"Ow! Rachel, my shoulder!" Jordan protested. I relaxed my grip. When my heart stopped, I had dug my fingers into her pretty hard.
The reaction among the partygoers was mixed. The ones who were sober enough to understand and care either pushed forward to see the slugs, or pressed away in disgust. The Jacuzzi was in a shady corner, covered by one of those gazebos. The perfect place to quietly draw somebody aside and shove a slug up their ear. But there was nothing quiet about the corner now. The shoving partygoers had become a malcontent mass. Animal Abuse was beginning to have to struggle to make itself heard over the noise of the crowd. Jordan and I were caught near the front of the crowd, just ten feet away from the Jacuzzi.
"I gotta see this," Jordan said, stepping forward.
"No. Stay here." I tightened my grip on her shoulder again.
"What's the matter, Rachel? Scared?"
"Stay here," I repeated harshly. My mind was reeling. How would the Yeerks deal with being discovered. Send in Hork-Bajir to eliminate the witnesses? Probably. But how could I quietly morph and protect Jordan at the same time?
A harsh feedback scream cut through my whirling thoughts. "Heeeeeeeeeey, PEOPLE!" somebody shrieked. All eyes snapped towards the stage. Megan had grabbed the microphone from the lead singer of Animal Abuse, and was now standing on the stage, swaying slightly. Her eyes were wild. Her smiling mouth was filled with tension. This wasn't in the plan. "Are we all having fun yet?"
An unintelligable braying was the only response she received.
"Well, listen up! I wanted to save the Jacuzzi until LATER, but we'll roll with things and do this NOW! The slugs are in there for a REASON!" She paused, obviously to think. Then the penny seemed to drop. "Who here has seen Fear Factor?" she yelled.
The groan from the partygoers indicated most people had. I narrowed my eyes. Where was she taking this?
Megan paced the stage, screaming out an occasional word to grab the attention of the less sober who hadn't caught on yet. Whatever she was up to, she had figured out how she was going to dig herself and the rest of the Yeerks out of this situation. "Tonight, we're gonna be playing our own game of Fear Factor! And boys and girls, do I have some PRIZES for you! Prizes with values upwards of five HUNDRED dollars!"
She had the crowd. They were definitely interested. The shoving stopped.
"The CHEAPEST prize I've got is worth FIVE hundred dollars," Megan repeated. "The most expensive ... two GRAND, kids!"
An appreciative gasp went up from the crowd.
"Yeah, you heard right! So, we've set up a NUMBER of challenges for the bold and the greedy tonight! The first is ... who can stay underwater with the slugs the LONGEST?"
Whatever rank Megan's Yeerk was, it was smart.
The crowd instantly began shouting again, and the shoving started back up. Megan dropped down from the stage, yelling and shoving, clearing a path for herself to the Jacuzzi. There, she climbed up onto the broad edge of the Jacuzzi, and braced herself against a column of the gazebo. "AAARRRIGHT!! Who's gonna be the first? Step right up, kids, the prizes only get BIGGER as we go!"
"I'll do it!" I heard a guy yell. Instantly his buddies were cheering and jeering. He joined Megan on the edge of the Jacuzzi. Jordan was cheering too. I recognized him. He was Ron Baxter, one of the superjocks of the school. He waved to the crowd like a returning general, and they roared their approval of his daring.
Part of me thought, "Oh, good. It's all right if Ron gets infested." Then I hated myself for thinking that.
I looked up at the sky for a red-tailed hawk, but Tobias was nowhere to be seen. 'I hope he's morphing something big,' I thought.
"All right, RON!" Megan exulted. "Now, here are the rules. You have to stay completely submerged for at LEAST twenty seconds, or you get NOTHING! Got it?"
Ron nodded and flexed. He was obviously a litte drunk already.
"Okay, then. Get in there, BIG guy!"
Ron stepped down into the water. I saw him grimace a little, then cover it up with bravado. The crowd began to cheer. "RON! RON! RON! RON!"
He flashed a last smile at all of us, then submerged himself in the shallow pool.
"ONE!" Megan yelled. "TWO!" She gestured encouragingly, and the crowd took up the count.
"THREE! FOUR! FIVE!"
Jordan was screaming with the rest of them. I was trying to think. I couldn't just let this happen. I had to stop it, or get help.
"SIX! SEVEN! EIGHT!"
But I was too near the Jacuzzi to fight my way all the way out of the party with Jordan. Besides, who knew how long it might take to get Jake. Any number of people might be infested before we got back.
"NINE! TEN! ELEVEN!"
Animal Abuse began playing their own version of the Jepoardy theme song. I wouldn't of recognized it had it not been for the electric guitar that occasionally screamed out the basic tune in double time.
"TWELVE! THIRTEEN! FOURTEEN!"
I had to think of something. I saw splashes spill over the side of the pool. Underneath the water, Ron had to be struggling for his humanity.
