The day began well enough... The children were out enjoying the snow. Indoors all was flutter and bustle, for this was Little Christmas, and everyone was looking forward to the evening's festivities.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, however, it became almost unnaturally calm - so calm that voices floated between farmhouses more than a mile apart. The temperature soared, until by evening the heat had become sickly. Something strange was happening.

No-one knew exactly what. Maybe it was just as well.

For what followed was a nightmare. What followed was the most terrifying night of their lives...