Part Two:
The Castaways
As Adral decelerated the ship, Rina began to initiate contact.
"Linti 127 to Trinte."
No answer. Rina tried again.
"Trinte, this is Linti 127." Still no reply.
"What's going on?"
"I can't get through to Trinte."
"Try the Andalites."
"Oh, right." *I should have thought of that,* Rina thought as she switched frequencies.
"Trintan ship Linti 127 to Andalite Home."
<A Trintan ship?> She heard faint scuffling; someone was writing, taking notes, or else consulting them <Identify.>
"Linti 127. Weapons and Communications officer Rina Alen speaking."
<Location?>
"We are about seven thousand miles from Earth. We were unable to reach Trinte. Have they changed frequencies?"
<No. The Yeerks have destroyed Trinte.> The voice on the other end of the connection was apologetic.
*No! Spirit, no!*
"How?" Rina spoke in a hoarse voice. "How?"
<They created a chain reaction in the kintisite core using a ramonite-756 bomb. Everything was destroyed. I'm sorry.> What could someone who hadn't grown up on Trinte say?
<Can you still complete the mission.>
"We *will* complete the mission. The Yeerks aren't going to just- we'll finish it. Linti 127 out."
Rina just stared into space. Trinte, her home planet, gone. The place where three different, intelligent, peaceful species evolved and lived together, wiped out.
*The weapon against the Yeerks. That's why! And now it's gone. . .* The scientists had been working on a chemical weapon against the Yeerks. It would disrupt their nervous system, make it overload with electrical impulses and hormones. It would kill the Yeerks, but was safe to the hosts.
There had been such joy when *Kinta* Rayli had announced that his research group discovered the exact formula. Finally the Yeerk threat would be over! There had been so much conjecture on where they would strike next. . .some had felt it would be Trinte. Other felt it would be Earth, or perhaps Leera. Or one of a thousand other worlds.
When Rina had left, 25 sundas ago, there was little doubt that the chemical would soon be implemented. There had been a final meeting planned with Andalite researchers on Trinte, scheduled for the time that Linti would be in Maximum Burn.
The Andalites were allies of the Trintans, but they would not share knowledge with the Trintans. Would not break their laws against freedom of information. Would not give away secrets of strategy that a society without war lacked.
The Yeerks must have attacked during the meeting. No one alive after the blast would know anything beyond the simple characteristics of the chemicals involved. Could not reproduce it.
*How did they find out?*
"Rina? Rina, what's wrong?" Adral was staring at her intently. His dark hair was ruffled and his deep black eyes were filled with worry. He understood the dire meaning of the conversation.
"Adral, the Yeerks. . . they destroyed Trinte. It's demolished. In pieces. And it happened during the meeting. All knowledge of the weapon was lost."
"Spirit! Are you sure?"
"Yes. All the officials were on Trinte."
"You're sure it was destroyed not just. . ."
"Yes. Andalite home told me." Adral's eyes flashed cyan with sorrow and returned to his normal darkness.
"We need to tell Futran and Kimpe," he said in an almost-whisper. Suddenly, an orange warning light began to flash. Adral glanced at the screen, and his voice turned terse. "Yeerk bugs heading for us. Weapons status?"
"We're not equipped for a fight. How many?"
"About ten."
Rina laughed; it was a bitter sound. "We can't out fight them"
"Then we're going to have to outrun them; we have no other choice."
"I'll alert Base." Rina put her earpiece back on. "Linti 127 to Andalite Home."
<Go ahead, 127.>
"We're being tailed by Bugs. Mission delayed by at least a few local hours."
<Copy that.>
"Going to Maximum Burn. Linti 127 out."
Adral punched Maximum Burn, and Rina was thrown back into the communications panel before the compensators kicked in.
"Yeaaah! Woah, that's it, baby, come on!" Adral grinned. "We've lost them."
"That's nice. Can you slow down?"
The bugs were left behind. The ship accelerated quite fast. As soon as they were far enough away, Adral tried to decelerate.
"This thing won't slow down!"
"Jakin. Are you sure?"
"Yes. If we keep this up for much longer, our time is going to go crazy."
"No. We have to slow down."
"I am aware of that."
"Fine. Just hurry up!"
"I think we can break the speed. But, by the time it gets done, we're going to be more than a local year behind."
"Okay. How?"
"We're going to have to get in orbit around Earth. Can we cloak?"
"Yep. Let's go and do it."
"The Kintas?"
"I'll talk to them if it will make you feel better. They're scientists; they shouldn't have a problem with this."
"It would make me feel better. I need to know how safe it is to pull some of these moves."
"Fine." Rina pressed the intercom button. "You people all right down there?"
"Yes? Are we in Maximum Burn again? Because if we are. . ."
"We picked up some bugs, Kimpe-thi. Permission to maneuver?"
"Permission granted."
"Then we're going to lose some time. Brace for sudden Earth orbit."
"We hear you. Everything is working on this level."
"As is here. Thank you for telling me; I wasn't sure that I was reading the instruments correctly, *sir*." Kimpe was the most arrogant person she had ever met. Unfortunately, he was also her superior. "Bridge, out." She turned off the intercom with one swift motion.
"You hear that, Adral? They're fine. Let's slow down, all right?"
"Okay. Entering Earth orbit." The ship slowed down. "Rina, what does the clock read?"
"We have gone one year, one hundred twenty days ahead."
"So, our mission was delayed a little bit."
"We're still going too fast. How do you plan on slowing us down?"
"Very carefully. There are more bugs on us."
"They shouldn't remember us."
Adral entered the Earth's atmosphere with the Bug Fighters close on the ship's tail. They passed, cloaked, over cities and oceans. Then the lead bug hit the side of the ship with a Dracon Beam, low powered, he noted thankfully.
"We've got all steering out on our left side."
"Rina?"
"Yeah?"
"We're going to crash. Brace."
"Shouldn't I tell the. . ."
"They died in the blast. We're the only ones left. Now brace!"" He pushed her down, then wedged his arms between the console and the seats.
The impact was hard- incredibly hard. Adral and Rina crawled out of the ship, with spots of sort of blue-violet blood where they were cut. Injured, but alive.
The bugs took care of the wreckage with Dracon beams immediately. Only a vivid orange fire remained.
"Why aren't they attacking us?"
"They will. They're too far out now."
Suddenly, a group of squad cars came up. When Rina spoke next, it was in a dialect of Trintan that was untranslatable to the Yeerk translators.
"Qunt yeh-thi pol rew lenoe jinun-Yeerks." (Some of these officials are bound to be Controllers.)"
"(Yes, definitely. Split up, and hope you get a true human.)"
