There was a loud, frantic banging on the door.

'Open up! Davey please open up!' Davey started. Janet's voice. Hysterical. It was a few moments before his old body forgave him for falling asleep in the armchair yet again. His joints cracked and complained as he fumbled his way to the front door.

'Alright Jan, alright!' he growled, his shaking hands dropping the door keys with a crash. She continued knocking even while he was struggling with the locks.

'Please Davey! Please! It's William - I don't know where he is, you have to help me!' The little boy's mother burst through the door, knocking the old man aside and frantically scouring the dark cottage for any sign of her son. Davey pushed the heavy door closed and turned wearily to the distraught woman, who was disappearing into the hall.

'Wait, come back!' he shouted, chasing after her as she ran from room to room, slamming doors, disturbing decades of dust and calling out desperately for the little boy. Davey caught her when she rushed back past him and they both collapsed onto the hallway floor, the little boy's mother weeping uncontrollably.

'He ain't here, love,' the old man whispered eventually.

'B-but you saw him yesterday?'

'Aye, I did that. He sat wi' me for a while, like he always does. He went straight home.'

'But he didn't come back! He didn't! Weren't you watching him? Where would he go? Oh William what's happened to you?' She clung to his chest as fresh waves of sobbing overcame her. Davey struggled to comprehend the situation, little Billy gone? They couldn't have taken him, not that quickly, not that quietly. He had watched the lad run across the lawn to the door. He felt the shock of realisation dawning. They must have been inside the house, while they slept! He pulled Janet closer to him, stroking the shaking woman's hair.

'Y-you promised me!' she said. 'You told me - you said they wouldn't come back, ever - not after Michael!'

'I know love. I made sure it were all over. He's probably just out with his Fancy Pirate friends, out in the woods. You know how he is.' Davey cringed, even as the lie left his lips. He had to get Janet away from here before they came back. He had to get out there and find the boy, find him before it was too late. She pulled away from him.

'You don't believe that! You can't believe that! You must have felt it yesterday. I felt it, I knew someone was watching, oh Billy what have we done?' Davey seized the tearful woman by the shoulders and tried to hold her gaze. Her eyes wandered over his face, unfocussed, frightened.

'Now stop that Janet, look at me!' he said. 'You know I would do anything for the lad! I'll find him, don't you worry. I swear on my...' He struggled to find something she would believe and found nothing. 'I swear I will find him for you.'

'But the Seekers, they're back, aren't they? It's happening again, isn't it?'

'Seekers will never take the child from us, not while I'm alive, you hear?' Janet searched the old man's craggy features for signs of further deceit, then nodded reluctantly. She sagged.

'I was so scared, Davey, I don't - I called the Police, they said -'

'You did what?!' The old man was suddenly fierce and Janet shrank away from his anger.

'I'm sorry! I just wanted him to be safe, they said...' she tailed off, studying her wringing hands, eyes downcast. Davey forced himself to swallow the anger squeezed her arm reassuringly.

'Sorry, love. I didn't mean to be harsh.'

'I just don't want it to be true, tell me it isnt, tell me Davey please!'

The old man ignored the question. 'So what did old Smailes have to say for himself?'

'He- he told me to wait until the morning, he said he probably wasn't missing and I was just panicking about nothing. He said Billy was always in trouble and he wouldn't bother to come out until morning.'

'Hmpf, that bastard were always good with the ladies.'

'I'm sorry Davey, I just didn't know what to do.'

'Ah, don't you worry about that, I'll handle the police. It'll be alright, love.'

'No, no it won't, and you know it,' she snapped. 'You know William, he doesn't know where he is half the time. I don't know where he is, even when he's in the room with me!'

The old man sighed his agreement and helped Janet up off the floor, leading her gently into the kitchen.

'Aye, he's a funny one. But he knows what's what, even if he can't explain it sometimes.'

'I just don't understand him, I don't understand all this,' Janet waved her arms vaguely indicating Davey and herself. 'What's going on? Have they really come back?' She collapsed into a chair, her head in her hands. Davey watched her and wondered what the hell he was going to do now.

'You promised,' she whispered, defeated. He filled the kettle and the pair sat in silence for a while listening to the bubbling water, the hiss of steam and the loud irregular ticking of the old man's grandfather clock.

Tick... TOCK-tick... TOCK-tick...

'You might do something about your boiler, Davey,' Janet said, pulling the threadbare dressing gown tight around her. 'It's freezing in here.'

'Aye, suppose I might. Seems little point now, though hey?' The woman shrugged and worried at the dirty tablecloth with her fingers.

'I should be out there, I should DO something.' She was pleading with him now, as if hoping he would produce the boy from under the table at any moment. There he is. Now wasn't that a funny joke?

Davey pressed a hot cup of tea into her hands and settled down next to her. It was getting late. Every moment they delayed was a moment wasted. There had been so much he had meant to do last night. Everything was still all locked away, where it had been for the last seven years. He was not even sure if the mechanism still worked. He worried that he was too old for this, a couple of local thugs was one thing, but it had been mostly muscle memory and the muscles still betrayed him on occasion. Still, now he had to distract Janet, keep her busy and more importantly, get her away from here, from him. He stood up.

'Come on, we'll go out together. Bring the tea, it'll keep you warm.'

There was a flash of silver from amongst the trees as the two sad little figures stumbled out into the early morning mist, calling out the little boy's name. Once they were safely out of sight, a cloaked figure stepped out from behind the trees and moved towards the two houses.