Chapter 22: Chapter 6
Little Kurt loved to sneak into his father's shop. Disturbing him while he was making those shoes was his favorite pastime.
«Mary! Kurt is in the shop again!»
«I'm coming!»
Michael took his son in his harms, waiting for his wife to arrive. «Kurt, I've told you a thousand times that there are dangerous tools here. You could get hurt. You can't disturb me while I'm working.»
Maryanne took him from his father's arms. «Now dad can't play, he has to get ready a delivery. Let him finish and then he will come and play with you.»
«I want to play now!» Kurt protested, struggling in Maryanne's arms.
«Don't throw a tantrum, you're a little man. I'm almost done. Go with your mom, I'll be there soon, I promise.», Michael pinched Kurt's cheek.
«Don't pout. You heard your dad, he will come soon.»
Maryanne took the baby to the house just upstairs the shop.
Michael went back to work. He tried to do it as quickly as possible. He wanted to keep the promise made to his son. He wanted to be there for him. Even though he had to work in the shop for hours to earn a living, he didn't want to neglect Kurt.
As soon as he finished, he went upstairs and found him preparing the table for dinner. While Maryanne was cooking.
«Dad!», Kurt dropped the cutlery on the table and ran over to Michael who lifted him into the air.
«You're helping your mom, good boy!», he put him back on the ground. «Go ahead.»
Kurt clung to Michael. «With daddy.»
Maryanne turned. «You want daddy to help you?»
Kurt nodded. «In his arms.»
«But dad is tired, he had to work so hard today. Show dad how good you are, do it by yourself.»
The little boy shook his head and clung even more to his father's clothes. Michael smiled. «It's alright. He's not that heavy.» he said, then raised his son and together they finished distributing the cutlery at the table.
That evening they dined before the sun had completely set. There was going to be a full moon and Michael had to hurry up and go to the forest.
Maryanne said goodbye to him at the door holding Kurt in her arms. «Say goodbye to dad, Kurt.»
«Bye.», he waved at him with his small hand. «Come back soon.»
«I'll be here before you wake up, as always, little one.»
Michael kissed his son's forehead and then Maryanne's cheek. «Just be careful.»
«Always.», he closed the door.
But before Michael could walk away Kurt opened it again. «What's happening?»
«You must greet the grandpas and grandmas for me.»
Michael bent down to reach the height of that little four-year-old boy. «You don't need to tell me all the time, I remember.»
«Mom says you're getting old and so you forget things.»
Michael looked towards the door where Maryanne was waiting for her son to return. «Did she say so?»
«Yes, I heard her, with my ears.»
Michael laughed and stroked his head, ruffling his hair. «Go inside now.», he got up and looked at his wife. «We'll talk tomorrow when I'll be back.»
Maryanne laughed and then waved her hand at him again.
Kurt got back in and his mother closed the door.
After putting the baby to bed, she stayed awake like every full moon night. She looked forward to the return of her husband. She hated not being able to be with him but she had to look after Kurt.
She often wondered if that beautiful black-haired boy was just like his father. He resembled him in appearance and in his temper. Maybe one day he would suddenly transform too and would make her worry.
Unfortunately Maryanne didn't live enough to find out.
She was just twenty-four.
It all happened one winter morning.
Michael was in the shop. A man walked in and he greeted him thinking he was a customer. But that man's intentions were anything but to buy a pair of shoes.
He pulled out a gun and threatened him. «Give me the money you have, and no harm will be done to you.»
Michael knew a bullet wouldn't hurt him so badly. He thought about how he could disarm him, but that day Kurt had snuck into the shop again. As soon as the thief saw him under the table, he kicked the table away and pointed the weapon at Kurt.
Michael felt his bones moving under his skin, he knew he was about to turn into a wolf. Calm down, not in front of your son, hold on, he told himself.
He immediately took the box off the shelf and pulled out all the money he had saved. «Here, take everything. Just please don't hurt the kid.»
«What's happening?», Maryanne went downstairs after hearing all those noises.
Taking advantage of the robber's distraction, Kurt headed towards the man. «Leave my dad alone! That money belongs to him!»
Michael and Maryanne widened their eyes. «Kurt!» they screamed at the same time.
At that point Michael could no longer control himself. He had never transformed so quickly before. He jumped on the robber and started biting his arm.
«Kurt go upstairs, right now!» his mother shouted.
The little boy was on the ground frightened. Maryanne ran to him and once again ordered him to go upstairs. Kurt ran as fast as he could.
As soon as she made sure her son was up, Maryanne tried to get close to the giant wolf. The man was still alive and she was still in time to stop Michael, before he regretted what he had done.
«Michael, listen to me. Let him go, it's alright. Calm down. Kurt's upstairs, he can't hurt him anymore.»
But he didn't listen to her. He was ready for the final blow to the bloody robber. He raised his paw with sharp claws and before he could hit him Maryanne stepped in front of him. «Please, stop!»
As quickly as he had transformed, Michael became human again. «My goodness! Mary, I'm so sorry!»
«It's nothing, it's just my arm, don't worry.»
But Maryanne's sacrifice had been useless. The man had lost too much blood.
«Why did you do it… ?», Michael was on his knees in despair. «I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm so sorry.»
