Chapter 1

“We’ll bring him.” Riley heard herself talking in her sleep and woke up startled. She looked around her room but there was no one there.

Then she remembered and jumped out of bed and ran to the window. Today was her twelfth birthday and she planned a party with her friends in the park next door to the building where she lived. When she opened the curtains, she was dismayed. It was raining and the endless gray clouds added to her disappointment. Her mood turned from pink to gray like the color of the clouds rolling over the city.

From her parents’ fifth-floor apartment, the street below was wet and drab, and not a soul was out jogging or walking their dog. There was not going to be any fun in the park today. Her wish for a party was going down the storm drain, being flushed away by the rain.

Just as she was about to leave the window to sulk in her misfortune, she noticed a yellow car pull up to the curbside in front of her building. Out jumped her two friends, Sherri and Jesse. A smile spread over Riley’s face and she felt like the luckiest twelve-year-old on her special day.

From the bathroom, she heard her mom buzz in her friends to take the elevator. They always rode it up to the twelfth floor like a thrill ride before coming down to the fifth floor. That was Sherri’s idea, always the prankster putting Jesse on the spot. Sherri liked him a lot not because of his curly red hair, freckles, and green eyes, but because he was good at Minecraft.