Music of the Night

Chapter 94

Chapter 94

"Find 'G'? What does that even mean?" asked Aoba, whose talon steps were clicking the cool floor of the hospital room. Arthur was also trying to figure out who sent the note, since Pina mentioned that the sender was not from their school.

"Maybe it's a typo?" Arthur suggested, stretching out his wings. "I can imagine someone was trying to type 'Find Me' but instead they accidentally wrote 'Find G' since there's a fine line between the alphabets in morse code."

He could imagine the bald eagle nodding his head absentmindedly. He had a few ideas who the sender might be. However, he couldn't do anything when hospitalised so he decided to discuss with Aoba about their flight test and what they might do after graduation.

"I am applying to three universities that deals with criminology. The whole events transpiring the black market and then you really made me think about doing something similar to a spy. Yeah, maybe something like a sky marshal, that way I can look like a regular but I'm actually spying in the sky."

Arthur smiled to himself. That does sound like a job Aoba could do since he does love flying. Back to the mysterious note, he might need some help and he knew who to called. While Aoba was doing a bit of revision for their exams, Arthur voice commanded his phone to call a number.

"Hello, son. What can I do for you?" the voice on the other end answered. Arthur's ears perked up at the sound of the warmth voice that reminded him of warm pasta he would eat during the cold winter nights while a show on the tele would play in the background.

"Hi dad, I hope I'm not interrupting any of your breakthroughs-"

"Nonsense!" his father laughed. "Now, what can I do for you?" So Arthur explained to him about his friends' visits and how he received a morse code note by an unknown sender. He gave his theory about how the last word was a typo and it was from someone outside of Cherryton.

There was silence on the other end until his father spoke up. "Son, do you think it is one of your friends you made from the Black Market. Like that Agata boy or the Ishmael guy. Was it Ishmael or..."

"Isaiah, dad," Arthur corrected him with a smile, "but I don't think so. Agata and Isaiah are more descriptive with their words and they usually send me voice messages. It can't be Sameer because he's all the way in Camden or Luxor. Maybe it's- no, I don't think so..."

He fell silent, the cogs in his brain was turning at suspecting who could have sent the mistyped morse code.If he were to visit this suspect, he MAY need some backup. With that, he gave thanks to his father and ended the call. He turned his head to Aoba's direction.

"Aoba, how would you like to practice flying with me?"

...

"Arthur, I have a feeling that we're going to be arrested for flying without a proper licence," Aoba whispered as he and the blind Honduran white bat flew through the night. The both of them were heading toward a prison where Melon was. The bald eagle couldn't understand why would his friend want to see that psycho after everything he had done.

"Hope you don't mind me flying under you," Arthur called from below. "It's easier for me to know where you are and it blocks out a few sounds in the air."

A part of him was hurt that Arthur had not told him about working for Melon just to get a bit of money, but another part figured that there was a reason for that. 'No matter what happens, I'll always fly beside you, Arthur. I've never met anyone as special as you.'

"So, what are we going to do when we reach there?" Aoba asked, keeping his wings steady to steer the both of them to a nearby building.

"Ask Melon if he knows how to read morse code and if the message's not from him, then we go back. Aoba, you must think that I'm the nuttiest animal in this world going for this little mission and dragging you along with-"

"I don't mind," Aoba cuts him off gently. "I'm pretty sure that this won't happen once we've graduated. We'd be deep in our jobs and probably new priorities along the horizon. Who knows, Arthur, we might be...different if we meet each other years later."

The flight became quiet and Aoba wondered if the blind bat was listening to all of the sounds below them. He lets out a small screech to signal Arthur that they were close to the prison. While Arthur had not said a word, Aoba told the two police officers that were on duty, a zebra and a sun bear.

"You...you want to see Melon?" the sun bear asked, clearly not convinced. Arthur finally nodded, his cloudy blue eyes facing up at the large carnivore. "Yes, for thirty minutes about something trivial. If we're not out by then, feel free to drag us out."

Reluctantly, the two officers escorted them down to the cells  where the most dangerous criminals reside. They were guided into an elevator, where they reached B for the basement.  Aoba loomed his body over Arthur's smaller frame, his attempt to shield him from carnivores that peered out of their cells at the sight of the Honduran white bat. But Arthur's back was straight while his ears pricked at the sounds.

"Enjoy your visit," the zebra tipped her hat before riding the elevator back upstairs. The sun bear leaned over between both the bat and eagle. "Before I let you in, I must address a few safety protocols that all visitors must follow with max-security prisoners: Stay at least a foot back from the prison bars. If you have any pens, pencils, or paperclips, turn them in here." Aoba searched his pockets. All he had was his wallet and phone.

"Are we allowed to bring these?" Aoba held out his phone. The sun bear nodded. "Yes." he replied, before pointing down the hallway.

"He's the last cell on the left. Good luck." With that, both of the Cherryton students were left alone with the hybrid that caused chaos from the Black Market and almost had followers from the whole country. Unlike Aoba, Arthur walked forward, wings slightly spread out to prevent him from falling face-down.

"Well, well, I didn't expect you to visit me," the hybrid chuckled, getting up from his seat. Aoba noticed at the corner of his cell, there were stacks- literally stacks of letters in all shapes and colours! 'Does this guy have fans?' he wondered to himself.

"Hello Melon," Arthur greeted him politely. "You sound a bit cozy in there. Hope we weren't interrupting anything important."

"You're lucky that I just ate...not that I can taste anything," Melon muttered out the last sentence while maintaining his default smile. Since his eyes were squinted, Aoba understood why he could be seen as a herbivore if he were to go out in public. "So, what can I do for you? If you want a session with me, sorry but I'm out of the office. And no need to pull out a harmonica just because I'm in jail."

Arthur remained calmed, ears slightly twitching from the sounds while his cloudy blue eyes focused on Melon's predatory ones. He may be blind but his gaze was as if he was staring into your soul. "No, Melon. We want to know if you know how to read morse code?"

This shifted the hybrid's expression from indifferent to intrigue. Arthur pulled out a folded piece of paper to show the smattered dots. "Did you send me this?"

"Of course not. Do you really think I can send letters from prison when I'm put in the lowest part of the station?"

"You know there are ways, Melon."

"Obviously! Though I wouldn't be vague or not proofread what I wrote. Clearly, someone here was trying to send morse codes to you. Know anyone that can read this, mouse-brain?"

Aoba narrowed his eyes since there was a chance that Melon might be lying. However, Arthur's expression and the hunch of his body said otherwise. "Aoba, I think we might know who sent the note to Pina. We have to go back just to make sure." He turned his head to the hybrid. "Melon, did you know that lemons can enhance your taste buds? Then again, you are sour to begin with."

The bald eagle covered his beak to stifle his laugh as Melon tried to press his head out of his cell bar. "One day, I'm coming for you, bat! And that Bird Wonder next you..."

Arthur turned his head to Melon's direction with a toothy grin. "I'll look forward to see you then."