I'd finally fallen asleep after a night of tossing and turning. I'd fallen asleep at three A.M.
I swung out of bed. Maybe it was illegal to morph an ant, sneak under the door of a "For Sale" house, and then spend the past few nights there. Too bad. My old abandoned house had burned down, the Yeerks were looking for me, and I had no other place to go.
I yanked on jeans and a maroon-and-grey-and-green shirt over my morphing outfit. I pulled a brush through my long hair a couple times.
Then I fell back into the bed.
I may not be a true human, but I'm in a human body, and there's a teenager in my mind too. The teenager was complaining about not getting enough sleep.
The teenager won out.
"Xilite."
I looked up in annoyance. "Yes?" I said, averting my gaze from the interesting reports our orbiters had found.
"A small group of Andalite ambassadors are here to see you."
"Andalites?" I said with a raised eyebrow. "After they unleash that plague of Yeerks on the galaxy, after they ally with the races against us, they want to see me? Tell the filthy creatures to leave. I want nothing to do with them. They have safe passage back to their fighters. If they hesitate a single moment our schssili will destroy them."
Capir -- the Xaralite -- shook his head. "No, my captain. They say they are here to...negotiate."
I laughed aloud. "Negotiate? With me, Xilite? Do they imagine that we would ever surrender?"
"They claim to be here on terms of peace."
"Andalites always do." I considered another instant, then nodded. "They may enter. Please summon four of our warriors to accompany them. I have no wish to endanger my ship."
Capir left the bridge. I turned my attention back to the reports.
Yes. Yeerk craft, Andalite craft, Howler craft, Yisudyt craft, Eishillian craft, Wanatoonic craft, Hrisk craft. Of all of those, the Andalites were possibly the most dangerous. Of course, I could feel the presence of an Ellimist or Crayak nearby. I knew him. Both of them.
The Yeerks could not infest us. That greatly cut down their threat. The Andalites, though, were more advanced. A formidable opponent, but nothing alone. It was the power of the other five races joined with theirs that made them so dangerous. The Howlers' howl did not affect us, either. The other four merely more manpower.
I didn't feel fear. I knew that I was too arrogant. Many of our race were. Kind to those in need, gentle toward each other, unthreatening -- and even, at times, helpful -- to other races who were peaceful...and deadly to those who came against us. I felt the power within me and I felt any capability for fear melt away.
The door from the bay to the bridge opened. I turned calmly. I felt my strength, my power, my deadly speed.
"Hello, my nemesis," I said, nodding to the captain of the fleet against us.
He almost sneered in contempt. I could see the sneer building. He held it back. [Xilite.]
"Galuit-Terranidi-Heoris."
[My rank is that of a captain,] he said with all the arrogance of his species.
I laughed. Every Andalite's hand went to his weapon and every Xaralite's eyes glowed in response. "As is mine, Galuit," I replied with a smile. "I believe that your weapons were forbidden on our bridge." I nodded to Rlin, my second-in-command. She activated the weapons scanner. I glanced at the data that returned. "My, my, my. Andalite shredders set on maximum power. Rlin, Capir. Please confiscate their weapons."
The three Andalites retreated a step before the five-and-a-half foot warriors advancing. Capir and Rlin quickly removed their weapons.
[We were promised a safe passage here,] Galuit said defiantly. I had to admire the fact that his tone showed no fear.
"Actually, you were promised a safe passage away, Galuit." I watched his face tighten in resentment and his wary gaze drift to the other Xaralites forming a circle around him and his group. He remained outwardly calm. I respected that.
I held up a hand, halting the Xaralites. "No." I did not miss the shade of relief that flickered over his face. After all, our Xaralite army could easily defeat his; the entire bridge of warriors could defeat them simply by lifting a Dracon.
I motioned for the Xaralites to step back. "Now. Galuit. I believe that we have some business to discuss? Talk quickly, Andalite. For a few moments I will listen. If I or any of my warriors feel the slightest bit threatened...just remember what we are. Xaralites."
He narrowed his eyes. My warning was understood.
[The Andalites wish to form a treaty with the Xaralites. You have many races against you, and possibly Crayak and the Ellimist as well. We wish to ally with you. Our two races could defeat the others.]
Rlin waited patiently until he was done, then laughed. Capir chuckled to himself as he fingered the Andalite shredder. I just cocked my head and analyzed the Andalites.
"I would be expected to believe that?" I said coldly, ice in my tone and contempt in my eyes. "I know your race, Galuit. I know it well. You would never ally with an enemy. Not for anything. Besides, what would you gain? You would put your fleet at risk. You are either tricking us, or -- no. The only thing you could be doing is tricking us because I know how a leader thinks. You are responsible for the lives of your crew and the crews of the other ships. You would never put them at risk."
He made an Andalite smile. [Allying with the Xaralites would not put my crew at risk,] he said. [Andalites and Xaralites together would be unbeatable.]
I sneered. "Now I'm certain of your treachery," I said. I gave Capir, Rlin, and four other Xaralites the signal to accompany the Andalites back to their ships. "Do not harm them," I cautioned. "By all rights they are mine to kill. But I'll not murder them at this time."
In thought-speak I sent Rlin a message. [Keep an eye on their fighter using the main computer. Try to tap their thought-speak waves. Report back to me.]
[Yes, my captain.]
I laughed.. [Xilite, Rlin. Xilite. I'm a friend, not a captain. And take care of yourself, sister.]
[I will. You as well, Xilite.]
She, Capir, and the others left the bridge, Andalites ahead.
"I don't trust them," a warrior named Simmilien said angrily. "They should be killed. Their fleet --"
"Simmilien, their fleet will fire on our planet, and while it would not do much, the other races would," I reproved. He was young, still. Young, as I was. But he didn't have the disposition for it. He was excellent in combat, true, but his theory seemed to be "Kill at any cost."
Even I, arrogant as I was, knew to weigh the winnings and the losses together. Perhaps that was how I had advanced to so high a rank in so short a time.
Rlin reappeared after a moment. "I monitored their communications," she said grimly. "They seem to be on our side."
"Andalites are intelligent," I said thoughtfully. "They know that we have the capability to monitor their thought-speech. Open thought-speech, at least. But who knows what they have said in their private thought-speech?"
Capir nodded. "My theory as well. Perhaps it would be wise to tap their communications with the other ships."
I shook my head. "No. The Andalites and the Yeerks, between the two of them, could tap us through our own methods if they see too much of it. The two are intelligent, and the Andalites most of all. A pity that they are not on our side. Although" -- with a look of contempt at the reports that I still had not read completely -- "I would have no dealings with either the plague or those who unleashed it."
Several Xaralites nodded in agreement, Capir not among them. "Not all Andalites are the same. Prince Elfangor, for example, has not been in favor of the Andalite fight against us."
"Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul? I'm sure he's the same as the rest of them," I said coolly. "I expect that soon he'll be clamoring for peace openly and plotting attacks against us secretely." I smoothed the gold-and-brown fur on my arms. The wicked claws extended from my fingertips as I mulled over the possibility that these Andalites were even more traitorous than I could have thought.
"Rlin. The Andalites seem to be in our favor, correct? Perhaps that could be merely because the Yeerks are against us."
She looked wary as she considered the idea. "Possibly." She nodded slightly. "Although perhaps it's merely a setup to ensure our doom."
"Perhaps."
I thought over one of the other races, the Hrisk. Worthy opponents as well. Almost as dangerous as the Andalites, though not quite. They didn't have the intelligence, but they had amassed weapons from all over the universe. They often flew suicide missions. Anything to win. Even death for one was worth the victory for all.
An admirable maxim.
In fact, it was one of my own.
Perhaps it was true that I enjoyed these wars, as infrequent as they were. We were hardly ever attacked because so many feared us. However, when we were, it was an all-out war, a joining of between four and eight races against us.
We'd never lost.
I'd been the captain of two wars so far (this one included). In the last war, though, we'd only been battling four races. In this one we were pitted against seven.
I felt a thrill of anticipation.
All the Xaralites had been evacuated into ships, as was the standard procedure. The ships orbited the planet. The reason for this was that, though the Xaralites ships had force fields, the planet did not. If the planet was destroyed any Xaralites on the surface would be as well. We couldn't leave, not with seven races surrounding the planet.
Normally, that wouldn't be an obstacle. But the ship's force fields had been greatly weakened.
How?
The question swarmed through the Xaralites, from the ones in the habitation ships to the ones in the war ships. I had my own theories.
