CHAPTER 1
JAKE
November 21, 2007
"That was a pretty good movie I guess, for those of us who watched it" Marco commented as we drove back to the campus. "Do you know which one we saw?"
"Um, what?" I asked, not paying attention. Cassie reached up around the seat, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed the top of my head. Her ring scratched my chin. Her engagement ring. I felt all warm inside when I thought of how I had proposed to her this morning, and how she had said yes to me. Marco looked over at me from the driver's seat of his new convertible.
"Oh gosh, Jake. You're getting that dreamy look in your eyes again." I smiled and rubbed Cassie's arm with my head. "Are you guys going to get all mushy on me? I might have to drop you off on the side of the road."
"Would that really be such a bad thing?" Cassie asked with a laugh. Marco turned into the parking lot for our dorm.
Maybe I should back up a little. Me, Cassie, and Marco are all animorphs. Or were, anyway, before the Andalites came to Earth. You probably already know that though. Most people have heard of us. We got a lot of medals and awards for defeating the yeerk invasion on earth. We met a lot of famous people and andalites, and got some pretty big cash awards. As far as we knew, all the yeerks were gone. Now we were free to go on living life, go to college, get married, get a job.
"I almost forgot to tell you. Rachel called me last night and said she and Tobias are going to fly over and visit us over Christmas break." I nodded. Rachel and Tobias, who had been engaged for a few months, were going to college in Chicago. They visited us a lot though, and we visit them too.
You might wonder how Tobias is going to college. When the andalites came to Earth, after we defeated the yeerks, the scientists made it able so Tobias could be human again, and still be able to morph to hawk, which he liked to do a lot.
"Come on dudes, outta the car. I gotta go park." Marco urged.
"Alright see you tomorrow Marco." I said. Cassie said bye and we walked up to our floor.
When we got to my room, we walked inside. I sat down on my bed, and Cassie sat beside me.
"So," I said.
"So," Cassie agreed. She leaned over onto my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around her. "Today is the first day of the rest of our life." She looked up at me and stared into my eyes. I've always believed that Cassie could see right into a person's soul if she wanted to. I opened it up for her. She reached up to my face and pushed a stray strand of hair back behind my ear. My heart began to beat faster. She put her hand on my chest and smiled a gentle smile. She mouthed "I love you", and I reached down and kissed her openmouthed.
We both jumped when the phone rang. I sighed and got up to answer it.
"Jake." Pause.
"Yeah?"
"Are you alone?"
"Who is this?"
"A…friend."
"Who the hell are you?"
"You don't know me. But I know you. My name is Illimis 227."
"I'm sure that's your name." I scoffed, but I could feel my heart beating faster again.
Cassie got up and put her hand on my shoulder.
"Be assured, that is my name. I am one of the few yeerks left on Earth. I'm not very happy that you killed my whole race, but we are still here looking for revenge. The only way that we have lived is because we are intellectually smarter than the other yeerks that survived. We have made an equivalent to Kandrona Rays, and also a toy that I've been wanting to try out."
I was breathing hard by that time, and Cassie looked up at me concerned.
"What, you're speechless? That's ok, I guess. I'm so happy that I finally located one of you! I've been looking for a long time. Would you like to know what my new toy does?"
"What?" I croaked.
"I'll give you a demonstration." Before I could do anything, I heard a very highpitched beep that made my ear ring and felt a shock go up the phone. I dropped the phone and collapsed on the floor. The last thing I heard was an evil laugh.
Chapter 2
CASSIE
The phone rang and we jumped a little. I felt a little sad. Jake and I were in a very close mood. Jake stood up and picked up the phone.
"Hello?…Yeah…Who is this?…Who the hell are you?…I'm sure that's your name. " Long pause. I got up and went over to him. I could see his face drop and he said 'what?' I saw a spasm of pain go across his face. Then he collapsed.
"Jake! Oh my god, Jake, what's wrong!?" I put my hand on his chest and could feel his heart beating very quickly, like he'd just run a mile. "Help!" I screamed. "Someone!" I picked up the phone and dialed Marco's number.
"Hello?" Marco answered. I could hear a loud tv in the background.
"Marco!"
"Hey Cassie, what's up? I figured you and Jake might be busy ton…"
"It's Jake! Something happened. The phone…get over here!"
Marco's voice turned serious. "I'm on my way." I hung up the phone and sat down beside Jake and stroked his head. I felt his heart again. It was slightly slower.
"It's ok Jake. Everything's ok." I kept saying over and over, to comfort me really.
I heard keys rattle in the doorknob and Marco rushed in. He slid onto the floor.
"What happened?" he asked, checking over Jake.
"I don't know! He answered the phone and obviously didn't recognize who it was. Then they said something and he said 'what?' or something and then he collapsed! I have no idea what happened.
"It's going to be alright,ok? I'll call 911." He held my chin and wiped the tears that were rolling down my face. "He's going to be alright." I nodded quickly and Marco went over to the phone and called, then came back to me. "They'll be here in a second." I nodded again and began stroking Jake's head again, to comfort both of us. It surprised me when Jake moved his head, and opened his mouth. He left it open.
