The warmth hitting my face and the familiar smell of pancakes wafting to my nose? This time, the person whose rustling and cute murmurs I heard was Merlin. We had been together for about a year and four months, and I had gotten so used to living with him. Happy and positive breakfasts in the mornings, loving hours spent with orphans in the afternoons, and evenings... Evenings were sometimes very cold and sometimes quite mild, but due to the traumas swirling in our minds, we had come to keep watch over each other. When he had an episode, I would intervene; when I had one, he would. But we had no idea what would happen if we both locked up at the same time. Sometimes we would catch each other in our sleep, and this situation had started to become increasingly serious. We needed to solve this problem before something happened to one of us. Merlin brought someone from Fox Town and asked him to check the house, thinking maybe he had a solution we couldn't see.

Merlin: Yes, James, is there a problem?

James: There doesn't seem to be one, but have you ever sniffed around?

Violet: Are you talking about the air we breathe almost every day?

James: I know it sounds interesting, but the air you breathe has no oxygen; it has hallucinogenic particles that look like oxygen.

Merlin: Damn! Now it makes sense.

Violet: Can one of you enlighten me? What do you mean by that?

James: Here’s the thing, young Violet, you are a Heiliant, and on top of that, you are a fox, which means this is a psychological dust that can be hard to distinguish if you are not an expert in these dragons and you. It comes from certain special flowers and can severely traumatize the mind through the air.

Merlin: I guess I don't need to ask if the cursed flowers in my room caused this, but I was sure I had purified them.

James: No, Merlin, these particles do not come from the flowers in the house; they come from a plant that closely resembles the orchid in your garden but is something a Heiliant under its influence would easily fail to distinguish. There are plenty of them on the border I see behind you, look.

Merlin: But this is really silly; I’ve never planted an orchid like this before.

Violet: It was impossible to make arrangements while we weren’t here; we spent hours trying to find that arm.

Merlin: Even if they got in, they would have to go through DNA screening, I mean.

James: So if a foreign object got in, it must have been the one who planted these.

Merlin picked up his tablet and checked the system interface to see if anyone had violated the area boundary during those dates, and his eyes widened at the results that appeared before him.

Merlin: This is really starting to get ridiculous.

James: What? What do you see?

Violet: People, but how could a person have crossed this wall, Merlin?

Merlin: I honestly don’t know, but there are only 2 people; they might be researchers since they only entered on that date, and they’re not in the system before or after.

Violet: So they discovered a plant that they didn’t think could harm us and planted it within our borders? Isn’t that a bit strange, don’t you think?

James: Quite unusual, but even if this is an experiment, no one came back to check on them, right?

Merlin: That’s true; no one came back. Someone is deliberately trying to poison us.

James: My advice is to salt them and burn them as soon as possible.

Violet: Another new piece of information: salt, huh?

Merlin: Not regular salt, of course.

Violet: Haha, of course not; what was I thinking?

James: I guess my job here is done. Good luck, kids; get rid of those things as soon as you can.

Merlin: Thank you for your help, James. I hope we meet again.

James: Stop by the workshop one day, Merlin; the young foxes have a lot to learn from you.

Violet: Young Merlin, huh? *laughs* Don’t you think you’ve aged a bit for that?

Merlin: Loving you doesn’t age me, my dear.

Violet: What do we owe this romanticism to?

Merlin: Oh come on, did you forget? Part-time romantic.

Violet: Yes, yes, you're right, but I still think there's something fishy going on, or do I know?

Merlin: It feels like a little fox is wandering around in my mind *laughs*

Violet: So when are they coming?

Merlin: If Alvin's bathroom break is over, they should be here in half an hour.

Violet: I'm going to start cooking, handle this and come to the room; at least we can spare ten minutes.

Merlin: I've taken care of the food; you go to the room, I'll be right there.

Violet: You're faster than I thought, Houdini.

Merlin: Do you want to see how fast I am? *laughs*

Violet: Oh no, Houdini, finish your work and come *laughs and goes inside*

One hour later:

Alpha: You know that damn car doesn't have a sunroof, couldn't you hold it a little longer?

Alvin: I'm sorry, too much chocolate makes me gassy.

Luna: I can't believe you guys, you're disgusting.

