I let the music flow through me like a wave on the sand. It had been so long since I had really gotten a chance to enjoy music.
Hello. I've waited here for you. Everlong. Tonight I throw myself into, and out of the red, out of her head she sang.
"Music. Sic. Mew. Some of this really is quite enjoyable." Ax.
"Didn't you have music back on the Andalite home world?" Marco asked.
"Yes. But none of it sounded anything like this. Iss."
"Who is this anyway, Marco?"
"Foo Fighters!" he said as if it was obvious. "Duh. It's called 'Everlong'. This one's the acoustic version though. Dude, isn't there a KHAWK 100 radio station or something that you can listen to?"
Come down and waste away with me. Down with me. Slow how, you wanted it to be. I'm over my head, out of her head she sang.
"Very funny, Marco," I laughed.
"Hey, it's not my fault if I'm talking to two dumb-founded 'I don't know anything about music' people."
"You're the one talking to us."
"Oh, yeah."
I laughed again. But all of a sudden, Rachel walked in the room.
And I wonder when I sing along with you, if everything could ever be this real forever. If anything could ever be this good again.
I smiled softly. "Hi, Rachel."
If only she knew. If only I could tell her my secret.
That not too long ago, the Ellimist appeared and asked me to go on a mission that could cost me my life. I went.
He put me on a ship and told me that an Andalite ship was near, and I had to talk to them and bring them to Earth.
But on the ship, I received a big surprise. I found out that my father was still alive – he had gone through black hole before he came to Earth and became a creature like the Ellimist. On my mission, I became one as well.
Breathe out, so I could breathe you in. Hold you in, and now, I know you've always been. Out of your head, out of my head I sing.
"Hi Tobias," Rachel said. She smiled back.
"Oh, man." Marco rolled his eyes.
Rachel walked over to me, kicking Marco in his chair on the way. "You're in human form."
"Yes," I said. "When Marco said that he was going to download some music online. I morphed so that I could enjoy it more."
The Ellimist told me that I couldn't tell anyone about what happened to me, and the powers I had now. For my own safety. But morphing was just an illusion now. As the Ellimist had said, now I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Time no longer had any meaning to me.
And I wonder when I sing along with you, if everything could ever be this real forever. If anything could ever be this good again.
I wanted to tell Rachel. I wanted to tell her so bad. She'd always wanted me to morph to human, for more than two hours. And I'd always told her that I couldn't.
But now I could. I could stay in "human morph" for as long as I wanted. After all, it wasn't really morphing. It all depended on how I wanted to present myself.
"Well, that's the end of that song," Marco said. "What do you want to hear next?"
"I still do not understand how you can play music on your computer that was downloaded from your Internet. Wouldn't you prefer to hear music that someone actually played for you?" Ax asked.
"You mean live? Ax-man, that would be great, but it's hard to get tickets."
"Tickets? Kets. Tickkke. Ickets."
"Never mind," Marco answered.
"Let's hear that song again," Rachel said. "I love it."
"Yeah. The words are great too." I took Rachel's hand in mine.
Marco sighed. "Okay. I'll play it. But only because I like this song too. Not because I enjoy looking at happy couples."
The song started playing again. A few seconds later, Cassie walked in the room. "Hey guys. Nice music. Jake's calling a meeting. Toby's there too."
Marco turned off his computer.
Ax said, "Thank you Marco. You were correct in your assumption that I would enjoy the music more in my human form." He morphed back to his Andalite form.
Rachel looked at me.
"Um…I'm going to stay human for a while longer."
We followed Cassie out to where Jack and Toby were waiting.
"Is something wrong?" Marco asked. I sat down on the ground. Everyone sat down slowly.
"Listen," Jake started. "We've been hiding out for a while now. The Yeerks are looking for us. We know that as a fact."
"What are you getting at, Jake?" Rachel asked.
Toby answered, "The Yeerks are covering every square inch of land. Even if the Ellimist said he's protecting this valley, they're still bound to find us sometime."
"They won't find us here," I said. "Not if we truly are under the Ellimist's protection. I mean, I don't think so."
Jake hesitated with what he was about to say. "Tobias, you know better than anyone that we can't completely trust the Ellimist. He told you that he would make you human again, and look where you are now."
That was a low blow. Everyone sat silent.
Jake opened his mouth, but Rachel interrupted him. "That was cold, Jake."
"I…I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, Tobias."
