Animorphs Dementia

by Veravine

When dimensions collide, you meet the strangest people... (*language warning throughout*)

6. Default Chapter Title

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 came upon the Animorphs, one that knew absolutely everything - but she knew absolutely everything, from a very different angle. Her name was Jacqueline - although she preferred being called "Jack". She knew everything Jake knew - but she knew 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.

The Animorphs have bought themselves time - by forcing themselves through the hole between their timelines, they act as a barrier between their universes, which has paused the problems - but not reversed them. Maria, along with countless others (including Chris' mother, Rachel's sister Sarah, Rich's brother Sam, and Jake's family's van) is stranded in the wrong place. Ax, Tobias, Toniya, and Axel may be dead - no one knows.

A month has passed. Normalcy - or what has become normalcy - continues. But, still, a solution has yet to surface.

I hope you enjoy The Dementia Cycle.

Animorphs Dementia #6 - The Counterpart

Long before....

Swoosh!

The Bug fighter flew over once again, seemed to pause, then settled down toward the floor of the quarry. It landed as gently as a feather.

I held my breath.

Wait for it, Jack said. Wait for it.

The hatch opened. Out stepped an Orak-Bajyr-Controller.

The Andalite prince, Arbron, had told us that the Orak-Bajyr were a good decent people who had been enslaved against their will by the Yeerks. Elfangor explained to us that they had once been simple bark-eaters whose nightmare appearance was simply for the purpose of slicing bark from trees.

Uh-huh. Maybe so. No matter what anybody said, they looked just a little bit less huggable than an out-of-control buzzsaw set on "slice and dice Animorphs". Orak-Bajyr are big, walking razor blades. They're about six feet tall, two arms, two legs, and a nasty spiked tail similar to Andalite tails.

There are swordlike blades raked forward from their snake heads and down their long necks. There are blades at the elbows and wrists and knees and ankles.

I mean, let me put it this way: If Klingons were real, they would be scared of Orak-Bajyr.

Get ready. Jack again.

The Orak-Bajyr stepped clear of the Bug fighter. Then, he just stood there.

There will be a Taxxon inside, Axel reminded us.

Yeah. We know, I said.

Why was the Orak-Bajyr just standing there? He should be looking around. After all, he was answering a distress beacon. Why was he just standing there like he was waiting for something?

On the count of three, Jack said in our heads. One... Two... Three!

"Tsseeeeerrrr!"
Toniya swooped, falling from the sky at close to a hundred miles an hour. She raked her talons forward and hit the Orak-Bajyr's face.

"RROWWWRR!" Jack leaped from cover. She sailed through the air and hit the Orak-Bajyr with paws outstretched, claws bared.

The Orak-Bajyr went down hard.

Jack rolled away as the Orak-Bajyr slashed the air like an out-of-control Cuisinart.

But just then Rich rumbled up, as big as a tank.

Okay, back off, Jack, Rich said. I have him.

He pressed one big, tree-stump leg on the Orak-Bajyr's chest and pressed him down against the ground. He didn't crush him, just held him like a bug who could easily be squashed.

The Orak-Bajyr decided it was time to stop struggling and lie very still.

Too easy, a part of my mind warned me. Too easy. No Orak-Bajyr Controller had ever just given up like that.

But I had other problems. My job was to get inside the Bug fighter. Get the Taxxon pilot.

Let's go! I yelled.

I ran forward, loping clumsily on my slightly short hind legs, swinging my slightly longer, heavy paw/hands forward to catch me with each loping stride. Chris and Axel were right there with me. Taxxons are disgusting, oversized centipedes, but I wasn't worried. We were more than enough to handle a Taxxon.

But then -

Zzzzzzzzaaapppp!

A brilliant red beam of light sliced the air just inches in front of me. It blocked my way.

Zzzzzzzzaaaapppp!

Another beam of blinding red light. This crossed behind me. It exploded gravel into steam as it traced a path!

Dracon beams! Axel cried.

I spun around, looking for cover.

Zzzzzzaaaaappppp!

Look! Chris screamed in our heads. Up on the edge of the quarry!

I looked, as the Dracon beams formed a cage of deadly light around us. The edge of the quarry above was lined with Orak-Bajyr. I looked left. More! To the right... more!

The entire quarry was lined with Orak-Bajyr warriors, each armed with a Dracon beam. There must have been a hundred of them. We were surrounded.

Completely surrounded.

Stay in morph, Jack snapped. Don't let them know we're human.

Let's charge them! Rich yelled. Some of us might make it through!

No! You can't even climb that rock face. Don't be stupid, Rich! We'll get our chance.

Chris called Toniya. Toniya! You can get away!

I don't think so, she said. No headwind. It would take me a couple minutes to flap my way up out of here. They'd've fried me ten times before I got ten feet up.

The reality settled over us. The despair.

What are we going to do? Chris asked, his voice a monotone.

There has to be a way out! There has to be! Rich yelled.

Not this time, I said grimly.

There will be, Jack said, but I think she was trying to reassure herself, not us. There will be.

We were trapped. Outnumbered. Outsmarted.

Finished.

And that was when he came.

He looked so much like Axel. The resemblance was so eerie it always sent shivers down my spine. Give Axel slightly paler fur, about four inches in height, and more golden eyes, and they'd've been twins.

And yet, they were so totally different. The difference wasn't something you saw, physically. It was something you felt.

A shadow on your soul. A darkness that blotted out the light of the sun. Evil. Destruction.

Not the impersonal, programmed destructiveness of the ants. This was warm-blooded, deliberate evil.

His body was an Andalite. He was the only Andalite-Controller in existence. The only Yeerk to have an Andalite host. The only Yeerk with the Andalite power to morph.

Visser Three.

Visser Three, who had murdered the Andalite Prince Arbron while we cowered in terror.

Visser Three, who even the Orak-Bajyr and Taxxon feared.

Visser Three, the cruel overlord who had stolen Axel's and Elfangor's father from them.

You see, Visser Three's host... the Andalite he enslaved... is the father of Axel and Elfangor. The grandfather of Toniya.

And he knows every one of those facts... except for the facts that it was us who was there when Arbron died, that Elfangor is still alive, and that Toniya even exists.

Well, well, he said, thought-speaking to us. I have you at last, my brave Andalite bandits. Fools. Do you think we never change our frequencies?

Yeerk! Axel said in a silent voice loaded with the hatred of a boy faced with not just the murderer of a close friend - of Arbron - but of the hatred of a boy to his father's killer, too.

Visser Three's main eyes focused on Axel. So young, he said, surprised. Has it really been such a short time? Have the Andalites now been reduced to using their children to fight? A pity, for you and this host of mine. Fantastic, really, for me. He smiled an Andalite smile, one without a mouth, but one poisoned by the darkness that surrounded him. Now I don't have to wait to make this host suffer to watch you become one of my most loyal slaves.

Axel narrowed his eyes until they were almost closed. His delicate, seven-fingered hands balled into very indelicate fists. He started to say something, but Jack snapped, Shut up, Axel! None of us communicates with him. We know what he is, Axel, but we give him nothing. Nothing.

Axel fell silent, but he was practically vibrating with rage and hatred for the Yeerk Visser. I can hardly say I was surprised.

But Jack was right. We couldn't get into a conversation with Visser Three. The rest of us still wanted to hide the fact that we were humans, not Andalites. We could too easily slip and reveal the truth.

Visser Three seemed to be enjoying his big moment. What a colorful assortment of morphs, he said. Earth has such wonderful animals, don't you agree? When we have enslaved the humans and made this planet over in our image, we will have to be sure and keep some of these forms alive. It would be entertaining to try some of these morphs myself.

None of us said anything. At least not anything that was human. Jack did snarl, drawing her tigress lip back over her teeth.

Especially you, Visser Three said to Jack. That is a beautiful, deadly animal. I approve. In fact, I was going to demand you demorph. But I have a better idea. You see, we have a guest aboard the mother ship. It will be entertaining to show you to Visser One as you are.

I was sick with dread and fear. But not so afraid that I didn't notice a sneer in Visser Three's tone when he said "Visser One".

Did you catch that? Jack asked me in the thought-speak version of a whisper.

Yeah. Visser Three doesn't like Visser One.

Visser Three must have given some signal, because at that moment his Blade ship appeared overhead, shimmering into view as it decloaked.

The Blade ship is far larger than the Bug fighters, and very different. It is jet-black. It's built like some kind of battle-ax from the middle ages, with two curved ax-head wings, and a long, diamond-pointed "handle" aimed forward.

We'd better make a run for it! Rich said.

It would be suicide, I said. As long as we're live, there's hope.

Yeah. Visser Three is taking us to the Yeerk mother ship to show off for his boss. Some hope.

But Rich did nothing. And I did nothing. And we all just stood there, under the watchful eyes of a hundred Orak-Bajyr.

They must have landed out of sight while we were busy watching the one Bug fighter.

Axel had used the wrong frequency. The Yeerks had figured out we were laying a trap. And our trap had become Visser Three's trap.

A couple dozen of the Orak-Bajyr leaped down from the high wall of the quarry and surrounded us. They kept their Dracon beams leveled at us as the Blade ship landed on the quarry floor.

One of the Orak-Bajyr pointed to the Blade ship. A door had opened in the side.

I can't fit in there, Rich said.

But as he approached the door, the door widened to his size. It stretched and grew as if the metal skin of the Blade ship were alive.

What a pathetic little crew we were, trooping inside the Blade ship. Weak and pathetic and stupid to imagine that we could ever have resisted the Yeerks.

Visser Three was right. We were fools.

This wasn't even my fight, I thought. Not really. This wasn't my time to die.

I guess I wanted to feel angry. But what I felt was numb, as I trooped into the Blade ship with the others. You know, like I wasn't really there, almost. I was past feeling anything, I guess. I just kept thinking, It's happening. It's finally really happening.

I hadn't wanted to do this mission. Not this weekend. Probably not ever. But, especially, not this weekend.

The next day was Sunday. My mom and Noel would go to my dad's grave. Without me.

It would be awhile before she could admit that I, too, was gone.

Just like when my dad died - there would never be a body.

Just like my dad.

*

This is not looking good, I said. I couldn't take the silence anymore.

No. It isn't. But we're not dead yet, Jack answered.

Yet. Why doesn't that make me happy? I asked. I looked around at the others, all crammed into a windowless steel cube. Black, dimly lit steel walls on all six sides. No door. It was like a coffin.

We look like some kind of circus, I said. An elephant, a tigress, a wolfbane, a vulperine, and a freak of nature.

