"This is where we keep the big cats." Cassie pointed at a large door off to the left. "They're not all in the same habitat, of course, but if you go through that door you'll see a series of other doors. it's a very foolish human system to give them this much room. I don't see why they can't just keep them in cages."

{Hawk!} I cried suddenly.

The Yeerk glanced up at the sky as if expecting one to swoop down on him. Us. {What?}

{Hawk. My cat. The cat I --}

Xanos sighed. {Don't you understand anything? That cat had to have been Rachel, watching you, trying to get the box back.}

I paused. {That's not possible. I found her before they got the box.}

{Then she probably wanted to kill you and steal your life. Rachel had nowhere to go, and it's exactly the type of thing she'd do. Your memories indicate that she also trailed you as a fly, coincidentally.}

Suddenly the nightmare backpack incident, where I'd ended up screaming in an old man's driveway, made sense. I seethed.

"Xanos 208, would you try to pay attention to me?" Cassie sighed with contempt. "I understand that taking new hosts can be a bit annoying, at least until you break them, but if you don't start ignoring her now we will never get through this little tour. I don't have the patience to deal with it."

Embarrassed, the Yeerk answered, "Forgive me, Visser Thirty-eight. I know."

"Then start handling the situation. What morphs do you want?"

"There's a magnificent Earth animal one of the Animorphs used to use." He sifted through my memories. "A tiger. That's it."

"Strictly off-limits. That is Sub-visser Two's morph and he is extremely possessive of it. He has decreed that no morph-capable, especially one with a rank inferior to his own, acquire it."

He curved my lips into a frown. "Any other restrictions?"

"Not particularly."

"I want one of the big cat morphs, as you call them. They're graceful, silent, and deadly, an excellent combination. What are my choices?"

"We have a leopard, at the moment."

"A leopard?" Once again, he hunted through my knowledge of Earth. Having found it, he replied, "I'll acquire that. What else do I need?"

She snatched a hand through her short hair in annoyance. "What am I - your keeper?"

I felt the Yeerk's fear of this seemingly harmless girl. "Forgive me, Visser Thirty-eight. I merely value your expertise as a morph-capable. I did not mean to -"

"You'll need an insect, a bird, a water morph, at least two battle morphs, and a few nocturnal animals," she snapped in quick, staccato syllables.

"What do you recommend?"

"Fly, harrier, shark, leopard, elephant, bat, owl. You can find the owl and the harrier at the barn my host's parents own. The elephant, leopard, and shark can be acquired here. A fly can be acquired anywhere. Hurry up. Get the leopard first - we're closest to that." She stalked towards the door she'd indicated earlier. Fearfully, my Yeerk followed.

{Why are you so scared of her?}

{She could rip me apart,} he snapped. {Do you know how much power lies in a morph-capable? Do you know what kind of morphs that Yeerk has?}

{She couldn't kill you,} I pointed out. {You have a morph-capable host yourself, and from what I've gathered, they're too valuable to kill.}

{You're right.} I heard shock in his telepathic voice. {I can't believe it. For once you're right about something. But that's not the point. I wasn't even supposed to get this host; I was a common Yeerk, expecting a common human or possibly Hork-Bajir host. My rank is very low. I am two hundred and eight units below the lowest sub-visser. She is a visser, higher than the highest sub-visser. I --}

{So what could they do?} I interrupted.

{Remove me from you and give me a new, non-morph-capable host. A normal host. I want to keep this power, Taylor. I will not lose it now. But if I can capture the last remaining Animorph, Tobias, my rank will rise rapidly. I will be like Visser Eight, the former Aximili, whose climb resembles --}

{You should probably move faster.} I cut him off, again. {This Cassie seems very annoyed by you already.}

Wordlessly, he lengthened my strides.

Cassie spun around. "I almost forgot. Xanos, you have an immediate assignment pending."

He raised both eyebrows. Excitement radiated from him in waves. "Yes?"

"Capture Rachel Berenson." She turned back around and pulled a key from her pocket to unlock the first door.

"What? They told me she was captured when I infested this host!"

"That was three hours ago," she said drily. "She was captured -- but she escaped. Some of us believe Tobias saved her, but no one knows. Tom and Peric 136 were both knocked unconscious and never saw what happened."

"The Yeerk empire hunted those kids for this long without success and now it's my assignment to finish the job?"

"Not without success!" Cassie bristled. "In case you're forgetting, sixty- seven percent of them have already been captured. There are only two left. And you're not working alone; Visser Eight and Sub-visser Twenty will be helping you."

{Who are they?}

{Their host bodies are Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill and Marco. It is an honor to work with them.}

{How are you going to capture them?} I asked eagerly.

{I have no idea. But since it's a shared assignment, at least it won't be solely my responsibility.}

"Are you prepared to handle this?" demanded Cassie.

I felt my body swallow hard. "Yes, Visser."