A/n: Sigh. No matter how hard I try every piece I compose still has errors. I picked up a lot in the last chapter. Nevermind, I'll go back and correct them soon. Thank you for pointing out many of the stupid mistakes I have committed. About the random boxes which keep on popping up everywhere. I can't see them. I'm not sure if it's to do with internet explorer or what, they aren't appearing on my browser. My friend who was reading my story also complained about them. Like I said, I honestly have no idea. Maybe it is a good idea to add symbols between the point of views. It would certainly make it less confusing.
Disclaimer:
I don't own Animorphs, for it is copyright of K.A. Applegate.
Keys:
( and ) equals thoughtspeech. Or whatever it's called.
Chapter 4
Tedahko's P.O.V
I froze. To scared to move. To scared to blink.
(Do not make me repeat myself human. Who are you?)
Oh my god! Oh my god! The voice! It was in my head! Why did I have to take a walk in the woods? WHY?!
"I… I…" I stuttered. The sharp knife or at least it felt like a knife, pushed further against my throat.
(Answer me!)
I was horrified. What was happening? Had I lost all of my sanity? I was hearing voices in my head for crying out loud.
"Magic!" I thought to myself, "I can use magic to get myself out of this mess."
I quickly repeated the words in my mind. Very, very quickly for I wasn't to keen on this telepathic axe murderer to slit my throat. I focused. More focus that I had ever had in my life.
(Ahh!)
I quickly opened my eyes. I saw something that at first glance I thought it was a centaur that was standing on the other side of a clearing. Three emotions I clearly felt at the moment. One, I felt pride in myself for being able to move something that far away with my mind. Two, I felt curious because centaurs had supposedly died out before the medieval period too. And three, I felt well and truly horrified because I realized that it wasn't a centaur. Let's face it. Centaurs aren't blue, don't have tails with sharp blades on the end and don't have eyes planted on stalks which sit upon there head.
And then, I did the wisest thing I could have done in this situation. I ran for dear life. Back I ran, through the trees and shrubs as fast as I could. I heard the sound of galloping behind me. I muttered something not exactly repeatable to myself as I then realized I was being chased after. The sound of galloping was coming close. Oh crud! It was gaining on me! Is it too late to apologize?
Coming to the conclusion that I would have been caught sooner or later I ran up a tree. Not did I dare breathe when up in that tree. I stayed as still as a rocked, just having to hope that whatever that thing was it would lose interested in chasing me.
The blue centaur, which I was hundred percent sure wasn't a centaur now, stopped not far from my tree. He looked around. I nearly fell out the tree. It had no mouth.
"Shut up Tedahko!" I thought to myself. I gave myself a mental slap on the face so I would be quite. A hawk flew just behind the creature and landed on its shoulder.
(Who was she?) A new voice asked. Again, I had to mentally slap myself across the face.
(I recognize her from school,) the blue centaur said, (I believe her name is Tedahko.)
Oh crud. Oh crud. Oh crud. It knew who I was. But how? Why? I remained silent, despite panicking and debating thoughts back and forth within my mind.
(There appeared to be some unusual gravitational force which pulled me away from her,) the blue centaur said.
(Yeah, I saw. Think she was a Yeerk?) The other voice questioned.
(I do not know,) the blue centaur said, (If she was a Yeerk she would have known better to have moved.)
(We'll talk to Jake and the others about it. Come on, let's go back.)
The hawk and the blue centaur left, walking back into the woods. Once I was sure they were really gone, I jumped out of the tree and ran for my life. My heart was pounding fast. Never ever again would I go in the woods! Never! This experience had made me lose my love for trail walking. I sprinted as fast as I could all the way back to Erek's house. It was fairly dark now. I was estimating about 6:00pm.
I ran to the front door, dashed in and slammed it shut behind me. I leant against the door and fell to my knees, trying to catch my breath.
"Tedahko! Where were you? I was about to go out looking for you."
I looked up from the ground and saw Erek standing there. Erek figured that for some reason I wasn't able to talk and didn't leave me time to answer that question.
"Are you ok?"
