The Break-in

The Break-in

Chapter 1 - Big News

One early January afternoon, Jack McAllister was in the dilapidated garden of his dilapidated house with his sister Anya McAllister, practising their fencing skills.

They dodged, leaped, thrust and parried. Anya flashed her poker left, right and centre. Jack fiercely guarded against her attacks with the wooden sword he'd been given for last year's birthday. Suddenly Anya was bearing down upon him. Before he knew it, there he was, pinned to the ground... again.

"It's not fair!" he moaned as she helped him up. "You're so much taller than me!"

Anya grinned. "So what? It's not my fault that you were born two weeks before you were supposed to."

"Well it's not my fault either!" grumbled Jack. "And you're always teasing me about it!"

It was true. Anya was only a year older than Jack, who was exactly nine, but Jack only came up to her shoulders. He was always called "Shortie" at school, even by his friends.

"I know what'll cheer you up," said Anya. She ran into the house and came back with a bundle of things wrapped in colourful paper. "Happy birthday! Your presents."

Jack ripped open the first one. It had what looked like a torch in it, taped to a birthday card with Happy Birthday Son on the front. He opened the card.
It read: "To Jack. Wishing you a very happy ninth birthday. Love from your dad Ron. PS: The birthday present isn't a torch, it's a mini projector. You can upload photos on it. Might come in fun playing pranks." Jack smiled and pocketed the projector.

The next present was from Mum and Anya. It was a new wooden sword. This one looked a lot more like a sword than his old one, which had been clumsily whittled out of a branch by Uncle Chris. It was a lot lighter too.

Then there was a present with a label on it, saying From your aunt Olive and uncle Tom. Jack opened this one slightly cautiously - last year they'd given him a box of jelly beans that were every flavour possible, with normal enough ones like strawberry, lemon and orange; slightly strange ones like coconut, banana and mango and downright weird ones like curry, pepper and cauliflower. The year before that he'd got a black gemstone that suddenly turned sapphire-blue at dinner that night. Dad had told him to ignore it, but two minutes later it started raining cats and dogs. There was also the time the weather forecast said to expect heavy downpours all day, but was immediately contradicted by the gemstone, which glowed fiery amber as soon as the weatherman started speaking. As a result, Mum and Dad had stood embarrassedly by the back door while Jack and Anya messed about in the garden taking turns sucking the only ice lolly in the freezer ("I thought we'd eaten them all last summer"). That one hadn't been too bad.

Inside, there was a tube of glue with a message printed on it saying This is a bottle of extra-strong glue - reinforced with sea-dragon's breath. Jack pocketed it as well.

The next one was from Fred and Joe. The message on this one said From the twins. Mum says we make a good apple pie. Inside was - what do you know? - an apple pie. Jack split it in half and shared it with Anya. Aunt Olive wasn't wrong. Aunt Olive was almost never wrong.

After that, it was a present from Chris and Alice. They'd given him the new laptop he'd always wanted ever since he'd learnt to hack onto Anya's Roblox account on their old computer. But the computer was slow and outdated, so there were lots of things that required the newest model.

There was a present from Issac, with a card from Rose. The card was just a folded piece of paper with Rose's handprint on it, and a Happy Birthday written in wobbly and chunky handwriting inside, but he still appreciated it. Issac's present was a paint set that had a label saying To paint your wooden sword any colour you like. I painted mine blue with pink spots.

Just then, Aaron, Ron, Mr McAllister or Dad, depending on who you were, walked into the garden.

"Enjoying your presents, Jack?" he asked casually, taking a sip of tea. He frowned. "Martha must've put too much sugar. Oh well." He put his mug down carefully on the half-rotted bench in the middle of the garden. "Anyway, I've got some big news for you. Two guesses each."

"Are you going to finally let me have a birthday party?"asked Jack excitedly.

"No!"

"Is Mum having another baby?" suggested Anya.

"No!"

"Are you thinking of setting up a lemonade stall?" Jack jokingly guessed.

"NO!"

"We're going to get our money back for the rubbish rat trap?"
"Well, that last one was the most sensible. I actually don't know whether we'll be getting our money back or not. Probably not. But we're moving house!"

It was as if he'd dropped a bombshell.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Anya.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Jack.

Ron looked surprised. "I thought you'd be glad to move out!"

