KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Tobias got up to answer the door. I heard Jake and Marco's voices come into human
hearing range. 'Oh, crap,' I thought. Tobias must have thought the same thing because he
came back into the room and put on a shirt and trousers over his boxers. He looked at me
saying sorry with his eyes.
I mouthed 'it's okay' to him, then 'close the door.' He got both messages, smiled and
closed to door. I fell back onto the bed, content with falling back to sleep. Then I
remembered where I was supposed to be.
I got out of Tobias' bed and opened the bedroom window all the way and morphed to
hawk.
Tobias, I have to get back to the valley. I'll see you later. Don't worry about the
interruption. I'll see you later. I knew he couldn't answer. But I knew he close enough to
get the message.
I flew out of the bedroom window and headed back to the Hork-Bajir's secret valley.
***************
TOBIAS
I heard Zoe's message. I knew she'd be out of here in about a minute. I felt really guilty
about that. Now all I had to do was get Jake and Marco out of here and go and talk to her.
"So, did you watch the game last night?" Marco asked me.
"What game?"
"Oh, man. You missed one hell of a gridiron match last night. The Chargers totally
annihilated the Rangers," Jake said, like he couldn't believe I hadn't seen it.
I shook my head. "I was a little busy last night." I looked out my front window. I saw a
red-tail hawk flying in the opposite direction. Jake and Marco must have noticed what I
was looking at.
"A friend?" Jake asked me.
I nodded. "You could say that."
Suddenly...
TSEEW!!!!!!!!!
The hawk started falling down through the sky. Now I was very panicked. The others
didn't know she had that morph, except Cassie. But a red-tail hawk morph was one that
Visser One always looked out for.
I ran over the window and opened it, then started morphing to hawk. I wouldn't get
there in time, but if they saw another hawk, they might think that they'd hit the wrong
bird. I hoped.
"Tobias, what're you doing?" Jake hissed.
I was now fully morphed. That was Zoë, I practically yelled. It was so stupid of me to
forget that during the day, one red-tail hawk is going to be guessed as an Animorph by
Controllers.
Even though I was halfway to where Zoë had been hit, I could still hear Jake and Marco.
"What????!!!!!!!!!!!!!" They didn't seem happy to hear this.
I finally reached the spot where she'd been hit. It was an alleyway behind a corprate
building of some kind. I scanned the alleyway. No Zoë. I felt like flying into a wall. No,
wait, I've done that before. It hurt a lot.
I noticed an Osprey and a Peregrine Falcon, flying closer to me.
Care to explain, Tobias? Uh, oh. Jake sounded a little ticked off.
Ok. She was a little down yesterday, so I persuaded her to go flying with me to cheer
her up. We went back to my apartment and when she was about to leave, it started to
downpour, so she couldn't fly back to the valley. So she slept on the couch. Ok, so that
wasn't quite true, but they didn't have to know the complete truth.
But the couch was made up when we got there, Marco said like a know-it-all.
Yeah, she'd just left as you guys arrived, meaning she'd made up the couch, I said
impatiently. They were questioning me when we had a bigger problem: Visser One had
Zoë, who he wants to kill more desperately than he wants to kill us. So I told them so.
Could we get back on track please. Visser boy there has Zoë. Was anyone paying
attention to her story yesterday, or were you too busy questioning her credibility?
I started to fly in the direction of the Hork-Bajir valley.
**************
ZOE
I woke up in a cage, with the most incredible headache and extremely blurry vision.
Then I realized I was still in hawk morph. That made me remember what had happened.
Partly.
The last thing I remembered was flying out of Tobias' bedroom window and getting hit
by a Dracon Beam. It must have been a modified one because Dracon Beams don't knock
anything unconscious and leave side affects. I should know, I was taught how to fix them.
Oh the joys of being Visser One's pet!
Wake up, my little Andalite. Speak of the devil. Literally.
I made a sound with my hawk beak. I really couldn't understand what it sounded like; I
was way too out of it. The Visser didn't know two of us had hawk morphs so I might be
able to fool him. Maybe. Maybe not. Probably the latter, but hey, a girl can try.
Speak, Visser One roared. I tried to block out the sound. To my hawk hearing, it
echoed all over the place, making my headache worse.
WHOOSH.
Suddenly I was human again, no where near Visser One - who was frozen in the
background. I had to sit on the ground to stop the wave of dizziness that passed over me
from making me collapse. It was like time was stopped. I knew of only two people, well,
two beings, who could stop time.
"Ok. Ellimist or Crayak. Whoever is stopping time, please show yourself, I'm in no mood
for this." I'm pretty sure I sounded slightly drunk.
