The next morning, Hilary was back in front of the iron gates guarding Kai's mansion. The old house looked even more impressive in daylight and Hilary felt it resembled a chateau. But what really astonished her was the huge garden. It was filled with old trees, well manicured lawns and flowering plants of every kind.
The garden stretched around towards the back of the house as well. The vast grounds were surrounded by high stone walls covered in ivy. Hilary also noticed that the nearest neighbours were quite far away, thereby granting maximum privacy to the inhabitants of the mansion.
She tried pushing the gates but they didn't budge at all. She couldn't see any living being around the house or the garden.
Was no one home?
That's when she noticed smoke coming out of one of the chimneys.
Someone was definitely home.
She decided to wait near the gates and keep an eye out incase anyone decided to come outside.
After 20 minutes, she was feeling exhausted and her backpack, which contained some snacks, a bottle of water, her diary and of course Mr Dickinson's letter to Kai, felt bulky and heavy. She slid the straps off her aching shoulders and sat down on a patch of grass near the gate. A nearby tree provided her with some much needed shade.
As she sat there, muching on an energy bar, she heard a dog barking in the distance. She walked back to the gate, peering through it. In the distance she could make out a figure walking away towards the back of the house, a dog bounding by their side. Hilary called out to the person but they were already too far away to hear her and was soon out of sight.
This wasn't working out. She was wasting precious time hanging around outside. She had to find a way to enter the grounds.
Hilary walked along the side of the compund wall, looking for another entrance or gap but couldn't find any. That's when inspiration struck. She could try scaling the walls by grabbing onto the ivy. Although the walls were high, the ivy looked strong enough to take her weight and the old stone wall had a few crevices which could provide a foothold.
She placed her cellphone back into the bag and hitched it up securely over her shoulders. She gave the ivy an experimental pull but it did not rip out. Satisfied with the outcome, she grabbed on to the plant and hoisted herself up. It was holding her weight well.
Feeling pleased with herself, Hilary continued to climb cautiously. She thanked all those years of rigorous workouts as it had given her some great upper body strength. Soon, her hands grazed the top of the wall and she pulled her body up slowly over the wall and crouched gingerly on top of it. She looked down at the ground below. She was too high up and jumping down would in all probability cause a serious injury.
A few feet away she noticed a pear tree standing close to the wall with a few of its branches touching the top of the wall. If she could walk over to it, she might be able to climb onto a branch and make her way safely down the tree and onto the ground below. The ground near the tree looked much softer as a heap of leaves had been piled underneath.
Hilary stood up slowly and carefully balanced one foot in front of the other. The top of the wall was slightly flat and had just about enough space to accommodate one foot at a time.
After what felt like an eternity of walking a tightrope, Hilary was finally within reach of the tree branch. As she crouched down to catch her breath, she heard the dog barking again. She looked ahead to see the dog running around in the garden followed by a tall man in a hoodie jacket. Hilary was hidden from their vision by the foliage of the tree.
She stood up gingerly and reached for the tree branch. It looked thick and sturdy enough to take her weight. As she grabbed onto it, she heard a man's voice...a familiar husky voice that she had last heard almost ten years ago.
She craned her neck to look through the branches, and there...standing in the garden with a large dog, was Kai Hiwatari...in the flesh.
Every other thought left her head and Hilary opened her mouth to call out to him, but at that moment she felt her foot slip off the wall. She tried to lunge for the branch but her flailing arms grapsed thin air. Hilary was acutely aware that she was hurtling towards the ground below and let out a scream.
She hit the ground with a thump, a moan escaping her lips but mercifully her head and most of her body had been cradled from a terrible blow by the soft pile of leaves. Her arm however was twisted at an angle and the ground was swimming before her eyes. She was too shocked to feel any pain and was losing consciousness. She could barely move and was aware of someone rushing over the leaves towards her. The last thing she saw were a pair of brilliant blue eyes, before her vision faded away to darkness.