OSKEL

I checked my phone for what felt like the one millionth time. Or perhaps maybe the billionth time.

Just what had she meant by 'I'll be gone for a while, tell mum I'm staying at yours. I'll be okay,' ?

Thanks, Lilah. That told me everything. I'll cover for you going missing for two weeks. We're only best friends, send me a postcard sometime?

It didn't matter what I texted back. Radio silence. Clearly, something or someone was preventing her from texting me. Maybe I should have told the police, like Terif suggested. Terif and Ruwin were the only ones who knew she was missing apart from me. But I knew I could trust them. They knew about her situation.

Three people couldn't all be wrong, could they?

I glanced at the window. The weather was shittier than normal tonight. My mind briefly wandered to where Lilah could be and whether she was alright.

I squashed the anxiety. I looked at the time. 2:37AM, according to my computer. No less than a dozen tabs were open, mostly on forum threads, a couple on YouTube, and at least one was on a playlist.

With Lilah MIA, there really wasn't much else to do other than argue with people online.

I frowned at the screen.

Zephyr99 was being a salty dumbass. There was no way that Charizard could beat MetalGreymon, no matter how much more powerful 'mega evolution' made him. I called him out on it, and to no surprise, Zephyr99 replied with an insult less than a minute later. My point was proven. I proceeded to type out the rest of my reply.

'- and yet here you are, arguing with a stranger online on an underwater Vietnamese basket-weaving forum. Your parents must be so proud of yo-'

The door to my room opened with a slam. I almost fell backwards on my chair. With my headphones on, I hadn't heard her enter through the front door.

It was Lilah.

After going missing for two weeks with no explanation, she was there. Just stood there, breathing raggedly, soaked to the bone, trying to catch her breath.

I was relieved. And angry. And relieved.

I wrenched off my headphones and stood up.

"You IDIOT!" I snapped. "First, you send me a VAGUE text, then you go missing for TWO WEEKS, skipping school without me, leaving me WORRIED TO DEATH, and now you burst into my room in the middle of the night, soaking wet -"

Before I could get another word in, she interrupted me.

"I love you too," she said sweetly. It wasn't because she was actually my girlfriend or anything. She was just politely telling me to shut up. She was classy like that. "Now okay, don't freak out, but I was abducted by aliens."

Sadly, this world was crazy enough for that not to be a far out concept. "Which ones!? The bastards," I growled. "Skrit-Na, wasn't it? Only those cu-"

"Yes! And I'm okay. I'm here, I'm uninjured. I was rescued by Andalites but their ship crash landed. You need to call the emergency line. My phone got fucked in the rain before I could get signal."

Her phone had been an old Moto G. It was good for its time, but old and slow now. "I told you to get a proper waterproof phone," I chastised. "I know you like old things but old tech isn't exactly useful."

Still, I picked up my own mobile from my desk and dialled 999. Unfortunately, it wasn't the first time I'd ever called the number, but that didn't make it any less awkward.

"Yes, an actual, literal Andalite spaceship has crashed in a field outside the village," I repeated after giving the operator the details of the location. "Yes, it's on fire, in a field. Apparently you can't miss it. I recommend you send plenty of ambulances. You'll only be able to fit one Andalite in each," I advised. "No, I will not be holding the line. I'm busy. Goodbye."

I dropped the call. They would figure out what to do. They were some of the best in the world.

I turned to Lilah, ready to question her further, because I sure as hell wasn't running outside in the pouring rain to help a bunch of Andalites that couldn't even land a ship properly.

"How did they even crash their ship? Some cadet thought he could land an entire dome ship?" I asked, half-kidding, half-not-surprised-somehow that something so ridiculous could happen.

"No," Lilah said. By now her breath had caught up with her. Yet even when she was out of breath, she didn't look ridiculous or silly like I would've. "We were attacked."

"What!? Bloody hell. By who? Rebels? Pirates?"

"If only," Lilah said, moving to sit on the carpet. She was clearly exhausted. I opened the dresser to my right and pulled out a blanket for her.

"Here," I said. "You're drenched and you look like you're freezing." I couldn't bear to see her look so bedraggled. It didn't suit her.

