The Animorphs Dementia Cycle - Animorphs with a twist of fate....
We all know Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We all know what has happened to them.
But have you ever wondered.... what if....? Yes, "what if". The two words that sparked the creation of fiction, and the foundation of all things of fantasy and science-fiction. "What if" is the code of the fan who writes their own version of their favorite stories.
The Dementia Cycle takes "what if" to another level. It gets its name because it looks at Animorphs from another perspective, a different dimension, causing chaos and insanity in its wake. Several slight changes were made in the other universe. Obvious ones. Ones that shouldn't make so much of a difference, but, in fact, do.
The differences can be seen very quickly... if you watch....
So far, a stranger has come upon the Animorphs, one that knows absolutely everything - but she knows absolutely everything, from a very different angle. Her name is Jacqueline - although she prefers being called "Jack". She knows everything Jake knows - but she knows the Animorphs as Maria, Diane, Toniya, Christopher, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill - better known as "Axel". Her cousin, Richard, defected. A stranger who found the Escafil Device, Diane, after much trial and error, became an integral part of the team.
In spite of much discussion, the Animorphs and Jack have failed to figure out why she has appeared in their reality, but theorize that it is something related to a Sario Rip, effecting dimensions instead of time-space.
... But this, of course, is only the beginning ...
I hope you enjoy The Dementia Cycle.
Animorphs Dementia #2 - The Connection
Long before....
My name is Rich. I won't tell you my last name. None of us will ever tell you our last names. Whenever I do use a last name, it's a fake. Sorry, but that's the way it has to be. And we won't tell you the name of our town, or our school, or even what state we are in. If I told you my last name, the Yeerks would be able to find my friends and me. And if they ever find us, it will be the end.
They might kill us, if we were lucky. If we weren't lucky, they'd do worse.
Yes, there really is something worse than death. I've seen it. I've heard the cries of despair from those doomed to be slaves of the Yeerks. I've watched as the evil gray slugs writhe and squeeze in through the ear and take over what was a free human being.
There are five of us. Just five: Jack, Chris, Maria, Tonya, and me. Maria came up with a name for us, for what we are now. She called us Animorphs. I guess that's as good a name as any for what we are. Mostly, I still just feel like a normal kid, you know? But I guess normal kids don't turn into elephants or eagles. And normal kids don't spend their free time fighting to save the world from the nightmares called Yeerks.
That day, the sun was bright. It warmed the earth below us. Warm air rose in an invisible bubble, a thermal. The thermal pushed up beneath our wings and we circled higher and higher and higher, till it almost seemed we could touch space.
Somewhere up there in cold space, up in orbit, was the Yeerk mother ship. Perhaps right over our heads.
The Yeerks are parasites. Though they're just big slugs in their normal form, they have the power to take over other bodies. They have enslaved many races throughout the galaxy - the Taxxons, the Hork-Bajir, and others. And now they had come to Earth, looking for more bodies to control.
Who is there to try and stop them? Well, off in space, there are the Andalites. But the Andalites are far away, and it would take them a long time to come to rescue the people of Earth. Too long, in fact.
On Earth, no one knew of the Yeerks. No one but five kids who were having fun being birds and riding the thermals.
I looked over at my friends. Some were a little way below, some were higher up. Jack was flapping her wings a little more than the rest of us. She had adopted a falcon morph. Falcons don't soar quite as well as hawks or eagles.
Tonya was the smoothest flyer. That was partly because Egyptian crested hawks are natural acrobats, and partly because Tonya had much more practice flying than the rest of us.
Too much practice.
Okay, Tonni, you were right. This is the coolest thing in the world, I admitted.
No it's not, she replied smugly. Try a dive. It's amazing.
I wasn't exactly sure that I wanted to dive, but what could I say? I never turn down a challenge. So I said, Lead the way.
Follow me.
Tonya bent her wings back and plummeted toward the ground like a
bullet.
I tucked my wings back and went after her.
The ground came rushing up at me.
I was falling! Falling, with nothing at all to stop me from splatting right into the ground!
It was like a nightmare.
We were going like sixty miles an hour, as fast as a speeding car. Sixty miles an hour, aiming right for the ground.
But even though it was scary, it was also way cool.
Forget surfing. Forget skateboarding. Forget even skydiving. You haven't had a thrill till you've ridden the thermals a mile into the air and then gone hurtling straight down at maximum speed.
Air streamed past, just like when you open the car window and you're going really fast. It was like being in the middle of a hurricane. The leading edge of my wings was battered and vibrating. I felt my tail making dozens of tiny adjustments, moving a single feather one way or the other to keep me pointed straight. But one wrong move and I could have tumbled end over end. At this speed, if I suddenly tumbled I feared I could break a wing. A broken wing this high up was a death sentence.
Uhh... Tonya?
What?
Note of interest. This isn't like being an elephant. If I got in trouble as an elephant I could morph back to my human body. But I'm a long way up. If I morphed back to my human body... I didn't finish the sentence. But I suddenly had this vision of me - the real me, the all-too-human Richard - dropping like a stone toward the hard ground below.
Don't you trust me? Tonya teased. She laughed in my head, but it was a nice laugh, not mean in any way. Let the eagle do the flying, she advised. Relax and let the eagle's mind do the thinking. She knows what she's doing.
I'm glad one of us does, I said, trying to sound cynical instead of nervous. It's strange when you're in a morph. You have the animal's brain in with your own. Usually you can control the animal's intelligence, but not always. And sometimes you have to learn to let go, to let the animal take charge.
I forced myself to relax. Instantly the vibration lessened. I felt more stable. The eagle was in charge and Tonya was right: The eagle knew how to fly.
Then, to my amazement, I saw something go zipping right past us,
faster than either me or Tonya. It was Jack. Her Killjoy's falcon's smaller wings made it harder for her to float on the thermals. But those same wings made her unbelievably fast in diving. It was almost like Tonya and I were standing still.
Yaaaaaah ha ha! Jack yelled in our heads.
I would have smiled, if I'd had a mouth. Jack is like me. She loves excitement and adventure and being a little crazy. Maybe we're so alike because we're cousins.
Also, we're both a little competitive, I guess. At least, I am. It bothered me that she was a faster diver than I was. Just like it had probably bothered her, though not as much, that I could soar better. I guess that sounds ridiculous, huh?
Zzzziiinnnngggg!
Something went right by my head.
You hear that? Tonya asked, startled.
Yeah, I sure did - it almost hit me! I replied. What was that?
I don't know.
Instinctively, I pulled up out of the dive, straining every muscle in my wings as I opened them, and felt the shock of wind resistance. It was like opening a parachute.
The rest followed my lead. We were still a few thousand feet up, but much closer to the ground than we had been.
Zziiinnnnngggg!
I felt something go right through my tail feathers.
Hey, someone down there is shooting at us! I cried.
I can see them, Chris said. He and Maria had joined up with us. They had both morphed harriers, but his was male, and gray, and hers was female, and brownish. Since my eagle didn't see color too well, it was hard to tell them apart because you can't really tell where thought-speech comes from. A guy and a girl, over in the woods. They have a rifle.
I can't believe this! I snarled angrily. I'm an endangered species! What's the matter with those bastards?
