Chapter Sixteen:
What were the longest five minutes of your life? Waiting for the call back from the person you wanted to go to the prom with? The last five minutes of the line into the movie you had been waiting for since you were ten? The very start of the class where you got your midterm score that made or broke your position on the team?
Okay, let me give you a better sense of the wait. What was the longest day of your life? Because, believe me, that five minutes seemed to stretch for twenty-four hours at least. It was an agonizing eternity.
I stared at my watch. Four minutes had crawled by with all the speed of tectonic plates shifting. She wasn't coming back. I swore. I had unleashed a morph-capable Controller who knew our secret. Even if she didn't morph to bird and fly away, she could spend two hours as an ant. As a mole, tunneling beneath my feet. She could morph dragonfly. She could go flea. She could do anything I could do, and that was a lot. I swore again. I had done the inconceivable. How could I be so-
She came back.
She stepped through the door, and calmly sat down on the chair, and gave me this "Well, aren't you going to tie me back up?" look.
I tried to cover up my shock and relief with a mask of impassivity. I guess I didn't do it fast enough. Cassie started to chuckle.
"Scared you, huh?"
I fumbled for a joke to crack. "I was just . . . amazed you made it back so fast. Because, um, girls tend to . . . "
"So I scared you bad."
"Right."
"Sorry," she said, and shrugged. "Are you gonna tie me back up, or what?"
I eyed her. So. She wasn't a Controller.
"Sure," I said. "Oh, and the other guys really don't need to know about what I just did, right?" I began picking the ropes up. I was surprised to find my fingers were still shaking.
Cassie smiled. "If you bring up a king-sized Snickers bar on your next watch."
I tut-tutted. "What would Rachel say?"
"I figure she really doesn't need to know about it," she said, matching my inflection.
"Blackmail," I said. "You got it."
She wasn't a Controller.
Waves of relief crashed on the shores of my soul. She knew, as well as I did, that she was not going to get another shot at freedom as pure and sweet as that before the end of the three days.
She wasn't a Controller.
No more guilt, no more insinuations, no more trying to catch the Yeerk off- guard. Just plain and simple hanging out with a friend for a few hours, to put the rest of the crowd at ease.
True, the friend was tied to the chair, but still.
She wasn't a Controller.
An hour later, Rachel showed up. She acted all careful around Cassie, tense, shooting suspicious glances towards her.
"Has she done anything suspicious?" she asked.
"Nope," I said, and left it at that. Of all the people I was least interested in having find out about what I had done, Rachel was at the top of the list.
"Hmmm," she said, a dark cloud hovering behind her eyes.
It's funny how perspective changes. I knew the same depression, the same doubt, the same frustration had been raging inside of me just half an hour ago, but now I felt as light as a feather. I was mentally laughing at Rachel for her suspicion. The sudden realization that one of your friends and fellow superheroes is still friend and superhero and not arch-villain tends to take the weight off your shoulders.
"Well," I said, "I'll leave you girls to your hair-and-nail-polish talk."
Cassie made a gagging sound.
Rachel snorted. "Are you kidding? Her? She'll want to tell me all about this new technique she's mastered for mucking out horse stalls. I'd have better luck trying to have an intelligent conversation with Ax about a romantic comedy. Or, for that matter, trying to have any kind of intelligent conversation with you at all."
"Well, get her talking about Jake, then. I'm sure that will be much more interesting." I grinned, getting in the shot while Cassie was tied up. Cassie's not much for violence, but both she and Jake really need to lighten up about their relationship.
Cassie shot me a death-glare, but I saw laughter behind it.
Man, I felt so good right then. Actually, I felt good all night. I felt good for the first half of school the next day.
It was when Erek sat down at lunch with a casual, "Hey, guys! Hear the latest?" that my good mood vanished.
No, we hadn't heard the latest.
I still wish we never had.
What were the longest five minutes of your life? Waiting for the call back from the person you wanted to go to the prom with? The last five minutes of the line into the movie you had been waiting for since you were ten? The very start of the class where you got your midterm score that made or broke your position on the team?
Okay, let me give you a better sense of the wait. What was the longest day of your life? Because, believe me, that five minutes seemed to stretch for twenty-four hours at least. It was an agonizing eternity.
I stared at my watch. Four minutes had crawled by with all the speed of tectonic plates shifting. She wasn't coming back. I swore. I had unleashed a morph-capable Controller who knew our secret. Even if she didn't morph to bird and fly away, she could spend two hours as an ant. As a mole, tunneling beneath my feet. She could morph dragonfly. She could go flea. She could do anything I could do, and that was a lot. I swore again. I had done the inconceivable. How could I be so-
She came back.
She stepped through the door, and calmly sat down on the chair, and gave me this "Well, aren't you going to tie me back up?" look.
I tried to cover up my shock and relief with a mask of impassivity. I guess I didn't do it fast enough. Cassie started to chuckle.
"Scared you, huh?"
I fumbled for a joke to crack. "I was just . . . amazed you made it back so fast. Because, um, girls tend to . . . "
"So I scared you bad."
"Right."
"Sorry," she said, and shrugged. "Are you gonna tie me back up, or what?"
I eyed her. So. She wasn't a Controller.
"Sure," I said. "Oh, and the other guys really don't need to know about what I just did, right?" I began picking the ropes up. I was surprised to find my fingers were still shaking.
Cassie smiled. "If you bring up a king-sized Snickers bar on your next watch."
I tut-tutted. "What would Rachel say?"
"I figure she really doesn't need to know about it," she said, matching my inflection.
"Blackmail," I said. "You got it."
She wasn't a Controller.
Waves of relief crashed on the shores of my soul. She knew, as well as I did, that she was not going to get another shot at freedom as pure and sweet as that before the end of the three days.
She wasn't a Controller.
No more guilt, no more insinuations, no more trying to catch the Yeerk off- guard. Just plain and simple hanging out with a friend for a few hours, to put the rest of the crowd at ease.
True, the friend was tied to the chair, but still.
She wasn't a Controller.
An hour later, Rachel showed up. She acted all careful around Cassie, tense, shooting suspicious glances towards her.
"Has she done anything suspicious?" she asked.
"Nope," I said, and left it at that. Of all the people I was least interested in having find out about what I had done, Rachel was at the top of the list.
"Hmmm," she said, a dark cloud hovering behind her eyes.
It's funny how perspective changes. I knew the same depression, the same doubt, the same frustration had been raging inside of me just half an hour ago, but now I felt as light as a feather. I was mentally laughing at Rachel for her suspicion. The sudden realization that one of your friends and fellow superheroes is still friend and superhero and not arch-villain tends to take the weight off your shoulders.
"Well," I said, "I'll leave you girls to your hair-and-nail-polish talk."
Cassie made a gagging sound.
Rachel snorted. "Are you kidding? Her? She'll want to tell me all about this new technique she's mastered for mucking out horse stalls. I'd have better luck trying to have an intelligent conversation with Ax about a romantic comedy. Or, for that matter, trying to have any kind of intelligent conversation with you at all."
"Well, get her talking about Jake, then. I'm sure that will be much more interesting." I grinned, getting in the shot while Cassie was tied up. Cassie's not much for violence, but both she and Jake really need to lighten up about their relationship.
Cassie shot me a death-glare, but I saw laughter behind it.
Man, I felt so good right then. Actually, I felt good all night. I felt good for the first half of school the next day.
It was when Erek sat down at lunch with a casual, "Hey, guys! Hear the latest?" that my good mood vanished.
No, we hadn't heard the latest.
I still wish we never had.