-Lussak... what on earth happened to you? I finally get the words out of my mouth, -And how about Rae?

-A big mob of reapers kidnapped us both! Lussak speaks out, -Grim is one of them! I tried to escape all the time, but didn't succeed until now.

-Wait... a whole bunch of reaper? And Grim being one of them? I gasp all baffled, -I thought that Grim was the only reaper anyway... and besides, why did they kidnap you? This makes no sense at all!

-There really is no time for explanations right now! Lussak exclaims...

-We should get far, far away from this town as soon as possible!

"The grims are growing a plant, that will cause a deadly disease spread over the city like an epidemic! Most of the citizens are going to die."

-If it really is so, shouldn't we rather try to warn all the citizens, so that the town would be evacuated?! Or try to fight the reapers somehow, instead of running away like cowards? Nefas objects.

-Please, don't try to play a hero now! Lussak growls obviously frustrated.

-There simply is no time! As soon as the grims notice that I'm gone, they will COME AFTER US! And then we can't help anybody, not even ourselves!

-But... what about Rae?! I stammer horrified.

-There's no need to worry about her. The reapers take good care of her, because...

- ...whether you like it or not, mum, she's more one of them than one of us!

-But we can't just leave all the people here to die! Nefas insists.

-We can call our friends when we're on the road OR WHATEVER! But fleeing is the only thing we can do for now. Could you even TRY to listen to me?!

-Lussak's right! Tepe abrupts the argument, -We can't fight grim reapers, so LET'S GET OUT OF HERE before we're all dead!

After Tepe's simple statement we all finally realize, that we literally should run for our lifes!

Nefas still hesitates a bit, though...

What comes to me, I'm used to run away and not look back. That's basically what my life has been about!

And so we're about to leave Appleslope behind.

In some twisted way I even feel relieved.

The town holds so many memories...

...bad ones, mostly...

...but also plainly boring ones...

...and very frustrating ones!

Of course some of the memories are even good and beautiful.

But I'm not that kind of a person...

...who willingly carries a huge pile of assorted memories on their shoulders.

There's a limit when even good memories become too much to bear...

...so I gladly say goodbye to Appleslope. And I hope that I don't need to see this place...

...ever again.

We drive the whole day, from the dawn to the night, until we're many, many miles away from Appleslope.

We prepare to start our life over again...

...from almost nothing.

As an elder I supposedly should be anxious about losing my old, familiar life with all it's safe routines... But instead I feel extremely refreshed and purified!

I suddenly understand, that this is the way my life should be - simple, independent and adventurous. It was a mistake to marry Grim - not only because he betrayd me, but also 'cause I'm not meant for a normal, steady family life! My family is just perfect with me and my three brave sons - all of us stranded, lonely survivors, in some way. Actually I never felt like home in the marriage.

The reapers' dream can't be reached without meticulous studies of gardening... The extraordinary plants are definitely not the easiest ones to tend!

-I have great plans for your future, my big girl!

And so Rae became mean-spirited, just like her mother.

-Why didn't mummy attend my party?

-Your mum doesn't care about you! She's a brutal and savage criminal, and besides she's not a part of our cultivated clan, so you better forget about her!

-She abandoned you and didn't even show up for your birthday, so... get used to the thought of not seeing her again!

And the time goes...

-Lussak, you'd better stop...

- ...with those childish escape attempts!

-You won't get away - deal with it!

The two children could be friends - they keep doing similar things...

...but never at the same time! Instead, for some mysterious reason they actually do their best to avoid each other!

Jekeh keeps on learning more and more about gardening...

Rae is more interested about the bugs, especially, if they are found inside a dark cave...

Lussak is considering, that maybe he after all HAS a talent in finding thingies...

Or is it just a coincidence, that every other rock that he has found turns out to be a magnificent jewel?

-Rae... I'm sorry about the things that I said when you were a toddler! I was just jealous, when you were so small and cute and caught everyone's attention...