"Well, for someone who seems completely without control of her own thoughts, you
certainly are perceptive." Crayak appeared in front of me.
"Yeah, whatever. What do you want?" I was still sitting on the floor with my head in my
hands. "Do you have any aspirin?" I asked him.
Crayak laughed. "What do I want? Well, creation wiped out would be nice, but since this
isn't about that, that's not what I want. This is a little visit to discuss the fate of your
friends."
I whipped my head up so fast that I got struck with another wave of dizziness. "What
about my friends," I said, fighting it back.
"Well, you see. In your current situation, you are about to be interrogated by Visser
One. And he will break you and find out that you are indeed his once loyal protégé. Then
he will find out the identities of the other Animorphs and then he will kill them in front of
you. Then you will die."
"I thought you couldn't know the future for certain?" I said.
"Oh, that applies for what happens over a long period of time. This scenario happens
over the period of a day."
That shook me. "What do you want me for?"
"You have a choice...."
"God, you sound like Ellimist."
"...You can give your life in exchange for your friends. Or you can keep your life and
then they lose theirs and eventually you lose yours."
"Fabulous choices," I remarked. Crayak actually thought it was a hard choice for me to
make. "Fine, kill me."
Then it all went black.
*****************
RACHEL
I may not be in love with Tobias now, and he may not be in love with me, but it still
hurts to see someone, who is a really close friend, fall to pieces. And Tobias did that. Not
majorly. But kind of in a guilt way. He said that it was all his fault that Zoë had been killed.
All his fault. But it wasn't his fault. It was just bad luck and really bad timing.
Here's what happened.
After Tobias told the Hork-Bajir that Controllers had captured Zoë, we went to find a
possible Yeerk Pool entrance. When we couldn't find one, I gambled that the one in the
dressing rooms of The Gap might still be there, minus the Gleet BioFilter and whatever
else that had posted after our first little excursions. I was right, and we all managed to get
into the tunnels undetected, which is where we morphed, and for Ax, demorphed. Marco
went Gorilla, Jake went tiger, Cassie wolf, Ax went Andalite and I went Grizzly. Normally
Tobias would have used his hawk morph, but my excuse for him using his Hork-Bajir
morph is that he wasn't in the right frame of mind.
So, after we morphed, we went and crashed Visser One's little party. Only, we couldn't
see him. So, ten Hork-Bajir and ten Taxxons later, we stumbled upon a room containing
Visser One and a human Zoë, who looked like she was knocked out. The Visser was not
happy with us, or with the discovery he'd made, although it was a little incorrect.
So, my Andalite friends. You were not content with your own species. You had the
audacity to brainwash my most loyal follower and give her the ability to morph. Oh, he
sounded really ticked off. Well, let me tell you this, Andalites. You will not claim anymore
humans and give them the ability to morph. Nor will you have this girl as a companion and
informative.
He retreated through a back door, it seems he has placed many of these back doors in
his underground city, and dropped Zoe's body on the ground. That's when I realized that
she was dead. I don't really know when everyone else realized it. I saw Tobias start to
demorph.
Tobias, stop. Visser One still doesn't know that we're human. He thinks Zoë was the
only human.
Jake also voiced what he thought was the way to go. Rachel's right. Tobias, stay in
morph. Marco, carry Zoë out of here.
Jake, where are we going to go with a dead body. I mean a bizarre entourage of
animals is weird enough. I thought Cassie was really brave. Not only was her bluntness
amazing, but I knew Tobias would have a go at her for it. But Tobias didn't move, so I
assumed Cassie hadn't used thought-speak directed at him.
I looked at Jake. He was pacing like a, well, like a tiger. Jake, what about the Chee? I
asked him.
Good idea. Tobias. Tobias turned to face Jake. Tobias, demorph and morph to hawk
and get Erek. We'll meet you behind the mall.
No. I'm staying here. I had no idea what had happened between Zoë and Tobias, and
I had no desire to find out, but I was assuming that they were dating or at least liked each
other.
Tobias, when we get out of here, we can't have you going and attacking Hork-Bajir and
Taxxon unnecessarily, I said, hoping I sounded nice and understanding. We need Erek
here so he can hide Zoë so we can get somewhere safe.
I saw Tobias hesitate, but then start to demorph. When he was fully human, he went
over to Zoë and picked her up. I thought Zoë had had the palest skin I'd ever seen. Now
she was even whiter, she really looked like death. After he picked her up he carried her
over to Marco, and handed her to him.
What? Don't you trust me to pick her up? Marco joked. It was cover to hide what he
was really feeling.
"No." Tobias' bluntness shocked me. He started morphing hawk. When he was done, he
flew straight out of the room and made a break for the entrance.
