Phoebe checked her bag again and secured the flaps tightly. Her brown hiking boots were laced and read. Thick jeans were tucked into the tops. She stood and hefted the bag onto her back and tested its weight by bouncing on the balls of her feet.

A few of the others had similar bags, though none as well packed as Phoebe's. There were six of them in total who were crowded around the weathered map on the coffee table. A large sticky note was stuck to the corner with neatly printed directions.

"Why do you want to go back exactly?" Graham asked. A bag rested against his side on the couch, packed with a few bottles of water, snacks and extra socks. It had taken five minutes of Phoebe begging him before he gave in and agreed to join her on the hike back to the cave. Unfortunately he hadn't anticipated her being so convincing and hadn't packed many hiking supplies.

Phoebe sighed and waved her phone at him. "I want to see what's further inside. What if there's a whole secret discovery in there and we get famous for discovering it?" That was the argument that had convinced Mike and Amy to join them.

The others besides the six she'd conned into joining her were preparing for a restful picnic in the clearing Graham had found. The smell of fresh cut fruit and vegetables emanated from the kitchen where Brian and Maya were packing a cooler. Cass had mentioned another game of baseball. That had nearly been enough to convince Graham to stay.

"We can at least get better photos of the cave paintings to show people. It would be nice to get some information on them when we get back to civilization," Gio pointed out. His bag, though better packed with proper hiking equipment, was still only the size of Graham's. Their bags were next to each other on the couch between them.

"Thank you, Gio, That's exactly why," Phoebe said, jumping on the chance for backup. She urged them to their feet again, nudging Spencer who was half asleep on the floor. "Let's go guys, I want to be back before the party starts."

They'd had a vote the night before after Devynn's not-quite-disappearance on what they'd spend the day doing. While they'd split up during the day, the final plan was to meet up afterwards and start a fire in the firepit. Brian was prepared to serve out drinks with Scarlet. There had been promises of a night to remember. Mostly, Graham was expecting a lot of drunk stumbling and maybe an awkward hookup amidst the disjointed dancing.

Graham was actually looking forward to letting loose and using the liquid courage to have a bit of fun. He'd found himself watching Gio's movements more than once. It would be the perfect quick fling. Gio's research trip with Nora and Cass would save them both the trouble of trying to figure out if they were anything more. But first, they had a cave to find.

Nora had been kind enough to map out the directions back to the cave as best she could remember. The neatly written steps were on the post-it note now clutched in Phoebe's hand. Between her general memory of where'd they'd gone and the directions, she was confident they'd find their way back.

Despite the assurances that the caves were closer than they seemed, Graham wasn't surprised when it took them an hour to reach the steep climb up the side of the mountain. They paused at the base to rest their weary legs and fill their stomachs.

"We still have to walk the whole way back," Graham groaned while he looked up the path.

"Going back wasn't so bad," Spencer assured him. The taller man had easily kept up with Phoebe's intense pace. Now he lounged casually against a fallen tree looking like he'd been born to travel the woods.

Graham eyed him wearily and flicked a pretzel at him. "The way you said that makes it sound like the way up is going to be grueling in comparison."He let his body fall back to sprawl across the dirt. "Just come back for me when you're done playing cave explorer." His dramatics were met by a twig thrown by Amy.

"Stop complaining. I've seen the morning runs you post on your story. This should be a cakewalk for you," she challenged him.

It may have been years since Graham had picked up a baseball bat, but the competitive spirit had never left him. Throughout the end of his highschool years and college years he'd spent hours keeping himself in shape. Part of it was a dream that one day everything would return to normal and people wouldn't whisper about him when they looked him up. One look into his past would turn most against him.

The daily runs were an escape of sorts. The further and faster he ran the farther away his problems became. It had been nice padding for his scholarship forms as well. Winning trophies for track and field rounded out the vigorous studying he pushed himself through. He'd started posting his workouts as a sort of accountability tracker. If he was being honest, he didn't hate the attention it brought him.

After the rest, Phoebe got them back on the move up the trail. Graham stayed near the back with Gio. He'd seen the photos but it didn't take away from the view stretched out to his right. A cool crisp breeze shook the tree tops they now stood above. It snuck up his jacket sleeves and chilled him.

They reached the cave entrance and Graham could hear disappointed and confused muttering long before he saw what awaited them. The entrance was completely caved in. Boulders covered the entrance and towered over their heads to the ceiling of the cave. Most of the paintings along the wall were out of sight now.

"Dammit," Phoebe grunted and kicked at a rock. "How is that even possible?"

Spencer moved her aside as a rock broke free and rolled past her. "We should head out, it doesn't look too stable."

"Then maybe we can dig it out and get inside," Phoebe suggested. She reached out to push at the rubble and Spencer held her back again.

"No. You'll get hurt if you keep this up. Leave it be and let's head back," he insisted. A few of the others chimed in and convinced her to head back to the trail. They were all subjected to her whining the entire way back.

Once he was sure of where he was Graham pushed past her with a teasing shush aimed in her direction. "It was probably just more of the same. You've got enough photos to get some hits online," he told her. When she went to shove him he ducked and took off running back towards the cabin. Phoebe was hot on his heels, so close behind that when he stopped suddenly she slammed into his back. The momentum nearly toppled them both.

The picnic group had returned early and the reason was obvious. Every single window was wide open along with the doors. Luggage was spread across the porch, devoid of their contents. The tightly sealed trash cans had been tipped and emptied. The ground around the cabin was completely trampled as if a herd of animals had run through.

"What the heck happened?" Mike asked. He ran past Scarlet picking clothes off the ground to look inside.

"Animal, must've been," Nora told them. She filled them in on the discovery. Maya had gone back to grab more water after the attempted baseball game. She'd gotten there just in time to see the back door bounce against the outer wall from the force of it being slammed open. Whatever had caused the door to slam was nothing more than a rustling in the bushes by the time she focused on it.

The others had heard her shouting and had run after her. They hadn't been eager to spread out and search for the disruptive animal. Brian and Cass had found a few tracks leading away but they overlapped each other so much along with all of their own prints from throughout the time they'd been there. It was impossible to make out what was them and what was animal.

Devynn had a different theory. "Someone out here is screwing around with us. I know what I saw in there, Nora." He pointed at one of the upstairs windows. "There was a person up there."

Brian shook his head, clearly not in the mood to hear Devynn's wild theory. Normally he was the first in the line to add on to crazy stories like these. Unusual events in the woods were the holy grail in his eyes. This time though, as he gathered the scattered possessions, he waved his friend off.

"That sounds like something you would do," Graham pointed out. It was meant as a joke to diffuse the tense atmosphere. However, many of the others agreed and soon the joke had become an accusation.

"I didn't have anything to do with this. I'm not that stupid," Devynn argued. It was bad timing that he saw Graham's eye roll at that moment. "Shut up, Graham. Just because you ratted out your dad doesn't mean every accusation you make is right."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Graham snapped. The mere mention of his father made his shoulders tense. He knew everyone that he'd grown up with knew the story. They would never think to bring it up like this. Devynn? He'd never mentioned it to him or half of the others there.

"Oh you know exactly what it means." He scoffed at Graham's worried eyes. "What are you going to do, send your daddy after me? You can't, can you. No more dad thanks to you. Brian told me all about your little secret."

Graham pulled his fist back, but dropped it to his side after a moment of consideration. Instead he turned on his heel and headed back the way he came. He shouted a few choice words over his shoulder but was soon out of ear shot.