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The faure of Hector Shield smiled at them over the fence

‘Better late than never!’

The twins practically bounced over the traet to him

‘You made it!’ Jack said

‘What took you so long?’ Jaide asked

‘It’s good to see you, too, kids’

The twins opened the gate and Hector stepped into the yard He was dressed in his usual ru a large and battered black suitcase behind hi

Neither twin noticed that there were scorchhis head in his father’s shirt, withdrew after aHector smelled like burnt toast

‘Why did you come this way?’ Jack asked

‘My, uh, taxi droppedstreet’

Jaide didn’t care how their father had got there, just as long as he was ho us any presents?’ she asked

Hector sht back a little bit of treasure for each of the and strange, like the antique wind-up horses he’d brought back fro ceremonial hot chocolate he’d produced at Christmas

‘Of course,’ he said ‘We’ll have a present-giving ceremony after I’ve had a shower and a cup of coffee’

They turned toward the back door, and all three stopped as they saw Susan standing there with her arms folded and a tense expression on her face

‘Ah,’ said Hector ‘You go on ahead, Jack and Jaide I think your mother wants a word’

The twins grabbed the handle of the battered Sa of a ritual for Jack and Jaide to take it up to their parents’ roo parental argument Since their e of schedule (like their father being a day late) wreaked havoc with all the co of school, after-school activities and work

‘It’s heavy,’ puffed Jack when they reached the stairs

‘Our presents o of the handle and lifted the suitcase frootiated the hairpin bend halfway up and lugged the suitcase into their parents’ bedroom The room was decorated with a series of nineteenth-century watercolours by an artist their father had discovered in Paris, depicting small animals and birds all dressed in Victorian costumes

The twins started to hoist the suitcase up onto the bed, but Jack lost his grip at the last second and Jaide couldn’t hold it alone The case fell back on the floor Jack leaped aside, and with an alhty crack, the solid outer shell of supposedly indestructible plastic split in the middle and all the contents cascaded out across the twins’ feet

For a second, Jaide and Jack were shocked into silence Out in the garden, they could hear their ot back!’

The twins stared down at the shattered suitcase

‘Dad’ll be mad,’ said Jaide ‘What do we do?’

‘I can’t believe it broke,’ said Jack ‘It must have fallen a million times before’

Jaide picked up the two broken halves of the top of the suitcase and held them up to her brother

‘Look! It’s burnt No wonder it broke’

Jack ca from one end to the other He sniffed, and smelled the saed them

‘Do you think – do you think he was in some kind of accident, and that’s why he’s late?’

‘I don’t know’

Jaide put down the broken lid and looked at the pile of things at their feet Most of it seemed pretty ordinary, just shirts and socks, underwear and toiletries But there was a pair of particularly old and tattered corduroy pants that had so

Jaide picked up the pants and an iron rod fell out Jack quickly reached down to pick it up

‘Ow!’ he exclaiers He dropped the rod onto the bed

Both of the twins looked it over, eager to see soth of iron, pitted and scarred, utterly unmarked by rust

‘Notfor it There was no spark, but a wave of dizziness rolled through her

She shut her eyes and waited for it to pass, but instead the feeling got stronger

‘Are you all right?’ Jack asked nervously Jaide had suddenly gone very pale

‘No,’ she said, and swayed sideways Jack steadied her and tried to snatch the rod away, to throw it back on the bed But the ain, a wave of dizziness hit him as well

The floor sagged underneath the bowed Every corner curved and twisted, as though they were seeing the walls through buckled glass

‘What’s going on?’ Jack’s voice boohorn

‘It’s the rod!’ Jaide’s voice squeaked like fingernails down a blackboard

‘Let it go!’

‘I can’t!’ She shook her hand, but the rod was firo of me!’

/> Jack tried to let go, too, but he was stuck as well

The angles and lines of the roo their world in knots Bile rose in their throats Jack shook his head wildly and Jaide blinked and sed, hoping that this would soain But it didn’t, and they felt a sudden pain in their ears, a pain followed by a horrible, whispering voice that at first was so soft they could only feel it and not understand But it grew louder andthey could hear, as if it emanated from inside their own heads

+Come to us, troubletwisters Join uswelcome, most welcome!++

The twins spun around and tried to head for the door, though noas only a tiny rectangle at the end of a distorted tunnel of walls Their feet still moved, but it was no use – the rod was fixed in place above the bed and they couldn’t let go

+We see you! We see you!++ crowed the voice triumphantly ++So close, so close!++

As the voice spoke, the watercolour animals on the walls twisted and writhed out of their fraing eyes like those of oldfish, eyes that rotated and shifted to peer intently at the twins

Even worse than their attention was the fact that the eyes were entirely white, without iris or pupil, and the whiteness was buzzing and blurry, like the worst kind of fluorescent light

+We see you! We see you!++

Jaide almost yanked her arm out of her shoulder socket as she tried to free herself fro not to aze of those terrible eyes, the eyes that she felt were drawing her in, sucking her into some other place, some other dimension

Jack, too, averted his eyes, but the room warped and weirded around hi behind these i that didn’t hurt his brain, but there was nothing

Both twins screamed at the same time

Hector and Susan Shield heard the scream, and when they whirled around to the house, they were shocked to see its angles shifting The roof, which normally peaked at a sharp point, was now as flat as the horizon, while the chimney had stretched up a dozen feet