  THE STRANGER
AN APPLE
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Copyright
[*copy]
1997 by Katherine Applegate. All rights
reserved. Published by
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ANIMORPHS is a trademark of
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12 11 1078 9/9 0 1 2/0Printed in the
U.s.a. 40
First Scholastic printing, April 1997
For Michael
My
  Name is Rachel.
  And you know the drill. I'm not going to tell you my
last name. I'm not going to tell you where I live.
I'll tell you all I can, because you need to know
what's going on. You need to know what's happening.
  But I need to stay alive. And if the Yeerks
knew who I was, I would be dead.
  Or worse.
  The Yeerks are here. That's what you need to know.
  People look up at the stars at night and wonder
what it would be like if creatures from another planet
ever landed on Earth.
Well, you can stop wondering. It's happened.
The Yeerks are parasites. They live in the
brains of other species
-
humans, for example.
They turn human beings into mindless slaves
-
human-Controllers.
So when I say that the aliens are here, don't go
looking around for some cute little thing like
E.t. You won't see the Yeerks. They are
parasitic worms, evil gray slugs that live in
the heads of
humans.
They can be in anyone. Your best friend. Your
favorite teacher. The mayor of your town. Your
brother. Sister. Mother. Father.
Anyone might be a Controller.
You
might be a
Controller.
So I won't tell you my last name. Or where I
live. But I will tell you the truth. The truth that
only the Animorphs know.
Animorph. Animal morpher. A human
capable of becoming any animal. It's our one
weapon
against the Yeerks. Our only power. Without it,
we're just five regular kids.
But with that power comes certain extra re
sponsibilities
...
as I was trying to explain to my
best friend, Cassie.
It was a Sunday night. It was late. The circus
had finished its last show. Their trailers and tents were
clustered around the back side of the big
City Arena. The Arena is a place where they hold
rock concerts and ice shows and play
basketball games. And where they have circuses.
"Look, we both saw what we saw," I told
Cassie. "Are you telling me it doesn't make
you mad? That jerk using a cattle prod on an
elephant doesn't make you mad?"
"Of course it does, Rachel," Cassie said.
"I
don't even like circuses."
"I don't, either. But my dad had tickets, and
it was our big once-every-other-week, father-and-
daughters thing. I had to come."
My dad had taken my sisters and me to see
the circus earlier in the evening. See, my mom
and dad are divorced, so my dad does these little
outings where we all get together every second
weekend. Sometimes it's just me and my dad. Like when
we go hiking together, or go to ball
games or gymnastics events. Those are all things
my dad and I like, but Jordan and Sara, my sis
ters, don't.
My little sisters loved the circus, but it's not my
kind of thing. I guess I'm too old. That's why
I
dragged Cassie along. So I'd have someone to
talk to when my sisters were getting all
excited over the clowns and stuff.
Still, it was an opportunity to spend time with
my dad, which I enjoy. I don't get to see him
as
much as I
wish I
could. Everyone always says how much I'm like him. How
he's kind of reck
less, and so am I. He always seems so sure of
himself, and I guess people think I'm that way, too.
We're even both into gymnastics. My dad al
most made the U.s. Olympic team when he was
younger.
Of course, I've never told my father about my
other life. I couldn't. But I wish I could. He
would worry about me and all, but he would also think it was
cool. My dad is very big on standing
up for what's right. I think he would admire what
I do. That would be nice, feeling like my dad ad
mired me.
There wasn't much activity in the little tent
and trailer city outside the Arena. I could hear
dogs barking. I could hear raucous laughter corn
ing from a brightly painted trailer. I could smell
the usual circus smells
-
manure, hay, beer,
cotton candy.
There were security guards around the
perimeter of the area, but I wasn't worried about
them. I've gone one-on-one with Hork-Bajir war
riors. After you've fought one of those seven-foot-
tall walking razor blades, regular old
humans don't scare you much.
Cassie and I walked silently past the tiger
cage. The three big cats just stared blankly. It
was night. They wanted to be in the jungle. Instead
they were in a too-small cage, trapped in a
nightmare invented by humans.
  Then I saw the elephant pen. There was a
sturdy fence around four big Asian elephants.
They were a little different from the African elephant
I knew so well. But they were elephants, just the
same.
  I have sort of a special relationship with ele
phants.
  Cassie and I had come to the elephant pen before the
circus and seen the way their trainer treated them.
He had used a cattle prod on them. It's a
stick with a massive electrical shock.
He used it to control the animals.
  Later, during the show, he'd put on a big
act of loving his elephants. But I'd seen the
cattle prod. I just sat there, doing a slow boil
all through the show. I knew I was going to have to take
some action.
  The elephant trainer's name was Josep some thing.
Something hard to pronounce.
  Well. He didn't know it yet, but Mr.
Josep Something was about to have an eye-opening
experience.
  "See anyone around?" I asked Cassie.
  "You know, Jake is going to read you the riot act
over this," Cassie warned.
I laughed. "Read the riot act? That's like something
my mother would say. What does it even mean?"
  Cassie shrugged and smiled her shy smile. "I
don't know. My dad says it all the time. I was
try ing to sound responsible and mature and
parental."
  "Look, I am
going to
do this," I said.
  Cassie sighed. "Why did I let you talk
me into
this!"
  "Because you know I'm right."
  Cassie rolled her eyes. "Just don't hurt
the guy, okay?"
  "Me? Ms. Peace, Love, and Understanding?
He'd just better not show up carrying that cattle
prod, or I swear, I'll -- his
  I noticed Cassie had stopped walking. She
was giving me her sorrowful look. Like she was ashamed
of me.
  I cringed. "Okay, okay. I'll just
talk
to the guy. Turn off the look. I hate that look.
You're going to be a really good mother some day, with a
look like that."
  I found the gate in the elephant pen and opened
it. I slipped inside while Cassie retreated
into the shadows to watch my back. I moved slowly,
not making any threatening moves that might alarm the
elephants.
  Elephants may be gentle, but they
are
big.
You don't want to be in the middle of four upset
elephants.
  I went to a far, dark corner of the pen and be gan
the familiar ritual of focusing my mind. I
concentrated on the elephant. My elephant. The
elephant whose DNA was a part of me.
  And then I began to change.
C
"People say I'm pretty, I don't know and I
really don't care. But I'll tell you one thing
-
no
one who has ever seen me morph into an ele
phant ever used the word "pretty" to describe it.
I felt the thickening of my legs and arms.
I watched as my skin grew leathery and gray
as mud.
I felt the sudden sprouting of my trunk as my
nose and upper lip seemed to explode outward.
"Pinocchio, eat your heart out," Cassie whis
pered.
I felt the teeth in the front of my mouth run
together, and then begin to grow and grow into
long, spear-length tusks. It's a creepy
sensation, by the way. Not painful, but definitely
creepy.
I was growing big. More than big. I was
gaining several thousand pounds.
Several
thousand
pounds.
I was about twelve or thirteen feet tall. I
had ears like beach blankets. I had a little, ropy
tail. I was a full-grown African
elephant, and I was ready to have a little, um, talk
with Mr. Josep
Something.
"Hhhhuuuuhhhrrrooooooomm!"
I threw up my trunk and
let
go of a trumpet
blast. It was the sound of a very angry elephant.
"You could have warned me," I heard Cassie
whisper. "I almost wet myself over here."
It took about three minutes before the trainer came
rushing into the pen. In the dark, all he
saw were the gray shapes of his elephants. I
wasn't
exactly hiding, because, let's face it, when you're
an elephant, you can't scrunch up and look
small. But I was staying back until he was all

way inside the pen.
Then . . .
I lunged forward, pushing two of the other
elephants aside.
The trainer gaped up at me. "What? What
the
...
?"
In a sudden, fluid movement, as he stared in
puzzlement, I wrapped my trunk around his waist.
"Hey! Hey! You're not one of my elephants!"
Here's the thing about elephant trunks. They
are so subtle that I can pick up an egg with my
trunk and never crack it. Or I can pick up a
tree and throw it across the yard.
Josep Something knew this.
I wrapped my trunk tightly around his waist and
then I lifted him up off the ground. His feet
kicked helplessly in the air. His arms pounded
weakly on my trunk.
I lifted him up till he was at my eye
level.
less-than Hi, Josepeagreater-than I said, using
thought-speak.
"What the . . . his Who? Who said that?
I'm
hearing voices!"
less-than Meeagreater-than I replied.
less-than like said it. See, Josep, I am from the
International Elephant Police. We have
had some complaints about you. greater-than
"This is crazy! This is crazy! What are you?
Is
this some sort of a joke?"
So I squeezed him a little tighter. Just enough
so he couldn't really breathe very well.
less-than Now, listen to me. Because I could just as
easily squeeze you out like a tube of toothpaste.
So pay attention. You have been using cattle
prods on your elephants. That is a no-no.
greater-than
"But
..."
he gasped. "They
...
are
...
my
...
property!"
This man was just not getting the message.
So I extended my trunk a little and held him right
over the tip of my left tusk. Like a worm about
to be placed on
fishing
hook.
less-than With one twitch of my trunk I can
make you
a shish kebab.
Now
are you going to listen to
me8greater-than
"Yes! Ves! I'm listening," he said. "I am
listening very closely."
less-than No more cattle prods. No more pain of
any kind. Do you understand me8greater-than
  "y-y-y-yes."
less-than Because I'll be watching. And if you
ever,
ever
hurt an elephant again . . . ever. . . I'll
come back for you. And I will squeeze you till you
pop like an overcooked hot dog. Do you under
stand me8greater-than
"y-y-y-yes."
less-than Josep, can you fly8greater-than
"What? Can I fly? No. No, of course not."
less-than l'll bet you ceagreater-than I said.
And with that, I low
ered my trunk almost to the ground. Then, with a
sudden toss of my head and a deft twist of my
trunk, I sent Josep Something flying.
He landed safely atop a tent. About, oh,
twenty feet away.
"Nowcan
we go home?" Cassie asked.
You
threw the guy into the air?" Jake asked.
"Wasn't that maybe just a little unneces
sary?"
"No. He made me mad," I said.
It was the next day after school, a Monday. We were
walking through the woods. Me, Cassie, Jake,
Marco, and Tobias.
Of course, Tobias wasn't really walking. He
was flying overhead in little hops from branch to branch.
He stayed close so he could hear us. Red-tailed
hawks have excellent hearing, but he
still had to stay fairly close.
"Well, Rachel, you know I
sympathize," Jake
said mildly, "but I don't think our job is
really to
right every wrong that's done to animals. That
would be a full-time job, unfortunately."
I looked at Cassie. She gave me a wink.
We
kind of didn't tell Jake that she had been there,
too. Cassie and Jake like each other. She
didn't
want him to be mad at her.
With me, it's a different story. Everyone knows
I'm going to do whatever I feel like doing.
"We have other stuff to deal with," Marco
grumbled. "The Andalite didn't give us this
power so we could turn into the Animorph Society
for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals."
"Fine," I said. Which wasn't exactly like
admitting I was wrong. "But what's got you so
serious, Marco?"
"Let's wait till we find Ax. I don't
want to have to tell the story twice."
So we tromped noisily on through the woods.
I felt a surge of excitement. You couldn't
miss
the tension in Marco's voice. Something was up. There
was the smell of danger in the air, and that
meant action.
I like action. I like dstnothings instead of just
talking about them. Marco makes fun of me over
it. He calls me
Xena, Warrior Princess.
But I'm not one of those morons who is just into danger
for its own sake. It's not about cheap
thrills. It's about feeling like I am involved in
something very important. I mean, let's face it
-
as corny as it sounds, we are trying to help save
the world.
It began months ago. The five of us just hap
pened to hook up together at the mall. It's not like we
were a group, really. Not before that
night.
Jake's my cousin, but we never hung out together much.
Jake's sort of in charge. It's not something he ever
asked for; it's just that he's good at dealing with
responsibility. He's the kind of person you
automatically turn to if there's a crisis. And
probably the best thing about him is that he can tell people
what to do without ever
sounding bossy.
"Since when don't you want to tell the same story
twice?" Jake teased Marco. "I've known you
to tell the same tired jokes eighty or ninety
times."
"It's your own fault," Marco said. "If you would
just laugh the first time, I wouldn't have to
keep telling them."
Marco is Jake's best friend. He's smaller
than
Jake, funnier, darker, more skeptical. But his
suspicious nature makes him very good at seeing
beneath the surface of things. And as much as he whines and
complains about the dangerous
situations we get into, he's still there in the worst
of the fight, still making dumb jokes.
Marco has changed lately, at least a little. He
doesn't resist being an Animorph like he used
to. I don't know why. Maybe it's because his dad
fi
nally seems to have gotten over the death of
Marco's mother. I don't know.
"Hey, look! Over by that tree. See? A baby
skunk with its mother." Cassie, of course. No one
else would notice, or get excited over,
skunks.
"Let's run right over and pet them," Marco
said.
Cassie laughed. "I've handled skunks plenty
of times and never.been sprayed."
"Yeah, well, that's you, Dr. Doolittle."
Cassie has been my best friend forever. I have no
idea why. No one does, because we seem like
we would never get along. Cassie lives on a
farm. Both her parents are veterinarians. She
spends
all her free time in the Wildlife
Rehabilitation
Clinic her dad runs in their barn. They save in
jured animals.
Cassie is very into animals, but she's not one of those
animal lovers who can't stand people.
She just thinks of humans as a different species
of animal.
Then there is Tobias. Back when all this started,
Tobias was barely an acquaintance of Jake and
Marco, although I kind of knew him. He was a
sweet, poetic kind of guy. The kind bullies
love to pick on. He used to have messy, out-of-
control hair and dreamy eyes that always
seemed
to be looking at something no one else could see.
Used to
...
Now he has fierce, angry eyes that look through you
like laser beams. Now he has brown
ish feathers, and a white chest, and a reddish
tail, and cruel-looking talons, and a wickedly-
curved beak.
Tobias was trapped in a morph. Now, he's a
red-tailed hawk. A predator who lives on
mice and rabbits and sometimes other birds.
I still see him as sweet, gentle Tobias. But
he
has been a hawk for a long time now.
The gift of the Andalite, the power to morph, is a
wonderful weapon. But like any weapon, it
can destroy those who use it.
less-than Here he comeseagreater-than Tobias
called down in the thought-speak we use when we are in
a morph.
less-than like think he sees us. greater-than
I heard the sound of fallen leaves being
stirred, a faint drumbeat of pounding hooves on
pine needles.
Then, with a leap, he cleared a fallen tree
trunk and landed a few feet away from us.
Aximili-Esgarrouth-lsthill. We call him
"Ax"
for short. The sole survivor of the destroyed An
dalite Dome ship. The only living Andalite
on
planet Earth.
Ax is the brother of Prince Elfangor, the
Andalite who warned us about the Yeerk invasion and
gave us the power to morph. Prince Elfangor,
who was destroyed by Visser Three, leader of the
Yeerk forces on Earth.
less-than Hello, Prince Jakeeagreater-than
Ax said. less-than Hello, alt. greater-than
As much as I know Ax, and even consider him
a friend, it's always a little bit of a shock to see
him.
He looks like some odd cross of a human, a
deer, and a scorpion. But not really like any of
those things.
His upper body and head are more or less the
human-looking parts. He has thin arms and
many-fingered hands. His face is flat, with slits
for a nose and two large almond eyes.
He has no
mouth at all, which is why thought-speak is the
natural language of Andalites.
From atop his head rise two stalks, each with
an eye on the end. He can turn these eyes in any
direction he wants. They're completely indepen
dent of his main eyes.
His body is that of a pale blue-and-tan deer, or
a thin pony. He has four legs that end in
hooves. But his back slopes down, so that you
would never be tempted to think of riding him.
And he has a tail. A long, thick, powerful
tail
that ends in a deadly scythe-shaped blade. I've
seen him use that tail. He can strike so fast that
the human eye sees nothing but a blur.
"Hey, Ax," Marco said. "How's it going?"
less-than lt is going wonderfully. I was up in
the hills
yesterday, and I was attacked by one of those
very large cats. What do you call them? Cougars?
It was very exciting. greater-than
"Are you okay?" I asked.
less-than Certainly, Rachel. And I did not
hurt the cougar, Cassie. Not fatally,
anyway. But he won't try to eat me again, I
think. greater-than Ax gave his strange
Andalite smile, an expression he managed even
without a mouth.
Marco rolled his eyes. "I'm telling you, Ax and
Rachel belong together. The two of you are sick.
Someday you could get married while bungee-
jumping into an active volcano."
I squirmed a little. Not because I minded
Marco thinking I was bold. But because I really was not
interested in Ax that way.
"Okay, now that we're all here, Marco, maybe
you could tell us
why
we're all here," Jake said.
"I have some news," Marco began. "Actually,
Tobias and I have some news."
I glanced up at Tobias, sitting in the tree.
Of
course he showed no expression. He just fixed his
piercing gaze on Marco.
Marco swaggered just a bit as we formed a
circle around him.
"It's a tale of initiative and courage and,
yes, brilliance," Marco began.
"No, no, no. Just tell us, Marco," I
snapped.
"Don't try to milk the suspense."
"Okay," he said with an easy laugh. "My
fellow Animorphs . . . and visiting alien
...
we have
found a way into the Yeerk pool."
The
entrance to the Yeerk pool?" I echoed.
"Where? How?"
I looked around at the others to see their reactions.
See, we had already invaded the Yeerk pool in an
effort to save Jake's brother, Tom. Not
a happy memory.
I saw Cassie shudder.
"Ax is the only one who wasn't there for our little
vacation in the Yeerk pool," Marco said. "As
the rest of you know, the Yeerk pool is in a huge
underground cavern. It's practically a small city
down there. It's under our school, but it's so big that
it also runs beneath the fire station, a couple of gas
stations, and most of the mall."
Ax nodded. less-than Yeerk pools are generally

large and elaborate. They are an important part
of Yeerk life. The centers of their lives, really.
The pools are, for the Yeerks, what forests and mead
ows are to Andalites. greater-than
"Tobias and I have been working out a pattern
of surveillance," Marco went on. "For the last
week, we've followed our very favorite
human-Controller, Assistant Principal
Chapman, everywhere we can. Tobias tracks him from
the air. Then I follow him when he goes into a
building."
"Why didn't you let the rest of us in on this?"
I demanded.
Marco shrugged. "It was a two-person job,
that's all."
Jake looked as annoyed as I felt.
Then I realized why Marco had kept this
quiet. Jake had just been through the terrifying
ordeal of being infested by a Yeerk. For three days
he had been a human-Controller, a prisoner
in his own body. Marco had been letting him rest.
"So?" I asked, a little more patiently.
"So what?" Marco answered.
"So where is this entrance to the Yeerk pool?
Duh."
"Well, I was hoping to amaze and entertain you all
with the whole story of our brilliant detective
work, but the short answer is
-
in a dressing room at The Gap. In the mall.
That's the entrance. People go in, looking like they're
going to try on clothes, and they never come
out."
less-than At least they don't come out
through
The Gapeagreater-than Tobias added. less-than
They come out through the movie theater. When the crowd
leaves the
movie at the end of the show, there are always
more people leaving than went in. greater-than
"In through The Gap, out through the multi
plex." Marco laughed. "Are these Yeerks on
top
of popular American culture, or what?"
"Good job," Jake admitted grudgingly. "The
question is, now what do we do?"
less-than Attackffgreater-than Ax said
instantly.