«It's okay, Michael. I just wanted you not to feel guilty for killing a person. It wasn't your fault, it was my choice. Hurry close the shop and the curtains.»
«Alright… »
Michael did as his wife told him and then helped her to dress her arm.
Kurt walked out of his room still scared. Michael couldn't look at him. He never wanted his son to see him like that, and that was why he said he went to visit his grandparents once a month.
«Mom… » he whispered.
«Everything is alright. I just hurt my arm a little. It's nothing, don't worry.»
«The bad man? Why did he want daddy's money?»
Michael sprinted to his son and grabbed him by the arms. «Never do such a thing again, do you understand me? You could have hurt yourself. Never step there again. You heard me?!»
Kurt burst into tears. His father had never scolded him like that. He was always careful not to get angry not to risk hurting him.
Maryanne took Kurt and hugged him. «Michael! He's scared enough already, don't make it worse.»
«I'm sorry. It's better if I go downstairs to get rid of the mess.»
«Yes.», his wife looked at him furiously.
«Mom what happened to dad?»
«Go back to your room now, I'll tell you a story tonight, okay?»
Kurt nodded. «I love stories!»
Maryanne took him to his room and left him with his toys, then went down to help Michael.
«You know he's just a baby. You shouldn't have scolded him, he wanted to defend you.»
«He could get hurt.» Michael said as he wiped the blood off the floor.
«I know, but you scared him.»
«I was so scared for you... I can take bullets, but you… »
Maryanne bent down beside him and wrapped him in her arms. «We're fine. You protected us.»
«I hurt you… »
«I told you it was my fault. I was the one who got in the way. You don't have to blame yourself.»
«Forgive me, it won't happen again.»
Maryanne looked him in the eye. «Don't make promises you can't keep. It could happen again and you know it. But know that you can count on me. Always.»
«I just killed a man in front of my son.»
«You're his hero, you saved him that's what he'll remember, you'll see. Where's the body?»
«In a sack in the cellar, I'll take it to the river when it gets dark.»
«Alright.»
«How's your arm?»
«Don't worry. Let's clean the floor.»
Michael hugged Maryanne tightly. «How would I do without you?»
«There's also Kurt, don't forget about him.»
«I know. I love you both and I won't let anything happen to you.»
They put everything back in order. The table was again in the center of the room and all the tools had been placed back on the table as if nothing had happened.
Michael opened the shop, reluctantly. But he had to pretend it was a morning like any other.
Maryanne stayed with him for a while then she went up to her son, who kept playing happily.
After making sure he was okay, she disinfected her wound again. It didn't seem like anything serious but Michael still had a doctor come to check on her.
They had to justify those ugly scratches by saying that it had been a bear while they were going into the woods to make wood.
«Disinfect it and cover it with a bandage. It's not very deep, there's no need to worry.»
Michael felt relieved and only then he could breathe a sigh of relief.
***
Like all full moon nights, Michael went to the forest to transform.
Maryanne said goodbye to him and little Kurt did the same.
He had forgotten everything, or rather he believed it was just a dream. Both Michael and his wife thought it was for the best. He was still a kid for him to know the truth.
That night, however, Maryanne was unable to wait awake her husband. She felt so exhausted, so powerless. She collapsed to the floor a few steps from the room where Kurt was sleeping.
When Michael got back found her still on the floor.
Her heart was no longer beating and she had stopped breathing.
He hugged her cold body, crying.
He didn't want to let her go, without her by his side, it would never be the same again. «You can't leave me. I need you. Kurt needs his mom. Please!» he cried in despair.
He kept holding her even when Kurt woke up and opened the door of his little room. He asked what happened to his mom but Michael didn't answer, he could only cry.
Neither his father nor his mother could comfort him. Tomas and Cécile were also inconsolable. But despite everything, they didn't blame Michael for anything. Like them, he was in pain and felt bad enough.
Kurt walked over to grandma Cécile and stroked her. The two grandparents hugged him in a single embrace. «It's okay Kurt. Everything will be fine.» Tomas said.
For a while, his grandparents took care of him while Michael stayed all the time shut up in the room he once shared with his wife, in the old house in the woods. He didn't even open the windows. He was unable to take care of his son.
One night a light illuminated the darkness of his room.
It was a strange book with an engraving:
"The magic of the Keepers solves everything"
He ignored that book but the pages began to flip in front of him.
He reached out to those pages and as soon as he touched them, a man with long hair and a silver beard materialized.
«Michael Sparkle, we've been waiting for your call for a long time.»
«Who are you?»
«I am a Keeper and I am here to make you an offer, so that your child won't feel the same pain you're feeling now.»
«How?»
«There is a town, a magical place, where all special creatures are just simple human beings. I'll take him there, I'll take everyone like you there, so that you can live in peace, normal lives.»
«Why? It can't be for free. What do you want in return?»
«Of course, there is a price. Your magical energy. We Keepers need it to survive. We will grant you five wonderful and carefree years of life in exchange for your energy.»
«You mean you're going to kill them?»
«But they will live five years as normal humans, it seems a reasonable price to me.»
His son was only four years old, he couldn't sentence him to death. He couldn't see him die at just nine. And he couldn't decide on the lives of so many other people... that was too high a price.
So Michael turned down the offer.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone