My name is Jake.
And I was in deep shit, I realized as I looked at the small group of teenagers in front of me.
Only composed of four kids, some of which had to be younger than me, stood there, battle scared and bleeding, just staring at me. Finally, one of the boys stepped foreword.
"Well… this is awkward," he said. "But I guess it's high time you guys learn that you're not alone. You have allies, guys."
"Yeah, but we didn't know you were human," the only girl interjected, flipping her white-blond curly hair behind her shoulder. "We thought you were all those blue deer-aliens!"
I couldn't be sure, but I think that Ax, who was flying overhead, was offended at being called a "blue deer-alien."
I am not a blued deer-alien, he said. I am an Andalite arsith, a warrior!
I was glad he was using private thought-speech. I couldn't be sure if they were telling the truth, but the idea of scaring these kids off when they claimed to be our allies seemed pretty damn foolhardy.
I crossed my arms. There was no guaranteeing they weren't controllers. But, given how they had just saved all of our sorry asses, I had to give them some leeway.
"Where are you from? Who are you?"
"New York," the guy with the red hair said. He had a spray of freakles across his face, and despite myself, I was reminded of the saying that gingers had no souls. This guy looked pretty cold. "Upstate, not city. And I'm James."
"Jesse," said the guy who spoke first. He had a strong face, and a look in his eyes that said quite plainly he'd seen too much too early in his life. It was no wonder he acted as their leader. I felt some respect growing for this guy, as well as a kind of twisted kinship. We both had to make those life-or-death decisions.
The last guy who had jet black hair that I assumed was dyed introduced himself as Alfred. My eyes lingered on him for a bit. It wasn't a gay thing, just interest. He was wearing a tight black shirt and I knew that Rachel and Cassie had to be staring at his ass. Why else would they be circling around him overhead?
My eyes fell on the girl last. She was pretty unremarkable. Skinny, and on the shorter side, her curls fell down to the small of her back. But that was about it in terms of looks. Maybe it was the fact she had raccoon eyes from heavy makeup and lack of sleep, but this girl was pretty plain in my eyes. But she stood up straight and proud, and some part of her screamed that she wasn't a push over.
"I'm Tara," she said. "You don't happen to have any girls in your group, do you?"
I felt myself stiffen.
"You can talk to me just fine."
Tara groaned. "It's not that. I need to find a drug store."
I raised my eyebrows.
"Are you on something?"
"Uh… In a way…"
"Why do you need to go to the drug store?"
"Fine, I'll shout it. I AM ON MY PERIOD AND NEED A GOD DAMN TAMPON!"
"Rachel, take the girl to the drug store..." I said, feeling my eye start to twitch. Too much information. Way, way too much information.
Rachel flew down and demorphed from her eagle. She was making an odd noise that sounded like she was choking. As soon as she got her lips and vocal chords back, I realized what the sound was. She was laughing at me. I grimaced.
"Do you have money?" I asked Tara. "We can't really morph with it..."
"Yeah, I have money," Tara said before taking Rachel's proffered arm and walking towards town with her.
"Follow them, Tobias," I muttered.
Without a sound, Tobias spread his wings and flew off in the direction Rachel and Tara had gone in. I saw Jesse raise his eyebrow.
"Any reason you're having this Tobias guy stalk them?"
"First off, I haven't decided if I can trust you all yet. And second, he's a nothlit and spends most of his time in surveillance. He knows most of the controllers in the area, and can warn them if somebody is tailing them."
Jesse nodded.
"Fair enough," he acknowledged. "I'd be doing the same thing, if it was reversed. I don't blame you one bit. Though I am curious as to what a nothlit is."
"How did you hear about us?" I asked, ignoring his implied question. I nodded Marco and Ax down. No need to let them know about Cassie just yet. Keep a trump card if they proved untrustworthy.
"That's a long story," Jesse said. I noted that James and Alfred didn't hide their amazement as they watched Marco and Ax demorph, and even Jesse seemed interested. At least, until Ax resumed his Andalite form.
"YAH!" James cried, reaching for his belt.
Jesse stopped him, though.
"Calm down, James," he said. "That's not Visser Three. He's way too small."
"Ax is a lot younger." I supplied as Ax seemed to huff behind me. "And we definitely have time to hear your story."
Jesse nodded and looked to the sky.
"I guess it all really started when James and I saw Tara getting hauled downstairs at school…"
For them, it all started in 1997, about a year after Elfangor crash-landed in front of us. None of them really knew each other. James was new, and Jesse was stuck showing him around the school. It was in between periods when they saw a guy who was in the grade above them pulling some girl into the basement. Jesse recognized her from a few of his classes. Tyra, or Kara or something like that.
Whatever her name was, she was putting up one hell of a fight. She was a tiny thing, but the guy had to use both hands and his considerable muscles were bulging from the effort of dragging her through the school.
Finally, he threw her over his shoulder.
The girl screamed and started pounding her hands and feet. Probably trying to get his ribs or diaphragm, Jesse realized.
"We've got to help her," James had said, pale as a sheet. "He's probably gonna rape her or something…"
Jesse nodded and grabbed the first thing he could. AKA, his science textbook. He handed James his math book, and the two guys followed the guy and girl, expecting to see him throw her onto the ground and rip her clothes off any second.
When a door opened up where a wall should have been, the guys froze.
And the girl screamed. In her panic, her fingernails left bloody marks on the man's back and neck. Her feet pounded his front, and Jesse thought he heard her screaming that she wouldn't go back.
The guys exchanged a look before springing foreword and clonking him on the head at the same time. Not suspecting it, the giant lug crumpled to the ground unconscious.
The girl scrambled to her feet, still screaming. James grabber her and covered her mouth. "Shhhhhh! You're making too much noise!"
The girl sobered up enough for Jesse to catch a glimpse of her terrified ice blue eyes. That was before the yelling started down the stairs.
"OH, MY GOD, THEY'RE COMING!" she cried, looking around frantically. People started flowing up the stairs. The girl bolted upstairs, with James and Jesse right behind her.
James never got the chance to start school. The girl ran through the streets, which were pretty much empty in the middle of the day, and onto a trail in the hills surrounding their town.
When she was sure nobody was following them, gave a short "follow me," before leading them off the trail. It had to take three or four hours before she came to a stop in front of a small wooden shack. Completely covered by the trees, it seemed the perfect hiding spot. And fun, too. The shack was built a good ten feet off the ground with a rope ladder leading up to it. The roof had tree branches tied down so they looked natural, but still provided a perfect cover. Somehow, Jesse didn't think it was as run-down as it appeared.
"Thank God they haven't sent any Taxxon trackers after me… If they did, I'd be screwed. I'm Tara, by the way. You're Jesse, I know that, but I don't know you."
"James," he said, looking at Tara oddly. "My name is James."
"James… Nice to meet you, James. James, James, James. Like James Potter. I have to remember that. James, James, James."
James gave her an odd look.
"Sorry…" Tara trailed off as a guy not much older than them walked in. His hair was blond, and he dressed all in black. And judging by the Dracon Beam on his hip, Tara realized with horror, he was a controller.
A/N: Yes, yes, I'm evil, to leave it at a cliffie like that! :D
I do not own Animorphs. If I did, Rachel would be alive… And not, ya know, freaking insane?