-It's okay! Besides, you were right! My mother IS a nasty llama, and I'm just a half-blooded reaper.

Time... goes...

...until FINALLY Jekeh has gained enough skill to plant The Mighty Seed.

One night a starving girl appears on the yard.

-Oh my God! Where AM I?!

-And... who is that?!

-I'm Grim Reaper, and you're here because... you're about to die!

-Watch carefully now, children, so that you learn about your future job!

-Stop threatening me you... you gross gaffer!

-Wait... or are you serious?!

-But I only wanted to lose some weight, not to... freakin' starve to death!

-Oh no, Rae Sobs, -Do I HAVE TO watch?

-It's not that awful, Ranyemel whispers, -And you'll get used to it.

-Why, oh why?!!! The girl gets dramatic, -I was meant to be a super model!

Grim has changed to his work outfit.

The chanting begins...

The girl doesn't look so desperate anymore. She even politely shakes hands with Grim.

I have mostly given up the search. I'm getting too old to run around the town all day long, and besides, I think I have looked in every possible place already!

And one night...

-Is that really you, mum?

Tepe rushes to his twin brother...

But Nefas isn't so much in a hurry - he prefers undead company.

Life goes on... no, who am I trying to fool? Life does NOT go on - not at least the way it should! (God I hate that "life goes on"-phrase...)

I spend my days on a desperate search for Lussak, Rae and Grim. Grim should be able to take care of himself, though, and I hardly believe that he's just a helpless victim of kidnappers... Actually I'm starting to get a bit suspicious about him!

Tepe, for one, deals with his worries by obsessively collecting all kinds of things: stones, seeds, insects... And he seems to be surprisingly talented at finding loads of junk to block our home with!

I would love to steal his talent and use it for finding PEOPLE.

Even in the middle of the night, when the darkness is so thick that I hardly can see my own nose, I wander around in the hope that I'd bump into some of my beloved!

But the only result of my enraged searching is a bottomless pit of frustration!

I hardly remember to sleep...

...and I definitely don't remember to go to work!

Nefas has developed a weird enthusiasm for the graveyard. It seems that he'd rather hang out there all the time! I can't understand how he finds it so fascinating, since all he does there is fishing, visiting the mausoleum over and over again...

...and mourning random people whom he has never known!

I can't get rid of the feeling, that something strange is going on in the night time. When I occasionally nap or faint, I keep on having these dreams...

In my dreams Lussak is desperately looking for seeds - almost as desperately as I'm looking for him.

I also dream about Rae - and a creepy little boy watching over her!

Sometimes the boy is clapping his hands and seems amused by Rae's inventions.

But at times he has really mischievous faces!

In my latest dream Lussak found a seed that looked exactly like any other seed, but his shadowlike stalkers looked extremely cheerful!

They whispered to each other joyfully - just like if a wish, that they'd had for ages, would finally be about to come true!

Soon after that I wake up from the ground and in the light of the dawn I realize, that I had fainted on an most tremendous place...

What's similar about these stories are the random, spooky thingies, lol...

(Cessalin's evil double escaping through the mirror...)

-We've been watching you, Tepe, and we have plans for you, a reaper-like man starts explaining to Lussak.

-First of all, my name is Lussak! Lussak scowls, -And secondly, I couldn't care less about your woolly plans! I just wanna go home!

Hearing Lussak's real name seems to cause awful distress to the reaper with the repulsive, navy blue rubbergloves.

Lussak for one becomes anguished by the crown of creepy shadow people around him in the tent...

Lussak is shocked when he hears that "gloveman" call GRIM'S name! Yes, these beings reminded of Grim a lot, but still Lussak thought that Grim himself, being a part of his FAMILY, would be on the good side!

-We have caught a wrong boy! The gloveman yells at Grim frustrated, -You should have given us a more precise description of Tepe! I guess that Fasse didn't even know that Eafi has several rascals!

