Wuftoom (6 page)

“Bye,” said Cory, and he rushed off, down the hallway and away from both Jordan and the other kids. His bootlaces were tied today, but his clothes were shabby and didn't match.

Evan jumped out of Jordan and hovered above him for a second.

Jordan flinched, jerked his arms into the air, and looked around. He looked down at his hands and made two fists, then released them. He stared back at the door to the courtyard, where his former friends had been. Then he turned and followed Cory in the other direction. Evan saw him turn off into the boys' room.

Evan floated through the doors and back outside. His mind expanded into the air, and it calmed him. He could see 360 degrees. The grass, the kids, and the school were below him, while above him the sky was blue with only a pair of large gray clouds. He rose higher and floated over the town. He tried to shut out his thoughts, to let himself expand and feel the lightness of not being trapped in any body. He stayed there as long as he could, until the sun was nearly gone and the town glowed with electric lights.

I
T WAS EVEN HARDER
to open and close his hands. The membranes on his face were thicker. His breathing was labored, and he had to constantly brush his arm across his nose to keep the nostrils open. He wondered if he was getting worse because his body had been sitting still for days.

He tried to act happy for his mother, but his mind wandered. To basketball. To eating food as Jordan Bates. To opening and closing his mouth without feeling it slowly tightening, shriveling into the withered hole of the worm's face.

It did not help when the worm thing showed up that night. It slid into the bedroom late, when Evan was finally about to sleep, nub legs scraping sickly.

“You have had a visitor,” the thing rasped.

Evan said nothing and turned his head away.

“You do not have to admit it. I know.”

Evan still said nothing.

“Our enemy has offered you the world. It has offered you a life, of sorts. But at what price, proem? Are you not aware that you are faster becoming ours?”

Evan was not looking, but he knew the creature's fangs were showing as it grinned.

“Wouldn't you have done it if you could?” Evan asked softly.

The thing ignored his question. “Our enemy believes it is clever,” it said. “But it is not more clever than we are. We will use its bribe against it and come out ahead.”

Evan smelled it coming closer. “I won't help you any more than I'll help the bug thing,” said Evan. “I won't help either of you.”

“You will help us,” the creature rasped. “Or you will pay the price.” It nearly spat the last word at him.

“What price could I pay?” he cried, as strongly as he could while still keeping his voice down. “Will you turn me into a fruit fly? Will you kill me? I'd be better off if you did!”

“Our enemies are anxious things.” It smiled at him. The fangs shook, deep inside the withered hole. “When you have not led them to us as you promised, they will not care how hard you've tried. They will be glad to have a meal.”

Evan felt a chill run through him as the image imprinted on his mind. The image of Foul's sharp fangs, joined by a hundred others. Screeching. He tried not to show his fear, but the worm creature missed nothing.

“So we will use this gift it has given you,” it said with its fangs showing. “Do you remember where our trap is, proem? The one you so nicely wandered into?”

“No,” said Evan.

The worm ignored him. “You will bring more children to it.” It chuckled to itself, a harsh sound with no warmth. “You will walk them into our bodies, the remains of our lost brothers.”

Evan had suspected what the goo was made of, but hearing the truth was still horrible. He turned his head away again and stared intently at the wall.

“Or you'll feed me to the bugs,” he said bitterly.

“They will have you without our protection, no matter what they promised,” the worm replied. “Help us and you live, help them and you die. Bite by bite.” The thing chuckled again.

Evan knew it was true. He knew that Foul was not trustworthy. He had known that when he took its offer. But how could he do it? How could he force other kids into his own fate?

“You will do this in the morning, proem. We both know you are short on time. You will bring us all that you can manage in a day, and tomorrow when the sun goes down, I will meet you back here for your change. It is almost time to bring you home.”

“No!” Evan cried, so loud it echoed in the room. “Not tomorrow! I need more time!” Evan burst into tears. He felt the salt water dripping down his cheeks. It caught in the membranes and stuck there, collecting like rain on an old tarp.