Rina and Adral ran across the forest. Both of them were faster than any human could hope to be. They were doing about thirty miles an hour, due to having strong muscles and great endurance. Vaynas were hunters by design, and the necessary manipulations for life on Earth made little difference.
Another group of police rose up in front of them
"*Jakin!*"
Adral was the first to be caught. Running was no match against numerous troops. Rina was caught a few seconds later. She felt her arms being wrenched behind her back and thin human handcuffs encasing her wrist.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can not afford one, one will be provided by the court. Do you wish to waive your right to silence now?"
"(Is yours human?)" Adral called to Rina.
"(Yes. He thinks we started this fire to make trouble. Yours?)"
"(No. Unfortunately.)"
"What are you kids doing?"
"(Can you get out of the handcuffs?)"
"(Yes, of course.)"
"(One . . . two. . . THREE!)" Rina and Adral concentrated, closed their eyes; their hands began to change, to flow into liquid metal, silver and gold colored, which stretched as they pulled their wrists free of the cuffs and reformed into hands as they began to run.
As they ran, the Controllers decided to break cover. Three of the policemen pulled out guns, and other weapons.
"(Adral, one of them has a Dracon Beam)"
"(I know, I see 'em.)"
The man holding the Dracon Beam fired. The first two shots missed, but the third hit Adral right in the shoulder. And went straight through.
Rina stopped running. "(Adral-!")"
"(Keep going, Rina. I'm dead now anyway. . .)"
"(No! If you get caught, it's all over.)"
"(That's an order, officer!)" He passed out and the rest of his body liquefied, turned into a golden puddle that oozed around the underbrush and blended into the ground. He was dead; completely unconscious, soon to be dead, fried. . .
*Don't think about that, not right now.*
Rina took off. With one jump and a step up the trunk, she was in the trees, and stayed there until the Controllers gave up. They didn't realize how hard it was to find a Vayna that didn't want to be caught.
She couldn't believe it. Adral was dead. The ship had crashed. Trinte was destroyed. Everyone that she met could be an enemy; there was no way to tell who. And any Yeerk could spot her instantly if she wasn't careful.
She pitied anyone who came near her now.
She heard the last officers talking as they walked away from her.
"Visser Three is going to be angry. We already have the Andalite bandits running around; the last thing we need is a renegade Trintan soldier."
"We got the other one, though. He may spare our lives. And it's not as if we have to tell him."
*Andalite bandits.* The words rang throughout Rina's thoughts. If she could find them . . . maybe then she could join with them. She could tell them her story. . . do spy missions. Get information. Do. . .something. . . .
Then there was a flash. A Dracon beam fired. A crack. Deflected. A blow.
Rina collapsed on the branch, unconscious.
*****************************
<Woah, what was that?!> Tobias flared and landed on a branch.
<It sounded like a Yeerk Dracon beam of a small size. The delay between the flash and the sound suggests that it was most likely on a lower setting, and the placement of. . .>
<Dracon Beam was all you needed to say, Ax. Think we should check it out.>
<They were not firing at us, Tobias.>
<I remember something Rachel said: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend.">
<That is true in many cases.>
<So you're for it?>
<I suppose.>
<All right then.> He took off, quickly scanning the trees.
<Do you see signs of battle, Tobias?>
<There's a fire about a mile away from here, and a bunch of police. No firemen, though. It looks like they're letting it burn or something.>
<Perhaps they wish to conceal some evidence.>
<Maybe.> A pause. <Hey, there's something in this tree. I'm going to check it out.>
He flared, landed on a branch, then saw what the leaves concealed.
<Oh! Oh, man. Ax! Get Cassie; get someone! I'll get Cassie! You get Jake!>
<What is wrong?>
<There's someone in the tree. She's hurt; barely breathing. Get Jake; get someone!>
<All right.> Ax charged through the woods towards the open spaces, morphing human as the ground passed beneath his hooves. Tobias took off and flew towards a barn off in the distance.
Jay, hiking, continued on his way, unobserved, unaware.
"Is that smoke. . ." he wondered aloud, allowing his gaze to drift up the tree in front of him. "I don't see. . .what the. . ."
Mixed in among the green leaves and brown wood, there was a flash of red; Jay thought it looked like hair. He walked up to the base of the tree, and grabbed onto the trunk as his stomach lurched. It was a dead body up there in the tree. Dead. Still. A lifeless form above him.
No. Not lifeless. There was slight movement. He- no she- was breathing. Hurt. but alive. Conscious?
"Hello?"
No answer.
"Hello??"
Silence.
Not conscious. Badly hurt, then.
He had to get her down before she fell.
Tossing his backpack aside, he grabbed a branch and pulled himself up. A pause to regain balance. Then another level, until he was underneath her.
"I can't believe I'm doing this. . ." he muttered as reached up to pull the unconscious form down to his level.
He reached up and grabbed the girl's shoulders tightly. Tentatively, he pulled. She moved an inch. Reassured, he pulled harder.
The delicate balance keeping her in the tree disappeared, and she fell towards the ground in a shower of ripped leaves.
"Man. . ." Jay jumped down to the ground, ignoring the shock that went through his legs as he made violent contact, and bent to the girl.
He really hoped that he hadn't killed her.
No, he hadn't. She was breathing steadily, opening her eyes. Sitting up. Then edging back down.
"You okay?"
She stared at him blankly.
"I said, are you--"
"Re-tan?"
"Huh?"
"Re-tan? Yeerk-jinu? Jinu? Re-tan?!" She struggled to sit up.
"Woah, woah, you're hurt. And you've covered in. . .this. . . ." He pointed to a spot covered in a bright blue-violet syrupy fluid, then noticed the edges of a wound buried underneath it.
"No. . .no way, no way! That is not blood, that is *not* blood!"
She tilted her head at him and murmured: "Jinu. . .jinu, asa."
"I don't suppose you speak English, do you?" He laughed. "That was a stupid question. . . so, um, do you need help or anything?" A puzzled look. "I mean, because you seem to be hurt and- hey, be careful!" He put out an arm to keep her down. "You're just gonna make it worse."
"I promise you that I will be. . ." She winced. ". . .fine." The last word was spoken with bitter irony.
"So you do speak English?" He laughed nervously. "You think you can stand?"
"I am trying to, as you have seen." Her voice was unaffected, cold. "Who are you?"
"Jay. Jason Russell, but everyone calls me Jay. You. . .?"
"I am-" she broke off, tilting her head. "We have to go."
"Why?"
"People are coming. I can not let them see me."
"Oh. . ." Jay debated this for a moment. "All right. Let's go." He swung his backpack over his shoulders and bent down. "Come on." Carefully, he eased one arm underneath her and lifted.
"What are you doing? Let go of me at once!" She swung at his arm, and he drew back with a gasp and a sigh.