"NO, WE AREN'T!" bellowed Anya and Jack in unison. Ron sighed.

"Anya, if you've complained about the mouldy bathroom once, you've complained a million times. And Jack, we don't have a proper plug socket for that laptop of yours." He pointed at the pile of presents. Then he grinned slyly. "And it doesn't hurt that there's a balcony."

Anya's tone changed completely. "There's a balcony? I've always wanted a balcony!" she squealed excitedly. "When are we moving house? I want to move right now!"

Jack groaned. Ron's sly grin became even wider.
"We'll be moving in a week or two," he answered.

"I don't want to move house!" screeched Jack, stamping his foot. "Not in a day - stamp - not in a week - stamp - not in a month - stamp - not in a year - stamp - not in forever! Something horrible's going to happen, I just know it!"

And with that he stomped up to his room.

To be continued...

Holy hell!
Nice thread/story gets ruined by SPAM

a reply to: Bigburgh
Thank you!

There are a few details I forgot to mention:

First of all, I wrote this story quite a while ago, and I've just been waiting for a chance to share it. So thank you to every person who has starred or flagged this thread/story.

Secondly, the story is based on the general plot and characters of a Roblox game called "The Break-in Story" by cracky4. (You probably haven't heard of it.) If you do decide to Google it, you'll get a few spoilers.

Thirdly, the next chapter will be here by Halloween, and I'll definitely be writing a Halloween story too, so look out for that!

a reply to: Moonstar7

Can't give anymore.
But here🤗

🌟🌟🌟🚩🚩🚩🚩👍🏼

I'm looking forward to the next instalment

Chapter 2 - Today's the Day

Jack stared out of the window and watched the last of his things being carried away by the removal truck. Well, I've still got some of my stuff, he thought gloomily, thinking about his mini projector, magical superglue and wooden sword, which were tucked away in his rucksack, along with a few snacks and his favourite book (Robin Hood: Hacking, Heists and Flaming Arrows by Robert Muchamore). Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Then Anya barged in, which sort of defeated the whole point of knocking on the door.

"We're moving house, Jack!" she squealed excitedly. "Getting out of this mouldy, cockroach-infested dump! Finally!"

Jack didn't reply. He still had the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"Come on, Jack!" coaxed Anya, pulling a chair over and sitting down.. "Imagine! A balcony! And a not-mouldy bathroom! Not to mention we're going to live there with all the rest of our family! All our aunts and uncles and cousins!"

"Wait, WHAT?"Jack sat up and stared at Anya. "You're joking, aren't you? The house is barely going to be big enough to fit us all!"

"Oh, but it will be," replied Anya. "And there's a huge TV screen!"

"I DON'T CARE IF THERE'S A GIANT TV SCREEN!!!" yelled Jack. He paused for a second. "Also, why is there a TV screen? I'm pretty sure we didn't buy one." He'd been tracking every new item that had been bought for the new house, which was house number 13 on Snowdrop Street. This just added to Jack's suspicions.

"Who cares?" Anya bounced around on the chair. Little lines started running across it. "We're going to watch TV for the first time in ages!"

"All our favourite TV shows will be old news now," grumbled Jack. "Nobody's going to be watching or broadcasting them."

Anya bounced around more. The chair made an alarming cracking sound. "But there's a balcony, Jack! A balcony!"

"Not interested in a stupid balcony. What's even the point?" Jack went back to staring out of the window.

Anya made one final bounce and the seat splintered into smithereens. BOOM. Jack winced as one of the wooden shards grazed him on the elbow.

"Oops." She giggled slightly awkwardly. "At least it was going to be replaced anyway."

"JACK! ANYA! WE'RE GOING NOW!" hollered Ron from downstairs.

"Yes! Yes! Today's the day!" squeaked Anya. She bounced down the stairs as enthusiastically as she had bounced on the chair that was now a mess of wooden shards scattered across Jack's former room.

Ron and Martha, Jack and Anya's parents, were waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "What took you so long? The landlord is getting impatient!"

"Mum, Dad, for the last time, this is a terrible idea! Number 13 is an unlucky number, everyone knows that! And snowdrops were the flowers the Victorians associated with death!"

"Well, we're not living in the Victorian era, are we?" answered Ron sharply. "And snowdrops are lovely flowers."

