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 became angry.

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.

Richard parked the car in a forest outside the village

farming tools since it was still early. Luckily

BUMS

managed to stay

feeling overwhelmed by the similar-looking houses. "If we search this way, we don't know what might happen to

don't we split up? Maybe we can get some

buildings and found them familiar. "I feel like I've seen this

her a serious look. "Have

never. But these houses look familiar. Wait, I remember now.

read a story about a college girl being kidnapped to a mountain village, but to her

"You read that?"

"A friend of mine wrote it and asked

still remember the

around, Richard

glanced at the foggy sky and started, "The village had low houses with odd, Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh

writing on

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