The Enigma
by blablover5
Special Thanks to KitsaCat for helping me edit, and end the story
The Enigma
Chapter 1
My name is Marco.
I can't tell you my last name. Believe me, you don't want to know it. It's just way to weird. You probably wouldn't believe me anyway. Just kidding.
None of us will tell you our last names. None of us Animorphs. Or where we live. Or anything else that would help the Yeerks find us.
Yeerks? What are Yeerks? you wonder. I'll tell you.
They are a species of parasites. Like tapeworms, only worse. See, Yeerks don't just crawl up inside your stomach or intestines. They crawl inside your brain. They sink their malleable bodies into the nooks and crannies of your brain. They tie into your brain's neurons. They control your brain. They control you more completely that it is possible for you to imagine.
You think, Oh, well, I would still be able to keep control over myself. But you'd be wrong. See, if you had a Yeerk in your head right now, it would be the Yeerk that would be moving your hands and fingers; the Yeerk who'd be focusing your eyes; the Yeerk who'd be deciding if you were hungry.
The Yeerks enter your brain and make you a slave. They open your memories and read them like a book. You can still think, sure. You can still feel. You can be afraid or angry or humiliated. But you can do nothing on your own. It is a slavery more total than any ever experienced on Earth. But then, the Yeerks aren't from Earth.
People with Yeerks in their heads are called Controllers. Human-Controllers, if the Yeerk has taken over a human. Hork-Bajir-Controllers, when the victim is a Hork-Bajir. Although pretty much all Hork-Bajir are Controllers, so we don't bother to say "Hork-Bajir-Controllers."
We fight the Yeerk invasion led by the evil creature, Visser Three. Five human kids and an Andalite kid. We're the only people who know what's happening. Just us. And the Yeerks, of course.
And how do we fight? With the power given to us by a dying Andalite prince. The power to become any animal we touch.
The power to morph.
How do you know who is a controller and who isn't? That's the problem. You don't. You can look deep into the eyes of the person you trust most and never, ever guess that behind those eyes is an alien parasite.
Now you know why I won't tell you my last name. Or where I live. Not even what state. See, I want to live. I want to fight.
And one day, I want to live to rescue the one person who matters most to me. The person whose eyes I looked into for years without knowing she was no longer my mother. Now she is Visser One.
I wasn't thinking about any of this as I waited for Tobias to fly by. I just wanted to go flying, and maybe get some homework, Yuck, done. Not discover one of the worst security risks ever to us Animorphs. But I'll get to that later. First your probably asking yourself; Who is Tobias, and why is he flying?
Tobias was trapped in the body of a red-tailed hawk. If you stay in a morph for more then two hours, you're stuck forever. He has regained his ability to morph, but he's still a red-tailed hawk.
Anyway, lets get back to what I was doing. I was just sitting in my room, trying to get some of my homework done, while I waited for Tobias to drop by. My radio was blaring, and I wasn't thinking too much about it.
Actually it was Jake's idea that we should all go flying. You know just for the fun of it. Jake is sort of the unofficial leader of the Animorphs. Then there's Rachel who thinks she's Xena:Warrior Princess. You've already met Bird-Boy. There's Cassie, our tree hugging animal expert. And finally there's Ax.
Ax is an Andalite. His whole name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. Which is why we just call him Ax. He was the only Andalite who survived the crash of their ship. The only "true" Andalite on Earth.
Anyway, I was trying to figure out my math homework, when I heard a flutter of wings on my window. "X equals 5.3," I reminded myself so I wouldn't loose my place.
< Marco? > Tobias asked with thought-speech. Thought-speech is kind of like telepathy. But it can only be used during a morph.
"Yeah, I'm coming, Tobias. Hang on."
< Hang on to what. >
I opened my window, and in fluttered Tobias. It's still kind of weird to watch a bird fly into your room. I mean a part of me wanted to grab a big bat and start swinging at him. Instead I reached over and shut my math book. Meanwhile Tobias started to preen his feathers.
< Come on, we need to get going. I left Ax at Jake's. They're waiting for us. We'd better hurry up before Ax drives Jake nuts. >
"All right, I'm morphing. I'm morphing." I formed a mental picture of the osprey I knew so well. Morphing is not exactly a fun thing to watch. A bird isn't so bad, but when fly eyes suddenly pop out of someone else's head. Or when extra legs shoot out of someone's stomach. You just want to go loose your lunch far away from that person. After you stop screaming.
I was starting to shrink, but not fast enough. Suddenly my mouth hardened and shlooped out to turn into a beak. See, that's the other gross thing about morphing. I was still about human size, when my mouth turned into a beak. It was way to big for bird size.
I continued shrinking, as a feather pattern formed over my skin. Shrinking doesn't feel like shrinking, instead it's like falling. Only your feet are always touching the ground. You don't think, Oh, I'm shrinking. You think, Oh, I'm falling!
My feather pattern was starting to become three dimensional when my dad hollered up, "Marco, turn down your radio!"
I looked at Tobias for some help. He just stared back at me.
See the problem is that I was already to far into my morph to talk like a normal human. The only way I could talk would be through thought-speech. And lets just say that my dad might think he's loosing it if he heard me inside his head.
"Marco? Are you even up there?"
< Marco, demorph now! > Tobias said tersely.
He didn't have to tell me twice. I started to get larger, but my mouth was still a beak.
"Marco, I'm coming up." Tobias just stared at me with his laser hard eyes. Suddenly my beak shlooped back into my head to form my mouth. I tested my mouth. Yes, it opened. But would it sound human?
"All right dad. I'll turn my radio down." The voice sounded way to raspy to be me. But I was pretty sure my dad understood it.
"Marco, what took you so long to answer me?"
"Oh, I was just wrapped up in my homework." I was still getting more human, just in case my dad decided to bust in. I was practically human, when I saw my door swing open. I had feathers sticking out of my morphing suit.
When we morph, all we can morph is skin tight clothing. That means leotards for the girls, and Jake and me wear biker shorts and tight T-shirts. As for shoes, forget shoes. They're impossible.
Then he busted in. Oh man, Tobias was sitting right there. Now that was going to look just slightly obvious. But my dad just stared at me.
"Huh, you really were doing your homework. I guess miracles do happen."
"See you later dad." My dad turned and left. I threw myself onto my bed after the door closed.
"Whew, Tobias that was way to close. I guess I'd better shut off my radio." I reached over, and started to shut it off when I looked up at Bird-Boy. He was staring off into space. It took me a while to realize that he was listening to the song. It was some new artist who was our age. I think her name was J something.
"Tobias are you all right. We'd better get going like you said. Jake probably thinks we're dead."
< No way. > He whispered so quietly that even I could barely "hear" it. The song was over, and the deejay was saying 'You aren't going to believe it, but Jenny J. will be visiting our town for a while.'
I was tired of Tobias sitting there doing nothing, "Tobias, snap out of it. What's the matter?"
< No way. >
"You said that already."
< Marco, > Tobias sounded like he was going to fall down, < I know her. She grew up with me when I was with my aunt. > Tobias has the most messed up family. He has no father or mother. He used to get passed between his Aunt and Uncle like an old shoe. Used to.
< This is impossible. No way. >
"What, it's impossible that she would come to our town?"
< Uh, what, no. > Tobias said shaking his head, very weird for a bird by the way, < You're right. We need to get going. >
Chapter 2
A few minutes later I was an Osprey riding the thermals. A thermal is a warm pocket of air that lets you rise up. It takes few muscle work to get altitude that way. I was zooming along with Tobias, when I spotted a bald eagle. I looked harder, and I could also see a peregrine falcon, a harrier, and an identical osprey. It was Rachel, Jake, Ax, and Cassie.
Of course they weren't flying close to each other. Lets just say that birds of prey don't usually stick together. More likely they'd try to kill each other. We were close enough now for Jake to communicate with us.
< Where have you two been?! > Jake asked with anger in his voice.
< It's sweet of you to ask Jake, > I said sheepishly, < But I was just finishing up my homework, okay. >
< I'm surprised it didn't take you two or three years to get here. >
I swung around to look at Rachel. Rachel is the kind of girl with perfect hair, well-applied makeup, and lots of brains. She has got this super model look. You know, Ms. Fashion. Ms. Properly-Applied-Makeup. Ms. Has-It-All-Looks-and-Brains. Only I swear deep down inside she's like Xena. Kind of like this warrior is just trying to get out.
Here's what Rachel'll say whenever we decide to do something so dangerous it makes you want to wet yourself: "I'm in! Let's go! Let's do it!"
I swear that, if she could, Rachel would be wearing a suit of armor and swinging a sword. And it would be a fashionable suit of armor, and she would look great in it.
Of course right now she had a 7 foot wing span. And a white head. A bald eagle.
< Ha ha Rachel. Real funny. Just because everyone isn't as smart as- >
Cassie cut me off, < Hey, don't you guys think we should split up a little more. >
< We look like a bird watchers fantasy, > Tobias grumbled.
< Yeah, definitely. Break apart, > Jake agreed.
I swung myself around, and I lost some altitude. I was starting to worry that I was going to far away from everyone when I realized I had no idea where I was going.
Ax beat me to the point though, < Prince Jake, where exactly are we going? >
< Don't call me Prince okay, > Jake said for the billionth time, < And the truth is, I don't know where we're going. >
< Why don't we go crash a concert, > I suggested.
< Hey, did you guys hear about that convention with all of those new singers, > Rachel asked.
< Yeah, I heard it was supposed to be real cool, > Cassie said.
< What is a singer? > Ax asked.
< Speaking of singers, did you guys hear that Jenny J. will be coming to? > I asked.
< Isn't that the new artist who's about our age? > Cassie asked.
< Yeah, what's your point? > Jake said.
I glanced up and spotted Tobias. He was the only one who wasn't staring at me. Instead he seemed really interested in something on the ground. In a private whisper I asked Tobias, < What, is there a mouse down there or something? Mmmm lunch time. >
Tobias swung around and glided over to me like he was born with wings. He stared at me hard with his eyes. I almost thought he was going to drill holes into me with those eyes. For a long time he just stared at me. Then he suddenly said, < Don't tell them about Jen okay. It's just that- >
Tobias was cut short by Jake asking me again, < Hello, Marco. What did you do, space out. I asked you what's your point. >
I could just see some snide remark forming in Rachel's brain, and Tobias really didn't give me any good reason's for not telling them. I glanced at Tobias, and I realized that he was staring at something on the ground with new interest.
< Jake did you know that Jenny J. is - >
< Oh my . . . Jake look, it's him. >Tobias spoke up the first time so everyone could hear.
I swung around, expecting to see no one. It was probably just some trick by Tobias so I wouldn't have been able to tell them about Jenny J. I focused my binocular eyes on whatever it was that Tobias was looking at. Osprey eyes are like having someone glue telescopes to your head. I could read a book from 100 feet away easy. Unfortunately people usually look like round ovals from high up. Nothing all that interesting. Until I saw him.
Remember how I said Ax was the only true Andalite on Earth. Well, there is another Andalite on old planet Earth. Only this Andalite is controlled by the evil Visser Three. The leader of the Yeerk invasion to Earth. The only Andalite-controller.
He has this evil that just wells up around him. Even when he is in human morph, you just don't want to mess with this guy.
< Oh man. >
< Visser Three, > Ax hissed. Let's just say that Ax doesn't exactly like Visser Three. It was Visser Three who killed his brother Elfangor.
< Out in the open. This cannot be good. >
< I'll bet those people surrounding him, are probably controllers, > Rachel said. Here's what it looked like.
Visser Three was walking down the street (in his human morph) with this evil blanket wrapped around him. He was sort of surround by a circle of people. They were probably as Rachel said, controllers. They were all marching down the street as fast as they could without looking too obvious. Visser Three looked more mad them he normally does. His 'human' forehead looked like it was going to pop out of his skull.
< All right fearless leader, what do we do? > I asked Jake.
< Well, he wouldn't be out in the open unless something has gone terribly wrong. Visser Three would not be involved either unless something really big is going on. I think we should all morph into flies, and follow him. >
< Jake, look! > Tobias cried. He was the only one who was still watching Visser Three.
Two people were coming up through the circle to speak to Visser Three. We could all tell that he really wanted his stolen Andalite tail, but instead he slapped one of the human-controllers. That's what he had to be, a human-controller. No normal human would have dared to bother the evil man.
< All right, we need to do this fast. Flies, it's the only way. Tobias, since you don't have to pass through another body, you follow Visser Three first. We'll all catch up after you. Ax-man, we may need bird eyes to help direct us. Besides an Andalite may look just slightly obvious. All right this next part will be very dangerous, > Jake said.
< Big shock, > I added sarcastically.
< We need to find an alley ahead of Visser Three, > Jake said ignoring me like usual.
< But Jake, what if he turns off before he passes us, > Cassie asked.
< The bigger question is, what if he sees us, > Rachel said getting right to the heart of the problem.
< I don't know, I told you it was going to be dangerous. Is there any alley way, or secluded area around here? > Jake asked.
< Yeah, it's an alley. Come on, follow me. > Tobias turned and bent his wings back. He went into a killer dive. As within if something were to go wrong, we would all find ourselves as a bundle of crushed bird bones stuck to the sidewalk.
< What ever happened to that day off idea, > I asked.
< Vacation has so been canceled, > Rachel remarked.
< You know you're just sick Rachel. >
We skimmed over Visser Three's head, he didn't even glance up at us.