"You got some for me last Valentine's Day, remember?" Martha reminicised. "And 13 being an unlucky number is just something superstitious old hens believe in."

Jack went into a sulk. "I am not a superstitious old hen."

* * *

After a last-minute scramble, everyone got into Ron's battered old Ford Fiesta and they set off to 13 Snowdrop Street. Martha turned on the radio and hummed along to the song (which just happened to be Jack's favourite: Sunflower by Post Malone ft Swae Lee) in an attempt to lighten the mood, but Jack stayed as sulky as ever while Anya bounced and squealed excitedly, "Today's the day! Today's the day!"

They passed a roundabout and made many twists and turns. Jack just sat there in a sulk, which was unusual for him, because usually he would try to remember every single detail of the journey so later he could annoy Anya by repeatedly asking, "Did you know we passed..."

Eventually the car turned left onto Snowdrop Street. Jack realised that the houses here weren't so bad after all. All the houses were big, creamy-golden coloured and modern, with large windows. However, he was too proud to admit that he was wrong.

"Ooh, look, they're all white, like snowdrops!" Anya was leaning out of the window, gazing at the houses.

"Actually,"Jack answered smugly, "It's magnolia-cream swirled with parchment."

Now it was Anya who was in a sulk. "You and your fancy words."

Eventually the car pulled up outside 13 Snowdrop Street.

"Yes! We're here!" Anya exclaimed. She pointed up at the balcony. It was small, but it was still a balcony. She punched the air. "It's the only house in the whole street with a balcony! And I can't wait to see the not-mouldy bathroom!"

PS. The thing about snowdrops is true. It's because you see a lot of them in graveyards. One of the less unusual superstitions you'll find out there. PSS. You may or may not have heard of Sunflower by Post Malone ft Swae Lee. It was in the Into the Spiderverse movie - well it was something like that. PSSS. Robert Muchamore is a real author who also wrote the Cherub series.

Oh, by the way everyone, there really is a Snowdrop Street - just found that out...
It's in Liverpool.

Chapter 3 - Everyone Else

Everyone stepped out of the car to admire the house.

"Anya, I thought you said everyone else is coming," grumbled Jack.

"They are," replied Ron. "We're just a little early. And we're not going in until they arrive."

"Aww, Dad!" Anya clutched at Ron's sleeve. "Please, please, please, please, please, please, please-"

"Careful, you'll rip that sleeve!" Ron brushed Anya off easily. There was a McAllister rumour that after Ron had been seduced and hypnotised by an evil sorceress, Olive had betted he'd be hypnotised/seduced/persuaded to do something he never meant to again at least sometime later in his life. Of course Ron wasn't about to let her win that bet.

"I made a cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die-pinky-promise-scout's-honour-I-swear-on-Anya's-life-promise to the others on the phone-"

"Wait a second, you swore on my life?" interrupted Anya.

Ron smiled. "Yeah, that means you can't go into the house until the others arrive, or else you'll drop down dead."

Anya crossed her arms and pouted. "I thought you said you didn't believe in superstitious stuff!"

"Hey, what's that?" Jack suddenly said. He pointed up into the air.

Four dots were flying above Snowdrop Street. However, they seemed to be descending fast. Too fast.

"I'm trying my darnedest best!" shouted one of the dots.

"Well, your darnedest best isn't working!" yelled another dot. "I knew we should've just taken the car! Luckily, we've got parachutes!"

The four dots fiddled with something, and four big green parachutes unfurled behind them. As they got closer, they could all see who it was. Olive, Tom and their twins Fred and Joe landed safely on the pavement. Fred and Joe were munching happily on some chips.

You see, Fred and Joe were really very plump. This was because Joe had a medical condition that made him want to eat absolutely anything edible in reach. Fred, on the other hand, was just extremely greedy.

"Long time no see," said Martha. "What happened there?"

"Magic stopped working," Olive answered crisply. "Must be a shield in this area. Some neighbourhoods have them because they don't like magic. What they don't know is that you need magic to make a shield."

"That's ironic," Anya said through gritted teeth. "Now can we go in?"

"No," answered Ron. "Chris and Alice haven't come yet."

They waited. And waited. And waited and waited and waited. Jack and Anya even had time for a little fencing match. Anya won, again, which put her in a very good mood and put Jack in a worse mood.

