Chapter 17 (Whitney.)
"No, there is no way in hell." Sam said after I told him the plan.
"But why?" I whined like a three year old. He wasn't going for it. After I told him everything, he straight up refused it. He wouldn't do it, plain and simple.
"Why us? I am sure almighty Jake would figure it out, or Marco, or even Gordon, for that matter. Why would we have to get involved?" He asked.
I tried the oldest trick in the book, I went up and hugged him. "Because we care, and this is a war worth fighting." I could see him roll his eyes. He wasn't buying it. So I added, "Think of it as a way to redeem yourself."
"Redeem myself?" He pushed me away and held me there. "I don't need to redeem myself. Not yet. Jake doesn't even know about Illnith, and I will do plenty of yeerk killing in the future.....shut up."
I was confused. "Who, me?" I asked, hurt.
"No, Illnith seems to think I will only kill Visser Three, and killing other yeerks is wrong." He explained.
I pointed at him in triumph. "See! That is the kind of thing that will get you enemies! Letting that thing control your decisions." Ha!
He rolled his eyes again. "What did I just tell you? I am not letting this guy control me, I swear!" He was really trying to scratch his way out now. But he was smiling the entire time, it wasn't working.
"Whatever you say Sam." I pouted.
"Don't give me that, I am not lying and you know it. Look, isn't there some other way to show I am loyal? I mean, come on. I may not need Illnith, but I want him long enough to kill Visser Three." He said.
"Then I guess you have, like, a week to try and figure it out. Because if you don't go, I will tell them and get the rest of them to do it. Either way, I will have my way." I said as-a-matter-of-fact. Man, I was cocky.
But what Sam said caught me off guard. "No, you won't." He shook his head slowly. The way he said it scared me.
"And why not?"
"I told you, I have no problem killing yeerks, but as it stands, I can't afford to lose Illnith right now. And what you are planning will have just that." He said.
I took in a deep breath. "What are your priorities, me or that yeerk?" I asked, then added, "The enemy."
"The enemy of the enemy is a friend, Whitney. We both want Visser Three dead, and to make sure it happens, I need him around. I don't want to jeopardize that. Imagine what kind of future we could have if we were to get rid of Visser Three."
Now he was beginning to scare me. Between him wanting to keep Illnith alive and have Visser Three dead was making it look more and more like what the Ellimist showed us. "You know, I know you would never hurt me. But the way you are acting has me thinking maybe the Ellimist was right. Between Illnith and Visser Three, it seems like that future world."
He had nothing to say to that. He just kind of shook his head slowly. "I can't say anything more, can I? You will never listen. Look, you know as well as I do that the future thing was just an illusion. Time is a little more delicate than that. I don't believe a word of that. I think that the whole concept of it looking realistic is a ploy, to scare the bunch of you. To trick you into trying to kill me. Either way, I can't let you do that, not yet."
I shook my head. I had no clue what to say. I just shook my head in dismay and turned around. I began to morph. "You better decide where your loyalties lie....." I trailed off as my mouth deformed into a beak.
I finished my morph and flew off, leaving Sam there on the mountainside plateau with a confused look on his face.
But suddenly I was stopped in midair. My wings instantly tucked in and I was lowered back to the ground. Was this the Ellimist? No, the world hadn't stopped. I looked around and saw Sam. How stupid, of course it was him.
"Give me a while." He said softly.
I was hesitant, but did eventually begin to demorph. {Fine, as long as you make me a promise.} I said.
"What kind of promise?" He asked.
"You have to pick me over him." I said. I had completed my morph.
"No problem. He is only here temporarily." He said, smiling.
But something tickled up underneath my consciousness. It was a sudden stab of, 'why'? So I asked. "Sam, of all reasons, why does this Illnith Character want to kill Visser Three?"
Sam nodded a bit. "He is an assassin. He was sent here by Visser One to kill Visser Three. He was once a Visser, but now he is 'dead'." He made little quotations with his fingers. It looked stupid on him. "And on top of that, Visser Three gave him a hard time, he also wants revenge. Good enough?" He asked.
I shook my head out of the daze. "Yeah, super."
All that day, I could see Sam off in his own little world. I could tell he was trying to make some sort of a deal with Illnith.
That was a good thing, but I couldn't get over how he was actually letting this thing stay inside of him. I mean, if you knew Sam personally, then you would know he would never actually rely on anyone else. He would go out and do it all by his lonesome.
And on top of that, I couldn't believe I had actually stuck around, knowing what he was. Personally, I was kinda scared for what may happen to him. Too many things were blended together, and made sense. For once, I wanted it to be confusing, fake. Not dead on. All I could do was hope the Ellimist was simply steering us in a direction, and not truly warning us the way he said he was.
