When Charlie had free time, she opened the locket that had been given to her by the owl and found that there was no photo inside. There wasn't even a place to put a photo in. No frame, nothing. Just an empty pendent. However she found herself more curious about why an owl of all things would give this to her?
"Maybe it was a show owl." Vaggie suggested when Charlie told her about it on their way to school. "You know how a zoo will sometimes train birds of prey to perform tricks. Maybe that owl was a trained performer who escaped from it's cage."
"I guess that would explain the whole collecting items and bringing them to people." Charlie said. "But why bring them to me? And how and where would an owl get flower seeds, a snowglobe, and a locket?"
"Can't say that I have an answer for that one. But that it is pretty weird. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure everything in this town is weird. Just look at Angel."
"Vaggie!" Charlie scolded.
"I'm sorry if that's mean, but you can't honestly say that he's normal."
"Well what's so great about being normal anyway? And besides, Angel is pretty much the only friend we have. You know everyone else in school pretty much ignores us or harasses us. He's the only one in our peer group who actually treats us like human beings."
"Fair point." Vaggie admitted. "But stuff he says and does-"
"It's not our place to judge Vaggie. You should know that better than anyone."
"It's alright toots." Both Vaggie and Charlie jumped in surprise to discover that Angel had been walking behind them the entire time.
"God! Do you have to be such a stalker?!" Vaggie asked in irritation.
"How much of that did you hear?" Charlie asked feeling embarrassed.
"Only the whole thing but I'm not hurt." Angel assured them. "I know what other people think of me and I've accepted it. I can be happy as a freak,"
"Hey I did not say that you were a freak." Vaggie said.
"You didn't need to. It's written all over your face."
"Okay allow me to explain." She said. "I will admit I do find you a little odd and creepy sometimes. I mean you do sneak up and pop up out of nowhere all the time. You collect bugs, mostly spiders which you know I'm afraid of, and you talk about spooky stuff. But I like some things about you. You're inventive and resourceful and funny and cute and-"
She suddenly stopped and covered her mouth, in attempt to hide the slow blush building up.
"What was that last part?" Angel asked.
"Clever!" She said while stammering. "Very clever. Heh, heh."
"Okay." Angel said awkwardly.
"Anyway, I like you Angel but when you do stuff like talking about that story the other night, can you blame me for getting a little unsettled?"
"What story?" Charlie asked.
"I told her the legend surrounding the old bridge." Angel said.
"And it was creepy." Vaggie said. "Just a creepy hoax."
"You don't know for sure that it's a hoax." Angel said.
"If I had money, I'd bet it all on the notion that it is a hoax. This whole legend is probably something made up to scare kids from playing around on the old bridge, so they wouldn't fall off into the creek. We had something similar back in El Salvador. Parents would tell their kids that el chupacabra lived under the railroad tracks to prevent them from playing on it so they wouldn't get their feet caught in the railings and get hit by oncoming trains."
"My grandma says 50 percent of legends are true."
"Your grandma also has a history of pulling faux fortune telling scams. Besides, I thought you didn't actually believe in the supernatural?"
"I'm wary of it. I don't believe everything my grandma says and I'm sure a lot of it is exaggerated but, I believe she has good reason to be afraid. You know some people use fantasy as a form coding. Like when they say monster they mean a really bad person. So supernatural or not, I think my grandma is right about that bridge leading to trouble."
"The only trouble could lead to is a small child falling off and drowning in the creek. And I'll prove it."
"What do you mean?"
"Tonight, after tutoring, I'll walk by there on the way home."
"Is that a good idea?" Charlie asked. "A teenage girl, walking alone in a field, at night? Maybe I should go with you."
"Will Octavia be with you?"
"No. Stolas isn't working tonight. I won't be babysitting." Charlie said. "Will you come too Angel?"
"No way." He said. "You guys know I'm not allowed to go out after dark without adult supervision. And if I ever went anywhere near that bridge, Grandma would murderlize me."
"Scared of your grandma?" Vaggie teased.
"Yes." Angel admitted. "Believe me, she is one old bird that you do not want to provoke."
As usual, they went through town to get to school, but as they were passing by the taxidermy store, a man suddenly stepped out the front door and caused all three of them to stop dead in their tracks. He had stringy grey hair and a scraggly beard, his clothes were tattered and he wore an apron in which each pocket was filled with a tool that sported a blade. Charlie felt a shiver of fright. From behind, she could see a tall and sleek case full of guns and rifles that were locked behind a glass door and just above that were countless dead animal bodies that had been stuffed and mounted.
"What are you three gawking at?" He asked, his voice as cold and unfeeling as his brown eyes were. "Didn't anyone ever teach you rotten kids that it's rude to stare?! Get lost before I make you the first ever human taxidermy!"
They quickly hurried away from him and didn't stop running until he was well out of sight.
"Who was that?" Charlie asked after catching her breath.
"That's the local taxidermist, Mr. Devalcourt." Angel said. "And the town psycho."
"Oh...That was him?" Charlie said. "Blitzo told me about him the other day. He said that he killed his son. Do you believe that?"
"Duh! Did you not see him? His entire look screams serial killer."
"Mom told me to stay away from him." Vaggie said. "And she never has to worry about me disobeying that order."
"So it's true what they say about him?" Charlie asked.
"Well the cops couldn't prove it due to lack of evidence but it's pretty clear what happened to his kid."
"Husk says that he just ran away."
"Husk is a drunk Charlie. You can't believe a word out of his mouth."
"Besides the psycho has his own weapons gallery." Angel added.
"Yes but he is a taxidermist, he needs all those weapons for his job." Charlie said. "I'm not saying I don't believe he's a killer, but I'm not saying that I believe it either. After all, no one really has all the facts."
