Oddly, I slept more soundly that night than any other since I came to
be in this world. I usually had terrible nightmares about my last, tragic
adventure, where my mid always warped things to make everything that went
wrong my fault. This night I had no dreams that I could remember.
It was like I'd finally found a place in this timeline that I actually belonged. Which was all the more weird because it was with a talking hawk, an alien centaur-thing, and a group of alien-fighting human children!
The first thing we had to do before the little duel between me and Ax was get the others there. Tobias said he'd do it. After that, I only had to change my clothes to something tighter so they wouldn't get in my way.
We didn't have that long to wait. Ax heard them about the same time I did, clomping as quickly as they could through the forest.
We had to hurry to get in position. The other Animorphs had to hear the sounds of battle before they came into the little clearing where I'd stayed that night.
We did a few practice hits and maneuvers. We had to be sure that the Animorphs heard the thudding sound of steel against solid, hard bone. I caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of my eye, and I knew that they were here, but I couldn't look at them. I had to make it seem as if I were totally set on killing Ax, and he set on either killing, or subduing me.
I suddenly saw a flask of bone-white coming straight at me. I ducked low and Ax missed the top of my head by a millimeter at most. I thrust at him while still in my duck, jabbing upward at his chest. I nicked him, and I was the one with first blood! He came unexpectedly right at my throat, and I had to spin away a few steps to dodge having my head cut off. I felt a scar on my throat that I received under similar circumstances burn.
"Foul Andalite!" I roared in what I hoped sounded like real hate and disgust. Inside I was laughing my head off.
We glared at each other for a few heartbeats, then I came rushing at him, hoping to catch him by surprise.
It didn't work.
He sliced down on me, cutting my arm. I chopped at him from many different angels in a mater of a few seconds. He blocked most of them, then he went to attacking me. I blocked nearly all of his cuts and slices, but not all. He got five out of fifteen hits in on me in those few moments.
We backed away from each other, mentally checking all of our wounds to make sure none of them were serious. I was hurt pretty badly, but I'd learned a long time ago to ignore pain and keep on fighting. The Andalite was already tiring, obviously not used to prolong battles.
I glanced other at the other Animorphs. I had been surprised when none of them had morphed right out and attack me, especially the blond girl. I saw them gaping at me and my slightly blue-bloodied sword. At first I was curious as to why these warrior-children would be surprised to see a bloodied sword, then it hit me that they'd probably never even seen a well- crafted hand-made sword before, and they had probably thought no one armed just with a long stick of sharpened metal could hold out this long against their Andalite friend.
I grinned, then I charged right back at the alien. To our spectators, we most likely looked like a whirlwind of blades and blood, but to me it was slow-motion precision, only slow-motion that I could just manage to match.
Then, suddenly, we stopped all movement. The Andalite had his tail- blade to my throat, and I had the tip of my sword nicking his.
He lowered his tail blade, but I don't remember putting mine down by conscious will. I just glared at this...this freak of nature who had nearly bested me. I guess I looked ready to kill him, and I think I was about to, because suddenly I was grabbed by several hands and hauled to the ground. Not that I didn't fight them all the way. I screamed and kicked, punched, clawed, and even bit.
Then I felt this agonizing pain slash my head, and all was blackness.
* * *
When I woke up, I was tied up in what seemed to be an old wooden shack. It had wooden, half-rotted floors, log walls, a hole in one of them that must have been a door at some point, but the door was no where to be seen, and only half of the whole of the shack was covered with a roof. A sparrow's nest was in the rafters, bushes had grown through another hole in the wall, and beer and soda cans were strewn everywhere.
My wounds had been bandaged, but on most of them the blood had soaked through. I couldn't find my sword anywhere in the small, one-roomed building, but that wasn't a big surprise. My poisoned dagger was gone too. There was a small, battery-powered light in one corner of the room, and by that was some food, mostly sandwiches but a few things from my pack, as well. When I spotted the food, my stomach growled. Loudly.
