Penelope widened her eyes at Liam in silent acknowledgment that she had heard the voices, too.

"Where...?" she mouthed at him.

Liam looked around then raised his finger to his lips before hooking his arm through hers and pulling her along with him as he crept closer to the building. As they reached the side, he released her, sliding his hand down to her wrist and keeping her at arm's length as he leaned forward. Cupping his hand around his ear, he held it up to one of the boarded-up windows and listened. Then, after a moment, he nodded vigorously and pointed at the blocked window.

Despite the lack of words, Penelope understood exactly what he was trying to say.

The voices were coming from inside.

Liam returned to Penelope's side, his gaze frantically darting around like he was looking for something.

Penelope guessed he might be looking for a way in. She pointed at the door at the front of the building, but Liam shook his head. He stepped back from the building and scanned its structure, before perking up. He had spotted what he needed—an old firewood shelter at the side of the building, hidden beneath the trash and scrap.

Penelope didn't understand, frowning at Liam as he jumped around in excitement. He tried miming something at her but it didn't help, so Liam leaned in close again.

"I'm going to climb up to the roof and look inside," he whispered, his eyes bright as he pointed to the little slit windows set into the roof.

"No!" Penelope hissed back. "It's dangerous!" And it wasn't just the rickety structure of the building—she had no idea what kind of people came out to the middle of nowhere to whisper in old shacks. No one who could be up to anything good, no one she wanted to risk getting caught by. "We should leave right now."

"Not yet," Liam insisted.

Penelope didn't have a chance to object as Liam was already pulling her along the side of the building. He held tight to her wrist as they stepped around the minefield of trash, moving slow and careful to avoid tripping over it and making a bunch of noise.

"This is stupid!" Penelope hissed again.

"Shh!" Liam hissed back. "It's fine."

As they reached the firewood shelter, Liam dropped Penelope's hand.

"Wait, what about—" Penelope began, but sputtered out. She felt very vulnerable without Liam's hand in hers. "You can't just leave me here!"

"It'll just be for a second," Liam said, testing the strength of the roof edge. "Just stay close and keep your eye on me. You'll be okay." And with that, he heaved himself up to the shelter's roof with surprising agility.

Penelope frowned but did as he said, keeping her gaze focussed on him as he scrambled up the shelter's roof. The Raven had never taken her when she was looking directly at someone, it was only when she looked away. As an extra precaution, she wrapped her hands around one of the shelter's support beams like it would help ground her. She listened hard to the woods around them. There was a scattering of distant birdsong but still no sound of the ravens.

That was a good sign...

She watched as Liam pulled himself upright on the shelter's rusted metal roof. The whole structure creaked as he moved... As he reached the edge of the main roof, he waited for a beat, as if to see if whoever was inside might've heard him.

The whispering voices continued, unbothered by the sound of Liam's movements. Penelope guessed that a building this old probably creaked a lot, regardless of whether a teenager was crawling around the roof or not.

With no sign of a reaction, Liam pulled himself up onto the roof. He laid himself down flat and shimmied across, making his way towards one of the slit windows. Once he made it there, he leaned in, peering down into the building's insides. Penelope dug her nails into the wooden beam as she watched and waited. She had to remind herself to breathe.

Then, finally, Liam pulled back from the window. He shimmied back again, sliding off the roof before turning to look down at Penelope. He was smiling. Penelope couldn't understand why as she watched him climb down to the firewood shelter. Once he was closer, Penelope could see that his smile was more of a smirk.

"What did you see?" Penelope whispered as he finally lowered himself off the shelter roof, returning to the safety of even earth.

Liam just laughed to himself as he dusted off the bits of wood and leaves that were now stuck to his flannel shirt. "I really don't want to be that guy..."

"What? What?" Penelope said, abandoning her careful whisper. "Liam, enough with your dramatics, just tell me!"

"My pleasure," Liam said, his dark eyes glinting in the dying light. He took her wrist again and pulled her through the trash minefield, no longer being careful to avoid making noise. Then he marched them up to the front of the building, to the door that Penelope had pointed out earlier. Liam opened it—it wasn't locked—and pushed her inside.

"What is this building?" Penelope asked as she looked around.

