iTunes

They came to it eventually, after a couple of turns into lanes that petered out at farm gates. There was much reversing and brushing into hedges in the dark before the white-painted windmill loomed in front of them, silent and brooding.

‘You two wait here and I’ll go and check it out,’ said Joe, climbing out and stretching his back. ‘I won’t be long.’

‘This feels a bit creepy, don’t you think?’ Kim shivered. She had a growing sense of something being off, her heart was beating faster than normal and it made her anxious.

‘Creepy? What does that mean?’ Xavier was concentrating hard on producing the vibrations and his reply was more automatic than a request for information.

‘Well, I suppose it means a bit frightening, a bit scary. It’s probably nothing.’ She reached for her phone and flicked through iTunes, looking for some cheery music. The sounds of Glen Miller’s In the Mood swirled around inside the car, lifting her spirits immediately. The orchestral beats masked the infrasound rather well, thought Xavier, he couldn’t have planned it better. He knew the sound waves would be enhanced in closed spaces but were also travelling outside, and would be sensed, but not understood, by anyone within a couple of hundred yards.

Despite Mr Miller’s best efforts, Kim was still uneasy. Not naturally of a nervous disposition, she was beginning to think something odd or supernatural was happening.

‘Pull yourself together,’ she told herself sternly. Joe’s knock on the window made her jump.

‘A car’s just pulled in, on the other side. Come on.’ Joe held the doors open and the three of them left their car and started up the path. A black-clad figure stepped out in front of them. When he lowered his hood, they saw a slightly built older man, his face creased with worry. He held a bulky canvas grip which looked heavy.

‘Bonjour. You must be Mr and Mrs Driver?’

‘Kim and Joe, please, Jean-Claude. Thank you for coming so quickly.’

‘And Xavier - it ees so good to see you. Tout va bien? Still a leetle warm, I see.  Can we get inside here?’ 

Joe tried the handle of a small side door and discovered it wasn’t locked.  Stepping inside, he flashed his torch around. He found a light switch and tried it. Nothing happened.

‘There doesn’t seem to be any power, but it’s clean and tidy.’ He beckoned the others inside. They stood close together, the three humans struggling with a palpable sense of unease.