Tobias flew in then and landed in the rafters near the nest. Hungry? he asked.
"Yeah. How long have I been out?" I asked as he flew to the floor and morphed human.
Not Long. Only a few-- Just about then his thought-speak cut off as his mouth started to form from the deadly, wickedly beautiful beak.
"Sorry. Just a few hours. Here," he said, untying my hands. Then he handed me a sandwich.
"Why'd you guys tie me up?" I asked.
"You don't remember? You almost killed Ax! I knew that duel thing was a bad idea," he said, sounding rather depressed.
"I what?! You're kidding, right? I wouldn't have even thought about killing him!" I exclaimed in surprise. I couldn't have almost killed him. He was just a kid!
"Definitely not kidding. We're going to hold you for a few days to make sure you're not a Controller, then we'll probably let you go," he said somberly.
The way he said "probably" didn't reassure me much, but I didn't press that point. Instead I asked, "Where are my weapons? Please be careful with them! They're the only things I have from my world." I couldn't stand the thought of loosing my weapons permanently. There was a good possibility I'd never set foot on Krynn again.
"Hey, don't worry. We got `em safe and sound. Just away from you." Then he looked at me in surprise. "You didn't get defensive when I accused of being a Yeerk!"
"Should have I? I don't really care, as long as you feed me, how long you keep me here," I said in a bit of confusion. Then it hit me.
"Oh! You told me Yeerks can only survive for three days without Kendragon rays!"
"Kandrona. Yeah, that's right," he said.
"Yeah, okay. Anyway, I'm not a Yeerk, but I'm sure you won't believe me, so I won't even try to plead my case. Just be very careful with my dagger. It's poisoned-coated. Prick your finger and in about two minutes you'll be dead," I said nonchalantly.
"Oh. Okay," he said, probably wondering where I'd gotten such a powerful poison.
"Hey, could you go and get Ax for me so I can apologize? Please?" I asked.
"Sure, just give me a minute to tie you back up." He tied me up, and I even tested the knots for him so he'd be sure he'd gotten me good enough. Then he morphed back to hawk and flew off.
About ten minutes later, he came back with a slightly nervous Ax trotting after him.
"Hello, Aximili," I said. I guess I caught him by surprise, using his whole first name. He must have started thinking that I actually relaxed my speech accidentally. I would actually much rather say " we are" instead of "we're" (I learned English that way,) and all that, but I have to fit in.
Hello, Ariel, He said back, rather coldly. Ah, well. You don't forgive someone who almost killed you that easily.
"Ax, I am sorry about this morning. Though I don't remember it for some reason, I apologize nonetheless. I would not hold it against you if you killed me right now. If it had been you trying to kill me, I would be angry as well. And I understand why you cannot trust me, either. I would not be too surprised if you just kept me here untill I died, though that might take some time. I don't expect you to forgive my actions, whatever they may have been, I just want you to know that I am sorry," I said, then I just watched him for a moment to see his reaction.
His reaction seemed to be indifference. He just stared at me with three eyes, while the other looked up at Tobias. Then he just turned toward the doorway of the shack and walked off. Not a word. To me, at least. Maybe he said something to Tobias.
I sighed and shrugged. "So...What am I supposed to do while you wait and see if I'm a Controller or not?"
I dunno. Talk, sleep, and eat's all you need to do. And you really don't need to talk. Think. I'm stuck with my just my thoughts all the time. I'm alone most of the time, except when we have a mission or the Ax-man stops by my meadow. What do you usually do? He sounded like he was rambling. Like he wanted to really say something to me, but couldn't get it out.
"I'm usually reading, or watching that glorious invention of your people's, television," I said. "There's no electricity in here, so that kills TV, and my hands are tied, so I can't turn pages. So, I guess I try your suggestion, huh? Thinking. Haven't needed to do that in a while..." I fell silent, and so did he. He started preening his feathers, and I thought of times gone, when I was with my little ten-year-old sister. I thought about all the games we played, all the things I bought her on my travels (I spoiled her rotten), and all the times we got in trouble, together. Boy, we were a pair of mischief-makers.
