PART ONE

3. WANNA DO SOMETHING REALLY STUPID?

Content warning for talk of self-harm and suicide.

Cassie

Dad and I looked at each other for another moment. Then he drove as far in as the truck could go. We abandoned it and hiked in from there. Luckily, both Dad and I had hiked the trails together many times. Emeraude moved as a massive shadow among the trees. My mind cleared of anything but the effort in my legs. Then we got to the edge of the valley. Dad gasped at the sight of the Hork-Bajir swinging through the trees. "More aliens?"

"The Hork-Bajir," I said. "They've been living in this valley for a couple years. We're going to be their guests from now on. They're really nice. We'll be safe here."

Emeraude peered along the steep bluffs. "Is there a trail down, or…"

"No," Mr. King said. "My compatriots and I will carry you down, if that's all right with you." On cue, two more Chee hauled themselves over the edge, having climbed up from the valley, holding a big tarp between them. When the holograms came on, I saw they were Luis and Bachu. Dad flinched all over at the transformation.

Emeraude eyed Mr. King and Luis. "I would really rather not, unless it's the only way."

I shrugged. "The Hork-Bajir are amazing climbers. They can get in and out fine. The Chee are really strong. The Animorphs can morph. A good climber could make it. For you, I'm pretty sure this is it. Sorry."

Emeraude sighed. "Fine. I guess there's a first time for everything. Even getting carried down a cliff by robots."

Mr. King threw Dad over his shoulder as if he were a little kid. The other two Chee directed Emeraude to fold herself up in the tarp as much as she could. They wrapped the tarp around her and each took two corners, lifting her up. "Whoa!" she said. "You guys really are strong!"

"Just a minute," I said. I got the blue box out from my pocket and disassembled it into three pieces. I gave one of each to the three Chee. "Disassemble it into all six parts and share it out among the Chee," I said. "If we need it, we'll let you know."

Then the whole strange procession, three Chee and my dad and Emeraude, started to climb down.

I morphed osprey again, my whole body burning with exhaustion. I felt like I could sleep for a day. But as much as I just wanted to curl up in bed against my dad's chest like a little kid, I had to check in with the others first.

They were at the human settlement at the northern end of the valley. The Chee had set up a third yurt in an impressively short time. A fire was lit in the fire pit. I saw Tom among the other humans in the valley, sitting on a bench by the fire, bracketed by his parents, their arms around him. Jake sat next to them on the bench, but just a little apart, his hand resting on his dad's shoulder. Their dæmons all groomed Delareyne's fur, Steve's emu dæmon with her beak, Jean's salamander with his toes, Merlyse in Arctic fox form with her tongue. I couldn't describe the look on Jake's face even if I tried.

There was nothing in the world I wanted less than to ruin this moment. But I had to tell Jake what had happened. My mom was a security risk, now. A weapon that could be used against us. Against me. «Jake.»

Merlyse kept on licking and nuzzling Delareyne, but Jake looked up. When he saw it was me, he stood. Steve turned for a moment to check on him, but when he saw nothing urgent, he turned back to his lost son. Jake's face was carefully blank. "What happened?"

I looked back toward the bluffs. Dad was more than halfway down. I could hear Emeraude's yelps and swears, very faintly. «Dad's here. He's fine. My mom…» I didn't want to tell him. He'd blame himself worse than I was already blaming myself. I had to tell him. «We didn't get there in time. They lured Mom to the Sharing. We're almost sure they have her.» When I saw his face go from blank to stony cold, I added, «Jacob Berenson, this is not your fault! If we had gone to your family last – if your parents had been taken – look at them, Jake!»

They were kissing Tom on the temple and stroking his hair. Delareyne had rolled on her back in the bare dirt around the fire pit, kicking her legs in sheer delight.

"You should have this too," Jake said helplessly. "You should have it."

«You have it,» I said. «Enjoy it for a while.» I flew on, back toward where Dad was being lowered to ground. Along the way, I saw Rachel in the kitchen, drawing water into cups. Abineng looked more at home in the half-home, half-camp in the valley than he ever had in the streets and buildings of Santa Barbara. He had room to toss his bristly mane, swing his horns, stand tall.

She caught sight of me. "Lourdes told me what happened to your mom." Her eyes blazed like hot blue flames. "They'll take my dad soon, if they don't have him already. There's no way we can get to him in time to stop it." Then a tiny, hard smile stole across her face. "Wanna do something really stupid?"

Rachel. She was my best friend for a reason. «I'll help you with your really stupid thing if you help me with mine.»

