Chapter 3
Around seven that night we left the mall.
There was that magician thing Hardy wanted to watch. You know, where the magician is in disguise and tells you the secrets of all of the tricks? Well, Hardy is a kind of a magician, and really wanted to watch it. So we were running home, jogging, I guess, trying to catch it before 7:30. It had come on at seven, and Hardy already looked like he might cry.
The bus stop was a bit of a distance away. There was this parking lot, though. It used to belong to this office. Apparently that office didn't do too well. Everybody moved out and away, I guess. The office borders one side of the parking lot. The back side is bordered by a ditch. And the two sides in between have high wooden fences. I could understand stand that. The people who lived behind the fences didn't want to look at a green lawn and then gray, cracked, old, worn concrete.
Normally we aren't supposed to go to The Falls, so you can imagine that we weren't allowed through that parking lot, either. But hey, if you walk through the parking lot, and then through the ditch for a little bit, you can get to the bus stop in half the time. And besides, what my parents don't know won't hurt them. It isn't like I'll go home and they'll ask me, "Chris, did you cut through that parking lot on the way back from The Falls? You know you aren't supposed to do that. You're grounded."
Yeah, right.
So, that's when it happened. When we were walking through the parking lot.
Hardy and Laurel were arguing about aliens, as the matter turned out.
"Hardy, that is so stupid. There is no life on other planets!"
"Yes, there is. The alien race you came from is out there somewhere."
"Whatever, Hardy. Just give me some solid evidence to support your stupid theory."
"Fine, I will."
"Preposterous."
I looked at Samantha. She was walking around a pile of beer bottles someone had dumped. "Nice place. Come here often?"
"Sometimes," I said. I myself walked around the ashes of a fire someone had left. It still smelled like smoke, so it was probably pretty recent. The parking lot was full of ashes from fires, broken beer bottles, and other trash.
I heard a low whistling sound. Probably just a plane, I thought to myself. Our city's big, so there are always plenty of planes
"Does anyone else hear that?" Cameron asked.
"Yeah, it's probably just a plane, but it sounds pretty close." Hardy looked up. So did everyone else. No one saw a thing.
Samantha was the first to realize it was coming straight for us. "Cameron, Chris. In your school, did you learn about blue shifts?"
Cameron answered, "Yeah."
"Well, remember the example they gave? When an object is coming towards you, like a car or something, it causes this sound like a low screeching that gradually gets louder and louder, doesn't it? And then when it passes, it's kind of like a low, soft hum."
"Yeah." I couldn't think of anything else to say. The noise was still getting louder.
"Judging from the sound," Cameron said softly, "it might be coming right at us."
Hardy shook his head. "Jets sound the same way."
Laurel finally caught on. "What's a blue shift?"
Hardy rolled his eyes and looked up towards the heavens. "Good Lord, please give Laurel some brains." Then he cussed. I hadn't known Hardy could cuss with such vigor. He said it with such intensity that we all looked up.
And saw this huge black thing coming straight for us.
"RUN!" I shouted. I realized as soon as I turned around that to tell everyone was completely stupid. Everyone else had run before I had even turned around.
We started to run towards the office wall, back the way we had come, but Samantha's yell stopped us.
"Get in the ditch!"
I fully and totally agreed with her. Standing up against the wall when a firing squad is about to shoot you is stupid. Standing up against the wall when some sort of jet is about to crash and send rocks and stuff heading straight for you is even more stupid when there's a ditch twenty feet away.
"What?" Laurel asked.
"Get. In. The. Ditch." I made sure that I said it slowly so she could understand.
"Why?"
"MOVE IT!" I shoved her, keeping her in front of me. I don't know why. I mean, it's not like I could have protected her. I guess it just felt wrong to leave one person alone in danger when the rest of us were practically safe.
After all, the others had all reached the ditch and were urging us to hurry. Laurel had finally caught on, and was running on her own.
How was I supposed to know about the pipe?
I tripped.
What more can I say? I tripped over a heavy metal pipe that had been hidden in ashes. It was one of those stupid corner pipes. And there was a jet heading straight for me.
I turned around to see the thing crash. I'm sorry, but I think I have this fear of when I'm about to die, I'll miss the moment. I guess I was kind of hoping that at the last second, if I was watching, it would change somehow.
But it doesn't work that way, I guess.
I watched as it fell down. And at the last moment, I did close my eyes.
Chapter 4
Cameron
I saw the jet land on Chris. My best friend. Dead. Gone forever.
Chapter 4
Chris
Just kidding.
It turns out that as it got closer, I saw that it wasn't a jet. It wasn't even an aircraft. Actually, it was a spacecraft. As in spaceship. Right out of Star Trek or something.
It was about as big as a school bus. I'm sorry, I don't really want to compare it to something related to school, but that's the only thing I can think of. As it fell, there was this kind of flame or something forming something like the tail of a comet. It turned, and boy was I glad. Then it started coming towards me again.
I wasn't so glad anymore. Couldn't it fall somewhere else than on top of me?
