Harry pulled his duvet up around his neck, he felt safer that way. The seven year old's big blue eyes were fixed on the corner of his bedroom.

There was somebody standing there. The moonlight shining through the open window clearly illuminated his face and body with an eerie blue-white glow.

'Who are you?'

'My name's Dean, son.' The man had an American accent, like on the telly. He held out a bag of sweets. 'But you can call me the Candyman.'

Harry flinched as the intruder moved towards him. 'I'm not allowed to take sweets off strangers.'

'That's very wise.' The man crumpled up the top of the paper bag and moved even closer.

Harry realised he couldn't see his feet. There was just a swirling mass of black smoke where his legs should have been. Was he a genie, like in Aladdin?

'What's your name, child?'

Harry decided not to answer. He didn't like the stranger, he was scary. 'Why are you in my room?'

'That's a good question, son.' The man leered down at him. 'Why am I here?'

'Oh come on, Cerys. That's exactly why I won't have a telly in the house.'

'I'm telling you Ffion, it's real. Please say you'll lock all your doors and windows tonight.'

'Alright, let's just say an asteroid really did crash into some huge invisible object that was lurking around in space, why does that mean I have to lock my doors?'

'It's not invisible anymore. It's an enormous glowing ball and it's just hanging there, up in the sky. The collision must have damaged it. There's stuff leaking out of one side, like vapour or something. It's flooding into our atmosphere and weird shit has started going on out there.'

Ffion shook her head. She recalled the time her sister had called to warn her of an alien invasion. It turned out she'd tuned into War of the Worlds instead of the news channel. 'Alright, I'll lock my door as soon as we end this call. Happy?'

'Thank you.'

'Right, well I've got to go now. I've got Joan's dinner in the oven and I'll have to drop it round there in a minute. Yes, I'll be careful, don't worry. Speak to you later. Bye.' Ffion tossed her mobile phone onto the worktop and turned back to the well-thumbed pages of her mother's handwritten notebook. She ran her finger over the scrawl of fading ink, hoping that Cerys's badly timed phone call hadn't resulted in any missing ingredients.

MACARONI RAREBIT (Serves 2)

250g Macaroni pasta

200g Extra mature cheddar cheese, grated

125ml Cider

1-2 tsp Dijon mustard

100g Petite Pois (or Sweetcorn)

100g Pepperoni sausage (or Chorizo), diced into cubes - approx. 1.5cm

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (Fan - 180°C) / Gas Mark 5

2. Boil pasta in salted water for around 10 minutes, or until al dente, drain well, retaining a little of the cooking water.

3. Gently melt cheese in a pan, add reserved cooking water, mustard and cider, stirring continuously.

4. Season to taste, then stir in the pepperoni chunks and peas.

5. Oil a medium sized Pyrex casserole dish and pour in the Macaroni mixture.

6. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until bubbling and golden. (Can be topped with sliced pepperoni and more cheese prior to oven cooking, if liked).

'Shame I couldn't get a whole pepperoni sausage this time,' muttered Ffion, lifting the steaming dish from the oven. 'But even if I did use the sliced stuff, it still smells delicious.'

She put on her jacket and slipped her hands back into the oven gloves.

'Oh, Cerys.' She chuckled, pulling the front door closed behind her. 'You and your silly stories.'

Then she glanced up at the night sky.

The sound of Pyrex shattering on the concrete steps echoed around the deserted street.

'What the hell do you think you're doing, detective?'

Spiner held her ground. 'I'm doing my job, sir.'

Reed quickly came to her defence. 'Four corpses have been found within a two mile radius of the old farm, all of them women and each of their bodies had been skinned. I think my partner is onto something, sir.'

'I know he lived in Wisconsin when he committed all the other murders.' Spiner had softened her tone, as though attempting to appease their senior officer. 'But we have a credible witness who really knows his stuff. He swears it was him.'

'Ed Gein is dead, detective.'

She looked the D.I directly in the eye. 'That doesn't seem to be stopping him, sir.'

'Surrey Police do not have the funds to throw away on your half-assed theories, Spiner.'

'Jane's theories aren't half-assed.' Her colleague sounded angry. 'They couldn't be more full-assed if they tried.'

The D.I. looked puzzled. 'Full-assed?'

'I mean she's got a good nose for this stuff. And when she gets that glint in her eye, she's usually proved right.'

'I'm sorry, but that's not good enough, not with the PCC breathing down our necks about the budget.'

'I'm done arguing about it.' Spiner tossed the file onto her desk. 'We're about to go off duty anyway. I'll check out the farm on my own time.'

