CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

"Andalite!"

I breathed hard. I could not believe what I was seeing. I could not believe that my end was near.

I had made a fatal mistake, I had acknowledged the Andalite, showed them that I recognized what it was.

But my reaction was pure impulse. If only I had known, I would have controlled myself better.

"Hey." Marco said, 'You're a controller."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement, they knew? They were…Andalites? But how…?

The deeper truth hit me, "You're the Andalite bandits." I whispered fearfully, "You're all…"

"Oh man." Rachel said. "This is not so good."

I stared at her, it was the first time I had a chance to glimpse her, and what I saw intimidated me.

Not just the Yeerk me, but the human me as well.

I stared at her. The Andalite did not withdraw his tail, it was practically there the second my eyes fell on him. And now god knows what other parts of me would start falling.

Where is Cassie?

I stared, at first I was too scared to answer, the fear turned to anger very quickly, but I maintained control and spoke as calmly as I could. "How am I supposed to know? I came here to see where she was going I didn't expect a party of…of." I didn't finish, I was afraid I'd say something that would provoke the Andalite.

"What do you mean?" Marco snapped.

"I don't know, she's been acting weird." I smiled, flicked my hair, "But I think I know were she is. Or at least what she's up to."

And that is…? the second thought speak voice inquire, I could not see the source.

I smiled, "She went to look for her boyfriend."

Marco froze, "Jake? But we don't know were he is."

"That's your problem." I said, "And now, I have to go back."

Unfortunately, they did not allow me to proceed; somehow this did not surprise me. I watched them, waiting for my fate.

"Not so fast." Rachel said, "Where is Jake?"

"You can ask the blundering fool himself, Visser Three. " I sneered, "He allowed him to escape, at least that was what I heard, still trapped in the Yeerk pool though. This will reflect badly on him in the report I have to write."

Report? What report? The Andalite asked.

"I'm the new inspector." I said, "The Visser doesn't know that I have arrived. Not yet."

They all stared at me.

"I'm also Visser One's friend, so you can very much see whose side I favor."

Marco flinched then said, "Visser One's here too."

"I'm not going to answer that question."

Marco took a step towards me, "I said is Visser One here or not?"

I stared at him, then at the Andalite. "Last time I heard? No."

He didn't look like he believed me. I didn't blame him, I wouldn't have believed me. "Why should you care?"

He didn't answer me instead he said, "Come on, let go find Jake, we have to find a way to keep her." He looked up, and I saw him look at some big bird, "Do you have a place?"

I can manage to find one, yeah.

"Alright, you and Ax take her there and make sure she stays there." He paused, "Rachel and I are going to see if we could find Jake."

They left, leaving me with the bird and the Andalite.

"Strange." I said aloud. "Very strange that an Andalite should hear what a human has got to say and actually does it…what happened here?"

He decided to ignore me, instead he lead me out to the forest, he wasn't worried if I would decided to break for it and run, there was no way that I could outrun an Andalite.

Not as a human anyway.

How come you're hiding form the Visser?

"I'm not hiding." I replied, "The council told me to conduct the first part of my report without him noticing me then, well, I throw away the cover."

"So," I said, "Tell me, where is it that you are taking me, incase you don't know, humans don't really tolerate the wild very much. And they don't live without food and water for long either."

I think your host will manage three days easily. The Andalite snapped. Me I was shocked.

"You want me dead? How will that help you with Visser three?"

You saw our friends, as humans.

I said nothing for the rest of the way, wondered if anyone will find me, as hopeless as the odds were, I knew that Visser One will be notified of my disappearance if I am held here for more than a day.

They tied me securely and as far as I know, they left. I did not know if I were being watched by the humans, or the Andalite or that bird.

There is something suspicious about that bird. And every Yeerk who had fought on earth had heard the story.

They say that it is an Andalite trapped in morph, because he is always seen in that form. Yet, there are times when we see we six morphed Andalite warriors.

Although now I know that some of them are human, correction, most except two, I did not know what the bird was.

Maybe the bird is a human, and he is not affected by the time limit? I doubted it.

Although now that I see it, Visser three had left so many questions unanswered about these bandits, like why was he unable to locate their residence?

I knew why.

But it seems that the information I had collected is going to be wasted, it seems that I will be left here to die with the valuable information. I wasn't sure about my death, maybe they were going to kill me maybe not. I did not know the answer. And I got it at dawn, when the bandits came back. Not to free me I supposed.