Jake

Marco and I were walking down the halls of the palace, on our way to a meeting with Chapman. Even though we were nobles, he still insisted that we do well in school. Actually, he insisted that we do better than anyone else because we were nobles.

Marco was saying to me, "I'm telling you, it was all just a dream. That Ellimist messed with our heads and we just happened to have the same dream. He's probably some kind of wizard."

I shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, if it was real, someone would have seen that guy with the hawk."

Almost as if on cue, we turned the corner and ran into Rachel and that guy. When Marco ran into him, Marco almost fell over. It must have been like hitting a wall, because the guy didn't move. Although his hand did jump to the sword at his side.

Rachel seemed happy to see us. "Oh, great, you two are here. Can you show Tobias to the aviary? I was supposed to meet Cassie in the stables like twenty minutes ago."

Marco glared at the guy, presumably Tobias. "So, I guess that means that wasn't a dream, then."

Rachel shook her head. "No. I saw Tobias turn into a hawk."

Marco leapt to his feet and slapped a hand over her mouth. "Not so loud, Rachel. If that was all real, anyone could be…one of them."

Tobias nodded. "We can't trust anyone. Not much of a change for me, I guess."

I shook my head. "No, we can trust each other. We know that the rest of us aren't with them."

"With who?" I heard Cassie ask. She just entered the hallway. "Oh, Rachel, there you are. I've been wondering where you were. Ah, you found him."

Rachel nodded. "Some golden eagle was attacking my new bald eagle. Tobias saved him."

Tobias just shrugged. "I hate golden eagles. And there was something I didn't like about that David character."

"You too, huh?" Rachel answered.

I looked from one to the other. They already seemed like old friends. Did they already know each other? Rachel doesn't warm up to people quickly.

"You didn't seem to have much of a problem with him," Tobias said to her. It was weird. His tone sounded like he was teasing her, but his face didn't give any of it away. And his eyes…they reminded me of that hawk he had. Speaking of which…

"Where's your bird?" I asked.

"She's out hunting, probably. She missed her breakfast this morning because someone," he shot Rachel a look, "couldn't take care of herself."

"I was fine," Rachel insisted. "I could still handle you just fine."

"That isn't how I remember it. If I recall correctly, the last time you tried to 'handle' me, you ended up on the ground and I stayed standing."

I raised an eyebrow. Rachel was tougher than she looked. There was a reason Marco called her the Warrior Princess. If Tobias could handle her…

"Hey," I began. "Are you any good with that sword?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Seeing as I'm not dead, I'd say so."

"You've actually fought people Like, to the death?" Marco asked, surprised. None of us had ever been in a real fight.

Tobias just shrugged. "It happens. You do what you have to do to survive. Some just have to do a little more than others."

I realized why Rachel liked this guy.

"Oh," Rachel said suddenly. "I almost forgot. Tobias, we were supposed to go down to the practice yards and try to get you a job."

He nodded. "Alright."

Cassie gave Rachel a look. "I thought you hated the practice yards, Rachel. It was too depressing for you. What's changed?" Cassie gave her a wink. I tried to suppress what that wink did to me.

"Okay. You two have fun. But seriously," Marco said, "Tobias was right. We can't trust anyone but each other. I say we never talk about Yeerks, Andalites, and morphing again."

Tobias and Rachel shook their heads in unison. "No way," Tobias said. "I owe too much to the Andalites to just sit back and let the Yeerks have their way. I don't know what the rest of you are going to do, but I'm going to fight. I'll do it alone if I have to."

"I'll be there," Rachel said instantly. "I am not sitting by and letting Yeerks take over my kingdom. I'm in, too."

"You don't get it," Marco said. "We could get killed. Killed. And then what would happen?"

Tobias shrugged. "In my case, nothing. No one would miss me."

"We would," Rachel insisted.

"Speak for yourself," Marco muttered.

"Marco, I halfway agree with you," I began.

"Thanks," Tobias snorted. I couldn't tell if it was sarcastic or not.

"But I agree with Rachel and Tobias, too. We can't sit by and let this happen. I mean…it's our responsibility to help, Marco."

Marco sighed. "You and your responsibility. Sometimes, Jake, I think you forget you're a prince. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

I ignored him and turned to Cassie. "Cassie, what do you think?"

"I think…I don't like any of this. We could get killed."