Two doorknobs turned at the same time, one creaking in sorrow, the other in glee.

His mother poked her head into the room. She was wearing a thick old flannel nightgown, ragged at the ends like it had dragged a thousand times across the floor. Her hair was messy. Strands fell limply over her eyes. She looked afraid.

Evan looked up at her. “I'm sorry,” he sobbed.

His mother sat down next to him and rubbed his back. “It's okay, honey,” she said. “Did you have a nightmare?”

Evan forced himself to calm down a little bit. “Mom . . . I didn't have a nightmare,” he said finally. “Don't ask me how I know, but I do. I'm not going to be here tomorrow night.”

She looked at him sadly. Evan thought she must be too tired to freak out. Too tired to cry. She sighed.

“I'll call Dr. Allen tomorrow,” she said.

“No,” said Evan, shaking his head. “You don't understand, Mom. I'm not going to die from this. I'm changing into something else.” He paused to see what she would say to that, but she just kept looking at him tiredly. “I know Dr. Allen says it's impossible, but what does he know?”

“He knows that you're going to get better, Evan.” She smiled at him, but only with her mouth. She was trying so hard to make it a real smile. “No one is giving up on you.” She removed her arm from his back and gripped his leg with her hand, over the blankets, looking him right in the eye. “I promise.”

Evan put one of his membraned hands over hers. He wasn't going to hide it anymore. “I'm turning into something like a worm. It's like a giant worm with fangs. I've seen one. They live in the sewers. They're coming to get me tomorrow night, so I can go and live with them.”

Tears shone in his mother's eyes. She searched his face. “Why are you saying this?”

He couldn't tell her the rest, about Foul and the wood square, and Jordan Bates. “Because it's true, Mom. It is.”

She was silent for a long minute. “You're right,” she said finally. “Dr. Allen doesn't know what's wrong. I don't know if what you're saying is impossible or not.” She put her other hand on top of his. “You really think it's true, don't you?”

“Yes,” said Evan. He looked away from her but then looked back. “I don't know if I can come back or not. If I can't handle the sun now, or the wind, or even electric light, then what will happen to me when I change? Maybe I won't be able to come up aboveground at all.” He thought about the one that visited him, but he didn't want to get her hopes up. He also didn't want her to see him like that.

His mother searched his eyes silently. Evan saw her eyes change, saw that she finally believed him. Tears began rolling down her face. “You'll try, won't you?” she said. She put her arm around his shoulder and pulled him close.

Evan wasn't crying anymore. He loved his mother, but he wished she'd let him go. He wished she'd go back to bed. He wished he'd never told her anything, so he didn't have to face this. He sat there numbly, but his mother didn't leave. She stayed with him all night, first clutching his body, then holding his membraned hand.

It was all Evan could do to get her to go to work in the morning instead of staying with him. He told her he was exhausted, that he needed to sleep. That it would happen even sooner if he didn't sleep. It wasn't a lie, he knew. He wondered if by staying in his own body, he could put it off for one more day. Wouldn't the worm scream when it saw how it was cheated! But the image of the bugs stopped him. Bearing down with their fangs drawn, their wings covering the sky.

J
ORDAN WAS STANDING
at his locker with Angela. They were talking in low voices, their faces nearly touching. Jordan had to bend down to reach her. His hair was disheveled. Angela's face had a scared look. Jordan's face was pale, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

Evan was sorry. He was so sorry that he thought he could feel his own heart, beating inside Jordan's as he jumped into Jordan's body.
But I don't have time to be sorry,
he thought.

He turned Jordan's body around and ran. Angela screamed after him, but he didn't stop. He dodged the waves of students, knocking into several, and burst through the front doors.

Jordan fought hard. There were no words, but there was anger. It boiled through Jordan's body, and Evan barely maintained control.

He ran into the street, as fast as Jordan's strong, athletic legs would take him. Rain pelted his body, but he ignored it. The houses got thinner and the yards got bigger, until the yards turned into fields.

