-- Phaedra Phillips --

I didn't have any classes this morning, and I couldn't quite focus on my homework, so I decided to pace the hallways of the maze. I tried to keep from thinking about that thing last night and focused my attention on my steps: 15, 16, 17... 100, 101, 102... 513, 514, 515... 

I wasn't worried about getting lost in the maze. Every DHS student knew it like the back of our hands, and besides, it behaved for us. It wouldn't let me get lost. I knew it was silly to think about the maze as a sentient thing, but hey, it was less silly than a three-eyed deer, wasn't it?

I'd just reached step number 1,024 -- two to the tenth power -- when I saw a cluster of three students at the end of the hallway. Judging by their expressions, the way one of them was holding his hands to his ears, and the fact that I didn't recognize them, they were most certainly not from DHS.

I sighed, crossed my arms to make myself feel safer, and approached them. "You're lost, aren't you." I knew the answer already. We all got used to the other students getting lost in our maze and needing us to lead them out (if they were lucky) or leave them to spend hours trying to find their way out (if they were unlucky).

"Well, maybe," said one of them, crossing her arms right back. "We were just looking for a student to ask if you knew who it was that saw a cryptid in the woods last night."

Some part of me figured that I should probably lie, but I wasn't a particularly good liar, and it wasn't like it would do any harm. "That would be me. Why are you asking?"

• »»-  Abell Conner  -««

• »»-    -««

Sorry about my lack of posting! Anyway, I'll jump right in.

Citrine Bateson--

The image of the three-eyed deer haunted me all throughout the next day. After classes, I retreated back to DCM cottage, wanting to do homework. Finding it too difficult, I set down my laptop with a sigh.

I knew the deer was a cryptid. That much was obvious. Still, I didn't know anything more. What was it? How had I seen it?

Why had I seen it? Of all people?

I fished a scrap of paper out of my hoodie's pocket. On it, I had hastily sketched the deer in all its three-eyed glory. Even to me, this drawing was a new level of incompetence-- the head was too big, and random eraser smudges made the lines unclear in places. Still, I knew it had to be important.

Cryptids don't show up for no reason. You have to look for one.

Or it has to look for you.

It wasn't a decision. It was more like daybreak, rising through my mind until I couldn't deny its existence. Following first one idea, then another, I stayed up through the night, my only company the glow of my laptop's screen and my thoughts.

By the time dawn hit, bringing with it a wave of exhaustion, I had compiled everything I'd researched about cryptids into a neat little document. I rushed to a printer and soon had twenty copies in my hands.

I'd hang them up around the school. Maybe, just maybe, someone would recognize what I'd seen.

Before my first class, as I was tiredly sticking pins through the papers and forcing them into the wall, I heard footsteps, then someone clearing their throat behind me.

Sleep-deprivation was clouding my every thought, so I did what I never would have done otherwise. I turned around, smiled, and said, "Hello. Um, do you maybe know anything about this?" I gestured vaguely at the poster.

The student behind me frowned thoughtfully. They seemed to have some kind of half-shaved, half-chin-length hairstyle, and I shrank back a bit, thinking they seemed too cool to talk to. However, they were clearly interested from the look in their green eyes.

I would have bet anything they'd seen the cryptid too. 

--

So I was thinking Morgan was the one who saw the poster? Idk, I don't mean to be controlling.

Hey Moth, did you have a plan for who it was that knocked into Abell? Was it Morgan? If so, would you be okay with, after having something happen at the church, they go back and see Citrine and the poster? Just wondering before I start writing!

Abi Maywood~

The next morning, I leave the Barn without telling anyone where I'm going. I'd heard whispers all last night about another girl who saw the three-eyed deer, someone from DHS. I can only assume it's the girl I saw.

I soon make it to the Birdcage, one of my least favorite places on campus. I'm all for bright colors, but this place gives me a headache. With a sigh, I plunge into the maze. I can hear upbeat music coming from somewhere deeper, which gives me a vague sense of direction. Though the twisting hallways are designed to make anyone not from Hidden Sequences thoroughly uncomfortable, I try not to be too worried. From what I've heard, wanderers are always found eventually. I just hope it doesn't take too long.

After about ten minutes, I round a corner and finally see people. It's a group of four standing at the end of a hallway, talking. I wave, and they all look up.

"See, we aren't the only ones who were lost," I hear one of them remark.

"I'm not lost," I say as I approach them. "I mean, I am, but I'm here for a reason, and I figured I'd find someone eventually."

"What's your reason?" The girl who spoke is, I realize with a start, the same pink-haired girl I had seen in the forest the night before.

"I'm looking for you, actually. You were the one who saw the three-eyed deer?"

She looks surprised. "How did you know that?"

"I saw them too." 

One of the other people, a boy with dark skin and curly hair, says, "Wait, you're the DCD kid?"

"Apparently so. I'm Abi."

The pink-haired girl goves me a shrewd look, then says, "I'm Phaedra."

"I'm Roan, and this is Ambrose and Collins," the boy says. "We were looking for the people who saw the cryptids."

I nod slowly. "Well, first things first, let's get out of this maze. Then I think we all need to talk." 