So I have hopefully convinced Sam to help me and the rest of the Animorphs. He was reluctant, but I felt he would do the right thing, if it was really him, and he wasn't lying about him controlling the yeerk, and not the other way around. Come to think of it, I had no way to truly believe the yeerk wasn't just pretending to not have control so he could catch him by surprise. Man, I had to have some faith in Sam to allow this to go on as long as I have.
I thought maybe Sam was right, though. Maybe the others were already planning. Between Jake and Marco, I am sure they would have figured it out. I guess this was simply my way to prove to myself that Sam was on my side, not the yeerks. Either way, I had hope.
Anyway, later that night, Sam came to me. I was dangling my legs off the side of a rock, enjoying the night sky. I was waiting for Sam to talk to me. And when he did, he was fidgeting. "Umm, Illnith and I have come to a conclusion. I don't know how to sat his, but we have decided to help under one condition. When he dies, which he will, I want you to keep it a secret. Jake doesn't need a reason to hunt me down and try to stop us."
"Stop you from what?" I asked.
"The Kandrona goes boom, we have three days. We are both dedicated to our goal, and we have decided that his life is over anyway, he might as well help. Considering I am almost sad to let him go, we have decided that it is for the best." He said.
I was happy to hear it, so I let him continue.
"But if we were to go into town, I would have to go to the yeerk pool and replenish him, so we had the maximum time to finish our task. And I mean, not a word. I don't want to mysteriously hear Jake start talking about Illnith. We all know his time is almost up." he was solemn. It was weird.
So that was that. We came to an agreement, and off we went. I was an owl, and he was him, both flying over the forest towards civilization. Somehow I felt that plateau, that valley would be useful again someday.
But the first stop was his house. I asked him why, he said he needed some explosives. He had a stash of C-4. How he got a hold of these things was beyond me. The guns, the bullets, and the hoard of dracon beams. Man, he was an arsenal.
As we left, I saw someone go to the house. With my owl vision, I could see it was Gordon. Sam told me to be quiet and keep going. They would be fine on their own. I kinda agreed, but Sam was being awfully rude about it.
Overall, I ended up waiting on top of a building as Sam went and disappeared. I hoped for the best, but it was a good half hour before he came back. He said the yeerk was full, and it was time to get to work. It was 8:45, I checked the huge clock-tower. After that, we went and did our business.
"No, there is no way in hell." Sam said after I told him the plan.
"But why?" I whined like a three year old. He wasn't going for it. After I told him everything, he straight up refused it. He wouldn't do it, plain and simple.
"Why us? I am sure almighty Jake would figure it out, or Marco, or even Gordon, for that matter. Why would we have to get involved?" He asked.
I tried the oldest trick in the book, I went up and hugged him. "Because we care, and this is a war worth fighting." I could see him roll his eyes. He wasn't buying it. So I added, "Think of it as a way to redeem yourself."
"Redeem myself?" He pushed me away and held me there. "I don't need to redeem myself. Not yet. Jake doesn't even know about Illnith, and I will do plenty of yeerk killing in the future.....shut up."
I was confused. "Who, me?" I asked, hurt.
"No, Illnith seems to think I will only kill Visser Three, and killing other yeerks is wrong." He explained.
I pointed at him in triumph. "See! That is the kind of thing that will get you enemies! Letting that thing control your decisions." Ha!
He rolled his eyes again. "What did I just tell you? I am not letting this guy control me, I swear!" He was really trying to scratch his way out now. But he was smiling the entire time, it wasn't working.
"Whatever you say Sam." I pouted.
"Don't give me that, I am not lying and you know it. Look, isn't there some other way to show I am loyal? I mean, come on. I may not need Illnith, but I want him long enough to kill Visser Three." He said.
"Then I guess you have, like, a week to try and figure it out. Because if you don't go, I will tell them and get the rest of them to do it. Either way, I will have my way." I said as-a-matter-of-fact. Man, I was cocky.
But what Sam said caught me off guard. "No, you won't." He shook his head slowly. The way he said it scared me.
"And why not?"
"I told you, I have no problem killing yeerks, but as it stands, I can't afford to lose Illnith right now. And what you are planning will have just that." He said.
I took in a deep breath. "What are your priorities, me or that yeerk?" I asked, then added, "The enemy."
"The enemy of the enemy is a friend, Whitney. We both want Visser Three dead, and to make sure it happens, I need him around. I don't want to jeopardize that. Imagine what kind of future we could have if we were to get rid of Visser Three."
Now he was beginning to scare me. Between him wanting to keep Illnith alive and have Visser Three dead was making it look more and more like what the Ellimist showed us. "You know, I know you would never hurt me. But the way you are acting has me thinking maybe the Ellimist was right. Between Illnith and Visser Three, it seems like that future world."
