CHAPTER EIGHT
They were a sad, miserable
messed up group. The Andalite was not present, the bird was high in the trees.
Jake was staring off in space, Cassie sat beside him. Rachel kept on glaring at
me and Marco was scowling at the distance.
"So." I said in Jessie's
normal, conversational tone, "What happened?"
No answer, it was if I was
talking to the trees. So I was repeated my question. This time there was an
answer.
"What do you think
happened?" Rachel spat out.
"You got away, I can't see
why you are angry."
Marco whirled round and stuck
his face close to mine. "You got Jake captured, you sent Cassie off for him
and you managed to get one of our friends seriously injured."
"You're talking about the
Andalite?" I asked with a laugh, "Good lord, what would hurt him?"
Somehow they did not see the
humor, "Wake up." I snapped suddenly, "You're just leading yourselves to
danger. You're keeping an inspector. You think my fellow Yeerks will not
notice?"
"Who are you?" Jake
said suddenly.
"Me?" I asked, "I'm
Jessie."
"Don't waste our time."
Rachel snapped, "We know that Jessie is not in control, we know what you are,
we want to know your name. Not your host's name."
I shook my head, "What will
you gain by it?"
"Fine." Jake snapped,
"We'll just call you Yeerk then."
I shook my head again, "Uless."
"What?"
"My name, Uless."
"That's a weird name for a
Yeerk…never mind." Marco muttered, "You said you were sent by Visser One. The Yeerk named Edriss."
I looked at him strangely,
"You met her?" Then I smiled, "We're
acquaintances, no, more than that I suppose, deep friends. "
"I didn't know that Yeerks
could have deep friends." Rachel snorted, "Enemies sure, rivals? Absolutely,
allies? Sure. But friends?"
"You don't know much about
us then." I said with a leer.
"No." Cassie spoke up
suddenly, "We do. We know that there are some of your people who resist the
temptation to enslave, they think of it as morally wrong. I have made a deal
with a Yeerk, her name is Aftran. And now she is free."
"The peace movement." I
murmured, ah, yes, I have heard about it, something Visser One had failed to
find out about. "What do you mean she is free?"
"She's no longer of need of
your life giving Kandrona rays."
"You killed her?" I
laughed, then I stopped laughing, my eyes narrowed, "You found a way around
it? Around the three days?"
Marco smiled, "Yeah. We did.
But only one Yeerk benefited."
I could not believe what I was
hearing! But, no, the boy must be jerking me around, having fun. Maybe he was. I
did not know.
"What are you going to do
with me?" I whispered after a moment.
"What we are going to do with
you?" Marco laughed, "Kill you, you'll need a few days of course. And
then, you are gone."
I hated the way he emphasized
on the last three words, if I had the power to destroy the human I would have,
but I was tied, and I was in a human female of the same age, I could not
possibly win a fight even if I was untied, or in a Hork-Bajir body. The boy
could morph.
I leaned back my head and said,
"Why don't you throw me in the shack? Leave me alone. What I want to know is
why you even got me out. Why not just wait for a few days then get me out of the
shack? Why all the nice talk?"
Rachel glanced at Jake then
back at me, "We want to talk."
"Oh goody." I said, "You
want something."
I gave her a nasty smile, then
said, "And of course you want my cooperation, I can't see why I should,
after all I'm going to be dead in a day."
Jake's head snapped up
suddenly, he had been looking at the distance, "A day?"
I would have kicked myself if I
could, I just revealed to him something I did not want them to know. I only have
one day left. Not two.
When Rachel saw that I had
lapsed into silence she laughed harshly, "Good, the wait is even shorter. Then
Jessie would be free again."
"Yes." I said, smiling at
her, inside, I was secretly leering, "She will."
And so would your secret, I
thought.