He's getting ready to shoot again, Maria reported. I can see him taking aim.
As soon as you see the flash of the rifle, dodge hard right! I barked.
A normal eagle or hawk or falcon would not have been able to figure that out. But we weren't just raptors. We still had our human intelligence. There are times to let the animal take over. There are other times when that
superior human intelligence comes in handy.
There! They fired! Jack yelled.
Instantly I turned a sharp right. The bullet went whizzing by harmlessly.
You know what? I don't think I like those guys, Tonya said.
Tonya has special reasons for disliking anyone who would shoot at a bird.
Me neither, I agreed. I have an idea.
I explained what I wanted to do and the five of us flew off, out of range of the shooters, with Maria complaining the whole way that she wished she had a bigger bird morph. We get back, I'm getting the electricuted eagle, she muttered as we neared our destination.
When we were far enough away, we went into a steep dive, down, down, faster and faster toward the trees.
I thought I was scared, diving from high up. Now I was diving at lower altitude, aiming directly at the trees. This was a whole new level of terror. With my eagle's eyes I could see the bark on the trees. I could see ants on the bark of the trees. It was like those trees were right in front of us.
I hoped the eagle knew when to pull out of the dive. If I slammed into one of those trees at sixty miles an hour, I was splattered Spam.
Then, at just the right split second, like a perfectly trained squadron of fighter jets, we opened our wings and swooshed into the trees.
Unbelievable!
Ah haaaah! I heard Maria yell. I don't know if that was fun or just insane!
It was like some video-game nightmare. We kept most of the speed from the dive and now we were zooming through the trees so fast that tree trunks were just a brown blur all around us.
Tree! Bank left.
Tree! Bank right.
Tree! Dozen of feathers made the slightest individual adjustments. Muscles in my wings trimmed the angle of attack a millimeter one way, a millimeter back.
Tree! Tree! Treetreetreetreetree!
Yaaaaaaaaah! I yelled, half from terror and half from the total, out-of-control thrill of it.
In and out. Around and through. Zoom. ZOOM!
Suddenly, there they were, just ahead in a clearing. Two teenaged creeps sitting in the back of a pickup truck. The guy had a blond ponytail. The girl wore a baseball cap. They were a hundred yards away, like being all the way down a football field, but my eagle eyes were so good I could
count their eyelashes.
The guy with the ponytail had the rifle. His girlfriend was drinking a beer. They were still scanning the skies, looking for us.
Guess what, dillweeds? I thought as we raced at them. We're not up there anymore. We're right here...
In...
Your...
FACE!
They didn't even have enough time to look surprised before we struck.
As the only eagle, I was the biggest of the five of us. I could carry the heaviest load. It was the job Maria wanted, but it was her tough luck that she had chosen the smaller hawk.
I raked my talons forward.
I opened them wide.
"Tsseeeeeer!"
Tonya's hawk let loose an intimidating shriek.
My talons hit the gun barrel and closed on it.
Tonya slashed the ponytail guy's head with her own talons. Ponytail shouted in pain and surprise and loosened his grip on the rifle.
"Hey!" the girl yelled.
Zoom! I was out of there with the rifle in my talons.
With the additional weight of the rifle, it was a struggle getting any altitude.
"That bird has your gun, Steve! And that other one stole my beer!"
I glanced over and saw Maria. At least, I think it was Maria - without Chris for reference, I couldn't tell which of them was bigger. In some birds, there's a difference in the size of males and females, and usually the female is bigger. That's why I'd gotten the female morph of my eagle, even though there'd been a pair in Chris' barn.
Maria(?) had the beer can in her talons, half-crumpled.
They're way too young to be drinking, Maria said in her most parent-like voice.
Yup. It was Maria.
I heard the ponytail guy complaining down below. "That ain't right. It ain't right that no bird should take my rifle like that."
I caught a little breeze and gained just enough altitude to get above
the trees. But I was having a hard time. My wings were beating the still, dead air of the woods and not getting very much lift. I scraped the top of a tall pine tree and emerged from the woods. Still flapping hard to carry the weight of the rifle, I made it out toward the beach, over the low cliffs at the
water's edge.
The blessed thermals were there. They lifted me up, up, and out over the water. I relaxed, letting the warm wind carry me higher.
I dropped the rifle about a mile out in the ocean. I figured any jerk who would shoot at an endangered animal didn't need a gun. Maria dropped the beer with amazing precision right into a trash barrel. She looked as proud as she would have if she'd just thrown the winning basket in the WNBA championship.
It's been a long time, Chris warned us as we lazily drifted back toward shore.
There's an old, run-down church no one uses anymore not far from the beach. It has a bell tower, although the bell is gone. We flew there. That's where we had started from. Our clothes and shoes were still piled there.
Four pairs of shoes for the five of us.
Chris, still in his harrier body, peered down at his watch lying on the floor. Good. Half an hour left. We shouldn't try to get any closer than a half-hour, to be safe.
We began to morph back into our human bodies.
Morphing takes concentration. When you're going from human to animal, it's harder. You really have to focus. But going back to human is easier.
I focused on my human self. I formed a picture of myself in my mind - tall, kind of thin, with blonde neck-length hair. I focused especially on the hair, because I didn't like my last haircut. It was uneven at the bottom. Not that it mattered. I just wished I could do something about the hair when I morphed. Unfortunately, morphing doesn't work that way. The changes began quickly. The feathers that covered me began to melt. They ran together like hot wax. In some places when my skin reappeared, it would have this awesome feather pattern for a few seconds.
My yellow bill sucked back into my mouth to become white teeth. That part sort of itched. It made me want to grind my teeth a few times.
My lips grew out around my teeth. My eyes went from pale gold to my normal blue. My legs grew quite a bit, from about three inches to normal size.
I looked over at Jack and saw the same things happening to her. Let me just tell you - watching someone morph is not a pretty sight. It's the kind of thing that would give you screaming nightmares if your didn't know it was going to be all right.
When Chris morphs, he always does it kind of artistically - almost in a logical way. Like when he changes into a horse, he does it so it doesn't look totally creepazoid - he has a natural talent for morphing. If there is such a thing. The rest of us just let it happen however it happens. The results can be disturbing.
I happened to see Maria at the moment when her full, dark hair came exploding out of her still small, mostly harrier head. "Yahh!" I cried out in surprise.
"Ay, nyew donk luk so good yourself, Richie."
Her entire head was morphing even as she spoke. So the first few words were garbled, and the last were normal as her head became human except for piercing, golden-brown harrier eyes. I'm pretty sure she said "Hey, you don't look so good yourself, Richie." She was probably right. I was glad I didn't have a mirror.
My tongue grew fat in my mouth. My eyesight became faded and dim. The eagle's mind evaporated, leaving me all alone in my head. My wings became arms. My talons became toes. The scaly yellow eagle legs became my own legs, only they were still all scaly at first.
"Nice look, chicken legs," Maria said. "Do those come in extra crispy, too?"
I smiled at her. "You're not one to talk, Mary." I pointed down at the floor. See, her own legs were normal, but she still had huge harrier talons instead of feet.