He had nothing to say to that. He just kind of shook his head slowly. "I can't say anything more, can I? You will never listen. Look, you know as well as I do that the future thing was just an illusion. Time is a little more delicate than that. I don't believe a word of that. I think that the whole concept of it looking realistic is a ploy, to scare the bunch of you. To trick you into trying to kill me. Either way, I can't let you do that, not yet."
I shook my head. I had no clue what to say. I just shook my head in dismay and turned around. I began to morph. "You better decide where your loyalties lie....." I trailed off as my mouth deformed into a beak.
I finished my morph and flew off, leaving Sam there on the mountainside plateau with a confused look on his face.
But suddenly I was stopped in midair. My wings instantly tucked in and I was lowered back to the ground. Was this the Ellimist? No, the world hadn't stopped. I looked around and saw Sam. How stupid, of course it was him.
"Give me a while." He said softly.
I was hesitant, but did eventually begin to demorph. {Fine, as long as you make me a promise.} I said.
"What kind of promise?" He asked.
"You have to pick me over him." I said. I had completed my morph.
"No problem. He is only here temporarily." He said, smiling.
But something tickled up underneath my consciousness. It was a sudden stab of, 'why'? So I asked. "Sam, of all reasons, why does this Illnith Character want to kill Visser Three?"
Sam nodded a bit. "He is an assassin. He was sent here by Visser One to kill Visser Three. He was once a Visser, but now he is 'dead'." He made little quotations with his fingers. It looked stupid on him. "And on top of that, Visser Three gave him a hard time, he also wants revenge. Good enough?" He asked.
I shook my head out of the daze. "Yeah, super."
All that day, I could see Sam off in his own little world. I could tell he was trying to make some sort of a deal with Illnith.
That was a good thing, but I couldn't get over how he was actually letting this thing stay inside of him. I mean, if you knew Sam personally, then you would know he would never actually rely on anyone else. He would go out and do it all by his lonesome.
And on top of that, I couldn't believe I had actually stuck around, knowing what he was. Personally, I was kinda scared for what may happen to him. Too many things were blended together, and made sense. For once, I wanted it to be confusing, fake. Not dead on. All I could do was hope the Ellimist was simply steering us in a direction, and not truly warning us the way he said he was.
So I have hopefully convinced Sam to help me and the rest of the Animorphs. He was reluctant, but I felt he would do the right thing, if it was really him, and he wasn't lying about him controlling the yeerk, and not the other way around. Come to think of it, I had no way to truly believe the yeerk wasn't just pretending to not have control so he could catch him by surprise. Man, I had to have some faith in Sam to allow this to go on as long as I have.
I thought maybe Sam was right, though. Maybe the others were already planning. Between Jake and Marco, I am sure they would have figured it out. I guess this was simply my way to prove to myself that Sam was on my side, not the yeerks. Either way, I had hope.
Anyway, later that night, Sam came to me. I was dangling my legs off the side of a rock, enjoying the night sky. I was waiting for Sam to talk to me. And when he did, he was fidgeting. "Umm, Illnith and I have come to a conclusion. I don't know how to sat his, but we have decided to help under one condition. When he dies, which he will, I want you to keep it a secret. Jake doesn't need a reason to hunt me down and try to stop us."
"Stop you from what?" I asked.
"The Kandrona goes boom, we have three days. We are both dedicated to our goal, and we have decided that his life is over anyway, he might as well help. Considering I am almost sad to let him go, we have decided that it is for the best." He said.
I was happy to hear it, so I let him continue.
"But if we were to go into town, I would have to go to the yeerk pool and replenish him, so we had the maximum time to finish our task. And I mean, not a word. I don't want to mysteriously hear Jake start talking about Illnith. We all know his time is almost up." he was solemn. It was weird.
So that was that. We came to an agreement, and off we went. I was an owl, and he was him, both flying over the forest towards civilization. Somehow I felt that plateau, that valley would be useful again someday.
But the first stop was his house. I asked him why, he said he needed some explosives. He had a stash of C-4. How he got a hold of these things was beyond me. The guns, the bullets, and the hoard of dracon beams. Man, he was an arsenal.
As we left, I saw someone go to the house. With my owl vision, I could see it was Gordon. Sam told me to be quiet and keep going. They would be fine on their own. I kinda agreed, but Sam was being awfully rude about it.
Overall, I ended up waiting on top of a building as Sam went and disappeared. I hoped for the best, but it was a good half hour before he came back. He said the yeerk was full, and it was time to get to work. It was 8:45, I checked the huge clock-tower. After that, we went and did our business.