After he was out of sight, the rest of us walked out of the room, surrounding Marco, and
ready for anything that Visser One threw at us. Amazingly there was nothing.
We walked out and Visser One stood there watching us go. He probably thought it was
hilarious that one of us had been killed, and at his hands as well. I kept waiting for him to
launch his army of Taxxons and Hork-Bajir at us. But we made it to the back of the mall
without any trouble at all.
Tobias and Erek had beaten us there. I later found out that was because Erek had been
shopping for some reason.
"Erek, we need your help to get Zoë back to the Hork-Bajir valley," I said as soon as I'd
regained my human mouth.
"No problem. Lead the way."
So we did. We all took turns walking and flying as scout overhead. All but Erek, who
can't morph. But he did put out a hologram to hide Zoë while we were walking towards the
woods that led to the valley.
The Hork-Bajir were shocked and saddened that she had been killed. She had been the
only human, besides us, who could talk and relate to them. She had taught them, with
help from Toby - who was already pretty smart for a Hork-Bajir. But then again, she is a
seer.
The Hork-Bajir had said that they'd help us dig a grave for Zoë in the little valley that
had become her home. While the H-B were digging a grave for her, we all sat around her
body and kind of said our last good-byes to her. Tobias sat quietly and wouldn't even talk
to me about it. But then a thought seemed to hit him.
"How did she die?" he asked, looking for any visible wounds.
I guess we'd all been too upset to even have asked ourselves that question. In fact, now
that I thought about it, I saw no possible physical way for her death. The only mark on her
body was a scar she had on her wrist from when she was a Controller - she'd been grazed
by a H-B blade. But otherwise? Not a single scratch or mark on her entire body. No
blood...nothing.
She may have died from internal damages, Ax said quietly.
I shook my head. "Ax, that may be true, but I know she didn't die from any natural
causes. She was in perfect health - she morphed me so she could go to her doctor. And if
Visser One, say, crushed her heart or lungs, there would still be visible damages on the
skin."
"Since when did you become a doctor?" Marco asked me cynically.
I shot him a look that, hopefully, said "Back off. This is not the time." I think he got the
message.
Toby came and told us when they were ready. If it's possible for a H-B to cry, then Toby
was definitely crying.
Tobias picked Zoë up in his arms and carried her to the spot the H-B had picked out. It
was in one corner of the tiny valley, surrounded by trees and next to the stream that
flowed through the valley. Then he did something I didn't expect. He kissed her. Then he
placed her in the ground and the H-B filled in the dirt and we had our version of a funeral.
"Ket miss Zoë," Ket Halpak informed everyone. "She teach. Ket learn."
Next, Jara Hamee spoke. "Jara learn, Jara remember. Life worth it."
I suppose the last comment confused us humans, but Toby explained to us.
"Zoë always said that if life was worth it, in the end death would mean nothing
compared to what you have achieved. She said she thought life was worth it." She stopped
to think about what she would say. "Zoë, you said that your life was worth it, especially
after you escaped Yeerk control. But your life meant more to the Hork-Bajir than you can
possibly know. And if you still think that your life was worth it, then so do I."
Everyone was sort of quiet after that. I guess that made me nervous. I had to say
something. "Zoë, we never thought of you as someone we couldn't trust. You always
laughed, and always taught others. Hey, Zo-zo the yo-yo, life will never be the same." I
couldn't help but smile at the nickname I'd given Zoë the first time I'd actually had a
conversation with her. She'd been playing with a yo-yo. The nickname seemed appropriate
at the time.
I half expected Tobias to say something, but he wasn't even paying attention. Just
looking at the sky.
I knew the others wouldn't say anything, they didn't know her as well as Tobias and I
did. But they did say goodbye. When I looked up again, I didn't see Tobias. A shadow
crossed through the valley and I looked up. I could see Tobias floating just above the
treetops.
"Want to talk about it?" I asked softly, so that the others didn't hear it.
Not really, he replied, sounding determined. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have
something to do. He started to fly off, and I knew what he had to do, or, I suppose,
wanted to do.
And I was really mad. "Tobias, come back here. NOW!!!!!!!" I screamed at him. It must
have been really loud because not only did Tobias come back, but half the birds in the
surrounding, but I also scared the living daylights out of Cassie, Jack, Marco, Ax and the
H-B.
He demorphed and I suppressed the urge to punch him, because if it had been me in his
place about a year ago, I would have done the exact same thing. But it wasn't me
anymore. Not after so much war. I had to maintain some sanity. Tobias always seemed
like the most levelheaded, and if he lost it now, so would I.
"Tobias, you are not going on a suicide mission," I said.
He looked at me like I was mad. "Excuse me? If you were me you would have already
gone there and gotten yourself killed. Why are you allowed to do it and I'm not?"