"Are they going to be late again?" asked Jack. Chris and Alice were almost always late, because of Chris' very busy job as a policeman.

"Probably," answered Martha.

They waited a bit more. And finally a white Volvo drove up the street.

Okay, before we get any further, maybe I should explain the family tree. Olive was Ron's younger sister. Chris was Martha's older brother. The rest should be easy to work out.

Chris, Alice and their oldest Isaac clambered out of the car, with Isaac swinging a wooden sword that actually was blue with pink spots. Chris had a very big bruise the colour of the McAllisters' moth-eaten curtains on one of his cheeks.

"Hello!" Alice smiled brightly. "Chris had a bit of a sticky situation, but he's fine! Can't say the same for some of his mates...One man had a broken leg and a couple of busted ribs."

Chris' work was frequently extremely dangerous. Nobody knew that the worse was yet to come.

"Where's Rose?" asked Tom. Alice stuck her hand into the car, rummaged around a bit and pulled out a very sweet-looking baby. Rose gurgled and laughed.

"Aww!" cooed Anya. She rushed over to give her a big hug.

"Ah," came a voice from the house. "You're all here now. Welcome to our humble abode."

Isaac raised an eyebrow. "Humble?"

Chapter 4 - Guy, Tall Girl and Mr Hyde

A man stepped out from the inside of the house. Behind him, Jack could see a tall girl with a lollipop standing in the hallway, nervously licking it.

"I am the owner of this house," he said in a crotchety grumpy old man voice. "Please, step inside. Make sure you wipe your feet on the doormat. And don't go upstairs."

They walked into the house. Jack didn't have any idea why Guy wanted them to wipe their feet, since it hadn't been mucky at all. So he didn't wipe his feet. However, Guy saw. "I told you to wipe your feet, boy!" he snapped. Jack had no other choice.

The inside of the house was even nicer than the outside, but Jack still didn't let on that he liked it. The living room was big, with scarlet comfy sofas and, as Anya had said, a giant TV screen that took up one whole wall.

The kitchen had a long rectangular table that reminded Jack of those medieval tables crowded with feasting knights. At one end, there was a big window. On the other, there was an oven and a fridge with a list of pie recipes taped to it.
"Aunt Minty's Famous Pie Recipes," Isaac read. "Cookie Pie - Apple Pie - Glazed Apple Pie - Coca Cola Pie." He frowned. "That last one sounds strange."(Ironic, as you've probably started to see.) "Who's Aunt Minty?"

"My great-aunt," answered the tall girl. "She won a lot of competitions with her pie recipes. But she died just two months ago."

"I may have heard of her," frowned Olive. She pressed her hands to her forehead. "Let me think...ooh! I've got it! Was your aunty Araminta Daisy Henderson?"

"That's the one!" replied Tall Girl, sounding pleased. However, Guy didn't sound pleased at all.
"Aunt Minty was a nuisance, badgering on at us every day," he growled. "I'm glad she went belly-up."

Tall Girl looked reproachfully at him.

There was a flight of stairs, but of course they weren't allowed up there. In the hallway, there were a few paintings, a chest of drawers and a grumpy-looking cat.

Tom looked horrified. "I'm allergic to cats! ACHOO!" He scuttled out of the hallway.

The cat hissed at the family. Rose, who could crawl, wriggled out of Alice's grasp and over to the cat. He hissed and gave her a nasty scratch on her hand. She howled until Alice picked her up again. "Oh, Rose! That's why you don't crawl after nasty cats!"

"That's Mr Hyde," Tall Girl told her. "He's always grumpy. Whatever you give him, he's never happy. And he's lazy too. If a thousand mice overran the house, he'd sit there in the middle of it and lick his paws."

Mr Hyde narrowed his eyes at the family.

"He hides snacks around the house, which is partly why we call him Mr Hyde," Tall Girl continued. "You can have a look for them. There might even be a little money-"

"Are you asking these people to help themselves to our money?" growled Guy.

"No, Daddy," Tall Girl replied innocently, "but they'll be living here for a long time, won't they?"

Guy scowled. "Fine. And I'll let them upstairs too if that pleases you."

Jack and his family scattered to search in the drawers. By the time it was getting dark, they had found five apples, six cookies and four cans of Coca-Cola.

