The Moonlight Daughters

The Keys to "Freedom"

"What is going on here!" Mr. Tony yelled right after he went inside the room.

He looked around at every student in the hall. He glared at them with wrath and disappointment. The students bow their heads in embarrassment. They remained silent as they heard his loud voice echoing inside the room. Even Severin and his guys couldn't but froze to where they stand while hearing the old man scolding the people in the room.

"You are already adults. Yet, you act like children? Look at yourselves. It's so shameful. Is this how you behave towards each other? Trying to kill each other!"

Mr. Tony looked at Severine. Severine immediately pointed at Eliza who is standing parallel to him. "She started it!" Eliza widened her eyes as she dropped her jaw in disbelief. She wants to speak but Mr. Tony is in the room. God knows what he's going to do to her if she talks back to his grandson.

"Especially you! Why in the world are you doing with this students?" tony scolds him.

"Why me? I mean, they are the one who started it," Severine defended.

"They will not start it if you are getting into their heads," Tony replied with his teeth clenched.

"But Lolo..."

"My ass... Come with me right now! I will make sure you'll suffer!"

Without any argument raised, Severine walked over to his grand father. With a slap to the face, he was surprised. Even the students were shocked to see the old man slapped his grandson.

*****

The shards are shining on the palm of Dionicious as he examines them, glamoured on their beauty. Wendel was still captive, sitting and leaning his back against the wall. His hands were on his back tied together by a rattan rope. Close to him, he was facing Dioniscious, watching him staring at them. He also can't help but stare at the shining shards.

"Two more. Just two more..." Dionysius muttered.

"'I see. That's what those 'keys' look like," Wendel smirked.

"Yes, Wendel. Two more of these shards and we will have our freedom."

"Freedom, eh?" he scoffed. "My ass!"

"What 'freedom' are you talking about?" he creased his forehead.

Dionysius smiled.

"Freedom to keep ourselves alive."

He bent down to get his face close to Wendel's. Wendel glared at him as he looked into his eyes.

"But before that happens, you should be dead."

Then he clenched his teeth and he grin. After that, he raised his body to stand up straight.

"No, you should die," Wendel said.

"Your sacrifice will not be in vain. It is for the sake of my daughter, after all," Dionicio responded.

"Whether you like it or not, I can still obtain the other two," he added. "I already have spotted the potential keeper of the missing shard. "

"Release me, now! I'll kill you."

Without a warning, Dionysius' hands grabbed Wendel's neck and strangle him.

"Then I'll make sure you die before me."

Wendel was struggling to get some air. His voice was straining, he can't speak up. He wanted to get the hand of Dioniscious off him but his hands were tied. A few moments later, he released him. Wendel then coughed as he breathed some air.

"Then, kill me," Wendel said.

"As I told you, Wendel - I can't. I still have a plan for you."

He turned his back on him then he walked away. He left Wendel alone in the basement again.

****

"Let's get out of here," Sherdel suggested. His peers seconded.

Suddenly, a woman passed through in between them and entered the room.

"Wait. That woman seems familiar," West, one of his peers was trying to recognize the teacher.

"Huh?" Sherdel wondered. Then he looked at her walking towards the center of the crowd.

"Of course, she's familiar. She's a teacher, all right."

Every student who saw her passing by, and they stopped, froze like a statue.

"I got it. That's Ms. Maginoo." He finally remembered. "'The one who they call 'Supergirl'".

Sherdel along with his peers looked at him. Their eyes widened, wondering why a girl who looks so innocent was being called such a weird nickname.

"Super Girl?" They looked at her.

She finally saw Eliza having a piggyback ride on Severine's back. Severine kept on swaying his body from side to side so that he could get her off his back but Eliza didn't allow herself to fall down. Eliza, with her right hand, was batting his head with a book. Her left one was wrapped around his neck.

"You bad bad bad piece of garbage. You deserve this!" she kept on saying.

"Aw! Hey, get off me, b***h! Aw!" he complained.

Ms. Maginoo was watching them. Her facial expression was blank. It cannot be determined whether she was angry, shocked, disappointed, or enjoying.

"Eliza?" she softly spoke.

Eliza froze after she recognized her voice.

She looked in the direction where her voice came from. She was right. It was their club adviser Ms. Maginoo. Immediately, she put herself down from Severine's back.

"Ma'am!" she chuckled nervously. "You are already here."

"Oh no. I'm not," she raised her voice.

She pulled one of Severine's peers who was about to hit someone with his hard clenched fist. She hit his stomach with her knee. He put his hands together at the part where her knee landed as he moaned in pain.

Everyone gasped. They froze, paused their fight. The boys at the entrance also got shocked in horror.

Ms. Maginoo pushed the boy towards Severine. She went towards them afterward. She pinched both Eliza's ear and Severine's.

"Ahhw! Ma'am sorry! Aw. Aw," she yelled in pain.

"AW!" Severine also yelled. "Get off of me. AW! Aw!"

Then she pulled them towards the exit. The students silently moved to the side to make way as she and they were about to pass.

