CHAPTER 1
Cassie
My name is Cassie.
But you probably already know me. It seems like everybody knows me these days. I guess that shouldn't be a suprise. After all, I'm the only surviving Animorph. Or so I thought.
We had fought the Yeerks. Jake, the leader; Marco, the comedian; Tobias, the red-tailed hawk/human; Rachel, the beautiful, blood-thirsty mall rat who was my best friend; Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill (Ax), an Andalite cadet who was Elfangor's brother; and I, "good ol' tree huggin' Cassie" had.
We had fought hard, and the war was long, but it had ended. I guess you could say the Yeerks lost, but it seemed like we lost. Especially Jake and Rachel. Rachel, who I will never forget, died fighting. She died at Jake's command. He had basically sent her on a suicide mission. He had sent her to kill his brother, Tom. Rachel had killed Tom, but had been killed herself.
Even though we all knew Rachel had to die, because her lust for blood was too strong, I blame it on myself. I should have never given the Yeerks the technology of morphing...
And as for Jake... well, Jake went from age 14 to age 30 in a month. He had seen too much. He'd made too much life-or-death decisions. After the war, he practically had an emotional breakdown, poor guy.
But anyway, we technically won the war with the Yeerks. Jake got the Yeerks to leave Earth.
After the war, we all went our seperate ways. I don't know where Jake went. Marco turned into a comedian (who saw that coming?) and appeared on hundreds of TV shows. Ax went back to his homeplanet. Tobias came and hid with me. I helped fix and recreate wild places around the world.
You may wonder why I'm telling you this story. You may be thinking, "what more is there to tell me? It's all over, isn't it?" Well it wasn't over. Not for me.
He visited me one day. The Ellimist. For some reason it didn't take me by suprise.
"Cassie." He said. His gaze met mine and I shivered. So much wisdom in them.
"Yes, what do you want now?"
"You have won the war." He smiled slightlty... at least I think he did. It's hard to tell when an alien species smile, especially with Hork- Bajir and Andalites. "But, there is another." He added, sadly. I mean, I was pretty sure he was sad. "Crayak is up to his old tricks."
"Huh? Another what?" I asked. "Another war?" The Ellimist nodded.
"Yes Cassie, and this war has already started."
"Crayak is up to his old tricks? Does that mean that the Yeerks are involved?" I asked. The Ellimist nodded again.
"They've taken over the Andalites."
"WHAT? How am I supposed to fight them alone?" I exclaimed, losing my cool. Not that I had it in the first place.
"You won't be alone."
"But Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Marco and Ax are..."
"Alive. Completely alive." He said.
"Huh?" Now I was definetly confused. I was pretty sure I had watched Rachel die...
"Listen Cassie. Your friends live in another dimension. Humans would call it..." He thought for a moment.
"An afterlife?" I asked.
"No. A parallel dimension. An altenate universe. Um... another timeline." Then, with a wave of his hand, the Ellimist created a three- dimensional image of the barn -- my barn -- in what seemed to be thin air. I looked at the image as it shimmered, and figured it must be some Ellimist technology.
"Your friends are all here." He said, pointing at the five figures in the image. He was right, except only one thing was missing.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"In the parallel dimension you... died."
I was shocked. I felt stunned, my brain just stopped working. It felt like someone had jumped off the wrestling ropes and onto me, knocking me unconscious.
It felt like... well, I don't know what it felt like. It felt like someone had just told me I was dead in another place.
Even though I wasn't looking at him, I felt the Ellimist's eyes studying me. "So Cassie," he said gently, "the reason I am here is because the other Animorphs want you. Need you."
"But wouldn't that be bending the rules?" I asked.
The Ellimist shook his head. "No. Crayak has done it."
"Really? With who?"
"With... nevermind. No more questions about Crayak." He seemed reluctant to give answers. I wondered why.
"So... how am I supposed to travel to the other dimension?"
The Ellimist looked at me, then closed his eyes for about ten seconds.
Then, he opened them. "Now."
And that was the last thing I heard before the whole world flashed, and everything went white.