That got some halfhearted laughs from the others. I don't know why I was making jokes. I guess that's the way I am. When bad things happen, I tell jokes. But inside I felt sick. Like I had swallowed broken glass.

Maybe we should just demorph, Chris said. Maybe if they realize we aren't Andalites, they'll let us go.

He knew it was dumb, of course. But when you're scared, you start grabbing at anything. You want to believe there's a way out.

The truth was, there were exactly two possibilities. Visser Three would kill us. Or Visser Three would turn us into Controllers. He would infest each us with a Yeerk.

We should stay in animal morph, Jack said. I mean, the thing is, if Visser Three learns we're human, he may go after our families next. He may figure we told them something.

And he'll find my father, Toniya added.

Prince Jack is right, Ax said. The Yeerks will not want to take any chances that other humans know of them.

It was true. I knew it was true. I guess I'd known it all along. But hearing it said, it made me want to crawl into a corner.

My mom, and Noel. Chris's parents. Rich's dad and his brothers. Rich's mom, wherever she was now. Jack's parents. Maybe even Jack's sister, Tara, although she was one of them. Their lives were at risk, too.

Suddenly, a window opened in one of the walls. It just grew, the same way the door had before. Like the steel was alive. It formed a round porthole, large enough for all of us to see - even Rich, who could only turn his massive head enough to look with one eye.

I gasped.

Below us, blue and white and so beautiful it brought tears to your eyes, was Earth.

Sun sparkled off the ocean. Clouds swirled over the Gulf of Mexico, a big spiral, maybe a hurricane.

Look, Chris said simply.

We looked. Through the eyes of the animals of Earth, but with the minds of human beings, we looked down at our planet.

Our planet.

For now, at least. For a little while longer.

Then something different came into view, as the Blade ship rotated away from Earth.

This is why the Yeerks opened a window, Axel said. This is what they wanted us to see. So that we would despair.

The mother ship.

Axel began to explain what the visible parts of it were, what they did, but I shut him up. I didn't care what the parts were: what good was it? We were doomed.

That huge, bloated ship just hung in orbit, like a predator gazing down hungrily at blue Earth below.

I can't believe people on Earth don't see this on radar, Rich said. I mean, it's huge. It's a city!

It is shielded, Axel said simply. It cannot be seen by radar. And it would normally be invisible to us. Visser Three is showing it to us. To terrify us.

He's doing a good job, I said.

I've never been in space before, Chris said. I decided to be nice for once and not say, "Duh." I always wished I could. I always wanted to see Earth, all in one piece like that.

It is a lovely planet, Axel said gently. Not so much different from mine. Except that we have less ocean and more grassland. I... I am sorry I brought you all to this. This is my fault.

I wanted to yell, "Yes! Yes, it is your fault!"

But Chris said what we all knew in our hearts. Axel, you're only here because your people wanted to protect us. Prince Arbron and a lot of other Andalites died trying to save us. Nothing is your fault.

It was true. But sometimes, when everything hits the fan, you don't want the truth. You just want someone to blame. One too many missions, I muttered. This was going to be my weekend off. Now... well, I guess I get the rest of the weekend off, don't I.

I could see an opening in the side of the Yeerk mother ship - a docking port. As I watched, a pair of quick Bug fighters flew in, dwarfed by the size of the opening.

A minute later, we entered the docking port and were suddenly bathed in deep red light.

Through the window, we could see Yeerk crewmen - Orak-Bajyr, Taxxons, and two or three other alien species, in simple red or dark brown uniforms. And there were humans, too. My first reaction was hope. Humans!

But then I realized the truth. No. Human-Controllers. Yeerks. No different than the Orak-Bajyr.

There was a slight shudder as the Blade ship came to a halt.

Axel? Jack asked. What's our morph time?

We have been in morph for seventy percent of allowable time.

I did the math. So we've got seventy-two minutes.

Yeah, Toniya agreed. Not a lot of time for you guys. Maybe Rich is right. Maybe we should just go out in a blaze of glory. Attack as soon as they open the door. At least we can let them know we were here.

I saw Jack extend her claws, as if she were thinking about using them. She glanced at where the door had once been, like she was measuring the distance. I knew that she was listening to the tigress in her head.

Then she seemed to relax. No, she said. We have to have hope.

Chris sidled up next to her and nuzzled her with his vulperine's muzzle.

I guess it should have been funny. The vulperine and the tigress, sharing a tender moment. But all if did was make me a little jealous. They had each other.

We gave them a pretty good fight, didn't we? I said. Our little circus? We did some damage to them.

Yes, we did, Rich agreed.

Do... Axel hesitated. Then, Do humans fear death?

Yes. We're not crazy about death, I answered. How about Andalites?

We're also not crazy about it.

Through the window we could see a lot of Orak-Bajyr and Taxxons and humans running around, racing to get somewhere. They were lining up. And now, I noticed, there were distinct kinds of uniforms, one red-and-black, the other gold-and-black. The brown uniforms were all around the edges, like they were less important.

Suddenly, without warning, the window stretched open into a large, arched doorway. Fetid air rushed in, smelling of oil and chemicals and something else just as putrid.

A ramp rose up from the steel floor outside to meet us. We were standing like a display at the top of the ramp. All around, filling this side of the docking bay, were uniformed Orak-Bajyr, Taxxons, and humans. Most were in red-and-black. Perhaps two hundred creatures, standing in stiff rows, arranged by species.

About a quarter of the total were in gold-and-black. There were more humans in this group, but also some creatures that looked like unusually massive Orak-Bajyr with shorter blades and less blades on their heads. Those, I knew, were better known as Hork-Bajir.

Jack? I have a feeling. I don't think the reds like the golds.

I think they are troops of two different Vissers, Axel said. I... I think I overheard Arbron talking about that. Each Visser has his - or her, he added for my benefit, - own private army in their own uniforms.

Spiffy. I wonder which group gets to have us? I said.

Far at the back of the rows of alien troops, there was a movement. A party of creatures walking to the front.

Visser Three was at the center, followed by two big Hork-Bajir in red.

And just to his left was a human. A human man with dark hair and very dark eyes.

That was when I stopped breathing. Because I knew. Even before I could see his face clearly, I knew.

They marched up to the bottom of the ramp. A dozen soldiers leveled Dracon beams at us, just in case we wanted any trouble.

Then, in thought-speak that all could hear, Visser Three turned to the man beside him. You see, Visser One. I have taken the Andalite bandits. The crisis is over. Your trip here is wasted, and you can return to the home world.

Visser One nodded. He looked up at us with those dark brown, human eyes.

Eyes I knew. Eyes I remembered.

The same eyes that watched me sleep every night from the framed picture beside my bed.

My father.

Visser One.

I sat down. Very suddenly. I'm sure it looked funny. A big, hairy wolfbane simply falling down on its short plume of a tail.

My father. Not dead.

Alive!

I wanted to yell. "Daddy! Daddy! It's me, Maria!"

But Jack was in my head, a loud, urgent whisper. Maria? Don't say anything. Don't do anything. Do you hear me?

So I wasn't just imagining it. Jack had recognized him, too.

Maria? Listen to me, girl. You have to hold it together.

My father... alive.

My daddy.

What's with you? Rich demanded.

Come on, Maria, stand up, Jack hissed at me. Don't make them suspicious. She was speaking just to me.

I could hear Jack. I could. But it seemed to come from far off. She didn't understand. It was my dad. My real dad! Not my stepfather, but Daddy!

Maria? That is not your father. Not anymore. That is not him.

Jack? It's my dad. Look, it's him. It's Daddy. If it's him, what does that make Noel?

No it isn't, Maria. It's not him anymore. They have him. He's one of them. One of them!

Why, Visser One, Visser Three sneered, you seem to have frightened the humanoid-lupine.

"It is called a werewolf, or wolfbane," Visser One said coldly. "If you are going to be in charge of Earth, Visser Three, you should at least learn something about the planet."

And take a human host body, like you did? No, I think not. Human bodies are weak. I much prefer this Andalite host.

My father looked at him and curled his lip. "I took a human host and learned about the planet and the humans. And because of that I was able to begin the invasion that you have now endangered with your criminal incompetence!"

Visser Three's deadly Andalite tail twitched, as if he was going to stab my daddy… Visser One. The red troops tensed up. The gold troops let their hands edge toward their weapons.

Ooookay, Rich said. I think we were right. These two definitely don't like each other.

He didn't know, I realized slowly. Rich didn't know. But he had never met my father. Neither had Chris or Toniya. And Jack had kept our talk private.

Visser Three slowly relaxed. You would like to provoke me, Visser One, he said. But the fact is that I destroyed the Andalite force. I shot down their dome ship. I killed Prince Arbron myself and heard his dying screams. And now I have eliminated this last, pathetic rabble of Andalites.

My dad... Visser One... just smiled. "You want to be Visser One? You think you can take my title? We shall see. The Council of Thirteen does not like Vissers who make mistakes. And you have made mistakes. Be careful of your own ambition."

He snapped his fingers, and every one of the soldiers in gold turned. Then he walked away, followed by his gold-uniformed troops.

That was not my father. At least not the creature who called himself Visser One.

Visser One was the Yeerk inside my father's brain.

But the sickening thing is, you see, that the host mind is still alive. It is still aware. Somewhere inside that head, behind those painfully familiar eyes, my father still lived.

Take it easy, Maria, Jack said. I know how it is. I know how much you want to do something. But now is not the time. They'd cut us down before we got two steps.

I know, I said dully. I hated myself for not trying, but I knew there was nothing I could do. I had to hide inside my morph. Never let my father know it was me. Never let him know...

Slowly, heavily, I stood up. I felt weak. A very strange feeling for a wolfbane.

I think right then, if I had been in any other morph I would have just surrendered and let the animal mind take over. Let instinct rule, and wash away my human emotion.

But the wolfbane, canine or not, was too much like a human. Its instincts were protective, not destructive. Like humans, it was a creature with emotions, though they were simpler, not quite the same as human emotions. It could only protect nonexistent young from unpresent predators; it couldn't protect me from the pain.

I call the shots, Jack, I said. You're the only one who recognized her. I choose who I tell.

Okay, Maria.

You can't even tell Chris, okay?

It's okay, girl. You are my oldest and best friend. You know that. No one will ever know from me.

*

Jack kept her promise. Even after Visser One gave us an opportunity to escape, even as we rushed to demorph in the escape capsule, Jack kept her mouth shut and her mind quiet. She let me choose who I told.

I chose exactly two people to talk to. Her, and Axel.