I landed on a dumpster in Tobias' alley. It was like any normal alley. You know, dumpsters everywhere. Trash just thrown around. We were between two big office buildings. No one was going to pay any attention to us.
< This place is just beautiful. It could use some curtains over there though. > Naturally that was smart, brilliant, me.
I turned my incredible osprey eyes on Tobias. I let out a little yelp when I realized Tobias was morphing. His own normal Hawk wings suddenly twisted and shrunk into fly legs. I turned away. Watching someone morph into a fly with dim human vision is bad enough. Excellent osprey vision would just make me want to claw my eyes out.
Instead I started to morph human. The others flew down, and were starting to morph too. I raised up. My feather pattern became skin. My excellent vision dimmed to nothing. My excellent hearing dispersed. My legs grew stronger and thicker. Then my sense of smell kicked in. "Pee-yew. Whoa, now this stinks,"
"Yeah your right. This is going to be fly heaven. Speaking of which. Tobias, Tobias? Are you all right?" Jake asked.
< Yeah I'm here, > He said calmly, but I was sure he was fighting the flies instincts. See when you morph the animal you don't just get there body, you also get a big bundle of instincts. Right now I was sure that Tobias probably wanted to go eat some of that stinky garbage.
"Tobias, start out after Visser Three."
< Jake, there's just one problem. I don't know which way to go! These crazy compound eyes aren't helping at all, > Tobias complained.
"Ooookay, Tobias. Wait a minute, which fly are you?" Jake asked calmly.
< What do you mean which fly am I? > Tobias demanded.
"Hang on, the rest of you all morph fly. Tobias, I know this is going to be so gross, but follow this moving piece of garbage."
To my amazement and horror, Jake actually reached into the dumpster and pulled out a piece of garbage. I'm not sure Jake knew what it was and the truth is, I don't think he really cared. Meanwhile Cassie and Rachel were starting to become more fly oriented. Then we both noticed a fly that decided to follow Jake. Tobias landed on the piece of garbage.
"Tobias, have you landed on the. . . have you landed yet?"
< Yeah, now do you know which fly I am, > He answered back.
"Yep, just start going straight now. Have Ax direct you the rest of the way. And be careful."
< Hey, careful is my middle name. > Tobias flew off and Jake turned to me.
"Looks like it's time for us to go fly."
"Can I just say how incredibly gross that was. I mean you used a piece of rotting stinking garbage so you could figure out which fly was our bird-boy. Yuck." Jake just stared at me, and slowly his mouth started to dribble into a flys' moth parts. It was just slightly disturbing.
"Oh man, you could've warned me."
Chapter 3
I closed my eyes and began to focus on the fly morph. There may be something more disgusting than a fly, but I sure haven't become it yet.
The first change was that I began to shrink.
The dumpsters that used to be the size of my head, shot up and up. They were like the size of skyscrapers that kept getting larger. Graffiti that had been in inch high letters was now big enough to fill a billboard. Garbage seemed to leap at me. It was just slightly disgusting. Disgusting as within I thought I was going to end up inside trash bags.
The concrete grew vast beneath my feet. This box that I could have stepped on looked as big as a mansion. A trash bag grew to be as large as a mountain.
But shrinking was the easy part. The other changes were infinitely worse. For one thing, there's the fact that your nose and mouth sort of melt together and grow into this insanely long, hairy, sticky, spit-dribbling thing the books call "mouth parts."
Sprooot! Two big legs sort of burst out of my chest. You know how in the movie Alien the alien baby exploded out of that guy's chest? It was a little like that. Only instead of some fake-looking puppet, these were two long, black, jointed legs, each bristling with daggerlike hairs.
Morphing is never totally logical. It isn't a smooth transition. It's not like each part of you gets gradually more fly like. Things happen suddenly, and in unexpected sequences. I was still about a foot tall when the legs pushed out through my ribs. I still had human eyes and a mostly human body. Aside from the monstrous mouth parts.
My hands had become the appendages of a fly. There were two hooked, talon like claws and small, hairy pads that oozed a kind of glue. I could hear my internal organs going soft and squishy as entire things like a liver and spleen and kidneys were reformed to make the infinitely more primitive guts of a fly.
My bones were weakening so that my still-mostly-human legs were getting wobbly, turning to overcooked spaghetti. At this point I was about the size of a small dog. I had fly legs but no wings. I had human eyes and massive fly mouth parts. Jake was a similar mess. Rachel and Cassie were both nearly flies.
< Prince Jake, Tobias told me to tell you that he has landed on Visser Three, > Ax said.
< Okay, Ax don't go to far. We may need you real soon. We're almost done morphing, > Jake ordered.
I continued shrinking, and now I noticed my gossamer fly wings coming in, attached to big spring like muscles in my back. My human eyes dimmed, then went dark. Seconds passed in total blindness as my compound fly eyes grew. Then, all at once, I saw a world of shattered images, like a thousand tiny television sets all turned to a slightly different picture.
I pushed off with my six legs, turned on my fly wings, and blasted up off the dirty concrete. I zoomed crazily around. My senses were picking up about a hundred interesting smells: rot, sweat, filth, garbage. Lots of garbage. Jake was right, this was like fly heaven.
< Are you two done yet? > Rachel asked.
< Yep, lets get our fly butts going. >
Chapter 4
Slowly we flew away from the fly heaven. It reeked of rotting garbage. Something our fly senses loved. The world was seen through shattered eyes. You really can't see that well, so we had to rely on Ax to direct us. The one cool thing about a fly is that man can they fly.
We are talking like warp factor 9. Zoom! Straight up! Zoom! Sideways! Zoom! Backwards! There is no direction a fly cannot fly. We were buzzing around having lots of fun.
< Yeeeeeha! >
< Oh man, I forgot how well these things fly. >
< Prince Jake, you are all heading the wrong direction. You want to turn right. >
We had all bunched together so Ax could see us easier, and keep track of us. So we wouldn't get lost like Tobias, we had all keep an eye on each other as we morphed. It was just something that was stomach quenching.
< Turning right Ax. > We all buzzed forward for a while, waiting to get a glimpse of Visser Three. I could smell lots of things though. I could smell some poop some one had stepped in. Stale old popcorn, and other snacks littered the streets. And there was still that garbage back there.
< There, you are nearly beside Visser Three. Can't you see him. >
< Nope not yet, hang on. Tobias, can you hear me, > Jake asked.
< Yeah Jake. Nothing to report. Visser Three stopped talking as soon as I got here. I think it's because they passed a whole bunch of human's. But I'm not sure. >
< Okay, I think I've found him. >
< Yeah, I see someone too, > Rachel said.
< All right, everyone be careful. Try to land as far away from each other as you can. The last thing we need is to be spotted, > Jake ordered.
I spotted something that looked like a huge criss cross of logs. It was someone's shirt. I flipped around and came to land on it. A fly's hearing is not all that good, but we've had lot's of practice. We can use air vibrations with our antennae and hear what people are saying.
< Hey, I think they're talking again, > Tobias said.
I felt a rumble go up through my perch. The guy I was on was talking. "- are we going to attack?"
"The convention will be held in three days, Sir."
"That is the perfect time to grab some of those uprising stars."
"Sir, wouldn't it be easier if we each made them a proposal so they would become voluntary hosts."
"There is not enough time. We must strike now," My guy said.
"We have started up all the security, and the troops are in position," someone else said.
"Good," Visser Three answered.
The little group stopped talking, and we all had time to process what we had heard.
< Oh man, they're going to make controllers out of new singers at the convention, > Rachel said.
< We can't let that happen. But let's try to get out of here now. I don't think it's safe to be staying here, > Jake said.
I was just getting ready to take off, when a huge shadow started to descend on me. It was like someone had just blotted out the sun. Someone was trying to swat me!
Luckily human's are so slow. Unluckily, when I dodged out of the way, Visser Three got hit in the back.
"What are you doing," he roared.
Visser Three grabbed the guy by the shirt collar, and was holding him up off the ground. At least that's what Ax said. I couldn't tell because of my confusing, short, vision.
"Sir. . . Visser. . . There was an Earth insect on your back. I merely tried to swat it to. . . to keep our cover."
"Did you kill it?!"
"No. . . no sir. But don't worry, it's just a fly."
"Don't worry, you fool! It could have been one of those Andalite bandits. Kill it. Kill all of the flies," Visser Three rumbled. The Yeerks think that we are a group of Andalite warriors. And if they were to ever figure out that we're humans, or our identities. Then our days would be numbered. And it wouldn't be a very high number.
< MOVE! EVERYONE FLY, NOW! > Jake yelled.
He didn't have to tell me twice. I released my grip on the shirt, and beat my wings as fast as I could.
The air was a turbulent, frantic, mess. There were hands swooping around everywhere. The air currents were pushing me this way and that. I had no where to go, < Jake this is impossible to get through! >
< For flies maybe, but not for hawks. Ax get down here and act as a plane, > Jake said.
< But Prince Jake, I would be noticed. >
< Yeah, I know Ax. But we need to get out of here quickly. Aaahhhh! >
< Jake, what's the matter? > Cassie cried.
< I'm fine, whew. That was a close one, > Jake said.
Suddenly I could feel the air calming down. What was happening? It was Ax-man, he was diving down from the clouds. I suppose the Yeerks thought that a harrier was more of a threat then a bunch of flies.
< Prince Jake, I am here. >
< Okay, everyone climb on Ax-man. Hurry, > Jake ordered.
< I say we take these people on. > Of course that was Rachel.
< Rachel, I doubt that they're going to be afraid of a bunch of flies, > I said.
I buzzed around madly trying to find Ax. We had to find him quickly. The Yeerks were giving up on the flies, us, and I think I heard one of them mention a gun. Then I saw him, only I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure until I saw one of my brethren flies heading straight toward him.
I flittered toward Ax's feathers, and released some of my natural, sticky, fly glue. It held me fast.
< Are we all on Ax? > Jake asked.
< No, I can't find him, > Tobias cried, < Wait I think I found him. >
< Tobias hurry, > Rachel cried.
< Okay, I'm on. Let's go. >
Ax flapped as fast as he could. We were still to close to the ground. The human-controllers could still take the Ax-man, along with us, out.
Suddenly Ax hit a blessed thermal, we soared up through the sky. Ax-man turned and headed off for the forest. We all demorphed and headed home. Cassie had to take care of some animals, and Rachel had to go to her gymnastics class. Tobias also had to go get some lunch. That's the life of an Animorph. Half of it trying to take care of school work and what not. And the other half trying to defend the Earth from body stealing alien slugs.
Jake and Me had nothing to do, so we decided to head over to my house to play computer games. "Oh man, I just realized that I have to go clean the gutters," Jake complained, "I'll see you later Marco." Jake peeled off, and headed to his house.
"I can't believe you're willing to do actual physical labor. This is one of those times when you wish you could just morph into something to get the job done," I called after him.
Jake turned and made a face, "Yeah, I know what you mean. See you later." It's good to know that fearless leader Jake is still semi-human. I turned and headed off to my house. It's a normal looking house in the suburbs. It beats the place I used to live in.
After my mom "died" my dad lost it. He stopped going to work, and he only hung in their for me. Not too long ago, my Dad decided to go back to work. It was great the way he was suddenly alive. Starting to get out into the world.
Anyway, I zipped in through my door, and was thinking about what I could do to waist some time. "Dad, I'm home," I called.
He came walking out of our kitchen door, "Hey Marco. You got a phone message. Um, let's see. Ah, here it is. Erek King called to say that he wanted to meet up with you later at the 7eleven."
My good mood evaporated. Erek wouldn't have called unless something big was happening. "Dad, I got to go."
"Be back in time for dinner though," He said as I bolted through the door.
I picked up my bike and headed toward the 7eleven. I had to go see what Erek the Chee wanted.
Chapter 5
Erek the Chee used to be Erek this guy I knew from school. But Erek is a lot more than just some guy.
The Chee are a race of androids. They pass as humans by projecting a sort of holographic energy field around themselves that looks human. Erek may look like a kid. But he is older than human history.
The Chee came to Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. They were companions to the Pemalites, whose home planet had been devastated by a violent invasion. The Pemalites had fled, but too late. By the time they reached Earth, the Pemalites were finished.
Their deathless androids did all they could. They gave the essence of the Pemalites a new life. They melded them with wolves. And from this union dogs were born.
If you know how basically sweet and faithful and loving dogs are, you know what the Pemalites were like. And you also know a little of what the Chee are like.
The Chee are peaceful, but not out of weakness. Erek, all by himself, could have taken on every person in the convenience store today, beaten them all, and ripped the store down around our ears. Literally.
But the Chee are pacifists. It's the way they are. They are also enemies of the Yeerks. They watch the Yeerks and learn about them, and, in their nonviolent way, do all they can to delay the Yeerks.
I pulled my bike up next to the 7eleven, and went inside. There he was, standing there waiting for me. Erek looks just like any normal guy. But I've seen what happened the one time Erek did go postal. It was hard to forget. Hard to treat someone that powerful like just another kid.
"Hi Marco," Erek called.
"Yeah, hi Erek," I called back.
"So how is everything going against our," Erek lowered his voice, " our mutual competitors?"
"Oh fine, you know everyday things. Just dropping in on Visser Three as flies. Nearly getting swatted. The usual everyday Animorph stuff."
"I think we could use some privacy."
Suddenly, the air around us shimmered. All the noises of the convenient store were blanked out. And Erek was no longer human. He was a chrome-and-ivory robot, shaped a little like a lean dog, walking erect. He had expanded his force field around me.
