by Elise Allen
“Your leash and jacket. So I can take you to the fair.” Gabby narrowed her eyes and looked at Sneakers. “You understand every word I’m saying, don’t you? Are you sure you’re a dog?”
Sneakers licked Gabby’s face, then he pulled up his two back legs and scooted his butt across the rug.
He was clearly a dog. A super-intelligent alien dog maybe, but definitely a dog.
Sharli crawled up to Gabby, head-butting her in the side. Petey was still on her back. “So can we go to the fair?” he asked. “Pleeeeease?”
“Peeeeeez?” Sharli joined in.
Sneakers reared all the way back on his hind legs and waved his forepaws up and down. He was begging, too.
Of course Gabby couldn’t say yes. Sure, she and the kids all wanted to go. The dog wanted to go. They even had the means to go. But Don’t leave home without the parents’ permission was the most basic babysitting rule of all. There was absolutely no way Gabby could break it.
Suddenly, Gabby’s cell phone—which was still on the coffee table—rang out with Mozart’s Horn Concerto no. 4 in E F lat. It was one of Gabby’s favorite concertos since it featured her own instrument, the French horn. It was not, however, one of her ringtones, so Gabby simply stared at it, perplexed, as the music played on and on and—
“For the love of Zinqual, Gabby, just pick up your phone!”
The voice was Edwina’s. Gabby lunged and grabbed her phone. The music cut off immediately, and text scrolled across a black screen.
Communicating in text so as
not to alarm the child.
She is in severe and imminent danger.
Do not let on, but get out of the
house immediately. All will be well, just
vacate the premises, act naturally,
and await further instructions.
Gabby had barely finished reading when the text disappeared and was replaced by a single word:
NOW
Gabby’s heart raced triple-speed, and she heard the blood rush through her ears. When that final word disappeared from the screen, she pocketed her phone and smiled at the kids and Sneakers.
“Okay, you win,” she said. “Let’s go to the fair!”
abby’s head was a steamy marsh under her helmet, and the curls that slipped out hung limply in her face. She hadn’t let Petey, Sharli, or even Sneakers see her anxiety as she’d put on their helmets and gotten them strapped and—in Sneakers’s case—leashed-and-vested up for their ride. She’d even joked and smiled, though she couldn’t remember anything she’d said. Honestly, she was shocked she hadn’t just recited Edwina’s note, since it was emblazoned across her vision, standing in tall fiery letters: She is in severe and imminent danger…. Get out of the house immediately….
She. That meant Edwina didn’t know Blinzarra and Petey’s parents had added an extra alien into the equation. That didn’t matter though—whether Edwina knew about it or not, Sneakers, Petey, and Sharli were all her responsibility. She pedaled fast, standing in her seat to sink her whole body into each stroke. The end of Sneakers’s leash was wrapped around Gabby’s wrist, and the dog trotted alongside the bike. He seemed happy to keep up with her pace, which was good because Gabby didn’t dare slow down.
She is in severe and imminent danger…. Get out of the house immediately….
Why? Who was after Sharli? Was it G.E.T.O.U.T.? Had Blinzarra been somehow discovered, and were G.E.T.O.U.T. agents storming the house for her and her daughter? And what would happen when they showed up and no one was home?
Would they keep looking?
Would they come to the fair?
Gabby didn’t think so. If A.L.I.E.N. knew someone dangerous was heading to the house, they’d go and stop them. Sharli and Petey would be fine, as long as Gabby got them far enough away from the house—and fast.
The fairgrounds were about an hour away by bike, but Gabby made it halfway there in fifteen minutes. By then she was on a major road lined with swaths of verdant lawn. Beyond the grass sat wide sidewalks abutting coffee shops, upscale clothing stores, specialty markets, and outdoor cafés. It was the kind of place people would park their cars, then wander the sidewalks, shopping and grazing.
In other words, it was the kind of area where G.E.T.O.U.T. couldn’t grab Sharli without causing a major scene. Gabby slowed her speed and tried to take deep breaths. The breaths caught in her throat and made her cough.
“Why’d you slow down?” Petey shouted from his bag at the front of the bike. “Faster, faster!”
