Disclaimer: Most of the characters belong to K.A. Applegate. The rest are mine.
I told you I'd do it! Here's what makes Mel Mel- with an actual plot! If you don't like Mel, please try and read this. Maybe you'll eventually change your mind. Give Mel a chance, will you? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?
Oh- and to everyone who just hopped in here- this is a sequel to "Mind Games." It'll make better sense after you read that, HONEST!
Chapter 1
To begin with, I'm not really sure how to start. I mean, the me that everyone sees, the "In-Your-Face-So-Get-Out-Of-My-Way" Mel isn't really appreciated. But then again, it's a pain to be the real me.
I guess this will take some explaining. I'll try not to be so rude or arrogant or whatever else people call me behind my back, but I'm not going to be sappy and all that, either.
It's been a full two months since my last, uh, job. I'm sure all of you fine people know what that was, so I won't bother to explain it too much. Basically, all you need to know- or be reminded of- is this: A girl with really weird powers goes down to the Yeerk pool, and saves- HELPS save the day.
Yeah. That's it. HELPS save the day.
Well, next thing you know, Jake introduces me to this boy named Erek. I already knew who Erek was. I'm sure you do too. You know, androids called Chee? They love dogs. A lot.
It began about a week after I got out of the hospital for a checkup after a fire destroyed the building I was in.
Jake took me to Burger King to meet a friend of his named Erek. He had apparently forgotten that I knew everything he knew about Erek thanks to Marco. I didn't point it out to him.
When we got to the Burger King, Jake dragged me over to a table where a boy about my age was sitting alone, playing with the pepper shaker in his boredom. I guess we were late. Anyway, Erek stood up as he saw us coming.
"Hey, Jake." Jake and Erek shook hands. After that, Jake sat down with a sigh and then remembered he was supposed to introduce me when Erek gave him the evil eye.
"Oh. Yeah. Um, Erek, this is Mel- uh, Melanie." I glared at him. The guys knew full well that I didn't like the name Melanie. "Right," he said. "Mel, this is Erek."
"You can call me Mel," I said as I shook hands with him. Instantly, just as I had hoped, his entire lifetime of memories, feelings, and thoughts leapt into mine. Sure. Ordinarily, you can't do that with machines. But I'm not ordinary. Never said I was. I made copies of them all and stored them away in my mind so I could look back at them later. In the meantime, I didn't have the time to watch his memories of building the pyramids or watching the sea be parted by Noah.
"So," Erek began a bit nervously. "Jake was telling me that you, um... You..." He looked to Jake, hoping for some signal as to how to continue.
"Jake was telling you that I had a bunch of powers and you were wondering if you could train me?"
Erek nodded.
I nodded. "Fine by me." I grinned evilly. "You've got your work cut out for you; I can tell you that."
So from that day on, I either went to Erek's house or he came over to mine after school. Every day, he works me so hard that I throw up. I've got to say this for Erek: He's nice and a great friend, but he's a seriously tough teacher.
Other things that have happened... Nope. I can't think of any. I'm sorry, but I'll try to point them out as I go along.
Okay. Forget it. I'm sick of even trying to be nice while I write this. You don't even know me, so why should you judge me? The only people who think that I'm rude are the popular kids who used to be my friends before deciding they were too good to have a mind of their own.
You know, that sounded better in my mind.
Oh, well. I'll make you a deal. You put up with me, and I'll let you finish reading the story. Deal? Great.
Now, this is the serious intro. It's like the one in the movies. "I'm baaaaaaaaack!" You know, I could actually say that in a movie, but no one has discovered me yet.
Don't laugh- it's the truth. I just simply haven't been discovered yet.
I thought I told you not to laugh. So stop already!
In case the wonderful attitude hasn't tipped you off yet, I'm Mel. Yep, that's right. The great and wonderful, one-of-a-kind Mel. I think I told you that I'd be back for a sequel.
Now then. Let's get started with the actual plot. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we won't have to look at each other. Deal? Great.
If you want to read that really cool story about how Marco acts like James Bond and we get to blow up a lot of stuff, click HERE.
Or if you want to read that really superb, cool, neat-o and all that good stuff story (my personal favorite) where I die and have to fight my way back to the world of the living in time to save the world, click HERE.
