Toomin appeared, a saintly old man again. I knew he had read my thoughts. "You have all been brought here for a special reason."
Marco mumbled, "No duh. Things like this don't happen every day."
Marco, sarcastic Marco! I hadn't realized it, but I had actually missed him. I was practically ashamed of myself!
"Your spaceship"—the Ellimist was addressing Tobias, Jake, and Marco—"has destroyed The One. The evil part of him, that is. The bodies he was holding captive inside himself—they have been restored back to the way they were. For example, your friend Aximili here."
"Yahoo!" burst out Ax. "I'm free!" He morphed to human. "Even being human feels good after being trapped inside The One! I must have spent several of your months, if not more, in him!"
"Ax-man, they're everybody's months. Just like they're everybody's minutes. How many times do I have to tell you?" Marco sighed, exasperated.
"Anyway," said Toomin pointedly, "The One's destruction has considerably weakened Crayak. Now is the time to strike. If you win this, shall we say, 'final round', good will triumph over evil. Crayak will be no more."
"So that's why you brought us all back." I was beginning to figure it out. "You told me that each of us encompassed a certain trait, right? I was the warrior's unbridled ferocity, or something, the one characteristic that had been forgotten? You need us all to fight in this final round of the game. And that's why I'm real again."
Marco began singing Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real", although I have no idea how he knew the song or how I recognized it. After all, when both of us left Earth, me when I died, and he when he left to find Ax, the single hadn't been out!
"You're a smart one, aren't you, Rachel?" Toomin's fake mouth smiled at me. "You figured out your tasks with ease, quickly. You came up with some of the most brilliant plans for getting rid of the Yeerks."
I felt anger boiling up inside me once again. The Ellimist had explained it all to me before, when I was dying. I remembered that I had said something about him only being a kid like I was. I had understood it all. In a way, as his helper, I had been a "mighty manipulator" as well. Yet I was getting mad. I didn't know why, but I was.
"You're still playing with us! Why can't you choose somebody else?"
"You are the only ones who have the experience needed. You're the only ones who can do it, just as you, Rachel, were the only one who could go with Tom. I need you."
Toomin was almost begging. I knew he was right. The famous Animorphs were the only ones capable.
"Will you help good triumph? Will you help me?"
Jake replied, "Yeah, we will." He peeked at me to see if I would refuse. I just nodded my head in consent.
"But there will be seven of you this time. Drode used to be a girl, a normal girl like Cassie or Rachel. Then Crayak tricked her into becoming Drode, when she was killed in a car accident at the age of seventeen. Bribed her, really. The same way I bribed Rachel."
"Rachel?" Tobias questioned. The others looked puzzled.
"Yes, Rachel. I will let her explain. Rachel, are you willing to tell them about where you have been?"
I hesitated, then told them the story of what had happened after my death. Even what had happened in this hotel room before anyone besides Cassie and I were here—except I left out exactly why I was going to get Jake, Marco, and Tobias from the spaceship, other than that I knew they were in danger. I was afraid Tobias would be furious that he had mourned about me when I was still partially alive, but he just hugged me again and told me that he wished I had found time to tell him where I was. That relieved me.
The others were having a slightly harder time getting over their anger but they said they forgave me.
"Crayak is livid that The One has been destroyed. He gave Drode back her life because he believed that Drode was somehow secretly helping me, and he didn't want Drode underfoot anymore. Why Crayak didn't destroy him is beyond me, but anyhow, Drode has come to help me. Cassie, Jake, Marco, Tobias, Rachel, Ax . . . meet Allison."
A pretty girl our age appeared. For the first time I realized that I was no longer the age I had been when I had died, but a few years older, the same age as the rest of the Animorphs.
The girl had long, wavy reddish-gold hair and fair skin. Her eyes were green. She instantly captured Marco's attention, I could tell. I bet the best part, to Marco, was that she was shorter than him! I laughed out loud at Marco's dreamy expression. He snapped back into reality.