"We tried that once," Cassie said quietly.
"We didn't exactly win. There were
dozens of Hork-
Bajir and Taxxons down there. And
human-Controllers. And
he
was there . . . Visser Three. That's when Tobias
was trapped in a morph. Like
I said, we didn't exactly win."
"We got hammered," I agreed. "Ax, you know
I'm usually all for going on the attack, but the
Yeerk pool is just too big."
less-than A warrior is judged by the power of his
ene
mies caret Ax said stubbornly. But he didn't
sound
quite as enthusiastic anymore.
"Attacking the Yeerk pool is out," I muttered.
But an idea was occurring to me. "Hey, Ax?
What
can you tell us about the Kandrona?"
He swiveled his head toward me, while his
stalk eyes turned slowly this way and that, searching the
woods for trouble. less-than The Kandrona is a
miniature version of the Yeerks" home sun. It
emits Kandrona rays, which concentrate in the
Yeerk pools. It is what nourishes the
Yeerks. That is why the Yeerks must swim in their
natural
state in the Yeerk pool every three days
-
they need Kandrona rays. greater-than
"So their real weakness is not the pool itself,
but this Kandrona," I said. "This miniature sun."
less-than But the Kandrona may be many miles
away
from the Yeerk pool xfeagreater-than Ax explained.
less-than The
Kandrona rays may be beamed to the pool from
almost anywhere. So, although I am in favor of
attacking the Yeerk pool, we should not do it
expecting to find the Kandrona there. greater-than
"I agree," I said. "But what if we didn't
at
tack the
Yeerk pool? What if we just spied it out?
We might find out where the Kandrona is."
Marco laughed. "That's more like the Rachel I
know. You were starting to worry me there. You
were sounding so sensible."
"How big is a Kandrona?" Jake wondered.
less-than lt would depend on how many
pools it had
to support. It might be as large as Cassie's
barn. It might be the size of one of your human
cars. greater-than
"The size of a car? Surely a bunch of
ail-American kids like us could manage to wreck a
car," Marco joked.
"How much would it hurt the Yeerks?" I
asked. "That's the question. Is it worth running
the risk of going down there again? Down to the
Yeerk pool?"
We all looked at Ax.
less-than lt would depend. If they have a spare
Kan-
drona, it wouldn't hurt them very much. In any
case, they have one aboard their mother ship, so we would not
wipe them out entirely. greater-than
We all sagged with disappointment.
less-than However, it would not be practical for the
Yeerks to shuttle their human-Controllers back and
forth to the mother ship to keep them alive. greater-than
"So what would they do?" Marco wondered. "How would
Visser Three react?"
"Visser Three is totally ruthless," I said.
"He
would save as many as he could. But he'd have
to let the rest die."
less-than Yeseagreater-than Ax agreed.
less-than lt would be a very serious blow. They would
survive, but they would be
weakened. greater-than
"We'd have to find this Kandrona thing first,"
Cassie reminded everyone. "And wherever it is, it
will be guarded."
Right then I guess we all realized we were go
ing to do it. We were going back to the Yeerk
pool.
Jake shook his head slowly. "Down to the
Yeerk pool again. I still have nightmares about
the first time."
"Yeah," Marco agreed. "Done that."
"The Yeerk pool," Cassie said grimly, and
looked away.
I didn't say anything. I don't like talking
about nightmares. But I'd had them, too. They
were pretty bad.
less-than like am not very good at understanding human
emotionseagreater-than Ax said. less-than But you
all seem afraid. And your fear is beginning
to scare
meeagreater-than
"Good," I said. "I don't know if you Andalites
believe in places like heaven and hell. But let me
just tell you
-
the Yeerk pool is definitely not
heaven."
hat's for dinner?" I asked my mom as
soon as I got home. The walk in the woods had
made me hungry. Being outdoors always does
that to me.
So does fear. I just kept picturing the Yeerk
pool. The cages full of involuntary hosts,
humans and Hork-Bajir, temporarily free of
their Yeerk
parasites.
I kept hearing them. Crying
-
that's what most of them did while they waited to be
rein-
fested. Others screamed. Some begged for mercy.
Or worse.
My mom was standing by the kitchen counter.
She was more dressed up than she usually was in
the evening. She was munching nervously on some
Doritos and kind of staring off into space.
"Mom? Hello?"
She looked like she hadn't noticed me. "Oh,
hi, honey."
"What's for dinner? I'm starving."
"Your father is coming over tonight. For din
ner. He said he would pick something up."
I felt my stomach clench. Something was
wrong.
Since the divorce, my dad never came over
for dinner. My two sisters and I spent one
weekend a month overnight at his apartment in the
city. Plus the every-other-weekend outing.
But he did not come over for dinner.
I wasn't hungry anymore. "What's going
on?"
I demanded.
My mother got this worried look on her face, which
she tried to hide. "Your father has something he wants
to tell you girls. He was supposed to tell you the
other night at the circus. I guess
he forgot."
The way she said "I guess he forgot" made it
clear she didn't think that was the truth.
I took my mother's arm. "Mom? I
don't like suspense, all right? So just
-
his
The doorbell rang.
I heard Sara running down the stairs. I heard
Jordan yell, "Stop running on the stairs,
you'll
break your neck." She sounded just like my mother. It
almost made my mom and me smile.
"That will be your father."
I went to the front room. Sara was leaping into my
dad's arms and Jordan was hovering a
couple feet away. Jordan shot a quick, question
ing glance at me. Unlike Sara, Jordan was
old enough to realize something was up.
I shrugged and shook my head.
"Rachel!" my dad said. "How's my girl? Come
take this bag from me. Thai food. We have curry.
We have pad Thai. We have chicken satay. We
have those imperial heavenly whatever-they-call-
"em shrimp."
He handed me the paper bag. He was being
too cheerful.
My father's a reporter for one of the local TV
channels. He does a lot of
investigative journal
ism. Plus he anchors the news on Saturday
and Sunday. So he's always wearing nice clothes, and
always has great hair, and he looks tan even in
the total depths of winter.
I took the bag to the dining-room table and started
to unpack the little white boxes of Thai
food.
"Hello, Dan," my mother said, coming into
the room with plates and silverware.
"Naomi," he answered. "How have you been?"
By now even Sara had figured out that this was not going
to be a happy evening.
  We ate a little and struggled along with some small
talk about nothing. Until finally my mom said,
"Dan, just get it over with."
  My dad looked embarrassed. He sent me a
sheepish smile, like some little boy caught doing something
wrong.
  "Okay," he said. He cleared his throat. He
sat up straight in his chair. Just as if he were
waiting for the cameras to come on so he could do the evening
news.
  "Kids, I have something I have to tell you about.
I've been offered a job. A better
job. I wouldn't just be the weekend anchor. I would
have the top spot. I'd be anchoring the six o'clock
broadcast and the eleven o'clock. And I'd get to do
specials. Maybe do some really impor tant
work."
  Jordan looked at me, confused. It
sounded
like good news.
  "There's just one problem," my father said. "It's not
here in town. In fact, it would mean I would have
to move."
  "Where to?" Sara asked. "To another apart
ment?"
  He forced a smile. "To another city,
sweetie. In another state."
  "A thousand miles away," my mother said.
You know, it's funny how the mind works. See,
I've been through more bad things, more terror, more
worry, more pain since I became an
Animorph than most people deal with in a lifetime. I
would have thought I could handle some
thing like my dad moving away.
A thousand miles away.
"Congratulations," I said, trying not to show any
emotion. "It's what you've always wanted."
My dad wasn't fooled. He knew I was
upset.
"It's the job, Rachel.
It's the way
it is. It's not like
I won't see you kids. I know it sounds like a
long
way and all, but that's why we have jets, right?"
"Yeah," I said. "That's why we have jets. I
think I'll just go upstairs and do some homework
now."
"Wait, I need to
..."
my dad protested.
I didn't slam any doors. I didn't throw
any
thing.
I just left.
Let
him
feel what it's like, I told myself. Let
him
feel what it's like to have someone just walk
away.
I went up to my room and locked the door
be
hind me. I couldn't breathe. I kept clenching my
fists and wanting to pound something. I think I
would have cried, but I was just too angry.
"Rachel?" It was him. He knocked lightly on
my door. "Can I come in?"
I couldn't say no. It would have sounded like I was
upset. "Sure. Why not?"
He came in. "I'm guessing you're a little up
set," he said.
I shrugged and turned my back to him.
"I see. Rachel, you didn't let me finish
what I
had to tell you downstairs. Rachel . . .
Jordan and Sara are still too young to consider this. But
you're older. You can look after yourself when I have to work
late. They can't. And . . . anyway,
look, the thing is, I've talked to your mother
about this, and she's not happy about it, but she says it's
up to you."
I turned to look at him.
"What's
up to me?"
He smiled uncertainly. "Well, it's like this.
Carla Belnikoff teaches in the city I'm
moving to. You know, she takes in three or four
promising
gymnastics students every year. If you wanted . .
.
well, it would be the best thing in the world, as
far as I'm concerned, if you came to live with me."
I almost asked him to repeat it. I couldn't be
lieve I had heard right the first time. Students of
Coach Belnikoff have won two gold medals and a
bunch of silver ones.
"Dad, Carla Belnikoff isn't going to take
me on as a student. She handles
professional-level
gymnasts. I'm too tall, and not good enough to
...
besides, you're saying I should move out?
Leave Mom and Sara and Jordan?"
"You're the only one who can decide that,"
my dad said. "But as for Coach Belnikoff, you're
wrong. You have the talent. I know. If that's
something you want to do, if you want to make
that your life, you could go places in gymnas
tics."
I shook my head. Not to say no, just to try and
clear out the confusion. "Dad, are you asking
me
to go with you when you move?"
"Yes. I know it would be hard on you and your mom and
your sisters, but we could make it work. I mean, this
job pays a lot of money. You could fly back here
any time you wanted. Every
week if you wanted."
Was he serious? It sounded ridiculous. Was he
actually serious? I sat down on the edge of my
bed. My thoughts were everywhere all at once.
Leave? Leave my mom and my sisters?
This was just because my dad felt guilty. He felt
bad about leaving. This was about pity. He
felt sorry for me or something.
"And I know it would mean changing
schools," he said, "but, gee, Rachel, I think
it
could be okay, you know? I mean, for one thing, they have
serious mountains there. We could do
some rock climbing together on weekends. Go hiking.
And it's a huge sports town. I need someone to go
with me to games. It would be like in
the old days." Then he winked. "And hey, it's a
much bigger city, so think of all the shopping."
No, it wasn't pity or guilt, I
realized. At least
not completely. I think my dad was feeling lonely.
He was picturing himself lonely in the new town.
"Oh, man," I said. "I don't know what
to say."
My dad nodded his head. "Don't decide now.
I wouldn't want you to. Talk to your mom. And
Jordan and Sara, too. You think about it. I just
think . . . you know, I've just missed you, sweet
heart. We have fun trash-talking the umpires at
games, don't we? And hiking? Remember the
time we got lost?"
"Of course, I remember," I said. "I just
...
I
just have to think it over. You know."
I wanted to say, Dad, you don't understand. It
isn't just about Mom and Sara and Jordan. I have a
date, Dad. To go back to the Yeerk pool. My
friends are counting on me. See, I'm supposed to
be
Xena, Warrior Princess.
I'm supposed to go
back down there . . . down into the last place on
Earth I want to go.
"I have to think it over," I repeated.
"Yeah. S. Anyway, I'm gonna go now."
"Okay, Dad," I said.
"I love you, Rachel."
I wish he hadn't said that. I was doing fine till
he said that, and then the tears started.
After
my dad left, I talked to my mom. She
said what I expected: She wanted me to stay. But
it was up to me. She trusted me to think it
through.
Up to me. Great. I could hurt my mom and my
sisters, or I could hurt my dad. Perfect.
Isn't di
vorce fun?
After I went to bed, I just lay there, staring up at the
ceiling. My brain kept churning like a computer you
can't turn off. Too many things to think
about. My dad. My mom.
And the big, huge, massive thing I didn't even
want to start thinking about: my friends. The An-
imorphs. The war against the Yeerks.
Finally, I knew I had to get out of there. I
needed air and open spaces. The walls were just way
too close around me.
I climbed out of bed and opened my window all the
way. I changed from the T-shirt I sleep in to the
black leotard I usually wore under my
clothes.
My morphing outfit.
I couldn't think about it anymore. I just
needed some space to not think about my father.
Not think about choices.
I focused my mind. I concentrated. Just some
time to think, I told myself, as my fingers be
came feathers and my toes curled into talons.
I guess every kid has times he wants to just
get away. But I had the power to do it. I could even
get away from myself.
I launched myself into the night.
I flew in absolute silence. The wind rushing
over the top of my wings never ruffled a feather.
The moon was low on the horizon, just a
sliver. High clouds blocked the starlight. The
grassy field just a few feet below me would have been
black and featureless to human eyes.
But I was not looking through human eyes.
My eyes were so large, they nearly filled my
head. They looked through the darkness like it was noon on
a sunny day. I could see individual
blades of grass. I could see the ants crawling
beneath the grass.
My hearing was so acute that I could hear a
mouse step on a twig from seventy-five feet
away.
I could hear the beating wings of a sparrow that
was flitting from tree to tree.
I had morphed into a great horned owl. The
night killer. The predator of darkness.
I flew lower still, closer to the ground, letting
the owl's mind search out prey. Here a mouse. There
a shrew. There a vole. And all the many lit
tle birds.
They were all meat to the owl. I could de
scend, silent and deadly, on a rat or rabbit,
spread my talons wide, and strike.
I could squeeze my talons until they burst the
skulls of my prey and
...
no. No, I told myself. I
was not Tobias. He had no choice but to be a
predator. I had a choice.
Like my father had a choice. He could just
not
move. And then I wouldn't have to make this
awful decision. If he knew
...
if he understood
everything
...
he wouldn't do this. He would un
derstand that I was part of the battle to help save
Earth.
But
I couldn't tell him. Not even my dad. He
could be one of
them.
That's what knowing about
the Yeerks does to you. You look at everyone and
wonder what's living inside their brains. Even
though I felt like somehow I would just know if
my dad were a Controller.
I guess I've always had a close relationship
with my dad. Right from the start, going back as
far as I can remember, we were always doing
stuff together. I mean, I have this photograph of
me when I was three years old, standing on a balance
beam, with my dad holding me up and
grinning at the camera. I love that picture, even
though I look lame in the outfit I had
on. I keep it on my desk in my room.
When my mom was pregnant with my littlest
sister, Sara, .1 overheard my parents talking.
My
mom was saying maybe this time she would have a boy. "I
know you've always wanted a boy," she
told my dad.
"Oh, come on," he answered. "That was years ago.
I thought I had to have a boy to do all the
fun 'dad" stuff with. But I have Rachel. She's
as
good as any boy. She's already tougher than most
boys her age. Have you seen the vaults she can
do?"
My mom groaned. "Don't
ever
let her hear you
say that. Little girls do
not
want to be told they
are as good as a boy."
But she was wrong. I know it was sexist and
all, but I still just thought it was great. My dad
thought I was as tough as any boy. Cool.
If only he knew what I was doing now,
I thought.
How could he expect me to make this deci-
sion? I couldn't leave my friends. I couldn't.
They
were counting on me. We were going back to the Yeerk
pool, and they were counting on me to be
brave and strong. That's what they thought I was.
But if I was so brave and so strong, why was I
suddenly imagining a very different life, a long,
long way from the war with the Yeerks?
Why was I imagining a life of gymnastics
classes and ball games with my dad
-
a place where I was just a person? Where no one ex
pected me to go back down into that hell of
screams and despair called the Yeerk pool?
If I was so brave and so tough, why was I
imagining a normal life?
L flew into Tobias's territory. It was also the
territory of at least one real horned owl, who would
not be happy to have me around. It belonged to Tobias
by day and to the owl by night.
I knew a tree where Tobias often slept.
Sure
enough, he was there. I stopped beating my wings
and glided up.
I was already flaring my wings to come in for a landing when
Tobias noticed me.
less-than lt's okay, it's okay, it's me,
Rachelffgreater-than
less-than 0h, man! You almost gave me a
heart at-
tackffgreater-than
less-than Sorry. greater-than
less-than Sorry8ffgreater-than he demanded
angrily. less-than lt's night,
we're in the woods, I'm a hawk and you're an
owl
who comes zooming up in attack mode. Don't do
that kind of stuff, Rachel. greater-than
less-than l'm just an owl, not an
eagleeagreater-than I protested. I
knew that some eagles and some falcons will at
tack hawks.
less-than 0kay, okay. It's just that hungry
owls have
been known to go after hawks. It doesn't happen a
lot, but owls scare me. I know everybody sees
cute cartoon owls and thinks all they do is say
"hoot, hoot" and act wise. But let
me tell you, I've watched owls work. They aren't
cute. They're tough. I don't ever want to have
to fight one. greater-than
I settled on the branch beside him, sinking my
talons into the soft bark. I could see why To
bias liked this perch. It gave a perfect view
of the meadow, with all its tasty prey.
less-than l'm really sorry, Tobias. I
guess I forget that
your life can be so dangerous. greater-than
less-than Yeah, well, it has advantages,
tooeagreater-than he said.
less-than No more first period gym class. So
what are you doing out here playing owl8greater-than
less-than like had to get out of the house. greater-than
less-than Ah. Why? Unless it's not any of my
business caret
less-than like don't know. Nothing. Nothing. I was
just
hyper. greater-than
Tobias didn't say anything. Obviously, he
knew I was lying. He just waited for me to tell
him, watching me with gold-brown eyes that
seemed to drill holes through me.
But I didn't really want to tell him.
I mean, I
guess I
had
wanted to, or why else would I have flown out to see
him? But now it just seemed
ridiculous to lay my problems on him.
less-than like was just thinking about going down into
the Yeerk pool ageagreater-than I said.
less-than You're worried8greater-than he teased.
less-than You8greater-than
less-than like get worried sometimeseagreater-than I
said defensively. less-than like was thinking about flying
out to The Gardens, to the zoo. Maybe acquiring some
new morph.
Something really strong and mean in case we get
into a fight down there. A lion. Or a grizzly
bear or
something. Thought maybe you'd want to fly over
there with me. greater-than
less-than Rachel, you know I don't fly much at
night. I can't see that well in the dark. Plus,
there aren't
any thermals at night, so I can't soar. I just have
to flap the whole time, and that's miles away. I
mean, a little trip around here, sure, if you
want
to go flying. But that's a haul. greater-than
less-than Yeah, okay. Forget it. greater-than
less-than like have an idea. Why don't you tell
me what's
really
bothering you? You're all
...
weird. You
don't seem like you. greater-than
less-than lt's nothingeagreater-than I said.
less-than Sorry I scared you.
I'm going to head on home. greater-than
less-than Rachel, you know you can always talk to me,
right8greater-than
less-than Yeah. Look
...
I have a question for you. Do you ever think about years from now?
Like when
it's time for college and stuff8greater-than As
soon as the words were out of my head I wished I could
call
them back.
