David's family moves to a house on the edge of the Red Zone - a strange wilderness that's returning to nature after earthquakes destroyed the homes there a decade before. But David doesn't venture into the area. He's not well - he can't play cricket or go to school - and his parents have declared the Red Zone off limits. Then one day, he blunders in and discovers an old villa, an earthquake survivor, protected by trees. The house speaks to him: I'm old and starting to dissolve. Help me. Save me. Then David meets old Agnes, who seems to be living there - but how? And who are the mysterious lanyard people she's afraid of? Come inside, the house says to David. I can show you.