Your Guise Is Slipping, Miss Pearl

Esther turned to Finnegan, her eyes full of hope, waiting for him to share his plan.

But Finnegan just snorted. "Don't poke your nose into it. All you need to know is that you'll be saved." Then, he walked away back to his study, not wanting to talk more.

Esther watched him go, feeling something wasn't right. She couldn't figure out why he suddenly becangry.

He was just as weird as he was back when they were younger.

* Pearl and Richard drove along and found lots of strange things blocking the road.

Richard thought it over and said, "I think the people from the nearby village put these here to prevent people from coming and going easily." Since it was dark, they didn't dare drive fast. They moved slowly, worried they might run into something dangerous.

But inside, Pearl was getting more and more anxious. "I think they've taken Esther to the village. Something bad might happen if we take too long to get there." Richard looked serious. "If that's the case, Esther might already..." "I believe in her," Pearl said, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "She'll try to protect herself." Richard remained silent but feared the worst.

After three or four more hours, they finally reached a small village hidden deep in the mountains, following a rough mountain road.

Pearl and Richard parked the car in a forest outside the village to keep it hidden. They covered it up to avoid drawing attention.

There were only a few villagers with farming tools since it was still early.

Luckily Pearl and Richard were quick and managed to stay swney sight. Śwof "It's too troublesto look for her by checking each house," Pearl said, feeling overwhelmed by the similar looking houses. "If we search this way, we don't know what might happen to her by the twe find her." Św"Why don't we split up? Maybe we can get sclues." Pearl observed the nearby buildings and found them familiar. "I feel like I've seen this place before." Richard gave her a serious look. "Have you been here before?" Pearl shook her head. "No, never. But these houses look familiar. Wait, I remember now. Have you read a called Village Wildness?" It was unlikely Richard had read a story about a college girl being kidnapped to a mountain village, but to her surprise, he nodded. "Yes, I have." "You read that?" Richard slowly explained, "A friend of mine wrote it and askedto give it a read. So, I did." "Do you still remember the plot?" Looking around, Richard got what she was hinting at. He glanced at the foggy sky and started, "The village had low houses with odd-et kid-like writing on red brick walls, like secret codes. There was a long road leading into the village lined with low poplar trees..." He stopped there.

And sure enough, there were poplar trees on both sides of the road. Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

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