But Tobias was cool. He just laughed silently.
less-than Yeah, I'm thinking I could get
easy A's in
-
ornithology
-
the study of birds. greater-than
less-than You could definitely be the
professoreagreater-than I said. less-than like just
meant that sooner or later most of us
are going to leave. Move somewhere else. What
do we do then, if the Yeerks are still around8greater-than
Tobias began preening his feathers. It's some
thing he has to do, but it's also a habit he has
when he's bothered by something. less-than like haven't
really looked that far ahead. But I guess I
figured this whole thing would sort itself out, one way or
the other, long before then. The Yeerks win, and you
don't have to worry about college. Or they
lose, and we each go back to our normal lives.
Some of us more normal than otherseagreater-than he
added
dryly.
For a while I didn't say anything. I couldn't.
I
was too busy hating myself for bringing this up with
Tobias. Tobias, of all people! He was
already a casualty in this war. He was trapped in a
hawk morph. And here I was thinking of bailing out?
What was the matter with me? I couldn't
leave. Leave Tobias living in the forest? Leave
my
best friend Cassie to fight, maybe to die, so I
could cut and run? Leave Jake and Marco and Ax?
Why? Because my dad was lonely and I could
take gymnastics classes?
less-than Rachel? You okay8greater-than
No. I wasn't okay. I felt sick. What
was the matter with me? I couldn't leave. I couldn't
give
up. less-than Me? Of course I'm
okayeagreater-than I lied. less-than Just the
same, I think I will go get myself some firepower.
It's time for
Yeerk Pool Two: Animorphs' Re
venge,
right8greater-than
less-than like don't know. It looks like I'll be
sitting out
this battleeagreater-than Tobias said.
less-than Don't worryeagreater-than I said.
less-than l'll get a Hork-Bajir for
you. greater-than
less-than You're okay? Really? It seemed like
you were
upset. greater-than
less-than Tobias, I am more than okay.
Gotta go. greater-than
less-than Rachel, go
homeeagreater-than
Tobias advised.
I opened my wings and beat them powerfully,
sliding through the dead air of night.
But I did not go home. I flew around a while,
trying to get a grip on the confusion in my head.
But I couldn't. And I couldn't go home yet. I
knew I would just lay there in bed, eyes wide
open.
I turned and headed south.
From
the air, The Gardens looks very different than it
does from the ground. The roller coaster doesn't
look nearly as tall or scary. And flying above the
zoo area, you mostly just see the
roofs of the various interior exhibits. The rest of
it seems, at first, to be sparse woods, with cement
pathways winding in and around and through,
like curled ribbons.
Looking closer, I could see the separate
habitats. The trees and the running stream of the tiger
area. The open field for the bison, separated
by a tall fence from the impalas.
I glided over the lions. Most were sleeping by a
tree. One female was ranging around restlessly, like
she was looking for something.
It took a while to find the bears. I wasn't
interested in the little black bears. Or the polar
bears. I was looking for the grizzlies.
I wanted power.
There they were in a habitat of trees and
rocks and a deep water-filled moat fed by a turn
bling, rushing stream.
There were two, a male and female pair. Both were
asleep, sprawled across the rocks. The male
was bigger: That's what I wanted. Big. Powerful.
Fearless. If I was going back to the Yeerk pool,
I
wanted something desperately dangerous.
Leave? Move out of town? Give up? No way.
No way.
And my dad? I would still see him when he
came to town. That's what jets were for.
I landed and began to morph back. To revert
to my true human form. My feathers melted and
ran together and became pink. My beak broke
into teeth. My talons became smooth toes. My
in-
sides gurgled and squished and sloshed as some
organs grew and others changed and others reap
peared from nothing.
The bear heard the sounds of my bones
stretching, and the faint rustle of feathers melt
ing together to become flesh. He opened one eye
and looked at me without understanding or fear.
He was well fed. He had been in the zoo for
many years, and had all but forgotten the wari-
ness of living in the wild. I was just something that
smelled a little like a bird and a little like a
human.
I reached a trembling human hand down to touch the
rough coat of the grizzly bear. His nearsighted
eyes watched me. I was nothing to him. I
could not hurt him. He could destroy me without
bothering even to wake up fully.
He was beyond fear. Beyond doubt. Beyond
pain.
"It must be nice," I whispered to him.
I touched him and felt his power flow into me.
And yet, as I absorbed his DNA and imagined
myself becoming this fearless creature, I still
could not forget the look in my father's eyes, or the
quaver in his voice saying, "But, gee, Rachel,
I think it could be okay, you know?"
I could already feel the emptiness his moving would leave
in my life. He could say he'd come back every other
week. He could say we'd
still see each other just as much. But I knew it
wouldn't be that way.
I could imagine him packing up to go.
I could remember the screams in the Yeerk
pool.
I could remember Tobias trying to joke about
college.
Too much. Things that were small and personal, and things
that were huge, all swirled
together in my head. Nothing made sense. It was too
much stuff. Too much fear and guilt and loneliness.
Too many decisions. Too much.
You know, there are days when I just don't feel
brave and fearless. There are days when I
just want to go to a ball game with my dad and eat
popcorn and tune out everything else that's
going on. Be a normal kid.
But that wasn't the life I had. Not anymore.
C
The
next evening, as planned, we all arrived
at the mall separately. I hooked up with
Cassie at
the food court.
"Hi. What a huge surprise to see you here,"
I
said.
"Uh-huh."
We did a little act for any curious Controller
who might be watching, pretending to be sur
prised to see each other.
I looked at my watch. "Perfect. We have fif
teen minutes to wander slowly toward The Gap."
"I saw Jake and Ax down playing video
games,"
Cassie said. "Poor Jake. Ax is a little
unpredictable when he's in human morph. While
I was watching, he tried to eat a cigarette butt
out of an ashtray."
Andalites have no mouths and no sense of
taste. So whenever Ax played human, he
found the sense of taste extremely exciting. He
would try to eat everything around him.
I laughed at the image of Ax chewing on a cig
arette butt. I was surprised I
could
laugh. This
was not a mission I was looking forward to.
We arrived at the store.
"Marco says it's in the last dressing room," I
reminded Cassie. "And we have to assume the people who
work here in the store are all Con
trollers. Speaking of Marco, I wonder if he
made
it on time?"
"I'm sure he did," Cassie said. "He
seems to be kind of into all this lately."
"Yeah, what's that about?" I muttered.
Cassie shrugged. "People change, I guess. I
feel sorry for Tobias, not being able to come
along. It'll tear him up. On the other hand,
I'm jealous."
I nodded in agreement. I was feeling hyper again.
Jazzed. The way I usually did before we set out
to do something dangerous. Only more so
this time. I'll admit it
-
the Yeerk pool scared
me. The idea of that awful place made me sick
at heart. And now we were going back down there.
"Time to go to the dressing room," I said. "Pick
something out you want to try on."
Cassie looked at me blankly. "Like what?"
I rolled my eyes. Cassie cannot shop. She is
shopping-impaired. "Just pretend you're me.
Grab a sweater or something."
I spotted Jake and Ax across the room. Ax's
human morph is always a little surprising to see
because it's a combination of DNA from Jake, Marco,
Cassie, and me. He's a guy, but sort of
pretty, andwitha definite hint of weirdness
about him.
I grabbed a sweater for Cassie and held it out
for her.
"Like I would ever wear
that,"
she said. "It
says' dry
clean only.""
We went to the next-to-last dressing room and
closed the door behind us.
"Let's do this," I said tersely.
We had all decided the best way to go was in
cockroach morph. The last time we'd morphed
into roaches, things had not gone well. But
roaches were fast, and their senses were good enough to use for
our purposes. Also, they might
go unnoticed.
I was not looking forward to doing the roach
body again. I don't like becoming anything that
can be stepped on. Besides, if you think
looking
at a cockroach is gross, try
being one.
I looked at Cassie and let out a yelp. Two
hugely long antennae were sprouting from her
forehead.
"Jeez, you could have warned me you were
starting."
Morphing is not some neat, sensible process where you
just gradually become something else.
It is much weirder than that. Different changes
happen at different times. Body parts appear
suddenly, other parts disappear. And the sizes
don't always match up till the end.
The first change on Cassie was the sudden
appearance of the antennae, which shot straight out of her
forehead like two fishing poles.
Then her skin started to get crispy-looking.
At the same time, we were both shrinking,
which feels just like falling. I mean, you see the
walls shooting up, higher and higher. You see the
ground rushing up at you like you're a para
chutist whose chute didn't open.
Unfortunately, since it was a dressing room,
there were mirrors on two sides.
"AAHHH!" I cried, startled by the nauseating
sight of the skin of my back melting into two
huge, hard, brown wings.
Cassie was too far gone to say "shh," but she
held one of her hands up to what was left of her
lips. Just then her extra legs came popping out of
her stomach, and I think I would have yelped again
except that I no longer had a mouth.
I heard a slurping sound as the last of my bones
dissolved, and I sagged into my exoskeleton.
My clothing was piled around me like a huge
collapsed tent.
Human sight was gone now. What I could see
was vague and muddy and shattered into a thou
sand pieces. But I'd had practice being
a roach. I could make some sense of the roach's
confusing
way of seeing.
And there were compensations. The antennae that had sprouted
from my head were amazingly good at reading vibrations and
smells.
less-than You okay8greater-than I asked
Cassie.
less-than l'm trapped under my own
jeanseagreater-than she said.
less-than No, wait. There. I'm out.
greater-than
less-than like see yeagreater-than I said.
less-than Yikes! Look out! There are pins all
over the carpet. greater-than
The straight pins were steel shafts that looked as big
around as the crossbar of a swing set. The
sharp ends didn't seem very sharp at this size.
And the blunt ends were like big steel beach
balls.
less-than 0kay, let's get out of the
wayeagreater-than I said.
We scurried on our six legs over to a corner
underneath the small triangular seat.
less-than Man, this roach brain really
wants to runeagreater-than
Cassie said.
less-than Tell me about xeagreater-than I
agreed. When you first morph an animal, it is
almost always a struggle to adjust to its particular
instincts. We had morphed
roaches before, so we were prepared, but the first
time I had become a roach it was all I could do to
control the panic.
Even now, the roach's jumpy instincts were
barely under control. "Run!" it said. "Run!"
I heard loud, crashing vibrations. Something
huge moved over our heads. I couldn't see well
enough to recognize him, but a few seconds later he
began to morph down into our world.
less-than Who is t8greater-than I asked.
less-than Me, Marco. What, you don't
recognize me8greater-than
After that came Ax, who had to morph back into his
Andalite body and then into a roach.
Jake grabbed all the clothing we had shed,
stuffed it into a bag, and took it away to store in one
of the coin lockers out in the mall. Then he came
back and morphed into his own cockroach
form. His own outer clothing would be
sacrificed,
left in the dressing room. That would look
strange, but not as strange as five separate sets
of clothing.
less-than 0kay, boys, girls, and
bugseagreater-than Marco said, less-than this has
taken about fifteen minutes, which
means we are already down to an hour and forty-
five minutes in morph. And this is NOT a morph
I
want to be stuck in. greater-than
less-than Amen. Let's move oueagreater-than
Jake said.
We scampered like a very tiny, very gross army
beneath the divider that separated us from the
next dressing room. This was the dressing room
Marco believed led to the Yeerk pool.
less-than We can hide up under the seateagreater-than
I said.
One of the cooler parts of being a roach is the
ability to walk right up most walls. We shot up
the wall and cowered beneath the roof formed by
the little triangular seat.
I rested, facing straight up on the wall. Tiny
spines at the end of my legs gripped the
small bumps of the painted wall. I could see two
of the others just above me, parked like low-slung
tobacco-brown cars. Their antennae waved around,
just as mine did, picking up scents, feeling vibra
tions.
And then, quite suddenly, it happened. The
door of the dressing room opened. A shape so
tall, it might as well have been a skyscraper,
came into the room.
less-than We have companyeagreater-than Marco
announced. As if
we hadn't noticed. As if our little roach brains
weren't screaming at us, "Run! Run! Run!"
Then, I heard a soft
snap.
The mirror on the back wall of the dressing room
swung open. I felt an assault of damp
air, rich with a mineral scent. I had smelled that
aroma before. Memories came rushing into my head.
Memories I wished I could forget.
  less-than Let's gffgreater-than Jake
yelled.
We tore down the wall, hit the carpet, and
blazed for the doorway. The feet of the Controller were
just ahead of us, monstrous building-sized
shoes that lifted and swung ahead, disappearing
from sight.
In we went after the Controller.
The door closed behind us.
less-than We're ineagreater-than Jake said.
less-than 0h, goodyeagreater-than Marco
replied.
Down
into the Yeerk pool.
The very last place I ever wanted to go again.
The first time we went to the Yeerk pool corn
plex, we had taken an incredibly long
stairway.
This time it was more of a ramp. It wound
downward at an easy angle, no worse than
walking down a driveway. And to our roach
bodies, which barely experienced gravity, it was like
walking on level ground.
Under our scampering feet there was bare
dirt, covered by footprints. We climbed in and
out of depressions that seemed to be several feet
deep, by our cockroach standards.
We let the Controller pull away from us, even
though we could have moved as fast as he was.
No point in taking the risk of getting
stepped on.
It was dark all around, with only an occasional bare
electric bulb, high, high overhead like some
dim sun. Still, we wanted to be careful not to
be seen. My antennae were tuned in for any vi
bration that might be another Controller on the
path.
Down, down we went, curving and twisting
between rock walls.
less-than Ax, how are we doing on
time8greater-than Jake asked.
Ax has the ability to keep perfect track of
time, even without a watch. It's a very useful
talent.
less-than Twenty-eight of your minutes have passed
since Cassie and Rachel entered morph.
greater-than
less-than You know, Ax, they're
your
minutes now, tooeagreater-than Marco said, just
to make conversation. less-than like
mean, we are all here together on good old
Earth
where we only have one type of minute. greater-than
We had two hours total in any morph.
At two
hours and one minute, we would be stuck. Like
Tobias. And this was one time I actually agreed with
Marco. I was not interested in being a roach
forever.
less-than Stairs up aheadeagreater-than Cassie
reported.
Over, down. Over, down. Over, down.
Seventy-
five steps.
At last we sensed that the walls were no longer
hemming us in. The path had emerged
into the cavern itself.
Our roach "eyes" could not see it, but I
remembered the first time I had looked down on the
Yeerk pool.
It was a vast underground cavern. Larger than one of
those big sports domes. The stairways and
paths emerged from all sides, right about where
the upper tier of seats would have been in a
sports dome.
In the center of the area was the pool itself, a sludgy,
muddy-looking lake that seemed to
seethe with the mass of Yeerk slugs in it.
But that was not the worst of it.
Two piers were built out over the lake. One
was where the Controllers
-
human, Hork-Bajir,
Taxxon, and other species
-
disgorged the
Yeerks from their heads. Hork-Bajir guards would
watch carefully as each Controller knelt at the
far
end of the pier and held his head down close to
the surface of the lake.
The Yeerk slug would then slither out of the host's ear
and drop with a flat splash into the
lake.
That's when you would discover whether the
Controller was a "voluntary" host, or someone
who had been taken against his will.
See, the voluntary hosts
-
the ones who had
chosen
to turn themselves over to the Yeerks
-
would stand up and calmly walk away.
The involuntary hosts would realize that they
were temporarily free of the evil alien in their
heads. That they once more had control over their own
minds and bodies. Some would scream. Some would cry.
Many would beg to be
released.
A few would try to escape. But the Hork-Bajir
were there to grab them and haul them to cages.
That's where they would await the moment when they would be
taken to the second pier.
The second pier was the place where Yeerks,
now strong from their swim in the pool and full of the
nutrition of Kandrona rays, would slither back
inside their hosts.
When I had nightmares about the Yeerk pool . . .
and I had those nightmares a lot
...
it would always be about that second pier.
The voluntary hosts would kneel and receive
the Yeerks back into their brains.
The involuntaries would struggle. They would fight.
Curse. Some would dare the Hork-Bajir to
kill them.
We were on a ramp again. No one had said
anything for a while as we still raced lower and
lower, deeper and deeper, closer and closer.
That memory was in all of our minds. All ex
cept Ax, who had not been there.
less-than like wish I could see more
clearlyeagreater-than Ax said. less-than like wish
I could see all that is going on. greater-than
less-than No. You don'teagreater-than I told
him.
We
were at the end of the ramp. We reached
the flat floor of the cavern.
less-than 0kay, now what8greater-than Cassie
wondered. less-than We've used up at least
three-quarters of an hour. greater-than
less-than Forty-one of your minuteseagreater-than
Ax said.
less-than 0kayeagreater-than Jake said.
less-than You guys remember there were buildings
all around the edge of the
cavern, set back from the Yeerk pool? Most are
probably storage. Some may be generators and
air purifiers. But some may be offices, control
rooms, or even hold the Kandrona itself. We need
to check out some of those buildings. greater-than
less-than Well, that's what bugs do
besteagreater-than Marco
joked.
less-than like wish we could have found a bug morph
with better eyeseagreater-than I said. less-than
How are we going to even find these buildings? I
can't see more than
a couple of feet in front of me. greater-than
less-than Don't need toeagreater-than Cassie
said. less-than We can smell.
They have humans down here. I don't know
about Hork-Bajir and Taxxons, but if there are
humans down here, they must eat somewhere. And I
swear I smell french fries. greater-than
She was right. I don't know if they were fries, but
my roach brain definitely detected food.
less-than Go for the friesffgreater-than Jake said
with a laugh.
We barreled away across the dusty ground. Just
ahead, a wall loomed. It was easy enough to
find a crack. A roach can slide through a crack
no
thicker than a quarter.
We emerged into brilliant light and an assault
of sounds and smells.
less-than So. Where do you think we
are8greater-than Marco
asked.
less-than This looks like linoleum under
ueagreater-than I said. less-than Dirty
linoleum. I feel a lot of vibrations
-
lots
of feet, I'm guessing. And voices. Too many
for me to make sense of them. greater-than
less-than like smell humanseagreater-than Ax
confirmed.
less-than Humans don't smelleagreater-than I
said, only half-joking.
less-than 0h, humans smelleagreater-than Ax
argued. less-than lt's not a
bad
smell. Sort of like an animal we have back
on my planet called a
flaar. greater-than
less-than So we have french fries and
humanseagreater-than
Marco said. less-than Are you telling me we have
reached
the Yeerk pool McDonald's8greater-than
less-than lf it's some kind of lunchroom
or something,
it would be a good place to listen in on conversa
tions caret Cassie said. less-than Maybe
we can get closer. Crawl up under a table. We
should be able to
-
greater-than
Suddenly a shadow fell over us. Something huge was
overhead, blocking out the harsh fluo
rescent light.
less-than Now,
that. . .
that is not a human smelleagreater-than
Ax said.
less-than like smell it, tooeagreater-than I said.
less-than lt's familiar. I don't
like it. Something . . . I've smelled it before . .,
it's
...
I can't get my human memory and my
roach senses together. It smells like . . .
greater-than
less-than Taxxonffgreater-than Cassie said
suddenly. less-than Look. That
tree-looking thing up there. I think it's a
Taxxon
legffgreater-than
less-than 0h, gross. I
hate
those thingseagreater-than I said.
less-than LOOK OUFFGREATER-THAN
Hurtling down from the fluorescent sky at incredible
speed came something like a bright red
whip.
I powered my six legs in instant response.
It was too fast!
The red whip slapped the ground all around
me. It fell over me like an awful, wet quilt.
Some
thing like glue oozed around me, seeping under
my shell, gumming up my legs.
less-than Noooffgreater-than I screamed.
less-than l'm trappedffgreater-than Marco cried.
