Chapter 14-Rachel
We just watched in stunned silence. All of us. Even Marco didn't have something idiotic to say.
Cassie had just faced down two people who could erase her from the memory of time. She had bent the Ellimist and Crayak to her will. It was amazing. In all my time alive, I had never seen this side of Cassie. In her darkest times, she never had resorted to ruthlessness as merciless as this. I was her best friend. I would know.
Her plan was cold and calculating. It was also a little bit selfish, a quality Cassie had never shown. She wanted her friends back. I felt a little bad for the Ellimist. He was the only surviving member of his race, and he couldn't bring them back to life.
Cassie wants me back, Marco said. I feel wanted.
Yeah, I'm sure she really wants you back, I shot back. Must have forgot to tell the Ellimist to leave you.
Why are you always mean to me? Does it give you some kind of sick pleasure?
No, but when you continue to say stupid things, I'll continue to be mean.
Okay, you guys can shut up now, Jake said. We're all getting a second lease on life. I guess that's a good thing. We had-
You guess it's a good thing? You guess being brought back to life is a good thing? Marco said mockingly. Are you okay?
As I was saying, Jake continued, disregarding Marco, we had better not mess things up. Everything will go-
Jake, you will not be able to remember any of this, Elfangor interjected. When time is reversed three years, you will not have any knowledge of the future. If you did, that would destabilize the space-time continuum.
Oh. Yeah, Jake said, trying to cover himself.
Even though you will not remember any of this, I will. Since essences are not part of the continuum, I will have full knowledge of what has occurred these past three years. It will be odd to see what happens in the next three years, knowing what would have happened.
I looked at Cassie, cowering in the hole she had dug. We had heard the threats, we had seen the riots and protests. It was utter insaneness.
If I had been alive, I would have murdered the whole lot of the racists. They had said things about my best friend that I couldn't repeat. I felt so helpless, watching these people rip apart Cassie, even though they had never known her.
Those two weeks had been crazy. We watched, we hoped for Cassie. Yeah, we all wanted to be alive, but even if we were still dead, I wanted Cassie to find the Time Matrix. Just to prove those morons wrong, at the least.
Right now, thousands of people were running towards the hole. The police had been distracted, and the crowd had pushed their way through. They had all seen Cassie disappear and not come back up.
I was worried about Cassie. I knew most of the people coming her way were not friendly. Maybe some of them were even hostile. But I knew Cassie would be okay somehow. And anyways, time would probably be reversed by then.
Father, I wish I would remember this time. It has been…been… Tobias couldn't find the words. I've enjoyed it. Now I know who you are. I…I love you.
I love you too, Tobias, Elfangor said in a comforting voice. You will always be in my thoughts and memories. The conversations we have had I will treasure. Until you join me again, I will pray for the health of you and Loren.
It was touching, and it was sad as well. Tobias had finally had a chance to get to know his actual father. And now he would be wrenched away, with no memory of it.
I wondered why Cassie hadn't asked for Elfangor to be brought back. But he had already been dead, and restoring a long-lost strand of space-time would mess everything up a lot. I wasn't exactly sure. It had been a long time since the Ellimist told his story to me.
What is taking the Ellimist and Crayak so long to dial us back three years in time? Marco wondered.
Maybe it's not as easy as you think it is, I mumbled.
Tobias, can you please tell Rachel to be nice to me?! I don't do anything and she gets all mad.
What was going on? The Ellimist should have moved us back in time already. This was taking much longer than it should have. And now Cassie was in much more danger. The first people had just arrived at the mouth of the hole. They were starting to climb down towards Cassie. I could tell she was tense.
Is the Ellimist going to do this? I mean, he could have just lied to make Cassie happy, Jake thought out loud.
The Ellimist, though he manipulates and distorts much, keeps his word, Elfangor said. It is ironic that I say that. When dealing with the Ellimist, our axiom is "Never trust them." My people are still under the mistaken impression that there is more than one Ellimist out there.
Cassie had just looked at her watch. I guess the Ellimist and Crayak had passed her personal time limit. Just as she was about to touch the Time Matrix, one of the racists had reached the bottom.
No! I yelled.
