Vecol-Chapter 3
Okay, the long-awaited third installment to my pointless tale. Ariana, here's the update you asked for. Yes, I do read Harry Potter. Traycon3, those signs wouldn't work, they're used for HTML. Who's Narco? To any of you who are wondering, I also have cerebral palsy, and yes, it sucks.
BTW, any guesses on the romantic pairing? This *will* be romance.
This chapter has a change of POV, Jake's telling it.
You guys, for some reason, this wouldn't upload properly last time. The end of chapter 2 was lost, and I can't get it on. So if you have already read this from Leah's POV, bear with me.
Chapter 3-Suspicions-Jake
A successful mission. What a joke. Bringing disabled kids into this nightmare could not be a success. It was a folly. But in war, you have no choice but to commit folly. Folly is a by-product of war. I learned that lesson too late.
We flew over the trees. The girl named Leah soon separated from the group and started flying higher. For some reason, I found her disturbing. She had looked so old when I had first seen her, sitting apart from the group, her eyes filled with sadness and-excitement.
A sudden realization made my heart jump into my throat. I knew then what made her different from the others.
She knew. She knew all about us. She had known our names, what we were doing. Which meant that she was either psychic-
Or a Yeerk.
I struggled to keep my thought-speak voice normal as we flew down towards the Gardens. (Okay, everyone. I know a place where we can demorph. Follow me.)
Leah was first. Her wings shrank into her back. Her feathers disappeared. Her legs grew, and she managed to stand, trembling, for a few seconds, before she tumbled to the ground. She looked down and smiled weakly. I realized that she had also known she would not be healed.
But how could even a Yeerk know that? It didn't make any sense. Unless the Yeerks knew more about the morphing technology than even Ax did, Leah-or the Yeerk within her brain-could not have even guessed at who would be healed and who would not. I was pretty sure the Yeerks didn't know that much about it.
Kelly was next. She also was not able to stand. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she had hoped.
Collette and Timmy both fell as well, but James was healed. He walked in a circle, testing his legs. I could see the tears streaming down his face. They were more sorrowful than joyful, I thought. He grieved that the others, those who would follow him, had not been given the same gift that he had. I could see that he had taken the burden of leadership onto himself. I could feel him wondering whether these people, his friends, were going to die by his command. I had had the same thought many times myself, and each day I prayed that the answer was no.
My luck had held so far, but I was afraid that was about to change.
Once they were demorphed, James, Cassie, Marco and I took the new kids into the cages of animals. I made sure I got Leah. As I carried her toward the cage of a cheetah, I asked her how she had known. If she denied knowing outright, I would know she was a Yeerk.
But she didn't deny it. She looked sadly at me for a moment, and then said: "Jake, did you ever write private accounts of some of your missions?"
As a matter of fact, I had. My blood ran cold as I realized the implications of her question. "Yes," I said.
"And did you leave them in a place where anyone could have found them?"
"No," I answered.
Leah frowned, puzzled. "Well, that would explain it, except that now there are accounts of things that have not happened, and I don't think you would have shown your writings to anyone."
Accounts of things that had not happened? It was impossible. "You're lying," I told her. "I don't believe you."
Leah laughed. "Jake, you and five of your friends, one who is trapped in a bird's body and one who is an alien, are fighting a war with slugs from space for the freedom of humankind, aided by a nearly omnipotent creature named the Ellimist and opposed by another named Crayak, not to mention being the allies of pacifist androids and tree-hugging salad shooters, and you are telling me that what I am saying is unbelievable?"
She had a point. "Okay, what is going to happen in the near future?"
"The outcome of the war is revealed."
"And?" It was all I could get out.
"You win-we win. But at a terrible cost, Jake."
"What cost is that?"
Leah just smiled sadly. "If I told you now, you wouldn't be able to do what must be done."
Great. So this 'terrible cost' was going to be my fault. What else was new?
Okay, the long-awaited third installment to my pointless tale. Ariana, here's the update you asked for. Yes, I do read Harry Potter. Traycon3, those signs wouldn't work, they're used for HTML. Who's Narco? To any of you who are wondering, I also have cerebral palsy, and yes, it sucks.
BTW, any guesses on the romantic pairing? This *will* be romance.
This chapter has a change of POV, Jake's telling it.
You guys, for some reason, this wouldn't upload properly last time. The end of chapter 2 was lost, and I can't get it on. So if you have already read this from Leah's POV, bear with me.
Chapter 3-Suspicions-Jake
A successful mission. What a joke. Bringing disabled kids into this nightmare could not be a success. It was a folly. But in war, you have no choice but to commit folly. Folly is a by-product of war. I learned that lesson too late.
We flew over the trees. The girl named Leah soon separated from the group and started flying higher. For some reason, I found her disturbing. She had looked so old when I had first seen her, sitting apart from the group, her eyes filled with sadness and-excitement.
A sudden realization made my heart jump into my throat. I knew then what made her different from the others.
She knew. She knew all about us. She had known our names, what we were doing. Which meant that she was either psychic-
Or a Yeerk.
I struggled to keep my thought-speak voice normal as we flew down towards the Gardens. (Okay, everyone. I know a place where we can demorph. Follow me.)
Leah was first. Her wings shrank into her back. Her feathers disappeared. Her legs grew, and she managed to stand, trembling, for a few seconds, before she tumbled to the ground. She looked down and smiled weakly. I realized that she had also known she would not be healed.
But how could even a Yeerk know that? It didn't make any sense. Unless the Yeerks knew more about the morphing technology than even Ax did, Leah-or the Yeerk within her brain-could not have even guessed at who would be healed and who would not. I was pretty sure the Yeerks didn't know that much about it.
Kelly was next. She also was not able to stand. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she had hoped.
Collette and Timmy both fell as well, but James was healed. He walked in a circle, testing his legs. I could see the tears streaming down his face. They were more sorrowful than joyful, I thought. He grieved that the others, those who would follow him, had not been given the same gift that he had. I could see that he had taken the burden of leadership onto himself. I could feel him wondering whether these people, his friends, were going to die by his command. I had had the same thought many times myself, and each day I prayed that the answer was no.
My luck had held so far, but I was afraid that was about to change.
Once they were demorphed, James, Cassie, Marco and I took the new kids into the cages of animals. I made sure I got Leah. As I carried her toward the cage of a cheetah, I asked her how she had known. If she denied knowing outright, I would know she was a Yeerk.
But she didn't deny it. She looked sadly at me for a moment, and then said: "Jake, did you ever write private accounts of some of your missions?"
As a matter of fact, I had. My blood ran cold as I realized the implications of her question. "Yes," I said.
"And did you leave them in a place where anyone could have found them?"
"No," I answered.
Leah frowned, puzzled. "Well, that would explain it, except that now there are accounts of things that have not happened, and I don't think you would have shown your writings to anyone."
Accounts of things that had not happened? It was impossible. "You're lying," I told her. "I don't believe you."
Leah laughed. "Jake, you and five of your friends, one who is trapped in a bird's body and one who is an alien, are fighting a war with slugs from space for the freedom of humankind, aided by a nearly omnipotent creature named the Ellimist and opposed by another named Crayak, not to mention being the allies of pacifist androids and tree-hugging salad shooters, and you are telling me that what I am saying is unbelievable?"
She had a point. "Okay, what is going to happen in the near future?"
"The outcome of the war is revealed."
"And?" It was all I could get out.
"You win-we win. But at a terrible cost, Jake."
"What cost is that?"
Leah just smiled sadly. "If I told you now, you wouldn't be able to do what must be done."
Great. So this 'terrible cost' was going to be my fault. What else was new?