I was lifted up off the ground. My back was glued
to the red whip, and I was hurtling through
space. I caught a wild glimpse of the others,
stuck to the red whip just like me.
less-than What's happening8ffgreater-than Cassie
cried.
less-than lt's the Taxxoneagreater-than
Ax said. less-than like think he's about
to consume uffgreater-than
We were stuck to the frog-like tongue of the
Taxxon, as the evil creature slurped his tongue
back down his throat.
less-than like can't get looseffgreater-than Jake
yelled.
In an instant, without warning, death had
come for us.
I was glued down, helpless, as the Taxxon's red
tongue sucked back into its mouth.
And then . . .
And then . . . everything, everywhere, stopped.
The sticky red whip of the Taxxon's tongue stopped
moving.
But it was more than that. Nothing was vibrating against my
antennae. There were no sounds. There were no smells,
because the air itself had stopped moving.
Then, without meaning to, I began to de-
morph.
less-than What's going on8greater-than I asked.
less-than l'm demorphingeagreater-than Cassie
said. less-than But it wasn't
me doing it. greater-than
less-than Are we dead? Is this some kind
of hallucina-
tion8greater-than I asked.
less-than lf it is, I'm having it,
tooeagreater-than Jake said.
I swiftly grew larger and larger. My center
pair
of cockroach legs dwindled and disappeared. My
lower legs swelled and grew skin.
I fell from the Taxxon's tongue to the ground,
too large and heavy to be stuck any longer.
Toes appeared. Fingers appeared. My true
human eyes opened.
I looked around, dazed and disoriented.
The others were all there. We were all human
again, barefoot and dressed in our skin-tight
morphing outfits, like we always were when we came out
of a morph.
Ax was back in his Andalite body, just adding to the
general weirdness of the scene.
We were inside a building. As we had guessed,
it was a lunchroom. There was a kitchen to one side.
There were a dozen long tables down the
middle of the room.
People sat at the tables, eating. Only . . . they
weren't eating. They were holding forks.
They were looking down at plates of food. They were
getting ready to speak. They were holding
mugs of coffee.
But no one was moving.
No one was breathing.
The steam rising from the mugs of coffee was
frozen and still as a photograph.
"Okay. I'm ready to wake up now," Marco
said. "This dream is getting weird."
"Look," I said. "Hork-Bajir."
Two Hork-Bajir were standing by the door. I
had never seen one standing still before. Even
frozen in place they were frightening
-
seven
feet of knife-edged arms, legs, head, and tail.
Salad Shooters on legs, as Marco said.
Walking
razor blades.
And then there was the Taxxon. The one who had been about
to eat us. It was a monstrously
big centipede, as big around as a concrete sewer
pipe. It had a round, red mouth at the very top of
its worm body. The long, red whip of a tongue
stuck out and hung in the air.
"I have an idea," Marco said. "Even if this is
a dream . . . let's get OUT of here!"
"Definitely," I agreed.
"MOVE!" Jake said loudly.
We ran for the door of the lunchroom. Out
into the vast, intimidating openness of the cav
ern.
Outside, the same freeze had occurred. The
surface of the Yeerk pool was still. The humans and
Hork-Bajir who were involuntary hosts were
frozen in their cages, screaming and crying and
shouting without a sound or a movement.
On the infestation pier, a woman was bent low over the
water, held down by a Hork-Bajir. A
Yeerk was halfway into her ear. She was crying. Her
tears were motionless on her cheeks.
Then I saw something moving. One single
thing in all that eerie stillness.
A boy. He was tall, a little gangly. He had
hair
that looked as if it had never been combed.
"Oh
..."
I whispered. "Oh . . . look! It's To
bias!"
The others all turned to see.
Tobias shrugged his human shoulders. He held
up his hands to stare at his own fingers. "It
is me," he said, sounding like he doubted it. "My
old body. Here."
I ran to him. I don't really know why, I just
did. I wanted to touch him. To know he was real.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" he yelled. He jumped
back and
suddenly threw his arms up and down.
He was flapping, trying to get away. Trying
to fly. I had scared him by rushing at him.
"Sorry," he whispered, terribly embarrassed.
"Sorry."
I put my arms around him and hugged him
tightly.
"Tobias, what's going on?" I asked him.
"I don't know," he said. "I was flying . . .
then suddenly, I was here. Like this."
less-than Time has stoppedeagreater-than Ax said.
less-than For everyone
but us. I can feel it. greater-than
"Something is very, very wrong," Cassie said darkly.
"Is this some trick of Visser Three's?"
less-than This is not Yeerk
technology, I can tell you
teagreater-than Ax said. less-than This is far
beyond them; Far be
yond us Andalites, as well. greater-than
WHAT? HUMILITY? FROM AN ANDALITE?
"Yaaahhh!" Marco screamed.
The voice came from everywhere at once. And
from nowhere. It wasn't a voice, not really. It
wasn't even thought-speak. It was like an idea
that simply popped into your head. The words exploded
like bursting balloons inside your own
thoughts.
I spun around, looking for the source, ready to fight
if necessary.
NO, RACHEL. THERE IS NO THREAT.
"It knows your name!" Tobias hissed.
I glanced at Ax. He had gone rigid. He
wasn't frozen like all the world around us, he was
afraid.
He was shaking.
AXIMILI.-ESGARROUTH-ISTHILL HAS BEGUN
TO GUESS
WHAT I AM.
less-than Ellimistffgreater-than Ax said.
DO NOT BE AFRAID. I WILL
APPEAR IN A PHYSICAL
FORM YOU CAN UNDERSTAND.
The air directly in front of me
...
no, not in
front, behind. Beside. Around. I can't explain it.
The air just opened up. As if there were a door in
nothingness. As if air were solid and
...
it is just
impossible to explain.
The air opened. He appeared.
He was humanoid. Two arms, two legs, a
head where a human head would be.
His skin was glowing blue, as if he were a lightbulb
that had been painted over so that light
still shone from him.
He seemed like an old man, but with a force of energy
that was definitely not frail. His hair
was long and white. His ears were swept up into points.
His eyes were black holes that seemed to
be full of stars.
"I am an Ellimist," he said, speaking with an
actual voice, "as your Andalite friend guessed."
Ax was shaking so badly he looked like he
might fall down.
"Be at peace, Andalite," the Ellimist said.
"Look at your human friends. They do not fear
me."
less-than They don't know what you areeagreater-than
Ax managed
to say.
The Ellimist smiled. "Neither do you. All you
know are the fairy stories your people tell to chil
dren."
"Well, how about if someone tells us who and
what you are?" I said. I was not in the best mood
ever. It was extremely bizarre and unnerving to
be surrounded by human-Controllers,
Hork-Bajir,
and Taxxons, in the very heart of the enemy's
stronghold. They were all frozen, but that could
change.
To be honest, I was scared. And when I'm
scared, I get mad.
The Ellimist looked at me. "You cannot begin
to understand what I am."
less-than They are all-powerfuleagreater-than Ax
said simply.
less-than They can cross a million
light-years in a single instant. They can make
entire worlds disappear.
They can stop time itself. greater-than
"This one doesn't look all that powerful,"
Marcosd skeptically.
less-than Don't be a fooleagreater-than Ax
snapped. less-than That's not
his body. He has no body. He is
...
everywhere
at once. Inside your head. Inside this planet.
Inside the fabric of space and time. greater-than
"So why are you here?" Jake asked the Ellim
ist. "Why all of this? Why did you bring Tobias
here?"
"Obviously, you saw right through our morphs,"
Marco said. "You knew who we were.
You even know our names. You brought us all
here together. Why?"
"Because you must decide," the Ellimist said.
"Decide what?" I demanded.
"The fate of your race," the Ellimist said.
"The fate of the human race."
That's all?" Marco asked. "Just the fate of
the human race? Don't you have something more
challenging for us?"
But the Ellimist wasn't paying attention to
Marco. "We do not interfere in the private
affairs of other beings," he said. "But when they are in
danger of becoming extinct, we step in to save a
few members. We love life. All life, but
especially sentient life forms, like Homo
sapiens. Your species. This is a very beautiful
planet. A price
less work of art."
"You've obviously never seen our school,"
Marco said, still giddily trying to joke.
Suddenly, without warning, the Ellimist did it
again. He opened space.
We were no longer standing in the Yeerk pool. We were
no longer underground at all.
We were underwater.
Deep underwater. But the water did not seem
to touch my skin. And when I breathed, there
was air. Still, I felt fear tingle the back of my
neck.
We stood
-
me, Cassie, Jake, Marco, Ax, and
Tobias . . . Tobias, in his own
human body
-
in
the middle of an ocean. Suspended in the water, but
dry. The Ellimist could no longer be seen.
We were floating above a coral reef. And everything
was moving again.
All around us, fish swam by in swift-darting
schools. Fish in every color and shape, reflecting
the dappled sunlight from above. Sharks prowled.
Stingrays seemed to fly. Squid pulsated.
Crabs scuttled across fabulous extrusions
of coral. Tuna as big as sheep drifted past.
Swift, grinning dolphins raced by in pursuit of
their
next meal.
LOVELY.
The Ellimist's voice once more seemed to grow from
deep within my own heart.
LOVELY.
And then, as quickly as we had been plunged into the
ocean, we were drifting above the waving golden grass
of the African savannah. A pride of lions
lazed in the sun below us, looking sleepily
content. Wildebeest and gazelles and
impalas
grazed, then broke into wild, springing, bouncing
races that forced you to smile at the sheer energy
of it all.
There were hyenas, rhinos, elephants, giraffes,
cheetahs, baboons, zebras. Hawks and
eagles and buzzards wheeled overhead.
LOOK AT X.
Then, in an instant, deep jungle. A lithe
jaguar prowled while monkeys chattered in the
tree canopy above. Snakes as long as a person
slithered across tree branches. The air reeked of the
heavy perfume of a million flowers. We heard
the sounds of frogs, insects, monkeys, and wild,
screaming birds.
IN ALL THE UNIVERSE, NO GREATER
BEAUTY. IN A THOUSAND, THOUSAND WORLDS,
NO GREATER
ART THAN TH.
Then the Ellimist showed us the human race.
We flew, invisible, through the steel-and-glass
canyons of New York City.
We drifted above villages at the edges of
jungle rivers. We watched a rock concert in
Rio de Janeiro, and a political
meeting in Seoul, and a
soccer game in Durban, and an open-air market
in the Philippines.
HUMANS. CRUDE. PRIMITIVE. BUT
CAPABLE OF UN
DERSTANDING.
Suddenly, all the movement stopped. We
were staring at a picture. A painting. I'd seen the
painting somewhere before.
It was a wild swirl of color. A painting of
pur
ple flowers. Irises, I think, although I'm no
big
expert on flowers. The artist had seen the beauty of
those flowers and captured some small bit of it
on canvas.
CAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING.
Then, without warning, we were back in the
Yeerk pool.
The images were all gone. We were in the
land of despair once again. Surrounded by frozen
images of horror.
The Ellimist
-
or at least the body he had made for us
to look at
-
reappeared.
"That was a nice tour," I said. I was trying to sound
tough. But I felt as if I had been turned
inside out. As if my mind had exploded into a
thousand sparkling pieces. I was overwhelmed.
"But what's it all about?"
"Humans are an endangered species. Soon you
will disappear."
I thought of a couple things to say. But I said nothing.
No one said anything.
"The Yeerk race is also sentient," the Ellimist
said. "And they are technologically more advanced than
you. They will continue to infest the human race. The
Andalites will try to stop them, but they will fail. The
Yeerks will win. And soon,
the only humans left will be what you call
human-Controllers."
I had stopped breathing. The way he said
it
...
it was like you couldn't argue. Like you couldn't say
anything. He spoke every word with
utter and complete certainty.
He wasn't guessing. He
knew.
He knew that we would lose.
C
JL
had been terrified a few moments before,
as the Taxxon prepared to swallow us. I had been
afraid for my own life and the lives of my friends.
Now, as the Yeerk pool hung suspended in
time, I felt a deeper fear. My head was still
swim
ming from all the images the Ellimist had shown
us.
"Why come here just to tell us we're dead meat?" I
managed to ask.
"We have an offer for you," the Ellimist said.
"You see, we can save a small sample of the
human race. We have a planet where we would
relocate you. You . . . some members of your
family. A few others, chosen to get a good
genetic
sampling. As well as a few non-human Earth
species that are of special interest to us."
I was surprised to hear Cassie actually laugh.
"He's some kind of environmentalist," she
said.
"That's what he is. We're the spotted owls.
We're
the rhinos. We're the whales.
We're the endan
gered species, and he's the environmentalist
trying to save us."
"We have a planet set aside for you," the El
limist said. "It will seem very much like Earth.
You would be free to evolve naturally, as your
species should."
"This is insane," Marco said. "It's like Noah's
ark. The Yeerk flood is coming. Load up the
boat."
"No," Tobias said, staring at the Ellimist.
"It's a zoo. That's what he has for us
-
a zoo."
The Ellimist said, "We do not impose our will on
sentient species. The decision is yours. I have
chosen you to decide, because only you, of all free
humans, know what is happening. You must decide
-
to stay on Earth and fight a battle you
are certain to lose. Or to leave this planet
behind and form part of a new colony of humans."
"How long do we have to decide?" Jake
asked.
"You must decide now," the Ellimist said.
"What?" I yelled. "What? What are you up
to?
What do you mean, we have to decide
now

."
This was beyond insane. This was a dream.
This couldn't even be real. I was imagining it all.
"If
you decide the answer is yes, you, and some of those you
are close to, will be instantly taken to your new
home. If the answer is no, I
will return everything to the way it was when I in
terrupted time."
"You mean we're back in roach morph headed
down that Taxxon's throat?" I asked.
"Everything as it was," the Ellimist said. "Our
purpose is not to interfere."
I looked at Tobias. His face showed nothing.
Maybe he had forgotten how to show emotion.
"And our friend Tobias?" Cassie asked
softly.
his
Everything as
it was," the Ellimist repeated.
"Oh, that's real fair," Marco said. "You ask us
this just as we're about to be some Taxxon's
lunch?"
"This is ridiculous," Jake said angrily. "You
can't just tell us we have to make a decision like this.
We are not the ones who should be deciding
this. I mean, maybe you're trying to do the right thing for
us, but this is nuts."
less-than Ellimists are not interested in what is
faireagreater-than Ax said. less-than Ellimists
give you a choice that is no choice at all. Then
they can claim that they do
not interfere. They will
pretend
it was a human
decisions
It was hard to argue with Ax's opinion. The
Ellimist had totally rigged this decision. Realizing
that made me want to resist. The Ellimist
wanted us to say yes. He wanted us to abandon
the fight against the Yeerks.
And yet
...
a place where we would have
peace. A place where the fighting would be over. Where
we could be normal kids. No more deci
sions. No more battles.
The Ellimist had said we would be with some
of the people we were close to. Who? Who would
be saved?
"I vote no," Tobias said, with sharp, angry
de
fiance. "You're using me. You're using my
friends" affection for me as a tool. And I'm not
going for it."
"Let's think this over a little first, Tobias,"
Cassie pleaded. "I mean, just because we're up
set.
dis.th
decision is for the whole human race. Do you understand
that? He's talking about
humanity becoming
extinct."
"Tobias, you personally have a lot to lose,"
jake reminded him. "If we say no, you're right
back in your hawk body."
"So we have two votes no, Tobias and Rachel,
one vote yes from Cassie," Marco said.
But I
hadn't
voted. Marco had just assumed. . . . And he was
right, I realized with a sick churning in my stomach.
Marco was right
about me. I had to vote no. If Tobias was
ready to
stay in the fight, with all he had to lose, I
couldn't
do less.
"What this character wants us to do is run
away," I said. "He wants us to abandon our people and
our planet just to save ourselves and the people we care about
personally."
Tobias met my gaze. There appeared a faint
flicker of his old, human smile.
less-than This is a decision for
humanseagreater-than Ax said. less-than like fight
the Yeerks. I follow Prince Jake. But I
don't trust this Ellimist, however great his power.
greater-than
"Guys, I know how you feel," Cassie said,
"but
think
about this. We may not even get out of this Yeerk pool
alive. And if we die, then what
chance do humans have against the Yeerks? And
anyway, he says that humans will lose. Isn't
it better to save
some
humans, rather than losing
everyone?"
Jake and Marco had still not voted. I noticed that
they were looking back toward the building
we had come from. And past the building, to what looked
like a tall, circular column rising straight up
to the rock ceiling of the cavern.
The column was a mix of steel and clear glass.
Inside the column was a human-Controller,
seemingly frozen in mid-air. She looked like she
had
been falling down the long tube.
Or else flying up it.
A dropshaft! We had used one aboard the
Yeerk mother ship. It was a sort of elevator that
worked on some invisible force to let you fall safely
from one level to another.
But did it go
up,
as well as
down?
That was
the question. Was the human-Controller in the
shaft fall ing or rising?
Jake cocked an eyebrow at me. He looked
back to the column, making sure I had noticed
it.
I squinted closely at the frozen Controller.
She had shoulder-length hair. If she were falling,
it should have been swept upward. It was down
around her neck.
"Mr. Ellimist," Marco said, "thanks for your
offer. But I don't think so. I don't think I
want to
be in your zoo. And I don't like being muscled like this.
I'm glad you like Earth, but we'll take
care of it the best way we can."
That made it four against. Me, Marco, Tobias,
and Ax. I counted Ax, even if he said it
wasn't up
to him.
Cassie was alone in leaning in favor of the El
limist offer.
"You all know I take care of lots of sick
animals. They are always afraid of me, even though
I
am trying to help them. Are we being brave saying
no? Or are we just being foolish, resisting
someone who is trying to save us?"
What she said made me think. With a shock, I
pictured nature films I had seen. I
remembered
one that showed environmentalists attempting to
capture some tigers. They were trying to move the
tigers to a game preserve where they would
be safe. Tigers are almost extinct, and the hu
mans were trying to save a few.
But the tigers had resisted. They had growled and fought
and avoided the capture nets.
Was that us? were we animals on the edge of
extinction, resisting the being who'd come to
save us?
I wondered if I should change my vote. Save
myself. Save my family. What would they say, if
they
had a vote? My mom? She would never risk
the lives of her children. She would vote yes.
And my dad? If we were all magically
trans
ported to a safe place together, and I had to
explain what I had done? That I had voted
to save
all of us and give up the fight? What would he
think of that decision?
"You know what bothers me?" I heard Jake tell
the Ellimist. "You say the human race will lose
to the Yeerks. But I don't believe you can tell the
future. See, you don't know how we're going
to vote. If you did, you wouldn't bother to be here,
would you?" He looked around at each of us.
Cassie smiled sadly. "If you guys vote
to stay,
I will, too."
Jake reached out and took her hand. "Mr.
Ellimist, I guess you have your an
-
his
was -- swer."
  Instantly, we were back in our roach bodies.
IF YOU LIVE, I WILL ASK ONCE
M.
IF YOU LIVE.
  The red whip of the Taxxon's tongue
held me glued down, helpless!
  less-than Morph! Morph ouffgreater-than
Jake yelled in my head.
  I didn't need to be told twice.
  Through the fear, I focused my mind on my own
human body. Suddenly all around me went dark.
  less-than We're inside the
Taxxonffgreater-than I yelled.
  less-than Focus on morphingffgreater-than
Jake yelled. less-than We are busting out of
here.greater-than
  A gush of stinging liquid, like a tidal wave,
washed me from the sticky tongue. I tumbled blind and
terrified through hot, viscous goo.