Nothing happened? Darn. I'll have to get that fixed one of these days. I guess you'll just have to cope with this one- that is, if you can stand me as the narrator. Of course, if you're too chicken (Brawk!), feel free to just eject yourself from this great and wonderful story written by great and wonderful me.
Or are you turkey and not chicken? (Gobble, gobble.)
As far as school goes, Brandy hates me more than ever now. And, you know, that's just too bad. I actually kind of liked her. ~Falls out of chair laughing.~
Okay, for all those people who unjustly said that my accomplishments aren't even that great- take a bite of this: Straight A student. 4.0 GPA. President of half a dozen clubs. Captain of the soccer team. A boyfriend two years older than me (and on the football team!), and a writer on one magazine, consultant for a major web site, and school magazie editor. Try doing all of those things in your first two weeks of high school.
Things started moving fast in the second month of school. School for me, that is. The guys, lucky them, had just started school that past month.
Now then. It started when I was having weird dreams. In them, I was younger, and if one of the guys had seen me back then, they would have been amazed at how different I had been. The only thing I could remember when I woke up, though, was what I just told you and then the feeling of being surrounded by water.
Still, I'd only felt that feeling once. It was when I had nearly drowned. I'd gotten away, but the person who had tried to drown me was still looking for me.
The dreams told me more than I wanted to know. Not only had that person found me, but she had a gift of her own.
She could tell everything about someone, just as I could. Except she did it through dreams. I could do it by touch or by joining my mind to theirs- something I found out how to do during my studies with Erek. It had taken a while to control it. I'd been able to hear everyone's thoughts at once. But I'd finally managed to block out the noise or home in on just one person's thought voice.
She had found out about the others- the Animorphs and the Chee- through me. I'd led her straight to them. She wouldn't hesitate to sell them out. All she needed was a plan.
One day I woke up and knew that we had to do something.
She'd found her plan.
Chapter 2
"You don't believe me?" I asked. I looked around at the others. We were gathered in Cassie's barn, and I had just told them about my dreams and what I thought they meant.
"They're dreams," Marco said with a shrug.
Cassie looked me in the eye. "I think you're trying to find some way to express your fear of this person by making her a Controller who's chasing us. You're just afraid that we'll get caught."
I shook my head.
Rachel sighed, exasperated. "Look, it's just a dream, okay? We all have dreams. I had one where I killed Kenny from South Park once. That doesn't mean it happened."
I stuck to my point. "Have I ever been wrong before?"
"Relax," Erek told me calmly. "There's always a first time. And no one said that you were wrong."
"I'm sorry, I thought the part where everyone was telling me the dreams weren't real was kind of telling me they thought I was wrong."
He shrugged.
I slammed my fists against the bail of hay I was sitting on. "Why can't you believe me?"
"We'll believe you when it happens," Marco said resolutely.
"IDIOT!" I shouted at him. "By then, it'll be too late!"
Jake sighed. "Look, Mel. It was a dream. We have to believe that until we find out otherwise, okay?"
We don't have your gift, Ax told me. We do not understand it. Therefore, you cannot expect us to accept it as easily as you have.
"You can't understand the Ellimist, either," I pointed out angrily. "You believe in him!"
The Ellimist is different, Tobias said.
"Yeah, right," I said as I stormed out of the barn. I shut the door- no, that isn't right. I SLAMMED the door behind me. I leaned against it for a few seconds, trying to calm down and catch my breath. My eyes were starting to sting. "Please don't wait until it's too late," I said softly. Then I sprinted for the woods so I could take the shortcut to my house. I don't know if Tobias heard me or not. I didn't stick around long enough to find out.
Half an hour later, I sent my mind back to see what they were up to. They had dismissed my dreams, and Erek was telling everybody about some stolen nuclear missiles that had disappeared recently.
* * *
I was sleeping again. But I knew at the same time that while my body was resting, I wasn't. I was connected to my body only by a faint memory and a thin string. I didn't need any more than that.
I looked around me. Surprisingly, I was incredibly calm. I could see the familiar shapes of my computer and pictures on the walls. I could just barely see the bed where I was sleeping. Yet at the same time, everything was cloudy, covered by a fog that was a thousand different colors all at once. This wasn't my dimension. It wasn't the one I was used to. Yet I knew it. I was familiar with it. I had the feeling that I was meant to be here.