By now, it was heading straight for me again. Surprisingly, I wasn't that scared. I mean, I was kind of scared of dying, but my parents had brought me up to think of it as just another phase of life. Kind of like leaving this life, and going to another. But I was kind of scared. I mean, I had always thought that when I died, I would go down bravely, without crying. No regrets. No sorrow. And it turns out my foot was stuck underneath a pipe.
That's the way to go down.
The ship- or whatever it was- was losing altitude. It had turned and was heading straight for me, getting lower and lower.
Just my luck it would be right on top of me. I tried to pull my foot out. It wouldn't work. I couldn't get out of it. But at the last moment, as the ship fell, it turned slightly. It landed and sent rocks, glass, and dirt, flying over me. I closed my eyes to protect them. I guess that even when you're about to die, the instinct that you don't want your eyes to burn still prevails.
After what seemed like a long time, I opened my eyes. "I'm still here." That was the first thing I said. I looked at myself. My foot was still stuck under the pipe, covered with dirt and ashes. Not to mention the rest of me. My clothes were going to need one heck of a wash.
I heard people running towards me. I turned around and saw Cameron, Samantha, and Hardy coming towards me. Laurel was a bit more reluctant, but she came, too.
Cameron dropped down beside me. "Man, are you okay?"
"Yeah," I said. I nodded too, amazed that I wasn't dead and had escaped without even a broken bone.
Cool.
"My foot's stuck." I pulled on it to prove the fact.
Cameron got down and pulled on the pipe. He stopped right before he began to pull and pushed away some of the ashes. "Someone planted this here."
He pulled the pipe out of the ground enough so I could get my foot out.
"What do you think that thing is?" Samantha asked, indicating the object that had nearly killed me.
"Whatever it is," Cameron answered, "it definitely isn't a jet."
Laurel more or less agreed. "Whatever."
Hardy, however seized the opportunity. "There's your proof, Laurel."
"Oh, shut up, Hardy."
"Make me."
"I will."
"I'd like to see you try."
It was amazing. A- a... uh, thing had almost killed us, and we were standing around, like ourselves.
"Don't you think we should go or something?" Laurel asked, obviously scared and trying not to show it.
Please, don't go.
I had heard that. I knew I had heard it. Except I hadn't heard it. It was as if I just known the words in my head. "Uh, oh." I realized I said the "Uh, oh," when I was trying to identify whoever had said it.
"Uh, guys? I really, really think we should get going." Laurel was tugging on Hardy's sleeve.
"Laurel! Cut it out. The thing told us to stay, so I'm staying."
"You heard it too?" Cameron asked.
"I did," Samantha said.
"Same here." I lifted my hand.
"Oh, maaaan." Laurel. She could go to school, brag about this, and be three times as popular as she was before, and still she was complaining.
"Hey," Samantha snapped. "That's my line!"
Laurel just smiled nervously. "Not anymore."
Please. I must talk to you.
"Okay, tell me that this is very weird," Samantha stated.
"This is beyond very weird," I agreed.
Hardy gave his opinion. "You know, I think it's a UFO"
"UFOs are Unidentified Flying Objects. And this is definitely unidentified." I stared at it a bit longer. "This thing doesn't fly; it crashes."
That's when part of it opened. Straight up like one of those dog doors. This huge centipede came out. It was probably about seven feet long, had cone legs, and a blood-red body.
"Oh, God," Laurel said as she shrank behind Hardy. I saw that Hardy wanted to squirm away, but I guess big brothers are around when you need them.
"You know, I think I can wake up now. Because I am not liking this." I looked at Cameron. It was true. It was written on his face that he clearly wasn't liking this.
You humans now have an important choice. If you choose to accept.
The creature said the "If you choose to accept" part as if we were going to already. He was just giving us a "choice" to be polite. At least it seemed that way.
"What kind of choice?" Samantha asked. "Wait a sec. First tell us who and what you are."
My name is Celestia-Comminna-Terratuse. I am an Andalite stuck in Taxxon morph. That is the first rule of morphing. Never stay in morph for more than two hours. If you do, you shall be stuck in that morph. I made that mistake.
"Morphing?" I asked. As in the Power Rangers morphing? Why did I suddenly feel sick?
Morphing, the alien said as if to say "duh". The ability to change your shape by acquiring the DNA of any living animal.
"Oh," Hardy said.
He and Samantha exchanged looks. Now what could that mean? I wondered.
"What strings are there?" Samantha asked. Smart question.
Strings?
"Yeah, strings. What do we have to do in return for this ability?"
Ah. You most fight an enemy. A powerful enemy. They are parasitic slugs called Yeerks. They crawl into their host's ear canal and take over the brain. They are everywhere. If you choose to accept the power, you may save your race.
"Fighting? Cool." Samantha shrugged and looked at me. "I'm in," she said. "I mean, if these things are threats to our family, friends, everybody we know..." I knew she had let the sentence hang on purpose, but it was working. I'd forgotten that she liked to fight- because she had a knack at it, I guess.
Cameron shook his head and addressed the Taxxon/Andalite. "These hosts. Did they want to become hosts? Are they voluntary?"
Some may be. Others... Others will be involuntary hosts. Taken against their will and made slaves of the Yeerks.
"Oh."