Crayak. Or, more likely, the Ellimist. Crayak may have been pure evil, but I personally distrusted the Ellimist more.
"I'm surprised the humans haven't attacked," a female warrior, Kaschilia, said. I smiled to myself, remembering that there were only three females aboard my ship.
"They're too primitive," Rlin informed us as she plugged the secondary computer into one of the Andalite ships. The computer immediately began to gather the thought-speak waves and convert them into text. "I hear that the Chee hide on their world now."
"Chee," Capir said thoughtfully. "They could be powerful allies."
"Prohibition aganist violence," Simmilien reminded him.
"We could erase it," Kaschilia jumped in. "Easily. The Pemalite technology has long since been passed by the Xaralites."
I nodded with pride but spoke against it quickly. "No. The Chee are peaceful, pacifist androids. We have no need of them."
The truth was that I didn't want to admit to needing any allies. I didn't want to let another into our battle. I wanted to make sure that these Xaralites never had to credit a victory to any other race, even a race of machines.
Foolish arrogance.
Arrogance that would haunt me for years...even as a human child tossing and turning in a bed soaked by sweat...
Capir, Kaschilia, Simmilien. My warriors. And now, where were they? Where had my arrogance led them? Where had their captain left them?
I would have given the world to know.
And Rlin? I knew of her.
I shuddered to the marrow of my human bones. Captain of the Xaralites in the first war ever lost. A wonderful title.
I didn't want to fall back to sleep. I knew the rest of the story. I knew what had happened to the Xaralite warriors -- no, actually, I didn't. I knew that we had lost. But where they were, what their ultimate fate had been, I knew nothing of.
Where had I led my people?
I cursed the Andalites under my breath. Not some silly human swear word, but a curse on their race.
They deserved death. They deserved so much worse. They deserved to become Controllers. They deserved --
So what if they didn't remember it? Who cared? What difference did that make to me?
I needed to talk. Not to Rlin. Not now. I needed to talk to...Jake? No way. Rachel? Nah. Tobias? See above. Cassie? See above. Marco? Uhh...no. Ax? Yeah, right. Talk to an Andalite about how awful you feel that they defeated your fleet. Right.
But perhaps all Andalites were not the same.
Not all Xaralites were the same. I was certainly different from the other females. There were a grand total of ten female warriors in the entire Xaralite population. The others had no interest in war.
But Ax was a warrior. If we met on opposite sides of a war he'd be the same as that fool Galuit.
My blood boiled at just his name. If I ever met that cursed fool... Oh, he'd regret the war.
He'd regret it.
I'd learned many things from the Animorphs. I'd learned how Galuit had fought to free the Leerans. (Of course; if the Yeerks gained the Leerans as hosts it would endanger the darling Andalites. And that was sarcasm.) I'd learned how a Chee had been freed from his programming. I'd learned how the Howlers were now useless to Crayak.
So. Galuit had fought against us, and he'd fought to free the Leerans with the Animorphs. The Animorphs had obtained a Pemalite crystal to free a Chee. And the Animorphs had fought against the Howlers and made them useless.
The Animorphs tied in with those things very directly. They tied in with Galuit, my nemesis; the Chee, who might have saved us but for my arrogance; the Howlers, who had fought against us.
What were the ties between them?
Who cared?
Stupid way to think, Xilite, I told myself. You're going to get your people back. Perhaps these Animorphs could be an asset...perhaps. Perhaps not. But know your enemy and know your friend.
Which were the Animorphs?
Friends...or enemies?
Which was Ax?
Did he follow in the footsteps of Galuit? Or was he different from the Andalites I'd known?
If he wasn't...
I shook the thoughts away. We fought on the same side, why couldn't I get that through my head?
For how long? the Xaralite whispered in my ear. How long until you fight for your people...against him?
Didn't matter. I had promised myself that I would not destroy the possibility of a friendship between us. Plus, I informed the Xaralite inside, the closer I get to him, the closer I get to what could destroy an Andalite.
"And who invented the cotton gin?" the teacher said, interrupting her monologue with a question. Seeing no raised hands, she looked around for a victim. Her eyes fell on me. "Marco?"
I had no clue. I had hardly gotten any sleep. You know, the whole I'm-having-nightmares-of-the-Yeerks-coming-for-me thing. And I couldn't care less who invented the cotton gin anyway. "Cyrus McCormick," I said finally.
The teacher actually rolled her eyes. "No, Marco," she said with a disparaging sigh. "Jake?"
No answer. Jake stared off into space.
"Jake?" Louder.
His eyes were glazed over. He looked like he was just waking up from a long sleep. Since he sits on my left, I knew that he had.
"JAKE!"
He looked up, eyes clearing. "It wasn't me!" he protested loudly.
The whole class cracked up (including the teacher). When she regained control of herself (it didn't take long) she said very calmly, "Yes, Jake, we're sure of that. So who did invent the cotton gin?"
"Cyrus McCormick?"
The class cracked up again. The teacher sat down at the desk and buried her head in her hands.
No, history class normally is not that amusing. But we had a substitute. And substitutes almost always end up being amusing (as do the antics of the students).
Good grief. I suppose I've been around Ax way too long.
BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGG!!!
The students leaped up and began the somewhat faster-than-all-the-other-classes-because-hey-we're-going-home-now shuffle towards the hall.
I was surprised to find Cassie and Rachel loitering just outside the door. We try not to act like a group, after all, but they were walked towards us swiftly.
"Meeting after school," Rachel hissed. "Barn. Be there."
I nodded and then set my mind on the depressing task of figuring out what the meeting would reveal this time.
Translation: we morphed birds.
Did I say normal? I'm so sorry, I meant abnormal, way out of the norm, rubber-room-get-ready-for-us, crazy, insane, stupid kids fighting alien invaders!
Are you sure I said normal?
We swooped inside the barn. The animals (prey animals anyway) totally freaked out at the sight of the osprey and the eagle.
They freaked out worse when we began to demorph.
"How much longer is it going to take them to get here?" I grumbled. I'd happened to see Tobias flying earlier, and I'd told him then. He'd get Ax. We'd already told Jake and Marco.
And Cat? Who cared?
"Hello."
A voice surprisingly like a hiss spoke from somewhere in the shadows. Bright green eyes glowed brilliantly from the darkness.
Cat stepped out, seeming to materialize out of the mist.
"Very theatrical," I said sarcastically. I was haunted by the notion that she'd been watching us the entire time. "Next time get some dramatic music to play in a portable CD player."
She laughed a hissing laugh. "No thanks, Rachel," she returned sweetly. "I'd hate to take away from your personal spotlight."
My blue eyes flamed with a fire to match her green ones. The green began to brighten, brighten, brighten. A mist passed over her face...somehow.
She laughed the same laugh, an acknowledgement of an unspoken victory. Her eyes sparkled.
Tobias swooped in. Cat turned her eyes on him. They analyzed him, then turned back to the cages. "You have a lynx and a bobcat here?" she inquired of Cassie.
"Yes."
Cat reached a slim hand through the bars to touch the lynx. It eyed her. Her eyes glowed for less than a second and it relaxed.
She acquired it quickly, then acquired the bobcat. Her eyes were clear, unglowing, unsparkling, when she looked up.
"I've already acquired a panther, a cheetah, and a snow leopard," she said with another strange laugh. Her eyes lingered significantly on us as she spoke her next words. "Battle morphs."
I resisted the urge to morph to grizzly and put her in her place then and there.
"Which one do you think you'll use as your main weapon?" I said, voice calm.
"Oh, I don't know. Panther? No offense, Cheetah," she said, reaching down to stroke the cat. It fixed its intelligent gaze on us.
Ax entered just then. The cat hissed loudly.
Cat's eyes stayed on him a moment, analyzing him as she had Tobias. I wondered if she'd analyzed us from the shadows.
What did she expect to see?
Jake and Marco walked in, closing the barn doors behind them. "Okay, weeeeee're heeeeere," Marco said in a sing-songy voice.
"Oh, yay, let the good times roll," I said sardonically. "This is serious, Marco."
"What is it, Rach?" Jake asked me.
"You guys all know about the PTA on Monday, right?" Cassie asked.
Marco groaned. "Oh, don't we. That's the day when our teachers tell our parents exactly why we're failing."
"Not all of us, Marco," Cat retorted. "Oh, I forgot, I don't attend human school."
She looked startled at her own words.
"Human school?" Jake said in disbelief. "What other kind would you attend?"
Cat shrugged impatiently. "I don't know," she said carefully. "Pet Tricks Association? Some school for cats?"
