Body Switchers from Outer Space by R.L. Stine

to write.
    While I wrote, Chad-Two pressed a green touch pad on the wall and a drawer flipped open. He took out two big metal Slinkies.
    He touched something else on the wall and four things like steps slid out, each one lower and larger than the last.
    He started the Slinkies going down the stairs.
    He sat on the floor and watched the Slinkies going end over end until they wound up on the floor.
    He was so fascinated, he wasn’t watching me anymore.
    Maybe I could sneak out of the house while he was distracted!
    I put the pen down and stood up as quietly as I could.
    I made it all the way to the door.
    When it whooshed open, Chad-Two looked up. His eyes widened. “Where are you going? Are you done already?”
    â€œJust thought I’d get a snack,” I said. “You want anything?”
    â€œNo eating between meals, Chad-One. You are so polluted from spending time with those humans!” His face looked cold and mean. He pointed at the desk.
    I thought of the rat after he used the shink on it.
    I shuddered!
    I sat down and picked up the pen again.
    *   *   *
    After dinner Chad-Two and I went back upstairs. Chad-Two quickly shut the door to his chamber and went to sleep.
    My heart started to beat faster. This was my chance. No Chad-Two spying on me! Maybe now I could get away!
    I peered down the stairs.
    Mom and Dad were still in the living room just below me.
    They appeared to be watching TV.
    At least, that’s what you would think if you saw them through the front window.
    But the last I saw, they had been playing with little metal machines in their laps, making them transform, then using the machines for things I didn’t understand.
    I can’t get past Mom and Dad. So how do I get out?
    I glanced at the boots lined up by the touch pad.
    Hmmmmm.
    Would they only stick to the sleep-chamber ceiling?
    I rushed over and put the boots on. I stamped the touch pad. Then I lifted a foot and stamped it on the curving pink wall. But the boot didn’t stick to it. Maybe the pink wall was too slippery or was coated with special nonstick wallpaper.
    I snuck back into the workroom. The minute I stepped over the threshold, my boots stuck to the floor as if they had Super Glue on the bottoms.
    I couldn’t get them to let go!
    Frantically I jiggled the boots sideways. Three jiggles, and they popped loose!
    I grabbed my sneakers from my sleep chamber,then carried the boots and sneakers over to the window.
    Sitting on the windowsill, I tied the sneakers together by the laces and looped them around my neck. I put on the boots.
    This had to work!
    I swung my booted feet outside and stamped the boots to the outside of the house.
    They stuck!
    I let go of the windowsill. The boots held me up!
    I could feel gravity trying to pull me to the ground two stories below. But the boots didn’t let me go!
    Now came the tricky part. I jiggled one foot three times, and the boot came loose!
    I stamped it farther down the side of the house, and it stuck again. I jiggled the other one loose, and stamped it lower on the side of the house.
    I was walking down a wall! Spider-Man had days like this! Only he could go lots faster because he didn’t have to jiggle between each step.
    I was sweating by the time I reached the ground, but I sure felt happy. I was almost out of there!
    I jiggled the boots loose of the wall and stepped onto the grass. I sat on the lawn and took them off. I pulled the tennis shoes from around my neck and untied them.
    Then I froze.
    Something stepped out of the shadows.
    Not some thing . Some one.
    â€œChad-One, what are you doing out of bed?” Mom demanded.
    For once, she wasn’t smiling.

13

    â€œA aaaaahhhhh!” I screamed and dropped my tennis shoes.
    She had caught me! I was done for! She would guess I was trying to escape!
    They would shrink me down to the size of an acorn, and my body would be hard as a rock!
    Or maybe they would just tailor my