Read My Cousin, the Alien for Free Online Page B

prepared to act as needed. Out.”
    She tried to brush the muck off her new, brightly colored native outfit, then gave up. She’d just have to traipse back to the veranda and settle into a rocking chair like a normal, if slightly untidy, resort guest.
    This mission was proving to be a lot more trouble than expected. But she admired the young Agent’s pluck, even if he had no idea who he really was. She just hoped she could keep him alive.

The next morning I woke to the sound of rain against the window. No hope for horseback riding today even if I could talk Ethan into it. My dad was pleased, though. Ever since the brochure had appeared under our door, he’d been keen on that underground river trip. He loved that sort of thing and spent most of the short drive to the cave jabbering about blind fish, white crayfish, and other “rare cave fauna.”
    The place didn’t look very promising, just a parking lot and a low cinderblock building. We parked and, when the rain let up a little, made a dash for the building. The next tour wouldn’t leave for a half an hour, so we hung out in the gift shop, looking at bat T-shirts, bat refrigerator magnets, and glow-in-the-dark plastic bats.
    More people started showing up for the tour. I recognized other resort guests. First was the white-haired pavilion lady. She smiled at us, then began browsing through nature books. After a while came the family with the loud little kids and a dozen or more other folks I didn’t recognize. Then, just before time for the tour, the door opened and in stepped the two fat, bald twins, Clyde and Bill. My stomach tightened, and Ethan looked like he was going to throw up.
    “They’re after me,” he whispered.
    “No, they’re not,” I whispered back, hoping I was right. “They’re just fat golfers who can’t play today because it’s raining. Let’s just stay away from them.”
    “The next tour of the magnificent Sunken River Caverns is about to begin,” announced a young man in a brown uniform. “Step through the door on your left and guides will take you to the boats.”
    All the guides were pretty young, like they were high school kids with summer jobs. The rain quit as they trooped us down a steep path. Ahead, the cliff looked like it had had a big bite taken out of it. Ferns and vines grew from its curved, rocky sides. Ethan and I stayed well away from the pudgy twins.
    “This part of the state is full of limestone quarries,” a guide said, “and honeycombed with caves and underground rivers. But this particular cave wasn’t discovered until 1953. That’s when a farmer noticed one day that his cow pond had vanished. The weight of the water had collapsed the top of an underground cavern, and the pond and a couple of cows fell into it.”
    “Did the cows die?” a worried little girl asked.
    “Yes,” the guide said in a scary voice. “And their ghosts still haunt the cave.”
    The kid looked like she was going to cry, and the guide quickly said, “Just kidding. Actually the farmer got them out, but he discovered that under his farm was a whole underground river. He and his sons started exploring it, and since then we’ve mapped miles of underground passages.”
    “Could more of the cave roof fall in now?” someone asked. I couldn’t see through the crowd, but from the oily-sounding voice, it might have been one of the twins. I glanced nervously at Ethan, but he didn’t seem to have noticed.
    The guide laughed. “If I thought so, I’d find another job. But to be safe, the state bought all the land above the stream system and keeps away heavy activity. Now, walk carefully once you’re in the cave. The path’s slick with dripping water.”
    The rain might have stopped, but it was still hot and steamy. Stepping into the cave, though, felt like stepping into an earthy-smelling refrigerator. I was glad I’d believed the brochure and brought a jacket. “Caves keep a constant temperature year round,” said the guide. “Early