"Right! It's six o'clock-" began Olive.

"And we always have dinner at six!" everyone else laughed in unison.

" Well..." Guy looked down at his feet. " Umm..."
"Well?" demanded Chris. "What's up? I'm hungry, and five apples, six cookies and four cans of Coke isn't enough! There's fourteen of us!"

" Well...I can't cook," Guy mumbled sheepishly.

"WHAT!?" Olive gasped. (Cooking was a big part of her everyday life since Fred and Joe ate so much.) "Then what do you eat?! Do you go outside and nibble on the grass?"

"Aunt Minty would make a pie," Tall Girl told them. " Or something else. Once she was on a cooking show and won second place for her beef casserole. Ever since she died, we've just been eating Pizza Guy's and ready meals. And I can make the four pie recipes taped to the fridge. I'm not as good as Aunt Minty, but at least the pies are edible. Sometimes I burn them. But that's just what we live on."

" You can't live on ready meals!" Olive yanked open the fridge. It was completely empty. " How do you get your five-a-day? How do you manage a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle!?"

"We order vegetable pizza," answered Tall Girl.

" Wait a second!" Jack shouted. "I've got three questions."

"Go on then."

"First of all, where do you get your money?"

"Daddy's a businessman. He works from home, so there are a few computers upstairs."

"Second question. You said Mr Hyde got his name partly because he hides snacks. What's the other reason?"

" Have you ever read The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson? It's about Dr Jekyll who wanted to find a way to be decadent without damaging his reputation, so he made a potion and changed into Mr Hyde, who's super mean. And Mr Hyde here is always Hyde and never Jekyll."

" Okay. I've never read that book before, but I might try it sometime. Third question isn't for you. Aunt Olive, it can't hurt to have takeaway pizza for just one night, could it?"

Olive sighed. "Fine."

Chapter 5 - Breaking News

Half an hour later, everyone was sitting around the medieval style table, enjoying hot pepperoni pizza from Pizza Guys. Olive and Alice had taken charge, and everyone was only allowed one slice, which Fred and Joe thought was unfair. Joe ended up getting half of Rose's slice since she decided she was full. Fred thought that was even more unfair.

After dinner, everyone agreed to chill out in the living room and watch a movie on the giant TV screen. However, there was just one thing they couldn't agree on.

"We're watching a good ol' whodunnit," Chris declared, slamming his first on the table.

"No, we're watching Star Wars!" yelled Jack.

"Paw Patwol!" squealed Rose.

"Harry Potter!" shouted Olive.

"Grand Designs!" hollered Alice.

"Ghostbusters!" bellowed Ron.

"Jamie Oliver!" screamed Fred and Joe.

"Fast and Furious!" boomed Tom.

"HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON!" screeched Anya and Isaac.

"I GET TO DECIDE BECAUSE I'M THE LANDLORD!" Guy snatched the remote control off Tom. He paused for a second. "Actually, I have no idea what to watch."

"Okay, that's it!" Tall Girl grabbed the remote. "I get to decide because I'm the landlord's daughter and I agree with Anya and Isaac!" She turned on the TV just in time for HTTYD. Everyone else groaned.

But then later everyone started to look like they were enjoying the movie. Martha actually laughed at the bit where Hiccup and Toothless put Astrid up in the tree.

Suddenly, a big black screen with the words EMERGENCY BROADCAST in scarlet block capitals replaced the Isle of Berk.

"What happened?" Isaac gasped. "What's going on?"

The screen changed again to show two men wearing black tuxedos and those weird creepy masks people use to symbolise drama - y'know, the white ones with either a wide grin to represent comedy or a down-in-the-dumps frown to symbolise tragedy? No? Well, it looks like this - 🎭 (the bottom pink one).

Anyway, the two men were holding crowbars. And by the looks of it they had just smashed through a pane of glass.

"This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill," said the news reporter in the background. "Villains are loose and the Purge has begun. Keep all doors and windows locked." The kids shuddered. They had all watched plenty of horror films where that last sentence was said, and almost every time that advice didn't work. Mostly they were zombie apocalypse movies. As soon as that sentence was said, it felt as if they were trapped in some kind of nightmare.

Also in the background, there seemed to be some kind of alarm which sounded strikingly similar to the air-raid sirens used in the Second World War. This made the adults shudder. Some of their worst memories were associated with that dreaded siren.

