Friday afternoon phone call:

Me: Hello. Crown Jewelry and Loan, this is Tomm. How can I help you?

Caller: Hi, ummm...what time you guys close?

Me: Six o'clock. That's in twenty minutes. If you can't make it, we're open weekends from 10 to 3.

Caller: Okay...what time are you guys open on Saturday?

Sigh. Sometimes I want to take the shotgun by my desk and blow my brains out.

Reader response:

DJ Eagel: I asked my boss about telling them to @#$% off and this was his response: "Don't do that, Tomm. You don't want to make them dumb AND angry."

Kiki Lee: Sorry I didn't include your review in my last update, I posted just as you were reviewing. Thanks. I thought the opening tag line was good.

Qwerty: Don't worry, spelling isn't that relevant. We got the point across.

Oedipal Kat: "Just down walk down the street": legitimate typo that slipped through the cracks. "It's gonna take a real odd coincidence": I think it's fine as-is. "Pitched a shutout": Although that phrase is derived from baseball, it is also used to describe any sport where the defense hinges primarily on one person (Baseball, Hockey and Soccer) This is only acceptable in the USA, however. If a European journalist used that phrase to describe a soccer game, he'll probably get lynched or something.

Note: Due to some odd technical difficulty, all thought-speak messages will be designated by brackets, and not greater/lesser signs.

It's go time. Enjoy the ride.

Chapter 8: Marco's POV

[Oh no! Cassie, we have to help him!]

[Okay,] Cassie started. [Is anyone there?! We have a problem!]

Only Rachel was still within range, I guess. Her thought-speak was faint: [What's wrong? Marco's diapers need changing?]

[Later, Xena,] I replied. [The Yeerks are going to capture Ryan! Are the others near you?]

After a pause: [No. No response.]

[Marco, Ryan called you, right? Did he say if he was going anywhere afterwards?] Cassie asked.

I tried to remember. Where did he say he was going?

[The movies! He invited me to a movie afterward!]

[Which movie?]

Ummm...movies...which are out right now?

[Must be that new action movie that came out yesterday,] Rachel said. Of course. If anyone was up-to-date on mall activities, it'd be her. [I doubt he'd have tickets, though. It had to have sold out yesterday.]

[If it's sold out, how's he going?] I asked.

[He probably bought tickets a couple days ago. Duh.]

That was a definite possibility...

[Ryan doesn't usually plan ahead. Sure, he comes up with a lot of schemes, but it's usually on the spot inspiration. He can't already have tickets, he just asked me today,] I said.

[Then I guess he probably is at home,] Cassie said.

[Yeah, he's gotta be there. Let's go. Can you guys help me out?]

Rachel responded: [I don't know. Usually you're the one begging me not to go on a mission.]

[Come on, Xena. You'll enjoy it.]

[All right, count me in.]

[We probably should get the others,] Cassie said. [It might become a real mean fight.]

[Too bad we don't have time,] Rachel said. [Let's do it.]

Normally, I crack a joke at Rachel when she says that. But in this instance, I'm in agreement.

Let's do it.

* * *

How can you see into my eyes? Like open doors,

Leading you down into my core,

Where I've become so numb?

Without a soul,

My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold,

Until you find it there and lead it back home.

* * *

POV Unknown.

After this long, my time is almost up.

The police scanner in my car was going off, directing squad cars to the house. My house.

I don't know how it came to pass, or why it has come. All I know is what I had discovered less than a week ago. The Earth is being invaded by an alien race. These aliens, called "Yeerks" are in actuality tiny slugs. But they have a special quality.

They can take over other creatures' minds.

They can possess almost anything with a brain larger than a person's fist. And you'd never notice. Their ability to read their host's thoughts makes them act as if nothing was amiss.

I don't know how far they've spread. I don't know how much power they possess.

It is supposed to be my job to stop them. Any time one creature wrongs another, it is my duty to punish them.

I've been doing it for a long time. Too long, in fact. There was enough injustice in this world. We don't need any aliens interfering.

Stop blathering. Focus. You have to get home. Fast.

It might work out. I may have enough time after all.

But they are coming for him. They are coming for my son.

Please let there be enough time.

Please let there be enough time...

* * *

Wake me up inside.

Wake me up inside.

Call my name, and save me from the dark.

Bid my blood to run,

Before I come undone,

Save me from the nothing I've become.

* * *

Ryan's POV

Sigh. What a rip-off. The movie was sold out.

I went home. Alas, it appears that I was going to spend my Saturday watching TV.

My mom wasn't home, although that wasn't a surprise.

I parked myself on the couch, and started to absorb the idiocy that is Saturday night TV.

I don't know when it happened. Maybe about 15 minutes after I got home.

I heard police sirens. Lots of them. Thinking nothing of them, I kept watching. But they didn't go away. What, were they right outside?

I went over to my front door's peephole to see. I saw a few people outside.

Most of them were cops. All ready to assault my house, guns drawn.

Jesus, I thought. All this for a prank? And how'd I get caught anyway?

But then I noticed the thing that wasn't a cop. It was something I've never seen before. It looked like a very tall cross between a dinosaur and a man, and given a bird's feet.

And it was charging. Straight.

At.

My.

Door.