As my skin began to appear, so did my morphing outfit. Fortunately, after a few tries, we had all learned to morph some very minimal clothing. Usually nothing more than skintight workout clothes or leotards. Not enough to go walking around in, but enough to keep us all from dying of embarrassment when we morphed in front of each other.
I checked on my friends. They were mostly normal again, with just a few remaining hints that they'd been birds a minute earlier.
Jack is kind of stocky for a girl, sort of jock-like in a good way, with brown hair and serious, dark eyes - although at the moment, her eyes were shining with excitement. Sometimes being in a morph is just totally extreme. Jack was a lizard once, and she still hasn't gotten over the fact that she ate a live spider. But I guess she enjoyed being a falcon, because she
was babbling on and on about how great it was.
"That was absolute!" she said. "It's like now, being back in a human body, I feel like I'm handicapped or something. I feel like I'm glued to the ground."
"And blind," Chris agreed. "Human eyes are so lame for seeing things far away."
He grinned and spread his wings. He had managed to keep his wings till the very end. Now he looked like some strange sort of angel or something. Oddly, the look wasn't all that creepy. The harrier's five foot, gray-and-black wings were incredibly cool.
"Do you think you could fly?" Jack asked him. She looked a little awestruck.
Chris chuckled. "Not a chance, Jack. This body weighs about a hundred pounds. These wings aren't built for that kind of weight."
He morphed his wings into arms in about three seconds and laughed.
Maria shook her head. "Great. When we morph, we look like some mad scientist's genetic experiment gone totally crazy. And Chris gets to look cool."
Chris and I have been friends for a long time, although to look at us, you wouldn't think we'd hang out together. Chris is casual to the extreme. The guy just doesn't care about what he looks like. I swear he'd wear overalls to everything from bed to a wedding if someone didn't stop him.
Chris lives on a farm and his whole family is massively into animals. His mom used the barn to run the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, which is a kind of hospital for injured animals. It's always full of birds and skunks and opossums and coyotes and every other animal you can think of.
Chris' dad is a vet, too. He works at The Gardens, this huge zoo and amusement park. So maybe Chris was just born with an instinct for understanding animals. All I know is he's always finished morphing while the rest of us are still looking like creepy half-human, half-animal monsters.
As for me, well, it's not that I'm Mr. Fashion or anything, but I do appreciate nice clothes. I guess that, plus the way I look, makes a lot of people think I'm stuck-up or something. People do thing I'm cute, or handsome, or whatever. But to me that's just an accident, you know? Since I was old enough to understand the words it's been drilled into me that looks aren't everything, and I believe it with all my heart. It's what's in your head that counts, and that's what I concentrate on.
Of course that's another area where Chris and I are a little different. I guess he would say, "No, it's what's in your heart that counts." He's a
natural peacemaker. if there's ever a hassle within the group, it's usually me and Maria that caused it, and Chris who got us all calmed down.
"Personally, I'm glad to be back to my regular body," Maria said. "The flying part is great, but it's not a good idea to be able to see that well."
"Why?" Jack asked.
"Look, Jack," I said, "how many times have you been walking around the mall or whatever, and you see somebody who seems good-looking from far off, but when you get closer it turns out they're a total skank? I mean , if you could see this well all the time-"
"Excuse me?" Maria interrupted. "I'm sure I didn't hear you just call guys 'skanks'."
"I wasn't being sexist!" I protested. Geez, why does everybody treat me like I am? "It goes either way. See, from far off, I look less like a beanpole." Jack rolled her eyes. She doesn't like being solid. Me, I'd appreciate it - I'm serious when I say I look frail, for a guy. It's kind of sad. People are forever underestimating me, which I hate.
"Your problem isn't with people seeing you too well," Maria said. "It's with people hearing you too well. You honestly do look like a fairly smart guy. Then you open your mouth...."
I grinned. Jack laughed. Maria and Jack traded a high-five.
Maria and Jack are best friends, even though Jack is usually serious; she's thoughtful and always trying to do what's right. Maria, on the other hand, is always sarcastic; she's extremely temperamental, and is the most reluctant of the Animorphs. Maria still thinks we should just give up the battle against the Yeerks and try to stay alive. But with Maria you never know if she really believes that, or is just saying it to be contrary.
"Well, let's get out of here," Jack suggested. "I have homework to do."
"Me too," I said. "And I have a workout scheduled this afternoon and I'm totally out of shape."
Chris sighed and shook his head. "It's such a drag. The chores and the homework all come rushing back as soon as we change back into our boring human selves."
As soon as he said it, Chris bit his tongue. He cast a regretful look at Tonya.
See, while all of us had changed back, Tonya had not. Tonya was still a hawk. Tonya, who had once had unruly blond hair and eyes that seemed hurt and hopeful and sincere all at once.
Tonya had been trapped while trying to escape from the hellish
nightmare of the Yeerk pool. She had stayed in morph over the time limit.
We had all returned to our human forms, but Tonni was still a hawk.
Tonni will always be a hawk.
CHAPTER 6
Rachel
You know what's cool about my school?
That's right, you don't know. We've never told you where we go to school, or even what state our school district is in. Now isn't going to be any different - I'm still not going to tell you any of that.
What's cool, though, is that Finals Week, if you don't have a final, you don't have to go to school.
So, that specific Monday, I didn't have to go to school for the first time in months.
You know what wasn't cool about that Monday?
My mom.
I woke up to a banging on my door. Blearily I turned to look at my alarm clock.
8:00?!
I jumped out of bed and said a word I shouldn't have. "It's the middle of first period!" I screamed.
"Rachel?" my mom called outside my door.
I ignored her. I hit the alarm set button on my clock to figure out why it hadn't gone off. It was set for 10:30.
Why?
Then it hit me.
Finals Week.
I groaned, falling back on the bed. I tucked my legs under the covers, then pulled the covers over my head. "Mo-om!" I whined. "I don't have to get up today!"
"Yes you do. Up, missy." I heard the door creak quietly as she opened the door. "I know you have the day off from school, but there's some work that needs to be done this morning."
"Like what?" I mumbled under the covers.
"Like the lawn."
I pushed the covers off my head to look at her. "What?"
"Tom has a bug and has been stuck in bed all week." I seriously doubted it had been all week, but I wasn't going to contradict her. "Jake has a final today. The lawn is so tall we could be hiding elephants back there."
I glanced around my almost-new bedroom, forcing myself not to giggle.
An elephant had once hidden in here - and collapsed the floor. But that's another story.
"But Mo-om," I said, reverting to whining as I pulled the covers back over my head, "why do I have to do it this morning?"
"Because it's supposed to reach a hundred this afternoon. Do you really want to do it then - when you have to study for your first final?"
I groaned. "But why?" I persisted. "Why can't Jake do it this evening, when it cools off?"
"Because he has another final tomorrow, same as yours, remember? Get up! Stop being so difficult. I have to leave for work. Your sisters are already in school, so you'll just have to fend for yourself today. But I expect the lawn done when I get home - no excuses, understand? Getting you up early is a gift, if you can drag yourself out of there and get it done before it gets too hot. I don't want you getting heat stroke." She tugged the covers out of my hands, pulling them down far enough to kiss the top of my head, then put the covers back. "Bye, sweetie. Be good."