"You have to get out of here. You can't walk. So I'm carrying you."
"How do I know that you are not one of *them*?"
"You don't. I don't know who *they* are. But you can trust me." He smiled, and placed his arm back underneath her. "Okay?"
She looked at his face, hard. Jay had the momentary instinct to look away, embarrassed at what she might see there.
"I trust you."
"Good." He lifted her into the air and went through the trails as quickly as he could.
******************
<I could have sworn someone was here.>
"Yeah, well, Tobias, there isn't anyone. Just a bunch of trees. Are we saving trees now? That should make Cassie happy."
<Don't be a pill, Marco.>
"If Tobias says that there was someone in this tree, then there probably was. Hawks have incredible eyesight; you know that." Cassie looked up into the branches.
"Even if the tree is empty?"
<Ax, are you sure you couldn't have gotten Jake instead?>
<I already explained that Prince Jake was not at his dwelling. Marco was the only available person. You requested that I "get someone.">
Tobias sighed. <I know.>
"Are you sure she wasn't just sleeping in the tree? Or sitting?" The words were gently phrased.
<I can't be completely sure. She could have been. Yeah.>
"So she could have left? On her own?"
<Yeah. I mean, it's possible but. . .it didn't look like it. She was covered in some slime. Or maybe paint; I'm not sure.>
"Well, I hate to burst your bubble Bird-boy, but, even if this girl was in trouble, she isn't now. Or she's way beyond trouble, and there's nothing we can do. Or she is trouble, and this is a trap. So, I say we just go home, forget about it, and relax."
<Fine. We'll go home. Happy?>
"Yes."
********************
Jay looked back forth from between two houses.
"I'm going to leave you here now, but just for a second. I can't carry you past my mom, all right?"
"I understand."
"This is my room right here. I'm going to open the window when I get inside, then I'll lift you through. I promise; I'll be back." He ran around the corner and out of sight.
Rina sighed in relief. He was gone. She hated feeling so weak; she hated it. Helpless; that's what she was right now.
*Haven't I always been helpless?*
If he was a Yeerk. . .she wouldn't be able to stop him.
Of course, he probably wasn't a Yeerk. A Yeerk wouldn't have taken her home. A Yeerk wouldn't have carried her. A Yeerk would have killed her. Like they killed Adral.
*Jakin!* Adral. He was dead; he had to be dead. Her commanding officer; she was alone on this planet. No communication possible. No way of waging a war, no way of gaining revenge. She couldn't even walk. She had to trust this human. . .Jay. Jay Russell.
"Hey." She looked up as he began to climb out the window. "Coast is clear."
"There is no one within visual range?"
"Uh. . .you could put it that way, yeah." He bent down to pick her up.
"No."
"'No,' what?"
"I would prefer to attempt to enter your room on my own. If that is right to you."
"All right. But I'm going to stay right here, to help you."
"Agreed." Gingerly, she pushed herself to her feet. "I can-" Her legs gave out from underneath her, and she collapsed on the ground.
"You can't. Come on. I'll take you in." He bent down again and picked her up, climbed in, and placed her on his bed.
"I am sorry for being a trouble to you. And, as grateful as I am for your assistance, I feel obligated to tell you that you may be involving yourself in something unpleasant. It may be best, for you, if you leave me, and forget of my existence."
He laughed, nervous. "Maybe, but it's too late now. I've already met you; I'd feel real guilty if anything happened."
"It is better to be guilty than dead."
He drew back. "Not always."
"True." She winced and laid back on the pillow. "Very true."
"Hey. . .I've been meaning to ask. . . what's with the blue stuff? I mean, it looks like paint, and you're covered in it. But you're cut. . .it looks like it came from the cuts, like blood. But it can't be-"
"It is."
"Is what? Paint?"
"Blood."
"Blood's red. . ." he trailed off. "Blood has to be red."
"Yes. You are correct. Blood has to be red."
"So you're joking? It's paint?"
"If you'd like it to be." Rina felt her head spinning, her body sinking further into the soft mattress.
"You're not making sense."
". . .sorry. . ." Her eyes shut, and her breathing grew even.
Jay jerked back in shock, then recovered, leaning forward.
"So. . .why were you in the woods? How'd you get so hurt? Who are you?" He traced a finger up a gash on her arm. The same thick liquid- definitely not paint- stained his finger.
"What are you?"
*********************
"So, she was gone by the time you got back."
<Yeah. There were a few broken branches under the tree, but other than that, nothing. No one.>
"Did you talk to her?"
<Jake, she was unconscious.>
"Must have been a boring conversation, then."
Both Tobias and Jake looked at Marco.
"What?"
"That was bad."
<Really bad.>
"All right, jeez, sorry!"
Jake turned back to Tobias. "Do you remember what she looked like?"
<Yeah. About our age. Maybe a little older. I don't know. Really red hair; I mean bright red. Average height. Strange clothing. Looked like a shirt and shorts, but. . .they were attached. Like one piece.>
"You'd recognize her?"
<Oh, yeah. The hair's a giveaway.>
"Okay. If you see her. . .tell us."
<You want me to look?>
"No, but keep an eye out. All right?"
<Got it.>
*******************
Rina stood in a dark and fiery room. The walls were flame, and they burnt her skin.
Someone was behind the wall. Someone was talking to her.
"The way out isn't easy. It hurts. It hurts more than you can imagine."
It was calm, despite the flames. The voice expressed no emotion. No fear. No panic. It spoke to her, it taught her.
"Who's there?" she cried. "Who are you?"
"You can't see me."
"I know I can't see you, just tell me who you are!"
"I can't."
"Why can't you."
"The living cannot know the dead. They are separate." He paused. "The walls are forever."
"Why?"
"Because they were forged by anger, and hate, and fear. Those things hold you back. Any negative emotions will burn you."
"I'm not angry with you. I know that. Are you angry with me?" she asked. "Adral?"
He laughed. "No, of course not. Why would I be?"
"Because I lived, I'm weak! Spirit, Adral, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I left, I'm weak, I-"
"Shh, Rina-che, weakness doesn't last forever. You will be strong."
"Can I see you? Will these walls last forever?"
"Only you can be sure of that."
"I want to see you. I need to know that you're not. . ." the words were unspeakable.
"I'm not. You know that. You can't make a host from a corpse."
"I still want to see you."
"It's not that easy!" His voice showed the first signs of panic
She stepped through the wall of flame. She felt every part of her burn, boil, vaporize.
She started forward. The pain consumed her.
"You can't do this."
"I can, I must. Adral!"
She was a skeleton, but, still, the bones moved, though charred.
"Adral, I have to- Adral!"
"You're going to be all right, now. It's all right." The fire spoke to her.
