Read Online The Boy with 17 Senses by Sheila Grau - Free Book Online

once, right before he’d taken a nap.
    Grandpa was right. He should jump in.
    But Grandpa had lost his farm because of a bad investment. Should he really take advice from him?
    Jaq paced with indecision. He walked toward the wormhole, persuading himself to jump in, only to spin away as arguments against jumping in popped into his head.
    Just step through. It’s why you came here
.
    No, wait—it could be dangerous. Hunger can be beaten. Dead is dead
.
    Jump, you coward!
    Don’t be foolish!
    You really don’t have a choice, Jaq
, a third voice in his headtold him.
You have to jump. It’s what Klingdux the superhero would do. And probably Klingdux the freasel, too
.
    Jaq closed his eyes, held his breath, and stepped forward.
    He was sucked into the wormhole. The rocky walls of the cave seemed to disappear into emptiness. As his world faded away, he felt a strange sensation, like his body was being squeezed and pulled apart at the same time. The air was sucked out of him, and he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak. All was silent.
    At last, he burst free and fell onto soft soil. Before he could get up, Bonip jumped on his face.
    â€œWhat took you so long?” Bonip asked.
    Jaq inhaled with relief. “Where are we?” He brushed himself off and stood up. He seemed to be in a forest of tall plants with giant leaves. “How did we get here? What’s going on?”
    â€œIsn’t it great?” Bonip said, peeking through the leaves. “Have you ever seen colors like these?”
    Jaq looked through the leaves and immediately knew one thing for certain—he wasn’t on Yipsmix anymore. Gone were the soft browns and muted grays of his home. He’d landed in a brightly colored, screaming nightmare. It was an alien world filled with explosions of sounds and colors and smells.He’d never experienced anything like it, and it made him dizzy.
    â€œFocus, Jaq. You’re spinning,” Bonip said.
    Jaq plugged his ears. He tried to calm himself, because it’s very hard to concentrate when your body is jittery with panic. If sadness dulls the senses, then panic magnifies them. He breathed deeply and recited the prime numbers up to 503. All prime numbers were soft and round and kind. They were like friends who helped him relax when he was frightened.
    â€œConcentrate, concentrate,” he chanted to himself. “Two, three, five, seven, eleven—”
    He peeked out of the bushes. They were in a place that seemed similar to the marketplace on Yipsmix, but all the stores were indoors and stacked on top of each other, two stories high with a roof over everything. The sounds and smells and sights were trapped inside. They bounced around angrily, like wild beasts trying to escape. They seemed to charge right at Jaq, and he wanted to turn around and dive back into the wormhole.
    And then he screamed. Two giants were walking by his hiding spot in the plants. Jaq had known that he was going to see giants—Plenthy’s letter had called this place“giant-filled.” But knowing and seeing were two different things.
    These giants were massive.
    Jaq covered his mouth and ducked back behind the protective cover of the plants.
    â€œWinking moons, they’re huge!” he whispered to Bonip. “Let’s get out of here.”
    â€œWait,” Bonip said. “Jaq, we came here for a reason. Just relax. Take it slow. The wormhole is right there. We can dive back in if we have to, but let’s see what’s going on here.”
    Jaq felt his whole body tremble. He looked at Bonip, standing so bravely at the edge of the plants. “You’re right,” he said. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself again. “The wormhole’s right there.”
    They were well hidden in the little border of plants, so Jaq peeked out again, fingers back in his ears. His neck craned upward as another giant walked past. Jaq guessed that he would