Rachel met Cassie in the barn. Rachel looked around, and realized that no one else had come. "Why'd you call me here?" Rachel asked to Cassie's back. Cassie was attending a squirrel. Her back was heaving in what looked like laughter. But Rachel heard choking noises coming from her. Cassie was sobbing.
"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, putting her hand on the back of her best friend.
Cassie looked up at Rachel, her face tearstained. "I know how to end it all. Forever. To kill each and every Yeerk. Genocide. But are our lives really more important than theirs?"
The others arrived after that, and Cassie explained her plan, sobbing at the same time. It was dangerous, but if they did it right, there would be no more Yeerks left in the universe.
Chapter 2
2015
Jake stood in the shower, letting the warm water run over his body. It trickled over his eyes, dripped into his ears, and made him feel so good.
Jake heard a door close. His relaxed mind did not notice at first, realize what it meant. But then it hit him. "Damn!" Jake said, and threw back the shower curtain, sending a spray of water all over the hotel bathroom. Jake stepped out onto the tile floor, slipping, but he regained his grip. Jake grabbed a towel and threw it over his now shivering, cold wet body.
He looked out into the room. Tobias was not sitting on the bed as he was when Jake began his shower. He was gone. And so were the rental car keys.
Jake pulled on clothes as fast as he could, his hair still dripping water. Tobias couldn't drive! He didn't have a license! "I hope his doesn't get into any trouble before I get there." Jake said to himself.
***
Jake demorphed, the dampness gone from his hair. Jake KNEW coming back to their old town would be a bad idea. But Tobias had wanted to.
Actually, Tobias didn't say he wanted to come back. Tobias hadn't spoke a word in 14 years, since the others had died.
14 years ago, Cassie told them all of a plan she had to get rid of the Yeerks for good. And it had worked. There were no more living Yeerks in the universe, unless you counted the Iskoort. But in that battle, they had paid a terrible price.
The other four Animorphs had died.
Sometimes, in his dreams, Jake heard their voices, experienced that final battle. He often wondered if that was what went through Tobias' head everyday, if that's the only thing his eyes could see.
When the others had died, Tobias had been flung into madness. He didn't speak, slept little, his eyes were always unfocused. Tobias had trapped himself.
Jake looked through Tobias' family history, and knew that it was destined for Tobias to go crazy. His great-grandfather returned from World War II silent, never saying a word, after some of his friends were killed. He died seven days after returning home of grief. Tobias' grandfather returned home from Vietnam silent as well, not eating, and starved himself to death when his daughter, Tobias' mother, was missing for a week. Tobias' mother went missing when her husband died, and was admitted into a mental hospital five years later after being hit by a car. She was still alive. It was only fitting that after Tobias lost all his friends but one in a horrible battle insanity would take its grip on him, too.
Jake couldn't put Tobias in an institution. It was too cruel. There was nothing that could be done for him, no pills to take, no therapy. Tobias was simply sad, reliving a horrible battle day after day.
So Jake took care of him. Yes, it made it real easy to pick up girls. "Yeah, wanna come back to my place? My crazy friend's there." But it wasn't too bad. Jake hadn't really wanted anyone after Cassie died.
They moved away from their old town, to a smaller, quieter one on the coast of one of the Great Lakes, where no one knew Jake as Jake the Animorph, but Jake, the quiet man who gave up everything to care for his sick friend.
But Jake could feel Tobias' longing to go back to their home town. So they did. Jake usually didn't have to worry about Tobias wandering out, and even when he did, Tobias was safe. Everyone knew him, and someone would come and get Jake to take Tobias home.
But here? Tobias could get lost, or worse yet, hit by a car.
But Jake thought he knew where Tobias would be.
Chapter 3
Jake was in the forest. There were much fewer trees than there was in his childhood; much of the forest had been cut down. Right on the spot of Ax's old scoop was an elementary school. And that's where Jake went.
Actually, the school wasn't on Ax's scoop, a playground was. School hadn't let out yet, so there were many kids there.
The only part of Ax's scoop that hadn't been paved over was Tobias' tree, which was on the very northern most tip, and had narrowly avoided being cut down. The concrete ran right up to the base of the tree.
The tree's life was now a mockery, where it had once stood strong and proud, it was now withering, like Tobias himself.
The branches above the rough black surface had been cut off, so no leaves would fall. Half the tree's roots were covered by concrete, so it bent, looking like a feeble old man in need of a cane.
Tobias was sitting at the base of the tree, just like Jake had predicted. He was leaning against it, and a young boy, of no more than 6 was watching him. The boy walked over to Tobias.
Before Jake or any of the boys teachers could reach him, the boy was sitting next to Tobias. "Hi," The boy said, looking at Tobias, his eyes full of youthful innocence. But his voice was thick and slurred. The boy was mentally retarded.
Tobias didn't look like he noticed.
"I said Hi, mister," The boy said louder.
Tobias didn't answer. The boy picked up a shovel and hit Tobias over the head. "I SAID HI!!!" He screamed, shrieking at Tobias.
Tobias did something he hadn't done in fourteen years. He turned his head to look at the boy. "Hello," Tobias said softly, his voice unaccustomed to being used.
Jake reached the boy's teachers. "I'm so sorry," One said. "See John, he has some mental problems, and when people don't talk to him he-" Jake held up his hand to silence her. He was watching the pair intently.
The boy reached down to hug Tobias. Tobias lifted his arm and put it around the young child, tears running down his cheeks.
Jake felt himself crying, too, over the innocence of the boy and how he touched Tobias. In a way, he touched Jake too.
Jake was glad they came.