But at the same time I could feel that I was
growing. My roach antennae brushed against something very
close to me. Another cockroach.
But bigger than it should have been.
less-than Demorphingffgreater-than Cassie
yelled.
less-than Right with yeagreater-than I yelled back.
Everything was closing in around me. The bodies of the
others were shoved against mine as
we all grew out of our roach morphs. I felt
the gut
of the Taxxon spasming as it tried to deal with
this deadly growing meal.
My human lungs were growing back, and as they grew
they began to need air.
I was suffocating! My body was not as durable
as the roach form.
less-than Airffgreater-than I heard Marco
cry. less-than like can't breathe. greater-than
less-than Just keep morphingeagreater-than Jake
said. less-than We'll try
and pop this worm open. greater-than
less-than like have my tail ageagreater-than Ax said.
less-than Should I
-
greater-than
less-than YESFFGREATER-THAN Jake said.
less-than Do xffgreater-than
The darkness around us split open suddenly. I
caught a glimpse of Ax's scythe-like Andalite
tail
slicing the Taxxon open from the inside.
Air!
Air
rushed in. Stinking, foul, vile air, but
air.
We exploded from the inside of the Taxxon,
wrapped in its guts, covered with green-blue
slime.
We were not fully human yet, still some awful melding
of human and bug, but we were finish
ing our demorphing as fast as we ever had.
Air!
I sucked it into my still-forming lungs.
The Taxxon lay ruined and reeking all around
us. The room full of human-Controllers eating
dinner was no longer frozen by the Ellimist.
Now they were frozen by sheer disbelief.
"Let's bail!" I yelled. "Before they can think
about it."
We ran. Slipping and slithering through the Taxxon's
guts, still forming the last of our fingers
and toes, we tore out of there.
"Get them!" a human voice yelled. "Get
them, you fools, or Visser Three will chew your
bones!"
Suddenly, with a roar, the human-Controllers surged
up out of their chairs.
A Hork-Bajir near the door moved swiftly
to
cut us off. Ax swung his tail with
blinding speed. It hit the Hork-Bajir in his
shoulder.
"Head for the dropshaft!" Marco cried as he
led the way from the room.
"Everyone but Ax, if you can morph again, do
it!" Jake yelled as we raced for the dropshaft.
"We need firepower!"
I didn't need to be told. The only one of us
who had any kind of natural ability to fight was
Ax. I was already trying to focus my mind on the
bear that I had made a part of me.
Part of me knew it was foolish. I should
morph the elephant, or a wolf. I knew both
of those morphs, I could handle them. But I also
knew the elephant might not fit in the dropshaft.
And I wanted power.
"Whumpf!"
Something hit me and I went sprawling
across the dirt.
A man stood over me. A grown man! He had
slammed into me. For some reason, this outraged me.
What kind of a creep would hit a girl
half his size?
Of course I knew the answer. I knew the man
was not really a man at all, but a
Controller. The
Yeerk in his head didn't know or care about
chivalry.
The man bent over me and began to put his
hands around my throat.
Suddenly, he only had one hand.
"Aaarrrgghhh!" he cried, falling back.
"Thanks, Ax," I said.
less-than We are trappedeagreater-than he said.
I looked past him. The others had all reached
the dropshaft, a hundred feet away. Between the
two of us and them was a small army of human-
Controllers and Hork-Bajir.
As I watched, Marco, and then Cassie, were
swept up the dropshaft. Only Jake was still standing
there. He looked back at us with an ex
pression of horror.
"Jake, get OUT of here!" I screamed.
"We'll
be okay!"
Several of the Controllers began closing in on
Jake. But most of them only had eyes for Ax.
They could see that he was an Andalite
-
the deadly enemy of all Yeerks. I
don't know what
they thought I was, still dripping with Taxxon
goo.
Suddenly, a pair of Hork-Bajir warriors
rushed
at us. Their bladed arms slashed the air. They
came at us like a pair of chainsaws on high
speed.
Ax struck!
But the Hork-Bajir were too fast.
less-than Aaaarrrhhffgreater-than
There was a deep gash down Ax's flank.
He struck again and again, his scorpion tail almost
invisible. The human-Controllers stayed prudently
back, as much afraid of getting sliced and diced
by the angry Hork-Bajir as by Ax. But
more Hork-Bajir were rushing up, and Ax was los
ing ground.
Then
...
I realized I was no longer afraid.
A deep confidence had welled up inside of me.
Utter confidence. Utter fearlessness.
I realized I was no longer standing erect. I
was on all fours. When I looked down
I expected
to see my two hands splayed on the dirt. Instead
I saw massive paws.
Coarse, dark brown fur. Black claws, each
like
the point of a pickax.
I had become the bear. It was
his
confidence I
felt. It was
his
total lack of fear.
I was an animal that had never, in a thousand generations
of grizzly bears, known an instant of
real fear.
Suddenly, I felt a terrible pain in my shoulder.
One of the Hork-Bajir had slashed me. I glared
with nearsighted eyes and saw nothing but a tall
blur.
I had never morphed the bear before. I had
never learned to control its brain, its instincts.
The bear mind was focused completely on one
basic fact
-
it had been challenged.
There was exactly one response to being chal
lenged.
Attack!
"Grrooowwwrrrr!" I roared. I charged the
Hork-Bajir.
He cut me again. It didn't matter. I
barreled
into him, eight hundred pounds of very angry
grizzly.
The power!
I was a truck doing seventy miles an hour!
I was a tank!
I was the largest carnivore on land and nothing,
NOTHING challenged me and survived!
I could barely see the Hork-Bajir through the
bear's weak eyes, but I smelled him and felt
him,
and I swung my massive paw and hit him full
in
the chest. I struck him with a blow that would have knocked
a train off its tracks.
The Hork-Bajir went flying.
More came.
More discovered why part of the Latin name
for the grizzly species is
horribilis.
I barely remember what happened next. I
gave myself up to the bear's rage. Its anger and
my own became one. All the tension within me, all the
uncertainty, all the doubts were swept away as I
gave myself up to the bear's violence.
I remember that at some point, Jake got into his
tiger morph and joined the fight. And I have flashing
images from my memory of terrible de
struction. Of ripping claws and crushing jaws.
But the next thing I clearly remember is flying
up the long dropshaft, while Jake's voice in
my head kept saying, less-than Rachel, morph
out. Morph
out. You're out of control! You are OUT of control!
Morphffgreater-than
I was clawing wildly at the air, trying to kill
the tiger that was suspended above me in the
dropshaft.
Trying to kill Jake.
I felt as if I had snapped awake from a
dream.
Slowly, as we rose toward the surface, I
left the bear and returned to myself.
I he soaring rush up the dropshaft
seemed to
last forever.
The dropshaft entered solid rock, and as I
rose, I shed the last of my bear form. I felt the
return of my human reason. But I was still confused
and disconnected from what was going on.
Then, quite suddenly, I was at the top of the
dropshaft. I stepped off onto solid concrete.
The others were all there. Ax was trying to morph into
his human body, but he was having trouble. Mor-
phing is exhausting. Morphing rapidly from one
form to the next more than once makes you feel
like you want to just crawl in a corner and die.
I knew how he felt. I stumbled from sheer
weariness as I stepped onto the cement floor. It
was dark, with just enough faint light to see the
faces around me.
"Careful," Cassie said, taking my arm.
"We're
okay. We're safe. We're in the base of the
water
tower behind the school."
"Gotta get out of here. Yeerks will be watch
ing."
"Yeah, they were," Marco said. He
jerked his head over to the corner where two human-
Controllers lay unconscious.
"Let's get out of here," Jake said. "You okay,
Rachel?"
"Yeah. Tired is all. I
...
I never morphed the
bear before. Didn't have time to get control.
Sorry."
"It's okay, Rachel. That grizzly got us all
out of there. But get some rest, huh?"
"Yeah. Rest would be nice."
Somehow I made it home. I crawled into my
bed and fell instantly asleep.
I didn't wake up till the next morning when
my alarm went off. I was groggy, barely able
to read the numbers on my clock.
"Rachel? Are you up?" my mom called
through the door.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm up," I said.
I crawled out of bed and staggered toward the
bathroom. Jordan was in the bathroom we share.
I went out into the hall toward my mother's bath
room.
She was already up and dressed in a tan
busi
ness suit. She was adjusting her nylons. "You
don't look too good," she said, giving me a
side
ways look.
"Uh," I said. "Can I use your shower?"
"You're wearing the clothes you came home in last
night," she said accusingly. "You came
wandering in at nine-thirty, barefoot and wearing your
leotard. That's what you're still wearing."
I stared stupidly down at myself. Yes, I was
wearing my morphing outfit. "Urn
...
my, urn, I
left my shoes over at Cassie's. I was showing
her some gymnastics stuff. Can I use your shower
or
not?"
"Coming home barefoot and falling asleep without even
having dinner," my mom said, and
shook her head. "Rachel, if you are having some
problems or something, I want you to talk to me."
I did the wrong thing: I suddenly burst out
laughing. "Problems? No, why would I have any
problems?" I giggled, and wiped the sleep
from
my eyes, and giggled some more.
My mom sighed. "I have an early court ap
pearance this morning," she said. "The Hallinan
case. But I want you to stay home tonight. I think
you and I need to have a little talk. I know your
father has thrown a big problem into your lap. I
know this decision is very difficult for you."
"Can I use your shower or not?" I sighed, no
longer giggling.
"Go ahead. Make sure Sara gets on the bus
okay."
I closed the bathroom door behind me and
fled to the sanctuary of steaming hot water.
It started coming back to me then. All of it.
Exploding out of the Taxxon's stomach. The El-
limist's offer. The sight of Tobias, back for
too brief a time in his own body. Human again.
And the battle
...
a rampaging, enraged
bear. A bear that was me.
I shuddered. I was running out of hot water.
"Rachel? What did you do, fall in?" It was
Jor
dan, outside the bathroom door.
"Jordan? Make sure Sara gets off
to school,
okay?" I called out. "I'm running a little
late. You
go ahead, too."
I skipped school that day for the first time in
my life. I lay around the house and watched day
time trash TV. I flipped channels back and
forth,
between one bunch of messed-up people and another bunch of
even more messed-up people.
It was nice, watching other people with prob
lems. Their problems all seemed easy compared
to mine.
But over the electronic pictures of angry
people and placating hosts, other images appeared. A
Taxxon, split open like a torn bag of
garbage. The frozen, silent screams of
involuntary hosts in their cages.
And through all the television noise, I could still hear
other voices. The Ellimist's voice in my
head.
We can save a small sample of the human
race.
And Jake's voice.
You are out of control!
And my father.
To another city. Another state.
I tried not to even think about everything that
had happened the day before. I mean, it was so
ridiculous. I lived in two completely different
worlds.
One world was filled by my family, school,
gymnastics classes, shopping, listening to mu
sic, watching TV . . disnormal stuff.
But then I had this whole other life. A life where
I wasn't just Jordan and Sara's big sister,
and my mom's first child, and a teacher's pet,
and a gymnastics student who was weak on the
balance beam.
In my other life I was
...
a warrior. I risked
my life. I fought in deadly nightmare battles
against terrible odds. I became so much more
than just a kid.
Noon rolled around and I made myself a
grilled cheese sandwich. I turned on the TV in
the kitchen while I cooked. And there was my
dad on the noon news. He was doing a remote
-
a story from outside the studio. Some stupid event
at the convention center.
I muted the sound and just watched the pic
ture. I threw my sandwich in the trash.
"What am I supposed to do?!" I yelled
suddenly, shocking myself. "What am I supposed
to
do!"
My voice sounded flat and dead in the silence
of the kitchen. I felt foolish. It wasn't like me
to
get all emotional.
I stood there, just staring at the cupboards.
The Ellimist. . . the bear
...
my father. . . . What
was I supposed to do? Leave my mom and sisters?
Leave my dad? Leave my friends? Leave the
whole messed-up planet?
I imagined going to see my father down at the
convention center. "Dad? I have this problem." And he
would put his arm around me and fluff
my hair the way he always did and say,
"Come
on, kid. Don't be so serious."
I turned the TV sound back on. My dad was
grinning at something. He was doing some chatter with the
anchorpeople back at the station.
"...
be leaving us soon, and we're all sorry
to hear that. But I know it will be a great opportu
nity for you."
"Yes, it will," my father said. "Although I will
really miss all the
-
his
I snapped off the TV set. I felt sick
inside. Like I had swallowed broken glass.
  I needed to get out of the house. I needed to stop
thinking.
  I went upstairs and opened my bedroom win dow.
  Several minutes later, a large bald eagle
flew from my window and soared high into the sky.
We
all hooked up later that afternoon at
Cassie's barn.
Inside her barn there are rows of cages in all
shapes and sizes, mostly full. Birds
are in one area, with mammals separated from them by a
partition wall. I guess it makes the birds
nervous
to be in the same room with foxes and raccoons.
Nervous birds hurt themselves, banging around
the cages.
When I showed up at the meeting bare
foot and in my morphing outfit, everyone immediately
knew I hadn't exactly taken the bus to get
there.
Jake and Marco were lolling on bales of hay.
Tobias was perched on a cross beam a few feet
over our heads. I felt a stab of pain, seeing
him that way again.
Ax did not come to these meetings, usually.
He would have had to assume his human morph, and he
preferred to remain in Andalite form as
much as possible.
"Hi, Rachel," Marco said, looking amused,
but also a little wary. "What have you been up to?
Or maybe I should ask, what have you
been!"
Cassie was busy changing the bandage on the
wing of a sad-looking kestrel.
"Hey, Rachel," Cassie said.
"Give me a hand here, will you? I didn't see you
at school today."
I went and held the struggling bird as well as I
could. Kestrels are small falcons. This kestrel
tried to take a bite out of me, but he was too
weak to do any damage.
"I felt kind of sick this morning," I told
Cassie. "So I stayed home."
"But you felt better this afternoon, huh?"
Jake said. "So much better that you decided
to morph? How did you get here, just out of curios
ity?"
Cassie was done and took the kestrel from
me. I turned to look Jake in the eye. "I
flew. Is that okay with you?"
He glanced at Cassie. Then at Marco. "That
bear you morphed yesterday . . . you went to The
Gardens and acquired that all on your own, didn't
you?"
"No," I said, "I met that bear at the mall."
"Okay," Jake said. "And today you ditch
school and end up morphing . . . whatever you
morphed."
less-than An eagleeagreater-than Tobias said.
less-than like saw a bald eagle
riding the thermals this afternoon. I should have guessed. It
was up for too long, acting like a buz
zard. A real eagle would have perched after a
while. greater-than
"It's so nice knowing I have privacy," I said
sarcastically.
less-than That was about nooneagreater-than Tobias
said. less-than lf you
came here in eagle morph, that would be more than two
hours. You must have demorphed, then
morphed again. greater-than
Jake looked at me sharply. "You spent the
whole afternoon in morph?"
"Yes,
Mother,"
I said.
Jake jumped up and stood right in front of
me, his face just inches from mine. "Don't give
me your sarcasm, Rachel. You are acting really
weird. That's everyone's business, because if you
do something stupid, we could all end up paying
the price. You go and acquire a grizzly? Without
backup? You could have been killed."
"So what?" I shot back. "You heard the El-
limist. We're doomed. It's going to be
Yeerks
one, humans zero. We lose. So who cares about
anything? Who cares if I skip school to go
flying?"
Suddenly Jake just sagged. "I don't know,
Rachel. I don't have any answers. I'm sick
of try
ing to have answers. You decide. I don't want
to argue with you. I don't know what your problem
is, but you know what?
You deal
with it."
I've never seen Jake look so tired. One
minute he was being strong, sensible Jake, leader of the
Animorphs. And the next minute he looked
exhausted. His eyes were red. He was blinking
constantly. He looked like he was worn out just
from breathing.
"My dad wants me to move out of state with
him," I said.
Everyone just kind of stared at me. They all
had blank, tired eyes, not much different from
Jake's.
"What are you going to do?" Cassie asked.
I threw up my hands. "How can I even
think about something that unimportant? I mean, like
we don't have bigger things to worry about? The fate of
planet Earth and the human race?"
"Different things bother different people,"
Cassie said. "I know how you feel about your
dad."
"He's a jerk for dumping this on me!" I said
loudly. "I mean . . . you know
...
I mean. . . ."
It was weird. All of a sudden I felt like I was
choking. Like I was ready to explode. Like my
brain was spinning out of control.
"It's like . . . what am I supposed to do?!" I
yelled. "After what happened last night. . . after
all that, I have to decide who I want to hurt
-
my mom or my dad? And you guys? And
-
his
"Come on, Rachel," Marco said kindly. "Take
it easy. Come on, you're
Xena
-

"NO! No, I'm not some stupid TV character.
I'm not some comic book, Marco. I'm scared,
okay?! Just like all the rest of you. I'm scared of
what almost happened to me last night. I'm
scared just knowing that place exists down there. I'm
scared about what happens to
me.
I just
wanted to run away but I didn't think I could, so
I was brave because that's the way I'm supposed
to be. But now everyone's going, "Oh,
just come live with me and we'll go to ball games,"
and "Hey, forget moving to another state, we have a
whole other planet for you." And the more exits I
see, the more scared I get, all
right?"
For a long time no one said anything.
Marco sighed heavily. "I've been thinking. I'm
changing my vote. If the Ellimist asks again,
I'm
going to vote yes."
"What?"
Jake demanded. "Why?"
Marco shrugged. "Rachel's losing it. If she
loses it, how long are the rest of us going
to
last?"
"Shut up, Marco, I'm not in the mood for your
jokes," I said.
"Me neither," Marco said flatly. "You know
how much sleep I got last night? About an hour.
Nightmares. I was a zombie in school today. I
feel like . . . like my skin has all been rubbed
with sandpaper. I'm jumpy. I'm scared. I'm
stressed."
"It's gonna happen," Jake said.
"This was always insane, right from the
start," Marco said. "A handful of kids fighting an
alien invasion? Look what's happening. Tobias
is
trapped in a morph. Rachel is starting to use
morphing to get away from her problems. The
other night I woke up in bed, and I didn't know
what
I was. I didn't know if I had hands or fins
or
claws or talons. Maybe you and Cassie are
im
mune, Jake. But I doubt it."
"We can't give up," Jake argued
stubbornly.
"All we ever do is lose," Marco said. "We
an
noy the Yeerks. Maybe we blow up a ship, or
have
some little success. But the invasion marches
on. And all we ever do is barely escape with our
lives. We're like some baseball team that never
wins a game. And now, according to the Ellimist,
we know it's going to be a whole losing season.
We aren't going to the play-offs."
"I don't care," Jake said. "I'm not giving
up."
"Jake," Cassie said. "See this?" She held
up
her left arm and pointed to a scar above her
wrist. "I got this from a raccoon. The raccoon
had been caught in a trap. Its leg was broken.
I was trying to free it so I could save it. It bit
me."
"We're not raccoons," Jake said.
"Aren't we? Compared to the Ellimist?" Cassie
said. "Isn't it just possible he's right?
That what he's trying to do is save at least a part
of the human race? That he's just trying
to get us
out of the trap and
fix
our broken bones?"