Alpha: And welcome to the magical house.

Alvin: The first one to leave gets the sweet.

Luna: Oh no, you can't dare to do that, you wolf.

Alpha: Ah, kids grow up so fast.

Merlin: Right? *smiles*

Violet: Welcome, boss.

Alpha: Hello to you too, little magician.

Merlin: What? I thought I was the magician.

Alpha: You talk too much, wizard kid. *puts his head under his arm*

At that moment, Merlin turned to dust again and came up behind me to hug me.

Merlin: And you fall for this trick every time, old wolf.

Alpha: You never learn.

Violet: Talk less, eat more; aren't you hungry?

Alpha: I'm as hungry as a wolf, but I'm skeptical if there's anything left from Alvin.

Merlin: *whispering to Violet* Isn't he already a wolf?

Violet: Ahaha Houdini! Let's go inside; maybe there's still some dessert left.

Alpha: I highly doubt it. *laughs*

We went inside and joined Luna and Alvin, who had already finished half of their meal.

Violet: You two married couples seem to have a pretty fast metabolism.

Luna: Marriage has been very good for us.

Alvin: Yes, marriage is a wonderful thing; now I have someone who washes my clothes and cooks for me.

Luna & Violet: Alvin!

Alpha: The best thing is being single; look at me, I'm in a different country at a different port every week.

Merlin: Haha, I heard about you being at a different port bar every week with bar girls, yes *laughs*.

Alpha: Haha *becomes serious* Ridiculous wizard.

Violet: So, what do we owe this surprise, kids?

Luna: We decided to get together because Alvin has been too much of a family man lately and Alpha has returned here.

Merlin: A very good decision; we've been dealing with traumas for a few weeks now, at least we can fix things by spending some time together.

Alpha: Trauma?

Violet: Someone entered here with about a 30-year deviation while we weren't here and planted hallucinogenic orchids.

Merlin: At first, I thought they were the flowers he gave me and I purified, and that they still had an effect even after disappearing, but someone came in and planted them right next to my other orchids in the garden.

Alvin: How did they bypass the DNA scan?

Luna: How is this possible? We spent hours looking for that arm.

Violet: I said the same thing, but this is different.

Merlin: The ones who entered weren't Heiliant, they were human.

Alpha: Can a human bypass that system?

Merlin: We thought they might be researchers, but...

Violet: But no one came before or after that day; someone specifically planted them and left.

Alvin: Someone who knows the entrance.

Alpha: Someone who has entered before.

Merlin: This is impossible; no human has ever entered here before.

Luna: This is a very interesting situation; let's take another look at the system after the meal; maybe we can find something.

Violet: That would be great.

As we continued eating, the sounds of laughter and chatter coming from the garden filled my ears. Merlin and I exchanged glances and abruptly got up to head outside.

Alvin: What's going on, man?

Alpha: Those two are starting to scare me.

Luna: Why don't you stop talking and just follow them, you idiots?

We stepped into the garden, and the sight before us had shocked us. Aiden, Veronica, and Magnus. We were silently looking at each other, trying to understand what was happening in this serious atmosphere. At that moment, our people had arrived from behind us.

Alvin: Damn it!

Alpha: Get out of here!

Luna: What are you doing here?

Aiden: We didn't come to fight.

Veronica: We need your help, Merlin.

Violet: They didn't come to fight us; they came to save themselves.

Magnus: How did you know that?

Alvin: Are you serious, man? What about the fox you were after before?

Magnus: Oh right, yes, the sidials don't have such powers; this is all very new for us.

Luna: What exactly do you want?

Merlin & Alpha: Our blood.

Violet: What? Why?

Luna: How do we know this isn't a trick?

Veronica: You're the Griffin; why don't you try it, Lion Girl? *provokes*

Alpha: First of all, if you want help, you will be respectful.

Aiden: Look, we don't want any trouble. Are you going to help us or not?

Merlin: If you think we are your only chance, then you decide: do you want help?

Violet: Merlin, no.

Merlin: Trust me.

Magnus: Will you come to an agreement?

Alpha: What is it?

Aiden: You help us, and we'll get lost and go on our way.

Merlin: Agreed. *extends his hand*

Aiden: Agreed. *shakes his hand*