Off the Beaten Path

I think this might be the longest chapter I've written so far!

I hope you enjoy!

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The coffee shop they usually meet at is closed for renovations, so they agree to meet at a little café just outside of campus.

It's on the edge of the downtown district, cobble roads and decorated storefronts giving the area a storybook feel.

Enid sighs in relief as she enters the warmth of the building.

The décor was cozy with an Arabian touch. Thick carpets and embroidered pillows placed haphazardly.

Peeling her gloves off, she sweeps her eyes around the room to find Emilia.

It seems she's the first one there, so she steps up to the counter to order a drink and a pastry.

Enid flicks through one of the newspapers on the counter as she waits.

The weather section repots the first snow is forecasted to come next month.

Finally, her name is called, and she retrieves her drink and dessert from the kind barista.

Turning to find a table, she crashes into something tall and solid.

A gasp flies from her lips as an arm steadies her, drops of her scalding hot chocolate barely missing her as they fall to the ground.

"My apologies. I was not paying close enough attention to my surroundings." Enid glances up at the man, still slightly in shock.

He was startlingly pale with hair so fair it nearly matched his skin.

Nearly as tall as her men and skinnier than she was.

Looking at him was rather disconcerting, though she felt guilty admitting it.

His light blue eyes stared down at her intently and a feeling of unease began to grow in her stomach.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm so clumsy. I should've watched where I was going." Enid musters up a small, apologetic smile.

"Let me buy you another drink since I caused you to spill yours." He pulls a leather wallet from his suit pocket.

She begins to protest, but he cuts her off.

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't replenish your fuel." His lips part to reveal a razor-sharp smile.

A shiver runs down her spine.

"Okay, thank you." She says as she gets in line beside him, throwing her half-empty cup into the trash.

They stand in an awkward silence for a few minutes before he turns to stare at her again.

Enid keeps her eyes on the floor, tracing over the blue designs on the white ceramic tiles.

"What is your name?" He drags her attention back to him.

Worry twists around her ribs.

Something felt off about this man.

"Eleanor." She lies, slipping a convincing smile onto her face.

It seems Theodore's training was coming in handy already.

His too-pale eyes flicker eerily and she can't help but take a small step back.

They looked hollow, diaphanous.

"Enchanted." He says with a strained smile.

"Where are you from? Your accent is so charming." He probes further and her eyes drift nervously to the couple in line ahead of them.

Hurry up. Hurry up. Hurry up.

"I grew up in the United Kingdom." She says before pulling out her phone, trying to avert him from asking more questions.

Dante has texted her one of his cheesy pick-up lines and she can't help but grin.

If you were words on a page, you'd be fine print. Can't wait to see you at five, little bird. X

She types out a response before realizing she can feel the man's eyes on her.

Enid tucks her phone back away and busies herself with counting the menu items.

By the time she receives her second drink, she's ready to get as far away from this man as possible.

"Oh, would you like to step outside with me for a moment?" He asks with a sugary tone.

Anxiety thrums in her veins.

"No, thank you. I'm going to go get a table." Enid waves farewell and scampers away from him.

She watches discreetly as he leaves and gets into a fancy car parked out front.

Her body sags in relief as he drives off.

Something about that man felt very wrong.

Emilia was nearly an hour late by the time she came stumbling into the café.

The screeching of a chair being moved pulls Enid's attention from the book she had been reading.

"Hi, I'm so sorry I'm late." Emilia says between gasps of air, a wide smile stretched across her lips, "However, I have a good excuse. I've got a lead!"

Enid slides her drink across the table for her friend to take a sip.

"Are you alright?" She asks the haggard girl.

"Yes, yes. Just it took me longer than I expected so I ran here." The tan girl waves away her concern.

"What have you found?" Enid leans forward, curiosity getting the best of her.

"It'd be better to show you. Follow me!" Emilia springs from her seat and Enid barely has the chance to grab her satchel before she is dragging her outside.