When the reapers are arguing, he takes the chance and tries to sneak away...

But the corrupted cop Fasse blocks his way. -You ain't going nowhere, he laughs pompously.

-What could you possibly want from me?! Lussak shouts sick and tired of this mysterious fuss, -You want me to be your maid who takes the garbage out, or what?!

-No, it's all about mystical seeds! Fasse explains in a slightly friendlier tone.

-Seeds? Oh, now it makes SO MUCH sense, Lussak snorts ironically.

-Skip that sassy attitude or you'll know how it feels to be ripped apart by the bigfoot!!! Fasse roars.

-If you won't let me go home, could you just let me sleep for a while? Lussak demands feeling weary.

The little reaper boy finds their argument amusing...

-No sleeping now!!! Fasse brawls, -We have things to do!

Soon Lussak is lead to the graveyard nearby. -Now, go to the catacombs, use your famous seed-finding skill and bring us the seed of death, a female reaper bosses around.

-I'm NOT going there alone, Lussak proclaims, -'Cause... well, why would I? I'm not even the gifted seed finder you were looking for!

-Okay, I can come with you, you chicken! But finding seeds is on your resposibility, remember that!

In the camp the junior reaper Ranyemel is observing "his new little sister" - Rae. He's used to be the youngest and everyone's pet, so he doesn't really like what he sees. "Rae would look cooler as a ghost" Ranyemel is thinking.

"Or maybe I could sell her for loads of money?"

Lussak returns from the catacombs so deeply horrified, that he doesn't want to speak about the events down there to anyone for a long time! Besides he didn't find one single object to take with him - not even little rocks! And that woman ran away and left him alone to start with! She's already waiting on the surface, when Lussak finally finds his way out!

I've finally managed to drag myself home - only to see, that even Grim and Rae are missing! Now I suffer from terrible mood swings, and I feel like I'm cracking any moment. One minute I might comfort Tepe like a well adjusted adult...

...the next minute I might throw a pointless tantrum...

...and the third minute Tepe needs to comfort me.

Nefas is retreating from my distressing company - well, I've never had time to become really close with him, which is a pity. But is Nefas starting to see things in this oppressive situation? Or what is that what he supposedly sees in the mirror?

Epme's family seemingly has a quite weird vision of important furniture - in their garage-home they don't own a toilet seat, a shower or one single bed. Even the walls are unpainted. But instead they have a juicebar, a guitar and a huge stereo!

"Let's have some fun!" Epme's sister Katta says and turn on the stereo.

Epme keeps telling fascinating stories, as usual...

And Lussak, for one, complains about his need to work out.

Katta asks Lussak to dance with her, and they're having fantastic time!

Everything's going almost too perfect - Lussak gets even some workout done!

But suddenly someone's calling Lussak's name with a gruff voice...

Lussak glares at the policeman with hate in his eyes. Ok, he forgat about the curfew, but this is still way too much!

But Lussak has no idea, how utterly right he is... This is TOO much!

Near the dawn I wake up to a disturbing feeling, that everything's not alright.

After going through the house I realize, that I had a reason for my bad feeling! Lussak never returned from Epme's place! I try to call him...

...but then I notice, that his phone number has mysteriously been erased from my phone!

Of course I freak out, even if that doesn't help anything. I know that I have to find Lussak, whatever it takes!

I start running through the town...

But there's no sight of him, or even a police car, that possibly could have picked him up...

The streets are all empty.

Even the hope, that he would still be at Epme's garage, dies out.

When I reach the police station, I get an unexplainable bad feeling - like a hint of a bad omen.

At 6 AM the park is uninhabited, except for a couple of teenager girls, who certainly has nothing to do with Lussak's disappearing.

I find my way to the highest hill, and lookout the coastline, but it's completely empty. Especially empty of Lussak.