"So now what are we?" I asked.
"We're a couple of cops. No one will bother, or overhear us."
"Okay, Erek. What's going on?"
"The Yeerks are planning on taking over some very important people. They want to make controllers out of new singing artists."
"Yeah Erek. We know. Today we overheard Visser Three mentioning something about it."
"Well, I've got some plans of the convention building," Erek pulled a bunch of rolled up papers out of his pocket, "The areas lined in red are where the Yeerks are planning on attacking. My Yeerk is sort of in control of the planning part of this. The biggest prize that the Yeerks are going for is Jenny J. She has got some real talent, unlike other groups, and she is also virtually unknown."
"Did you just say Jenny J?" I asked, not sure if what Erek was saying was true.
"Yeah," Erek stared at me quizzically.
"One of us sort of used to know her. It's Tobias, apparently he grew up around her or something. Probably nothing worth mentioning to the others though."
"You guys have two days to prepare. This could be one of the greatest infestations on Earth. It has to be stopped."
"Looks like it's time for the Animorphs to go into action. To the Batcave Robin."
Erek laughed with his chrome dog muzzle, "Yeah, and you guys do it so well."
"I'd better be going. My dad wants me to be home for dinner."
Erek nodded his head thoughtfully and said, "You'd better go spend as much time with him as you can."
I turned and left, but I wasn't feeling to good. My stomach was churning. Another battle was coming up, and I knew deep down inside I was going to have to tell Tobias the truth about Jenny J.
Chapter 6
I called all the others and told them to meet me later. The next day we were all assembled together again in Cassie's barn. The barn is also the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. The place where Cassie and her dad take in injured or sick wild animals.
It looks like any normal barn. Only inside there are lots of scattered cages. Full of foxes, doves, skunks, wolves, and any other kind of wild animal. There was a division between large mammals like wolves, and the skittish horses.
I was lounging around on a bale of hay, Cassie was using this time to check up on some injured badger or something. Jake was helping her.
Jake is my best friend, even though, unfortunately, he is kind of a pain sometimes. He's one of those serious-type guys. You say the word "responsibility" and he snaps to attention. He's the kind of guy who always seems like he's bigger than he actually is. That's because he has that whole "I'm in charge, and you can trust me" thing going on. He has sensible brown hair, and trustworthy brown eyes, and one of those confident chins.
He also has a great sense of humor and is very smart, and I would trust him with my life any day, any time. Not that I would ever tell him that.
"Where's Rachel, Tobias, and the Ax-man."
"Don't worry Marco, they'll be here," Cassie said as she wrapped a new bandage on the badger's paw.
Cassie is the one who is least like me. If I'm comedy, she's poetry. She's a natural peacemaker. She's the one who knows when you're feeling bad and will find something nice to say that makes you feel better. And it's not like she's manipulating. She really cares about things. She's like sincere or something.
Cassie is our animal expert. Her parents are both vets and she spends most of her free time helping her dad run the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. They save injured woodchucks and deer and eagles and so on. Cassie actually knows how to get an injured, angry wolf to take its pills. (Not an easy thing. Believe me. I was a wolf once.)
You go out to her barn and you'll see this little, short, black girl in overalls and boots with her arm halfway down the throat of a wolf that could just bite it right off. And she'll be smiling and acting like it's no big deal. And the wolf will be just standing there, looking like he's trying to earn a gold star for being the best little boy in school.
Right on cue we all heard a flutter of wings. In swooped a Red-Tailed hawk, and a Bald eagle. The Red-Tailed landed on the rafters, and the Eagle swooped down onto a bench. The Eagle began to turn into Rachel.
< Ax-man will be coming soon. Ah, there he is right now, > Tobias said.
I heard a clatter of hooves, and in galloped Ax. He looked around and said, < Hello, I'm sorry that I was late. >
"Tobias, make sure no one comes in here," Jake said.
If anyone ever got a good look at Ax, they'd instantly know that he isn't one of the neighbor boys. Far off he looks like a horse or deer, but close up well. Andalites look like a weird cross between a deer, a horse, a scorpion, and a human. They have the bodies of slender horses or large deer, except that their fur is blue and tan.
Their upper bodies seem almost human, until you get to the head, which is so totally not human you'd never mistake it. Andalite's have no mouths. They eat by adsorbing grass up through their hooves as they run. And they communicate telepathically with thought-speak. Plus, there's the whole eye thing.
Andalites have four eyes. Two are right where you'd expect them to be. The other two are at the end of flexible stalks atop their heads. You know the little horn like things giraffes have? Picture those, only flexible. And with an eyeball at the end.
And last, but certainly not least, there's the tail. It's long and it ends in a scythed blade that could topple a tree faster-than-you-can-blink. It was dangerous having Ax their. He usually doesn't come to these kind of meetings, but he might have some kind of valuable insight.
"All right, now that we're all here," Jake said getting right down to business, "lets discuss what we had overheard yesterday."
"Um Jake, here are the plans Erek gave me," I said as I handed Jake the papers.
"Erek the Chee?" Rachel said with a frown, "This could mean big trouble."
"Yeah, Erek sort of stressed how bad this blow would be to Mommy Earth." I shot a glance at Cassie, the tree hugging Earth lover, she was too busy checking out her animals though.
"Is that all Erek mentioned?" Jake asked.
"Well uh no. He also sort of said that-"
< Ax, morph now! > Tobias cut me off for the second time. Ax didn't waist a moments notice. His front legs were starting go limp, along with his stalk eyes, and tail. Ax was morphing into his human shape.
It's made from the D.N.A. of Me, Jake, Rachel, and Cassie. It is just slightly weird to see one of your features come popping out like your nose. Or Jake's eyes. One of the problems with Ax is that when he morphs human he loves playing with his mouth. It is soo annoying.
The other big problem is taste. You don't want to be in the same room with this guy when there's food around. His favorite food would have to be a cinnamon bun. He thinks it's Man-kinds greatest creation.
"Tobias, what is it?" Jake asked.
< It's Cassie's Mom. She's heading out towards the barn. I think Ax can make it though, if he morphs fast enough. >
Slowly Ax shed off his last bits of Andalite. Just in time too. I could hear Cassie's mom heading toward's the door.
"Remember Ax, your name is Philip," Jake said in a whisper.
"Yes, I remember. Remem-ber member ber." See, what did I tell you. Totally annoying.
The door swung open, and in stepped Cassie's mom. She was carrying a box of something. It probably had something to do with animals. She had on her Gardens uniform. Cassie's mom is one of the head veterinarians at this local zoo/amusement park called the Gardens. The Gardens is also the place where we get a lot of our morphs.
"Hey mom, what are you doing home?" Cassie asked as breezily as she could. Actually Cassie was trying to keep her knee's from shaking.
"I just came by to drop off this box of bandages and stuff. What are all of you doing here?" Cassie's mom asked.
"Nothin' much. Just hangin' out. You know, chillin'," I said sounding a lot more relaxed then Cassie.
"Hey Marco. Hi Jake, and Rachel. You I don't know," Cassie's mom pointed a long finger at Ax.
"My name is Philip. illp ill lip pah," Ax said calmly.
"He's just a friend of Marco's," Cassie said, "You know, from school."
"Okay, I'll see you all later. Bye," Cassie's Mom put down the box of bandages and headed out the door. Tobias gave the goahead once she was far enough away.
"Thanks a lot Cassie. Why'd you stick me with the weird kid," I asked.
"What does weird mean? Weird. we er rd weeeerd," Ax added.
"When someone talks just like you Ax," I told him.
"Jeez Marco, don't be so mean. Ax is nothing like you," Rachel said coldly.
"Is there any chance we can get back to business here," Jake pleaded.
"All right, Dad. The parts outlined in red here on the plans are where the Yeerks are going to strike," I explained.
Rachel, Cassie, and Ax crowded around to look at the blueprints of our city arena. "Holy cow, is this thing thorough or what," Cassie said.
"Look at this meeting that is planed. Everyone will be there, if we could just interupt it . . ." Jake fell silent.
"Prince Jake, I don't see any spot for us to enter. ter ent er. Of course I am assuming that you want it to be a surprise attack. tack ack tack," Ax said.
"Ax is right, the Yeerks have every exit and entrance covered. And according to this time table they're going to have it covered the whole day," Jake agreed.
"Oh well, we tried. I guess we'll just have to forget about it. Spend this Saturday doing normal kid stuff," I said.
"Marco, I thought it was impossible to be a 101% weenie," Rachel said.
"Hey, just because I don't have a death wish like you Xena, doesn't mean I'm a weenie," I shot back.
"Is it just me, or is something missing about these plans?" Cassie asked ignoring Me and Rachel.
"Yeah, you're right Cassie. It doesn't really seem complete," Jake said. I leaned over and stared at the blueprints. They had lots of openings, but like Cassie and Jake said, it felt like something was missing.
It was Tobias who finally figured it out, < It's the Basement. The city arena does have a basement, right? >
"Yeah, you're right Tobias. It isn't really much of a basement, but it should be large enough to hold all of us. My dad took me down there once on a sort of interview," Rachel said.
Rachel's parents are divorced. Her Dad used to work for the local news station until he got a better job out of state.
"Well, I think the basement is our best bet. We are going to have to check it out. I hope none of you guys have plans for tonight," Jake said.
"Jake are you hinting that we are going to go down there later tonight," I asked.
"Yep, exactly. Meet you all here later tonight around 7."
"Oh man. At least we all know of one person who's Insane enough to go," I said, and Rachel threw a dirt clump at me.
Our meeting broke up, and we all went our separate ways. Ax morphed back to his regular Andalite body, and took off for the forest. Jake said he was going to the mall. He asked if I would like to come to, but I told him I had something else I needed to do.
I waited until everyone was gone when I told Tobias, "Tobias, I know you don't want the others to know this, so I didn't tell them."
< Tell them what? > he asked as he calmly began to preen his feathers. He sounded edgy, like he wanted to go somewhere else.
I released a big sigh, "Tobias, Erek says that the Yeerks are really gunning for Jenny J. According to him, she's supposed to be there biggest prize."
Tobias stared at me for a long time. He actually looked kind of scared. As scared as a bird can be anyway. < Marco, come with me. >
"Why?"
< Because if I go alone, Jake will kill me. >
"Tobias, where are we going?"
Chapter 7
"What are we doing here?"
I was standing at the entrance to our city arena. It's a very big building. It has like five doors around this pentagon shape. The Arena is also a place where they hold ice shows and have circuses and play basketball games. They also have concerts.
I had taken a bus over here, while Tobias flew. He was faster then the bus. So by the time I arrived I ran into a very edgy, nervous, nearsighted kid. Tobias had morphed to human before I had arrived. Now getting back to my question "What are we doing here?"
"I have to see Jen. She may already be a controller. If she's not we'll have to protect her. If she is. . . we have to stop her." Tobias' voice was as cold as ice, and his face was blank. I don't know if it was because he had forgotten how to make human expressions, or if he was just trying to not look like anything.
"Ooookay, here's a question. How do we get in?" There were three guards standing in front of the entrance. Three very tough looking guards. Sure human guards seemed like nothing compared to Hork-Bajir, but that was when I was in Gorilla morph. Me as my regular old cute self wouldn't be able to take these guys on.
"Why don't we just ask." Tobias has toughened up ever since he became trapped as a red-tail. "Hi, can I see Jenny J. please," Tobias asked the guard at the door.
"What's your name kid." The guard asked. He pulled out a clipboard that had a lot of sheets of paper stuck to it. He was eyeballing Tobias. While the other two were staring at me.
Tobias looked back at me. I just shrugged my shoulder's and whispered, "Couldn't hurt to give him your name. We can always try the sneak approach next."
"Tobias."
The guard frowned at Tobias and me. Then he started to flip through the papers on the clipboard. He looked up at us, obviously not happy. "All right, go on in. But touch nothing."
The door swung open, and Tobias walked in on kind of wobbly human legs. I followed him in. I leaned forward and said, "I never knew you had that kind of power Bird-Boy, do you think you can get me into this concert."
"Marco, duck."
"What duck, Ahhh. Oww, so not fair." See inside, the tech. crew hadn't exactly fixed the place up yet. As within electrical wires are laying all around the ground. And boards are hanging low at about head level.
"Man. That board sure did hurt. Next time say anything but duck. I thought you were talking about your girlfriend or something."
"Funny Marco, real funny. Are you sure it wouldn't be your girlfriend, Marco." Tobias shot back.
We stopped talking, as we came upon a recording booth. It isn't usually there, so I guess it must have just been put up. There were two people operating this huge control panel. They were both wearing a set of headphones. The electronic control board had thousands of flashing green and red LEDs.
Suddenly I heard a small gasp. It was Tobias. He was starring inside of the booth. In the recording booth was a girl who was about our age. Her mouth was wide open so I could only guess that she was singing something. Suddenly her gaze met Tobias'. Her mouth hung open, and suddenly she dashed out of the booth.
The control operators started yelling at her. See that was because she had on this set of headphones that had like 40 wires sticking out of it. And when she ran out of the booth, sparks followed her. That didn't seem to stop her though.
She lifted her headphones off, threw her arms around Tobias, and said, "Tobias! I can't believe it's you. How have you been?"
"I'm fine."
Who's your friend?" she asked.
"Who, oh him. Jen I'd like for you to meet Marco."
"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Jen stuck her hand out. I just stared at her dumbfounded.
