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“I don’t want Gary to start picking on you.”
    “He’s welcome to try,” says Valentina. She has that dark look again. She reminds me a bit of our dad. It makes me think I should worry more for Gary than for her.
    We’re walking to Uncle Alistair’s new office in Osprey Road. It’s the light-blue house, tall and thin, between a white one and a yellow one. I can’t wait to find out what he wants to show us.
    We knock at the door. No reply. We knock at the window. Still no reply.
    “Uncle Alistaaaaaaaaaaaair!” shouts Valentina, looking up at the second-floor window. Nothing.
    “I’m sure he told me to come here after school…”
    We hear hasty footsteps, and the door opens.
    “HELLO CHILDREN, COME ON IN!” Uncle Alistair’s reddish hair is standing on end, and there’s powder all over it. It looks a bit like snow. His nose is bright red and sniffly.
    Wait a minute… are those ice crystals in his nostrils?
    He sees us looking, and mutters, “Sorry, yes, bit chilly in here. Heating broken… and… and I was defrosting the freezer. You know the way it is with freezers!” He laughs. Loudly.
    What next? “I stuck my head in a bucket of ice cream”?? I manage to shoot a look at Valentina, and she shrugs.
    Uncle Alistair clears his voice and moves to one side to let us in. Camilla is floating in mid-air in the doorway. She waves, a big sunny smile on her face.
    “Hi Camilla!” we say in unison.
    We all walk – well, those who don’t float – into the front room. Uncle Alistair is dusting the snow off his shoulders.
    There’s a bunch of furs scattered around. Thick white furs, tiny speckled ones and a huge grey hairyone that takes up most of the sofa. They’re covered in snow, and the hairy one is matted with ice.
    “What’s all that?” asks Valentina.
    “What?”
    “The furs.”
    “What furs?”
    Valentina and I look at each other. You can’t really miss them…
    “These!” Valentina holds up the corner of the grey hairy one.
    “Oh, THOSE! They are… rugs. From Ikea.”
    “Over on the mainland?”
    “Yes… They delivered them. And I got this too, look! It’s a… a… Wukkatakka bookshelf. Yes. They delivered it in two batches, one yesterday and one today. You know the way it is with these Swedish couriers, they like batches, don’t they? They LOVE batches! Batches and funny names for furniture! These rugs are called… Varmundsnug. In the catalogue, I mean.” He’s beginning to witter.
    “Why are the rugs covered in snow?” asks Valentina briskly.
    “Because it’s snowing in Sweden.” Uncle Alistair looks away.
    Valentina can’t help laughing silently.
    “But never mind about all that stuff. Got this for you.” He waves a tin in the air. “Thought you’d be hungry after school.”
    “What is it? Ikea meatballs?” Valentina smirks.
    “No. That’ll be in the next batch. These are BEANS. And I’ve got sausages to grill too. I won’t be a second.Take your jackets off, make yourselves at home!” He disappears into the kitchen, leaving us with Camilla.
    “So, last night, we were talking about the scaring thing,” says Camilla. “Yes? Where? When? I can be very scary when I want to be. Look!”
    She floats up towards the ceiling, and it happens. Quick enough to make me want to scream in terror.
    Camilla’s face gets all white, even whiter than it normally is, her eyes become two black empty holes, her dark hair comes undone and floats all around her head like a fan. And then she opens her mouth wide, and makes the spookiest, scariest, most blood-chilling wail I’ve ever heard in my life.
    I freeze. My knees have gone to jelly and my heart is racing. The scream has frozen in my throat, I can’t make a sound.
    Then, as quickly as she turned monster, Camilla turns back into herself again. I let myself fall on the sofa, panting. I think I’m going to pass out.
    Valentina claps her hands enthusiastically. “Ooooh, that’s perfect! That’s really scary!”
    “I know!