We hang back at the grave and let Dad have some time alone with Mom.
There's a little clearing just off to the side where two benches are, and we sit and watch Dad as we wait for Scott to catch us up.
Dad kisses his fingers and touches them to Grandpa's headstone before he kneels in front of Mom. We watch as he opens one of the beers he brought with him and places it on the marble ledge. He then opens another and clinks to two together.
'Here's to you, Lucy.'
He raises it to the sky in salute before drinking it all down in one. He folds his legs beneath him and settles in for the chat he always has, and we try hard to not listen as he fills Mom in on the past year.
'About Scott,' he says sadly. My ears prick up at the sad tone in his voice and I get goosebumps.
'Is there any way you can tell him that it wasn't his fault?'
He sighs and my heart constricts. Dad sounds a little more broken than usual. So that's why Scott's been so withdrawn recently. I look at my brothers. They all have similar looks of sadness on, and I decide that maybe it is time I went to look for him. I haven't told them he slipped away with Kayo, but suddenly I need him here so I can hug him.
As I slip from the bench and move back down the path Gordon joins me, and I am relieved. There is a strange tension in the wood, the light streaming through somehow doesn't look as friendly as it usually does,, and I feel chilled. From the frown on Gordon's face he is feeling it too.
'What's that girl doing there?'
I turn from looking at Gordon to looking ahead at what he is seeing. There, on the path just ahead of us, is a child, maybe six or seven years old. She is dressed in a white summer dress and sandals – completely wrong clothing for a Kansas March day. The light seems to not quite reach her.
As we watch she buries her face in her hands and her shoulders start to shake. She seems frightened. Then we can hear her crying. Glancing at each other briefly, we stride forward to help her. After all, that's what we do.
We stop in front of her and as I reach out to comfort her Gordon asks her if she is alright. She stops crying and lowers her hands and looks at us.
Her eyes are black.
They are black and this is wrong.
I want to scream but I can't as green tendrils shoot out from behind her and envelope us.
Kayo turned to Scott as the Hollow-tracker flared into life.
'It's close!'
They ran back up the hill, back up to where Scott's brothers and father are…
Jeff sat back, frowning. He'd been aware that Gordon and Alan had gone after Scott, and he turned to his remaining boys with a frown. Something wasn't right.
'What's taking them so long?'
John shrugged and Virgil frowned. Their dad was right, they were all taking too long. The three of them set off down the hill to investigate.
The sight that Kayo and Scott stumbled on was unnerving.
There appeared to be a writhing green bush-creature on the path, with thick tendrils made of something that resembled fur or hair. They stopped in front of it.
As if it had sensed they were there the front parted and a young girl stepped out. A girl that Scott had seen before. His heart turned to stone even as Kayo said the three words he was dreading.
'The Grand Fisher!'
He took two steps forward, heart now aflame, and spoke to the Hollow.
'I figured it was you.'
What he wasn't prepared for was the tendrils to open. They filled the area and with a start he realised Gordon and Alan were held fast by them, struggling in vain to get free.
'Kayo!'
'Here we go!'
And Kayo ran at Scott with the glove that would rend the Soul Reaper from his body.
