The Host

by Beth Chambers

  For Ethan and Ffion

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Bonus Bits!

  Test your knowledge

  Who said what?

  Answers to “Test your knowledge”

  Answers to “Who said what?”

  By the same author

  Chapter One

  “One hundred and twenty three…” I jump off the final step with a sigh of relief. “One hundred and twenty four.”

  This is the third morning in a row that the lift has been out of order and I have had to walk down one hundred and twenty four steps each morning. Just my luck to live at the top of a high-rise building. Mum calls it the Penthouse as a joke, but there isn’t anything funny about living here.

  I hurry across the hall to the door. I can’t be late again. I peer outside, looking for the stray dog that hangs around the housing estate. Thankfully, there is no sign of him.

  I get as far as the playground before I hear a snarl behind me. Without turning around, I run towards the bus stop as fast as I can.

  My mates are waiting for me there. Their mouths drop open when I run past them. The angry dog is snapping at my ankles. Then I hear them laughing as I jump on top of a nearby bin.

  I look down and see a small, friendly Jack Russell staring up at me and wagging his tail. It wasn’t the usual angry stray dog from the estate after all.

  “That dog is a real killer,” Alex laughs. The Jack Russell is still yapping. Finally it gives up and scampers away.

  “I think it’s safe to get down now,” Warren says. His eyes are bright with tears of laughter. “Although you may want to be on the lookout for the hamster I hear is also on the loose.”

  I slide off the bin and get on the bus with Warren and Alex.

  They are never going to let me hear the end of this.

  The bus pulls up outside the school. Brains, the other member of our gang is waiting for us outside the school gates. Alex and Warren can’t wait to tell him about the dog attack.

  Brains frowns. “You need to show the dog you are the boss,” he says seriously. “Running away is the worst thing you can do.”

  I hold back a sigh as we head for registration. There was no point in telling them that I thought it was a different dog. They wouldn’t believe me anyway.

  Being made fun of by my friends is nothing new. Take my nickname for example. One day during History I fell asleep and dribbled on my desk. The boys thought this was the funniest thing ever and told the whole school about it. Ever since then everyone has called me Dribbler.

  Our first lesson is in the science lab. We sit down at the back. While Mr Kelly turns on the projector Alex passes me a folded piece of paper. “It’s your turn to do a dare,” he whispers.

  I open the note and my heart sinks. I read the challenge written in Alex’s untidy handwriting.

  How am I ever going to do this without getting caught?

  Chapter Two

  If I don’t do the dare I’ll get thrown out of the Dare Club. That’s the rule. Each of us takes it in turn to do a dare.

  Alex elbows me in the ribs. “Go on,” he hisses.

  I re-read the dare. “Make Bones look like he is picking his nose.”

  Bones is the skeleton that is kept in the corner of the science lab. How am I going to get over to him without being caught?

  As I think this, Warren starts clucking like a chicken under his breath. He thinks I’m not going to do the dare.

  I slip off my stool and creep across the science lab. I make it to the corner unnoticed. I raise Bones’s arm up so that I can push two of his bony fingers into his nose cavity.

  “Adams,” Mr Kelly calls out. I freeze. “Josh, Adams,” he calls again. I breathe a sigh of relief. He is ticking off Josh’s name on the register.

  Josh Adams who sits in the front row.

  There’s a chance Mr Kelly hasn’t seen me yet.

  I start to turn around and hear the worst sound in the world.

  Snap.

  Oh no! I stare in horror at Bones who is now missing an arm. The reason he is missing it is because my hand is now holding it! Believe me, there is nothing funny in this situation.

  I hurry back to my stool and try to stuff the arm under the bench.

  Warren and Alex’s shoulders shake with laughter.

  Brains looks over at me and slowly shakes his head. “You have not done the dare,” he whispers.

  When I get home after school the flat is empty. I pour myself a drink and sit down on the sofa. I turn on the TV and try to forget that I’m going to be in detention all week. Mr Kelly was furious when he saw the skeleton without an arm and did not believe me when I said I found it under my chair.

  The phone rings. I answer it and hear my great-aunt’s booming voice on the other end.

  “Mum is out,” I tell her.

  “Get her to call me back when she gets in,” shouts Aunt Flick who is a bit deaf. “I’m having a Halloween party next weekend. You should both come. Bring a friend if you want.”

  Aunt Flick lives in a big, rambling house overlooking the sea. It will make an awesome setting for a Halloween party. At last! A chance to make my friends appreciate me. “Can I bring three friends?” I ask.

  “Speak up, boy!” Aunt Flick shouts.

  “Can I bring three friends?” I yell.

  “There’s no need to shout. You can bring your friends as long as they don’t mind camping outside,” Aunt Flick says. “All of the bedrooms are taken.”

  “That’s fine by me,” I grin.

  Roll on Halloween!

  Chapter Three

  Clackety-clack, clackety-clack, clackety-clack… The train moves steadily along.

  I look out of the train window at the scenery rushing past. The grey high-rise buildings from home are replaced with green fields and a winding river in the distance.

