A/N:  Yeah, so, here's the next chapter!  And please go read my new fic, an Animorphs/HP crossover, The American Animagi.  :-D

Chapter 18

            People were exhausted, and soon I was the only one awake.  I sat down on a small long in the grass, a branch that had fallen down years ago.  Looking around the silent forest, I took a deep breath to think about the day's events again.  Santorelli, one of Jake's incredibly brave and smart students, was dead.  I shouldn't have gone for the Garatron when Cassie was talking to Captain Bavaritun Larumian Hartar.  I had to stop thinking about it now, though, because it was not the time for second-guessing.  What was done was done, and Sergeant Santorelli was gone.

            I heard a slight whisper of wind, and then Tobias landed in front of me.

            "Hey," I said, grinning.

            I thought that you might want some company, he said.

            "Thanks."

            Are you doing alright?  After, you know…

            "Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.  "You?"

            I think so.  I don't know about Jake and Ax, though.  I think Jake is blaming himself again, Tobias commented sadly.

            I rolled my eyes.  "Gee, do you think?  He really needs to get over himself.  It's a war, people die," I said, clenching my fists as I thought about my own death, so narrowly escaped.

            Tobias was silent for a minute, but finally spoke.  You shouldn't be so hard on him.  He's been through a lot.

            "No more than the rest of us."

            You are his cousin, and Tom is his brother.  James and his people were his responsibility.  He blames himself.

            "I guess," I said uncertainly.  "What do you think is happening with Ax?"

            Tobias was quiet again as the slight breeze ruffled his feathers.  Finally, he said, He's scared to death.  I think he might be seeing things.  I didn't see anything, and I was flying above you.  He was near some kind of heavy bushes, but still.  I think that whatever happened to him when he was absorbed by The One really shook him, and he's too scared about seeing The One again to think straight.

            Nodding, I imagined the battle that would take place soon.  If The One was scaring Ax that badly, he was my meat.

            I scanned the area around us again, looking to make sure that there were no Garatron lurking in the bushes.  There were none, so I turned back to Tobias.

            "So," I said, "are you looking forward to going back?"

            Who ever said we'll make it back? he answered darkly.

            "I do.  If we beat an empire, we can beat some puny all-powerful being."

            Tobias forced a laugh.  You're crazy, he said.  But assuming we do make it back, yeah, I'll be excited.  I haven't been in the real world for almost four years now.  Seven if you include the years during the war, but then I still talked with you guys.

            We had been traveling from earth for over six months.  I was almost seventeen.  The others were all almost twenty.

            "What are you going to do when we get there?" I asked.

            I don't know.  I suppose I'll go back to living normally, somewhat.  I'll still have to demorph every couple of hours, and I guess I won't ever grow very old in my human body.  Maybe I can go back to school, or teach ornithology at some college.

            I laughed.  "Yes, Tobias, you could definitely be the leading professor in the study of birds."

            As long as I've been a bird, I know everything.  All the colleges would want me, he commented smugly.  Besides, college girls love the feathers.

            "Hey, now," I said, still laughing but warning him a little.

            So what about you?  What are you going to do when you go home?  It's going to be big, after all, you're Rachel, the dead Animorph.  I mean, you saw how Sandra reacted when she saw you.

            I was silent for a minute.  Coming home was the moment I had been dreaming of for over six months, ever since I came three years into the future, when there was no Rachel Berenson alive anymore.

            "I just want to see my family," I finally said.  "I'm not sure Sara will even remember me that well.  She was only seven when I died, after all.  And I haven't seen Daddy since before we had to evacuate our houses when the Yeerks found out who we were.  Mom and I were on such bad terms when we left…  I know we made up, kind of, before the last battle, but it's not the same.  I hope she's not still mad at me."

            She's anything but angry, Tobias said, fluttering up onto my shoulder.  You have no idea how upset she was at your funeral.  I couldn't believe she let me take your – well, the Chee's hologram of your – ashes.

            I nodded absently and looked around the forest again.  The wind whispered through the trees, and small animals shuffled in the grasses and leaves.  The sky was dark and cloudy, foreboding.  Below us the purple gases of Father Deep swirled and glowed.  I could not see anything because of the velvety blackness of the night.

            "Tobias, can you see anything?  It's so dark, I know that I can't."

            He settled lower into my shoulder.  You forget, Rachel, that my eyes are nearly useless in the dark  I may be Supervision Bird-Boy in the day, but I can't see any better than you right now.

            Suddenly I felt a cold chill in my bones, and I shivered.

            Are you okay? Tobias said, his voice worried.

            "Yeah, I'm fine," I lied.  "Just kind of cold."

            Ah, he said, obviously disbelieving me.

            Changing the subject quickly, I said, "It's been about two hours.  Let's wake up Cassie."

            I stood up, and he shifted his wings a bit to retain his balance.  As I got close to the group, one of the sleeping forms sat up.

            "Has it been two hours already?" Jake asked.

            "Yeah," I answered.  "What are you doing awake?"

            He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.  "I haven't been able to sleep."

            See what I mean? Tobias asked in private thought-speak.

            "We were just going to wake up Cassie," I said.  "Time for me to get my beauty sleep."

            "I'll stay up with her," Jake offered.  "I need to apologize for earlier.  I'm just, uh, kind of stressed right now…"

            I nodded with what I hoped was a sympathetic grin.  It probably looked more like a sneer.  Jake, Tobias, and I went over to Cassie, and I shook her shoulder a bit.

            She sat up immediately.  She had been asleep, but obviously not sleeping very well.  We were all nervous and worried.  She saw me, nodded, and stood up.  She walked over to the log where Tobias and I had been, and Jake followed her.

            "Goodnight, Tobias," I said.

            He jumped off my shoulder and soared up toward the lowest branches one hundred feet above me.  See you tomorrow, Rachel, he said as he faded into the darkness.

            I sat down and tried to sleep.  Thoughts about the future, The One, Santorelli, and my friends' whirled through my head.  When sleep finally caught up with me, the same thoughts haunted my dreams.

A/N:  Okay, I know that this is still a slow chapter, and that the next chapter will be slow, too, but you guys have all heard the saying, "The calm before the storm."  Don't worry, it will become very exciting in just a few chapters.  Aren't you proud of me for getting this chapter out so quickly?  And thank you, Ambers, for starting to leave your emails.  It's very helpful.  Also, I believe I have a new beta reader!  Everybody give a big thank you to Lara, whose penname is mickEmousina.  Well, I'm going to go sleep now.  I'm tired.  PLEASE review!  And thank you to all who have already reviewed!  I love all of you!