Cheetah hissed out a reply that I concluded amounted to, "Yeah, right, get me to do tricks. Dangle a treat in front of my nose and your nose will be amputated."
Cats. Typical.
"Pet Tricks Association. Parent-Teacher Association. PTA. Are those two organizations basically the same thing? I mean, a pet trick show would be more entertaining --" Marco began.
"Rachel, get to the point," Cat cut in as if it was all my fault for not talking faster when really Marco was just working extra hard to annoy everyone.
"I would if the peanut gallery would shut up," I said with a pointed glare at Marco. He took the hint. "Now. At this next Parent-Teacher Association, the Yeerks will be trying to infest the adults one by one. It'll be something to the extent of 'Your child is doing well/bad and we need to talk to you about the progress/failure in this subject' and then..."
Jake nodded. "Then it's a one-way ticket to the Yeerk pool."
Cat smiled. "Well, then," she said with a grin that looked way too much like mine. "I guess this means a battle to shut it down?"
"Before the next PTA," I agreed.
"Hey, shouldn't we have a plan first?" Marco asked.
"That would help," Cassie replied. She cocked an eyebrow at Jake.
Jake sighed in frustration. "Oh, yeah, like I know."
"You're the leader of that little group," Cat said sweetly. "You're supposed to know."
I didn't miss her emphasis on the word that. Her eyes blazed a message -- "Yeah, you're their leader. Not mine. Never mine."
Jake's eyes narrowed. He kept his eyes away from hers, though. "You're part of the group, Cat," he said coldly. "Or are you?"
"I don't need another argument with you six," she said with a roll of her emerald eyes. "Just decide what to do. You know, these stupid disagreements are getting old really fast. But then, any species that hasn't even figured out that their planet isn't the only one to house intelligent life -- or semi-intelligent life..." She made a face. "I guess you have to get in disagreements all the time because you're too stupid to do anything else."
Something about that was strange. Not the fact that she apparently hated the human race, but the fact that she didn't count herself as a member of it.
"What, you're too good for the human race now?" Marco snapped, picking up on it too.
She raised an eyebrow. "You'd be surprised."
[Can everyone spell "arrogance"?] Tobias muttered.
"A-R-R-O-G-A-N-C-E," she shot back. She smirked. "Can everyone spell 'birdie birdie forever'?"
[Is that supposed to be one word?] he said contemptuously. [Are you that stupid?]
"Both of you shut up," Jake ordered.
Cat whirled around. She cocked her head and then smiled. "Yes, Jake. We will shut up now."
Jake just about fell over backwards. He barely saved himself.
The rest of us stared at Cat. She shrugged. "So what are we going to do?"
"We're going to crash the Yeerks' party," Jake said, first to regain control.
"Or die trying," Marco muttered under his breath.
"Yeah," Jake agreed. "Or that."
[Naturally. He'd pair me up with the guy who has a negative IQ,] Xilite shot back.
[From what I've learned of human IQ tests, I would come to the conclusion that having a negative IQ is technically impossible. You would have to incorrectly answer more questions than the test supplies.]
[I know. I've taken one,] Xilite replied.
[I'm not going to ask,] Marco muttered. [I don't want to hear this.]
[Fine. I won't tell you.]
There was silence for a few seconds. Then he said, [Okay, I can't take it anymore. What was the IQ answer?]
[I answered all questions correctly in an extremely small time frame,] she said.
[Human IQ tests are not a challenge for Xaralites, I see,] I told her in private thought-speak.
[Umm...no.] She laughed then opened the thought-speak. [So. Let's go find what's-his-name. Chapman.]
[You should know, he's only the assistant principal of our school.]
[I don't go to school,] she said flatly.
I'd expected that. Marco definitely did not.
[Umm...you don't go to our school? What school do you go to?]
[Marco. I don't go to school. I said that at the meeting, remember?] She let that sink in, then said, [I suppose that's Chapman?]
I could barely see a human through my fly eyes. Of course, Xilite's eyes were somewhat better. They were a minimized version of her own eyes.
[Who can tell?] Marco asked. [I guess so. But I think Mrs. Chapman is there too. Anyone see Melissa?]
[I do not see any other humans,] I said, looking around as best I could.
[Neither do I,] Xilite said, a smile evident in her silent voice. [They're talking. We'll hear what we need to hear, I'm sure.]
"...should make excellent progress," Chapman stated.
"Wonderful," Mrs. Chapman replied. "Do you have any specific targets in mind?"
"Not as of yet," he replied. "We're looking for important people, but not any specific ones."
"We always look for 'important people,' Iniss," Mrs. Chapman said condescendingly.
[Aren't you aware of that? Now. How will we be collecting the hosts? How will we be luring them away?]
It took me a moment to realize that Xilite had said that. Apparently Chapman didn't notice that it was a thought-speak voice. And Mrs. Chapman hadn't heard it.
"We'll collect them by taking them to the new secret entrances in the four classrooms," he replied. "The excuse will be to show them their child's papers."
[Nice,] Marco acknowledged. [Nice method of getting him to talk.]
[Successful method of "getting him to talk,"] I agreed.
[Thank you, thank you, now let's check back with the others,] Xilite said coolly. [Then we have to find out which "four classrooms" it is.]
[Can't you ask?] Marco whined.
[Marco, he speaks as though Mrs. Chapman knows which four classrooms. So he'd know that she wouldn't ask. So let's go.]
[Oh, yay,] he muttered. [We're going to be on campus after hours. Even if we don't get caught and send to the Yeerk pool and given detention, it's enough torture to be there a minute longer than we have to.]
"Any news?" she said urgently.
"We have discovered the Yeerks' plan," I replied calmly. "Other than that, no."
"What is it?"
"Four new Yeerk pool entrances in the school," Marco said shortly. "In classrooms. Our job is to find out which four classrooms they are." He groaned, then brightened. "But maybe we'll get to destroy the classrooms and they'll turn out to be four of mine! And then maybe those classes will get canceled and I won't --"
"Shut up, Marco," I snapped. "Cassie, call the others. Marco, you morph and go get Tobias. Now."
Both of them looked stunned. I wasn't hypnotizing them, but I was giving out orders. They considered that to be Jake's job.
"You are not our leader," Marco retorted. "If you were, we'd all be dead or Controllers by now."
I smiled sadly, remembering the fact that the Xaralites were gone. But that wasn't my fault...was it? I'd been such an idiot. I'd trusted the Andalites.
But the other Xaralites had been all for it. So it wasn't just my fault.
Was it?
"Just do it," I ordered. I sent Marco a look that made him decide not to argue.
Cassie tossed me the cell phone. "Do it yourself," she said coldly. I guessed that she was loyal to Jake. No problem. I still wasn't going to lose.
My eyes glowed slightly.
She leaned over and took the cell phone from my hand mechanically. She punched in Rachel's number and told her the news. I exerted an amount of control over her that kept her talking normally. The same happened as she called Jake.
I released my control. She slammed the cell phone down on a shelf and whirled to face me. "Cat, I don't know what your game is, but you have no right to --"
I could feel Ax's eyes on me as I retorted. I didn't care what he thought at this point, my business was my business. "Deal with it, Cassie," I said with a smile. "Just deal with it. Or you can go running to Jake and have him deal with it. Take your pick."
A look of rage swept over her face, then she calmed herself. It surprised me. But then, Cassie -- while not the fiercest Animorph or the strongest -- understood emotions. She would understand my reaction to another outburst.
Or at least, she thought she understood it.
Cassie hesitated a moment then stepped up into my face and snarled, "I don't care who you think you are. You will stop. This. Right. Now."
I was impressed. Not scared, but impressed. I cocked my head. "Nice, Cassie. Wouldn't have expected it of you. Very nice. Very Rachel-esque."
[Xilite,] Ax said in a warning tone when the others began to step in. I could tell that it was private thought-speak. [Don't start this again.]
I don't need a fight with you, I told him silently. Okay? Let me deal with my problems as I see fit.
His eyes widened. [Telepathy? From a human?]
Cool, it still works, I said absentmindedly. I haven't tried using the Xaralite telepathy skills in quite a while.
I turned my cold yet fiery eyes on him and sent him one more message. I promised myself I wouldn't start or end another fight with you, Andalite, but let me say this: No one messes with me. Not the Andalite race or a single Andalite. Keep it in mind.
"So. What did you learn?" Jake said. He gave me a look that stated two emotions: fear and disdain.
I enjoyed his fear. But not disdain. No one disdained me and got away with it. Absolutely no one.