  Aunt Flick is waiting for us in the train station car park. We throw our bags in the boot of her people carrier before getting in.

  “Aunt Flick, you’ve dropped your scarf,” I say, spotting something under the driver’s seat.

  “Speak up, dear,” she says. “That’s not a scarf, it’s my cat, Fluffy. He will come out when he gets hungry.”

  I don’t dare ask how long the cat has been stuck under there for.

  Aunt Flick turns on the engine and the car jerks forward.

  As we drive to Aunt Flick’s house I decide to get us all in the mood for Halloween. “Aunt Flick, why did you leave your old house?” I ask. “What was wrong with it? What was it called again?”

  My great-aunt speeds the car up as she begins her story. “The house was called Magpies. The company my father worked for found the house for us. It was the only house in the area that was empty. There was no way we could know it was haunted.”

  “Haunted?” Brains laughed. Nothing freaks him out. Last Halloween he went into the local graveyard and lay down on top of a grave at night. He spent an hour there. Alone. Later he said that he’d spent the time working out a maths problem. He’s got to be the only kid in the history of the world who wants to be an accountant when he grows up.

  Aunt Flick ignores Brains and carries on with her story. “It was just small things to begin with. Car keys going missing, clocks losing or gaining time. Then it was pictures falling off walls and doors slamming shut. Oh, and the cat was always getting trapped inside cupboards.”

  “Next came the sound of footsteps running up and down the stairs,” Aunt Flick continues, “and banging in the attic.”
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  “There could be lots of reasons for that,” Brains shrugs.

  “Oh really?” Aunt Flick twists around in her seat. “Then how do you explain my brother being thrown across the room?”

  “Aunt Flick!” my mother shrieks, pointing at the road.

  We are all thrown forward as the car screeches to a stop. As we slam back against the car seats I see a deer leap into the bushes at the side of the road.

  “Your aunt is a mad driver,” Warren mutters.

  Finally we drive up the hill to Aunt Flick’s huge house, which sits close to the edge of a cliff.

  Alex takes in the gothic turrets and dull grey stone. “Now this,” he announces, “is what I call a haunted house!

  “Oh this house is not haunted,” my Aunt laughed, “this is the house we moved to. Our old house is along the cliff top.”

  Chapter Four

  It is the perfect place for a Halloween party. Fake spiders and bats sway gently on the end of long strings. Fake smoke swirls around the hall table. “When did your great-aunt leave Magpies, the old haunted house?” Warren asks, as we head up the stairs to get changed into our costumes.

  “When she was about nine,” I tell him. “One night all of Aunt Flick’s blankets were ripped off her bed when she was sleeping. She said she felt invisible hands grab her legs and pin her down so she couldn’t move. She and her family left that night. A few other people have tried living in the house over the years but the same things always happen. It’s been empty for years now.”

  Alex meets my gaze. I can see a challenge forming behind his pale blue eyes. “I’ve come up with a group dare,” he announces. “I vote we all go and visit Aunt Flick’s haunted house.”

  A tingle of fear shivers down my spine.

  “When it gets dark tonight,” Alex adds. “We are going to Magpies, the haunted house and we will see who chickens out first!”

  We get changed into our costumes in Aunt Flick’s bedroom. Alex dresses up as a headless butler, Warren as a zombie and Brains as a surgeon. He has fake blood smeared over his white coat.

  I slip on a purple shirt and a black tie before painting my face white. I give myself some dripping blood from my mouth with face paint. I look in the mirror to check my work and a vampire stares back at me in the mirror’s reflection. I’m done. Fingers crossed the party will be so good that it will make Alex forget about his crazy plan.

  Alex peers through the eyeholes that he has cut out in his collar. “Someone pass me my head.”

  Warren drop-kicks the fake bald head over to Alex who tucks it under his arm.

  Downstairs, my mum is helping to serve the buffet. She gives me a basket of spicy chicken wings to share. I walk over to the boys who are looking slightly stunned as they stare at the aged guests including a knight who is gripping a Zimmer frame instead of a sword.

  My heart sinks.

  I’ve brought my friends to a party for old people.

  I am so dead.

  Chapter Five

  “What sort of party have you brought us to, Dribbler?” Alex mutters. “What are we going to do next? Play Pass the Parcel?”

  This is terrible. I hope they don’t spot the ‘Pin the tail on the Demon’ game in the dining room.

  I lead the way to the games room but the pool table has been replaced with some kind of tent. When I peer inside I see a woman sitting there, a crystal ball placed in front of her.

  “Come in,” she waves. “I’m Mystic Miranda. Let me tell you your future.”

  She swirls her hands over the crystal ball, which clouds over.

  The boys crowd into the tent with me.

  Alex sits in front of her. “Go on then,” he challenges. “Prove you’re not a fake.”

  Mystic Miranda stares at him for a long time. I shift uncomfortably and am just about to suggest that we go and put up our tents when Miranda slips into a sing-song voice.

  “Beware new places,” she says, her eyes rolling back. “Keep to where you know.”

