The hiking group didn't return till almost sunset. Moira and Amy had returned an hour beforehand to find Scarlet and Graham seated on the upstairs deck placing flowers between the pages of one of her books. Empty plates were stacked next to them with crumbs left from their lunch.

When the rest of the group returned, they collapsed into couches and chairs around the living room. Spencer and Phoebe were the only two who looked ready to party. Mike dropped down next to Graham and spread his arms out to either side over the back of the couch.

"Aw, did someone get tired on their hike?" Graham teased, pushing Mike away from him slightly.

Mike flopped to the other side dramatically. "It was a good hike, jerk," he mumbled.

The new space between them was tiny but Phoebe wormed her way into it and pulled out her phone. "The views were awesome, look," she said, shoving the phone at him. Picture after picture of idyllic forest sights passed by. The trail seemed to meander from one end of the forest to the other, eventually taking the party up a mountain.

The photos took him above the trees for a while until Graham swiped to a cave entrance. "You know there are bears around, right?" Graham asked. He shook the phone at her to bring her attention to the image.

"We checked for bear tracks, it was fine," Spencer assured him. "But look what we found."

Urged by the rest of the group, Graham flipped to the next photo. It showed one of the walls in the cave. Light still touched every part of it so they couldn't have been very far inside. Handprints dragged across the wall in reds and blacks and orange. The fingers were unnaturally long, most likely from my being pulled down the surface before the palm was pressed to the wall.

Beside the handprints were slop[ily painted images of what looked like birds. The curled claws wrapped around oddly shaped people. The photos ended with a shot showing a deeper section of the cave. It was only darkness a few feet past the paintings.

Phoebe took her phone back to zoom in on the dark. "You can't see it very clearly in the photo, but there were more paintings further in," she told him. Now zoomed in, it was just barely possible to make out a few smudges along the wall. Most noticeable were the deer antlers. Their prongs pointed out at every angle. One large set of antlers had been painted to shadow all of the smaller ones.

"I wanted to go further in but, Nora said it was probably haunted," Mike muttered.

Maya scoffed from across the room. "That's not a thing. Places aren't haunted, there's always an explanation," she said.

"Then explain the weird moaning," Nora argued. "And don't say it was the wind cause there was none. The air has been so weirdly still all day."

Graham raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "There was a good breeze down here. It really could have been the wind, Nora." He pulled himself to his feet to escape the crowded couch. Earlier, he and Scarlet had put together trays of snacks in preparation for everyone's return. He picked up one of those now and moved it to the coffee table. In minutes they'd polished off just over half the food.

Nora and Maya kept up a steady debate which the others did their best to ignore. When they were called for evidence by either woman, the witness mysteriously disappeared to the bathroom or fell asleep for a few minutes. They only rested when everyone moved them along to help with making an actual meal.

The sum was completely down by then. A fire had been started in the fireplace and it gave the room a soft glow. Some had returned to the couches despite Phoebe's warnings not to spill food on her temporary bed. The rest were at the table with a deck of cards. Scarlet stood at the counter staring at an empty plate.

"You okay, captain space case?"Brian called out to her. A few the others laughed but quieted when they saw her confused face.

"Did you take out an extra plate?" she asked Nora.

A few minutes of looking around the room and Amy finally found the problem. "Where's Devynn?" she asked no one in particular.

Graham shook his head. "Probably upstairs asleep. He went out for a walk this morning and I haven't seen him since then."

"But he definitely came back, right?" Brian asked. He pulled out his phone and groaned seeing no signal. Forced to search the old fashioned way, he trudged up the stairs calling for Devynn. His footsteps tapped over their heads as he moved through the rooms one by one. They'd started to stand when he came running back down. "He's not upstairs anywhere."

"Shit. Do you think he got lost?" Cas asked, already grabbing a few flashlights from a drawer in the kitchen. He passed them out after checking that they turned on properly.

"It's Devynn. If he didn't get lost the world would probably implode," Moira joked.