I'd have to do something to make him regret it. Later.
I admired this Jake, frankly. He was a good leader to the Animorphs. He made mistakes, of course, but everyone makes mistakes.
I respected him as one leader would respect another. I also respected him as a possible enemy.
And, since he was a leader, he was my unspoken challenger. I didn't want to lead this group; I wasn't one of them, really. I didn't want to become one of them. They were convenient, for now -- for now. But back on the topic. While I didn't want to lead this group, I wanted the fact that I was so much stronger to be clear.
I thought back to Tobias's words at the last meeting. [Can everyone spell arrogance?] Yes, I was arrogant. Perhaps too arrogant. But they'd have to learn to deal with it.
I returned his disdainful look. "More than you would have, I'm sure," I said silkily.
He rolled his eyes. "That's nice, Cat," he said sarcastically. "What did you learn?"
I could have slapped him. I could have killed him. I could have sharpened my teeth into Xaralite teeth and bitten deep...so deep... But that would be a proof of weakness, wouldn't it?
Still, the words burned. I'd taken my insults too far and he'd bitten back with a cool retort. Not angry screams, just a cool retort.
Not what I expected. Perhaps I'd underestimated this entire group of Animorphs. Especially Cassie and Jake.
I had to retort with equal coolness, calmness. "Why don't you ask one of your other followers? One of the pitiful beings who follows your command to the letter, never questioning orders that could have them killed? Why would you ask the one you cannot conquer?"
She shoots, she scores. I saw rage pass over all the faces of the Animorphs, from Jake to Ax. I hadn't realized that I'd insulted Ax. Oh, well.
[I guess you don't know what it's like to have faith in a leader,] Tobias said evenly.
"Blind faith."
"Then again, no sane person would ever have faith in you," Rachel shot back.
I felt a silent scream boil up inside me. A scream of agony. The Xaralites...they had faith in me. And I'd made a mistake.
I couldn't scream. I couldn't let her know her words had hit home.
It was time to "bring out the big guns," as the humans say.
"You have faith in me, don't you, Rachel?"
Her eyes dimmed. "Of course," she said in a mechanical voice. "We all do, don't we, everyone?"
"We all do," Jake echoed.
I burst out laughing and released my control. I kept my eyes dark and searching. I watched Jake and Rachel struggle with keeping control of their anger.
"We learned about four new Yeerk pool entrances," I said nonchalantly. "One in each of four classrooms. We have to find out which four classrooms contain entrances. My advice would be to post two people per classroom -- I can handle one myself. Or we could just destroy them."
"Four new Yeerk pool entrances. Jake, what do you suggest we do?" Marco said, turning to Jake.
Jake smiled. "I don't know. Does anyone have any ideas?"
"We could post a watch in each classroom!" Cassie suggested with a sardonic smile. I definitely wouldn't have expected that of her. "Rachel can handle one herself."
Okay. I could take them ignoring me. But no one, but NO ONE suggested that anyone was fiercer or more able than I.
I calculated. The hypnosis was getting old. I'd already used it a lot. Retorts were getting old. So. What did I do to Cassie?
Nothing. That would be good. They all looked at me, expecting an emotion. Yes. Better to do nothing.
"I agree," I said calmly. "Rachel can definitely handle one herself. After all, she's an excellent warrior."
I figured one little barb at Cassie wouldn't hurt. "I think it was very mature of you to suggest Rachel, Cassie. You recognize the fact that you couldn't handle one yourself."
Cassie stiffened. I smiled sweetly. Yes, the subtle approach was going well.
"So. When do we attack?" Marco asked Jake uncertainly.
Jake sighed. "Tonight."
"Cool," Rachel said, staring at me. "Let's do it."
"Yeah, getting ourselves killed is always so fun," Marco sighed.
Rachel had basically thrown a fit about not being in the group that got to deal with Cat -- I really think she wanted Cat to do something stupid so we'd have an excuse to get rid of her -- but we couldn't have everyone in the same group.
Or maybe she just didn't want to end up flying around with Marco.
Tobias, Marco, and Rachel were at the limits of the thought-speak range. We were checking out different classrooms, looking for anything suspicious.
Cat was in the center of the little fly group. Ax was on her right, I was on her left, and Jake was just below her.
She knew it, I'm sure. She knew that we were against her. She didn't care. She could take all of us out just by making us slam into the walls -- or each other. She could hypnotize every one except Ax, and she could always sic the five of us on him.
Not a pleasant thought.
Cat braked suddenly, whirled, buzzed backwards and down the long hall.
[WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!] Jake yelled.
She didn't answer. She just kept going.
We shot each other a look, then followed.
[Tobias! Rachel! Marco!] Ax shouted. [We must intercept Xilite!]
Must intercept? I wondered to myself. Aloud, I said, [Xilite?]
He jerked in mid-air. [Cat. Not Xilite.]
[What's a Xilite?] Marco asked.
[Nothing,] he muttered.
We reached the last classroom in the hall. We'd already passed it. Marco looked inside and said, [This is Nora's classroom.]
Cat was standing on the right of the room, fully demorphed. Her eyes examined a small indentation in the wall.
"Great. Now I suppose I have to go find those cursed Animorphs and show them the stupid entrance," she muttered. She smiled. "I'm assuming that everyone heard that?"
I didn't bother answering. [You found an entrance?] I asked.
She pressed her fingertip to the indentation and then said a code word in a low voice I couldn't understand. The door slid open.
I could hear screams. Screams of agony, despair. Host screams.
[Is there a code word?] Marco said for clarification.
"Of course. Obviously this is newer Yeerk technology." She sneered ever so slightly. "Code words. That is so insanely primitive. And only a host with a Yeerk inside can speak the code word, or it will automatically sound an alarm through the Yeerk pool."
[You would know this...how?] Jake inquired tensely.
She laughed. "Rather easy to figure out...for me. The Andalites might have a problem with it." She smiled. I saw a fly stiffen ever so slightly.
[So you set off an alarm?!] Rachel demanded.
"No. It can't detect the absence of a Yeerk in my head. The device may be the height of technology -- for them -- but it's also rather...ah...imperfect."
[That's good. If the device can't detect --]
"It would detect it in another human, of course."
[Huh?] I said blankly.
Cat sighed. "Never mind. Just don't try doing this yourselves."
[How did you know that this was here?]
She laughed. "It's imperfect."
That told none of us anything. [Do you think you can find the other entrances?] Jake asked.
She shrugged. "Of course. If they're all as imperfect as this one."
"Excuse me?!"
"There's no other explanation for it!" he said angrily. He was not angry at me. He was angry because Capir liked to have a way to counteract everything and an attack from both of them could not be counteracted. Not yet. The scientists were working on it, but it couldn't be counteracted.
Yet.
"Has our craft been weakened?"
"Some of them."
I felt my heart beat faster. I swallowed the growing fear. "The habitation craft?"
"That most of all."
Now I was outraged. The Xaralites in the habitation craft were not warriors. They were innocent of this war! They were not responsible for it!
Xilite, you can't help it, now hurry up and win this war so you can, I told myself.
I breathed a little slower. "Yes. Well. So far, in what areas has the damage been evident?"
"The habitation craft is losing power. They're afraid that it will fall to the surface. The opposing armies will take their chance and blow it up. The force fields are not working, as you know. Nothing is working. And..." He hesitated.
"And what?" I said as calmly as I could.
"The Xaralites themselves are weakened. For some reason our xilinni power is not working. Not all Xaralites have been weakened. Most of our crew retains their power."
I hissed in anger. Our most important power -- the one that I had been named for -- was not working. "Crayak couldn't manage this," I said through my gritted teeth. "Neither could the Ellimist."
"But together, pooling their power, perhaps they could," Capir suggested tentatively.
"Are the schssli beams working?" I demanded impatiently.
"At lowest power."
I calmed myself. I was the leader of my ship, the leader of the fleet. I couldn't afford to mess up. Not now. I had to collect everything I knew.
I sent a telepathic message to Rlin. [Rlin, sister, I need you. NOW!]
[Something is seriously wrong, I take it?]
I didn't answer. I was busy calling the others. Simmilien, Kaschilia, Xarin, Haiski, Awisil.
It only took a moment. They entered the special room I'd designed to monitor up to twenty enemies at once. We'd only need seven now.
"Capir: do a weapons scan on all seven armies. See if the power increase is gradual or if it was simply a burst of power. Rlin: monitor the Yeerk speech waves. Simmilien: monitor the Howlers. Kaschilia: monitor the Yisudyts. Haiski: the Eishillians. Xarin: the Wanatoonics. Awisil: the Hrisk."
