Alien in My Pocket #4 Read online

  Runaway

  I plucked an egg out of the carton on Taylor’s bed. It took only a few seconds to yank out another piece of tape and attach the toy parachute to the egg.

  “What are you doing?” Taylor asked suspiciously. “Is that a parachute?”

  I ignored him and walked over to the window. Taylor pushed his way next to me. He pulled on my arm. I laughed. Science was even more fun than it looked!

  “Stop wasting eggs,” he cried.

  I felt like one of those crazy scientist guys with the wild hair who always appear in Frankenstein movies. My laugh actually sounded a bit like a loony cackle.

  “Dad, tell Zack to quit it.”

  My dad had just come through the backyard gate. He was carrying a folding chair, which I think was for me to sit in while I filmed Taylor’s egg drop.

  “Watch this!” I called out.

  I tossed the egg in the air. It went up as high as the roof, the parachute fluttering behind it. Then it began to fall. And like magic, the parachute popped opened beautifully, with the egg swinging comfortably underneath the parachute’s umbrella.

  “HA!” I shouted. “LOOK AT THAT, SUCKERS!”

  Then something happened that had not occurred to me: the parachute started to drift. A sudden breeze blew my parachute off course.

  “NO!” I cried as the parachute drifted away and across the backyard. The three of us stared wide-eyed as my helpless egg went on the ride of its life.

  The parachute picked up speed as it continued to the other side of our backyard. I gasped as I saw it heading directly for our barbecue.

  With a satisfying splat, the egg exploded against the barbecue as the parachute was blown out of sight.

  Nobody moved.

  “You really don’t like eggs, do you?” Dad said.

  My mom appeared behind us. She had her work laptop in one hand and the laundry in the other. “Look at my boys, working together.”

  “Zack has turned this into more of a food fight than a science experiment,” Taylor complained.

  I looked at the stack of Taylor’s underwear that my mom was carrying.

  “Wait, did you go into my room?” I blurted out.

  “Yes, I did,” Mom said, taken aback. “Why?”

  “Did you close my door?” I said, grabbing her arm.

  I could tell by her face she hadn’t.

  I ran out of Taylor’s room and looked down the hallway toward my door. I saw Amp emerge from my doorway and start running in the opposite direction, inside Mike’s hamster ball. He was trying to escape!

  Amp stopped for a moment, looked over his shoulder at me, then continued even faster down the hallway, the ball rotating around him. Without warning, he took a sharp left-hand turn toward the stairs.

  I gasped. “No!”

  “What was that thing!?!” Taylor whispered from behind me.

  I heard the plastic ball bouncing violently down the stairs. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

  I stood frozen. Mike’s ball bounced down the stairs. Then . . . after a few seconds of silence . . . I heard the ball hit the wooden floor. It bounced off the wall opposite the stairs and then . . . silence.

  I turned and looked at Taylor and Mom. “Uh . . . nothing,” I said.

  “That was the loudest nothing I ever heard,” Mom said.

  I had just witnessed my third egg fall to its death. And now I was terrified that I’d find my alien houseguest splattered all over the inside of his plastic egg prison!

  Before I could start moving, I heard the front door open downstairs. My dad made an odd noise. “Zack McGee! You need to get down here right now!” he hollered.

  From the sound of his voice, I feared that my secret alien roommate had just become a whole lot less secret.

  Doodles

  I shot down the stairs so fast I don’t actually remember my feet hitting the floor.

  I hit the bottom step, slipped, bounced off the wall, and winced in pain.

  My eyes wildly scanned the floor. There was no sign of Olivia’s plastic hamster ball or its helpless blue prisoner.

  “Zack, you need to see this!” Dad hollered from the front doorway.

  I gulped. Even if Amp were able to make himself invisible, a ball rolling around under its own invisible power would surely cause a panic.

  I tore off down the hallway. The sooner I started lying, the better.

  My dad was leaning into the front doorway when I came shooting down the hallway. But he was smiling.