I don't want this to dieee

Morgan~

Armed with a phone, a pad of paper, and a pen, I was ready to figure out what was the deal with that deer- but not before I slammed into someone on the way out. My forehead knocked into something, sending a sharp pain which dulled quickly. When I stand back up, still rubbing my head, I see a person of unidentifiable gender with dark plum hair slightly mussed up. I see blood on their lip, and, panicked, mumble, “Oh, I’m sorry, so sorry…” Then they look up and they start apologizing too! 

“Ok, ok, we don’t both need to apologize...d-do you need anything?” I ask, not knowing what to do.

“Uh- yeah, a tissue would be good,” the person says, blushing. I rush into my room to get one, and after I get back and their lip stops bleeding, I think they’ll go on to whatever they were going to do, so I start brushing past them to go outside. 

Surprisingly, they ask as I’m walking, “What’s your name?”

“Oh-I’m Morgan,” I say. “Are you a DLH student? I haven’t seen you around. And what’s your name?” I stop fully now. I guess I’m gonna have to have a conversation…

“Abell!” they reply. “I’m not a DLH student, I’m in DCM and DUE, actually...I just, um, like the church,” they say brightly. 

“Well, I gotta go.”

“Hey, where are you going?” they ask. They seem determined to talk to me, and as much as I want to figure this deer thing out, I kind of like how nice this person is being to me. 

“I saw something weird in the woods last night, and I just was gonna see if I could, ya know, figure it out...it’s probably just a normal Averno thing, though…” I chuckle. 

“That’s so cool!. Maybe...maybe I could help you? I am a DCM, you know”

“Um, yeah, I guess, I was just gonna walk around, you know…”

I stop dead. A little way away, I could make out a poster, bearing the exact image of the creature I’d seen that night. I swiftly started walking toward the poster, Abell following. I inspected the poster, feeling shocked. I might’ve come out looking for answers, but to see this…

 I realize the girl with jet-black hair and black sweatshirt that just finished pinning it up is staring at me, so I ask, “What do you know about this deer thing?”

The next day, around lunchtime, I’m walking across campus, my mind somehow a lot more confused than before. So, apparently, other people had seen this thing, namely the black-haired girl, Citrine, and 2 other girls, a DCD and a DHS. Now there were several others interested in the case, too, who had decided to call a meeting of sorts for everyone who had seen this thing or just wanted to see what was up, and that’s where I’m going now. I see Abell walking to meet me, and as we begin walking, I feel...weirdly happy. Not just because I was getting into some top-notch Averno cryptid hunt, but also because I finally felt like I might have a chance at making friends, something I haven’t had in a long time. 

guys PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't let this die!

Roan~

The four of us are shown out of the maze by the DHS girl, Phaedra. When we're outside, we start to talk. Abi and Phaedra both start describing the same mysterious animal. Ambrose takes notes and asks questions while Collins and I eat animal crackers. We start wondering if anyone else has seen the same thing. Once Ambrose is satisfied with her information, we start to plan another date to meet up and talk some more.

When we're going back to Cracker Corps, I see a couple other kids out of them corner of my eye, talking about some kind of poster. I realize with a start that the poster has a three-eyed deer on it.

After some conversations and back-and-forth message relaying, we've got it sorted out; Cici, Abell, and Morgan- the ones looking at the poster- are going to come to the meeting Ambrose, Collins, Phaedra, Abi and I already arranged. I do schoolwork until midnight and fall asleep in a library, not knowing what to expect tomorrow.

~~~~~

The next day, we pretend to be prepared for discussing cryptids with random kids. I have coffee in a thermos and bags under my eyes. Collins has provided us with snack once again. We walk across campus and arrive at a couple benches under some trees, where Phaedra is already waiting. She's got her nose buried in a notebook.

"What's that?" Collins asks. 

"I'm calculating the odds of five [right?] people seeing a cryptid in the woods on the same night. Even in Averno, it's pretty incredible. The only logical explanation is that some other force was in action here," Phaedra explains, not looking up from her scribbles once.

"What kind of force?" I ask. Before she can answer, Cici arrives, not meeting anyone's eyes and sitting down on a second bench a noticable distance away from us. We get the hint and don't bother her. Morgan and Abell come not much later. We explain Phaedra's theory and ask what ideas they have.

"I don't know... do you think it's just circumstance, or is this something, you know... magical?" Avell asks nervously. 

"Magic isn't real," Phaedra says dismissively. "But I don't think this is logical reason, either."

"Then what could it be?" I ask, exhasperated. "What else is there?"

Abi comes running towards us. "Sorry I'm so late!" she exclaims, practically throwing all her books on the table. "I lost track of time- what did I miss?"

We catch her up, then when we realize we're stumped about the reason why so many people saw this thing, we turn to what we know about the three-eyed deer itself. Cici quietly presents a drawing of it.

"I did a bit of research," Morgan says. "As far as I can tell, there aren't any mentions of the three-eyed deer outside of Averno, and even then there isn't much to go off of." She pulls some books and papers out of her backpack. She opens to a page with a drawing of a three-eyed deer on one side and strange words on the other. "This passage caught my eye, but I have no idea what language it's written-"

"That's Dreamspeak," I say. Ambrose and Collins nod. "Whoever wrote this was either in DDL or a child of the forest."

"The text is too old for it to be written by someone from the school," Abell points out.

There's silence for a second, then I start to read it out loud.

~~~~~Sorry if I was too controlling of anyone's charries! If someone else wants to decide what the passage says, go ahead.