The paramedics were done with her. They now busied themselves with tidying up the back of their ambulance while they left Penelope to sit beneath the shiny silver blanket. Figuring if they weren't monitoring her she must be considered fine, Penelope quietly shrugged off the crinkly blanket and slid off the bumper, sneaking after Martha and the other SAR personnel.

The Search and Rescue team members didn't notice her trailing behind them as they reached the other officials, carrying the camera to Officer Duncan. Officer Duncan looked up as the team approached. His already dour face turned into a full scowl as he noticed the camera in Martha's gloved hands.

"Is that one of theirs? How can we tell?" he asked aloud, turning to the other officers that were gathered around him. "Do we have a list of their equipment somewhere?"

"Uh, I think we do, somewhere!" replied one of the younger-looking officers before they darted off to go search for it.

"Or we could just check if there's any footage," Martha suggested, offering it to Duncan.

He didn't take it. "I don't know how to work that thing. We'll have to send it back to the station," he replied with a derisive sniff like technology was some ancient magic that couldn't be trusted.

"We should check it now, if we can," Martha replied with a frustrated huff, rescinding the camera. "It could provide crucial clues on what might've happened to them. Clues we could use now."

"Well, then go for it," he said, with a shrug, "if you know how." He rolled his eyes. His sliding gaze caught on Penelope as she lurked on the edges of their group. "Wait a minute. You!"

For a moment, Penelope froze like prey under the eyes of a predator as all the people in the group turned to look at the intruder.

Martha frowned as she saw Penelope. "Hey! Get out of here! This isn't a conversation for civilians, you shouldn't—"

"No, wait," Officer Duncan said, his eyes brightening for the first time since this morning. "Gunnar said you knew them, didn't he? Are you familiar with their equipment? Do you recognize this camera?"

"U-Uh, w-well," she sputtered, her voice shaking. "Maybe? I-I'd need to take a closer look."

Officer Duncan waved his hand through the air, motioning for Martha to bring Penelope closer to look at the camera. Martha's frown deepened like she didn't think this was a good idea, but she did as her team leader said, stepping aside to allow Penelope space to move closer. Penelope skittered forward in case Martha changed her mind and closed her out again.

Once she was within view, Martha held out the camera to her. Penelope reached out to take it, but Martha yanked it back.

"Don't touch it!" Martha snapped. "This is evidence and you're not wearing gloves."

"Someone get her some gloves, will ya?" Officer Duncan called to his team.

As someone else scrambled off to find another pair of the same disposable rubber gloves Martha was wearing, Penelope settled for leaning closer.

Upon closer inspection, it really did look like one of Daevon's cameras. She couldn't remember the exact model, but it was definitely the same brand. And as she looked closer, she saw that there was a long scratch on the side of the grip. 

Daevon had gotten a scratch on his camera in the exact same place, back when they were doing that shoot at a haunted hotel. As they were doing their initial tour, a door had creaked open unexpectedly, startling him and causing him to drop his camera, leaving that thin gouge in the plastic casing.

Penelope swallowed. It felt like she was choking down rocks. Her eyes stung, making her vision go blurry. "Y-Yeah, I-I'm pretty sure that's Daevon's camera."

"Dammit," Officer Duncan muttered. He pushed back his hat and scratched at the mostly-grey hair underneath. "Dammit. That's bad news, isn't it?"

"It could be good news, too," Martha piped up again, her tone sharp. "This means we're on the right trail. And if there's footage on here, it could give us an idea of what happened."

Officer Duncan just narrowed his eyes at Martha, like he wasn't convinced.

Martha wasn't cowed. "This is exactly why we need to watch it."

Officer Duncan looked back at Penelope. "Do you know how to work this thing? Could you get the footage up?"

Penelope gave a short nod. Though Daevon usually handled all their equipment, she knew well enough how to operate it all... "S-Sure," she mumbled. "If its still working... or if there's any battery left." If the camera had been left in the woods overnight, she couldn't guarantee it would turn on at all.