I faked a smile. "Hey, it's okay. We all know it's true."
Rachel squeezed my hand. "It's not true. What's gotten into you, Jake? We've tried to talk to you, but you completely ignore all of us. That was mean."
"It's okay, Rachel," I whispered.
"No, it's not," she said. "We've all had it rough. Rougher than others at specific times."
Jake started yelling, "I know, okay? I'm just sick of you guys always down my back. 'Talk to us, Jake.' 'Be our leader, Jake.' Well you know what? I'm sick of all of this bull crap. I'm sick of it!"
Rachel stood up. "We're just trying to help you! Damn you, Jake! Will you just listen? You've been treating us all like dirt!"
Jake stood in Rachel's face, ready to yell back at her.
"Will everyone just stop?!?" I screamed.
And then suddenly, everyone did. It seemed like time, in all its entirety, stopped.
I looked around, at my friends' faces. All frozen, in the same expression that they were in a second ago.
That is, everyone except for Rachel. She took a step back and was looking around, shocked. "Tobias, did you…"
I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."
"How...uh…I think you have some explaining to do."
"Um…yeah."
"Well, go ahead. Shoot."
I hesitated, "Uh…but you see, the thing is, I'm not supposed to tell you."
"You're not supposed to tell me?" I nodded, so she continued, "Something happened. Something happened to you, on that trip the Ellimist sent you on, huh?" I nodded again. "You…you stopped time, like he does. What did he do to you?"
"He didn't do anything to me."
"Don't give me that crap, Tobias. What happened to you?"
I swallowed hard. "My ship – the ship that I was on – we, I mean – I was attacked by a bug fighter."
"What did you mean 'we'? I didn't think that the Ellimist would go with you."
I had to tell her. "Rachel. My father – Elfangor, never really died. Well, not exactly."
"No. We saw him…"
"I know. That's what I thought. But before he came to Earth, he went through a black hole. Like…I did. When the Bug Fighter was chasing us."
"What are you saying, Tobias? Are you saying that you're dead?"
I paused, knowing my words would hurt her. And I didn't want to do that. But I had to. "Not exactly. You see, I'm not alive, but I'm not dead either. I'm…it's hard to explain, but I'm like the Ellimist. Like my father. I, I have powers now."
Rachel wiped away a tear, trying to hide it from me. I saw it. "You're not Tobias?"
"Yes, I still am. I just don't have a body now. I mean, I am whatever I want to be."
"Why did you come back?"
"I had to. For you. And the Ellimist told me that I was still a part of this war. That I had to come back. But I already knew it in my heart."
She met my gaze, "Okay."
"I can be a human now for as long as I want. When this war ends, everything will be okay. I am whatever I want to be. I can be a human forever."
"Okay," she repeated. I didn't know what to do. Then she said, "You better unfreeze time, or whatever it is that you did. Before Ellimist finds out."
" I…don't know how."
"You wanted time to stop. You said so yourself. And everyone else is going to think that you had just said 'Will everyone just stop?' Now, I guess you just have to wish for time to start again."
I stopped, looking at her, but she nodded.
I closed my eyes for a second. It was almost like morphing. I concentrated on time starting again, and then it was like – BAM. It happened.
Rachel had moved back to her spot in front of Jake.
She was protecting me. Keeping my secret. Even with everything that she just found out. If I were next to her, I would have…
Not the time to think about that.
Everyone turned to stare at me, naturally, since technically I had just surprised everyone by yelling.
Cassie stood up. "I think we all need a break."
"Yeah," Rachel said. "We do." She started walking away.
"Rachel! Wait!" I called after her. But she completely ignored me and continued walking. I knew she had heard me.
Cassie saw this. "Did I miss something here?" she asked.
I shook my head and looked away.
"Tobias," Marco said. "Tobias." I turned to face him. "I think your two hours are almost up, man."
"Oh. Yeah, right."
I started "morphing" back to my hawk self. I had to be careful not to be too fast, to keep the illusion real.
Then I flapped, higher and higher, until the thermals could carry me. I let them carry me up, up into the beautiful sky.
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I flew around for a while, trying to clear my head. Flying is the best for that.
I landed in our camp, behind some trees by the creek, and began morphing to human. I heard a rustle behind me. It was Rachel.
"Listen, Rachel. I –" I began.