"Key word here, Tobias: would. Not am or are or about to. Would." I sighed. "Listen, she
was my friend as well. I loved her like a sister, like I love Cassie. Like I love all of you. But
you can't do anything to bring her back. It was an accident. No one's fault. Not yours, not
mine. Not hers."
It seemed to shut him up. I hated to be so harsh, especially about this. It was now
apparent to me that they were in love. And this revelation didn't help. Jake was looked
uncomfortable, like he didn't know what to say. No way was he up to taking charge. And
this wasn't a mission, I would be fine with taking charge.
"Everyone, go home and get some sleep. And Tobias," I said looking directly at him.
"Tobias, you stay with Ax tonight, okay? No suicide missions. Losing someone else isn't
going to help, and we've only just begun to get the upper hand in this war." Tobias nodded
at me. Jake nodded in approvement of my orders.
We all went our separate ways - Marco and Jake to their apartment, Ax ad Tobias to
Ax's meadow and Cassie and I to our apartment. It was a quiet flight home (flying out of
the valley is the easiest way in every sense).
Back at our apartment, Cassie and I sat on the couch. And I cried.
****************
We informed the College that Zoë had been killed in a hit-and-run accident, and that
she'd been buried in Vancouver, near her mother's grave. They bought the lie and even
said that they'd hold a memorial service later that week.
We thanked them for that because we hadn't given her a really good funeral. That was
mostly my fault, and I apologized to Tobias later on.
***************
Just before the memorial service, we had a long discussion about what we were going to
do. We had found out that Victor Trent - Visser One's human morph would be attending
the ceremony. We made it clear to Tobias not to do anything. He'd calmed down a little
since Zoe's death, but he still wanted to kill Visser One.
We sat through the service without drawing too much attention to ourselves. Tobias got
up and said a eulogy. I'd originally been asked by the college to do it, but I told them I
thought Tobias would be a better choice.
He managed to get through the speech without breaking down. As he was walking back
towards where we were sitting, Tobias hesitated as he passed Victor Trent. But he
managed top keep walking. So much so that he walked out of the room being used for the
service. There was a girl sitting right at the back of the room. She had brown hair, blue
eyes and pale skin. I recognized her from somewhere, but I had no idea of her name. I
probably knew her from one of my many college classes. Anyway, when Tobias passed
her, she got up and left, trailing after him.
****************
TOBIAS
I walked out of the service after I gave my eulogy about Zoë. I just couldn't help it. If I
stayed there one more minute I was pretty sure I'd go over to Visser One and do as much
bodily harm as I could possibly inflict.
As I left, a brunette I couldn't quite pick as any particular person I went to school with
but I knew I knew her, followed me out. She ran to catch up with me.
"Tobias!" she called out. I knew that voice. I must have been having deja vou.
I turned around to face her. My face must have been in an annoyed expression because
she cringed. I sighed. "I'm sorry," I said. "Was there something I can help you with?"
"Yeah. Ummm, Tobias you know..." She hesitated, thinking carefully over her choice of
words. Then she changed the subject entirely. "I know you were going out with Zoë, and
I'm not asking you out on a date, but could you meet me in front of The Gap after last
class? You can bring your friends if you don't trust me."
I was shocked. Only my friends knew that I was dating Zoë. Even they don't know how
far it went. I raised my eyebrows. "I don't even know your name."
She ducked her head. "I'm sorry, how rude of me. I'm Sera. Look, I'll be in front of The
Gap, so if you want to come, then I'll see you there. It's important."
"Who are you?" I asked, startled by her directness.
"Sera. And I know about you and your friends. I know about the slugs. I know about the
Chee." She had spoken softly so that no one else heard her. Then she smiled and left. I
noticed that she was dressed in all black.
I waited out the rest of the service in the student's lounge, where I knew my friends
would find me. When the did, I told them about my encounter with Sera. I still couldn't
quite picture her. But I knew I'd seen her somewhere.
"Are you guys sure you don't know her. Light brown hair, blue eyes. My height." I asked
them.
"You know, I thought the same thing when I saw her," Rachel said.
The others shrugged.
"Sorry, Tobias. I didn't see her," Marco replied.
Jake, as usual, stuck to business. "Are we going to meet her. She sounds like she knows
a lot."
"It could be a set-up," Cassie pointed out. "She could be a Controller."
I shrugged. "Believe me, if you saw her you wouldn't think she was a Controller. I don't
know if you saw it Rachel, but she looked so familiar. Like I knew her, but didn't."
Rachel had made up her mind. The same answer I had to Jake's question.
In her straightforward way, she said, "We're going."
And that was the end of that.
