No words of wisdom tonight, just 551 words!

Charlotte looked at Troy, her eyes shining. “Do you know what this means?” she said. “If Sixpence is here, he must have come from home. There must be a way back and he knows where it is.”
“That doesn’t help us,” said Troy. “He can hardly tell us how to get home, can he?”
“I suppose not,” admitted Charlotte. “But maybe Mother noticed that he is missing too and come looking for us both.”

“I thought you were convinced that noone would bother to look for us,” said Troy, with a grin.
Charlotte grinned back. “All right,” she said. “I admit that was foolish. Of course Mother would look for me. I don’t know why I believed otherwise.”
“It’s the stranger,” said Troy. “I told you he is just trying to control our thoughts.”
“I wonder how he manages to do it,” said Charlotte.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” said Troy. “I think he is at his most powerful when he is blowing his pipe. Perhaps if we could get the pipe away from him, we’d be able to escape.”
Charlotte nodded. “That sounds like a good idea,” she said, “but we wouldn’t know which way to –“
She stopped speaking, abruptly. Sixpence had started to make a warning sound in his throat. His fur stood up on end and his eyes grew wide and wild-looking.
“Ssh!” said Charlotte. “Someone must be coming.”

The stranger strode out of the trees towards the group of children. He didn’t seem to be looking at them though. He gazed vaguely over their heads, muttering to himself.
“It’s almost like he’s counting us,” whispered Troy. “He looks like he’s counting us to see if anyone is missing.”

The stranger smiled a menacing smile and muttered something to himself before striding back the way he came.
Charlotte motioned Clara to sit up and she turned and looked at the rest of the children, scanning the group for a familiar face.
“Oh no!” she said. “Someone IS missing.”
“Who?” asked Troy. “I thought all the children of the village were here.”
“All except James,” said Charlotte. “James is missing!” Picking Sixpence up in her arms, she got to her feet and started pacing up and down. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice until now,” she said. “I just assumed that he had come along with the rest of us.”

“He does move fairly slowly,” said Troy. “There mustn’t have been time for him to follow us.” He scuffed the dirt in front of him with his shoe. “I never thought I would envy James,” he said, “but I do. He is safe.”
“He wouldn’t like it, even if he is safe,” said Charlotte. “He always wanted to join in with whatever we were doing. I am sure he would have followed us here if he could.”
“Do you think the stranger was counting us?” asked Troy. “Do you think he has realized that James is missing?”
“I don’t know,” shrugged Charlotte. “Why?”
“Because,” said Troy. “If the stranger is going to try and get James, we can follow. Then we can rush through the rock and go home!”
“But how will we know when the stranger is going to prowl about?” said Charlotte.
Troy looked at Sixpence, thoughtfully. “Maybe Sixpence can help us after all,” he said.