Cassie
My name is Cassie.
But you probably already know me. It seems like everybody knows me these days. I guess that shouldn't be a suprise. After all, I'm the only surviving Animorph. Or so I thought.
We had fought the Yeerks. Jake, the leader; Marco, the comedian; Tobias, the red-tailed hawk/human; Rachel, the beautiful, blood-thirsty mall rat who was my best friend; Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill (Ax), an Andalite cadet who was Elfangor's brother; and I, "good ol' tree huggin' Cassie" had.
We had fought hard, and the war was long, but it had ended. I guess you could say the Yeerks lost, but it seemed like we lost. Especially Jake and Rachel. Rachel, who I will never forget, died fighting. She died at Jake's command. He had basically sent her on a suicide mission. He had sent her to kill his brother, Tom. Rachel had killed Tom, but had been killed herself.
Even though we all knew Rachel had to die, because her lust for blood was too strong, I blame it on myself. I should have never given the Yeerks the technology of morphing...
And as for Jake... well, Jake went from age 14 to age 30 in a month. He had seen too much. He'd made too much life-or-death decisions. After the war, he practically had an emotional breakdown, poor guy.
But anyway, we technically won the war with the Yeerks. Jake got the Yeerks to leave Earth.
After the war, we all went our seperate ways. I don't know where Jake went. Marco turned into a comedian (who saw that coming?) and appeared on hundreds of TV shows. Ax went back to his homeplanet. Tobias came and hid with me. I helped fix and recreate wild places around the world.
You may wonder why I'm telling you this story. You may be thinking, "what more is there to tell me? It's all over, isn't it?" Well it wasn't over. Not for me.
He visited me one day. The Ellimist. For some reason it didn't take me by suprise.
"Cassie." He said. His gaze met mine and I shivered. So much wisdom in them.
"Yes, what do you want now?"
"You have won the war." He smiled slightlty... at least I think he did. It's hard to tell when an alien species smile, especially with Hork- Bajir and Andalites. "But, there is another." He added, sadly. I mean, I was pretty sure he was sad. "Crayak is up to his old tricks."
"Huh? Another what?" I asked. "Another war?" The Ellimist nodded.
"Yes Cassie, and this war has already started."
"Crayak is up to his old tricks? Does that mean that the Yeerks are involved?" I asked. The Ellimist nodded again.
"They've taken over the Andalites."
"WHAT? How am I supposed to fight them alone?" I exclaimed, losing my cool. Not that I had it in the first place.
"You won't be alone."
"But Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Marco and Ax are..."
"Alive. Completely alive." He said.
"Huh?" Now I was definetly confused. I was pretty sure I had watched Rachel die...
"Listen Cassie. Your friends live in another dimension. Humans would call it..." He thought for a moment.
"An afterlife?" I asked.
"No. A parallel dimension. An altenate universe. Um... another timeline." Then, with a wave of his hand, the Ellimist created a three- dimensional image of the barn -- my barn -- in what seemed to be thin air. I looked at the image as it shimmered, and figured it must be some Ellimist technology.
"Your friends are all here." He said, pointing at the five figures in the image. He was right, except only one thing was missing.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"In the parallel dimension you... died."
I was shocked. I felt stunned, my brain just stopped working. It felt like someone had jumped off the wrestling ropes and onto me, knocking me unconscious.
It felt like... well, I don't know what it felt like. It felt like someone had just told me I was dead in another place.
Even though I wasn't looking at him, I felt the Ellimist's eyes studying me. "So Cassie," he said gently, "the reason I am here is because the other Animorphs want you. Need you."
"But wouldn't that be bending the rules?" I asked.
The Ellimist shook his head. "No. Crayak has done it."
"Really? With who?"
"With... nevermind. No more questions about Crayak." He seemed reluctant to give answers. I wondered why.
"So... how am I supposed to travel to the other dimension?"
The Ellimist looked at me, then closed his eyes for about ten seconds.
Then, he opened them. "Now."
And that was the last thing I heard before the whole world flashed, and everything went white.