There was one small window opposite the door that hadn't been boarded up, though the glass was long gone. It provided enough light to make out the shape of the room. The small addition looked like it was some kind of mudroom, with wooden hooks for coats lining the walls. It kind of reminded Penelope of the cabins she'd slept in at school camp.

"From what I could see up there," Liam said, joining her inside the room, "it's some kind of old bunk house. But that's not what's important. Just give me a second." He moved ahead of her, standing in front of the second door that led further inside. He pulled out his own phone and opened his camera, readying it for video.

"Dammit, Liam, are you going to tell me or not?"

"Well, if you insist," Liam said, flashing her a smile as he hit record, "I told you so."

And then he kicked open the door.

"Hello there!" Liam shouted into the big room on the other side.

There was a scuffle of movement and a few sharp cries of shock. The room was dim, lit only by the gaps in the wood boarding up the windows and the smouldering coals in the large iron stove in the middle of the room. It took Penelope a moment for her eyes to adjust. When they did, she saw that Liam was right—the place did appear to be some kind of bunkhouse. There were two levels of deep shelves, deep enough for someone to lie down on, that ran along each side of the building.

In the center, circled around the iron stove, was a small group of people. Someone was standing in front of it like they had leapt to their feet as Liam barged in. Penelope stepped forward to get a better look. Her mouth fell open once she made out his face in the darkness, staring back at her with an identical look of shock.

"Daevon?" Penelope gasped.

Daevon just stared back. Behind him, Xander was there, too, along with the rest of the crew. The others were cowering on the edges of the bunks, surrounded by sleeping bags and pillows and bags of snack food like they had been staying out here for a while.

Suddenly Liam's smirking made perfect sense. She glanced back at him—he was still holding up his phone and filming the scene—and his still-smug smile told Penelope that he was utterly pleased with himself. As he caught her looking at him, he mouthed the words again.

I told you so.

So, Liam had been right. This was just another hoax. Daevon and Xander and the rest were all perfectly fine. They had been laying low, camping out, while the town and the authorities and the internet were in a frenzy looking for them.

Penelope felt her face flush with the heat of anger. "What the fuck are you doing, hiding out here?" she spat, advancing on Daevon.

Daevon just sputtered, cowering back from her. "P-Penelope, it's not—"

But Penelope didn't want to hear his excuses. "You have some nerve! Do you know that everyone in town is looking for your dumb ass? And you've been wasting the time of all these people, these good people, just for some stupid stunt!"

"But—"

"Shut up!" Penelope snapped. Daevon shrank back even more, and Penelope heard a strange clanking noise as he hit the edge of the stove. "I don't want to hear any more of your excuses. After this and what you did to me... Your 'career' is so over. We're going to post this video—" Penelope pointed at Liam, who was still holding his phone up, "—and expose you for the fake that you are." There was something invigorating about saying that—finally Penelope would get the chance to show the world just the kind of person he was.

Payback's a bitch, she thought viciously.

"Penelope, please, listen to me!" Daevon finally shouted over her. He grabbed her shoulders. "This isn't what you think! You have to get out of here!"

Penelope shrugged off his hands and stared at him in disbelief. "What?"

"You have to leave," Daevon said, his blue eyes piercing even in the darkness. "Now!"

"Are you fucking kidding?" Xander piped in, jumping up. Again, there was a strange clanking. "Your chick and her simp can't just leave, they need to free us first!"

"Simp?" Liam snapped back. "Fuck you, you washed-up hack. Aren't you a little old to be dressing like some emo edgelord?"

"Washed up?" Xander snarled. "What the fuck do you know? You're just some hick kid—"

Liam and Xander continued arguing, but Penelope wasn't listening. Free them? she wondered, Xander's words echoing through her head. Penelope looked around at the film crew, wondering what the hell he was talking about, but it was too dark to really see much.

She dug her phone out, turned on its flashlight, and aimed it at Daevon.

"Jesus!" Daevon cried as he recoiled from the bright light, holding his hand up to shield his eyes. As she looked him over, he looked pretty much fine. A little grubby from roughing it, sure, but fine. Then her eye caught on his wrist, where there was something wrapped around it... Some kind of cuff...

