9. Aliens in the Attic

Chapter 9 Aliens in the Attic Bradley dragged the other kids into the hallway. He closed the bedroom door quietly. He motioned for them all to follow him into the bathroom. He shut that door, too. "What's going on?" Brian asked. "The aliens are hiding in the attic!" Bradley said. "They have Pal up there!" "How do you know?" Lucy asked.

"Because Pal must have dropped his hot dog down through the ceiling heat vent," Bradley said. "It landed on Brian's bed." "Oh my gosh!" Brian said. "Bradley's right! You know that red Christmas thing they threw over my head? Mom stores all the Christmas stuff in the attic!" The four kids looked up at the bathroom ceiling. "Do you think they can hear us?" asked Lucy. "There's no vent in here," Bradley said. "We don't even know if aliens have ears," Nate said. Everyone just looked at him. "Well, maybe they don't," insisted Nate. "Guys, we need to focus!" Lucy said. "What if we write them a note telling them we want to swap for our families?" "But the creepos in the attic don't have our families," Brian reminded them all. "Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose called us from a spaceship."

"Yeah, but maybe the guys in the attic can beam our message to the spaceship," Bradley said. "Write the note, Lucy." Lucy dashed out of the bathroom. She was back in two minutes with paper and a pencil. "I locked the attic door," she said. Lucy wrote in her best printing: Dear space people, We have you surrounded. Please give us back Polly, Pal, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. If you do, we will let you go. Your Earth friends, Lucy, Nate, Brian, and Bradley She showed the other kids the note.

"'We will let you go'?" Brian said. "We don't have them. They have us!" "Well, maybe they don't know that," Lucy said. Nate took the note from Lucy. "'Your Earth friends'?" he read. "Lucy, these guys are kidnappers from outer space! They're our enemies!" "Well, it doesn't hurt to be nice," Lucy said. "What if they can't read English?" Nate asked. "Spaceships go everywhere," Lucy answered. "Aliens must know a bunch of languages." Nate grinned and started to giggle. Bradley slapped his hand over his friend's mouth. "Hey, wait a second," Brian said. "Why did the spaceship take off and leave two of their guys here?" "Maybe so no one would see the ship," Bradley said. "It's probably just riding around up there, watching our house." "Yeah, and they left their guys here to kidnap us," Nate said. "Then they'd signal the spaceship

to come back and pick us up." "Guys, I just thought of something else," Brian said. "What if it's not just us? What if the aliens grabbed a lot of people, not just our families? They could have taken people from all over Green Lawn. That spaceship could be filled with our neighbors!" "Nah, we'd have heard about it on TV," Bradley said. "Brad, we haven't even turned the TV on yet this morning," Brian said. "For all we know, the whole town has disappeared. We could be the only ones left!"