Her partner snatched his jacket off the back of his chair and glared at their D.I. 'And I'm coming with you.'

The sky was growing dim and Ffion had no wish to be out after dark. Terrifying things had been going on all over the world since that mysterious object had appeared in the sky. The UK press had started referring to it as the Sfear and the nickname had caught on.

As she hurried along the narrow pavement, Ffion noticed a young couple heading in her direction. Something about them unnerved her. They looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place them. The woman had fixed, stern features and short blonde hair in an old fashioned bouffant style. The man had dark, heavily hooded eyes and coiffed back hair. Their clothes looked like something from the sixties.

They stared straight through her as they walked past.

Then the sound of their footsteps abruptly stopped.

Fearing she was about to be attacked from behind, Ffion spun around, but the couple was nowhere to be seen.

Speeding up her pace, she veered onto the path through the park. There was no wind whatsoever, but the trees all around were waving wildly, as though it was blowing a gale. Then she caught sight of something dark moving between them. It was shaped like a person, but the strange way it was gliding between the trees looked totally unnatural.

Ffion cursed. She could see her garden gate just beyond the swings, but knew it'd probably be safer if she went back to the road and took the longer route home.

As she turned around, she spotted something in the bushes. It looked like a bundle of rags.

She longed to run, but was compelled to take a closer look.

She knelt down beside it.

Then she screamed.

'Can you tell me what happened again please, Harry?' Spiner's tone was gentle.

'There was a man in my room and he was really scary.'

'You said he had smoke instead of legs, like a genie?'

The child nodded.

'Thank goodness Loki was there,' declared the boy's mother

Reed raised an eyebrow. 'Loki?'

As though reading his mind, the woman rolled her eyes. 'Not the superhero.'

'Loki is my cat.' The boy glanced warily at his mother. 'But he's not supposed to come in for cuddles at night.'

'Well thank the lord he did.' His mother hugged the boy for the fiftieth time. 'Harry said Loki unsheathed his claws and launched himself at the burglar.'

'He was very brave,' agreed the boy.

Reed mulled over what they'd been told. 'So, the intruder was so scared of your cat that he climbed out of your window?'

'Harry said the man turned into smoke and floated out of the window.' The woman squeezed her child's hand supportively. 'But he's always had an active imagination.'

'He did turn to smoke,' protested the boy, 'and after he went out of the window I heard him scream.'

'Did you see what happened to him?' enquired Spiner.

'Yes. A dementor was drinking his smoke.'

'Dementor?' Reed looked at the boy's mother. 'Is that another cat?'

'No,' cried Harry. 'It was a real dementor. Like in the films.'

'What do you mean when you say it was "drinking his smoke"?' enquired Spiner.

Harry tried to demonstrate by pursing his lips and making a slurping sound.

'Like it was sucking up a milkshake?'

The boy nodded. 'I thought it was going to come and drink me too.'

'But Loki jumped onto the windowsill,' interrupted his mother, 'he hissed at the creature and it flew away.'

'I'm beginning to think that Loki is a superhero after all.' Reed smiled.

'The dementor flew?' Spiner frowned. 'How did it fly?'

'Straight up.' The boy blinked his big blue eyes at her. 'Really fast.'

'Have we had any reports of a giant bat escaping from a zoo?' she asked.

'I don't think so,' replied her partner.

There was a knock on the door and a young uniformed officer peered in. 'The lady you've been waiting for is in the interview room.'

'Thanks, Bob.' Spiner stood up. 'Do you mind waiting around for a bit? I might have a few more questions to ask.'

'Yes please.' Harry's mum looked relieved. 'We're both too scared to go home.'

Ffion cradled her head in her hands. 'No, I didn't know the girl, but I've seen her around, so she must have lived somewhere close by. Haven't her parents reported her missing?'

Spiner sighed. 'Unfortunately, kids are being reported missing all the time lately.'

'It's just a matter of matching the reports up.' Reed immediately seemed to realise that his tone sounded harsh. 'Sorry, that came out wrong.'

'You say you saw two people walking away from the area just before you found the body?'

'Yes. They looked familiar, but I couldn't place them at the time.'

'But you now think you know who they are?'

'You're going to think I'm crazy.' Ffion studied the female detective's face, but she gave nothing away. 'I'm pretty sure they were Moira Hindley and Ian Brady.'

Spiner and Reed glanced at each other.

'Would you mind waiting here in the interview room, Miss Jones?' enquired Reed. 'You're our only witness, so we'd like to speak with you again shortly.'

'That'd be fine. I'm not sure I want to risk going back out there yet.'