"Hmmmm," Marco said. "What's up with that?"
I shrugged.
Chapter 3
MARCO
Everything after that happened quickly. The ambulance came and whisked Jake away. Cassie rode with him. I followed them to the hospital in my car. When we got to the hospital, the doctor came in to look at Jake. Cassie and I sat in the waiting room,scared to death. A nurse finally came and told us we could go see him in his room. The doctor was in there.
"It looks like Jake passed out from shock."
"Shock!" Cassie cried.
"Yes, but something must have scared him pretty badly."
"He's going to be ok?" I said, more of a command than a question.
"Yes, he'll be ok. But he'll need to rest for a few days, and he's certainly not going anywhere until we can be assured that he's ok." As if on cue, we heard a whimper sound coming from Jake. We walked over around his bed. He started breathing in short, fast breaths. His eyes fluttered, and he moved his head around.
"Jake, come on man, wake up!" I urged. Cassie took his hand in hers and waited. We all stood there and watched him. Finally he opened his eyes, looked at me, and yelled. Loudly. He looked to Cassie and then to the doctor and his eyes widened and he yelled again. He desperately scrambled around on the bed but quickly got out of breath and laid there, very still, and panted.
Cassie squeezed his hand, and I saw her frown when he pulled it away. We both gave the doctor a questioning look, who shrugged.
"It has happened when the person was scared so bad that they have gone crazy, or are extremely paranoid. Unfortunately, the same thing could have happened to Jake."
"No!" Cassie yelped. She took hold of Jake's hand again and stroked his forehead with the other hand. He reached his hand up to his head and put it on Cassie's.
"Cass?" he asked groggily. She smiled happily and nodded.
Chapter 4
JAKE
I dropped the phone and collapsed on the floor of my dorm. everything blacked out for a few seconds. Suddenly I opened my eyes and everything was in bright colors. I blinked and shielded my face with my hand.
"Don't be scared, little Jake." I jumped up. I heard the voice. It echoed over and over again. I heard it in my head. It made my head throb with pain.
"Argh, stop it!" I rolled on the floor. Suddenly I was enveloped in darkness. I saw bright yellow eyes gleam in the black. A tiger jumped onto me and leaped over. Then I saw a slug, a yeerk, 10 times it's regular size. It opened up a mouth and swallowed me. I fell for what seemed like forever. Then I saw Cassie.
She smiled, somewhat evilly, and began to walk away.
"Cassie, wait! Come back! I ran after her, but she always stayed the same distance away.
"Noooooooooo! Come back." I yelled weakly. I turned away and saw Marco. He smiled at me evilly, just like Cassie had. Then he began to walk towards me.
"Thank you! Marco, thank you!" He just kept smiling and reached into his jeans pocket. He brought out a knife and held it up above my head. I slunk down and whimpered. I opened my eyes and saw Marco looking down at me. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Then I looked over and saw Cassie above me. She squeezed my hand and I yanked it away. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" I saw a stranger and yelled again. Then Cassie reached up and stroked my head. The familiar touch made me calm down a little. I reached up and touched her hand. "Cass?" I asked. She nodded. "Where am I? Where WAS I?"
"You're at the hospital, dude." Marco said. "Where you were before, I dunno."
"What happened to me? The last thing I remember is coming home from the movie in the car."
"You…you passed out from shock when we got back to your room. We were sitting on the bed and the phone rang. You answered it and talked and then passed out. Don't you remember anything?" Cassie told me.
"No, nothing." I said. I looked over at the doctor. "I'm cool now, can I go home?" He looked wary.
"Are you sure you're ok?"
"I'm positive, I feel great."
"I suppose. As long as if you start feeling bad, you call us back."
"Agreed." I said.
Chapter 5
CASSIE
Marco drove us home. Jake laid down on my lap in the back and everybody was silent. When we arrived, Jake got out of the car and started walking towards the building. I turned to Marco.
"Someone called that scared Jake. It takes a lot to scare him. Who could it be?"
"You're thinking the same thing I am, I know. A yeerk. Still alive and happy. Or maybe not happy, just alive. If it was, we've gotta be careful. They can't start spreading again." I nodded and got out of the car. I jogged to catch up with Jake and put my arm around his waist. We got to his room and stopped outside the door.
"Will you stay with me tonight? I'd feel a lot safer," he asked me. I looked at his face and saw fear in his eyes. He was truly scared.
"Yeah, sure." I responded.
"Thank you," he said softly. He leaned down and kissed me french style. He slowly lifted his head and looked at me, then opened the door to his room and went inside. I followed him. He went into the bathroom and came out a few minutes later in a white t shirt and boxers.
"You don't have any clothes, sorry," he told me.
"That's ok." I took off my jacket and shoes and laid them over a chair. Then I followed them to his bed. He was already nestled under the blanket, asleep.
"Poor baby," I whispered. I started to go to the couch, but he turned over and stopped me.
"You can sleep on the bed if you want. It's ok." I nodded and climbed in beside him. He turned back over and within a minute I could hear his in and out breathing.