*****************
Tobias got up to answer the door. I heard Jake and Marco's voices come into human
hearing range. 'Oh, crap,' I thought. Tobias must have thought the same thing because he
came back into the room and put on a shirt and trousers over his boxers. He looked at me
saying sorry with his eyes.
I mouthed 'it's okay' to him, then 'close the door.' He got both messages, smiled and
closed to door. I fell back onto the bed, content with falling back to sleep. Then I
remembered where I was supposed to be.
I got out of Tobias' bed and opened the bedroom window all the way and morphed to
hawk.
Tobias, I have to get back to the valley. I'll see you later. Don't worry about the
interruption. I'll see you later. I knew he couldn't answer. But I knew he close enough to
get the message.
I flew out of the bedroom window and headed back to the Hork-Bajir's secret valley.
***************
TOBIAS
I heard Zoe's message. I knew she'd be out of here in about a minute. I felt really guilty
about that. Now all I had to do was get Jake and Marco out of here and go and talk to her.
"So, did you watch the game last night?" Marco asked me.
"What game?"
"Oh, man. You missed one hell of a gridiron match last night. The Chargers totally
annihilated the Rangers," Jake said, like he couldn't believe I hadn't seen it.
I shook my head. "I was a little busy last night." I looked out my front window. I saw a
red-tail hawk flying in the opposite direction. Jake and Marco must have noticed what I
was looking at.
"A friend?" Jake asked me.
I nodded. "You could say that."
Suddenly...
TSEEW!!!!!!!!!
The hawk started falling down through the sky. Now I was very panicked. The others
didn't know she had that morph, except Cassie. But a red-tail hawk morph was one that
Visser One always looked out for.
I ran over the window and opened it, then started morphing to hawk. I wouldn't get
there in time, but if they saw another hawk, they might think that they'd hit the wrong
bird. I hoped.
"Tobias, what're you doing?" Jake hissed.
I was now fully morphed. That was Zoë, I practically yelled. It was so stupid of me to
forget that during the day, one red-tail hawk is going to be guessed as an Animorph by
Controllers.
Even though I was halfway to where Zoë had been hit, I could still hear Jake and Marco.
"What????!!!!!!!!!!!!!" They didn't seem happy to hear this.
I finally reached the spot where she'd been hit. It was an alleyway behind a corprate
building of some kind. I scanned the alleyway. No Zoë. I felt like flying into a wall. No,
wait, I've done that before. It hurt a lot.
I noticed an Osprey and a Peregrine Falcon, flying closer to me.
Care to explain, Tobias? Uh, oh. Jake sounded a little ticked off.
Ok. She was a little down yesterday, so I persuaded her to go flying with me to cheer
her up. We went back to my apartment and when she was about to leave, it started to
downpour, so she couldn't fly back to the valley. So she slept on the couch. Ok, so that
wasn't quite true, but they didn't have to know the complete truth.
But the couch was made up when we got there, Marco said like a know-it-all.
Yeah, she'd just left as you guys arrived, meaning she'd made up the couch, I said
impatiently. They were questioning me when we had a bigger problem: Visser One had
Zoë, who he wants to kill more desperately than he wants to kill us. So I told them so.
Could we get back on track please. Visser boy there has Zoë. Was anyone paying
attention to her story yesterday, or were you too busy questioning her credibility?
I started to fly in the direction of the Hork-Bajir valley.
**************
ZOE
I woke up in a cage, with the most incredible headache and extremely blurry vision.
Then I realized I was still in hawk morph. That made me remember what had happened.
Partly.
The last thing I remembered was flying out of Tobias' bedroom window and getting hit
by a Dracon Beam. It must have been a modified one because Dracon Beams don't knock
anything unconscious and leave side affects. I should know, I was taught how to fix them.
Oh the joys of being Visser One's pet!
Wake up, my little Andalite. Speak of the devil. Literally.
I made a sound with my hawk beak. I really couldn't understand what it sounded like; I
was way too out of it. The Visser didn't know two of us had hawk morphs so I might be
able to fool him. Maybe. Maybe not. Probably the latter, but hey, a girl can try.
Speak, Visser One roared. I tried to block out the sound. To my hawk hearing, it
echoed all over the place, making my headache worse.
WHOOSH.
Suddenly I was human again, no where near Visser One - who was frozen in the
background. I had to sit on the ground to stop the wave of dizziness that passed over me
from making me collapse. It was like time was stopped. I knew of only two people, well,
two beings, who could stop time.
"Ok. Ellimist or Crayak. Whoever is stopping time, please show yourself, I'm in no mood
for this." I'm pretty sure I sounded slightly drunk.
