For what seemed like an eternity Mason wandered about in the forest his best efforts bringing forth nothing but frustration. On and on he went until he stumbled out of the encompassing trees onto a small dirt path. It took Mason a moment to figure out where he was, coming to the conclusion that he must’ve come across the hiking trail, just further down. An odd mix of relief and despair overwhelmed Mason and he closed his eyes in defeat. She was gone, nowhere to be found. He checked his wrist watch, eyes widening when he realized he’d been searching for three hours. Three whole hours, with Emma as a deer lost somewhere in the forest. Trapped permanently in the body of another creature by now. That’s what Elfangor had said, two hours at the most or the morphs body would become their body. Shame weighed heavily on Mason as he silently berated himself. He should’ve told her not to touch the deer. He should’ve known to scare it away. He should have found her and helped her change back. He should’ve stayed away from that construction site in the first place. This was his fault, he should have known better. And what of the others? Adrian, Stephanie, the strange Lalna, and Tammy. He didn’t know them well, but they needed to be warned lest curiosity killed them as well.

	Picking up his pace Mason forced his tired legs into a steady jog, running up the hiking trail in the direction he hoped the others were in. It’d been a long time, they might’ve already given up on him and Emma or even come looking for them. Rounding a final corner Mason released a sigh of relief seeing everyone still standing there, looking lost and confused. For a moment he scanned their faces hoping desperately that Emma had somehow returned on her own.

	“Hey,” he called, alerting them to his presence. He looked pretty awful, tired, sweaty, with his clothes torn and dirty from brambles. Mason kept his eyes downcast as he approached, only looking up when he drew to a stop, a slight tremor in his voice. “I couldn’t find her, and it’s been too long. She’s d-“ Mason stopped himself, there was no way of knowing for sure if she was dead. Even if they found a body it would be absurd to try and pick her out from another deer. “She’s gone. We need to find someplace safe to talk about this. We need to make sure this never happens again.”