"What the heck," said Hardy. "I guess I'm in. I'm not going to be the one to back out, at least.
Cameron shrugged. "I'm not going to sit back and be turned into a slave."
"I guess I won't either." I noticed that I swallowed as I said that. This seemed... This seemed like the alien was making the matter smaller than it really was.
What about you? I looked around. We had all said yeah, so who?... Oh, yeah. Laurel.
"I don't know. I mean, everything is kind of vague. And can't we think about it? I mean, this is a major decision. I mean, if this is real-"
Hardy interrupted. "If this isn't real you don't have to worry about it, do you?"
Right then, I knew we had decided to go ahead with it. Maybe it was stupid. It was probably really stupid, actually. But we were going to do it anyway. Maybe it was because we really would be trying to protect the people we knew. Maybe we were just trying to protect ourselves. We could have done it because we were tired of the things we were used to. Whatever the reasons, we were going to fight something we hardly knew anything about. Maybe we didn't think this was real and just wanted to have some fun, thinking we'd wake up at any minute.
Good. One of you must go inside the ship and get a blue box that is inside. It is quite plain. A simple blue cube.
"Okay," Samantha said first. "I'll do it."
I think that right then I really got in over my head. See, I just happened to turn chivalrous, because the words that popped out of my big, stupid mouth were, "No way. I'll do it." And then before she could argue, I was running inside the ship. I found the box. It wasn't big at all. Like, four inches square on all sides.
"Okay, I found it." I set it on the ground in front of the alien.
Now you all must touch it.
Samantha's hand was the first on the box. Mine was second. Cameron and Hardy tied for third.
"I don't know," Laurel said, still undecided.
"Forget it." Hardy grabbed her wrist and put her hand on the box.
A second later I felt this kind of tickling feeling. This warm tingling spreading through my blood and everything. I guess I smiled.
The alien brought us out of it. Now you must fight the Yeerks.
"How do we fight them?" Cameron asked.
The Yeerks have a strong weakness. They must return to a Yeerk pool every three days. There they absorb nutrients and Kandrona rays.
My turn for a question. "How do we know if someone has a Yeerk in their head?"
There may be no way. When a Yeerk has taken control of someone, they are called Controllers. The Yeerks know everything the host knows. Acts the same. Talks the same. The host is totally helpless.
"Oh." iThat/i made everything sound more fun.
You must go now. I came to help your species, but something went wrong with my ship. Surely Controllers saw it. They will be here soon. The responsibility to save your people is yours. Now go.
For a second, we all just stood there, looking at each other. We couldn't just leave the Taxxon here. Or was it an Andalite?
"Can't you come with us?" I asked.
I do not belong here. The Taxxon is a dangerous animal. Many were voluntary hosts. But they are carnivores. Very dangerous carnivores.
"So what?" Hardy asked. "You're going to eat us?"
I got a little jumpy when the Andalite wouldn't say anything for a few moments. It would be smart to leave.
"But you're hurt," Laurel said.
For the first time, I noticed that the Andalite had been injured, whether in the crash or some other time. "We have vets. Maybe they can help you."
No. No one must know that I have been here. You must tell no one of the Yeerks. They are more powerful than you may think. If someone found out that you knew about them, Controllers would make you Controllers, also. And then they would also have the morphing ability.
"And that's a bad thing, right?" Hardy asked.
So far, the only Controller with the morphing ability is the only Andalite host. He is called Visser Three. So far.
Headlights flashed. GO!
"But-"
"You're hurt!"
"You have to come with us!"
"What else!?"
"Can't you-"
GO!
Before I knew what I was doing, I shouted, "DO IT!"
And then everything was a blur. We were all running. The ditch was now less than ten feet away. The sound of a car engine was closer. The lights were brighter.
Five feet. The ditch. Safety. The lights, moving towards me.
Two feet.
Just two feet.
JUMP!
It wasn't a big ditch. I had been running too quickly. I had put too much force in the jump. As a matter of fact, I had jumped right over the ditch.
No time! I dropped to the ground right as more car lights swept over me. As soon as they had passed, I rolled into the ditch. Thankfully, Cameron had realized what I was planning and caught me before I took a swim in ditch water.
So, we just crouched there. Five kids, with no clue what was going on, crouching as close as they could get to the side of ditch, where they weren't supposed to be.
"I'm sick of this." I looked to see who the speaker was. I should have just saved my energy. Samantha.
"You stay here. I've been here plenty of times. I'll do it."
"Whatever."
So that's how I ended up crawling the edge of the ditch, trying to remember if there really was a scrubby patch of grass above me.
Luckily, there was.
Great. That made me feel better. Scrawny piece of grass. My big head.
A limo was one of the cars. It drove up right next to the ship, then drove away. The cars formed a circle. A Taxxon body might have gotten through, but the Andalite didn't even try. A human had gotten out of the limo. Then, right before my eyes, he began to change.
I mean, really change.
Humans, if you are still in thought-speak range, this... this creature is Visser Three.
Heads bobbed up around me.
