It's been a while, college is busy.
Hope everyone likes my new stuff.
Marco
We were in the barn.
Another perfect Saturday wasted by the Yeerks.
Earlier, like when I was still sleeping, my telephone range. It was Erek the Chee, and he sounded worried. Fifteen minutes later I was scribbling a note to my dad about having to be at Jakes house and running out the door. I actually rode my bike to Jake's knowing that it would help me release some tension and slow my racing mind.
This was not good. Jake agreed.
And that is why I am sitting on a hay bale at nine thirty on a Saturday morning instead of sleeping in till noon then getting up and eating cold pizza from two nights ago.
"Marco?" I had zoned out but at the sound of my name I looked at Jake.
"It's okay Marco; we all know you have the attention span and the mentality of a goldfish." Rachel looked smug and amazingly awake.
Prince Jake, What does the attention span of a goldfish have to do with Marco?
"Don't call me Prince. And they only have 22 second attention spans." Jake rolled his eyes, Ax clearly didn't understand. "Anyways we have a problem." He motioned to me.
Personally I think we always have a problem.
"Yeah, according to Erek the Visser has an assassin looking for us. Except this guy isn't a Yeerk, according to Erek's sources nobody seems to know who this guy is. Even real Yeerks don't know who this guy is. And apparently even the Visser can't control him."
I stopped for a moment to let this news sink in.
"That could work to our advantage though," Cassie finally spoke up. She if any of this understands people on that deeper level. "If the Visser can't control him that doesn't necessarily make him loyal does it?"
Sometimes I love Cassie. I smiled.
"Strangely enough, Erek said the same thing. He said the Visser doesn't trust this guy, he won't even come to Earth. He's been transporting his important officers to the blade ship for meetings. I think the Visser is afraid."
He may be a useful ally, then again if he is an assassin. I couldn't help but notice the sneer in Ax's voice.
"If the Visser is afraid we need to attack him now." Rachel of course. "His guard may be up but if he's expecting an attack from one side and he get's it from the other."
Cassie
I looked over at Tobias, he was in human morph stretched out on a hay bales. Silently watching Rachel go on about how we needed to attack.
I smiled. Tobias is not a morning person.
I looked over to Jake. I could already see he had a plan. He and Marco get this gleam in their eyes, almost a glow. He looked over at Rachel silently pleading for me to shut her up.
"Rachel, before we can attack the Visser we need to make sure we aren't going to get attacked ourselves."
She seemed to take this into consideration giving Jake the opening he needed.
"She's right. What we need to do is go public, draw as much attention to ourselves and let this assassin find us. That was we can decide where and how our first meeting takes place."
Silence, I finally noticed it. The others were arguing but I swear I heard something, then everything got quiet again.
"Did you guys hear that?"
Everyone looked at me. I think I heard something and I know it's not my parents. They went out of town today because it's their anniversary.
"We didn't hear anything," Marco shrugged then went back to arguing.
The nagging feeling wouldn't go away.
I felt strange, as if I was watching this whole scent from another person's eyes. I saw myself mucking a stall and Jake casually leaning against a cage. I watched Tobias lay stretched out on hay and Ax eating the box of candy my dad had hid in here for my mom but forgotten. And as if in a strange dance I watched Marco and Rachel argue.
I was back in the construction site. That night, the Andalite prince… His voice in my head…Cassie…
I dropped the pitchfork.
"Guys we're not alone." My dad once told me that the ticklish feeling of hair standing up on the back of your neck was nature's way of telling you get as far away from where ever you are as quickly as possible. Now they saw my tension and finally they felt it too.
Ax and Tobias began demorphing as fast as they could. Not fast enough.
Jake
"Guys we're not alone."
I turned just in time to see the silhouette in the doorway, a silhouette holding a Dracon beam.
Ax and Tobias were vulnerable in mid-morph, the rest of us were our human selves. I felt like a fool. He raised the Dracon beam, but did not speak. He motioned me to move over with the others. Cautiously I did, never letting my back be turned to him. He watched in almost fascination as Tobias and Ax finished demorphing.
Finally he moved into the light.
Sorry for the cliffy, have to get to class.