"FIFTEEN! SIXTEEN! SEVENTEEN!"
And losing.
"EIGHTEEN! NINETEEN! TWENTY!"
Ron exploded from underwater, gasping for air. He crawled out of the pool, coughed, then stood and delivered the same grin.
Or, rather, his new slave master for life did.
"Goooooooooooo RON!!" Megan shrilled. "If nobody else can top that, you get the PRIZE!" She looked over the crowd with a conspiratorial grin. "Does anybody want to TRY topping that? AL-AYY! Go for it, girl!"
Ally, one of the cheerleaders climbed up. It was the same as the first time. The challenge. The posturing. Ally blew a kiss to the crowd instead of flexing, but otherwise, the show was almost identical. Again, I was glad that it was Ally instead of anybody I was close to. And I was guilty for being glad.
The count started up again. At eleven seconds, Ally broke the surface. "My EAR!" she screamed.
Megan reached out and shoved her back under the water. "Uh-UH!" she chided laughingly. "At least twenty seconds, REMEMBER, Ally?" Ally struggled for a few more seconds, then was still. At twenty-five seconds, she broke the surface. As a Controller.
I had to stop this. But how?
"Who's NEXT?"
"ME!" Jordan yelled, wriggling free of my grasp.
"Hey, NO!" I yelled, pouncing on her.
"Whoah, it's the Rachel and JORDAN show!" Megan laughed into the microphone. "Rachel, let the girl come up if she wants to!"
"Rachel, let GO!" Jordan yelled.
I clenched her arm unyieldingly. "Jordan, if you go up there, you will regret it the rest of your life," I hissed into her ear.
"What's wrong, Rachel?" she demanded. "Just because you're too scared to do it, you won't let me? Why do you have to control my life?"
"I'm not scared," I growled.
"WELL! If you're not scared, how about YOU do it, Rachel!" I looked up. Megan was grinning down at me. Grinning like the cat grins at the mouse. "Hey, you guys all remember RACHEL! Who wants to see her go underwater!"
A roar went up from the crowd. Plenty of people at my school know me by sight and reputation. And I don't have a great reputation.
"Rachel, c'mon UP here!" Megan cackled.
"I'll pass!" I yelled.
"Nah," Megan said, her voice quiet in the microphone for a moment. "You won't. GUYS, help me get Rachel in the water!"
The crowd laughed, and pressed in around Jordan and I. I could smell the alcohol on their breath. Then the first pair of hands grabbed me.
The reaction among the partygoers was mixed. The ones who were sober enough to understand and care either pushed forward to see the slugs, or pressed away in disgust. The Jacuzzi was in a shady corner, covered by one of those gazebos. The perfect place to quietly draw somebody aside and shove a slug up their ear. But there was nothing quiet about the corner now. The shoving partygoers had become a malcontent mass. Animal Abuse was beginning to have to struggle to make itself heard over the noise of the crowd. Jordan and I were caught near the front of the crowd, just ten feet away from the Jacuzzi.
"I gotta see this," Jordan said, stepping forward.
"No. Stay here." I tightened my grip on her shoulder again.
"What's the matter, Rachel? Scared?"
"Stay here," I repeated harshly. My mind was reeling. How would the Yeerks deal with being discovered. Send in Hork-Bajir to eliminate the witnesses? Probably. But how could I quietly morph and protect Jordan at the same time?
A harsh feedback scream cut through my whirling thoughts. "Heeeeeeeeeey, PEOPLE!" somebody shrieked. All eyes snapped towards the stage. Megan had grabbed the microphone from the lead singer of Animal Abuse, and was now standing on the stage, swaying slightly. Her eyes were wild. Her smiling mouth was filled with tension. This wasn't in the plan. "Are we all having fun yet?"
An unintelligable braying was the only response she received.
"Well, listen up! I wanted to save the Jacuzzi until LATER, but we'll roll with things and do this NOW! The slugs are in there for a REASON!" She paused, obviously to think. Then the penny seemed to drop. "Who here has seen Fear Factor?" she yelled.
The groan from the partygoers indicated most people had. I narrowed my eyes. Where was she taking this?
Megan paced the stage, screaming out an occasional word to grab the attention of the less sober who hadn't caught on yet. Whatever she was up to, she had figured out how she was going to dig herself and the rest of the Yeerks out of this situation. "Tonight, we're gonna be playing our own game of Fear Factor! And boys and girls, do I have some PRIZES for you! Prizes with values upwards of five HUNDRED dollars!"
She had the crowd. They were definitely interested. The shoving stopped.
"The CHEAPEST prize I've got is worth FIVE hundred dollars," Megan repeated. "The most expensive ... two GRAND, kids!"
An appreciative gasp went up from the crowd.