The human, though. He was growing hair all over. Blue hair. His eyes split in half. Two seemed to grow to the top of his head, the other two grew to their original size. The nose and mouth disappeared and became three slits. Then his butt started to grow. I mean it. At first it was just kind of jutting out, then the Visser's legs popped out of the bottom of his butt and started growing. When the legs were done, and then the back, he, or "it" looked like a blue centaur with eyes that stood on little stalks or whatever and missing a nose and mouth. I felt this, this evil. It was incredible. Right away, I could smell the evil. And I knew instantly that Visser Three was not a nice guy.
You thought you could run? Visser Three started laughing.
Then came Celestia's response. Visser Three?
Yes?
Shove it.
I felt my eyebrows rise. An alien using very modern human phrases.
You will regret saying that, Andalite.
I don't think so. You should take some of the brains you have- you might need a microscope to find them before you cut them- mix them with some oatmeal, and then shove it up your fat- and the Celestia said some very modern human phrases.
After that, Visser Three just stood above Celestia, looking right into her compound eyes. Neither of them moved. The tension mounted. It kept mounting. After a while, Visser Three laughed.
Andalite scum. You would have made a great host. But no, you are just a young girl. Why waste?
And with that, he started changing. His skin grew moist and turned a dark green with splotches of crimson red. He got fatter. To the point that his stomach was almost touching the ground. Then, small, microscopic legs started popping up. He grew a mouth again. The mouth along with the head oozed into the rest of the... thing. By now he was just this huge blob of... well, stuff.
And then, as he crept closer to the Andalite stuck in Taxxon morph, I heard her voice again. You can't stay in morph for more than two hours, or else you will be stuck in morph forever. Two hours.
Visser Three seemed to stumble and fall on top of Celestia. I saw his mouth. The mouth was full of huge, razor-sharp teeth. Not once did Celestia scream. She died and didn't go down screaming. Now I wonder if that made her brave, or just mentally ill.
I don't know if the others realized it, but I knew. I knew why she had done that. She had tricked Visser Three. He had been so preoccupied with Celestia that we could have sneaked away.
His jaws closed in around her.
Beside me, Laurel cried, "No!"
In that instant, every Controller looked our way- and saw five human heads vanish into the ditch.
"Laurel, you idiot," Hardy muttered.
I jumped in. Right now, there were more important things. They could argue later. "Okay, we split up. Cameron and Samantha. Hardy and Laurel." Hardy and Laurel pretend to hate each other. But I knew that when they had to, they could work together. And this was one of those times when they had to.
"What about you?" Cameron asked.
"I'll try and distract them."
Samantha shook her head. "I don't think that's a very smart idea."
"Just do it." I could already hear Controllers running towards the ditch. "1...2... 3... GO!"
They started to run. I, however, was going to provide a distraction. I took a deep breath, and before I could stop myself, ran up the side of the ditch. I prayed that being on the football team would be enough.
I ran up the side of the ditch, hoping I was gaining speed. Luckily, the Controllers were somewhat slow. I ran, plowed into four of them.
"Someone grab him!" That voice. It sounded... familiar.
Andalite scum. There must have been more aboard the ship. I heard Visser Three growl behind me. But I kept running.
I ran into the alley. I guess officially, it would be the road leading to the parking lot. There were cars parked here, too. And too late I realized that not all of the Controllers were with the Visser. A jeep turned its brights on right as I was heading for it. That blinded me. The sound of the engine coming to life deafened me.
If taste had been a major sense, I probably would have lost that, too.
The sound was getting closer. I held up my hand to shield my eyes from the light. They adjusted just enough to show me what I really didn't want to know.
The jeep was about to plow over me.
i"You may have one thing," the Ellimist told me. I looked back at the Chris in the past. The Ellimist knew what he was doing. He was showing me this for a reason. If Chris didn't make it past the jeep, he was going to die or be caught, and then it would all be over.
"Do we all have one wish?" I asked, stalling.
"Yes. What do you wish for?"
"You know what I wish for," I told him.
"Chris."
"Yes, already. Keep Chris safe." The Ellimist nodded. I knew he was nodding to someone, but I wasn't sure who. Maybe to himself. I turned and watched even though I knew it wouldn't do any good to see how my wish had affect things. I was already leaving the scene./i
I was scared, true. But at the same time, I kept thinking, Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan. I think I've watched too many action movies. Way too many way too many times. Maybe that explains what I did next. I ran straight ahead. The jeep didn't stop. I jumped up, landed on the hood, kept running. Leap off the wind shield, land on the concrete. Landed hard on the concrete. Very hard.
Then I got up and kept running.
Behind me, I heard, "Move it! Move it! We can't let them get away!" Still, the voice sounded familiar.
I ran all the way home that night. The first time I ran miles without complaining.
center* * */center
centeriCassie/center
I couldn't believe it. I'd opened the morning paper- We were all trying to keep an eye on things. And then I saw just a small box of print, telling about kids having a bonfire in a very familiar place for me. "Like us in more ways than one," I said softly. Same place. What were the other ways they were like us?
"What?" my dad asked.
"Nothing. Just thinking."
I took the paper with me that morning before I left for school. I had to show it to Jake./i/html
Coming up: I told you these new kids were stupid. It only gets worse. The Anis find the new kids. And, let's see... Um... More trouble to come, of course.