"Uhh. . . uh. . . Hi," I gasped out. Now see normally I'm not tongue tied, but this was one great exception.
This Jen, had this great complexion. She had a type of dark tan skin. Her face had this round wholesome look. She had amazing brown shoulder length hair. Jen was about five and a half feet tall. A little to tall for my taste, but that could be overlooked. Her eyes were amazing. One minute they'd seem green, then blue, then brown. She also had this sparkle in them. Like there was some joke she was always laughing at. It was like she could laugh with her eyes. The way Andalites can smile with their eyes. In one word WOW!
"Um, Tobias is there something wrong with him?" Jen asked as she pointed at me.
"Nope that's just the way Marco is. A complete and utter nut."
I shook my head to clear it. "Funny Tobias, so funny. Maybe you should tell her about your new accommodations."
Tobias just glared at me. The whole reason for this visit was to figure out if Visser Three had attacked yet or not. I really don't know why I said anything. I guess I just suddenly felt threatened. Or something like that.
"Jen, can we talk in private?" Tobias asked.
"Yeah, sure. This way."
Chapter 8
Jen lead us to a back room. From outside it just looked like any normal office, which outlines the city arena. But once we got inside, it was a little cramped.
She had led us into a supply room. She moved a couple of boxes out of the way, and sat down. Me and Tobias decided to stay standing. Actually it was more like Tobias decided to stay standing, and he blocked me.
"This is the only private place in this whole town. See the walls are even sound proofed. Sorry it's so crowded," Jen said.
Tobias shot me a look that said, 'Say anything and I'll kill you.' He took his time though. It was like he was just seeing Jen for the first time. He was just staring at her.
"What is it?" Jen asked.
"What happened to your glasses?" Tobias asked as he squinted at her face.
"Oh, well. I lost them. No actually I decided to get contacts. Tobias things change. I've changed. And I get the distinct impression that you've changed too. Where have you been living? I went to your Uncles place, but you weren't there. He said you were staying at your Aunts. Now I knew that was a lie."
"Where have I been living. Um, it's kind of a long story." Suddenly her face was covered with concern. Very quickly I realized that Tobias, and Jen were more then just acquaintances.
Tobias and Jen just stared at each other. "Hey Jen, where are you? You'd better get out here now!" A voice called. A familiar voice. I couldn't quite place it.
Jen winced and said, "Coming. I'll be back in like two seconds."
After she left I turned to Tobias. "Tobias, what is going on between you two. I thought that staring contest was never going to end. That we were going to have to pry you away from Jenny."
"Jen," He stressed the Jen, "is sort of my best friend. We kind of grew up together. See, she has no family like me. As a matter of fact, she was left on the door step of a convent. Yeah she grew up with nuns. Which is one reason why I can't figure out why she's even here.There was only one thing the nun wouldn't let her do. See she is a great singer, the best. No matter how good she was, the nuns just wouldn't let her sing. Not even in church. I can't figure it out."
"Tobias, why did you bring me?"
"Huh, what are you talking about?" He sounded distracted. Something else must have been on his mind.
"What I mean is, why did you bring me. I mean we aren't exactly the closest of friends. You're closer to Ax, our resident alien, then you are to me. Why didn't you bring Jake, or Cassie, or Rachel. Hey that's it isn't it. Rachel."
"WHAT!" Tobias demanded.
I couldn't help but laugh. "It's because Jen's sooo cute. You thought that Ra-"
"- all right. I'll be back in a minute," A voice called. The door to the storage room swung open. In stepped Jen. She didn't look to happy though.
"Um, Tobias. I really hate to do this, but I have to go. He says I have to go sing something. Maybe we can meet together later. Alone," She turned and stared at me. Suddenly I felt a chill. It was like she was keeping some secret. And she didn't trust me with it.
"I'll be seeing you Jen." Tobias turned and left. I got up and followed him out the door.
Jen turned and grabbed Tobias by the arm, I over heard her say, "Tobias, don't trust anyone. Anyone. Watch out for yourself."
I turned and just stared at her. What was she saying? I mean of course I knew about the great new danger. The Yeerk invasion. But she shouldn't know anything about it.
"Marco, come on," Tobias said angrily.
I turned and fell in step behind him. We started walking away from Jen.
Tobias turned around and stared at me. "Marco, what did she say to. . ." He fell silent, as his gaze shifted behind me.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I think we just got our answer," he said. I turned and looked behind me. Jen was talking to a familiar man. I couldn't hear them, but she didn't look to happy. As a matter of fact, she even looked scared. This familiar man was the same guy who we Animorphs had dropped in on yesterday. Of course as flies not humans.
It was Visser Three.
"Wha. . .Ah. . ." I stammered out.
Tobias grabbed my arm and drug me out of there. We got out the door, where those three guards still eyeballed us. And we got into an alley so Tobias could demorph. He was starting to gain feathers.
"Marco, we have to tell the others." Tobias said, still mostly human. I couldn't argue. He was right, we had to tell the others. But it was just so hard to believe that someone that cute could be our enemy.
Chapter 9
I took off for home, and so did Tobias. Before we broke up, he told me that he wanted to tell the others later. Just before we go on our mission at seven.
I slumped down at my computer, and I decided to do some research on the back ground of Jenny J.
My computer woke up, and I booted up the internet. The internet really is a good weapon for us Animorphs. We can check up on anyone we want. There wasn't really all that much about her. Just a little bit about her old town, and some of her songs.
I was scrolling down the screen from my search. That's when I came upon a blue hyper text. My heart skipped a couple of beats. I clicked on it, and my computer was sent to the web page of the Sharing.
The Sharing is supposed to be like some new coed Boy scouts or something. Only in reality it is a front for the Yeerk invasion. They use the Sharing to infest people. Our assistant principal, Chapman, is the leader of the Sharing. And is also a head controller. Jake's brother Tom, is one of them to.
The page started to download, and I stared at the title. "The Sharing, Building a Better Life."
"Yeah right," I snorted," A better life for body stealing alien slugs."
The page finished downloading, and I started skimming through it. There was something about how The Sharing was planning on fixing up some graffiti buildings. There was also old news about their trip to the lake. We were their too, only not as humans.
I was starting to think the maybe this was a dead end. That maybe my computer had a burp or something. Until I came upon a heading that said Jenny J. why won't she work for The Sharing.
I skimmed through the article. After I found something really interesting, I hit print on my browser. Now I had some proof that Jenny J. may not be a controller after all.
I picked up my phone, and dialed Jake's number. I told him that we had to meet earlier then 7. That I needed to tell him something important. He decided that we should all eat an early dinner, and meet at 6 instead of 7. Jake was going to call the others.
I was going to need this evidence. We all knew how dangerous it is too trust someone who we don't really know. Like David. He was one of the biggest mistakes of the Animorphs. We had decided to turn him into an Animorph. Only everything went horribly wrong.
It turned out that we couldn't trust him, he was just an evil human who wanted money more than to help save Earth.
"Okay, let me get this straight," Rachel said as she paced back and forth on the barn floor, "Some girl from Tobias' past shows up for a concert, at the same time the Yeerks are trying to infiltrate the group. I don't care what you say Marco, that is way to much coincidence."
"I know, but what about this article," I quoted from the article, "It seems as if she has been doing everything in her power to avoid The Sharing."
"So, what does that mean," Cassie asked. She was sitting on a bale of hay starring at me sideways. The looks she kept giving me made my skin crawl.
"It could mean," I said turning away from Cassie to face Rachel, "that we may have an ally out there. What if she knows about the Yeerk invasion?"
Jake stood up like he was going to stretch, then he sort of sagged, "I don't know what to say. We've been through this before. Is an ally such a good thing?" He sort of shook his head, "We have this mission coming up. How about if we put this Jenny thing on the back burner."
I was about to argue, until I saw the look in my old buddy's eyes. He was tired of making so many life-and-death choices. Better to take one problem at a time. Instead I said, "Great another chance for us to look danger in the eye, and spit on him."
"Come on Marco, you know you love it," Rachel said tousling my hair.
"Yeah right," I snorted, "Maybe you do Warrior Princess." It was the usual kind of things we say before a mission.
< Prince Jake, it is now seven o'clock, > Ax said shifting nervously on his hooves.
"Ax, don't call me Prince."
< Yes Prince Jake. >
"Okay, everyone to bird. I'm thinking cockroach. Once we reach the convention center, straight to roach."
"Perfect, first I get to be a fly, now a roach," I said "Do we ever morph anything besides bugs?"
< Yeah Marco. You're morphing birds, > Tobias said. He sounded a little more gungho then normal. I think it may have been from our conversation about his old friend.
Chapter 10
I found myself huddling in the back of the convention center next to the others. It was a poorly lit street, so I could barely see anyone, which can be a good thing. It was a cold night. We were all shivering underneath our morphing suits. "I'm telling you that we need new morphing suits, this is just pathetic."
"Okay, everyone roach."
Like I said before it was dark, so I couldn't see the changes happening, but I could feel them. I felt my skin harden, and I was sure it was turning burnt sienna, or whatever color a cockroach is called. Wings suddenly popped out of my back. My guts started disappearing into the primordial guts of a cockroach.
Then the shrinking started. I could almost feel a gush of wind as I went from Marco size to about half a foot in a few seconds. A few extra legs burst out of my side. I continued shrinking, my face became that of a roach, and I was done.
< Forward ho, > Rachel said.
< You have issues Rachel. >
We scooted our six roach butts towards the wall. One thing about a cockroach, if there's a crack, no matter how small, they'll be able to fit.
It didn't take to long for Cassie to call, < I think I found a crack, although it's a little small. >
< All right. Cassie, if you can, go in and see if it will lead us to the basement, > Jake said.
Cassie scurried in, and after a few minutes we all heard, < It's a tight fit, but the crack opens straight up into a wall. >
< After you, Kemo Sabe, > I said to Jake.
< Okay, hope you enjoy it back there, Tonto. >
Jake went in and I followed him. When Cassie says tight fit, she isn't kidding. I squeezed my guts together, making myself as flat as possible. I squished through, only not without scraping my stomach. That crack had to be as thick as a piece of paper.
I was followed by Tobias, Rachel, and Ax was bringing up the rear.
< Boy, this cockroach definitely needs to go on a diet, > Tobias said.
It was dark inside the wall, as within absolute darkness. We had to use our antennas to feel our way around. The crack led up to a division in the wall. It was either straight up, or straight down. I felt Jake disappear, then I turned straight down. My legs were able to defy gravity. It was a good thing I couldn't see. The drop I was standing on could seem bottomless. My feet scrabbled, and down I went. There was only a slight incline, but it was enough for my roach body.
We wandered on in darkness for what felt like hours. It felt like we walked for miles, straight down. Although it was probably only a few feet. I found that the "ground" had ended, so I turned perpendicular, and started crawling the other way. I pushed through another crack, a lot bigger this time, and I felt a deep empty void.
< All Right, fan out and try- > Jake was cut short, when a light suddenly flipped on. Up to that point my roach brain had been fairly calm. I had been doing whatever it wanted. Then I sensed light, and my instincts went nuts.
Run, Run, Run, it screamed. We all tried to freeze, but the instincts won over. I ran, dashing madly back for the crack. I bumped into another roach, and tried to climb over them. We were a mad mess.
< Prince Jake, Tobias, you must calm down, > Ax stated calmly. Leave it up to Ax to stay calm.
< Everyone freeze. > Jake said. I got hold, and stopped running. Even though my head still screamed Run.
"I'm sure I left it down here, it will only take a minute," someone said from high up above me.
< Let's hope no one saw us, > Cassie said.
Unfortunately we suddenly heard, "Oh Yuck, cockroaches. Step on them!" the man cried.
Feet the size of Air craft carriers started landing around me. I dashed madly away. It wasn't to hard.
"Hand me that Bug Spray," the man with air craft carrier feet said.
"I don't know where it is," a girl responded.
"It's right here!"
< Oh No, > I said matter-of-factly.
< What Marco? >
< Bug spray! >
Everyone launched into Mach 5. I started to smell something sweet, tasty. The bug spray. I was being coated with it.
< Marco, turn left. >
I did, and raced up onto some pipes. They seemed like those giant cement pipes you see in construction sites. They were only about two inches thick. I got to the top, then jumped into the black abyss. I landed, hidden from the crazy guy with the bug spray. There were ripples about the size of me in the wall, they made for perfect hiding.
"Where the hell did they go? Let's just go back up."
< Looks like we're in the clear, > Rachel said. But I had a funny feeling that something was very wrong.
< We need to get going, our cover has been blown for tonight, > Jake said.
I turned to leave, when I discovered why that guy gave up so quickly. One of the worst inventions for a roach. I found my self stuck to sticky paper.
< Guys, I can't move, > I said..
< I'm stuck to, > Rachel said, < Someone is so going to pay for this. >
< My legs appear to be stuck to the ground, > Ax said complaining.
< It's sticky paper Ax, > Tobias said.
< Yes that is kind of obvious. >
< I'm stuck too, what about you Cassie? > Jake asked.
< Me three. >
I pulled, and pulled, but I couldn't release my legs from the sticky paper. < This is just sad, > I said, < The Animorphs, the scourge of the Yeerk empire, the kids who have survived more battles then we can count, are stuck in fly paper, and can't get out. > I said laughing, < This is so embarrassing, >
Everyone started laughing too. It was just so ridiculous for fly paper, of all things, to be what stops us in our tracks.
