Chapter 2
"Hurry! They're catching up with us!" Marco screamed.
"We have to morph!" Jake yelled. "Everyone, battle morphs pronto!"
Rachel morphed to grizzly bear, Marco to gorilla, Jake to tiger, and me to wolf. Tobias and Ax didn't morph.
The group of Controllers ran to surround us.
Jake held my hand and smiled. "Come on, let's go."
"How could you tell?" Jake screamed angrily.
Jake. Jake. Jake. Jake. Jake. Jake. Where are you?
"Ah!" I gasped, sitting up in my bed. It had all been a dream. Why had I dreamed about this? I hadn't dreamed about the other Animorphs in so long, so why today? I took a deep breath. I felt a hollow space in my heart, a piece that was missing. I shook that devastating feeling of dread away. I wondered why I'd dreamt about Jake so much. Was it because of the earlier incident? Yeah, I told myself, that's probably why. I remembered all the flashbacks I'd dreamt about. "I miss you," I silently said, looking out my window at the stars shining brightly in the sky, "I miss you all."
Then I went back to sleep. I dreamt about my mom this time. The claw marks on her shirt. The claw marks! Was it that tiger again? What if it wasn't just some ordinary tiger? I thought I'd heard the Breaking News say that the tiger was still on the lose, so why did it choose my house to attack? What if it wasn't over? What if the war wasn't over?
Cold sweat poured down my forehead. I woke up by the feel of my own tears. I wiped them away and trembled. I crawled out of bed and into my restroom. I washed up and went downstairs. Where was my dad?
I ate some cereal. Then I decided to stop by at Ronnie's. I got into my car and drove to Ronnie's house. I knocked on the door. Ronnie's father opened the door.
"Is Ronnie available?" I asked.
"He's not available. I'm sorry," Ronnie father said. Then he slammed the door in my face.
I sighed and drove back home. My father still wasn't home. Where could he be? I wondered. "Dad?" I called. No reply. As I walked into the living room, I found my father lying on the floor, a puddle of blood surrounding him. I screamed, "NOOOOOOO!!!" I saw that leading up to another broken window were animal paw prints of blood. The tiger! It had come back!
"Dad!" I screamed. I bent down and put my hand on his bloody cheek. Then I kissed his forehead. He was dead. I called the ambulance once again and they told me the same news they'd told me the other night. Now I was an orphan.
Late at night, I was so sad and angry at the same time. I began talking to myself, "First my friends, now my parents! How can this happen to me? I've lost everyone I've ever cared about! Why! Why!" I told myself to get a grip. What's done is done. No one can change the past. Except the Ellimist. "Ellimist! Please! I need you!" I screamed. "I need you! Please! Please!" Nothing except the soft echoes of wind outside my windows. I saw traces of blood in the living room. I didn't want to clean it because it was all I had left of my mom and dad, as strange as that seemed.
"Oh, why did you choose me? Out of all people to be the Animorphs, why me? Now I've lost everyone!" Tears streamed down my cheeks. "I've lost everyone!" I repeated.
I sobbed all night. I sobbed until there were no more tears left in me. What was I living for? Who was I living for? I had no one.
The next morning, the phone rang. I hadn't slept all night. Tears still stained my cheeks as I picked up the phone. It was Ronnie.
"Hey Cass, sorry about your parents," Ronnie said.
"How do you know?" I asked with a sniff.
"Because your Cassie. They put your parents' tragic death all over the news. We all grieve dearly for you. I'm sorry," he said.
It felt good to be talking to him. Maybe I did have someone. Ronnie. I fake chuckled, it came out sounding more like a raspy croak.
"Are you feeling alright?" Ronnie asked.
"I'm okay," I said although that was the opposite of what I felt. I was depressed, mesmerized, devastated.
"Maybe you need some time alone," Ronnie said, "I'll see you soon. Bye."
I hung up. I wiped the tears away from my eyes. I needed some fresh air, I thought. I grabbed my keys and stepped out my house. I walked through my neighborhood until I was at the very end. Suddenly, I heard a snarl behind me. I spun around. There was the tiger!
"Who are you?" I asked.
(You know who I am) came a voice. It was male, but I couldn't make out whose voice it was. It seemed familiar. Was it Visser Three? No, couldn't be. I had seen him die. Could it have been a Yeerk? But then how would I know him? Could it be Jake? No…it couldn't be Jake. Not Jake. He was…he was dead, or was he?
"Who are you?" I repeated.
The tiger didn't answer. Instead it charged. I morphed with significant speed into a gray wolf. Then I charged at the tiger. I wanted to kill him. He had killed both my parents. He was going to pay. I ripped at the tiger's flesh, I stuck my fangs into his sinew. I tore at his face with my claws. Finally, he law crippled on the ground. (You're gonna pay for what you did!) I screamed in thought-speak. (You're gonna pay!)
The tiger fell to the ground and whimpered. Just as I turned my back, he charged again, pinning me to the ground. Then with his sharp claws, he clawed at my face and ripped a piece of skin off my cheek. I snarled in pain. Then I charged and bit the tiger in the neck as hard as I could. Then the tiger began to change.
I released my grip almost instantly. I couldn't help myself from letting go. I demorphed. "It can't be you! It can't be you!" I screamed, half from amazement and half from sorrow.
"Cass, it's me," Jake said. Jake!
Something about him didn't seem right. He wasn't Jake. He couldn't be Jake. Why would Jake kill my parents? Questions burned inside me.
