A man and a woman stepped onto the stage. Behind them, stepped out a figure in a long white coat. The coat was printed with a wolf's head, the symbol of HAWK-LICORICE. The wearer of the coat was an old wolf with grey hairs.
"Hawkmoth," Suez whispered and Marinette heard the vibration of his voice. Adrien also knew who he was immediately. The wolf head was seen on all the screens. It was the same old wolf head that had crawled it way into his head in the living room. It gave him goosebumps. It felt like the wolf in his head was coming to life. He got the same kind of feeling when he was at home in front of the TV. He wanted to step forwards, to the wolf, to obey him, because he was the Father.
Marinette saw there was something wrong. She softly grabbed his face with both her hands. "Are you alright, Adrien?" Her breath stroked his cheek. He blinked and saw Marinette's worried face. Her face was close to his. Beautiful, blueberry blue eyes. And she smelled nice, like perfume. He smiled, shook his head and gave her a quick kiss on her lips.
"I'm fine, thanks."
"Are you sure?" He nodded and held her tight, while they were staring at the stage. They were still at the back of the room, hidden in the darkness.
Hawkmoth sat in the chair. His two escorts, a man and a woman, squatted next to the chair. "Those are presenters of TV 12," Adrien whispered. "I've seen them before." Suez put his finger on his lips. Hawkmoth cleared his throat with a rattling sound and started to speak.
"It is time," He said. He put his paws on the heads of the two presenters. "Time for The Becoming. Look at me, I am Hawkmoth, I am the Father, the king of the wolves."
Marinette stared at the stage. She could hardly believe that human words were coming out of the mouth of this horrible, dressed wolf. His hair was grey and thinned, so much that you could see pink skin. His skull was covered in warts. But she couldn't keep her eyes off the stage. The room was dead silent. Nobody had moved, nobody coughed, everyone looked hypnotized.
"Look," Hawkmoth growled. "And see what will happen to you all." His gaze struck the woman's eyes first and then to the man's.
Adrien swore that he saw something jump from the eyes of the wolf to the man and woman. A yellow spark. Hawkmoth turned the faces of the man and woman to the audience. His paws stayed tightly on their heads. That's when it happened. In the foreheads of the man and woman appeared a crack. It looked like their faces split in two halves. Rugged spots emerged from the opening, that grew wider and wider. The skin of the man curled away from him like a peel and a wolf head squeezed out. The same thing happened with the woman. Their clothes ripped open and fell on the ground with their skin. There were suddenly two wolves on the stage. They raised their heads and howled in a horrible way. Marinette pushed her hands against her ears. She didn't want to hear that horrible sound. Suez growled softly next to her.
Hawkmoth spread his paws. "Look at them, they have found the wolf in them." He roared with excitement. The people in the room also roared with him. They even started to applause, growl and howl. Some fell on the ground and writhed, snorted, growled and howled like wolves.
Adrien started to feel nauseous at the thought that his parents were also part of this beastily gang. And the worst thing was, that he couldn't do anything about it. They stood there in the back of the room, just watching. Suez was frozen like a statue.
He doesn't know what to do now either, Adrien thought. Hawkmoth raised his paws again and the noise in the room was silent.
"Children," He growled. "Children first." His head went left and right. He then pointed to the first row. "You, little boy, come here, then I'll give you something sweet." He was holding a piece of black licorice in his paw. Moments later, a child walked to the center aisle and stood still in front of the stage. Hawkmoth bowed down and stretched out his paw to the child. "Here, open your mouth."
The TV screens were focused on the face of the little boy, that obedient opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. At that moment a loud scream went throughout the room. Adrien almost had a heart attack when he looked next to him at Marinette. Her eyes were wide and she screamed again. She had recognized the boy. It was Plagg.