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toad dwarf said to jason , the king will rise .
she placed her notes in the middle so we could read it .
what does this all mean ?
i asked her .
she was silent , i guess the person theyre talking about is kojas , but we dont know who he is , or if hes important .
well , im thinking hes important because these weird dwarfs keep talking about him .
maybe hes their idol or something .
i said .
well , seth stated , maybe we should ask the dwarfs where he is .
thatll be hard .
emily pointed out .
they hardly tell us anything as it is .
you try squeezing out information from one of these pests .
i did .
whatever guys , were getting nowhere .
hey emily you want to sleep over tonight ?
i asked .
emily frowned , its my turn , jazell , and youre coming over my house .
honestly , em , just come over no , she said and crossed her arms stubbornly .
i sighed and ran a hand through my hair , knowing it was useless to argue with her when her mind was made up .
fine , ill call my parents .
but next time youre coming to my house .
she nodded , her curls bobbing .
fair enough .
okay then , see you two later .
jason turned around with seth on his heels .
wait a minute you two .
its only , i popped open my phone , 3pm .
we still have the rest of the day .
i shoved the phone back in my pocket .
hey , dont take this personally , but we want to hang out alone .
sobye !
jason said and jumped on his bike .
seth unchained his bike and rode off with him .
i realized then that seth had barely said anything the whole time , but he was already out of sight .
id have to question him later .
i sighed , well , at least we can hang out early .
well , while you were arguing with the boys i called home and they said you could come over now .
emily flashed me one of her million-watt smiles .
great !
i piped .
ill call home quickly to check with my parents .
i called home and my parents said i could go , which wasnt much of a surprise .
ive been to plenty of sleepovers at emilys , so my parents didnt mind .
plus , our parents were close and emilys family was practically an extension of our own .
we rode over to her house and parked our bikes in the garage .
we knocked on the door and a woman answered .
emilys mom was short , small and bony .
her light brown hair was almost blonde without any gray in it .
the woman definitely did not look her age at all , and she was still as beautiful as i imagined she was in her youth .
she smiled warmly at us , her smile a reflection of emilys .
hello girls , come in .
emily , dear , can you put your laundry away ?
after you do that , you can hang out in your room .
emily nodded and disappeared inside .
her mom moved aside so i could walk in .
i unlaced my sneakers and walked up the stairs , looking at the flower paintings hung along the wall that her mom had painted in her spare time .
i pushed open emilys bedroom door to see her stuffing her clothes in the drawer and flopping onto the bed .
she pulled out my bag and threw it to me so i could set up my sleeping bag on her rug .
her mom called us downstairs , hopefully for food .
she held a box of pizza .
you two can eat upstairs or down here .
she already knew our answer and handed us paper plates .
i took three slices of pizza and ran upstairs .
emily and i sat on the floor , eating pizza and doodling nonsense in her notebook .
the time ticked by to one oclock in the morning .
we sat side by side on her bed near the window , and i played with the fridge on the edge of one of her pillows .
i looked down at emilys pajamas , which were covered in sun-tanning penguins .
typical emily .
nice pjs emily .
i chuckled .
she stuck her tongue out , what do you have against sun-tanning penguins ?
nothing !
i smiled to myself .
i shouldnt be talking ; i was wearing pajamas covered in little pigs .
emily leaned back to turn off her desk light .
it clicked off and i gazed outside one more time before turning around to go to bed .
night emily .
i yawned .
emily didnt reply because her face was pushed up against the window .
her body was ridged and she didnt move .
i crawled over to the window .
what is it , em ?
i whispered , a nervous feeling creeping into my stomach .
she backed away from the window so i could see .
i saw nothing at first but then i spotted movement .
the recognizable lines of toad dwarfs marched around the trees , and i could tell they were up to no good again .
they were really starting to get on my nerves .
looks like i wasnt sleeping after all .
chapter 3 sneaking out after hours isnt easy , especially at emilys house .
her parents arent sound sleepers .
if we werent really careful , theyd wake up and then wed have some answering to do .
and i dont think theyd understand our reason .
i followed emily down the stairs , in our pajamas , to the door .
we were careful not to make a sound but i listened closely to the sound of her dad snoring .
when the snore rang clearly through the house , i breathed a sigh of relief .
we threw on our sneakers and snuck out the door .
the summer night air was cool but a little sticky and clammy , making our bodies feel damp .
i followed emily down to the back of the garage , where we sat down and entered the monsters world .
i pushed my green hair back and hid behind a tree beside emily to watch the dwarfs .