"I'm getting paid for this, right?"
"Same as Tom or Jake would."
I pulled the covers back down and grinned. "Why didn't you say that in the first place?"
Mom rolled her eyes and smiled. "Bye, sweetie."
"Bye, Mom."
So much for sleeping in. But then, the shock of sleeping past my usual time and thinking I'd way overslept had woken me up anyway. It
wasn't like I was going to fall back to sleep any time soon.
Our yard isn't incredibly big. Not like Cassie's. Actually, Cassie doesn't have a yard so much as a small county.
What I'm getting at is that our yard is too small for a ride-on mower.
We have a wonderful, forward-wheel drive, push-mower.
It is loud. My Walkman, turned up so loud the words were kind of fuzzy, still didn't quite drown it out.
I went in a set pattern - one end of the lawn to the other and back and forth, avoiding trees, bushes, stairs, etc. It made it quicker. The work quickly became hot - it was at least eighty out already, and humid, and pushing that thing wasn't as easy as it seemed. It might have had forward-wheel drive, but that was more annoying than helpful. It only moved the mower forward when I wanted to stop to tie my shoe, or push hair that had come out of my uncharacteristic, sloppy ponytail out of my face, or get a stick or rock out of the way.
Not exactly the most fun job in the world.
I'm glad Mom usually hires Jake, or Tom, to do it.
My earphones were blasting an oldies tape of my mom's. I don't mind oldies. They're kind of cute sometimes. I was singing along to "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", a very appropriate (and equally ironic) song, which helped to drown out the annoying mower. I was deaf to the world.
Then I heard something that didn't require my ears.
Rachel!
Tobias? I stopped the mower, and turned off my Walkman.
Yeah, it's me. Listen, something's up. A red-tailed hawk landed in the tree I'd just mowed around, then began preening his right wing, acting like he had every right to be there. I was searching out breakfast. Nothing was showing up in my territory, so I went out farther. You remember that shack the mad lady burned down when she thought you were a Controller?
I shuddered, then nodded. The last thing I needed was someone thinking I was nuts, talking to myself. I leaned against the mower and wiped my forehead, pretending to take a breather. I kept my earphones on my ears, so it looked like I was still listening to music, even though the Walkman was turned off. You couldn't tell that from far away.
It's back.
I stood up straight. "What?" That thing had burned to the ground! I wanted to cry out, but I stopped myself. Bad enough I'd cried out in the
first place.
Well, it's back. I'm serious - completely whole. The roof didn't even have any missing shingles, but it's definitely the same shack. There was a golden eagle sitting on the roof.
I frowned. I thought golden eagles were cliff-dwellers.
Exactly. Then the eagle landed on the ground. And demorphed.
WHAT?!!
It was a guy, Rachel. A guy with blond hair.
Blond hair... Tobias? How could Tobias see himself?
Tobias chuckled. It wasn't me, Rachel. But think - what other blond boy has the power to morph?
I thought about it.
David!
David, Tobias agreed grimly.
I started pushing the mower toward the house. Who cares if the lawn needs mowing? This had to be checked out. Sorry Mom, couldn't finish my chores, I had a world to save.
My thought exactly, Tobias chuckled tolerantly.
Thoughts.
I turned around, looking sharply at Tobias. Then I looked around, to make sure no one could overhear me seeming to talk to thin air. "Tobias, I've said one word to you before now."
What are you talking about?
I grimaced. Tobias, I'm not talking out loud.
He stopped preening himself, and looked at me. Stop fooling around, Rache.
What, am I a ventriloquist, now? I demanded, keeping my mouth firmly closed. I swear, hawk or no, his eyes almost fell out of his head. I told you, I've said ONE WORD ALOUD, and I meant it! You've been answering my thoughts!
Hey! he said, a little too confused to sound more mature about what had me just as unnerved. You're not supposed to be able to use thought-speak!
You think? I demanded sharply, putting one of my hands on my hip.
He ducked his head a little bit. This is great! Jake's got a cute clone, David's somehow got his morphing power back, and suddenly you
can use thought-speak out of morph!
Too weird, I agreed ruefully, and firmly told myself I wasn't jealous that he thought Jacqueline was cute. Look, I'll put the mower away and get out of this sweaty stuff, write a note... you know the drill. Give me ten minutes.
'Kay.
We both put the thought-speak incident out of our minds. There were more important things to deal with.
David was loose.
Soon we were in the air. Tobias as himself, the boy trapped in the body of a red-tailed hawk. Me, borrowing the body of a bald eagle temporarily.
Time to check things out.
CHAPTER 7
Richard
I looked around my home with a bit of pride, but mostly disgust.
For one thing, it still smelled weird, no matter how much mint I'd cut and dried. Bunches of it hung around the room, and were stuffed in chinks in the wooden walls and wedged underneath the make-shift shingles I had put on when I first moved here... everywhere you looked there were little bunches of dried mint. But that strange, musty smell, like clothes from an attic, still hung in the room, refusing to die.
For another, the floor was slowly rotting out. A bad thing, considering there was a basement, sort of. A sort-of basement - actually, a former root cellar - where I stored my rations. The place was full of weird smells; stale clothes and stale mint above, dirt and death below. Considering the amount of meat in my diet, I'd quickly come to think of the "basement" as The Grave.
I considered my latest meal; fresh squirrel. Squirrels were hard to catch, considering they weren't really the natural prey of anything I'd acquired, but that was okay. It didn't taste all that bad, either.
Months ago, I'd walked out on Jack. I couldn't take her tyranny anymore. But I hadn't gone far. Dad, and even Mom way out across the country with her ever-so-great job, had given up on ever seeing me again. They'd expected me to go to Mom's, not to the woods less than an hour away from my house.
Thing is, I'm not the kind of person who likes being alone. I like
being honest. But I couldn't be around people, and lie, without one person I could trust. And, truth is, there isn't anyone to trust except the people I never want to see again.
My cousin. Her best friend. My best friend. A stuck-up alien. A girl....
I sighed, putting the squirrel on the make-shift table. I fell into my rough chair, ignoring the splinters that pierced my thin morphing suit. All I had now was winter stuff and morphing outfits - heavy boots, furs, winter jacket, and various tight shorts, shirts, and spandex items. Right then I was wearing gray stretch pants that were actually from the Big Women's section of a department store, and a tight, sleeveless shirt that matched perfectly. It looked sort of like a sleeveless wetsuit, but thinner material. Hey, it worked, and it actually didn't look half bad. With no money and no outside contact, I could wear women's stuff without anyone giving me a hard time, and without myself really caring. I could have gone naked for all anyone cared.
Don't get me wrong - I did care about that. I wasn't so far primitive that I was going to do that. And there was no way I was giving up my home. I was just stating that no one would have noticed or cared what I did.
It was good that way.
It was also the third thing wrong with where I lived.
There was no one else.
No one.
She stared at me with those eyes, eyes without certain color, eyes that were tender and sincere and hurt, eyes that didn't belong in such a deceivingly blank face.
Just stared.
I looked away.
"Richard, what are you doing?" Her voice - the voice that so often had teased me, guided me, made me see things so differently - was like ice.
