What you think does matter

 Hi, I’m Ellie, and this is the story of how I almost helped an alien take over my neighborhood. It all started with a tiny yellow stone I found in my backyard. I was digging around in the garden, looking for interesting rocks to add to my collection, when I saw it: a smooth, round stone that seemed to glow faintly, even in the shade. It was bright yellow, almost like a drop of liquid sunlight. “This would be perfect for Mom’s necklace,” I thought. My mom’s a jeweler, and she’s always restoring old pieces of jewelry. She had this one necklace—a delicate silver chain with a missing center stone—that she could never finish because she hadn’t found the right gem. I decided to surprise her. Over the next few days, I worked on the stone in secret. It wasn’t easy. The stone was much harder than it looked, and no matter how much I chipped away, it always stayed smooth and shiny, like it was polishing itself. Weird, right? But I didn’t think too much about it at the time. When I finally finis