The Possibility

Chapter 1

My name is Cassie. I guess I'm a pretty normal American teenager, most of the time. I go to school, of course, and I get decent grades. I don't technically have a job, but I put in several hours a week working for my dad. See, he's a veterinarian, and he runs a clinic to rehabilitate local wildlife that have been injured by traps, poachers, cars, or whatever. As a matter of fact, that's exactly what we call it – the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Sounds fancy, but it's just our old barn out back of our house. My mom is a vet, too, and she works at the local wildlife park as the head doctor for all of their exotic animals. It's a very cool job. I really don't see myself becoming anything other than a vet, and it's not just because of my parents. I love animals. People lie, steal, cheat, commit terrible acts of senseless violence – animals never do. I've always felt closer to the wildlife my dad and I care for than I do most people.

Anyway, I said I was a fairly normal kid…except for one thing. All the animals I take care of? I can turn into any one of them at will.

Now, before you stop reading because you think I'm a psycho, hear me out. Life has gotten very weird for me in the past year or so. I'm not a wizard or a were-person or anything like that – there's nothing supernatural about what I can do. Morphing, even though it seems like magic, is just technology. Not human technology, but technology. Buckle up – this is where it gets really weird. We are not alone in this galaxy. The conspiracy theorist nuts are more right than even they know.

My friends and I made a dumb decision one night when we were leaving the mall – I still can't decide if I'm glad we took the shortcut through the abandoned construction site or not. I guess my answer would depend on what was going on when you asked me. Anyway, a craft that was obviously not human landed right in front of us, and a creature that was even more obviously not human came out of it. He was an Andalite, and he was mortally wounded.

He had been hurt while fighting the Yeerks. If the Andalites are the good guys, the Yeerks are most definitely the bad guys. The Andalite, Prince Elfangor, warned us about the Yeerks and gave us the power to morph before he was murdered. His murderer, Visser Three, is the Yeerk in charge of stealing our planet, and our greatest enemy.

I say he's in charge of stealing the planet, but that's not really accurate. The Yeerks don't care about the actual ball of dirt we call Earth – they're here for us. Humans. The Yeerks are parasites, and they're basically helpless in their natural state. So they were pretty excited when they found a planet with six billion unsuspecting host bodies. The Andalites know they're here and what they're doing, and Ax says they're going to come and save us someday. Until then, it's just me and my five friends, trying to hold off an entire empire.

Ax, or Aximili, is Elfangor's little brother. He is the only known survivor of the battle that took place just outside of our orbit. I feel sorry for Ax, although I'd never tell him that – Andalites are obsessed with being brave to the point of recklessness. But I can only imagine how he feels when he's alone in the forest at night, and he knows he's the only one of his kind within light years of Earth.

Rachel is my best friend. I'm black and she's white, she's pretty and I'm plain. We are total opposites – I think that's why we're such good friends. There's no convenience about our friendship – we're just friends for the sake of being friends, because we like each other. She is the bravest person I know, besides Ax. She would lay down her life for any one of us, and she's proud to have the opportunity to fight the Yeerks.

Tobias…well, I feel at least as bad for Tobias as I do for Ax. Tobias used to be kind of a nobody – to be honest, I really didn't know anything about him before fate pitted us against the Yeerks together. He had a really messed up home life, and was a quiet, sweet guy. Jake stopped some guys from picking on him, and he kind of followed Jake around after that – that was how he ended up in the construction site with us. A few days after we were given the morphing power, Tobias paid the price for breaking the cardinal rule – never stay in morph more than two hours, or you'll be stuck like that forever. He lives as a red tailed hawk, now. He says he's okay with it, that he's happy to still be one of us and to fight. I don't know how deep his pain really goes, but I care about him, and his situation makes me sad every day.

Jake is our leader. He doesn't consider himself in charge, at least consciously, but I think he's becoming a little more comfortable with the role every day. He realized that it's important for someone to step up, and he is just that sort of guy – he'll be the first to step up when people need him. I had a crush on Jake way before we became Animorphs together, back when he was just Rachel's cute cousin. After seeing all of his inner strength, his bravery, and the depth of his commitment…well, he is way more than Rachel's cute cousin to me now. By some miracle, he likes me, too. Even though we don't really talk about it and we're not a hold-hands-at-the-mall sort of couple, we are a couple.

Rounding out our little band of freedom fighters is Marco. Underneath all the sarcasm and stupid jokes is a great guy. He's smart, one of the smartest people I've ever met. His mind has this analytical way of cutting through everything that's unimportant and he sees things that everybody else misses. He cares about all of us, even though you'd never get him to admit it and he definitely doesn't show it.

