42

The blast was deafening.

The sound of kids’ voices got very loud. They were screaming and laughing and crying.

Then suddenly I was sprawled on the smooth surface of the tunnel floor. There were no tentacles around. But Frasier and Jessie were there.

We wobbled to our feet, feeling dazed.

The smell of molten rock drifted to us a second before the rock wall in front of us parted with a sizzling CRACK! and melted in two separate streams.

On the other side of the wall was the cavern with the kids in it! We dashed through the opening.

“HELP! GET US OUT!” they yelled.

Part of the cavern wall had caved in. Kids were climbing up, scrambling over the fallen rocks.

But as we ran forward to help, the ground shifted under our feet again.

BOOOOOM!

Another section of the cavern wall caved in, half melting, half exploding. Somehow it didn’t hit any kids.

Then the ground began shaking harder and harder. We hauled our friends up out of the cavern as fast as we could. A tremendous rumbling noise built somewhere under our feet.

It felt like all of Harley Hill was about to go up like a volcano.

“It sounds like an engine starting,” Frasier shouted. “A really huge engine!”

We hurried the last of the little kids out of the cavern. “Hurry!” we yelled. “Follow us!”

We led the way back into the tunnel. The blobs were gone. All of them. There was nothing but smooth, shiny rock. Not even a smear of ooze anywhere.

When we reached the cave, Mom and Dad, and Frasier’s parents, too, were milling around in a daze. The crate had been upended and emptied—no surprise.

“There you are,” cried Mom, sounding overjoyed. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you kids!”

She ran forward and grabbed both me and Jessie in a hug, Dad right behind her. Frasier’s parents were all over him, too, scolding and relieved.

They were really themselves again!

Outside we heard shouts of greeting and joy as parents and kids found each other.

“What were you doing out here this time of night?” asked Dad. He frowned like he was trying to think of something that might be important.

“You’d never believe us,” Jessie said, grinning at me.

“Try me,” said Mom.

“Well, first this alien spaceship crashed into the hills. Then these slimy tentacles—”

“You’re right,” said Dad. “We don’t believe you.”

But just then the cave floor began to buckle under us. We ran outside but the whole hill was shaking like it was coming apart.

The top of Harley Hill began to glow red-hot. It glowed hotter and hotter until in a huge puff of steam the rock evaporated, leaving a crater!

As we stared, the sleek silvery form of the giant alien mothership lifted out of the crater—so huge it blocked the stars from the sky. It hovered in a blaze of light, blinding us, until finally it zoomed off into the dark sky, going higher and higher, leaving earth behind as it headed into outer space.

We watched until even the faint trail of light it made had disappeared. The whole crowd was stunned into silence.

But finally Dad stirred. “I have a suggestion,” he said. “Let’s go home and pretend none of this ever happened.”

In twos and threes people began to turn away and drift back to town, their children clutched close beside them.

Jessie leaned over toward me and Frasier. “Do you think they’ll ever come back?” she whispered.

“I hope so,” Frasier said wistfully, his eyes still in the sky.

I stared at him and shook my head. “Frasier, you know what? You are an alien!”