Chapter One It was a Saturday afternoon and Megan and Li were lying on Li's bedroom floor surrounded by coloured pencils, open sketchbooks, papers, pens and notebooks. Megan's dog, Callie, was dozing on Li's bed, her broad snout resting between rust-coloured paws. Megan, staring at the sky through Li's window, pointed. 'Can you see an eye out there, Li?' An eye?' Li asked. 'What do you mean? Where?' 'In the clouds. There .' Megan traced the outline of a single giant eye, made from huge puffs of white cloud. 'Oh yes .

I see .' Li traced the same path with her finger. 'Just below the sun.' 'It has a pupil . see?' Megan outlined an uneven pupil. 'Yes!' said Li, sitting up. 'I can see it! And it reminds me of the book I've just started.' 'What's it about?' Megan asked.

'There's this alien from another galaxy, and it can see everything human beings are doing. Even from billions and billions of light years away.' 'Does it mean us harm?' asked Megan. It seemed to Megan that Li began a new book every week - stories about aliens and future worlds and time travel. Science fiction. 'I'm not sure yet. I do know it wants power .' At that moment Callie jumped from Li's bed and licked Megan's cheek.

'Hey!' said Megan, sitting up. She threw her arm over the dog and pulled her close. 'Callie needs a walk.' Let's go,' said Li, picking up her notebook. 'We might get ideas on the way.' Recently Megan had drawn a creature with scales made from glass - part animal, part machine. Li had named the creature Watrox. Since then the girls had been working on a new world, where Watrox lived in the caves behind waterfalls.

Megan gathered up her pencils and her sketchbooks, stuffing them into her backpack. Callie pawed at Li's door. Megan followed Li downstairs, to where Li's mother was working at her computer while the radio played classical music - Mrs Chen taught Mathematics at the university online. Megan was always struck by how quiet and calm and tidy Li's house was. It was just the two of them, Li and her mother. The very opposite to Megan's household. Megan had three older sisters, plus both her parents. It was a lot noisier.

Visiting Li was a nice break. 'We're going to the beach, Mum,' said Li. 'Have you finished your Science assignment?' Li went to her mother and hugged her. 'Of course, Mum.' Mrs Chen turned and smiled at the girls. 'Then enjoy the exercise.'.