She grinned and raised her cups. "Deal."

Toby

Maybe it's callous of me to say so, but the Animorphs' exposure came at an inconvenient time. I had been called upon to witness the final stage of thashet for Meret Kar and her intended. I had never been honored in this way before, and I was eager to do my part well. But the day of the event, I was given the grim news by Luis, and I had to spring into action, calling a meeting of the people to approve the arrival of the Animorphs' families and expand the human settlement grounds.

By some miracle we finished the important preparations before the Animorphs and their families arrived. But then I had to speak to them about Kref Magh, to explain what they needed to know about my people and how to respect the way we lived in the valley. They indicated their understanding, but I'm not sure how much they really absorbed. Cassie's father Walter seemed to view me as a fascinating new biological specimen. Rachel's mother was mostly preoccupied with her children, especially the youngest, who was distressed at her sudden change in circumstances – and Jake's parents were even more preoccupied with Tom, though understandably so. Marco's stepmother was terrified of me. I think the only one who really listened was Marco's father. Perhaps Marco had told him that it was my people who had saved Eva.

After that, time was running low to get to the event in time, so I swung up into the trees – only to be intercepted by Ax. «Ah, Toby. I had hoped to speak with you, if you have the time.»

I flicked my tail impatiently. "If you'll morph bird and travel with me. I have places to be."

«I understand,» Ax said, and I started on my way south, trusting him to catch up in raptor morph. Soon enough, he did. He said, «Tobias and I saw where they keep the Hork-Bajir children in the Yeerk Pool. It was the greatest barbarity I have seen in this war.»

I picked up the pace to distract myself from the hot splinter of shame between my hearts. Tobias and I had already spoken about this. I hadn't expected Ax to care enough to bring it up, too. "I have heard of these things from my people," I called out between hard bunchings of my muscles as I launched myself from boughs. "I have only seen them once in person, on one of our raids. We weren't able to save the kawatnoj. I think of that day often, and regret it sorely."

«Andalites believe that there is nothing more monstrous than to do harm to a child,» he went on. «I wish to free the Hork-Bajir children from this torment.»

I choked down an ugly laugh. Alloran-Semitur-Corass had not cared how many Hork-Bajir children he would kill when he released the quantum virus on my homeworld. But Ax truly believed in this ideal, I could tell. He really wanted to ride to the rescue, an Andalite warrior in his full glory. At length, I said, "My people have a system for our raids. You saw that when you helped us raid that facility in the Dry Lands. You cannot simply expect to lead a squad of our warriors into the Yeerk Pool."

Ax said sheepishly, «I… had not considered the matter from that perspective.»

This time I couldn't hold back the laughter. "No, you hadn't. In fact, I can't in good conscience authorize a raid on the Yeerk Pool at all. The risk of capture is too high. But I'll give you this. The kawatnoj I failed to save were moved from that facility to a different one, but I'm not sure which. If you can find it, then you're welcome to join us on the raid." He certainly had more free time for reconnaissance than I did.

Ax engaged in that peculiar Andalite habit of suddenly turning a conversation very solemn and ceremonial. «I swear to do my best by you, Toby Hamee.» It sounded like the first half of a call-and-response script, but I didn't know what my half was supposed to be.

He had gotten far ahead of me, and had settled at the top of a great Douglas fir to wait. When I caught up to him, I said, "You're hurting Tobias, you know."

«He is hurting me,» Ax replied.

"I share your revulsion at all things Yeerk, Ax. You know it. And yet I cannot deny that his hrala and Rachel's have grown in recent times. Just as Dak's people had to accept that his partnership with a hruthin did his hrala good, so must I accept that it may be good for Tobias to adopt Yeerk ways, as little as I may like or understand it."

Ax began heatedly, «Tobias – »

"No," I said, starting to pick up my pace. "I've said my piece. Think about it. I don't have time to say more. I'm about to officiate a wedding, as the humans would put it."

«Ah,» Ax said, soaring overhead. «Whose?»

"Meret Kar and Ghat Hefrin's."

«Doesn't Ghat Hefrin already have a husband?»

"Yes. His name is Dref Fakash. What of it?"

«Ghat Hefrin can have a husband and a wife?»

"I thought you shared my confusion about human ideals of monogamy," I said. "We talked about it when Tobias had me read Othello."

«I do,» Ax said. «I still do not understand why a married person cannot love another. It should be no threat to a truly stable partnership. But I also do not understand how it is possible to have a stable marriage to two different people.»

