There was a brief Emergency Meeting of the Executive Council about why I wasn’t with them. Legs chewed off seemed to be the best answer. Then: why I hadn’t screamed like them? Swallowed head first seemed the most likely reason. Then: what to do? Brotherly love can only be expected to go so far. That’s not to say Mark wasn’t worried, he was – he had to think of what to tell Mum and Dad. He said he’d told them that I was sleeping over at Skimp’s, who’s got a new X-Box. And Mum had said she hoped I wasn’t playing any violent video games. He promised her I wasn’t. Whatever it was scuffled like a huge rat and I could hear it snorting. Maybe Peacock’s Feather had been in here breeding and had created a monster beyond description. It probably drooled blood and ate any living flesh it could find. I held my breath.
