“I can't sweetie. I love you and I want you to write and visit but... your father is buried here. If I ever get out, I want to stay near him."

"But he's dead Mom. You're not. Don't you want to start over?"

“I think we just did," Abigail said, gripping her daughter's hand.

“I think we just did."

Robbie was sitting alone near one of the entrances to the tunnels.

He was dead tired and had drifted off several times while leaning against the inside of the overflow tunnel. But he wanted to wait and see if his sister was going to call again. Like everyone, he had been stunned to hear that the Dark One was dead, and wanted to fill big sis in on the new plan. Then, at one moment he opened his eyes and noticed there was someone else in the tunnel with him.

"Not much of a lookout, are you?" the large man asked in an amused tone. The man was almost as big as Tarloh. Huge shoulders and arms, and his broad chest and powerful legs were clad in something that resembled snake-skin armor.

'No,' Robbie thought, preparing to wolf-out. ‘Crocodile armor.’

"Ho there short stuff," the man continued, a smirk on his lips.

“If I wanted to fight you, I'd have started and finished by now." He offered his hands.

"I got word that you folk were looking for my services, but I've also heard a bit about what's been goin’ on out heah."

Robbie detected a faint Louisiana accent, or at least it matched what Robbie had heard in old voodoo movies.

“I also figgered you wound'n want a stranger just poppin’ in all uninvited like. So I thought I'd wait until you'd finished with yer beauty sleep."

Robbie was annoyed. Mostly because he'd been caught napping, but secondly because a total stranger was rubbing it in.

"And you are?" Robbie felt like a moron. It was pretty obvious who this had to be.

"The fuckin' Easter Bunny," the man Robbie assumed was Croc said.

“Now take me to your leader."

The Croc had listened quite intently as a roused Tarloh and Natasha explained to the newcomer what the situation was. While concentrating, the large man was eerily silent.

"So there you have it," Tarloh said.

"We need help finding this weak spot so we can fix it. Let us know if you're interested and how much..."

"I'll do it," Croc said quickly.

" He leaned back.

"The price is . well, you obviously don't have all that much money. So how ‘bout we say y'all owe me one and leave it at that."

Tarloh looked suspicious. Talia looked surprised. Natasha looked confused. Croc was a high-priced player. Why was he waving his fee?