If it weren't for that one, strange, and horrible thing we have in common, I don't know if Axel and I would've have gotten along. If my father hadn't been Visser One, his Visser Three, I don't think I could've stood for his wiseass nature and smartass attitude.

Okay, so maybe we have a little more in common than that one thing....

CHAPTER 32

Maria

I woke up screaming.

"No! Daddy!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

The sheets were tangled so tightly around my legs I couldn't feel my feet. I was sweating; my skin and all the sheets felt equally clammy.

The same dream, yet again. If it hadn't been that one, it would've been the dream of losing him under the ocean, or giving him up in the Yeerk pool.

Always, every night, the nightmares. And, always, the worst were with Dad.

The bed creaked as someone sat down on it. I sighed, waiting for Nora to go through the same thing she always said. Marco's dad didn't normally come when I woke up screaming. He didn't seem to understand that it was worse for Nora to come.

Sure, she was a woman. But that didn't help me. She was the counterpart to my stepfather.

Not my real parent. The one who had married my mother when my father wasn't really dead.

I was surprised to see that it wasn't Nora, but Marco. He smiled a little. "I told Nora to take the night off," he said, his voice quiet. "I figured you could use an ear who could actually listen to what you're dealing with."

I smiled. "Thanks," I said, meaning it. Then my smile faded. "It was the first time, this time around," I whispered. He nodded. "On... on the ship. Do you know what- of course you do." I sighed, trying to get my legs untangled. "But... but my mom married Noel two years after my dad disappeared. They were already married when I found out." He nodded again. I got one leg free. "It... it was awful nice of your dad, and Nora, to let me stay here with you."

He laughed. "You sound like a broken record," he said. "For the last time, your parents would've probably done the same thing for me, right?"

I forced myself to smirk as I pulled my other foot out of a knot in the sheets. "After so many weeks, I'm beginning to doubt," I replied.

He looked at me skeptically. "Y'know, the only reason you got to stay here was on that principle," he pointed out. "If I were to, say, slip and mention that it might not be so mutual..."

"Oh, shut up," I giggled. "Don't tease me."

"Don't tease unless you're willing to get teased back."

"Oh, yeah?" I sneered playfully.

"Oh? What're you going to do about it?"

"Don't tempt me!"

"Tempt you to what?" he asked, leaning close.

"Ooh! Too late!" I lunged forward, digging my fingers into his ribs. "Passed temptation! On to torture!"

"Hey!" He burst out laughing even as he began to retaliate. Soon we were both giggling like lunatics, crying like babies, and generally acting like five years olds. It wasn't long before we fell off the bed with a loud thump. That didn't stop the tickling, though. I can honestly say I was shrieking with laughter. Marco wasn't shrieking - he was doing that strange squeaky male equivalent.

"Marco!"

We both just stopped. Dead still, pressed together, my head under his chin, my back at an awkward angle. I guess we were caught looking kind of... compromising.

"Uh... hi, Dad." Marco grinned, leaning back just enough that I could take my head out from under his chin and get my spine lined up correctly. "Maria was having a nightmare again."

"Marco is very good at getting me cheered up," I said. Then I burst out giggling again. I couldn't help it. Getting tickled makes me hyper.

"Is he now?" Marco's dad asked coldly.

Marco and I shared a glance. That was not a happy Marco's dad standing in the doorway of the guestroom-that-had-been-converted-into-a-room-for-me.

"Go to bed, Marco," he said.

Marco gave me a slight smile. "G'night."

"'Night." He stood up. "Marco... thanks."

He glanced back at me and grinned. "For tickling the crap out of you?"

My mouth fell open. "Why you-!" He laughed, running from the room. "You get back here!" I shouted.

"Maria." Marco's dad's voice was Orak-Bajyr-blade sharp. My mouth clamped shut. "Other people in this house are trying to sleep - not to mention several people on this block."

I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

The smile he gave back was thinner and more sickly than a cornfield in January (forgive the farm metaphor). "Just go to bed, Maria."

I gave him a salute. "Gotcha." He shut the door as I started to get up.

I stopped moving as I heard Nora speak quietly on the other side of the door. "Everything all right?"

Marco's dad grunted. "It was nothing. Marco and Maria goofing off again."

There was a short pause. "Are you all right?"

"It's..." Another pause. "I can't be in the same room as her, Nora. It's like... like dejà vu. They're too alike." One of them sighed.

"It's okay," Nora said. "I've seen it too." I stood up slowly, frowning. Seen what? "No one can blame you. It's... it's almost frightening."

What?

What was?

I bit my lip.

What was wrong?

What was wrong with me?

CHAPTER 33

Marco

I woke up with cramps in my sides. "That's it," I groaned. I threw the covers off and got out of bed. I showered quick, threw on some clean clothes and sneakers. Then, marching down the hall, I knocked on the door of the former guest room. "Wakey, wakey, Mary Contrary!" I called.

"I've been up for two hours, Corko! Whadaya want?"

I smiled as I opened the door. "New rule," I said. "No tickle torture after three a.m."

"What, I gave you bruises, too?"

I frowned, for two reasons.

One - I'd bruised her?

Two - Where was she?

She peeked out of the closet, smiling. "Kidding," she said, winking. "I hit my elbow when I fell off the bed. It's nothing." Her head disappeared again.

I sat on the bed. "You know what day it is?" I asked.

"It's summer, Marco." I didn't have to see her to know she was grinning: I could hear it in her voice. "It's either Saturday, Saturday, Saturday... well, its either one of six Saturdays, or Sunday. Since Sunday was two days ago, it's Saturday." I laughed. "Why?"

"It's the big three-oh," I said.

"What you talkin' 'bout, boy?" she asked, her voice like that of one of those cronies on television. "It ain't Nora's birthday!"

I shook my head, not wanting to be overheard replying to that. "Thirty days," I said. "Thirty days of you, me, one roof, and no school."

She came out of the closet - literally, not in that tricky verbal sense - cinching the belt on her shorts. As usual, I had to be careful not to stare.

The simple truth is, Maria is beautiful.

I used to think Rachel was beautiful... and she is. But for the last month, she has been knocked down to second place.

Maria is truly... truly... beautiful.

"We're getting together with the guys, right?" she asked, going over to her dresser. She brushed her hair straight back, then tied it in a quick ponytail.

"We have an hour, more or less," I replied.

Her reflection smiled at me through the mirror. "Want to grab something to eat on the way?"

I grinned. "Sure."

She turned, spreading her hands. "Am I decent enough to be seen in thy presence?" she asked, smirking a little.

Funny. I'd just been about to do the same thing. "You're gorgeous," I replied. Her smirk faded. Suddenly, she looked... disturbed. For a moment I was afraid I'd been a little too sincere. "What?"

She grimaced a little, then shrugged. "I dunno," she replied, sighing. Then she smiled again, just a little. "I guess I'm not used to people not meaning that."

It was my turn to be a little upset. I had meant it. "You lost me."

We left the room and clattered down the stairs together. "Back home," she said, - "home" meaning her universe in general - "it was always, 'Oh, Maria, you're so beautiful.' 'Oh, beautiful Maria, you are such a goddess, won't you go out with me?'" She stuck her finger in her mouth, as if she was going to stick it down her throat. "Gag. The way some guys fawn on girls with big brown eyes is nauseating. Sometimes I wish I'd lived back in the century where to be beautiful you had to weigh around two hundred pounds. Of course, there wasn't much indoor plumbing back then, so I only think like that after seriously upsetting times."

"We're going over to Jake's!" I shouted.

"Both of you?" Nora asked, coming into the living room from the kitchen. Darn! We were four feet from the door. "You just got up!"

"What?" Maria asked, a little defensively. "Is there something wrong with us going to Jake's?"

Nora frowned a little, getting into that guilt-trip mode all adults know. "I was sort of hoping we could do a family sort of thing," she said, shrugging a little. "You know, just the four of us. Maybe go to the beach."

Maria smiled sympathetically, spreading her hands in defeat. "I'm sorry, Nora," she said, sounding totally sincere, even though I knew she wasn't. "We already promised the gang we'd all go. We started planning this a week ago." Her sympathetic smile quickly turned into a careless grin. "You know how much work it is for us in the summer to do anything for an entire week?"

Nora crossed her arms and sighed a little. "Okay," she agreed. "But... Marco, could I speak to Maria for a moment?"

"There's nothing you can say to me that Marco can't hear," Maria said, before I could open my mouth. Nora looked at me, trying to get around Maria. I glanced at Maria. Maria frowned a little. "I'd really rather Marco hear," she said.

Nora looked a little impatient for a moment, then got over it. "Maria, I'd really rather you tried getting by on your own sometimes," she said. "I understand that you two might want to spend time with one another, but I really don't think you two can be joined at the hip forever."

Maria rolled her eyes a little. "Nora, we've gone through this." She sighed. "At home, I have the same friends as Marco does, honest. And being with them makes me feel less... homesick."

"It's not like she's bugging us," I added, fending off the "tagalong" guilt trip Nora might've planned on using in my absence. My stepmother or no, Nora is still a teacher: she knows all the twists and turns of how to get under a kid's skin. Sometimes, when our interests weren't the same, she had a way of trying to blindside me. I'd quickly learned how to avoid most of her usual attacks. "She's just... one of us."

Maria grinned. "And it's not like they're pressuring me to stay," she added. "It feels good to be with the gang, even if they're a little different."

Nora frowned a little, but I think we'd covered all the lines of attack she'd mapped out. She smiled again; yup, we were safe. "All right," she said. "You two have fun. Call if you're going to be late, understand?"

Maria and I nodded. "Absolutely," we said at the same time.

Nora glanced at me, then Maria, and shook her head, but she was smiling. "I hate when you two do that."

Maria and I traded a glance. "We know," we said, grinning at the same time.

Nora rolled her eyes and laughed. "Get out of here, you two."

Once outside, Maria breathed a sigh of relief. "Normally, I'm all for an all-girls shopping spree," she said. "That's what Nora had on her mind, I'm sure of it. But..." She sighed, shrugging a little. "I'm sorry, but she doesn't seem to get it. Being with her is like being with my stepfather. It's hard to enjoy girl's days out when I keep thinking of her as Noel." She blew her bangs off her forehead. "She respects that you and your dad need time together. Unfortunately, she keeps looking to make up for it by having quality time with me."

I shrugged. "Nora means well," I agreed, "but she can be pushy."

"Guess it comes from years of putting up with delinquents like us," she said, smiling. Then her smile faded.

"What?" I asked.