“Fah-tah!” Sharli echoed from the baby seat behind
Gabby.
Sneakers was the only one who looked happy to take it down a notch. He adjusted his gait to a light trot and seemed to smile.
“We’re going fast enough,” Gabby told the kids. “We’ll be there in a little while.”
A car beeped behind her. Gabby veered closer to the road’s wide shoulder, expecting the car to zoom past her. Instead she heard it slow down.
Gabby’s heart thudded. Could it be G.E.T.O.U.T.? Did they see her leaving with Sharli? Had they been tailing her all this time? Gabby instinctively reached out to adjust the rearview mirror she’d mounted on her left handlebar, but this was Blinzarra’s bike. The mirror wasn’t there.
Suddenly, an image filled her head: the front end of a sparkling-clean silver SUV. Its driver was late-middle-age, but TV-doctor-good-looking, with salt-and-pepper hair, and eyes so blue their color shone through the windshield.
The license plate on the front of his car said SLVR FAHX.
Gabby shook her head, hard. She’d never had visions like these before today, and now she was on her third. Had Edwina done this to her? Did it happen in that weird dream-that-wasn’t-a-dream last night? Had she zapped Gabby with some kind of power to help her succeed at this very important babysitting job?
Whatever it was, Gabby didn’t like it. The visions were too jarring. They made her feel like someone else had grabbed the reins of her brain.
Part of her hoped this particular vision was all her imagination, and she’d turn to see nothing at all behind her. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The SUV was right there, and Arlington, a.k.a. the Silver Fox, a.k.a. Gabby’s mom’s recently reinstated boyfriend, was at the wheel. When he noticed Gabby looking at him, he smiled and waved, then pointed at the shoulder of the road, gesturing for her to pull over. With a sinking heart, she did as he asked.
“Why are we stopping?” Petey called from his bag. “I wanna get to the fair!”
Gabby hopped off the bike, engaged the kickstand, then lunged forward and whisper-hissed to Petey. “Not a word. I know this guy. We can’t let him see you.”
“What guy? What’s going on? I wanna come out and look.”
The bag shifted around like Petey was about to make good on his threat, but the SUV had already pulled over in front of them and Arlington was getting out. Pulse racing, Gabby quickly f licked a finger against the bag to warn Petey to keep still.
“Ow!” he yelped, and Gabby smiled and said an absurdly loud “HI!” at the same time so Arlington wouldn’t notice the squawk.
Arlington smiled back as he strode toward Gabby. His teeth were so white they were like a solar eclipse; Gabby couldn’t look directly at them or they’d sear her eyes. He wore jeans and a tucked-in, button-down light blue top with a navy-blue blazer over it. He always looked like he was walking through the middle of a pharmaceutical ad—the kind they aired during the cooking shows Gabby watched with her mom. Maybe that’s why Alice liked him so much—from the start, he’d looked familiar to her.
“Your favorite license plate, right?” he asked, gesturing back to SLVR FAHX, which was on the back of his car as well as the front. Gabby forced herself not to grimace. Arlington had overheard Zee and Gabby calling him “Silver Fox” and took it as a compliment.
It wasn’t.
“Silver Fox” had been their code name for him long before he was Alice’s boyfriend, back when he was just a suspicious
stranger who seemed far too interested in Gabby and her babysitting schedule. They’d been sure he was an agent for G.E.T.O.U.T., and equally positive he had only started dating Alice to get closer to Gabby’s secrets. Of the zillion reasons Gabby was so happy her dad had come back into their lives, getting rid of Arlington had been in her top ten; the worst part of her parents splitting up had been his return.
Gabby didn’t trust Arlington. She knew now that he didn’t work for G.E.T.O.U.T.—Edwina had checked for her. But Edwina had also discovered he’d been off-planet at some point in his life. It was fishy, just like it was fishy the way he tried to kiss up to Gabby and Carmen, doing things like getting that license plate he thought Gabby would like. Or the way he asked too many questions about Gabby’s babysitting jobs and always pushed to see if he and Alice could “pop by” while she was working.
