Chapter 1

John woke to the smell of baking downstairs. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Today was John's birthday, so Jade was making cakes downstairs to keep his dad's tradition alive. The smell was adding to the ever-present smell of freshly baked cake throughout the house. John felt a sharp pain in his chest, he missed his dad so much on days like this.

John sat up on his bed and sighed. His eyes flicked instinctively to the Little Monsters poster that he had gotten from his dad on his 13th birthday. He tried to forget about the memories that insisted on flooding his bain by going to check the computer. His pesterchum app was flashing. He figured it was probably Dave, and clicked it.

turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB]

TG: happy birthday john

EB: hey dave! thanks!

TG: are we still on for tonight?

EB: yeah! but hey i gotta go check on jade now! see you later :)

ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG]

John stood and hesitantly opened the door leading downstairs. He took the first step to decent and lets the memories flood. He imagines his sister isn't downstairs baking, that it's his late father. He takes his time shuffling down the stairs. He reached the bottom and took a deep breath. He realized it was time to snap back to reality.

Jade looked so cute with her dog eared jacket, wire rimmed glasses, and a cute pink apron. John suck up behind her and chuckled to himself. She was working on frosting a huge 3 tier cake, and there were 4 more on the cooling racks. She was the very reason he forced himself up in the morning.

"Happy Birthday John!" She said smiling while still frosting like a pro. He should have known she would know he was there. He was beaming. John took the chance to lean over and run his finger through the icing.

"John!" She said as she turned around and glared at him. He kept smiling as he licked the frosting off his finger. She just sighed and rolled her eyes as she turned back to fix the imperfection in the icing. She could never stay mad at John, especially not about something as silly as this! She slid the knife along the crease covering it with icing. John watched her mesmerized by her movements. She did it just like dad did. Dad. That stung. John let out a whimper. Jade turned to see what the matter was with her brother.

"Jade, I miss dad."

Jade dropped her knife in the bowl of frosting and gathered John into her arms. She wasn't taller than John, but right then it didn't matter. John always was Jade's protector. It pained her to see him like this. She had to fight away tears as she held him tight, trying to calm him down.

"Shhh, John it's okay. I promise, it's okay!" Jade said sweetly. He sobbed loudly, and his body convulsed. She rubbed his back, hoping to comfort her brother. She wished so badly he could just stop his crying.

"John i saw a Nicholas Cage marathon on the local two channel, would you like to watch it?" she asked softly. He nodded, and his convulsions slowed. "Okay, go wash up, and do what you need to do. I'll set it up. Alright?" he nodded again.

Jade sat on the couch. Con Air was on right now, but John wouldn't mind. What John needed right now was comfort. Bec, Jade's big white dog, came to her and nuzzled her knees. She instinctively went for behind his ears. His white tail was wagging furiously. John was making a ruckus in the kitchen, and Bec's ears perked up. He looked at Jade for some sort of approval, and her look seemed to satisfy. Bec sauntered off to find John, and Jade sunk into the couch.

John walked into the living room with a plate piled with cake, Jade was shocked.

"John, you hate cake!" He shrugged and and took a huge bite. They watched in silence for a while. Finally John put a protective arm around Jade. There. That was the John she knew. The movie stopped, and cut to "Breaking News" according to the flashing bar at the bottom of the screen. John and Jade shared a worried look. The woman on the television started speaking. She went on about an alien invasion.

John grabbed the remote and turned it up. Jade let out a squeak as a cat-looking alien flashed onto the screen. It looked so childish, not dangerous at all. It's blue-knit hat sat upon her hair and her head was tilted into a wide smile. It's... Her, John decided, black hair was styled very carefully. The news broadcaster started talking again.

"This is the cat alien specimen was in local police custody , but somehow she had escaped. The authorities say that when she is captured, they will not fail to scientifically test her." The report concluded. John slowly leaned over and turned off the television.

"What's the matter?" Jade asks him.

"It looked like a female human child." He said sadly. "Besides the cat ears and the grey skin. She could live down the street." Jade looked at him and nodded. The doorbell rang.

"Oh there's Dave!" Jade shouted as she jumped up a little too quickly. She walked past the counter on her way to the door, untied her little apron, and left it sitting there. John followed. She opened the door and Rose was already hugging Jade. As soon as John blinked, she was hugging him.

"Happy birthday Johnny boy! Brought wine! Dave's holding it." She said happily.

"She's drunk already. Wait until i tell you what she made me do on our way over. Oh, happy birthday bro." Dave said, not showing any emotion. He sat the wine bottle on the counter and hugged John for a short second before letting go. He then turned to Jade and they hugged for a really long time. John couldn't help thinking something was up between them, but blew it off. They would tell him if something was up, right?

Rose dragged John along, and he kept looking back at Dave and Jade trailing behind, half expecting them to be holding hands or something. They weren't. He was probably just paranoid. Rose stopped in front of her white Honda and pulled the door open. There sat... nothing.
"Dave!" Rose shouted panicked. Dave was at her side as soon as she called.

"Shit! where the fuck is she!?" Dave said as he took off his glasses and revealed his red eyes.

"I'm right here..." Came a soft female voice from under the seat of the car. Out crawled the little alien from the news. Jade gasped and ran to hug the small little creature. She was no taller than 4'5. She seemed even less threatening than she did earlier.

"What's her name?" John asked Dave.

"Her name's Nepeta. She was outside playing with Jaspers, and I knew the cops would be looking for the trolls. Rose told me to bring her here. So I did." He said, sighing.

"Well.." John hesitated. "let's get her inside. Maybe then she can explain to us about the... aliens?"

"Trolls." Dave corrected.

"Right. Trolls."