Then, there was an image of more of the men standing in front of a van. The van was black with the creepy comedy mask they all wore on the side. Standing on top of the van was a man with a white beard and a purple tuxedo.

"Their leader, Scary Larry," the news reporter told them. "If you see him, either run or hide. Do not try to fight him or you will be defeated. I repeat that this is not a drill."

Then the broadcast ended and it went back to HTTYD. It seemed that everyone
was wondering how on earth the channel could continue broadcasting as if nothing had happened.

"Probably nothing to worry about," Guy said. "We don't know where they are, but it didn't look like anywhere around here.

And everyone forced themselves to believe him.

a reply to: Moonstar7
I just realised the theatre mask emoji might not show up on your devices, or it might be a different colour. I meant the smiling one. Apologies. And it looks like this:

Chapter 6 - The Attack

Guy showed everyone around upstairs. There was a master bedroom that he and Tall Girl slept in, a blue room, a pink room and a green room.

"We'll take green," Tom decided. "Green is my favourite colour."

"Actually, it's because green is my favourite colour," Olive said.

"Mum! Dad! That's such a coincidence! Our favourite colour is green too!" Fred yelled enthusiastically. "It's because it's the colour of so many foods! There's so many green vegetables! And lime sweets!"

"And mint humbugs!" added Joe.

"Okay, you're having green. Personally, I HATE green," interrupted Anya. "It's such an ugly colour."

Olive stared at her with her bright, well, green eyes.

"I think we should have blue," Anya continued hurriedly, avoiding eye contact with her aunt. "What could be better than slumbering in the colour of the sky? And plus, you Jones like pink. Look at Rose's name."

Periwinkle-cornflower blue, thought Jack. The colour of serenity.

"I don't mind pink," Isaac told everyone rather unnecessarily. "I don't think Dad minds it either."

Not pink, thought Jack. Cherry-blossom shocking pink. The colour of feminity. And cheerfulness.

"Right then. So it's agreed. Jones take the pink room. McAllisters take the blue room. And we are taking the green room, since the oldest daughter deems it an unsightly colour," declared Tom.

It's grass-ivy emerald-jade, thought Jack. Anyone can tell that, surely. The colour of freshness, nature and vitality.

Suddenly, everyone had filed off to their separate rooms. Apart from Jack and Olive. Suddenly, she winked at him.

"Grass-ivy emerald-jade. I like it."

Then she went into the green room.

* * *

The duvet is actually very comfortable, Jack thought to himself in the dark. I thought it would be lumpy. I wonder if Tall Girl and Guy's duvet in the master bedroom is any better.

Back at the McAllisters' old house, the pillows always felt like rocks. Jack was sure he heard an owl hoot somewhere. There were never any owls at their former home.

The streetlights shone softly into the room. Just dark enough so he could get to sleep. Just bright enough so he wasn't scared.

He could feel himself drifting off. Maybe this place isn't too bad after all. He had completely forgotten about the news broadcast.

* * *

Jack was having the most amazing dream. He was flying. Aunt Olive had never taken him flying before, so it felt amazing, going higher and higher into the atmosphere, and then he was over the moon, pirouetting around the stars, looping past the sun, soaring across the galaxy...when suddenly he crashed into something. Strangely it didn't hurt. But then again, it was a dream.
He stared at it. It was a giant logo. One that he'd seen before. Of a creepy grinning drama mask.
Then he realised he hadn't crashed into something. The crash noise had been the shattering of a window that woke him up. And the drama mask wasn't a logo he'd crashed into. It was one of the men, just like the ones in the news broadcast, staring at him.

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Anya woke up.

Ron woke up.

Martha woke up.

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

In the room next door, there was another crash. Then Rose started crying.

By instinct, Ron grabbed his rifle that was his retirement gift and Jack grabbed his wooden sword. Ron cocked the gun and fired.

BANG! Right on target, between the eyes. Jack went over to the other one and started hitting hard with his wooden sword. The villian started hitting back with his crowbar. Just like the ones in the news broadcast.

Next door, he could hear Isaac yelling "Take THAT!"

Jack gave one last hard whack. The villian dropped down, unconscious. Jack whacked and whacked him until blood started coming out of his ears. Then he stopped, panting from the exertion.