  I hit the brakes and slipped again. My feet flew out from under me and I fell on my butt, like a wet bag of noodles. The fall hurt my shoulder so much I couldn’t even scream.

  “Here’s the big joker now,” Dad said to someone behind him and pushed the door open.

  Standing behind him were Lexie Evans and Jade Bloom, two girls from my class. They’d brought me get-well cookies.

  Lexie and Jade both stared at me in open-mouthed shock.

  Lexie cleared her throat. “Whoa, that looks like it hurt,” Lexie said.

  “No, I’m fine.” I wheezed in pain, looking up at them through blurry eyes.

  “Cool pajamas,” Jade said quietly.

  “What do you say, Zack?” Dad asked, looking down at me.

  “I can’t feel my butt,” I groaned.

  Both girls laughed. Dad helped me to my feet and took the plate of cookies into the kitchen for us.

  “We heard you were in pretty bad shape,” Lexie said, exchanging a look with Jade.

  “Miss Martin told us you couldn’t even get out of bed,” Jade said.

  “Oh, no,” I said, distracted. I still had an escaped alien to capture. “I’ve been . . . pretty busy . . . actually.”

  A moment of silence passed.

  “We hope you like snickerdoodles,” Lexie said.

  “What?” I said, looking back over my shoulder. “Oh, sure, I like doodles.”

  “You’re acting so weird,” Jade said with a giggle.

  “Sorry,” I said. “Pain pills.”

  “I heard you rode your bike into the bike rack because you were attacked by a flock of crows,” Jade said.

  “It’s actually called a murder,” I corrected. “A murder of crows.”

  “Some crows tried to murder you?” Lexie asked, shaking her head in confusion.

  Rather than argue, I just said, “It wasn’t an attack exactly. I got away. Look, thanks for popping over, but—”

  “What is that?” Jade shouted, pointing behind me.

  I spun and saw Olivia’s hamster ball zigzag into the living room, seemingly on its own power—at least Amp had remembered to make himself invisible.

  I spun around and tried to block the girls’ view. “Oh, that’s one of my brother’s experiments that I—”

  “Sorry, ladies,” Dad interrupted, suddenly clapping his hand on my good shoulder. “Zack has to help his little brother with his science experiments for his YouTube channel.”

  “Zack?” Lexie said, raising her eyebrows. “You like science? Really? That’s so cool.”

  “Oh, I’m into some pretty surprising stuff,” I said awkwardly. I gave them a small, waist-high wave. “Thanks for the doodles.”

  “Bye?” they both said, puzzled.

  Dad shut the door with a click. I stepped to the side so Dad turned away from the living room and the shock of his life.

  “Nice of them to stop by, but enough foolishness,” Dad said.

  “But . . . ,” I objected. I had to find Amp.

  “No buts,” Dad said. “Time to get back to work.” He marched me out to the backyard and sat me down in the folding chair he’d set out. He gave me Mom’s smartphone, with the video camera function opened.

  “Could I at least get dressed?” I asked.

  Dad didn’t respond.

  “Some milk and a cookie?”

  Dad glared.

  “A bathroom break?” I asked.

  He pointed at me and then up at Taylor’s window. He gave me his firm no-nonsense look.

  I decided not to mention then that there was an alien in our house, trapped in Olivia’s plastic hamster ball, and that he was our only hope of stopping an interplanetary invasion before it happened. Somehow I didn’t think he’d believe me.

  How did my life get so out of control?

  Egg Ball

  I was so nervous about someone else finding Amp that I could hardly concentrate. Sure, he could make himself invisible if he saw you coming, but if you snuck up on him, he wouldn’t know to go invisible—and then our little secret would get out. And, yes, he could erase your memory, but the chance of him turning my parents into mindless zombies was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.

  Twice I snuck in through the back door while Taylor was busy upstairs. On both occasions, my dad emerged out of nowhere before I had gotten two steps in.

  “Don’t test me,” he said the last time.

  “Okay!” I said. “But I’ve got problems of my own, you know!”