"No! Adral!"
The skeleton turned to dust.
Rina opened her eyes.
*******************
"Woah, woah, everything's fine, you're all right, you don't need to ye- hey!" Jay drew back as a fist came flying at his head, and watched as her eyes opened, and focused on his face.
"I am sorry. I was dreaming, and I-"
"Hey, it's all right, you missed." He laughed a little, nervously. "I wanted to tell you I was going."
"Where? Classes? Training?"
"I guess. To school; I don't want to go; I want to stay here, but. . ."
Rina looked at him, and he smiled slightly, then tried to hide it as she began to speak. "It would draw attention?"
"Yeah, in a 'teachers calling my house and leaving messages on the answering machine' way. Not that I know; I just think that's what they'd do." *That was smooth,* he thought. *Real smooth.*
"I don't want to be any trouble." Rina began to stand. "I should leave."
"No. You're still hurt, and--" he caught her as she fell, "--you'd never make it out there. Just stay here until I get back. Rest."
"But--"
"Please. . .just rest. And if anyone comes in, hide." He laughed. "I don't want to get in trouble."
*****************
Adral had been awake since the light had begun to filter in through the window above him. He didn't know how long ago that had been, because he'd quickly closed his eyes as soon as he realized that there were two guards sitting near him. As long as they thought he was unconscious, he thought, they wouldn't bother to put a Yeerk in his head.
After all, why waste troops?
Frankly, Adral didn't know why he was still alive. By all rights, the Dracon blast that he had taken should have killed him; he'd certainly felt like it had when it hit. Yet he was alive, and this made him worry; the Yeerks probably had some plan for him.
Well, he wasn't going to let them carry it out.
While he'd been pretending to be unconscious, Adral had been trying to find out where he was, what the room was like around him, without showing any signs of life. So far, he'd figured out that he was in some kind of vehicle, that the guards didn't know the final destination, or if there was one, and that there was only one additional guard, who was steering the vehicle. Adral was certain he could take all of them out, if he moved fast enough.
He pushed himself hard against the wall, discreetly; he didn't want to tip them off, and waited for the vehicle to turn.
After a minute, he felt the floor shift beneath him as the driver made a left-hand turn. Adral jumped up, and used the handcuffs around his wrists to knock one of the guards in the back of the head; the man remained still. The other guard stared at his partner as he fell.
*Stupid,* Adral thought as he grabbed the Dracon beam from the fallen guard's holster, pointed it at the other man, and fired. *Very stupid.*
With both the guards unconscious, Adral now looked at the door. It didn't seem to be very fortified; of course, there was only one way to test that. He gave the doors a solid kick at the seam where they met and grinned as they burst open onto the moving ground below, then jumped, and ran as the truck sped up, the driver oblivious to what happened in the back.
They would be looking for him once the driver realized that he'd escaped, Adral thought; he'd have to change the way he looked. . .but what did humans look like?
He looked around the street; very few people were walking, and Adral didn't want to stare at them. He remembered the coloring that Rina had taken, the bright red, and the green eyes; vaguely, he hoped she was all right.
Half-hurrying, half limping still from the Dracon blast, Adral entered a nearby alley. No one would see him change there; no one would know what he looked like, now. He focused on changing his features slightly, and changing his hair and his eyes, until they matched the shades that Rina had chosen; it took most of his concentration.
When he finished, he looked up and saw a human standing there, looking at him with one hand on her hip; he thought it was female, although he wasn't entirely sure. She had dark skin and black hair; Adral couldn't help looking at her; was she a Yeerk?
She scowled. "Who the hell are you?"
********************
Jay hadn't paid attention at school all day. He'd acted like he was listening, but, instead, his mind was at home. He thought it was amazing that, at this very moment, he had a girl in his room. A pretty girl. Maybe she was a little crazy, but she was definitely pretty, and he kind of liked her. He didn't want anything bad to happen to her.
He really hoped that he hadn't made a complete idiot of himself that morning.
He sat down in English class as the bell rang, and was ready to pretend to pay attention again. As Mr. Gough began to take attendance, the door opened, squeaking a bit; Jay looked up at the sound.
In through the door walked Kali Chambers; Jay began to turn back towards the teacher. He'd seen Kali before; her little brother, Peter, sometimes went hiking with him. Kali had even invited Jay to her end-of-the-year party when they'd finished freshman year. Kali was definitely not the reason he jerked his head back to the door, shocked.
Behind her walked a boy, older than Jay, maybe even old enough to be out of high school, with impossibly red hair. In fact, Jay thought as Kali introduced the boy as a friend from out-of-town, he'd only seen that shade of red hair once before.
He'd only seen it on the girl who was now in his room.
*****************
*Did you see anything? *
<No. No sign.>
Rachel continued to walk towards the school bus, pen in hand, then began to scribble in her notebook again.
*She's probably dead.*
<I know. . .I just have a bad feeling about this. That's all.>
*This is stupid. For all we know, she's a Yeerk.*
<Not if she's dead.>
Rachel paused one moment before entering the bus.
*Very funny.*
******************
"What do you mean, where did I find him? Didn't you hear me tell the teacher he's my friend? Or are you brain dead with all that daydreaming you do in class? Hm?" Kali narrowed her eyes. There was no way she was going to tell Jay Russel anything about Adral. The boy couldn't take anything seriously; hell, if she told him, she might as well just tell everybody about the Yeerks.
And where would that leave her? And Peter? And Elena? It'd leave them dead. Dead in two seconds flat. Kali couldn't let that happen. She had a responsibility to protect those two; they had no common sense, none at all. Thank God Peter had told her about the Yeerks, and about Elena; without Kali, the kids would have been dead in a week.
Actually, Kali liked having to watch them. Those two were completely into each other; it was cute to see them hold hands as though it were something new and exciting. Besides, it would kill her if anything happened to them. Which was why she would keep her mouth shut.
"I *was* listening. You don't understand, I--" Jay glanced towards Adral and looked away, then lowered his voice; what was he getting at? "There's this girl that I--she's. . .she looks just like your friend. And I just found her."
Kali worked hard at keeping her face blank, but couldn't help sparing a glance at Adral. "Look, I don't care *who* you found, or *what* they look like. You turn your ass around and walk. Got it?"
"Kali-"
"It's all for your own good. Now *walk.*"
Jay sighed and walked; good. He might hate her, now, yeah, but at least he wouldn't be pulled into this whole mess. She turned and walked back to Adral, who was staring after Jay. "Come on, Adral, let's go."
He didn't move. Kali tugged at him; nothing. "I said-"
"Rina?"
Jay stopped in the doorway and turned around. "What?"
"You found Rina?"
He nodded, and Kali felt the world fall from underneath her.
