Read Out of This World for Free Online Page A

the hill, obviously in search of the two kids they had almost hit. Jenna and Zachary held their breath and froze in place. Both men were not only transparent but were also enormous—even the shorter one was over six feet tall.
    “Ah,” said the taller of the two transparent men, who had been driving. “There you are.” He approached quickly from only ten yards away, looking even more repulsive from this short distance. His heart looked like a red fist covered by tiny veins, clenching and unclenching, clenching and unclenching, again and again, pumping blood through the transparent tubes that were his arteries.
    “ You speak English? ” said Zachary, astonished.
    “Well of course I don’t,” snapped the man. He handed Zachary a solid purple crystal, about the size of an acorn, that gave off a faint glow. “Place this in your pocket,” he instructed as the second transparent man now joined them. “This is a language transformer. It will instantly and automatically transform all possible languages into all other possible languages. Even writing.”
    “You mean a translator?” said Jenna.
    “Were you not listening?” barked the man. “A transformer. If this were a translator you would hear strange sounding words coming from my mouth that this device would then translate into English. Is that what’s happening?”
    “Ah, no,” said Zachary. “It sounds like you’re speaking English in the first place.”
    “Exactly. And I hear you as though you’re speaking my language. That is how it works. Not a language translator—a language transformer.”
    “And it works for writing also?” said Zachary in disbelief.
    “Do I need to tell you everything twice?” complained the man. “Yes. Written words, no matter what the language, will look like English to you. And your written words will transform into the language of whoever is reading them.”
    “How in the world is that possible?” asked Zachary skeptically. “It seems more like magic than science.”
    The taller of the two transparent men shrugged. “Same thing,” he said simply.
    “ Same thing? ” said Jenna. “Science and magic are the same thing ?”
    The taller transparent man just glared at her but didn’t reply. The shorter man—who still soared above them imposingly—stepped forward with a friendly expression. “I can explain,” he said. “But first, let me introduce myself. I’m Wyland, and my companion is named Hirth. You are on our world, called Orum.”
    The kids introduced themselves as well, continuing to look away from the two men periodically. Their transparent bodies were so disgusting, and made the siblings so uneasy, they could only handle looking at them for a few minutes at a time.
    “Because we get the occasional visitor from your world,” continued Wyland, “we have recently become familiar with what you mean by ‘science.’ Magic is simply the process of controlling scientific principles with one’s mind.”
    “You’re wasting your time!” snapped Hirth. “These humans are feeble-minded and unimaginative. Which is why they can’t even use the simplest magic. Why even try to explain?”
    Wyland glared at his companion. “I have my reasons,” he growled.
    This Hirth was really getting under Zachary’s skin, but he forced himself not to react to his insult. Zachary didn’t believe in magic, of course. But he also didn’t believe in portals that could transport you to other worlds, or talking purple birds, so he forced himself to be open minded. “So what science do you activate with your minds to make the language transformer work?” he asked.
    Wyland shrugged. “We don’t know. You see, although we now realize that magic and science are two sides of the same coin, we have always been able to control magic fairly effortlessly. Without having to really think about it. So just because we can use it doesn’t mean we understand what scientific principles we’re tapping into.”
    Zachary looked totally