We watched, horrified and anxious, as the green vapour in the jar Quafijinivon was holding flowed out and into Cassie's head, disappearing from view. There was a long silence, where Cassie remained still and quiet.
"Has it worked?" Rachel wondered.
"May I speak to my great-grandmother now?" Toby asked eagerly.
"Cassie?" I said anxiously.
"I'm sorry, Toby," she began. "I don't think the Ceremony was-"
Then she stopped abruptly.
"What is it?" I asked, concerned.
"Cassie, are you OK? What happened?" Jake asked, trying to sound calmer than I was sure he felt.
"Was the Ceremony successful?" Quafijinivon wondered.
"Shhh," Cassie said. "Just be quiet, all of you."
We fell silent, listening to Cassie call, out loud, to Aldrea.
"Aldrea, you're sharing my brain and body. My name is Cassie. I'm a human girl. I live on planet Earth. An Arn just performed the-"
At that point, she cut off suddenly again, and her right hand clenched into a fist. Aldrea's fist, presumably.
Then she started to scream and began to fall towards the floor. Jake and I moved at the same moment, grabbing an arm each to support her.
Her screaming stopped. "Did you hear that? Did she speak through my mouth?"
I shook my head. "No."
Cassie began to speak aloud to Aldrea. If the Andalite was responding, I couldn't hear it. But at least it was reassuring that Cassie still had control of her voice. I wasn't sure how much this would be like Yeerk control, so it was reassuring that Cassie still had some control over her body; for now, at least.
Cassie moved her eyes: at least, I assumed it was her doing it. Took a step forward, then stopped, suddenly. Sweated and shook.
"Is there any way to reverse this?" I asked the Arn.
He shook his head. "Not until Aldrea chooses to leave."
"Cassie? Are you OK?"
She nodded to me, then continued the half-aloud, half-private conversation she was having with Aldrea. Eventually, presumably in response to a question from Aldrea, she asked about the Ixcila of Dak Hamee.
Clearly, it had been more than manipulation, then. There had been rumours, half-composed Yeerk legends circulating around Pools all over the galaxy that the Andalite girl who had so damaged the takeover of the Hork-Bajir planet had trapped herself as a Hork-Bajir in order to mate with a Seer. Of course, being penned by Yeerks about an Andalite they were malicious rumours, claiming that she had only done it to ingratiate herself with the Hork-Bajir community and keep them fighting for her, even though they were suffering an incredible death toll. I hadn't believed any of the rumours until I had entered Cassie's brain and seen the truth in them, and even then I had been sceptical: perhaps the descendants of Dak Hamee had merely come to believe those legends because their Yeerks thought they were true. Clearly, I had been wrong.
"The Yeerks did extensive blasting to create level places for training grounds. My lab was heavily damaged. The Ixcila of Dak Hamee was destroyed," Quafijinivon was saying.
Cassie proceeded to repeat another question from Aldrea, this time asking after the fate of her son, Seerow. It was a short story: caught, infested, and died in captivity. I wondered briefly about the Yeerk, or Yeerks, who had taken him. Had they known who his mother had been? Not that it would make any difference to his biology or psychology: unless he had inherited the Seer genes like Toby, he would have been typically Hork-Bajir.
"But Seerow's son, Jara Hamee, my father, escaped with the help of these humans here," Toby explained. "And I, your great-granddaughter, was born in freedom."
I wondered if the Andalite had access to Cassie's memory, hoping to remain in the category 'humans' forever as far as she was concerned. I didn't think her reaction to me would be a positive one.
Eventually, Cassie repeated Aldrea's question about what she was needed for, and the Arn began to explain.
"I am the last of my race," he began. "With your help, I hope to leave the Hork-Bajir world with some resistance against the Yeerks. I hope to create a Hork-Bajir army with DNA from the colony here. But they will need weapons. I believe you and Dak hid some. Can you help us? Can you remember where they were hidden?"
"No," Cassie said after a slight pause. "She says it must have happened after her Ixcila was harvested."
It was agreed Aldrea might still be able to find the weapons, despite not being certain where they were. I wondered if Aldrea realised how much the Hork-Bajir homeworld had changed. It had been necessary to turn over a lot of the land to industry to build ships, Dracon beams and the like, as well as to build larger Yeerk pools. I doubted much Aldrea remembered would have survived.
"Then the two of us- no, I suppose that should be the three of us, counting the receptacle- will leave tomorrow," Quafijinivon said.
"Not alone you won't," I said quickly, as Jake and Rachel opened their mouths.
"Where Cassie goes, we go," Jake said.
"But she is just a vessel," Quafijinivon said. "Why would you humans need to come?"
I gave a loud, fake cough. Quafijinivon looked curiously at me.
"You pretend to be so morally superior, but you're no better than any Yeerk," I said, angry. "We're going with her and that's final, or she doesn't go, and you can just put Aldrea back where she came-"
I would have continued, but Cassie made a strange sound. I turned quickly, concerned. She seemed to be struggling to speak.
"Cassie?"
"Cassie, you okay?" Rachel asked.
She struggled for a few minutes, but nodded, as though to indicate she was fine. Eventually, it turned out it was Aldrea trying to speak. I felt a flash of concern. I had hoped Aldrea wouldn't be able to control Cassie's body, just see and hear through it. It had seemed that way when Cassie had been repeating Aldrea's thoughts. Yes, her control was very weak now, judging by how poor her speech was, but surely it would get stronger: an idea that was confirmed as Aldrea continued to speak. I could hear her control of Cassie's speech centres improving. And there was no three-day limit here: the Arn had confirmed that Aldrea could not be forced to leave Cassie's head, and I was concerned she would not want to do so willingly when the time came. I was too concerned to pay full attention to what Aldrea was actually saying, until I heard the Arn's raised voice in response.
"You are refusing to give the Hork-Bajir's planet back to them?!" He exclaimed angrily.
"No, Arn, I am refu-sing to give you your planet back. That is what you are tru-ly asking. You care no-thing for the Hork-Bajir. Your kind never did."
Aldrea took some persuading, but eventually Toby managed to get her to agree to try and find the weapons, even though Aldrea wasn't completely certain where they were. We dispersed to get some rest and, in Tobias' case, to go and contact the Chee so they could impersonate the Animorphs while they were away.
I caught up to him before he left. "Tobias?"
He flew back down, regarding me with a hawk's predatory, piercing gaze.
"Could you fly by Mr Tidwell's house for me and let Illim know I'll be away? I won't have time to get there and back to tell him myself, not in this body. Tell him…" I hesitated. "Well, we work pretty cooperatively anyway, but tell him Miran is in overall command for any decisions while I'm away. And tell him I'm sorry I can't let him know myself. Thank you," I said, quickly giving him the address.
You're coming? Nothing changed in his hawk face, of course, but I could hear the surprise in his tone.
I nodded.
Are you sure it's a good idea? he asked. You're not going to be able to help much as a human, surely? And don't the peace movement need you?
I hesitated. I wasn't certain at first why I felt so strongly that I should go, just that I did. "I- I don't really want to leave Cassie with that Andalite in her head," I said, finding what I thought was the reason I wanted to go. "It's worrying."
That's why we're all going, Tobias pointed out.
I nodded. "I know. But I want to be there. I feel… protective… of her." The word didn't quite capture the emotion, but it was the closest I could come.
Why? Tobias asked.
"I don't really know," I answered truthfully. I felt as though I had had more minor versions of this emotion before, but wasn't sure at that point what linked them. The long journey to the Hork-Bajir world would give me time to reflect, I imagined. But despite not being completely certain why, I didn't feel I could be left behind on this mission. "I just do."