Page 3 of Alien in the Attic

She thought she heard a light scoff and then footsteps retreating, but she shook her head resolutely. She was not going to get caught up in ghost stories.

Turning back to the mirror, she pulled out her hairbrush and started dragging it through her wavy jet-black hair. The length stretched down to her wide hips, where her pajama top was riding up slightly. She rolled her brown eyes.

“The price of being curvy,” she muttered, adjusting her top. She used to be self-conscious about her Latino curves, especially compared to her sisters. Sofia was lean and tall, while Elena was tiny with a petite build. She’d always felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb.

Months of therapy and introspection taught her to appreciate her form. It wasn’t like she was unhealthy. On the contrary,she loved running and her Taekwondo lessons had honed her muscles.

With a sigh, she turned off the bathroom light and got into bed.

Hours later, a scream roused Carmen from a deep, exhausted sleep. She sat up quickly and looked around, confused. The brief moment of silence was interrupted by a string of colorful curses.

“What is it? What happened?” Carmen asked, rushing from her bedroom. Two doors down, Elena stormed out of her room. Her chestnut hair was falling out of her normally neat bun, and her bright blue eyes were wide with fear. They both ran into Sofia’s bedroom.

“You absolute bloody monster! What the hell!” Sofia’s voice was shrill with anger and fear.

Carmen covered her mouth with her hand, stunned by the scene in her sister’s bedroom. The kit that Sofia carried everywhere with her in her trusty backpack was strewn across the room. An electric wave-sensing device had rolled half under the bed and was blaring a siren. Cameras were disassembled and thrown into various corners.

“Sofia… What…” Elena asked shakily.

Sofia spun around, her hair all over the place and a wild glint in her eyes. “You! Explain this, would you? What science-genius explanation do you have for all my shit going haywire and flyingacross my bedroom? While I was asleep!” She was shouting by the end.

Carmen shushed her and walked forward, placing a reassuring hand on her sister’s arm. She tried hard to be calm and collected so that Sofia could calm down, but it was hard to hide her own fear. This was bizarre.

Sofia’s usually confident posture was hunched, something close to panic filling her eyes. She gave Carmen a pleading look.

“I can’t sleep in here, not after this. What’s going on in this place?”

“Of course not. Come, you can sleep with me. In the morning all of this will make sense and we’ll laugh about it,” Carmen said, though worry niggled at the back of her mind. Her sister was right. What was going on?

Chapter 2

Arccoo

It had been two days since the intruders had arrived, and Arccoo felt a mix of guilt and amusement at their fear. His cloaking device was in constant use, the light-deflecting technology proving crucial to his need for stealth. Earth was so different from his home planet, Thryal, which was several lightyears away.

He found himself watching the three siblings with fascination. His attention was especially drawn to the first sibling—the “eldest,” these humans called it. Her curves were so different from the women he knew on his home planet. They entranced him. Her bubbly nature and the way she lit up a room with her smile, which was never far, kept him searching for her throughout the massive house he’d been hiding in.

He was sitting in the library, browsing through a steamy monster romance book that the second sibling had brought, when laughter and footsteps sounded in the hallway. Arccoo quickly placed the book down, smirking slightly when he thought of their reaction to a floating book.

“It’s in here. I’m sure of it!” the second sibling, who they called Sofia, shouted as she ran into the library.

“No, sis, I’m pretty sure I saw it in the dining room. You know Grandma was terrible with organization!” Carmen replied from down the hall. Arccoo couldn’t help but agree.

He’d been sent to find a device that belonged to his people, a staff they called the “parantaa.” The staff had almost magical properties—though obviously magic didn’t exist.

Arccoo had searched the house thoroughly, knowing that these siblings’ elder parents had been entrusted to keep the parantaa safe and out of malicious hands. The staff had amazing power to heal, but as with all things, it had to be used responsibly. It had great power to destroy, too, in the wrong hands. Arccoo was loath to return it to his home planet due to the risk, but adebilitating disease had spread among his people. The parantaa was their last hope.

After almost giving up, Arccoo had been rifling through some kitchen cupboards when he found the parantaa between some cans of food. He couldn’t help but huff at the memory.

Arccoo stepped aside when Sofia came barreling toward him. The cloaking device made him invisible, but it didn’t make him disappear. If Sofia had run into him, it would be like walking into an invisible wall of muscle. The device didn’t cloak sound, either, which was another source of their confusion and fear. Arccoo had tried to mask his footsteps as much as he could, but in this old, creaky building it was near impossible.

“Found it! I told you so,” Carmen said, smugness bleeding into the words. A second later, she walked into the library with a massive photo album underneath her arm.

Arccoo studied her, his heartbeat speeding up as Carmen swayed through the room. Her smile was a bolt of lightning through him, chasing the loneliness of being stranded alone on a strange planet out of him.

He ached to talk to her, but he knew exposing himself to Earthlings would be a risk. If the sentry ship didn’t appear soon, though, he may have to. As fun as it was to see them startle at his footsteps, he didn’t want to chase them out of their family home. He could see how much it meant to them to be here.

Arccoo kept to himself the rest of the day. Only later that night did he risk coming out again.

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