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29. Intruders

After a while, the wolves stopped coming out. They are all outside, searching for the intruders.

"This is just like last time." Zander whispered, shifting his body to face me. "When I got cursed to be stuck as a cat, it was just like this. There were intruders that attacked my coven. My mom and brother were fighting, while I hid. For a little while. But then I decided to help, and when I did, that was when I got hit with the curse." He then took my hands. "And then that eventually led me wandering off all the way to Orion's apartment and into your heart."

"My heart, huh?" I chuckled quietly. "Or was it my legs that drew you to me? Because the first time I met you, you were clinging onto my leg. You scared the shit out of me too."

He snickered. "I remember. Your first words to me were 'Hello, demon' which is like indirectly calling me an angel, which I actually find offensive because angels suck."

"And yet you wouldn't leave me alone, even as a cat." I then remembered something and pinched his ear. "You watched me get dressed and take baths, you little shit!"

He grinned. "I promise, I didn't look at anything I wasn't supposed to. I am a good boy. The only thing I did that could possibly upset you was leave your balcony door open because it's too hot in your apartment and then your coupons ended up flying out." I pinched his ear again, though he just giggled and hid his face on my shoulder.

The two of us sat still in silence as he waited for Scooby to give us the signal. It only took about five minutes until he did. A gray wolf with orange eyes appeared in front of us, nodding his head for us to follow him. Zander almost grabbed his tail as we did, but I smacked his hand before he could.

As we made our way out of Queen's Garden, I noticed that Scooby had taken a path that hid us to a couple of werewolves that remained inside Queen's Garden, who are most likely there to make sure that no one gets passed the entrance. Scooby, Zander, and I went through a narrowed tunnel, which was about fifty feet long. When we finally reached the end of it, the trail had gone so narrow that we had to walk one by one rather than side by side. Lastly, we had to squeeze past two giant boulders that were covered with vines. After going through it, Zander informed that we are officially out of Queen's Garden.

I looked back to see the gate to the enchanted forest. It's nothing but plain, ordinary looking boulders covered in vines. Though it really does look like a dead end. Even then, I'm sure it is also hidden with magic somehow, so secular people cannot find Queen's Garden easily but ordinary animals can enter because they have better senses than humans.

"Astoria!" I heard a familiar voice calling my name.

I turned my head to my right to find Miko hiding behind a giant tree. I ran towards her and practically jumped in her arms as I pulled her for a tight embrace.

"Miko!" Oh how I missed my blue haired friend. "I can't believe you're here! I mean that in both good and bad way! We're in the middle of a mess right now!"

"Ivy and Luna are not too far from us right now, making sure that none of Florencia's wolves find us. The others are running around to distract Aquila and making sure they're away from here." She says quickly before her eyes found Zander. "And you must be Alexander Farvale."

Zander bowed. "My name is Zorro, actually. And you're Sharlene Miko. I stole your bag of gummy bears in your table that one time I was at Virgo, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Perfect match." Miko mumbled. "Here." She gave me a plastic container that contained Solution 15. She also handed me a folded paper. "This has the steps and ingredients on how to make more Solution 15, if you need more. I also wrote down alternative ingredients because I know some of those things are hard to find. You can use alternatives found in natural resources, which should be found inside your magic garden."