ook,’ you say, ‘I don’t know what you’re on about, but this seems a pretty cool house to me. Anyway, where do you live?’

‘I’ll show you,’ she says. She leads you to the front, into the street, and points away to your left. ‘There,’ she says.

‘Oh,’ you say. ‘There, huh?’

You’re looking at a church. It’s the only other old building on the street.

‘So is your father the minister?’ you ask.

She laughs. ‘No,’ she says. ‘My mother.’

‘Oh,’ you say, feeling a little silly.

‘Do you want to come and look?’

‘OK.’

You walk down there. The church is a big solid stone building with dark leadlight windows, and trees growing all around it. There’s a graveyard on the left hand side.

Stacey pushes open a side door made of heavy timber with black hinges. It squeaks and creaks and groans. She goes inside and you follow. It’s very quiet and gloomy in there. There’s a lot of dust around. You get the feeling that no-one comes here too often. You look round curiously.

Just at that moment there’s a huge blast of sound. The air is hit by the shock wave of sound. It almost lifts you off the ground. Your hair tries to pull itself out of your scalp by the roots. You grab Stacey.

‘W . . . w . . . w . . . w . . . w . . . w . . . w . . . w . . . w . . . w . . . w . . .’

‘I didn’t know you had a stammer,’ Stacey says.

‘I didn’t either,’ you say.

You start to realise that Stacey’s not too stressed and you feel a little embarrassed at the way you’ve been clutching her. You step away.

‘What is it?’ you ask.

‘It’s the organ,’ she says.

‘Oh,’ you say.

The music is now in full force, filling the church. It’s loud!

‘What’s the tune?’ you ask.

‘“The Death March”,’ she says.

‘Who’s playing it?’ you ask.

‘I am,’ she says.

Uh? What is this girl on about? You look at her in disbelief.

‘Are you off your head?’ you ask politely.

She gives a little smile. A strange secretive sinister little smile.

‘I am playing it, you know,’ she says, stepping slightly closer to you.

In the dim light of the church you see two tiny red spots in her eyes, like reflectors on a bike. You don’t want to look away from her but you would love to check where the door is. Not that you’re worried exactly, but just to be on the safe side . . .

‘How can you be playing it?’ you ask Stacey.

‘I have the power,’ she whispers.

‘Um, you mean you’ve got a remote control?’ you ask.

She shakes her head slowly, still with that little smile playing around her lips.

Suddenly Stacey snaps her fingers and the music stops. The shock is just as great as the shock you got when it started. Stacey’s hands are reaching out towards you. You stare at them, almost hypnotised. Her hands are moving very slowly, like a pair of dancing snakes. Not that you’ve ever seen a pair of dancing snakes. Desperately you try to think. What can you do? This is weird. There’s a wooden cross right behind you. Should you grab it and threaten her? Or should you just run?