Around seven that night we left the mall.
There was that magician thing Hardy wanted to watch. You know, where the magician is in disguise and tells you the secrets of all of the tricks? Well, Hardy is a kind of a magician, and really wanted to watch it. So we were running home, jogging, I guess, trying to catch it before 7:30. It had come on at seven, and Hardy already looked like he might cry.
The bus stop was a bit of a distance away. There was this parking lot, though. It used to belong to this office. Apparently that office didn't do too well. Everybody moved out and away, I guess. The office borders one side of the parking lot. The back side is bordered by a ditch. And the two sides in between have high wooden fences. I could understand stand that. The people who lived behind the fences didn't want to look at a green lawn and then gray, cracked, old, worn concrete.
Normally we aren't supposed to go to The Falls, so you can imagine that we weren't allowed through that parking lot, either. But hey, if you walk through the parking lot, and then through the ditch for a little bit, you can get to the bus stop in half the time. And besides, what my parents don't know won't hurt them. It isn't like I'll go home and they'll ask me, "Chris, did you cut through that parking lot on the way back from The Falls? You know you aren't supposed to do that. You're grounded."
Yeah, right.
So, that's when it happened. When we were walking through the parking lot.
Hardy and Laurel were arguing about aliens, as the matter turned out.
"Hardy, that is so stupid. There is no life on other planets!"
"Yes, there is. The alien race you came from is out there somewhere."
"Whatever, Hardy. Just give me some solid evidence to support your stupid theory."
"Fine, I will."
"Preposterous."
I looked at Samantha. She was walking around a pile of beer bottles someone had dumped. "Nice place. Come here often?"
"Sometimes," I said. I myself walked around the ashes of a fire someone had left. It still smelled like smoke, so it was probably pretty recent. The parking lot was full of ashes from fires, broken beer bottles, and other trash.
I heard a low whistling sound. Probably just a plane, I thought to myself. Our city's big, so there are always plenty of planes
"Does anyone else hear that?" Cameron asked.
"Yeah, it's probably just a plane, but it sounds pretty close." Hardy looked up. So did everyone else. No one saw a thing.
Samantha was the first to realize it was coming straight for us. "Cameron, Chris. In your school, did you learn about blue shifts?"
Cameron answered, "Yeah."
"Well, remember the example they gave? When an object is coming towards you, like a car or something, it causes this sound like a low screeching that gradually gets louder and louder, doesn't it? And then when it passes, it's kind of like a low, soft hum."
"Yeah." I couldn't think of anything else to say. The noise was still getting louder.
"Judging from the sound," Cameron said softly, "it might be coming right at us."
Hardy shook his head. "Jets sound the same way."
Laurel finally caught on. "What's a blue shift?"
Hardy rolled his eyes and looked up towards the heavens. "Good Lord, please give Laurel some brains." Then he cussed. I hadn't known Hardy could cuss with such vigor. He said it with such intensity that we all looked up.
And saw this huge black thing coming straight for us.
"RUN!" I shouted. I realized as soon as I turned around that to tell everyone was completely stupid. Everyone else had run before I had even turned around.
We started to run towards the office wall, back the way we had come, but Samantha's yell stopped us.
"Get in the ditch!"
I fully and totally agreed with her. Standing up against the wall when a firing squad is about to shoot you is stupid. Standing up against the wall when some sort of jet is about to crash and send rocks and stuff heading straight for you is even more stupid when there's a ditch twenty feet away.
"What?" Laurel asked.
"Get. In. The. Ditch." I made sure that I said it slowly so she could understand.
"Why?"
"MOVE IT!" I shoved her, keeping her in front of me. I don't know why. I mean, it's not like I could have protected her. I guess it just felt wrong to leave one person alone in danger when the rest of us were practically safe.
After all, the others had all reached the ditch and were urging us to hurry. Laurel had finally caught on, and was running on her own.
How was I supposed to know about the pipe?
I tripped.
What more can I say? I tripped over a heavy metal pipe that had been hidden in ashes. It was one of those stupid corner pipes. And there was a jet heading straight for me.
I turned around to see the thing crash. I'm sorry, but I think I have this fear of when I'm about to die, I'll miss the moment. I guess I was kind of hoping that at the last second, if I was watching, it would change somehow.
But it doesn't work that way, I guess.
I watched as it fell down. And at the last moment, I did close my eyes.
Chapter 4
Cameron
I saw the jet land on Chris. My best friend. Dead. Gone forever.
Chapter 4
Chris
Just kidding.
It turns out that as it got closer, I saw that it wasn't a jet. It wasn't even an aircraft. Actually, it was a spacecraft. As in spaceship. Right out of Star Trek or something.
It was about as big as a school bus. I'm sorry, I don't really want to compare it to something related to school, but that's the only thing I can think of. As it fell, there was this kind of flame or something forming something like the tail of a comet. It turned, and boy was I glad. Then it started coming towards me again.
I wasn't so glad anymore. Couldn't it fall somewhere else than on top of me?
