Apprentice (Star Wars / Alex Rider Crossover) (BOOK 1)

Chapter Six

Alex Rider...Jedi?

Alex Rider awoke with a start. He looked over at his alarm clock. Three thirty-nine a.m. What had awoken him? Then it all came rushing back. He had been having a dream. But it wasn't like any ordinary dream. It was so real. Normally, he would have dismissed it. But he had the same dream the night before. He replayed it in his head.

Alex was standing in his backyard. It was the middle of the night. He saw a moving light in the distance. At first it appeared to be an airplane, but the night came closer and closer. Alex stood frozen to the spot, unable to move. He shielded his eyes from the blinding light that was getting brighter. In a few moments, whatever it was had landed in front of him.

The lights shut off. He opened his eyes It looked like some sort of spaceship. Alex watched as the cockpit slowly hissed open. A robed figure climbed out.

"Alex."

Alex could not believe his ears. Could it be? Could it be?

"Ian?" he asked, perplexed.

"Come with me, Alex. Come with me," he said.

"Come with me," Alex repeated softly to himself. Come with him where. Ian Rider was dead. He had died over three years ago. The dream had seemed so real. He shut his eyes. He could still remember every detail clearly. He remembered the spaceship had two seats in it. The other for him?

Alex turned and lay on his side, trying to shake the dream. It was just a dream, he told himself. Just a dream.

The next night, he woke again. No, it could be. Not that crazy dream again. How could he have the same dream three nights in a row? He quietly got out of bed and slipped a t-shirt and sweatpants on. He was going for a walk outside to try and shake his dream;

He tiptoed downstairs and out the back door and onto the porch. He steeped onto the grass and looked out across the field behind their house. This was ridiculous. Dreams never had this effect on him.

Alex looked up at the sky. It was a clear night. He gazed at the stars. His attention was averted to one particular star that appeared to be moving. It was probably just an airplane. But as he watched it, it came closer and closer. Alex pinched himself. No, this couldn't be happening. There's no way. It was only his imagination.

Alex stood frozen to his spot. He couldn't bring himself to move. What was once a small sound of an airplane engine off in the distance became a loud roar. He shielded his eyes from the blinding light from the headlights. Within seconds it had landed about a hundred feet in front of him. Alex held his breath, hardly daring to believe what has happening.

The engine and the lights switched off. All was quiet and dark again. Alex slowly opened his eyes, halfway expecting himself to have imagined the whole thing. He looked. It was a spaceship. It was about the size of a small plane, only shorter to the ground and of a completely different shape. What kind of alien could be inside?

After what seemed like an eternity, the cockpit hissed open. A figure climbed out. Alex let out his breath a little bit. At least it wasn't an alien. It was a man. Alex could make out his features in the moonlight.

"Alex," the man said.

The two stood facing each other. Alex's mind told him who it was, but still wasn't sure if he could believe it yet.

"Ian," he said when he found his voice. He had never called him "uncle." Ian hated that word.

"Yes, it's me."

"You're dead."

"To you, maybe."

Alex was puzzled. "I don't understand." And clearly he didn't. Here he was, in the middle of the night, talking to his uncle who was dead, but really wasn't who had just dropped out of the sky in a spaceship.