"Ask Ghat at the wedding party," I suggested. "She's planning to open it up to anyone who would like to come." When he kept following me overhead, I added firmly, "You are not invited to the wedding itself." Finally, he got the message and wheeled away.

The final stage of thashet is private, according to our customs. The only people at the top of the blue oak were me, Meret, Ghat, Dref, and their daughter Magh clinging to her father's back.

"Meret," I said, "Tell me your promises to Ghat Hefrin."

"I promise to love her. I promise to care for her always. I promise to take care of her husband Dref Fakash and her daughter Magh Hefrin. If I find her son Thawet, I promise to free him if I can. I promise to find our family a roosting-tree and trim its boughs to make it home. I promise to help her find her branch of the Tree of Life, whatever it may be. I promise to make of her hrala a great flourishing."

Ghat promised to heal Meret's battle wounds, and wait for her to come home from raids, and to always make sure she had bark to eat, in addition to the traditional promises of love, care, and tending the hrala. Magh said she was excited to have Meret in her family, and Dref said nothing but grinned hugely at his wife and her intended. I gave a speech about how Meret had been the one to free Ghat Hefrin in a raid, how she'd buried her head in the dirt and tended to her until the Yeerk died and she was free. Then I declared them kalashi and watched as they stripped bark and fed it to each other, piece by piece. I was so happy for them.

From the forest floor, someone called my name. Not a shout of pain or fear, just calling my attention. I leapt down, leaving the newlyweds and their family a private moment. Bachu was down there. I hung from a bough from my hind legs to hear him. "I'm sorry to interrupt," she said. "But I just got another message from Eva and Aftran that you need to hear."

I braced myself against the tree trunk. The only good news I had ever heard the Chee pass on from Eva and Aftran was Visser Three's demotion and the new unprotected entrance to the Yeerk Pool they'd secured. Everything else had always been a dire warning. And now it seemed that this dire warning was directly relevant to me.

"The Yeerks have figured out how to use hrala sight to detect sentients in morph," Bachu said. "Eva and Aftran are trying to delay implementation, but they can't do it for very long. They suspect that the Yeerks will start to infest Hork-Bajir younger, to start them learning how to use the hrala sight. They don't know what other consequences there might be for Hork-Bajir-Controllers, but they're probably not good."

"Uh," I said, my mind skipping back, "I think I may have – did you tell Ax about this?" I was babbling, but I was ready to do anything to fend off the image of the tiny Hork-Bajir in those terrible Yeerk Pool pens, infested. Especially now that I knew, from Tom's example, what terrible damage a Yeerk could inflict on a child's growing brain – far worse, even, than what could be done to an adult.

"No," she said, politely confused. "I came to you first, since it's your people who will be most affected."

"Oh." So Ax hadn't come to me about the children because he knew they would now be used as weapons to reveal the Animorphs in morph. He'd come because he really cared about them. That was… good. Despite the grim news, I started to feel the stirrings of hope. I'd always known that the Animorphs would never offer to help free my people. If I wanted that, I had to ask, as in the case of Bek Mashar and our joint raid on the facility in the Dry Lands. But now that their greatest weapon, the morphing power, was directly threatened by the Empire's use of Hork-Bajir hosts, freeing my people would become their top priority, at long last. "Can you send a message through your CheeNet? I need to call a meeting of the Guardians of the Galaxy."

Jake

Tom told us the story of how he became a Controller.

I already knew part of it from Temrash. A girl he'd had a crush on, making him think he could impress her if he joined the Sharing. But I hadn't known about what happened after. How he met the girl, Preethi, again in the cages, and she couldn't even bear to come near him because of the way her Yeerk had made her look at him. How Temrash played back Tom's daydreams of his and Preethi's wedding, just to mock him for where his stupid crush had landed him.

My parents were really upset about the brain damage the Yeerks had done to Tom, the way his body never seemed to move quite the way he wanted it to. Dad especially, because with his medical training he could see exactly how bad it was. "You have all this amazing alien technology," he said. "Don't you have something we could use to help Tom?"

Tom said, "There is something that could help. But if we used it… it would kind of be a big deal."

"What do you mean?" Dad said. "What is it?"

"The morphing power," I said heavily. I should have known that Tom had thought of this. I had, of course, but it had always seemed like a bad idea. "When you morph, it heals injuries, as long as it's not a genetic condition. Remember that time I fell off my bike a month ago and got all torn up along my side?" I lifted my shirt and showed the smooth skin on my side. "I wouldn't let you look at it because I knew it'd heal up the next time I morphed."

