T angled branches tapped at the windows as the car nosed down the track towards the house. Amelia shivered happily. It was a bit like a fairy tale, this huge, old, abandoned house, deep in the countryside. There had been a sign at the end of the track, half grown over with ivy. Amelia had just about been able to see that it said “Allan House”. It felt like a proper adventure, travelling late into the night, all the way up to Scotland. They hadn’t passed another car for ages, winding along those tiny lanes in the dark.
But as they climbed out of the car, stretching and then shuffling wearily towards the door, Amelia pressed close against her big sister, Bella. She was shy with strangers, and she could hardly remember her cousins at all. Anya was thesame age as Bella, Mum had said. Lara was another year older. Tom was ten, a few months older than Amelia. Bella said she remembered Anya and Lara perfectly, and she was looking forward to seeing them again. Amelia had a horrible feeling that the older girls weren’t going to want her hanging around. She was going to be stuck with this boy, Tom. Just because they were cousins, it didn’t mean she was going to get on with him. It was strange, spending Christmas all together, in a house that none of them knew.
Amelia blinked in the sudden golden glow as the front door opened, and then there were loud, excited voices all around, and people laughing and hugging and pulling them inside. Amelia shrank against the wall, watching as her mum kissed a tiny,dark-haired woman who looked amazingly like Mum did. That must be Mum’s cousin Laura, Amelia realized. She hadn’t expected them to look so similar. And the two girls with their arms round Bella were their second cousins.
“And this must be Amelia!” Laura swung round to hug her now, and twirled her fingers in Amelia’s dark curls.
Amelia tried to smile – people always did that, and she had to pretend she didn’t mind.
“Sorry, Amelia, I couldn’t resist – they’re so pretty,” Laura told her, smiling. Laura was her first cousin once removed. Something like that, anyway. But Amelia could hardly call her that. Mum had said it would be simplest just to call her Aunt Laura.
“Hi,” Amelia whispered.
“Do you remember Tom at all?” Aunt Laura asked, ushering a reluctant-looking boy towards Amelia. “You haven’t seen each other for, oh, about three years, so you probably don’t…”
Amelia saw that the boy had dark, floppy hair, and that he was taller than she was (almost everyone was – she was used to it by now). Then she spotted the huge tawny and silver dog that was standing behind him. She took a step back, pressing her hands flat against the faded wallpaper, wishing it would open up behind her so she could get away. Mum had told her that their cousins had a dog and Amelia had been worrying about it for weeks. She’d even woken up in the night panicking a couple of times. But even then, in the dark, she hadn’t imagined a dog
that
big…
“Oh, so this is your dog,” her mum said, smiling a little worriedly. “Amelia has a bit of a thing about dogs. Is it a he?” she added, looking at the dog uncertainly.
Amelia had no idea how anyone would tell if the dog was a boy or a girl. All she could see were its quivering ears, lots of shaggy brownish-grey fur and its teeth… It looked like some sort of wolf. And it was quite possibly the biggest dog she had ever seen. Even bigger than that horrible dog in the park that had knocked her over a couple of years ago. The owner had tried to tell her that the dog was just excited, but it had barked and barked, right in her face, and Amelia had never felt so scared.
“I’m sure he’s friendly, Amelia,” her mum said gently, reaching out a hand to her, but the dog was in between them, and Amelia couldn’t bring herself to step past it.
She edged further away, and thenstopped, realizing that she was right up against the front door. She couldn’t go
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