"Exactly!" Marco shouted. "We could all die. Think for a moment, guys. If I died, my dad would lose it. That would be the end of him. The only reason he's still holding on at all is because of me. If he lost me, that'd be the end of him. Jake, you couldn't convince your dad to keep him around any longer after that. He'd be totally dead. He might actually kill himself.

"And you, Cassie. What would your parents do? How would they feel if they spent all their time saving animals and couldn't save their own daughter? They'd snap, Cassie. We all know it."

Marco spun to look at me and Rachel. "And the two of you! You're a Prince and Princess, for God's sake! The whole kingdom might be torn apart! If something happened to you, your families would probably think it was assassins. You could start a whole other war!"

He turned and looked at Tobias. I guess Marco was speechless. "Okay, look, I don't know you. I don't know what your family is like, but—"

"Then let me tell you. My father is dead. My mother ran off; I think she's dead, too. My uncle is the town drunk. He's either unconscious in an alley or back home getting me confused with a dusty rug."

The hawk-like look in Tobias' eyes was suddenly stronger than his usual look of pain. "Every day, I have to fight for my life. Do think I carry this sword around because I like it? I'm not afraid to die. If I die in this fight, I'll be okay with that. There's only one thing I couldn't take and that's knowing that I sat by and did nothing. If you don't want to fight, if you're afraid to die, that's your business. But don't stand here and try to tell me that this isn't worth my life because I've almost lost it before for a lot of worse reasons."

We all just sort of stared at him for a few moments. Tobias sighed. "Look, I get it. You've never faced death before. You're afraid. Well, I am, too. When you face death without fear, you've lost your mind. But if you sit back and let your fear control you…well, then you're nothing but a coward. Now, I'm a lot of things, most of them bad, but one thing I'm not is a coward.

"Maybe it's because I've got less to lose. I don't know. What I do know is this. I've never been one to stand up for others. I try to mind my own business because I learned the hard way that trying to help and trying to care only gets you hurt.

"But Elfangor died for me. For all of us. He could have fled and lived. But instead he stayed to warn us. And that isn't something I can ever forget. So the rest of you can go home to your families. But I'm ready to die for Elfangor, because he already died for me."

Again we were silent. Then, I looked at Marco. "How can you argue with a speech like that? I'm with Tobias and Rachel. I'll fight."

Cassie nodded. "Someone has to. I do believe in helping others. We're the only ones who can, now. It's all up to us."

Marco sighed. "Fine. You all want to run off and get yourselves killed, that's fine. I'll have to come along to make sure you don't die."

Rachel laughed. "If Marco's the voice of reason, we're all dead."

Marco

After we all decided it was a good idea to get ourselves killed, we went down to the practice yards so that we could find Tobias a job.

I already didn't like him. There were a couple of reasons for this, some of them good reasons, some of them not so logical.

My first reason was that he was acting like he was one of us. Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and I had been friends for as long as I can remember. At least, Jake and I have. It's the same with Cassie and Rachel. And we all knew each other because there weren't a lot of children in the palace.

Then Tobias showed up. Somehow, he managed to talk all of my friends into throwing their lives away on some ridiculous fight that shouldn't even be real. It wasn't fair.

He had managed to talk Jake into something ridiculous. Do you have any idea how many times I've tried to talk Jake into stupid stuff? But Tobias did it so easily. Talking Jake into stupid things was my turf.

And there was the other thing. The thing with Rachel. She obviously liked this guy. You'd have to be an idiot not to see it. And, since Tobias was a human male, he liked her. The problem? I saw her first.

Normally, I wouldn't have to worry about stuff like this. I was a noble (not exactly, but I was friends with them) and Tobias wasn't. Rachel's parents could just order her to be with whoever they wanted her to be with and if I asked them, that would be me. But Rachel wasn't exactly the type of girl to listen to her parents.

It took us about five minutes to get to the practice yards and by that time, I had already heard Rachel laugh at about a thousand un-funny things Tobias had said. The man sickened me.

In the practice fields, we saw a lot of people fighting. A lot of them were with the mercenary company that had moved in earlier that day. We also saw Tom.

"Hey, Tom," Jake called.

Tom didn't flinch. He was busy practicing against some guy about our age. Tom was wiping the floor with him. Tom was very good at what he did.

"That's David Tom's fighting," Rachel muttered.

Tobias raised an eyebrow. "Prince Tom?'

"Yeah," Jake confirmed. "My brother."

"I should have guessed."