I looked at her again. She simply stood there in that odd, dress-like thing she had used to morph in. A sleeveless powder-blue leotard that hooked behind her neck, with flared legs that looked suspiciously like a miniskirt. Maria'd given it to her, just as she'd given Jack her forest-green one. Just as she'd told Chris and me about the Big Women's stretch pants we could get if we weren't too embarrassed. She'd been obscessed with making us look professional - or, in the very least, making it so we didn't clash.
Toniya had no idea how pretty she looked in that morphing outfit, in spite of her blank face.
"What I have to," I replied just as coldly.
Her face didn't register her horror. It didn't give a hint of her hurt emotions. It didn't even give a clue to how disappointed and dismayed she was.
Her eyes did that.
Those terrible, powerful eyes of a color without a name.
Those eyes that haunt me when I least expect it, every time I stop to remember.
"Give me the Escafil Device," she demanded.
I shook my head, clenching my fist around the strangely heavy, dull blue box. "No way. I'm making sure no more mistakes are made. The line is drawn here."
"Diane is not a mistake."
I guffawed. "She tried to kill you! You're lucky she's such an idiot she can't tell a seagull from your hawk morph! If it weren't for Chris and dumb luck she would have killed Jack! She knocks out Maria, messes with my family, and she's not a mistake?!"
"She's afraid, and so are you."
"Yes, I'm afraid! I'm telling you, we have to get her trapped. Nothlit-ized." Her dangerous, soul-piercing eyes narrowed, just slightly. "Don't glare at me. She's not going to get her powers back magically. Face it, Tonni - Diane's a lost cause."
She simply stood there.
"Come with me." The words just popped out of my mouth.
She jerked a little. "What?"
Confusion. Surprise.
I'm an honest person. If nothing else, I have my honesty. "I don't want to be alone, Tonni. I can't go where anyone will find me, but I don't want to do it alone."
She shook her head. "You know I can't do that, Rich. You know. You're stalling. Trying to find a way to get past me."
"No. I want you to come. I... Tonni, please."
She stared at me again.
"Go," she said finally. "Go, and never come back."
"And if I do?"
She stared some more.
"Don't."
Then she turned, demorphed, and flew away.
"No!"
I clenched my fist. "No," I hissed between my teeth. "Don't think. Don't remember. It's past."
Past.
Everything was past.
I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "I've got nothing," I moaned. In time, I'd taken to talking to myself a lot. It relieved the silence, considering I didn't have any electricity for a television or radio - besides the fact that I was absolutely pennyless, and didn't have any money to buy either one. If it weren't for my morphing ability, which let me get food, my utter determination and independence would have starved me to death a long time ago. "But I can't go back. Not anymore. I can't. There's nothing to go back to."
It was then that someone knocked on the door.
I looked up, startled.
No one knocked.
No one knew about this place.
Unless-
"Go away!" I shrieked in as high-pitched a voice as I could manage. "Or I'll shoot ya brains off!"
"David, we know you're in there!" a girl's voice snapped from outside the door. "Don't make us brake in! I don't know how you're able to morph again, but believe me when I say I'm going to make you regret it!"
What?
I stood up, slowly, cautiously, waiting for the unfamiliar voice's threat to become reality. It didn't. "Go away!" I screeched again. "There be no David's 'ere!"
I heard someone chuckle. Someone with a somewhat low voice made a comment too quiet for me to hear. The pounding on the door resumed. "Damn it, David, open this door!" the first voice demanded.
I sighed. "There aren't any Davids here!" I yelled in my own voice. "Just leave me alone!"
"Then who are you?" the angry girl demanded rudely.
"It's none of your business!" I replied. "I don't know you, so you
can't know me!"
The girl's companion raised his voice. "David, this is Tobias. And don't give us crap - you know Rachel. Just come out quietly before Rachel decides to grizzly you."
Grizzly, huh?
I'd show them grizzly.
You know what? I asked them in thought-speak as I started to concentrate. I hate salespeople who overstay their welcome. One of the
reasons I never got a phone installed.
"He's using thought-speak," the girl - Rachel? - said as-a-matter-of- factly.
"We'd better be prepared for anything," the boy - Tobias? - agreed.
I grinned inwardly, even as I morphed. Anything? Not with me, buddy.
It was hard to open the door when I was done, but I managed to without gauging the door too badly. I shoved my bulk through the doorway.
And came face-to-face with another grizzly.
He roared a challenge, and slashed me across my face with his long, black claws.
Rachel! Back off! a voice much like "Tobias's" cried.
Like hell, another voice, like the one "Rachel" had used, snarled. This bastard has to pay for what he's done.
I reared up on my hind legs. Listen to me! I snapped. I don't know who you're looking for, but I'm not this 'David'. And how in hell can you morph?!
We could ask you the same thing, Tobias's voice pointed out. I couldn't see where it was coming from.
From an Andalite, a long time ago, I replied tightly.
Bull, Rachel spat.
What's your name then? Tobias asked more politely. I told you ours.
Good point. My name's Richard, I replied, my "voice" strained. Richard _______. It's not David. So leave me alone.
The other grizzly turned to stare at me. No way.
No way what?
No way!
Stop saying that!
Tobias's voice was calculatedly cool, like he was trying to keep himself under control. Richard, I think you should come with us.
My nearly-blind grizzly eyes narrowed. Why, I demanded.
We are Animorphs.
It was my turn to think No way!, but I didn't say it. How the hell did they recruit more if I have the Escafil Device? No chance! Go away!
Rich, we can take you to Jack, Rachel said.
I froze.
They knew...?
No! It was a trick! Jack didn't know where I was - if she was
captured, she couldn't point out where I was.
Unless... she'd known?
No. She would have tried to talk to me, if she had. That's how she is.
How do you know her?
That's... a little bit complicated, Tobias said slowly.
It's a lot complicated, Rachel corrected him bluntly. Let's just say we met her yesterday. You know where Chris' barn is. It isn't exactly Chris' barn anymore, but if you're going to be any help to anybody, you'll be there this afternoon. Now, I have chores to do. So go on with your pathetic little life in a shack. Have fun. With that, the other grizzly bounded away.
In my head, I heard Tobias sigh. She grows on you, he said, fondness in his voice.
Then he too was gone, although where... your guess is as good as mine.
Slowly, I demorphed, went back into the shack, and sat down to skin my squirrel. I almost took off some of my fingers at least eight times, simply because I was so completely distracted.
What, exactly, had just happened??
CHAPTER 8
Rachel
We waited.
Jake and Jacqueline, standing side by side, their arms crossed, like faulted twin bookends. Cassie, spending way too much time tending to a fox who'd had porcupine needles sticking through its mouth two days ago. Marco sitting on a stall door, swinging his legs. Tobias, preening away, pretending to be nonchalant when he was just as edgy as everybody else. Ax, in human morph, looking almost bored, even though he'd just unmorphed and remorphed five minutes before.
And me, leaning against one of the barn's supports, feeling very, very uncomfortable.
Jake's statement from yesterday was haunting me. "And I notice that neither of you will even consider what you'd do if you were faced with your counterparts," he'd said.