If the Silver Fox made her mom happy, fine. But Gabby herself tried to stay as far away from him as possible, and she definitely kept the kids she babysat out of his sight.
Until now.
“What a cutie!” he said, leaning over Sharli’s seat and tickling her under her chin.
Sharli giggled and kicked happily, but her eyes were on the car keys he held in his other hand. Arlington didn’t notice as they f loated out of his grip, higher…higher…
“Sharli!” Gabby cried excitedly, getting the toddler’s attention. Arlington’s keys instantly crashed to the ground.
“Oops,” Arlington said. “Dropped these.”
When he bent to pick them up, Gabby gave Sharli a pleading look and shook her head the littlest bit. She doubted the Please don’t move things with your mind message was clear, but she had to try.
“I’m surprised you’re working on fair day, Gabby,” Arlington said as he stood up. “I know your mom could use your support.”
Gabby’s jaw tensed, and her hand drifted up to the chain around her neck. It held her dad’s dog tags. She still wore them under her shirt, even though he’d come home. She’d offered to give them back, but her dad had said he was honored that Gabby had worn them in his absence, and he wanted her to keep them.
If her dad had said Alice needed Gabby’s support that would be fine, but if the Silver Fox thought for a second that he knew better than her what Alice needed, he was out of his mind. Besides, Gabby already knew Alice needed her. She felt guilty enough about ditching without Arlington rubbing it in.
“Mom understands when I have a job,” Gabby said tightly. “But it all worked out because I’m taking the kids to the fair right now.”
“Kids?” Arlington laughed. “You’re counting the dog?”
Actually, she’d been counting Petey. She was furious at herself for making a mistake like that in front of Arlington, but at least he’d shown her exactly how to cover it up.
“Yes,” she said quickly. “Totally counting the dog. Good to see you—gotta go.”
“Wait!” he said. “I’m going to the fair, too. Let me take you.”
Alarm bells screamed in Gabby’s head. She and Satchel had seen a lot of horror movies, and she’d learned a lot of things. Among those at the top of the list were Never split up, Never be in a group of teenagers in a remote location, and Never get in a car with someone suspicious. If Arlington had been waiting all this time to get his hands on an alien, this would be the perfect way to do it.
Then she gasped out loud. What if Arlington was behind Edwina’s warning? What if he was involved with whoever was after Sharli and Blinzarra?
“You okay?” he asked. His eyes crinkled suspiciously.
“Fine!” Gabby said quickly. She pushed up her kickstand and straddled the bike. “And a ride would be great, but I can’t take it. You don’t have a toddler seat in your car.”
“Actually, I do.” Arlington touched his key fob, and his trunk popped open. Inside the otherwise spotless expanse sat an infant seat and a child booster seat. “For when my niece and nephew visit.”
In all the time she’d known him, this was the first she’d heard about a niece and nephew. Her whole body broke out in nervous sweat.
“Cool!” she said. “But…I have the bike. It wouldn’t fit in your trunk.”
Arlington smiled. He leaned over, reaching back into his trunk…and his phone rose out of his back pocket and danced in midair.
Gabby turned around to see Sharli had leaned over in her seat. She smiled and waved as she made the phone pirouette. Gabby moved to block her view of the phone, but Sharli quickly leaned the opposite way so she could still see it.
This happened several times in a single second, and Sharli squealed out loud, loving this new game.
“Here we go,” Arlington said.
He was about to turn around and see his phone defying gravity.
Gabby leaped off the bike, threw down the kickstand, and charged Arlington, purposely smacking his back as she swatted the phone to the ground.
“Huge bug on your back!” she explained as he spun around to face her. “Giant. Super-scary. Oops, I think I knocked your phone out of your pocket. Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” he said, but he sounded dubious. He kept his eye on Gabby as he knelt to pick it up.
Gabby peeked. The screen wasn’t cracked. Whew. She’d have felt bad if it was.
“Bike rack,” he said, gesturing to a metallic bracket that had been hidden behind the car seats. “So we’re set. Wanna put the car seat in the back? I’ll grab the baby.”
“NO!”
