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But they are weaker and would not destroy us.”
    â€œYou want to kill every single one,” said Evan. Why did this bother him so much?
    The creature’s fangs grew. Its smile was as much like the worm’s smile as an expression could be when made by a creature shaped so differently.
    â€œI’ll still be one of them. I don’t like it, but I will be!” Evan said, not believing he had said it.
    â€œYou have vowed never to go with them,” Foul said. “I heard you speaking with it. It wanted you so badly, I could smell it.” The bug suddenly raised its two front legs and rubbed them together, making a faint humming sound.
    â€œI hate them,” Evan said. He stared down at the wood square. “How does it work?”
    â€œYou put your hand on it, stretched out flat. It will enter you and pull you out.”
    â€œAnd into someone else’s mind?”
    â€œYou will be able to travel. To look and to choose.” Foul put its front legs down and moved forward almost imperceptibly.
    Evan looked down at the wood square, half believing, half not. Did he care about the worms at all? Would he be better or worse off without them, once he’d turned?
    Foul seemed to be reading his thoughts. “I am giving you a chance at life,” it said, moving just a little closer. “You can be the other boys and also save them from your fate.”
    Evan thought about the school, the picture he had made up in his mind. It seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. The boys and girls walked happily up and down the hallways, their hands and feet flexible and normal. They stood perfectly straight. They laughed and chatted and were light and free.
    â€œTry it,” Foul squeaked. “Try it and decide.”
    Evan picked up the wood square with his left hand and looked down at it. It seemed like the scratches on it had a pattern after all, but he still couldn’t make out what it was. He looked at the bug, who had slid even closer, so that the light from its eyes lit up the wood.
    He took a deep breath and put his right hand on the square, stretching his fingers out as best he could. It felt too cold. He and the bug stared at each other for a few long seconds.
    Suddenly, the wood became hot. It was so hot that Evan tried to jerk his hand back, but he couldn’t. Frightened, he tried to shake it off. It was stuck to his hand like glue. It began to mold around his hand, no longer like wood at all.
    Foul continued to stare at him, its fangs shaking slightly.
    â€œI don’t want to try it anymore!” Evan cried. “Make it stop!” But the bug just stared at him and shifted even closer. The square now covered his hand and started growing up his arm.
    â€œMake it stop!” he cried again. He reached out for the bug with his left hand, but it lifted itself off the bed and out of reach. And then Evan was gone.

Four
    H E COULDN’T SEE OR FEEL anything but lightness. A scary, unbelievable lightness, like he might float into space. His body was gone, and with it the membranes tugging, breath wheezing, head pounding. He was free! But the absolute darkness was like nothing he had felt before. He seemed to be expanding. Expanding and expanding and—
    What do I do?
he thought, desperate for someone to hear him.
How do I get back?
    A voice came straight into his mind, with almost no pause. He wasn’t sure if he even heard the words, or if he just knew their meaning.
    Go where you want to go, proem,
it said.
Wherever you want to go, you will be there.
    Evan tried to close his eyes, but nothing happened. He had no eyes to close. He thought wildly. School. He wanted to go to school. He thought it so hard he imagined he was shouting.
    Suddenly, he saw light. It surrounded him and blinded him. For all he knew, he was in the middle of the sun. But, slowly, the light became manageable. He was not in the middle of the sun at all. He was hovering over the new middle school, staring