The Howler

***To be read first before Shadow Walkers***

It's Halloween week in Belmont, Australia, and Sam Almaw and his best friend Elliot Gunfield have been going to the local movie theatre's fright night weekends, watching five horror movies in a row every Saturday and Sunday in preparation for the big night.

One Sunday, Sam and Elliot hear a howling coming from the river near Elliot's house, and that's when things change, especially when Elliot suddenly becomes sick and winds up in the hospital.

Their high school's annual Halloween costume party, on the fateful night itself, brings a frightening occurrence. A beast-like creature, the height of man and the width of a car, batters down the gym doors and terrorises the students and teachers through one hellish nightmare before taking to the streets. And then Sam and his dad disappear, and Elliot ends up back in the hospital along with everyone else.

But what is the creature and where did it come from? Was it conjured like Beetlejuice and the Candyman, or is it an ancient Egyptian myth that's far more sinister?