*Damnit.*
The Castaways
As Adral decelerated the ship, Rina began to initiate contact.
"Linti 127 to Trinte."
No answer. Rina tried again.
"Trinte, this is Linti 127." Still no reply.
"What's going on?"
"I can't get through to Trinte."
"Try the Andalites."
"Oh, right." *I should have thought of that,* Rina thought as she switched frequencies.
"Trintan ship Linti 127 to Andalite Home."
<A Trintan ship?> She heard faint scuffling; someone was writing, taking notes, or else consulting them <Identify.>
"Linti 127. Weapons and Communications officer Rina Alen speaking."
<Location?>
"We are about seven thousand miles from Earth. We were unable to reach Trinte. Have they changed frequencies?"
<No. The Yeerks have destroyed Trinte.> The voice on the other end of the connection was apologetic.
*No! Spirit, no!*
"How?" Rina spoke in a hoarse voice. "How?"
<They created a chain reaction in the kintisite core using a ramonite-756 bomb. Everything was destroyed. I'm sorry.> What could someone who hadn't grown up on Trinte say?
<Can you still complete the mission.>
"We *will* complete the mission. The Yeerks aren't going to just- we'll finish it. Linti 127 out."
Rina just stared into space. Trinte, her home planet, gone. The place where three different, intelligent, peaceful species evolved and lived together, wiped out.
*The weapon against the Yeerks. That's why! And now it's gone. . .* The scientists had been working on a chemical weapon against the Yeerks. It would disrupt their nervous system, make it overload with electrical impulses and hormones. It would kill the Yeerks, but was safe to the hosts.
There had been such joy when *Kinta* Rayli had announced that his research group discovered the exact formula. Finally the Yeerk threat would be over! There had been so much conjecture on where they would strike next. . .some had felt it would be Trinte. Other felt it would be Earth, or perhaps Leera. Or one of a thousand other worlds.
When Rina had left, 25 sundas ago, there was little doubt that the chemical would soon be implemented. There had been a final meeting planned with Andalite researchers on Trinte, scheduled for the time that Linti would be in Maximum Burn.
The Andalites were allies of the Trintans, but they would not share knowledge with the Trintans. Would not break their laws against freedom of information. Would not give away secrets of strategy that a society without war lacked.
The Yeerks must have attacked during the meeting. No one alive after the blast would know anything beyond the simple characteristics of the chemicals involved. Could not reproduce it.
*How did they find out?*
"Rina? Rina, what's wrong?" Adral was staring at her intently. His dark hair was ruffled and his deep black eyes were filled with worry. He understood the dire meaning of the conversation.
"Adral, the Yeerks. . . they destroyed Trinte. It's demolished. In pieces. And it happened during the meeting. All knowledge of the weapon was lost."
"Spirit! Are you sure?"
"Yes. All the officials were on Trinte."
"You're sure it was destroyed not just. . ."
"Yes. Andalite home told me." Adral's eyes flashed cyan with sorrow and returned to his normal darkness.
"We need to tell Futran and Kimpe," he said in an almost-whisper. Suddenly, an orange warning light began to flash. Adral glanced at the screen, and his voice turned terse. "Yeerk bugs heading for us. Weapons status?"
"We're not equipped for a fight. How many?"
"About ten."
Rina laughed; it was a bitter sound. "We can't out fight them"
"Then we're going to have to outrun them; we have no other choice."
"I'll alert Base." Rina put her earpiece back on. "Linti 127 to Andalite Home."
<Go ahead, 127.>
"We're being tailed by Bugs. Mission delayed by at least a few local hours."
<Copy that.>
"Going to Maximum Burn. Linti 127 out."
Adral punched Maximum Burn, and Rina was thrown back into the communications panel before the compensators kicked in.
"Yeaaah! Woah, that's it, baby, come on!" Adral grinned. "We've lost them."
"That's nice. Can you slow down?"
The bugs were left behind. The ship accelerated quite fast. As soon as they were far enough away, Adral tried to decelerate.
"This thing won't slow down!"
"Jakin. Are you sure?"
"Yes. If we keep this up for much longer, our time is going to go crazy."
"No. We have to slow down."
"I am aware of that."
"Fine. Just hurry up!"
"I think we can break the speed. But, by the time it gets done, we're going to be more than a local year behind."
"Okay. How?"
"We're going to have to get in orbit around Earth. Can we cloak?"
"Yep. Let's go and do it."
"The Kintas?"
"I'll talk to them if it will make you feel better. They're scientists; they shouldn't have a problem with this."
"It would make me feel better. I need to know how safe it is to pull some of these moves."
"Fine." Rina pressed the intercom button. "You people all right down there?"
"Yes? Are we in Maximum Burn again? Because if we are. . ."
"We picked up some bugs, Kimpe-thi. Permission to maneuver?"
"Permission granted."
"Then we're going to lose some time. Brace for sudden Earth orbit."
"We hear you. Everything is working on this level."
"As is here. Thank you for telling me; I wasn't sure that I was reading the instruments correctly, *sir*." Kimpe was the most arrogant person she had ever met. Unfortunately, he was also her superior. "Bridge, out." She turned off the intercom with one swift motion.
"You hear that, Adral? They're fine. Let's slow down, all right?"
"Okay. Entering Earth orbit." The ship slowed down. "Rina, what does the clock read?"
"We have gone one year, one hundred twenty days ahead."
"So, our mission was delayed a little bit."
"We're still going too fast. How do you plan on slowing us down?"
"Very carefully. There are more bugs on us."
"They shouldn't remember us."
Adral entered the Earth's atmosphere with the Bug Fighters close on the ship's tail. They passed, cloaked, over cities and oceans. Then the lead bug hit the side of the ship with a Dracon Beam, low powered, he noted thankfully.
"We've got all steering out on our left side."
"Rina?"
"Yeah?"
"We're going to crash. Brace."
"Shouldn't I tell the. . ."
"They died in the blast. We're the only ones left. Now brace!"" He pushed her down, then wedged his arms between the console and the seats.
The impact was hard- incredibly hard. Adral and Rina crawled out of the ship, with spots of sort of blue-violet blood where they were cut. Injured, but alive.
The bugs took care of the wreckage with Dracon beams immediately. Only a vivid orange fire remained.
"Why aren't they attacking us?"
"They will. They're too far out now."
Suddenly, a group of squad cars came up. When Rina spoke next, it was in a dialect of Trintan that was untranslatable to the Yeerk translators.
"Qunt yeh-thi pol rew lenoe jinun-Yeerks." (Some of these officials are bound to be Controllers.)"
"(Yes, definitely. Split up, and hope you get a true human.)"
