Chad-Two went to the set of touch pads on Mom’s other side, so I took the only set left. I made sure to touch the same two pads everyone else was touching.
“Ready?” said Mom.
“Yes,” we all said.
“Good. Now zum.”
The others all started humming. I joined in. Then the ship itself started humming!
It was weird. I could feel the metal humming under my feet!
Lights flickered and flashed. For a second I could see right through the ship into the garage. We were lifting off the ground!
I glanced at Dad, and he was flickering and flashing.
I looked down at my hands. They were flickering, too!
I felt as if everything in me was fizzing and sizzling. Like I was burning up! I looked up at the garage’s ceiling when the flashes lit it up. I thought we were going to bump into it.
But more flashes, and then I saw the sky! The ship was going right through the ceiling and taking us all with it!
“Uh-oh,” Mom said. “Zum down!”
We hummed softer and softer. The ship dropped back down and settled gently on the ground.
“All systems functioning perfectly!” Mom said. “Pack up everything you want to take. Leave the storage module out back for last. We need that machinery up and running until the last minute. Now, we’ll want to switch back to our own bodies as close to departure time as possible. Be ready to leave at two P.M. local time.”
“Don’t forget anything,” Dad added. “We won’t be coming back.”
15
No! It couldn’t be!
They couldn’t be leaving! As in leaving the planet!
Oh, man! What if I couldn’t get Chad to give me my body back before two P.M.? Then the aliens would take me with them into outer space! Away from my friends—away from my family!
I was so scared I couldn’t even think. I followed as Chad’s family crawled out of the ship and went into the house.
The next thing I knew, I was upstairs with Chad-Two in our workroom. Packing for space travel.
Chad-Two opened drawers and took different machines out of them.
He tapped tiny black touch pads on the edges of the machines, and they shrank down to the size of quarters.
He took a case out of one of the closets and opened it. It had a whole lot of slots in it, and each thing he shrank fit into one of the slots.
“On the next planet we explore, we get to have six legs!” Chad-Two said. “It’s got to be better than this dump! I can’t wait until we leave!”
Oh, man! Six legs!
Oh, man! Two P.M.? That was really soon!
Leaving! We were leaving the planet!
My thoughts whirled around my brain.
“What’s wrong with you, Chad-One? We won’t need those where we’re going!” Chad-Two snapped.
I looked down and saw I was trying to stuff a pair of tennis shoes into the big case.
“We’ll never have to wear these itchy ugly clothes again, thank Sprog!” Chad-Two shrank the notebooks we kept our observations in.
“Sorry,” I choked out, putting the tennis shoes back into the closet. What kind of clothes would I wear on some other planet? Maybe none at all. It would be tough to make a pair of pants with six legs!
Oh, no way!
I had to get Chad back to that shed. I had to get my body back! I had to get out of here! But how could I distract Chad-Two long enough to make a break for it?
Then it hit me.
“Hey, Chad-Two,” I said, trying to sound helpful. “Aren’t you going to pack the Slinkies?”
“The Slinkies!” he yelled. “Croggers, I haven’t had time to transmorph them with shink technology! The Slinkies! I almost forgot!”
He opened the Slinky drawer and grabbed about six of them.
“Help me carry these out to the storage module,” he said.
I grabbed the rest of the Slinkies in the drawer.
We passed Mom and Dad, who were collapsing stuff downstairs. Chad-Two explained what we were doing.
“Slinkies!” Mom exclaimed. “Yes! We need to take the Slinkies!”
I followed Chad-Two to the door. Whoosh! The door opened. I dropped the Slinkies and darted out!
I had never run so fast in my life.
I crossed Fear Street and zoomed through someone’s backyard, putting a house, some fence, and a few trees between me and the aliens.
I reached Kent Place in record time. Then I slowed and snuck up to my house, using the bushes for cover. I glanced down at my watch. It was nearly one P.M. Less than an hour to takeoff!
The station wagon wasn’t in the driveway. That meant Mom and Dad weren’t home.
I found Pepper, Chad, and Dumbbell playing Frisbee in the backyard. Chad and Pepper tossed the Frisbee back and forth, and Dumbbell ran around barking.
I watched them, trying to figure out what to do. How would I get Chad to make the switch? Or even go back to the change chambers? Time was wasting away.
Then Pepper told Chad she was going inside to get some lemonade.
I crept over to the house and slipped inside. I startled Pepper in the kitchen. She screamed.
“Shh!” I hissed.
“Who are you,” she demanded. “What are you doing in my house?”
“Keep your voice down,” I implored her. “It’s me, Will!”
“Prove it!”
“Your real name is Penelope.”
“Ewww!”
“You know it’s me, Pep. You know it!”
She shook her head, glaring at me.
“Don’t you?” I wanted to shake her!
She stuck out her lower lip. Then she said, “I will never forgive you for wrecking my doll!”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’ll never do it again!”
“That’s for sure. Since you don’t live here anymore!”
“Please, Pep! This body, the whole family, they’re aliens from outer space! And they’re blasting off in less than an hour! If I don’t get my body back right now, they’ll leave and take me with them. I’ll never see Earth again!”