Ax naturally didn't understand what was so funny, < Prince Jake, we have a problem. >
< What is it Ax, > Cassie asked snorting.
< We have been in morph for an hour and a half. >
< What, you mean we only have thirty minutes left before we're stuck as cockroaches forever? > Tobias asked incrediously.
< Oh no, > Cassie cried.
< Why doesn't one of us demorph, > Rachel asked.
< Because Rachel, > I said sighing, < If one of us demorphs we will probably squash the others. >
There was nothing we could do. We were all stuck, and it would take longer than thirty minutes to free us all.
< Hey, do you guys hear that? > Tobias asked.
< Hear what, your stomach rumbling, > I said. Then I heard this low hum. It sounded like it was a mile away, and moving closer.
< What do you believe it is, > Ax asked.
< Jake, I think I know what we're in, > Cassie said, < I think we are either in a heating system, or the air conditioner. It is a cold night tonight, and if that noise we hear is the furnace starting, then we wont be stuck in roach morph. We're going to die in less than thirty minutes. >
The rumbling was starting to come closer. < I'll bet you ten bucks that we aren't lucky enough for someone to be hot and turn on the air, > I said.
The noise was coming closer, I couldn't hear anything except the hard sucking wind. I have been in an air filter before, and well, it wasn't to much fun. My antenna started to flail wildly around. It wasn't to hot in there though. Yet. My body started to lift off the ground as the vacuum picked up speed. Then my legs started to tear off. It was a dull sense of pain. Like my body was filled with novicane.
< Ahhhhh, > we all started yelling at the same time. My body was ripped off the paper, leaving two legs behind. We were sucked up into the vent. I was tumbling, free falling if you will, head over well heels.
I was there with five other cockroaches. I bounced into the vent, then another roach, then the metal paneling again. I felt like a pinball. We were all being pulled upwards at an incline. I couldn't see anything, it was like a crazy roller coaster in pitch black darkness.
< Prince Jake, I believe I can see some light up ahead, > Ax called. I could see the light too.
At first with my blurred vision it just seemed to be one big light source. Then I noticed how it was slitted. It was another vent. We weren't in the furnace, someone actually did turn on the air. Then I realized that at the rate we were flying, if we smashed into the vent, all you would find was roach guts.
The vent was getting closer and closer.
< Everyone try to aim for the light, > Jake said.
< Go into the light, > I said. I was just a little to low, so I pushed off of one roach, and slammed into the side of the paneling. With my roach legs, I climbed up a little bit. Then I released my grip, and launched through the vent slit, into the night sky.
Six cockroaches flew side by side in the starry night, only to land extremely hard in a dumpster. Doesn't that sound nice and poetic.
Chapter 11
We all demorphed with about ten minutes to spare. It was loads of fun trying to get out of that dumpster. Ax morphed human, and then he tried some of the food in the dumpster. Apparently it was very good. Jake and I had to half drag Ax out of there. Ax, Cassie, and Tobias went back to the forest. While Jake, Rachel, and I walked home together. Rachel peeled off for her house, after she was gone Jake turned to me, "Marco, what do you want to do about Jenny?"
"What do you mean, what do I want to do about Jenny?" I asked.
"You are the one who seems to think that she may need our help," he said.
"Do you think I should watch over her during the night? I don't even know where she lives."
"She's at the Holiday Inn on 25th street. Tobias told me about her earlier, and I discovered where all of the people are staying from the concert," Jake said. He then smiled, and turned down a dark street. I glimpsed around for a place to morph. There were some bushes in front of a dark house. There was also a large garbage can two houses down. I'd had enough garbage morphing to last me for a while, so I turned to the dark house with the bushes.
There is absolutely no way to look cool as you cross some strangers lawn, and climb into there bushes. It was starting to look like the bushes may not have been such a good choice. They were the prickly kind, so as soon as I was hidden from view, I had some very nasty cuts.
Getting an osprey out of the bushes was as hard as getting in. I lost a few feathers before I was in the air.
Finding the hotel wasn't too hard. I didn't spend to much time in that part of town, but finding a huge neon sign that said "Holiday Inn" was like trying to make Ax eat a cinnamon bun.
I flew down to demorph, and enter through the lobby. Looking through every window, in order to find one girl would just be wrong. It would also take too much time.
I landed carefully on a small tree. I started to look for a place to demorph. Once again there was a stupid dumpster. Can people build hidden areas for kids to disappear into, No. They have to keep everything way in the open.
< Marco,I'm over here. >
< What the... who's there, > I asked
< It's me Tobias. She's over here, two rooms down from where you are. >
< She who? > I asked playing dumb.
< I know why you are here Marco, > Tobias said hotly.
< Okay, > I said hotly, < Then why are you here? >
< She is my friend, and I am worried about her. How would you like it if you didn't know whether or not Jake was a controller. >
He fell silent after that. I flew over to his tree, and glanced at her window. The window was open a crack, so we could hear her inside, but the shade was drawn. The T.V. was on to some info-mercial channel. I highly doubt that she was watching it.
After about an hour and a half, I flew up to the roof to demorph and then remorph to an owl. That would be able to see better through the night.
I landed on my branch, just as here curtain was being drawn. She had on one of those long T-shirts. I instantly felt mortified, like I was some peeping tom. In her hand was a book called "The Count of Monte Christo." It looked like she had been doing some homework.
For a while Jen just stared out the window. Her eyes taking on that dreamy lost look Tobias' used to. She was starring at the stars, then her concentration settled on me. I stared at her with my large owl eyes, and she stared back just as hard. I had to fight the urge to shudder.
I broke the connection by turning my head. After that, her curtain swung closed and the lights went off.
< Now, that was really spooky. Is she always like that Tobias? >
< No, that was not like her at all, > he quivered. We spent the rest of the night watching a dark window, where a very strange and lovely girl slept.
Chapter 12
Around dawn a peregrine falcon dropped by.
The night had been uneventful. Kind of boring even. Tobias and I kept each other awake. I would make jokes, and he would mention how he could probably come over there and kick my butt.
Jake took over my watching, while I went home to try and sleep at least a little. I flew to my house, only to find my window closed. Looking closer, I realized that a light was on in my house. I instantly flashed on my father, standing in front of the door, mumbling about how he was going to kill me. Might as well go in and face the music.
It was still mostly dark out, so the bushes would do for demorphing. I didn't get stuck, but I pulled prickles off of my morphing suit.
I swung open my door, and there was my dad, exactly as how I had pictured him.
"Where have you been?!" My father asked. The T.V. was on, only he didn't really even seem to be watching it. My father go up out of his chair, crossed the living room, and stood right in front of me. His eyes were so narrow, I could barely even see them. His mouth was pressed into a thin line, and every time he spoke, he pointed at me in that parental way.
"I must have . . . I mean I fell asleep at Jake's. I'm just getting home because . . . his parents didn't know I was there until recently. They woke me up and sent me home." My dad started eyeballing my morphing suit. "And I am wearing this because, I, uh, went to the beach with Jake, and we left our clothes there."
That had to be the worst lie I ever made up. But then it's not like I could've just said, "Well dad, I spent a night in a tree talking with a bird whose really a boy. See, we were checking up on this girl who may be a controller, or who may know about the Yeerk Invasion and not be a controller." Ain't gonna happen.
My dad's face just tightened up more. I was given two weeks grounding. No computer. He also gave me some long speech about how I should call when I plan to stay over. Also, I was given the I-worry-about-you-and-you'd-better-not-be-in-a-gang lecture. I didn't get to go too bed until about 5.
I woke up around 12, only to hear that there was another meeting called. I ran into Rachel on the way over there.
"Hey, Marco. How'd last night go? Did that Jenny J enjoy your peeping, or did she hurl a phone book at you?"
"I don't know Rachel, why don't you ask Tobias?" her fist started curling up, and I remembered all of those times that Rachel came very close to punching me, "Thanks to last night I have two weeks no computer, and my dad is watching me like a hawk."
"Like a hawk. Interesting. Was there a really lame joke in that or what? Seriously though. Jake says that he saw something major after you left. Oh, and Cassie has a way for us to get into that convention center."
"Perfect. Could my day go any worse."
Chapter 13
"That, you want us to morph that?!" I asked incredibly.
"What's wrong with it?" Cassie asked.
I peered into the little cage that Cassie held in front of us. "Well, it's to, I don't know, cute. I figured that we'd be morphing some kind of bug with twelve legs, or a rodent with no fur. Something gross. This is kind of a let down."
< In all fairness, it is a rodent, Marco. >
"I don't think even you could eat something this cute, Tobias"
"Well, a chipmunk has strong hind legs and teeth, so it won't get stuck in the basement. They also live underground, so they must have some kind of adaptation for seeing in the dark," Cassie said.
"I mean, come on," I said, pretty much ignoring Cassie, "this is a chipmunk. What, should we get morph advise from Chip and Dale?"
"Marco. Shut up before I hurt you. Jake, what did you learn from Jenny J?" Rachel asked
"Tobias and I overheard two Controllers talking about last night. One guy mentioned six roaches at the convention center, and how he couldn't kill them because Jennifer was there. He mentioned something about how she maybe suspecting their true cover."
"What happened to the Controller?" Cassie asked.
< Well, he was taken to see Visser Three. What do you think happened to him, > Tobias said. I let that sink in. I could take a wild guess what happened to the controller that wasn't able to kill us. You fail Visser Three, you don't come back.
< Is she a controller or not? > Ax asked.
"I don't know Ax? Is she, or is this some Yeerk trick?" Rachel said.
"So, how are we going to brake into that heavily guarded convention center?" I asked ignoring the Jennifer problem.
"Well, while a ground squirrel couldn't get to the basement through a crack, Cassie was thinking about the ventilation system. A ground squirrel wouldn't get caught on the sticky fly paper, and it should be able to handle to drop to the basement," Jake said.
< Yes. The vent that we blew through is easy to access. It would only take us a few of your minutes to disengage it from the wall, and go to the basement, > Ax added.
"So now we have to pull a vent off of the wall. Any idea how we're going to do that?"
We all flew to the convention center, and clutched in Rachel's talons was a screwdriver. We stayed in the air, Jake flew down and demorphed, while we all kept watch.
"Rachel, drop down the screw driver," Jake yelled to be heard over the air conditioners. And Rachel dropped the screw driver, right onto Jake's head.
"Owwwww," Jake growled
She said, < Sorry. >
The vent was a few inches higher than Jake. Jake unscrewed the vent, and tried to pull it off. He gritted his teeth, grabbed onto the vent with both hands, and pulled. It didn't budge. Jake pulled harder once more, and this time something did budge. Only it wasn't the vent. Jake fell flat on his back. I heard a curse float up from him.
< Way to go their, Hercules, > I said. Everyone started laughing, as Jake got up off of the ground.
"I think it's painted on!" Jake yelled up, "Ax, you're going to have to cut it off."
< Prince Jake, would it be wise for me to demorph out here in daylight? >
"We don't have any choice, and it's just Jake."
< Hang on Ax, maybe Hercules and I could pry it off with the screw driver. >
I flew down, and landed on the ground. I was my old barefoot self again, as I jammed the screwdriver under the side of the vent and pulled. It moved about a fourth of an inch.
< You sure we should leave this up to muscle-less down there? > Rachel asked. I pulled harder, and moved the vent far enough for Jake to get his fingers into it. Together we bent the vent back about another three inches, before we gave up. All of the others demorphed while Tobias watched from up above. Luckily we were in a fairly desolated alley.
"All right everyone," Jake said enthusiastically, "ground squirrel."
"Actually, it's a chipmunk," Cassie corrected him.
I focused on that little fuzzy rodent back in Cassie's barn.
We had all acquired him before we left. It was easy for us. The chipmunk was timid and quiet. Cute, that was until Tobias tried to acquire it. Cassie got bit pretty hard.
Fur started to grow out in tufts from my collar. It moved up my head, until I looked like one of those wolf boys off of the Guiness book of World Records show. Only my hair was brown with a white streak down the back. My cheeks puffed up like I had the mumps. My jaw started to realign to suit the nut eating chipmunk. My two front teeth grew longer, and sharpened to a fairly painful point. Slowly my furry ears started crawling up my head, and then they grew to a point. My brown eyes turned a black shade, and started shrinking on my head. My vision changed a little. You know colors were a little off, but for the most part, I could still see. Now here's the kicker. I was mostly Marco size, yet I had a chipmunk head.
Then the shrinking kicked in. Chipmunks are usually 8 inches long. The world grew vast, very quickly. It wasn't a small world any more. I was about two feet tall when the fur started racing down my body. My knees reversed angle, with what I swear, was a loud snap. I kept shrinking when my arms started turning into slender feet. My fingers shrunk and became useless except for grasping nuts. I was about a foot tall when the fur hit my stomach and chest, only this wasn't brown. White fur grew from my small nose down to my legs. Whiskers popped out of my nose, and a small white tail emerged. I shrunk down to about eight inches, as strong muscles grew in my hind legs.
Finally the chipmunk brain kicked in. Light! Where was my hole?! My Home? Predators! I could smell them everywhere. Alley cats! And their had been hawks here. Run! Hide! Ohh, what's that? Popcorn? Popcorn! Perfect to store for winter!
Whoa, hang on their Marco. It was hard to push back the instincts for food, but I did it. < Jake, Cassie, Rachel. You guys there? >
< Yeah Marco. Believe it or not, but we are able to withstand rodent instincts, unlike someone we know, > Rachel crowed.
