Matthew lay in bed and tried to sleep. He snuggled into the blanket. He closed his eyes.

But then, he heard a noise. It was a whirring sound. And it was just outside his window.

Matthew opened the curtains and looked out. He didn’t see anything. The whirring stopped. He closed the curtains and climbed back into bed.

Before Matthew could shut his eyes, he saw a light shining under his curtains. What was happening? He opened the curtains again. This time there was definitely something there.

There was one a princess named Petal. She was best friends with a sea monster. His name was Henry.

Petal and Henry swam in the moat. They had tea parties on the drawbridge. They told each other stories in the coral caves.

But no one besides Petal had ever seen Henry. So no one believed he was real.

Petal’s younger brothers were known as the Princes. They had twin dragons as pets. When they rode them through the kingdom, everyone cheered.

In 1898, H.G. Wells wrote a famous science fiction book. It is called The War of the Worlds. The book is about Martians who attack the Earth.

Wells wrote the book like a scientific report. The narrator is a scientist who is watching the Martians invade London. He describes the spaceships that crash into the city. He describes the Martians that come out of the ships.

The narrator hides and keeps watching. The Martians destroy the city. People run away in fear. The narrator realizes that the Martians are more powerful and advanced than the humans.

Princess Posy was practically perfect. She was just as a princess should be. She had twinkly-twirl dresses and long flowing hair. She had a high bed with lacy sheets and fluffy-puff pillows. Her favorite ice cream was strawberry sparkle.

Princess Posy spent her days brushing her hair and playing with her pink pet pony. She spent her nights propped on her pillows, dreaming of…dragon hunting.

“No,” said the king. “Absolutely not. No daughter of mine will be a dragon hunter.”

Benjamin Sketcher’s life was normal for the first 9 years. Then, on his 9th birthday, the un-normal stuff started. It began with a present from his Aunt Edna. Aunt Edna wore huge purple earrings and ate jello with fruit floating in it. She didn’t give the best presents. 

Last year Aunt Edna gave Ben light-up earmuffs. The year before that, he got a yodeling alarm clock. This year she sent a tiny bottle of black ink with a strange-looking pen.