She snorted. “This is waaay too much to swallow!”
“It’s true! If you can just help me get the alien pretending to be me back to their house, I can prove it to you. I can show you the body-switching equipment and the spaceship and everything!”
“How am I supposed to get him to go anywhere?”
Good question!
I shoved my hands in my pockets. Maybe some of the junk I was carrying around would give me an idea. I started pulling things out. The merister. The lifter. The boxes of pinter and skwoos Chad-Two had given me.
A light went on in my brain. An idea! Earth food had nearly killed me. Maybe alien food would make Chad sick!
Skwoos wouldn’t work. They were big and still alive, and Chad would know not to swallow one. But the pinter . . . Chad-Two had said it was powdered.
I tapped the brown box up to full-size.
Pepper gasped as it grew in my hands.
The box was filled with multicolored powder that looked like ground-up butterfly wings.
“If I put a pinch of this in some lemonade and Chad drinks it, I bet it’ll make him sick,” I told Pepper. “Then maybe I can get him on a bike and wheel him back to his house.”
“Will it kill him?” she asked, peering out the window. Chad was throwing the Frisbee up and catching it as it came down.
“I hope not!” I told her. I didn’t want to kill Chad. I didn’t want to kill my own body. I didn’t want to kill anybody! But I had to try something!
I put a pinch of pinter in the bottom of a glass and poured lemonade over it. I stirred it really well.
I handed Pepper the glass. “Please help me, Pep. Please!”
She stared at me for a long minute.
“This is for real, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Yeah. It’s for real,” I told her.
She bit her lip, then went outside, carrying the glass of lem
onade.
I hid in the kitchen and watched her walk out and give the glass to Chad. He grabbed the lemonade and drank it all.
Pepper smiled at him.
He told her to go long. He waved the Frisbee at her.
Pepper stared at him, then ran across the yard. He threw the Frisbee in a perfect arc.
A beautiful pass.
Chad was fine. The pinter didn’t affect him.
My plan wasn’t going to work! I was doomed!
16
They went back to playing Frisbee.
I went back to thinking that my life was over.
I stood staring out the kitchen window more miserable than I’ve ever been. I’d never get my body back now!
My days on Earth were over.
Pepper tossed the Frisbee and Chad jumped up and caught it in the air—but he tripped when he landed. He fell to the grass.
That wasn’t like Chad. Even in my body.
I clutched the sink below the window. I held my breath.
“I don’t feel so good,” Chad said as he pushed himself up. He pressed the backs of his hands to his cheeks. His face was red.
Could it be? Yes! Chad was getting sick. My plan was working. I still had a chance!
“Come on, Will. I’ll get you inside and call a doctor,” Pepper said. She pulled his arm around her shoulders and led him toward the driveway where our bikes were.
I slammed out of the kitchen door and stood in front of them.
Chad was wiping sweat off his forehead, but he looked up and saw me. “You! Oh, no. What have you done?”
“Come on, it’s just a pinch of pinter!”
“Pinter? You want to kill me?”
“No! I want my body back! Now get on this bike!”
Chad groaned and held his stomach. He collapsed on the cement. His face was red and he was sweating.
“He’s dying!” Pepper yelled. “Do something!”
I felt in my pockets and found the lifter.
I headed for Chad, when a shadow fell across the driveway.
I glanced toward the street.
Chad-Two stood there.
And he didn’t look happy.
17
“What are you doing?” Chad-Two demanded.
“Who is this?” Pepper screeched. “How many of you space guys are there? What do you want?”
Chad opened his eyes, groaned, and slumped again.
“What’s the matter with you, Chad-One?” Chad-Two yelled at me. “You’ve been acting so weird, I planted a tracer on you! What are you doing with these slimy humans? How could you tell them about us?”
“I’m not Chad-One,” I confessed. Shink or no shink, I had to tell him. “He’s Chad-One. He stole my body, and I want it back!”
“I did not steal it!” Chad croaked. “You gave it to me!”
“Chad-One! How could you?” Chad-Two shouted.
“I want to stay here,” Chad said.
“You want to what?” Chad-Two was so shocked he squeaked. “You would destroy everything we’ve worked on for two years local time just so you can stay on this stupid planet?” Chad-Two fumed. “You idiot! You fleeflaw! You groober!”
“Will you help us switch back?” I asked.
Chad-Two’s face was purple. For a minute his mouth just opened and closed and no words came out.
Then he blinked a couple of times. His eyes narrowed. He looked really mean. “Oh, yeah. I’ll switch you back. And then it’s mind-tailoring for you, Chad-One!”
“Fine,” I said. I was afraid of Chad-Two. But one thing at a time. First I would get my body back, then figure out what to do next. “Pepper, you stay here.”
“Oh, no,” Chad-Two said. “The larva comes with us!”
“Larva?” Pepper shrieked.
He glared at her and she shut up.
Chad groaned again.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“I gave him a pinch of pinter,” I explained.
“Pinter? In an Earth body? He needs some sklix right away!”
“After we switch,” I said.
“Okay,” he agreed. “How did you plan to get him back to the storage module?”
