Free Aliens In The Family by Margaret Mahy

lungs, his stomach quietly digesting crackers and cheese—had all stopped working at once. He couldn't tell whether his feet were touching the ground or not. Everything was paralysed with the electricity of terror.
    Yet as quickly as this fear ate him up, it was gone. It had seemed endless, though actually, within a second or two it had vanished. Whatever it was that had entered Lewis's head was a fear-eater and it ate up all the fear his mind could produce. But fear is a warning, and as the fear vanished, the warning vanished too. Lewis raced back inside and found Jake and Bond still arguing.
    "I saw one!" Lewis cried. "I saw one!"
    "Saw what?" asked Dora, then as realization struck her, "You can't have," she said. "How do you know?"
    Lewis now stood still, looking bewildered. "I just do know," he stated at last. "They must have meant me to know."
    This made no sense to Dora but Bond frowned. He looked desperate. "They don't do things by mistake—not things like that," he said. "What are they trying to do? Are they trying to herd me?" He paused and looked at his Companion. "They may think I'm still defended."
    "And so you are," Dora said bravely, "because you can be locked in the garage or sleep under my bed." Her voice wavered nervously as she spoke but no-one else noticed.
    "Lewis might have made a mistake out there in the dark," said Jake. "It might have been someone just walking by."
    Bond looked up at the electric light overhead. "There's a light like that out in the—in the—" He looked longingly at his transistor box. "Out there! There's a light, is there?"
    "In the garage? Yes," said Dora.
    "Then I could stay there in safety for a little while," replied Bond.
    "But you can't leave the light on," Dora said. "Mum and David would see it." She thought Bond's enemies might be frightened of the light, like vampires.
    "I won't need light," Bond promised her.
    "Could they get into a locked car?" asked Jake. "Even if they didn't have the key?" Bond did not answer her.

    Later, after taking Bond out to hide him again in the back of Philippa's car, already sustained with tea and cake and accompanied by more cake and apples in case he got hungry in the night, the three children did not return inside the house immediately. Instead they turned on the outside light and played a game of hide-and-seek in the garden. They were merely using the game as a sort of disguised guard duty but in a way it was both exciting and frightening, for the darkness that insistently lurked around corners of their garden in spite of the outside light was alive with many chances, and beyond that again, where it got really black, the night seemed rippling with terrible possibilities. Who knew what yellow, goat-like eyes might be watching them from under smooth, yellow lids? A hand could appear from nowhere and whisk away either the hider or the seeker as a hostage to mystery.
    "I've got to look after Lewis!" Dora said, and would not let him leave her side. No-one was fooled. She was almost faint with fear when it was her turn to hide. Even Lewis was no comfort, turning large eyes towards her slowly and gravely as if he was about to announce that he was not quite what he seemed. Dora would not give in to her fear however, which earned Jake's grudging respect. Nevertheless all three were relieved when after fifteen minutes of the game the driveway was lit up, the air purred, and David and Philippa drove in, full of apologies for having been longer than they had intended. Feeling rather guilty about this they felt quite unable to growl at their children for playing outside so late at night. The red car was put away beside its silent green companion, the garage was locked, and everyone went indoors.
    "Let's have some supper!" suggested Philippa. "Toast and scraps. There's a little bit of strawberry jam in the bottom of the jar, and there's some left-over ham and all sorts of bits and pieces. Family supper! Oh—I see you've already had some."
    "We were