"Who's David?" I asked.

"His father's with the mercenaries," Rachel told me. "Tobias and I met David earlier."

"Well, he's got nothing on Tom," Jake said proudly.

"Of course not," Rachel agreed. "Tom's the best."

"Even better than the mighty Rachel?" I teased.

"Well…he's not better than me, but he's bigger and stronger, so he's got advantages. That's why he usually wins when we spar."

"I haven't spared with Tom in a while now," Jake commented "He's been different lately. He's been…more responsible, I guess. He's even taken an interest in that organization the villagers were forming. What's it called? The Sharing. He's really in to that."

Something flashed across Tobias's eyes but it was gone before I could read it. Tom and David broke off, David almost lying on the ground. Tom hadn't even broken a sweat.

Now Tom turned to us. "Hey, Jake. Marco. Rachel. Cassie. Who's your friend?"

"This is Tobias," Rachel said. "We were hoping we could find him a job here."

Tom shrugged. "Does he know how to use that sword he's carrying?"

Tobias nodded. "I can use it."

Ton smiled. "Well, come on. Show me."

Tobias shrugged. Then, he took off his sword and handed it to Rachel. That made me jump. He was treating her like some kind of serving girl. And she was letting him. This had to be stopped.

Tobias picked up one of the wooden practice swords and tested it. "A little light."

Tom shrugged and then assumed his stance. Tobias did the same. I leaned over to Jake. "So, I'm guessing five strokes."

Jake eyed them. "I don't know. I mean, if Tobias has fought for his life…most of the people Tom fights with haven't ever been in a real fight. Then again, he was trained by the best. I'll give Tobias seven."

"Seven? Wow, you've never given someone that high before," I commented.

"What are you two doing?" Cassie asked.

"Oh," I said. "We're begging on how many strokes it will take Tom to beat this guy."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Sometimes, I know I'll never understand guys."

"I'll give him ten," Rachel said.

"Or you," Cassie amended.

Jake and I just stared at Rachel. "Ten?" I asked. "TEN!? What, are you carrying his child?"

"Sooner his than yours," she told me. Then she whispered, "Tobias was trained by Andalites."

Oh. "In that case, I'll give him until four."

Tom and Tobias advanced. Tobias parried Tom's first stroke and counterattacked. I heard wood smash against wood over and over again. Usually, you fought until one of you hit the other with the sword. That wasn't happening. They kept going. Almost before I realized it, they were at eight strokes. Then they broke off, Tom and Rachel smiling. Rachel was smiling because it Jake and I had already lost.

Tom laughed. "You're good, kid. There's definitely a place here."

Tom turned to leave. "Wait," Tobias called. "Aren't we going to finish?"

Tom shrugged. "If you really want to lose, that's fine with me." Then, in a stage whisper we could all hear, he added, "But I was trying not to embarrass you in front of Rachel."

"Don't worry. I'm shameless," Tobias replied dryly. "Are we going to do this or not?" He leveled his sword.

Tom sighed and raised his own wooden sword. "If you really want to…"

Rachel leaned over to me. "Does this still count as part of the original bet?"

I shrugged. "I don't think so. I'll give Tobias seven this time."

Jake nodded. "Five." I raised an eyebrow. Tom was his idol. He needed to see things more clearly. And as much as I hated Tobias, the guy had skill.

Then, Rachel said the last thing I expected. "Tobias will win."

I didn't even bother to give her a confused look.

Tom and Tobias went at it again. After seven strokes, they broke apart again. Then, they went at it some more. But this time, Tobias seemed different. I'm no expert (I don't pay as much attention as Rachel and Jake, at least), but Tobias's style seemed different now. It seemed…better.

Tom's eyes went wide. And then I saw him mouth a word. It looked like "Andalite!" Tobias just smiled.

Suddenly, Tom's style looked different. He was feinting a lot, and dodging a lot more. He usually just parried Tobias's strokes, but now he was almost running from him.

Then, Tom leapt at Tobias. He kicked Tobias's sword out of his hand. Tobias stumbled backward and dodged under one of Tom's slashes.

"Tom, that's enough," Cassie said. "He's disarmed. It's over."

"It's not over," Tom and Tobias hissed at the same time. Tobias dove on the ground, rolled, and sprang up next to Rachel. He grabbed his sword out of her hands. This suddenly got serious.

Jake stepped in between Tom and Tobias. "Hold on here. That isn't a practice sword. And Tom, it's illegal to kick in a duel."