"Let's go!" Sherdel told them. "Hurry!" He turned around. He walked away first followed by his friends.

The teacher and the two students had already got out of the Strawberry Hall. There, they met Grace and Seline, followed by the teachers.

"You're late," she told them.

They looked at the poor students with her. They were in pain.

Finally, she released their poor ears from her pinch.

"Get them to the office," she said. "We'll also call those students in the hall."

****

Adan was running across the plaza heading towards the Main Building. He was in his beast form, running swiftly as the wind. The people around didn't notice that there was a wolf running through them since his illusion ability can make him invisible. He was searching for Gisway's whereabouts. Though he has a keen sense of smell, the number of people around that day made it hard for him to track his scent.

He finally stepped on the corridor's floor. Luckily, fewer people were hanging around than at the plaza. His scent somehow got clearer, just a little.

On the other hand, Cainnick was also inside that same building. He was inside the multi-purpose hall attending a sports seminar.

His nose suddenly detected a familiar scent and he is not happy with whoever it came from. He was certain that it came from the person who bit him on the shoulder. He looked at the door from behind. Confirmed, he saw the wolf that bit him, the guy who caused him to almost lost his blood. He saw it disappeared while he passed by the room.

Cainnick immediately stood up while still looking at the door. He got away from his seat and rushed toward the door to exit. He called Benjie on the phone just after he went out.

"Hello, Kuya?"

"Hello, Cannick?" he responded.

"He's here. He's back."

"What?"

"The Lignodon that beat me. He's here."

"Where are you?" he got worried.

"I am following his tracks right now."

"Cainnick. No matter what, stay away from him, okay? Don't ever show yourself to him. Don't try to find him, you understand?"

"He's here for a reason. I can feel it,"

"Cainnick. You have no match against that guy, whoever he is. So please, stay out of there and go somewhere where there are people. Please, I don't want you get hurt again."

Cainnick sighed. He halted walking.

"I understand. I am not going to follow him anymore."

"I am going to your school now."

Then he hung up the phone. Benjie immediately hopped in his car.

Cainnick turned around to return to the multi-purpose hall. But to his surprise, Adan was in front of him blocking the way heading towards the room.

"s**t!"

He turned to his back on him. Another wolf was blocking the path. It looked exactly like the wolf at the back.

"Hoh no!" He exclaimed as he trembles.

****

Seline was on the terrace at the rooftop of the UPA Building. That time was a perfect time for her to view the sea from afar since there's no fog and the sky was clear. It was a nice time for her to remove her stress from the ruckus that happened a while ago.

She took a deep breath then she smiled. She sighed.

"Seline?" A man at the back called.

She immediately turned around.

"Yes?" she responded. She got surprised when she realized that it was Mr. Acosta. Beside him was his son Ramsel.

"Sir," she smiled nervously.

"You are here?"

"Yes," he answered then he bit his lips. He turned his head to Ramsel.

Seline also looked at him with a sweet smile. His outfit that time suits his light complexion. He was wearing a black leather jacket, underneath was a blue tribal t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans.

Ramsel winked at her. He creased his forehead and he was biting his upper lip.

He looked at her from up to down.

"Actually, I came here to accompany my son. He's going to transfer here at Horizon Reached."

"Oh!" She reacted with a surprised expression. "Congrats! Welcome to Horizon Reached!"

"Salamat," his face was blank but he nods his head.

"So, keep an eye on this boy," he put his arms around Ramsel's neck.

"Huh?"

"You know my son. He is an unpredictable man. One second you see him, he is decent but when you blink your eyes, he suddenly became drank," he added.

"Is that so?" then she fake chuckled. She looked at Ramsel. Ramsel looked away.

"Don't be afraid to tell me if he did something bad."

"Dad? I am not a kid anymore," Ramsel said.

"Ahahahha," Seline laughed.

"So. We must be going. My son and I have plans today."

"Okay. Take care," she responded.

They departed.

"Bye po!" She waved her hands as she watched them walk away.

****

It's already past twelve P.M...Ceres was inside the library building. He was reading an encyclopedia that time. He was on the pages where there are information about dinosaurs. His eyes were focused on what he was reading. He's so focused that he didn't care about the noise and the motions of the people around.

Until...

He noticed that the light coming from the window just next to him turned black for a matter of a second as if there was a thing passed by blocking the light from entering through the window. His eyes darkened as he scowled. He immediately looked at the pathway outside the window-the same window Grace saw Adan on the rooftop of a building, where he thought the presence had crossed.

He stood up on his seat, closed the book, walked away towards the shelf, returned the book, and rushed toward the exit.

****

He went to the pathway where he sensed the sensation. He looked around, trying to search for any remains of it. He cannot sense him anymore. Unlike Lignodons, he does not have a keen sense of smell neither on being human nor wolf form.

What he did was to follow his instinct. He headed towards the direction where he thought that 'thing' went into, the area beyond the school's campus - the strawberry farm.

To his surprise, he arrived at the parking area wherein it is impossible since the pathway isn't connected to the parking space, at all.

"Shocks!" he yelled in frustration and he stomped his foot to the cemented ground.