The Alien Next Door 4: Trick or Cheat? Read online

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical

  events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other

  names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s

  imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or

  persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An imprint of Bonnier Publishing USA

  251 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010

  Copyright © 2018 by Bonnier Publishing USA

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or

  in part in any form.

  Little Bee Books is a trademark of Bonnier Publishing USA, and

  associated colophon is a trademark of Bonnier Publishing USA.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

  upon request.

  ISBN 978-1-4998-0584-0 (hardcover)

  First Edition 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  ISBN 978-1-4998-0583-3 (paperback)

  First Edition 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  ISBN 978-1-4998-0585-7 (ebook)

  littlebeebooks.com

  bonnierpublishingusa.com

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1.

  Halloween’s Coming

  2.

  Zeke Revealed

  3.

  The Best Robot Ever

  4.

  Roxy’s Reaction

  5.

  Costume Day

  6.

  Costumes in Class

  7.

  Recess

  8.

  Sabotage!

  9.

  The Contest

  10.

  Trick or Treat!

  HARRIS WALKER RUSHED NEXT

  door to his friend Zeke’s house on

  Sunday. Harris and Zeke had only

  been home for a week following their

  adventure at Beaver Scouts camp, but

  already it felt like a million years ago.

  Halloween was coming this week, and

  that was all Harris could think about.

  “Guess what?” Harris asked

  excitedly when he joined Zeke in his

  room. “It’s almost Halloween!”

  “Hall-o-what?” Zeke asked,

  repeating the unfamiliar word.

  Harris smiled. He had become such

  good friends with Zeke that sometimes

  he forgot that his next door neighbor

  was not from Earth.

  “They don’t have Halloween on

  Tragas?!” Harris asked.

  “Correct,” said Zeke. “What is it?”

  “Everyone dresses up in costumes,”

  Harris explained. “For that one day,

  you can be whatever you want to

  be—a ghost, a monster, an animal,

  an object. Anything you can imagine!

  Then we all go trick-or-treating.”

  “What does that mean?” Zeke asked.

  “We go from house to house and get

  candy,” Harris said. “And the whole

  neighborhood is decorated with ghosts

  and cobwebs and other spooky stuff.

  Then we come home, watch scary

  movies, and eat our candy. It’s the best

  holiday!”

  Zeke looked puzzled. “So, once

  again, like when we were telling scary

  stories around the campfire on our

  scouting trip, we want to get scared

  because it’s . . . fun?”

  “Exactly!” Harris said. “Now you

  get it.”

  “I’m still not sure I do,” Zeke said.

  “But I want to learn all I can about

  Earth culture. And I do appreciate you

  helping me make my way through

  your strange customs.”

  “Oh, and I almost forgot the best

  part,” Harris continued. “Every year

  at school, we have a costume contest!

  All the kids and teachers dress up in

  Halloween costumes, and then the

  kids compete to see who has best

  costume.”

  “I’m not sure why people would

  want to dress up in costumes,” Zeke

  said. “But I do like competitions. Back

  on Tragas, we had contests to see who

  could levitate the heaviest load, or

  who could navigate a pebble through

  a bunch of moving rings.”

  “That sounds really cool! Do you

  know what you want your costume to

  be?” Harris asked.

  Zeke smiled. “Well, If I understand

  you correctly about this costume

  contest, I don’t think I need a costume

  at all,” he said.

  Harris was confused. “What do

  you mean?” he asked.

  “I’ll just go as myself!” Zeke

  announced.

  HARRIS WAS VERY CONFUSED. How

  can Zeke go as himself for Halloween?

  He may be an alien, but he just looks

  like a normal kid.

  “I’m not sure you understood what I

  said about dressing up for Halloween,”

  he said. “The whole point is to not

  look like yourself, to dress up as

  something different, or something

  funny, or scary.”

  Zeke smiled. “I do indeed

  understand. There’s something I

  haven’t told you about myself yet,”

  he said.

  I know that he’s an alien. I know he

  comes from the planet Tragas and that

  he has some pretty cool powers. But what

  hasn’t he told me? Harris wondered.

  “The way I look,” Zeke began. “I

  mean the way I look now, like a human,

  that’s not the way I really look.”