He looked around. Dad was looking pale and shaken. Mum looked terrified. However, Anya wasn't there.

"ANYA?" Jack shouted, looking around. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

There was a faint purple shimmer in the air, and then Anya appeared.

"Sorry," she said, clutching a teddy bear. "Aunt Olive enchanted Mr Snuggles. I think she enchanted Rose's teddy too."

"Maybe you should have told us earlier," he muttered.

"Oh, Jack, you've got bruises all over you!" gasped Martha. She took out her med-kit. (Martha worked as a vet.) "Come here."

She plastered and sanitised his cuts and carefully tended to his bruises. Jack still looked beaten up.

"Well, we can only go back to sleep now, can't we?" asked Ron.

Next door, they could hear Alice fussing over Rose. And Isaac snoring.

Author's note: I know they defeated the villains rather quickly, but I can't really write about fighting...Apologies.

Chapter 7 - Hacking, Boards and Mysterious Codes

Guy, being the landlord of the house, called an emergency meeting in the hallway.

Olive shook her first at him. "Nothing to worry about! We could have all died if it wasn't for Jack and Isaac's fencing lessons, Ron and Chris' shooting and the fact that our room wasn't attacked! Nothing to worry about now, isn't it?"

"Olive, calm down," said Ron, grabbing her by the arm. "Let's think about this logically."

"We have to be ready," said Tall Girl, standing on top of a chair so she looked even taller. "We can't let another attack happen. We'll start by making sure all doors and windows are locked. Then we can get the boards in the closet-"

"I was saving those!" shouted Guy.

"Sorry, Daddy, this is an emergency! We'll use them to board up the doors and windows."

"And the toilet!" added Isaac.

Everyone stared at him.

"No, Isaac, that's just weird, even for you," Alice told him.

"Why not? Lots of robberies and break-ins have happened because they climbed through the sewers into the house!" he countered.

"Okay, fair point," Tall Girl said. She pointed at Tom, Ron and Chris. "Get those boards!"

"Do we have to?" protested Chris. "Do you know how beaten up I am?"

"No," Tall Girl curtly replied. "Now get your lazy manly legs moving! Now!"

Grumbling and muttering, the three of them shuffled off to get the boards from the closet.

* * *

Jack and Isaac were in the bathroom. True to his word, Isaac was busy nailing boards over the toilet.

"What are we going to do if we need a pee?" asked Jack, who was boarding up the large window.

"Maybe we could pee in the garden," replied Isaac.
"Now why is there a Coke can behind the toilet?"

There actually was. It looked like someone had wedged it in there.

"How on earth did Mr Hyde wedge that in there?" exclaimed Jack as he yanked it out.

"Dunno. I guess we'll have to take this to Mum and Dad."

* * *

Meanwhile, Anya and Ron were busy in the blue room.

"I'm not very good at DIY," Ron confessed. "I hope I don't mess up."

"I know I'm not going to," Anya replied confidently. "I've seen more DIY YouTube videos than we've had shepherd's pie for- OWWWWWWEEEEEEE!"

Anya had bashed the hammer on her finger instead of the nail.

Ron laughed so much he fell off the windowsill.

* * *

In the pink room, Chris and Alice were trying to board the window while Rose was singing "The Wheels on the Bus".

"Round and round! Round and round! Round and round!"

"Oh, Rose, I can't hear myself think!" Alice exclaimed desperately. "Do be quiet, will you?"

Rose looked at her for a second. "Ssssshhhh..."

"Yes, shhhhhhhhhh!" encouraged Chris, putting a finger to his lips.

"The mummies on the bus go shh, shh, shh-"

"SHUT UP, ROSE!" Chris and Alice yelled.

* * *

Olive and Fred were in the green room. Olive was boarding up the window. Fred was searching for snacks.

"There aren't any snacks, Fred," Olive told him. "We've gathered them all up."

"We might've missed one," Fred replied, rummaging in the cupboards.

Just then, the laptop on the desk turned on. (It was Jack's. Olive had stolen it to order courgettes and peppers.)

"Oooooh," said Olive.

* * *

Everyone was gathered in the green room. The computer had the text "CLICK TO START" on the screen.

Tall Girl checked her watch. "Whatever it is, we're having dinner soon."

