‘Maybe,’ I said. ‘But it’s been months and she hasn’t eaten a biscuit before. Hey! Brains run on electricity, right? Maybe the creature’s changing all our brains!’

‘Pah!’ He smirked and shook his head and put the plug in the sink.

I studied Lily again, then left Sam with the beakers. ‘Lily … do you feel different since we moved here?’

‘What?’

‘Lily, you’re eating a biscuit.’

‘Such detective skills,’ she snapped, and left the room.

12

Indoor Lightning

We started washing up. Mum probably wouldn’t believe it, but we did turn the tap on and would have squirted in washing-up liquid if this monster fizzing noise hadn’t ripped across the ceiling at that exact second. The strip-light above our heads suddenly brightened and a dazzling ball of brilliant white light – like a mini sun – hurtled from one end of the tube to the other.

We ducked and darted to the other side of the room just as a sizzling zigzag of lightning shot from the tube to the ground, leaving a silver trail in my eyes.

I turned to Sam. ‘What? How …?’

‘Got a retinal after-image!’ he said.

‘Yeah, that. Me too. Lightning inside!’

The tube exploded. Powdered glass drifted to the floor.

‘Whoa, Sam! It’s raining glass.’

A sour battery-acidy smell curled up my nose, and then Mum was beside us.

‘Look!’ I said, pointing to the glass with one hand and the ceiling with the other. My heart was hammering in my ears.

‘The tube has blown,’ Mum said. ‘Come away. I’ll get Mr Lombard – come right out of here.’

‘Mum, this lightning bolt rippled across the ceiling and zoomed into the light tube and bounced around like a comet and then – boom! The tube exploded! And now the air’s gone all heavy – can’t you feel it?’

Mum frowned. ‘Is there some exaggeration to subtract from that, Alfie, or are you saying it straight?’

‘It’s straight up, Mrs Bradley,’ Sam said. ‘Like when hot air ripples off the pavement when it’s uber-hot –’ he stared at the space with wide eyes – ‘except this went sideways.’

‘Dina, Sam,’ Mum said. ‘You can call me Dina. Lightning inside the tube?’ She opened and closed her mouth a few times to show how hard she was trying to believe us. (She always thinks fish-faces help with this.) ‘There’s certainly thunder on the way – the air’s very oppressive. After that rainstorm earlier, I’m surprised it hasn’t cleared. My head feels terrible, but the weather just needs to break. That’s all that’s going on, boys.’

I looked at Sam. He spiked his hair with his hand and blinked.

‘Actually, you two go and tell Mr Lombard,’ Mum said, ‘and I’ll deal with this glass.’