"What's so funny, Xena?" he demanded.
"Nothing." I stifled my giggles.
"Hi, everyone," said Allison.
Jake stepped up to shake her hand. "Hi, Allison."
"Hey, Allison!" Marco said enthusiastically. "I used to be in love with Jeanne, but I'm sure she's not alive anymore, so I can be in love with you instead!" He paused. "Did I just say that? I must still be dazed from escaping from death yet again."
Allison laughed.
The Ellimist interrupted. "Allison will be very helpful to you. She knows all about Crayak from years of working with him. I have given her the morphing power. The rules are of no importance anymore. We need to win this millenia-long war."
Cassie asked, "And we're just supposed to accept her as an Animorph? I'm sorry, I don't mean any offense, Allison, but Ellimist, six worked before. Why won't it work again?"
"Cassie, can't you see? You always were the one who had the ability," the Ellimist replied. "Seven will be needed this time. I cannot tell you how, but seven will be needed."
I exploded again. "You just said that the rules are of no importance anymore, Toomin! Why can't you tell us? I know you can see into the future! I could do some of it myself! Why can't you tell us?!"
Regretfully, he told me, "I usually can. But this time I just cannot see into the future. I don't know why. I think I am simply a pawn, just like you, Rachel. I think I am not all-powerful. I think someone else is. I cannot see how this will turn out. I'm sorry."
I felt like a balloon with a hole in it. The air was slowly going out of me. I sagged in Tobias's arms.
"Welcome to the Animorphs, Allison," said Jake.
The Ellimist disappeared.
I grew frantic. I needed to know what conditions there were on my life, and was I really, truly alive again? Did I only have a certain amount of time left? Or could I stay on Earth as a true human and grow old with my friends and Tobias? Could I let anyone else know what had happened? Could I tell Sara, Jordan, Mom, and Dad? "Toomin!" I shouted. "Come back!" Oh, how I needed my old mental link with him!
Tobias shushed me. "Rachel. Shhh. Shhh. Don't worry, it'll be okay."
Marco pondered, "Well, what are we supposed to do? Oh wait, I know! Let's get to know Allison better. Allison, how about going out to dinner with me? I have my own TV show, you know. Plus I'm really good friends with David Letterman and Jay Leno and other famous people like that."
Allison didn't look impressed. But she said, "I'd love to, Marco. But I really think we ought to stick around here for awhile. Like you said, what are we supposed to do?"
Cassie suddenly told us that she had a feeling we should turn on the TV. Ax found the remote and turned the small television set on. He channel-surfed for awhile, finding joy in infomercials and the like. Then he stopped at an Andalite and a news reporter. From what I could tell, the Andalite had just been interviewed and the reporter was summarizing the Andalite's speech.
The reporter spoke to the camera. "There seem to be a small band of Yeerks that are trying to take over a planet called Xarr'non. It's extremely far away, so the only way to get there is through zero-space, if spending forty-three years traveling isn't an option. The Andalite War Council and associated humans are currently trying to put together an army to go to Xarr'non, but are having great amounts of trouble finding able and willing people and Andalites. If you would like to volunteer, please call this number."
A number appeared on the screen. Tobias pulled away from me to jot it down on Cassie's notebook, which was still lying open on the desk. My legs felt unsteady, so I sat down on the bed. I guess that's what not walking for a couple of years, let alone being in a real body, does to you!
"Do you think we should call, Prince Jake?" Ax asked. "Shoulduh. Shhhhh. Shoulduh. I have yet to get used to this delightful human mouth. Even after all these years."
Cassie sang, "Your faith in me brings me to tears/even after all these years." Clapping a hand over her mouth, she gasped, "Oh, no! I sound like Marco!"
I laughed. "It's contagious."
Jake cut in. "Anyway . . . I don't really think we should call that number. Call me crazy, but I have a hunch that we would be inviting trouble if we did."