Finally, someone came out of the crowd and offered Penelope a pair of plastic gloves. She pulled them on—their dusty insides made her skin crawl—and finally Martha allowed her to hold the camera. Out of habit she slid her hand into the grip and popped out the touch screen display. To her surprise, it lit up. The camera still had a bit of battery left, though only a sliver. If they were lucky, they'd get a little bit of viewing time.

Martha came around to lean over Penelope's shoulder as she pulled up the clips saved in the memory card. Thankfully, she didn't have to sort through many; there was just the one, its thumbnail a shot of the familiar green forest. The timestamp showed that it had been filmed the day before—the day Daevon and the crew had gone missing.

Suddenly Penelope wasn't so sure she wanted to see what was in that footage. She wished she had been smart enough to stay at the ambulance and let the professionals handle this.

But it was too late for that—the professionals were now watching her, waiting.

With a big inhale, Penelope selected the clip and hit play.

It began with the forest, just like the thumbnail showed. Then the camera turned, all the way around, to an unflattering close-up of Daevon's face. His familiar features filled the tiny screen and he was wearing the grey toque Penelope had given him for Christmas.

It sent a cold rush through Penelope's veins. So it was his hat they had found, then.

On-screen, Daevon's face was screwed up in concentration like he was inspecting the lens of the camera.

"How's your camera doing?" someone asked off-screen. "Is it being weird, too?"

Daevon turned away from the lens to look at whoever had spoken. "Nah, so far, so good," he replied with a shrug. But as he said it, the footage seemed to distort, sending bright streaks shooting across the screen.

"That's your friend, right?" Officer Duncan said. Penelope recoiled for a moment. She hadn't realized that he had joined Martha in looking over her shoulder.

"Yeah, t-that's him," Penelope said. She wanted to correct him using the term 'friend' to describe what Daevon was to her but now was not the moment.

On the camera's little screen, Daevon's conversation continued. "Then let's use your camera for now," the other person said. A member of Xander's crew, Penelope assumed. "Xander might not like it, but it's all we've got. Our viewers might dig the Blair Witch vibes."

Daevon laughed and turned the camera around again, this time focussing on the person in front of him. Even though the screen was small and the figure was far away, Penelope could tell it was Xander. The guy was dressed in all black, even while out hiking in the woods.

"Are we finally ready?" Xander shouted, sounding impatient. "This is why I always tell you to bring extra batteries!"

"It's not the batteries!" another off-screen voice replied, also impatient. Penelope figured it must be another crew member.

"Yeah, our cameras are just wigging out," said the other voice from before. "They're not recording for some reason."

"We've got a back up though," Daevon chimed in. "We can use my camera."

"Ugh, that piece of crap?" Xander said with audible disgust, then he threw his arms in the air. He swore under his breath then spun around again. "Forget it, forget it, it's fine. I just want to get this shit done. I cannot wait to get our cheque and get the hell out of this shithole town. Get the clapper ready."

As he said it, one of the crew members dove into view of Daevon's camera with the black-and-white film clapper at the ready. "Xander Green's Dark Xplorations, season 9, episode 4. Action!" he said and dropped the clapper's top down with a loud snap.

When he stepped back, Xander was posed and ready. He was in a wide stance with his arms crossed over his muscled chest, his head turned down. Then, after a moment, his head snapped up to face the camera, his eyes fixed on the lense with a sharp glare. "Welcome back," he began in his usual gravelly tone. "We're here today in the very woods where a local man claimed to have seen a mysterious being known only as the Raven. We're going to be retracing that man's steps in hopes that we, too, may make contact with that mythic creature that haunts these woods." He stretched his arms wide and leaned his head back—

The footage distorted again, stretching and blowing out with bright colours. When it settled again, Xander was still where he was, though Penelope thought that the forest looked kind of... different.

Or was that just her imagination?

"Raven!" Xander called with top dramatics. "Are you here with us today?"

Almost immediately, something black swooped past his head. Xander cowered into a crouch. Whatever flew by landed on a nearby stump and squawked while Daevon followed it with the camera. While it was not the Raven Xander had been calling, it was a raven, just a little one.

