Wuftoom by Mary G. Thompson Page A

are they? Where do they live?” Evan remembered Foul’s size, its fangs, the sound of its wings beating. He pictured Foul dropping between them, opening its mouth wide to show its pointed fangs, then sinking them into Olen, covering Olen in yellow-pink worm juice. He tried to blink to wipe away the image but was reminded that he had no eyelids.
    â€œThey are a much younger race than we.” Olen’s mouth twisted with disdain. “They appeared in the last century, much smaller at first, blending in with other flies. About fifty years ago, they suddenly began to grow. Since they have reached their present size, they make no secret of their desire to rid the dark places of us.”
    Evan wondered if people had seen them. If they had buzzed around his house when his grandmother was young. “You’re the oldest, but you’re only as old as people?” he asked. “Weren’t there lots and lots of animals before people evolved?”
    â€œMen were the first with intelligence,” Olen replied. “I’ll give them that.” This didn’t really answer Evan’s question, but before Evan figured out what he wanted to ask, Olen was already talking again.
    â€œThe Vits live underneath us, mostly. In the deeper holes that weren’t made by humans. They think they’re better than us for that, but they didn’t make them either. They can live anywhere that’s dark. Hollow trees, caves, basements.”
    â€œDo they come out at night?” Evan asked, thinking of his mother.
    â€œThey tolerate it better than we do, but the open air still isn’t good for them. Of course, they only eat below.”
    â€œWhy? Nobody knows about them. They could get away with anything.” The thought sent another chill down Evan’s spine. He thought about the school and all the kids milling around, with the Vitflys waiting in the basements to come up.
    â€œFor the same reason we eat only the dark creatures,” said Olen. “It is how we are made. There are two worlds, you see. The world of the humans and what they see, and ours. We are forced to see their world because it is so large and powerful, but we wish we could not. We wish we could be as ignorant as they are.”
    Evan wished he was still ignorant, just like everybody else. Yet the feel of the sewage rolling over him had become calming, and Olen’s face seemed less disgusting now.
    â€œWhat about the square they gave me? Where did they get it? Can they get into our minds?” This was the thought Evan had been pushing away. The thought he did not want to face.
    Olen twisted his lips. Evan could not read the expression. “It was stolen from another creature. An old race that had much knowledge of the mind. They try to mold it to their purpose, but they do not know how to use it.”
    â€œBut they talked to me in my head,” said Evan. “While I was out of my body. Can’t they get into me again?”
    Olen’s mouth twitched into a small smile. “You are a Wuftoom now. Humans have weak minds, but we are strong. The Vits have transmitted a word or two, no more. Their minds cannot beat ours the way yours beat the other boy.”
    Evan was not comforted. The worm was too smug, and Evan didn’t trust his judgment. But Olen seemed to think that was the end of it. He stood up to go.
    Evan could do nothing but follow. His head spun with what Olen had said. We must destroy them. Two worlds. The water and the walls listen. He looked around him as he walked. He saw nothing, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt a presence, or more than one. Was it his imagination?
    Before long, they reached a place where pipes emptied into the large stream from either side. They emptied at about Evan’s head level. Olen went into the left pipe, lifting himself up easily with both arms. He stood up, his head nearly touching the ceiling of the smaller pipe.
    Evan looked at him