Each raindrop turned into a different fizzing colour. Soon there were loads of them, more colours than I even knew: a bluey green, a purplish red, an orangey yellow; all the colours were in between. Each drop of coloured rain then fell away separately, like a fountain made of tiny particles. This went on for about a minute before I realised Whizzy was doing it on purpose. For me? The noise was crazy.

‘It’s like Whizzy loves the rain!’ I shouted down the phone line. ‘Like rain is a new, cool thing! Sam? You there?’

The call was still active, but if he was answering, I couldn’t hear him.

‘You’re like a piece of the sun,’ I whispered to Whizzy. ‘A true sunhorse.’

Whizzy stared, and I saw myself in those mirror eyes.

The air smelt hot and fireworky, even through the rain. Heat poured on to my face and my elbows tingled with that funny-bone feeling, and so did my teeth. I had to bite down hard to control it. We could never touch, me and Whizzy, but maybe we could learn. I actually felt Whizzy doing it: learning about me, drinking me in. Like me, Whizzy was a detective. I felt that in my chest. Ribs vibrated, shoulders buzzed with a tune that tickled between my bones. I closed my eyes to make the other senses work harder, and forgot everything in the whole world …

Then the rain stopped and Sam came crashing down the path and – suddenly – Whizzy just wasn’t there any more.

‘Where did it go? I saw something like a wet firework. It can’t have disappeared again! Alfie, get it back!’

The next part happened unbelievably fast. Everything was quiet now, except for the pylon – the pylon that was supposed to be dead. It was humming, and the sound was getting louder and louder. It was coming to life.

‘Watch out!’ somebody shrieked. ‘She’s electrified it!’

It was Mr Clemm.

Confused and stunned, I moved a little, but not quite quickly enough – something pulled the top of my head. Just a few hairs, but it stung, and in the same split second, Mr Clemm took two huge strides towards us and yelled again. ‘Please be careful! She can be very dangerous!’

‘Alfie, quick!’ Sam hissed, and he grabbed the back of my T-shirt to pull me away. I was only half breathing. More words came out of Mr Clemm’s mouth – frantic words, flipped-out words – but we didn’t stop to listen. We just ran.

Looking back over my shoulder was terrifying, so I only did it once, just in time to see a cable from the pylon – massively thick, like a boa constrictor – burst loose and spring into an arc that whipped the ground where we’d just been standing.