She grimaced a little. "Marco..." She looked at me. She looked worried. "Is there something wrong with me?"

"Wrong with you?" I asked, unable to believe she was asking that. She was smart, funny, and beautiful. What was wrong with that?

She shook her head a little. "Marco... last night, after you left... I heard your dad and Nora in the hall. Your dad said that he can't stand to be in the same room with me."

I almost sighed in relief. "There is nothing wrong with you," I assured her. "There is less than nothing wrong with you. You just look a lot like Mom, that's all."

"No wonder I trust you so much," she said, a little of her smile returning. "Who would ever put a move on a girl who looks like his mother?"

I shook my head. "Do you really hate it when people compliment you?"

She held up her hands in a halting position. "Uh-uh," she said. "That is not what I said. I said that I hate when people decide that a pretty face is enough to ask on a date - especially when it's my pretty face they want, and not my pretty disposition."

"Great," I sighed. She glanced at me skeptically, waiting for the punchline. "I can't get a date for my life, but my counterpart can have her pick of any guy she wants."

"Oh, you know I just want to be with you," she said, resting her head on my shoulder. "Besides, it's seen as a plus when a girl is kind of short." She laughed as she straightened her neck. Almost immediately, though, she frowned. "My major setback was an addition problem. Too many people got it in their heads that my face plus my skin plus my mouth automatically made me some sort of whore. It was like any pretty minority girl who had an attitude had to be easy."

I scowled, but didn't say anything.

"That's why I kind of like it here." I wiped the scowl off my face when she looked at me. "Most of my friends were girls back home. Here, they're guys, and they're actually pretty decent." She snorted. "And Nora is worried that I'm spending too much time with guys."

I waved a little as Gregory, a guy I vaguely knew from my social studies class, walked by in the opposite direction. He stopped. "Hey, Marco, have you seen Meg?"

"Meg?" Maria echoed.

Greg glanced at her, then looked down. See, with Maria, it isn't hard to look at her. It's just hard to look at her, and talk, at the same time, without practice. "Yeah, my mom's going nuts," he said, looking at me again. "I figure she's just at the mall or something."

"Why?" Maria asked.

Greg smiled a little. "That's where I want to be right now. See ya."

I laughed as we kept walking. "It's kind of funny how easy it is to just stop and talk to somebody about a duplicate from another universe, but not our... other... priority."

She nodded in agreement. "It's my turn to buy."

I looked at her. "Huh?"

She smiled. "Lunch. Breakfast. Whatever's being served now. It's my turn to buy, so it's Burger King."

Maria didn't exactly come into our universe loaded with cash: the first time we ate out I bought for both of us. Ever since we've been taking turns. It's sort of a contest - who can buy lunch last. It's kind of a good thing/bad thing, though: whoever has to spend the money gets to pick the place. Sure, we like the exact same stuff, but we have a slight disagreement in what's our favorite. I like McDonald's. Maria likes Burger King.

"You just like Burger King because it's cheaper," I joked. I opened the door, then, bowing, held it for her. She curtseyed before walking in ahead of me. At the second door, she got to bow, and I got to curtsey.

"That's one reason," she replied, just as she always did, "the other being that there's no such thing as McDonald's where I'm from."

I shook my head. "No Star Wars... no McDonald's... no squirrels. You are truly of a deprived universe."

"We have wolfbanes," she retorted, as if that made it all worthwhile.

"Probably the source of all werewolf sightings," I said.

"And most Bigfoot ones, too," she agreed. "Find somewhere to sit. The usual will arrive shortly."

We separated as she got on line, and I claimed a booth. I rested my chin on my fist, just looking at her back as she went through the line.

I was with the most beautiful girl I knew, one who was smart and funny, one who actually liked me, one who didn't tower over me, one who took turns buying lunch.

I felt like the poorest man alive.

Because, no matter what, I knew she was me.

CHAPTER 34

Maria

I received the double order of number fours and brought it to the booth Marco had claimed for us. I slid in beside him, putting the tray in the middle of the table.

"What?" Marco said, sounding surprised. "You give me the honor of being squashed between you and a wall over the blessing of sitting across from me?"

I rested my head on his shoulder, smiling vacantly. "You know I can't stand to be away from you," I told him playfully. He responded by digging his fingers into my ribs. I burst out giggling. "Hey!" I squeaked, trying not to yell. "Didn't we learn anything last night?"

That gained us some not-so-pleasant looks from some other tables - but I was too busy giggling to care.

Morphing is my greatest power, along with my sarcasm and the ability to turn 80% of the human male population's knees into jelly.

Ticklishness is my greatest weakness, along with white chocolate, an allergy to certain mushrooms, and the need to make jokes in the face of adversity, death, or the threat of severe maiming.

Marco grinned, picking up a french fry. "We learned that Dad doesn't want me in your room at three a.m.," he said, aiming the french fry for my mouth. I opened my mouth obligingly, reaching for another fry, which I chucked at him when he tried shoving the fry he was holding up my nose.

"Hey!" he said, chiding me. "None of that! That's how we got kicked out of Taco Bell, remember?"

"You'd think a restaurant with a talking Chihuahua as its spokesperson would have a better sense of humor," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

*

The rest of "brunch" was relatively uneventful, and Marco and I managed to leave Burger King without getting kicked out.

"You bring out the disruptiveness in me," I told him straight-faced as we headed toward the nearest bus stop. "I was so less... delinquent-like before I met you."

"It comes from too much Marconess," he said, nodding seriously. "With only one Marco per timeline, each Marco is limited to innocent jokes and common silliness. Double the amount of Marco, and the Marco falls into a pit of dirty jokes, severe immaturity, and general chaos."

"And tickling," I added, letting the reference of me as a "Marco" slide. Besides, "Marianess" didn't sound as funny as "Marconess".

"Oh, yes," he agreed solemnly. "And plenty of tickling."

We walked passed the bus stop, turning down an alley. "It's a wonder what gets where when universes collide," I commented, pulling off my tee shirt to reveal the black leotard beneath. I shimmied out of my shorts, then took off my sandals. Thusly transformed from "Maria, everyday girl trapped in a parallel universe" to "crazy adolescent posing as an Andalite bandit", I pressed my fingers to the lowermost brick covered with a graffiti of green and yellow scribbles. The entire graffiti pushed inward, to reveal a little, foot-cube space. I shoved my clothes in, and Marco did the same. I ran my hand up the left side of the hole, and its cover slid shut.

"Andalites have technology for everything," Marco said, shaking his head in mock amazement.

"Just a common storage space made out of brick," I said, shrugging. I leaned against the dumpster, hiding myself from view outside the alley. "Now, if we can just figure out how to keep our shoes..."

"Don't remind me," he said, rolling his eyes as he leaned against the dumpster next to me. He had on a tight gray tee shirt and black bike shorts. Even morphing, we make a cool-looking pair. "Let's get going. We're going to be late."

I nodded. Then, closing my eyes, I concentrated.

My arms stretched, my fingers melting away. My nose and lower lip hardened, then started moving closer together, even as my upper lip and all my teeth disappeared. Feathers began sprouting, whole, out of my skin - mostly brown with white in my hair and from my butt. My knees reversed direction as my legs shrank and my toes melted together, gaining claws. My ears and hair retracted into my head. The last change came in my legs, as scales appeared, and the skin grew crisp and yellow.

I opened my eyes again, glaring around the much larger-looking alley with telescope-like eyes. I looked down at the gray bird beside me. Ready, shrimp?

Ready as you are, baldy, the osprey replied in Marco's thought-speak voice. Bad enough Dad's mad at us. Let's get going before Jake grounds us.

CHAPTER 35

Marco

The others waited for Maria and I to demorph before they started talking. "I will never get used to that," Cassie said.

Maria looked at her. "To what?" she asked innocently.

"The synchronized morphing. Bad enough you guys can't control what comes when. Worse when you don't control it, but it still happens in the exact same way."

Maria and I shared a glance, before both looking at Cassie. "What's so wrong with that?" we asked at the same time.

Jake smiled, just slightly. "Actually, Cassie, I'd say that that's more disturbing - the way they even think alike. Bad enough Marco can't control the insanities that come out of his mouth. Worse when Maria joins in."

I glanced at Rachel, to see if she had any comments to add.

She looked at me coldly. "Can we get on with this?" she demanded.

When this first started - when the Jacqueline Rip closed - we thought the biggest adjustment would be getting used to having Maria instead of Ax and Tobias. We were wrong.

It was getting used to having the Rachel we'd had for a month, instead of the Rachel we'd known before.

A month ago, Rachel was our "let's do it!" girl. She was ready and raring to get herself killed to save the world, and take all of us along for the fun.

Now, though, here was a new Rachel. Rachel, the wall. Rachel, the pistol on a hair-trigger. In general life, you couldn't move her, couldn't do much of anything to her, really. You could rip every hair out of her head all at once, and even her scowl wouldn't flinch. In the dozen battles we'd been in, though... Rachel had been burying herself in her morphs. One wrong word, one wrong move, and she would snap. In every single battle, she almost attacked the wrong side, at least once. Every single time, she'd let her morph take over, and nearly mauled one of us instead of the enemy.

Usually, the one she would almost turn on was Maria.

That did not sit well with me.

Needless to say, this new Rachel and I didn't get along too well.

"So," I said, rubbing my hands together, "how do we get killed this time? Take care of weapon disposal, travel time and space, go on a general raid, or just plan an annoyance run?"

Maria pretended to yawn. "Or," she added, sounding bored out of her mind, "are we actually going to risk our necks doing something original for once?"

Jake shook his head. "Hate to disappoint you two," he said, "but this falls under 'general raid'. Our favorite enemies are building a new installation awfully close to a certain valley. Toby wants our help to get rid of the installation, and see if we can catch a few more residents while we're at it."

Since Rachel lost all traces of a sense of humor, and since Tobias's sense of humor is, of course, totally missing - along with Tobias -, Jake has been trying to make up for it. It is extremely obvious that he is trying, and equally obvious that he's failing miserably. Everyone is nice enough not to groan, but not so desperate to please him to actually laugh. Besides, since losing two of our friends, two of the only people we can trust, and getting only one in return, it's been kind of hard for the others to find a reason to laugh.

I'm lucky.

I have Maria to give me a reason.

"Hork-Bajir morphs?" Rachel asked coldly.

"Problem." Maria frowned. "All I have is an Orak-Bajyr morph. No Hork-Bajirs. They're kind of rarer at home - not as rare as Orak-Bajyr are here, but we don't exactly have a run on them, either. Orak-Bajyr are the shock troops. Hork-Bajir are too noticeable to use where I'm from."

