Moonlight Flower

Chapter 20 - Another Key

"Buckle up, Claire," Musica said, peeking at Claire through the rear-mirror.

Claire was at the backseat. She pulled the belt across her body and fastened it to the buckle.

Musica changed the gear to "D" - Drive Mode - and stepped on the gas pedal.

"Good work on finding his whereabouts, man," Musica commended Sora, who was on the passenger's seat.

Sora said, "Since the cave was already shut due to landslide, I had to think of other places where there are abandoned caves or untouched forests. We found four possible locations but they were no sign of someone recently being there. Then a thought came to mind. He once told me he wanted to go to a natural reservoir where there are free-roaming wolves. I went to check and found a small village on the foot of the mountain. Turned out he was sighted going up and down twice. Though they offered him a place to stay, he declined saying that he wanted to be alone with nature."

"Travel time on land is approximately six hours," Musica said as he continued driving in 60-80kph in the city. "Claire, you can sleep. Sora and I will take turns."

Claire, looking at the city in its beaming natural light through the car window, just nodded. "Uhm."

After over seven hours of driving, with short breaks in between, they finally arrived at the place Sora had located.

The countryside was calm with only few people outside of their homes.

Musica had parked the car beside a cozy coffee shop made of wood. As they descended out of the car, they felt a momentary breeze swept over their faces despite the warm weather. Yes, it was already around seven in the evening yet the gray, purple, orange, pink and blue colors that seemed to blend perfectly in the sky showed a little sign of calling the sheet of dark sky to bring forth the stars and the moon on its schedule time.

They entered the place to grab something to eat before proceeding to their actual destination.

As they were quietly eating on the open-sky terrace, a woman politely approached them.

"Good evening, Sora!" greeted the smiling old lady.

They all looked up to see the one who cheerily greeted them.

"Good evening, Mrs. Hudson," Sora greeted back.

"You finally came today to see that mysterious, handsome man, eh?"

"Ah, yes."

Her smiling face turned worried. "You're going up the mountain at this hour? It's probably dangerous now since the wolves are active during the night, plus it's a full moon. Why not stay over for tonight and just go in the morning?"

"Well, we must see him tonight. But thank you for your kind offer, Mrs. Hudson," Sora replied.

"I see. Then, please tell him 'thank you' for bringing my daughter and son back here when they got in the mountain that almost cost them their lives. I actually did not see him but my daughter said that he was like a dazzling prince from another world. She completely fell for him! She's still 14 though. My son was also mesmerized by him. He would say he would also like to grow his hair long and dye it with gray or silver. I told him he would get that natural color when he gets old," Mrs. Hudson complained as she shook her head. "Kids these days. Full of fantasy."

Sora and Musica just grinned.

"Good luck then," she smiled and waved them goodbye.

"Some people said that they saw a new face going down the mountain with Mrs. Hudson's children. They were curious about the mountain so they went up despite the warning, and since there were no signs up there, they got lost and scared when they heard the howling of wolves. He saw them so he went down with them. He perfectly fits Clarence's description."