The Rat
Disclaimer: I do not own Animorphs.
Jake sighed. "Okay, then. I'll see David-slash-Saddler this evening. I'll bring him a rat to acquire."
"You're going to bring him a rat at the hospital?" Cassie asked.
"No, he and his family are at my house," Jake said. "Nothing's wrong with him, so the hospital let him go. He's actually staying in my room. His so-called parents have the guest room, and I'm on the couch."
-Animorphs #22.
David has got to go.
Every time I look at him, that's all I can think and it has been all I could think since that night David attempted to kill me and Tobias.
Now, though, it feels a lot more pressing.
David is still a threat to us (possibly our most dangerous threat since not only can he morph like we can but he knows who we are and how to find us and can sell us out to the Yeerks at any moment) and still needs to be somehow neutralized but now it's getting worse.
There's really no going back from the things that David has done, I think. Granted, David has not actually killed any of us but it wasn't from lack of trying and he certainly thinks he has. He also hates us – or hates Marco and Rachel – and is completely dismissive of Ax and Tobias for not being 'human' enough for him. He actually likes Cassie and I think I'm closer to the hate category than anything else.
David promised that he would never kill a human and it's why Marco was merely tied up but what about my cousin Saddler? Even if he seemed unlikely to survive, David either killed him outright or prevented hospital personnel from saving his life. Who even knows what he did with the body?
And if that weren't enough, now he's sitting around the kitchen table with my family pretending that he's their miracle. One of these days he's going to break their hearts far worse than they would have been broken without his interference and it is sickening.
Tom's off at a Sharing meeting, Justin keeps zoning out, and Brooke is playing with Forrest (at least it keeps him quiet) but my parents and Uncle George and Aunt Ellen are hanging onto every word that David says.
"You have no idea how glad I am to get out of that hospital!" David exclaimed. "I mean, no offense to the doctors or nurses there because they did save my life but they're acting like I'm some sort of scientific curiosity and it was getting a little claustrophobic."
"I don't know what they did or how but I'm just glad that it happened," Uncle George said.
"You're really not feeling any side-effects or lingering pain from the crash?" Aunt Ellen asked, fascinated.
David shook his head and grinned at her. "Nope. I'm feeling back to 100%."
"Wow, Saddler," I couldn't help but say. I almost said 'David' but caught myself just in time. There are no Controllers here right now but why risk it? And how to explain it? "It's almost like you were never in that accident at all."
David's grin became a smirk. "Isn't it? It's kind of cool that I get to be a miracle and all. I wish that everyone was as lucky as we are. Don't you wish that, Jake?"
It's what I get for drawing David's attention to me, it really is. I hoped that the upturn of my lips looked more like a smile than the grimace it felt like.
"Absolutely," I lied.
"I can't wait to get you home!" Aunt Ellen exclaimed. She turned to my parents. "Not that we're not grateful for you hospitality or anything, it's just…"
"You want to be able to start to put this whole mess behind you and return to normal," my mom supplied. "I get that, believe me, I do."
"And I'm sure you're eager to get back to your own rooms instead of having to share," my dad added.
"Oh, I don't know," David said slyly. "I kind of liking kicking Cousin Jake out of his room."
"Oh, I bet you do," I muttered.
"Boys," Uncle George said reprovingly. "Can't you get along for five minutes?"
"I guess it is a sign that everything's going back to normal," my dad remarked.
"You're absolutely right, Dad," David said, sounding contrite. "I'm sorry. And I'm sorry to you, too, Jake. I guess old habits are hard to break."
Uncle George softened immediately. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm just glad that you're feeling better is all."
"Me, too," I claimed. "D-Saddler, do you think I could talk to you after dinner? It's kind of important but I'd like it to just stay between us." Maybe I should just stop using any name for him to avoid slip-ups or near slip-ups like that one. It might help if I could start thinking of him as Saddler but that's really beyond me.
"Oooh. Family secrets," David said semi-mockingly. Well, I thought it was quite mocking but I doubt anyone else would have picked up on it. He made a big show of finishing off what was on his plate. "Well, I'm done now." He stood up. "Shall we?"
I glance down at my own plate which was still half-full. But then, I didn't really have much of an appetite and I rather wanted to minimize the time that David spent around my relatives, even with me around to supervise.