"Then why don't you let Tom use it?" Mom said.

Erek saved me from that awkward question. He came up to the fire and said, "Toby's calling a Guardians of the Galaxy meeting." Merlyse, lemming-formed, disentangled herself from the big weird pile she'd made with Delareyne, Tz'irah, and Malachet. This had been my first time really getting to be little brother Jake in years. But it was time to get back to being leader Jake. Merlyse became a snow goose next to me, tall, white, and cold. Then Erek turned to Tom and said, "She wants you there, too."

Delareyne lifted her horned head. "Me? Why?"

Erek said, "It has to do with the Hork-Bajir. Toby says you've been a friend to them."

Tom's eyes widened. He actually blushed. Merlyse became a reindeer and whispered in my ear, "He's such a teacher's pet."

Dad touched Tom on the arm. "Are you going to be okay, Tom?"

"I dunno," Tom said. "I think so. And Toby asked me to go, so I have to. You don't know her, Dad. She's amazing. Like Jake. A leader in the fight against the Yeerks."

Now it was my turn for my face to prickle. Tom and I hadn't spoken since the big fight we had. I didn't know he still admired me.

"All right," said Dad. "We'll be waiting."

Tom and I went to the meeting rock. Toby was there with her father Jara and Elgat Kar. Bachu and one of the Peace Movement people – I think her name was Julissa – were there, too. And most of the Animorphs. Including Cassie.

She held Quincy against her chest, like he might fly away if she let go. She stood close to Rachel, their sides nearly touching. I wanted to check on her, but I couldn't do it here, in front of everyone. Merlyse gave her a helpless look, and Cassie's eyes and mouth softened a little.

Loren joined the group, and we could begin. Bachu explained to us what was going on with the Hork-Bajir-Controllers. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I could already see where this was going.

Marco said it out loud, like he always seems to do with my most paranoid thoughts. "Morphing's pretty much all we've got going for us. We can still use our battle morphs, because that tells everyone exactly who we are anyway. But once the Hork-Bajir-Controllers all figure this out, it's bye-bye recon missions. Adios to stealth. Auf Wiedersehn to infiltration."

There was nothing to say to that. We all knew we were screwed if we let the Yeerks move forward with this.

"Eva and Aftran said they haven't implemented this yet," I said. "We have time to do something about this. If we help Toby free Hork-Bajir as a full-time job – I mean, it's not like we have to go to school anymore – " Marco smirked, and Rachel gave a harsh laugh. Cassie just looked sad. "We could really cut down on the number of Hork-Bajir they can train to be able to detect us."

"At long last, the Animorphs are deeply concerned about rescuing Hork-Bajir from slavery," Toby said ironically. I tensed, but didn't say anything. I didn't know that Toby resented us for helping humans and not her people. But of course there was nothing to say. We killed Hork-Bajir-Controllers in nearly every battle against the Yeerks. Against whatever huge number we'd killed, we'd helped rescue Jara, Ket, Bek, and half a dozen Hork-Bajir from the facility in the Dry Lands. "I thought this might happen. That's why I've brought Elgat and Jara here." She turned to them. "What can we do? How many of our people can we rescue on raids? How many new-frees can we support and heal at a time?"

Jara and Elgat tried to stick to English, but when they got into the technical details about troops and medical supplies, they switched to their own mish-mash Hork-Bajir language. I could see on Tom's face that he could still follow it. There was a lot going on in his life that I didn't know about. I wished he wouldn't keep me at arm's length, but the only people he seemed to let in were the Chee and Hork-Bajir. Maybe my parents were changing that, now.

Finally, Toby summarized, "We're going to have to put a lot of time into training more people to be warriors, and especially to be healers. We could use some Chee help for training healers, if they are willing."

Bachu nodded. Julie raised her hand and said, "What about us? The human new-frees? I'm a social worker. That's kind of like a hrala-healer. I want to help."

Toby's long neck arched backwards. "I don't doubt your skill, Julie, but what is true for humans may not be true for – "

"Elgat need help," Elgat said. "Hork-Bajir help. Chee help. Human help. Julie welcome."

"Then I defer to Elgat," Toby murmured.

"We can start doing recon," I said. "The Yeerks haven't started training yet, right? Recon is still on the table, so we'd better do it while we still can. We'll find as many Hork-Bajir camps and training facilities as we can. Then we can plan our strikes."

