Free The Fellowship for Alien Detection by Kevin Emerson Page A

“Here.”
    She was holding a watch. It was black and purple and featured an old cartoon character named Thundarr the Barbarian. He was standing there with a dinosaur, and behind him was a moon that was cracked like an egg.
    â€œThis was Suza’s,” said Steph. “Look at the time.”
    Haley did. It was behind. “Sixteen minutes?” she asked.
    â€œYeah. Take it. And if you find her, you can return it. Tell her it’s from her sis.”
    Haley met Steph’s eyes. “Okay.”
    Steph nodded. “Be careful.”
    â€œYeah,” said Haley. “I’ll . . . um, I’ll let you know what I find out.”
    Steph shrugged. “If you do find out anything, I’m not sure you’ll be around to let me know.”
    â€œWell . . .” Haley didn’t know what to say. Steph might be right about that. “See ya.”
    She hurried up the aisle of cages, fixing her appearance as best she could. There would be no hiding the cut on her hand. She got a tissue out of her bag and dabbed at it. She could say it was from a chicken cage. That she’d knocked one over after Steph’s chicken escaped from her arms.
    She ran her fingers through her hair, tucked in her shirt. Checked her phone again. Thirty-one minutes. She was so late!
    Outside, Haley scanned the crowd but didn’t see Jill at the line of craft booths. She went back in, didn’t find me, and went to find security, she—
    â€œHaley.”
    Haley turned to find her mom sitting on a nearby bench. She was looking up from her phone. “Sorry,” she said as Haley approached. “I got a chat from work, a patient whose prescriptions didn’t go through. It was a whole big mess.” Jill shook her head and stood up. “How was the interview?”
    â€œOh, fine,” said Haley. “No big deal.”
    As they strolled back to the pirate ship, Haley told her mom the details of the shared dream, thinking that was safe to report.
    â€œSounds spooky,” said Jill. “Any other good info for your report?”
    â€œA few things,” said Haley.
    â€œAnd so what do you think?” Jill asked. “Are these people crazy, or just weird, or what? I mean, do you think there’s anything to all this alien stuff?”
    â€œYou know,” said Haley, “there might be something to it.”
    She braced for more questions, but then Jill flinched. There was a small horn sound, and Jill got out her phone. She’d gotten a text. “Oh, special request from Dad and Liam for fried dough. They say they can smell the stand from the pirate ship.”
    â€œHa,” said Haley.
    They went to the fried dough stand and ordered four pieces with powdered sugar, then headed for the pirate ship ride. Haley wolfed down her dough and even took a ride on the ship with Liam. When the the rest of her family wanted to go on the Scrambler, Haley didn’t join them. She felt scrambled enough inside.
    Sitting on a bench, watching her family spin and lurch around, Liam between Mom and Dad, all of them with wide eyes and shouting, Haley wondered, What have you gotten yourself into? , and the thought caused a rush of fear in her gut. You were in danger back there , she thought, real danger, weren’t you? Maybe, yes.
    She thought back to the mine. The chase didn’t even seem real anymore. Still, she’d have to be very careful from now on. And yet, at the same time, some of the fear was fading and being replaced by a kind of rush. What had been terrifying now felt more like an adventure, and it left Haley feeling something like thrilled. She had her story, and the hunt was on.

Chapter 6
    Winchester, KY, July 4, 10:25 a.m.
    The next morning Haley sat with her forehead against the hot window, staring at the miles of leafy trees blurring by, feeling queasy. The car had taken on a permanent odor, of food wrappers and sweat and sunscreen and cooked dashboard.