My thoughts traveled that road awhile, until it came to that tragic day when I came home and found my whole family withered, in pain, and dying. But my little sister, according to my dying father, had been missing for several days. We had healers in our little village, but no clerics. No one came near my family because of the sickness; no one would, but the healers, and we hadn't had enough money to pay them. My family never accepted my gifts of money, not ever. No one would fetch a cleric of Paladine, or one of the other gods of Good. The whole village just let them die. Damnable racists. They did nothing because of my father's heritage. We had lived on the outskirts of a human town, just barely being tolerated. When any of us went to the marketplace, we were insulted mercilessly.
I felt hot tears well up in my fiery grey eyes. I blinked them back, and tried not to remember the look of sheer pain in father's eyes as he slowly drifted away from the world of the living.
I knew that Tobias would have surely noticed my rapid blinking away of tears, if not the tears themselves. But he said nothing, and may Chislev bless him for that. I really didn't want to lie so obviously about something being in my eyes.
I tried thinking about other, happier times, that didn't end so tragically. Those were rare, but that had never really seemed to bother me much. Somehow it still didn't.
I soon realized it was dark, and that Tobias wasn't there anymore. No one was, it seemed, but I knew better than to think I was left unguarded.
I saw an owl float by gently and land in the branches of a tree near the opening of the roof, where it could look down on me from above. I smiled up at it, and it landed in the roof rafters.
I don't remember falling asleep, but I guess I did. I woke up at the brink of dawn, like a usually did. I saw Tobias in the rafters again, but he was still asleep, with his head tucked under one wing, like a baby bird I had once raised. I couldn't help but giggle quietly.
He awoke with a start, his head coming up, his feathers fluffed up, and a shrill, piercing screech emerging from his beak. I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
One he'd gotten control of his hawkish instincts, he asked, What's so funny? He sounded quite indignant.
"You looked exactly like a baby pigeon I once saved and raised while you were sleeping, and then you looked like a fat old man with your feathers all fluffed up!"
All I got out of the was a telepathic humph and he flew away to catch his morning meal as I usually did on my forays out into the woods. Cassie strolled in nonchalantly in horse form a few seconds later. She had a pair of saddle bags on her back.
Good morning! she said happily, demorphing -- after she'd reared and shook off the poorly strapped on saddle-bags that probably would had been tough for her to hold as a human.
"I hope you have breakfast in those bags of yours," I said, staring hungrily at the nylon zip-up square pouches. "And I just have to comment that that horse morph looks almost exactly like my old horse, Black Badger." I couldn't help but smile fondly at the thought of that old, constantly-tired looking, over-worked war-horse. He'd been a true friend on the road, but I couldn't use him in battle. He was much too frail and old. But the horse Cassie acquired looked much younger and better looking.
"Not a very awe-inspiring name, is it?" Cassie asked.
I snorted. "He wasn't a very awe-inspiring war-horse, either."
"Anyway, I've got as much food as the four of us could steal without making our parents overly suspicious. We've got granola, one of those little juicy- juice boxes of grape juice, a whole box of cereal, no milk, though, and Oreos? Hmm... Those are mine. You can eat the rest."
"As a prisoner, I'm actually used to eating gruel and half-rotted meat. This is exquisite. Thanks. And I doubt I can eat a whole box of chocolate and double sugar-coated cereal. Too sweet. If you want it to go with the rest of you extremely unhealthy breakfast, don't think your being cruel by taking away a helpless prisoner's only meal," I said, smiling.
"Ha! You sound more like my Mom than a 'helpless prisoner'. And how can anything be too sweet?" Cassie asked, mockingly incredulous.
