Earthling Ambassador (Space Brigade 1)

"For heaven's sakes, she's only joking!" said Nicola hastily. "And of course, you must join us for the parade, Princess Petronella! We insist!"

A short time later, Nicola, the princess, and the rest of the Space Brigade stood together on an open-topped car, driving through the streets of the city, listening to the grateful roar of the crowd, and waving to people as if they were celebrities--which they were, actually.

Georgio had organized for the Wardrobewhizonics to pay a quick visit and they'd organized cloud-swimming outfits for everyone to wear to Nicola's birthday party that afternoon.The girls' dresses shone richly in the sunlight, while the boys wore long black coats like Georgio had worn when he took Nicola cloud-swimming, along with wraparound dark glasses. Nicola couldn't wait to introduce them all to their first belly flop on a cloud.

In the back of the car, Georgio, Mully, and Nicola's mom and dad were getting along famously.

"You must come along to our place for a barbecue," said Nicola's mom.

"Delighted!" said Georgio. "What's a barbecue?"

Behind them was another car packed with all the other members of the Save the Little Earthlings Committee. Nicola could see Mr. Puck with the parrot on his shoulder squawking "Hooray! Hooray!" and freckly Molly Smith together with her redheaded daughter who had pretended to be the princess.There was Pamela George, the color expert who loved purple, wearing a celebratory new purple ball gown, and Ileria the astrologer giving the crowd a mystical wave. Rory Racrory, the letterologist who liked the letter r was smiling broadly, while policeman Sergeant Tom Atkins looked grimly happy with his arms folded across his enormous chest. And of course, there was the very ordinary-looking psychic Ella Bell who had correctly predicted that something significant would happen on a beach beginning with the letter B.

As Nicola waved to the crowd, she realized it was only three days ago that she'd sat in Mrs. Zucchini's class trying to learn how to master mental telepathy in the hopes of making her birthday more memorable. It seemed like a million years ago. Since then, she'd traveled in space, kidnapped a princess, battled hungry alien creatures, and made new friends. She looked up at the sky. Instead of seeing garbage falling, she could see thousands of brightly colored streamers raining down and, above that, swirly gold and white clouds she'd be surfing on later. Nicola grinned. There was no doubt about it.This had turned out to be her most memorable birthday yet.

THE END