< Okay, let's just see how well there things can climb. >
Chapter 14
Apparently, despite their cuddly body, chipmunks can climb. With my strong hind legs I could find little cracks in the brick, and propel myself upward.
< Ew-ee-ew-ah-ah-ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang. >
< What was that? > Rachel asked me.
< That chipmunk song with the witch doctor. You know "I told the witch doctor." >
< Marco, we've been over your singing career. Stop. >
We all pulled ourselves up, and sat on top of the hole in the wall.
< Well, let's go, > Rachel said.
< After you, my dear. >
I pushed off of my seat, and launched into total darkness. You know those tunnels at water slides, where you can't see any thing, and all you can hear is the sound of rushing water. Well, this was sort of like that. If you turned off every light in the world, shut off the water, and went down on just your stomach, it would be something like this.
< Aaaaaaaaahhhhh! >
< This is insane! > I yelled.
< I believe I am experiencing pain from the friction on the bottom of my feet, > Ax said.
< Lay down on your stomach. How long until we get to the bottom? > Cassie asked.
< I just though of something. Considering how fast we are going, stopping could be a problem, > I said.
< What do you mean? > Tobias asked.
< Remember that huge pipe that was blocking the other end of this vent. Not to mention that stupid cover on the other end of this that we didn't take off! > I yelled.
< Uh-Oh. >
< Problem. >
< What is the problem? > Ax asked.
< We're all going to be chipmunk patties soon, if we don't come up with a plan, > I said.
< Slow yourself down! > Cassie yelled.
< Yeah, that is what we want to accomplish. >
< No, I mean, what do you do if you start flying down a hill to fast? >
< Stick your legs out! > Rachel yelled suddenly.
< This is going to be a major ouchie, > Tobias said.
< I know, but it's our only hope, > I said.
< Everyone grab at the ground, > Jake reintegrated for Ax.
I jammed my raised feet onto the smooth metallic surface, and I reached my front feet out like I was reaching for one of the others. I saw a brief image of a hand slowly clawing at a chalkboard.
Tobias was right. It felt like someone had lit my limbs on fire, but we were slowing down. Only, was it fast enough?
< I think I see light up ahead! > Cassie shrieked.
I scrabbled for a handhold, but I found nothing.
< Hey, that's weird. I think the vent's gone. >
I released my tight grip, and sailed down to the end.
< Pipe's still here though. >
Oh right, the pipe. Duh. I slammed fairly hard into a small, fuzzy, creature.
< Marco, if that was you who just slammed into me, you'd better run now. If you don't, your little cute body will be broken in many places, > Rachel said menacingly.
We all did a quick roll count, without Rachel finding out it was me who hit her.
< Ax, you demorph first, just in case any controllers are down here. >
< Yes, Prince Jake. >
Ax quickly scrambled over the large pipe, and demorphed.
< There is no on here. >
< Okay everyone. It's party time. >
< Stop being so peppy Jake. You're starting to scare me. >
I became human quickly, and it was weird. I mean, O.K., weird is my middle name anymore, but there was four kids dressed in spandex sneaking around in a basement hoping to stop alien invaders. Yet it all seemed so logical, so normal.
Without any of us saying a word, we all went into battle morphs. My lips puffed up, and course black hair spurted from my arms. Muscle after muscle rippled across my arms, making me feel invincible. Jake's ears started crawling up his head, and then they suddenly twitched. I heard it too. A sound of shoes brushing across the floor. Our eyes met. Jake's now Tiger eyes bored into my normal Marco eyes. I looked away. We both knew what that sound could have been, and we hoped it wasn't.
< All right. Cassie and me first followed by Ax. Rachel and Marco hang back. We need liquid grace before power. >
< So what are you saying, I'm a big blundering lumberjack? > I pouted.
< That's exactly what I'm saying. Everyone ready? >
< Let's do it! >
< And the kiss of death has sealed this mission. Mighty Xena has echoed the words "Let's do it." >
We raced towards the stairs. Jake, Cassie, and Ax flew up them. Rachel tried to mash in first, but I nosed in ahead of her. She let loose a Grizzly bear growl, and from up above me I could hear shouts of surprise. But then I heard, "Andalite." It was more of a hiss than a shout.
I burst onto the scene. Absolute darkness switched to harsh light. My pupils adjusted, but slowly. I was wandering blind until Jake got a clue.
< Marco, turn right, you're going to hit a wall! >
I headed right, and kept blinking my eyes. I wanted to rub them, but that would've seemed too human.
My eyes adjusted on one of the scariest sights in the universe. A pissed Hork-Bajir running at me, blades slashing through the air. I ducked and slammed into the Hork-Bajir's knees. As he kicked and writhed, I threw him over my back to slam into a wall. And the battle was under way.
Hork-Bajir came pouring out of rooms, and offices from every nook and cranny. Rachel had two on her, Tobias was attacking from up above. Leaving Hork-Bajir blind. Jake and Cassie were searching through every door, trying to find the meeting, while Ax just made sure to be noticed. And me? I was dodging and swinging so often that's all I did. Dodge to the left. Slash into my stomach! Agony like never felt! Slam into his stomach, push him out of the way for the next. But there were so many Hork-Bajir, and only six of us.
Ax was backed into a corner, he was swinging his lightning speed tail, but he was loosing ground. There was nothing I could do. I was trapped between two Hork-Bajir, barely able to see around them. Blood was seeping through the gash in my chest. Ax was going to loose with us standing a few feet away from him.
Chapter 15
A sharp cat roar pierced my ears, but it couldn't've been Jake. He was all the way down at the end of the hall. The door behind Ax splintered open. A black panther soared over Ax to land in front of him. It let loose another roar and went after a Hork-Bajir's neck. Green blood spurted over its black fur, and Ax was free.
< We have to get out of here, he's coming, > the black panther called as it spun around to face me. I stared blankly at it. My brain had just stopped. The big black kitty can talk.
< I knew it, > Tobias crowed from up above.
< What are you talking about? > I asked.
< Marco, who do you think the taking panther is? > he asked ludicrously.
I couldn't focus. I was still lost on the fact that we had help. Then it clicked, < Oh my . . . >
< Yep. >
The black Panther started running down a corridor and like lost children we followed her. That her, is Jenny J. I don't know how I knew, but I was sure, the black panther had to be her and no one else.
We were a mess. I had no idea where we were, and every single last one of us was leaving behind a blood trail. We were in the bowels of the convention center. This wasn't pentagon shaped, and huge. It was cramped, and a never ending maze. Jake and Cassie joined our running group. We all kept taking wrong turns, dead ends, finding locked doors. Only Jenny seemed to know where we were going.
< Once we reach the main area we should be fine! > She yelled panting.
< Do not talk to her, don't acknowledge her, > Jake warned.
< What. You think she'll just assume that the zoo that was fighting the Yeerks was a bunch of normal animals out for a stroll. I don't think so Jake, > I said.
< Nothing, Marco. >
Dracon beam's fired from behind us. The air was sizzling, but the Hork-Bajir were not gaining on us. They were staying back, careful not to catch us, but boy were they trying to shoot us.
Jen's head swung around, and savage panther eyes stared at the Hork-Bajir. I could almost see the gears in her brain turning.
< Wait a minute. Something's not right here. >
She skidded to a halt and froze. We all put the brakes on and collided.
< What are you doing?! > Rachel roared.
< Take a look around. Those Hork-Bajir do not want to catch us. They are hanging back. What does this spell? T-R-A-P! >
She was staring up at Rachel. Her lips were pulled back to bear her panther teeth. Her hair was standing on end, and Rachel looked much the same. Only her bear teeth were showing.
Jake sighed, knowing that the silence was lost, and said, < She is right. I wouldn't be surprised if Visser Three himself is in front of us. >
< See. >
< Are there any doors around here that lead into another room. One with another door to the outside world? > Jake asked, careful not to show that we knew who she was.
< What are you talking about?! We can't demorph with the Yeerks right behind us! > Jen yelled frantically, glancing from behind us to in front of her down the dark hallway. The Hork-Bajir had just stopped chasing us. They had been creeping forwards before, but now they just stopped. They didn't want to get caught in the cross fire between us and whatever awaited us at the end of the hall.
< You are going to have to trust us, > Cassie said quietly. It wasn't threatening, just a statement. We had trusted her up until now, now it was her turn.
She looked at each of us, without knowing who we were. Finally her gaze landed on Tobias. There was no way she could've known it was Tobias, but she seemed to draw strength from him.
< All right. What's the plan? >
< Ma . . . Gorilla, open the door. Carefully. >
< Gorilla, why I'll Gorilla you, you Tiger, > I mumbled as I "carefully" opened the door. Jen had led us down the hall way standing next to, what she swore was, a door that lead to a huge meeting room under construction.
We all emerged into an office. A huge office. The desk was as big as my room. It had all of these buttons on it that did hundreds of things.
< When I grow up I am going to have an office like this, > I said pushing a button that caused a wet bar to swing around.
< When you grow up? When exactly is this ever going to happen? I thought it was impossible for you to grow up, > Rachel coaxed.
< We need to tear this place apart, > Jake said. He glided over to this fancy stereo and with one swipe of the paw, turned it into a million pieces.
Rachel walked behind the desk, and with her bear might, threw it across the room. It splintered in half and slammed into the wall. < Cool. >
We went to work. I punched the walls, and threw most of the furniture around. Jake, Rachel, and Cassie clawed at the walls, while Ax checked out the meeting room. I heard a loud crash, which probably came from Ax's tail smashing something valuable.
< Okay, okay, okay, that's enough. This should confuse the Yeerks long enough. Now you, > he said turning to Jenny, < you have to demorph. >
< What?! Listen to me Andalite, I cannot demorph. I am human. >
< We know, just demorph. You will see what I mean in a minute. >
She glared at Jake, but the black fur started to disappear. Jen completely demorphed, and then pushed herself up with her bare hands. Like the rest of us she had no shoes. She was wearing this green leotard that looked a little to tight for her. I felt a little shameful, and absent mindidly shifted my weight from one leg to the other. Her cold green eyes snapped around and focused on me. I froze like a mouse being stalked by a cat. Did she suspect that it was me who watched her last night?
"Now what?," she asked in a voiceless whisper.
Chapter 16
Jake sent Jen out into the hall way, < Hide behind the door. Do not let them see you, > he warned.
She left, then he turned to me and said, < Marco, smash these lights when I tell you. After that run past the Hork- Bajir into the hall. Watch after Jen. >
I just nodded my head. Jake led all of the others into the meeting room and slowly out of the open window. I locked the door behind them.
"Why do I volunteer for these suicide missions?" I asked myself. But I knew why.
My ears heard a faint, < All right Marco, now! >
I threw the chair that was behind the desk as hard as I could. The chair slammed into the flourescent light source and stuck. As the chair succumb to gravity a huge crash was followed by absolute darkness. A light tinkling sound of the glass falling was followed by the whomping of running Hork-Bajir. The door blew open and the hallway lights reached into the room, trying to swipe away the absolute darkness that shrouded me. I ducked deeper into the darkness, using it as a shield. The Hork-Bajir crept forward. The light source was constantly blocked out as one Hork-Bajir followed the next into the room. In the end I counted five. Five Hork-Bajir against me. I don't think so.
"Fan-out. Galash fee shrewer," one Hork-Bajir said in their mixed language.
My heart was pounding like a sledge hammer. Did they hear it trying to escape out of my chest? I made a few pointless gasps, and bolted for the door. My legs had cramped while I was sitting, and I lurched forward. I brushed past a Hork-Bajir, but he didn't whip his head around fast enough to witness me. I dashed through the door and emerged into the hall. Jen pulled herself out from behind the door.
"Marco? What . . ." She asked genuinely surprised. I cupped my hand over her mouth. Her eyes narrowed and I made a show of closing a door slowly with my hands.
With one hand Jen slammed it closed. I wanted to smack my forehead.
"Great," I said sarcastically, "now run."
I grabbed her hand, and pulled her down the corridor from where we came. We ran, turning a corner away from the Hork-Bajir, but I could hear them behind us. Our feet pounded and echoed down the corridor. Jenny suddenly froze, then she turned with one foot, and spun me into an alcove in the wall.She then dove in with me. We pushed back from the light and into each other.
The alcove was one of those four feet high indents in the wall that pressed back about six feet. My heart was beating a million miles a second and I don't think that it was from the near death experience running behind me.
Hork-Bajir feet ran past us without ever slowing down. We both heard the light clopping of hooves scraping against tile. My next breath froze in my lungs. Our eyes met. No matter how hard you try, you can never look cool for a girl when you are so scared, you want to wet yourself. I had no idea what to do. Sure, fooling stupid Hork-Bajir was easy. Jen latched onto my hand and pulled me quickly into an empty room before Visser Three could see us. We morphed to birds and flew out the open window to find the others.
Chapter 17
"My name is Jennifer. Just Jennifer, not Jenny. I," she rung her hands around air, "I . . .uh . . . met an Andalite. His name was Asitle, and he had to be the most arrogant alien I have ever met."
Ax stared at her with new interest at the mention of the Andalites name. We were all in the woods. Jake had Jen demorph, while the rest of us stayed in the trees except for Ax. It didn't really matter if he was a bird or not. Jen actually got to watch Ax demorph.
