A/N- Hey, here's chapter 4. Sorry for the long wait, but HollyCanolle is so slow at emailing people. She kept on forgetting to email me again. So blame her for making you wait. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Kaycee

I tugged Sophie through the front door after a long day of school and then my first power practice. I looked around the first floor of my house, but my parents were nowhere to be found. Which was kind of weird, since my mom usually greeted me right when I came home. I grabbed a water bottle from our fridge and took a long sip. The icy liquid slid down my dry throat. Refreshing. I wanted to know if we were busy tomorrow, Saturday, because Holly had invited us all over for Movie Night. It was my turn to pick what we watched. Last time, it had been Holly's turn and we had to sit through Spirited Away for about the fiftieth time. It was getting pretty old, although her Japanese movies aren't as bad as they seem. But I had chosen a really good one this time. It was the Amityville Horror, a classic scary movie.

I padded up the stairs to my room, passing my parents' bedroom as I walked by. I could hear low voices through the closed door. I paused for a minute, wondering what they were talking about. I gently pressed my ear to the white, wooden surface. I did not consider this eavesdropping. I had a right to know what was going on in my family, since I was their daughter after all.

My parents had been acting kind of weird the past week. They seemed really distant and quiet. For example, a normal school morning would go like this: I would sling my backpack over my shoulder, my dad would have his coffee mug and suitcase on the counter, and right as I would be walking out, he would spin me around and we would start the Handshake. It was our special handshake that made sure I would have a good day at school. I would then walk down to my bus-stop and if I looked back, I could see my dad back at the house, waving to me and making sure I got to the stop okay. It was so fun, and we never missed a day of our routine. Until now, where I would walk out with no luck and my dad would not be in the doorway. It felt so strange, the five school days where he wasn't there. There had been other, small things like that where my mom wouldn't ask if I had any homework, or what I had learned in school that day. Sure, it may seem like those things don't matter, but before they had let me know they cared. Now, they acted as if I were a stranger, barely acknowledging me.

I strained my ears to hear what my parents were saying.

"The plan cannot be postponed. Markcoto will be mad if it is." I heard my mother say.

"But what about the girl? We must get her, too." My dad said.

"She can wait. He may be mad, but we already have the parents. They will be useful to us. We can get her later." My mom replied.

I froze in terror. Markcoto? He was the leader of the Skreey . . . which meant that my parents knew about the invasions that were taking place! I suddenly felt like I was going to puke. My parents were working with the Skreey. But they weren't my real parents at all! The aliens in the room next to me were plotting my downfall, where I would be sent to their home planet to work as a slave. They already had my parents.

"Fine we will send the new shipment of slaves in five days. But I think the girl has come home." My dad answered. I could hear movement inside the room, and I knew I had to get out of there, fast.

I stumbled to my room and shut the door behind me. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I started to sweat, even though we had the air-conditioning on full blast because of the spring heat. I slumped against my closet door and slowly eased myself onto our fuzzy brown carpet. I tried to take in what was happening. I started to do something I hadn't done in a long time. I sobbed, really hard. Tears flowed down my cheeks and dropped to the brown carpet, making little wet splotches. For fear of my fake parents hearing me, I grabbed a pillow from my bed and stuck my face in it, to muffle the sounds of my sadness. I was doomed. My life was over. I had nothing left to live for. There was no one on this world that truly cared about me.

After half an hour of continuous tears, I removed my face from my pillow, and took a good look at myself in the mirror. My face had red splotches on it. My eyes were shiny, and my whole face glistened with sweat and tears. I had a runny nose. In complete despair, I took little gasps of air in an attempt to breathe, and dried my face off with the sleeve of my sweatshirt. I tried to think of a time where I had cried like this, but I couldn't remember. Maybe when I fell of my bike in second grade and broke my leg. My dad had carried me a mile back to our house, abandoning my pink bike and then drove me straight to the hospital from there. The memory made me break out in sobs all over again. I wanted my mommy and daddy back.