  “Did you tell her we’re going to the haunted house?” Brains hisses.

  Miranda’s eyes suddenly re-focus. “Magpies? The derelict house? You need to stay away from there,” she snaps. “It’s not safe. He is not gone from there.”

  I can’t help being curious. “Who?”

  “The old man who first lived there. He was an author. He kept to himself but his family wanted to get their hands on his money and so they pretended that he was insane. They had him locked up in a mental hospital while they spent all of his money. One night he escaped and got back to the house. His family were never found but his body was discovered several nights later.”

  “Body?” I whisper. “Was he dead?”

  Mystic Miranda’s eyes glaze over. “His chair had burst into flames. There was hardly anything left of him.”

  I feel a shiver of fear run down my back but it is clear that the others aren’t buying it. They laugh and push their way out of the tent.

  I turn to follow them but hesitate when Mystic Miranda gives a sharp gasp. “You must not go!”

  “Huh?” I glance over my shoulder.

  Mystic Miranda’s eyes are wide with fear. “I see bad things happening. You must not go to Magpies!”

  “Come on, Dribbler!” shouted Alex. I take one last look at Mystic Miranda and hurry out of the tent.

  Chapter Six

  Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse Aunt Flick starts to lead a conga line.

  Going to my aunt’s old house can’t be any scarier than being made to join a line of unsteady, old people, singing and kicking out their legs.

  We borrow some torches from the kitchen and sneak out of the house. We go through the gate that leads out onto the cliff top.

  “Which way?” Brains asks.

  I shine my torchlight on the path that splits into two different directions. I pause for a moment.

  “You don’t know, do you?” Alex snaps.

  I have never actually been to the old house but I’ve got some idea of where it is. And I won’t be letting the boys in on that little secret.

  “You’re such a loser, Dribbler.” Alex sighs.

  Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best I take the path that leads to the right. We stumble along for what feels like hours. I’m just about to tell the boys that we are lost when I see orange streetlights up ahead.

  We reach a fence and find a hole to squeeze through. It leads us into a cul-de-sac of houses. I know from Aunt Flick’s stories that Magpies stands alone at the top of the row of houses. We walk silently along the pavement until we reach a small grey stone house.

  “Is that it?” Warren asks looking rather disappointed.

  I have to admit, it’s not what I imagined. Its windows are boarded up and the front garden is completely overgrown but apart from that it’s pretty ordinary.

  We go up to the front door. It is locked. I duck down and peer through the rusting letter box. Through the gloom I can just see a narrow hallway with a door at the far end. Another door is on the left, opposite a flight of stairs.

  “Over here!” Brains shouts, from around the side of the house.

  We follow the sound of his voice and find him by a window. He flashes his torchlight onto a broken board.

  “Excellent!” Alex kicks the broken wooden board, which gives way and falls into the room.

  I try to peer inside but can’t see anything except inky darkness.

  “In you go, Dribbler,” Alex says.

  My stomach flips. “Me?”

  He pushes me towards the window.

  “All you’ve got to do is climb inside and then go and open the front door,” Warren adds.

  Brains puts his torch under his chin. His skin glows and his eyes glint. “We dare you.”

  Chapter Seven

  The first thing I notice when I climb through the window is how cold it is in the house. I mean, it’s freezing. The second thing I notice is a faint scratching sound. I shine my torch around the room and
wrinkle my nose at the smell of rat droppings.

  “Dribbler,” Warren sings out. “Are you still there?”

  “You don’t want to come in here,” I call out to the boys. “There are rats. I can hear them scratching.” I hope that will make them call off the dare.

  “Of course there are rats,” says Brains. “You are never more than a metre away from one!”

  I shine my torch around the room and spot a chair in front of the fireplace. It feels as if the walls are closing in around me. I know this house does not want us here.

  The boys scramble through the window behind me.

  “That doesn’t sound like rats to me,” Warren hisses, flashing his torch around the room.

  He’s right. The noise is too rhythmical.

  Scratch, scratch, scratch, pause… scratch, scratch, scratch, pause…

  “The old man,” I blurt out. “He doesn’t want us here. We have to leave.”

  Three lights follow mine to rest on the blackened chair.

  There’s a short silence before Alex says, “You’re such a wimp, Dribbler.” He reaches out and digs me in the ribs.

  I stumble backwards and trip over a bucket that has been left in the middle of the room. It’s full of old water, and spills all over me.

  “Ugh,” Alex says, waving his hand in front of his nose. “You stink.”

  A wave of hate suddenly washes over me. I wish Alex would find a hole in the ground and disappear.

  The others are laughing at me. Then, I hear a strange popping sound behind me.

  Turning around I see flames appearing around the bottom of the chair. They rise higher and higher until the whole thing is on fire.

  “Run!” I yell.

  The floorboards creak and groan as we run to the door. I look back over my shoulder and see Alex trip and fall. He tries to get back up but before he can stand the floor gives way beneath him. Alex screams over the sound of the wood breaking. Before any of us can reach him, he is swallowed up by the hole in the floor that keeps growing bigger like a monstrous opening mouth.