The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge

true,” I said. “You really are off-loading kids from the earth. You’re nothing but a slave trader.”
    “C’mon, that’s not
all
I am,” Seth said as he opened a cell door and kicked me inside. “Don’t forget all the stealing, murdering, and drug dealing I do. Not to mention the hit movies I’ve made about zombies, cannibals, vampires, and cutting instruments.”
    I watched as Seth transformed himself into Phoebe Cook.
    “Oh Danny. I need your help soooo much,” he/she taunted. The rest of Seth’s horse-head buddies slapped their thighs and broke up laughing.
    Seth turned back into his vile and demonic self.
    “Absurd logic on your part. Why would a girl as hot as Phoebe Cook need the help of a weak, stupid, substandard, inferior, about-to-be-extinct failure like you? Phoebe was a
test,
Daniel. You failed. Miserably.
Look
at you.”
    Whatever Seth had done to sap my power, it had worked. I was having trouble staying on my feet, or even focusing on his hideous horse’s head.
    “Now that we’ve come face-to-face, Seth,” I said, staring steadily into his reddish-brown eyes, “my only regret is that you’re not the insectlike lowlife who actually killed my folks.”
    “Oh, I just might be their killer after all,” he roared.
    “No, you’re not,” I said with a shake of my head. “I marked that miscreant on his skull after he murdered my mom and dad. The creature who took out my parents, the one who is going to pay with his life, is The Prayer. You’re only
sixth
on my List, Seth. Dream on!”
    “Isn’t that interesting?” Seth said. “You learn something new and useful every day. Speaking of which, maybe I can tell you something that you didn’t know, Mr. Smart-ass.
You’re
Number 1 on the Hit Parade of every alien currently residing on this backworld of a planet. We were hunting for
you,
young Daniel X. And I just won the jackpot. That’s why you’re still alive. I want to show off my prize. I won, you lost. Maybe I’ll drag you from galaxy to galaxy—
in captivity.
”
    Chapter 51
    “YOU’VE BEEN A WOEFUL, pitiful dupe all along,” said Seth. “I guess it’s to be expected, given what dullards your parents were. What were their names—Graff and Atrelda? Who can even remember? Who cares? The way I hear it, those two were actually too stupid to let live. They practically murdered themselves.”
    If I’d been in fighting shape, I would have ripped a hole through the steel mesh to get at Seth’s lopsided face. My parents had been selfless protectors and friends of humanity, horrifically murdered by a misshapen monster without a conscience.
    “I’ll admit it. You got me,” I said. “For the most part, you really did keep your thoughts consistent with a normal girl like Phoebe Cook. It was a pretty brilliant operation.”
    “Please. Pulling the wool over your eyes was as easy as beating you at chess,” Seth said. “But what’s with the ‘for the most part’ rubbish?”
    I looked at him as if I were suddenly bored . . . which I definitely was not.
    “At Phoebe’s house that night, remember our sleepover? You let down your guard. You blew it, Seth.
You had a dream.
I scanned it. At first I thought it was a really odd nightmare coming from Phoebe, but now I realize that it was
your
dream. It all makes perfect sense. I know what your greatest fears are, Seth. Your deepest vulnerabilities, even what you’re going to do next. You’ll never get away with it. Won’t happen.”
    Seth stared at me even more dead-faced than usual, seemingly confused for the moment.
    His cronies were staring at him now, waiting for their leader to strike back.
    “What dream?” Seth said. “What was in my dream?”
    “That’s for me to know and you to agonize about, you donkey-faced freak,” I said. “I’ll give you a hint.
Dumb-Dumb,
” I whispered.
    It sounded like a couple of grenades going off in the cage as Seth kicked it again and again. I stifled laughter, then decided the heck with