"And the Andalites?" Rlin inquired, already moving to one of the twenty screens. She formed a mind-link to it. The waves inside the Yeerk ships began to convert to text.
I smiled a fierce smile. "The Andalites? Oh, don't worry, Rlin. I'll take them."
I hesitated an instant, then called Daon to the bridge. "Daon. See if you can find out anything from the habitation ship. Try to monitor their power." My commanding manner weakened as I sent the group a solemn look. "There are so many children there. So many young ones. They're not a part of this war."
"The Yeerk waves are hard to monitor," Rlin said. "It's having trouble."
"Connect terois beams to kilia beams and it will work," I said tersely. I stepped over to speak to her. "Rlin, I'm..."
"Scared?" she whispered quietly.
I jerked. "Not scared. Not for myself or the ship. But... I can take being in charge of this ship. I can take being responsible for this entire fleet. I can take that. But the habitation ship is different. There are children there. Mothers. The older Xaralites. They can't fight for themselves."
Rlin nodded. "No. But we have to fight for them."
"And if I make a single error..." My voice trailed off, then strengthened. "They all could die."
Rlin shook her head. "It's war, Xilite. We don't have a choice. It would come to this whether the habitation ship was weakened or not. If we lose, they lose. If we win...they win." She smiled. "And besides, Xilite, you are a great leader and I know we'll be okay when you lead."
I smiled weakly in response and logged in to the screen next to hers. "You'd better be right," I said solemnly. Then, feeling the old Xilite rise up again, I changed my smile from weak to fierce and raised my voice. "So. Rertyii everyone."
Rertyii is the Xaralite word for "Good luck" and "Let's do it." It's a cross between the two phrases.
I told myself I didn't need luck. I couldn't allow myself to doubt, even once.
And yet the faces of all the innocent children aboard the habitation ship flashed before my eyes.
We'd been monitoring the opposing sides for quite some time. I finally logged out of the screen. "The Andalites seem to be on our side. I'm not sure. Something in their tones... Well. What did everyone find?"
"The Hrisk are weakened," Awisil said, logging out of his as well. "Greatly weakened. Apparently the blast that weakened us also weakened them. The Ellimist and Crayak weren't too careful about their armies. The captain is almost dead from the blast."
I nodded as Simmilien spoke. "The Howlers are barely saying anything. They're tense. I heard one say that Crayak had boosted their power most of all."
I turned to Capir. "Their weapons are functioning at...?"
He looked grim. "250% higher than normal. The Hrisk are at 50%. Yeerks: 200%. Andalites: 225%. Yisudyts: 210%. Eishillians: 205%. Wanatoonics: 240%. The change is a single blast. They haven't gone up in power at all after the first time."
"The Yeerks," I said to Rlin. "Their speech?"
"A lot of activity in the weapons base on the first mother ship," she reported. "They're preparing for a major Dracon fight, but they're hesitant. They're almost certain that the blast would destroy them as well."
"Kaschilia?"
"The Yisudyts are scared. They're terrified, in fact. They're screeching about how the Xaralies will kill them. I don't think they pose a threat. In fact, the captain said something about leaving. They seem to be more afraid of us than they are of the Ellimist or Crayak."
"Excellent," I said with a smile. "Xarin?"
"They're cocky. Too cocky. A lot of activity in the weapons section, same as the Yeerks."
"Haiski?"
"The Eishillians are mocking the other races openly, but most of them are talking in undertones about how they're more afraid of the Andalites than us."
I almost screamed "EXCUSE ME?!!?!?!?!" but I kept my mouth shut. When the Eishillians were atoms floating through space we'd see who they were more scared of... Or who they had been more scared of.
"Well. The Andalites are apparently on our side." I held up a hand to still the murmurs of astonishment. "Note: I said apparently. I still don't think --"
Daon snapped his head up. "Captain!" he practically screamed. "The habitation ships are almost powerless! The engines are shutting down!"
I froze. Impossible. No, no, no, no, no!
"No!" Rlin gasped. "Xilite, what do we do?!"
I really wish she hadn't said that. I could barely think straight. I just gaped at Daon.
Can't lose it now, Xilite. You're in charge. Deal with it.
"Capir. Are any of the Xaralites weakened? Any more?"
He ran a flash test on the crew in the rest of the ship and turned slowly to face me. "Yes. And we're losing more power fast. Way too fast. I think Thchi is in this."
"Thchi," I said, fire flaming in my green eyes. "The creep."
I turned back to the group. "No choice. We have to trust the Andalites. We'll need a tremendous boost of power. I don't know if we can trust them, but..."
"What?!" Simmilien practically screamed.
"I don't like it either, but we have to do it," Rlin said. "No choice."
Murmurs of agreement ran through the crowd.
"This is not a good situation," Kaschilian said grimly. "Definitely not a good situation."
I powered up the holographic projector and seriously surprised Galuit. "Galuit. We accept your offer," I said, forcing myself to be calm. It's not the same as surrender, Xilite.
He started to speak. I could see it in his eyes.
"One arrogant remark and we'll use the rest of our power to destroy the Andalite fleet if nothing else!" I yelled. I snapped the projector off.
"He'll beam over here," I said coolly. I looked around the group again. "If it was just us...I'd fight. But the habitation ships' power is down. Way down."
I forced a scream down. "I hate to say this again, Rlin...but we can't sacrifice our children to the rage of war."
I woke up suddenly. Agony coursed through my heart. Those Xaralites...my friends...
Gone.
Of course, when I said that, I discovered that she was in a bad mood.
As if I couldn't figure it out.
"Do you really want to provoke me?" she said in a tone made all the more terrible by the look in her eyes and the calm manner she wore. "Do you know what I am going through right about now?" She leaned close to me. I could see her bright green eyes glittering. Her teeth seemed sharp. Claws extended from her fingernails. "Do you want to find out?"
I didn't know what to say. "No"?
I pushed her away and backed her up against a wall. She looked shocked. She seemed as though she would have thought I was too afraid.
I would have thought that too.
"You listen to me," I said, deathly calm -- as calm as she. "You either stop this stupid arrogance or we'll stop you. The direct way."
She was seething with anger, but her tone stayed calm. "You try it and I'll force every single one of you to morph battle morphs and I'll sic you on the only one who can resist me." She smiled sweetly. "I do hope it doesn't come to that. But be aware that I will do it."
I couldn't back away. I understood that. She challenged me and I couldn't back down from that. I could see a leader in her. The air of command about her. Self-command, and the ability to command others. She had seen me and seen that I had the same. Therefore, we would either be automatic friends or automatic enemies.
We sure weren't friends.
"Not if we kill you before you can."
She stepped forward, away from the wall. Her eyes glowed dangerously. A red light lit them as well as the green. Shades of blue and yellow combined. The colors swirled together in a whirlpool.
Suddenly the pupils just disappeared. Or else they lightened. One of the two. The whirlpools remained, swirling in the still-untouched iris of green.
I was not hypnotized. That was not her intent. Her intent was to show me a flash of her power.
Her hair started to swirl above her head. Her arms raised ever so slightly. She went from looking like a human to looking like a cat in the guise of a human, a graceful, liquid steel being. White fire flamed around her -- or seemed to.
"You want to try?" she purred. She was gradually brightening.
The other Animorphs were frozen. Including Ax. That proved it was amazed/horrified/terrified frozen-ism, not hypnosis frozen-ism.
I stepped back.
She smiled, then drew her lips back, revealing sharp teeth.
Suddenly the white fire surrounding her vanished. Her pupils became black again. Black slits. Her arms returned to her sides. Her hair fell down her back.
She had achieved a victory. An unspoken victory, but still a victory.
"If it ever occurs to you to threaten me, Prince Jake, remember what you have seen."
I shuddered.
I would. I might not want to, but I would.
It was early. Not late, early. I could hear the faint sounds of mingled despair and anger coming from outside. No crying. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, though I'd never heard it in this way before.
I crept outside as quietly as I could. The sounds were coming from the direction of the river.
I turned my stalk eyes to stare. The huddled form of a human -- I guessed that it was a female, judging by the length of the hair -- was staring at the river, almost inhuman sounds escaping her.
I couldn't see who it was. But I could guess.
[Xilite?]
She froze, brushed her hair away from her face, stood up, and turned. I expected her to explode. She just smiled sadly. "Ax."
Her face was not red or wet with the human liquid called tears. But there was a terrible expression of despair on her face.