"If you'd been raised to think that pepper is a spice only the rich get, and the sweetest thing you ever have is honey, there'd be plenty you'd think was too sweet. My family was lucky enough to be able to use salt to preserve the meat of a cow that we slaughtered each year."
"Life's that bad on your world... what did you call it? Krynn?"
"Not bad, but we definitely didn't have as high a standard of living that you do in this country. Now, could you untie my hands so that I can stuff myself silly? I'm starved."
"Oh, sure, sorry," she said, untying me so I could step up to the saddle bags and pilfer through them, grabbing a granola bar and the little box of juice. Sitting on the floor, I tore open the little bag holding in the granola and started chewing on it.
And that was how each day started and ended for a week. I knew they could have let me go in three days, but I decided to stay. The shack was a very good shelter, and I just didn't feel like going anywhere. Besides, I was moving from the town in a few days anyway, probably to return in a year or two like I always do, waiting until people forget me so they won't really notice my longevity.
* * *
"You probably know that I will never, ever tell anyone what I've seen," I told Cassie on the day I was to go home. She nodded and I went on, "Well, you, and the others, have to swear that you will never even hint about my secrets. I would be put in a circus the minute anyone even caught a glimpse of my ears. Or they would use me for a stupid Star Trek movie or something. It could endanger the good lives of the others that were in my party that day. So, do you swear?" I towered over her by at least a head, but right then I felt like she was the adult and I was the child, and I was begging her not to tell my mummy that I'd done something bad.
Cassie was the only one in the group that I trusted, for some reason. She smiled like she knew how I felt when I asked her to swear. Maybe she did, I don't know.
"I promise," was all she said. It was all she needed to say.
I felt weird, talking to her on my level of actual wiseness. She's just as smart as I am, but she's also just as wise. It felt strange that she could be as wise as I am when she's just in her teens and I'm in my hundreds.
I know she would tell the others to promise, too.
I turned and walked away from the clearing where I had met the Animorphs. They had led me there because I didn't remember the trip to the shack from the clearing. I had thought this would be the last I heard of the Animorphs until one side or the other won this war.
It's amazing how often people are wrong.
It was like I'd finally found a place in this timeline that I actually belonged. Which was all the more weird because it was with a talking hawk, an alien centaur-thing, and a group of alien-fighting human children!
The first thing we had to do before the little duel between me and Ax was get the others there. Tobias said he'd do it. After that, I only had to change my clothes to something tighter so they wouldn't get in my way.
We didn't have that long to wait. Ax heard them about the same time I did, clomping as quickly as they could through the forest.
We had to hurry to get in position. The other Animorphs had to hear the sounds of battle before they came into the little clearing where I'd stayed that night.
We did a few practice hits and maneuvers. We had to be sure that the Animorphs heard the thudding sound of steel against solid, hard bone. I caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of my eye, and I knew that they were here, but I couldn't look at them. I had to make it seem as if I were totally set on killing Ax, and he set on either killing, or subduing me.
I suddenly saw a flask of bone-white coming straight at me. I ducked low and Ax missed the top of my head by a millimeter at most. I thrust at him while still in my duck, jabbing upward at his chest. I nicked him, and I was the one with first blood! He came unexpectedly right at my throat, and I had to spin away a few steps to dodge having my head cut off. I felt a scar on my throat that I received under similar circumstances burn.
"Foul Andalite!" I roared in what I hoped sounded like real hate and disgust. Inside I was laughing my head off.
We glared at each other for a few heartbeats, then I came rushing at him, hoping to catch him by surprise.
It didn't work.
He sliced down on me, cutting my arm. I chopped at him from many different angels in a mater of a few seconds. He blocked most of them, then he went to attacking me. I blocked nearly all of his cuts and slices, but not all. He got five out of fifteen hits in on me in those few moments.
We backed away from each other, mentally checking all of our wounds to make sure none of them were serious. I was hurt pretty badly, but I'd learned a long time ago to ignore pain and keep on fighting. The Andalite was already tiring, obviously not used to prolong battles.
