrilled at this. Maybe all the activities had come in handy if it made her father tired enough to be asleep when Gaspard called for her. As soon as her father was asleep, she began to get ready silently. It didn’t take her long to decide what to wear, and what she chose she hoped Gaspard would like just as much. It was the same pale blue dress she had worn when they first met that day in the stable; the day she had convinced her father to give Gaspard and Elijh jobs. She shook away the sudden grief that tried to overcome her as she thought of Elijh, and concentrated on her hair instead. After a few tries, she gave up on trying to pull all her curls into something pretty, so she just let her locks fall down naturally.
Just as she was about to go and sit on her bead to wait for him, she bent over in agony as a fiery, painful sensation rippled through her body. Her arms wrapped around her waist as if she was trying to keep her body in place from the pain. She fell to the floor as a stronger wave swept over her, her body shaking as beads of sweat formed on her brow. She let out a shattering scream as the bones in her arms and legs suddenly broke and started extending. Her spine felt as if it were on fire as it also extended to form a spiny tail. She clutched at the floor beneath her, another scream escaping her lips as her shoulders and chest started to widen, making it feel as if her entire body was on fire. Her head started to change next. Her previous scream being cut off as a long wolfs muzzle grew from her face, causing her scream to become a whimper that slowly ascended to a howl. Brown fur started covering her body at an alarming rate, and in a matter of seconds, she was covered in thick fur. All down her spine was a thicker patch of fur as red as the hair on her head use to be. Her long black claws dug into the carpet as her body shook violently, awaiting the pain to cease. As soon as the pain subsided, she collapsed, her tongue lolling out of her snout between her long white canines. Her large head rested between her two giant for-paws, her ears flat against her head as she continued to whimper.
The dress she had been wearing was torn to shreds around her. Her room was in the same state of destruction. During the change she hadn’t realized she was tearing apart her room out of pain and fear. But even as she looked around she couldn’t care about what her room looked like, but instead of how she looked. Her whimpering increased as she became overwhelmed with confusion and fear. What happened to her? Why had made this happen? But most of all, what was she?
A sudden surge of anger overcame her, her whimpering becoming vicious snarls. She jumped up onto all four paws as she began pacing about her rampaged room as she tried to think of how she could get out of it. All she wanted to do now was run. Run as far away as she could. As if there was some chance of escaping this horror of a body she was now in from merely running. She padded up to the door that lead to her balcony, and with one burst of her new strength and speed, she busted through the door leaving nothing but mere splinters behind her. As soon as she stepped out onto the balcony she leapt off, all the way down the two stories to the grass beneath her. Surprise filled her as she landed nimbly on the ground, not a piece of fur on her body had been harmed. The urge to curl up and whimper fought to overcome her again, but she shook it off violently as she eyed the forest of trees in front of her. In one swift motion she took off at full speed, her fur ruffling from the wind she was creating as her paws carried her to the looming darkness of the trees.
The maids and butlers worked fast to repair Jocelyn's room and door, leaving no trace of her former transformation of destruction. Victor had warned them it would be happening tonight, and they were ready as soon as they heard her screams of pain. Her transformation was supposed to have taken place one year ago on her seventeenth birthday, but something went wrong and she didn’t change. No one was sure why, not even Victor, but it was inevitable that it would be happening this year, as her birthday had rested on the night of the full moon. Her transformation was unavoidable. Her room was back to its former stature in a matter of just two hours. All was accounted for expect for her beautiful pale blue dress. It was disposed of immediately. She had a new balcony door to replace the one she had smashed. All the splintered pieces of the previous one were picked up. Whenever she made her way home at dawn, the devastation of her room would be nothing more than a bad dream. Her father may not be able to protect her from the animal inside her, but he could at least protect her from thinking she was a monster of destruction. The horrible pain of the transformation would calm in time, it will always hurt to change, but eventually it would not hurt as much. It was the price to pay to become the creature of the moon.
Jocelyn made it to the darkness of the trees in mere seconds from the mansion. Her paws never skipped a beat as she ran head long into the distance. Once she was engrossed in the comforting feel of the woods.
She slowed to a slight trot, her tongue lolling out as she panted. Her wolf instincts wanted to continue running, but she wasn’t use to all the stamina yet, it was too much for one night. At least until she caught her breath. It didn’t take long until she found a small stream. She began lapping up large mouthfuls of water immediately until she felt refreshed. Apparently she had been running longer then she had thought as the moon had already traveled far across the sky. It was only a few hours left until dawn. A sudden fear took over her body, causing her to whimper loudly. What if she was stuck this way? What if she couldn’t change back? She started to growl fiercely, her paws started to run again without her consent. Fine then, she thought, she would let the beast inside her do what it wished, maybe then she would be free to change.