"Me too," agreed Allison. "It doesn't seem right, somehow."
Marco gazed at Allison adoringly. "I'm SO incredibly glad you're here. For years I've been the fifth wheel in this group of couples and Ax."
"'The fifth wheel in this group of couples and Ax'? I don't really count? And what is a fifth wheel?" Ax said, offended.
"Of course you count, Ax," comforted Jake, ignoring Ax's last question. "He just means that you probably wouldn't want a human girlfriend because you're Andalite. And all we really had here on Earth a few years ago was humans. Well, humans and Yeerks. But you definitely would not want a Yeerk girlfriend."
"Yeah, what Jake said," concurred Marco.
Allison rolled her eyes. "Well, what if I like Ax better than you?"
"That's not in the plan," Marco replied smoothly. "I know that the Ellimist really sent you here to be my soulmate, not because you knew about Crayak and all that. And not to be Ax's soulmate."
Giggled Allison, "Yeah, right. Well, no offense to Ax, but I like you better than him. I don't really do the whole two-different-species dating thing. Plus you're pretty cute."
"See?" Marco crowed to me. "I always told you I was cute!"
"To some people, maybe. But I wouldn't go out with you in a million years!"
"Guys, I think we should find a way to go to that planet. What's it called again? Xarr'non? Yeah, that's it. Xarr'non," Jake decided.
"TOOMIN!" I bellowed again. "WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO? COME BACK!"
"Real smart, Rachel. You think the Ellimist is going to hear you better if you shout? I don't think you can shout all the way to Command Central, or whatever you called it," Marco pointed out.
Just then, someone knocked on the door. Cassie strode to the door. I noticed for the first time that Cassie's jeans were no longer her old poop-stained ones that were too short. They were (slightly) more stylish, and fit well. They were still Wal-Mart jeans, but hey, I was satisfied with even that small change.
Cassie opened the door. Standing in the hallway was a middle-aged woman who was going gray. She was very tall and slim. "Please keep the noise level down!" she scolded. "You are disturbing my husband. He's trying to nap!"
Then she seemed to realize who she was talking to. "Are you . . . are you the ANIMORPHS?" she stuttered.
"The one and only," Marco boasted.
"Oh my gosh, I can't believe it . . . but wait a minute, aren't you two Tobias and Rachel? RACHEL? You've been dead for a few years! How are you here?"
"Guess you can tell your family now, Xena," quipped Marco. "You're found out. This is the one and only Martha Miller, gossip columnist for that New York newspaper, what's it called again?"
"The New York Times?" Allison suggested.
"Maybe."
Martha was looking stunned. "You ARE Rachel, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I'm Rachel Berenson, the Animorph who died awhile back," I said casually.
"It's a long story, Martha," Cassie said. "Why don't you go inform everyone through your column? The world needs to be informed that Rachel is back."
"Yes, yes, it does!" Martha agreed. "But Rachel, may I have an interview with you sometime soon?"
"Um, okay." I wondered what in the world I was going to tell her and everyone else.
"Fantastic! When do you think you could squeeze it in?"
I pretended to think. "Gee, I'm sorry, but I can't fit it in for two weeks! How about on Monday, the third?"
Martha was obviously disappointed. "Well, all right then. I'll still be at the hotel, I'm in room number two-sixty-five. Could you come to my room at three?"
"I'll be there," I lied. "See you then!" With that, I shut the door.
"Great," muttered Marco. "How are you gonna explain your way out of this one? 'Hey, world, guess what? I've been dead for a little bit but now I'm back! And I can't really tell you what I've been doing cuz I don't really know if you should know, plus it's too complicated to tell anyone who doesn't know about some certain aliens, namely the Ellimist'?"
"Simple," I told everyone. "We leave for Xarr'non before she gets to interview me."
"Just what I was thinking," Cassie said.
"How are we going to get a ship?" pondered Ax.
