Chapter 23: A Breach of Trust

Emma and Nathaniel continued trying to piece together how it all went down, that masquerade ball. Were the aftershocks from the ending of the ball not so bad, they would have thought that they got away scot-free. Of course, the danger was by no means over the Order of the Veil out there, its goal nothing less than the destruction of Eldridge Falls. But before the trauma of that night could get a chance to heal for Emma, for Nathaniel, another threat occurred: someone had come to town-a stranger-and was causing trouble. His name was Gabriel, a thief. He had been stealing from the townsfolk; also, he was rumoured to be in league with the Order of the Veil. It was then kept in a museum of the town. Gabriel kept a lookout for it and planned to steal and sell it to the Order. They know they must apprehend him before that falls into his hands. They hence tailed him inside the museum and confronted him. A fight ensued, with Emma and Nathaniel quite incapable of matching Gabriel's speed and agility, as he had disarmed them, knocking them onto the ground. Just as he was about to lay hands on the artefact, a figure emerged from the back of the shadows. It was Olivia. She had followed him everywhere, just waiting for him finally to land in an after-the-fact position of theft. She had followed him into the museum and knew this was her chance to apprehend him. She struggled hard-she was no match for Gabriel's strength he sent her flying onto the ground-just about to strike her when Nathaniel lunged at him. They were very, very aggressive with each other, and Nathaniel was fighting back, rattling the blows in the museum. Finally, he was able to disarm Gabriel. He held him down to the ground and then pointed a gun at him. Gabriel's face showed both fear and defiance, hissing to say to Nathaniel, "You'll regret this." With that, Gabriel broke free from the hold of Nathaniel and then out of the museum. Emma and Nathaniel chased after him, but he was too late, for he vanished into the night. There, they knew Gabriel would come the worst yet to pass, but they were safe then had one another. A different menace hovered over the town. Again, Emma and Nathaniel were to face their fears and frailties. Where was the strength to garner and overcome whatever menace hovered above, or would they give in to the darkness standing at their brink?