"Cassie's right," Marco said. "If the
Ellimist
wanted to hurt us, he could just destroy us. You know it
as well as I do. Fine. I'm going to let him
get my leg out of the trap. But I have some conditions
first. There are some people going with me. But if the
Ellimist can save those people along
with me, then I have to say yes."
Marco looked at me. Then Jake and Cassie and
Tobias all looked at me. The vote was now
two against two. I was the deciding vote.
It would mean no more battles. It would mean
that somewhere, wherever the Ellimist took us, there would be
no job in another state, for my
dad. There would be no more painful decisions for me
to make,
I opened my mouth. I started to speak.
I PROMISED I WOULD ASK YOU AGAIN.
"Uh-oh," Marco said.
I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT YOU NEED
TO UNDERSTAND.
X WILL SHOW YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO UNDER
STAND.
In an instant, we were gone from the barn.
The five of us and Ax stood side by side in the
middle of an empty field of scruffy, unkempt
grass. There was a long, low, tumbledown build
ing a hundred yards away.
The Ellimist was nowhere to be seen. We were
the only people around: five humans and one
An-dalite. Five real humans.
"Tobias!" I said.
"Yeah," he said, looking down at his hands.
"This routine again."
Jake looked angry. Cassie marveled. Marco
tried to smirk nonchalantly, but wasn't succeed
ing. No one looked tired anymore.
Ax skittered nervously on his dainty hooves
and stretched his tail, as if preparing to use it.
"The Ellimist again," I said. "Did you guys
hear
-
his
"Yeah, we heard," Jake said. "So we get
another chance to change our minds."
"Where are we?" Cassie wondered. "I
mean,
something about this looks familiar. But I can't
quite place it."
I had the same feeling. Like this empty, dusty,
blasted landscape was familiar. It was Tobias who
saw it first.
"The school," he said.
"What?" I said. "No way." But he was right. I
looked again and realized that I knew each of
those tumbled-down, destroyed buildings.
"Okay, I don't like this," Marco said. "I
don't
even halfway like this. I mean, normally I'm all
for seeing the school blown up, but I
really
don't
like this."
"When did this happen?" I wondered aloud. "I
skip one day and the place burns down?"
"I don't think so," Cassie said in a strange,
distracted voice. "I don't think this is something
that's happened, past tense. I think we're talking
future tense."
A
"Or just tense," Marco muttered.
I looked over at Cassie, wondering what she
was talking about. She was staring intently up at the sky
overhead. Then off toward the horizon.
"The sky," she said. "Have you ever seen it
that color before?"
"It does seem slightly yellowish," Jake
said.
"And the air. Doesn't it smell funny? And
look, over there. The trees over behind the gym.
They're dying."
"The Ellimist said he would show us some
thing," I muttered. "So what's he showing us?
Ax? You understand any of this?"
less-than There is a time distortion. I sense it.
But I don't know what it means. greater-than
"It's the future," Cassie said.
A chill crawled up my spine. I wanted to think
Cassie was losing it. But I sensed the truth of
what she said.
"Okaaaaay," Marco said. "So, what are we
supposed to do now? Stand around here until the
Ellimist comes back for us?"
Jake shrugged. "I guess we look around. The
mall's just a quarter mile or so. It should be
open."
So we walked. Across the scruffy field. Be
neath a sky that seemed to add yellow to blue and
make patches and wisps of green, unlike any
sky I had ever seen. We passed the school and
I
looked morbidly through the blast holes to see if
we could recognize anything.
  "YAAAAHHH!" Marco yelled.
He reeled back from one of the dark holes. I ran
to look inside. It was a classroom. There was
a skeleton lying crumpled across the teacher's
desk.
"Oh, my God," Cassie whispered. "The body
was just left here."
"That's Paloma's classroom," I said.
"History class."
It took a few seconds for the significance of that
to sink in. The body had been left there to
rot. It must have taken years for it to be reduced
to nothing but bones.
"Cassie's right. We're in the future," Marco
said. "But that's impossible."
less-than lmpossible for humanseagreater-than Ax
said. less-than But not impossible for
Ellimists. greater-than
"Oh, I get it," I said angrily. "It's a
little les
son. The Ellimist is showing us what happens in the
future. How cute. How clever. But how do we
know this is really the future, and not just some
little show he's putting on?"
"Let's try the mall," Jake said. "Although I
don't have a good feeling about this."
We left the school behind us. I tried not to think about
who that skeleton might have been.
Some teacher? Some student? Some person who
just happened to be in the wrong place at the
wrong time?
"Maybe we can check the bookstore at the
mall," Marco said. "Find a
World Almanac
for
whatever year this is. See who won all the Super
Bowls. Then when we go back to our own time,
we can bet on the games. Make a fortune."
I forced a laugh that came out like a grunt.
We needed to keep our spirits up. Marco was try
ing.
We reached the highway. Eight lanes of con
crete, dead silent. Not a car. Not a
truck. Empty.
On the far side of the highway was a rusted
wreck of a car. Bony white hands clutched the
steering wheel. We stayed away from it.
I saw something that gleamed brightly, off to the east. It
seemed to run in a straight line from the far horizon
to a point much closer. I squinted
to see what it was.
"Too bad we don't have your hawk eyes now,"
I whispered to Tobias.
"It's a tube, I think. Like a long, long
glass
tube. There! Something is moving down it."
less-than lt is a conveyance of some
kindeagreater-than Ax said. He had turned all
four of his eyes toward it. less-than lt
seems to be a glass tube that goes on for many
miles. Inside it are fast-moving platforms, like
your trains. Only faster. They are going perhaps
three hundred or more of your miles per hour.
greater-than
"They're everyone's miles," Marco said.
"You're on Earth, Ax. We all have the same
miles."
less-than What about nations that use
kilometers8greater-than Ax asked smugly.
less-than See? I am learnings
"Some kind of very high-speed train system," Jake
said. "That's why no one is on the highway."
"The question is, who built the system?" I
pointed out.
A few minutes later, we reached the mall. But it
had changed. It had changed quite a bit.
"Oh, man," Marco said. "Look at that! Oh,
man."
The mall was still standing. Even the sign
that said "Sears" could still be seen. But holes,
perfectly round and about six feet across, had
been drilled into the sides of the four big depart
ment stores. There were six or eight holes in the
Penney's. The same with Sears. And from the
holes emerged Taxxons.
They crawled in and out of the holes. They slithered
down to the ground and up to the roof. Some were carrying
boxes from a squat, bulky spacecraft that sat
in the parking lot. They were
unloading it like a truck, carrying silvery pack
ages in through several of the holes.
"It's a hive," Cassie said. "It's like a
beehive.
Or an ant colony. They've taken it over. The
mall
is a Taxxon hive."
"T
I he future the way it will be if the Yeerks
win," I said. "Taxxons using the mall for a
hive. I
guess that means I can forget about any good sales
today."
I wanted to sound tough. Like I wasn't im
pressed. But that was a lie. Worms larger than a
grown man were crawling through holes in the
mall. Skeletons lay across desks in the
shattered ruins of our school, and clutched the wheels
of
rusted cars.
The air felt strange. The sky was no longer the
sky of Earth. The trees were dying.
As we circled around the mall, we could see that the
tube train made a stop there. The glass
tube was raised above the ground about twenty
feet, like the monorail at Disneyworld. But there
did not seem to be enough supports to hold it up.
It was as if it were just hanging there.
Outside the mall, a dropshaft rose
up to the tube. A Taxxon entered the shaft and
swept up to a platform that bulged from the side of the
tube.
"Let's stay clear of any Taxxons,"
Tobias said.
But Marco shook his head. "Why? Don't you
see? The Yeerks have won. So any humans are
human-Controllers. The Taxxons would just assume
we were human-Controllers."
"I guess you're right," Tobias agreed.
"Yeah.
So we can go anywhere. Besides, I don't think the
Ellimist brought us here to see us get killed."
I relaxed a little, realizing they were right. But still, there
was a deeply disturbing feeling about
all of it.
less-than like will morph into human formeagreater-than
Ax said.
less-than The Yeerks may be accustomed
to human-Controllers. But they will not have seen any
Andalite-Controllers except for Visser Three.
greater-than
"Are you so sure?" Marco asked. "Maybe in
the future the Andalites lose to the Yeerks,
too."
less-than Nevereagreater-than Ax snapped
angrily.
He began to slowly melt into human shape.
"Let's hop the train," I said. "See where it
goes."
"Excuse me?" Marco laughed. "Climb aboard
the Yeerk version of Amtrak?"
I shrugged. "You said it, Marco. They'll think
we're Controllers. And in any case, the
Ellimist
didn't bring us here to get us killed."
"It is sad about the mall," Ax said, now mostly
human. "They had excellent foods for tasting.
Tay-sting. Tasting. The Ellimist showed us much of
what was excellent in your species and your planet.
But he did not mention the sense of taste. Cinnamon
buns. Buns. Bunzuh.
And chocolate, too."
"Yeah, we have to save any species that can
invent the warm cinnamon bun," I said. "Come
on, let's try this."
It only took a couple minutes to walk to the
dropshaft. As we neared it, a Taxxon slithered
up alongside us. He was racing to get ahead, like a
rushing commuter. But aside from that, he paid
us no mind.
"You think the Yeerks have a rush hour?"
Marco muttered under his breath.
"Quiet," Jake snapped. "We're
Controllers
now, not normal humans."
The Taxxon reached the dropshaft ahead of
us. He stepped in through the large opening and was immediately
swept up onto the platform
overhead.
We all hesitated to follow him. So I stepped
forward. Seconds later I was on the platform, with the
others right behind me.
We were twenty feet up, and I could see in all
directions.
I nudged Tobias. A small Yeerk pool had
been
built on the roof of the mall. Right over the place
where the food court had been. It was a shallow,
sludgy pool. Half a dozen Taxxons lounged
around it, almost as if they were sunbathing.
There were no cages at this Yeerk pool. Taxxons
are all voluntary hosts. Another reason
not to like them. At least the Hork-Bajir had re
sisted the Yeerks.
Suddenly, in a rush of wind, a platform came
down the glass tube like a bullet.
It stopped in front of us and the Taxxon
quickly slithered aboard. We followed.
It was not a closed car like a train. It was just a
clear platform, open at the front end and the
back. There were maybe twenty standard seats, half
occupied by human-Controllers. Toward the
back was an open area where the Taxxon went. At
the front were several larger chairs. Much larger, and
made of steel with no padding.
Those had to be for Hork-Bajir. Space for about
four Hork-Bajir, maybe two or three
Taxxons, and seats for twenty or more humans.
So there were far more humans around than
either Taxxons or Hork-Bajir, I concluded.
We
would not look out of place.
The train launched like a bullet down the
glass tunnel. But there was no lurch. And no
rushing wind. We just blew along at a speed that
boggled the mind.
The trip from the suburban mall to downtown usually
took half an hour by bus. We made the
trip in about a minute and a half.
Jake gave me a look. We were getting off here.
We rose and left the train.
"Fast," Marcosd.
"Beats the bus," I agreed.
It was beyond strange, walking the streets of downtown.
Entire skyscrapers were simply gone.
Others now had wormholes for the Taxxons. I
looked up thirty stories and saw Taxxons
crawling
up the sides of a building that used to be the
headquarters for a bank.
The tallest building in town was the EGS
Tower. It was sixty stories tall. It still stood,
almost intact. But for some reason the top two
floors had been sheared away, then covered with
a glass dome.
Pale sunlight sparkled off the dome. It was al
most like a beacon.
Humans and Hork-Bajir walked the street,
side by side. But not in large numbers. In fact,
the entire city seemed far emptier than it should
have been.
We turned a corner and froze.
"That's where the City Arena should be," I
said. "It's where we saw the circus."
"The Arena. That big department store. That building
that used to have the tall antennae on top. They're
all gone," Marco said. "J. . .
gone."
In their place was a Yeerk pool.
A pool of shocking size. It was a small lake,
really. You could have ridden around on it in a
motorboat and not looked out of place.
It was three times as wide as a football field
is long. Maybe four times as wide. And all
around it
were cages, just like the underground Yeerk pool
we knew too well.
But there was a difference here. The humans and
Hork-Bajir in these cages no longer called for
help. They cried, they sobbed, or more often they just
stared blankly into space. But they did not
call for help.
They knew there was no help coming. They knew that
hope was dead.
We just stared, the six of us. Just stared emp
tily.
A human-Controller brushed past us, jostling
me as she went.
"Excuse
me,"
I said in a sarcastic voice. A
mistake. I knew it was a mistake as soon as
the
two little words were out of my mouth.
The woman stopped. She came back toward
us.
"What did you say?" she demanded.
"Nothing," I said.
But she kept staring at me through narrowed eyes.
"What is your name?"
I knew that answering "Rachel" was not going
to work. She wanted my Yeerk name. I tensed up,
ready for a fight.
"Her name is not your concern," Tobias said.
The woman sneered. "Oh? And why is that?
You are spies, that's what you are. Spies!"
"Her name is not your concern," Tobias re
peated.
"His
name is your concern." He jerked his thumb at Ax.
"Because his name
...
is
Visser Three."
"V
isser Three?" the woman repeated skepti
cally.
It took me a few seconds to track. What was
Tobias talking about? Why was he saying Ax was
Visser Three?
Fortunately, Ax caught on more quickly. He
immediately began to demorph and return to An-
dalite form. And as soon as the Andalite stalk
eyes appeared, the woman began to tremble.
"But
...
but
...
you said Visser
Three.
Only Visser
One
has an Andalite host body!"
Great. Visser Three had been promoted.
"Yeah," I said to the woman. "But he was
Visser Three back in the old days. Back when
we
were all friends. Comrades in arms."
"I
...
we
...
no one told us you were visiting Earth, Visser," the
woman babbled.
She was clearly terrified. Obviously Visser
Three's reputation had not softened any over the
years.
Ax had regained his full Andalite form. And the
various Controllers on the street were staring in a
mixture of fascination and fear.
"If I had known
..."
the woman moaned. "I would never.
..."
Ax waved his hand dismissively. less-than
Silence.
You are right to remain vigilant. If you had not been
vigilant I would have destroyed you for be
ing a careless fool. Now get out of here.greater-than
"Yes, my Visser! Yes!" The woman took
off.
Fast.
Which left us standing around in the street,
gaping at the Yeerk pool. And a lot of
Controllers
gaping at us.
"This isn't good," Marco said. "Word is going
to travel very fast that Visser Three is here. And
someone is going to realize the truth."
"So what
now?"
Jake wondered. "How long does the Ellimist
want to leave us here?"
"Until we are convinced he's right," Tobias
said.
"There must be something more he wants us
to see," Cassiesd.
I glanced at Cassie. She looked puzzled.
I
guess I expected her to look like, "See, I
told you
so, here's the future." But she seemed troubled. Like
she couldn't make sense of something that
was bothering her.
"What?" I asked her.
She shrugged. "Just a feeling. There's something deeper
going on here. Something we don't
get."
The Yeerk pool was a busy little place.
Controllers coming and going. The host bodies were
shoved into cages, and dragged back out when it was time.
There was a steady procession along
the six different piers, draining out and taking in
Yeerks.
Over it all loomed the EGS Tower, topped off
by the glass dome.
"Why put a Yeerk pool here?" I wondered
aloud. "I mean, there's all kinds of open areas.
Why go to the trouble of removing the buildings
that were here? It's not like this is exactly a
scenic location."
"I wonder what year it is?" Marco said. "Is
this next year? Ten years from now? Twenty?"
I heard a low roar coming from the sky. A Yeerk
Bug fighter swooped down low, took a turn
around the EGS Tower, and settled toward the near
side of the Yeerk pool.
I don't know why, but I felt drawn to that Bug
fighter. Maybe it was some strange psychic
urging. Maybe it was the Ellimist, making me go
closer to see what he wanted to show me.
Wherever the urge came from, I found myself
walking toward the Bug fighter.
"Hey!" Jake said. "What are you
doing?"
"You guys stay back," I said.
"It's okay," Marco said, jerking his thumb at
Ax. "We're with Visser Three here. Excuse
me, I mean Visser One. And congrats on the
big pro
motion, by the way."
Ax stepped out quickly in front of me, swag
gering and acting the role of the great and
terrible Visser.
As we drew closer to the pool, there was a
crowd of Controllers, humans, Hork-Bajir,
Taxxons,
and a few odd species I had never seen. The
crowd parted very quickly. No one wanted to accidentally
annoy Visser One in any way.
We swaggered up to the Bug fighter like the bosses of
all the world. Then the door of the Bug
fighter opened.
I stopped. Ax stopped as well. The others
crowded behind us.
My skin was tingling. My hair felt like it was
standing on end. I knew something was about to happen.
Something awesome and terrible.
And then, they stepped from the Bug fighter.
A human and an Andalite.
I knew the Andalite. We had met before. I
could feel the dark dread that emanated from
him.
Visser Three. The
real
Visser Three.
Seeing Ax along with Visser Three, the crowd
of Controllers immediately knew the difference.
Visser Three has an Andalite body, but there
is no
mistaking him for anything other than a creature of
pure evil.
less-than Well, welleagreater-than Visser
Three said to the person
with him. less-than Right on schedule. Just as you said
it would be. greater-than
I stared at the human. She was a pretty young
woman, maybe twenty or twenty-two years
old.
She had blond hair, cut short. She wore no
makeup. Her clothes were plain.
I had stopped breathing. My heart had
stopped beating. I tried to swallow but couldn't.
"Hello, Rachel," the woman said to me.
"Hello, Rachel," I replied.
it
was me. Me, as I would be in the future.
"I knew you were coming," the future Rachel
said. "After all, I
was
you. Once I stood right
where you stand now, and looked just like you look now, and saw
myself as I am today."
She sounded perfectly calm. But her eyes
flickered quickly to Ax, then back to me.
Visser Three shook his head in amusement.
less-than lf only I had known from the start that you were
humans. For so long I believed you were An-
dalites. Until, at last, we caught you.
greater-than
I felt strangely calm. I mean, considering
what was happening. I was face-to-face with
Visser Three
-
who was now Visser One. I was
face-to-face with my own future.
"You're a Controller," I said to the older me.
"Of course," she said. She smiled. A cruel
smile, not at all like me. "We won.
You all led us
on a nice chase, but in the end, we won. This
planet is Yeerk territory. The human race
has achieved its destiny as hosts for the Yeerk
race."
"If you know so much, how did we come to be here? In
the future?" Marco asked.
less-than An Ellmriist has brought you
hereeagreater-than Visser
Three said. less-than ln your own time, you face a
choice.
The Ellimist has brought you six humans . . .
you five humans and one Andalite . . . here to show
you a future. To show you
the
future. Soon he wilt
return you to your own time. greater-than
"What choice did we make?" I asked.
The older Rachel smiled her cruel smile. "The
right one, obviously. Everything has worked out
perfectly."
"Yeah?" Jake said defiantly. "Maybe not.
The Ellimist brought us here to help us make a
choice. So what if we go back to our own time and
decide to accept the Ellimist's offer?
Then Rachel won't be around to be turned into a
Con
troller. She'll be with the rest of us on whatever
planet the Ellimist takes us to."
I watched closely for any reaction by my older
self. Nothing. Not a flicker. And yet, there was
something. She was trying to hide something.