Finally I lower myself to go to Sevar's place. Maybe Lussak wanted to befriend his father in secret? But soon I see, that it's not Sevar's place anymore - an unknown family has moved in there. They still welcome me in...

...and I take the opportunity to use their bathroom and fridge. But I'm getting very exhausted and sweaty too, so I know that I can't just run around and look for Lussak non stop...

I decide, that it's time to go home to rest, but I canät really make it there...

... 'cause this little girl makes me faint of boredom with her rambling!

But... who are these creepy people who blend in the darkness? Plus one police officer?!

They seem to have suspicious plans... but whose is that morbid, pale bluish hand in the foreground?

Grim and Rae? Where are they?? (And is this just some sort of a nightmare that I'm having while I'm unconscious?)

Lussak?!

After a long day of boring classes, Nefas is desperately in need of having some fun. As unbelieveable as it is, the kitchen is flooding again, thanks to a broken sink! Nefas sees here a great opportunity to have fun - mopping puddles is one of the most amusing things that he knows!

When Nefas has finally had his fun, Tepe decides to deal with the reparation. He might have a hidden talent on that field, since it doesn't take long for him to get the sink fixed.

Rae, for one, amuses herself by eating dolls...

...until Grim concludes, that it's time for her to learn how to walk.

Lussak is a bit bored, so he takes off and aimlessly wanders around for a while. He hopes that he might find something interesting on the ground, but he doesn't. Roaming in the middle of nowhere he suddenly comes to think about Margareta and decides to call her. This time he's wise enough to not immediatly ask her out - at first he will only chat to improve their relationship.

Luckily Margareta doesn't refuse talking to Lussak! In order to not accidentally offend Margareta again, Lussak sticks to their common favourite topic - sport.

Rolling about sport with Margareta remainds Lussak of the fact, that even if he loves sport, he has barely at all carried out this hobby! He plans to go to the gym to finally work out a little. But when he passes by the school, he remembers, that he had promised to fix a problem with the air conditioning there. He isn't very excited, but a man has to do what a man has to do!

That day, when Tepe and Lussak were hanging out in the park, Tepe caught a ladybug. The ladybug is still in his backpack, so he decides to finally give it an own terrarium and a name - Marse. But when he observes his new pet he realizes, that it's actually not so cute...

...but rather gross! With shudders of disgust he's wondering, how could he ever hold that foul bug in his hands!

Late in the evening I'm finally set free from the jail. I'm NOT happy - I'm starving, drained and badly in need of a shower.

My irritation is complete, when I burn my soup and it taste is terrible...

...and the shower is totally out of order!

Next morning I feel already better.

...but the sight outside the cinema changes my intentions! I'll rather just avoid those ghost crowds and jog home!

We're little by little starting to look like moguls, aren't we? I think that it's an acute time to find a cache for our riches - a pirate style chest would be nice, yarr!

When I sit down to study gardening, Nefas and Tepe are returning from school. Tepe doesn't seem to have enjoyed the day too much...

The bus stops by a big, fancy estate.

Epme and his family LIVE IN A GARAGE!!!

When everyone else is going to sleep, a mischievous smile spreads across Grim's face.

While waiting that everyone certainly are in deep sleep, Grim kills time by sneaking behind Zarme...

...and frightening her badly! To be able to scare a ghost... that's just... most scary! Shouldn't it go the totally opposite way?

When the house is completely silent (except for occasional snoring) Grim grabs Rae, and one more time he peers arounf him, just to be sure that nobody's watching.

He walks out and heads to the forest, where he and Rae are wrapped in total darkness.

He walks and walks...

Until he finally reaches his destination.

He stops in front of a huge stone with mysterious markings on it. He lifts Rae in the air, speaking some inconceivable words.

Then he enters the catacombs, with Rae still in his arms.

When he finally returns, the morning has already come, and it looks like someone... or rather something, has assaulted him down there in the creepy, mysterious tunnels.

