Chapter 5

In the middle of the night, Josefín woke up with a start — or maybe it was a noise; she didn't know — but she was awake now. She saw that it was dark outside and frowned.

Slowly opening the tent, she peers out and sees that the fire has gone out. Looking in all directions, she still can't see Alan.

"Alan?" she whispered, struggling to make a sound.

He is nowhere to be found, so she leaves the tent. Her pale feet touch the damp leaves and her whole body bristles in the night air.

Josefín hears many animal noises and looks around, but it is so dark that she cannot see anything. Looking up at the sky, she sees the huge full moon above her.

‘How beautiful!’ Her eyes shine with great intensity.

A moon like that could not be seen in the city. The thought of returning to her job made her feel sick. Suddenly, she hears a loud noise.

'Alan?' she whispers fearfully. 'Is that you?' She prayed to the sky that it was him, because she doubted that the fabric tent would protect her from a dangerous animal.

She takes a couple of steps forward, then stops when she sees the bushes moving. Josefín's heart stops when she realises that there is indeed an animal lurking there.

‘When you need your guide, where the hell does he go?’

She has a disturbing thought: what if Alan is dead? What if that animal ate him?

Then she sees a huge silver wolf with golden eyes emerge from the bushes. Her eyes widen at the sight of the huge, furry animal before her.

'No! It must be a giant wolf,' she exclaims, backing away slowly as the animal approaches.

All she can see are its sharp teeth coming towards her and embedding themselves in her delicate, small human body.

'No, don't hurt me, little wolf.

I'm not a bad person."

Josefín trips over a tree root and falls face-first to the ground, leaving her even more defenceless than before. She leans her body back as the wolf brings its snout closer to her face.

The young woman frowns, closes her eyes tightly and tenses her whole body as she feels the wolf's strong, warm breath. But nothing happens. Josefín can only hear the animal squealing like a puppy.

This prompts her to open her eyes and see the wolf with its ears lowered, looking at her.

“What?” She looks into its golden eyes, which remind her of... 'You don't want to hurt me?'

Suddenly, the wolf licked half of her face, stunning her with this gesture. What did it mean?

She looks back at the wolf in front of her, relaxing a little as she brings her hand close to his snout. Curiously, the wolf lets her pet him. Josefín smiles as she watches this huge, furry animal crouch down in front of her.

'Are you docile?' she asks, stroking his head gently.

Leaning her back against the tree trunk, she slowly falls asleep with the wolf on her lap.