Suddenly, I felt a prickle. Not fear, danger. That was it. Danger. I'd felt it once before. Or at least I felt it in this same SHADE before. It reminded me of being surrounded by water. Before I knew what was happening, everything was spinning around me. I fell to my knees, gasping for breath. On the bed, I could see that I- my body- was thrashing around wildly, getting trapped in the sheets.
I closed my eyes. It's only a dream, I commanded myself. No, it isn't dreaming. It's real. It's all too real. But the drowning is my imagination. Because here, my imagination is more powerful than in the other dimension.
"Very good."
I snapped back to attention. On the bed, my body had calmed down and was now breathing soundly. Right in front of me was Leslie.
She hadn't changed in the years I had last seen her. We had grown up together in a tough neighborhood, and she had gone to do things like get high with her friends or drink or steal cigarettes. That sort of thing. Luckily, I'd gotten out of the neighborhood before it had affected me that much. Years later we had run into each other and she had- Oh, well. I got the feeling that Leslie wasn't part of this world anymore. She looked kind of, well, dead. I stood up and we circled each other, each sizing the other up. Her hair was darker, thinner, and stringier than it had been, but the ruthlessness in the eyes was still there. The prowling walk. Her tan skin looked a bit paler, I think, but I couldn't be too sure.
"You look like you breathed in too much Coke," I told her.
She grinned. "You look like you haven't."
For a long while, neither one of us said a thing.
I finally broke the silence. "You can't have them," I told her firmly.
She tsk-ed at me. "Oh, come now, Mel. They didn't even believe you." She looked at me knowingly. "You were a fool to trust them."
I laughed. "True. I do trust them. But they aren't my friends. They have to do things in that world. That doesn't mean they're my friends. I don't have friends." Briefly I wondered why I had said "that" world. Then I remembered that we were in a different dimension.
Now Leslie laughed. "Right, right. Well, Mel. I guess I'm here to finish the job."
I grinned. "You really think that you're going to kill me? You? Kill me?" I paused. She was still staring at me. I sighed, exasperated- a trick I'd learned from Rachel. "Aren't you catching the sarcasm here?"
She blinked at me. "Don't you notice something, here? This is my universe. My planet. My home."
"So this is where you come whenever you get high?"
She smiled at me, but the smile wasn't nearly as hearty as the first smile. "Those drugs are power."
"Right. They have the power to kill brain cells. I didn't know that was true until I met you. Tell me, Leslie. Did you ever graduate second grade?"
The smile, by this point, was frozen on her face, obviously forced. She dropped the smile and gritted her teeth. "All right. The pleasantries are over." She took her hand out from behind her back and opened it. It was a Yeerk.
"This goes in you. I take your string. I go to your life. I live again. I leave you here. I take care of your so-called friends. I get the rewards. And your friends will be joining you soon enough. Deal?"
I laughed. "No deal." I reached for my string. But something was wrong. I couldn't get to it. It was like I was... frozen. I cussed.
"Melanie!" Leslie shouted with glee. "I never expected to hear you say THAT!" She regained her composure quickly. "I'll take that," she said. She reached over and took my string, yanking it in two and tying the loose end to her wrist. As soon as the string broke, I felt my knees go weak. I couldn't get home without the string. You needed both. The string and the memory. I still had the memory. She didn't. She looked at me as if she knew what I had been thinking. "Don't worry. All I need to escape this world is your string. My power makes up for your memory."
"In that world, though, you won't have powers," I pointed out.
"True. But those Animorphs don't believe you. The Chee doesn't." The Chee DON'T, I thought. Did she think that Erek was the only one?
"There are more Chee? Fabulous. More money for me. Now, this last part before I leave." She walked over to me calmly and turned my head on the side. I closed my eyes, urging my muscles to work. Nothing happened. I felt the Yeerk- no, that isn't right. I didn't have a body. I could only feel emotions and knowledge. I knew the Yeerk was crawling into my ear. That's right.
When she was done, Nicole took a step back, admiring her work even though she couldn't see it. Or could she? She grinned at me and then gasped. "Oh! Before I forget." She tossed me a crystal ball the size of my fist. "That's a viewing crystal given to me by a gypsy spirit."
I raised my eyebrows. I could move now, even though I couldn't attack her.
