Girl in A Glass Bell Jar

by Tathrin

Aliens are real, just like Tobias's crazy mother has always claimed. Now only five kids stand between our planet and total enslavement...but they aren't the only ones having problems. For Melissa Chapman, the evils that the Yeerks perpetrate are a lot more personal, and a lot harder to fight against - and her friends can't even risk telling her that they're on her side.

1. Prologue: Loren

This is Book Two of the Splash of Blue series, a canon-divergence alternate universe Animorphs story.

When the Ellimist took Elfangor away to resume the war against the Yeerks, he took Loren's memories too. But some things cannot be forgotten, not completely, not ever. How would the war change for the Animorphs if the first human to ever meet an Andalite was on their side, too? How much does the heart remember when the head forgets...and how much of a difference would those memories make in Earth's fight for freedom?

Read Part One here: FFnet/s/12814774/1/A-Splash-of-Blue

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PROLOGUE: LOREN

My name is Loren. No last name, just Loren. That is, I have a last name, but it's not one that I'm particularly attached to. It doesn't feel right. My old last name, from when I used to be married, that one didn't feel right either so I changed back to my maiden name a few years after the divorce, but that didn't solve the problem.

Have you ever felt like you're missing a huge, important part of your life? I feel like that almost all the time. I think the disconnect with my surname—no matter what surname it is—is part of that. I don't feel right, don't feel whole, so my name doesn't feel right, either.

Or maybe it has something to do with my son. He still has my ex-husband's last name (which people seem to find inexplicably confusing no matter how many times I tell them that, yes, he's my son, and no, that isn't my name). So perhaps that's where the disconnect comes from: I didn't feel attached to my husband's name after the divorce, but now my son and I have different surnames so I don't feel properly attached to my surname either. It's not like I'm close to my old family, after all, so that could be it. Our names are supposed to tie us to our family, right? My name doesn't match anyone who matters to me, so I don't feel connected to it.

It feels like it's something more than that, though.

I have feelings like that a lot. My memory is somewhat…shaky. Not like there are holes, but more like there are patches. Places where the holes were paved-over inexpertly, so I can feel the spackle wiggle when I prod it, but not loose enough that I can pull the patch off and find what's missing.

Do I sound crazy? Well, you wouldn't be the first to think it of me.

Turns out if you go around talking about meeting aliens, people will call you crazy for some reason. Go figure. But it's all right, I've had years to get used to the furtive looks and the whispers behind my back and the fake smiles and hurtful comments. I mean it isn't pleasant, but I'm used to it. And lately it's gotten a lot better.

My son believes me again, you see.

Because now, he's met aliens too.