“On my bike,” I said. I pulled the lifter out of my pocket and tapped it up to size. “Will this work on him?”
“Good thinking,” he said. Then he remembered who he was talking to and glared at me.
We lifted Chad to his feet. He leaned on me and I raised his shirt. Chad-Two put the clear ball against Chad’s back. And lifted him with no problem.
We left the driveway, me on Chad’s right, Chad-Two on his left, Pepper walking beside me.
I sneaked a peek at my watch. Quarter to two!
When we reached the house, we rushed over to the silver puffball mushroom shed out back. I opened it with the touch pad.
“Wow!” Pepper said, staring at the door opening. When we stepped over the threshold, she said wow about fifteen times—every time she looked in a different direction.
Chad-Two went over to the touch-pad console and pushed the pad that opened the change chamber doors.
The familiar, sour smell wafted out.
I took Chad over to one of the big, purple telephone booth change chambers and settled him inside, then tapped the lifter so it let go of him.
I tapped the lifter small. I shoved the lifter and the merister into Chad’s pockets—my own jeans pockets—then went and climbed into the other chamber.
“Ready?” asked Chad-Two.
“Ready,” I answered.
A second later the doors whooshed shut and I was in the dark again.
It was all just like before.
I felt as if I were jerking sideways on a carnival ride.
But when I opened my eyes again, boy, did I feel different!
I felt hot and then cold. My stomach ached. My throat hurt. I could feel sweat pouring off me and soaking into my shirt.
My mouth felt weird. I ran my tongue on the backs of my teeth. Braces!
They were mine! Will’s!
Oh, man! I never thought I would be so glad to go back to being Will the Spill!
The door whooshed open.
Pepper ran over to me. “Will? Are you okay? Are you—you?”
“Your birthday is May eleventh,” I gasped. My throat hurt as the words came out. “Your favorite color is red. It worked, Pep. Thanks for believing in me.” Then I moaned. My muscles were burning!
Pinter! The pinter I gave Chad while he was in my body was still having an effect. It was making me sick!
I glanced around for Chad-Two. He was opening a cabinet in the wall.
Chad-One stormed out of the other change chamber. He looked furious. “I hate you, Will Kennedy!”
Chad-Two came over with a small blue box. He tapped it up, then slid the lid sideways.
Inside was a gray-green bug with a million legs. It started oozing up over the side of the box.
“Take this sklix,” Chad-Two said.
I grabbed the bug and ate it. It tasted sour and crunchy, and it fluttered in my mouth. I didn’t care.
“Eww!” Pepper yelped. “You ate a bug?!”
I started feeling better right away! Oh, man! I was back in my body again, and everything was all right! I was so happy I felt as if I could fly!
I got to my feet. I wiped sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. Everything about being in my own body felt a little skewed and sideways, but I didn’t care. I could adjust! I took some deep breaths.
Then I grabbed Pepper’s hand and headed for the door.
I thumbed the green touch pad.
Nothing happened!
Of course. I didn’t have Chad-One’s fingerprints anymore! Chad-One had said the locks were keyed to specific people!
I pointed at the touch pad. “Can we borrow your fingers? Just for a minute?” I smiled.
“Sorry. Not possible,” Chad-Two said. He strode across the room and stood directly in front of me.
“Wh-wh-why n
ot?” I stammered.
“I can’t let you two leave,” Chad-Two informed us. “You know too much!”
18
“What do you mean? We don’t know anything!” I said. “I don’t know what planet you’re from or what you’re doing here!”
Chad-Two shook his head. “You know we were here, and that’s enough.”
“I don’t know what your real bodies look like! I don’t know where you’re going! We won’t tell anybody! I promise!”
“Who would believe us, anyway?” Pepper added.
“Sorry. We have a policy about this,” Chad-Two said.
Chad-One came over and stood next to him. Chad-One had a nasty grin. He looked over at the shink.
They were going to shink us like the rat?
No! I couldn’t let that happen.
My heart pounded in my ears. My palms felt sweaty.
I shoved my hands in my pockets.
The merister and the lifter were still there! Right where I put them before Chad and I switched back!
I pulled out the merister and tapped the touch pad to make it bigger. It grew until it was just like the ray gun Chad-Two had used to net the rat!
I didn’t know if it would work on anything as big as a person, but it was better than nothing!
I turned toward the two Chads and tapped the pad that fired the merister.
Web shot out!
But I had forgotten I was Will! I aimed for the Chads, but I stumbled over the leg of a piece of equipment as I headed for them!
The web shot out, all right. But it didn’t come anywhere near the two Chads! Instead, it covered the touch-pad console that ran the changing chambers!
Chad-One snickered. “Nice shot.”
Chad-Two walked right up to me and grabbed the merister out of my hand. “Come on, Will. The shink doesn’t hurt.”
“What’s a shink?” Pepper demanded.
“They shinked me a couple of body switches ago when I was having discipline problems,” Chad explained. “Every time I caused trouble, they’d shink me. You don’t really notice anything when you’re in the small state. They put the setting on reversible, so I had one of those black touch pads they could tap bigger or smaller. I’ll do that for you, too. Maybe I can grow you later and let you loose on some other planet.”