Wuftoom by Mary G. Thompson Page B

nervously. He didn’t know if he had the strength to pull himself up that far.
    â€œWe’re stronger than we look,” said Olen. “Don’t think, just move.”
    Evan set his arms on the bottom of the pipe as he had just watched Olen do. The pipe was slimy, and without fingers, he felt sure his nubs would slip off. How had his legs gripped the bathtub? He slid his arms back and forth and looked up questioningly. His arms felt as weak as jelly.
    â€œJust move,” Olen repeated.
    Evan squeezed his eyes in imitation of closing them and pushed against his jelly arms. They stiffened and clung to the surface of the pipe. His body rose into the air, and at the same time his arms lengthened, allowing his legs to make it into the pipe without him having to release his arms. Once he was standing in front of Olen, his arms came up from the pipe with a pop of releasing suction and slowly shrank back to their normal length.
    Just as Evan turned back to face where he had come from, his powerful hearing picked up a scraping noise. Below him in the main pipe, a giant spider slipped from a hole on the far side. It was the biggest spider Evan had ever seen, even bigger than the tarantulas in the zoo. It would have fit neatly in a soccer ball.
    It fell into the water for a second, then jumped onto the wall and crawled away sideways, staying above the water line. It scurried so fast that it was soon tiny in the distance. After it came another and another and another. As soon as they were out of their hole, they stopped going one by one and followed the first one in a pack, filling the whole wall for several feet. The pack scurried with the scraping sound Evan had first heard. It faded quickly as they got farther away.
    â€œClever bastards,” said Olen, almost laughing.
    â€œWhat are they?” Evan asked, amazed and disgusted. They had moved too fast for him to see well, but they had looked hairy and black.
    â€œThey’re Dark Spiders. Like your spiders, only larger and intelligent. They talk just like you and me.”
    Evan gaped in amazement.
    Olen smiled. “All of the true dark creatures are intelligent. They talk. Some even read and write.”
    â€œAnd nobody knows about it? Nobody has seen them?”
    â€œEveryone has seen them,” Olen said. “In the dark places.”
    Evan wondered what life would be like if people knew these creatures existed. Would they try to communicate with them, or would they destroy them? Evan wasn’t sure, and the thought made him squirm. Maybe the dark creatures were smart to hide. Maybe he would be smart to hide now.
    â€œDo you talk to them a lot?” Evan asked.
    â€œOh no, we eat them,” he laughed. “That’s why they waited until we were up here to leave their hole.” His laughter was like an earthquake now that Evan heard so well.
    â€œYou eat intelligent creatures?”
    â€œYou can’t eat the stupid ones,” Olen scoffed. “Then you’d be stupid too.” He turned and started sliding down the smaller pipe. It was even darker, but Evan could still see perfectly well.
    â€œBut that’s nonsense!” Evan cried. “People eat all kinds of animals and plants that don’t talk. It doesn’t make them stupid.”
    Olen whirled on Evan. “When will you understand?” he growled, poking his arm into Evan’s middle. “We are not human! We are not like them at all. You are not an animal. You are a dark creature. You are something entirely different from them. Everything you know about life as a human is wrong now.” He poked Evan harder.
    â€œOkay! I get it!” But he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand how eating something that talked could be okay. That meant the Wuftoom were just as bad as the Vitflys. He wondered if the spiders had a name other than Dark Spiders that they used among themselves. If they would be just as angry to be called spiders as Olen