  “What do you mean?” Harris asked,

  more confused than ever.

  “My human appearance is only a

  disguise,” Zeke explained. “People from

  Tragas have the ability to change our

  appearance. We can make ourselves

  look like the inhabitants of whatever

  planet we’re currently on. This is

  very useful when my parents and I

  move from planet to planet for their

  research. It allows us to blend in.”

  Harris had to sit down. Somehow,

  this was even more shocking to him

  than learning that his new friend

  really was an alien.

  “So, if this is not what you really

  look like,” he asked, “what do you

  really look like?”

  “I’ll show you,” said Zeke.

  Zeke took a deep breath and raised

  his arms above his head. His body

  started to vibrate, then glow with

  a faintly yellow

  gleam. His skin

  and features

  softened into

  wavy lines,

  and then he

  began to grow

  taller and taller.

  Harris looked up in amazement as

  Zeke completely changed shape.

  The yellow glow faded, revealing

  Zeke’s purple skin. His human arms

  disappeared, replaced by six tentacles

  extending out from his shoulders.

  His human facial features completely

  vanished. His e
ars were two antennae

  pointing up from the sides of his face.

  His hair disappeared, revealing a bald

  green head.

  He had no legs, and was floating

  above the ground. His five eyes all

  were looking at Harris.

  Harris was stunned. He couldn’t

  believe that this was what his friend

  really looked like!

  “It’s still me, Harris,” Zeke said. His

  voice was unchanged. “I’m still the

  same Zeke.”

  “Um, not exactly,” Harris said. Then

  both boys cracked up laughing.

  “You know what I mean,” said Zeke.

  Harris smiled in wonder. “Hot dog!”

  he suddenly exclaimed.

  Zeke looked confused. “What does

  any of this have to do with the beef

  shaped like a log that we cooked up

  at the campfire at scout camp?” he

  asked.

  “Hah, it’s just an Earth expression,”

  Harris explained.

  Zeke nodded, then quickly

  transformed back into his human

  form.

  “Well, you obviously don’t need to

  make a costume,” said Harris. “Just go

  as your true self, and you’ll win easily!

  I’ve never come close to winning!”

  “What was your costume last year?”

  Zeke asked.

  “I was a superhero, but this year, I

  want to be a robot,” Harris said.

  Zeke thought for a moment, then

  smiled.

  “I have an idea,” he said. “And if it

  works, you’ll have the best costume!”

  THE TWO FRIENDS HEADED

  downstairs to the workshop in the

  basement of Zeke’s house. Large

  metal tubes, electric wires, and weird-

  looking circuits were spread all over

  the floor and workbench.

  “What’s all this?” Harris asked.

  “My dad and I like to tinker with

  some of the Tragas technology we

  brought from home,” Zeke explained.

  “I’m pretty good at building stuff.”

  Zeke levitated some long metal

  tubes, some flashing bulbs, and a

  whole bunch of wires above their

  heads. Harris watched in amazement,

  and his friend got to work assembling

  them in the air.

  As he finished each section, Zeke

  lowered the completed metal pieces

  onto Harris. More and more, Harris

  began to look like a robot.

  The robot’s body was a square box

  cut to fit tightly against Harris’s own

  body, complete with blinking dials and

  knobs. The arms and legs were metal

  stovepipes attached to his body. For

  the head, Zeke used what looked like

  an old TV. He attached a small metal

  rod to look like a bright antenna.

  “Pretty good,” said Zeke, stepping

  back and looking at his creation.

  “I want to see!” Harris rushed back

  up to Zeke’s room and looked into a

  mirror.

  “Wow!” he said. “This is amazing. I

  really look like a robot!”

  When Harris turned around, he

  saw that Zeke had again transformed

  into his true alien body.

  “But I still think you’re going to win

  the contest, Zeke,” he said.

  Downstairs, the front doorbell rang.

  Zeke’s mother called up to them: “Zeke,

  Harris, your friend Roxy is here!” she

  shouted.

  Harris froze. “Oh, no!” Harris said.

  “This is bad, this is really, really bad!”

  “I don’t understand,” Zeke said.

  “Usually you are happy to see Roxy.”

  Harris heard footsteps bounding up

  the stairs.