"Well. Hopefully we don't get in a fight like we have before," she said in an attempt to seem lighthearted.
[Hopefully,] I agreed, taking a step forward. I hesitated, choosing my next words carefully. [What has happened?] Seeing her face twist into a bitter, despairing smile, I added, [Memories?]
"What else?" she said with a little gasp of pain. "I was the captain, Aximili. Don't you understand that? The captain of the fleet. I was responsible for it. And...we lost. There were little children in the habitation ships. Children. I don't know what happened to them. The older Xaralites. All the females except the ten female warriors. The crew. The other warriors. Scientists. And where are they now? Where did I lead them?"
I shook my head. [It was not your fault, Xilite.]
"It was. I can see that. My arrogance...my pride...I refused to consider asking the Chee for help, erasing their programming. I refused to consider asking any race for help. And then, finally, in a moment of helplessness, I accepted the help of your race. I...I was so blind..."
[Why did you accept our help?]
"Because the habitation ships were losing power. The engines were failing. The inhabitants were doomed unless the Andalites gave us a burst of power." She gasped again. "I made the wrong choice."
[Xilite, what else could you have done?]
She hesitated. "I don't know. Anything but that."
She looked out over the river, her gaze shifting up to the stars. "What can I do, Aximili? What can I do now? I don't even know what happened. And I know this need for vengeance is slowly destroying me --" She cut herself off, unwilling to admit it. "I never wanted friends. Not since my days on Xarila. And now...now when I need a friend to stand by me...I have no one."
I don't know why I said what I said next. I only know that I did.
[I will.]
Xilite looked up. Bitter irony twisted through her face. "One day I may move against your world. You cannot stand by me then."
[Until it comes to that,] I said softly. [And perhaps it will not.]
She shook her head but did not say anything. There was a long silence.
I stepped up to her side. [Xilite. We are the only two aliens on this planet. Perhaps we could find allies in one another.]
"There is one other. But you're right." She looked up. "Allies. I haven't had a true ally for years. I...haven't really trusted anyone since the day the..." Xilite shook her head. "Not even Cairo. I trusted her as a human sister. Never as an ally." She made a small, genuine smile. "Maybe it's time for me to trust another."
Maybe the Andalites I'd dealt with were not the norm. I wanted to believe that -- or did I?
I had left my window open a crack. I swooped in and demorphed. I didn't really want to fall asleep. But I was a human and I needed to.
Even though I knew what dreams might come...
[Maneuver your ships near ours,] Galuit ordered. I wanted so badly to fry him. But our schssli weren't working, were they?
I almost accelerated our ship and rammed it into his. But I was responsible for my crew. I was responsible for the entire fleet. And I was beginning to hate the word "responsible."
"I don't take orders from you," I said coolly. Not the smartest thing I'd ever said, but I had no intention of just going "Okay, Galuit!"
[You will if you have any hope for your race,] he sneered.
I took a moment to calm myself. The energy inside me was boiling up. I knew that I still retained my full power, I could feel it, I knew that I could take out his ship but what about the other Xaralites? Who knew what would happen to them?
I muted the communicator and projected a hologram of me nodding and smiling. I turned back to Capir. "Capir, this doesn't feel right," I said tersely. "Do we have any other options whatsoever?"
Capir glanced over a holographic chart containing information on all the armies and the habitation ships. The Andalites had given us a burst of power to keep their engines from completely shutting down. Not enough to restore our schssli.
"No, my captain," he replied in an equally terse voice. "But I do not trust the Andalites."
"You and me both." I reactivated my true hologram and de-muted the communicator. "Yes, Galuit."
I hated myself so much.
A thought occurred to me. I thought-speak yelled for Rlin to come to my communications room immediately. She showed up almost as quickly.
"Rlin. You and I are going to board a fighter and do whatever damage we can. If the Andalites pull any surprise moves..."
"I thought the schssli had lost power," she said in confusion.
I pointed to Capir's chart. "All except that one."
She nodded. "Well. At least we won't go down without a fight."
"Capir, can you handle the ship? And the fleet? Follow his orders, for now. We'll be back. I hope."
He nodded as Rlin had. "Good luck, my captain."
"Xilite," I corrected. I looked from Rlin to Capir. "Remember me as Xilite."
"You won't be killed," he said quickly. "Neither of you will. You'll be back."
I inclined my head ever so slightly. "Set the hologram to 'X-1.' It's a picture of me. The hologram's sound projector will match your voice to mine. Galuit won't know."
"Yes. I will."
Rlin and I set off running towards the fighter. We didn't have much time.
"Okay. I'll take weapons," I said immediately. "You pilot. Or do you want weapons?"
She smiled. "You're the captain."
"Not now, Rlin. This might be our last few moments. I told Capir this, and I'm telling you this. Remember me as Xilite. Not 'captain.' So do you want to pilot or not?"
"Definitely." She took the controls, cloaked the fighter, and then swooped away from the ship.
I activated the communications and contacted Capir. "Capir. We're out and cloaked. What's going on?"
"He's demanding that we move closer to his ships," Capir practically yelled in frustration. "I don't think his intentions are exactly good!"
"That's it. I'll try to at least lure some away. Make a break for it."
"Run away?!?!"
Capir was definitely a true Xaralite. And I wasn't feeling great either. But... "Capir, we can recharge on the planet surface -- unless they blow us all up -- but we can't inflict any damage if our power's at an all-time low."
He grudgingly accepted it. "Yes, my --" He cut himself off and allowed a smile. "Yes, Xilite."
Rlin moved the fighter closer, closer...
FIRE!
The schssli were definitely working.
A Yeerk fighter spun away from the others and began to float away, engines dead.
"Nice shot."
"This time, I'm getting an Andalite," I said with a wild laugh.
Then I noticed something.
The Yeerk mother ship! It was heading toward the planet!
The ship above me was hit by a shredder blast. The engines shut down.
"NOOO!" I screamed. Those Andalites would pay!
FOR THE GOOD OF THE UNIVERSE, XILITE.
"You cursed Ellimist!"
FOR THE GOOD OF THE MANY, CAPTAIN XILITE.
"You fool! Guard your back, Ellimist, because your time is growing short," I growled.
A Yeerk fighter and an Andalite fighter swept down with the Yeerk mother ship. A Dome ship joined them.
I knew what the plan was. I knew that much.
I grabbed the controls from Rlin. Not my planet. No, no, no.
"Take a shot at the Andalites," I snapped. Our fighter accelerated.
Not fast enough! They were moving into position to shoot!
Go, go, go!
Faster! FASTER! I pleaded with the fighter. But it was weakening --
Of course! The Ellimist!
No time to waste in idle threats on him. My planet, my race!
Faster!
I was almost to the Yeerk mother ship when the fighter lost control.
It spun down towards the surface. I couldn't stop it.
"NO!" I screeched. Too fast!
TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!
TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!
TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!
TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!
The world went dark.
I woke up.
I was in cold, white Zero-Space. I leaped up from my position on the floor.
"Rlin!"
"They blew it up," she said with a gasp that sounded almost like a sob. "Our planet, Xilite, it's gone... I kept consciousness longer than you did...oh, Xilite, the others..."
My fault, all my fault! But now was no time to indulge in memories of the past or self-pity.
I couldn't break down. Not in front of Rlin. Not ever.
I took the fighter controls. She moved to the weapons.
"Not necessary," I said sadly as we exited Z-space. I looked around. "Definitely not necessary. You see that planet there?" I pointed towards a blue-green-and-white planet. The third planet of its solar system.
"They call it Earth, don't they?" Rlin said quietly.
"Rlin, we'll go back. I know we'll go back. But not until we can prepare ourselves for what's happened. The two of us can't take on all those armies. We don't even know their fate."
"So for now..."
I nodded slowly. "Only for now. And then those murderers will pay."
Seven races against one.
Well, Captain Xilite, I thought to myself. You couldn't save them...but maybe you can avenge them.
"Let's land."
So, we called another meeting.
I called Cassie, Marco and Jake. Cassie got Tobias and Ax. No one went for Cat. We wanted to be ready (and possibly in morph) by the time she got there.
Right.
"Is everyone here?" Jake said, looking around.
"Of course," I said with a smile. "Tobias, Cassie, Ax, Marco, you, me. Who else is there?"
"I mean, we're the only actual Animorphs," Marco said quickly.
There was a burst of laughter from the rafters. Green eyes glowed from the darkness. She leaped over and dropped from the rafters to the floor.