Rina and Adral ran across the forest. Both of them were faster than any human could hope to be. They were doing about thirty miles an hour, due to having strong muscles and great endurance. Vaynas were hunters by design, and the necessary manipulations for life on Earth made little difference.
Another group of police rose up in front of them
"*Jakin!*"
Adral was the first to be caught. Running was no match against numerous troops. Rina was caught a few seconds later. She felt her arms being wrenched behind her back and thin human handcuffs encasing her wrist.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can not afford one, one will be provided by the court. Do you wish to waive your right to silence now?"
"(Is yours human?)" Adral called to Rina.
"(Yes. He thinks we started this fire to make trouble. Yours?)"
"(No. Unfortunately.)"
"What are you kids doing?"
"(Can you get out of the handcuffs?)"
"(Yes, of course.)"
"(One . . . two. . . THREE!)" Rina and Adral concentrated, closed their eyes; their hands began to change, to flow into liquid metal, silver and gold colored, which stretched as they pulled their wrists free of the cuffs and reformed into hands as they began to run.
As they ran, the Controllers decided to break cover. Three of the policemen pulled out guns, and other weapons.
"(Adral, one of them has a Dracon Beam)"
"(I know, I see 'em.)"
The man holding the Dracon Beam fired. The first two shots missed, but the third hit Adral right in the shoulder. And went straight through.
Rina stopped running. "(Adral-!")"
"(Keep going, Rina. I'm dead now anyway. . .)"
"(No! If you get caught, it's all over.)"
"(That's an order, officer!)" He passed out and the rest of his body liquefied, turned into a golden puddle that oozed around the underbrush and blended into the ground. He was dead; completely unconscious, soon to be dead, fried. . .
*Don't think about that, not right now.*
Rina took off. With one jump and a step up the trunk, she was in the trees, and stayed there until the Controllers gave up. They didn't realize how hard it was to find a Vayna that didn't want to be caught.
She couldn't believe it. Adral was dead. The ship had crashed. Trinte was destroyed. Everyone that she met could be an enemy; there was no way to tell who. And any Yeerk could spot her instantly if she wasn't careful.
She pitied anyone who came near her now.
She heard the last officers talking as they walked away from her.
"Visser Three is going to be angry. We already have the Andalite bandits running around; the last thing we need is a renegade Trintan soldier."
"We got the other one, though. He may spare our lives. And it's not as if we have to tell him."
*Andalite bandits.* The words rang throughout Rina's thoughts. If she could find them . . . maybe then she could join with them. She could tell them her story. . . do spy missions. Get information. Do. . .something. . . .
Then there was a flash. A Dracon beam fired. A crack. Deflected. A blow.
Rina collapsed on the branch, unconscious.
*****************************
<Woah, what was that?!> Tobias flared and landed on a branch.
<It sounded like a Yeerk Dracon beam of a small size. The delay between the flash and the sound suggests that it was most likely on a lower setting, and the placement of. . .>
<Dracon Beam was all you needed to say, Ax. Think we should check it out.>
<They were not firing at us, Tobias.>
<I remember something Rachel said: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend.">
<That is true in many cases.>
<So you're for it?>
<I suppose.>
<All right then.> He took off, quickly scanning the trees.
<Do you see signs of battle, Tobias?>
<There's a fire about a mile away from here, and a bunch of police. No firemen, though. It looks like they're letting it burn or something.>
<Perhaps they wish to conceal some evidence.>
<Maybe.> A pause. <Hey, there's something in this tree. I'm going to check it out.>
He flared, landed on a branch, then saw what the leaves concealed.
<Oh! Oh, man. Ax! Get Cassie; get someone! I'll get Cassie! You get Jake!>
<What is wrong?>
<There's someone in the tree. She's hurt; barely breathing. Get Jake; get someone!>
<All right.> Ax charged through the woods towards the open spaces, morphing human as the ground passed beneath his hooves. Tobias took off and flew towards a barn off in the distance.
Jay, hiking, continued on his way, unobserved, unaware.
"Is that smoke. . ." he wondered aloud, allowing his gaze to drift up the tree in front of him. "I don't see. . .what the. . ."
Mixed in among the green leaves and brown wood, there was a flash of red; Jay thought it looked like hair. He walked up to the base of the tree, and grabbed onto the trunk as his stomach lurched. It was a dead body up there in the tree. Dead. Still. A lifeless form above him.
No. Not lifeless. There was slight movement. He- no she- was breathing. Hurt. but alive. Conscious?
"Hello?"
No answer.
"Hello??"
Silence.
Not conscious. Badly hurt, then.
He had to get her down before she fell.
Tossing his backpack aside, he grabbed a branch and pulled himself up. A pause to regain balance. Then another level, until he was underneath her.
"I can't believe I'm doing this. . ." he muttered as reached up to pull the unconscious form down to his level.
He reached up and grabbed the girl's shoulders tightly. Tentatively, he pulled. She moved an inch. Reassured, he pulled harder.
The delicate balance keeping her in the tree disappeared, and she fell towards the ground in a shower of ripped leaves.
"Man. . ." Jay jumped down to the ground, ignoring the shock that went through his legs as he made violent contact, and bent to the girl.
He really hoped that he hadn't killed her.
No, he hadn't. She was breathing steadily, opening her eyes. Sitting up. Then edging back down.
"You okay?"
She stared at him blankly.
"I said, are you--"
"Re-tan?"
"Huh?"
"Re-tan? Yeerk-jinu? Jinu? Re-tan?!" She struggled to sit up.
"Woah, woah, you're hurt. And you've covered in. . .this. . . ." He pointed to a spot covered in a bright blue-violet syrupy fluid, then noticed the edges of a wound buried underneath it.
"No. . .no way, no way! That is not blood, that is *not* blood!"
She tilted her head at him and murmured: "Jinu. . .jinu, asa."
"I don't suppose you speak English, do you?" He laughed. "That was a stupid question. . . so, um, do you need help or anything?" A puzzled look. "I mean, because you seem to be hurt and- hey, be careful!" He put out an arm to keep her down. "You're just gonna make it worse."
"I promise you that I will be. . ." She winced. ". . .fine." The last word was spoken with bitter irony.
"So you do speak English?" He laughed nervously. "You think you can stand?"
"I am trying to, as you have seen." Her voice was unaffected, cold. "Who are you?"
"Jay. Jason Russell, but everyone calls me Jay. You. . .?"
"I am-" she broke off, tilting her head. "We have to go."
"Why?"
"People are coming. I can not let them see me."
"Oh. . ." Jay debated this for a moment. "All right. Let's go." He swung his backpack over his shoulders and bent down. "Come on." Carefully, he eased one arm underneath her and lifted.
"What are you doing? Let go of me at once!" She swung at his arm, and he drew back with a gasp and a sigh.