Tobias and Tom both shrugged. "You do what you have to do," Tobias answered. "I don't hold it against him. I can't say I would have acted any differently."

Tom was drenched in sweat now. He sat down on the ground. "Man, you are good. Where'd you learn to fight?"

"Here and there."

"Well, I'm hoping you'll stay here. I'm the heir to the throne, so I can sure as heck get you a job here. I'm not sure where you'll stay, though."

"He could stay with me," Jake offered.

Tom shook his head. "You're a great guy and all, Jake, but a prince does not give up his room to anyone. He can stay with Marco."

There wasn't any point in protesting, since Tom would one day be the king. His word was law.

"I guess that makes us roommates," Tobias said to me.

"Oh joy."

Cassie

It was pretty obvious to me that Marco didn't like Tobias. I don't know whether or not Tobias realized it. Usually, I'm pretty good at reading people, but it wasn't easy with Tobias. His face never gave anything away and I didn't know him at all.

It was just as obvious that Rachel liked him. A lot. She looked at him the way Marco looked at her. It's kind of a shame about the two of them. I used to try to get Rachel to like Marco, but it never worked out.

I thought it would be great if Marco and Rachel liked each other. Then maybe I wouldn't feel so awkward around Jake. I know he liked me and I feel the same way, but Marco and Rachel can be…well, jerks. But if they were together, they wouldn't be able to say anything about Jake and me.

That dream was all but dead, though. Besides, I had bigger problems now. Namely the Yeerks and Andalites. We had decided to fight. Now we needed to figure out how.

Jake seemed to be reading my thoughts as we walked away from the practice fields. "Okay. Now that we have that taken care of, we need to decide what to do about the Yeerks. I—"

"Not here," Marco hissed. "We need somewhere private. Somewhere no one will overhear us."

"What about the barn?" I asked. "Pretty much no one but my parents and I go there."

"Sounds good." We steered off in the direction of the barn. Suddenly, I heard the screech of a hawk, followed by the screech of a Marco.

"Ah! Get it off of me."

"It isn't even on you, you big baby," Rachel said.

I turned around to see a hawk perching on Tobias's shoulder. If its talons hurt him, he didn't show it. Marco glared at the hawk. "Is that…thing…going to be living with us?"

Tobias shrugged, which caused his hawk to flap its wings and screech. "If she knows what's good for her. She had a bad accident as a chick and it left her severely mentally retarded. She can't survive on her own in the wild." (A/N: That's based on a true story. I actually met a retarded red-tailed hawk once. Not that you care…)

"Is that how you met?" I asked.

He nodded. "I saw the whole thing. I was walking in the woods a couple years ago. She was flying past and got mobbed by a bunch of jays. She crashed into a tree. I did what I could to take care of her and she's stayed with me ever since."

"Oh, so he rescues animals, too. Soon he'll have Rachel and Cassie eating out of his hand," Marco grumbled.

Jake elbowed Marco. "Uh, dude? You said that out loud. We could all hear you."

"Oh."

"We're there," I interrupted, opening the barn doors. We walked in. Tobias's hawk perched in the rafters.

"She'll tell us if anyone approaches," Tobias assured us.

"Smart hawk," Rachel commented.

Tobias fixed her with a look that I wouldn't have minded getting. "Animals take after their owners."

"And the other way around," I added. That was a proven fact.

"Does that mean Tobias eats mice?" Marco demanded. He sounded hopeful.

Tobias shrugged. "You do what you have to do."

Jake and Marco looked a little sick at that.

Jake composed himself first. "Okay, people, we need to get down to business. How do we fight the Yeerks?"

I looked at Tobias. Somehow, I thought he knew the most about Yeerks. He didn't disappoint me. "The Andalites I've met have told me some things. For one thing, the Yeerks need to go and perform a ritual every three days or their hold on the person they control is broken."

Marco perked up. "Okay, that's helpful. What do you know about this?"

"It's called the Kandrona ritual. A Controller, someone who is controlled by a Yeerk, has to go to a special place. There, the Controller is temporarily freed from the Yeerk's control so that the Yeerk can rest and recharge its magic. After that, they perform a ritual and the person goes back under the Yeerk's control."

"Okay," Jake said. "So if we could disrupt this ritual, we could free people, right?"

Marco nodded. "And if we free enough, they can warn everyone. That's a good idea. But how do we disrupt it?"

