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us safe ever
since he got here. But how long can we keep him safe? How big will he eventually
grow? And how will we – no, don’t worry about keeping him secret – how will we even
keep him fed ?’
    ‘I don’t know.’ Amelia had never felt so miserable so soon after surviving an adventure.
    ‘Yes!’ said Mary, at the mention of feeding. ‘These children have been out all night
– they must be starving. Let’s take them back to the hotel so I can get something
warm into this little bird.’ She gave Sophie T a protective squeeze, and Sophie T
smiled shyly.
    ‘Oh, that’s nice,’ said Charlie. ‘What about Amelia and me? Aren’t we little birds,
too?’
    Mary grumbled at him in Greek, and Charlie laughed in reply.
    ‘Hang on,’ said James. ‘Aren’t we forgetting something? Was this guy,’ he pointed
at Foxy, ‘the only alien out there tonight?’
    Sophie T shivered, and Amelia said, ‘No, there were some other guys, but trust us:
they’re not going anywhere.’
    ‘Stunned and netted,’ Charlie nodded. ‘And Foxy was nice enough to show us how to
turn the guns up to maximum, so we know they won’t escape.’
    ‘OK,’ said Mum, looking a little stunned herself at the answer, but happy enough
to accept it. ‘Mary’s right. Tom, if you’re OK baby-sitting this fellow, we’ll take
the kids back up to bed. And –’ she added quickly, as Charlie opened his mouth to
protest, ‘– get them something to eat.’
    Heading out of the cottage, Amelia and Charlie walked with Sophie T, one on either
side of her, just in case she still felt bothered by the dark, even with Grawk, James
and two mums with them.
    ‘I really am sorry,’ Amelia said again. ‘I promise you, tonight wasn’t on purpose.’
    ‘And I’m sorry about my mum,’ said Charlie. ‘She can be such a pain.’
    To Amelia’s surprise, Sophie T giggled. ‘You should have heard what she said about you , Charles.’
    ‘Huh?’
    ‘In the kitchen,’ Sophie T went on, sounding quite pleased with herself. ‘She told
me you were the naughtiest, most disobedient, reckless boy she’d ever met in her
life, and it would serve you right if you ended up eaten by space monsters one day.’
    ‘That traitor!’ Charlie yelped. ‘My own mother! Well, I suppose you loved hearing
that even my mum agrees with you that I’m an idiot.’
    ‘But I don’t agree with her,’ said Sophie T.
    Charlie’s jaw dropped.
    Sophie T went on, ‘I told her you were very smart and very brave and it wasn’t just
Grawk who saved us. You did too, Charlie.’
    He gaped at her. Amelia couldn’t believe what she was hearing either.
    ‘Seriously?’ he asked. ‘I thought you thought I was stupid.’
    Sophie T snorted and tossed back her hair. ‘Oh, Charles, you really don’t know anything,
do you?’

The Dark Giants
published in 2016 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
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system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and
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    A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia
    eISBN 9781743584163
    Text copyright © 2016 Chris Morphew, Rowan McAuley and David Harding
Illustration and design copyright © 2016 Hardie Grant Egmont
    Illustration by Craig Phillips
Book cover design by Latifah Cornelius
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