‘Anyway, most of it was dull as hell, but then they said something about Crater Lake, so I started listening properly. They were talking like they were there, but on Team Alien. It was all, “we were defeated in the crater, we cannot take any chances this time. At all costs” and I started thinking that maybe my mum and dad had breathed in the wasp fluff like what happened at Crater Lake. Then they said that the enemy from Crater Lake must be apprehended today, that those who posed the greatest threat were at the 211 home of the boy called Maksym, and that they should prepare for battle.’

‘This is bad,’ Mak says.

‘Yeah, so I got the hell out of there and came here to warn you losers. I figured if anyone had a plan to stop the creepy-ass bug people, it would be you freaks.’

‘So you actually came here to help yourself,’ Ade says. ‘Typical.’

‘What about Madison?’ I say. ‘Where’s she?’

‘Probably still at home, unless my parents have done something with her.’

‘You left your little sister behind?’ I say, and I’d love to say I can’t believe it, but I actually really can.

‘Have you seen her? She’s stupid and slow. She would have taken too long and then I’d never have got away.’

‘Classy,’ Ade says.

‘She’d have been no help anyway,’ Trent says. ‘She cries all the time and she’s scared of the dark.’

‘Isn’t she, like, seven years old?’ I say.

‘Yeah, exactly.’ Trent rolls his eyes. ‘So I put myself at risk to come and warn you that, firstly, there are Crater Lake bug people in Straybridge, and secondly, they’re coming for you. Like, soon.’ 212

‘And they know where we are,’ I say. ‘So we need to move.’

‘We knew they’d know where we are,’ Ade says. ‘The interesting part is that they also knew about the hairspray, and the microwave, almost like they were listening in to our conversation.’

‘Oh man,’ I say, and my gut twists as I try to connect the dots.

‘They could have worked it out for themselves,’ Chets says.

‘At the exact same time that we did?’ I say. ‘Nah, that’s way too much of a coincidence.’

Kat looks around at everyone. ‘But that means that one of us is…’

And it sickens me to think it, but we have to face facts. ‘One of them.’

19

Bugged Out

We all jump out of our seats and back away from each other. Except Trent, who stays sitting on the floor eating pizza.

‘None of us changed, though,’ Kat says. ‘We checked.’

‘We must have missed something.’ I look around the room at all the friends I’ve only just found again after months of missing them. Except that one of them isn’t my friend. One of them is the enemy.