"Did you see that?" Xander cried out, like he had never seen a bird in his life. "This creature reacted when we called out to the Raven. It must be related. Maybe it's a messenger. Do you have a message for us, oh great Raven?"

The bird flapped its little wings and let out a weird cackle almost as if it was laughing at him.

There was a louder squawk, closer to the camera. Daevon pointed it up, towards the tree canopy overhead. Another raven had landed on a branch just above Daevon's head and was peering down at him. In response, Daevon zoomed in on its dark, beady eyes.

"Keep the camera on me!" Xander shouted at Daevon.

Daevon quickly adjusted the camera so that it was focussed back on Xander. Behind him, Penelope noticed that more black birds had settled into the surrounding trees.

"As you can see, the local wildlife is no stranger to—"

The bird nearest Xander gave a loud screech.

Xander glared at the bird.

"As you can see," he began again, "the local wildlife—"

Another screech.

"Shut the hell up, you stupid bird," Xander grumbled. He waited for a moment, to make sure the bird wouldn't squawk again, then started over. "As you can see—"

The bird let out yet another scream, this one the loudest of them all.

"Okay, that's enough!" Xander snapped, swiping out at the bird. "Get the fuck out of here!"

It easily hopped out of the way and gave a sharp cry, like it was offended, before flapping its wings and ascending to a higher branch.

"That's better," Xander grumbled. "Now—"

Another one of the birds dove off a branch over Xander's head and swooped down, swiping at his long, dark hair.

"What the fuck?" Xander cried, ducking out of the way. But another bird had descended on him. Then another. Xander was flailing, trying to keep them at bay. "What the fuck is with these birds?"

"I-I don't know!" Daevon replied, his voice going squeaky and high-pitched like it always did when he was really afraid. "But let's get the hell out of here!"

Xander began to run toward Daevon, dodging the diving birds—just as the footage cut out as the camera's battery finally died.

"Huh," Officer Duncan said with a low voice. "Did that give you anything to go on, Martha?"

"It did," Martha replied, her tone much less bothered. "It looks like they must've stumbled near a raven nest or something, riled the birds up, and then got separated and lost when they were being chased."

"That happens?" Officer Duncan said, sounding skeptical.

"Yeah," Martha replied, her tone turning sharp. "Ravens are like any animal, they protect their nest if they feel threatened. Though, it is odd that there's a bunch of them like that. It's too late for their breeding season and they usually don't gather in groups like that until winter..." Martha tilted her head like she was thinking about it.

Officer Duncan mumbled some response like he wasn't particularly interested in bird facts.

Penelope pressed her lips together. Martha's explanation sounded so simple, so normal. She wanted to believe it was something as simple as Xander's bad behaviour had pissed off the birds.

But the tightening knot in her gut told her it wasn't that easy.

Penelope wanted to say something, but she didn't know what she could say to convince them that it all might be something more... They might just think she was like Henry—crazy. But there were worse things in the world...

"What if—" Penelope began.

But Officer Duncan wasn't listening. He snatched the dead camera out of Penelope's hands and handed it off to one of the other officers. "Take it to the station and pick up a cable to charge it up again. Hank's computer store will probably have it."

"Wait!" Penelope said, reaching for the camera. She didn't want to let it go.

He turned back to Penelope. "Hey, easy there. You've done more than enough, it's time to leave this to the professionals."

"But..." Penelope began.

Her dad suddenly came up behind her and put a firm hand on her shoulder, making her jump.

How long had he been there? she wondered.

"He's right Penelope," her dad said. "You've already had quite an eventful day. Let's get you home. If they need your help, they'll know where to find us." He gave a small smile to the Officer. "We're staying at Beth's campground. Cabin 1."

Officer Duncan nodded with disinterest and told someone nearby to write that down before turning away again.

Penelope didn't want to leave just yet. She didn't like the idea that Daevon was just out there, in the woods, with the Raven loose. But she didn't know what else she could do. She didn't resist when her dad began to pull her away from the investigators and towards the truck.