Heroes A2Z #1: Alien Ice Cream Read online

danger for dirt … temporarily.

  “Nice work, Zoë,” Abigail congratulated her sister.

  “Astute,” Zoë agreed, tapping the side of her head. She could be such a little know-it-all. Most baby sisters could.

  “Yeah, good job,” Andrew said in a grumpy voice. “Next time try a window.”

  Abigail shot him a dirty look. Which was easy because she was covered with dirt.

  “Isn’t it time for your monthly bath?” she teased, plugging her nose.

  “Isn’t it time for yours?” Andrew retorted, also holding his nose.

  Before things really got out of hand, Zoë came to the rescue again. She took a huge gulp of air and then blew her super-breath on her arguing siblings.

  Whoo-oo-oosh!

  The ash and soot covering them was whisked into the air. So were Abigail and Andrew. They had to grab the chimney to keep from being blown off the roof.

  “Whoa, Zoë!” the twins cried together. “That’s enough. Stop!”

  Zoë snapped her mouth shut, and her siblings crashed back to the roof. They groaned and moaned with discomfort, but their voices were quickly drowned by a familiar sound. It drifted up from below, louder than ever.

  “Eat your ice cream,” said dozens of robotic voices.

  Shoulder to shoulder, the heroes crawled to the edge of the roof. The haunting words weren’t coming from their house this time. They were being chanted outdoors.

  “Army,” Zoë hissed as she peered over the eaves. Next to her Andrew whistled and Abigail gasped.

  Their neighborhood was infested with brain-freeze zombies. There really was an army below. Parents, children, and pets stumbled around as if sleepwalking. All of them had hypnotized eyes like tiny ice cream cones.

 

  10: Spreading the Freeze

  “We have to help them,” Abigail said fiercely.

  Everyone in the neighborhood had been turned into a brain-freeze zombie. There was no telling how many people had eaten Sure-Burt’s ice cream.

  In fact, Traverse City could be just the beginning. Maybe Cadillac and Petoskey were next. Maybe Lansing, St. Ignace, and Grand Haven were, too. Brain-freeze zombies could overrun Michigan and then the world.

  The heroes had to make a stand.

  Her brother and sister agreed immediately. Superheroes helped people. That was their job. And right then, a lot of people needed helping.

  “We’re with you,” Andrew said, and Zoë nodded. “Just tell us the plan.”

  Abigail leaned in close enough to whisper. “I think we should—” she started.

  Vvv-rrrooosh!

  She never finished. Sure-Burt’s spaceship—it was a real spaceship, after all—appeared suddenly on the horizon. From there it streaked toward them like a shooting star.

  Circus-style music filled the air. It was the ice cream song again. But instead of the words that usually accompanied it, Sure-Burt’s mechanical voice blared from loudspeakers on his spaceship.

  “Greetings, Earthlings,” he droned. “Or should I say Earth-slaves? It is time for you to get to work. Come aboard my ship immediately.”

  So that was his plan, the heroes realized. Sure-Burt hypnotized people and turned them into slaves.

  The spaceship landed in the street, and a new line formed. This time, however, the crowd wasn’t waiting for ice cream. They were waiting to climb aboard and be whisked away to who-knows-where.

  “At least they aren’t chanting ‘Eat your ice cream’ anymore,’” Andrew muttered. That was something.

  “Okay, we need a new plan,” Abigail said in a hurry. “Any ideas?”

  “How about the airport?” Andrew suggested eagerly. “I could catch up to that spaceship with an airplane. They have wheels, you know.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Abigail sighed. “If it has wheels, you can ride it. But we need to get the people off that spaceship, not take them for a ride.”

  Zoë crossed her eyes and tapped the side of her head again. Older brothers and sisters could be so dense.

  “Act,” she said simply, and that was her plan. Pretend to be zombies. Act like them. Sure-Burt would invite them onto his ship, no questions asked.

  Sometimes being a know-it-all baby sister wasn’t all bad. Especially when you outsmarted your older siblings.

 

  11: Robo-Cone Robots

  Arms held stiffly in front of them, the heroes shuffled into the zombie line. Mr. Lee and his dog Stan waited ahead of them. Neither so much as blinked at the super trio. The kids looked just like three more zombies. Nothing to be alarmed about.

  The line inched forward slowly but steadily. No one seemed to notice that the heroes weren’t really hypnotized.

  “So far, so good,” Andrew whispered with a wink.

  Abigail gritted her teeth. Brothers! she thought. They couldn’t keep their mouths shut.

