Marinette almost screamed in relief. She wasn't crazy. Adrien had also seen everything. It meant it was all true. A man with a hat walked past them. He had a black briefcase. Marinette wasn't sure, but she swore that she saw a yellow shine in the shadow of his face. Maybe she saw ghosts, but she didn't feel safe in the middle on the street.

"Come. This isn't the place we should be discussing this." Marinette let go of Adrien's cheek.

"Where are we going?"

"To the park. There won't be anybody at this time."

"Don't you have class?"

"I think I'll skip school for today."

Adrien nodded. "Sounds good to me. I'm doing the same. It's not safe for me to be at school. I'll tell you all about it. Jump on the back of my bike."

Marinette was right. The park was abandoned when they got there. Adrien cycled over a small bridge, past the fence behind which were deers, chickens and peacocks. The deers hopped to the fence, as soon as visitors arrived. In the summer, parents would come here with their children and the ground was covered with bread crust, vegetable waste and fruit for the animals. Now, everything was eaten bare and feces were everywhere.

"Sorry, boys, we don't have anything on us," Marinette popped off of the carrier. "Let's sit there on that bench."

Adrien put his bike against the fence. His face had regained a little bit of colour. He let himself fall onto the wooden bench and looked at Marinette.

"You first," She said. "What kinds of things do you see and why isn't it safe at your school?"

"Because of everything. Well, at least I think everything is wrong. But it looks like I'm the only one that notices it," Adrien hesitated for a moment.

"Go on," Marinette said. She already had her suspicions, but she wanted to hear it from Adrien's mouth. At least then she knew she wasn't crazy.

"My teacher is acting strange and so are my classmates. I mean, they look different."

"Their eyes?" Adrien nodded.

"But that's not everything. They are all drawing the head of a wolf. Everyone! Moreover they all seem to be addicted to licorice. And Miss Bustier is the dealer. She passes out licorice to the entire class. It's insane!" Adrien shook his head. "A couple of days ago, I thought you were talking nonsense, when you started with your parents," He looked at her with apologetic eyes. "But, I just don't know anymore. My parents are also acting weird. They're still the same from the outside, but it's like they're not the same anymore." He sighed. "I had often wished my parents would change, but now I just wish they would be the same as before. I even miss their nagging. Is there some kind of sickness going around?"

"There's no sickness. Something worse, I think, although I don't really understand it myself. A few days ago…" Marinette swallowed something away. "You know, that night you let the air out of your tire, my parents arrived late at home. They went somewhere, I have no idea where. Anyway, I woke up due to the car. I went to look out the window. I just saw their shadows, before they went inside. I couldn't believe my own eyes. I tried to tell myself that I was dreaming. But I knew I was awake. I knew I didn't dream about it."

"What is it?" Adrien had no idea where Marinette wanted to go with this story.

"The shadows weren't normal human shadows." She started at the deers with a glassy stare, who was still watching them through the fence.

"Weren't normal human shadows?" Adrien watched her with big eyes. "What do you mean? Did they look like aliens? Just like X-files?" He bursted out in laughter. Marinette didn't laugh.

"I don't know. Maybe it were the same shadows you saw on the market square." Adrien stared at her with an idiotic expression. Did Marinette try to fool him? He then saw that her eyes started to get teary. A tear rolled down her left cheek.

"My parents aren't my parents anymore," She whispered. "And Plagg has also changed. He spits porridge at me, he bites, he is just like a wild beast." Adrien had no idea what he had to say. Marinette wasn't kidding, that was clear. He put his hand on hers, blushed and retracted his hand.

"I'm sure everything will be alright." He fumbled in his backpack and grabbed his lunchbox. "Eh.. do you want a sandwich?"

Marienette wiped the tear from her cheek and shook her head. "What is going on, Adrien? What's going on?!" Adrien opened his lunchbox and grabbed a sandwich.

"I don't know. In any case, we both know that our parents changed, just like my classmates and Miss Bustier."

"But, how? Is there something in the water? Is our food being poisoned?"

"Maybe, but that means we should have also changed. But we're not." Adrien looked into his lunchbox and saw that not only were there sandwiches, but also a roll of licorice in it. "Licorice again. I don't like that. See, this is what I mean. My mother knows I hate licorice. Yet she keeps putting licorice in my lunchbox, these past days. Do you want it?"

Marinette grabbed the roll of licorice and took off the wrapper. "If it's not in the water or food, then what can it be?" She grabbed one licorice out of the roll.

Adrien saw Marinette's hand slowly go to her mouth. His eyes suddenly widened. He jumped to his feet with a shout, grabbed Marinette's wrist and pushed her arm down. The licorice fell on the ground.