  “There’s no time to explain, but

  Roxy is going to be so mad,” Harris

  said.

  A few seconds later, the door swung

  open. Roxy started talking before she

  was even in the room.

  “Harris, I called your house and

  your mother said you were at Zeke’s,

  so I rushed right over. I have such a

  cool idea for our Halloween costumes

  this year,” she said, stepping into the

  room. “Wait ’til you hear this. I—”

  Roxy stopped short at the sight of

  Harris in his robot costume and Zeke

  in his alien “costume.”

  “I can’t believe you made your

  costumes without me!” she cried.

  ROXY GLARED AT HARRIS,

  shaking her head. “Harris! We always

  do our costumes together!”

  “I’m really sorry, Roxy,” Harris said.

  He removed his robot head. “I was just

  teaching Zeke about Halloween, since

  they don’t have it on Tragas. Then I

  told him about the costume contest,

  and he helped me with my costume,

  so I—uh—helped

  him with his, and

  this just kind of

  happened.”

  I wish I could tell her about Zeke, but

  I can’t. I promised.

  “You know, it’s not very nice of you

  to leave me out,” Roxy continued. “I’m

  happy that you and Zeke have become

  friends.”

  “Me too,” said Zeke, turning two of

  his five eyeballs toward Roxy.

  “But where does that leave me?”

  she asked.

  “What do you mean?” Harris

  asked, starting to feel a bit ridiculous

  having a serious conversation while

  still in his robot costume. “We’re still

  friends, Roxy. Just because I’m friends

  with Zeke doesn’t mean we’re not still

  friends.”

  “You two go to camp together, you

  make your costumes together, when

  you know we always do that together.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  But Roxy wasn’t finished.

  “And don’t forget, Harris,” she

  continued, “that I was the one who

  was friendly to Zeke first. I had to

  convince you to be friends with him.

  You were too busy trying to prove that

  he was an alien.”

  Harris and Zeke remained silent.

  She’s not really wrong about any of

  this, Harris thought. Even if I was right

  about Zeke!

  “I’m sorry, Roxy,” Harris said. “I

  really am. I didn’t think.”

  Roxy walked toward the door. She

  stopped, turned back, and looked at

  Zeke.

  “Nice alien costume, Zeke,” she said.

  “You better watch out or Harris might

  turn you in for being a real alien.”

  Then she turned and left.

  Once Roxy had gone, Zeke changed

  back into his human form.

  “Did I do something wrong?” he

  asked Harris.

  “I don’t think so,” Harris replied.

  “Every year since we were little,

  Roxy and I have made our costumes

  together. I guess I was so stunned by

  seeing what you really look like and

  excited about how you could make

  my costume, Roxy

  never crossed

 
; my mind. I

  never meant

  to leave her

  out. I just

  lost track of

  everything.”

  “Maybe Roxy can dress up in a

  costume that goes with ours,” Zeke

  suggested. “Then we can all go treat-

  tricking together.”

  “It’s trick-or-treating, but yes, I

  think that’s a good idea.”

  Harris felt better, but he worried

  that Roxy might not want to go trick-

  or-treating with him. And he was sad

  that for the first time since before he

  could remember, he and Roxy didn’t

  work on their costumes together.

  ON WEDNESDAY, THE HALLOWEEN

  costume contest finally arrived. All

  the kids excitedly streamed into

  school in their costumes. The halls

  and classrooms were filled with

  witches, goblins, vampires, zombies,

  werewolves, mummies, cowboys,

  pirates, princesses, ghosts, ninjas, and

  animals of all types.

  Harris clanked his way into school

  wearing his robot costume. Zeke came

  in behind him, displaying his true

  alien form in public for the first time

  since he arrived on Earth.

  As soon as Zeke entered the school,

  he could see kids pointing at him.

  “It’s a little scary but actually kind

  of fun to be out in public in my true

  form,” Zeke whispered to Harris.

  “Don’t worry,” Harris said. “Just

  keep pretending that it’s a costume.

  Nobody will suspect it’s real.”

  “Wow! That’s the best alien costume

  I’ve ever seen,” said a girl dressed like

  a zombie. “How are you floating like

  that?”

  “Uh, there’s hover technology

  built into the bottom of the costume,