I nodded, but how could he be so sure?
Dad crossed the porch to the front door. He stood there for a moment and called into the house—I couldn’t hear what he said.
Then he stepped over the threshold and vanished inside.
Minutes ticked by. No Dad. No sound. Nothing from inside the house. What was happening in there? Why wasn’t he coming out?
A horrible thought crossed my mind.
Did the aliens get him?
“I’m not waiting any longer,” Mom said after another five minutes had passed. “Let’s go, kids.” She opened the car door and strode toward the house.
“Wait! Mom! We should call the police,” I called, climbing out after her. I glanced around the neighborhood. “We could ask the neighbors to call,” I said, pointing to an occupied house down the street.
Mom thought about it for a minute. “First we’ll go to the door and yell. Maybe your father just got distracted.”
We climbed up on the porch, and Mom stuck her head into the house. “What stinks in here? Were you kids doing science experiments in the kitchen again?” she cried.
“No,” I said.
“Yes,” Tyler answered at the same time.
What was with him? I turned to glare at him.
He and Brad stood close together, close enough for Brad to whisper to him. Tyler tapped his index finger with his other index finger, which, in our twin code, meant Follow me on this.
I whirled my finger by my head. Are you crazy?
“Larry?” Mom called. “Larry, are you all right? If you don’t answer me, I’m calling the police!”
“I’m fine, Helen. Everything’s fine!” Dad yelled from upstairs. “What made this horrible mess?”
Mess? I thought back. We straightened up the off-limits closet, didn’t we? I thought we relocked it, too. I couldn’t remember. Everything was all jumbled in my head.
Mom, Tyler, and Brad went inside. I followed slightly behind, still scouting for stray aliens.
“Whoa,” Tyler gasped from the top of the stairs.
I bumped into him. He stared into my bedroom. It looked as though a whirlwind had hit it. All the furniture had shifted. The bedspread, blankets, and sheets had been torn off the bed, and everything had been knocked off the dresser. The dresser drawers were pulled out and emptied onto the floor.
All the dolls had come off the shelves. They were scattered across the floor—and so was everything from the closet.
Over it all, that horrible ammonia stink still hung in the air, even though the window was wide open.
I felt like somebody had punched me in the stomach.
I glanced at Tyler. I wondered if he felt as creeped out and mad as I did. Sometimes we had the same feelings at the same time.
Tyler just stared ahead blankly.
Mom stood right behind me and put her warm hands on my shoulders. “Oh, honey,” she said. “It looks like we’ve been robbed.”
No! I wanted to shout. That’s not it at all!
“We’ve got to call the police,” Dad said.
He trooped downstairs to the phone. Tyler and Brad waded through dolls and debris to the window, and I followed them. We looked out into the backyard.
The lawn sat there, empty again. No lights, no spaceship, no giant space lizards dashing around.
After a moment I felt relieved. I let out a huge sigh. At least the aliens really were gone.
“Yes!” Brad said, pounding his right fist into his left palm. “They’ve given up! Awesome!” He thumped Tyler’s shoulder, then mine. I had to smile at him, he seemed so happy.
Of course he is, I thought. He’s free from the aliens now.
A police officer came by the house fifteen minutes later and looked around. He asked me if anything was missing. I told him I couldn’t tell in all this mess, but I didn’t think so.
He checked through the rest of the house, with all of us following. Everything looked perfectly normal except my room.
The officer told Dad he’d file a report on breaking and entering and malicious mischief, and he’d get back to us if he found out anything about it. He apologized that we out-of-town visitors had to have this “upsetting experience.”
Upsetting experience! I wanted to laugh. He had no idea how upsetting my experience had been!
Mom and Dad helped me clean everything up.
One of the dolls had cracked her porcelain face. We collected all the pieces on a plate. Mom said that maybe we could glue her back together.
Other dolls had dirty clothes or messy hair. We set aside all the ones that needed the most work and put the rest back on the shelves in as close to their old order as I could remember.
I still hate dolls, but I also hated the thought of that girl coming home and seeing her stuff so messed up.
By the time we’d finished, it was really late. I felt totally exhausted.
Most of the stink was gone from my room, but I still didn’t want to sleep there. So mom said I could sleep on the couch.
She had to throw Tyler and Brad out of the living room, though. They were lounging around, eating microwave popcorn and watching horror movies.
How could they be hanging out, acting as if nothing had happened, when we had just been through the most terrifying experience of our lives? It was totally weird. I couldn’t understand it. I was so exhausted that I couldn’t wait to hit the sack.
I yawned—and decided to ask Tyler about it tomorrow.
When I opened my eyes the next morning, Tyler, Brad, and Alex were sitting way close to the TV. They slurped cereal out of bowls.
At least, Tyler and Alex were slurping cereal. Brad just lifted spoonfuls and dropped them back into the bowl. Again, totally weird.
“Yow! What a night!” I said. “Is everyone okay?”
Brad turned around and smiled at me. “Everything’s great. They’re gone for good now.”
Tyler gulped down a mouthful of cereal. “Wasn’t that totally cool? Weren’t those space reptiles perfect for our movie? Brad and I have been figuring out how to make costumes that look just like them.”
