Rachel grabbed her rucksack that she brought with her and opened it. She pulled out some snacks.

"Help yourselves," she said and Marco grabbed something straight away. They all rolled their eyes at him and Jake started to read.

Chapter 7

Somehow I made it home. I don't know how. I have no memories of anything after that last sight of the Hork-Bajir.

I wished I had no memories of anything that happened that night. If only I could forget it all...

Yeah, if only said Tobias.

I called around the others. Everyone was shaky, but they were all alive. Rachel kept trying to apologize for leaving me.

"Sorry for that," said Rachel.

"Rachel, that was ages ago. I have forgiven you so you don't need to go on" said Jake as if he was talking to if five year old. Rachel rolled her eyes at him but let it go anyway.

Marco just kept asking me if I was sure this wasn't a dream.

I guess I should have had the worst nightmares of my life that night, but I didn't. The world of nightmares was a joke compared to my new reality.

Tell me about it said Ax.

But by the next morning, a Saturday, I half believed it all had been a nightmare. The only thing that seemed real... really real... was the way the Andalite had of smiling with just his eyes.

I woke when my mum started pounding on my door.

"Jake, are you awake in there?"

I was now. "Um, yeah," I groaned. "I'm up."

"Your friend Tobias is here."

"Tobias?" asked several voices. Jake carried on reading to answer their question.

"It's me," Tobia's voice. "Can I come in?"

"Um, sure." I sat up in my bed and blinked several times, trying to get my eyes unglued. The door opened. I heard Tobias say thank you to my mum.

"Always the polite one," said Rachel, looking at Tobias with a loving smile.

He was glowing. I swear, he was glowing. Now like he was radioactive or anything, I don't mean that. It's just that his eyes were shining bright, and his face was one big grin, and he seemed to be tingling with energy, bouncing like he couldn't stand still.

"Uh-oh, that can't be a good," teased Marco and Tobias pecked his head making everyone laugh.

"You might want to watch your mouth Marco. That beak is very sharp!" said Rachel with a big grin.

"Uh-huh," said Marco, wincing as he rubbed his hand.

"I did it," Tobias said.

I tried to get my hair to go in one direction by raking my fingers through it. "What are you talking about?"

"Morphing!" said Marco, Rachel, Cassie, Ax and Tobias together.

"I know okay, stop trying to bite my head off. I was trying to forget the whole thing," said Jake defensively.

I was yawning when he answered.

"I became Dude."

I stopped yawning. My mouth actually snapped shut. Dude is Tobias cat. "Huh?"

Tobias glanced around like there might be spies in the room. "I became Dude. Just like the Andalite said."

I just stared.

"It was so amazing. It didn't hurt or anything. I was petting him, and thinking about the whole thing last night, right? So I thought, why not give it a try?" He was pacing back and forth, snapping his fingers, bursting with enthusiasm. Very unlike Tobias.

"Very, very unlike Tobias," Rachel and Marco agreed.

"I didn't even know how to begin. So I just made sure the door to my room was locked. Fortunately, my uncle was still asleep."

Tobias has the more screwed-up family I know. He never knew who his father was, and his mum just decided to leave him a few years ago. Since then he'd been shuttled back and forth between his uncle here, and his aunt, who lives on the other coast. His aunt and uncle can't stand each other, and it's like Tobias is some burden they each try to shove off on the other. I get the feeling neither of them cares about Tobias.

Rachel glared at the wall across from her as if it was its fault.

Hey, I don't care soother Tobias, flying over and sitting on Rachel shoulders, rubbing his head on hers.

"Uh-huh," said Rachel, not really believing him.

"So there I was, just sitting on my bed, thinking about it. Concentrating. Thinking about becoming Dude. I looked down at my hand." He grinned at me. "What do you think I saw, Jake?"

I shook my head slowly. "I don't know."

"I had fur, Jake. And I was growing claws. You should have seen the real Dude. He went nuts. I had to put him outside before I could morph all the way. He clawed me up pretty good." Tobias stuck a sliced finger into his mouth.

"Ouch," said Marco.

I swallowed hard. Ok, this was definitely crazy now. "Um, Tobias, is it possible you maybe just dreamed all this?"

"Not a dream," he said. Now he was serious Tobias again. The grin was gone. "It's all true, Jake. All of it."

His eyes met mine. I knew what he was saying. He had tried to pretend it was all a nightmare, too. But it was real. I looked away. I didn't want to start believing it had all been real. I wanted it all safely stored away in my head, just another bad dream. Bad dreams should stay in your head, not come jumping out into real life.

"I wish this wasn't real," sighed Cassie and Jake rested his hand on her leg. He smiled at her, converting her and she smiled back at him, slightly telling him thanks.

I just kept concentrating on changing," Tobias said "and in a few minutes, I was... not myself anymore."

His eyes bored in on me. "You have no idea what it's like, Jake. Being a cat is so... it's... I can't even describe it. You're so strong, for one thing. Just all this coiled power, and the way you can move" you know what I did? I jumped on to my dresser. A metre straight up in the air, and I landed like a feather! One metre! You know how high that is when you're a cat? It's like a person jumping maybe ten metres straight up."

"Yeah, I know, it is really cool," said Rachel, remembering when she had became a cat to get into her friend's house to spy on her parents who were controllers and to her comfort her friend as a cat.

He stopped suddenly and looked at me. "You don't believe me, do you?" he said.

"Look, Tobias, it's just that sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between something real and something you're just imagining or dreaming."

Right, we all had the same dream said Tobias.

"You think I'm crazy."

I considered for a minute. "I don't know, Tobias, let's review the facts. You say you turned into your own pet cat. Turned into an actual cat. Yes, I have to say that sounds crazy to me."

Tobias nodded thoughtfully. He gave a little smile. "I understand, Jake. You still don't want it to be true."

"What? You mean do I want to believe that you can change yourself into a cat? And all the rest of it? do I want to believe that Earth is being invaded by slimy slugs who live in people's brains and turn them into slaves? Do I want to believe that...that...Duh! No! I don't want to believe any of it."

"And how about the Andalite?" he asked in a quiet voice.

I hesitated. I don't know why, but I didn't want to just pretend the Andalite away.

Tobias put his hand on my arm. "Stand right there,"

"What? What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to help you decide whether it's real or not."

"Tobias..."

"Just wait. And don't scream or anything."

So I waited.

"For a few seconds, nothing happened. Tobias just stood there. I glanced at his face. His eyes...his eyes were different. The pupils weren't completely round any more. I swear there was a reflective greenish light in them. And his mouth was protruding a little, puffing out.

Jake skipped the next part as they all knew what it was like to morph and it was most defiantly not the prettiest thing to watch. Not at all.

I wondered if I would just drop dead from the lump that had filled my throat, or form the jackhammer pounding of my heart. Then I wondered if I was still asleep.

I was standing there in my bedroom, staring down at a grey-black cat that less than two minutes earlier had been my friend, Tobias.

And I still am said Tobias, laughing.

"Hurry up Jake, I wanna read the next chapter!" said Rachel. She was literally bouncing in her seat. Everyone laughed at her and Jake turned the page and began to read again.

AN: Sorry I've taken so long to post another story. You know, there is a very good reason why all my friends call my house the mad house! So many disasters happen it's unbelievable. Anyway, I hope this is okay for you.