He was soaked through, but he didn't stop until he reached a tall chain-link fence with a faded yellow sign that said
PRIVATE KEEP OUT.

Evan stared through the fence and across the field. He was breathing heavily from running, and from the fight that was going on inside.

He wasn't sure exactly where the goo was, and the field was bigger than he remembered. The rain had changed everything. Pools of mud and water filled every dip. Had he walked straight into the middle, or had he veered off to the side? The grass was tall, and anything in it was hidden from view. But he didn't have time to waste. He had to just go look for it. He grabbed on to the fence and started to pull himself up.

But Jordan's body was different from Evan's. He was too big, not skilled enough at climbing. The water didn't help him. His feet slipped from the wires and he fell back to the ground, nearly twisting his ankle and covering himself in mud.

Evan thought back to when he had climbed the fence as himself. He tried to remember how it had felt. How his hands had moved and where his feet had planted. He tried to expand inside Jordan. He had been controlling Jordan's movements, but his primary focus had been on Jordan's mind. Now he moved down, into the rest of Jordan. He pushed his focus into Jordan's muscle and bone, replacing Jordan's feelings with his own.

He jumped onto the fence again. This time he was able to hang on. He wasn't as good as when he'd been Evan, but he clambered up and dropped heavily over the top into the mud.

Suddenly, Jordan turned back to the fence. He grabbed on to it with both hands and began pulling himself up again, then slipped and dropped back to the ground.

Evan pushed back into Jordan's head, willing to take control again. But Jordan fought him more than ever. Their minds thrashed around each other. Without real muscles, there was only will. And Jordan's fear rose to Evan's desperation.

I'm going to be eaten!
Evan thought.
I'm going to die!

Something came back from Jordan, but there were no words. It was a scream in Evan's mind that vibrated through him into their shared skull.

Jordan's body turned toward the field, back toward the fence, then back again. He stopped with one hand on the fence and the other reaching away from it, like two giants were pulling on his tiny arms. His face was tightened in a grimace.

I am not going to die!
Evan thought. He threw himself, whatever he was, against his rival. They knocked around inside the body, mixing with each other in a vapor of steaming souls.

Jordan fought hard, but Evan had more experience. Just as Evan would have no chance in a basketball game, Jordan was no match for an experienced body stealer. Evan turned and tore and thrust Jordan away.

He let go of the fence and ran the body through the grass, faster than he had ever run. In the middle of the field, he turned and looked wildly around him. Where was it? He ran to the left, then to the right. Where was the puddle deeper? Where was the mud pink?

Jordan was still pushing. Evan couldn't hold on for much longer. Then he saw it. A faint pink glimmer to the left and back, toward where the field met the forest. He ran to it and nearly pitched over the edge but pulled back from it just in time, staring down into the pit.

How could he
do
this? No one deserved this!
But they'll eat me!
he thought.
They'll eat me alive!

Jordan pushed, thrusting Evan down into the body. Jordan whipped around too quickly. His feet tottered on the edge of the pit and his arms waved. Evan thrust himself into Jordan's brain, but it was too late. Jordan fell backward into the goo.

Evan watched from above as Jordan rolled over onto his stomach and tried to push himself up, his hands sinking in deep. His feet were still partly free, and he kicked them as he squirmed. He finally turned himself face-up again but was now totally covered in the pink goo. Evan was sure that he would sink, not having both hands and a leg free as Evan had, but Jordan was strong.

On his back, he pulled his arms up sharply until they were free. Then he reached them out to the banks of the hole and pushed with both his hands and feet. When his back was almost free, he pushed with his right hand and threw himself up onto the ground where his left hand had been.

He lay in the mud, panting and crying.

Evan felt sorry. Jordan had no idea what was about to happen. And he was no more deserving than Evan. All the jealousy seeped away from him as he looked down. Now Jordan was just like him. Another proem.

The rain washed off some of the goo. It separated on the ground into pockets of pink. The water seemed to run off it, leaving it pure. Jordan lifted himself up and looked around.