CRYPTID

Chapter 19

It'd been a while since she'd felt the urge to check her phone first thing in the morning. For a while, the internet's rage had beaten the habit out of her. Part of her wished she would have kept it that way. There had been something freeing about not being compelled to check her notifications and likes and views every five seconds. Maybe, after this was all over, she'd take a proper break—chosen, not forced—from the internet.

But until then...

Yesterday's interview with Henry had gone well, very well, even with Penelope freezing up at the end. After Henry revealed that he had heard the ravens talk, too—saying the exact same things they had said to her—she never quite recovered and the interview ended soon after. Even so, they had amassed almost a quarter-million live viewers. And she was sure even more people would watch the recording that had gone up afterwards. Her phone had been buzzing all night with people's reactions, but she hadn't checked them. She had done the healthy thing and muted them for the evening before retreating to Liam's house to join her dad and Liam's family for a night of pizza and pop and a simple-but-competitive card game they called Gimme Five.

But it was morning now and she had to return to the real world, online and off. As she scrolled through the comments her viewers had left, she was pleasantly surprised to find that they were, for the most part, supportive. Whatever they thought of Penelope, the commenters seemed to really like Henry.

Wow, imagine seeing the Raven with your own two eyes...

Dude looks like he's seen some shit. Badass.

I believe you, Henry!

Damn, you know a guy like that ain't playin' around...

It seemed his gruff, no-nonsense demeanour had given her a much-needed dose of legitimacy. Penelope couldn't help but smile. This is exactly what Henry needed, what he had deserved all along—people believing him. She couldn't wait to show him and Liam...

Then, one comment caught her eye.

WOW! We got this trending on Twitter! LET'S GOOOO

Penelope's eyes went wide. We trended on Twitter? She swapped apps, opening up Twitter. It might've been too late to catch herself on the Trending page, but she wanted to see for herself. With Twitter open, she tapped on the Search tab, and then over to the Trending tab. She scanned the list of popular topics...

Then she froze and her skin turned cold.

There was no mention of her name, PARANELOPE, or even Henry.

But DAEVONIC was there, the second item on the Trending list. And Xander Green was number one.

Penelope swallowed. What has Daevon done now? Had he come up with some scheme to get back at her for scooping him and Xander on Henry? Penelope's stomach twisted and dropped. It felt like those first days all over again.

With a trembling finger, she tapped on Daevon's name.

Thousands of tweets filled her screen. The top tweet was, to her surprise, from a news channel with a short clip attached, featuring a serious-looking newscaster behind a desk. Penelope tapped on the clip, and it expanded to take over her screen.

"...sad news from the internet today," she said, already halfway through a sentence. "Xander Green, the famous paranormal investigator, and Daevon Peters, a young YouTube sensation, have been reported missing along with several members of their film crew. They were visiting the small mountain town of Ridgestone for a new series about a local legend known only as The Raven. Yesterday afternoon, they ventured into the woods to film a segment and were due to return late last night, but never showed. Local authorities are currently searching for the media personalities..."