A/N: Hi everyone! I know this chapter's been a while coming, but it is a long one so that might make up for it. Please let me know what you think of it!

A big thank you to Sinister Shadow for her help with this chapter.

And thank you also to Quillian, Animorphgirl, Ember Nickel, voodooqueen126, Edriss and Cherrycoatedcandy for their reviews for last chapter! (I am hoping that the list of reviewers will soon become too long to include in full here!)

(A Quick thanks to Ember again for letting me know the thought speak signs weren't showing up, hopefully this is fixed now!)

Now that's done, enjoy the chapter!

They all looked at me.

"I don't know," I admitted. "The Ellimist just left me there. I've no clue how I can get Kandrona or anything."

They all looked worried, but not half as worried as I felt. Cassie tried to comfort me.

"Don't worry. If we don't find a way to get you Kandrona you can always take another nothlit morph: you won't have to die," she said gently.

"I'm sure that's not what's meant to happen, or I might as well have stayed as a whale," I replied. "We have to think of something."

Everyone was silent for a little while, thinking it over. Then Rachel suddenly spoke up, making me jump a little.

"I know! We know the Yeerks have one-use portable Kandronas…"

"They are in guarded storerooms in the Yeerk pool. Are you saying you want to go down to the Yeerk pool every three days to steal one? It's hardly a long term solution," I interrupted.

She thought for a minute. "We could manage it. Maybe. Or the peace movement could do it…"

"What?!" I exclaimed. "I'd rather starve! I'd never put them through that much trouble, and anyway it would never work. I'm sure even Visser Three, stupid as he is, would figure out that he needed to put the Kandronas under heavier guard if they succeeded in stealing some. It just wouldn't work, and it's far too risky to do that just for me. I'm not that important."

"At least it was an idea," Rachel snapped back. "What have you thought of?"

"Let's not argue," Cassie said. "It won't help."

"What about the Chee?" Marco said suddenly.

I looked at him, puzzled. "What about them?" I looked around, and everyone was looking equally confused.

"Do you remember when we first met Erek? The first time we visited him, he showed us that Yeerk he had in his head? He could make Kandrona rays to keep it alive…"

"He has a Yeerk trapped in his head?!" I exclaimed, shocked.

"To convince them he's a full member of the Sharing," Marco explained.

"And I thought I liked the Chee," I muttered.

Cassie sighed. "You'd better like them, because they're the only people that can get you Kandrona."

That was a good point. I was silent, as was everyone else for a time.

"So, what now?" Cassie asked me.

I didn't need to think for long. "I need to see Illim."

"Okay…" Cassie said. "Should I come with you?"

"I suppose so. You could help me explain… if you want to, that is."

Cassie glanced at Jake. He nodded.

"Yeah, you'd better go. We'll carry on with this when you get back… don't be too long."

We set off together. "You should have got a bird morph before we left," Cassie commented, after we'd been walking for about ten minutes.

"Good point. Still, a bit late for that now."

"It's not far before we can catch the bus into town," she assured me.

I smiled. "I know. I didn't forget what I learned from your memories: not after getting lost around here once."

She laughed. "Yes, I suppose you do know."

It wasn't too long before we were ringing the bell at the door of Mr Tidwell's house.

"Actually, we really should have thought of a less obvious way of doing this," I commented worriedly, looking around nervously.

Cassie shook her head. "If people saw us sneaking around like thieves, then they'd be suspicious. No-one will take any notice if we ring the bell like anyone else."

"I suppose you're right," I replied, still a little worried.

Illim pulled the door open before we could say anything else. He looked a little surprised. Well, that's quite an understatement. More like shocked and very worried.

"What are you here for?!" He hissed to Cassie.

"I'll tell you inside," she replied.

He stood back to allow us to pass him into the house.

As soon as he'd shut the door, he whipped around to face Cassie. "What is it?" He asked anxiously.

"It's nothing bad," she hastened to reassure him. "It's Aftran. She's back." She indicated me.

Illim's eyes flew to me. "Aftran?" He asked hesitantly. "Is that really you?"

I nodded. Before I knew what was happening, he had grabbed me and hugged me.

"I… I thought you were dead," he said, his eyes damply glistening.

"No…" I looked at Cassie. "Didn't you tell him what you decided with the morphing cube?"

"I thought I had," she said slowly. "I had a lot to think about. I didn't think…"

"You didn't think I'd care," Illim finished for her.

She blushed. "Well no… I mean, that's not quite… I didn't think that…"

"It's okay," he said. "You can't be expected to remember everything with the life you lead." He looked back at me.

"I suppose we have a lot to catch up on," I said.