"I'm just here to tell you what you need to know. We've been looking for you. Erek came by, and he thinks that he found a new Yeerk Pool entrance. It's at a Jack in the Box near the 60-freeway entrance. We're going to check it out."
"What – now?" I asked, shocked. "Shouldn't we wait until we're all cooled off and everything?"
"He says that they just built it, so security is really low. We need to go now if we expect to see anything or get any information."
"Is that such a good idea?"
She turned to walk away, "We're leaving soon."
"Wait, Rachel! What's the point? Of the mission, I mean."
"We know that the Yeerks are growing. We need to know what we're dealing with here. We just need to check it out. We'll be back soon." She started walking away.
"Rachel. Rachel!" She stopped. "You said that you came to tell me what I needed to know. I need to know one more thing. Why are you so mad at me?"
She kept walking.
I sighed and followed her to where the others were.
"Okay guys, ready for bird morphs?" Jake asked. This was crazy. We couldn't just go now. Why was Jake doing this?
What if we were supposed to go? I mean, what if it was a set-up by the Ellimist? Or Crayak? And something was supposed to happen?
Or maybe I was just paranoid and Jake was just crazy. And our little group was falling apart.
The second seemed more probable.
"Seagulls. So we can travel together," Jake said.
I concentrated on the seagull. White feathers erupted from my skin.
Skin? Wait. Mistake! I wasn't supposed to be able to morph from human to seagull. I was supposed to morph to hawk first. I prayed that no one had noticed.
Immediately, the white feathers changed to a golden-brownish color. I fell closer and closer to the ground, as my arms spread out to become wings.
Once I finished becoming a hawk, I began the morph to seagull. I let this morph happen a little bit faster because there wasn't that much changing.
Okay. Let's go. Rachel.
We took off and flapped hard for altitude. Being a seagull was so tiring. They had to work so hard.
The silence as we flew was disturbing. We had always made small, pointless conversations when we were trying to get somewhere.
Fifteen minutes later we landed on the roof of a Jack In the Box, one that I had flown over many times before.
Ax. Do you think that what we're doing is wise? I asked privately.
No, Tobias. But I stand behind my prince. Yeah, well, it figured.
Okay, Jake started. First -
The roof suddenly collapsed beneath us. We were sucked down, into an abyss of bright light. We seemed to be in another place, like we were transported somewhere.
Everyone else morphed out and went to battle morphs. I helped them a little bit, so that they could morph a little faster.
The Animorphs. A tall, dark Andalite with cold eyes stood in front of us. He laughed. That was so much easier than I thought it was going to be. And to think, all this time that we've been fighting, and now… In a few minutes, your world is lost.
There are others, the tiger next to me said.
I'm sure there are. But we have you. You seem to be the leader, Jake. His stalk eyes moved to Ax. You. Brother of war-prince Elfangor. You seem eager to share his fate. Then, with all four eyes, he stared at me. And you. His son. The hawk. My, it is a small, small world.
The war isn't over. Earth will be saved.
Shut your mouth, human! I leave you a choice. Surrender, or die.
Die, Jack answered bravely.
Very well. You - he pointed to the tiger, -will die. The rest of you will be infested. But you, Jake, you will die. Slowly. And your friends can watch.
No. I had to do something. I couldn't just sit here and let all of this happen. But I didn't know anything about the powers I had.
Visser One began a morph. His fur turned purple and was sucked in to become smooth.
I looked around. What could I do? We were surrounded by Hork Bajir, all of them with Dracon Beams. There were dirt walls to this small room. Above me I saw bright light. Beyond that was probably the surface, and possibly the Jack in the Box.
Visser One's creature continued to grow until he was ten or twenty times his Andalite size. His stalk eyes were sucked in and then pushed out sideways. Two other eyes followed these. His smooth purple skin suddenly turned rough, like a lizard's.
His four legs split to become eight. They sharpened, like knives, at the bottom. He stood up on his legs. He looked like a blob on spider legs. It's a shame, Jake. You would have served well with me.
Jake leapt at the creature, but Visser One slashed one of his legs and sent Jake bloodied, flying into a wall.
Cassie started to run at Visser One. Three Hork Bajir stood in her path. Cassie jumped and bit one of them in the neck. She took him down, but the other two Hork Bajir pulled her off and tried to pin this wolf down.
I flew into the air, then dove at one of the Visser's eyes. He didn't even seem to notice.
Fire! The Hork Bajir were shooting at me.
Rachel was trying to fight off five Hork Bajir.