The racist raced towards Cassie, hands outstretched. She had just put one of her hands on the surface of the Time Matrix. Her eyes were closed, deep in concentration. This couldn't be happening.
Cassie! No! Jake cried.
Perhaps I was incorrect in my statement, Elfangor stated.
Yeah, well it's not going to-
-Something striking at my face again and again. The cobra. Couldn't even see him.
I had failed. Tom. Alive.
Die, human, he said. Just die.
Rachel! Tobias cried.
Help me, Tobias, I pleaded.
I can't…I…
He didn't understand. Help me get him. Help me get him!
Okay. Okay. He's…your left paw, towards your face. Get ready. Has to be fast.
I'm ready.
Now!
I jerked my paw forward, claws extended toward my face.
Tom shrieked. I couldn't see him. but I felt something squirming. Like a worm on a fishhook. The snake was impaled on my claws.
No! Tom cried in outrage.
I brought my paw to my mouth.
Sorry, I said vaguely.
Jake, stop her! the Yeerk screamed with Tom's mouth.
I bit down on the snake.
I lay there in suspended animation.
I felt myself floating.
The bear was melting. Old grizzly bear, my friend. Good old bear.
I demorphed. The snake was still in my mouth. Motionless.
I was Rachel again, the human Rachel, alive, unhurt. I could have bounded up and gone off to the mall to shop. But I didn't kid myself. I didn't hope.
I spit the snake out.
I was surrounded on all sides. I was only a weak human girl now. The polar bear loomed over me, his strength the equal of my own grizzly, but now I was just me, just Rachel.
I could see the viewscreen. I could see my best friend Cassie. Jake. Marco, funny Marco. Ax.
Tobias.
He had morphed. He was his human self once more. He'd done that for me. And because he was crying. Humans cry, hawks don't.
"I love you," I said to the screen.
And oh, god, how could so much regret and so much sweetness and so much sadness all be present in that single moment. I was already dead and missing my unlived life. I was already dead and Tobias was mourning.
I tried to smile. For him.
The polar bear said, You fight well, human.
He swung his paw-
-I was no longer on the Blade ship. What had happened? The polar bear was about to kill me. Now, I was standing next to my friends on the bridge of the Pool ship.
I touched my face. Real. I shook my legs. Real.
It was me, the alive me. Unhurt, completely healthy.
"Rachel?!" Tobias said, wiping his tears away. "Is it actually you?" He ambled over towards me.
"Yeah, I think so." I slapped myself. "Owwwwwwww!" A little harder than I had wanted. But it hurt. That meant I was alive.
"Rachel!" Tobias completely broke down. I hugged him tight. I knew what he had almost gone through. He had nearly lost me. And by some miracle, I was standing with my friends.
I had never believed in miracles or supernatural forces. Being saved from unavoidable death will change your mind easily.
Visser One was staring at me in amazement. I guess he had never seen anything like it before, either. His Andalite body was quivering with fear.
In all my years, I have never managed to kill one of the Animorphs, the Yeerk said through his stolen thought-speak. And yet, as I am about to witness the death of one of you pesky humans, you are saved. Is it impossible to even kill you?
I shrugged. "I don't know. We get lucky most of the time."
Look! Jake yelled, still in his tiger morph. He was pointed one of his paws to the viewscreen.
The Blade ship was heading straight for us! I knew the Yeerks couldn't fire on us. I had destroyed the weapons panel on the ship. But now they were on a collision course with the Pool ship.
The screen became alive. A picture of a human-Controller appeared. His face was twisted with rage and uncontrolled anger. "I don't know how you managed to escape," he said through clenched teeth, pointing at me. "But now I will make sure you don't get away this time. You killed our leader. For that, you will pay the ultimate price." The screen flashed off.
"Helm is still unresponsive!" one of the human-Controllers on the bridge shouted. "What do we do, Visser?"
Nothing. There is nothing to be done, the visser said. His stalk eyes drooped a little. But at least in death, I will know that the Animorphs will die as well! He spat the word 'Animorphs' as harshly as the Andalites said 'Yeerk'. It was amazing to know the Yeerks hated us that much.
The Blade ship was picking up speed quickly. We could do nothing and watch as our death approached.