"Okay, okay. I admit. I stole it off of a spirit. Don't know if it was a gypsy or not. Anywho, you can see whoever you want to see and hear whatever you want to hear with that thing. Didn't want you to miss your so-called friends losing their lives. I hope to see you never again," she told me with a grin. She yanked on my string and disappeared.
Now, nothing in this universe was familiar. I was alone with the colored fog.
I looked down at the viewing crystal in my hands. "Show me Leslie," I instructed it. It didn't do anything. I prayed that it wasn't her last laugh that I had just fallen for. "Please?" I asked. My voice shook. I cleared it and coughed, looking around and hoping no one had seen me almost break down.
Suddenly, inside the crystal, I recognized my room. There I was, on the bed. Good Lord, I looked good. I grinned at myself. That was a pretty good joke. Very good. Long blond hair. Medium-green eyes. Except now, the eyes weren't green. They were brown. My beautiful eyes were brown.
"One of your races, or sub-races, I suppose, got it right." I turned around wildly and stared at the form in front and above me. The Ellimist. "The Egyptians," he went on to explain, "said that the eyes were the key to a person's soul. The gateway, if you will."
"I didn't know you were so interested," I said softly.
"I was very interested, at the time. They were the only people throughout the universe- all of them besides this one- to get it right. Humans are given less credit than they should receive."
"I'm sure." The Ellimist looked at me evenly. I sighed. "Look, can you just get me out of here? I need to warn the others."
"I can't move you through this universe."
"Why not?"
"Because only you have that power. In this universe, the only person who can leave has to do it on their own. I came because you will need help."
I laughed. "You can't help me, but you're going to give me help?"
"Yes. People to encourage you. You will need it. Though when the Journey is over, it is safe to say that you will be changed forever."
"How so?"
"Leslie has changed. She escaped, however. She stole another person's body in order to live again. She shall have to pay for it."
"How?"
"Your body will become incredibly sick- just a warning. If she does not heed the warning, then worse will happen. Nothing past the warning has happened yet, but we shall see." He looked around at the colors swirling around us. "This place makes up it's own rules."
I felt my forehead form creases. "Okay. At least tell me how to get out of here."
The Ellimist looked at me evenly, considering. "You will see. You must go on the Journey first, though. Everyone does if they don't want worse to happen to them."
"So all I have to do is complete this Journey? What kind of Journey?"
"The Journey is what the dead go through. They must understand themselves and accept themselves for who they are. That is why many people die. They lose understanding. Therefore, you must do the opposite and gain understanding."
"Okay. Sounds easy."
"Trust me. It is not. You need to complete the Journey in three days if you wish to help the others."
"Why three?"
"Time is different here. If you complete your Journey in three days here, Leslie will be sick enough that you can reclaim your body easily. All things will be made clear."
"Yeah, well, I hope so. Because you don't help to understand anything at all. You just confused the heck out of me."
"Good luck."
"WAIT!" I had shouted too late. He'd left already. There was no one and nothing there but me and the colors.
* * *
Leslie stretched luxuriously out across the bed, enjoying the feeling of simply stretching. She hopped up and landed lightly on the floor. That was something she had always envied Mel for. The girl could move easily, speak easily. But now, the Yeerk would be doing all it could to keep her in that world long enough for Leslie to complete what she had to do.
She walked to the closet and opened the door, examining the clothes. Mel hadn't really had much fashion sense. She didn't have any tight leather. No boots with heels. Basically, Mel was the same goody-two-shoes she had known and almost killed so many years before.
Well, at least Mel was dead now. She wouldn't be interfering in Leslie's plans anymore. Leslie, who had carefully ran through Mel's memories in the "other universe" she thought with a grin, opened the second drawer of the filing cabinet in the closet and took out a photo. There was Rachel, Jake, Cassie, Marco, and even Tobias and Ax in their human morphs.
Leslie grinned at the picture. "It's too late now, Animorphs. Before you know it, you'll be wishing had never been born."
* * *
Tobias sat in his tree. Ordinarily, he would have been asleep. But something was bothering him. He shifted on his talons nervously.
You could not get sleep either, Tobias? asked Ax as he came gallopping over.
No, Ax. Something about what Mel said.
Yes, I know. She has never been wrong before.
A shiver suddenly ran down Tobias's spine. He ruffled his feathers and noticed that Ax was suddenly shivering.
You felt that too? he asked.
Ax nodded, a trick he had learned from his human friends. It is what Marco calls a 'disturbance in the force,' is it not?