  So there I sat. I’d film my brother doing a quick introduction, then the egg drop, and, of course, the collision with the wooden board. Then I’d run over with the video still recording and—although Taylor had instructed me to wait for his arrival—see if there was still a whole, unbroken egg inside.

  Taylor would join me out back and get excited about whatever adjustments he had to make. He’d scribble down some notes and then rush back upstairs.

  There was a lot of downtime between egg drops. Science is slow. So, I decided to call Olivia with Mom’s phone.

  Her grandpa answered and put the phone down to get Olivia. But when the phone was picked up again, it wasn’t Olivia, it was her grandpa. “Sorry, Zack,” he said. “Olivia wants me to tell you she will not be taking any of your calls. She said you needed a taste of your own medicine. Sorry, fella.”

  “Oh,” I said, embarrassed. “Thanks.” I pushed the button to end the call.

  My whole life was starting to fall apart. No friends. An alien on the loose. And Taylor was taking forever to make whatever adjustments he needed to.

  “C’mon. I’ll have a beard by the time you’re done!” I shouted up at Taylor’s window.

  Suddenly, he poked his head out of my bedroom window!

  “Some interesting things in here, Zack,” he said. “What have you been up to?”

  I jumped up. “Get outta my room!”

  “If you leave that chair, I’m telling Dad you’re sneaking away again,” he said and disappeared back into my room.

  “I’ll scramble you!” I screamed at my now-empty window. “MOM! DAD! Taylor is snooping around my room!”

  “Hey, Zack, look what I found downstairs,” Taylor said, appearing in my window again, only this time with the plastic hamster ball in his hands!

  I gasped.

  He shook the ball in front of him. “How does this thing roll? What’s in here? When I shake it, it feels like there’s something inside, but I don’t see anything. I’m going to open it.”

  I was so mad I could hardly speak. “DON’T TOUCH MY STUFF!”

  I sprinted to the back door, threw it open, and shot down the hallway before my dad had time to cut me off.

  “Hey, what did I tell you!” Dad boomed.

  “I’m gonna pound that little snooper!” I responded.

  “What’s all this commotion?” Mom asked as I passed her at the top of the stairs.

  I saw Taylor shoot out of my bedroom, across the hallway, and into the upstairs bathroom.

  I grabbed the top towel off the folded stack she was holding and flung it down the hall with my good arm, right at the closing bathroom door. I could see Taylor inside, rushing to shut the door and lock me out. Luckily, the towel I had thrown wedged itself between the door and the jamb, preventing Taylor from shutting it.

  I slammed my shoulder into the door. My left shoulder. The one in a sling.

  With a squeal of pain, I stumbled backward and fell to the carpet.

  Then I think I fainted.

  Ring-a-Ding

  I woke up to bells ringing.

  My parents and Taylor were standing over me. Everything sounded far away and looked out of focus.

  And the bells didn’t stop.

  “You could have killed him!” Dad thundered at Taylor.

  “Me?” Taylor said. “I was just going to the bathroom when he ran into the door!”

  “He said you were snooping,” Mom said. “Were you?”

  “He stole my ball!” I croaked, pointing to the ball held under Taylor’s arm. “He’s a thief!”

  “That’s a lie,” Taylor said. “This ball rolled right past me downstairs.”

  I kept hearing bells ringing. Was real life like cartoons? When you get knocked out, you hear bells ringing?

  “Who is at the door?” Dad hollered in frustration.

  “It better be important,” Mom said, throwing her arms up.

  “I’ll get it,” Taylor said, turning to go, the ball still under his arm.

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” I said and slapped the ball out from under his arm.

  The ball bounced off the wall and landed next to me. The bouncing must have thrown off Amp’s focus because he suddenly appeared stumbling around inside the ball.

  I had no choice. I threw my body over the ball.

  “What was that?” Taylor shouted.

  “What was what?” Dad snapped.

  “It’s like a fat blue hamster . . . or something.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Dad said.

  “This ball is none of your business!” I shouted.

  “Zack!” Olivia screamed.

