Nina flinched away from the object in his hand, and it fell to the floor. “My clothes do not have bugs! How disgusting.”

“I’m sorry! It’s just …” He bent down, peering at the threadlike thing at his feet.

Connie nudged Jason to stand behind the two again so they might see his reflection in the mirror. But Jason stood his ground, his eyes doubling in size. Connie hadn’t noticed, like he had, that the “thread” Rufus plucked from Nina’s dress was starting to squirm.

Rufus gasped. “Geez …” Nina tensed as Rufus stood and held up his hands. “Do not move.”

“Why?” she yelped. “What is it?”

That’s when Jason saw what was wrong: The thing that was squirming on the floor? There were more of them … And they were crawling through Nina’s hair. Glancing at Connie, he asked, “What do we do?”

“Catch Rufus’s and Nina’s attention,” Connie answered quickly. “You need to get them both out of here. Now.”

Rufus stood and quickly pulled the worms from Nina’s head. She shrieked when she saw their wriggling bodies on the floor. She bent over and ran her hands through her hair, shaking it out, ruining her curls.

Jason stood behind them in the mirror and then waved his hands like a crossing guard at the end of a school day. But they were too busy freaking out to notice. Connie positioned herself on the other side and motioned to them from her reflection in the window.

“Did we get all of them?” Nina asked, her voice wobbly. She was twitchy, and rubbed at her arms.

Just then, Jason noticed another worm fall on her from above.

“Oh, no,” Connie whispered.

All of them looked up at the ceiling. A slim crack had split open the plaster just overhead. From inside, dozens of white, pin-like heads poked out, wiggling around as if feeling for a meal. Another of them dropped from the crack and plopped onto Nina’s cheek. She screamed so hard that no sound came out, then she slapped at her face, leaving a red mark and a white smear.

Rufus shoved her out of the way as the crack widened like a smile. Hundreds of the little white worms spewed forth—plop-plop-plop—forming a mound on the floor below.

Jason’s jaw dropped. He snapped it shut swiftly, as if one of the little creatures might jump up and hurtle through his lips.

Nina and Rufus raced across the room. Nina grabbed the knob of the nearest door, only to find herself staring into an empty closet. She slammed it shut and then pressed herself against it. Both she and Rufus stared in awe at the shower of worms that continued to rain down from the widening crack in the ceiling.