"You know what we decided. But still, here
you are," I said. "So either you're here to change what
I decided. Except
...
no, then it might
change all of this. Or else you're here because your being
here is what caused me to decide
whatever I decided."
less-than Confusing, isn't x8greater-than Visser
Three sneered. less-than like
don't know how the Ellimists keep it all
straight. greater-than
"Let's leave," Cassie said suddenly. "I
don't
like this place, and I don't like these two . . .
creatures."
"But Cassie, I'm your best friend," my older
self said mockingly.
"No, you're not. Maybe Rachel is still alive in
there somewhere. But what you are is a Yeerk."
Cassie started to turn away. As she did, she
tripped. She fell against me. Suddenly the older
Rachel was there. She grabbed me and held my
arm steady so I didn't fall.
But to Ax it must have looked like she was
lunging at me. His tail whipped forward in the
blink of an eye.
Ax's quivering blade was pressed against the
older Rachel's throat.
Her eyes went wide with fear. She shot a glance
at Visser Three. And to my amazement, Visser
Three seemed frozen. He was confused.
His main eyes narrowed. He looked from Ax, to
the older Rachel, to me.
Suddenly I knew. "This wasn't in the script,
was it?" I asked him. "This wasn't supposed
to happen. Something has changed! It's Ax, isn't
it? You said 'six humans" before. That's what you
expected to find. That's what Rachel told you would
happen. But the future has changed, hasn't it?
Something is different."
Visser Three glared at me, and now he
dropped the pretense of politeness.
less-than Do you know what I did when I finally
caught you and your little band of Animorphs? Do you know
what I did? I gave each of you to a trusted
lieutenant.
And once you belonged to us, once you were
MINE, I killed your bird friend here, and we
roasted his body. greater-than
Visser Three leaned close to me. less-than
He was
tough and stringy, but we added a sauce you humans have.
Barbecue, I believe it's called. And then your
friend Tobias was delicious. You had a leg, as I
recall. You ate it and laughed. greater-than
I really wanted to morph right then. I really
wanted to become the grizzly and tear Visser
Three a few new holes. But there were hundreds
of Controllers around. And while I was morphing
I would be vulnerable.
Ax still had his tail blade pressed against the
older Rachel's throat. less-than He can't
hurt ueagreater-than Ax said. less-than He can't
do a thing to us. If he does, he
would change history. He doesn't know how that
would work out. greater-than
"Good point, Ax," Jake said. He
met my gaze.
He had a dangerous, angry look in his eyes.
"He
can't hurt us. But the reverse . . . well . . .
his
"Excellent point," I agreed. I focused my
mind on the grizzly bear. "So, Visser Three.
You killed my friend Tobias and roasted him over a
fire."
I was beginning to change. So was Jake.
less-than like have a hundred Hork-Bajir I can
callffgreater-than
Visser Three said.
"So call them," Marco said. "Maybe one of them
will get careless with a Dracon beam and
kill one of us. How do you suppose that will
change the past? Hard to tell, isn't it?"
Claws had sprouted from my fingers. Coarse
brown fur was covering my body. I could feel the
surge of power as I became more bear than hu
man.
"Visser," the older Rachel said tersely. "What
do we do?"
less-than We8greater-than Visser Three said.
less-than We
do nothing. I
retreat. greater-than
Visser Three began backing away. But I
wasn't
about to let him go. I had him. After all the pain he
had caused, I had him. After all the damage
he had done, he was now powerless.
A
I did not wait until the last of my human
features was submerged. I was bear enough. I
charged.
Bears are very large and look sort of clumsy.
But they can be very fast.
less-than Now, you filth, let's see who eats
who. greater-than
I barreled toward him. He turned to run. But
he had turned too late.
I hit him. Eight hundred pounds of fast-
moving bear hit Visser Three in the flank and
brought him down hard.
I drew back one huge claw and swung with all
my might.
My hand slapped the trunk of a tree. My hu
man hand.
"Owww!"
I was human again. I was in the woods behind
Cassie's farm. The others were all there as well.
Tobias, once again a hawk, perched in a branch
overhead.
"No! I'm sick of this!" I yelled. I
slammed the
tree again in sheer frustration. "I'm sick of this!
I
had backslash backslash backslash more
backslash was
Cassie came over and put her arm around my
shoulders. "It doesn't matter. That's a Visser
Three who doesn't exist yet."
"I'm so sick of this," I said again, a little
more softly. "What's the point? What's the point
in anything? We know the future now. We know what
happens if we decide to stay and fight."
I felt lost. The last ounce of energy just
seeped away from me. It was too much. Too
many things to deal with. And what was the point? What did
it even matter what I did?
I flopped down onto the grass and pine
needle-covered ground, and rested my head in my
hands. I was done. Done trying to make sense of
a world where I could be jerked back and forth
like a puppet.
The six of us just lay there on the floor of pine
needles for a while. Staring. Thinking. Letting it
all sink in.
It was over.
The war was done. And we had lost.
less-than lt could all still be an Ellimist
trickeagreater-than Ax said
halfheartedly.
"No," I said flatly. "You know it's not a
trick,
Ax. At least not the way you mean. If the
Ellimist wanted to force us to do something, he has more
than enough power."
"We need to think this through," Jake said
wearily.
I shrugged. "You think it through. I'm tired of
thinking: I was just about to vote when the Ellim
ist dragged us off for his little show-and-tell. I
was about to be good old Rachel and vote no. I
was going to be tough, one more time. But I'm
A
changing my vote. I'm not going to end up as a
Controller. That's not going to happen. Not to
me. If that means I'm running away,
too bad. I change my vote."
You know what? At that moment of surrender,
I felt good. I wish I could say I didn't.
But I felt a
wave of relief wash over me. No more hard deci
sions. No more danger. No more having to be
brave.
"That makes it Cassie, Rachel, and me, in
favor," Marco said. "Three to two, unless Ax
is
voting."
less-than like follow Prince Jakeeagreater-than
Ax said.
less-than Maybe . . . greater-than Tobias
began. less-than Maybe if some
of the human race survives on some other planet.
. . . Maybe it will be like when they brought wolves
back to live in the National For
est. I mean, maybe someday we can return and
take Earth back. greater-than
"Are you changing your vote, Tobias?" Jake
asked him.
less-than Jake, you know I would never run from a
fight. . . . greater-than
We all just sat there, staring at nothing.
We
were going to do it. We were going to abandon
the fight. We all knew it.
Jake hung his head. "Ellimist?" he said
softly
to the air, "We have decided. The answer is yes."
The Ellimist had said we would be trans-
ported immediately, once we decided. I expected
my next breath to be drawn on some distant
planet.
But nothing happened.
Nothing at all.
J. can't tell you how weird it was, going
to school the next day. Sitting in class, trying
to pay
attention while my teacher, Ms. Paloma, talked
about what led up to the Second World War.
"Maybe if the United States had been ready
to fight earlier," she said, "the war would have
ended earlier and fewer people would have been
killed. But our country wanted peace."
I just kept looking at her and wondering,
Was
that your skeleton draped across the desk?
What was the point of going to school? What
was the point in anything? I had seen the future. I
knew how it all turned out. The human race was
done for. Finished. That was where all our long
history led
-
to a Yeerk pool.
"Because we were so devoted to peace, we may have
actually made the war worse," Ms. Paloma
droned on. "We'll never know for sure, of
course. You can't really second-guess history."
You can if you're an El I i mist,
I thought.
If
you're an El I im 1/, you can look ahead and
see it
all.
"Why not?"
It was Cassie's voice. I glanced across the
room at her. She had that same look of confusion
I'd seen the day before. The frustrated look, like she
sensed something she couldn't quite grasp
yet.
"Why can't you second-guess history? I mean,
if you
could
go back and change things so that the U.s. was ready
to fight earlier.
..."
Ms. Paloma sat on the edge of her desk.
"Because events are intertwined in ways we cannot always
see, Cassie. Sometimes small things can make
huge differences. You know, they say that a
single butterfly, beating its wings in China, may
affect the way the wind blows here in our country. A
single butterfly beating its wings may make a tiny
change that becomes a bigger change that
becomes a tornado. The world isn't like math. It
isn't just one plus one equals two. It's more
corn
plicated than that."
And then the oddest thing happened. Ms.
Paloma looked right at me. Right into my eyes.
"Much more complicated than that," she said. "A single
butterfly
...
a single butterfly
...
a single butterfly.
..."
The hair on the back of my neck was
tingling.
Everyone was looking at her like she was crazy.
Suddenly, Ms. Paloma shook her head, like she
was popping out of a trance. She smiled a confused
smile. "Okay, well, anyway, you all have
the reading assignments."
The bell rang and I practically jerked up out
of my seat.
Cassie threaded her way through the kids who
were rushing out of the room.
"Okay, tell me
that
wasn't weird," Cassie
whispered.
"I thought maybe I was imagining it," I said.
"Besides, who knows what's weird anymore? I'm
sitting there waiting for the
...
you know
who
...
to suddenly zap us out of here."
Cassie nodded. "So why hasn't he?"
Out in the fast-moving crush of bodies in the hall,
we made our way to our lockers.
"I don't know," I said as I spun my combination
lock. "We decided to say yes. We're giving
him what he wants."
I popped my locker door open.
"Unless.
..."
Cassie said.
"Unless maybe that wasn't the answer he
wanted," I finished her thought.
"But it's nuts," Cassie said, frowning. "Every
thing he did made it look like he wanted us to say
yes. He appears the first time right as we're
about to be swallowed by a.
..."
She looked around to make sure no one could
overhear.
"Just as we were about to be swallowed. I mean,
come on. Obviously he must have figured we'd
want to bail."
"We might have," I said. "Except we saw that
dropshaft. So we thought we could escape.
Otherwise.
..."
I stopped talking. I stared at
Cassie. She stared back.
"He
showed
us that dropshaft!" Cassie said.
"Why?" I wondered aloud. "Why? What is he
doing with us? He appears when we're desperate.
He says he doesn't interfere and gives us a
choice. Then he lets us see a way out. What's
that all about?"
"Then he gives us another chance. He shows
us the future. He shows us
...
you,
basically. You in the future. So we
know
for sure that we
must have decided to stay and fight. And we
know
we lost. And all of that means we have to
say yes and let him take us away. So why have I
been feeling like I was missing something?"
The warning bell for next period rang.
"This is insane, as Marco would say."
Cassie laughed. "Yeah. I have gym next pe
riod. At any moment I might suddenly be
swooped away to another planet, but in the
meantime I have to go play volleyball."
I watched her walk away. Then I hurried to my
next class.
A single butterfly,
I thought.
But how is the butterfly supposed to know
when to beat her wings?
J. was back in the underground Yeerk pool.
Trapped. Stuck to the Taxxon's tongue. But not
a cockroach. I was myself, in my human body,
only
tiny. Stuck. About to die.
Ax was talking. less-than Yeerk pool. It's the
center of
their lives. Almost a religion. greater-than
I squirmed and tried to get away. I tried
to change into something else. The bear. I wanted
to become the bear. But I was stuck. All I could do
was beat my helpless butterfly wings.
He showed us the dropshaft,
Cassie's voice
murmured in the back of my head.
I swirled down dark corridors. I flew
wildly on butterfly wings, always chasing a light
that never
drew closer and yet never disappeared.
The Kandrona,
I thought in my dream.
The
light is the Kandrona.
was The center of their lives. Almost a religion."
less-than No, not the Yeerk pool, really. The
Kandrona.
That is the center for them. That is their light
greater-than
"He
showed
us the dropshaft,"
Cassie said
again, only now she was Ms. Paloma.
My eyes snapped open.
I sat up in my bed.
I was as awake as I'd ever been. I was elec
tric!
"Hah HAH!" I yelled in the darkness of my
room. "YES!"
Then I hesitated. Was I nuts? Was I just
desperate? I ran through it all again.
"Got "em!" I whispered. "Oh, man, we
got
'em! Got the disgusting worms!"
I shucked off the T-shirt that I wear to bed,
and quickly slipped into my morphing outfit.
I threw open the window. Then I paused. It would
be Saturday morning in a few hours. No
school. But if my mom found me gone, she might
worry.
I quickly scribbled a note saying I had gone
for an early-morning run. That I might go over to
Cassie's afterward.
And then I glanced at the picture on my desk.
The one of three-year-old me on the balance beam,
being held up by my proud father.
I could not tell the others.
We had already decided. We were going to say yes to the
Ellimist.
We would let him take us to a place where there would be
no battles and no need to decide.
If I told my friends what I suspected. . .
.
I felt the weight come down on me again. The
weight of uncertainty and guilt and fear.
I looked at the picture of my dad and smiled.
"What would you think of me, Dad, if I walked
away, when I still had a chance to win?"
And then I morphed. My arms shrank. My skin
began to flow into patterns of soft feathers
that could ride silently on the night breeze.
In a few more minutes, I was ready.
The moon was bright in the sky. Dawn was
still hours away. A perfect night for an owl. But
I paid no attention to the juicy prey below me as I
flew at top speed toward the woods.
less-than Tobias! It's me! Don't panic,
but wake upffgreater-than
less-than What the . . . to Didn't I tell
you about zoom
ing up in
-
greater-than
less-than Come onffgreater-than I yelled.
less-than Come on, where8greater-than
less-than Don't argue, just come on. I know you
don't like to fly at night, but just come on,
anywayffgreater-than
less-than Rachel, have you lost your mind? Where are
we going8greater-than
less-than We're going to be butterflies,
Tobias. We're
going to Cassie's barn, and then we're
going to change history. greater-than
  He opened his wings and flew alongside me, just a
few feet away.
  less-than Whatever you say, Racheleagreater-than
Tobias said grumpily. less-than But what
makes you think -- greater-than
  less-than like know where it is,
Tobiaseagreater-than I interrupted him.
  less-than Where
what
is8greater-than
  less-than Tobias? I know the location of the
Kan- drona. greater-than
*
C-H-fl-Ft-E.
Okay
, it's three forty-seven in the morning," Marco
said. "And I'm here, thanks to the fact that my dad
is a sound sleeper who doesn't
notice when I wake up screaming because an owl and a
hawk have just flown through my window.
So now maybe you can tell us all
why
we're
here?"
Everyone was there in Cassie's barn. Jake looked
sleepy but interested. Cassie was using
the time to check on some of the sick animals. Ax just
stood to one side, waiting to see what
Jake told him to do. Tobias perched on an over
head beam, tired from having flown too much.
We were lit by a single small bulb that never
even touched the shadows in the corners of the
barn. We didn't want to take the chance that
Cassie's parents might notice a light on and
come to investigate.
"Yes," I answered Marco, "I'll tell you
why
you're here. I know where the Kandrona is. I
know
where it is."
That got his attention. But he was still skepti
cal. "What makes you think you know where the Kandrona
is?"
"The Ellimist. He showed us. We all thought
it was unfair when he appeared in the Yeerk pool and
asked us to decide when we were about to be
eaten, right?"
less-than like told you, Ellimists care nothing about
fairness caret Ax said.
"No. You're wrong, Ax. At least this time. The
Ellimist appeared when we were about to be swallowed
by the Taxxon. But then he showed us
the dropshaft."
"We saw the dropshaft because it was there," Jake
argued. "It wasn't about him showing it to us."
"Are you sure?" I asked. "He waited till
we
had walked out of the Yeerk lunchroom to ap
pear. He waited till we were standing where we were
sure to notice the dropshaft."
I saw Jake raise an eyebrow thoughtfully.
He
and Marco exchanged a look.
"What if we're wrong about the Ellimist being
unfair? What if Cassie's instinct is right
-
that
he is telling the truth? That he's trying to do
what's right? He tells us that in the future we
lose
the fight. That the human race is enslaved. That
he has a way to save a small number of us
by tak
ing us to a safe place. And it's all
true."
"If he's telling us the truth, that we lose in
the future, what's this all about?" Marco asked.
"We've seen that future. Nothing we do will
matter."
I shook my head. "No. It will matter. If it
didn't matter how we decided, why even bother
to ask us what we wanted to do? See? It does
matter what we do."
"Yes," Marco said. "But the answer is obvious.
We can only change the future by agreeing
to the Ellimist's plan to take us to a safe
planet."
"Yes, that's one way. He offered us that. But
when we finally accepted, he didn't act. He
didn't take us instantly away. Why? Why, after
we
agreed, did he leave us here?"
"Because he wanted a different answer,"
Cassie said, nodding at me and giving me a wink.
"That's what's been eating at me."
"What different answer?" Marco asked.
"He's in a trap," Cassie said. "The
Ellimist is
trapped. He
wants to
save Earth. But he can't interfere directly.
Supposedly all he's allowed to do
is offer to save a small number of us. But he
*
knows that won't save Earth. It will save a few
humans, yes, but when he showed us visions of
Earth, he wasn't talking just about humans. He
said Earth was a work of art. He wants to find a
way to save it."
"Without interfering directly," I agreed. "But
what if we just happened to see another way?
What if the Ellimist showed us the future, trying
to convince us to let him take us away, and we just
happened to
see a way out?"
"What way out?" Jake demanded.
"The Kandrona. He let us see where the Kan-
drona is," I said. "That Yeerk pool downtown,
that's the key. Why build a Yeerk pool
downtown? Why level so many buildings to make
room for it?
Why leave the EGS Tower still standing? And why
is there a glass dome on the top floors of the
EGS? Ax is the one who said it
-
the Yeerk pool
is the center of their lives. That Yeerk pool? I
think it's a shrine. Almost a holy place to them.
It's where they located the first Kandrona to be placed
on planet Earth."
Jake snapped his fingers, "The EGS Tower!"
"That's
what's under that dome on the top floors. The
Kandrona.
That's
what the Ellimist
wanted us to see. Just the way he let us see the
dropshaft we used to escape. He wasn't
interfering
...
technically. The choice is still ours."
Marco laughed out loud. "You mean maybe
the Ellimist is bending his own rules? So he can
say 'hey, I didn't interfere," but at the
same time
he's putting us where we can figure it out? I can't
believe it! The Ellimist is a weasel! He
found a loophole! I think I like that guy."
"But even if you're right about the Kandrona,
Rachel," Jake argued, "what does it prove?
If we
destroy it, are we sure it will change the
future?"
Cassie looked at me and smiled. "Maybe
yes, maybe no," she said. "But things are connected
in millions of ways. They say a single
butterfly, beating its wings in China, can start a
tornado in
America."
less-than Yeseagreater-than Tobias said,
less-than but how does the butter
fly know when to beat its wings8greater-than
"It doesn't," I said. "I guess it beats its
wings the best it can, and hopes it will all work out.
It's
a butterfly. It just does what butterflies do."
"And what do
we do, Xena, Warrior Princess?"
Marco asked mockingly, knowing the answer I
would give.
"We kick Yeerk butt," I said with a grin.
ft.
t five-ten in the morning, the EGS Tower's
windows were almost all dark. From the deeply
shadowed plaza in front of the building, we could
see a sleepy, uniformed guard inside the lobby.
"There are dozens of businesses and law
firms and stuff in this building," Jake warned.
"Most of them are probably just normal people.
Fortunately, at this time of day, almost no one will be
here. But the guard is probably just a nor
mal guy."
"How do we deal with him without hurting
him?" Cassie asked.
Suddenly Tobias swooped down out of a dark
sky. less-than like can't see anything useful through the
win
dows up thereeagreater-than he said. less-than Too
bad that glass
dome is still in the future. But I can tell you one
thing. Something up there is giving off some heat. I'm
getting a beautiful updraft from the
building itself. greater-than
"Let's do this, already," I grumbled. I started
morphing into the bear.
