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onanother fat, green frog.
    “Huh?” I leaped back. Stumbled into my dresser.
    Two frogs stared up at me from the dresser top. Another frog hopped over my foot.
    “Hey!” I turned and saw that my bed was full of frogs now. Fat, dark creatures hopping wetly over my sheets, over my pillow.
    “Get out!” I cried. I swiped the two frogs off the dresser. One of them clung to my pajama sleeve.
    I felt a wet, slimy frog moving up one leg. Another one clung tightly to the back of my neck.
    “Help!” I screamed. “Mom! Dad!”
    And as I screamed, I remembered…remembered the warning…one of Zandor’s warning signs!
    Spontaneous amphibian replication .
    It was happening—right in my room!
    Frogs! Dozens of frogs everywhere!
    I batted one off my head. Tugged one from under my pajama sleeve.
    “Mom! Dad! Hurry!”
    I couldn’t move. I couldn’t take a step without squashing a frog.
    Suddenly, they began moving in one direction. Toward the wall. No. Toward the window.
    I gaped in amazement as they hopped over the rug, off the bed, off the furniture. They made their way to the open window. A dark, plopping stampede.
    And then out the window. They poured out thewindow as if swept by a wave.
    My bedroom door swung open. The ceiling light flashed on.
    “Mom! Dad! Look!” I cried. “Look!”
    Blinking, tying their robe belts around them, they gazed around my room. Finally, Mom stared at a creature beside my foot.
    “You found Godzilla!” she exclaimed. “Ben, that’s great!”
    “But—but—but—” I sputtered.
    I gazed around my room, empty now. Only one frog, puffing up and down at my feet.
    “There were hundreds!” I cried. “Hundreds!”
    “Another bad dream?” Dad asked.
    “At least you found Godzilla,” Mom said. She bent down and picked him up. “I’ll take him to Will’s room. Go back to sleep, Ben.”
    “Try not to dream,” Dad said as they closed the door behind them.
    I dropped onto my bed. The sheets still felt slimy and wet from all the frogs.
    This was it, I realized. Another warning sign. It’s all over the Internet that aliens are coming this week.
    And so far, I’ve seen two of Zandor’s signs. The blue flash. And the amphibians.
    And one other sign, I realized. People acting strangely. Like Mom and Dad up in the attic.
    I sat on my bed and pulled the covers up to myneck, staring out the window.
    The aliens are invading any day now, I realized. Warlike aliens. And they’re coming here.
    They’re definitely coming here.
    I’ve got to warn everyone. Somehow, I’ve got to make people believe me!
    And I’ve got to find out the truth about Mom and Dad.
    I’m going back up to the attic, I decided.
    I’m going back up there tomorrow.

12
    I hurried home after school.
    Will was in his room with his friend Sophie Corcoran. They were on the floor in front of the TV, playing PlayStation games.
    Mom and Dad weren’t home.
    “What’s up?” I called to Will as I passed his room.
    He and Sophie didn’t even turn around. Too busy with their game.
    Good, I thought. They won’t see me snooping around in the attic. So they won’t tell Mom and Dad.
    I made my way down the hall. Once again, I pictured Mom and Dad up there, acting so strange, so tense and frightened.
    And I pictured the flash of blue light from the attic closet.
    They were so eager to get me out of there, I remembered. So desperate for me not to see what they were doing.
    They even lied to me.
    Why?
    I stopped at the end of the hall. I grabbed the knob on the attic door. I started to turn it—then stopped.
    “Hey—” I cried out.
    The door—it was locked by a heavy steel padlock.
     
    Now I felt more confused than ever.
    Why would Mom and Dad do that? What were they trying to hide from me?
    I didn’t have a clue.
    A few minutes later, I was sitting at my computer with my headphones on, trying to find Zandor.
    I wanted to tell him that I was seeing the warning signs of an alien invasion. I needed to ask him what I should