He was right. I hadn't.
Now I knew why. It was kind of eerie, startling... and embarrassing. Yes, embarrassing! I mean, knowing that, somewhere in existence, I'm a boy? Hel-lo! Talk about awkward!
I now felt a great deal of sympathy for Jake.
That is, until that moment, when we'd been waiting two hours. The
barn was boiling hot. Mom was right - it had reached ninety-nine degrees
outside. Inside it was probably ten degrees cooler, but still uncomfortably hot.
"Should've specified a time," I muttered to myself.
Jacqueline - I refused to call, or even think about her, as "Jack" (it was too much like "Jake", just like the rest of her) - looked at me. "So now you can use thought-speak like we do?"
I looked at her, forcing myself not to glare. The simple truth was, she scared me. She made no sense. Her entire existence was impossible. And there she was. She was Jake, as a girl. Somewhere, too, was me as a boy. I knew that now. I know it sounds stupid, but in a way I felt like that was her fault. Yeah, I replied, showing everyone that I could. It was surprising how quickly that became second nature.
Cassie jerked a little in surprise. Marco's head swung around, and he almost fell off the stall door. Jake grimaced. Ax and Tobias didn't show any reaction.
Jacqueline merely nodded. "Mmm," she replied quietly. Any idea why? she asked me in what I knew was private thought-speak.
Why was she asking privately? Should I? I demanded rudely.
I'm not your enemy, Rachel. I looked at her sharply. She wasn't even looking at me, but she sounded so... so direct. So blunt. She sounded like she should have been glaring at me, annoyance on her face, but she wasn't. She was looking at her feet, looking somewhat bored as we waited. I know this is awkward. I'm almost happy Rich is here, because I haven't seen him in so long... She trailed off for a moment before picking up as if she'd never gotten side-tracked. But that's going to be awkward for me, too. Rich and I didn't have a good parting. He thought I was a tyrant. We both did what we thought was right - I stood my ground... and he took the Escafil Device and walked away. You say you found him in a shack not far away?
She didn't sound accusing, or like she didn't believe me. She simply sounded surprised. Yeah, I replied. Not that far in the woods.
I'd thought... well, never mind what I'd thought. It doesn't matter now.
Yeah. What matters now is, that shack? In this timeline, it burned down almost a year ago. A crazy ex-Controller lived there.
Hmm.
"Care to share, girls?" Marco's voice cut into my concentration, keeping me from going on.
"It's not important," Jacqueline said calmly. "Rachel was just filling me in a little bit on stuff you guys already know."
Precise but vague, leaving no questions to be asked but nothing answered, either.
This girl was tricky.
A crow fluttered in the hayloft door, took one look at Tobias in the rafters, and took up a perch on the rim of the hayloft door. It looked down at us with dark, glittering eyes.
Jacqueline's eyes narrowed. "Hello, Rich," she said to the crow.
There was no reply.
Marco laughed. "Jack, I think that's just a crow."
She shook her head. "No. No crow, not even a brave one, would be that close to Tobias."
They've been closer, Tobias said. One tried to spook me from a kill once. Would've worked, too, if I was a normal hawk. Crows are intelligent bullies. The thugs of the bird world.
We heard a chuckle in our heads.
"But crows don't laugh," Marco pointed out unnecessarily. "Cackle, maybe, but not laugh."
Oh, shut up, a voice snapped, just before I could say the same thing in a kinder tone. The voice was biting, bitter, and quite similar to the second voice - the real voice - from the shack. That was pathetic. I know someone who does the exact same thing - a joke for all occasions, especially the ones when they're inappropriate.
"Rich, behave yourself," Jack said in a calm tone that would've made me grit my teeth, if it were directed at me. The tone was so calm it was almost toneless, an emotionless statement that made me feel spoken down to.
Don't start, Jack, the voice snapped. The crow glared down at her. I have the advantage here.
"You two aren't going to start bickering, are you?" I demanded. "Seriously, if you are, go somewhere else, because I really don't need to be here to watch."
So you're Rachel. The crow's glittering, black eyes, no different in color than the rest of it, turned on me. They were expressionless eyes, cold as stone, yet alive in that eerie glitter. He spoke privately, but coldly. Impatient. Demanding. Impudent.
Sound familiar? I sent back harshly.
The black, glittering eyes widened, just slightly, a very human
reaction. Then the voice chuckled. When he spoke again, though, his voice was bitter and biting again. What's going on, then, Jack? he demanded. Who are these people? Where is Chris, and the others?
"These are the Animorphs, Rich," Jacqueline said, looking up at the crow. The coldness in her eyes was gone, to be replaced by not-quite- hidden longing. Her professionalism was weakening to her human side. "We don't belong where we are."
What are you talking about? Rich sounded extremely impatient.
Jacqueline sighed. "Look at me and Jake - here." She chucked a thumb at Jake. "Notice anything?"
The crow's head jerked slightly to the side to regard Jake, then Jacqueline, then back again. Then to Jacqueline again. What... he looks like-
"No. I look like him," Jacqueline corrected, without letting Rich finish. I would have found that extremely annoying. "Just as you and Rachel probably would."
He glared at me again. I glared right back. I doubt that, he said.
"I don't," Marco muttered under his breath, smirking just slightly.
We both glared at him simultaneously. Startled by the double glare, his mouth clamped shut.
"Rich," Cassie spoke up, "there's a problem right now. You and Jack are in an alternate universe."
Good old Cassie, diffusing an almost unstoppably hostile situation.
What is this, The Twilight Zone? Rich asked. His sarcasm wasn't overpowering, like Marco's, just a slight twinge in his voice that suggested he didn't think Cassie was serious.
"No Twilight Zone," Jacqueline said, shaking her head. "Listen... Rich... could you not stare down at us in that morph?"
I'm not going to let myself be taken off-guard, witch, he snapped. I know your tricks. Shoot first, ask questions later - if you can.
"You're confusing the two of us again," she said, her voice colder, annoyed. Then her tone became more sincere again. "Rich, please."
He didn't reply.
"He's not crow. He's chicken," I said. "He thinks we're so evil we'd hit him when he's demorphing."
She would, he replied coldly.
Jacqueline stared at him, obviously shocked. Her mouth worked for a moment, then a look of disgust crossed her face, and she turned away. "Fine," she said. "Goodbye again, then." She walked toward the back of
the barn.
The crow left the hayloft doorway.
"Well, that went well," Marco quipped.
"Shut up," Jacqueline and I said at the same time. I glanced at her, but she didn't turn around. One of her hands reached toward her own face.
She was crying.
I don't know how I knew: I just did. Jacqueline was crying, and she didn't want anyone to see.
"Oh, Jack, quit it. You're the macha leader - act it."
All at once, seven pairs of eyes went to the doorway of the barn.
He was kind of tall, though not extremely so, and built kind of lanky for a guy. He had a bit of a fragile look to his face - the curve of his jaw was a little odd, in a way that made his stern, bitter expression look awkward. He looked like the type who's meant to smile, you know what I mean? Like frowning was uncomfortable. Like scowling, as he was, was downright agonizing.