Yeah. Dropped. As in without the use of a ladder.
"Cats always land on their feet," she said with a laugh as she landed. Her eyes sparkled. "So what's up?"
"We have to crash this PTA plan," I said, getting to the point as usual.
She smiled in a way that made her seem almost condescending. "Rachel, you can say a lot of things about me, but I'm not an idiot. And only an idiot would not know that."
I rolled my eyes in response but decided to let the comment pass. We couldn't go on hating each other forever. "So, Marco, you didn't know that?"
He snorted, having not adopted my views on Cat. "Of course I knew that, Rachel, the question is, how did Cat know that?"
The corners of her mouth twitched upward in a half-smile. "Jake, what are we doing about it?"
I didn't miss the fleeting look of surprise passing over his face. He shrugged. "Destroy the entrances."
"That's not going to eradicate the problem. We have to have a permanent way to stop it. Otherwise they'll reconstruct it and try it again at the next Parent-Teacher Association."
He nodded in acceptance. "Any ideas from anyone else?"
[Perhaps if we could make these entrances known to a multitude of the humans, they would have to condemn the plan. The Yeerks could not restrain all the people with possession of the fact, as word travels quickly among your kind, and therefore they could not carry out their designs on your Parent-Teacher Association.]
Three guesses who said that.
"Translation please," Marco requested.
Cat sighed. "He said that if we showed people the entrances the Yeerks couldn't carry out their plans."
"Oh."
A quick smile passed between Cat and Ax. I raised an eyebrow.
Jake looked around hesitantly. "It may work that way. Or the Yeerks may freak out and try to capture --"
"Perfect!" I interrupted. "If they get desperate to capture the humans with 'possession of the fact,' as Ax put it, then they'll take risks."
Cat nodded. Her agreement with me somehow made me feel...strange. Like her approval was all I could want.
Her eyes weren't glowing. Not hypnosis. Just something about her.
"Rachel's right," Cat said. Her eyes darkened. "The Yeerks, while not willing to sacrifice themselves, would order others to do anything for the good of the --"
She cut herself off. Fire flamed suddenly. "For the good of the universe," she said as though in a dream. "For the good of the many." A blank look passed over her face. She sank back onto a bale of hay. "Was it worth it, Ellimist?" she said in almost a whisper.
We were frozen. Surprised. This was not like Cat, not at all.
To my surprise, it was Ax who slipped over and placed his hand on her shoulder. I guessed that he'd sent her a private message.
She stood up slowly and shook her head as though to clear it. She made an effort to smile. "Whatever you all decide. Just let me know, okay? I...I have to go."
She turned and left.
"What's with her?" I asked, almost concerned. Mostly curious.
Ax followed her with his eyes and turned back to us. [Well?] he said impatiently, like he had somewhere else to be.
"Ax, what is going on with her?" Cassie said.
He shrugged impatiently. He'd picked that up from humans.
[Ax?] Tobias prodded.
He shook his head, yet another gesture he'd picked up from humans. [Nothing that I am going to discuss.]
I sent Jake a meaningful look. He considered, then nodded. "If she spaces out like that in a battle, it's going to affect us. We have a right to know."
[You have no right to know.]
Jake definitely looked surprised. He glanced at Tobias, Ax's best friend. [I'll try and talk to him about it later,] Tobias said to all of us (except Ax). [Let it drop for now.]
"Fine," Marco said, obviously annoyed. "So what ARE WE DOING?!"
"Tense," I commented. "Since when are you raring to go?"
"We have nothing else to do," he said with an annoyed laugh.
"We'll crash it. I say go with Ax's plan," I announced.
Jake cocked his head. "I think you're right. Vote."
"Let's do it," I said, publically casting my vote.
[I will not --]
"You're voting," Jake said firmly.
[Then, yes.]
"I guess," Cassie said with a shake of her head.
"Yes."
[You have to do what you have to do,] Tobias said, looking up from preening his feathers.
"Then we're in agreement," Jake said. "Someone tell Cat. Tobias? Ax?"
[I will,] Ax volunteered.
Jake stared at Ax for a moment, trying to figure out what was with Cat (and him, for that matter). He finally shrugged. "Whatever."
Was it worth it, Ellimist? I asked silently.
OF COURSE.
Oh. I hadn't meant to use telepathy. But I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of my anger, my despair. No. Way. But I had to ask one thing.
Where are my people?
YOU IMAGINE THAT I'D REVEAL THAT?
You ever wonder what would happen if I went over to Crayak's side? I said with a sneer. Or Thchi's side?
He fell silent. I smiled. The two of them had wanted me as a warrior since they'd seen the first signs of my power. Not that I'd ever have anything to do with them.
I'd been an above-average Xaralite. I was the first female ever to become a scientist -- and later, a captain of a fleet. Amazing accomplishments for females.
Or males, for that matter.
For the good of the universe, that's your motto, hmm? I laughed silently. Maybe I'll join Thchi and get rid of you for the good of the universe.
I could feel his presence evaporate. Thchi wasn't able to take him by herself (yet). But with me...
Of course, I had my standards. And Thchi didn't make the list of possible allies.
After all, it was she who had weakened the Xaralites in that final battle.
I was running. Running, morphing as I ran. Morphing to panther.
The Xaralite inside me smiled as the panther's mind joined ours. Xaralite, human, panther. And or course the logical mind within them all.
Hello, friend, I told it.
Running!
Wind! No, not wind, just air whipping past us! So fast!
Speed almost equivalent to the Xaralite's! Ten, fifty, a hundred times the speed of the human! (Maybe not literally...)
[Xilite!]
Who was that?
Galloping hoofsteps were evident to my ears. I turned sharply and ducked behind a tree. I'd already guessed who it was. Ax.
[Hello, Ax,] I said calmly.
[The plan is to reveal the entrances to normal humans.]
[Two large flaws. Number one, how are they going to do it? And number two, how are they going to figure out who's normal and who's not?]
He hesitated. [I am not sure.]
I shook my panther head. [Never mind. It won't be so hard. At least, not if we forget subtlety.]
He nodded. [True.]
I demorphed as fast as I could (which was extremely fast). "I imagine that they were rather shocked after I left. What did you tell them?"
[Nothing.]
That definitely surprised me. "Nothing? Not even Jake or Tobias?"
[Xilite. It was not mine to tell.]
I smiled sadly. "Thanks, Ax. Thanks a lot. I guess I thought Andalites believed in nothing except absolute loyalty to a prince."
[Perhaps some do. And Xilite, if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here.]
I inclined my head barely. "Thanks again," I said softly.
Perhaps I would.
I was not in a good mood.
Cat sighed. I stared at her, unable to forget the incident the day before. I suddenly realized that if I didn't stop acting like I was "unable to forget" she might...ah...help me forget.
I was sick of being helped to forget.
"Marco, some of us actually listened," she said calmly. "And you were at the meeting yesterday."
"Whereas you freaked out and lost control of yourself," I retorted.
The change on her face was shocking. One minute she was cool, nonchalant, indifferent. The next minute her face was dark and angry and her eyes were emeralds and she was furious. Or possibly beyond furious.
She looked like she was going to punch me out. Her slim hand was balled up into a fist and she actually raised her arm. Then it dropped to her side, the anger passed out of her face, and only a smile was left.
Oh, this was bad. This was definitely bad. Cat mad was one thing, but Cat calm with fire in her eyes was terrifying. Especially that calm, with eyes still flaming...
Wait.
Not flaming.
GLOWING!
I tried to turn my head away. Too late!
Glow, glow, glow.
Turn away!
Impossible!
A little poem began to dance inside my head, dance in time with her laughing eyes...
Resist me, little human, don't you know Where is your mother, little Marco, when you need her the most?
My power is doubled by the fact that I walk alone
I don't need your approval, your opinion, or your time
Look at my invincibility, look into these eyes of mine
Do you think she could protect you from this power that I can boast?
Look into my eyes and tell me anyone could resist me
But I forgot, you're too mesmerized to speak
My mother! I'd never told her about my mother, Visser One...
Forget, little Marco, is not amnesia worth it to silence me?
Forget, as if you had a choice, or I'll never give you peace
I'm just playing with you, of course, you couldn't hold on if you tried
So, my little Animorph, look into my eyes...
I opened my eyes. I'd been lying on the floor in a classroom.
Where were the others? Why was I there?
"I feel like we're missing someone."
The voice floated from down the hall. Jake's voice.
"How could you be?" Cat's voice purred. "We're all here, aren't we, Jake?"