"Not a problem," Cassie said. "I'm sure one of the Hork-Bajir in the valley will let you acquire them."

Maria frowned. "I don't know," she said. "Are Hork-Bajir as stubborn as Orak-Bajyr?"

Jake shrugged. "We don't know. Are Orak-Bajyr as simple as Hork-Bajir?"

"No way." Maria shook her head to stress her words. "Orak-Bajyr were the second type of tree-tenders the Arn made. Their programming is exact. No such thing as a Seer in that bunch. They're as simple as a calculator is simple - and I don't mean a graphing calculator. You think a Hork-Bajir is simple? No. Orak-Bajyr are simple."

"So who's the counterpart of Toby?" Cassie asked.

"Tari." She held up her hands. "Let me explain. There's no such thing as a Seer with Orak-Bajyr - but you mix a Hork-Bajir and an Orak-Bajyr... that's like mixing a pocket calculator and a graphing calculator and getting a state-of-the-art PC. Sometimes I'd go so far as to say that's like combining a pencil and a pen and getting a Macintosh. Tari Ari is what we fondly refer to as a 'Hork-Bajyr'. She scares the heck out of me sometimes."

Note of disinterest: though "Bajir" and "Bajyr" may not look very different, "Bajyr" is pronounced with a long "a" sound, like in the word "bay", while the "j" is barely pronounced. It sounds close to the name of that headache medicine, "Bayer", but with a teeny tiny "j" put between the "y" and the "e".

Bayjer. Like that.

"Anywho," Jake cut in, getting us back on track. He's started saying "anywho" a lot. It's part of his new "leader-attempting-to-lighten-a-stressful-situation" role. As I've said, it just doesn't suit him. "We go to the valley, get what reinforcements and information Toby wants to give us, get Maria a morph, and do this."

"Sounds like as good a way to die as any," Maria said, nodding agreeably.

"What does?"

We jumped at the still unfamiliar voice.

"Hi, Mrs. ____," Maria grinned. "We were just discussing the best ways to die. My vote is for skydiving without a parachute."

Chris's mother smiled weakly. Maria had explained that Chris's mother has a sort of obsession with keeping the barn neat. It's noticeable - since she became trapped in our universe with Maria and Rich's brother, Sam (and Meg, and Jake's family's car, and half the boxes of cereal in our house, and seven billion other things I could name), the cages have been reorganized to make more room, the stray hay was swept outside... probably other things, too, but not that I noticed without looking for them. Still, it made it feel like a whole different barn.

So, along with getting used to the fact that we're a body short, we've tried to get a little more secure with our normal meeting place, but sometimes we forget.

Maria also had explained that, to cover for various slips of their own, the others had convinced Chris's mother that Maria had a very strange and occasionally twisted sense of humor.

So we were probably safe.

Chris's mother shook her head, but didn't try to reply to that. "How is that wolfbane cub doing?" she asked us.

"He looks good," Cassie replied. She crouched down next to the cage that held the big, wolf-sized baby werewolf. "I think his paw is setting pretty well."

"You guys aren't going to hang out in the barn all day, are you?" Chris's mom asked. "Because, if you are-"

"Nope," I replied quickly, recognizing the possible request for physical labor, "we were just leaving."

"It's summer!" Maria grinned. "Why would we stay here all day?"

"Could you tell my dad that we'll be back later?" Cassie asked.

"No problem, Cass," Chris's mom nodded. She was pretty cool - very laid back and cool about things, even if she was a little too much of a neatnik for my tastes. Unlike Nora with Maria, she never tried to boss Cassie around. Of course, unlike Nora, Chris's mom shares a roof with Cassie's mom and dad. I guess she doesn't feel the need to act as a surrogate mother, since Cassie's mom is here and all.

Still, she's never questioned why any of us would be in the barn in skin-tight almost-nothings, so I won't complain if she's a little finicky about how much hay is on the floor.

The five of us wandered outside, as if we weren't in a hurry to save the world or anything. It was summer. Adults can get suspicious of kids hurrying to do anything in the summer - unless it's to catch afternoon cartoons or something.

"We're going to miss afternoon cartoons," I whined.

"It's okay," Maria assured me, patting my shoulder sympathetically. "They're just repeats, anyway."

I sighed. "And this isn't?"

CHAPTER 36

Maria

We walked out into the woods. I flinched whenever I stepped on, or in, something other than grass. That "something" label included twigs, thorns, mud, and things which I prayed were mud.

We have to figure out how to morph shoes.

Marco was doing a lot of flinching, too.

I think we made for a pretty strange group. I mean, my group of Animorphs had been a bit strange to begin with, but I meant this one.

We had Jake, a leader who was trying to fill too many roles. He was trying to pick up the slack Tobias had left, and it just wasn't working for him.

We had Cassie, the animal-and-Jake loving, tree-and-Jake hugging naturalist who was stuck with three veterinarian parents.

Actually, sorry. Cut out the "tree-and-Jake" jibe. She and Jake are so unlike Jack and Chris. Jack and Chris, at least, are a definite couple. Cassie and Jake look like they'll be forever trapped in that awkward stage of "I know, you know, everybody knows, but I don't say anything, you don't say anything, only Maria (or Marco) says anything." That part of any relationship is as awkward as saying the label I have given it. It's stupid. But, I guess, it's inevitable.

One reason I'm glad I have managed to avoid a serious relationship.

We had Rachel, the Stone-Cold Don't-Make-Me-Snap girl. Nothing I do seemed right to her, and nothing I don't do seemed unimportant enough not to point out. It feels like everything I do is under her scrutiny. I'm sorry that it's my fault her boyfriend is trapped where I should be, if he's lucky. I did what seemed right at the time. Taking Tobias's place had totally not been my plan.

I have yet to tell Rachel that.

I like my head where it is. I may not use it much, but it'd be pretty useless to me if it wasn't attached, you know?

Finally, we have Marco and me. It's hard to say "We have Marco... We have me..."... it's just, "Marco and me". It's so natural to think of us that way. We're the skeptics, the jokers, the comedy relief. We're the ones who go directly from point 'a' to 'b', laughing the whole way.

Just the five of us - an overburdoned teenaged old man, a sensitive girl with three parents, an angry girl on the verge of insanity, and the same person in duplicate.

This universe is doomed.

It wasn't long before we were in the air, an even stranger squadron of birds than we made as a human guerilla army. I mean, a peregrine's falcon (sort of like a Killjoy's falcon, but a bit bigger, with more pointed wings, a shorter tail, and no purple-ish-brown feathers to speak of), a couple of ospreys, and a pair of bald eagles? It was kind of funny that Jake was the only one who didn't have a match. Kind of symbolic, too - he was the leader. He was apart.

It was also kind of funny that Marco and Cassie, and Rachel and I, made up the matched pairs, since we had nothing in common. I mean, if Rachel ever fully snaps, the first thing she's going to go for is my throat - and Cassie and Marco? Please.

It took awhile to get to the valley of the Ora- er, Hork-Bajir. Sorry. Where I'm from, a valley a bit more northwest of the one we finally landed in has a total of two Hork-Bajir and about eighty Orak-Bajyr. Hork-Bajir are a rare commodity where I'm from, just as bald eagles are here.

I was still trying to get over the fact that bald eagles were an endangered species. Where I'm from, according to Toniya, they're just pests, bullies, and murderers - depending on her latest run-in with one or three.

We were greeted with quite a crowd of creatures I'm used to seeing singularly, if at all. I felt trapped. Had the others lied? Were they really allies? In spite of the month I had spent in this universe, I'm still able to think like that. Could I really trust these duplicates of my allies at home? Could I trust Jake, Cassie, Rachel? Could I trust Marco?

I couldn't even be sure if I could trust myself.

The others began to demorph, and so did I. There was no reason to look like I suspected them. There was no reason to act as if I weren't what I acted like - one of them.

But I knew I would never be one of them.

I would always be "Marco's duplicate". "Marco's counterpart". "Marco-girl".

At best, I'd always be another Marco.

One of the creatures that was still the height of an Orak-Bajyr stepped forward. "It is good that you could come," it said.

If it talked like that, then it had to be Toby Hamee, what the Hork-Bajir supposedly called a "Seer".

Where I'm from, the Orak-Bajyr and two Hork-Bajir have a different name for Tari Ari, Seia Fel, and Fel Teval - "Both".

That's what they call them - "Both". You ask a Hork-Bajir what Tari Ari is, they will, without fail, reply, "Tari Ari is Both."

I didn't really pay attention as the young Hork-Bajir explained what was necessary. Morphing, caution, avoiding violence, general destruction with minimal casualties... how was it any different from normal? How was this any different from any of the other missions? Okay - I caught two differences. One of those differences was that we were to try to take hostages. Another was that we would have back-up - back-up in the form of four Hork-Bajir. I listened to the details, but I didn't commit them to long-term memory. I mapped out the base as best I could on Toby Hamee's sketchy details, leaving blurry blanks in spaces she didn't know about, a sort-of Etch-a-Sketch blueprint in my head.

"Okay," I said once she was finished briefing us. I rubbed my hands together. "What lucky Hork-Bajir would like to volunteer to shake hands with his-or-herself? Hmm? Come on! Who could miss such a unique opportunity?" The Hork-Bajir looked at each other, as if they didn't understand. I'm pretty sure they did, but I think they were confused by how I had said it. I sighed. "What I mean to say is, I need a Hork-Bajir morph," I said flatly.

"No you don't."

I looked at Toby Hamee. "Why not? It's been a month. I've seen maybe a dozen Orak-Bajyr."

Toby nodded. "I know. But that has changed." She frowned slightly. "There are a different kind of Hork-Bajir at this new base. They are shorter. Their blades are longer. They have at least four horns here." She motioned toward her own head.

I nodded. "That's Orak-Bajyrs, all right." Then I frowned. "But why haven't we seen many until now? How come it's always been Hork-Bajir?"

Toby shook her head. "We don't know. We hope to find that out, by freeing some of them."

I shook my own head. "Forget it. Toby, no offense meant to anybody, but your fellow Hork-Bajir are geniuses compared to Orak-Bajyrs. The Orak-Bajyrs have the sentience of wolfba- of... of gorillas. Incapable of speech. Incapable of much harder math besides one plus one equals baby and blade plus flesh equals blood. Your only hope of getting anything out of an Orak-Bajyr is if you have a Both."

"A Both?" Marco echoed, frowning.

