Nathan and the three werewolves were traveling to the Opium Den at the boundaries of Monkshood in a carriage. It was Aradia who insisted upon them using a carriage for the short trip as Nathan hasn't fully recovered yet. Paul, who hated traveling by carriage argued that he would be faster on his legs rather than a wooden contraption pulled by two horses, but was promptly silenced by Aradia who gave him the dirtiest glance in the history of dirty glances and politely ordered them to use the carriage.
As promised, Elliott returned the clothes they borrowed from the young warlock girl, whose name according to Aradia was Cassandra. They later changed to the clothes they were generously provided straight from Nathan and late Merlin's wardrobes. While both Paul and Edgar were the same sizes as Nathan, they could fit into his clothes. The shirts were a bit tight around the shoulders for Paul, but the werewolf grumbled that he would make do with what they had. However the lanky and tall Elliot couldn't wear any of his clothes comfortably, so he settled into a fancy black pair of trousers with silvery glitter on them and a shirt which was like a net made out of pearls that he found from Merlin's wardrobe. While Paul screwed his nose at the idea of raiding a dead man's wardrobe, Elliot seemed oblivious to such uncouthness.
The carriage moved forward at a steady pace. Within it, Paul and Elliot sat across from Edgar and Nathan. Elliott had a bag full of clothes on his lap because just in case they had to transform without further notice, they could quickly don those clothes so as not to scare the warlock boy. He read the book he picked for Elliana. While Edgar was busy stealing not-so-discreet glances at his seatmate, Paul was staring outside the window, lost in a world of his own thoughts.
Edgar was having butterflies in his stomach throughout the entire journey as he felt Nathan's closeness, his arms pressing to his in the narrow carriage. His presence was all too vivid, so out of the ordinary that he couldn't help but focus on him. Edgar felt immensely guilty at this and forced himself to think of Elliana. Eventually, the bizarreness he felt eased. He really missed her, he realized. Both of them dreamt of spending the holidays together as they had places they wanted to visit together; the waterfalls of Serena, the Hawthorne mansion which was now under Benedict Hawthorne, the eldest brother of Edgar's and Elliana's mothers. But all their hopes had crumbled. Edgar did write a letter to Elliana before leaving in search of Merlin's mansion, listing all the events that transpired. He did not forget to add how much he missed her and promised that he'll be coming back to her soon.
"Nathan," Paul voiced, looking at the warlock. "What did Aradia mean when she spoke about my parents and Merlin?"
Nathan sighed and turned to face Paul, "Wasn't Merlin ever mentioned in your household?"
"No," Both the Birdwell brothers said in unison, making Nathan look at Edgar.
Nathan crossed his legs over each other and once again looked at Paul whose eyes were finely fixed on Nathan. "Merlin and the Birdwells were old friends. Very old friends, if I may add. They belonged to the éxi." Suddenly, as Nathan spoke Edgar noticed that while physically he looks just like a peer of theirs when he spoke he sounded mature and ancient. "Two werewolves, two fairies, a warlock, and a vampire."
Everyone's attention was on Nathan, even Elliott had his book closed and was listening to Nathan attentively.
Nathan continued, "When the supernatural world was divided into factions a long time ago, the six of them got together to raise awareness among the world that we are the strongest when we are together."
After that Nathan leaned onto the back of his seat and closed his eyes. The three werewolves waited for Nathan to continue his speech but he didn't.
"What happened after that?" Elliott asked, impatiently.
"I don't know," He replied, without opening his eyes. "That was all Merlin said. I think something happened and they broke up."
Elliott sighed in disappointment.
"I'm surprised father never mentioned anything to us," Paul said to no one in particular and went back to staring out the window.
"Do you think we'll be able to find something in the Opium den?" Edgar asked Nathan. It was Nathan who suggested visiting the Opium Den before anything else as a lot of dark magic users utilized the Den as a shelter, and sometimes a hideout.
But Nathan said nothing and pretended to be asleep.
Disappointedly Edgar too closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep before they reach their destination.