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brought him a sunny sort of joy that warmed him from the tips of his toes to the rims of his ears.
    Before yesterday, that park encounter might have been it for he and Sam. Sam was just one of many. The day before had been his turn, then it would have been time to shuffle the pack, to pick out a new face. Sam had been nothing special. He was just a Wednesday.
    Now Sam was special.
    He laughed as he wondered if that mad girl had any idea how much more trouble she’d delivered to her friend’s door.
    Mark hopped over a fence to make his way across Oldcoat Field, batting aside the thick, overgrown grasses and weeds that reached up to his chest as he took the shortcut.
    What else could he get Sam to do? What else could he do to Sam? He wouldn’t hurt him. Not physically. Not at first. Humiliation, that was act one. And two. And three. And as many more acts as he decided, before he finally released the pressure valve and beat out a boogie rhythm on Sam’s body with his fists.
    Mark was so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed someone was stood a few metres in front of him, blocking the way.
    'Hi, Mark.'
    Mark pulled up short in surprise at the sudden intrusion into his daydream, involuntarily taking a protective step backwards as he made sense of where the voice was coming from.
    In front of him stood a boy. A small, skinny boy.
    'Sam?'
    'Going for a walk?' asked Sam.
    Mark had regained his composure now, and thoughts began to dance around his mind. He wouldn't have to wait until school after all; he could get Sam back right now for having that stupid girl humiliate him! He almost laughed in delight.
    'You are mental, aren't you?' said Mark. ‘What d'you think you're doing? Was that gob on the face not enough then?' Mark took a step forward, expecting Sam to back up, to turn and run so Mark could chase him down and bring him to the ground again, hidden from sight by the tall, thick grass, to do as he pleased.
    But Sam did not take a step back. He didn't even flinch. Mark paused, unsure and surprised.
    'You wanna fight then, is that it? I'll punch your face in, you know that?'
    'No,' said Sam.
    ‘No?’
    ‘No. You won't win this fight. Can’t win it. Because I know something you don’t.'
    Mark looked at Sam with amazement. 'You what?'
    Sam smiled at him, and Mark felt the fury rise.
    'Come on then, get me.' Sam leapt into the thick grass as Mark stepped quickly forward and swung a boot at where he thought Sam lay; but the boot swung without connecting to anything but grass and air.
    'You missed, Mark.'
    Mark whirled round in surprise at the voice that came from behind him, to find Sam somehow stood quite still and calm ten metres away. There was no way he could have got over there so fast.
    'How did you—?'
    'Oh, you didn't know I was magic, did you Mark?' Sam ducked back down into the thick undergrowth, only to pop up a second later, twenty metres behind Mark. 'Black magic is a powerful thing, you know.'
    Mark turned to face Sam, who began to slowly walk towards him. 'Oi, how are you doing that?'
    'I told you,' said Sam.
    'Black magic.'
    Mark turned again, to find Sam was behind him now. But still in front of him too! Two Sams walking slowly towards him. Mark turned and turned and turned, looking wild eyed from one Sam to the other and back again. 'Don't! Stop moving! Both stay where you are or I'll … I'll—'
    'Or you'll what?'
    Mark fell silent. This was wrong. This was all very, very wrong. Unnatural. Mark could feel it inside, twisting his guts. The very wrongness of it all. As if by stepping into this field he’d walked out of the normal world and into a place where nothing made sense.
    Mark could feel fear. No, not fear, fear was too small a word for it. Terror. That was it. The wrongness exploded inside him as terror, and he knew he had to get away. Away from this field and the two inexplicable Sams that couldn’t be but were.
    'What should we do with him, Sam?'
    'Something bad, Sam. Something really