A/N: This is my first Animorphs fanfic. I will say that my knowledge of the books isn't 100%, so if I got anything wrong, please let me know! I will definitely correct. I also bumped the setting to present-day to reflect modern times. I hope you all enjoy. Please review.

It's amazing how well flattery works. If you can successfully bullshit, I mean.

Oh, hi. My name is Marco. I'm a pretty extraordinary guy. Not only am I cute, but I'm also incredibly smart, witty, charming and charismatic. Did I mention cute? But greatness comes with a price. For example, no one seems to recognize how incredible I am. Maybe it's because I'm short. Maybe it's because I crack jokes in the middle of class and the teacher assigns extra homework because he never got to the lesson. Whatever the reason may be, it gets a little frustrating. So I have to step up my game an extra notch. Or a couple of notches.

Our science class was on a nature hike. We were exploring the cluster of trees and shrubs behind the school. Not exactly big enough to be called "the woods" but good for collecting dead leaves, creepy insects and rocks without having to leave school grounds, which would have required a permission slip signed by our parents, and no way was lazy Mr. King going to spend his time making twenty-five copies of permission slips.

Normally Jake and I would partner up on this type of assignment, but I was too interested in the blonde French girl standing next to me. Joline. What a beautiful name for such a beautiful girl. She looked a lot like Rachel, only prettier, if that's possible. Blue eyes, pale skin, long legs like a mare. She sat three rows across from me in class. Three rows and three desks back, to be precise. In fact, she sat right next to Jake, who wasn't bothered by the fact that he regularly sat a foot away from the most gorgeous girl in school, because he was too infatuated with barnyard Cassie. What can you do with a guy like that?

Then again, maybe he was concerned she was a controller. And that's understandable. I'm the most paranoid guy you'll ever meet. I know the risks. But that's still no way to live life. If I went around thinking everyone had an alien slug in their brain ready to recruit me to the dark side, I'd go more insane than I already am.

I know what you're thinking. Relax. Let me explain. A year ago, I annihilated Jake at this arcade game at the mall. And like the sore loser he is, he wanted to go home. He couldn't take his ego getting crushed. However, don't ask him for a recount of this story. He'll probably lie to save face. Before we left, we ran into Tobias, some dweeb who worshiped Jake because he saved him from getting the worst swirlie of his life. Then we met up with Rachel, Jake's psycho babe of a cousin, and Cassie, his kinda-but-not-really girlfriend. Our resident alien, the Ax-man, joined us a few weeks later, after a very bizarre deep sea mission.

From there, at the abandoned construction site we stumbled upon, we learned about the Yeerks, the parasitic alien species with an intent to enslave the human race. And we were given the power by a dying Andalite prince to defeat them: the power to morph into animals. That's another thing that makes me so awesome. I can turn into your cat. I can morph into a dog and sneak into a concert (which I've already done, but I digress). I've experienced the absolute freedom of soaring in the sky as an osprey and the pure joy of exploring the ocean as a dolphin. But I would do anything to give this power to someone else. You see, it's not all fun and games. The power to morph is a real weapon we use to fight in the war against the Yeerks. If we use it for fun, we run the unnecessary risk of getting caught. And I'm not ready to die yet.

So now you know why I don't like to believe everyone around me has a Yeerk in their brain. One wrong word, one casual slip of the tongue and it's game over.

Anyway, how could someone so beautiful, confident and smart be under alien control? But I know better. The Yeerks can access your deepest secrets, memories and experiences and create an exact clone of your former self. Jake knows more than anyone. He didn't realize his own brother, Tom, was a controller until I pointed it out to him.

My mother is one too. That's all I really want to say about that. But unlike me, Jake has to face his enemy at the dinner table every night.

I sidled up to Joline as Mr. King droned on and on about the wonders of nature, and whispered, "Très belle."

She looked down at me. She was tall. The top of my head reached her shoulder. Barely. "Excuse me?"

"Tu est très belle," I repeated. Thank God for google translate.

Her lips curved slightly. Those full, glossy, pink, kissable lips. "You speak French?"

I nodded. "Oui."

I winked at Jake. He rolled his eyes. Jake likes to act so responsible and sensible. He reminds me of a 40-year-old accountant with a nagging housewife and three kids. But I know he secretly wishes he had my game.

Who am I kidding? I have no game. At that moment Joline decided to converse with me in fluent French. All I could do was smile and nod my head like an idiot. There is only so much one can learn from a one hour stint on Google translate. She paused and waited for me to respond. I smiled. I nodded. She walked away.

Jake laughed and Mr. King paused his lecture to chastise him. "Would you like to share what's so funny with the class, Jake?"

Jake pressed his lips together and shook his head. "No, sir."

Mr. King peered over his glasses at me and cleared his throat. "Now, if I may continue..."

I caught Jake's eye and flipped him the bird. Then…

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

Frantic whispers began to circulate among our classmates. Mr. King paused mid-sentence and forgot to close his mouth. A few guys ran toward the scream, and Mr. King scrambled behind to catch them. Jake and I stood at a distance while everyone else followed. I could see a circle beginning to form around Mr. King, who knelt to the ground with his fingers in his hair. "Dear God." Jake shot me a concerned look, and we walked over to join the group. Joline was sobbing. I stood on my tiptoes to look over her shoulder. A chill crept up my spine. A girl was gathered in Mr. King's arms. His hands were covered in blood as he tried to cover the gaping wound on her stomach. But the blood continued to pour out of her pale body. Her eyes had rolled to the back of her head.