I was making my rounds after school at the clinic, giving the patients their meds and whatnot. Usually, my dad did this with me – it was our time together, and he taught me everything I know about caring for animals. Today, however, he was off on an emergency call. The forest rangers had discovered a big, illegal exotic animal operation where they were keeping lynxes, mountain lions, and even a full-grown brown bear. My dad was helping to handle these dangerous animals – they'd probably release most of them, but if any were malnourished or injured, he'd take them into our clinic until they were well enough to be released.

"Hey, Cassie," Jake said as he entered the barn, and I smiled. I liked his unexpected visits, even when he was bringing troubling news. "Need any help?"

"Almost done," I told him, though I gave him a grateful smile so he'd know I appreciated the offer. "What's up?"

He grinned the goofy, crooked smile I love. "No tragedy today, don't worry. I called a meeting – I hope you don't mind."

"I never mind it when you stop by," I told him. He blushed, and I heard someone make a gagging noise from outside the barn. I was not surprised when Marco walked in.

"Could you guys be any more sickening?" he asked, but he grinned so we'd know he was kidding.

"You're just jealous," Rachel said, right on his heels. "On the off-chance you ever get a girl to like you, you'll be way more obnoxious."

Tobias flared expertly as he skimmed the ceiling of the barn to his favorite perch, where he could see most of what was going on outside as well as inside the barn. "Hi, Tobias," I waved, smiling so he'd know I was glad to see him.

(Hey,) he said, and began preening his feathers. I marveled at how comfortable he was becoming with his strange little life.

"Okay, we're all here," Jake said, unofficially calling the meeting to order. "I just thought we needed to get together when there isn't a crisis. I don't know about you guys, but my parents are becoming pretty suspicious that I've got a secret something going on."

"Nooo," Marco drawled sarcastically. "My dad just thinks I've joined the Latin Kings, and he regularly searches my room for guns and drugs. No big deal."

Jake grinned. "That's exactly what I mean. Yeah, we have to fight the Yeerks – but we're not going to be able to do that if our parents send us to military school. I'm giving everybody homework – you have to be completely normal for the next week. Don't even think about the Yeerks."

"Okay, but what if something comes up?" Rachel asked, looking a tad bit disgruntled. Like I said, the girl took her role as defender of the human race seriously.

"It won't," Jake said. "Because we're not going to be looking for trouble. The Yeerks are not going to make insurmountable progress just because we take a week off. It's important that our parents think that nothing is up with us. Vital, really. We can't lose sight of that."

"I love it when you use big words like insurmountable," Marco said. "It's so sexy."

Jake's hand shot out and shoved Marco square in the middle of his chest, and Marco flipped over backwards off of the bale of hay he had been sitting on. Even he had to laugh as he got up with hay all in his hair. "Well, in the interest of being normal, my dad's off of work today. If I hurry, I can catch him before dinner and see if he wants to go out to eat or something. We haven't done that in…well, I don't remember the last time."

"Now you're thinking," Jake said. "That's perfect." Marco threw us all a sketchy salute and hopped on his bike to head home.

(Well, if you guys don't have anything else, I'll be going, too.) Tobias tried to keep all emotion out of his voice, but I knew he was a little stung. He didn't have any family to be normal for.

"Wait!" Jake said as he spread his wings to take off. Tobias settled back and stared at Jake intently, and Jake did something he rarely did – he hesitated. "Um, I didn't have a chance to ask her before you guys got here…but…" he turned to me, his face beet red. "I was thinking that maybe you might want to go see a movie? With me?" I blushed too, but I nodded. "And I was thinking that maybe you and Rachel might want to come to?" he asked Tobias.

"You mean like a double date?" Rachel asked, completely unabashed. "That sounds like fun. Let's do it!"

(Um…I guess?) Tobias said, but he sounded unsure of himself. (I mean, yeah, that could be fun.)

Rachel looked at first me, then Jake, then Tobias. "Why are you guys so awkward? This is going to be great! I've been wanting to see that new romantic comedy, anyway. Let's go eat with our folks, then hit the eight o'clock showing. Tobias, go to Jake's after he eats. I'll drop some clothes off for you – I picked out a few things for you last time I was at the mall." She was completely unashamed. "Me and Cassie will meet you boys at the multiplex at a quarter till eight. Cool?"

We all consented, and both she and Tobias took off. I looked at Jake, a little less embarrassed now that we were alone. "A double date? Sounds like a dangerous mission, if I've ever heard one."

He hit me with his crooked smile again. "Yes, but the rewards will be great," he said with mock seriousness. "I'll see you in a few hours." He got on his bike and left, leaving me alone with my thoughts. 'Could be fun. If nothing else, it'll be good for Tobias. I guess this is being normal, for a change.'