In this chapter, we are told that there is no proof that Clouse was the one who abducted the children, but there is also no proof he wasn't the person who abducted them. Clouse is the only one who has seen the child in the forest, and he doesn't seem to know why he went there. He says that he's Clouse's friend, and that he should hurry back home and get some food for the children. Clousing, Clouse says, is his friend, too, and they're going to have a drink together. The child asks Clouse if he'd like some crackers, and Clouse tells him that they are his guests, but that he shouldn't take anything from the children because they don't belong to him. He tells Clouse that he feels like he hasn't seen him in a while, and asks him to let the children run wild, because he hears "a crack inside of him." Clouse thanks Clouse for taking the appearance, and says that the child always speaks weirdly, but this year it creaked even more. He asks if the person with the power before him did something, and the answer is no. The person who gave him the power never told him what he did, and neither did the person in the town, who didn't tell him anything either.