Chapter 1: A Blanc Slate

"Madame. I have returned with your guest as instructed"

"Bring her forward"

A pair of legs dragged helplessly on the floor as a tall shadowy figure dragged the poor woman's body forwards towards a great dais where a large wing backed throne was set.

A slender form was sitting in it, their face obscured in shadow as bright blinding light shone through a window behind their seat, silhouetting the strange feathers that seemed to be sprouting from her shoulders.

"Renee Blanchette." A woman's voice purred from the chair and Renee flinched as she caught sight of a slender claw like hand protrude from what appeared to be the folds of the great feathered cloak.

They drummed on the throne for a moment.

"I believe you know why I summoned you here?"

Summoned? More like kidnapped.

But whatever sarcasm she had prepared fell away in her throat as something swooped down from over her head to land on the arm of the mysterious woman's chair.

It was an owl. Or at least it was shaped like one. Its feathers were black with an odd blue purple sheen and its eyes were both bright luminous indigo orbs that stared straight into Renee even as it swivelled its head completely back to look at the woman stroking its back.

"I've searched the entire town mistress but there was no sign of the white miraculous." The owl spoke, yes that's right spoke, with a voice that sounded more like nails being dragged over a chalkboard than a normal bird screech.

It made Renee cringe even to hear it.

The woman in the throne however stayed stock still, her stance stiffening, not with fear but with…anger.

"Drop her" she barked to the figure that still held her prey.

Renee squeaked as she was all but roughly thrown to the floor where she struggled to get to her hands and knees.

"You know you really should have taught that boy some manners. Last I checked it's not polite to just throw a lady to the floor"

She spat, doing her best to gulp down the horrible shudder down her spine even as the feminine voice hissed.

"five years I've been searching for you. Five years since you've betrayed me and now you dare to mock me and my servants"

"Excuse me. I betrayed you?" Renee scoffed, her courage suddenly flaring up hotly in her chest as she managed to ground one foot beneath her "Last I checked you were the one who forced my hand"

"Only because you forced hers first" the owl on the mystery woman's chair screeched. "If it hadn't been for you, my mistress would've had all the miraculous's and there would've been no mess to-"

"That's enough Screech. I'm sure our old friend has a perfectly plausible explanation as to why she let me down" the bird's mistress clipped and at once the bird Screech fell silent. Renee however continued to glare.

"The only person you have let down is yourself" she spat "The Miraculous are not for one person to control. Their power to protect is one that must be shared so that the world may be safe. And if keeping the world safe means opposing you old friend, then yes I will gladly do so"

There was a ringing silence as the mysterious woman's gaze stared stock still at Renee, the nails on the chair digging silently but harshly into the dark wood.

"If that is how you feel then so be it" she murmured softly and Renee felt her whole body turn to ice at the cold tones, as the woman turned to her shadowy servant who was now standing to the side of the dais dutifully.

"My pet, would you be a dear and set our old friend in one of our guest rooms. She looks rather tired after her long journey. Oh and would you be so kind as to check in on her dear little daughter. I daresay she's most worried about her dear mommy"

"As you wish Madame" the figure growled deeply as it swept into a bow, but his mistress wasn't finished yet and it was with a cruel smile she turned her attention back to a wide eyed Renee and smirked.

"Don't you worry about a thing Mrs Blanchette. Your dear little girl will be well looked after; I promise you"


She couldn't believe it…she just couldn't believe it.

How was it even possible?

"Mama where are you?" The young teenage girl whispered to herself, her voice echoing around the empty office.

Her shoulder length chocolate brown curls bounced a little around her round face, covering her big brown doe eyes as they stared down at the touch screen smart phone in her hand, where a selfie was showing up clear on the screen.

The girl was easily recognisable by her brown curls, which was shared by the older kind faced woman that was squashed into the frame next to her, who grinned alongside her daughter as they both pulled hilarious duckfaces with fake moustaches.

"Mademoiselle Blanchette?" a voice called.

The girl looked up from her seat as a very important looking policewoman entered accompanied by a man in a suit.

"Did you find her?" the girl gulped but already she knew the answer even before the policewoman shook her head solemnly.

The girl looked down to the ground, her mind barely connecting the string of hushed voices as the grown men all discussed the mysterious matter at hand.

"-didn't see her anywhere in sight"

"-into thin air"

"-maybe an accident it was raining-"

These were but some of the lines she had been hearing again and again over the past few hours. None of them did much to placate her racing mind.

What if her parents had been mugged in the street? What if they were stranded somewhere and could not get help? What if they had gone out for a drive and just been involved in such a bad accident that they couldn't be-

No don't think like that.