"Well, for someone who seems completely without control of her own thoughts, you
certainly are perceptive." Crayak appeared in front of me.
"Yeah, whatever. What do you want?" I was still sitting on the floor with my head in my
hands. "Do you have any aspirin?" I asked him.
Crayak laughed. "What do I want? Well, creation wiped out would be nice, but since this
isn't about that, that's not what I want. This is a little visit to discuss the fate of your
friends."
I whipped my head up so fast that I got struck with another wave of dizziness. "What
about my friends," I said, fighting it back.
"Well, you see. In your current situation, you are about to be interrogated by Visser
One. And he will break you and find out that you are indeed his once loyal protégé. Then
he will find out the identities of the other Animorphs and then he will kill them in front of
you. Then you will die."
"I thought you couldn't know the future for certain?" I said.
"Oh, that applies for what happens over a long period of time. This scenario happens
over the period of a day."
That shook me. "What do you want me for?"
"You have a choice...."
"God, you sound like Ellimist."
"...You can give your life in exchange for your friends. Or you can keep your life and
then they lose theirs and eventually you lose yours."
"Fabulous choices," I remarked. Crayak actually thought it was a hard choice for me to
make. "Fine, kill me."
Then it all went black.
*****************
RACHEL
I may not be in love with Tobias now, and he may not be in love with me, but it still
hurts to see someone, who is a really close friend, fall to pieces. And Tobias did that. Not
majorly. But kind of in a guilt way. He said that it was all his fault that Zoë had been killed.
All his fault. But it wasn't his fault. It was just bad luck and really bad timing.
Here's what happened.
After Tobias told the Hork-Bajir that Controllers had captured Zoë, we went to find a
possible Yeerk Pool entrance. When we couldn't find one, I gambled that the one in the
dressing rooms of The Gap might still be there, minus the Gleet BioFilter and whatever
else that had posted after our first little excursions. I was right, and we all managed to get
into the tunnels undetected, which is where we morphed, and for Ax, demorphed. Marco
went Gorilla, Jake went tiger, Cassie wolf, Ax went Andalite and I went Grizzly. Normally
Tobias would have used his hawk morph, but my excuse for him using his Hork-Bajir
morph is that he wasn't in the right frame of mind.
So, after we morphed, we went and crashed Visser One's little party. Only, we couldn't
see him. So, ten Hork-Bajir and ten Taxxons later, we stumbled upon a room containing
Visser One and a human Zoë, who looked like she was knocked out. The Visser was not
happy with us, or with the discovery he'd made, although it was a little incorrect.
So, my Andalite friends. You were not content with your own species. You had the
audacity to brainwash my most loyal follower and give her the ability to morph. Oh, he
sounded really ticked off. Well, let me tell you this, Andalites. You will not claim anymore
humans and give them the ability to morph. Nor will you have this girl as a companion and
informative.
He retreated through a back door, it seems he has placed many of these back doors in
his underground city, and dropped Zoe's body on the ground. That's when I realized that
she was dead. I don't really know when everyone else realized it. I saw Tobias start to
demorph.
Tobias, stop. Visser One still doesn't know that we're human. He thinks Zoë was the
only human.
Jake also voiced what he thought was the way to go. Rachel's right. Tobias, stay in
morph. Marco, carry Zoë out of here.
Jake, where are we going to go with a dead body. I mean a bizarre entourage of
animals is weird enough. I thought Cassie was really brave. Not only was her bluntness
amazing, but I knew Tobias would have a go at her for it. But Tobias didn't move, so I
assumed Cassie hadn't used thought-speak directed at him.
I looked at Jake. He was pacing like a, well, like a tiger. Jake, what about the Chee? I
asked him.
Good idea. Tobias. Tobias turned to face Jake. Tobias, demorph and morph to hawk
and get Erek. We'll meet you behind the mall.
No. I'm staying here. I had no idea what had happened between Zoë and Tobias, and
I had no desire to find out, but I was assuming that they were dating or at least liked each
other.
Tobias, when we get out of here, we can't have you going and attacking Hork-Bajir and
Taxxon unnecessarily, I said, hoping I sounded nice and understanding. We need Erek
here so he can hide Zoë so we can get somewhere safe.
I saw Tobias hesitate, but then start to demorph. When he was fully human, he went
over to Zoë and picked her up. I thought Zoë had had the palest skin I'd ever seen. Now
she was even whiter, she really looked like death. After he picked her up he carried her
over to Marco, and handed her to him.
What? Don't you trust me to pick her up? Marco joked. It was cover to hide what he
was really feeling.
"No." Tobias' bluntness shocked me. He started morphing hawk. When he was done, he
flew straight out of the room and made a break for the entrance.
