Chapter 25: Unseen boy
"This is the place!"
John exclaimed while pointing at a two-story building made up of wooden planks. The huge board fixed in front of it displayed Twilight Inn.
They had driven past the village entrance, reaching the only inn there. Since not many travellers stopped by the village, they wouldn't have had a hard time getting rooms there.
The four people, along with John, stood reading the sign board on the building. They could tell that the place was well maintained and used to receiving customers.
"What are you looking at? Let's go inside."
The man was rushing inside the building the very next moment. He kind of seemed to be in a hurry for some reason.
Claire looked around for a while before following in John's footsteps. Thinking about it wasn't necessary since the four would be staying at that place either way.
Opening the door, John headed to the counter with a worried look on his face. Not sooner, a lady called out John's name.
"Mr. Smith!"
A woman came out wearing an apron over her regular full dress. John used to go through the same route most times, and that woman had become familiar with him since he was a regular customer at their inn.
At first, she had a bright smile on her face. But soon her smile dropped after noticing John's serious face.
Remembering something, she looked hesitant to speak. The important work John had at the village was none other than a task he had given to this woman.
'Now that I think about it...'
Claire looked around them to notice only five people arive inside the inn: herself, Aliana, Rudia, Jaden, and John. One person had gone missing. Maybe he went his own way after getting off the cart?
The disappearance of the young boy was noticed by Jaden too. But he decided to turn his eye away from it since he wasn't familiar with him to begin with.
Aliana was standing next to Claire while listening to the conversation John and the woman were having. That's when Claire leaned forward and whispered in Aliana's ears.
"Hey, where did that boy go?"
Aliana looked at Claire with a confused look and tilted her head. As she was about to open her mouth, a voice interrupted her.
Looking at the woman's hesitating reaction, John took off his cap and held it tightly in his hands. He was speaking with a disappointed smile.
"I see. It's no good today either."
He slowly walked towards a table in the inn with his eyes fixed on the ground. The woman watched at his back, sadness and pity filling her eyes.
She sighed while covering her mouth and sat back on her seat at the counter. Seemingly, she was in her late twenties. The pain and sadness was visible on her face clearly.
Her gaze gradually shifted towards the unfamiliar people that had come in along with John. Her expression changed as she introduced herself to them.
"Dear customers. My name is Betty, and I am the owner of this place. Please make yourself comfortable."
She unfolded her palm in the direction of John. There were some tables with five chairs placed around them.
Claire could feel that something was off about John. The person who was smiling brightly throughout their journey to the village was sitting with a sad and sulky expression.
Aliana and Rudia walked inside with no words, but Claire stayed behind at the counter. Jaden let his back touch the wall nearby and listened to the conversation taking place between the two.
"You seem like you know Mr. John."
Even though she was a stranger to John, Claire felt like she shouldn't leave that case alone, or she might regret it later. Trying to gain more information about John from Betty was the only thing she could think of.
Betty was hesitating again, like just a while ago. She drank water from the glass placed on the counter and began speaking.
"Y-yes. He is a regular here."
That wasn't what Claire was curious about. She had a clue about that piece of information from the way John was reacting while mentioning the village.
"I'm aware about it. I'm curious about what the conversation earlier was about."
With no reason to talk around in circles, Claire got straight to the point. Jaden sighed and closed his eyes. He hadn't thought that Claire would be so reckless.
John had introduced them to the inn for the first time. Basically, they were no different than some strangers. Who in their right mind would give information about someone close to a stranger?
Betty looked at Claire's serious face; no bad intentions were visible on it. Letting out a sigh, her gaze turned towards John.
"T-there's no need for me to purposely hide this since it's a matter that almost all villagers are aware of."
The drawer at the counter slid out with some small sounds. Betty pulled a hand-drawn picture of a person from it.
As soon as it came into Claire's view, she could feel a weird feeling within her heart. Betty continued speaking while placing the paper on the counter.
"Mr. Smith has been looking around for this person for the past seven months already."
Confusion flushed Claire's face, and her lips were left gaping. She couldn't understand what the conversation she was having with Betty was even about.
Jaden could feel the colour drain off his face as he saw the person's face on the paper. He was feeling the same emotion as Claire—an eerie and unwanted emotion.
They both gulped their saliva as they looked at each other's faces; something was wrong. Their gazes shifted towards the paper and then John simultaneously.
As they were about to walk away, another important information fell on their ears. They stood dazed at the same place for a second.
'What is the meaning of this...?'
