During the summer, to help my family, I work at our family hotel doing the night shift — the one no one ever wants to do.

The hotel is located at the top of a small mountain, and to reach it I have to drive along a long, winding road through the middle of the woods. This illustration series was inspired by my rides back home at 1–2 a.m.

There was something incredibly special about being alone on that road in the dark, embraced by the forest while feeling safe inside my little Fiat Panda. Every night the road held small surprises, and before leaving work it became a game to guess whether I would meet anyone coming the opposite way.

For example, I witnessed the growth of a baby fox I met almost every night — she probably had her den close to the road. I encountered all kinds of animals, sometimes in the strangest little groups (like a raccoon, a mouse, a crow, and a badger, all looking suspicious). Sometimes a shooting star would fall all the way down toward the road and stop me in my tracks. And sometimes, if I was very, very lucky, I would see little fairies flying around… all on their way to a late-night dance party.