They jog down the cobblestone road, giggles flying through the air with their hair.

The take a right at the antique shop and slip through a few alleyways until they make it to one of the roads on the outer edge of town.

It is noticeably darker here, despite it being midday.

Clouds seem to blanket the tops of the rows of shops, dusting the area in an ominous fog.

The other shoppers they pass stay in the shadows, hats pulled down and collars pulled up.

She feels remarkably out of place in her peach colored sweater and light pink welly boots.

Enid glances at the strange storefronts as they pass them.

Herbal Remedies for Ailments Real and Fake.

Taxidermy and Taxes.

How odd.

"Where are we going? Oh! And how was your second date with Jake?" Enid asks, her short legs working overtime to keep up.

"You'll see soon. And it was... incredible. The arcade he took me to was so... retro and cool. He's so nice and nerdy and so different from all the assholes I normally date. He showed me his Marvel movie collection and didn't even try to go past third base. I think he might be my soulmate." Emilia grins at her over her shoulder.

Suddenly she stops short, pausing underneath a dark blue, hanging sign that is swinging with the wind.

Mister Harold's Grocer.

The words are painted in faded white letters, a small drawing of a grocery basket beneath them.

The store looks closed, despite it being midday on a weekend.

Emilia shoots her a look she can't decipher and knocks loudly on the door three times.

"Emilia- What's going on?" Enid asks nervously, tugging anxiously on the handle of her bag.

Any answer is cut off by the opening of the small oak door, an ominous creaking noise accompanying.

Enid squints her eyes to make out the figure in the doorway and finds it is an elderly man.

Snowy white hair blankets his chin and he is nearly as short as she is, hunched over a wooden cane.

A scowl is growing on his face as he looks at the pair on his doorstep.

"Gerald! Thank god. This is my friend that I was telling you about." Emilia gestures toward her and Enid waves her hand with a confused smile.

"I told you I didn't want any trouble-" His voice is dusty and dry, yet it booms toward them.

"No, no trouble! I promised you we wouldn't take it to the police. But please, it would mean so much to me if I could just show my friend. Please, Gerald." Emilia folds her hands under her chin in a pleading manner.

He squints his eyes at them from behind his large framed glasses before sighing.

"Fine. And I told you to call me Mister Harold." He sniffs haughtily but allows them inside the store.

Emilia does a silent celebration behind his back as they step into the dimly lit area.

Enid barely has time to take in the strange jars and bottles on the shelves as the man ushers them into the office in the back of the store.

He was incredibly quick for someone who looked so ancient.

The office was small, so Enid and Emilia had to press into the wall in order to allow him past to walk to the old computer.

It smelt damp and vaguely of burnt popcorn.

He grumbled something about teenage miscreants as he typed on the black keyboard with wrinkled hands, glancing up at them every few moments with long huffs of annoyance.

His eyes were like that of a chameleon, somehow staring at both of them at once.

The computer had to be older than she was, so they stood in silence for a few minutes before a dinging noise finally sounded.

"Here." Mister Harold said gruffly, gesturing them around to his side of the desk.

One of his eyes watched their movements, the other still on the computer.

Enid tried not to sneeze as a wave of dust was disrupted from their new spots.

"It's security footage from behind his shop. Gerald put up a camera there last year when he thought he was being robbed." Emilia whispers to her as a video begins to play.

It's hard to make out at first, the night vision and ancient technology making things fuzzy.

But then, an expensive looking car pulled quickly into the camera's view.

She noticed the Audi logo on the front of it.

A boy climbed out of the driver's seat and she recognized him immediately.

Patrick.

He was wearing the same fraternity sweater that he had been the night of the bonfire.

Enid felt Emilia squeeze her arm and realized she had been holding her breath.

He stepped up closer to the back entrance and begins dialing a number on his phone.

"There, look in the corner." Emilia says and Enid watches as another car pulls up just barely in frame.