Gabby screamed loud enough to make people all the way across the lawn at a sidewalk cafe turn and stare. She acknowledged them with a nod and a wave, and Arlington turned red.
“Sorry,” Gabby said, her mind racing. “It’s just…your car is so clean. And Sneakers sheds. A lot. All over the place.”
“That’s okay,” Arlington said. “I can always vacuum. Come on, Sneakers. Let’s get you in the car.”
Arlington walked to the spaniel. In two seconds Sneakers would be in his arms and Gabby would have no choice but to pile in after him—after she secretly got Petey out of his bag and hidden in her knapsack. Maybe it would be fine and Arlington would just drive them to the fair, but if he didn’t…
Gabby saw it so clearly in her mind: Arlington locking the doors and taking them far away, maybe to some hideous lab where he’d run evil experiments on Sharli—and Petey, too, when he found him. And then—
The snarling and growling was so ferocious, Gabby yelped out loud. She immediately turned to the sidewalk, positive that some shopper had lost control of a vicious guard dog. Then she heard Arlington cry out, “Whoa!” and realized the horrible, guttural noise was coming from Sneakers. He lunged and snapped at Arlington, baring his teeth and barking and growling with such fervor that spittle f lew from his snout.
“How does that dog live with children?!” Arlington cried as he pressed himself back against his car. “He’s dangerous!”
“He’s not, though,” Gabby said, f lustered. “He hasn’t been.” Then she turned to the dog as if she could ask him for an explanation and get one in return. “Sneakers?”
The minute Gabby said his name, Sneakers snapped back to himself. He stopped barking, sat, and wagged his tail. Every sign of menace was so far gone, it was impossible for Gabby to believe she’d even seen it.
“I think you should call your client and tell them you can’t watch that dog,” Arlington said. He was leaning against the back of his car now, his face ashen. “You could get hurt.”
Gabby knelt down and looked at Sneakers, confused. The dog trotted to her, put his front paws around Gabby’s neck in a big hug, and licked her face.
“He’s really sweet to me,” Gabby said. She offered up the only explanation she could think of. “Maybe he had a bad experience with men and doesn’t like them. I’m sorry. I guess we’ll just meet you at the fair.”
Arlington pursed his lips as if he didn’t like that idea, but he nodded. “Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I’ll see you there. Ride safe, all right?”
“I will.”
Gabby kept petting Sneakers as Arlington closed up his trunk, got into his car, and drove away. Then she leaned forward so she was nose-to-snout with Sneakers and rubbed his head. “You are a good, good dog,” she said. “And smart, too. You could tell I didn’t want us to go with him, couldn’t you?”
“Can I stop being quiet now?” Petey called from the basket. “That took forever! I wanna get to the fair!”
Gabby peeked toward the sidewalk to see if anyone had noticed her bicycle bag talking to her, but everyone was still window shopping, sipping coffee, and otherwise minding their own business. Even the people closest to Gabby, at the three tables outside the café directly across the lawn from her, stayed focused on one another and their meals.
Still, better to be careful. Gabby leaned close to the bag and spoke softly. “I was thinking, maybe we should go somewhere else, instead of the fair. Like the mall, or the park.”
Anywhere without the Silver Fox, she thought. But she didn’t want Petey to know they might be in any kind of danger.
“No! The fair! You promised!”
“Actually, I’m pretty careful about the word ‘promise,’
and I—”
“Sharli, do you want to go to the fair?”
“FAH!”
“And what if Gabby says no?”
Sharli didn’t respond. She scrunched up her face and pooked out her lip like she was about to cry, then turned to look across the lawn. Customers at all three café tables gaped as their coffee cups and plates of food levitated into the air.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Gabby said. She leaped in front of Sharli and bobbed and weaved, eager to cut off her view. “Okay, the fair, we’re going.”
Behind her, Gabby heard the CLANK of plates dropping back onto metal tables and surprised squeals as food and hopefully-not-too-hot coffee splashed onto people’s laps.
In other circumstances, Gabby would run over to help clean up and make sure everyone was okay. Right now, however, she had two alien kids whose lives would be at risk if they were discovered, and who were exponentially more likely to give themselves away every second they weren’t at the fair.
