Danger Magellan's Invasion of Earth

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

It took us a few hours to travel from the spot where the Falcon had landed to Duluth, and I admittedly spent most of that time staring at my phone. It was the first time in over a month that I had received Internet connection, after all.

Twitter told me everything that I needed to know. There was a drama club meeting on Wednesday morning. Cody had recovered from his injuries, and he was back in school, preparing to head to Northwestern University in the fall. Spragueville High School was planning to rebuild the science wing over the summer. Jonas was busy with both his studies and drama club. Lexi had taken no fewer than three hundred selfies over the past month.

From Twitter, it looked like my friends were still searching for us. "I hope they find Nora soon," Cody had posted just a few hours earlier. "I miss her, Arthur, Raquel, and Dan. They were all so cool."

"Cody, I'm home now," I posted in response, but I didn't get a reply back from him. However, it was the middle of the night. I assumed that he was simply sleeping.

I put away my phone and glanced over at Arthur, who was falling asleep at that very instant. "Arthur, please stay awake," I said. "I need some company here."

"I'm going to need more caffeine if you want me to do that," Arthur said as he yawned again.

"We can get you some coffee when we get to Duluth," I said. "Can you please at least try to stay awake until then?"

"I'll try," Arthur said.

At that moment, I wished that Raquel was there with me. She would have stayed awake with me without a question, and I would have let Arthur catch up on his sleep.

I looked around at my fellow passengers. There were only a handful of other people on the boat, all of whom seemed to make up one group of tourists. Perhaps they were a family on vacation in Minnesota. Frankly, I didn't think that Minnesota was a great place to go on a trip to, especially if you coming all the way from another planet, but I wasn't in charge of their vacation.

"Why would anyone go on vacation here?" Arthur asked, clearly thinking the same thing that I was.

"I don't know," I said. Although I loved my home, it was mostly because my friends and family were there. Minnesota wouldn't be interesting without them. I continued to watch the tourists as they laughed and pointed out the waves that rippled through the lake. To me, it was more fascinating to see how the lake seemed to extend endlessly in all directions. The sensation wasn't that different from being in space, something that felt far too familiar to me by that point.

Eventually, the boat reached the shores of Lake Superior. The sky was still dark, and Arthur still dragged his feet as he climbed out of the boat, so I decided to head to the nearest coffee shop. Unfortunately, I soon realized that no Starbucks would be open at 2 AM. We would have to take the bus back to Minneapolis first.

"Really, Nora?" Arthur said. "We can fly around in space for a month and destroy the Blue Alliance's strongest weapon, but we can't find a Starbucks in Duluth?"

"I know it's ridiculous, but we have to get on the road," I said. The two of us found a bus stop, and thankfully, there was a bus back to Minneapolis. We climbed aboard the bus, and once the bus started moving, Arthur fell asleep almost immediately. I used the opportunity to listen to the Wicked soundtrack and text my parents.

I sent the same message to both my mom and my dad. "Hi, it's Nora," I began. "I know it's been a while, but I'm safe and I'm taking a bus to Minneapolis right now. Arthur is with me as well. Can you please pick me up? We'll be at the bus stop at about 5:30 AM."