“What? Are you nuts? I don’t want those things anywhere near our movie!” I cried. “I never want to see them or anything like them ever again!”
“But they were really scary,” Tyler argued. “Besides, our movie isn’t about anything. We just keep filming cool stuff and hoping we can put it all together later.
“Brad and I have been talking about how to give our movie a plot,” he continued. “If we figure out the story, Brad and I can just film the scenes we need and finally put it all together.”
Brad and I? I thought. Whose movie was this, anyway? And since when did Tyler, my twin and my best friend, just abandon me?
I didn’t like this. I didn’t like it one bit.
“Brad thinks we should forget all the stuff about ghosts and just use aliens instead,” Tyler told me, waving his spoon.
“But—” What about all our great tape of New Orleans cemeteries? Were we supposed to throw that out?
“But, Tyler—”
“We can open with a scene of all those dolls, once they get cleaned up,” Tyler went on.
I glanced at Brad, who was smiling at Tyler. This was all his idea. I could tell. And for some reason, the whole situation made me uneasy. I wanted Brad gone from our lives—as soon as possible.
“So, Brad,” I interrupted my brother, “now that the spaceship’s gone, you can go home to your parents, right?”
“My…parents?” Brad hesitated, as though he never heard of parents before.
“Sure. You grew up here in Blairingville, right? So I guess we should phone your family. In fact, we should phone them right away,” I pressed on.
“Uhhh—what year is it?” Brad asked slowly.
I told him.
“Oh, man. I’ve been a doll for two years,” he explained. “My parents must think I’m dead! There’s no way I can call them now.”
I raised an eyebrow. “But??
?don’t you want to see them again?”
He blinked. “I need to figure out how to tell them I’m still alive so they won’t die of heart attacks when they see me. I just need a little time.”
Wow. That made no sense at all. I couldn’t imagine not letting my parents know that I was okay—especially if I’d been missing for two years. Unless I’d gone crazy or something.
Wait a minute…maybe that was it. Maybe Brad was nuts. I mean, who knew what being shrunk down to dollsize by giant lizards would do to a person.
“I’m just sooo glad to be able to move again,” Brad said. He held his hand up in front of his face and moved his fingers one at a time, then all together.
I watched him intently as he continued to talk to Tyler about what would make a great horror movie. I caught a strange gleam in his eye. One that made me shudder. No doubt. Brad was off his rocker. He couldn’t stay.
And if I wanted to get rid of him, I knew I’d have to bring out my big guns.
I was going to have to talk to Mom.
If I could just get Mom to ask Brad about his parents, I was home free. She wouldn’t give up. She would make Brad call them. I was surprised she hadn’t insisted he call them last night. I guess all the confusion threw her Mom instincts off or something.
Before I put Plan “Mom Attacks!” into operation, I took a shower. When I reached the kitchen afterward, everyone was sitting around the table.
I grabbed the box of Chocolate Puffs and poured a bowlful.
“So, like I was saying,” Tyler told us, “there was an emergency with Brad’s uncle in Mexico. His family had to leave town. They couldn’t wait for Brad to join them. So—can he stay with us?”
What? This was a totally different story from the one Brad told earlier! And it was way lame! The guy was wacko if he thought my parents were going to fall for this!
Looks like Brad just saved me the trouble of putting Plan “Mom Attacks!” into action. I chuckled to myself.
I munched my cereal, waiting for Mom to kick into high gear.
Brad sat back in his chair, playing with a pendant he had hanging on a black string around his neck. I hadn’t noticed it before. A pink jewel on it flashed in the light from the overhead fixture.
I glanced at Mom. She would blast this story to bits in two seconds.
But instead, she just sat there, her mouth half open, staring at Brad.
Tiny squares and diamonds of light danced across her face, glinted from her eyes. I turned to Dad. Light glittered across his face, too.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Brad shift the pendant. That’s where the light was coming from! Brad was aiming the light reflected through his pendant right at my parents. But why?
Mom’s mouth snapped shut. “Of course,” she said after a minute. “We’d love to have Brad stay with us as long as he likes.”
“Whaaaaaat?” I yelled.
“Would you like some more breakfast, Brad?” Mom asked, ignoring my outburst.
“No, thanks, Mrs. Freeman,” he replied, cupping his hand around the pendant and smiling his broad, white smile.
I looked at his plate. It was filled with eggs and toast. It didn’t look as if he’d eaten anything—so why was Mom offering him more breakfast?
Something was wrong around here. Something majorly weird was happening!
I shook my head. No, this was more than weird. My parents weren’t acting the way they should—the way I knew they normally would.
It seemed as if Brad was somehow influencing them. Controlling them so he could get his way. Was he using the pendant to do it?
No. That couldn’t be. It was impossible. Wasn’t it?
“Mom?” I started.
“Yes, dear?” Mom turned to me. Her eyes had a fuzzy-looking, confused expression in them. Not their usual clear-eyed, piercing stare.
Whoa. This was bad. I needed to think—and fast. “Nothing,” I responded.
Tyler jumped up. “Let’s go outside!” he called. Brad and Alex followed him.