"Of...of course."
"What's your game, Cat?" Tobias demanded. He was in human morph. I remembered that we'd had a meeting yesterday...we'd decided to crash a Sharing meeting...but there were two blank spots in my memory...
Cat!
"I'm not buying this," Tobias said loudly. "We are missing someone. Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Ax, and me. We're missing Marco."
[Yes,] Ax agreed. [We are.]
"Yes," Cat laughed. "You are. He's in a classroom somewhere, unconscious. Although he should have woken up approximately thirty to forty-five seconds ago."
[Cat. You know we aren't --]
He fell silent, as though she was talking to him in private thought-speak. But she wasn't morphed!
I stepped out of the classroom almost silently. Not silently enough. Cat's head snapped around.
"Marco!" she said in mock delight. "Why hello, Marco! Did you wake up? Do you remember my little poem?"
I struggled to remember. Cat laughed. "Resist me, little human, don't you know
My power is doubled by the fact that I walk alone
I don't need your approval, your opinion, or your time
Look at my invincibility, look into these eyes of mine!"
She was singing it. A hissing song emanated from her.
I remembered it now. She was allowing me to remember them. Where is your mother, little Marco, when you need her the most?
Do you think she could protect you from this power that I can boast?
Look into my eyes and tell me anyone could resist me
But I forgot, you're too mesmerized to speak
Forget, little Marco, is not amnesia worth it to silence me?
Forget, as if you had a choice, or I'll never give you peace
I'm just playing with you, of course, you couldn't hold on if you tried
So, my little Animorph, look into my eyes... The wild music floated from her, setting my memories to music. Music, not a poem, but without the power her poem had.
The others could hear it, could feel it. The music, the lyrics, the song.
She was simply standing there, arms out from her body ever so slightly, eyes open and smiling, hair swirling above her head.
Suddenly the spell was broken.
She smiled. "So, Rachel, isn't this where you insert your line?"
"Let's do it," Rachel said in classic Rachel style.
Ax looked...bothered. By what? Nothing bad had happened. Cat was acting normal, for once.
A strain of music floated in my memory. A pretty tune. But where it came from, I couldn't tell.
I could only see two lines of lyrics in my mind...
I'm just playing with you, of course, you couldn't hold on if you tried
So, my little Animorph, look into my eyes
And then that, too, was gone...
An extremely insane plan, as Marco so discreetly pointed out.
"So," Xilite said, searching for Cairo with her green eyes. "This should be interesting."
[Very,] I agreed. I was determined not to talk about her most recent hypnosis. It seemed as though nothing could convince her to stop. And it would do nothing more except strain the friendship that might have a chance between us.
"I believe this is what humans refer to as kamikaze," she said with a laugh, looking towards the group of people gathered outside.
[Kamikaze meaning suicide?] I said as I searched for the human named Chapman.
"Correct." She scanned the crowd and sighed. "Not here. Okay, I think that group over there is composed of normal humans."
Her eyes glowed. She let out a loud growl. Ferocious, furious.
It definitely made them look up.
And then, when they looked up, they couldn't look away.
The lead human stood up and started to walk toward us. The rest, like a wave, followed.
[Nice.]
"It's nothing. Maybe, if we get lucky, the other Controllers won't spot us."
[As flies,] I confirmed. I sent a look toward that group. [But I'm sure they'll notice all these --]
"WHAT THE!" Chapman screamed. Along with a few other words I have been informed are less than polite.
"It's that cursed human!" Kilan yelled. "CAT!"
"Yeah, right, meow and all that," Xilite muttered. "I can hypnotize them and hope we don't get Draconed first, or we can --"
Suddenly she fell to the ground. But no one had fired!
The other humans began to stop, looking confused.
[Xilite!] I cried. She was unconscious, that much was obvious. [Prince Jake! Cassie!]
They were too far away!
I would not leave her. Not for these Controllers.
But they were racing toward us. What had seemed like an escapable situation had turned into a death trap.
Xaralites all around! My kind, my race!
Then I suddenly realized it wasn't memory. Definitely not memory.
The Xaralite looked at me and curled its lip in distaste. "Get back with the others," it barked out.
What? I took orders from no one. No --
But taking orders from him might fit into my plans. He looked familiar. I didn't know what was going on, but for now I was simply going to fit into any label that anyone wanted to put on me.
And then, when the time was right...
I nodded respectfully and melted back. I looked around for "the others."
What others? Other Xaralites?
Back with my own kind!
Was this the future? I stopped short. Was this the present? Not memory, but...
I gasped aloud. Outrage filled me. There were sixteen Hrisk and two Xaralites ahead of me. The Xaralites were fenced in. The Hrisk were laughing as they pushed them toward some type of machine.
That was it. No one did that to my people.
But still something inside screamed that this wasn't right. No amount of Hrisk had ever been able to take two Xaralites. Never! It was impossible!
I was a Xaralite again. I realized that suddenly. I wasn't human anymore.
I felt power surge through me. Xilite's power. My xilinni power was intensified enough to control any Andalite.
"Hello," I said in my strong voice. Slightly feminine -- I was a female, after all -- but definitely commanding.
The Xaralites gasped. I heard one of them speak.
"Xilite?!"
So. I was still known among them. The question was, was I known as another Xaralite or as the person who'd lost the battle for Xarila?
What was this planet, anyway?
The Hrisk blinked their tiny eyes. Their muscles tensed. "Wherrrrrre issssss the otherrrrrrr one?"
They meant Rlin, obviously. I wasn't going to tell them that.
I considered as they advanced. Something was wrong. I didn't know what.
Suddenly I felt footsteps behind me. I whirled around. The Xaralite I'd seen earlier was standing cockily, ready for anything I could throw at him.
"Well, well, well, Xilite," he said. "I knew I remembered you from somewhere."
"Capir!" I gasped. What the...?
"Oh, not really, Xilite." My name was spoken so differently from this creature's mouth! "You see, I'm his duplicate. His counterpart. I believe humans call it 'evil twin.' You'd know, wouldn't you, little human?"
I took an involuntary step forward. "How dare you call me that?" I demanded. My tone was so low, so angry, so calm. "You challenge me, oh Xaralite-or-whatever-you-are?"
He laughed. "Yes."
My eyes went wide. No way, no how. No one messed with me!
He laughed again and motioned to the Hrisk. "Take her."
Suddenly it clicked. The Xaralites had been duplicated, obviously. And these new Xaralites had their power!
Uh-oh.
The Hrisk started to run at me. No problem. I could take them. But this other Xaralite obviously had control of them. His eyes were glowing.
I'd been an above-average Xaralite. Way above. But this was not a fight I'd win.
How had I gotten here, anyway?
The Hrisk had extra power from "Capir." This was obvious. And it was obvious that things were not looking up.
I turned. An army of (evil) Xaralites were coming at me.
HISSSSS!
Suddenly a Xaralite darted forward to join me. I recognized her in a flash.
"Rlin!"
"Why are we here?" she demanded.
"I was hoping you'd know." I looked around. This was getting...bad.
A Hrisk whacked me from behind. That was it.
SLASH!
My claws decapitated him.
I felt another blow knock me to the ground. This was insane. No Hrisk should be able to take a Xaralite.
He towered over me and raised a clawed foot to plunge it deep into my chest.
FWAPP!!
I leaped up just as he fell. I looked around.
"Ax!"
[Hello,] he said very calmly. [Morph. Fly morph.]
Rlin instantly shrank. Instantly. As in under an Earth second.
"What, you think Xaralites couldn't morph?" I demanded at Ax's surprised expression.. "Are the others here?"
I shrank immediately. The aiso was my "morph"; it's an extremely small creature. Very poisonous.
[We're here,] Jake announced. [As flies. Okay, Cat, what ARE YOU?!?!?!]
[A Xaralite. Deal with it. I'll explain later. And no, I have no clue why any of us are here.]
[What's a Xaralite?] Marco asked.
[Shut up, Marco, I'm in an extremely bad mood.]
This was not "cool." My people were...were...
Captives?
Powerless?
Duplicated?
[I'm thinking that the battle went even worse than we thought, no?] I said to Rlin.
[Definitely,] she agreed. [But we're back, Captain Xilite.]
[Don't start that,] I warned.
[Besides, I was getting sick of that cat body.]
Rlin had assumed the form of a cat. A tabby cat.
Cheetah.
[We're back, all right,] I said. I looked around. I'd kept my eyes purely from habit. [But the question is, where are we?]
And why, why, why did their fate have to be like this? I cried silently.