Dark Enchantment ☽ The Abridged Edition

☽ Secrets ☾ Part 1 ✩

The wind howled across the trees as we sat in the lush, vibrant garden sipping tea. Our little library was in a quaint spot, a nice place to relax and unwind. It was quiet almost all the time, aside from the odd teen or loud tourist running through. We were lucky in that our library was well funded — mainly through local donations and drives they did during the tourist months, but still. In my old city, it was hard to go to the library. Not because it was out of the way or hard to find, but because it was completely, utterly vile. It'd become a place for shady people to linger at night, and kids to wreak havoc whilst their parents left them alone for an hour. To top it all off, it was small, without even the smallest bit of character to it.

The Ravenswood library was the opposite. It had charm and history, and the people who spent time there were quiet, there for their own reasons - not for dealing drugs somewhere they thought was safe from the police. And of course, this library had Tilly. I'd always admired librarians, thought that they were the central figures of a community. My old city didn't get the memo, however - the minimum wage librarians and clerks didn't give a shit. They didn't know much about anything. Tilly knew everything there was to know about Ravenswood, and then some. She knew the local lore, the legends, the myths. She knew everything and everyone.

"How's the work treating you?" She asked as she brought her mug of warm black tea to her lips. "I bet you've been rushed off your feet."

I had been. "Tourist season is always busy," I said. "It's quietened down now. It cut off about a week or two ago, I've had the odd one or two come in looking for some last minute gifts. It's been a good few weeks for me, I'll admit."

Tilly laughed and brushed her wiry brown hair out of her face. "Well, that's good to hear. It's been real nice here in the library too. Tons of folks have been coming in and checking things out, plenty of nice out of towners coming in and buying little gifts and books about Ravenswood. We even held an event!"

"An event!" I leaned forward with curiosity. Ravenswood wasn't particularly known for it's events, and the library wasn't much of an exception outside of the donation drives. "What was it about?"

Her shoulders raised as she cheekily grinned. "We had this author come by. I don't know why she wanted to come here of all places, but she said that she'd been inspired by Ravenswood. I'd never heard of her, but she drew quite the crowd."

Interesting — an author who'd been inspired by Ravenswood. I could understand that - Ravenswood had a certain mystery to it, a certain vibe that most places couldn't quite compare to. I could imagine if she was writing a thriller or horror, even a mystery, Ravenswood could've been the perfect background setting.

"Oh yes," she said, bemused. "Really lovely woman, I think her name was... Patty? Patty something. But that was lovely. We had cakes and coffee, even tiny little sandwiches. You know, like those fancy afternoon teas they have."

Afternoon tea was something I'd never indulged in - but I had heard of it.
"Sounds like a blast. Actually, the reason I came here was because I wanted to see if you knew anything about someone who I think has just moved in."

"Hm, Adrian."

Part of me was taken aback. "Well, yes, how did you know?"

"Not many people have been moving in lately. If anything, people have been moving out. But yes, I know him. He came to see me just last week."

I nodded as I took a deep swig of my coffee. "Well, anything?"

Tilly began to chuckle. "Aside from that he's filthy rich?" She'd piqued my curiosity. "I jest! I jest! I don't think he's filthy, filthy rich. I just know that he's moved into the old manor house. He came to see me wondering if I had any of the old plans for the house, anything about it. That sort of thing. Seems like he has quite the interest in history - you two would probably get along like a house on fire!"

"Well, I guessed that he might have an interest in history. He seems really nice, but I wanted to know if you knew anything else about him. We actually met a few nights ago, and it was... strange."

Tilly leaned forward and raised her brows. "Did he do something?"

"Nothing like that." I tried to remember the night in question. The more I thought about it, though, the less I could pinpoint why it was so peculiar. "He showed up, in the middle of the night, just as I was about to close up the shop. Well, actually, he was skulking around in my alley." I laughed uneasily. "He was covered in blood, bruised, battered."

She pulled her hand to her mouth and inhaled sharply. "Whatever could've happened to him? And, do you know if he's alright now?"

I nodded. "I do. He actually came back to see me," I laughed. My cheeks began to turn a pinkish red.

"Ah. Do you have a bit of a crush for our mystery man?"

Nope. I did not. "I don't-"

Tilly cut me off. "He is quite handsome, isn't he? Well, if I were twenty years younger maybe I'd have something to say about him visiting me in the middle of the night, too." She smirked and leaned back in the old, cozy chair cushioned by years of colourful fabric scraps.

"It isn't that — I just think it's all so strange. He said that he'd gotten into a bit of an argument with some guy, he swore that it was a tourist. And then he was just... gone. Something's up with him, but I don't know what."

Tilly shrugged her shoulders and glanced around the room. "Well, I think he seems perfectly fine and normal, if a bit... out of place for this town. If it would help put your mind at ease, though, I can show you what he was looking for. There was some stuff he was looking at after he'd asked me about the plans, I didn't think much of it, and I probably shouldn't be letting you see what another customer was looking for, either. But still - might be some bits in there that can help you get to know him a bit better... he seemed interested in the stuff he found."

I raised a brow. "What was he looking for?"

"Family records, news articles, things of that sort. Nothing riveting. I assume more research into the house. It wasn't a cheap place to buy, I know that much, so it reasons that he bought it for the history and just wants to learn more about it."

I was interested. If nothing else, there was at least something in there that I could have a conversation with Adrian about.