She took it and draped it over herself. "Thanks. And yeah. Kelbrids. Supposedly those aliens that the Animorphs went after and never came back to tell the tale. They're definitely not just a made up species for your cover story conspiracy theory."

"Seriously? And you saw their ship attack you?"

Lilah shook her head. "That's the weird thing. I never saw a thing."

I frowned. "You were attacked so badly that the ship crashed, and then you made it out without so much as a scratch on you. You know how unbelievable that is? I swear, if this is a prank – I called 999 you know."

I actually did believe every word she said. She could tell me the sky was yellow and I'd believe her. But saying that I believed her right off the bat would've been stupid and ridiculous. What would I do next, take her hand and tell her it was okay because I was there now? It'd be like something out of a bad romance movie. Lilah hated those. They were unrealistic, in her words.

"There's no prank. Look, I'll show you." She went to stand, and almost tripped forwards.

I stopped her, catching her by the arm. "I think you should take a break, first, Lilah," I said to her, cautiously. I'd be lying if I wasn't curious to see a burning Andalite spaceship, but my friend came first.

"Lilah?"

A different voice came from the hallway. The light in my room was off, as usual, and it was too dark to see who it was. "You brought a friend?" I asked her, feeling a little annoyed that she hadn't mentioned him.

At least it wasn't an Andalite. Probably a human.

"Carralis, you followed me?" Lilah asked, bewildered.

Okay, maybe not with a name like that.

/CARRALIS! LILAH TOLD YOU TO STAY BACK!/

Another voice, sharp, and distinctly telepathic, assaulted my brain.

I was reminded of half-faded memories forced to resurface. They weren't even mine. At least, that's what I told myself. Thought-speak, screams of mercy, solemn vows…

I gritted my teeth and tried to focus on the present.

A strange new creature was about to emerge from the dark, but before it could, the Andalite's shouting caught its attention, then something charged into it.

Of course, both of them were sent flying forward. Directly into me. Fur and fine scales brushed against my skin, and before I knew it we were in a tangled pile on the floor. I looked up. My desk chair was definitely fucked, considering it was in two pieces.

"I don't remember inviting an Andalite and a whatever-the-hell-you-are into my room. Also, Andalite lady, would you kindly remove your tail from my face?"

Surprisingly, the Andalite apologised straight away. /I am sorry. I was trying to stop Carralis, but he wouldn't listen to me./

"I needed to tell her!" The strange alien, who was still comically sprawled out onto the carpet, objected. "They're going to be after us!"

"Apology accepted. Also, how did you manage to destroy my door?" I asked, sitting up, half-dazed. Somehow, the Andalite actually managed to crack it in half with her clumsy charge.

If I'd have been stood in the doorway, I was sure I'd have broken ribs.

I looked over the clumsy Andalite. She was dainty, plum-coloured, and her tail-blade was more akin to a scalpel than a blade. An ordinary female in every respect.

Maybe it really was just a crappy door.

The other alien, who I assumed was Carralis, was black from head to toe, and had a row of eyes that started from his snout and went all the way down the sides of his long body. Leaf-like protrusions fanned out from his body, some far larger than others. In the dark, they almost looked like they could be wings. Between his shoulders was a long, muscular neck with a reptilian head. He was grinning for some reason, and I could see his teeth were razor sharp canines.

I realised I'd been staring.

"Wow, you're freaky," I found myself saying to him. "No offence, this is coming from me, a former brain parasite, so I'm practically welcoming you to the club." I said dryly. "Might as well get it out of the way... My name's Oskel Four-Nine-Four."

It was always a mouthful to introduce myself.

The Andalite's eyes flashed with fear, then filled with what I assumed was meant to be some kind of determined look. /Your friend is a Yeerk nothlit?/ She accused Lilah, forgetting to keep her thought-speak private.

Unless she just didn't care.

/Why did you not tell me, Lilah?/

Lilah looked uncomfortable, like she didn't know what to say. What could she have told her new Andalite friend before she met me, I wondered? 'Oh, my friend used to be a Yeerk, so be prepared to hate him before you've even met him?'