  “Eat your ice cream,” she responded slowly.

  “No pushing,” said a metallic voice.

  “No shoving,” added a second.

  On top of the ramp stood a pair of strange-looking robots. They were as tall as the twins and shaped like sugar cones. Their heads were round. They had spoons for arms. And their feet were wrapped in rubber belts like the treads on a toy bulldozer.

  “They’re robo-cone robots!” Andrew whispered, still unable to keep quiet.

  The heroes marched between the pair of robots and into the spaceship. The hatch slammed shut behind them.

  Clangk!

  Tiny lights blinked on the floor and ceiling. Machinery hummed in the walls. Robo-cone robots scribbled on clipboards, acting important and official.

  “Take the Earthlings to the Deep Freeze Cafeteria,” a robo-cone ordered. “The boss has special plans for them.”

  “Not if I can help it,” Abigail said softly.

  “Shh!” Andrew interjected, thinking it was his turn to keep her quiet.

  Zoë cut him short. “Abort,” she snapped.

  Sisters! Andrew thought. They couldn’t keep their mouths shut.

  While Andrew grumbled to himself, Abigail quietly pulled a basketball out of her duffle bag and tossed it down a hallway. Its noisy bouncing caught the robots’ attention immediately.

  “Who goes there?” they demanded. “No pushing. No shoving.”

  The heroes didn’t wait. The ball bounced left, and they ran right. Deep into Sure-Burt’s spaceship. Ahead of them lurked danger and the unknown.

 

  12: Lost in Space

  The spaceship was larger on the inside than it looked on the outside. Crisscrossing hallways, electronic doors, and computers the size of jungle gyms made it a confusing maze.

  So when the heroes spotted a porthole that looked to the outside, they stopped for a quick peek.

  “Astonishing!” Zoë exclaimed, pointing outside.

  Andrew and Abigail agreed with her. The sight through the porthole amazed them. It was also terrifying and hard to believe.

  They weren’t in Traverse City anymore. They weren’t even on Earth. Sure-Burt’s spaceship had taken them into outer space.

  Planets, stars, asteroids, and even galactic road signs drifted past as the three stared in silence.

  Finally Andrew spoke. “We have to turn this ship around,” he said.

  Abigail nodded. “That means we have to find Sure-Burt,” she agreed. “He’s probably driving.”

  “And that means it’s time for—” Andrew started.

  “—Zoë’s x-ray vision,” Abigail finished.

  X-ray vision. Zoë could do that. It was just another one of her superpowers.

  First she squinted and held her breath. Then she turned slowly in a circle and stared at the walls.

  All the while, her eyes glowed a brighter and brighter blue.

  Her brother and sister held their breath, too. Using x-ray vision wasn’t as easy as zapping vegetables. Zoë needed to concentrate.

  At last she spotted Sure-Burt and pointed a finger forward. The alien was seated in some kind
of control room cockpit. He was one corridor away.

  “Adversary,” she announced, and the twins nodded grimly. The most dangerous part of their rescue mission was about to begin.

 

  13: No Earthlings Allowed

  Zoë pressed a finger to her lips. Sure-Burt was close, and it was time for sneaking.

  She and the twins tiptoed to the control room door. A metal sign hanging there read, “NO EARTHLINGS ALLOWED.”

  “This must be the place,” Andrew observed.

  Surprisingly, Sure-Burt spoke next. His robotic voice came from the other side of the door.

  “This is U.F.O. Sure-Burt reporting,” he said. “The Earth-slaves are ready for assignment.”

  A different robotic voice responded a moment later. “Excellent. Take them to Sector Two Percent of the Milky Way. Train them to be milk miners.”

  “Aye-aye, Commander,” Sure-Burt replied. “Over and out.”

  When Sure-Burt finished talking, Zoë balled her hands into fists. Her face turned red, and the twins stepped backward. They knew what was coming.

  “Angry!” Zoë growled.

  And to prove that she was, she clobbered the control room door with a super powered right hook.

  BLANG!

  The door shattered into a million pieces.

  Sure-Burt heard the crash and leaped to his feet. Then he spotted the heroes.

  “Earthlings!” he gasped. “Why aren’t your brains frozen?”

  “We don’t eat alien ice cream,” Abigail snarled as she charged into the control room.

  “And we won’t be your slaves,” Andrew added.

  “Not so fast, Earth-brats,” Sure-Burt snapped.

  Suddenly he held a tub of vanilla in one hand and an ice cream scoop in the other. His arm whirled like a windmill as he scooped and tossed,