Jack sat down on the office chair, swiveled around three times for luck (he always did that in ICT in his school) and clicked on the screen. A hazy image of a dark room showed.

"That's the basement," said Tall Girl automatically.

A few lines of text appeared. "Find the nine light switches in twenty seconds," Jack read.

The computer beeped and the timer in the top left corner started.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Immediately everyone started yelling things like "There's one over there!" "To the right, Jack!" and "There might be snacks in the basement!"

As the timer got to zero and Jack clicked on the last light switch, there was a loud click from downstairs.

"I think that's done it!" exclaimed Tall Girl. "The lights in the basement wouldn't come on. And Daddy forgot where he put the k-"

"Ee," Rose finished, pulling a key out from a drawer under the desk.

"That'll be it."

* * *

Tall Girl pushed the heavy silver key into the lock and turned it with both hands. The door opened to reveal a flight of steps.

"After you," she said, gesturing to Jack.

"Ladies first," he replied.

Tall Girl tutted and went down the steps.

* * *

"There are a lot of shelves," remarked Joe. "Are there any snacks?"

Just then, Ron caught sight of a slip of paper underneath a box. He pulled it out. "One - three - one - zero. Now I wonder..."

" It's a code!" exclaimed Anya. " But for what?"

" Maybe it's for a safe," Tall Girl suggested. "This house is actually very old, but we renovated it."

"Let's keep it safe. It could be important. One three one zero."

Chapter 8 - Another Attack

There were only three slices of pizza left on the table.

"Okay, everyone, we're going to have a lucky dip to see who gets a slice," Tall Girl shouted over everyone arguing.

"Why can't we just order another pizza?" Fred asked through a mouthful of chips.

"What crazy person is going to deliver pizza during a purge!?" Tall Girl replied. "We're going to have to make do with the three pizza slices and the snacks."

A few minutes later, Jack, Joe and Chris were munching on pizza while the rest were grumpily eating apples and cookies.

"You get cookies, and we don't," Chris pointed out when Fred begged for his pizza slice.

A few minutes after dinner, Isaac pointed out of the window. "What's that strange light?"

There were a few gaps in the boards. Sure enough, there was a strange, glowing light.
Anya peeped through the crack and gasped.

"What's wrong?"

She withdrew her head. "Come and see. This isn't good news."

Jack pressed his head against the window. He could see the neighbourhood, the cars and houses along Snowdrop Street. But the thing that really scared him was the big, black van with a giant white drama comedy mask on the side. The mask grinned at them, looking like it was saying We're coming to get you! It was not an encouraging thought.

"They're outside," Jack whispered to the others. "We're gonna have to hope the boards will hold them back."

* * *

Jack lay in his bed, stomach churning. He almost felt like he was going to throw up his pizza. Wishing they would just get on with it and attack.

Just then (Jack always wondered whether it was a coincidence or not) a window shattered.

Actually, I change my mind, thought Jack. Go back to whatever drama theatre you crawled out of.

He could hear Tom swearing. He knew that he was absolutely fine, since he had a baseball bat he always carried around, being a huge fan of baseball. However, Olive was literally powerless and the twins hadn't inherited a single scrap of magic, not that it would have helped much.

He heard another window crash and Chris yelling "Not again!"

Everyone was awake now, whether they were getting attacked or not. They could hear Tall Girl pounding on the door. (All the doors were locked for the night by Guy, and only he knew where the keys were. That was why the Jacksons and Hendersons hadn't gone to help on the first night.) Guy was shouting "Not another ruddy attack!"

The McAllisters could also hear what sounded like the twins getting hit again and again. ("Ow!" "Owww!" "OWWWWWWWW!" "OWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!") And they could also hear Rose bawling at the top of her voice. It wouldn't have really mattered whether she was clutching her invisibility teddy or not.

Chris was firing shot after shot from his shotgun he often used as a policeman. Olive sounded like she was trying to cast a spell.

Then there was silence.

"Hellooooo?" Anya called through the small gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. "You all okay?"

"Yes," came back Alice's slightly muffled voice which sounded like she was having a nosebleed. "We're fine. A bit beaten up, but fine."

" Well, Joe is unconscious," Fred replied. Jack heard him wince a little. " Mum says he'll be fine, though."

And Aunt Olive is almost always right, thought Jack. Let's hope she's right this time too.