The Uninvited

puffs out his cheeks and blows hard. Crispcrumbs come flying out, and twinkles ofsalt. The white Lego man tumbles off theedge.I ask, ‘Did Mum tell you about thesemen?’‘Nyet,’ he says. He’s tearing his crisppacket apart and flattening it out.‘Stephanie then?’ I sense her shift. ‘Ormaybe Stephanie knew about them and shetold your mum and you overheard.’‘No,’ says Stephanie. ‘That didn’thappen.’ I glance across at her. She ispaler than ever.‘Nyet,’ agrees Freddy. ‘That didn’thappen.’ Then he does the archaeopteryxvoice again, even deeper this time. ‘Thotdodn’t hoppon.’I ask, ‘So who told you about the men,