"A Both," I replied. "A mix of Hork-Bajir and Orak-Bajyr. Your counterpart is a Both," I told Toby. "Tari Ari is a Both." I sighed. "There's no such thing as Seers, in my universe. Your people don't have a word for it. The equivalent is the rare occurrence when Hork-Bajir and Orak-Bajyr cross-breed. If you ask an Orak-Bajyr what one of those half-breeds are, they just duck their head and toss it to the left. If you ask a Hork-Bajir, they'll say, 'they are both'. So we call them Boths. There's three in my universe - Tari Ari, whom I assume is your counterpart, and a couple of twins - Seia Fel, and Fel Teval."

Toby's frown increased. "It disturbs me," she said quietly, addressing us Animorphs as a whole. "You have told me of the anomaly which has taken Tobias and Aximili from us, and has brought Maria here."

"We thought it be kind of a favor to explain why there were two of me," Marco grinned. Inwardly, I cringed.

Toby nodded a little. "That I understand. But what I do not understand is that we saw nothing of that nature here."

"No offense," I began, "but..."

"We would notice a change in the trees," Toby said, a little coldly. "We would notice if the lake changed, or the caves, or each other. I would notice. But nothing did. The trees have remained unchanged, as have our numbers. We were immune."

"Maybe whatever the Ellimist did to make this valley protected you," Cassie suggested.

"The who?" I asked.

"You have never heard of the Ellimist?" Rachel sneered. She sounded as if she was asking me why I'd gotten five when I added two plus two. That girl really, really hates me.

"The Ellimist is the one who made this valley," Jake said. "He's - they're - whatever - the one - or ones - who gave Tobias back his power to morph, sent us off to the planet of the Iskoort, and generally made our lives even more interesting than they already are."

"Oh. I know who you're talking about - just not by that name."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Are we going to do this?"

Once upon a time, Rich's part in the group - way back when he was part of the group - was to be the one who was raring to go, to mark the beginning of a mission with his trademark cry of, "Let's do it!" My part was to be the one to point out the insanity of his enthusiasm.

I hadn't see any of that "Let's do it!" spirit in Rachel. Instead of "Let's do it!", she was always saying, "Are we going to do this?", as if we were chicken. As if we couldn't do it. As if she was the only one who could possibly stand against the odds. Sometimes, I was really tempted to hate that girl.

But then, I always thought of Tobias and Toniya, and dropped the thought from my mind.

It was my fault.

Without question, whatever had happened to them was completely my fault.

I had lost Toniya.

I had tried to fix my mistake, and I only made it worse. I tried to rescue Toniya, but instead put Tobias in the same position. Instead of losing one friend, I had lost two.

Or I had lost one twice.

It depended on how you looked at it.

No matter which perspective you preferred, the fact remained: it was my fault.

Mine.

"Maria." I looked at Marco. He looked a little worried. "Coming?"

I nodded. "Let's do it," I replied, grinning as best I could. I kept grinning even as Marco groaned and Rachel gave me a cold, cold glare.

Interlude

On a deserted island about a mile out to sea, rough trees and stubborn grass were all that grew. Everyday, new trash washed onto the shore, bringing seagulls to fight with the rats that had long ago claimed the island, and its trash, for themselves. It was ironic, in a way, how these creatures depended so much on the trash, and the half-rotted food and bugs it brought, that so many people fought to keep out of the water. If naturalists had their way, the entire rat population on the island would die, except what few might be able to survive the mile to shore.

The irony was lost to every inhabitant but one, a rat other rats knew to fear. The irony that he was feared here, when he'd been such a source of ridicule in another time, in so many places, was another constant pain.

Funny how life hated him so much. He'd just started to get over the grudge he had on those losers, getting him stuck like this. Now, he didn't have to go to school. He could eat as much as he wanted, go to bed when he wanted. There was nothing good on TV anyway: it was all trash. Trash, more so than what he lived on now. From one trash to another, that was all it was.

Then he had to go and "run into" them again, and what do they do?

They wreck the mood by locking him in a cage.

Him! Wasn't it enough that they put him in this cage? They had to put him into a literal cage, too! The jerks!

He'd show them. He would. He knew, someday, they'd regret everything they'd done to him.

He also knew he was just deluding himself, but who cared? It got him up in the morning. That was what mattered.

He was alive. He planned to stay that way. Screw you, life, I'm going to live.

He snarled at the rat he'd named Marco, because it thought it was so smart. All of them had rat counterparts, some more than one. Jake was the big rat he'd ripped half the tail off of that one time. Rachel was that mean female rat who got so sweet when she wanted to get laid. Cassie was the name he used interchangeably for those four that hung out together, cowering from everybody, only foraging when they were all together, too scared and weak to do anything alone. Tobias was a name for two different rats that were always trying to eat each other, and all the other rats, for that matter. And, of course, Marco, the idiot rat whose dumb luck was all that kept it alive, considering everything else about it was just as dumb as its luck.

And him. David. They made for such a lovely family.

He bit into the soggy, salty hamburger bun. Probably Burger King, he guessed. Either that, or Wendy's. Junk food often washed up, though usually it was a bag of chips, or a greasy wrapper, or something else that'd blown off some rich ass's boat. Sometimes, though, something good would wash up, and he made sure it was always his.

Sure, there were problems here. Water hawks, like ospreys, liked to come here and feast on stupid rats. There had once been six Cassies - now there were four. Three other rats had been named Marco, and he was sure he'd have to find a fifth soon. There were others, with other names, but they were all gone now. Because they were stupid. Stupid, just like the idiots he'd named them after.

Marco squealed, and ran, as a shadow passed overhead. Seagull. He'd learned quickly how to tell the seagull shadows from the hawks. That was what helped him be so tough here. He was smart enough to know that not all overhead shadows were dangerous. He knew when he had to run for cover and when he was safe. Morons. They ran at anything.

Another shadow. This one wasn't a seagull. He bolted for cover.

But not fast enough.

The last thing he remembered was seeing Marco go for the remains of the hamburger bun.

What a creep.

Just like Marco.

CHAPTER 37

Marco

In too short a time, four Hork-Bajir and five birds of prey met up just outside what looked like a silo someone had stepped on - it was circular in shape, with the same sort of roof, but only one story tall. In an even shorter amount of time, nine Hork-Bajir and one creature, one I assumed was an Orak-Bajyr, were watching for an opening to get in.

While we waited, I tried to get a good picture of what an Orak-Bajyr looked like by looking at Maria. For one thing, it was shorter than a Hork-Bajir, by almost a foot. The blade at the end of its tail was smaller, too, as were the two horns that grew from its head. Three more horns, like those from its head, grew down the long, serpentine neck. The hands were almost human-like, with five fingers, but with sharp claws instead of the last joint. The feet had four toes lined up normally, and one on the back of the heel. A double row of spines grew from its back. The blades from its elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles were longer, but thinner.

You look like a walking buzzsaw, I told Maria.

So says the walking Salad Shooter from Hell, she retorted, peering through the leaves. Damn! Please, would one of you assure me that you have better eyesight than I do?

I blinked, but had to shake my head. I could say it, but that wouldn't make it true.

A simple 'no' would have been good.

Knock it off, Rachel snapped at us.

Xena's getting restless, Marco teased her.

Do you have any idea how glad I am we don't have that show? I muttered. I'd seen an episode. It made no sense. A lady in leather armor who screamed and beat up bad people by doing totally unnecessary gymnastics and tossing a metal frisbee. Whoop dee do.

No McDonald's... no Star Wars... no squirrels... no Xena...

I know, Marco, I know. I am of a deprived universe.

Either that, or a Catholic school.

I made my Orak-Bajyr mouth smile. It wasn't easy. Even Catholic schools have squirrels.

They do?

Can it, you two, Jake said, in a much kinder tone than Rachel. I think we have a window. Pei Nelin, Cassie, Bec Worul, Rachel, you guys with me. Marco, Maria, Gel Falla, Resi Gavir, you follow as soon as there's another window. We meet at that generator Toby told us about.

We get it! Maria snapped at him. Go through the window before it closes already!

Jake looked at her for a moment, blinking in surprise, then ran into the open, followed by four other Hork-Bajir.

Sometimes, Maria said, he talks too much.

Leaders are supposed to do all the talking, I replied. While people like us are supposed to interrupt them, and remind them that they have other things to do.

No wonder I love my job, she said wryly.

We waited, relatively quiet, for about ten minutes, then ran in when it looked like the coast was clear. This is totally freaky, Maria muttered as we slowed into a brisk march. The four of us held Dracon beams, lent to us by the Hork-Bajir, in our hands, like the other border patrols. So long as we kept formation, we should be okay.

Why? I asked. I looked around as best as I could without turning my head. There's not that many Orak-Bajyrs around.

That's why, she replied, sounding concerned. I'm used to it being the other way around. This many Hork-Bajir makes me extremely uncomfortable. I don't think there were this many Hork-Bajir on the mothership. When Visser Three killed Arbron, he had seven or eight watch the perimeter - that was the most Hork-Bajir I've seen in one place, except on the mothership. He must've been showing off for Arbron's sake.

I referred to the Etch-a-Sketch-like map I'd doodled in my brain, formed from the sketchy details Toby Hamee had been able to give us. We have to go right, here, I told the others.

Right here, or right, here? Maria teased me.

Both, I replied. The four of us turned around the corner of a building. We were in. Now, if we go down this way, we should come to-

Marco.

What?

Don't get ahead of our friends, she replied. And I know. You don't have to tell me, or confuse them.

Oh. I was quiet.

Duh. She had an Etch-a-Sketchy map, too.

She was me.

We kept going, down the path we were on, then turned left at a still-in-construction shack, one with only three walls and no roof. A pair of Taxxons were wrestling to get the fourth to stand upright, while an Orak-Bajyr frowned, watching. At first I thought it was a Hork-Bajir, because it was as tall as one, but then I saw that it had four horns, not three.

Maria glanced at them, then jerked her head forward. Marco!

What?

That Orak-Bajyr. I know him!

You do?

That's Fel Teval, one of the Both! She raised her tail, then shifted it left.

The Orak-Bajyr glanced up, tilting his head to the side. Then his eyes widened. "Work, here, do," he growled out. He joined our marching band. "You one?" he growled under his breath. "You here. No go when stop, now?"

I thought you said these things were brilliant! I snapped.

Just because they're smart doesn't mean they can talk very well, Maria retorted.

Fel Teval looked at me oddly. His eyes were eerie - direct and unblinking. "No yell," he murmured softly. "I come. Yeerk no know of Both."