It was unreasonable. "I'm literally right here, Andalite lady," I said as I moved to sit cross-legged on the floor. Might as well, considering there was no chair left. "Why did Lilah have to tell you? I've told you."

The Andalite refused to answer.

Carralis stood up. "Everyone needs to hide. The other Kelbrids will be looking for me. They probably think that you've kidnapped me."

"Oh yes, two teenagers and an Andalite female have kidnapped one of the most dangerous aliens in the galactic sector. We're so evil and dangerous, they'll have to subdue us with nukes and machetes," I mused sarcastically. "Anyway, how would they know that you're in my bedroom?"

Carralis lowered his head. "Because they were watching us when we jumped from the ship," he said, voice dripping with guilt. "The ship was cloaked. I only saw it when Lilah left."

Lilah went pale. "So that's why we never saw it. Did they see us go into Oskel's house?" She asked him.

He shook his head. "I don't know."

Doubt and tension filled the room. "I feel like I've missed a lot of things," I pressed. "Why is a Kelbrid here being chased by other Kelbrids, and why is an Andalite with us?"

"It's um, a long story, to be honest," Lilah said. "Ezurin here was onboard the MeadowRunner. She's our friend." The Andalite in question looked away, not wanting to say anything. "And Carralis is my friend too, he also got abducted by Skrit-Na."

A light turned on in the hallway. Lilah jumped, Ezurin froze, and Carralis hissed.

"Oskel? You didn't tell us you had friends over," a tired voice called out.

Our chatter had woken up Ruwin Eight-Six-Five. He was a nothlit, like me, but much older. He'd actually been part of the invasion force that surrendered after losing. I could never get him to talk about it, though.

He was also my adoptive dad.

And he was stood in the hallway, in a dressing gown, rubbing at his eyes blearily.

"I'm either still dreaming or there's an Andalite in your room, Oskel."

"Yes, there's an Andalite in my room, dad."

"Hello, Ruwin," Lilah said, smiling and raising a hand. Even in a situation like this, she never forgot her manners. "How's the car, finally figured out what that squeaking noise was?"

"Yep, I'm still dreaming," he said, but was starting to realise that reality was definitely dumber than a dream could ever be. "And yeah, it was the brakes all along. You were right."

Ezurin and Carralis were starting to look a little nervous.

"Hey, it's alright guys," said Lilah. "Ruwin is chill." She cleared her throat and started explaining to him. "So yeah. Ezurin's domeship crashed in a field outside and now we're just sort of hiding here from Kelbrids."

"Wait, what!? There's a crashed domeship and you're being chased by what?" Ruwin raised his voice, suddenly much more alert. He looked at Carralis, Ezurin, then finally at me and Lilah. "You two, I swear. You're worse trouble than a group of Hork-Bajir. Did you call the police? The ambulance? Are you safe here?"

I nodded. "Lilah's phone died and that's why she came here. And yeah. Her parents don't know she's back."

"Good," he said, nodding. "We can talk to them later. You're okay now though?"

I heard Lilah breathe a sigh of relief. "Yep, thanks," she almost whispered. She didn't like talking about her parents. They were well-off but not very nice people. Thankfully, they tended to disappear on business trips for long periods of time, so Lilah mostly did what she wanted.

The door to my parent's bedroom creaked open once again and Terif Two-Seven-One's head popped out. Her eyes widened like dinner plates when she saw all four of us in my room. "Ruwin, what's going on?"

"That's what I'm still trying to figure out," Ruwin replied calmly. "What happened, Lilah?"

The explanation she gave my parents wasn't far off what she told me.

Terif practically leapt into action when she learned that we were in danger. In an instant, it was as if all her training at the hands of the Yeerk Empire came back to her. "Ruwin, I'll go outside and check on the crash site. Someone might need help. You get the Dracon beam and stay here. We don't know what the Kelbrids will do."

My jaw almost dropped in shock.

"Wait, Dracon beams!?" I contested as Ruwin reached under the dresser to pull out a glimmering metal energy weapon that I'd only ever seen in pictures. "None of you ever said you..."