"Yeah, you heard right! So, we've set up a NUMBER of challenges for the bold and the greedy tonight! The first is ... who can stay underwater with the slugs the LONGEST?"
Whatever rank Megan's Yeerk was, it was smart.
The crowd instantly began shouting again, and the shoving started back up. Megan dropped down from the stage, yelling and shoving, clearing a path for herself to the Jacuzzi. There, she climbed up onto the broad edge of the Jacuzzi, and braced herself against a column of the gazebo. "AAARRRIGHT!! Who's gonna be the first? Step right up, kids, the prizes only get BIGGER as we go!"
"I'll do it!" I heard a guy yell. Instantly his buddies were cheering and jeering. He joined Megan on the edge of the Jacuzzi. Jordan was cheering too. I recognized him. He was Ron Baxter, one of the superjocks of the school. He waved to the crowd like a returning general, and they roared their approval of his daring.
Part of me thought, "Oh, good. It's all right if Ron gets infested." Then I hated myself for thinking that.
I looked up at the sky for a red-tailed hawk, but Tobias was nowhere to be seen. 'I hope he's morphing something big,' I thought.
"All right, RON!" Megan exulted. "Now, here are the rules. You have to stay completely submerged for at LEAST twenty seconds, or you get NOTHING! Got it?"
Ron nodded and flexed. He was obviously a litte drunk already.
"Okay, then. Get in there, BIG guy!"
Ron stepped down into the water. I saw him grimace a little, then cover it up with bravado. The crowd began to cheer. "RON! RON! RON! RON!"
He flashed a last smile at all of us, then submerged himself in the shallow pool.
"ONE!" Megan yelled. "TWO!" She gestured encouragingly, and the crowd took up the count.
"THREE! FOUR! FIVE!"
Jordan was screaming with the rest of them. I was trying to think. I couldn't just let this happen. I had to stop it, or get help.
"SIX! SEVEN! EIGHT!"
But I was too near the Jacuzzi to fight my way all the way out of the party with Jordan. Besides, who knew how long it might take to get Jake. Any number of people might be infested before we got back.
"NINE! TEN! ELEVEN!"
Animal Abuse began playing their own version of the Jepoardy theme song. I wouldn't of recognized it had it not been for the electric guitar that occasionally screamed out the basic tune in double time.
"TWELVE! THIRTEEN! FOURTEEN!"
I had to think of something. I saw splashes spill over the side of the pool. Underneath the water, Ron had to be struggling for his humanity.
"FIFTEEN! SIXTEEN! SEVENTEEN!"
And losing.
"EIGHTEEN! NINETEEN! TWENTY!"
Ron exploded from underwater, gasping for air. He crawled out of the pool, coughed, then stood and delivered the same grin.
Or, rather, his new slave master for life did.
"Goooooooooooo RON!!" Megan shrilled. "If nobody else can top that, you get the PRIZE!" She looked over the crowd with a conspiratorial grin. "Does anybody want to TRY topping that? AL-AYY! Go for it, girl!"
Ally, one of the cheerleaders climbed up. It was the same as the first time. The challenge. The posturing. Ally blew a kiss to the crowd instead of flexing, but otherwise, the show was almost identical. Again, I was glad that it was Ally instead of anybody I was close to. And I was guilty for being glad.
The count started up again. At eleven seconds, Ally broke the surface. "My EAR!" she screamed.
Megan reached out and shoved her back under the water. "Uh-UH!" she chided laughingly. "At least twenty seconds, REMEMBER, Ally?" Ally struggled for a few more seconds, then was still. At twenty-five seconds, she broke the surface. As a Controller.
I had to stop this. But how?
"Who's NEXT?"
"ME!" Jordan yelled, wriggling free of my grasp.
"Hey, NO!" I yelled, pouncing on her.
"Whoah, it's the Rachel and JORDAN show!" Megan laughed into the microphone. "Rachel, let the girl come up if she wants to!"
"Rachel, let GO!" Jordan yelled.
I clenched her arm unyieldingly. "Jordan, if you go up there, you will regret it the rest of your life," I hissed into her ear.
"What's wrong, Rachel?" she demanded. "Just because you're too scared to do it, you won't let me? Why do you have to control my life?"
"I'm not scared," I growled.
"WELL! If you're not scared, how about YOU do it, Rachel!" I looked up. Megan was grinning down at me. Grinning like the cat grins at the mouse. "Hey, you guys all remember RACHEL! Who wants to see her go underwater!"
A roar went up from the crowd. Plenty of people at my school know me by sight and reputation. And I don't have a great reputation.
"Rachel, c'mon UP here!" Megan cackled.
"I'll pass!" I yelled.
"Nah," Megan said, her voice quiet in the microphone for a moment. "You won't. GUYS, help me get Rachel in the water!"
The crowd laughed, and pressed in around Jordan and I. I could smell the alcohol on their breath. Then the first pair of hands grabbed me.