I glanced other at the other Animorphs. I had been surprised when none of them had morphed right out and attack me, especially the blond girl. I saw them gaping at me and my slightly blue-bloodied sword. At first I was curious as to why these warrior-children would be surprised to see a bloodied sword, then it hit me that they'd probably never even seen a well- crafted hand-made sword before, and they had probably thought no one armed just with a long stick of sharpened metal could hold out this long against their Andalite friend.
I grinned, then I charged right back at the alien. To our spectators, we most likely looked like a whirlwind of blades and blood, but to me it was slow-motion precision, only slow-motion that I could just manage to match.
Then, suddenly, we stopped all movement. The Andalite had his tail- blade to my throat, and I had the tip of my sword nicking his.
He lowered his tail blade, but I don't remember putting mine down by conscious will. I just glared at this...this freak of nature who had nearly bested me. I guess I looked ready to kill him, and I think I was about to, because suddenly I was grabbed by several hands and hauled to the ground. Not that I didn't fight them all the way. I screamed and kicked, punched, clawed, and even bit.
Then I felt this agonizing pain slash my head, and all was blackness.
* * *
When I woke up, I was tied up in what seemed to be an old wooden shack. It had wooden, half-rotted floors, log walls, a hole in one of them that must have been a door at some point, but the door was no where to be seen, and only half of the whole of the shack was covered with a roof. A sparrow's nest was in the rafters, bushes had grown through another hole in the wall, and beer and soda cans were strewn everywhere.
My wounds had been bandaged, but on most of them the blood had soaked through. I couldn't find my sword anywhere in the small, one-roomed building, but that wasn't a big surprise. My poisoned dagger was gone too. There was a small, battery-powered light in one corner of the room, and by that was some food, mostly sandwiches but a few things from my pack, as well. When I spotted the food, my stomach growled. Loudly.
Tobias flew in then and landed in the rafters near the nest. Hungry? he asked.
"Yeah. How long have I been out?" I asked as he flew to the floor and morphed human.
Not Long. Only a few-- Just about then his thought-speak cut off as his mouth started to form from the deadly, wickedly beautiful beak.
"Sorry. Just a few hours. Here," he said, untying my hands. Then he handed me a sandwich.
"Why'd you guys tie me up?" I asked.
"You don't remember? You almost killed Ax! I knew that duel thing was a bad idea," he said, sounding rather depressed.
"I what?! You're kidding, right? I wouldn't have even thought about killing him!" I exclaimed in surprise. I couldn't have almost killed him. He was just a kid!
"Definitely not kidding. We're going to hold you for a few days to make sure you're not a Controller, then we'll probably let you go," he said somberly.
The way he said "probably" didn't reassure me much, but I didn't press that point. Instead I asked, "Where are my weapons? Please be careful with them! They're the only things I have from my world." I couldn't stand the thought of loosing my weapons permanently. There was a good possibility I'd never set foot on Krynn again.
"Hey, don't worry. We got `em safe and sound. Just away from you." Then he looked at me in surprise. "You didn't get defensive when I accused of being a Yeerk!"
"Should have I? I don't really care, as long as you feed me, how long you keep me here," I said in a bit of confusion. Then it hit me.
"Oh! You told me Yeerks can only survive for three days without Kendragon rays!"
"Kandrona. Yeah, that's right," he said.
"Yeah, okay. Anyway, I'm not a Yeerk, but I'm sure you won't believe me, so I won't even try to plead my case. Just be very careful with my dagger. It's poisoned-coated. Prick your finger and in about two minutes you'll be dead," I said nonchalantly.
"Oh. Okay," he said, probably wondering where I'd gotten such a powerful poison.
"Hey, could you go and get Ax for me so I can apologize? Please?" I asked.
"Sure, just give me a minute to tie you back up." He tied me up, and I even tested the knots for him so he'd be sure he'd gotten me good enough. Then he morphed back to hawk and flew off.