"I have an idea," said Jake.
Marco mumbled, "No duh. Things like this don't happen every day."
Marco, sarcastic Marco! I hadn't realized it, but I had actually missed him. I was practically ashamed of myself!
"Your spaceship"—the Ellimist was addressing Tobias, Jake, and Marco—"has destroyed The One. The evil part of him, that is. The bodies he was holding captive inside himself—they have been restored back to the way they were. For example, your friend Aximili here."
"Yahoo!" burst out Ax. "I'm free!" He morphed to human. "Even being human feels good after being trapped inside The One! I must have spent several of your months, if not more, in him!"
"Ax-man, they're everybody's months. Just like they're everybody's minutes. How many times do I have to tell you?" Marco sighed, exasperated.
"Anyway," said Toomin pointedly, "The One's destruction has considerably weakened Crayak. Now is the time to strike. If you win this, shall we say, 'final round', good will triumph over evil. Crayak will be no more."
"So that's why you brought us all back." I was beginning to figure it out. "You told me that each of us encompassed a certain trait, right? I was the warrior's unbridled ferocity, or something, the one characteristic that had been forgotten? You need us all to fight in this final round of the game. And that's why I'm real again."
Marco began singing Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real", although I have no idea how he knew the song or how I recognized it. After all, when both of us left Earth, me when I died, and he when he left to find Ax, the single hadn't been out!
"You're a smart one, aren't you, Rachel?" Toomin's fake mouth smiled at me. "You figured out your tasks with ease, quickly. You came up with some of the most brilliant plans for getting rid of the Yeerks."
I felt anger boiling up inside me once again. The Ellimist had explained it all to me before, when I was dying. I remembered that I had said something about him only being a kid like I was. I had understood it all. In a way, as his helper, I had been a "mighty manipulator" as well. Yet I was getting mad. I didn't know why, but I was.
"You're still playing with us! Why can't you choose somebody else?"
"You are the only ones who have the experience needed. You're the only ones who can do it, just as you, Rachel, were the only one who could go with Tom. I need you."
Toomin was almost begging. I knew he was right. The famous Animorphs were the only ones capable.
"Will you help good triumph? Will you help me?"
Jake replied, "Yeah, we will." He peeked at me to see if I would refuse. I just nodded my head in consent.
"But there will be seven of you this time. Drode used to be a girl, a normal girl like Cassie or Rachel. Then Crayak tricked her into becoming Drode, when she was killed in a car accident at the age of seventeen. Bribed her, really. The same way I bribed Rachel."
"Rachel?" Tobias questioned. The others looked puzzled.
"Yes, Rachel. I will let her explain. Rachel, are you willing to tell them about where you have been?"
I hesitated, then told them the story of what had happened after my death. Even what had happened in this hotel room before anyone besides Cassie and I were here—except I left out exactly why I was going to get Jake, Marco, and Tobias from the spaceship, other than that I knew they were in danger. I was afraid Tobias would be furious that he had mourned about me when I was still partially alive, but he just hugged me again and told me that he wished I had found time to tell him where I was. That relieved me.
The others were having a slightly harder time getting over their anger but they said they forgave me.
"Crayak is livid that The One has been destroyed. He gave Drode back her life because he believed that Drode was somehow secretly helping me, and he didn't want Drode underfoot anymore. Why Crayak didn't destroy him is beyond me, but anyhow, Drode has come to help me. Cassie, Jake, Marco, Tobias, Rachel, Ax . . . meet Allison."
A pretty girl our age appeared. For the first time I realized that I was no longer the age I had been when I had died, but a few years older, the same age as the rest of the Animorphs.
The girl had long, wavy reddish-gold hair and fair skin. Her eyes were green. She instantly captured Marco's attention, I could tell. I bet the best part, to Marco, was that she was shorter than him! I laughed out loud at Marco's dreamy expression. He snapped back into reality.