Two men with masks on jump out of the large vehicle and walk slowly toward the unaware boy.

It isn't until a third man leaves the car that she realizes they have guns in their hands.

A gasp leaves her lips as one of them grabs Patrick, covering his mouth with a gloved hand.

Another one binds his hands behind him before bending down to do the same with his legs.

Unfathomably fast, they get him into the backseat of his car, one of the men climbing into the front seat and another into the passenger side.

The sports car peels off into the night. Out of frame.

The last man gets into the larger car and follows quickly behind.

Mister Harold clicks off the footage and turns around in his antique desk chair.

"There. Now get out. And remember our deal." He peers at them over the top of his glasses and one of his eyes glances toward the door.

"Yes sir. Thank you again, Gerald!" Emilia grins as she pushes Enid out of the stuffy room.

"Mister Harold!" His angry voice follows them out of the shop.

Enid is astonished to find the sky is now dark, a few stars dotted overhead.

A glance at her watch tells her it is now seven in the evening.

How? They had gone in there just a little after three, right?

And it'd only been a few minutes.

"Time doesn't seem to work normally here. That's why I was so late." Emilia explains calmly and Enid stares at her bewilderedly.

Their breaths form ghostly clouds in the cold night air.

The other girl shrugs.

"How did you find out he had that video? And what deal did you make with him?!" Enid decides to ignore the time issue temporarily in order to get on to the more pressing matters.

"I got an anonymous tip. Some blocked number texted me that I should look into the security footage at this address." Emilia pulled out her phone to show her the text.

"Who would be helping us?" Enid puzzles, her mind beginning to throb with all the uncertainty.

"I have no clue, but god am I grateful. This is the biggest lead we've had yet!" Emilia puts away her phone.

"We have to take this information to the police." Enid says, rubbing at her temples.

Emilia glances down at her heeled boots sheepishly.

"Actually, that was the deal I made with him... We can't take tell the police anything about it. I had to give him some blackmail on me in exchange." She sighs.

"What? Emilia, are you insane? What blackmail?!" Enid tries desperately to push down the urge to shake her friend.

"Just some sexts between me and one of my professors last semester... Honestly, they were pretty vanilla anyways, so it'd probably only be a suspension if he turned them in." Emilia shrugs nonchalantly.

"What-what professor?" She asks, her eyes wide.

"Dr. Ford. He was my Romantics professor. Not super easy on the eyes or really very romantic, but I needed an A, so..." Emilia waggled her eyebrows.

Enid feels a dizzying mixture of confusion and relief.

At least she wasn't the only one getting involved with teachers.

It made her feel a little less guilty.

"Okay, okay. So, what do we do now?" Enid asked, her mind spinning.

"Well, I managed to record his computer with my phone. I'm going to go home and watch it in slow motion until I can make out the tag of the other car." Emilia said, grinning sneakily.

"Is there anything I should be doing?" Enid's eyes stretched over the shadows around them, nerves filling her again.

"Not yet. Just take your cute little booty back to your dorm and get some sleep. I'll shoot you a text once I find something." She winked at her.

The two girls make their way swiftly back to the café where Enid had left her bike that she'd ridden from class into town.

They had just turned the corner when Enid notices the figure standing before them.

A dark trench coat wrapped over wide shoulders, arms folded angrily in front.

Dante.

Oh no.

She had promised she'd be home two hours ago.

His face is darkened by shadows, but she can see the fury blazing in his emerald eyes.

"You are in so much trouble, little bird."

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Uh oh, Enid's in trouble...

What did you think of Mister Harold?  I had so much fun creating his character and shop.

A new semester of university starts tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure to get this up for you in case my week gets a little busy!

I'll hopefully be updating again later this week, though.

Hope all of you who are headed back to school/work have good first days back!

And you've got Enid's punishment to look forward to (;

All my love,

Sappho ⁑