Out in the corridor, Spiner turned to her partner. 'We found lampshades made from human skin up at the old farm, some guy calling himself the Candyman turned to smoke and was sucked up by a dementor and now Brady and Hindley are prowling the streets. What the hell is going on?'

Bob approached them from behind. 'There's a man at the front desk who says he knows the answer.'

'This I have got to hear.' Reed led the way to the foyer.

'Professor Guffin?' Spiner stepped forwards to shake the criminologist's hand.

'Please, I've consulted on several of your cases now, so I think you know me well enough to call me Mac.'

'Nice to see you again so soon, Mac.' Reed smiled. 'You haven't spotted Ed Gein again, have you? As you know, we found some of his handiwork up at the farm, but there's still no sign of the man himself.'

'No,' replied the professor, 'but I have been doing a bit of reading and I've got a theory about what's going on.'

Bob burst through the internal security door and skidded past. Everyone watched in silence as the young constable locked and bolted the main entrance doors.

'We need to get all the civvies down to the Charge Unit,' he announced.

'Why?' enquired Guffin.

'Because it's the most secure area of the station.' Bob's face was ashen. 'It's for your own safety. All hell has broken loose outside.'

Spiner nudged Reed. 'Go and get Harry and his mum. Mac and I will fetch the Welsh lady.'

'Am I under arrest?' demanded Ffion, as Spiner bundled her into the Charge Unit.

'No,' she retorted.

'It's just not safe up there at the moment,' explained the professor.

'Is that everyone?' enquired the duty sergeant.

Reed looked around. 'Yes, I think so.'

The sergeant secured the heavy metal door behind them.

'What's happening, Mummy?' Harry looked petrified.

'Why don't you go and sit behind the charge desk, sweetie?' Spiner ruffled his hair. 'There are some pens and paper there. I'm sure Sarge wouldn't mind if you did us a nice drawing.'

'That'd be lovely.' The kindly sergeant smiled down at him. 'Come with me.'

He led the child and his mother behind the counter and helped the boy up onto a tall stool.

'So what's your theory, Mac?' enquired Reed, in a hushed voice

'I've been reading an old, out of print book by a little known ufologist from the 70's. The author was convinced that aliens do exist and what's more, they're much closer than we think. He theorised that they remain nearby because they're utilising a form of energy from our planet.'

Spiner looked mystified. 'What sort of energy?'

'He didn't say for sure.' Mac paused. 'What if they've managed to harness the power of evil?'

'Evil?'

'Evil souls, to be more precise.'

'That's ludicrous,' declared Reed.

'A few weeks ago I'd have thought the idea of Joseph Mengele and Klaus Barbie goose-stepping up and down the high street was ludicrous,' countered Bob. He pointed at the CCTV monitors. 'Yet the sarge and I watched them doing just that earlier.'

Everyone stared at the monitors in silence. It was pandemonium out there.

'What if the Sfear is a capsule, used to imprison the souls of evil people after they've passed away?' persisted the professor. 'There have been sightings of dead despots and murderers all over the world, and it all started when that thing was damaged.'

'It was leaking vapour into our atmosphere.' Ffion recalled her sister's words. 'Do you think that could have been souls escaping?'

'What about those bat-like things?' enquired Spiner.

'I don't know,' replied Mac, 'but so far they haven't harmed anyone. They seem to be trying to collect the escapees.'

Bob's eyes widened. 'Reapers?'

'I still don't buy it. Why would it even occur to anyone to imprison evil souls?' Reed frowned. 'Is this some sort of biblical thing, because I've got to tell you, I'm an atheist.'

'Weren't you listening? It's all about energy. I think aliens may have found a way of using these souls as fuel.' Mac sighed. 'After all, this planet does have more than its fair share of evil.'

'The ultimate form of sustainable energy,' breathed Ffion.

'Wait a minute,' interrupted Reed, 'do you really expect us to believe that the Sfear is some sort of alien version of hell?'

'Keep your voices down,' snapped Spiner, 'you're scaring the kid.'

'The concept of hell must have originated from somewhere,' hissed Mac, 'so why not from aliens?'

Bob's police radio crackled to life. Harry's wavering voice drifted over the airwaves. He was saying a prayer.

'Poor boy,' whispered Ffion. 'He must have overheard you.'

'Yeah.' Reed scratched his head. 'But why is he praying over a police radio?'

'He thinks it's the only way the aliens will hear him.' The sarge arrived beside them. 'If there's an alien hell, there has to be an alien heaven, right?'

'Oh my god,' gasped Bob. He was staring up at the CCTV monitors.

A second, even bigger object had just appeared in the night sky.