The bird croaked like it understood and then took off. It flew to the branch of another tree a little further away and looked back at her expectantly, waiting for her to follow as she said she would.

With a deep breath, Penelope took her first tentative step, like she worried the forest around her might melt away, revealing the scene to be a dream at last. The world seemed as steady as ever, so she kept walking. As she walked, the neon tape stretched out behind her from its place in her pocket. She wove between the trees, winding the tape around their trunks, sometimes stopping to wrap it around a branch or two. This would make sure her path was marked. That way, she could find her way back—or someone could follow her trail after her.

The bird waited patiently as she did this. It didn't seem to be in any hurry, as long as she was following.

When she reached the tree the raven was sitting in, it took off again, flying to a tree a little further ahead. She caught up again and it flew off to the next tree. It kept up this hopping gait, slowly but surely leading her to its destination.

More of its kind flew overhead, calling out with their guttural cries. Where the tree canopy thinned in places, Penelope could catch a glimpse of the hundreds of black birds streaking across the grey sky overhead. They were all flying in the same direction...

The same direction her little raven guide was leading her.

Suddenly, the woods opened up onto a strip of bare ground. It was almost out of nowhere like she blinked and there it was. It wasn't quite a meadow, more like a wound in the lush green, where the ground was suddenly a deep rocky divet where nothing grew, not even grass. Her raven guide flew easily across the gap and sat in a tree on the other side, beckoning her onward with its silent beady stare.

Penelope lingered on the edge into the rocky gap. Something about this space felt like a border, the point of no return. If she crossed this space, she might not come back.

She couldn't help but wonder if this was where Daevon, Xander, and their crew had ended up. Had they crossed over here? Penelope twisted a lock of her hair as she debated it.

The raven on the other side squawked as if to urge her on.

She'd already come this far...

She set her jaw and took the neon tape from her pocket. She wound it several times around the trunk of a tree at the very edge of the clearing. Whatever happened to her beyond this point, this would be a clear signal that she had been here. Hopefully, this would help someone find her if she got lost, too.

As she pulled the ribbon taut around the tree, she realized that its bark was strangely textured. Running her hands along its surface, she turned her gaze upwards. Its branches were woven together in a tight, intricate pattern, almost like braided knots. This tree was not like the others she had seen, which had been young and springy, easy to bend and weave. This tree was tall and old, its wood fusing the knots together as it grew thick. This pattern had been made a long time ago...

Penelope stepped back from it, admiring it for a moment before the raven called to her with another squawk.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," she said. She made her first tentative step forward, into the gap. The neon ribbon in her pocket pulled tight. She tugged on it, trying to get it to keep unrolling, but the tape stretched and then snapped, sending her stumbling.

Suddenly there was a tight hand squeezing at her arm, pulling her back towards the woods.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Penelope turned. It was Liam. He had hold of her arm, staring at her with wide, intense eyes. His face was ashen.

"I was... I was just walking!" she shouted back. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"You were just walking?" Liam snapped back, ignoring her question. "Off the edge of a cliff?"

"What? What cliff?" Penelope asked.

Liam turned her around again, facing her towards the rocky gap. Only the gap was a chasm now. They were on the edge of a cliff, just like Liam had said. She could clearly see over the cliff's drop to the swollen, rushing river below.

Penelope staggered back, against Liam, pushing them both away from the brink. He kept a tight hold on her, winding an arm around her waist as if to keep her from slipping away over the edge.

"I—I was somewhere else... I wasn't..." she sputtered.

As she blinked at the change of scenery, the memory of her dream from that morning came back to her. She had dreamed of this place, of this cliff, of falling off the edge. She looked across the gorge, to the forest on the other side. It, too, looked just like the scene from her dream—it was lush and thick and green. And just like her dream, there was a swarm of black birds circling over the treetops.

Only there was something else, too. Something that hadn't been in her dream.

It was hard to see at a distance, but the bright shade of pink made it stand out against the green of the forest. There, tied around the trunks of one of the perfectly straight trees, was a small length of neon marking tape, its torn ends flapping in the wind.

"Liam? Where are you, honey?" came Beth's worried voice from behind them.

"I'm over here!" Liam called back. "I found her!"

Despite hearing Beth's calling for them, it was Penelope's dad who appeared first. He ran out of the trees, his eyes wild as he looked left and right. As he spotted her and Liam, he charged at them, pulling Penelope from Liam's grip and into his arms.

"Careful, dad! There's a cliff!" she said in a squeaky voice as he lifted her off the ground.

"I was so worried! I was so worried I was going to lose you, too! " he cried, squeezing her tighter. "What the hell happened?" He pulled back, finally putting her back on her own feet. "You just disappeared!"