"Okay, but take it easy on any innocent by
standers," Jake said. "Tobias? I know you're
wearing out, but stay up and keep an eye out
while we morph."
less-than No prob, Jake. greater-than He
flapped his wings and
slowly gained altitude.
"These doors will be locked," Cassie pointed
out.
"Not for long," I said.
Ax was already demorphing, coming out of his human body
and resuming his Andalite shape.
Jake's eyes were glittering, his body was
lengthening, and striped orange-and-black fur
was spreading like a wave over his skin.
Cassie was already on all fours. Rough gray
fur grew thickly around her shoulders. Her mouth
bulged out further and further to form a wolf's
muzzle.
less-than Hey! A guy's coming up behind
yeagreater-than Tobias
called down. less-than like think he's drunk.
He's carrying a bottle. If it were daytime, I
could read the label.
He's definitely staggering. greater-than
less-than Keep morphingeagreater-than Jake said
quickly. less-than Cassie? See if you can get
rid of him. greater-than
Cassie trotted off, already fully
morphed. And a second later we heard,
"Grrrrrr, grrrrrr,
grrrOVVWWRR!" followed by "Whoa! No
way!"
and the sound of a crashing bottle and running
feet.
Cassie returned just as we were finishing our
morphs.
less-than He decided to go in a different
direction caret
Cassie reported.
less-than 0kay, so let's go ineagreater-than
I said. I was fully the
grizzly now, and feeling invulnerable.
less-than Actually, how about if Marco tries it
first8greater-than
Jake suggested.
While the rest of us lurked in the shadows, Marco,
now an extremely large, powerful gorilla,
knuckle-walked to the glass door. He stood up
on
his hind legs and tapped with one massive finger
on the glass.
The guard jerked in his seat. He stood up and
moved cautiously closer. Then he drew
his gun.
"Hey, get out of here," the guard said.
less-than Hieagreater-than Marco said in
thought-speak. less-than like just
came from a masquerade party, and I was look
ing for Visser Three. greater-than
The guard's eyes went wide. "Andalite!" he
hissed.
ft
less-than 0h, so you
are
a Controller. Good, That makes it so much simpler.
greater-than
With that, Marco punched straight through the thick glass
of the door.
CRASH!
His gorilla fist connected squarely with the
guard's chin. The guard crumpled, still holding
his gun.
less-than Move, move, moveffgreater-than
Jake yelled.
I barreled into the rest of the glass door. I was
careful, but not too careful. I wasn't very worried
about being hurt. Shattered glass flew everywhere.
Cassie, Ax, and Jake leaped over the
glass
shards. Jake raced for the elevator.
less-than There may be an alarm. We have to move
fasteagreater-than Jake said.
less-than We'll never fit in one
elevatoreagreater-than Marco said.
less-than Head for the freight elevator. That'll
hold
ueagreater-than Jake said. less-than Go for the top
floor. greater-than
Cassie and Ax kept an eye on all activity
on
the ground floor while they waited for the elevator
to come back down. Jake, Marco, and I had the
most firepower
-
so we went in first.
We squeezed our combined bulk into the one freight
elevator car
-
not an easy thing to do
-
but we managed it.
less-than Can you press the button? I sure
c'teagreater-than Jake
said. He held up one of his huge paws to show me.
It wasn't easy. Bear paws aren't exactly
subtle
tools. But after carefully lining up my first claw,
I
hit the top button.
The doors closed and we rose swiftly upward.
There was a safety inspection certificate
mounted on one wall. I leaned very close to make out
the letters, and read it aloud. less-than Says here the
maximum load is twenty people. greater-than
less-than How many bears, tigers, and
gorillas8greater-than
The ride seemed to be taking forever. I
watched the counter tick off the floors. Twenty-
one. Twenty-two. Twenty-three.
less-than So. Seen any good movies
lately8greater-than Jake
asked.
less-than like want to go see that new Keanu
Reeves
movieeagreater-than I said.
less-than He's supposed to be cute,
right8greater-than
less-than Duheagreater-than I said.
less-than like wonder if he'd ever want to
go out with a girl like me. You know, lots of guys
wouldn't want to date a grizzly bear. greater-than
Suddenly I realized there was music playing in the
elevator. The usual stupid elevator music.
less-than Get readyeagreater-than Jake said.
less-than Been ready. greater-than
less-than Top floor. Ladies shoes. Children's
apparel. Everyone oueagreater-than Marco announced
in his best elevator operator's voice.
The elevator stopped. The door opened.
Just as three humans and two Hork-Bajir were
racing toward the elevator.
"Rrrrrroooowwwwrrrr!" Jake roared in a
voice
that could crack concrete.
"Rrrrrooooowwwwrrr!" I echoed in my own
muddier bear voice.
I charged like an enraged bull. I went straight
for the nearest Hork-Bajir. That meant running
through
the closest human. I felt a slight thump
as his body was knocked aside.
I slammed into the Hork-Bajir. The force of
my charge just picked him up and carried him
along till I hammered into the far wall.
It didn't kill him, but he wasn't going any
where.
Jake took down the other Hork-Bajir with a
lightning swipe of his claws. The remaining hu
mans bolted.
less-than l'm cuteagreater-than Jake said.
less-than ls it bad8greater-than
less-than lt isn't goodeagreater-than Jake said.
less-than But I'll be okay
for a while. greater-than
Just then the elevator door opened and Ax and
Cassie piled out.
less-than About timeeagreater-than I said. less-than
We've taken care of
the welcoming committees
less-than Sorry. Ax pushed the button for the
wrong flooreagreater-than Cassie said. She
glanced at the two Hork-Bajir.
less-than You know they have more than those two up here
guarding the Kandrona and. . .
Jake! You're bleedingeagreater-than Cassie
cried.
less-than
I'm
fine. The human-Controllers ran down that
hallwayeagreater-than Jake said. less-than
Let's go. We haven't
won this battle yet. greater-than
I took off at a loping run. The others were right
behind me. My claws gouged the carpeted
floor with every step. I couldn't see well, but I
could smell the adrenalin of the frightened
human-Controllers. I knew where they had gone.
I could smell them. I could sense them. They
had challenged me. And I was going to show them who was
boss.
less-than Watch out, Racheleagreater-than
Cassie called. less-than There's a door
straight ahead of you. greater-than
less-than Nah. There's no dooreagreater-than I
said, and plowed all my eight hundred pounds into a
steel door that
popped open like the lid of a jack-in-the-box.
Inside, eight Hork-Bajir warriors stood
ready.
Eight walking razor blades.
Eight of them. Five of us. No way we could
win.
A sensible person would have seen the odds
and run away. But I charged straight at them.
Later, everyone thought I was being brave.
But you know what the truth was? The truth was, with
my weak bear eyesight, all I could see was a
blur. I thought they were humans.
I wasn't brave. I was just blind.
C
less-than Rachelffgreater-than Cassie yelled a
warning.
less-than Too late to retreateagreater-than
Jake said. less-than GOFFGREATER-THAN
I figured out the eight blurry figures were
Hork-Bajir when I was about three feet away from
slamming into the first one. By then it was too
late to stop.
"Kill the
gaffnur
Andalites!" a Hork-Bajir
cried in the weird mix of languages that they use.
"Kill
fraghent
Andalite
halaf kill
all!"
Suddenly, I realized I was cut. A
searing pain radiated from my shoulder.
I swung my paw and hit the Hork-Bajir in the
head. He fell, but as he fell he slashed with his
tyrannosaurus feet, and ripped a second cut
in me.
less-than Aaarrrgghhhffgreater-than
From that point on, it was a nightmare of terrible
images that seemed to float in and out of
my hazy vision.
I saw Cassie, with her bone-breaking jaws
sunk into the throat of a Hork-Bajir.
I saw Ax, his tail like a deadly bullwhip,
lashing, cutting, lashing again, till one of the
Hork-Bajir stood screaming, holding his own
severed arm.
I saw Jake and a Hork-Bajir locked in a
deadly embrace as they rolled and slashed at each
other
with superhuman speed.
I saw Marco fighting with one arm as he held
his own sliced stomach together with the other
hand.
And everywhere, snarling, growling, raging,
roaring noise.
less-than Look out! Rachel, behind
yffgreater-than
"Die,
gaferach,
die!"
  "RRRROOOWWRRR!"
less-than Help! He's on meffgreater-than
less-than Aaaahhhhhhffgreater-than
I couldn't tell who was winning. I couldn't tell
who was hurt. It all became one long cry, one
long scream of rage. Hork-Bajir and
Animorph.
Alien and animal.
We were flesh-and-blood creatures thrown into a meat
grinder. Thirteen deadly animals locked in a
combat to the death.
I felt the bear weakening as he was cut again and again
by Hork-Bajir blades. I was losing
blood. The human part of me knew that. I could
feel my strength ebbing.
I charged again and hit a Hork-Bajir in the
stomach. I carried him along with my momentum as he
slashed wildly at me.
CRAAAASSSSHHHH!
I'd hit something! Glass. It had shattered.
A window! I had shoved the
Hork-Bajir
through the window.
"AAAAAA-AAAARRRRR!"
I heard the Hork-Bajir's cry, dying away as
it
fell.
A sudden flash of movement, as something came zooming
through the shattered window.
"Tseeeeeerrr!"
Tobias screamed as he spread
his talons forward and struck the closest
Hork-Bajir, raking his eyes.
The battle had turned!
The Hork-Bajir had had enough. Maybe it was
hearing one of their fellows fall sixty stories.
Or maybe it was Tobias's arrival, strengthening
our side. But whatever it was, the remaining Hork-
Bajir ran.
Three of them ran. The rest would not be run
ning anywhere.
Marco grabbed the crumpled door and
slammed it back in place. Then, with what must
*
  have been the last of his strength, he shoved a desk
in place to block the door.
  less-than l'm hurt badeagreater-than Marco
said. less-than like gotta morph out, man.
greater-than
  less-than Do xeagreater-than Jake said.
less-than Everyone. Demorph. greater-than
  less-than l'm okayeagreater-than I said
weakly.
  less-than Racheleagreater-than Tobias said.
less-than Your left arm. greater-than
  I stared blankly at my left paw. It
wasn't there. It was a stump.
  less-than Demorphingeagreater-than I said. I
focused on my hu man body. My weak but
healthy human body.
  Morphing is done from DNA, fortunately.
DNA is not affected by injuries, so injuries do
not fol low you from one morph to another.
  Exhaustion does.
  As my human body emerged from the vast bulk of the
grizzly, I felt so weary I was afraid I
might faint.
  Through human eyes, I saw a scene of
carnage. The Hork-Bajir lay sprawled around
the room. Most seemed to be breathing. None were
conscious. All were bleeding from claw-and-
teeth wounds.
  Unfortunately for the Hork-Bajir, they could not
simply morph out of their injured bodies.
  "Everyone okay?" Jake asked, sounding as weary
as I felt.
  "Yeah, but that was way too close," Cassie
said.
We were in a large office. I could see that now with
my human eyes. Desks lay splintered. The
carpet was ripped into ribbons. The walls were
gouged.
Floor-to-ceiling windows formed one wall.
They were shattered. I remembered the Hork-
Bajir falling, and shuddered.
There was a door in one wall.
"Through there?" Marco suggested.
"Let's try it," I said. I staggered toward the
door. It was not locked.
A bare room. Tile floor. White painted
walls.
The wall of windows was blocked by heavy cur
tains. The room was empty but for a large,
massively built platform in the very center.
It was a steel pedestal, maybe three-feet-
high, eight-feet-long.
And atop that pedestal was a machine the size of a
small car. It was shaped like a cylinder, tapered
to dull points on both ends.
It gleamed brightly, like new chrome, as if it had just
been polished. And it made a slight, low humming
noise. As I approached I felt my hair
stand on end from the static electricity. It was
warm in the room, very warm. It smelled like
lightning.
less-than The Kandronaeagreater-than Ax said.
"The Kandrona," I echoed.
For a full minute we all just stood there, gap
ing at it.
"Rachel?" Jake said at last. "We need you
to morph again. Can you do it?"
I nodded slowly. "Elephant?"
"Elephant. I don't know how else we're
going to do it. We don't have any tools or
anything."
I morphed the elephant.
Tobias flew outside to make sure there were
no pedestrians below on the dark sidewalk.
It took every last ounce of power that ele
phant had. But the Kandrona did move.
It did, slowly, in jerks and starts,
slide across
the floor.
And when at last I shoved it through the win
dows, it did fall the sixty stories, to smash
into the concrete below.
*
We
did it," I whispered as I returned to my
normal body. "We destroyed the Kandrona."
"We have to get out of here," Jake said. "The
Yeerks will know. They'll be all over this place."
"So, what does this mean?" Marco asked.
"We did it. But, what does it mean? Have we
changed the future?"
EVERYTHING CHANGES THE FUTURE.
I groaned. "Somehow I knew we'd hear from
that guy again."
A REPLACEMENT KANDRONA WILL BE HERE IN
THREE
OF YOUR WEEKS. IT WAS ALREADY ON
ITS WAY.
"Are you telling us this was all a waste?"
Marco demanded.
Ax said, less-than No, Marco, it was not a
waste. Three
weeks with only the Kandrona aboard the mother ship?
In three weeks' time they will suffer greatly.
They will fall behind in their schedule. Many
Yeerks will perish. Three weeks is not a waste.
greater-than
"Don't you mean three of
our
weeks, Ax?"
Marco teased.
"Is it enough?" Jake demanded loudly. "Is it
enough? Have we changed the future?"
There was no answer. Just silence.
"I don't think he knows," I said. "He showed us
a possible future. But you know what? I don't
believe the Ellimist really knows the future any
more than we do."
"What makes you so sure?"
I laughed. "Because wherever it is that the Ellimist
exists, and whatever he's up to, and whatever game
he's playing, and no matter how
mighty he is, he has butterflies, too."
Then, an amazing thing. Laughter that welled
up from inside us, and echoed through us, and made us all
smile as if we were fresh and full of
energy.
HA, HA, HA, HA. AS I SAID, YOU
ARE A PRIMITIVE
RACE, AND YET YOU ARE CAPABLE OF
LEARNING.
I smiled. "Come on, guys. Do you have the energy for
one more morph? I feel like flying."
At first we saw no evidence that the Yeerks
were suffering. I don't know how they did it, but
the Yeerks managed to maintain. It wasn't until
later that we learned we had done them terrible
damage.
But that is another story.
Two days later, I took the bus over to my
dad's
apartment. He was packing up his suitcase to
leave.
"Hi, Rachel," he said when he opened his
door. "I wasn't sure you were coming over."
I shrugged. "You're too disorganized to be able
to pack all by yourself."
He smiled a sad smile. "Thanks."
"Yeah. No big thing."
"I would have come and picked you up," he
said. "Sweetheart," my dad said, "you know you
can always change your mind. You can always
come live with me."
"I know, Dad."
He smiled sadly. "You know I'll miss seeing
you as much. Even though I'll be here every
chance I get."
"I know that, too, Dad," I said. I gave him
a little kiss on his cheek. He patted my hair and
I
cried.
I closed up his suitcase and zipped it.
"You going to be okay without me here to take care of
you?" he asked.
"I can take care of myself," I said, wiping
away the tears.
We took the elevator down to a taxi that was
waiting.
"Come with me to the airport. I'll send you home in
the cab."
I shook my head. "No, I have stuff to do."
He smiled. "I understand. You probably have
something very important to do with your
friends." It was a joke.
"Absolutely," I said. "We have to save the
world."
My dad laughed. "If anyone can do it,
honey,
it would be you."
Then the taxi drove off.
I looked up in the sky. A lone hawk circled
high overhead.
less-than You coming, Rachel8greater-than Tobias
called down to
me in thought-speak.
I nodded my head so he could see. Yes. I was
coming.
*
Don't miss
t
J. raced for cover, looking for a place to
morph back to human. Big stomping feet were landing
all around me. They were slow, but man, they were big.
Everyone was totally overreacting.
I mean, give me a break, I was two inches
long!
How scary could I possibly be?
Then it occurred to me. The house! We could run
inside, race down to the basement where no one would
be, morph back real fast, and
then
....
Well, and then there I would be, just
me and an Andalite. Great. That wouldn't look
too strange.
less-than Ax! Stay with me. We need
to demorph.
Then you have to do your human morph real
quick, okay8greater-than
less-than like have the feeling, Marco, that this was not a
good idea. greater-than
less-than Nah. Everything according to plan. greater-than
Zoom! Over the threshold onto the patio!
Zoom! Into the house itself! Zoom! Past a hyster-
ical Darlene, who was on the couch with a pillow
over her head.
Zoom! Along carpet till we hit linoleum.
Suddenly, the scent of dark places. Mouse
places! Yes, it was going to work!
We ran across a step and leaped, falling . . .
falling . . .
plop! to
land on the next step. Again and again, step after step,
at a speed that felt
like we were flying rockets.
It was cool! If you overlooked the fact that it
was maybe slightly stupid.
less-than Don't worryeagreater-than I called
to Jake in thought-
speak. less-than We're in the basement. We're
going to demorph. Just make sure no one comes down
to
the basement looking for mice. greater-than
We lost our pursuers. No one followed us down
the steps. And even as I ran, I started to
demorph.
I was halfway back to human, a strange mix of
mouse tail and huge ears and human legs
-
a
scary-looking creature. The way Mickey Mouse
would look if he'd been invented by Stephen King.
Ax looked even worse, half mouse, half
An-
dalite.
Just as I was thinking, "Hey, this will all be fine," the
entire world just flew apart.
Crrrrr-Runch!
Sunlight streamed down! The entire roof had
been ripped away! The entire roof!
Wood and beams and concrete just shattered
and ripped and fell in huge chunks. I
couldn't
even make sense of it. I mean, the entire world
around me was just being shredded. Shredded, like the universe
was being run through a food
processor.
Then I saw it. It was gigantic! Enormous!
A
creature that seemed to be made of nothing but teeth and
blades and destruction. It was like twenty
Hork-Bajir glued together and given
dragon wings.
  B-R-R-A-A-A-K!
It was ripping the house apart with unbeliev
able power.
The noise was terrifying. The scream of rip
ping wood. The shattering crunch of concrete being
torn up
-
just torn up, like it was nothing! Pipes bending.
Wires sizzling and popping as they exploded
into showers of sparks.
"Look out!" I yelled to Ax with my now-human
voice. Beams were falling around us. Splinters were
flying through the air.
I barely noticed that I had finished
morph-
ing. I was human again. Somehow Ax had kept his
concentration and was
fully
in his human
morph.
We were defenseless. Two weak kids without a
weapon between us.
Above our heads, where there had been a
house just seconds before, the beast hovered in
the sun.
It looked down at us with a dozen weird eyes
that seemed to be stuck here and there at ran
dom. It stared at us the way I'd seen Tobias
stare at his prey.
It was going to destroy us. There was no ques
tion in my mind. And no question that it could.
"Oh, man," I moaned. "I don't like this."
Then
...
the eyes all flickered at once. The beast seemed
uncertain.
And to my utter relief and utter amazement,
the thing began to disperse. It became dust
again. Just a cloud of dust that thinned and dis
appeared.
I was shaking so badly I couldn't stand up.
But I was alive.























 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
