She must have been waiting for me as I closed up the family bakery. We opened only for four hours on Saturdays before closing on Sunday and Monday. To take a two and a half day weekend was rare, at least with the neighboring ones in my city. But, we could afford it.

I'd been working in my family's bakery since I was fourteen, officially, so I knew the regular customers. Especially, the ones who waited until the last minute before we closed. The ones who claimed to need to make a major purchase before we closed for the long weekend-this was always accompanied with a reproachful look on their end-only to leave ten minutes later with something as small as a blueberry muffin.

I was used to them. I never let them get under my skin because, as Dad often said, even if they weren't the source of our profits, they could tell others if they were unhappy. He said that while you couldn't please everyone, staying open for a few extra minutes for an irate customer never hurt anyone in the long run.

He would know. He'd been running the business for over twenty years, and working with his parents before then.

So, when the short, brown haired customer who looked to be about twenty entered through the door at 2:01 on the dot, I formed my face into a polite, apologetic smile as I formed the words I had used so many times.

"Hi there! We're about to close for the day, but is there anything I can get you before we do?"

Her face studied me as she formed a gentle smile. "Tamli."

My heart began to race, and my response were not nearly as rehearsed. "Kariss?"

She put her hand on the counter, reaching for mine. Instinctively, I took it.

"I promised I'd find you," she said, squeezing my hand.

I swallowed hard. "You did," I agreed.

What I didn't say was that it had taken over six months. Not that this was her fault. Only a few weeks ago, the Yeerks had been allowed, officially, to become nothlits. There were rumors that Peace Movement Yeerks were exempt from this, that they could remain with their hosts, as long as their hosts wanted them there.

Kariss hadn't been a part of the Peace Movement, though. In spite of that, she'd treated me as well as any Yeerk from the Peace Movement could have. Especially as I was nearly broken from what my first Yeerk had done to me during the year and a half I had been under her power.

I closed my eyes, willing myself not to think of that.

Kariss was watching me, still holding my hand. Of course, I realized, she could no longer read my thoughts. Our mental link was broken. We had to communicate with speech, now.

I forced myself to say something. "Okay. Wow." I managed a smile. "How are you?"

She laughed a little. "Still adjusting to my new body. It's been three weeks, and even though it feels very much the same as when I lived in yours, the lack of the other mind is-well, unsettling. I miss you, Julie."

"I miss you, too, Kariss."

Every day, I missed her.

She glanced at the door. "Should we-?"

"Right." I headed out from around the counter, keychain around my neck, under my shirt. I switched the sign from "Open" to "Closed" and locked the door. "We go out the other way-but you already know that," I told her, laughing a little.

"Yes, I remember," Kariss told me, also laughing.

She followed me as I walked down the hallway, shutting off the lights and locking the necessary doors. Checked to make sure all of the ovens and other equipment had been turned off before we began our weekend. Mom was cleaning one of the tables, a task usually performed by Matt, but he'd called in sick last night. She had her headphones on, though, and didn't hear us as we entered. I glanced at Kariss, and she nodded at me, smiling.

"Mom?" I said, standing in front of her.

My mother started slightly, then laughed and turned off her portable CD player.

"Julie, you almost gave me a heart attack!" she said, giving me a hug. "It's closing time already?"

I nodded. "I locked the front doors and checked all of the equipment."

"Good, good," my mom nodded, her braid swinging against her shoulder. She glanced at Kariss. "Ah, hello! Are you a friend from the college?"

I'd started taking classes at the community college last month. My grades had never been very high, and I'd always seen school as a necessary-or, to be honest, an unnecessary-evil. But I needed some basic classes, like accounting, if I was going to succeed in someday managing the business. Or co-managing with my brother and sisters. So, community college was the compromise.

It wasn't as bad as high school had been, at least. Even though I didn't have a Yeerk in my head to talk to when classes got overly boring.

Which had been most of the time.

"Not exactly," I admitted, turning to Kariss, briefly. "This is Kariss seven-two-four, of the Sulp Niar Pool."

Mom nodded, her face showing some concern. "Oh. Well, hello, Kariss."

I had told my family about my time as a Controller, after Kariss had been forced to leave my head. After the Yeerks surrendered to the "Andalite Bandits"-now referred to as the Animorphs. I didn't say much about my first Yeerk, because I didn't want my parents or sisters to know how much she had hurt me. But I had made it clear that Kariss had been a close friend to me, and I wanted to remain her friend after she became a nothlit.

I'd hoped that she'd be allowed to become a human nothlit. I knew that she wouldn't be allowed to keep her Yeerk body. Only the Yeerks from the Peace Movement could remain Yeerks. Only after verification from their hosts. But not all Yeerks were allowed to become humans. Those who had committed certain crimes-they could only hope for certain animals.

Granted, some Yeerks wanted to be animal nothlits, anyway. Even with the shorter lifespan. Less interaction with the people who they worked to enslave, for one thing. Not having to work, or to struggle to find work, for a living. Then, there was the chance of having wings.

Rumor had it that a lot of Yeerks had become various species of birds.

Kariss, though, had wanted to become human. We'd talked about it, during the two days between finding out that the Yeerks had surrendered and her needing to report, to feed. In the meantime, according to the news, the Yeerk Pool would be kept open because it would be physically impossible to evaluate all Yeerks and give them the morphing power within a three day time period. Less, if they hadn't fed on that exact day.

She wanted to find an apartment and live with me. I was nineteen, old enough to live on my own, even if my parents didn't agree to it. I was, technically, an adult. If they disowned me, I could leave the bakery and find another job. I certainly had enough experience.

But we both hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

Now, six months after we had last spoken, I wondered what the plan was, now.

"It's so nice to meet you, officially," Kariss was saying, smiling kindly at my mother. "I know how strange this must be for you."

Mom sighed. "Why don't we sit down, Kariss? Julie?" she added, and I couldn't help but feel like my name was an afterthought. "I'll get your father."

We took a seat on the stools, and I felt Kariss touch my arm, briefly.

"It's going to be all right," she told me, after my mom left.

I nodded.