The Difference
Chapter 6
Test of Loyalty
(Sarah)
There is a saying, among my people, that my mother used to say a lot when Emily and I were little, something about never trusting someone with two colored eyes... it is ironic, then, that they also say eyes are the windows to the soul. And my sister and best friends were those with two colored eyes I could not trust. Trapped in this backwards little dimension so very different from my own, I would have to trust those who knew me and at the same time, did not. Four Gods, what had I fallen into?
I spent the rest of that first afternoon with Cassie, Ax, and Tobias, learning - or relearning, depending how you looked at it - everything about the other me, from what classes I would be taking at the school to a whole score of other things that were completely new to me, including more English then I cared to know. Ax and Tobias helped me with that after Cassie had returned to her house and left us three alone. Then Ax had gone off to eat, leaving just Tobias and me. I clambered up into the hayloft and stretched out there, glad to take a break from having my head crammed.
"I don't think I've ever had that much stuffed into my head at once... ever," I sighed in my own language. English is hard and confusing, not simple like all languages should be. "I really was a shena, wasn't I?"
Only to everyone else, he answered. Not to me or Ax.
"Oh?" I asked, looked up at him.
Yeah... you were a friend... itala. It should have shocked me, but it didn't. I merely shook my head.
"That doesn't have to change, Tobi'as," I told him quietly. "Maybe it can't be the same automatically, but I can be a friend." He was a silent a moment and in that moment, another bird swooped in and landed on the ground, then... began to change. Feathers to skin, a beak that split into a nose and mouth - I had never watched anything so disgusting in all of my life. A few moments later and the girl who could only be Rachel was standing on the floor, looking up at us.
Rachel had a problem with the other Sarah, Tobias told me as I sat up in the hay and looked down at her.
Oh? What?
Me. That took me a minute, but based on what I had been told and that Tobias had described the only me as an itala, it became glaringly obvious - Rachel was jealous.
A complication, I thought to myself, jumping down and facing Rachel. I don't think, even to this day, I have ever faced anyone who hated me so much without knowing me at all. It was there in her eyes and in the way she tensed up with me in her general vicinity.
"Hello," I said, taking my time so as not to confuse Rachel and myself. Stupid stupid English... "I have spent the day talking with Tobias and Ax and we have reached the decision that, with everything the way it is now, that I should become more of a... a..."
Team player, said Tobias in private thought speak, knowing that was the word that troubled me.
"Team player," I finished. Veraha, Tobias.
Not a problem.
"Look," said Rachel coldly. "I don't know what happened to fry your brain cells, but I don't like you and you don't like me. Frankly, I'm here simply because there's a chance you're gonna get toasted."
'Problem' doesn't begin to describe it, Tobias. She was absolutely spiteful. Jealously does weird things to people's minds and it was obvious that it had Rachel's tightly in its grip. I think this is best resolved later, when I have a better grip on the situation. Two more birds descended through the door and demorphed to become Jake and Marco, who were followed closely by Ax and Cassie, with a plate of food.
"You haven't eaten in awhile, I'm guessing," she said, handing it to me with a grin. "Enjoy." I stared at in surprise, then smiled.
"Veraha, Cassie," I said, feeling my stomach protesting at my taking so long. I hadn't eaten since the night before, which seemed like ages, and I had skipped breakfast to get an early start with Matt. In hindsight, it hadn't been the smartest move, but then, I hadn't known I would being Transgating into another dimension.
I settled myself on a bale of hay and set the plate on my lap as everyone else had a private conversation I knew was happening but couldn't hear. I knew what it was, though, the story we had worked out as to what had happened so that I ended up on Erek's front step, unconscious, what I remembered, supposedly anyway. I would be the one to break the news that I was suddenly becoming a part of the team... and the reason for that, which was something along the lines of what I had told Rachel.
I was about halfway through what I assumed was chicken - it tasted like it, but it looked nothing the chicken from my world - when I heard movement outside the door. No one else seemed to, though I know at least Ax did because one of his eye stalks swiveled that way and his tail twitched. I acted as if I had heard nothing, but set the plate on the bale of hay next to me and continued eating, the same as I had been before. Time to see if my hunch was correct.
Tobias, be ready to follow me if I run. Someone's out there and I have a feeling that... I know who it is.
I know, I saw it too, he said. Who? He went on with the tale while I debated whether Alay would be bold enough to... then I remembered that Alay could not be Alay anymore and that the Yeerk in her head with her memories would be bold enough. Neither Emily nor Sadie had really read the books, so Alay would be the only one with any Animorphs knowledge... Unfortunately, that was more then enough people knowing.
Alay. Four Gods, what I wouldn't have given to just call to Alay and see that she was still Alay and not a Controller. One more ally against the enemy...
But fate likes to toy with us little mortals. It gave my sister amazing Caster strength and me so little that it barely counted. It took away Alay's home, but left her with a fighting style unmatched in the Academy. It left Sadie orphaned, only to be raised by Casters and have a power almost matching Emily's. And now, it had taken me from everything I had depended on and taken away everyone I had depended on... but what was I getting in return?
Sarah, you saw it too? The thought speak was Ax's and I nodded shortly with a mouthful of baked potato. Never ever skip a meal. Ever. I was so hungry that, beyond food and the mystery person in the bushes, I wasn't thinking very much else.
Movement again and this time I knew she was leaving.
"Tobias, she's on the move!" I leapt up and raced after her, not waiting for Tobias' answer. She wasn't getting away with her confirmed information, not if I could help it. Tobias, tell them they're welcome to follow, but anyone who gets in the way has something to lose...
Will do. Be careful Sarah. I gave a small smirk at that. Careful? Not in a Weapon's vocabulary...
