Sun Mote Copse Bill Barilko disappeared that summer

Oooh, a game of pretend! Alyx loved playing pretend and readily complied with Bronco's request, giggling when his nose tapped the tender spot under her chin. Sometimes, she would pretend that the trees and the rocks around the den were her friends from all over the world. She'd tell them all about the flowers and bugs she'd discovered that day. In return, they'd tell her all about fields and lakes and forests she could never imagine, except it was all generated by her imagination.

Oh! Her mind was wandering. She refocused on what her brother was saying, nodding along as he rattled off various relatives. Ammy, check. Daddy, check. Towma, check. Q, Rosie and Meerkat, check. Bronco, check. He'd forgotten Nellie, Figment, and Fennec, and she almost opened her mouth to smartly remind him, but then he brought into her imagination her worst fear and she grimaced.

No, she said simply. Hays mud too much. Bye ammy, bye daddy, bye Towmee, bye Q, bye Rosie, bye Meeky an' bye B'onco. Mud mosser ated yous all. Alyx couldn't possibly stand up to a mud monster, not even for the sake of being cool and brave like her brother. It was practically her deepest and greatest fear. They were supposed to protect her from mud monsters, not the other way around!

No am bave, s'otay do, no mud mossers then, she concluded, nodding affirmatively as if this was somehow a good thing.