Jaden shook his head and walked to the table filled with food. Claire didn't stay at the counter either; something was off.
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Everyone was busy eating bread and soup on the table. But Jaden and Claire couldn't manage to gulp down their food.
They could both remember what Betty had said a while ago. The only thing visible on their faces was confusion and nervousness.
-This picture is of his son, actually.
They recognised the boy in the picture since they had already met him once. With no words falling out of their mouths, they sat without picking up the wooden spoons from the wooden bowl of soup.
No matter how much Jaden tried, he couldn't bring himself to ask them anything about that topic. He continued to glare at Claire with a pale face.
Eventually, Claire lost her patience. She took a long breath and began speaking.
"U-um. W-what happened to the young boy who was with us earlier?"
She asked that of Aliana, who happened to be sitting next to her. And as before, Aliana had no clue what she was talking about.
Jaden looked at other people's faces; they were confused too. He could feel goosebumps on his arms.
Something was much more wrong than he had expected. Jaden was about to speak when Rudia's voice became audible.
"May I ask what exactly you are talking about? Who is this young boy you speak of?"
Now that Rudia had said that, Jaden realised a few things. Throughout their time together, the boy rarely talked. And whenever he did, only Jaden and Claire replied to him.
Claire's face went even paler upon hearing Rudia's words. Her body trembled lightly as the words began to ring within her mind.
Suddenly, she could feel her vision getting cloudy, and the sounds around her became indistinct. She could barely maintain her posture while sitting.
-[Get it together! You fool!]
As she was about to lose her consciousness, the voice within her mind yelled at her. That made Claire flinch and get back to her senses.
However, Jaden could feel chills running down his spine. He had a guess as to what exactly was going on with them.
The conversations he had with the boy flashed back through his mind. Not much time had passed, and he could remember everything vividly.
-[You are clearly overdoing it.]
Saying that, the voice took over control of Claire's body. Unlike Claire, she wasn't scared of whatever might happen next.
Jaden noticed the air around Claire change within a moment. It was like someone else was sitting in front of him.
Claire caught Jaden's eyes, which were trying to understand what was going on with her. She stood up and spoke while looking into Jaden's eyes.
"Jaden. We need to talk. Follow me."
She began walking out of the inn without turning back. Since they were almost strangers, Jaden didn't bother to move from his seat.
Jaden wasn't the type to do what strangers asked him to. Most times, someone close to him needed to interfere, asking him to follow what the other person told him.
Aliana looked at Jaden's pale face. She had figured out that something odd was going on with them. She put down her spoon and began to speak.
"Go behind her."
Jaden flinched, as he wasn't expecting Aliana to speak at that time. Aliana had not spoken a word since they entered the building.
He could tell that she was serious when his gaze met Aliana's. He stood up while pushing his bowl of soup forward.
Maintaining his silence, he went outside. He never spoke back when Aliana asked him to do it since there was no telling what might've actually happened.
"Now then. Can I listen to the case about your son's disappearance?"
Aliana was sitting at a distance but used her magic to hear Claire and Betty's conversation a while ago. And during that time, John mentioned a bit about it to Rudia.
As the conversation within the inn went on, so did the conversation outside it. Claire and Jaden were standing near the building opposite the inn.
"There are two possibilities."
Jaden gulped his own saliva nervously as Claire spoke. Without waiting for any irrelevant talk to take place, she had already gotten down to the point.
He had an idea as to what those two possibilities might be. Since he wasn't sure, he continued to listen without interrupting.
"First, it might be a lie."
Claire would've been correct about it if not for Rudia's claim that there was no one else beside them on the cart. That still left more questions.
Jaden was aware that it was not an accurate possibility. He was about to interfere when Claire continued.
"Second, there might be some unnatural phenomenon involved."
Their thoughts were exactly the same at the moment. No one had seen the young boy aside from Claire and Jaden. But for what reason?
Jaden kept his cool and looked into Claire's eyes. He had noticed something and spoke.
"Does that mean it has some conditions for us to be able to see him?"
Why was it that only Jaden and Claire could see him? Why did no one else see that boy? Just what was his identity?
They had a lot of questions. But answers? None. Claire's gaze shifted towards the inn.
Even if they never had answers, there was someone who knew everything. Claire spoke while heading towards the inn.
"I don't know. But I think there is someone who might know."
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AbyssKun00
AbyssKun00 Won't be uploading new chapters till Monday.
Thinking of changing my upload schedule.
(Increasing release count.)
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