The girl shook her head vigorously just as the policewoman's voice from earlier exclaimed.

"What about the girl? Do we put her into the system?"

"No need." The detective shook his head "She has an uncle living in Paris. I've asked that Miss Leroy from child services to call him now and make arrangements-"

"What kind of uncle?" the police woman frowned sceptically but her companion was quick to placate her.

"Don't worry I got a check on him. He's Mrs Blanchette's brother in law. From what I can tell he's a pretty big guy in the-"

"Where's the bathroom?" the girl's voice shook but nonetheless it was loud enough to break through the adult's discussion.

They both turned to her, eyes sympathetic as they looked over her hunched form.

"There's one just down the hall, third door to the left." The policewoman said "I can come with you if you-"

"It's okay. I can manage" the girl cut the woman off as she quickly strode out the door.

She couldn't help it.

Within the space of a few hours her entire world had just come crashing down. Her mother was missing without a trace, the police thought they were dead and now she was going to have to leave her hometown to live with an uncle that she had never even met.

She shut the cubicle door in the bathrooms and locked it tight before all but flumping down to sit on the toilet seat.

This can't be happening. It just can't.

"Mama what happened to you?" she murmured as she looked at her phone. No messages had been left, no nothing.

Just a blank screen with funny colourful apps.

But she didn't feel like opening any of them at the moment.

Scrubbing her eyes with a small huff she tucked her phone away in her small rucksack, where her hands grazed something velvety and smooth.

"Huh?" the young girl frowned as she took the object out. It was a tiny velvet bag, white with a pink drawstring that was drawn to its tightest knot imaginable.

"Hmm" the girl frowned as she managed to pull the knot free and peek inside the little bag, where something white was glistening.

"What the-Whoa!" the girl squeaked as suddenly a glowing ball of white light burst forth from the bag to hover before her face, before vanishing in a small poof of pink.

But it wasn't the glowing ball of light that had the girl staring in shock.

No. It was the tiny little creature that had just materialized out of it.

"Whoa…whoa" the girl gulped as the little thing made to yawn wide.

It was a rabbit. A tiny floating rabbit, so tiny in fact that it fit in the palms of her hands. It's big round pink eyes blinked up at her sleepily.

"Wow…a hundred years napping really makes ya stiff in the joints" a high pitched but distinctly male voice grunted as the tiny floating rabbit-thing made to stretch its little arms down to the tips of his large feet.

"So…you're my new human huh? I must say, you're a lot younger than I thought you'd be. Just how old are ya? Twelve? Anyhow I guess that's pretty good, seein' as I can train ya up easier. I mean don't get me wrong, grownups are pretty good too but they're too set in their ways, too grounded one might say-one of my previous humans was like that, brilliant mind but as stubborn as a rock and-"

The girl just stared at the little thing as it rambled on and on and on, its mouth motoring like a speedboat on steroids.

It wasn't until it noticed her gaping mouth that it paused for a moment and grinned.

"So what about you, you got a name. Oh wait let me guess is it, Charlotte, Carrie, Lucy-actually you look more like a Madeline. No wait that was the name of my last human. Let me guess you're a Caroline. Yes-yes I'm guessing something in the C's-"

"Z-Zoe" the girl spluttered for the first time since the small rabbit had materialized "My name's Zoe"

The rabbit's ears both perked up dramatically as a wide smile spread over its face.

"Zoe! Wow. Y'know I've never had a Z name before. Cute, simple and easy to remember to remember. And speaking of remembering, where are we? This doesn't look like any bedroom I've seen. Oh but where are my manners. "Oh sorry kid seems like I forgot to introduce myself, well no matter. The name's Pooka. P-O-O-K-A! Not Pooky, Pocky, Punky, Puck, Plucky or anything else, just Pooka, Kwami extraordinaire and your guide. And I must say it's very nice to meet you Zoe."

The little rabbit held out a tiny paw.

"Uh…" Zoe gulped as she looked down to the small limb and took it between her fingers carefully. "Nice to meet you too Pooka"

Pooka grinned. She was shy and a little shell shocked but he could feel it in his body, right down to the tip of his large poofy cotton tail, that he was going to like this girl a lot.

He could only hope she was up for the challenges in store for her…and that she had a large supply of chocolate at the ready, because boy they were gonna need it.


Hi there, me (the author) Again. so that was the official first chapter with Zoe and her chocoholic Kwami Pooka and a mysterious new enemy. Hope you enjoyed and review if you liked :)