Chapter Four

Whoa, was this Jake? As in "Oh fearless?" Were the books true? Of course they were… I had seen the Yeerks for myself had I not? My mom was Visser Seven for crying out loud. She would have me infested the moment I stepped in the front door. We really needed help and we needed it soon. Any advice would help, but how to go about asking for it?

"Hello? Are you still there?" The voice returned, "You have no idea who I am but my friend picked up a signal that came from your house. He picked it up earlier and then it disappeared. I don't have much time, this line might be traced, but you guys have to know…"

"Look, Jake," I took a wild stab in the dark and hoped I wasn't going to embarrass myself, "I don't need this crap about how I'm up to my neck in trouble. I know that the Yeerks are here and I know that they are trying to take over the planet. I know what Hork-Bajir and Taxxons are. I know all about Visser Three and One. I know about you and the other Animorphs. I know how many times you could have died but didn't. I know everything you know plus more. I know that the new Visser is Visser Seven and she's taken my mom. I know that the moment I go home, I'll be taken. No, this isn't my house, it's Sari's. Yes, she's with me."

I wasn't about to let him stop me until I completed what I wanted to say. I had the feeling I was forgetting something. What was it? What could I have possibly forgotten?

"Do you have the ability to morph?" Jake replied as if answering my thoughts.

Of course! How could I have forgotten about that horribly strong power? Ever since I had started reading the Animorphs books, I'd wanted to morph and fly. I turned and looked at where I had hidden the cube. "No, we don't, but we have the cube. The morphing cube."

"We? How many of you are there?" Jake asked cautiously.

"Five, Jake… Five seemingly normal humans brought into a war against their will. Four don't know what's going on, but I do. Five seemingly normal humans who will have the ability to morph, that's what we have. Five against the entire Yeerk force. Sound familiar to you, Jake?"

"Unfortunately"

"Yeah, but we've no choice, do we? We'll fight, Jake, and that's all. We'll fight and we will win." I hung up; I had the proof I needed. He wouldn't call back. It was well past one in the morning and if he felt like it, he could gather his group and fly out here. Ax probably traced the call and now knows exactly what state, what county, what house, and what room we were standing in.

I looked over at Sari. She looked visibly shaken and extremely tired. Ever since I'd met Sari, I don't think I'd ever seen her up past midnight. I sighed, there was nothing else that could be done tonight except sleep and that's what I planned on doing.

"Come on Sari," I said soothingly, "Let's get some sleep, tomorrow you'll understand and tomorrow we'll hold our first meeting. The five of us will hold a meeting. Tonight we sleep, I don't know how much of sleep we'll be getting in the very near future."

Sari said nothing but got in her bed and curled into a nervous ball. I was struck by a thought, had Cassie felt this scared when the war started, and why didn't I feel nervous at all? We were facing sudden death with my mom holding the gun. 'Don't worry about it,' I told myself, 'Just get some sleep and we'll figure this out tomorrow.'

I cut the light out in the room and lay down next to Sari in the bed. I was asleep before I could realize I had shut my eyes.

* * *

Michael yawned. I had called everyone over to Sari's house at around noon; most of us didn't rise out of bed until one. This had to be talked about. I got my, "good-to-see-you-alives," and "are-you-completely-insanes?" Yeah I'm alive and yeah I'm insane, but I created the advantage we had in the war. The Blue Box was ours.

Sari's mom had left around nine that morning and now we sat on the couch and chairs of her living room with the blue box and holographic disk on the center table. How would someone go about explaining this? I looked around waiting for someone to speak. Michael held the very first Animorphs and he was reading between a few yawns every ten minutes or so.

I learned something that morning: Sari had read Animorphs up to book four, when her mom told her to read more adult books. She had the book we need right then at that moment to let everyone learn about the Yeerks. Book number one: The Invasion was all about the war's beginning and held the most valuable information about the war in its pages.

No one talked; this meeting was going no where fast. Someone had to start talking soon.

Seeing as how no one spoke, I did. "I got a call from Jake last night. Well, Sari did but I answered and talked."

Michael shut the book suddenly. "You got a call from Jake? Jake, the leader of the Animorphs and the one who started these books?"

"Yeah, and Ax was in the background. He had traced the signal given off by the holographic disk. It was crazy…"

Michael cut me off, "What did he say?"

"Nothing really, I told him I knew what was going on and that was that. Nothing major in our conversation."

"You hung up on him?"

"How would you know?" I asked hotly.

"Because hanging up on someone important is like you."

I dropped it, this was one thing I wasn't going to win because it was true; I had hung up on him. Now it was time to figure something new out, how to work the blue box. It didn't seem to hard in the books, you just touch in and bang, you have the power. I reached out for the box and pressed it between my hands looking at it, where was an on button when you needed it?

Suddenly I felt a slight shock run through my hands, it didn't hurt. More or less, it tickled. The box had given me the power to morph. I could now morph any creature I touched. I then realized the mistake of hanging up on Jake. We had no ties to the zoo or any animals. To acquire any animal's DNA, we would have to become criminals. This wasn't looking good.

"Here," I held the cube out to Sari, "touch it and don't move your hand until the shock or tickling feeling goes away."

"What? Why?" Sari asked, looking confused.

"This box contains the only weapon we are going to have in fighting the Yeerks, the power to morph. To change into any animal we touch for two hours at a time." I glanced at Michael who was watching me carefully over the book he had reopened. "Come on," I turned from Sari and held the box out to the group as a whole, "this is the only chance we have to fight in the war and win."

Slowly everyone touched the box and then after they pulled away they looked stupidly at there hand. I smiled, "Welcome to hell, boys and girls. We're The Five."