He leaves Rae on the ground and goes to light a fire. What is really going on in his head?

It looks like he's talking to that stone pole...

And in a flash Rae grows up to a toddler - even if I thought that she still had a couple of days left to her birthday!

Grim seems very happy (but sort of dubious too) of what he has accomplished - whatever it might be!

This is Rae's final look. She (obviously) has her father's skin, and also his blue eyes. But I have absolutely no idea, how she can have light brown hair, when I and Grim both have black hair! However, I can't be there to admire the cuteness of my toddler daughter quite yet...

...'cause I'm going to spend some time in the jail again! But luckily this hasn't happened for a long time until now, so I guess I can handle it...

Life goes on as usual - I keep on changing diapers...

...and the sinks keep on breaking! Luckily I've become quite skilled in repairing stuff.

I get the malfuntioning stereo fixed in no time, and the sinks are even quicker to deal with!

But my parenting has somehow slipped into quite a chaos. My undisciplined sons seem to live one moment at a time, without considering the future or taking responsibility at all. For instance, they sleep when they feel like it - not when it's time to sleep. This morning Tepe was so tired, that instead of dragging himself to school he dragged himself to bed, all exhausted.

When Tepe wakes up at noon, he tries to call some of his friends - first Kristina and then Nimma (the girl he knew already as a child). None of them can chat right now, though. I suppose they're in class, just like SOME PEOPLE should be!

Recently I and Grim have gained some riches by looking for precious stones every time we walk outside. The only problem is, that we don't really know what to do with all these jewels - storíng huge diamonds on random tea tables doesn't feel very secure in longer run... We could of course sell them (and if we are out of money, of course we'll do that), but they're so beautiful that I just can't let them go...

Grim is looking for even more gems outside that scary, abandoned mine. This time he finds only one real jewel - a blue sapphire - but quite much silver.

In my opinion the most interesting find is anyway the mysterious seed that Tepe brought from the park! Now I can finally fullfil the dream that crashed when I was a teen - planting a fascinating, unknown seed! This might of course be different seed than the one that I used to have, but big deal - I didn't know what it was anyway, so this is at least as exciting. I can't wait to see what it turns out to be!

Luckily I don't need to worry too much about Rae now, when I have many helping hands around me. Tepe is taking care of the baby quite much - maybe even more than Grim? Maybe it has something to do with his friendly nature.

Grim had sent the iron- and silver rocks that he had found to a foundry. Now he receives them back as neat bars, and seemingly thinks, that the middle of the hall is the best storage for them.

Nefas has brought home his new friend - a girl called Sevea. We others don't get to know really anything about her, though. The first thing she does is sitting down and doing her homework in Nefases company, and very soon after that she just dissapears. Ok, she doesn't vanish like smoke in the air, but I didn't notice when she left, and she didn't say goodbye to anyone!

Because we all happened to be quite hungry at the same time, I decided to for once cook a decent dinner for the whole family. While eating quirky carbonara we discuss our interests - Tepe spouts about jogging and I try to smoothly transfer the topic to the trees around the jogging path (they're at least green, and green is my favourite colour!).

Lussak calls Margareta and asks her to come out to the park with him, but Margareta couldn't care less. For a moment Lussak looks like if he's sinking deep down into depression, but then he shapes up and calls Epme instead. Epme says that he'll gladly hang out with Lussak on the playground!

Epme and Lussak have great time! It turns out that Epme has a good sense of humour, and he keeps on making silly faces and telling jokes and funny stories all the time! Lussak enjoys it, when he doesn't have to initiate so much, and there are no uneasy, silent moments.

But seemingly Lussak has even TOO fun, 'cause he completely forgets about the time and the curfew. Suddenly he finds himself arrested for staying outside too late! The cops doesn't say a word to Epme, though... After the confrontation Lussak feels considerably irritated. Only time will show, if this affects his attitude toward law and order.