What’s the thing in the jar? Is that a raisin with legs?
Found by Alex Davis during the Grade 8 Science Trip. During a game of truth or dare she was ultimately dared to eat it, an event she attributes to her gaining her powers.
This bug made noises that deafened Alex to anything else when it called, a chittering and groaning that sounded impossible to exist let alone come from a being this small. She found herself instinctively understanding what it was trying to communicate. Primarily it knew that it was going to die and calmed her down.
After the bite the creature escaped from the tent, presumably to find a place to pass peacefully. It would never be recovered and the only record of its existence are witnesses (including Alex herself, Sophie Waters, Dana Morgan, Amber Woodward, and two other classmates in the tent at the time) and the doodle Alex drew in her notebook trying to recollect its appearance.
Art by Ornstein, heavily inspired by Israel Boltelho's "Elder Thing" design