The Both don't let us morph them, Maria grumbled. They don't think we could control them. But I wish I could - they can see passed the length of their snouts.

We now walked in a group of five, with Fel Teval in between the rest of us. We soon met up with the others at the generator we'd come to blow up.

Yep. Nice and simple this time.

A little pyrotechnics, then grab as many stragglers as we could, and run.

It never goes as easy as it should, and considering how easy this one seemed, it was sure to go wrong.

At least, that was my experience.

Who's number five? Jake asked as we joined his group behind the generator.

A friend, Maria replied. Fel Teval is a Both. I don't know if he's telling the truth about not being a Controller, but I think it'll be safe to let him tag along so long as he stays quiet. And it's probably a good idea to snag him anyway - the Hork-Bajir seem to be lacking in the geniuses.

Agreed, Jake said, nodding slightly.

"Ah. Boom. Good." Fel Teval smiled, if vaguely, and knelt down next to a panel. He pulled it open, and began fiddling with the wires inside.

Geniuses? Rachel echoed snidely.

Hey, speech impediments may make people sound stupid, but it doesn't make them stupid, Maria snapped. Orak-Bajyr can't talk, period. Hork-Bajir barely can. You expect a mix of the two to sound like a grad of Harvard?

Knock it off, you two, Cassie said, stepping slightly forward. If either moved toward the other, they'd now have to go through Cassie. Then she turned around. Fel, what are you doing?

"Come, boom, yes?" he replied shortly. "Boom, yes, soon."

We're taking hostages, Maria told him.

"Take? Good. Know, take, yes. Seia Fel, no, Tari Ari, yes."

Here?

"Yes, Tari Ari here. Find?"

I'll find her, Maria volunteered immediately. I know what she looks like. Is she a Controller?

"No know." It would have sounded like a denial, except for his disturbed tone of voice, and the odd half-shrug. "Find. Take. Help Tari Ari."

The Boths are extremely close, Maria told us privately. We called them collectively, 'The Triumvirate.' Tari Ari, the brainstormer, Seia Fel, the planner, and Fel Teval, the do-er.

I'll go as back-up, I offered.

Jake nodded. Cassie, you go too. We'll make sure Fel finishes up here.

What are you doing, anyway, Fel? I asked.

"Boom," he replied easily. Then he turned around. "Go, find," Fel urged us, looking at us with those staring, eerie eyes. But now, his once direct gaze was softened by obvious worry. When worry is obvious in such a vicious face, you know there's an awful lot of it. "Find Tari Ari."

We'll try, Maria promised. Come on, you guys. We turned to go.

"Ten," Fel called, then turned back to his work.

Ten minutes to find Tari Ari, Maria muttered. Great.

How do you know he meant ten minutes? I asked.

If it's ten seconds... well, it couldn't have been, or else it's already up. If it's ten hours, we're going to have a little problem, aren't we? She frowned. It's going to be hard to search this entire place in ten minutes without calling some attention to ourselves.

Remorph, Cassie suggested. If we use raptor morphs, we can search the entire compound fast.

But we can't exactly do anything if we do, I pointed out.

Cover me, Maria told us. I know what Tari Ari looks like - you don't. I can tell her from other Hork-Bajyr. I'll scout around, see if I see her, then direct you two to get to her and drag her out. She crouched down, ducking into a half-finished shed. Cassie and I stood shoulder to shoulder, facing outward. Say she's suspected of being a spy or something, Maria suggested. I heard an ugly squirsh sound behind me.

Three minutes passed. Nobody seemed to think it was strange that two Hork-Bajir were guarding an unfinished shed. Done yet? I asked.

Just about. Stay there a couple seconds more... I'm out! There was a fluttering sound, and a small osprey flew upward.

Hey! Since when did you have an osprey morph?

Maria giggled. Since I decided that osprey was too small for my tastes. She caught a thermal, zooming out of sight of my lame Hork-Bajir eyes. Looking... looking... I feel like one of those search programs that have to tell you they're checking for things. Any idea how much time we've got left?

Do either of us look like an Andalite to you? How would we know how much time's left?

We've been in Hork-Bajir morph for awhile now, Cassie pointed out.

Great. Maria, any luck?

No pressure, right, Marco? I see about a hundred Hork-Bajir here, maybe twenty-five Orak-Bajyr. About one-to-four ratio here. Where'd they all come from?

I don't know. Maybe Visser Three needed to test loyalties for the new hosts.

Or maybe he needed to test the hosts out, and see how good they were. This she said in a growl. I kept silent, deciding it best not to answer that. The nice thing about Tari Ari is that she's short like a Orak-Bajyr, so it narrows it down to one fifth of the things I'm looking at. Okay... there's Fel Teval and the others. They're doing what you guys did - standing shoulder to shoulder blocking traffic and curious eyes. With that many 'guards', others are steering clear of them. I'm not seeing Tari... I'm getting nervous here. Where can she be hiding? Do they know about her?

Just keep looking, Cassie told her. We're not out of time yet.

I feel so... so wrong. This was Toniya's job. This was Tobias's job, too, wasn't it? Airborne surveillance? Because of me, we don't know what happened to either of them.

Maria? I was getting a pit in my stomach. She really did sound nervous up there - extremely nervous. Get a grip. This isn't the time to feel guilty. Just find the Both so we can get out of here.

I'm looking, I'm looking. There was a pause. I hate this. I'm seeing familiar faces. It's like... I don't know, Shindler's list. Who to live and who to die. That's Vehu. And Ral. And Iuhl. But no Tari. Damn it, Tari, where are you? There was another pause. Oh, great. I think Fel finished whatever he was doing, because the others are splitting into two groups and heading in opposite directions. I think we're almost out of time. I'm telling you, I am really star- oh, shit!

What? Cassie demanded.

Found Tari. About three hundred yards northeast of you guys. She just peeked out of a shed, and a whole bunch of Hork-Bajir grabbed her. Listen - I'm going to remorph. They're headed your way. At least one of you stick with them, I'm going to battle morph. There ain't no way I'm leaving Tari here!

She said 'at least one', I told Cassie privately. Got straws to draw?

Cassie frowned. Gorilla or wolf, which do you think could do more damage?

Wolf is faster.

Okay. You have spy duty. Cover me.

I'm covering so many girls... jeez, there's a dirty joke in there somewhere.

Cassie chuckled as she ducked into the unfinished shed. Don't start.

I waited impatiently for Cassie to demorph and remorph. Around one of the finished sheds, a half dozen Hork-Bajir dragged what looked like an Orak-Bajyr with three horns and talons that were too short. The Orak-Bajyr was conscious: it just had its legs and tail limp, so that their legs and tail dragged heavily on the ground, making it more difficult to move them. They didn't struggle: they just didn't help, either.

I stepped forward, giving Cassie room to get out. "What happen here?" I asked the first Hork-Bajir.

"Find gehltra hiding," it replied curtly. "Ta-ai!" It screamed as a wolf suddenly clamped its powerful jaws on its lower leg.

The other Hork-Bajir looked quickly. The Orak-Bajyr looked too, and frowned a little. Then it got its feet underneath it and snapped its tail up and sideways, slitting one of the Hork-Bajir's necks in half. The Hork-Bajir fell. "Run!" it cried, swinging a bladed arm into another Hork-Bajir's chin. "Home!"

I stepped forward, as if to help, then grabbed one of the Hork-Bajir by the horns and pulled down, forgetting my knees bent the wrong way. Lacking anything better to do, I twisted, pulled up, and flipped the Hork-Bajir over my shoulder. I got an elbow blade in the shoulder as it went over, but hey, a cool move is worth a little scratch.

One of the remaining Hork-Bajir pulled out its Dracon beam.

I don't think so.

I looked.

Cassie looked.

The Hork-Bajir looked.

We all looked... at the werewolf.

CHAPTER 38

Maria

I had a puny wolf and four Hork-Bajir staring at me.

Oh, please, I sneered. Hasn't anybody heard of a wolfbane before? I reached out with one frying-pan sized, half-paw, half-hand, and grabbed a Hork-Bajir. I guess they're not used to seeing things their height, because the look of surprise never left its face as it went down hard. Tari, if you're you, you'll understand when I carry you out of here. I grabbed the Both behind the neck, pressing my short thumb and heavy, clawed finger to the sides of her neck. Her eyes rolled up, and her head lolled over.

What'd you do to her? Marco asked as the other two Hork-Bajir ran.

Orak-Bajyr version of the Vulcan nerve pinch. Except it's more of an artery-to-the-brain pinch. I heaved the Both to my shoulder. Shall we go?

We shall, Marco agreed. In fact, I can't think o-

I felt blistering heat through my thick pelt before some huge, unseen hand hurled me through the air. The next thing I knew, I was about a hundred yards away with a broken arm and no Both. Wh-what?

The generator must have blown! Cassie cried. Where am I?

I couldn't see anything, either. My arm burned. Wait - no, my fur burned. Fire! I shoved on whatever was weighing me down. It groaned, and so did I. Wait... was my arm broken, or dislocated? If it was just dislocated, I could maybe... no, I couldn't move that far. I brought up my hind legs, getting them in on the action. With three paws I heaved, and the flat slab of concrete - part of the outer casing of the generator, I think - fell away. I patted at the singed parts of my fur, then shoved my arm back into the correct part of my shoulder socket. Marco! Cassie! Where are you?

Cassie's over here, Marco replied grimly. I looked around: several Hork-Bajir and Orak-Bajyr were running around. Some stopped to look at me, then decided there were more important things than a singed wolfbane that was just standing around stupidly. I walked over to the one Hork-Bajir that wasn't running. Hope you're Marco.

I hope you're not a wolfbane, Marco replied. I can't lift this. He gestured to another slab of concrete. I think Cassie's under there, but I can't lift it.

On three, I told him, crouching down. He crouched as well. Two pairs of very different hands - one with talons, another claws, one scaly and one heavily furred - gripped the slab. I glanced at him, he glanced at me, and we both lifted it up.

Sometimes it's good to be in synch with somebody else.

Marco ducked his head; my neck was too short to be of much use beyond looking left and right and down at a very different angle. I don't see her...

I see light, Cassie said. Her voice was getting weaker. It's to my... um... right? Or maybe my other right...

Hang on there, Cass, I told her sharply. I sniffed the air. I smelled fire, concrete, paint, metal. Lots of metal. I needed fur smell. Come on, Maria! Fur! What else besides you and Cassie has fur in this stupid place?

Fur. Left. Forward.