"Asitle told me about the Yeerks, and I harbored him. While I scouted the Yeerk pool in our area, Asitle got morphs. It wasn't easy, but I was able to sneak him into our local zoo. But," her voice wavered, and tears started to well up in her eyes, "on our first mission, he was captured. I . . . Visser Three killed him, while I watched. I was safe and secure on top of the roof while Visser Three just killed him. His eyes, pleading with me to," she started belittling herself, but as soon as she started she shook her head and restarted, "I ran home, and there, the . . . the Ellimist he, uh . . . he gave me the ability to morph."
Everyone gaped at her. She started to fidget from the quiet. We all had the same question running through our minds, Why would the Ellimist give her the power to morph? He, they sort of had this thing with not interfering. Yet he does it all the time. Rachel couldn't stay silent for long, < She has got to be lying. The Ellimist would never do that, > she said the last part out loud.
"But he did. I . . . he said that Asitle wasn't supposed to live, that he was supposed to give me the power to morph," she protested.
< Yeah right, > Rachel snorted.
"Why are you the leader of the inquisition?" Jen asked, shooting lethal glances at each of us looking for Rachel.
< We need to get a grip on this problem. Perhaps you should go home Jennifer. We will deal with this problem later, > Jake said to everyone.
"Who are you going to send to watch me? I know that you all don't trust me, and frankly, I don't trust you Andalites either. It would make more sense to send at least the one human that I know about," she said, breaking Jake's cool composure.
< Yes, Marco will go with you., > he said, clearly shaken from Jen's perceptive observation.
"Fine." she said in response.
Jake said to me quietly, < Marco, do not trust her. This is not over yet. >
x out of there. Ax, Cassie, and Tobias went back to the forest. While Jake, Rachel, and I walked home together. Rachel peeled off for her house, after she was gone Jake turned to me, "Marco, what do you want to do about Jenny?"
"What do you mean, what do I want to about Jenny?" I asked.
"You are the one who seems to think that she may need our help," he said.
"Do you think I should watch over her during the night? I don't even know where she lives."
"She's at the Holiday Inn on 25th street. Tobias told me about her earlier, and I discovered where all of the people are staying from the concert," Jake said. He then smiled, and turned down a dark street. I glimpsed around for a place to morph. There were some bushes in front of a dark house. There was also a large garbage can two houses down. I'd had enough garbage morphing to last me for a while, so I turned to the dark house with the bushes.
There is absolutely no way to look cool as you cross some strangers lawn, and climb into there bushes. It was starting to look like the bushes may not have been such a good choice. They were the prickly kind, so as soon as I was hidden from view, I had some very nasty cuts.
Getting an osprey out of the bushes was as hard as getting in. I lost a few feathers before I was in the air.
Finding the hotel wasn't too hard. I didn't spend to much time in that part of town, but finding a huge neon sign that said "Holiday Inn" was like trying to make Ax eat a cinnamon bun.
I flew down to demorph, and enter through the lobby. Looking through every window, in order to find one girl would just be wrong. It would also take too much time.
I landed carefully on a small tree. I started to look for a place to demorph. Once again there was a stupid dumpster. Can people build hidden areas for kids to disappear into, No. They have to keep everything way in the open.
< Marco,I'm over here. >
< What the... who's there, > I asked
< It's me Tobias. She's over here, two rooms down from where you are. >
< She who? > I asked playing dumb.
< I know why you are here Marco, > Tobias said hotly.
< Okay, > I said hotly, < Then why are you here? >
< She is my friend, and I am worried about her. How would you like it if you didn't know whether or not Jake was a controller. >
He fell silent after that. I flew over to his tree, and glanced at her window. The window was open a crack, so we could hear her inside, but the shade was drawn. The T.V. was on to some info-mercial channel. I highly doubt that she was watching it.
After about an hour and a half, I flew up to the roof to demorph and then remorph to an owl. That would be able to see better through the night.
I landed on my branch, just as here curtain was being drawn. She had on one of those long T-shirts. I instantly felt mortified, like I was some peeping tom. In her hand was a book called "The Count of Monte Christo." It looked like she had been doing some homework.
For a while Jen just stared out the window. Her eyes taking on that dreamy lost look Tobias' used to. She was starring at the stars, then her concentration settled on me. I stared at her with my large owl eyes, and she stared back just as hard. I had to fight the urge to shudder.
I broke the connection by turning my head. After that, her curtain swung closed and the lights went off.
< Now, that was really spooky. Is she always like that Tobias? >
< No, that was not like her at all, > he quivered. We spent the rest of the night watching a dark window, where a very strange and lovely girl slept.
Chapter 12
Around dawn a peregrine falcon dropped by.
The night had been uneventful. Kind of boring even. Tobias and I kept each other awake. I would make jokes, and he would mention how he could probably come over there and kick my butt.
Jake took over my watching, while I went home to try and sleep at least a little. I flew to my house, only to find my window closed. Looking closer, I realized that a light was on in my house. I instantly flashed on my father, standing in front of the door, mumbling about how he was going to kill me. Might as well go in and face the music.
It was still mostly dark out, so the bushes would do for demorphing. I didn't get stuck, but I pulled prickles off of my morphing suit.
I swung open my door, and there was my dad, exactly as how I had pictured him.
"Where have you been?!" My father asked. The T.V. was on, only he didn't really even seem to be watching it. My father go up out of his chair, crossed the living room, and stood right in front of me. His eyes were so narrow, I could barely even see them. His mouth was pressed into a thin line, and every time he spoke, he pointed at me in that parental way.
"I must have . . . I mean I fell asleep at Jake's. I'm just getting home because . . . his parents didn't know I was there until recently. They woke me up and sent me home." My dad started eyeballing my morphing suit. "And I am wearing this because, I, uh, went to the beach with Jake, and we left our clothes there."
That had to be the worst lie I ever made up. But then it's not like I could've just said, "Well dad, I spent a night in a tree talking with a bird whose really a boy. See, we were checking up on this girl who may be a controller, or who may know about the Yeerk Invasion and not be a controller." Ain't gonna happen.
My dad's face just tightened up more. I was given two weeks grounding. No computer. He also gave me some long speech about how I should call when I plan to stay over. Also, I was given the I-worry-about-you-and-you'd-better-not-be-in-a-gang lecture. I didn't get to go too bed until about 5.
I woke up around 12, only to hear that there was another meeting called. I ran into Rachel on the way over there.
"Hey, Marco. How'd last night go? Did that Jenny J enjoy your peeping, or did she hurl a phone book at you?"
"I don't know Rachel, why don't you ask Tobias?" her fist started curling up, and I remembered all of those times that Rachel came very close to punching me, "Thanks to last night I have two weeks no computer, and my dad is watching me like a hawk."
"Like a hawk. Interesting. Was there a really lame joke in that or what? Seriously though. Jake says that he saw something major after you left. Oh, and Cassie has a way for us to get into that convention center."
"Perfect. Could my day go any worse."
Chapter 13
"That, you want us to morph that?!" I asked incredibly.
"What's wrong with it?" Cassie asked.
I peered into the little cage that Cassie held in front of us. "Well, it's to, I don't know, cute. I figured that we'd be morphing some kind of bug with twelve legs, or a rodent with no fur. Something gross. This is kind of a let down."
< In all fairness, it is a rodent, Marco. >
"I don't think even you could eat something this cute, Tobias"
"Well, a chipmunk has strong hind legs and teeth, so it won't get stuck in the basement. They also live underground, so they must have some kind of adaptation for seeing in the dark," Cassie said.
"I mean, come on," I said, pretty much ignoring Cassie, "this is a chipmunk. What, should we get morph advise from Chip and Dale?"
"Marco. Shut up before I hurt you. Jake, what did you learn from Jenny J?" Rachel asked
"Tobias and I overheard two Controllers talking about last night. One guy mentioned six roaches at the convention center, and how he couldn't kill them because Jennifer was there. He mentioned something about how she maybe suspecting their true cover."
"What happened to the Controller?" Cassie asked.
< Well, he was taken to see Visser Three. What do you think happened to him, > Tobias said. I let that sink in. I could take a wild guess what happened to the controller that wasn't able to kill us. You fail Visser Three, you don't come back.
< Is she a controller or not? > Ax asked.
"I don't know Ax? Is she, or is this some Yeerk trick?" Rachel said.
"So, how are we going to brake into that heavily guarded convention center?" I asked ignoring the Jennifer problem.
"Well, while a ground squirrel couldn't get to the basement through a crack, Cassie was thinking about the ventilation system. A ground squirrel wouldn't get caught on the sticky fly paper, and it should be able to handle to drop to the basement," Jake said.
< Yes. The vent that we blew through is easy to access. It would only take us a few of your minutes to disengage it from the wall, and go to the basement, > Ax added.
"So now we have to pull a vent off of the wall. Any idea how we're going to do that?"
We all flew to the convention center, and clutched in Rachel's talons was a screwdriver. We stayed in the air, Jake flew down and demorphed, while we all kept watch.
"Rachel, drop down the screw driver," Jake yelled to be heard over the air conditioners. And Rachel dropped the screw driver, right onto Jake's head.
"Owwwww," Jake growled
She said, < Sorry. >
The vent was a few inches higher than Jake. Jake unscrewed the vent, and tried to pull it off. He gritted his teeth, grabbed onto the vent with both hands, and pulled. It didn't budge. Jake pulled harder once more, and this time something did budge. Only it wasn't the vent. Jake fell flat on his back. I heard a curse float up from him.
< Way to go their, Hercules, > I said. Everyone started laughing, as Jake got up off of the ground.
"I think it's painted on!" Jake yelled up, "Ax, you're going to have to cut it off."
< Prince Jake, would it be wise for me to demorph out here in daylight? >
"We don't have any choice, and it's just Jake."
< Hang on Ax, maybe Hercules and I could pry it off with the screw driver. >
I flew down, and landed on the ground. I was my old barefoot self again, as I jammed the screwdriver under the side of the vent and pulled. It moved about a fourth of an inch.
< You sure we should leave this up to muscle-less down there? > Rachel asked. I pulled harder, and moved the vent far enough for Jake to get his fingers into it. Together we bent the vent back about another three inches, before we gave up. All of the others demorphed while Tobias watched from up above. Luckily we were in a fairly desolated alley.
"All right everyone," Jake said enthusiastically, "ground squirrel."
"Actually, it's a chipmunk," Cassie corrected him.
I focused on that little fuzzy rodent back in Cassie's barn.
We had all acquired him before we left. It was easy for us. The chipmunk was timid and quiet. Cute, that was until Tobias tried to acquire it. Cassie got bit pretty hard.
Fur started to grow out in tufts from my collar. It moved up my head, until I looked like one of those wolf boys off of the Guiness book of World Records show. Only my hair was brown with a white streak down the back. My cheeks puffed up like I had the mumps. My jaw started to realign to suit the nut eating chipmunk. My two front teeth grew longer, and sharpened to a fairly painful point. Slowly my furry ears started crawling up my head, and then they grew to a point. My brown eyes turned a black shade, and started shrinking on my head. My vision changed a little. You know colors were a little off, but for the most part, I could still see. Now here's the kicker. I was mostly Marco size, yet I had a chipmunk head.
Then the shrinking kicked in. Chipmunks are usually 8 inches long. The world grew vast, very quickly. It wasn't a small world any more. I was about two feet tall when the fur started racing down my body. My knees reversed angle, with what I swear, was a loud snap. I kept shrinking when my arms started turning into slender feet. My fingers shrunk and became useless except for grasping nuts. I was about a foot tall when the fur hit my stomach and chest, only this wasn't brown. White fur grew from my small nose down to my legs. Whiskers popped out of my nose, and a small white tail emerged. I shrunk down to about eight inches, as strong muscles grew in my hind legs.
Finally the chipmunk brain kicked in. Light! Where was my hole?! My Home? Predators! I could smell them everywhere. Alley cats! And their had been hawks here. Run! Hide! Ohh, what's that? Popcorn? Popcorn! Perfect to store for winter!
Whoa, hang on their Marco. It was hard to push back the instincts for food, but I did it. < Jake, Cassie, Rachel. You guys there? >
< Yeah Marco. Believe it or not, but we are able to withstand rodent instincts, unlike someone we know, > Rachel crowed.
< Okay, let's just see how well there things can climb. >
Chapter 14
Apparently, despite their cuddly body, chipmunks can climb. With my strong hind legs I could find little cracks in the brick, and propel myself upward.
< Ew-ee-ew-ah-ah-ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang. >
< What was that? > Rachel asked me.
< That chipmunk song with the witch doctor. You know "I told the witch doctor." >
< Marco, we've been over your singing career. Stop. >
We all pulled ourselves up, and sat on top of the hole in the wall.
< Well, let's go, > Rachel said.
< After you, my dear. >
I pushed off of my seat, and launched into total darkness. You know those tunnels at water slides, where you can't see any thing, and all you can hear is the sound of rushing water. Well, this was sort of like that. If you turned off every light in the world, shut off the water, and went down on just your stomach, it would be something like this.
< Aaaaaaaaahhhhh! >
< This is insane! > I yelled.
< I believe I am experiencing pain from the friction on the bottom of my feet, > Ax said.
< Lay down on your stomach. How long until we get to the bottom? > Cassie asked.
< I just though of something. Considering how fast we are going, stopping could be a problem, > I said.
< What do you mean? > Tobias asked.
< Remember that huge pipe that was blocking the other end of this vent. Not to mention that stupid cover on the other end of this that we didn't take off! > I yelled.
< Uh-Oh. >
< Problem. >
< What is the problem? > Ax asked.
< We're all going to be chipmunk patties soon, if we don't come up with a plan, > I said.