"What's so funny, Xena?" he demanded.
"Nothing." I stifled my giggles.
"Hi, everyone," said Allison.
Jake stepped up to shake her hand. "Hi, Allison."
"Hey, Allison!" Marco said enthusiastically. "I used to be in love with Jeanne, but I'm sure she's not alive anymore, so I can be in love with you instead!" He paused. "Did I just say that? I must still be dazed from escaping from death yet again."
Allison laughed.
The Ellimist interrupted. "Allison will be very helpful to you. She knows all about Crayak from years of working with him. I have given her the morphing power. The rules are of no importance anymore. We need to win this millenia-long war."
Cassie asked, "And we're just supposed to accept her as an Animorph? I'm sorry, I don't mean any offense, Allison, but Ellimist, six worked before. Why won't it work again?"
"Cassie, can't you see? You always were the one who had the ability," the Ellimist replied. "Seven will be needed this time. I cannot tell you how, but seven will be needed."
I exploded again. "You just said that the rules are of no importance anymore, Toomin! Why can't you tell us? I know you can see into the future! I could do some of it myself! Why can't you tell us?!"
Regretfully, he told me, "I usually can. But this time I just cannot see into the future. I don't know why. I think I am simply a pawn, just like you, Rachel. I think I am not all-powerful. I think someone else is. I cannot see how this will turn out. I'm sorry."
I felt like a balloon with a hole in it. The air was slowly going out of me. I sagged in Tobias's arms.
"Welcome to the Animorphs, Allison," said Jake.
The Ellimist disappeared.
I grew frantic. I needed to know what conditions there were on my life, and was I really, truly alive again? Did I only have a certain amount of time left? Or could I stay on Earth as a true human and grow old with my friends and Tobias? Could I let anyone else know what had happened? Could I tell Sara, Jordan, Mom, and Dad? "Toomin!" I shouted. "Come back!" Oh, how I needed my old mental link with him!
Tobias shushed me. "Rachel. Shhh. Shhh. Don't worry, it'll be okay."
Marco pondered, "Well, what are we supposed to do? Oh wait, I know! Let's get to know Allison better. Allison, how about going out to dinner with me? I have my own TV show, you know. Plus I'm really good friends with David Letterman and Jay Leno and other famous people like that."
Allison didn't look impressed. But she said, "I'd love to, Marco. But I really think we ought to stick around here for awhile. Like you said, what are we supposed to do?"
Cassie suddenly told us that she had a feeling we should turn on the TV. Ax found the remote and turned the small television set on. He channel-surfed for awhile, finding joy in infomercials and the like. Then he stopped at an Andalite and a news reporter. From what I could tell, the Andalite had just been interviewed and the reporter was summarizing the Andalite's speech.
The reporter spoke to the camera. "There seem to be a small band of Yeerks that are trying to take over a planet called Xarr'non. It's extremely far away, so the only way to get there is through zero-space, if spending forty-three years traveling isn't an option. The Andalite War Council and associated humans are currently trying to put together an army to go to Xarr'non, but are having great amounts of trouble finding able and willing people and Andalites. If you would like to volunteer, please call this number."
A number appeared on the screen. Tobias pulled away from me to jot it down on Cassie's notebook, which was still lying open on the desk. My legs felt unsteady, so I sat down on the bed. I guess that's what not walking for a couple of years, let alone being in a real body, does to you!
"Do you think we should call, Prince Jake?" Ax asked. "Shoulduh. Shhhhh. Shoulduh. I have yet to get used to this delightful human mouth. Even after all these years."
Cassie sang, "Your faith in me brings me to tears/even after all these years." Clapping a hand over her mouth, she gasped, "Oh, no! I sound like Marco!"
I laughed. "It's contagious."
Jake cut in. "Anyway . . . I don't really think we should call that number. Call me crazy, but I have a hunch that we would be inviting trouble if we did."