I swallowed my complaint when I saw the look on Ruwin's face.

They were cold and hard, speaking of things no one should have to do or see. I would never know for sure what he had to do, but if they were anything like the things I would sometimes see in my dreams, I didn't want to know.

I had enough things to keep me awake at night.

Before anyone could say another word, Terif was in a coat and out the front door. I numbly remembered that she mentioned something about having First Aid knowledge years ago.

I always secretly theorised that she used to be a doctor or medic of some sort. Maybe this was proof?

"You kids should stay and hide here. They probably haven't found you but if they do… We'll be ready."

I saw him flick a switch on the weapon. The whirr of it powering up met my ears. I tried to ignore the sense of deja vu that it gave me.

No. I'd never heard that noise in my life.

Lilah looked just as confused as me. Ezurin on the other hand was completely shocked. Carralis was oddly silent and frustratingly unreadable.

/You did not know that your parents had Dracon weapons in their possession?/ I heard Ezurin's thought-speech in my mind. No one else seemed to react, so she must've been speaking privately to me.

I shook my head at her and mouthed a stern 'no'.

/What do you know about the Kelbrids?/ Ezurin asked Ruwin, and his eyes moved to meet Ezurin's after a moment. She was broadcasting to all of us this time.

"Only reports from when I used to serve the Empire… Vicious, unyielding, almost impossible to demoralise. A Class One, couldn't even be infested… not worth it..." He rambled, adjusting the sensors on his Dracon as he wiped off the dust.

I briefly imagined him using it when he used to be a full-blooded Yeerk. It was strange to imagine the person that made dumb dad jokes with me and offered to help me with homework as an invader in disguise infesting humans and forcing them to do his bidding.

"Not that that matters any more, of course," he said, looking up to offer us a reassuring smile.

There was the charisma. Ruwin definitely used to work in the infiltration part of the invasion force.

Everyone passed nervous glances. I crossed my arms. "This all seems over the top to me. Shouldn't our resident Kelbrid friend be able to tell them that we sit in my bedroom in peace and that we completely surrender?" I offered.

"Hopefully!" Ruwin said with far too much optimism.

"I guess if he can't, you'll pull a Bug fighter out of the garage for us to make a hasty escape," I said, kidding.

"Sadly one of those was a little too large to sneak into the house," he replied, almost bashfully. "I definitely considered it, though."

Lilah chuckled. "Your parents are too cool, Oskel."

I tried not to look too embarrassed. Ezurin, on the other hand, was looking more and more horrified by the minute. Maybe ex-Yeerks smuggling weapons into Earth households wasn't a great confidence booster for an Andalite that was old enough to be alive during the war.

Thunder sounded outside my bedroom window. The storm was getting worse.

Carralis screeched in surprise and I almost snapped at him for making me jump.

Until I realised why.

A small orange globe had rolled onto the bedroom floor, innocuous and unassuming. I had a lot of souvenirs, but I never remembered buying anything like that. I turned to look at Ruwin. He was staring at the globe, equally perplexed.

To my surprise, it was Carralis who realised what it was. "It's a flash globe, everyone close your -"

Too late. Brilliant light exploded from the globe. Shutting my eyes was almost futile. I could see red through my eyelids, but I turned away and I only needed a few seconds to see again.

Ruwin must've recovered quickly too, because when the first Kelbrid smashed through the window, his gun was trained on its form. Wind and rain poured into my bedroom, but Ruwin's first shot landed true and the Kelbrid fell to the floor, stunned.

Everyone panicked and rose to their feet. The sound of firing energy beams, breaking glass and thunderous footsteps tended to do that.

And the Kelbrids - two of them had broken in through the window. They were almost a third larger than Carralis – clearly adults, but covered head to toe with tactical gear. They held spear-like weapons in their arms. Electricity laced at the end of the two prongs of the weapons, sparking wildly and threatening to leap onto the closest victim.

Carralis hissed, holding his head low. His eyes were still closed. He must've been blinded earlier by the flash.

I assessed the situation. These Kelbrids clearly hadn't known that they would be fighting in close quarters – staffs, spears, and poles were supposed to be terrible if you used them indoors. They limited your movement when you swung them and could catch on the ceilings and walls.

