Chapter 2 (Marco)
We caught Jake on his way to Math class. I only know that was where he was headed because Jake and I were in that class together. He tried to remind us that talking about things like this in the school corridor was risky, and he had my complete support in the matter. But, let's face it, not many things are more 911 than this. We told him about Chapman's sudden, yet very brief, appearance in our English class, and the new kid, Joseph. Jake had that dutiful, 'I-can-handle-this' expression on his face – until I told him what Lee had almost told Joseph.
"You what?" Jake spoke with a look of pure disbelief on his face. I knew what he was talking about. What Lee had almost done was pure and utter madness, there's no two ways about it. You see, Chapman is a Controller. Someone who's under Yeerk control. And he's the most important Controller we know about. Letting Chapman know who we are would suddenly make our lives slightly more risky. But, then again… We eat risky for breakfast. Regularly.
Lee was fidgeting with her short brown hair, like a little kid caught at the cookie jar. Jake's not really an angry kind of guy. Me? I was furious. But I suppose that might just have something to do with the fact that I… Well, the fact is that I hate Lee. We could be really good friends, honest. The only thing standing in the way of Lee and me being best buds is that she wants to kill my mother. Maybe that makes Lee sound like an utter loon, but as much as I hold against her, I'll say she's not a loon at all. You see, my mother is host to Visser One. And to make it worse, Visser One killed Lee's parents. Indirectly, you understand, and my mom had nothing to do with it, but Lee still has her heart set on killing my mom.
"Jake," said Lee earnestly, "Chapman's as good as got him nailed. Joe is going to be a major target. He knows something. It's not exactly the most common word in the Oxford dictionary is it?"
"Look, Lee," I snapped. "It doesn't mean anything. He could be a Controller himself."
"Why would he slip up like that then? It's almost as good as revealing himself."
"I don't know." My mind whirled frantically for a satisfactory reply. "Maybe the real Joseph got control for a second. Just blurted it out."
"It didn't sound blurted to me. He thought about it carefully." She suddenly rounded on me. "You should know that Marco! You were sitting right there in the desk in front!"
"Lee! You almost told him what Chapman was!"
I suppose I was getting a bit loud. Jake put a restraining hand on my shoulder. He didn't have to say anything to me. It was like he was telepathic or something. Punch her in the right in the nose, Marco. Go on. Yeah right. Even if he had said something like that to me, I would have been too shocked to actually do anything about it. Basically he was saying to me, Watch it Marco. Don't do anything dumb.
"Keep your voice down Marco, or you won't be in a position to criticise." He turned to Lee. "If he knows something and is undercover, I could ask you that. Why reveal himself? I think, what we have here is a pure fluke."
"The fact still stands, Jake. If it was a pure fluke, then they have him for nothing."
"They don't actually have him yet," I pointed out sourly.
Lee's hands flew to here hips. "And how long do you think it will take? I give it a night."
I had nothing to say to that.
Lee turned back to Jake. "If it was pure fluke they'll have him for nothing," she repeated. "They'll have him because they'll think he's one of us."
That made Jake pause. I could almost see the cogs in his head racing into overdrive. I suppose what Lee said kind of made sense. But if Lee said it, I was slightly inclined to disagree with her. I saw what she was saying. If… if… he was innocent, Joseph would have a lot happening to him. And not all of it would be pleasant. The Yeerks would make him a Controller, and it would be all our fault. I wasn't entirely sure I could put up with that. They would think we'd slipped up and they'd captured one of us Animorphs. When, in reality, all they had was an innocent kid who'd made up a word in his English class. Considering, of course, that he was innocent.
I watched Jake, trying to interpret the look on his face. "Jake, we've been friends for, how long? Please, please, please tell me that you are not going to do a Rachel on me."
I saw a faint smile wash over Jake's face. Rachel was Jake's cousin. And we both knew that the first words out of Rachel's mouth would be, "Let's do it!" Jake's smile vanished, and I suddenly realised how different the cousins actually were.
He shook his head, "No. It's too risky."
"But, Jake…"
"No Lee." Jake surprised me as he cut Lee's plea short. I had expected Jake to give her a little more leeway. "It's too risky."
As she turned to storm off, I caught her by the arm. She turned to me slowly. "Lee. Would you stop acting like you're in love with this guy or something? It's starting to freak me out."
Ohhh, the venom. If looks could kill. She wrenched her arm free and started to storm off. Jake shot me a look that said Great going Marco.
"Lee." She stopped. She didn't turn or say anything, but I could tell Jake had her full attention by the way she stood. "Don't do anything stupid. Wait until we all get the chance to hook up later on and we'll talk about it then. When everyone has a vote."
Having taken in all she needed too, Lee headed towards her next lesson.
Sighing, Jake turned to me. "Can't you two just kiss and make up?"
I was about to say something along the lines of a word I shouldn't really say out loud. But, instead I said, "What? And give you and Cassie some kind of competition?" Jake turned slightly red and trudged off ahead of me. Hurrying after him, I added, "Mind you, I'm not sure if either of us could beat Tobias and Rachel." After saying her name I shot a quick look round for Rachel. You can never be too careful with Rachel.