About ten minutes later, he came back with a slightly nervous Ax trotting after him.
"Hello, Aximili," I said. I guess I caught him by surprise, using his whole first name. He must have started thinking that I actually relaxed my speech accidentally. I would actually much rather say " we are" instead of "we're" (I learned English that way,) and all that, but I have to fit in.
Hello, Ariel, He said back, rather coldly. Ah, well. You don't forgive someone who almost killed you that easily.
"Ax, I am sorry about this morning. Though I don't remember it for some reason, I apologize nonetheless. I would not hold it against you if you killed me right now. If it had been you trying to kill me, I would be angry as well. And I understand why you cannot trust me, either. I would not be too surprised if you just kept me here untill I died, though that might take some time. I don't expect you to forgive my actions, whatever they may have been, I just want you to know that I am sorry," I said, then I just watched him for a moment to see his reaction.
His reaction seemed to be indifference. He just stared at me with three eyes, while the other looked up at Tobias. Then he just turned toward the doorway of the shack and walked off. Not a word. To me, at least. Maybe he said something to Tobias.
I sighed and shrugged. "So...What am I supposed to do while you wait and see if I'm a Controller or not?"
I dunno. Talk, sleep, and eat's all you need to do. And you really don't need to talk. Think. I'm stuck with my just my thoughts all the time. I'm alone most of the time, except when we have a mission or the Ax-man stops by my meadow. What do you usually do? He sounded like he was rambling. Like he wanted to really say something to me, but couldn't get it out.
"I'm usually reading, or watching that glorious invention of your people's, television," I said. "There's no electricity in here, so that kills TV, and my hands are tied, so I can't turn pages. So, I guess I try your suggestion, huh? Thinking. Haven't needed to do that in a while..." I fell silent, and so did he. He started preening his feathers, and I thought of times gone, when I was with my little ten-year-old sister. I thought about all the games we played, all the things I bought her on my travels (I spoiled her rotten), and all the times we got in trouble, together. Boy, we were a pair of mischief-makers.
My thoughts traveled that road awhile, until it came to that tragic day when I came home and found my whole family withered, in pain, and dying. But my little sister, according to my dying father, had been missing for several days. We had healers in our little village, but no clerics. No one came near my family because of the sickness; no one would, but the healers, and we hadn't had enough money to pay them. My family never accepted my gifts of money, not ever. No one would fetch a cleric of Paladine, or one of the other gods of Good. The whole village just let them die. Damnable racists. They did nothing because of my father's heritage. We had lived on the outskirts of a human town, just barely being tolerated. When any of us went to the marketplace, we were insulted mercilessly.
I felt hot tears well up in my fiery grey eyes. I blinked them back, and tried not to remember the look of sheer pain in father's eyes as he slowly drifted away from the world of the living.
I knew that Tobias would have surely noticed my rapid blinking away of tears, if not the tears themselves. But he said nothing, and may Chislev bless him for that. I really didn't want to lie so obviously about something being in my eyes.
I tried thinking about other, happier times, that didn't end so tragically. Those were rare, but that had never really seemed to bother me much. Somehow it still didn't.
I soon realized it was dark, and that Tobias wasn't there anymore. No one was, it seemed, but I knew better than to think I was left unguarded.
I saw an owl float by gently and land in the branches of a tree near the opening of the roof, where it could look down on me from above. I smiled up at it, and it landed in the roof rafters.
I don't remember falling asleep, but I guess I did. I woke up at the brink of dawn, like a usually did. I saw Tobias in the rafters again, but he was still asleep, with his head tucked under one wing, like a baby bird I had once raised. I couldn't help but giggle quietly.
He awoke with a start, his head coming up, his feathers fluffed up, and a shrill, piercing screech emerging from his beak. I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
One he'd gotten control of his hawkish instincts, he asked, What's so funny? He sounded quite indignant.
