The Seventh Level by Jody Feldman

Author:Jody Feldman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

It’s no problem they’re asking for seven nails, like it’s no problem they asked for an i and a trash can. But it’s all so random. If they want random…

I put seven nails into the envelope and laugh. These are not the nails they’re expecting. I return the fingernail clippers to my parents’ bathroom.

The next morning I deposit the plain, white envelope into the office attendance box. I picture the attendance lady getting really grossed out, and that keeps me smiling until science, when I really start grinning. We get to work on our worm farms.

The worms have migrated to the second tray, and we need to harvest the fertilizer they’ve made. We take out the first tray, and a few worms are still in there.

“Eew!” That comes from a few people. We’ve been doing this all year, so you’d think they’d get used to a few slimy worms. It’s not like they bite.

I pick one up and move it to the second tray. So does this girl Sari, who didn’t eew. “I think we should name them,” she says.

“But how would we tell them apart?”

“If you name one Curly, you can call, ‘Hey, Curly,’ and whichever one looks up, well, that’s Curly.” She’s so smart, we know she’s not serious. I wonder if she’s in The Legend.

I wonder if everyone in The Legend is so smart. Or if they all look alike, like these worms or like plain, unmarked envelopes. I stop grinning. How will The Legend people know that particular envelope is from me? Should I have put my name inside? Will the attendance lady know where to deliver it? And what if she gets so grossed out that—

“Travis!” Sari’s looking at me in horror.

“What?”

She points to my hand. “You’re—”

I’m squishing a worm. I toss it into a tray. “I didn’t mean it. I didn’t do it that hard. I didn’t kill it or anything. I…”

I decide to shut up.

“What happened?” says one kid.

Randall the oaf snickers. “He just pulled a minor Travis this time.”

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