Praise for the Crooked Oak series ā¦
āIāve loved this whole seriesā JENNIFER KILLICK
āA tremendously fun, weird and pacy read ⦠feels like a magnificent episode of The Twilight Zone or Doctor Who ā one that stays with you for being so eerily strange it gives you goosebumpsā CHRIS SOUL
āGenuinely scary ⦠A monstrous 5 out of 5 starsā JACQUI SYDNEY, WORLDāS SMALLEST LIBRARY
āThis edge-of-seat mystery is instantly engaging ⦠Not suitable for those of a delicate disposition, this nightmarish thriller will make your skin crawlā BOOKTRUST
āA fast-paced sci-fi adventure ⦠This was a definite hit!ā BOOKS FOR TOPICS
āI absolutely loved this book ⦠full of mystery, adventure, war history and includes some spooky stories ⦠perfect for all middle-grade readersā EMMA SUFFIELD, LITTLE BLOG OF LIBRARY TREASURES
āAlways great edge-of-the-seat tension and fantastic characters ⦠excellent writing!ā FIONA SHARP, INDEPENDENT BOOK REVIEWS
āAnother belter of a book! An eerie mystery thriller that sucks you in, creeps you out and leaves you flinching at any movement in the shadows for days afterwards!ā
JAMES HADDELL
āA gripping, high-octane story that had me turning page after page until Iād finished itā THE LETTERPRESS PROJECT
Also by Dan Smith:
The Invasion of Crooked Oak
The Beast of Harwood Forest
The Horror of Dunwick Farm
The Terror of Hilltop House
Published by Barrington Stoke
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
Westerhill Road, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, G64 2QT
www.barringtonstoke.co.uk
HarperCollinsPublishers
Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper, Dublin 1, DO1 C9W8, Ireland
First published in 2024
Text Ā© 2024 Dan Smith
Illustrations Ā© 2024 Chris King
Cover design Ā© 2024 HarperCollinsPublishers Limited
The moral right of Dan Smith and Chris King to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
ISBN 978-1-80090-250-3
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in whole or in any part in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher and copyright owners
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Printed at Pureprint, a Carbon NeutralĀ® printer
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For all the Crooked Oak fans!
CONTENTS 1 UFO 1 2 Super Weird 8 3 Potterās Moor 15 4 Slug Bite 24 5 Parasite 31 6 Silent Horror 36 7 Shivers 44 8 Return to Potterās Moor 55 9 The Descent 62 10 Breeding Ground 68 11 No Way Out 80 12 Cold Fear 86 13 Sealed Shut 90 14 John Smith 98 15 The Warmest Place to Hide 103
CHAPTER 1 UFO
Pete Brundle was one of the few people in Crooked Oak to see the strange light in the sky. He had woken from a bad dream about his mum and checked his phone for the time. It was five oāclock in the morning.
He turned over and closed his eyes, but he couldnāt get back to sleep, so he climbed out of bed and wrapped his duvet around him like a cocoon. It was so cold in his bedroom that he could see his own breath as he crept over to the window and opened the curtains.
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Outside, a layer of frost covered the cars parked on Campbell Street. It glimmered in the glow of the street lamps.
It was exactly nine minutes past five when a bright light shone in the sky, as if a star had suddenly appeared from nowhere. But Pete knew it wasnāt a star.
It was something far more exciting.
āIt was a UFO,ā Pete told his best friends later that morning. āAliens.ā
He was standing by the bike racks at Crooked Oak Academy, wearing his thick coat. His best friends, Nancy and Krish, were wrapped up too. Temperatures had been below zero all week.
āIt came across the sky like this,ā Pete said. He raised a gloved hand and made an arc above
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his head. āIt got brighter as it came down, and it had this glow behind it, like a tail.ā
āThen what?ā Nancy asked. The tip of her nose had turned red from the cold.
āThen it went behind the houses and disappeared,ā Pete said, dropping his hand. āIt was a UFO. An Unidentified Flying Object.ā
āWe know what UFO stands for,ā Krish said. He was struggling to padlock his bike to the rack. His thick gloves made it difficult.
āAliens,ā Pete insisted. āTheyāve come to suck out our brains.ā
āThereās no such thing as aliens,ā Krish told him, finally clicking the padlock shut. āAnd they wouldnāt want to suck out your brains anyway ā it wouldnāt be worth it. No, you saw a shooting star. I see them all the time.ā
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āBut this was different,ā Pete argued. āIt was so bright. And it was big .ā
Krish adjusted his glasses and gave Pete his āI know betterā look.
āYou saw a shooting star,ā Krish repeated. āA tiny speck of space dust. Nothing more.ā
Krish was the second smartest kid in Year Eight, and there was no point in arguing with him. The only person who could do that was Nancy, the actual smartest kid in Year Eight.
āDid I just hear you say you saw a shooting star last night?ā said a voice, taking them by surprise.
They turned and saw their Physics teacher, Mr Bennings, standing behind them.
āDid it look anything like this?ā Mr Bennings asked. He took his phone from his pocket and tapped the screen, showing them a
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blackāandāwhite video of a small front garden.
At the top of the screen the sky was dark, so it was clearly taken at night. Then a light appeared in the sky. It flared like a firework and drifted in an arc towards the ground.
āYeah, that looks like it,ā Pete said. āBut the one I saw was in colour, with a blue streak behind it and a bright red outline.ā
āA meteorite,ā Mr Bennings told Pete, putting his phone away. āA rock from space coming down to Earth. Did you know that scientists think meteorites could unlock the secrets of the universe? They believe they might have even been the start of life on Earth .ā Mr Bennings whispered the last few words as if they were the most important secret in the world.
āAliens,ā Pete said, narrowing his eyes at Krish. āI told you.ā
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āYou never know,ā Mr Bennings replied.
āThatās why we need to find meteorites as fast as possible and keep them safe by wrapping them in foil or plastic. Otherwise, they become contaminated and the information we get from studying them is useless.ā
āAmazing,ā Krish said.
āThereās something even more amazing,ā said Mr Bennings. āBy my calculations, this meteorite might have landed somewhere near Potterās Moor.ā
āPotterās Moor?ā Nancy said. āThatās just outside Crooked Oak.ā
āExactly,ā Mr Bennings replied. He couldnāt hide his excitement. āThe head teacher has given me special permission to leave school and go up there this afternoon to search for it. If I do find it, Iāll wrap it up and contact the UK Fireball Alliance, who will come to pick it up.
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Just imagine! Maybe theyāll even name it after me: āThe Bennings Meteoriteā.ā
āThat would be so cool,ā Krish said. āFinding an actual meteorite.ā
āIndeed!ā Mr Bennings said. āEven better than seeing it fall from the sky!ā
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