As she started to run, she began to grow more accustomed to the body she was now in. The feel of twigs breaking under her pa
ws felt rather good. Her claws digging into the earth with each step was more enjoyable. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, the running actually felt good, even though she was another creature. As dawn began to break, she found her paws were leading her home.
She let out a howl of relief. Finally, she could change.
As soon as she made it half way across the mansions lawn, her form started to break again, just as painful as when she first changed. She growled in agony, speeding up her steps so she could make it to the balcony before she collapsed. She jumped up the wall in one strong leap, just before she felt her legs breaking, landing on the balcony in a painfully awkward state as her arms broke as well.
In mere moments she was lying on her balcony, fully human once more. She wasn’t sure how, or even why it happened. But it did, and that’s all she cared about. She crawled as quickly as she could to her balcony door, surprised that her previously broken body wasn’t in too much pain. She became puzzled as she noticed the door was brand new. Had not she broken it when she changed? She opened the door and was able to stand long enough to enter her room. A gasp escaped her lips as she seen her room, just like her door, had been completely restored. She clasped her head in her hands as she fell to her knees on the floor. Was she going crazy? Last night had happened hadn’t it? She was sure it had. All that pain could not have been a dream. All that destruction could not have been fake! Hot tears began to poor down her cheeks from frustration and confusion.
After her momentary breakdown she was able to crawl into her bed. Her body overwhelmed with exhaustion. She pulled the covers tightly over her head, wanting it all to be one long bad dream. But the more she thought of it, the more it seemed that it really wasn’t a dream. Just before her eyes closed and she fell asleep, a single thought ran through her brain, causing her to want to cry once more; but her tears had run dry. Gaspard. She was supposed to have been with Gaspard last night, and it was ruined now. What was she going to do? Before she could think much more, she fell into a deep, much needed, sleep.
After the butler had denied Gaspard's request to see Jocelyn, and giving no probable reason as to why he couldn’t, he started to walk away from the mansion. A few paces into the freshly cut lawn, he stopped, turned back and looked up to Jocelyn's room- easily spotted by her large balcony. He reached into his pocket and dug out a very small paper wrapped object. After weighing it in his hands for a moment as he contemplated what to do, he turned to face the mansion fully and jogged up to the wall leading up to her room. Slipping the parcel back into his pocket carefully, he began to scale the wall with unnatural balance, as if the bricks were nothing under his bare hands. Jumping the last space of wall and landing nimbly on the landing, he looked about curiously, as if he really expected her to be there. He let out a heavy sigh and pulled his gift for her back out once more. He unwrapped the paper from around it with great care until a shinning bracelet was left. He touched the shells that made up the bracelet, a small frown on his face. He had wanted to give it to her in person, but what choice did he have? He then laid the bracelet over her balcony doors handle, sure that she would eventually find it.
After one last sad look at her door, her gift, and what would have been a joyous evening, he leaped down from the balcony, landing on the lawn as graceful as a cat. Not wanting to dawdle any longer at the mansion, for fear that someone may have been watching, he lopped into a fast run into the woods. It didn’t take him long to reach where he wanted to go- a beautiful clearing next to a small creek, the exact place he found the perfect shells to make her gift. Near the water’s edge was a large blanket spread out, large enough for two people to have sat down, with a large basket in the middle filled with food. He may not have eaten anything, but he was sure she would have loved it. He rolled up the blanket and took out the fruit he had brought, leaving it on the ground for any creature who wanted a meal. He had no use for it. After losing his train of thought for a moment in the bubbling of the creek, he started to leave, not wanting to dwell on what could have been any longer.
But, just as he was leaving the clearing, a lone wolfs howl sounded, filling up the forest around him. He looked around curiously. A wolf? Here? He had visited these trees many times, and never had he seen, or even heard a wolf. He shook his head, what did it matter to him? After one last look around, he broke into another swift run. It was time to go home.