I was still too out of breath to speak so I shook my head, indicating that I certainly wasn't. Erek put his arm around my shoulder and helped me stand up. Again his grip was strong. Even if I tried I couldn't have released myself. He led me over to the couch.
"I'll get you a glass of water. Hang on," he walked over to the kitchen, poured me a glass of water and returned. I gratefully took the glass, though I was still too out of breath to say thank you. He sat down next to me and examined me. Erek noticed a small gash on my neck which was bleeding.
"Who did this?" he demanded.
The water had helped and I now thought I might be able to manage to speak.
"If I told you'd think I would have gone insane," I said.
He shook his head and gently put his arm around my shoulder to comfort me.
"I won't. I promise."
I took a deep breath.
"I was walking through the woods. This thing, in fact it looked like a blue centaur, came up behind me and held something sharp at my throat."
Erek paused and widened his eyes.
"You don't believe me do you?" I asked.
"No, no. I believe you," he reassured me. He sighed, "I'm sure he wasn't planning on killing you."
"Oh, I think he would of liked to kill me," I said, "In fact I would of never escaped if I didn't use ma-" I cut myself off.
"Didn't use what?" Erek asked.
"Nothing," I muttered, "Point is, I had to run for dear life and no way in hell am I ever going near those woods again."
Erek nodded, "Fair enough. Listen, I have to go out to talk to a few people. I'll be back soon ok?"
I didn't want Erek to leave. To be honest, I felt safe around him.
"Ok, don't be too long," I said. Erek left the house. I didn't know why he was going out at this time. I guess it was his business. Then it occurred to me. What if the centaur knew who Erek was? What if it would chase after Erek too? I felt a scared, worried feeling pierce into my heart. I had to do something! I could follow him I guess. Yes, that would be a good idea.
I ran up to my room quickly and grabbed a black hooded cloak. My mother had handed it down to me. It wasn't an ordinary cloak; it could make me turn invisible. I had decided if I was going to watch over Erek, I was going to do it without him knowing I was doing it. I was being over cautious. I knew that. I also grabbed to small bladed knives. If my magic failed, I would need an alternative. I wasn't to risk Erek getting hunted down like I did.
I rushed out the front door and activated the cloak. It didn't change the perspective I saw in. I could still see perfectly fine. Just other people couldn't see me. Erek walked over to a pay phone and I slowly followed. He inserted a few coins and typed in a number. He tapped his foot and waited patiently was the person on the other line to pick up.
"Hi Jake, it's Erek."
Pause.
"Nothing much. I need to talk to you and the others at Cassie's barn ASAP."
Pause.
"Ok, that's fine. I'll meet you there." Erek hung up the phone and began walking down the street with me following him not far after. I wondered if the Jake was the same Jake from school. Then again, I guess Jake is a really common name.
I followed Erek until we came to a house with a barn at the back. We had been here this morning so Erek could drop something off. I remembered he had said 'Cassie's barn' when talking to Jake. I wondered if Cassie from school lived here.
I followed him into the barn, being careful not to make much of a racket on the way. It was important that nobody knew what I was doing. Especially Erek because I didn't want him to be angry at me for following him. Then there was the issue of how to tell him that magic existed.
As soon as I had entered the barn I realized there was a group of kids sitting there. Even more disturbing I recognized these kids. Jake, Cassie, Marco and Phillip.
--
Jake's P.O.V
We were sitting in the barn when Erek walked in. Apparently something had come up and he wanted to talk to us about it. None of us felt like doing anything after earlier. I was almost going to tell Erek to go away because we really weren't in the mood. But we had to. We didn't choose to be in this war, yet we fight all the same. It's how things are.
I felt a bit jealous of Rachel because she couldn't come. She had family matters, as she had promised to take her little sisters to the movies. Anyway, we were all sitting in the barn and Erek walked in. Tobias was sitting in the rafters and Ax was in his human morph. We risk him being seen since Cassie's parents were home.
"Hi Erek," I greeted.
"Hi Jake," Erek replied.
"What's up?" asked Marco, "Want us to go on another insane mission than involves us almost getting killed?"
"No mission," Erek replied.