He nodded, and beckoned us through into the living room. There were sheets of paper all over the table, covered in messy handwriting and Tidwell's red pen.

"Sorry about the mess," Illim glanced at Cassie. "And tell Marco that, yes, I am able to tell he did this," he paused to hold up a short, messy piece of writing, containing more red than blue writing, "on the bus."

I laughed. "He does lead a busy life trying to free the human race," I pointed out.

Illim smiled at me and waved a hand at the sofa. I sat down.

"Should I go?" Cassie asked uncomfortably.

"Only if you want to," I said.

"It's just, I'd better get back to the meeting…"

"Yes, you should. I'll see you later."

Once Cassie had left, Illim sat down opposite me. "What happened to you?" He asked me.

I told him everything from the moment Cassie had taken me out of the Yeerk pool until the moment I'd arrived at his door, as briefly as I could. I was more interested in finding out what had happened to the peace movement in my absence.

"What's happened with the movement?" I asked, barely stopping to take breath after finishing my explanation.

Illim smiled. "We've increased amazingly in numbers. Especially since Visser Three was promoted…"

"Wait… Visser Three was promoted?"

He looked surprised. "Cassie didn't tell you? Yes, he was. Visser One- the former Visser One- was put on trial for treason, and found guilty. From what I heard of it, they gave her a chance to buy her freedom by winning the Anati system. And she failed."

"Kandrona starvation?" I asked slowly.

He nodded.

I shivered involuntarily. I'd by no means liked Visser One, but I'd almost faced Kandrona starvation myself. "Visser Three's now Visser One? What happened to Marco's mother?" I asked anxiously.

"Oh, she's safe. They rescued her. I assume Cassie's told you Visser Three suspects they're human?"

I nodded. "Well, if he didn't after that then he's more of a fool than I thought he was, which is saying something. No Andalite would bother saving a condemned Yeerk's host, unless it was an Andalite. I guess it's lucky for us… Visser One was ten times the leader Visser Three is."

He nodded. "You're not alone in that opinion. And the way he's been behaving since… a botched attempt to start World War Three… many Yeerks killed that day… well, people aren't happy. They're fed up of war."

I smiled. "How many?"

"We number almost a thousand Yeerks, now."

"A thousand!" I gasped.

"Only an approximation, of course. Not all of them are formal members."

"Are many of them hosted?"

"I'm not sure. I know for certain we have almost two hundred hosted members… probably more."

"When I… left… we had only a hundred in total!" I was ecstatic. "And almost none hosted…"

"That's down to the hosts. We have very few that choose freedom over helping us to fight now, when they end up with a peace movement Yeerk." He paused, then grinned. "Now we just need a figurehead. And it looks like we have her."

"I'm not that famous…"

"You'd be surprised, Aftran."

I was silent for a minute, letting this sink in.

"The only problem is, there's now a lot of groups opposing the Visser, but they're not united. But it's so risky to unite them…"

I nodded. "Yes. But I think that might almost take care of itself."

"It might." He was quiet, watching me. "I missed you," he said quietly.

I felt tears begin to form, and blinked them back. "I missed you too," I whispered back.

I think I might have kissed him, if he'd been in a morph like me. But it would be unfair on Tidwell to do something like that, not to mention odd, so I didn't.

Despite what the Andalites say, Yeerks do love. Not in the same way as humans, Andalites and Hork-Bajir, of course. But nevertheless, we do. Yeerk love is usually bigamous: as we reproduce in threes, usually a female is in love with two males, or a male with two females. It's difficult to explain. It was also the case with me. However, I hadn't seen my other mate, Innis 551, for a long time. I'd asked them both to join the movement back when it started, but Innis, whilst secretly sharing the same ideas, was too afraid of the Empire to go against it. He promised not to betray me to the Visser, but that was as much as he would do. I'd been frustrated and hurt at first, thinking he was being a coward, but then I understood just how much I was asking of him. Maybe he didn't believe strongly enough to risk all that.

Illim's voice jerked me out of my thoughts. "Aftran? What do you want us to do?"

I looked at him, puzzled. "I don't know nearly enough about the situation," I said carefully. "I suppose we should keep trying to build up more support…"

"And then?"

"Then… I suppose we fight. But we don't have anywhere near enough Yeerks on our side yet."

He nodded. "I thought you'd say that. It's what I thought, too."

"Whoever's leading now is doing fine, anyway. You don't need me."

He shook his head. "We do. I think that's what the Ellimist brought you back for."

"Maybe," I said uncertainly.

"You'd better get back to the Animorphs. I suppose you'll need to be acquiring DNA or something," he said regretfully.

