By noon, everyone had gathered in Luna's living room. The curtains were half-drawn, sunlight spilling across stacks of notebooks, scattered snacks, and Tanya's laptop humming loudly—the old early-2000s kind that overheated if you sneezed on it.
Tanya stood over a large sheet of paper she'd taped together from several notebook pages. "Okay, everyone shut up for a second," she said, clicking her pen. "This—" she pointed dramatically "—is the forest. Or at least the parts Tim and Tango were conscious enough to remember."
Tim, lying on the couch with an ice pack on his shoulder, groaned. "I wasn't unconscious. I was… creatively asleep."
"Bro," Tango muttered, "you got folded like a lawn chair."
Pluto ignored them, unpacking a small camera drone from a box, the early-2000s model he'd modded himself. Wires stuck out in places, but it hummed steadily when he flicked the power switch.
"This can cover the upper canopy," Pluto said. "If the creature or… whatever… left any trace, we'll see it."
Luna frowned from across the room. "You guys seriously want to go back there? After what happened?"
Richard shrugged like it was nothing. "We need answers."
Devon nodded hard. "Yeah. And Richard killed that thing, by the way." He pointed at his brother. "Guy went full action-movie mode."
Tim raised a hand from the couch, wincing. "For the record, I thought he was dead. Like actually dead."
"Asuka, you coming?" Richard asked.
Asuka smirked and cracked her knuckles. "Please. I've been waiting for round two."
They geared up with whatever they could find—flashlight, rope, portable CD player with dead batteries (Devon brought it anyway), Pluto's modded drone, and Richard's backpack full of random but suspiciously useful tools.
Tanya rolled up the map and handed it to Richard. "Don't lose it. It took me forty minutes and three emotional breakdowns."
Back Into the Woods
The forest felt different this time. Quieter. Heavy. Like the wind itself was holding its breath.
Richard led the way, Pluto recording footage with the drone remote strapped to his wrist. Asuka stayed alert beside them, eyes scanning every rustle. Devon stayed behind Richard, less cocky than before but trying not to show it.
Half an hour in, Pluto stopped. "Guys. Look."
His drone feed flickered, then blacked out completely.
Static.
"Something's jamming it," he said. "There's no signal interference this deep unless—"
A snapping sound echoed behind them.
Devon spun. "Richard…"
Richard's hand lifted silently. They froze.
The path behind them—the one they'd walked—was gone. Not covered. Not blocked.
Simply… gone, like the forest had rearranged itself.
Asuka cursed under her breath. "Okay, cool. Love that. Very fun."
Richard crouched near a patch of moss, brushing it back. "It's not the forest." His voice stayed steady, analytical. "Someone—or something—designed this."
"What do we do?" Devon whispered.
Richard pointed ahead, where a massive stone slab jutted from the ground like part of an ancient ruin. On its surface were words—random, out of order, some upside down.
Tango's panicked voice echoed in Richard's memory.
He remembered the forest whispering.
He remembered the creature mimicking sounds.
He remembered the government lab's rumor: they experimented with cognitive puzzles to contain subjects.
Richard stepped toward the rock. "These aren't random."
Devon blinked. "Bro, they look pretty random."
"No," Richard murmured, eyes scanning. "It's cipher stacking."
Asuka frowned. "What the hell is cipher stacking?"
"Layered encoding. You overlay patterns, orient words, treat phrases as keys…" Richard had already taken out Tanya's map, holding it beside the stone. "Someone used the forest layout as the base."
For fifteen minutes, no one spoke. Devon paced nervously. Pluto adjusted drone frequency. Asuka tapped her foot impatiently.
Richard connected patterns—positions, symbols, angles. He flipped the map twice, rotated Tanya's sketch, aligned a corner with the stone's top-left marking—
The words aligned.
A sentence emerged, glowing faintly as if the forest itself breathed:
THE EXIT LIES WHERE THE ECHO DOES NOT FOLLOW
Richard exhaled. "Got it."
Asuka's jaw dropped. "How—how did you even—?"
Devon shook his head, half proud, half shocked. "This dude solved an ancient forest puzzle in fifteen minutes. I can't even beat level three of Mario."
Richard stepped back, staring deeper into the trees.
"Let's move. And stay close. Whatever built this… it's watching."
And together, they followed the direction the cipher pointed—
deeper into the forest's heart.