"It's a, uh, well, a long—I don't—" she babbled. As she wasn't quite sure what she had experienced, where she had gone, she wasn't sure how to put it into words. She did, however, now feel felt stupid for following after the beckoning raven with such eagerness. If something had happened to her, if Liam hadn't been there to yank her back from the literal cliff's edge, her dad would've... Her chest tightened at the thought. "I-I don't really know what happened."

Her dad frowned, his eyes narrowing, like he didn't really understand—or believe—that answer. He didn't look like he was going to push, though... At least, not yet. "Well, we can talk about it later. Let's just get you out of here, okay?"

"But what about the search?" Penelope asked like it suddenly mattered.

"Forget about the search," her dad said, pulling her back towards the woods. "They'll manage without us."

As her dad led her away, she shot a glance over her shoulder to Liam, who was following behind. The gaze he returned was sharp but whatever anger he had been holding onto earlier was no longer there. Instead, he looked almost ravenous, like he was barely restraining himself from demanding answers about where she had gone. He hadn't believed her weak excuses, either—he knew better.

Beth was here now, too, waiting for them at the tree line. Her mouth was set into a worried line, her brows tensed together in a way that reminded Penelope of her son. "You okay, hun?" she asked as Penelope got closer.

"I-I'm fine," Penelope said, her voice shaking. "I just got a little lost."

Behind her, soft enough that she was sure that no one else would notice, Penelope heard Liam snort.

Beth nodded. "The woods can be tricky like that. We're just glad you're okay."

Inside the forest, one of the SAR members was waiting for them too, the same tall woman who had given out their supplies. Martha. Her stern face softened when she spotted Penelope and she heaved a great big sigh of relief.

"Oh, good, you're alive," she said. She then tugged on the radio that was fastened to the shoulder strap of her overalls. It crackled to life when she pressed a button. "This is Martha. We've got her. She looks okay, but I'm sending her back to base to get her checked out by the paramedics. Over."

As soon as she released the button, a responding message came right through. "Roger. Glad to hear it. We'll tell the medics to expect you. Once you've delivered her, can you head back out? We need your help—we've got something to take back for forensics. Over."

A sharp chill erupted over Penelope's skin. Forensics? Why would they need forensics? She shot another worried glance back at Liam, but his expression was flat. This was the first he was hearing of it, too.

"Roger. Over," Martha said, before marching off through the undergrowth leading the way back to the ad-hoc base they had set up at the clearing.

"What did they find?" Penelope asked.

"I don't know," Martha said in her no-nonsense tone. "I wasn't there."

Penelope dug her teeth into her inner cheeks. She wanted to shout at Martha, demand that she ask for that information, but she thought better of it.

Despite how far Penelope had walked into the woods while following the little raven, the walk back out was entirely different, taking barely any time at all. Just another strange thing for Penelope to add to her ever-growing list.

As soon as they stepped back into the clearing where the officials had made their base camp, the paramedics leapt into action. It looked like they had been waiting. They hopped out of the open back of the ambulance that had been parked off to the side, kits in hand, and barrelled down on their group. Martha stepped back to let them have her.

"I'm fine!" Penelope protested, shrinking back against her dad.

"I'm sure you are, but we just need to check you for shock," said the first paramedic, a wiry young guy with dirty blonde hair. "It's procedure."

Penelope looked to her dad for salvation, but he shrugged and gave her a half-smile.

"Ya gotta do it kid," he said. "Just get it over with and then we can get you out of here."

Penelope sighed and let them take her. As they pulled her over to the ambulance, they squeezed her hands and asked her a bunch of rapid-fire questions. Penelope forgot her answers as soon as she gave them. When they got to the vehicle, they sat her down on the bumper—Penelope was at least thankful that they didn't force her onto the stretcher—and threw a shiny, crinkly sheet across her shoulders. The questions continued as they shined a light in her eyes and checked her head and neck.

Nearby, her dad, Beth, and Liam stood watch, waiting for it to be over. Martha was already gone. For the first time in hours, Liam met her eye and gave her a small smile as if to offer his silent condolences. That looks like it sucks.

Penelope smiled back, then sighed and rolled her eyes. It does. But she was glad that Liam was being nice to her again.

There was a commotion over by the tree line and Penelope's eyes were drawn away from Liam. From the trees, a few SAR personnel emerged, Martha included. With gloved hands, she carried a small black object in her hands.

Penelope sighed again, releasing the tension she didn't know she was holding from her shoulders. Her anxiety had painted an image in her mind of them returning with some gruesome discovery. Whatever they had found was something, not someone.

Thank heavens for that, she thought.

But as they carried it past her, Penelope shuddered. It was a camera, and not one of the bulky professional ones that she had seen Xander's crew wielding at the campground. This was a smaller model, handheld...

She couldn't be sure, but it looked just like Daevon's camera.