Penelope leaned forward, reaching out to touch it. It was cold under her fingers. Metal. And it was... attached to a chain.

"What the hell?" Penelope muttered under her breath as she drew the light down the length of the chain. As the light reached Daevon's feet, she saw that there was a matching set of metal cuffs wrapped around his ankles.

Daevon had been shackled.

She flashed her light around, checking the others. They each wore a similar set of shackles, also attached to long chains that met around the thick base of the iron stove. Around the foot of the stove was a scattering of broken tools, as if they had tried over and over to break their chains, but had failed.

"What the fuck is going on?" Liam said, finally lowering his phone. He had seen the chains now, too.

"Isn't it obvious, genius?" Xander shot back. "We're being held prisoner!"

"What? Why? By who?" Penelope said.

"That doesn't matter!" Daevon snapped. "You've got to get out of here! Before he comes back!"

"No! She's got to free us!" Xander interjected.

"He's right," Penelope agreed, turning back to Daevon. "I'm not just going to leave you here."

"Yeah?" Daevon said. He was starting to sound annoyed. "And just how are you going to break these chains?"

Penelope froze. He was right. They didn't have anything on them that would cut through the thick metal links. But maybe there was something in the SUV. Beth or Henry must keep a few spare tools in the back—

A loud rumbling echoed through the building, coming up from below like the foundation itself was shaking.

"What the fuck was that?" Liam asked.

"That has been happening a lot," Xander explained. "This old building isn't exactly stable. Yet another reason you two need to get us out of here."

But his demand was punctuated by another sound.

The slam of a car door.

One of the crew members leapt up, crawling onto the upper bunks and shimmying over to one of the boarded-up windows. He wasn't quite able to reach it, so had to stretch his neck forward to peer through the gap between the boards.

"Fuck," he said, looking down at the others. "He's coming!"

Who is he? Penelope wondered. But she didn't get the chance to ask as Daevon grabbed her by the shoulders, spun her around and shoved her towards Liam.

"You have to get out here!" he cried.

"No! W-Wait!" Penelope sputtered, but Liam listened to Daevon. He was already leading her away, back towards the door. But as they reached it, they heard movement on the other side of the door...

The others had heard it, too.

"Shit! He's already here!" the crew member still on the upper bunks whispered.

"Go the other way!" Daevon hissed, frantically pointing to the other end of the building. There was a door there and Penelope remembered that there was another addition on the back of the building.

Maybe it had a way out.

She grabbed Liam's wrist and pulled, running past Daevon and the others who leapt out of their way. Penelope didn't even bother to look back as she threw herself against the other door. Thankfully it was unlocked and they both stumbled through, slamming it behind them.

Not a moment too soon. As Liam and Penelope gasped for breath, they heard a new voice on the other side. It was muffled by the door, so they couldn't make out much, but she could tell that the new voice sounded annoyed.

Penelope wondered if whoever it was had heard their exit. They hadn't exactly been quiet. If someone came looking...

"We have to get out of here," Penelope said, scanning the room. She pushed herself off the closed door and began looking around with her still-on flashlight. The backroom looked like it had been used for storage, with towering stacks of rotting boxes piled in every corner. But as Penelope scanned the walls, she only found windows, no doors...

"Shit!" she muttered. "There's no way out!"

"What?" Liam hissed. He was looking around, too. "What about the windows? Maybe we can open them."

"Maybe!" Penelope whispered back. The two of them clambered over the piles of rotting boxes, each taking one of the windows.

But as Penelope tried to push up the frame, careful not to cut herself on the broken panes, she found that her window was stuck fast. "Dammit! It's no use!"

"Fuck!" Liam muttered under his breath. He had found similar results.

"What now?" Penelope asked.

Liam looked like he was at a loss. "Maybe we can break them and climb through?"

But before they could, they were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Penelope's chest seized. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide...

"Here!" Liam hissed.

Penelope turned. Liam was pointing at a set of grimy stone stairs that led down into darkness, to some kind of cellar. Penelope felt her skin crawl as she imagined the state of such a place. The damp, the dirt, the spiders...

But what other choice did she have?

She followed Liam as he darted down the dark steps.