  Everyone stopped and turned to see Olivia standing at the top of the stairs looking out of breath and bug-eyed. “I let myself in.”

  “What’s in that ball? How does it roll by itself?” Taylor asked her.

  Olivia walked past him and kneeled down next to me. She grabbed the plastic ball from me and placed it inside a brown paper bag, the kind you get from the grocery store.

  “It’s just a trick ball,” she said.

  She pulled the ball back out of the bag as she removed the circular door.

  “Olivia, don’t,” I cried.

  “It’s okay, Zack,” she said calmly. “It’s just a trick.”

  She walked over to show my dad and Taylor. Taylor stuffed his hand into the ball and felt around inside. “Okay, but how does it roll around on its own?”

  “A real magician never reveals her secrets,” she said. “I will tell you that this illusion is called ‘The Invisible Hamster.’”

  “How clever,” Mom said, impressed.

  While they were distracted, I peeked into the paper bag. And sure enough, there was Amp, on the bottom of the bag, looking dazed and confused. Olivia had secretly dumped him out!

  Olivia had many interests, and one of them was magic. I had to admit, that was a skill that came in handy more often than you’d imagine. Her other talents—like being able to bake banana bread, make realistic animal noises, dance like a robot, and speak in weird accents—had not proven to be as useful.

  Yet.

  Olivia gave me another smile and she picked up the “empty” bag. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go practice my magic.”

  With that, she gently placed the ball back in the bag and we all watched her walk down the hallway and descend the stairs.

  Mom let out a thunderous sigh. “Zack, I’m sure this is a good time for another pain pill.”

  “No more nonsense for the rest of the day,” Dad said. He picked up his cell phone, which I had dropped, and he and Mom headed downstairs, leaving Taylor and me in the hallway.

  “I don’t know what you two are up to,” Taylor said, “but I’ll figure it out sooner or later.”

  “I can’t wait,” I said, rubbing my shoulder. I thought of Amp’s spaceship and how close we were to sending him back home, which would save Earth from an Erdian invasion. “Look, Taylor, I think I was onto something with that parachute. What do you say we take another shot at that idea, for science’s sake?”

  Taylor studied my face to see if I was making fun of him. “Seriously?” he asked. “Did the bathroom door damage your brain or something?”

  I smiled. “Maybe. But let’s just say I’m curious on behalf of a friend of mine.”

  This seemed to satisfy him. He waited for me to reveal more, but I just stared back. He sighed. “Okay. I’ve built some bigger parachutes that you may want to see. Or your friend may want to see,” he said, making air quotes with his fingers on the word “friend.”

  And with that, I spent the next hour getting schooled by my bossy little brother in the science of parachute design, operation, and maintenance.

  One thing was for sure: Amp owed me big time.

  Couching Concerns

  “Okay, guys, this is crazy. You two need to kiss and make up. Or shake hands. Or whatever.”

  Olivia sat between Amp and me. We were all on the old, dusty couch in her grandpa’s garage. It was our regular hangout, away from the prying eyes of Taylor and my parents. Amp sat on the arm at the other end of the couch and glared at me, shaking his head. I kept rolling my eyes at him.

  “Please, you two, it all worked out in the end, right?” Olivia said.

  “I could have been killed in that floofy hamster ball.” Amp simmered.

  “I could have been killed on that metal bike rack,” I said back.

  Olivia had in her lap the plate of cookies Lexie and Jade had brought me.

  “How good was I, huh?” Olivia continued, now talking with her mouth full of snickerdoodles. “I used that paper bag as my blind; that’s what a magician calls something that blocks the view of the audience. Fooled the whole McGee family. . . .”

  “I wasn’t fooled,” I said.

  “I wouldn’t know,” Amp said. “At the time, my brain was scrambled like an egg, thanks to Zack.”

  “I bet my big toe is bigger than your brain.”

  “Sheesh, I’m stuck between Grumpy and Grumpier,” Olivia said, picking up her fifth cookie.

  Yes, I was counting. They were my cookies, after all.

  “How did you know we were in trouble, anyway?” I asked.