I stood up as well. "Now's good, yeah."
"Jake, what about the rest of your dinner?" my mom demanded.
I shrugged. "Sorry, Mom. I'm just not hungry."
"Well at least take your plate to the sink," she instructed.
David looked sheepish. "Oh, I should probably do that as well."
"You're a guest," my mom told him. "But Jake should know better."
Oh, he was so enjoying this. I reached for my plate but Dad got there first and, as he usually did, scooped my leftovers onto his own plate before handing it back to me.
Once both plates were safely in the sink, I led the way out to the garage.
"What's wrong with talking in your room?" David asked curiously.
"Two reasons," I replied. "One, even though Tom's not home now I might miss hearing him return and even if he doesn't come back someone else might still overhear us. You can't hear what's being said in the garage when you're in the house or vice versa with the door closed. Also, I'm keeping this in the garage so as not to freak anybody out." I bent down and picked up a small cage that Cassie had given me. A little white rat was inside of it.
David eyed the cage critically. "What's this supposed to be? Some sort of a message? Because I've got to tell you, cousin, that it's not very subtle and I think it's a little too fourth grade anyway."
"I'm not your cousin," I snapped. I'd been wanting to say those words since the hospital but I hadn't been able to because of other witnesses.
David smirked again. "Try telling that to those lovely people in there. You have a nice family, Jake. Too bad you don't deserve them."
I refused to let those words hit their intended target. This was important and I wasn't about to show any weakness in front of David. Well, any weakness that wasn't necessary for our plan of deceiving him and thus any weakness that was real. I don't have any problem with looking bad in front of other people if it was all just a ploy.
"We've been thinking about your…offer," I said slowly.
David schooled Saddler's features into a look of polite interest. Watching him, it was almost like he was a Yeerk controlling Saddler instead of a human morphing him. Once David stopped the pretence I was never going to see my cousin's face again. "Oh? Do tell."
I said nothing, allowing a conflicted look to appear on my face.
"Well? Go on," David ordered.
"We're going to give you what you want," I said heavily.
"I thought you might see it my way," David said, his voice dripping with self-satisfaction.
"On one condition," I said, holding up a finger.
"I hardly think you're in any position to be making demands, Jake," David said dangerously.
"Be that as it may without us you'll never get your hands on the morphing cube," I said tersely.
David narrowed his eyes. "Fine. I'll play along. What is it that you want?"
"I want your solemn oath that once we give you the morphing cube you'll disappear. You'll leave Santa Barbara and you won't come after any of us again or contact the Yeerks or get in the way of our fight. Promise that you won't do anything stupid with the morphing cube and let the world or the Yeerks know that you have it."
"My 'solemn oath', huh?" David laughed at me just like I knew that he would. That was the point of that wording, after all. "Alright. I think I can handle that. It's all in my best interest, after all."
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
"If I get caught then that's not good for me," David said slowly as if he were talking to Forrest. "And while I can't stand you guys, any damage you do to the Yeerks can only lessen the likelihood I'll be forced to deal with them in my new home. I'm thinking of staying with your family, by the way. You mind?"
Not that it would matter if I did, of course.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "As long as you keep your word."
"What's the rat for, Jake?" David asked me.
"When we…fell out, Ax offered to disassemble the morphing cube," I told him. "None of us knew it was possible but he said that he could do it and that, more to the point, he could put it back together afterwards. We thought it would be easier to hide it if we put it in a lot of different places rather than just one so even if you found some of the pieces you wouldn't be able to find all of them. And this way, we could hide it in even more spots because each piece is a lot smaller."
"But why the rat?" David pressed. "Am I supposed to morph it and go after the pieces myself? Why doesn't one of you just morph and retrieve the pieces and put it together for me?"
"Ah, well, Ax will have to put it together in the end anyway so you'll need to keep him alive," I explained. "I guess we never thought of one of us getting it, though."
"Of course you didn't," David said contemptuously. Oh, that arrogance was going to be his undoing.
"But would you really trust us to get all the pieces? I just always saw you as a man of action who would want to do it himself," I replied.
"You do have a point," David said musingly. "I am not reliant on any of you and I don't want you to forget that for a second."
The familiar features of my cousin melted away into the unwelcome ones of David. He held out his hand. "Give me that rat."
Review Please!