Tom looked at Julie. "I want to help too. I want to free more Hork-Bajir."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Your blue belt in karate is not really gonna help here, cuz."

It was kind of a low blow, given that Tom could barely do a push-up these days, let alone bust a karate move. But Tom held firm. "I know," he said. Delareyne tossed her head. "But if I get the morphing power, then I can help."

Everyone did a double take. Tom crossed his arms, stubborn.

I rubbed my temples. "Listen, Tom, I know you really want to get better and fight back after what the Yeerks did to you, but morphing is really dangerous."

"It's not about that," Tom insisted. "I mean, yeah, it'll make my life way less shitty if I don't have the brain damage anymore. But I want to do this for a good reason. It's about the Hork-Bajir. They've done so much to help me since I came here. I mean, Luis is my doctor, and he got me back on my feet, but the Hork-Bajir turned my life around. The least I can do for them is help free their people."

He meant it. It was the same rock-solid determination I see in Rachel all the time, and sometimes in the mirror, when the fog of fear and doubt lifts for a little while.

"This is your decision to make," Toby said. "I'll leave you to it. Come find me if you want some suggestions about where to go scouting." And everyone trickled away, until the only ones left at the meeting rock were us, the Animorphs, and Tom.

"Dude," Dia said to Delareyne, flicking her tongue. "Didn't you attack some poor flamingo dæmon like a month ago for no reason? Who attacks a flamingo? That's fucked up."

"It's not going to happen again," Tom said firmly. "Luis raised my dose. And anyway, morphing will cure my brain damage."

"Newsflash," Marco said, his voice rising. Diamanta's head jabbed forward like an accusing finger. "I started getting panic attacks like a year ago. Morphing didn't do shit to stop that from happening."

"Yeah, I got the memo that I'm gonna be fucked up for the rest of my life, thanks," Tom shot back. "But Jake has nightmares and shit all the time and he can still fight." I cringed a little, but it's not like that was any secret from Tom, when our bedrooms had been so close. "The brain damage is what's really holding me back."

My head was pounding. I knew I should be steering the team toward some kind of decision about this, but this was Tom, and I could feel myself turning back from leader Jake into little brother Jake. We're demorphing, Merlyse thought, a little hysterical. I thought back to the questions we'd asked Toby and Aftran before we'd given them the morphing power. "Why do you want this, Tom?" I asked.

"I told you," Tom said. "I want to be able to join you guys and the Hork-Bajir warriors on raids, to help free Hork-Bajir-Controllers. They've been amazing to me and I want to do something for them. I'm not looking to join up with the Animorphs or anything."

"It's not gonna be easy to get you to the Gardens to acquire a battle morph," Rachel said. "Especially since…" She shot a look at Cassie, then bit her lip. We all fell silent. I hadn't even thought about that. With Cassie's mom taken, the Yeerks had someone on the inside at the Gardens, now.

Tom shrugged. "I can always just morph Hork-Bajir."

I thought about the questions again. The next one had been, How will you keep the secret? But it wasn't so much of a secret anymore. So up next was, "What do you think the dangers are?"

Tom stared at me a moment. Then he said, seriously, "I'm pretty sure there'll be some minds I get when I morph that'll be a lot easier to deal with than my own mind." Delareyne tilted her head, just a little, toward Tobias. "I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes I might get… tempted. But I won't. I couldn't do that to Mom and Dad."

Tobias rucked his feathers up. I grimaced. I hadn't even thought of that, but I had a wild guess about what was going to haunt my nightmares for a while.

Loren shook her head. "I know you mean well, Tom. But the real danger is that when you're at your darkest moment, you'll have a terrible weapon just a thought away." She sat down on the meeting rock and stroked Jaxom between the horns. "I volunteered at my church's crisis hotline. When I had a caller who was in a bad place, and they were worried they were going to hurt themselves, I'd ask them if they owned a gun, and if they did, I'd talk them through locking up the gun and giving the key to someone they trusted. But with the morphing power, you can't lock it up and give away the key. It's always there, even when you're at your worst. Are you sure you're on guard against that danger? And are you sure you'll better off that way than you are now?"

Jaxom said solemnly, "There are far worse things in the world than living with a disability. You can rehabilitate from brain damage and live a full life. I know that better than just about anyone."

Delareyne looked at the ground and kicked at the dirt with her hooves. Tom said slowly, "After Dela attacked Rois… I was so ashamed. I was so fucked up over it. I sat down with Luis and I did everything I could to turn my life around. I've been teaching the Hork-Bajir kids – you can ask Kam Jedet – and I haven't hurt anyone since."