"Me too," agreed Allison. "It doesn't seem right, somehow."
Marco gazed at Allison adoringly. "I'm SO incredibly glad you're here. For years I've been the fifth wheel in this group of couples and Ax."
"'The fifth wheel in this group of couples and Ax'? I don't really count? And what is a fifth wheel?" Ax said, offended.
"Of course you count, Ax," comforted Jake, ignoring Ax's last question. "He just means that you probably wouldn't want a human girlfriend because you're Andalite. And all we really had here on Earth a few years ago was humans. Well, humans and Yeerks. But you definitely would not want a Yeerk girlfriend."
"Yeah, what Jake said," concurred Marco.
Allison rolled her eyes. "Well, what if I like Ax better than you?"
"That's not in the plan," Marco replied smoothly. "I know that the Ellimist really sent you here to be my soulmate, not because you knew about Crayak and all that. And not to be Ax's soulmate."
Giggled Allison, "Yeah, right. Well, no offense to Ax, but I like you better than him. I don't really do the whole two-different-species dating thing. Plus you're pretty cute."
"See?" Marco crowed to me. "I always told you I was cute!"
"To some people, maybe. But I wouldn't go out with you in a million years!"
"Guys, I think we should find a way to go to that planet. What's it called again? Xarr'non? Yeah, that's it. Xarr'non," Jake decided.
"TOOMIN!" I bellowed again. "WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO? COME BACK!"
"Real smart, Rachel. You think the Ellimist is going to hear you better if you shout? I don't think you can shout all the way to Command Central, or whatever you called it," Marco pointed out.
Just then, someone knocked on the door. Cassie strode to the door. I noticed for the first time that Cassie's jeans were no longer her old poop-stained ones that were too short. They were (slightly) more stylish, and fit well. They were still Wal-Mart jeans, but hey, I was satisfied with even that small change.
Cassie opened the door. Standing in the hallway was a middle-aged woman who was going gray. She was very tall and slim. "Please keep the noise level down!" she scolded. "You are disturbing my husband. He's trying to nap!"
Then she seemed to realize who she was talking to. "Are you . . . are you the ANIMORPHS?" she stuttered.
"The one and only," Marco boasted.
"Oh my gosh, I can't believe it . . . but wait a minute, aren't you two Tobias and Rachel? RACHEL? You've been dead for a few years! How are you here?"
"Guess you can tell your family now, Xena," quipped Marco. "You're found out. This is the one and only Martha Miller, gossip columnist for that New York newspaper, what's it called again?"
"The New York Times?" Allison suggested.
"Maybe."
Martha was looking stunned. "You ARE Rachel, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I'm Rachel Berenson, the Animorph who died awhile back," I said casually.
"It's a long story, Martha," Cassie said. "Why don't you go inform everyone through your column? The world needs to be informed that Rachel is back."
"Yes, yes, it does!" Martha agreed. "But Rachel, may I have an interview with you sometime soon?"
"Um, okay." I wondered what in the world I was going to tell her and everyone else.
"Fantastic! When do you think you could squeeze it in?"
I pretended to think. "Gee, I'm sorry, but I can't fit it in for two weeks! How about on Monday, the third?"
Martha was obviously disappointed. "Well, all right then. I'll still be at the hotel, I'm in room number two-sixty-five. Could you come to my room at three?"
"I'll be there," I lied. "See you then!" With that, I shut the door.
"Great," muttered Marco. "How are you gonna explain your way out of this one? 'Hey, world, guess what? I've been dead for a little bit but now I'm back! And I can't really tell you what I've been doing cuz I don't really know if you should know, plus it's too complicated to tell anyone who doesn't know about some certain aliens, namely the Ellimist'?"
"Simple," I told everyone. "We leave for Xarr'non before she gets to interview me."
"Just what I was thinking," Cassie said.
"How are we going to get a ship?" pondered Ax.
"I have an idea," said Jake.