Free Invitation to a Stranger by Margaret Pearce

whisper.
    â€œRonnie, Katie.”
    They both looked around. The whisper sounded as if Drake was right beside them, but they were the only two on the platform. He wasn’t on any of the other branches of the tree. It was getting darker and harder to see. Ronnie squinted at the other big tree beside their tree.
    â€œRonnie, Kate,” came the oddly penetrating whisper again. “Will you invite me into your tree house?”
    â€œHe’s in the big tree beside this one,” Katie whispered. “He could probably swing across to the tree house.”
    â€œSo why does he need an invite?” Ronnie whispered back.
    Katie and Ronnie stared at each other in the dusk. Why indeed?
    â€œSo come on over,” Ronnie called.
    â€œ Rephrase that formally,” came the whispered reply. “I invite you of my own free will, into my territory.”
    Katie shrugged. “I invite you of my own free will into my territory.”
    â€œNot you, Katie, it’s Ronnie’s place,” came back the penetrating whisper.
    â€œI invite you of my own free will into my territory,” Ronnie gabbled.
    Drake suddenly landed on the platform. “Thank goodness,” he gasped. “You are all in the most terrible danger!”

 
    Chapter Eighteen
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    â€œDanger!” echoed Ronnie.
    â€œDanger!” Katie said .
    They peered at Drake through the dusk. Despite the cold, he wore a short sleeved black tee shirt over black jeans. His long hair was unbound and flowed around his face and over his shoulders so he looked an almost stranger.
    â€œYou’ve gotta understand,” he said in his slow drawl. “The family has decided to settle here. Their hunger is unbounded. They will take the entire district. Brod is out hunting and Jerain e has arrived as well.”
    â€œTheir, they?” Katie questioned.
    â€œTheir kin will be here for our...” Drake paused. “Awakening.”
    â€œA sort of Bar Mitzvah,” Ronnie asked.
    â€œBirthdays?” Katie asked.
    â€œMrs. Kotsos believes in vampires and the undead and evil,” Ronnie said.
    â€œYeah, I reckon Mrs. Kotsos is somewhat right,” Drake admitted.
    There was a pause. Katie and Ronnie looked at each other and then at Drake hunched beside them on the tree house platform. Katie was the first to speak.
    â€œWe’re not very bright, and would like you to spell it all out in words of one syllable,” Katie said.
    Ronnie felt a rush of gratitude for her quick-witted friend. Why was Drake sitting in the dusk hinting at bad things instead of telling them what was wrong?
    â€œMy grandfather and his people come from a backward country in the middle of nowhere,” Drake explained. “Their ways of getting nourishment are ...” another pause. “Different.”
    â€œBlood suckers?” Katie asked.
    â€œJust different feeding patterns,” Drake said. “Once the ceremony of my naming comes up, I will also join the family in my feeding patterns.”
    â€œWhat happened at Munawala?” Katie asked. “It wasn’t just the drought was it?”
    â€œWhen the population began to leave, the ill health and...” Drake hesitated, “malnutrition among the rest became noticeable.” Drake’s voice became bitter. “There were enough cattle to feed on, but grandfather preferred humans.”
    â€œCannibals!” Katie’s voice had risen to a squeak.
    â€œNot literally,” Drake returned. “A mob came up and burned the house down. Father left two skeletons in the ashes for closure and we moved away. One of us can return and claim the property as the heir. ”
    â€œ So we are all in danger,” Ronnie said, trying to get back to the basis of their odd conversation. “Are you here to help us?”
    â€œIf you will help me,” Drake replied.
    â€œHelp you?” Katie asked.
    â€œI want a chance to finish my engineering degree and