His eyes were lighter and grayer than mine, and his hair was paler, less blond, closer to white. It was a little long, and somewhat unkept. He wore all gray - a sleeveless gray shirt and tight nylon pants, sort of like the kind big women wear to look thinner. It looked pretty good together, on him - it had a spartan, uniform-type look, and brought out the gray in his eyes. A rough, pale five o'clock shadow made his almost delicate face look even stranger.
He'd look sort of preppie, if he wasn't so roughly kept. Sort of jock-like, too; though lanky and thin, he was muscular, too, but not bulky at all. He looked as if he'd walked off a movie set of some action movie.
Jacqueline stared at him for a long time. "So," she said finally.
The corner of his mouth twitched, turning upward for a split second. "That's your speech?" he said. "Kind of disappointing. I was expecting my head blown off."
Jacqueline clenched her jaw, then - in a blink of an eye - she was across the barn and had her arms thrown around his neck. The shock on his face... it was a Kodak moment. "Damn you!" she whispered. "Damn you to Hell, bastard."
The unnatural-looking stern expression softened a little, and he gently unhooked her arms from his neck. He held her away from him a little bit. The scowl was reduced to a barely-supressed smile. "I'll see you there," he replied.
Jacqueline pulled away, her momentary happiness melting away. "Why, Rich?" she asked quietly. "Why'd you do it?"
He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "Like I told Tonni, I did what I had to."
"You ran away." Her tone was accusing now, and hurt. "You left us, without even a reason. Why did you have to? What was so important-"
"I didn't want to die, all right?" he snapped, the softness in his face melting into the bitterness we'd only heard in his voice. It made his almost-delicate face look harsher, sharper, and much, much older. "Diane Demonchild would've killed Tonni, almost killed you, and yet you were idiot enough to keep trying to control her, just as you controlled everyone else!" Jacqueline wasn't quite hiding the pain she felt, but she was getting there: her expression was becoming more and more blank, unreadable. "You never controlled me, Jack. And I think that's the only reason I'm not dead today."
"You're right, I never controlled you," Jacqueline said in the same, soft tone Jake uses when he's extremely angry. "No one controlled you. You just went off and did what you felt was 'right'. Too bad our definitions of that term weren't quite the same. I didn't want anyone dying, Rich - including Diane."
"I never said we should kill her!" he snapped. "I said-"
"We know. Here, that's what they did."
"Wh- what?" Rich's expression went from outraged to confused so quickly I blinked in surprise.
"Diane's counterpart's name was David," Jake said. "He would've killed Tobias, except he killed the wrong red-tailed hawk, and almost killed me, if it weren't for Cassie and a lot of luck."
"We trapped him in rat morph and packed him off to a little island a mile off the coast," I said.
"It was my idea," Cassie said softly, then closed her eyes and hung her head a little. Of all the things Cassie regrets doing as an Animorph, coming up with the way to defeat David is one of the ones that have hurt her the most.
Slowly, Rich nodded. "Chris came up with a way. But Jacqueline LionHeart nixed it. 'We won't sink to her level', she preached."
"Diane is one of us now, and you're not," Jacqueline said in a soft, toneless voice. "That's all that matters now."
"It isn't! That bitch tried to kill us all!"
"It's the past, Rich. You want to try and change it, you can go right ahead, but right now we have a bigger problem, here in the present, that you
can either help with, or go off in your own little self-centered universe and see if you can find a way to change the past. Go ahead. We'll wait."
Suddenly, I could see why Rich didn't like Jacqueline. She was more manipulative than Jake. Jake rarely orders anyone to do anything. But he also doesn't outright embarrass us like the way Jacqueline was doing to Rich. She was both less direct and more focused at the same time. She knew what she wanted, and let everyone else know too. When she thought she was right, she used the most direct way she could to "convince" others to do what she wanted.
Jake would never have said something like that.
That was more like something Marco would say.
Rich didn't glare at her this time. He simply looked her in the eye. "Then screw it," he said. "I choose my world, over yours."
And he turned and walked out.
CHAPTER 9
Richard
"Richard, wait."
I was just starting to concentrate on the crow again. I turned around, glaring at the one who dared try to stop me.
Rachel wasn't the least bit phased by my glare. "Listen to me," she said in a no-nonsense tone. "I admit, Jacqueline's being a bit of a bitch-"
"A bit," I echoed sarcastically.
"Shut up," she replied. "She's being a bitch, but don't fall to her level. There is a problem here. You don't belong here - either of you."
"You told her where I am," I said. "She'll know where to find me no matter what 'universe' I'm in. What does it matter which I'm stuck in? At least this way I don't have to ever see Tonni again."
"Who is this Tonni?" she asked.
I looked at her; she was honestly confused. "Jack didn't tell you about the others?"
"They're one of the others? Yeah, she did, but she didn't mention any 'Tonni'."
"Tonni is Toniya's nickname."
"Oh." A dark look crossed her face. "Why don't you want to see her again?"
"That's none of your business," I snapped, before I could come up with a better answer.
"You bet it's my business!" she replied in a harsh voice, doing all she could to keep her voice down.
Talk this way if you want to shout, I told her.
Forgot, she muttered. Then she began screaming. That hawk in that barn - that's Tobias! Tobias! I love that boy, and he's a hawk! I know Toniya is too!
I forced myself to laugh. Then you're crazy.
Her shocked expression looked painful. You- I mean, you and-
Nothing, I said as strongly as I could.
It was true.
There was nothing between Toniya and me.
Nothing.
Unable to look at her, I turned away and tried to concentrate on the crow, but I couldn't. All I saw was a pair of tender, sincere, shocked eyes that would have been crying if they remembered how....
I remained turned away.
You care about her, at least?
Not... no. There went my honesty.
Don't give me bull.
She didn't give a damn about me.
Is that it?
I wondered to myself, Why should I tell this girl anything? But I told her anyway. I was... a collegue, at most. Someone she worked with. We didn't know each other. I didn't even remember her name for awhile! She wasn't my type - too, I don't know. Spaced out. And yeah, I guess she was plain, too. Then she got caught... she wasn't the same. She became more realistic, less spacey. Focused. Certain of herself. And... about then...
... about then, you decided you were an absolute freak because you were getting a crush on someone of another species. I looked at her. She smirked a little. I know. About half a year after that realization, I was suddenly... very suddenly... told I wasn't the only one who felt that way. There were hints along the way... but nothing very specific until then.
That "then" never came. As an afterthought I added, For me.
She shrugged a little. Your loss.
Thanks a lot.
You had your chance. I nearly lost mine, but I was lucky. You weren't. It's not like that can be changed for either of us.
You're a lot like Jack, did you know that?
Don't say that - it reflects on us both.
She glared at me.
I glared at her.
"Coming back?" she asked in that tough, demanding voice of hers.
"After you," I said in my most sarcastic tone, gesturing for her to lead.
"Like I'm going to let you walk behind me," she retorted.
So we walked back side by side.
All in all, it was a purposeless meeting.
Well, not completely.
Everyone was staying where they were comfortable. Jack was going to remain in Cassie's hayloft. I was going to stay in my shack. Everyone thought I was crazy.