She's to our left. The scent's faint.

Thank you, Wondernose. Do you think you can hold this on your own?

No problem.

Going in. I winced as the weight all went to me, but I didn't let go. Marco crawled under the slab. I see her! A little of her, anyway. Just a... oh! Oh-! Oh fuck!

What's wrong?!

Oh, Jesus, oh... oh yuck.

Marco, what is it?

I went to pull Cassie out by the tail and found out her tail isn't attached.

Oh-! I shut up before I started cursing too. I could too easily imagine that. Is she under there, or just her tail?

No, she's under here. I need you to lift this higher.

Higher? Marco, someone's going to wonder about me soon!

Just do it!

I groaned as I shoved against the heavy slab. I wedged my uninjured shoulder under it. Marco, you'd better hurry up. I can't stand here forever, and this is seriously heavy.

I got her. Okay, I got her - the rest of her. Oh, jeez, you just don't get used to tails coming off.

Wait - did you say coming off?

Well, it looked attached.

Oh. Marco slid out from under the concrete, a bundle of gray under one arm. I happily dropped the concrete, then looked around. What about Tari Ari?

Forget it. Marco lifted Cassie into his arms. There's no way we'll find her in this mess. Let's just get out of here. Cassie has to demorph, pronto, and, as you pointed out, you can't stand around forever.

But- I cut myself off, and started running. This wasn't the time for "buts". "Buts" got people killed.

It wasn't my day to die.

At least, I was praying it wasn't.

Then I stopped. Marco was trying to find the best way to carry Cassie's limp wolf body. Marco, give Cassie to me. I can carry her the best way possible.

He stopped, holding her out. How's that?

Just like Mommy would. I held Cassie in two paw/hands, lifted her up with her back to me, and bit her scruff.

Oh, come on, you can't-

Shut up and run. I dropped to all fours, my injured shoulder screaming "MORON!" at me. I kept a tight grip on Cassie's scruff and ran, my stubby tail stiff behind me. Marco ran too, keeping up with me now that I was carrying Cassie and he wasn't.

TSSSSEW!

I yelped as a Dracon beam singed my injured shoulder. Just great! I shouted at Marco. Now they notice the seven foot tall werewolf!

Just keep running, he snapped, ducking another weaponsfire. If we can get to the woods, we should be home free. Just morph small.

Still with us, Cass? I asked her.

I'm getting motion sick, she muttered in a slurred voice, but in a good way.

She's out of it, I told Marco. We have to get her to safety, fast.

We're working on it, aren't we? he replied. Just keep running!

We started dodging in an odd, synchronized way - both of us dodging right, left, sprinting forward, dodging right, right again... always, the same way. You know those flocks of blackbirds that collect in the fall, the ones that fly in swarms so tightly packed you wonder how they don't crash into each other? That was what it was like. Even dodging, sprinting in spurts, and generally making the run back to the woods twice as long, we remained right next to each other.

It just made us a bigger target.

I felt, numbly, an agony in my left side. My left back foot was just gone. As I fell, I threw back my head and opened my jaws, tossing Cassie into the air. Marco, catch her and keep going!

He caught her, but he stopped. Maria, I can'-

I don't care, just run!

Mar-

I won't kill any more of us! I shouted at him, snarling out loud. GO!

He stared at me a moment, then bolted.

I lowered my head with a whine.

I felt the pain growing, and my consciousness fading.

I hurt so bad....

Good luck, Marco...

CHAPTER 39

Marco

I waited.

Tari Ari managed to catch up with the others as they ran. Now she, Fel Teval, and eight other Hork-Bajir the others had managed to capture were being guarded in caves - four Hork-Bajir in one, four in another, and Tari Ari and Fel Teval in a third. Toby Hamee placed herself in charge of watching over the Both. She talked with them, patient with their odd, broken sentences.

The others went home almost immediately, but I stayed behind. I sat with Toby Hamee and the Both, trying to understand, but mostly just wanting to stay out of the way of the Hork-Bajir outside. It was cold in the cave, and I couldn't really understand either of the Both, but they didn't kick me out, so I just sat there.

I sat there for what felt like days, but what was probably only about three hours, before there was a commotion outside. Without a word I bolted out of the cave, into the cool of afternoon.

I could have hugged the three-footed werewolf until its guts burst out. "Maria!" I shouted.

She looked at me with dark, glittering eyes. Hey, Corko, fancy meeting you here. Where's everybody else?

"They went home," I replied.

Cassie?

"She's fine. A little freaked, but nothing new."

She sighed, falling on her right side. That's good. How's my time?

I frowned. "What?"

My time. How long has it been? How long have I been in morph?

I felt myself turning to stone from the inside out. "You... you never demorphed?"

She looked up at me, annoyed. Marco, how long have I been in morph? Do you know, or don't you?

I tried to get my almost-stone tongue to work. "Three hours, I think."

She sighed. Good.

"Good?!" I shouted at her. She looked at me in surprise. "GOOD?!"

What's your problem?

"You're stuck as a three-footed werewolf and it's GOOD?!"

Stuck? Why would I be stuck?

"You've been in morph more than two hours!"

So?

"SO?!"

Marco, chill out! Her snout began to change color, lightening to a paler brown. My jaw must have hit the ground. I probably still have at least half an hour.

"Half an..." It took a moment to get my mouth to work properly again, but almost a full minute to get my brain back in gear. "How long is your morph limit?"

Same as yours, probably.

"Humor me."

Wait... yours is only two hours? Her ears twitched down the sides of her head, and her claws retracted into her hands.

I nodded, unable to believe what was happening. Only a moment ago, I was sure she'd been trapped. Now here she was, demorphing. Demorphing! She was coming back!

We can use thought-speak out of morph, and you can't... Maria's newly returned mouth frowned. I guess the morphing technology is just generally better where I'm from. We have a four hour limit - which is weird, because Toniya could swear she wasn't in morph four hours when she got stuck.

I just stared at her, as her hair returned to full length and the last of her fur melted away. She stood there in her black leotard, twigs in her hair, which had lost its ponytail, so that it fell over her shoulders. She looked at me, frowning a little. "Marco, are you okay?"

"I-" I was tongue-tied. I'm never tongue-tied. I stepped forward, just to hug her, just to know that she was still real.

I kissed her.

I hadn't planned to - I hadn't wanted to! - she was me! But I put one arm around her waist one way, the other around the other, closed my eyes, and I kissed her.

For a moment, just a moment, all was well.

Then she shoved away, her eyes wide. Her hands went to her mouth, covering it, as if to see if I was still there. "Oh my God," she whispered. "Oh my God..."

I stared at her. Had I just done that? She was me! She was me! Me!

I turned away, closing my eyes again. What had I done?!

"M-Marco..."

"No," I snapped. "No, that-" What was I supposed to say? I hadn't meant to? It didn't mean anything? It was an accident?

"Marco, you know w-we can't-"

I turned around again. It was my turn to stare at her. "You-"

She looked like she was about to cry. Her hands still half-covered her face. "I thought you were always joking," she said softly.

"So did I."

"Marco, we can't-"

"I know."

"What-"

"That I don't know."

She sniffed, lowering her hands. She tried to smile and failed miserably. "I thought opposites were supposed to attract."

"Now I'm wishing they did."

She nodded, but didn't answer.

CHAPTER 40

Maria

"Is Rachel home?"

Sam looked at me funny. "You're Jackie's friend."

I cringed a little. Jack's friends called her Jack, but her family called her Jackie (except for Rich, who was more a friend anyway... at least for awhile). Either way, just thinking about her hurt. "Yeah, I'm Jackie's friend," I agreed. "Can I see Rachel?"

"She's in her room. You can find it." He walked away, leaving the door open for me.

Sam had always been a pest.

"Thanks," I muttered, letting myself in and closing the door behind me. At a guess, I started the staircase.

I had it all figured out. Marco's dad didn't want me there because I reminded him too much of his "deceased" wife, and Marco... well, it just wasn't a good idea that we live together anymore. Sam was a pain in the butt, and he was stuck living in a house of all girls. What could be more perfect? Sam goes live with Marco, I live with Rachel's family. I was sure it'd work out.

Forget the parents. I was sure they'd agree sooner or later.

I just had to convince Rachel that it was a good idea.

I tried the first door - nope, it was a girl's room converted into a boy's. Definitely Sam's room. If all worked out, a room to be my room. I tried the second door, which was on the other side of the hall - Rachel's sister, Jordan, gave me a funny look. I apologized and shut the door. Now I knew where I was going - I went to the next door on the same side of the hall as Jordan's room and threw it open. Rachel was sitting at her desk, her back to me. "Just listen before you turn around," I snapped. "I'm sorry about Tobias. I am. I don't know what happened to him, or Toniya. It's my fault. I know it is. If I hadn't lost my grip on Toniya, I would have- I wouldn't-" I choked. "Rachel, it's all my fault. I know that's what you think, and I want you to know you're right. I would do anything to change that, but I can't. I can't. Not any more than you can."

A door opened, and Rachel walked out of the bathroom behind it. "I know, Maria," she said quietly. "You don't have to tell me what I know. But I think you'll want to sit down for what we have to tell you."

"First, I have to as-" I stopped. I looked at her, then at the blond head in the desk chair, then back at Rachel. "Am I missing something?"

"Nope," the blonde in the chair replied. "You're not missing anything. But I think we're going into reruns."

"What?"

The girl turned in her chair. She scowled at me. "I hate reruns."

It took all I had in me to stumble to Rachel's bed and sit down. "No way. You went back!"

"I went back, yeah, but I didn't stay there. I think our WonderPlan went bad."

"What are you doing here?"

"You and Marco weren't home, and I don't feel like dealing with Jake because Jack and I haven't been getting along for awhile. Cassie's a little bit out of my way, and, last I looked, the happy Andalite family is still back in my universe, so I kind of ran out of options, you know?"

"What?"

"Tobias and Toniya are fine," Rachel said. "When you appeared here, Tobias got stuck in your dimension. He's safe - just not here."

I sighed, folding over, resting my forehead on my knees. Safe! Both of them safe!

One less thing to worry about.

I sat up straight again: that was hardly my only problem.

"Rachel," I began, "there's another problem that I-"

"Don't you get it?" the other blonde yelled at me, jumping out of the chair. "Maria, I'm back! I'm HERE!"

"Diane," I snapped, "there's other things on my mind right now."

She grabbed me, shaking me. "Maria, forget it, because whatever it is, it isn't important!" She shook me even harder. "Don't you get it?! The Rip is open again!"

to be continued....