25 Secret Agent

TITLE: No Pet is Worth All This!
GENRE: MG Contemporary Fantasy



It all started with a cold.



I had just climbed out of bed to get more Kleenex when I stepped on something painfully hot. I bit back a scream, flicked on the light and cringed. My big toe looked like a ripe tomato.



I scanned my floor. Dirty jeans, a box of graham crackers, Claire’s watch, some cough drops. I didn’t see anything that could turn my toe into a swollen vegetable until I poked through the piles of used, soggy Kleenex. The rock Aunt Myk had given me five days before was buried under the third wad. It was glowing.



That’s right, glowing. Like the glow sticks police officers give to little kids on Halloween. Except this light was neon blue. And now that I’d uncovered it, it was bright enough to light up my room.



Even though my toe sent a thousand warnings to my brain, I reached for the rock. Seconds later, my hand felt like it had scraped the sun.



I rushed to the bathroom and ran cold water over both burns. It didn’t help. Instead, the icy spray almost made me puke.



Sick.



Sick enough to fall asleep less than three minutes later in a mysteriously lit-up room while my hand and foot continued to throb. Obviously too sick for school the next day.



I decided to go anyway. I had to show that rock to Jared. He was the only one I knew who might understand how a rock could light up rooms and burn people.