CHAPTER FIFTEEN: RACHEL

It was the next day, and we were all back at school like things were normal. They weren't, but what were we supposed to say? "Sorry mom, I can't go to school this morning because I was out late fighting my assistant principal's evil alien buddies and fake-kidnapping my old friend's pet cat? Oh yeah, and also we beat up some cops and broke their cars, that's not a problem right?"

Yeah. So we went to school.

The giddy relief of last night's close-call had faded a little, at least for me. I was kind of pissed that we'd risked so much and accomplished so little. Other than the fact that Visser Three and Chapman communicated regularly, and the Yeerks weren't prepared to unleash a bunch of Hork-Bajir in the middle of the suburbs where people could see them, we didn't know all that much more than we had before. Granted, there was something cathartic about knowing we'd trashed Chapman's front yard, but that wasn't enough to make up for the fact that we'd almost gotten Melissa turned into a Controller and Tobias trapped as a cat.

I was still a little angry at Tobias, too, for insisting on putting himself in danger like that when it should have been me. He's usually so much better at ignoring that "macho" bull that controls 99% of every other boy's actions. Maybe if the others (especially Marco) accepted him more, he would stop feeling like he needed to take stupid risks to prove himself...or maybe if I were more honest with my friends, they wouldn't get into stupid situations like that on my behalf.

(Yeah, I was still ticked at Jake and Cassie for tricking me with the flea, but what was I going to do? Hold it against them forever? That was hard to do when I knew that I'd have done the same thing to either of them. Ugh. Stupid friendship.)

Mostly I think I was mad at myself, though. Well, myself and the fact that I couldn't go elephant-stomping all over the bullies who pound on Tobias on the regular and gave him the stupid need to prove he's more than just a punching bag in the first place. I mean, I could, but that would probably draw attention from the Yeerks, which means I can't. At least not until after we kick their alien slug butts off our planet. After that? Oh, it's so on…

At least nobody at school was talking about Tobias and I having the audacity to eat lunch together anymore. They were much more interested in the story about the escaped circus animals that had caused havoc at Vice Principal Chapman's house last night. No news cameras had made it there (fortunately for them, as the reporters would all surely have been dragged down to the Yeerk Pool to keep them quiet) so there wasn't any footage to roll, but the local news had made do with stock film. Even I had to admit they'd pieced together a pretty good segment, although my dad could have done better.

I was worried about Melissa at first, and what all the uproar might mean for her. I know she'd rather not have people thinking about her as "the vice principal's daughter" as much as possible-but for once, she seemed to be okay with people making the connection, if the shy little smile on her face as everyone crowded around her to beg for details was any indication.

Fortunately she wasn't in a position to give many or I doubt anything could have saved her from the Yeerk Pool, not even her dad.

Her dad, yeah. Tobias had told me later, privately, what the Yeerk in Chapman's head had said to him when they'd been waiting for the Hork-Bajir to arrive. The Yeerk had been furious with "Fluffer," worried not just that his standing with the Visser had been damaged by having a supposed Andalite spy on him, but also worried about what the Visser would do next. Specifically, he'd been worried about Melissa. Oh, the Yeerk didn't care about her of course-but her dad did, and it was her dad's head where the Yeerk made his home.

"Do you have any idea what you could cost me, Andalite?" Chapman-or rather, Chapman's Yeerk-had snarled at Tobias. "If my host's wife cannot keep the girl occupied, if she notices what is happening and must be Infested-my life will be a misery! Go ahead, demorph. Try it. I'd be happy to kill you now! Do you know what it's like to have an uncooperative host? This Chapman agreed to let me have him, if his daughter were spared. If you cost me his obedience..."

It was hard for me to look at Chapman with the same fiery rage that had been fueling me since I'd heard him say "keep their heads" that night in the construction site. I think maybe I hadn't really understood before this quite what it meant for a person to be a Controller. Yeah, their body was doing evil stuff-but that wasn't their fault. They were just a helpless passenger.

Or, well...maybe not completely helpless. Not if Chapman's Yeerk was willing to make deals in order to keep his host happy.

I guess we all walked a fine line sometimes. Or at least I did.

I'd spoken to Melissa during the battle, after all.

That was another secret I was keeping from my friends. I know I shouldn't have taken the risk, but I hadn't been able to help myself. I'd had to help her.

So I'd lied and told her it would be okay, even though I had no idea when or even if it ever would be. I'd told her that she couldn't let on that she'd seen anything weird later, no matter what. Not even to her parents. Even before I knew about her dad's deal, it was the only thing I could do to protect her.

Some friend I am.

Still, she looked a little happier today. I don't know if that was because she believed what I'd said, or just because she was enjoying being the center of today's attention. Listening to her tell the story of the crazy elephant who tried to steal her cat, and how she scared it off all by herself, even I smiled.

Fluffer had made it home okay in the end, thank goodness. Melissa thought he'd been a very clever cat to escape from those crazy circus animals who tried to cat-nap him. I thought he'd been a very clever cat to stay away from the house until after the Yeerks gave-up on finding us and went home. I don't know if Chapman's Yeerk ever mentioned to Visser Three that the original cat came back.

I pictured him sitting in the basement all by himself, a confused Fluffer trapped in his cat carrier again, while Chapman held a Dracon beam on him and watched the clock, silently counting-down two hours just in case. I pictured him sagging with relief and letting the cat run back upstairs to curl up in Melissa's bed like everything was normal.

I don't know if that happened, of course. But I couldn't stop imagining it.

I wondered what the Yeerk had felt. I wondered if it had felt anything at all besides fear for itself.

Then I caught Melissa's eye and decided I had better things to wonder about.

I pushed my lunch tray aside and walked over to her table. People eyed me warily, probably remembering our screaming-match the other day, and stepped back to let me through. I kept my eyes on Melissa and pretended not to notice.

"Hey," I said, "I heard about Fluffer's adventure. Sounds like you were quite a hero, facing-down an elephant and a tiger and stuff."

"Yeah," Melissa said. Her eyes searched my face and I tensed, wondering-was she looking for a hint that I knew more than I was saying? Had she recognized my voice when the elephant spoke to her? Had my big risk been a waste, and there was a Yeerk squatting inside her skull even now?

Then she smiled and pointed, kind of shyly, at the seat next to her.

I sat down and grinned. "Dude," I said, "tell me everything."

Maybe I'm not the greatest friend. Maybe when you have secrets you need to keep, you can't be. But I could try. I'd pretend I was hearing about the Great Circus Escape for the first time, and gasp in all the right places, and not correct her when she got stuff wrong like how big the elephant was or how many horses had been there. And maybe someday, when the Yeerks were gone, I could sit down with her again and tell her everything-about impersonating her cat, about how impressed I'd been when she'd charged at me, about how much her dad loved her.

It wasn't like she was the only friend I had that I was lying to, either. I knew I couldn't tell the other Animorphs about how I'd talked to her last night. Jake, especially, would be furious with me for taking such a stupid risk after everything I'd promised...but then again, Jake had called Tom.

Maybe Jake would understand better than anyone.

END.