"Someone call 911!" Our classmate Noelle screamed.

Two guys took off into a sprint toward the school. It was too late. She was already dead by the time the paramedics arrived.

The school issued a lock down. Our class rushed to the gym while Mr. King talked with the paramedics. A lot of kids were already piled in there, like we were having an assembly. Hundreds of kids and teachers sitting in silence, motioness. Our class stuck together. We huddled in the darkness and waited. We heard a cacophony of police sirens and fire trucks. No one knew what to say. But that only lasted a few minutes. Our classmates started to whisper to each other. Some of the guys claimed she killed herself and others thought she was shot. I made a joke. "Maybe she fell asleep and Freddie Kruger got her."

No one laughed. Except Patrick O'Donoghue, who snickered from underneath his hoodie. Joline shot me a disgusted look. Her eyes were still swollen and watery. I felt bad for her. You see, I regularly witness death. I've been the killer and the prey. You become desensitized after awhile. Or you pretend that you are. But Joline...it had to be rough to see something like that. I'm sure most people don't witness brutal deaths every day at school. And to be 100% honest, it was kind of unsettling for me too. I mean, it's one thing to see dead Hork-Bajir and Taxxons. It's a whole other thing to see your classmate lying in cold blood. You think, "Wow, that could've been me." You realize evil isn't just fighting parasitic aliens. It's right there in your own school. Within the very people you're fighting for. I felt like a normal kid again, scared that I was going to die in a school shooting.

The irony. I've survived dozens of battles with intergalactic monsters, and the thing I was worried about then was getting shot by some deranged gunman.

I turned to Jake. His eyes were fixed on the floor. I wondered what he was thinking. Jake's a pretty stoic guy. If he's affected by something, you can't really tell. He doesn't cry, lash out, or make jokes. It's not like we talk about it. I'm sure Cassie sorts him out.

I thought about my dad and how he would react to something like that happening to me. He would completely lose it. First his wife, then me. I almost quit the Animorphs once, because I knew my dad would fall apart if I died. But when I found out that my mother was a controller, I knew I had to stay in the fight to save her. I also knew that I would probably have to kill her one day. The others say I can be ruthless, and yeah, I'm more concerned about the logistics of a plan than the moral consequences. But I'm not heartless. It still bothers me that to kill Visser One, I'll have to destroy my own mom.

Jake tapped me on the shoulder, forcing me out of my thoughts, and pointed across the gym. I spotted Cassie and Rachel looking at us. The sunlight streaming in from the windows made them somewhat visible. Their class was sitting by the boys' locker room entrance. How unfortunate. Rachel was mouthing something, but I couldn't understand. What? I mouthed back. She rolled her eyes.

I elbowed Jake and whispered, "What's she saying?"

He squinted his eyes at Rachel. "Something about Tobias?"

He mouthed, Tobias?

She nodded and turned her attention to Cassie. Cassie looked almost as shell-shocked as the rest of the students. Rachel had her arms draped over her protectively. I wanted to morph and see what was going on with Tobias. I didn't have to wait long. The lights in the gym flickered on. I blinked. Nervous murmurs bounced through the room. Chapman made an announcement. His voice was robotic and sterile.

"The lockdown has been lifted. The campus has been deemed safe for school to continue on a regular schedule. Teachers, please escort your students to class. Thank you."

And then I heard Tobias' thought-speak.

Guys, there's a news crew out here and everything. Police are keeping parents from coming in. It's crazy.

We couldn't respond of course. The gym was in complete chaos. No one was going back to class. Some of the teachers tried to shout above the noise but it was useless.

I saw what happened. I was circling around the school waiting for… He trailed off. Rachel raised her eyebrows.

Anyway, I saw these two guys and a girl arguing outside. Not too far from Jake and Marco. And then...one guy held her neck and the other one stabbed her. Then they ran off.

I froze. So there was a murder on campus. And Tobias, the talking hawk, was the only witness.

I thought about what I would tell the cops. "Hey, cops! A little birdie told me that he saw a girl get murdered! Want him on the witness stand?"

Intercom static filled the gym as Chapman began another announcement. His first words were drowned out as everyone continued to speculate. The noise began to taper off as he continued. The girl had been identified as Jessica Sanchez. A choked sob came from somewhere in the bleachers. I didn't recognize her when she was found dead. But most of us were too horrified by her bloody corpse to get a good look. There were so many different Jessica's at our school, it was hard to pinpoint one in particular. He went on a spiel about how wonderful and kind and involved she was. You know, the kind of stuff folks make up about dead people even if they were total bitches. I'm sure she wasn't, but you know. I wanted to roll my eyes. Chapman is a controller. A high ranking one. I knew the Yeerk in his head couldn't care less about Jessica. He was probably thinking of a way to use her death to his advantage and recruit more involuntary hosts . Yeah, my brain works like that. Paranoia abounds there.

Apparently, Jake felt the same way. He nodded at me. "Meeting in the barn after school."

Crap.