I drank the rest of my Chocolate Puffs like soup and hurried after them.
Tyler knelt on the lawn, examining grass blades. “Did it leave any marks?” he muttered. “AHA!” He pounced on a patch of grass, burrowed through it. “Look!” He pointed to a large, deep depression in the dirt.
I squatted beside him and stared down. It was a triangular footprint created by the spaceship.
“We should call the FBI,” Tyler said. “Better yet, we should call a TV station! We could be on TV!” He jumped up and ran to another place where grass looked torn up.
“Are you nuts?” I asked Tyler. “There’s no way you could tell that this impression was left by a spaceship. Any kid with a sand shovel could dig a hole like this!”
I sat back on my heels and sighed as Tyler danced around another hole in the ground. Alex laughed and clapped his hands nearby.
I glanced at Brad, who knelt near me by the first hole. He was leaning forward on his hands, his head hanging. He wasn’t smiling anymore. His face was gray and pale. I wondered if he was going to hurl.
I leaned forward. “Hey,” I started.
He lifted his head and stared me in the face. His eyes looked sunken. A shudder went through him.
And then…
His face melted away.
Instead of Brad, I stared into the hideous face of a space lizard!
A space lizard with thick, scaly purple skin, cold yellow eyes, and long sharp fangs.
I yelped and jumped back. My heart raced. Sweat popped out on my forehead.
Brad had promised us that all the aliens had left! But he’d lied. All the aliens had left—except him!
I swallowed hard, and blinked.
The lizard head vanished.
Brad smiled at me, looking like a toothpaste commercial again. Tan, not gray. Blond-haired, not purple and scaly. Straight white teeth, not fangs.
Whew! It was just a leftover nightmare.
I was just hallucinating! Right?
At that moment, I decided, I didn’t care if I was hallucinating or not. I needed to get away from Brad.
I straightened, and Brad held up his pendant. Sunlight caught in the pink jewel. For a second it blinded me. I tried to shield my eyes, but I couldn’t.
Don’t move, a voice in my head said. I realized I couldn’t move a muscle.
Sit down, the voice commanded. I plopped down on the grass.
You saw my true face. I know you did. You know that I’m one of them, the voice continued.
I saw Brad staring at me, and I realized that it was his voice—Brad’s voice inside my head.
They returned to take me away. But I didn’t want to go with them. Do you understand?
My head nodded at Brad.
Good, his voice sounded in my brain. I just want to stay here. But to do that, I need some very special help from one of you. His blue eyes widened. They looked fever-bright as they stared into mine.
“You’re the one I need, Randi,” he said out loud, lifting the pendant. “Alex is too small, your parents are too important to my future, and, well, I’m already bonding successfully with Tyler. I’m sorry, Randi. I like you, too. Just not as much as I like Tyler.”
He flashed the crystal in my eyes again. I felt hypnotized by the patterns I saw in the light: snowflakes and flowers, dazzling and beautiful.
“Listen carefully,” Brad’s voice whispered to me. “You will obey me. You can’t say anything that will give me away, and you’ll do whatever I tell you to, without question.”
I blinked. The light felt like it was pricking me now, piercing my skin like shards of broken glass.
I tried to shake my head, but I couldn’t.
I swallowed again.
“Lie down on the porch,” he said.
I walked over to the porch and lay on my back.
“Now, sit up,” Brad whispered.
I snapped upright so suddenly my stomach hurt.
Brad patted me on the head. Patted me! L
ike an obedient dog!
“Good,” he said.
His face twisted into a strange grin.
No! This can’t be happening, my mind screamed. This can’t be happening, but it is!
I’m being controlled by an alien!
Brad heaved a huge sigh and settled himself on the porch. “Good. Now that that’s settled…” He patted the bench beside him. “Sit here.”
I jerked up like a puppet on strings and flopped down next to him. My skin twitched. I couldn’t believe it. It was as if I had no control over my body at all. Brad told me to sit next to him. So I did. Right next to him. I could not shift even a couple of inches away.
“Here’s my problem,” Brad continued. “This human body isn’t a very good one. It was only meant to last as long as our mission on this planet—one year. But right near the end of our mission, we messed up. And we all got shrinked.”
“Shrinked?” I said. Then I touched my throat, surprised that I could talk without his permission.
“Oh, you know.” He patted the back of his neck, where that black touch spot was. I had forgotten about it. If only I had used it to shrink him before he started waving that pendant around!
“An Earthling used our own technology against us. That’s why I ended up on your shelf,” he continued.
I gulped. “So, wait a minute. All that stuff about aliens shrinking kids and eating them—you made that up, right? Those aliens weren’t coming to eat us—they were coming to get you?”
“Yup.” He shrugged. “But, as I was saying, this body is falling apart. It won’t last much longer. I need to build a new one, a better one, one that can digest Earth food and sleep on Earth beds. One that will last for years.”
He stared into the distance for a while. “We have another kind of technology that lets us switch bodies with other species, but that’s not a long-term solution,” he said. “I could jump into your body and put you into mine, but I would wear out your primitive anatomy in just another year. Your body would be useless. What I want is a more permanent answer.”
I licked my lip and waited to hear his plan.