Marco somehow made it to the Visser, but several Hork Bajir pulled him away quickly. They managed to pin him down and were pointing several Dracon beams at his head.
Ax's tail was moving faster than I could see, but it was no use. There were way too many Hork Bajir here for us to fight. And Visser One?
This battle was over before it even began.
What we needed was a miracle. And I was that miracle.
But what could I do?
Jake was a mess. If I hadn't known that it was him, I wouldn't have even been able to tell that it was a tiger under all of that blood.
I dove again at the Visser. But this time he caught me off guard. A blade shot out of his side and hit me, pinning me against the wall. Pain!
Jake wasn't moving. Was he unconscious? Or was he…
Rachel! She looked just as bad as Jake did. But she was breathing. Yes, I could see that.
Ax was trapped in a corner. Four Hork Bajir were holding his tail. Many others had Dracon Beams pointed at his head.
Jake! I yelled. No answer.
Tobias! Marco. What's going on?
We're trapped. We're all pinned. They've got us, man.
Several Hork Bajir grabbed me as Visser One morphed back to his Andalite self.
I was moving. All of us were. The Hork Bajir were dragging us somewhere. I couldn't see! I squirmed, but the grip on me was firm.
They threw us all in a steel cage with insecticide on the floor. Hork Bajir with Dracon Beams surrounded us.
Right outside the cage was a small Yeerk Pool.
One at a time, Visser One said. I know I should do this quickly, but I want to contact the Council first. I'll let them watch while you're infested. There's no way out for any of you. Your friends can't come down here and save you, even if they did know where you were. Oh, and Jake? We will serve together.
He left the room.
Jake, I said. No answer. But the tiger's chest moved up slightly.
Rachel roared and threw herself against the cage wall. I heard a static sound. The grizzly bear roared again in pain, then fell back.
"Electrified," one of the Hork Bajir laughed.
Jake, I said again.
Cassie nudged him. The tiger moaned. Cassie nudged him again. Morph out, Jake. We should all morph out. And morph back to our battle morphs. I'm not going down without a fight.
None of us are. Marco.
Everyone did as Cassie said. Even Jake. I also "morphed" to human and back to hawk.
No one said anything. We sat, thinking, trying to figure out what to do.
Rachel, I said privately.
What? she answered back privately, sounding annoyed and upset.
We need to talk.
Now? You say this now? Of all times, and you bring this up now. It was awkward talking to a grizzly bear who towered over me.
Well you've ignored me every time I've tried talking to you. Why are you so mad at me? I mean, I would have told you if I could have. But if Crayak or anyone found out, we could all be dead.
I know. I mean, I understand that. Sort of. But it's bad enough when you were a hawk. But now…you're dead? Don't you wonder if the Ellimist knew what was going to happen? What if he sent you into that black hole purposely?
The thought hadn't really crossed my mind. But…what happened doesn't change anything, Rachel.
No, Tobias. Don't you see? It does. It changes everything. I don't know…I'm just confused. Maybe I'm just taking out my confusion on you.
Fools! Visser One's voice echoed through our heads. You think by morphing you can escape? He laughed. Okay. Well, with the Council as my witness, you will be infested.
Tobias, do something, Rachel said privately.
I know, I know.
Visser One opened the cage door. Jake leapt at him, claws and teeth bared.
Several Hork Bajir raised their Dracon Beams and fired.
"Wait!" I raised my hand and realized that I was in my human form now. I didn't know if it was my hand that did it, but all of the shots fired at Jake stopped in midair.
What? Visser One stared at me with all four eyes. Seize him!
Time to think.
I concentrated on the Hork Bajir Valley. Back at our camp. I closed my eyes and got the mental image. I saw the trees, the Hork Bajir, my friends.
"Tobias." I opened my eyes and saw Rachel. Her hand was on my shoulder.
The others stood around me. They stared at me, wide-eyed. And they were all in human form. We were in our valley. Our home.
"Hey, um…what just happened?" Marco asked.
"Oh, uh, nothing. I…we're saved!" I said.
"You did that?" Jake stared at me like I was someone he's never seen before.
"Sort of." Okay, I was trapped. Once again, I had to reveal my secret. I heard a voice in my head, It's okay, Tobias. You must tell them now. It's okay.
I didn't know if the voice was the Ellimist, or my father, or maybe just a piece of my own conscience.
And I knew what I had to do.