Daniel leaned forward again, expecting Ethan to shove the half-bottle in his face. But the older boy just held the bottle steady for him to get a good look inside, tapping it with his free hand to stop the beetle climbing too far up the side. It had a long black body shaped like a bullet, six legs and a big head with two massive pincers growing out of each side, each with three sharp points that made him itch just looking at them.

It was absolutely minging.

‘We made an arena,’ Jake said. ‘Check it out.’

Behind a fallen log, he pointed out a small area of cleared earth that had been surrounded with rocks, like a cub camp firepit with no fire in it.

‘What’s that for?’

‘Your initiation.’

Daniel looked from one boy to the other, unease crawling up his spine. He’d seen some gross stuff on I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here, like when a celebrity person had to be covered in insects and they crawled up their pants and into their ears and stuff. It was grim. And the beetle was massive. He didn’t want to go anywhere near it.

‘What do I have to do?’

Ethan tipped the bottle out into the makeshift arena. The beetle tumbled out and began running from side to side.

‘Simple,’ Ethan said, flicking at the beetle with a stick to keep it contained. ‘You have to kill it.’

‘The beetle?’

‘Yes, numbnuts. The beetle.’

‘Oh.’

Daniel balled his hands into tight fists and thrust them into his pockets.

Jake held the knife out to him, handle first. ‘Are you going to do it, then?’

‘Erm . . . not sure.’

‘Are you chicken?’

‘No.’

He desperately wanted to be part of what Jake and Ethan did. Part of their crew, they called it. He wanted to be included, to be one of the cool kids for a change. And most of all, he didn’t want to be on the outside. Because he knew that if he wasn’t their friend, he’d be a target instead.

However, the beetle may have been a long, long way down his list of favourite animals, but he didn’t want to hurt it.

Ethan took the knife from his brother and pressed the handle into Daniel’s right hand.

‘Do it. It’s just a beetle, it would do the same to you if it could. If it was big enough.’

‘Really?’

‘Of course. Kill or be killed. Just do it.’

Ethan suddenly seemed very big, very broad and tall. There was a strange light in his eyes.

Daniel stood, frozen. He wanted, more than anything, to be back with his dad at this moment, messing about in the pool, or with his mum, telling him to wash his hands before dinner, or even with his sister. Even if she was being mean and ignoring him. Anywhere but here, looking at the knife in his hand.