Something like that. Tobias looked at the moon thoughtfully. I think we need to go get the others. Something about that makes me think about Mel.
* * *
Cassie sat straight up in bed, shaking. Rachel, who was spending the night, was doing the same.
"I had the weirdest dream," Rachel confessed.
"About Mel?" Cassie asked.
"Not exactly. I mean, I was stomping Kenny to death for some reason, and then I see Mel and I wake up."
Cassie nodded. "I wasn't dreaming. I just suddenly saw her and woke up."
They looked at each other.
"I think we need to get the others," Rachel said.
"Quiet," Cassie reminded her.
"I know, I know. Let's do this."
Cassie groaned.
* * *
Marco and Jake jogged into the barn.
"Anyone else get the feeling that we're stuck in a really bad episode of the X-Files?" Marco joked.
Ignoring him, Rachel told Jake, "It has to do with Mel."
"We know that," Jake said, nodding. "The question is, what?"
"Why don't we just ask her?" Rachel said with a shrug.
That would be a good idea, Tobias agreed. Except we swung around by her house before we left. She wasn't there.
* * *
Leslie had finally settled on jeans and a tight shirt. She walked around town, into a part of town only Mel would know well. It was the old school campus.
Leslie walked to a building that had recently burned down. No one had yet cleaned up the ashes. The place reeked of smoke, which covered up the scent of alcohol. She could tell whenever there was any alcohol around. It had been her best friend for years. Right up there with coke, in her opinion.
She examined the place where there should have been an entrance to the Yeerk pool. There was no longer any hole. She sighed and sat down. There were other entrances, but she couldn't get past them because of the life-filter things. She hadn't memorized the name that Mel had known. It wasn't important anyway. She would just find a Controller on this side. She knew plenty of Controllers. All she had to do was get in contact with them.
Those friends of Mel's were going down.
* * *
Okay, Jake said. All we have to do is find Mel. We find her, we get her to answer some questions. That's all.
You're talking about this as if it's a manhunt, Cassie said unhappily.
Have to, Marco told her. This is new. Erek said that whenever she learns something new, it takes her a while to learn how to control it. If she can make us think about certain things, imagine what would happen.
Cassie didn't say anything. She just licked her paw.
Okay, everybody. Come on, Jake said after a moment.
The pack of wolves set out, sniffing the ground to find the trail their prey had taken.
* * *
Okay, so at least they were hunting her down. That might be a problem, though. They could catch Leslie, they could ask her questions, but she wouldn't be able to tell them anything. I was the one they needed. I had to get back there, and fast. Every moment I took gave Leslie more time.
Once again, she had tried to kill me. And whether she liked it or not, she was once again going to fail.
I don't die easily. Well, I HAD, but I don't STAY dead easily. That's what I'm trying to say.
* * *
Poor, Mel, I thought. She actually thought she was going to win against me. Well, she would just have to deal with the fact that she'd be stuck there. After all, I had been stuck there for years. The result of a slight overdose. All right, more than a SLIGHT overdose. I'd only had two packs. I couldn't help it, though. It had been good stuff.
But I found myself actually taking pity on Mel. Hadn't she realized that the Yeerk was there for a reason? Everything she thought, everything she saw and heard, I would know. The Yeerk, in that universe, would survive a lot longer than one here had. It had survived in me for years after my going there.
And her friends were trying to find out what was wrong. That was so sweet. She'd actually found friends- Oh, wait. No. They were chasing her so she could get her power back under control so they wouldn't get caught. That was my advantage over Mel- she wasn't very good at making friends. She had lost her trust in other people since our last run-in. People who weren't trusted didn't trust others, and she let it show.
I'd learned to at least pretend that I trusted someone. It had been useful in a lot of deals.
The problem was this Ellimist guy. He'd promised to send her help. The Ellimist cared more for her and his little group of heroes than me. In this universe, I'd have to watch out for everybody. That Ellimist guy was pretty powerful, and I had no doubt that he'd try to kill me.
Right then, I felt like Mel. I didn't trust anyone or anything. Every shadow was another threat. I could have used her friends right then. Or better yet, their powers. To be able to change into any animal like that boy Marco had...
That's it. I'd have to get the box first. Had there been anything in Mel's memories as to where it was hidden? Marco's? No. If there had been, I hadn't read it thoroughly enough. Then again, there had been a lot of big words. Words that I hadn't known the meanings of.