By now, it was heading straight for me again. Surprisingly, I wasn't that scared. I mean, I was kind of scared of dying, but my parents had brought me up to think of it as just another phase of life. Kind of like leaving this life, and going to another. But I was kind of scared. I mean, I had always thought that when I died, I would go down bravely, without crying. No regrets. No sorrow. And it turns out my foot was stuck underneath a pipe.
That's the way to go down.
The ship- or whatever it was- was losing altitude. It had turned and was heading straight for me, getting lower and lower.
Just my luck it would be right on top of me. I tried to pull my foot out. It wouldn't work. I couldn't get out of it. But at the last moment, as the ship fell, it turned slightly. It landed and sent rocks, glass, and dirt, flying over me. I closed my eyes to protect them. I guess that even when you're about to die, the instinct that you don't want your eyes to burn still prevails.
After what seemed like a long time, I opened my eyes. "I'm still here." That was the first thing I said. I looked at myself. My foot was still stuck under the pipe, covered with dirt and ashes. Not to mention the rest of me. My clothes were going to need one heck of a wash.
I heard people running towards me. I turned around and saw Cameron, Samantha, and Hardy coming towards me. Laurel was a bit more reluctant, but she came, too.
Cameron dropped down beside me. "Man, are you okay?"
"Yeah," I said. I nodded too, amazed that I wasn't dead and had escaped without even a broken bone.
Cool.
"My foot's stuck." I pulled on it to prove the fact.
Cameron got down and pulled on the pipe. He stopped right before he began to pull and pushed away some of the ashes. "Someone planted this here."
He pulled the pipe out of the ground enough so I could get my foot out.
"What do you think that thing is?" Samantha asked, indicating the object that had nearly killed me.
"Whatever it is," Cameron answered, "it definitely isn't a jet."
Laurel more or less agreed. "Whatever."
Hardy, however seized the opportunity. "There's your proof, Laurel."
"Oh, shut up, Hardy."
"Make me."
"I will."
"I'd like to see you try."
It was amazing. A- a... uh, thing had almost killed us, and we were standing around, like ourselves.
"Don't you think we should go or something?" Laurel asked, obviously scared and trying not to show it.
Please, don't go.
I had heard that. I knew I had heard it. Except I hadn't heard it. It was as if I just known the words in my head. "Uh, oh." I realized I said the "Uh, oh," when I was trying to identify whoever had said it.
"Uh, guys? I really, really think we should get going." Laurel was tugging on Hardy's sleeve.
"Laurel! Cut it out. The thing told us to stay, so I'm staying."
"You heard it too?" Cameron asked.
"I did," Samantha said.
"Same here." I lifted my hand.
"Oh, maaaan." Laurel. She could go to school, brag about this, and be three times as popular as she was before, and still she was complaining.
"Hey," Samantha snapped. "That's my line!"
Laurel just smiled nervously. "Not anymore."
Please. I must talk to you.
"Okay, tell me that this is very weird," Samantha stated.
"This is beyond very weird," I agreed.
Hardy gave his opinion. "You know, I think it's a UFO"
"UFOs are Unidentified Flying Objects. And this is definitely unidentified." I stared at it a bit longer. "This thing doesn't fly; it crashes."
That's when part of it opened. Straight up like one of those dog doors. This huge centipede came out. It was probably about seven feet long, had cone legs, and a blood-red body.
"Oh, God," Laurel said as she shrank behind Hardy. I saw that Hardy wanted to squirm away, but I guess big brothers are around when you need them.
"You know, I think I can wake up now. Because I am not liking this." I looked at Cameron. It was true. It was written on his face that he clearly wasn't liking this.
You humans now have an important choice. If you choose to accept.
The creature said the "If you choose to accept" part as if we were going to already. He was just giving us a "choice" to be polite. At least it seemed that way.
"What kind of choice?" Samantha asked. "Wait a sec. First tell us who and what you are."
My name is Celestia-Comminna-Terratuse. I am an Andalite stuck in Taxxon morph. That is the first rule of morphing. Never stay in morph for more than two hours. If you do, you shall be stuck in that morph. I made that mistake.
"Morphing?" I asked. As in the Power Rangers morphing? Why did I suddenly feel sick?
Morphing, the alien said as if to say "duh". The ability to change your shape by acquiring the DNA of any living animal.
"Oh," Hardy said.
He and Samantha exchanged looks. Now what could that mean? I wondered.
"What strings are there?" Samantha asked. Smart question.
Strings?
"Yeah, strings. What do we have to do in return for this ability?"
Ah. You most fight an enemy. A powerful enemy. They are parasitic slugs called Yeerks. They crawl into their host's ear canal and take over the brain. They are everywhere. If you choose to accept the power, you may save your race.
"Fighting? Cool." Samantha shrugged and looked at me. "I'm in," she said. "I mean, if these things are threats to our family, friends, everybody we know..." I knew she had let the sentence hang on purpose, but it was working. I'd forgotten that she liked to fight- because she had a knack at it, I guess.
Cameron shook his head and addressed the Taxxon/Andalite. "These hosts. Did they want to become hosts? Are they voluntary?"
Some may be. Others... Others will be involuntary hosts. Taken against their will and made slaves of the Yeerks.
"Oh."
"What the heck," said Hardy. "I guess I'm in. I'm not going to be the one to back out, at least.