My fake mother had called me down to dinner, But I had answered, "I'm too sick." She hadn't really cared, so I knew I could play the sick card as long as I wanted to.

I slept that night in fitful spurts, never really going unconscious. In the morning, my fake mother and father left the house on some "errands." They were probably having a meeting with Markcoto, and all the other Skreey who shape-shifted into humans. Thinking of new ways to enslave the human race. I shivered at the thought.

At some point in the afternoon, when I had left my room for the first time that day, I checked my cell phone and there were nine new text messages. They were from Holly. She was bugging me about Movie Night. But I was in no shape to go. I didn't want to talk to anyone, not even my best friends. I hated the Skreey for taking my parents. I hated the Animorphs for giving us powers and making us painfully aware of the danger we were in. I hated myself for accepting the job. I was no hero. I couldn't even protect my own parents.

Just then, my cell phone buzzed again, and Holly's ringtone played out. I ignored her call, but listened to the voicemail right away. "Kaycee, why won't you answer? If you don't want to hang out with us tonight, that's fine. But talk to me! I'm worried about you. Call me back," Holly's voice said through the phone. I felt like a jerk for leaving her hanging, but I couldn't tell her. I felt numb all over. I got an apple, ate it slowly, threw the core in the garbage, and went back to bed.

And I stayed there for the next two days, only leaving my solitary confinement to grab a quick bite from the kitchen when the aliens weren't around, and going to the bathroom. My fake parents didn't even bother checking in on me now. Obviously, they didn't know how to act like good parents. I felt so alone, but I refused to reach out to my friends. I didn't want sympathy. All I wanted was my parents, and that was something I would never get.

On Tuesday, as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, there was a loud knock on the door. I jumped, surprised. The aliens were out, and I had no siblings. Sophie didn't know how to bang on doors.

I let whoever was at the door bag about fifty times before I actually got up from bed, put my bathrobe on, and opened my bedroom door. The Morphimals were right behind it. Exactly the people I didn't want to see.

"What's going on? Are you coming to practice?" Jack demanded.

"No," I replied sullenly. I closed the door an inch, but David put his foot in the doorway to stop me.

"Are you sick?" Holly asked.

"That's what I've been telling everyone," I said.

"Why? You never fake sick. I thought you loved morphing." Holly said.

"It's none of your business," I snipped. I knew that was really mean, but I wanted to be alone.

Zach furrowed his brow. "Were you crying?" he asked, studying the tear stains on my face.

I growled at him, "Again, none of your business!"

"Why did you cry? You never cry," questioned David.

"Why would you care? You have never cared about me!" I shouted at him. This was harsh, and untrue, but I was getting mad.

"Okay Kaycee, just get dressed and come to practice. We need you," Jack said, trying to calm me down. But it made things a lot worse.

"No! I am not going to this practice, or the next, or any! I QUIT! I am no longer a Morphimal!" I yelled.

"What? Kaycee, think about what you're saying!" Holly said, aghast. This was so unlike me and I felt horrible, but I wasn't going to stop now. I was in this too far.

"Because it's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! ! !" I screamed. I was boiling mad now, all the pain and anger I had gone through in the past few days coming out of my mouth.

Zach finally stepped in.

"What would your parents think of your behavior, Kaycee? They have always taught you what's right, and what's wrong. You know deep down that the right thing is to save the world. So come with us," he said calmly.

What would my parents think? Did he really just ask me that? I knew he didn't know about what had happened to them, but the mention of mom and dad brought on tears, even when I thought I had none left. They flowed down my face, and everyone else just stood there in shock, watching me in my moment of weakness. I felt so helpless and mad.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT MY PARENTS WOULD THINK! I CAN'T ASK THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE PROBABLY ON SOME SPACE SHIP HEADED TO SOME WEIRD PLANET AT THIS VERY MOMENT ! ! !" I bellowed. Everyone just stood there, and I let the meaning sink in. I didn't wait for them to reply though. I slammed the door, where David's foot was still wedged in. He gingerly removed it, and I slammed the door again.