"You have to get out of here. You can't walk. So I'm carrying you."
"How do I know that you are not one of *them*?"
"You don't. I don't know who *they* are. But you can trust me." He smiled, and placed his arm back underneath her. "Okay?"
She looked at his face, hard. Jay had the momentary instinct to look away, embarrassed at what she might see there.
"I trust you."
"Good." He lifted her into the air and went through the trails as quickly as he could.
******************
<I could have sworn someone was here.>
"Yeah, well, Tobias, there isn't anyone. Just a bunch of trees. Are we saving trees now? That should make Cassie happy."
<Don't be a pill, Marco.>
"If Tobias says that there was someone in this tree, then there probably was. Hawks have incredible eyesight; you know that." Cassie looked up into the branches.
"Even if the tree is empty?"
<Ax, are you sure you couldn't have gotten Jake instead?>
<I already explained that Prince Jake was not at his dwelling. Marco was the only available person. You requested that I "get someone.">
Tobias sighed. <I know.>
"Are you sure she wasn't just sleeping in the tree? Or sitting?" The words were gently phrased.
<I can't be completely sure. She could have been. Yeah.>
"So she could have left? On her own?"
<Yeah. I mean, it's possible but. . .it didn't look like it. She was covered in some slime. Or maybe paint; I'm not sure.>
"Well, I hate to burst your bubble Bird-boy, but, even if this girl was in trouble, she isn't now. Or she's way beyond trouble, and there's nothing we can do. Or she is trouble, and this is a trap. So, I say we just go home, forget about it, and relax."
<Fine. We'll go home. Happy?>
"Yes."
********************
Jay looked back forth from between two houses.
"I'm going to leave you here now, but just for a second. I can't carry you past my mom, all right?"
"I understand."
"This is my room right here. I'm going to open the window when I get inside, then I'll lift you through. I promise; I'll be back." He ran around the corner and out of sight.
Rina sighed in relief. He was gone. She hated feeling so weak; she hated it. Helpless; that's what she was right now.
*Haven't I always been helpless?*
If he was a Yeerk. . .she wouldn't be able to stop him.
Of course, he probably wasn't a Yeerk. A Yeerk wouldn't have taken her home. A Yeerk wouldn't have carried her. A Yeerk would have killed her. Like they killed Adral.
*Jakin!* Adral. He was dead; he had to be dead. Her commanding officer; she was alone on this planet. No communication possible. No way of waging a war, no way of gaining revenge. She couldn't even walk. She had to trust this human. . .Jay. Jay Russell.
"Hey." She looked up as he began to climb out the window. "Coast is clear."
"There is no one within visual range?"
"Uh. . .you could put it that way, yeah." He bent down to pick her up.
"No."
"'No,' what?"
"I would prefer to attempt to enter your room on my own. If that is right to you."
"All right. But I'm going to stay right here, to help you."
"Agreed." Gingerly, she pushed herself to her feet. "I can-" Her legs gave out from underneath her, and she collapsed on the ground.
"You can't. Come on. I'll take you in." He bent down again and picked her up, climbed in, and placed her on his bed.
"I am sorry for being a trouble to you. And, as grateful as I am for your assistance, I feel obligated to tell you that you may be involving yourself in something unpleasant. It may be best, for you, if you leave me, and forget of my existence."
He laughed, nervous. "Maybe, but it's too late now. I've already met you; I'd feel real guilty if anything happened."
"It is better to be guilty than dead."
He drew back. "Not always."
"True." She winced and laid back on the pillow. "Very true."
"Hey. . .I've been meaning to ask. . . what's with the blue stuff? I mean, it looks like paint, and you're covered in it. But you're cut. . .it looks like it came from the cuts, like blood. But it can't be-"
"It is."
"Is what? Paint?"
"Blood."
"Blood's red. . ." he trailed off. "Blood has to be red."
"Yes. You are correct. Blood has to be red."
"So you're joking? It's paint?"
"If you'd like it to be." Rina felt her head spinning, her body sinking further into the soft mattress.
"You're not making sense."
". . .sorry. . ." Her eyes shut, and her breathing grew even.
Jay jerked back in shock, then recovered, leaning forward.
"So. . .why were you in the woods? How'd you get so hurt? Who are you?" He traced a finger up a gash on her arm. The same thick liquid- definitely not paint- stained his finger.
"What are you?"
*********************
"So, she was gone by the time you got back."
<Yeah. There were a few broken branches under the tree, but other than that, nothing. No one.>
"Did you talk to her?"
<Jake, she was unconscious.>
"Must have been a boring conversation, then."
Both Tobias and Jake looked at Marco.
"What?"
"That was bad."
<Really bad.>
"All right, jeez, sorry!"
Jake turned back to Tobias. "Do you remember what she looked like?"
<Yeah. About our age. Maybe a little older. I don't know. Really red hair; I mean bright red. Average height. Strange clothing. Looked like a shirt and shorts, but. . .they were attached. Like one piece.>
"You'd recognize her?"
<Oh, yeah. The hair's a giveaway.>
"Okay. If you see her. . .tell us."
<You want me to look?>
"No, but keep an eye out. All right?"
<Got it.>
*******************
Rina stood in a dark and fiery room. The walls were flame, and they burnt her skin.
Someone was behind the wall. Someone was talking to her.
"The way out isn't easy. It hurts. It hurts more than you can imagine."
It was calm, despite the flames. The voice expressed no emotion. No fear. No panic. It spoke to her, it taught her.
"Who's there?" she cried. "Who are you?"
"You can't see me."
"I know I can't see you, just tell me who you are!"
"I can't."
"Why can't you."
"The living cannot know the dead. They are separate." He paused. "The walls are forever."
"Why?"
"Because they were forged by anger, and hate, and fear. Those things hold you back. Any negative emotions will burn you."
"I'm not angry with you. I know that. Are you angry with me?" she asked. "Adral?"
He laughed. "No, of course not. Why would I be?"
"Because I lived, I'm weak! Spirit, Adral, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I left, I'm weak, I-"
"Shh, Rina-che, weakness doesn't last forever. You will be strong."
"Can I see you? Will these walls last forever?"
"Only you can be sure of that."
"I want to see you. I need to know that you're not. . ." the words were unspeakable.
"I'm not. You know that. You can't make a host from a corpse."
"I still want to see you."
"It's not that easy!" His voice showed the first signs of panic
She stepped through the wall of flame. She felt every part of her burn, boil, vaporize.
She started forward. The pain consumed her.
"You can't do this."
"I can, I must. Adral!"
She was a skeleton, but, still, the bones moved, though charred.
"Adral, I have to- Adral!"
"You're going to be all right, now. It's all right." The fire spoke to her.