(That's a relief,) Tobias said from up in the rafters, (that guy sprayed bug spray in my eye.)
"I'll have a look at it later Tobias," Cassie promised. Right now she was attempting to give a very angry skunk a shot.
"Anyway," I said, "What's happening?"
"Well," Erek began, "My friend Tedahko got a bad scare in the woods today. Apparently a blue centaur put a blade on her throat."
Cassie put the skunk back in its cage and listened intently. We all looked at Ax.
"I am sorry," Ax said, "I did not know Tedahko was a Chee. Cheeee-EH! EH! Cheeeee."
"She isn't," said Erek.
"Then what's the problem?" Marco asked, "Ax-man probably just thought she was a controller."
"Yeah, I know," Erek said, "Listen, Tedahko hasn't exactly had an easily life so just be careful around her. She was horrified last time I say her."
"I do apologize Erek," Ax said again, "She was a very puzzling girl though. She somehow made me reposition myself by ten of your earth feet."
"There everyone's feet Ax," Marco said.
"Wait? What did you say?" I asked.
"She made me fly back ten of your earth feet from my first position."
"The guy in the lunch room!" Cassie said as she clicked her fingers together.
(And the flying roaches,) Tobias joined in.
"Erek, is there anything about Tedahko that doesn't seem human?" I asked.
Marco was growing restless and decided to kick the air randomly.
"Ouch!" a voice yelped
"Oh --" Marco said as he bounced around on one foot which he had hurt by kicking air.
"Shit-AH! Ah shi-tah! That is a very pleasant mouth sound," Ax repeated.
"Ax!" scolded Cassie.
(We're being watched!) Tobias said.
Where Marco had kicked a figure appeared in a long black hooded cloak appeared.
"Ax! Demorph!" I ordered, "Marco, guard the door."
The person in the cloak backed up against the barn wall as Ax began to demorph. The person withdrew two knives from the back pockets of the cloak and held them confidently in front of them.
Flash! Ax's tail struck. The person was faster than we had thought. Her knive and Ax's tail blade clashed. She ducked, rolled, flipped and pushed Marco out of the way of the door and made a run for it.
"Battle morphs!" I commanded, "We can't let her get away."
We all morphed into our battle morphs except Marco who chased after the person instantly so we wouldn't lose sight. (A/n: I suck at the morphing scenes. I would like tips on this if you can offer it.)
We ran after them through the night until all of a sudden they disappeared. We continued looking, but it was no use. Whoever it was, they were gone now.
--
Tedahko's P.O.V
I ran as fast as I could back to Erek's house. When Marco kicked me he somehow temporarily stuffed the properties of the cape. I had to make a dash for it. I now also knew that Phillip and the blue centaur are the same. Somehow… I had also been chased by a variety of big animals. I could hear there voices in my head. Something wasn't right. Kids that can turn into animals? And what did Erek have to do with all this? I couldn't think straight.
I ran straight back to Erek's house and into my room. I stuffed the cloak in the wardrobe, turned off the lights, and hoped into bed. As far as anyone had knew, I would have been sleeping this entire time.
Not ten minutes later did I hear Erek come back. I heard a gentle tap on my door.
"Tedahko?"
"Yeah, come in," I said, putting on a fake sleepy voice. Erek walked in and turned on the light.
"How long have you been in bed?"
I yawned, "Not long after you went out. I felt sick. Why?"
"No reason," replied Erek, "Okay, good night." He shut the door and I let out a sigh of relief. I then heard voices in the hallway. Unfortunately my curiosity hadn't worn of. I got up out of bed and peaked curiously through the door. Erek and his dad Mr. King were talking.
"The holographic technology is being glitch again," Mr. King said, "We may have to turn of our holograms while another Chee repairs it. It should only take half an hour."
Erek nodded, "Ok, that's fine." Stands of color flickered around Erek and before I knew it Erek wasn't Erek anymore. Gone were his clothes, his eyes and his face. All replaced with something that looked like a metallic grey hound standing on its hind legs.
And I knew then.
Erek wasn't human.
A/n: All done! Yay! Review and criticize everyone. It is very much appreciated.