Ruwin barked orders at us to get out. Not missing a beat, Lilah moved to guide Carralis out of the room first.

Carralis, however, shook her off. "I'm fine. Go and help Ez!" He said. "I can still see!"

Were the odd protrusions over his body some kind of sensory organ, I wondered?

Carralis suddenly started chittering and warbling at the other two Kelbrids. They warbled back but I could see that they were bristling. Carralis finally ended the chatter with a hiss and a snapping bite.

He turned to us, his alien face nearly expressionless. "We need to run," he said to us in English.

I nodded and rushed to hold Ezurin. She was closer to me than she was to Lilah. "It's me," I reassured her when I felt her tense at my touch. "I know this is the last thing you probably wanted to do with me, feeling's mutual, but let me take your hand so I can guide you."

I knew it was sure as hell the last thing I ever wanted to do with an Andalite.

/Alright then, Oskel,/ she said, saying my name with a sort of steadiness I wasn't expecting to hear.

And like that, we ran.

Lilah lead the way, Carralis slipped through second, and myself and Ezurin ran out together. I spared a glance backwards at Ruwin… my dad, and grimaced. He was staying behind to hold off the Kelbrids. His Dracon beam had jammed. Now he was holding one of the spears that the unconscious Kelbrid had dropped.

"I..." I choked. "Good luck!" I shouted to him, feeling an odd ache in my chest. Sometimes Ruwin didn't feel like my dad, but I still appreciated him.

I wished that he'd be okay.

He's a trained soldier, I convinced myself as I tore myself away from the scene and ran out onto the street with my friends. I'll see him again at some point.

I wasn't crying. That was rain on my face.

"Shit! What do we do!?" Lilah shouted as we ran. "Run to the ship!?"

"No! We'll only lead them to Terif and the crew!" I disagreed. "We need to hide!"

We kept running, a squad of four, and soon we were scrambling through bushes and into a field. Yet to our horror, we still found ourselves in front of the crashed ship. How had it been so hard to see?

"That's the Dome ship?" I asked, panting to catch my breath and still holding Ezurin's seven-fingered hand.

/We're back at the ship?/ She echoed my thoughts, panicky and unsure. I sympathised for her: she was a prey species that couldn't see.

Even though I decided earlier that I really didn't like her.

"No, we've approached it from the back," Lilah observed. "I hear people shouting on the other side."

I couldn't help but marvel at the wounded colossus of a spaceship, split in two, flames burning and hissing in the rain. I may have been a Yeerk in my early life before I was offered a life of being a nothlit, but I'd never seen spaceships or energy weapons in person. Ruwin's Dracon beam was my first and only exposure until this, and that'd only happened about ten minutes ago.

"Why do I feel my life collapsing around me," I muttered as I caught my breath.

"One of them is following us," Carralis said, far too calmly. "She was likely hanging back while the rest of her group invaded the house. We need to hide somewhere. She'll be tracking our heat."

"You guys can do that?" I said.

"Then going inside the ship is our best option, right?" Lilah followed.

Carralis nodded. "The heat of the fires should disguise us."

"I think we're missing the point here… It's on fire." I stated flatly.

"That kind of is the point," Lilah argued.

"It's also extremely dangerous to run into a burning spaceship," I warned her. "As lovely as it is to look at, it's an attraction that's best viewed and not entered."

"It's better than getting speared by an angry Kelbrid," she argued. "I say we pass majority vote."

Everyone but me put their hands up.

"Well, of course I was going to lose that one," I sulked. "I lost the class vote on being in the school council - and now you do this to me?"

Lilah smirked. "You can always stay outside if you want. No one's forcing you."

"No chance." I snapped. "If you're idiotic enough to go running into a burning spaceship, then you're stupid enough to jump into the fire for all I know. I'm coming with you. Someone has to be the voice of reason here."

"I love you too," Lilah replied, and I rolled my eyes. That was always her go to response when I got too heated about not getting into danger or otherwise leaping into literal fires.

