Chapter 14

It was Thursday afternoon when I got the call that set everything in motion.

Me, Marco, and Cassie had gone flying after school. Rachel had some tutoring thing, and we decided that three sets of eyes would be enough for this particular job, anyway. Tobias had shown up over the school around lunchtime, telling us that the Sharing was already setting up for their big weekend in the park. He'd been watching all day, and took his leave to go hunting when we got over the park.

I'd had an idea that it was going to be big, but I had no idea how big until we actually got into the air above it. There was a stage being assembled that wouldn't have looked out of place at an Aerosmith concert. Speakers ringed the whole area. The portable grandstands that the city put up during parades were all over the place. There was additional seating areas being set up everywhere there was room – the Yeerks were expecting the whole park to be full.

(Jake, Tom was telling the truth. They're expecting an explosion in membership. They've got maybe three or four hundred members now…this is set up for three or four thousand,) Cassie said, sounding dejected.

(Wishful thinking,) Marco quipped. (I wonder how many of these potential members are going to be hurrying to sign up when all the leaders of the Sharing are pulling their hair, screaming bloody murder.)

(Maybe. The good thing about this place being so cluttered and chaotic is we'll have plenty of places to hide the emitter. Ax isn't a hundred percent sure it'll work, though. What's our Plan B going to be?) I asked, mostly rhetorically. I was memorizing the positions of everything, trying to find good morphing zones.

(Like I said before, the second-best thing we can do is to make them look unstable,) Marco said. (If we can make it look like they can't even handle a promotional weekend in the park, people aren't going to want to waste their time. All that crap about "helping the community" only works on the do-gooders. The majority of the people who show up here are only going to be interested in how fat the Sharing can make their bank accounts.)

(That's sad, but true,) Cassie agreed. (They've gotten about as far as they can go with the philanthropic angle. But I don't see what wild animals running around would do for our cause. People would freak out, but they also wouldn't blame that on the Sharing.)

An idea was beginning to form in my mind, but it was borderline desperate. I didn't want to bring it up unless we had no other option. (Well, we'll keep it in mind anyway,) I said of the circus-gone-wild idea. (If nothing else, it'll clear out the crowd in a hurry.)

We went our separate ways. All the pre-mission set-up was going to be done tomorrow night – this was just a little preliminary scouting. I got home before my parents, and cringed when I saw Tom in the kitchen. He saw the look on my face and put his hands up in a gesture of peace.

"It's cool," he said. "No worries. I'm sorry about the other day. Mom and dad are right – I shouldn't be trying to bully you into joining my club." I noticed the way he avoided saying 'the Sharing.' "As a matter of fact, I wanted to tell you that it's totally fine if you skip the expansion ceremony on Saturday. Mom and dad are still going, and I know they were planning on making a big family day out of it, but whatever. It's your life, do what you want," he said easily. He offered his hand. "Are we cool?"

I was flooded with suspicion, but I shook his hand anyway. "Yeah. Thanks, man. I'm sorry for losing it, too – school, you know? I was just already bent out of shape that day, and I lost my cool."

He gave me a friendly smile, and my suspicion doubled. "It's all good." He stood up and stretched. "I gotta go…heading over to the Shar – to the place-that-shall-not-be-named," he corrected himself, still smiling easily. "Take it easy." I watched his back as he left, totally baffled by this new approach he was taking. I shook my head – if this was his new strategy to get me to join, I liked it. It was a lot less annoying.

The phone rang, and I answered it. "Hello?"

"Jake. Can't talk long – just wanted to give you a heads-up." It took a second, but I finally recognized Todd's voice. "Chapman just left my house. He might be coming your way."

Adrenaline flooded my body before I could realize there was no way Todd could know what he was saying meant to me. He didn't know what Chapman really was, obviously, or he wouldn't be calling with a warning. "What does he want?" I forced my voice to remain calm.

"To push the Sharing, of course. He came over and talked my parents up about it – now they're insisting we all go to their party in the park this weekend. They're totally pumped about the Sharing's scholarship program. They didn't even bat an eye when I reminded them Penn State already offered me a full football scholarship. Chapman convinced them that having a back-up plan in case I got hurt or whatever was the best idea in the world." He paused. "Actually, he made it sound like if I didn't do this, I was definitely going to get hurt. I'm freaked, man," he said, and I could hear from his voice that he was.

I wanted so badly to warn him, to tell him a piece of information that would convince him to stay the hell away from the Sharing. I was already getting used to thinking of all the possible consequences before I acted, though – I knew that one overly-informed piece of information I let slip now could be disastrous. If they did manage to make Todd a controller, I couldn't give him anything for the Yeerk to examine, nothing that would let them know I knew more than I should.

"This is getting shadier," I said instead, deciding on the vague-but-convinced approach. "They want you way too bad. Like you said, they won't take 'no' for an answer. This is rubbing me the wrong way," I tried to sound hinky, like I had a bad case of the creeps.

"Yeah, well, the worst part wasn't about me," he said gravely. "That's the reason I'm calling. Chapman said that I was the only one who didn't sign up for the program." He hesitated, like he didn't want to tell me something. "I didn't mean to sell you out, Jake, honest. But I pointed out that you didn't sign, either. Chapman just smiled and said that you'd be changing your mind. He said it like he was psychic, like he knew for sure you'd be joining up. I had to let you know," he finished in a rush.

Even though I was going through a second adrenaline surge in the last minute, I kept my voice even. "This is too much. I don't like it. It stinks. If you can, just stay away from them. Make an excuse to skip this weekend. Hell, disappear if it doesn't look like your parents are going to give in. That's what I'm going to do. This whole thing is just too Waco for me."

"Right?" he said, relieved. "I feel like if I go this weekend, they're going to make me drink some poisoned kool-aid or something. Look, meet up with me at lunch tomorrow so we can talk about this some more," he said, as if suddenly suspicious of the phone. "Later." He hung up.

I put the phone back on the hook. Before I could take a step, I heard the sound of a car door. I looked out the window, hoping my parents were back. I wanted to talk to them before Chapman could.

Of course, it wasn't my parents. Of course, it was Chapman walking up my driveway toward my house.