"Don't be naive Charlie." Vaggie said. "It couldn't be more clear that there is something seriously wrong with that man. He literally threatened to turn us into a human taxidermy. Now that's a red flag if I ever saw one."
"I didn't say that he was perfectly sane and not in desperate need of a therapist. But what if his son really did just run away? Losing a child like that can cause a parent to lose their mind. I know that if anything ever happened to Octavia, Stolas would lose all form of reason and sanity."
"Well if the kid did run away, I don't blame him." Angel said. "With a father like that. Reminds me of my old man, the bastard."
"All I'm saying is, people spread rumors about me all the time and you guys know they're not true." Charlie explained. "So maybe what they say about this man is not true either. I mean, if he really did chop up his own son and hide the body parts, I'm sure the police would have found something eventually."
"Unless he burned them." Vaggie said.
"Or hid them in his freaky projects." Angel said. "I saw something in a movie where a killer sculptor hid the bodies of his victims in his own clay and wax creations."
"Angel you scare me sometimes." Vaggie said.
"Sorry, my family is full of scary people. It's a hereditary trait."
After school, Angel went straight home, Stolas picked up Octavia, and the girls stayed behind to do after-school tutoring. English for Vaggie and math for Charlie. They studied for an hour and a half, then walked on home. It was already dark due to this being a colder time of the year and the dark always made Charlie feel very anxious. She was almost tempted to call Stolas and ask him to pick them up, but she didn't want to look like a coward in front of Vaggie.
"So we're just going to look at the bridge and then go home, right?" Charlie asked.
"Right." Vaggie assured her. "Unless we see something interesting."
"Like what?"
"I'm just kidding. There's probably nothing of interest over there at all."
Before long, they came across the field and made their way over to the bridge. At first, it was just as Vaggie had predicted. Nothing more than a common structure of old wood that was held over a body of water. She pulled out her phone, intending to take a picture as proof to Angel that there was nothing out of the ordinary here. But when she looked carefully through the specially designed lens of her camera phone, she saw that there was no dirt patch on the other side of the bridge.
"What the-"
"What? What is it?" Charlie asked.
"Take a look through the lens here." Vaggie instructed.
Charlie did so and she saw that the dirt land had been replaced by a dark hallway. A corridor of shadows that just appeared out of there.
"What is that?" Charlie wondered out loud.
"I don't know. Is there really something on the other side or it is just the darkness playing tricks?"
Suddenly they heard a distant noise coming from far end of that hallway. It was music. Someone was playing a music. Someone who was on the other side of that bridge.
Now in a situation like this, young people normally have two responses and feelings. They either feel fear and get as far away from the oddity as possible or they feel curiosity and they go to investigate the oddity. Now if it was Octavia or Angel who had discovered this, they would have done the former. Become scared and unnerved, then turn right around and head straight home. But Charlie and Vaggie did no such thing because they were not afraid. They were curious.
So they slowly and cautiously walked across that bridge and entered the hall of darkness, following the music that it gave off. Drawing nearer, Charlie realized that she recognized the melody. It was the kind of music you often heard in calliopes or music boxes. Tunes produced by mechanical devices. She also heard chimes and clocks ticking. And when they finally reached the end of the corridor, there was light and they found themselves entering what they believed to be some form of city or town. The strangest city or town either one of them had ever seen.
All the buildings and the houses seemed to have been constructed with gears and mechanics, while porcelain and marble statues decorated many establishments. But what really took them by surprise were the inhabitants walking about in this place. The people all looked like some child's drawing or an illustration from a storybook come to life. Some were twisted up or stretched up, some had pointed ears and bulging eyes, some were extremely tall or incredibly short, some looked like they were made of porcelain or marble like the statues. And some looked like they were made of gears like a clock would be.
"What is this place?" Charlie asked.
"I have no idea." Vaggie said.
"Why hello girls." Said a woman's voice. "I'm so very glad that you were able to come."
Turning around, they saw a woman smiling down at them. Her skin was the color of bronze which glistened like gold in the light, and she had long, shiny, black hair. Her dress was a fashion of something modern and regal, a dark green garment lined with black thread while black threaded-veil hung over her face. She was tall and pretty, without spot or scruple. But Charlie there was something strange about her eyes. There was so white, almost clear, as clear as glass one would say.
"I'm sorry ma'am but do we know you?" Charlie asked.
"I should say not." The woman chuckled. "I'm your new neighbor and I've been most eager to introduce myself to everyone. You may call me Levana, welcome to my home. Mystique Hollow."
Charlie and Vaggie looked each other, unaware of what they should say or do now.
"Now I think it's only polite that I give you a tour of my home and no doubt you two must be starving by now, I believe a nice dinner is in order."
"That's very kind of you." Charlie said. "But it's late, we don't know you, and-"
"And we're not sure if any of this is real." Vaggie added.
Levana chuckled.
"I understand, how about I call your parents and ask permission to let you two stay for dinner? And while getting that done, I'll have one of my servants give you the tour."
"Servants?" Charlie asked.
She rang a small bell and a very odd-looking person came to her call. He was wearing a mask but it looked like his mask was his face. He wore a floppy coat and instead of eyes, he had red eyes holes that seemed to gleam.
"Dennis, our new neighbors have finally come by to pay us a visit. Won't you be a doll, and show them around?"
"Yes Levana." He said, almost eager to please her. "Right this way ladies."
Charlie and Vaggie were still not sure what to think of all this. Both were sure that one of them was just dreaming and soon they'd wake up in their own bedrooms. So they chose to just go along with the dream, and followed the servant with the strange appearance.