Chapter 17 Commence
It was only a few hours after Jocelyn had come home from
her night as a wolf that she was woken up rather roughly by her father. Victor had never woke her up, and if she had ever over slept, one of the maids would come and wake her, but never Victor. So when she opened her eyes to see her father standing over her shocked her greatly. She leaned up a bit only to quickly grab the covers close to her body as she soon realized she was completely naked. All her hopes that what had happened to her last night was just a terrible dream was now nothing more than an empty wish. She then remembered being so tired when she had crawled to her room, that she hadn’t even clothed herself before crawling into her bed.
"Father?! What are you doing in here?!" Jocelyn tried to keep her voice from shrieking as she questioned him, her words forming so fast she was amazed she was even making any sense.
"Calm down, Jocelyn," Victor hushed her, "I need you to get cleaned up, and quickly, we are going somewhere."
He hadn’t added for her to get dressed, as he might not have even noticed his daughter was without clothes. Jocelyn's face was quickly covered in fear. Oh no, she thought, he knows! He knows what happened to me! But how? Before she could even try to convince him that she was not a monster to be taken away and hidden, or even ask where he might be taking her, he had already left her room. She stayed in her bed until the sounds of her father’s heavy footsteps on the stair case slowly grew fainter, telling her he was now down stairs. Jumping quickly out of bed, she put on the first dress that came into her reach and threw her hair up, hiding most of it under a hat; not even bothering to see if it matched her dress.
I can't let him take me away and lock me up! She thought frantically as she finished getting ready, washing a bit of dirt off her face; more facts that her nightmare of a night was becoming more and more real. What if he is trying to protect me? What if it's Luciel who wants me gone! Her brain continued to concoct the same manner of thinking until she finally mustered up the courage to meet her father downstairs; convincing herself that he loved her and wouldn’t shun her away. Every step of the stairs she fought with herself. I should run, run far away, they can't lock me up if they can't catch me! No, no I can't do that to father, he loves me!
By the time she had stepped off the last step her father was waiting by the door in a rather impatient fashion. But he was not alone.
Standing near the door, ignoring her husband’s pacing, was Luciel, all dressed and ready to go as well. A rather large smirk lit up Luciel’s face as soon as she spotted her. Jocelyn's heart sank to the pit of her stomach as she seen the expression on her stepmothers face. I should have run, he is going to lock me away!
"Finally!" Victor exclaimed, causing her to jump. "Let’s go, dear. We have a long ride ahead of us!"
"But, father! Where are we going?" she asked nervously, not having moved an inch from the staircase- her last route if she should run.
"I'll explain it later. Just come now, we cannot be late. Especially not you!"
Victor's final statement before he motioned for the butlers to open the door hadn’t made Jocelyn feel any better- not in the least bit. She let out a sigh, trying to calm her nerves a bit as she followed after her father. Each step she took felt like she was walking on glass. Each step felt like danger. But soon enough they were on their way to the unknown destination. Unknown to her, anyway.
It took them a few hours to get to their point of destination. Each minute went by painfully, even more so by the fact that neither her father nor Luciel spoke a single word the entire trip. Even the carriage driver knew where the
y were heading, so why couldn’t she know as well? As soon as the carriage stopped, Victor opened the door and climbed out, the wheels shook a bit as all his weight shifted to one side. Luciel went out next, leaving Jocelyn to follow suit very slowly. She looked around her, confused as she took in the surrounding area.
The driver had taken them to a rather old, almost run down mansion in-between what appeared to be miles and miles of trees. The mansions walls were covered with ivy vines from the bare earthy floor to the two story roof above. All the shutters where closed tight to the outside world giving the mansion an eerie feel to it- like they were trespassing. She looked down the path that they must have taken to get there. But try as she might, she could not see the end of the trail. This place was well hidden, and that scared her. The three of them stood a few feet from the mansions front doors. Luciel stood behind Jocelyn while Victor stood in front, as if they were blocking any means of escape.
"Jocelyn, I need you to listen very closely to me-" Victor started slowly, as if he where chewing on each word before deciding to use them.
"Father, what is going on?" Jocelyn felt angry with herself as she felt tears forming in her eyes; tears made of her welling fear.
"The truth was supposed to have been told to you by your mother," he paused for a moment, dabbing at his forehead with a kerchief. "Your mother was supposed to tell you as I'm not good at this sort of thing. But seeing as I have no choice, here it is."
Jocelyn stood there, her muscles tense as she waited for her father to continue with the verdict.
"What you are about to see and hear inside this building should not scare you. It may at first, but everyone here has the same thing you do-"
"Oh no, please father, do not send me away!" She began to plead, a tear streaming down her cheek.
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