Read Online The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge - Free Book Online Page A

daughter’s alien friend. Could I talk to her a sec?
    I was trying to figure out something clever when I saw a light blink on in an upstairs bedroom toward the rear of the house. Then I caught a quick glimpse of Phoebe. So I jogged along the hedge-lined driveway.
    I was down on my knees, searching for something to toss up at the window, when I heard a growl at the back of my neck.
Not good! Not a sound I like to hear.
    I turned and was suddenly face to jowl with somebody’s angry Rottweiler.
    Emma,
I thought, and concentrated fiercely.
Emma! Help! Right this instant!
    And there she was in all her glory. “Hey, Daniel,” Emma said, flipping a French braid over her shoulder. “What’s up?”
    “Hello?”
I whispered, pointing at the monstrous dog. “Dog! Teeth! Froth on chin!”
    Emma immediately wrapped the massive thing in a playful headlock, making it coo like a newborn as she scratched under its sharklike jaw.
    “This cutie?” she asked, wiping away the drool with her finger, then flicking it at me.
    “You rule, Emma,” I said as I backed away from her and the Rot. “I owe you one.”
    “I owe
you.
Thanks for thinking me here. I just love doggies.”
    Chapter 40
    FOR THE NEXT half minute or so, I searched for something to get me up to the brightly lit second-story window without alerting Phoebe’s parents. The best I could find was a backyard trampoline. A quick test bounce showed that it wasn’t quite the catapult I was looking for.
    I scampered up onto the roof of the toolshed. From there I jumped onto the trampoline and actually made it to the half-porch on the second floor. Phoebe was at her laptop behind an open window. When she saw me, she nearly fell out of her swivel chair.
    “Daniel? Is that you? What are you doing here?”
    “Sorry. I wasn’t sure if it was cool to ring the doorbell this late. I got into a major blowout with my parents. I didn’t know where else to go,” I sputtered. “I should just leave, right?”
    “No, it’s okay, I guess,” Phoebe said, still looking puzzled, and who could blame her? “Just be really, really quiet. And hey—it’s nice to see you. I was thinking about you before.”
    “Anything new on Allison?” I asked once I was safely inside her room.
    “Nothing,” Phoebe said, and shook her head sadly. “But I’m glad you’re here. I was thinking that maybe we could skip school and go to Malibu tomorrow. To look for Allison.”
    Chapter 41
    GO TO THE BEACH with Phoebe instead of school?
I thought.
I could certainly handle that.
    A few minutes later Phoebe took down a chess set from her shelf, and for the next hour, we gorged ourselves on microwave popcorn and played. Phoebe was really good. I’ve played IBM’s Deep Blue program, so I’m a pretty fair judge of talent.
    “I thought you said you only played a little,” I said as she took my second knight. “I think I’m being hustled. You think I wouldn’t notice that totally obscure Konstantino-polsky opening? Who taught you that? Kasparov?”
    “Hey, I told you I was a closet geek,” she said, smiling. Which was weird, because when I looked up about two seconds later, a tear was running down Phoebe’s cheek.
    “Hey, don’t do that. Aren’t you supposed to cry if you’re
losing?
”
    “It’s not that,” Phoebe said, wiping her eyes. “I’m actually happy. Can’t you tell?”
    “And that’s why you’re crying?”
    “It’s just . . . I was so bummed out that first day of school, and then I turned around and there you were. Now you’re trying to help me find Allison. It’s like fate or something, you know, Daniel? You’re like my guardian angel. I don’t mean to be corny, but —”
    “Phoebe?” a man’s voice called from the hall. “Are you still awake? C’mon, sweetheart. Lights out. You have school in the morning.”
    I was at the window, about to dive for the bushes, when Phoebe grabbed me. And held me against her body, which was kind of nice, I must say.
    “It’s okay,