The others offered me food, clothing, spare bedrooms, but the only thing I accepted was a watch, so we could meet at 5:00pm the next day. Rachel, Jake, and Marco had finals in the morning, and Cassie, Rachel, and Jake had finals in the afternoon. Jake was grinning like an idiot, glad that it was his last final. "There's something to be said about them all being in the beginning," he said, grinning wickedly at Marco. Somewhere along the line, it'd been mentioned that Marco had two Friday, the last day of finals.
I hadn't known it was Finals Week. I hadn't even known it was June.
I don't have a television, a radio, a mailing address, or a calendar. Don't bug me.
The meeting had two final conclusions:
One - We'd meet the next day at five p.m.
Two - We'd remain calm until something more dire popped up.
Great plans, as always.
Great plans rarely go smoothly... at least, for us.
CHAPTER 10
Richard
I stared.
Where my funky-smelling, rotting home had stood... charcoal.
I gripped my hair. "Shit!" I hissed, lacking anything better to say. "This sucks!"
I ended up sleeping in a tree nearby.
When I woke up, I was confused. I ached. I looked down through my patchwork roof. "Uh-?" Suddenly I remembered: the charcoal pile that had been the remains of my long-burnt down home.
Before my eyes, the rotted, burnt wood was fading away to be replaced by a much more livable structure.
Cautiously, I got down from the tree, went to the still translucent house, and put my hand out. I felt... something. Like fog. I pulled my hand back, waited for the shack to come better into view, and reached out again. This time there was a bit of resistance, like putting my hand in a plastic bag. The third time was like touching cloth. Fourth felt mushy. Fifth it was solid wood. The last of the charcoal disappeared.
"Shit," I said again.
CHAPTER 11
Rachel
We met again the next day. It was cooler in the barn than the day before, but it seemed... stuffy.
Actually, I think the correct word would be "crowded".
Jake and Jacqueline were, as always, standing near each other, identical expressions on their faces. Jacqueline looked extremely tired; she was wearing the same clothes Jake had given her Sunday. She'd "showered" with Cassie's garden hose - I could only imagine how cold that had been! - but she still looked... haggard. Or, should I say, more haggard than ever. I compared Jake and Jacqueline, even though I didn't want to. Jake, lately, has been looking like he's twenty: Jacqueline looked at least thirty.
"Any luck figuring out what's going on?" Jake asked Ax.
Ax shrugged stiffly. Andalites don't normally shrug, but Ax has picked it up from us. "No, my prince," he replied. "The technical aspects of the Jacqueline Rip are still debatable."
We all looked at Jacqueline as she groaned aloud. She rubbed one of her temples with her fingertips. "He insists on calling it that," she muttered. She leaned against the wall behind her and sighed heavily. "Forgive the lack of enthusiasm." She chuckled humorlessly. "Haven't been sleeping well."
I glanced at Richard. He stood near the door, leaning on the wall, arms crossed. He'd simply walked into the barn today, in stylishly ripped but somewhat old jeans with a too-wide waist held up by a strip of brown shirt, and an off-white shirt. His sneakers were two different brands, but they almost matched. I wonder where he came up with his clothes, if he lived penniless, in a shack, in the woods. Did he scrounge them from dumpsters, take them from garbage cans or Salvation Army drop-off bins?
I shivered, turning my attention back to Ax. He looked confused. "Your theory is the most logical solution to our current circumstances," he explained. "Therefore, it is customary to name the phenomenon after the one whose theory explains its existence."
Marco looked confused. He looked at Ax, then Jacqueline, then back. Then he looked at Jacqueline again. "Did I miss something?"
Jacqueline yawned before answering. "In summary - considering we spent over half an hour on this - I guessed that this is like a Sario Rip, but invuolves parallel universes instead of just time-space."
"Oh." Marco smirked a little, then snorted. "Duh. I could have told you that."
"It was more complicated than that," Cassie said. She was trying not to smile. "It involved trees." Jacqueline laughed tiredly.
"You feeling okay, Jack?" Rich asked blandly.
"Been better," she replied just as tonelessly.
I thought about it. Jacqueline had spent two days sleeping in Cassie's hayloft, living off what food we could sneak to her. Rich lived in a shack without plumbing or electricity for months - and what was he eating?
Wait.
Of course.
There was nothing stopping Rich from morphing. He lived like Tobias did - catching it live. He probably stole fruits and vegetable from gardens, like a rabbit, if he hadn't planted his own somehow.
So Rich had familiarity, independence, stubbornness, and probably lesser morals.
No wonder he seemed okay, and Jacqueline, to be blunt, looked like crap.
"I've seen an example of this 'Jacqueline Rip'," Rich said. "Last night, when I went home, it was charcoaled. Burned to the ground. Months ago, from the looks of it. I ended up sleeping in a tree."
"So the old shack is back?" Jake asked.
Rich shook his head. "Woke up around dawn, always do. Looked down, and there was the burnt shack - and my shack. They were sort of... superimposed. Neither really there. The woodpile faded out as my shack faded in. Everything was not quite there."
"I'd say you weren't all there," Marco muttered.
Rich glanced at him, but didn't reply. "Even texture was incomplete. Wood felt like fog, then cloth, then Jell-O, before it actually felt like wood. When I left my floor was gone again. I think I'll stick around here awhile, at least until my house decides if it wants to exist or not."
"That's not right," Jacqueline murmured. "It just fades out? Then what about us? I have no idea when I got here."
"Our worlds are a lot alike, aren't they?" Marco asked. "If you fade from one universe to the other without the houses getting up and moving, are you going to notice?"
I frowned. Marco had a point. "What were you two doing when you ended up here?"
"Running in dog morph," Jacqueline replied. "We had a bit of a skirmish with the Fietha."
"The who?" Marco asked.
Jacqueline shook her head. "Doesn't matter. What matters is that you're right. A car passed by me without a noise. When I turned around it was gone, and I thought I imagined it."
"I was in the shack," Rich said. "A skirl and a jay were fighting. They stopped suddenly. I figured the skirl chucked a nut at the jay."
"Squirrel," I corrected him.
"What?"
"Squer-rel. Not skirl."
Rich looked at Jacqueline. "What is she talking about?" Jacqueline shrugged.
I sighed, rubbing my forehead. I felt kind of dizzy, probably from the heat. I looked around - was it darker? Jake and Jacqueline were in shadow, but Tobias looked kind of pale, and Cassie and Marco simply didn't look... right. Only Ax looked normal, unchanged.
"I think I need some air," I mumbled. I walked stiffly out of the barn; my legs were feeling rubbery.
Rachel? Tobias sounded as if he was too far away, even though he was just inside the barn, and I was just outside. Are you o-
I turned around, confused. His voice had faded out, like he'd flown away at full speed or something. Something wasn't right.
Then I realized.
It was just a small thing.
It was the same temperature outside the barn as it had been inside.
Perturbed, I walked back in. I didn't feel out of it anymore.
And I stared at who stared back.
A kind of cute black guy. An extremely pretty, Latino-looking girl with thick brown hair. A plain, short-haired blond girl with narrow green eyes. An off-white hawk with an upswept black crest.
And an Andalite.
"Oh shit," I muttered under my breath.
to be continued....