Graham pulled on his coat and shoes, already looking out the large windows in the living room. The flashlight was heavy in his sweaty hand. "We can split up into groups of two and search around the house. I know which direction he went so I'll start there."

"I'll stay here in case he finds his way back," Maya offered.

They all filed outside in their warm coats and boots, flashlights sweeping the area. After some debate everyone found a direction and split up. With no phone signal they chose to call out to each other as often as possible.

"Devynn," Graham called loudly, squinting into the path of light made by the flashlight's beam. A second beam crossed his and swung out further to the left as Gio swung his phone. "Do you see anything?"

"Just trees, identical trees everywhere," Gio muttered. The phone in his hand was steady, despite the slight tremble in his voice. He stayed as close to Graham as he could without hindering their movement. A bird rushed by overhead, its feathers rustling together like dry grass.

They reached the edge of where the trees began to thicken. This was as far as the builders had cleared to bring in supplies and their heavy machinery. Past here the forest had retaken the ground stolen from them. Saplings crowded the space between more established trees. They wouldn't make it long with the towering branches blocking out most of the sunlight.

Roots reached out to grab their ankles as they trudged further in. Though Graham had never been truly spooked by the woods, a shiver of unease traced his spine. How many of the dangerous animals they hadn't seen all day were out hunting now? What he assumed was another owl zipped by overhead. The edge of its wing could just be made out against the inky star studded sky.

"He definitely went this way," Graham muttered, more to assure himself than to offer any helpful information. Something ran alongside them to the right, sprinting ahead before they could get a good look at it. Graham's hand instinctively shot out and found Gio doing the same. They laced their fingers together so tightly the knuckles went bone white.

Gio was the first to break the silence. "Probably just a deer."

"Yeah, you're probably right. They can still do some damage though so stay close," Graham advised him. For a second he had seen the familiar prongs of the antlers, but it unnerved him. Deer weren't typically active at night.

It was a hazy memory, but Graham could remember hunting with his father. Things had been good then. That was when he'd taught Graham how to make proper knots, tight ones you couldn't break without a knife. He'd shown him how to track and follow invisible trails in the dirt. Those trails were invisible to him now and as useful as his phone and its absent signal.

They continued on through the dark for another ten minutes. Their pace slowed and Gio kept looking back to try and catch a glimpse of the cabin. The others were still shouting in the distance. Light from their flashlights occasionally cut through the trees as they swung them around.

"How far do you-" Gia started to ask before being cut off by a shrill whistle. They turned back towards the cabin and heard it again. "What was that?"

Graham shushed him and leaned forward, straining his ears. He'd heard someone calling out distantly. The voice was just beyond the range of his hearing. "Let's go see, I don't think we'll find anything in the dark out here." He pulled Gio along by the hand and they made their way back towards the noise.

As they got closer, they could hear the others shouting too. The whistle went off again and Graham finally made out the words.

"They found him!" Graham sighed loudly and leaned his shoulder against Gio's. Their hands dropped away from each other as they stepped back into sight of the cabin and the growing crowd.

Devynn was at the center with a cold beer hanging loosely in his hand. He laughed as the others went by him muttering obscenities.

"Where was he?" Graham asked Nora once they were close enough.

"Dumbass was on the roof. The roof! He let us all walk off into the cold while he watched," Nora snapped. She let Cass lead her back inside.

"It was the only place with a signal," Devynn said in response to Graham's surly face. "I needed to check on the paper I turned in, alright? It's like half my grade."

Graham shoved past him and followed the others inside.

It was only hours later, after everyone had stumbled off to bed to sleep off fresh drunken stupors, that something occurred to Graham. He stared at the ceiling stretched out above him. The open windows allowed the moon to cast shadowy branches across the surface. Worry clawed at his stomach past the alcohol. His father's words echoed around his mind like a super ball.

"...hunting deer at night is too easy. You can't call something a fair fight if you catch your prey sleeping."