I nodded. "I'll see you again soon," I promised him.

I left, and it wasn't too long before I arrived back at the barn. Cassie was the only one there now, changing a deer's bandage. I smiled at her.

"Hey," she said. She finished tying the bandage and came out to meet me. "Listen," she began. "I didn't mean not to tell Illim…"

"It's okay," I said hastily. "He doesn't mind, and I don't mind."

"Are you…" she began, and then changed her mind about whatever she had been going to say. "I suppose you need to acquire some morphs."

I nodded.

"Right, well, if you get some of these for a start," she said, gesturing around the barn. "I don't know if we can risk going to the Gardens, but we have a wolf here, that should serve as a battle morph for a while. It always worked for me."

I nodded, perhaps a little icily. I couldn't help remembering what Cassie's wolf morph had done to my brother. It had happened a long time ago, but you don't forget the death of one of the people you care most about easily. I'd long since forgiven Cassie, though, and anyway it was pointless to say anything, so I kept quiet.

After a pause, Cassie spoke again. "Right, well, try this." She drew a hawk of some kind out of a cage and held it out to me.

"I have to acquire in my natural form," I reminded her.

"Oh. Yeah."

"You'll have to pick me up and hold me against the bird. Be careful."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I'll be careful."

I demorphed, and acquired the hawk and wolf morphs. Then I morphed back: I was getting really tired of morphing and demorphing time and time again.

Almost as though she'd read my mind, Cassie said: "You can stay in me, you know. You don't have to keep doing that."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

She nodded. "Of course."

"Well, I may as well wait until I have to demorph again. I don't feel like doing it now."

"So, what did Illim have to say?" Cassie said with a slight grin on her face as she picked up a brush and started sweeping the barn.

I grinned again, remembering what he had told me. "We have nearly a thousand members."

Cassie dropped the sweeping brush. I laughed.

"A thousand!" She repeated, looking amazed.

"Nearly. Just under a thousand. There's probably more that feel against Visser Three at the moment but don't want to go against him so directly. Or can't find a way to join."

"That's brilliant."

I nodded. After a short silence, I said: "So, what did Jake have to say when you got back?"

Her happy expression faltered. "Aftran… our families are in danger. I mean, the Yeerks have a DNA match for Tobias: he's trying to save his mother, but it's not long before they find the rest of us, is it?"

I touched her sympathetically on the shoulder. "So, what are you going to do?"

She shrugged. "Jake said we'd meet back here tomorrow and to get some sleep on it."

"It is late," I said.

She nodded.

"You should get some sleep," I told her.

"Yeah. Are you…"

"Yes. I'll just demorph."

I demorphed, and sensed myself being lifted up and the shape of her ear in front of me. I crawled my way in, and spread out over her brain, hoping I could remember how to do this, after my long absence from my Yeerk form. It turned out I could.

(Hey,) Cassie said. She was tired and yet too anxious to rest.

(Come on,) I said. We walked out of the barn and up to the house.

For a long time after she got into bed, Cassie was anxiously tossing and turning, worrying about her parents, unable to sleep.

(Can I help?) I asked gently.

(I don't think so,) she said sadly. (Thank you, anyway,) she added after a pause.

(I could tell you a bedtime story,) I joked.

She laughed a little. (I've grown out of those, I think.)

She did eventually go to sleep, but was troubled by dreams that were painful even just to observe, powerful enough to disturb the state of half-rest a Yeerk goes into while a host sleeps.

She awoke early the next morning, and found it impossible to get back to sleep, so she went down to the barn early and started on the chores.

The others arrived pretty early too, probably for the same reason. Jake brought Mr King, one of the Chee. The first thing we did was to sort out how the Chee would give me Kandrona, and Mr King gave me Kandrona while the others discussed their plans. I have to say it was a strange experience, to sit in a little cage inside an android's head and absorb Kandrona, and indeed quite unpleasant. I guessed I would get used to it, though.

Once I finished feeding, the others had decided to take their families to the Hork-Bajir valley straight away.

"Can I be any use?" I asked. "Or should I go ahead to the valley and explain to them what's going on?"

"Will they know who you are?" Cassie asked.

Marco nodded. "I talked to my mom and dad yesterday. I told them what had happened with you, so they'll know who you are when you turn up."

"Okay."

"It's relocated, though," Jake said. He explained the new route to the valley as quickly as he could. "Think you can get there?" He asked when he had finished.

"Yes," I replied.

The others left the barn to go and get Cassie's parents. I demorphed and then morphed, for the first time, my hawk morph, and took off, out of the barn and up into the sky.

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!