"You looked exactly like a baby pigeon I once saved and raised while you were sleeping, and then you looked like a fat old man with your feathers all fluffed up!"
All I got out of the was a telepathic humph and he flew away to catch his morning meal as I usually did on my forays out into the woods. Cassie strolled in nonchalantly in horse form a few seconds later. She had a pair of saddle bags on her back.
Good morning! she said happily, demorphing -- after she'd reared and shook off the poorly strapped on saddle-bags that probably would had been tough for her to hold as a human.
"I hope you have breakfast in those bags of yours," I said, staring hungrily at the nylon zip-up square pouches. "And I just have to comment that that horse morph looks almost exactly like my old horse, Black Badger." I couldn't help but smile fondly at the thought of that old, constantly-tired looking, over-worked war-horse. He'd been a true friend on the road, but I couldn't use him in battle. He was much too frail and old. But the horse Cassie acquired looked much younger and better looking.
"Not a very awe-inspiring name, is it?" Cassie asked.
I snorted. "He wasn't a very awe-inspiring war-horse, either."
"Anyway, I've got as much food as the four of us could steal without making our parents overly suspicious. We've got granola, one of those little juicy- juice boxes of grape juice, a whole box of cereal, no milk, though, and Oreos? Hmm... Those are mine. You can eat the rest."
"As a prisoner, I'm actually used to eating gruel and half-rotted meat. This is exquisite. Thanks. And I doubt I can eat a whole box of chocolate and double sugar-coated cereal. Too sweet. If you want it to go with the rest of you extremely unhealthy breakfast, don't think your being cruel by taking away a helpless prisoner's only meal," I said, smiling.
"Ha! You sound more like my Mom than a 'helpless prisoner'. And how can anything be too sweet?" Cassie asked, mockingly incredulous.
"If you'd been raised to think that pepper is a spice only the rich get, and the sweetest thing you ever have is honey, there'd be plenty you'd think was too sweet. My family was lucky enough to be able to use salt to preserve the meat of a cow that we slaughtered each year."
"Life's that bad on your world... what did you call it? Krynn?"
"Not bad, but we definitely didn't have as high a standard of living that you do in this country. Now, could you untie my hands so that I can stuff myself silly? I'm starved."
"Oh, sure, sorry," she said, untying me so I could step up to the saddle bags and pilfer through them, grabbing a granola bar and the little box of juice. Sitting on the floor, I tore open the little bag holding in the granola and started chewing on it.
And that was how each day started and ended for a week. I knew they could have let me go in three days, but I decided to stay. The shack was a very good shelter, and I just didn't feel like going anywhere. Besides, I was moving from the town in a few days anyway, probably to return in a year or two like I always do, waiting until people forget me so they won't really notice my longevity.
* * *
"You probably know that I will never, ever tell anyone what I've seen," I told Cassie on the day I was to go home. She nodded and I went on, "Well, you, and the others, have to swear that you will never even hint about my secrets. I would be put in a circus the minute anyone even caught a glimpse of my ears. Or they would use me for a stupid Star Trek movie or something. It could endanger the good lives of the others that were in my party that day. So, do you swear?" I towered over her by at least a head, but right then I felt like she was the adult and I was the child, and I was begging her not to tell my mummy that I'd done something bad.
Cassie was the only one in the group that I trusted, for some reason. She smiled like she knew how I felt when I asked her to swear. Maybe she did, I don't know.
"I promise," was all she said. It was all she needed to say.
I felt weird, talking to her on my level of actual wiseness. She's just as smart as I am, but she's also just as wise. It felt strange that she could be as wise as I am when she's just in her teens and I'm in my hundreds.
I know she would tell the others to promise, too.
I turned and walked away from the clearing where I had met the Animorphs. They had led me there because I didn't remember the trip to the shack from the clearing. I had thought this would be the last I heard of the Animorphs until one side or the other won this war.
It's amazing how often people are wrong.