"13 - Alien Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

Christopher Pike: Spooksville #13 Ч Alien Invasion


One

Adam Freeman sat in science class and waited for the teacher to arrive. It was the first period of the first day of school. But Adam was not uneasy because he had two of his best friends on either side, Sally Wilcox and Cindy Makey. Sally had lived in Spooksville all her life, but like himself, Cindy was a newcomer to town. The three of them had just finished a summer together that would have killed most kids ten times over. But they'd had lots of fun.
Now it was school time.
The three of them were twelve years old; they were each in seventh grade. The real name of their town was Springville but all the kids called it Spooksville because it was such a spooky place. The proper name of their school was Springville Intermediate but the student body usually referred to it as Horror Halls because the teachers were supposed to mark really hard, and because some of the teachers were rather strange.
'I just hope our new science teacher isn't weird,' Sally muttered. She sat on Adam's right and was slightly taller than him, with a dark fringe and a remarkable ability to look angry even when she was having a good time. Sally was an intense young lady. She continued, 'Last year's teacher blew himself up in the middle of an experiment.'
'Were any students hurt?' Cindy asked. She sat to Adam's left and had basically a soft personality Ч except when it came to dealing with Sally, who drove her crazy. Cindy was Adam's height and had long blonde hair, which was her pride and joy.
'Who knows?' Sally said. 'We lose so many kids every week in this town it's hard to keep track of the statistics.'
'I would think being in school would be safer than hiking all over the back hills and forests,' Adam said, referring to what they had done during the summer. Like Sally, Adam also had dark hair, and a rather strong personality. But unlike Sally, he used his strength to lead his friends in times of crises rather than trying to find them new dangers. Adam was the undisputed leader of the group, but he was also good at listening to other people's opinions. He added, 'After such a wild summer, I'm looking forward to settling down and studying.'
'Those who seek peace in this town are usually the first to go,' Sally said.
'Is that true?' a meek voice asked from behind them.
The three of them turned to find a kid so short and pale it was hard to believe he was twelve years old. He had a large nose Ч it almost looked as if it had been sewn on Ч and eyes so wide that they seemed to swallow his eyebrows. He was sitting with his hands folded on his desk top but he appeared jittery. It was a warm day but he was wearing a brown sweater and a long-sleeved white shirt,
'Who are you?' Sally asked.
'George Sanders,' he replied, a little taken back by Sally's brisk tone.
'You just moved here?' Sally asked.
'How can you tell?'
Sally smiled. 'Your face is unscarred.'
George swallowed. 'But you guys don't have any scars.'
'None that you can see,' Sally said. 'But that means nothing.'
'Don't listen to her,' Adam said, offering his hand. 'She just likes to be dramatic. My name is Adam Freeman, and this is Sally Wilcox and Cindy Makey. When did you get here?'
George feebly shook his hand. 'A week ago. My family moved here from Los Angeles.'
'And I bet you haven't had a decent night's sleep since,' Sally quipped.
'Shh,' Cindy said. 'Don't scare him.'
'Better he be scared than dead,' Sally replied.
George looked worried. 'That's what I keep hearing, that this town is dangerous. Is it true?'
Adam considered, and decided that this was not the time for total honesty. He was afraid George might burst out crying if he knew everything.
'It depends on your definition of danger,' Adam said.
'Yeah,' Cindy added. 'It's an exciting place. I'm new here as well, like Adam, and we had a great summer.'
Sally counted on her fingers. 'Yeah, we were attacked by a variety of creatures: a witch; a ghost; a Bigfoot; aliens; demons; an evil wizard; dinosaurs; dragons; more aliens.' Sally paused and smiled. 'And that was just one summer.'
George's teeth chattered. 'I don't believe it.'
Sally beamed. 'You sure look like you believe it.'
'Stop that,' Cindy said. 'You don't have to tell him everything at once.'
George spoke to Adam, whom he probably thought the sanest one in their group. 'Did you really run into aliens and witches?' he asked.
Adam hesitated. 'Just one witch, and she's not so bad once you get to know her.'
George paled further. 'I want to go back to Los Angeles.'
'Maybe we could send you back in a box,' Sally said sweetly.
Adam sighed. 'Oh brother. Look, George, it's not as bad as it sounds. Yes, we ran into some weird creatures this summer, but we're still here, aren't we?'
George gulped. 'But how did you survive?'
'By sticking together,' Cindy said.
'That's right,' Adam agreed. 'We have two other friends, Watch and Bryce, and we'll introduce you to them. They're really cool guys and very capable. If you stay close to us, you'll be all right.'
'But when you're alone at night you'll be completely helpless,' Sally said. 'That's when they come for you.'
George's cheek twitched. 'Who?'
'They won't tell you their names,' Sally said darkly.
It might have gone on like that for an hour, with Sally taunting George and Adam and Cindy trying to reassure him. But their science teacher came in right then. He was a funny looking man, thirty-five at most, with wild greasy hair that appeared to have been dyed with an assortment of bargain basement lotions, none of which matched. He wore baggy clothes that seemed on the verge of slipping off him. He even walked funny; he seemed to slide more than stride. Indeed, at any moment, he looked ready to bump into something, a desk or a cabinet, but he didn't. He came in suddenly from the back room and seemed to slither towards the board. Without even speaking he wrote his name for all of them to see, using a thick black marking pen and a style of handwriting that was almost unreadable.
Mr Snakol Ч the same name listed on their schedules.
Then he turned and faced them and Adam heard George gasp behind him. Mr Snakol had the brightest green eyes Adam had ever seen. And his hands were huge; he could have palmed two basketballs while eating ice cream at the same time. Not that he looked like he ate ice cream, or anything else so ordinary. Sally leaned over and whispered to Adam.
'This guy looks like a real winner,' she said.