After he was out of sight, the rest of us walked out of the room, surrounding Marco, and
ready for anything that Visser One threw at us. Amazingly there was nothing.
We walked out and Visser One stood there watching us go. He probably thought it was
hilarious that one of us had been killed, and at his hands as well. I kept waiting for him to
launch his army of Taxxons and Hork-Bajir at us. But we made it to the back of the mall
without any trouble at all.
Tobias and Erek had beaten us there. I later found out that was because Erek had been
shopping for some reason.
"Erek, we need your help to get Zoë back to the Hork-Bajir valley," I said as soon as I'd
regained my human mouth.
"No problem. Lead the way."
So we did. We all took turns walking and flying as scout overhead. All but Erek, who
can't morph. But he did put out a hologram to hide Zoë while we were walking towards the
woods that led to the valley.
The Hork-Bajir were shocked and saddened that she had been killed. She had been the
only human, besides us, who could talk and relate to them. She had taught them, with
help from Toby - who was already pretty smart for a Hork-Bajir. But then again, she is a
seer.
The Hork-Bajir had said that they'd help us dig a grave for Zoë in the little valley that
had become her home. While the H-B were digging a grave for her, we all sat around her
body and kind of said our last good-byes to her. Tobias sat quietly and wouldn't even talk
to me about it. But then a thought seemed to hit him.
"How did she die?" he asked, looking for any visible wounds.
I guess we'd all been too upset to even have asked ourselves that question. In fact, now
that I thought about it, I saw no possible physical way for her death. The only mark on her
body was a scar she had on her wrist from when she was a Controller - she'd been grazed
by a H-B blade. But otherwise? Not a single scratch or mark on her entire body. No
blood...nothing.
She may have died from internal damages, Ax said quietly.
I shook my head. "Ax, that may be true, but I know she didn't die from any natural
causes. She was in perfect health - she morphed me so she could go to her doctor. And if
Visser One, say, crushed her heart or lungs, there would still be visible damages on the
skin."
"Since when did you become a doctor?" Marco asked me cynically.
I shot him a look that, hopefully, said "Back off. This is not the time." I think he got the
message.
Toby came and told us when they were ready. If it's possible for a H-B to cry, then Toby
was definitely crying.
Tobias picked Zoë up in his arms and carried her to the spot the H-B had picked out. It
was in one corner of the tiny valley, surrounded by trees and next to the stream that
flowed through the valley. Then he did something I didn't expect. He kissed her. Then he
placed her in the ground and the H-B filled in the dirt and we had our version of a funeral.
"Ket miss Zoë," Ket Halpak informed everyone. "She teach. Ket learn."
Next, Jara Hamee spoke. "Jara learn, Jara remember. Life worth it."
I suppose the last comment confused us humans, but Toby explained to us.
"Zoë always said that if life was worth it, in the end death would mean nothing
compared to what you have achieved. She said she thought life was worth it." She stopped
to think about what she would say. "Zoë, you said that your life was worth it, especially
after you escaped Yeerk control. But your life meant more to the Hork-Bajir than you can
possibly know. And if you still think that your life was worth it, then so do I."
Everyone was sort of quiet after that. I guess that made me nervous. I had to say
something. "Zoë, we never thought of you as someone we couldn't trust. You always
laughed, and always taught others. Hey, Zo-zo the yo-yo, life will never be the same." I
couldn't help but smile at the nickname I'd given Zoë the first time I'd actually had a
conversation with her. She'd been playing with a yo-yo. The nickname seemed appropriate
at the time.
I half expected Tobias to say something, but he wasn't even paying attention. Just
looking at the sky.
I knew the others wouldn't say anything, they didn't know her as well as Tobias and I
did. But they did say goodbye. When I looked up again, I didn't see Tobias. A shadow
crossed through the valley and I looked up. I could see Tobias floating just above the
treetops.
"Want to talk about it?" I asked softly, so that the others didn't hear it.
Not really, he replied, sounding determined. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have
something to do. He started to fly off, and I knew what he had to do, or, I suppose,
wanted to do.
And I was really mad. "Tobias, come back here. NOW!!!!!!!" I screamed at him. It must
have been really loud because not only did Tobias come back, but half the birds in the
surrounding, but I also scared the living daylights out of Cassie, Jack, Marco, Ax and the
H-B.
He demorphed and I suppressed the urge to punch him, because if it had been me in his
place about a year ago, I would have done the exact same thing. But it wasn't me
anymore. Not after so much war. I had to maintain some sanity. Tobias always seemed
like the most levelheaded, and if he lost it now, so would I.
"Tobias, you are not going on a suicide mission," I said.
He looked at me like I was mad. "Excuse me? If you were me you would have already
gone there and gotten yourself killed. Why are you allowed to do it and I'm not?"