Cameron shrugged. "I'm not going to sit back and be turned into a slave."
"I guess I won't either." I noticed that I swallowed as I said that. This seemed... This seemed like the alien was making the matter smaller than it really was.
What about you? I looked around. We had all said yeah, so who?... Oh, yeah. Laurel.
"I don't know. I mean, everything is kind of vague. And can't we think about it? I mean, this is a major decision. I mean, if this is real-"
Hardy interrupted. "If this isn't real you don't have to worry about it, do you?"
Right then, I knew we had decided to go ahead with it. Maybe it was stupid. It was probably really stupid, actually. But we were going to do it anyway. Maybe it was because we really would be trying to protect the people we knew. Maybe we were just trying to protect ourselves. We could have done it because we were tired of the things we were used to. Whatever the reasons, we were going to fight something we hardly knew anything about. Maybe we didn't think this was real and just wanted to have some fun, thinking we'd wake up at any minute.
Good. One of you must go inside the ship and get a blue box that is inside. It is quite plain. A simple blue cube.
"Okay," Samantha said first. "I'll do it."
I think that right then I really got in over my head. See, I just happened to turn chivalrous, because the words that popped out of my big, stupid mouth were, "No way. I'll do it." And then before she could argue, I was running inside the ship. I found the box. It wasn't big at all. Like, four inches square on all sides.
"Okay, I found it." I set it on the ground in front of the alien.
Now you all must touch it.
Samantha's hand was the first on the box. Mine was second. Cameron and Hardy tied for third.
"I don't know," Laurel said, still undecided.
"Forget it." Hardy grabbed her wrist and put her hand on the box.
A second later I felt this kind of tickling feeling. This warm tingling spreading through my blood and everything. I guess I smiled.
The alien brought us out of it. Now you must fight the Yeerks.
"How do we fight them?" Cameron asked.
The Yeerks have a strong weakness. They must return to a Yeerk pool every three days. There they absorb nutrients and Kandrona rays.
My turn for a question. "How do we know if someone has a Yeerk in their head?"
There may be no way. When a Yeerk has taken control of someone, they are called Controllers. The Yeerks know everything the host knows. Acts the same. Talks the same. The host is totally helpless.
"Oh." iThat/i made everything sound more fun.
You must go now. I came to help your species, but something went wrong with my ship. Surely Controllers saw it. They will be here soon. The responsibility to save your people is yours. Now go.
For a second, we all just stood there, looking at each other. We couldn't just leave the Taxxon here. Or was it an Andalite?
"Can't you come with us?" I asked.
I do not belong here. The Taxxon is a dangerous animal. Many were voluntary hosts. But they are carnivores. Very dangerous carnivores.
"So what?" Hardy asked. "You're going to eat us?"
I got a little jumpy when the Andalite wouldn't say anything for a few moments. It would be smart to leave.
"But you're hurt," Laurel said.
For the first time, I noticed that the Andalite had been injured, whether in the crash or some other time. "We have vets. Maybe they can help you."
No. No one must know that I have been here. You must tell no one of the Yeerks. They are more powerful than you may think. If someone found out that you knew about them, Controllers would make you Controllers, also. And then they would also have the morphing ability.
"And that's a bad thing, right?" Hardy asked.
So far, the only Controller with the morphing ability is the only Andalite host. He is called Visser Three. So far.
Headlights flashed. GO!
"But-"
"You're hurt!"
"You have to come with us!"
"What else!?"
"Can't you-"
GO!
Before I knew what I was doing, I shouted, "DO IT!"
And then everything was a blur. We were all running. The ditch was now less than ten feet away. The sound of a car engine was closer. The lights were brighter.
Five feet. The ditch. Safety. The lights, moving towards me.
Two feet.
Just two feet.
JUMP!
It wasn't a big ditch. I had been running too quickly. I had put too much force in the jump. As a matter of fact, I had jumped right over the ditch.
No time! I dropped to the ground right as more car lights swept over me. As soon as they had passed, I rolled into the ditch. Thankfully, Cameron had realized what I was planning and caught me before I took a swim in ditch water.
So, we just crouched there. Five kids, with no clue what was going on, crouching as close as they could get to the side of ditch, where they weren't supposed to be.
"I'm sick of this." I looked to see who the speaker was. I should have just saved my energy. Samantha.
"You stay here. I've been here plenty of times. I'll do it."
"Whatever."
So that's how I ended up crawling the edge of the ditch, trying to remember if there really was a scrubby patch of grass above me.
Luckily, there was.
Great. That made me feel better. Scrawny piece of grass. My big head.
A limo was one of the cars. It drove up right next to the ship, then drove away. The cars formed a circle. A Taxxon body might have gotten through, but the Andalite didn't even try. A human had gotten out of the limo. Then, right before my eyes, he began to change.
I mean, really change.
Humans, if you are still in thought-speak range, this... this creature is Visser Three.
Heads bobbed up around me.
