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more than almost anything else. It can be hundreds or even thousands of times more powerful than most other metals. Iron was a no-brainer.”
    Mrs. Bird stared at me. Principal Luntz gasped. Mr. Prentiss chuckled, but in a good way. Nobody was more astonished than I was. How did I know this stuff?
    â€œLet’s see this beauty in action,” Mr. Prentiss said, stepping aside to let me demonstrate.
    With the first button, the paper clips skittered over to the electromagnet just as they had in the classroom.
    I cleared my throat. “If I increase the current, it increases the power of the magnet.” Finger trembling, I pushed the second button.
    In the blink of an eye, my magnet ripped off Mr. Prentiss’s fancy metal tie clip, Principal Luntz’s glasses, and Mrs. Bird’s clipboard. Even the metal box with the control switch for Davey Swope’s spaghetti volcano was pulled from the next table and now stuck to the magnet, the cord to the volcano pulled tight.
    Before I could turn it off, all the tacks holding my report on my trifold cardboard display ripped out of the wall and stuck to the magnet, making it look like a cactus. Papers were still fluttering every which way when I cut the magnet’s power and everything was released.
    â€œWow,” Mr. Prentiss said, plucking his tie clip out of the small pile of metal objects pulled to the magnet. He handed Principal Luntz’s glasses back and returned Mrs. Bird’s clipboard to her now-shaking hands. He looked me in the eyes and smiled. “You, young man, are certainly the one to beat.”
    I stared after them as they moved down to Davey Swope’s smoldering volcano. I handed Davey’s volcano controller back to him with a helpless shrug, as if I wasn’t sure why what just happened had just happened. But I hoped it was enough to get me an A.

16
    Missing in Action
    I sat alone at our kitchen table and stared at the blue ribbon.
    First place.
    I wasn’t sure how to feel.
    But I did know I didn’t feel the way I should feel. Instead of proud, I felt uncomfortable. Uneasy. Worried. Nervous. I wasn’t sure why.
    It wasn’t just beating Taylor, who had gotten the red second-place ribbon. It was something else. Of course, I wasn’t sure how you’re supposed to feel when an alien helps you win first place in your school’s science fair. It had never happened to anyone in the history of mankind, so I was in all-new territory.
    â€œZack, I’ll be ready to go in five minutes,” Dad called from down the hallway. He was answering emails before he took me to the Tri-County Science Fair Finals at our town’s community center. The first-place winners from all twenty-nine elementary schools in three counties would be there.

    Certainly I wouldn’t win that. Or would I?
    Just as I was beginning to accept the fact that I was my town’s new science genius, I heard Amp’s voice from under the kitchen table.
    â€œIt’s over! It’s truly over!” he screamed.

    â€œAmp? What’s wrong?” I said, sliding down under the table. “What’s over?”
    â€œWe’ve got a major disaster on our hands,” he said breathlessly.
    â€œWhat?” I said. “We’re almost out of the woods here. Stop worrying. Cheer up.”
    â€œWhat on earth are you talking about?” he shouted.
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” I shouted back.
    â€œWhat?” my dad called out from down the hall.
    â€œOh, nothing!” I called back. “Just talking to myself!”
    â€œMy spaceship has been stolen,” Amp growled at me.
    I laughed with relief. “Oh, Amp, it’s not stolen, you goof. I moved it to my baseball bag—”
    â€œI LOOKED IN THERE!” he whisper-screamed, grabbing me by the nose and yanking me down to his eye-level. “IT’S GONE!” he thundered in his squeaky voice.
    I ran upstairs. The bag I kept my