"Key word here, Tobias: would. Not am or are or about to. Would." I sighed. "Listen, she
was my friend as well. I loved her like a sister, like I love Cassie. Like I love all of you. But
you can't do anything to bring her back. It was an accident. No one's fault. Not yours, not
mine. Not hers."
It seemed to shut him up. I hated to be so harsh, especially about this. It was now
apparent to me that they were in love. And this revelation didn't help. Jake was looked
uncomfortable, like he didn't know what to say. No way was he up to taking charge. And
this wasn't a mission, I would be fine with taking charge.
"Everyone, go home and get some sleep. And Tobias," I said looking directly at him.
"Tobias, you stay with Ax tonight, okay? No suicide missions. Losing someone else isn't
going to help, and we've only just begun to get the upper hand in this war." Tobias nodded
at me. Jake nodded in approvement of my orders.
We all went our separate ways - Marco and Jake to their apartment, Ax ad Tobias to
Ax's meadow and Cassie and I to our apartment. It was a quiet flight home (flying out of
the valley is the easiest way in every sense).
Back at our apartment, Cassie and I sat on the couch. And I cried.
****************
We informed the College that Zoë had been killed in a hit-and-run accident, and that
she'd been buried in Vancouver, near her mother's grave. They bought the lie and even
said that they'd hold a memorial service later that week.
We thanked them for that because we hadn't given her a really good funeral. That was
mostly my fault, and I apologized to Tobias later on.
***************
Just before the memorial service, we had a long discussion about what we were going to
do. We had found out that Victor Trent - Visser One's human morph would be attending
the ceremony. We made it clear to Tobias not to do anything. He'd calmed down a little
since Zoe's death, but he still wanted to kill Visser One.
We sat through the service without drawing too much attention to ourselves. Tobias got
up and said a eulogy. I'd originally been asked by the college to do it, but I told them I
thought Tobias would be a better choice.
He managed to get through the speech without breaking down. As he was walking back
towards where we were sitting, Tobias hesitated as he passed Victor Trent. But he
managed top keep walking. So much so that he walked out of the room being used for the
service. There was a girl sitting right at the back of the room. She had brown hair, blue
eyes and pale skin. I recognized her from somewhere, but I had no idea of her name. I
probably knew her from one of my many college classes. Anyway, when Tobias passed
her, she got up and left, trailing after him.
****************
TOBIAS
I walked out of the service after I gave my eulogy about Zoë. I just couldn't help it. If I
stayed there one more minute I was pretty sure I'd go over to Visser One and do as much
bodily harm as I could possibly inflict.
As I left, a brunette I couldn't quite pick as any particular person I went to school with
but I knew I knew her, followed me out. She ran to catch up with me.
"Tobias!" she called out. I knew that voice. I must have been having deja vou.
I turned around to face her. My face must have been in an annoyed expression because
she cringed. I sighed. "I'm sorry," I said. "Was there something I can help you with?"
"Yeah. Ummm, Tobias you know..." She hesitated, thinking carefully over her choice of
words. Then she changed the subject entirely. "I know you were going out with Zoë, and
I'm not asking you out on a date, but could you meet me in front of The Gap after last
class? You can bring your friends if you don't trust me."
I was shocked. Only my friends knew that I was dating Zoë. Even they don't know how
far it went. I raised my eyebrows. "I don't even know your name."
She ducked her head. "I'm sorry, how rude of me. I'm Sera. Look, I'll be in front of The
Gap, so if you want to come, then I'll see you there. It's important."
"Who are you?" I asked, startled by her directness.
"Sera. And I know about you and your friends. I know about the slugs. I know about the
Chee." She had spoken softly so that no one else heard her. Then she smiled and left. I
noticed that she was dressed in all black.
I waited out the rest of the service in the student's lounge, where I knew my friends
would find me. When the did, I told them about my encounter with Sera. I still couldn't
quite picture her. But I knew I'd seen her somewhere.
"Are you guys sure you don't know her. Light brown hair, blue eyes. My height." I asked
them.
"You know, I thought the same thing when I saw her," Rachel said.
The others shrugged.
"Sorry, Tobias. I didn't see her," Marco replied.
Jake, as usual, stuck to business. "Are we going to meet her. She sounds like she knows
a lot."
"It could be a set-up," Cassie pointed out. "She could be a Controller."
I shrugged. "Believe me, if you saw her you wouldn't think she was a Controller. I don't
know if you saw it Rachel, but she looked so familiar. Like I knew her, but didn't."
Rachel had made up her mind. The same answer I had to Jake's question.
In her straightforward way, she said, "We're going."
And that was the end of that.
*****************