< Slow yourself down! > Cassie yelled.
< Yeah, that is what we want to accomplish. >
< No, I mean, what do you do if you start flying down a hill to fast? >
< Stick your legs out! > Rachel yelled suddenly.
< This is going to be a major ouchie, > Tobias said.
< I know, but it's our only hope, > I said.
< Everyone grab at the ground, > Jake reintegrated for Ax.
I jammed my raised feet onto the smooth metallic surface, and I reached my front feet out like I was reaching for one of the others. I saw a brief image of a hand slowly clawing at a chalkboard.
Tobias was right. It felt like someone had lit my limbs on fire, but we were slowing down. Only, was it fast enough?
< I think I see light up ahead! > Cassie shrieked.
I scrabbled for a handhold, but I found nothing.
< Hey, that's weird. I think the vent's gone. >
I released my tight grip, and sailed down to the end.
< Pipe's still here though. >
Oh right, the pipe. Duh. I slammed fairly hard into a small, fuzzy, creature.
< Marco, if that was you who just slammed into me, you'd better run now. If you don't, your little cute body will be broken in many places, > Rachel said menacingly.
We all did a quick roll count, without Rachel finding out it was me who hit her.
< Ax, you demorph first, just in case any controllers are down here. >
< Yes, Prince Jake. >
Ax quickly scrambled over the large pipe, and demorphed.
< There is no on here. >
< Okay everyone. It's party time. >
< Stop being so peppy Jake. You're starting to scare me. >
I became human quickly, and it was weird. I mean, O.K., weird is my middle name anymore, but there was four kids dressed in spandex sneaking around in a basement hoping to stop alien invaders. Yet it all seemed so logical, so normal.
Without any of us saying a word, we all went into battle morphs. My lips puffed up, and course black hair spurted from my arms. Muscle after muscle rippled across my arms, making me feel invincible. Jake's ears started crawling up his head, and then they suddenly twitched. I heard it too. A sound of shoes brushing across the floor. Our eyes met. Jake's now Tiger eyes bored into my normal Marco eyes. I looked away. We both knew what that sound could have been, and we hoped it wasn't.
< All right. Cassie and me first followed by Ax. Rachel and Marco hang back. We need liquid grace before power. >
< So what are you saying, I'm a big blundering lumberjack? > I pouted.
< That's exactly what I'm saying. Everyone ready? >
< Let's do it! >
< And the kiss of death has sealed this mission. Mighty Xena has echoed the words "Let's do it." >
We raced towards the stairs. Jake, Cassie, and Ax flew up them. Rachel tried to mash in first, but I nosed in ahead of her. She let loose a Grizzly bear growl, and from up above me I could hear shouts of surprise. But then I heard, "Andalite." It was more of a hiss than a shout.
I burst onto the scene. Absolute darkness switched to harsh light. My pupils adjusted, but slowly. I was wandering blind until Jake got a clue.
< Marco, turn right, you're going to hit a wall! >
I headed right, and kept blinking my eyes. I wanted to rub them, but that would've seemed too human.
My eyes adjusted on one of the scariest sights in the universe. A pissed Hork-Bajir running at me, blades slashing through the air. I ducked and slammed into the Hork-Bajir's knees. As he kicked and writhed, I threw him over my back to slam into a wall. And the battle was under way.
Hork-Bajir came pouring out of rooms, and offices from every nook and cranny. Rachel had two on her, Tobias was attacking from up above. Leaving Hork-Bajir blind. Jake and Cassie were searching through every door, trying to find the meeting, while Ax just made sure to be noticed. And me? I was dodging and swinging so often that's all I did. Dodge to the left. Slash into my stomach! Agony like never felt! Slam into his stomach, push him out of the way for the next. But there were so many Hork-Bajir, and only six of us.
Ax was backed into a corner, he was swinging his lightning speed tail, but he was loosing ground. There was nothing I could do. I was trapped between two Hork-Bajir, barely able to see around them. Blood was seeping through the gash in my chest. Ax was going to loose with us standing a few feet away from him.
Chapter 15
A sharp cat roar pierced my ears, but it couldn't've been Jake. He was all the way down at the end of the hall. The door behind Ax splintered open. A black panther soared over Ax to land in front of him. It let loose another roar and went after a Hork-Bajir's neck. Green blood spurted over its black fur, and Ax was free.
< We have to get out of here, he's coming, > the black panther called as it spun around to face me. I stared blankly at it. My brain had just stopped. The big black kitty can talk.
< I knew it, > Tobias crowed from up above.
< What are you talking about? > I asked.
< Marco, who do you think the taking panther is? > he asked ludicrously.
I couldn't focus. I was still lost on the fact that we had help. Then it clicked, < Oh my . . . >
< Yep. >
The black Panther started running down a corridor and like lost children we followed her. That her, is Jenny J. I don't know how I knew, but I was sure, the black panther had to be her and no one else.
We were a mess. I had no idea where we were, and every single last one of us was leaving behind a blood trail. We were in the bowels of the convention center. This wasn't pentagon shaped, and huge. It was cramped, and a never ending maze. Jake and Cassie joined our running group. We all kept taking wrong turns, dead ends, finding locked doors. Only Jenny seemed to know where we were going.
< Once we reach the main area we should be fine! > She yelled panting.
< Do not talk to her, don't acknowledge her, > Jake warned.
< What. You think she'll just assume that the zoo that was fighting the Yeerks was a bunch of normal animals out for a stroll. I don't think so Jake, > I said.
< Nothing, Marco. >
Dracon beam's fired from behind us. The air was sizzling, but the Hork-Bajir were not gaining on us. They were staying back, careful not to catch us, but boy were they trying to shoot us.
Jen's head swung around, and savage panther eyes stared at the Hork-Bajir. I could almost see the gears in her brain turning.
< Wait a minute. Something's not right here. >
She skidded to a halt and froze. We all put the brakes on and collided.
< What are you doing?! > Rachel roared.
< Take a look around. Those Hork-Bajir do not want to catch us. They are hanging back. What does this spell? T-R-A-P! >
She was staring up at Rachel. Her lips were pulled back to bear her panther teeth. Her hair was standing on end, and Rachel looked much the same. Only her bear teeth were showing.
Jake sighed, knowing that the silence was lost, and said, < She is right. I wouldn't be surprised if Visser Three himself is in front of us. >
< See. >
< Are there any doors around here that lead into another room. One with another door to the outside world? > Jake asked, careful not to show that we knew who she was.
< What are you talking about?! We can't demorph with the Yeerks right behind us! > Jen yelled frantically, glancing from behind us to in front of her down the dark hallway. The Hork-Bajir had just stopped chasing us. They had been creeping forwards before, but now they just stopped. They didn't want to get caught in the cross fire between us and whatever awaited us at the end of the hall.
< You are going to have to trust us, > Cassie said quietly. It wasn't threatening, just a statement. We had trusted her up until now, now it was her turn.
She looked at each of us, without knowing who we were. Finally her gaze landed on Tobias. There was no way she could've known it was Tobias, but she seemed to draw strength from him.
< All right. What's the plan? >
< Ma . . . Gorilla, open the door. Carefully. >
< Gorilla, why I'll Gorilla you, you Tiger, > I mumbled as I "carefully" opened the door. Jen had led us down the hall way standing next to, what she swore was, a door that lead to a huge meeting room under construction.
We all emerged into an office. A huge office. The desk was as big as my room. It had all of these buttons on it that did hundreds of things.
< When I grow up I am going to have an office like this, > I said pushing a button that caused a wet bar to swing around.
< When you grow up? When exactly is this ever going to happen? I thought it was impossible for you to grow up, > Rachel coaxed.
< We need to tear this place apart, > Jake said. He glided over to this fancy stereo and with one swipe of the paw, turned it into a million pieces.
Rachel walked behind the desk, and with her bear might, threw it across the room. It splintered in half and slammed into the wall. < Cool. >
We went to work. I punched the walls, and threw most of the furniture around. Jake, Rachel, and Cassie clawed at the walls, while Ax checked out the meeting room. I heard a loud crash, which probably came from Ax's tail smashing something valuable.
< Okay, okay, okay, that's enough. This should confuse the Yeerks long enough. Now you, > he said turning to Jenny, < you have to demorph. >
< What?! Listen to me Andalite, I cannot demorph. I am human. >
< We know, just demorph. You will see what I mean in a minute. >
She glared at Jake, but the black fur started to disappear. Jen completely demorphed, and then pushed herself up with her bare hands. Like the rest of us she had no shoes. She was wearing this green leotard that looked a little to tight for her. I felt a little shameful, and absent mindidly shifted my weight from one leg to the other. Her cold green eyes snapped around and focused on me. I froze like a mouse being stalked by a cat. Did she suspect that it was me who watched her last night?
"Now what?," she asked in a voiceless whisper.
Chapter 16
Jake sent Jen out into the hall way, < Hide behind the door. Do not let them see you, > he warned.
She left, then he turned to me and said, < Marco, smash these lights when I tell you. After that run past the Hork- Bajir into the hall. Watch after Jen. >
I just nodded my head. Jake led all of the others into the meeting room and slowly out of the open window. I locked the door behind them.
"Why do I volunteer for these suicide missions?" I asked myself. But I knew why.
My ears heard a faint, < All right Marco, now! >
I threw the chair that was behind the desk as hard as I could. The chair slammed into the flourescent light source and stuck. As the chair succumb to gravity a huge crash was followed by absolute darkness. A light tinkling sound of the glass falling was followed by the whomping of running Hork-Bajir. The door blew open and the hallway lights reached into the room, trying to swipe away the absolute darkness that shrouded me. I ducked deeper into the darkness, using it as a shield. The Hork-Bajir crept forward. The light source was constantly blocked out as one Hork-Bajir followed the next into the room. In the end I counted five. Five Hork-Bajir against me. I don't think so.
"Fan-out. Galash fee shrewer," one Hork-Bajir said in their mixed language.
My heart was pounding like a sledge hammer. Did they hear it trying to escape out of my chest? I made a few pointless gasps, and bolted for the door. My legs had cramped while I was sitting, and I lurched forward. I brushed past a Hork-Bajir, but he didn't whip his head around fast enough to witness me. I dashed through the door and emerged into the hall. Jen pulled herself out from behind the door.
"Marco? What . . ." She asked genuinely surprised. I cupped my hand over her mouth. Her eyes narrowed and I made a show of closing a door slowly with my hands.
With one hand Jen slammed it closed. I wanted to smack my forehead.
"Great," I said sarcastically, "now run."
I grabbed her hand, and pulled her down the corridor from where we came. We ran, turning a corner away from the Hork-Bajir, but I could hear them behind us. Our feet pounded and echoed down the corridor. Jenny suddenly froze, then she turned with one foot, and spun me into an alcove in the wall.She then dove in with me. We pushed back from the light and into each other.
The alcove was one of those four feet high indents in the wall that pressed back about six feet. My heart was beating a million miles a second and I don't think that it was from the near death experience running behind me.
Hork-Bajir feet ran past us without ever slowing down. We both heard the light clopping of hooves scraping against tile. My next breath froze in my lungs. Our eyes met. No matter how hard you try, you can never look cool for a girl when you are so scared, you want to wet yourself. I had no idea what to do. Sure, fooling stupid Hork-Bajir was easy. Jen latched onto my hand and pulled me quickly into an empty room before Visser Three could see us. We morphed to birds and flew out the open window to find the others.
Chapter 17
"My name is Jennifer. Just Jennifer, not Jenny. I," she rung her hands around air, "I . . .uh . . . met an Andalite. His name was Asitle, and he had to be the most arrogant alien I have ever met."
Ax stared at her with new interest at the mention of the Andalites name. We were all in the woods. Jake had Jen demorph, while the rest of us stayed in the trees except for Ax. It didn't really matter if he was a bird or not. Jen actually got to watch Ax demorph.
"Asitle told me about the Yeerks, and I harbored him. While I scouted the Yeerk pool in our area, Asitle got morphs. It wasn't easy, but I was able to sneak him into our local zoo. But," her voice wavered, and tears started to well up in her eyes, "on our first mission, he was captured. I . . . Visser Three killed him, while I watched. I was safe and secure on top of the roof while Visser Three just killed him. His eyes, pleading with me to," she started belittling herself, but as soon as she started she shook her head and restarted, "I ran home, and there, the . . . the Ellimist he, uh . . . he gave me the ability to morph."
Everyone gaped at her. She started to fidget from the quiet. We all had the same question running through our minds, Why would the Ellimist give her the power to morph? He, they sort of had this thing with not interfering. Yet he does it all the time. Rachel couldn't stay silent for long, < She has got to be lying. The Ellimist would never do that, > she said the last part out loud.
"But he did. I . . . he said that Asitle wasn't supposed to live, that he was supposed to give me the power to morph," she protested.
< Yeah right, > Rachel snorted.
"Why are you the leader of the inquisition?" Jen asked, shooting lethal glances at each of us looking for Rachel.
< We need to get a grip on this problem. Perhaps you should go home Jennifer. We will deal with this problem later, > Jake said to everyone.
"Who are you going to send to watch me? I know that you all don't trust me, and frankly, I don't trust you Andalites either. It would make more sense to send at least the one human that I know about," she said, breaking Jake's cool composure.
< Yes, Marco will go with you., > he said, clearly shaken from Jen's perceptive observation.
"Fine." she said in response.
Jake said to me quietly, < Marco, do not trust her. This is not over yet. >