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PART 1: The Mission

Chapter 1

When Gregor opened his eyes he had the distinct ilanced around his tiny bedroo was e on the sill,of its antennas A cockroach

"You’re just looking for trouble," he said softly to the cockroach "You want my mom to see you?"

The cockroach rubbed its feelers together but hed He reached for an old mayonnaise jar that held his pencils, emptied it on the bed, and in one swift move trapped the cockroach beneath it

He didn’t even have to get up to do it His bedroom wasn’t actually a bedrooe space Gregor’s single bed edged into it so, at night, he caht up to his pillow On the wall facing the foot of the bed, there was a little alcove with just enough rooh you could only open the drawers about eight inches He had to do his hoed on his bed with a board on his knees And there was no door But Gregor wasn’t co He had athat looked out on the street, the ceilings were nice and high, and he had more privacy than anybody else in the apartment No one came in his room muchif you didn’t count the roaches

What was it with the roaches lately, anyway? They’d always had some in the apartment, but now it seemed like every ti to hide Just sitting therewatching hi to keep theiant roach had sacrificed herself to save his two-year-old sister Boots’s life miles beneath the city of New York, he’d vowed never to kill another one of the bugs But if his et them out of the apartment before her roach radar kicked in When it arm out, he’d just trapped them and put thes would freeze now that it was Dece to stick thee He thought they’d be happy there

Gregor nudged the roach off the sill and up the side of the mayonnaise jar He crept down the hallway past the bathroom, past the bedroorandone already She must’ve taken the breakfast shift at the coffee shop where she waited tables on weekends She worked full-ti the week, but lately they needed every penny

Gregor’s dad lay on the pull-out couch Even when he was asleep he wasn’t still His fingers twitched and plucked fitfully at his blanket, and he wassoftly His dad His poor dad

After being held prisoner by huge, vicious rats far beneath New York City for over two and a half years, his dad was a wreck During his stay in the Underland, which hat the inhabitants called it, he’d been starved, deprived of light, and physically abused in ways he would never discuss He was tor reality from illusion even when he ake This orse when he was feverish, which was often, because despite repeated trips to the doctor, he could not shake off a strange illness he’d brought back froor had fallen after Boots through a grate in the laundry rooht that everything would be simple once his fa his dad back, Gregor knew that But it was not sior moved quietly into the kitchen and slid the roach into the trash He set the jar on the counter and noticed it was bare The fridge held half a carton of lassful in it, and a jar of or braced himself and opened the cabinet Half a loaf of bread, soave the box of oath food for breakfast and lunch And since it was Saturday, Gregor wouldn’t even need to eat at ho over to help Mrs Core how in a few short hbor into a kind of guardian angel Shortly after Gregor, Boots, and their dad had returned from the Underland, he’d run into her in the hallway

"So, where’ve you been, Mister?" she asked hiiven her the story his fareed upon: On the day he’d disappeared froround to play for a few minutes They’d run into his dad, as on his way to see his sick uncle in Virginia and wanted to take the kids with hiht Gregor had called his ot back that they realized what a crisis they’d caused

"Hht your father was living in California"

"He was," said Gregor "But now he’s back with us"

"I see," Mrs Coror nodded, knowing it was pretty laain "Well, I’d work on that if I were you" And she walked off without another word

Gregor thought she was mad at them, but a few days later she’d knocked on the door with a coffee cake "I brought your father a coffee cake," she said "It’s a welco Is he here?"

He hadn’t wanted to let her in, but his dad called out in a false, cheerful voice, "Is that Mrs Corht of his dad -- bone thin, white-haired, hunched over on the couch -- pulled her up short If she had planned to interrogate hied a few comments about the weather and left

Then, a couple of weeks after school started, hiswith some news "Mrs Cormaci wants to hire you to help her on Saturdays," she said

"Help her?" Gregor asked warily "Help her do what?" He didn’t want to help Mrs Cormaci She’d ask him a bunch of questions and probably want to read his future with her deck of tarot cards and --

"I don’t know Help her around her apartment You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to But I thought it ht be a nice way for you to or knew then that he would do it and forget about pocket et about money for movies and comic books and stuff He’d use the h his dad was hoo back to his job as a science teacher He had only left the aparto to the doctor The six of the on what his mom could make And with the medical bills, and school supplies, and clothes and food and rent and every other thing you had to have to live, it wasn’t stretching far enough

"What tior

"She said ten would be good," said his o, there hadn’t been ulped down a couple of glasses of water and headed over to Mrs Cormaci’s When she opened the door, the rich s his mouth with so much saliva that he had to s hard before he said hi

"Oh, good, you caor followed her into her kitchen A gigantic pot of sauce was bubbling away on the stove Another pot contained lasagna noodles Piles of vegetables covered the counter "There’s a fund-raiser tonight at na Don’t ask me why" Mrs Cor wedge of bread in it, clunked it on the table, and pushed Gregor into a chair before it "Taste it"

Gregor looked at her, unsure

"Taste it! I have to know if it’s fit to be served," insisted Mrs Cormaci

He dipped the bread into the sauce and took a bite It was so good, his eyes watered "Boy," he said, when he had sed

"You hate it It’s revolting I should throw the whole pot out and go buy jar sauce frorocery," said Mrs Coror, alarmed "No It’s the best sauce I ever tasted!"

Mrs Cormaci slapped a spoon down beside him "Then eat it and wash your hands, with soap, because you’ve got chopping to do" After he’d inhaled the sauce and bread, she set hietables that she sautéed in olive oil He , flat noodles and cheese and sauce and vegetables into three enormous pans He helped her wash up, and she declared it was time for lunch