"No! Adral!"
The skeleton turned to dust.
Rina opened her eyes.
*******************
"Woah, woah, everything's fine, you're all right, you don't need to ye- hey!" Jay drew back as a fist came flying at his head, and watched as her eyes opened, and focused on his face.
"I am sorry. I was dreaming, and I-"
"Hey, it's all right, you missed." He laughed a little, nervously. "I wanted to tell you I was going."
"Where? Classes? Training?"
"I guess. To school; I don't want to go; I want to stay here, but. . ."
Rina looked at him, and he smiled slightly, then tried to hide it as she began to speak. "It would draw attention?"
"Yeah, in a 'teachers calling my house and leaving messages on the answering machine' way. Not that I know; I just think that's what they'd do." *That was smooth,* he thought. *Real smooth.*
"I don't want to be any trouble." Rina began to stand. "I should leave."
"No. You're still hurt, and--" he caught her as she fell, "--you'd never make it out there. Just stay here until I get back. Rest."
"But--"
"Please. . .just rest. And if anyone comes in, hide." He laughed. "I don't want to get in trouble."
*****************
Adral had been awake since the light had begun to filter in through the window above him. He didn't know how long ago that had been, because he'd quickly closed his eyes as soon as he realized that there were two guards sitting near him. As long as they thought he was unconscious, he thought, they wouldn't bother to put a Yeerk in his head.
After all, why waste troops?
Frankly, Adral didn't know why he was still alive. By all rights, the Dracon blast that he had taken should have killed him; he'd certainly felt like it had when it hit. Yet he was alive, and this made him worry; the Yeerks probably had some plan for him.
Well, he wasn't going to let them carry it out.
While he'd been pretending to be unconscious, Adral had been trying to find out where he was, what the room was like around him, without showing any signs of life. So far, he'd figured out that he was in some kind of vehicle, that the guards didn't know the final destination, or if there was one, and that there was only one additional guard, who was steering the vehicle. Adral was certain he could take all of them out, if he moved fast enough.
He pushed himself hard against the wall, discreetly; he didn't want to tip them off, and waited for the vehicle to turn.
After a minute, he felt the floor shift beneath him as the driver made a left-hand turn. Adral jumped up, and used the handcuffs around his wrists to knock one of the guards in the back of the head; the man remained still. The other guard stared at his partner as he fell.
*Stupid,* Adral thought as he grabbed the Dracon beam from the fallen guard's holster, pointed it at the other man, and fired. *Very stupid.*
With both the guards unconscious, Adral now looked at the door. It didn't seem to be very fortified; of course, there was only one way to test that. He gave the doors a solid kick at the seam where they met and grinned as they burst open onto the moving ground below, then jumped, and ran as the truck sped up, the driver oblivious to what happened in the back.
They would be looking for him once the driver realized that he'd escaped, Adral thought; he'd have to change the way he looked. . .but what did humans look like?
He looked around the street; very few people were walking, and Adral didn't want to stare at them. He remembered the coloring that Rina had taken, the bright red, and the green eyes; vaguely, he hoped she was all right.
Half-hurrying, half limping still from the Dracon blast, Adral entered a nearby alley. No one would see him change there; no one would know what he looked like, now. He focused on changing his features slightly, and changing his hair and his eyes, until they matched the shades that Rina had chosen; it took most of his concentration.
When he finished, he looked up and saw a human standing there, looking at him with one hand on her hip; he thought it was female, although he wasn't entirely sure. She had dark skin and black hair; Adral couldn't help looking at her; was she a Yeerk?
She scowled. "Who the hell are you?"
********************
Jay hadn't paid attention at school all day. He'd acted like he was listening, but, instead, his mind was at home. He thought it was amazing that, at this very moment, he had a girl in his room. A pretty girl. Maybe she was a little crazy, but she was definitely pretty, and he kind of liked her. He didn't want anything bad to happen to her.
He really hoped that he hadn't made a complete idiot of himself that morning.
He sat down in English class as the bell rang, and was ready to pretend to pay attention again. As Mr. Gough began to take attendance, the door opened, squeaking a bit; Jay looked up at the sound.
In through the door walked Kali Chambers; Jay began to turn back towards the teacher. He'd seen Kali before; her little brother, Peter, sometimes went hiking with him. Kali had even invited Jay to her end-of-the-year party when they'd finished freshman year. Kali was definitely not the reason he jerked his head back to the door, shocked.
Behind her walked a boy, older than Jay, maybe even old enough to be out of high school, with impossibly red hair. In fact, Jay thought as Kali introduced the boy as a friend from out-of-town, he'd only seen that shade of red hair once before.
He'd only seen it on the girl who was now in his room.
*****************
*Did you see anything? *
<No. No sign.>
Rachel continued to walk towards the school bus, pen in hand, then began to scribble in her notebook again.
*She's probably dead.*
<I know. . .I just have a bad feeling about this. That's all.>
*This is stupid. For all we know, she's a Yeerk.*
<Not if she's dead.>
Rachel paused one moment before entering the bus.
*Very funny.*
******************
"What do you mean, where did I find him? Didn't you hear me tell the teacher he's my friend? Or are you brain dead with all that daydreaming you do in class? Hm?" Kali narrowed her eyes. There was no way she was going to tell Jay Russel anything about Adral. The boy couldn't take anything seriously; hell, if she told him, she might as well just tell everybody about the Yeerks.
And where would that leave her? And Peter? And Elena? It'd leave them dead. Dead in two seconds flat. Kali couldn't let that happen. She had a responsibility to protect those two; they had no common sense, none at all. Thank God Peter had told her about the Yeerks, and about Elena; without Kali, the kids would have been dead in a week.
Actually, Kali liked having to watch them. Those two were completely into each other; it was cute to see them hold hands as though it were something new and exciting. Besides, it would kill her if anything happened to them. Which was why she would keep her mouth shut.
"I *was* listening. You don't understand, I--" Jay glanced towards Adral and looked away, then lowered his voice; what was he getting at? "There's this girl that I--she's. . .she looks just like your friend. And I just found her."
Kali worked hard at keeping her face blank, but couldn't help sparing a glance at Adral. "Look, I don't care *who* you found, or *what* they look like. You turn your ass around and walk. Got it?"
"Kali-"
"It's all for your own good. Now *walk.*"
Jay sighed and walked; good. He might hate her, now, yeah, but at least he wouldn't be pulled into this whole mess. She turned and walked back to Adral, who was staring after Jay. "Come on, Adral, let's go."
He didn't move. Kali tugged at him; nothing. "I said-"
"Rina?"
Jay stopped in the doorway and turned around. "What?"
"You found Rina?"
He nodded, and Kali felt the world fall from underneath her.
*Damnit.*