"Magic rituals have components. I think it has a focus for the spell. So if we destroyed that…" Rachel trailed off.

"How do we even find it?" I wondered.

"By following Controllers we know," Marco said. "Like Chapman. OH!!!"

"What?" I asked.

"Jake and I were supposed to meet Chapman like an hour ago!"

Jake slumped on the bale of hay he was sitting on. "Oh man. This isn't going to be good."

"He's not the only Controller you know," Tobias said quietly.

"What? Who else is there?" I asked.

Tobias didn't respond. "Come on, Tobias, out with it," Rachel urged.

"You won't like it," he insisted.

"Just say it already," Jake ordered. He isn't the ordering type, but it slips out sometimes. Probably his royal upbringing.

"Tom. He's one of them."

"No he isn't. Any other guesses?" Jake said. He didn't even consider it.

Tobias shook his head. "Tom's one of them, Prince Jake. I could tell when I was fighting him. I started to suspect when I saw him fighting David. He was using Yeerk moves, Jake. Where would he have learned them?"

"You can't tell someone's a Controller by how they fight," Marco protested.

Tobias nodded. "Yes, I can. You learn a lot about someone when they try to kill you."

"He wasn't trying to kill you," Jake insisted.

I nodded. "Tom wouldn't do that."

"Maybe Tom wouldn't. But a Yeerk would. He called me an Andalite and then he tried to kill me. He'd have kept fighting, except I grabbed a real sword. If I hadn't done that, he'd have killed me and acted like it was a terrible accident."

"No. You're wrong."

"Oh? The Yeerks can be anyone, Jake."

"So can the Andalites," Marco said. "And we don't' know who's good and who's evil."

Tobias glared at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, sure, we've heard the Andalites' side of the story," Marco went on, "but we haven't heard from the Yeerks. They might not be so bad."

"The Yeerks are the worst scum in all the land," Tobias said. "They're murderers, thieves, and cowards."

"Of course you'd say that. But how do we know that we can trust you?"

"What do you mean?"

"What were you doing in the woods alone? Why were you already there with Elfangor? Why do you know so much about Andalites and Yeerks?"

"What are you getting at?" Tobias demanded. The mask was starting to slip. He was getting angry.

"You know what I think? I think," Marco said, leaning close to him, "you're an Andalite."

Tobias was unphased. "I'm flattered, but you're wrong. If I was an Andalite, why would I be lying?"

"You tell me."

Tobias shook his head. "This is ridiculous. Look, you'll have to trust me that I am who I say I am."

"Why should we? Does anyone here actually trust Tobias?" Marco demanded.

"I trust him," Rachel said immediately.

Marco rolled his eyes. "How about someone who didn't fall in love with him. Jake? Cassie?"

"I don't know. I feel like he's telling the truth, Marco but… Tobias' there's something you're hiding from us. What is it?"

He sighed. "Okay. I wasn't going to tell you this but here goes. Elfangor was here alone because he needed to get here fast. He was trying to save his son from the Yeerks."

"He has a son?" Jake asked.

Tobias nodded. "Yeah. His mother was a normal human woman, so his son is half-Andalite. Now the Yeerks are hunting for him. They're afraid of him. And Elfangor was a Prince, so his son is now the heir to all that the Andalites have left. If they could take him…"

"Who is he? If Elfangor was dying, he must have told you," Jake said.

Somehow, I knew. I knew what Tobias was hiding. Tobias and I locked eyes, then he nodded. "It's Tobias," I said. "He's Elfangor's son."

Marco threw up his hands. "And there you have it. How can we trust anything this guy says?"

We all sat there in silence for a while. Then, Rachel turned to Tobias. "Okay, so what do we do? How can we hurt the Yeerks?"

"What!?" Marco exploded. "You're still on his side?"

"Yeah. I don't care if he's half Andalite or not. Actually, I think it's kind of cool."

Tobias shrugged. "We need to follow Controllers. If you don't believe that Tom is one of them, that's your business. But we all know that Chapman is one. Follow him. Sooner or later, he'll need the Kandrona. And when he goes there, we'll follow."

"And then we wreck the place?" Rachel said.

"And then we wreck the place," Tobias replied with a smile.

"But how?" Jake asked. "We'll need powerful morphs, I think. Where can we get them."

Everyone turned to me. "Okay. I guess it's time for a trip to the Gardens."