And like that, we walked from ripped up grass and mud, into the cracked open dome of the…

"What was this ship called again?" I asked, the name having slipped my mind.

/The MeadowRunner,/ Ezurin replied. /It was my home./

The inside of the ship was smoky, to say the least. Fortunately, the Andalites had a habit of building their ceilings far too high, so the smoke mostly stayed up there and away from our lungs.

"Ezurin, how's your eyesight?" I inquired, noticing that she was rubbing at her eyes.

/Better,/ she said.

I nodded. We were basically traversing the corridors of the collapsed Dome ship blind. The only logic we were using was to avoid blocked or on-fire corridors. We rounded another corridor, and I felt a deadly chill run down my spine. It wasn't just a premonition. It was almost painful. There was a lingering sense of… Wrong, in the air.

I glanced at Lilah. She was grimacing.

"You felt that too?" I asked.

"It was horrible," she said. "And it's still here. But what was it?"

"I… think it's in front of us," Carralis said.

/It's the room that had the sphere inside of it./

I didn't know what they were talking about, but I could feel it. A chill. Darkness, emanating from the room. A pervading wrongness, as if the world had been turned inside out. It was a feeling that made me want to bolt and throw up at the same time.

"She's here!" Carralis hissed at us. "I can sense her, she's followed us in."

"Screw it, I want to be sick, but we need to hide." Lilah moved to open the door.

"Guys, don't you think it's strange that out of all the rooms in this ship, this is the only one in pristine condition?" I questioned. The door was practically unmarked. The walls were still cream and blue, painted in Andalite colours.

Not even smoke stained the walls of this room.

"I think we can play CSI another day, we need to hide. We can bar the room from the other side."

I shook my head. "Oh boy, locking ourselves up inside of a burning spaceship. This plan gets better and better."

Lilah pulled open the door.

"Fuck me," she said.

/That is not supposed to be there!/ Ezurin cried.

The room… couldn't even be called a room, really. No. It was a warped mess of ceiling, walls and colour, with twisted architecture and darkness. Even with the non-euclidean geometry, you'd expect matter to exist. But there were patches where there was just… nothing. As if a caterpillar had come and nibbled away at the fabric of space-time. Colours bled from the walls and sound crawled from every direction.

"A Living Nightmare," I called it, enraptured by the anomaly.

In the centre of the space-time mess was a deep, endless pit. A spot where matter had been ruthlessly gouged out and darkness bled like oil from its centre.

" . . ."

" . . ."

" – . . ."

" : - # F 2. . ."

" . . ."

" : d. . ."

" . . ."

" ."

My eyes widened at the odd voice that slipped into my brain. It ticked slowly forwards with each silent syllable, like a creeping clock with a rusty mechanism.

"What on Earth…?"

/The Ellimist?/ Ezurin asked, voice filled with anxiety.

I shook my head. No one knew what the Ellimist sounded like, but I knew it couldn't be like that. This voice was utterly impersonal and unfeeling.

And the feeling of Wrongness, it pervaded the air so thickly. Like treacle.

" . . ."

" . . ."

We all jumped back. Suddenly, the chaotic mess of matter converged into a single point. A black orb. But it wasn't solid. It was empty, and the white and orange light bent and swirled around it.

It dug up sharp feelings of pure dread out of me. Worst of all, it brought up a memory of a place I'd never been. Of doing things I hadn't done. That I didn't want to believe I'd done.

"Not there!" I shouted. "Anywhere but there!"

The others looked at me like I was mad, their eyes wide with confusion. Couldn't they feel it? The pure dread and darkness that it was drawing out…

That it was only drawing out of me.

Why me?

"What's happening!?" Lilah yelled.

I snapped out of it. Reality around us was shifting. The ceiling was darkening to a night sky. High rise buildings surrounded us. It was turning to the place of my personal nightmares. Was it drawing upon my thoughts? My imagination?

My memory?

I desperately tried to think of somewhere else.

A simple little meadow. The sights and the sounds, the colours of the butterflies and the wind blowing through the trees.

It didn't work.

The locations merged and I was given a splitting headache for all my efforts.

Then everything went dark.