"If you need someone to watch you," Cassie said softly, "if you're in one of those dark places – I could do that. I'm not afraid. I'd stop you from doing anything bad."

A weird shiver went through me. Cassie was being nice to Tom, and I appreciated that. But I couldn't exactly forget about what happened the last time Cassie stopped a dangerous person with the morphing power from doing anything bad.

But Tom didn't know anything about that. He just smiled softly and said, "Thanks, Cassie."

«I say we let him fight,» Tobias said suddenly. «The Hork-Bajir could use all the help they can get. And he really does care about them. Ax and Toby told me about how good he is with the kids.»

"Tom's like me," Rachel said. "He needs to do something or he'll go stir-crazy. He won't have to spend all that time on physical therapy. He can start doing the important stuff he really wants to do, and it'll help kick Yeerk butt. Let's do it."

"So that's Rachel, Tobias and Cassie for, Loren against?" I said.

Marco raised his hand. "I'm against. Call me crazy, but I still think assaulting a guy for no reason is bad. Definitely don't think a month is long enough to work out all the kinks with Luis."

Diamanta slithered toward Jaxom and said, "Hey, look at that. We agree on something. Ain't that a plot twist." Jaxom looked down at her dubiously.

Ax said, «Like Loren, I believe Tom has the best of intentions. However, I agree with Marco that we should wait and see. Before I was given the morphing power at the Academy, I was required to take a class on the Escafil Device and pass an evaluation. Now that all of us are in the war full-time, I see no reason why we cannot implement a similar regimen for those who wish to obtain the morphing power and fight alongside us.»

Everyone looked at me. It was down to me, again. I was terrified of yet another bad thing happening to Tom, who'd been through more than enough. But he must be just as scared for me. Yeah, he was messed up, but weren't all of us at this point? And Tom was different now that our parents were here. He talked to me now. He didn't go on constantly about how much he wanted to kill Yeerks. There was more of the big brother I'd known than I'd seen since there'd been a Yeerk pretending to be him. And if he got past this brain damage, I'd have even more of my big brother back. If I could do this, if I could fight this desperate war, then Tom definitely could.

"Cassie," I said. "Get the blue box."

She nodded and left. Tom hugged me. "Thanks, midget."

I laughed. He was still too thin, and his hug was far too weak, just a light touch of his arms around me. But it still felt nice. "What are you going to morph first?"

"Hork-Bajir, duh," Tom said. "I can't wait to see what hrala looks like. Hey, Ax, how do you do that Frolis Maneuver thing you used to make your human morph?"

I did a double take. When did Ax tell Tom about that? Apparently they'd been hanging out and I'd had no idea. I hadn't known he spoke Hork-Bajir either. So much about my brother I didn't know anymore. But that was about to change. I was going to get the old Tom back. He'd tell me about everything he'd learned from the Hork-Bajir. We'd come up with sports we could play with whatever we had lying around in the valley. I'd get a deck of cards somewhere and we'd play Egyptian Ratscrew with our parents while our dæmons whispered and laughed.

Ax took Tom aside to explain about the Frolis Maneuver. I looked around at everyone else. "I think Ax is right, though. We should come up with some kind of system for training people. I think we're going to need more Animorphs. Soon."

Tobias tilted his head. «Are you saying… the Peace Movement hosts?»

"Well, we know they're not with the Empire," I said. "So if they want to… we should figure out a way to make it happen."

"We can warn them about how it could change their human lives," Loren said.

"How to keep morphing when you're bleeding out," Rachel suggested.

"When not to morph, just because you saw someone being mean to an animal once, Rachel," Marco said.

"All of that," I agreed. The idea made me excited and uneasy at the same time. I already had too many people to be responsible for. But what better way was there to protect everyone than to get more soldiers on the field?

Cassie came back with the blue box, disassembled. She gave it to Ax to put back together again. When the pieces came together, that weird blue light kindled inside it. Ax offered the box to me. I held it, then looked up at Tom. It felt like I should have dreamed about this before. But I hadn't. I never really let myself think about what would happen one day when Tom was happy and safe and free to fight for what he believed in.

I held out the box to him. "Put your hand on it," I said. "Concentrate."

Merlyse became a gazelle, and they touched nose to nose like mirrors as Tom and I touched the box. All my hair stood on end.

"That's it?" Tom said.

"That's it."

«Toby told me there is to be a wedding party in the valley today,» Ax said, breaking the shivery silence. «Shall we go?»