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came in. He was sweating and his shoes were even muddier than mine.
    ‘Heavens, man,’ Mum exclaimed. ‘Where have you been? Look at the state of you.’
    ‘We were out looking for Harry Donnelly’s horses,’ Dad said. ‘They were all over the place … Oh, shepherd’s pie again,’ he said as he dried his hands. ‘Lovely.’
    ‘Did you find them, Dad?’ I asked. ‘The horses.’
    ‘We did – eventually,’ he said, shaking lots of pepper on his dinner. ‘They broke into a couple of farms. Very strange,’ he went on. ‘Every one of them was shivering. They were really scared.’
    ‘What scared them?’ Mum asked. ‘Perhaps a couple of youngsters messing about in the night?’
    ‘No,’ said Dad. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. Those horses were extremely traumatised – as if the devil himself was after them. We had to put them into another farmer’s field because they refused to go back along the road to Harry’s. I’ve never heard such a commotion.’
    ‘Is it OK if I stay with Shane tonight?’ I cleverly asked while they were absorbed in the runaway horses.
    ‘Sure,’ said Mum. ‘That means we can watch what we like on telly.’
    I rushed upstairs and packed two torches, matches and a couple of candles.
    ‘Have a good time, and be good,’ Mum called out as I ran down the stairs.
    ‘And stay alive,’ I muttered to myself,trying not to think of what might happen in a dreary old mill with just a dead man for company.
    I called in for Shane, who had already told Big Ella that he’d be sleeping in my house.
    ‘And please don’t phone me, Gran,’ he said, putting his bag over his shoulder. ‘And don’t phone Milo’s mum because I’m not a baby. OK?’
    ‘OK,’ laughed Big Ella. ‘Here.’ She went to the fridge and took out a box of goodies. ‘I know you boys,’ she laughed, handing it to Shane. ‘You’ll probably be peckish at midnight.’
    ‘Oh, we’ll have a blast, Gran,’ Shane replied.
    ‘Well, have a good time now,’ she smiled.
    ‘I wish,’ I whispered.
    ‘We’ll be fine, Milo,’ said Shane, closing the front door. ‘And look,’ he went on as he fished something from his pocket. ‘I’vebrought my mouth organ to help while away the time.’
    ‘Or we could just play I Spy,’ I said, because I know how he plays the mouth organ and I felt a headache forming already.
    ‘No, this will keep us calm during the night, Milo,’ he said seriously.
    I took a deep breath and hoped he might lose it on the way.
    Naturally we brought our schoolbags with us – it would be pretty awkward if we’d left them behind and Big Ella and my parents found them next morning!
    On the way down Main Street we saw Jimmy Riley’s bus pulling in and a gang of guys from fifth and sixth classes got out, all wearing football gear and chattering like high-pitched starlings. We were amazed to see Wedge and Crunch among them.
    ‘Ha, look at Sleepy and Grumpy,’ laughedWedge. ‘We’ve been at a soccer blitz, while you two were mincing around the town like girls.’
    ‘Our whole class was away since yesterday,’ added Freddie Murphy.
    ‘We were in a posh school with a big soccer pitch,’ boasted Wedge. ‘We had a blast. Soccer all yesterday evening and this morning. Pure cool! They even have lights.’
    ‘Yeah,’ put in Crunch, whose bee stings had settled down nicely. ‘But not a place for losers like you nerds,’ he added in a whisper.
    ‘How come you got to go there?’ asked Shane.
    ‘The boarder guys were away on a break, and our teacher Mister Dunne is friendly with the principal,’ said Crunch. ‘That’s how we got invited to play on the pitchyesterday and this morning.’
    ‘And we got to stay the night,’ Wedge gloated.
    ‘In sleeping bags!’ added Dave Malone. ‘It was mega fun.’
    That’s when it hit me. ‘Shane!’ I hissed, dragging him away.
    ‘What’s wrong, Milo?’ he asked.
    ‘They’ve been away since yesterday! Remember Crunch’s ma telling