Chapter 85: Hole, Deep, Swi(?)

After repositioning themselves near the supplies and grabbing a pen, the three girls sat with their backs up against the stone slab. They started out by working on what was obvious. By drawing from all three papers of information, the idea was that they could use the various translations and code designs to reverse-produce an educated guess of what they may mean. Starting with Hunter and Forest's data, they correlated which letters belonged to which individual code designs, and with that figured out, Ember thought they could see if anything connected to Sky's markings.

For now, Ember asked Sky to pocket her paper but keep the notebook open on her lap. Hardly any time passed before they figured out that the deciphered code and strange markings had nine lines, each sequence of markings correlating to its own letter. With that theory, they rearranged the letters to their designated spot.

Hunter and Forest's markings/translations combined:

—•—• (C), •—(A), •••—(V), • (E)

—• (N), •• (I), —• (N), • (E)

•— —• (P), •— (A), —•—• (C), • (E)

—•• (D), — — — (O), •— — (W), —• (N)

••—• (F), — — — (O), ••— (U), •—• ®

•— —• (P), •— (A), —•—• (C), • (E)

•—•• (L), • (E), ••—• (F), — (T)

•— —• (P), ••— (U), ••• (S), •••• (H)

"If we're correct about this hypothesis, we've already figured out most of the alphabet. We have all five vowels and a good chunk of the consonants," says Faith, her brows knitted with concentration as she examines the notebook.

Ember nods, "Now, let's see how many can be applied to your markings, Sky."

Stuffing her hand in her pocket, Sky retrieves the piece of notebook paper that she had put away earlier. The details within the notebook were previously split, with one half containing the markings and the other half having the translations. But, because they had written down which letters belonged to which codes, the information they now required was on the left side.

Recognizing this, Sky placed her notes over the words on the right, which were no longer necessary. Now, laid out in front of them were Forest and Hunter's data to the left and Sky's unsolved code to the right. With that, they dived right in, filling in all the letters they could.

Sky's translations:

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

•••• (H), — — — (O), •—•• (L), • (E)

—•• (D), • (E), • (E), •— —• (P)

••• (S), •— — (W), •• (I), — — (?)

"That went better than I thought. All we're missing now is the last letter," says Sky, clicking the pen in her hand.

After a pause, Ember says, "Let's not think too much of it. There are only really two possibilities of what the word could be. Swig or swim. And out of those two, only one makes sense. Both correlate to liquid in their own way and equally could have been possible contenders if we hadn't already solved the previous terms, 'hole' and 'deep'. However, if your markings are anything like Forest and Hunter's, which is what we are going off of anyway... each row should be linked to the next."

Faith brings a hand to her face and begins slowly rubbing her thumb along her chin, "You're right, and from past experiences, we know the environment around us doesn't lack water. There's a stream, waterfall, pond… swim is the only word that fits."

Writing in the letter 'M' to form the word 'SWIM', Sky mumbles, "Hole, deep, swim, are we sure this is it?"

"Unlike their group, there's no way we can immediately verify this. However, the fact that real words were translated… we're definitely on the right track," says Ember.

"What's different between the markings Forest found and the ones I found? Why can't we verify it?" asks Sky.

Ember holds up a finger, "The location. They found theirs right next to the maze, and more specifically, look at the first word they deciphered. Cave. A cave only a few feet away contained the information for translating the code. Your code, on the other hand, is different. You mentioned yesterday that your group hadn't encountered any bodies of water, which implies that your riddle refers to a different location. And without knowing that given location, you might say we are stuck. At least… that would be the case if we didn't have any clues."

"Clues?"

Ember grins, lowering her hand, "Do you remember the large pool of water that Ace, Blue, and Delta supposedly all jumped into? The one at the bottom of the waterfall?"

"Yeah…" Sky's eyes light up after a few seconds of silent thought. "I get it. They did mention it was deep! So you think this hole could be there? Underneath the water at the-?"

Rsstle.

Ember’s eyes darted to the side as her ears wiggled at the sound of leaves crunching. The sudden sharpness of her movement startled Sky, as she instantly stopped speaking mid-sentence. With her complete attention now honed in on the direction from which she had heard the sound, Ember put a finger behind her ear and closed her eyes.

Rsstle… rsstle… rsstle…

"Ember, what is it?" whispers Sky.

"Something is approaching," informs Ember, trying to retain her focus.

Rsstle… thmp… rsstle…

Footsteps. Based on the subtle change in the resonance of their footsteps and lack of crunching leaves… they must now be walking on a legitimate path. Also, their footsteps are growing louder…

"From what I can tell, it's only one person. Their walking pattern is normal, and they are roughly… two hundred feet away if I had to guess,” says Ember.

Thmp, thmp, rsstle, thmp.

No… something is wrong. The repeated sounds of their footsteps are still steadily increasing as they continue to close the distance between them and us, but there's something else. These footsteps are heavy... like the person is carrying something potentially affecting their mobility. Additionally, now that they are much closer, I can discern that this person is walking sluggishly. Perhaps they were injured? Or maybe it could be because of the possible weight they are carrying with them?

Could it really be Crow?!