Mel actually had really complex thoughts. I hadn't been able to make sense of a lot them. But I also wanted her power- to know everything about someone just by touching them, to be able to move things.
To be able to call to people when you needed help.
When she had died, her friends had thought of her at that exact moment. That hadn't happened to me when I had died. I'd found out a long time later when I got the crystal that my body hadn't even been found until nearly six months later. At least it hadn't been found before then by anyone who cared to report it.
But Mel was gone now. And I wasn't going to make any mistakes. Everyone who had hurt me before was going to regret it. To begin with, I'd have to get Mel's family and friends out of the way...
* * *
Nice try, I thought. I opened my eyes and stared at the wall of colors. I had just joined my mind with Leslie's. I knew why she had put the Yeerk in my head. It wasn't to control me- the Yeerk apparently couldn't do that here.
I closed my eyes again and apologized to it. I'm sorry I have to kill you. Those very words. The bluntfulness wasn't something I wanted to remember, but I did it anyway.
For a while, it didn't respond. Just go ahead and do it, it finally said. Yeerks weren't meant to live this long. I want to go to my own world. It's more familiar.
You WANT to die?
Yes. I never liked being in Leslie. I don't like working for her, either. I want to die and go to the Yeerks' death universe. I'd rather be in the Great Pool than here. No offense.
None taken.
I wished it good luck with my mind, but it was already swimming happily in a huge pool. I shook my head, slightly confused. I'd never met anyone or anything that WANTED to die. It was new for me.
I stood up. Suddenly, I wasn't in the place surrounded by all of the colors. I was standing on a dirt road with woods on either side. In front of me, the road went on forever. I didn't see any end to it. Behind me, though, was absolutely nothing.
"It's about time you got here," the girl next to me said. "We've been waiting for you for hours."
A fox at her feet stood on all four legs and stretched, yawning. ~Relax, Jenny. She has other cares besides her own.~
Jenny humphed. "All the same. I'm not used to waiting," she told me.
I smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"
Jenny pointed to herself. "I'm Jenny. One of your ancestors. I'm the one who took you to Earth."
"I'm sorry. TOOK me?"
"Yes." She looked at me and finally realized that I didn't know what the heck she was saying. "Well, the fox here is Sly. His real name is really hard to pronounce, and he gets angry if you get it wrong."
~I don't get angry,~ the fox said. ~A few playful bites, that's all.~
"And one of those 'playful' bites removed Cliff's leg once."
~He got in the way,~ the fox grumbled.
"Who's Cliff?"
"Another one of your ancestors. He'll meet us after the next stop on your journey." She started walking. The fox, still stretching from time to time, and I followed. "I'm glad you finally learned how to use your powers," Jenny said. "All my life, I was trying to work up to my full potential. I was never as good as you, though."
~That's because the girl is meant to do things with the powers.~
"What things?" I asked. "Oh, yeah. You can call me Mel, by the way."
~That is only a name,~ the fox said testily. ~You do not understand true names. True names describe everyone in detail. You humans are too obsessed with these shorter names. They do not tell who a person is.~
"Okaaaaaaaay. But what am I supposed to do with my powers?"
~That is left to fate to decide.~
I raised my eyebrows.
"Here we are," Jenny said. "This is the second stop."
"If you don't mind my asking," I interrupted. "What was the first stop?"
~The present,~ the fox answered. ~You helped your friends by killing the Yeerk. You made the Yeerk happy. Your friends have a better chance at helping other people now.~
"Oh." Was it just me, or was the fox making no sense whatsoever? And why was I walking here with a fox in the first place?
I looked at the walkway that branched off from the path. "That's the way?" I asked Jenny.
She nodded.
"Don't worry. You have a shorter Journey than some. You made the right choices quite a few times."
I started walking down the path. So it was all about the right choices. That was easy. I hadn't made many bad ones in my lifetime. Then again, I hadn't had a very long lifetime.
I'd be past this Journey and home before dinner, hopefully. For the first time in a while, things were looking up.
Except for the parts I'd forgotten. Stolen nuclear missiles; the Chee; the Animorphs; and Leslie. I hadn't yet even thought that they might all be connected.
I knew I'd be able to get back in time. But I didn't count on what would happen after I got back.