The human, though. He was growing hair all over. Blue hair. His eyes split in half. Two seemed to grow to the top of his head, the other two grew to their original size. The nose and mouth disappeared and became three slits. Then his butt started to grow. I mean it. At first it was just kind of jutting out, then the Visser's legs popped out of the bottom of his butt and started growing. When the legs were done, and then the back, he, or "it" looked like a blue centaur with eyes that stood on little stalks or whatever and missing a nose and mouth. I felt this, this evil. It was incredible. Right away, I could smell the evil. And I knew instantly that Visser Three was not a nice guy.
You thought you could run? Visser Three started laughing.
Then came Celestia's response. Visser Three?
Yes?
Shove it.
I felt my eyebrows rise. An alien using very modern human phrases.
You will regret saying that, Andalite.
I don't think so. You should take some of the brains you have- you might need a microscope to find them before you cut them- mix them with some oatmeal, and then shove it up your fat- and the Celestia said some very modern human phrases.
After that, Visser Three just stood above Celestia, looking right into her compound eyes. Neither of them moved. The tension mounted. It kept mounting. After a while, Visser Three laughed.
Andalite scum. You would have made a great host. But no, you are just a young girl. Why waste?
And with that, he started changing. His skin grew moist and turned a dark green with splotches of crimson red. He got fatter. To the point that his stomach was almost touching the ground. Then, small, microscopic legs started popping up. He grew a mouth again. The mouth along with the head oozed into the rest of the... thing. By now he was just this huge blob of... well, stuff.
And then, as he crept closer to the Andalite stuck in Taxxon morph, I heard her voice again. You can't stay in morph for more than two hours, or else you will be stuck in morph forever. Two hours.
Visser Three seemed to stumble and fall on top of Celestia. I saw his mouth. The mouth was full of huge, razor-sharp teeth. Not once did Celestia scream. She died and didn't go down screaming. Now I wonder if that made her brave, or just mentally ill.
I don't know if the others realized it, but I knew. I knew why she had done that. She had tricked Visser Three. He had been so preoccupied with Celestia that we could have sneaked away.
His jaws closed in around her.
Beside me, Laurel cried, "No!"
In that instant, every Controller looked our way- and saw five human heads vanish into the ditch.
"Laurel, you idiot," Hardy muttered.
I jumped in. Right now, there were more important things. They could argue later. "Okay, we split up. Cameron and Samantha. Hardy and Laurel." Hardy and Laurel pretend to hate each other. But I knew that when they had to, they could work together. And this was one of those times when they had to.
"What about you?" Cameron asked.
"I'll try and distract them."
Samantha shook her head. "I don't think that's a very smart idea."
"Just do it." I could already hear Controllers running towards the ditch. "1...2... 3... GO!"
They started to run. I, however, was going to provide a distraction. I took a deep breath, and before I could stop myself, ran up the side of the ditch. I prayed that being on the football team would be enough.
I ran up the side of the ditch, hoping I was gaining speed. Luckily, the Controllers were somewhat slow. I ran, plowed into four of them.
"Someone grab him!" That voice. It sounded... familiar.
Andalite scum. There must have been more aboard the ship. I heard Visser Three growl behind me. But I kept running.
I ran into the alley. I guess officially, it would be the road leading to the parking lot. There were cars parked here, too. And too late I realized that not all of the Controllers were with the Visser. A jeep turned its brights on right as I was heading for it. That blinded me. The sound of the engine coming to life deafened me.
If taste had been a major sense, I probably would have lost that, too.
The sound was getting closer. I held up my hand to shield my eyes from the light. They adjusted just enough to show me what I really didn't want to know.
The jeep was about to plow over me.
i"You may have one thing," the Ellimist told me. I looked back at the Chris in the past. The Ellimist knew what he was doing. He was showing me this for a reason. If Chris didn't make it past the jeep, he was going to die or be caught, and then it would all be over.
"Do we all have one wish?" I asked, stalling.
"Yes. What do you wish for?"
"You know what I wish for," I told him.
"Chris."
"Yes, already. Keep Chris safe." The Ellimist nodded. I knew he was nodding to someone, but I wasn't sure who. Maybe to himself. I turned and watched even though I knew it wouldn't do any good to see how my wish had affect things. I was already leaving the scene./i
I was scared, true. But at the same time, I kept thinking, Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan. I think I've watched too many action movies. Way too many way too many times. Maybe that explains what I did next. I ran straight ahead. The jeep didn't stop. I jumped up, landed on the hood, kept running. Leap off the wind shield, land on the concrete. Landed hard on the concrete. Very hard.
Then I got up and kept running.
Behind me, I heard, "Move it! Move it! We can't let them get away!" Still, the voice sounded familiar.
I ran all the way home that night. The first time I ran miles without complaining.
center* * */center
centeriCassie/center
I couldn't believe it. I'd opened the morning paper- We were all trying to keep an eye on things. And then I saw just a small box of print, telling about kids having a bonfire in a very familiar place for me. "Like us in more ways than one," I said softly. Same place. What were the other ways they were like us?
"What?" my dad asked.
"Nothing. Just thinking."
I took the paper with me that morning before I left for school. I had to show it to Jake./i/html
Coming up: I told you these new kids were stupid. It only gets worse. The Anis find the new kids. And, let's see... Um... More trouble to come, of course.