Chapter 2

"Earth," Seilliph said excitedly, putting down a cinnamon bun. "Just think about it. Iii-tuh. Wouldn't you like to go?"

"What have you bumped your head on today?" I said. "That place is swarming with Yeerks!"

"Besides, how would we get there?" Gyp asked.

"A ship." Seilliph said, glancing around and lowering his voice.

"Really?" Reed yelped, suddenly interested. Reed is obsessed with ships.

Seilliph nodded. "It's just a waste-disposal ship, but it's perfect! We can hijack it and no one will ever notice! Hijack. Hi Jack. Hello, Jack."

"Except our parents," I muttered.

"Don't waste-disposal ships have an automatic self-destruct module in them?" Rexered finally spoke up.

"No..." Seilliph said looking away. Rexered peered at him.

"Well, it's almost time for class again... I should be going," Gyp said. "Besides, it's almost been two hours..." Everyone agreed, got up and left.

* * *

The rest of the day went by smoothly, until the end of school.

It started out as my daily routine; I morphed an Andalite-world bird called Rarbill and flew to the spaceport. I demorphed, boarded my ship and flew home to AK-6. I morphed to Rarbill again and flew to my house. Demorphed.

I walked up the steps to my porch and punched in my I.D. number. The door slid open and I walked in.

"Mom, I'm home!" I called. No answer. "Mom?" I walked into the kitchen and looked at the table, where Mom usually left a note if she wasn't home. There wasn't one.

::Oh well, I guess she forgot a note.:: I thought. Right now my father would be at work.

I opened the refridgerator and took a Coke out of the Fridge Pack. Then I saw it.

It was about the size of a suitcase, maybe smaller. It was rectangular and all black, except for a silver lock. "...the hell?" I wondered. I easily broke the lock off the box and opened it.

"Oh, sick!" I yelled, and threw the box to the ground. Inside of it was a gray slimy liquid. It smelled disgusting.

"What is this?" I wondered, as the liquid slowly oozed along the smooth kitchen tiles. I grabbed a towel and started wiping it up.

Then I heard a knock at the front door. "Ty, I'm home," I could tell it was my mother.

She opened the door. "Hey Ty, wanna... oh my god!" Her eyes flickered down to the puddle of sludge then back up at me. Her face suddenly twisted into an expression of pure hatred which I have never seen before, but she seemed to quickly snap out of it. "Ty, you are... go. Go to your room. Now." She was steaming mad. I've never seen her like that either.

"Okay..." I said. I started walking upstairs...

Then things became real... ugly.

"Wait a minute, Ty," Mom said. Her voice was completely changed. She was speaking in a nice easy voice, as if nothing had happened a moment ago.

What's going on? I wondered.

"Maybe you'd like to come with me, to... get something for your father." She said slowly. Carefully.

I decided to play along. Something weird was definitely happening. Something... familiar. "Uhh... sure..." I glanced around. No escapes, except the front door. But it was wide open.

You see, I had finally figured out what the gray slude in the box was. Oh yeah, I knew it alright. It had been taught in school plenty of times.

Mom needed that gray sludge. She needed it to survive. And now she was pissed, because she couldn't get it.

I bolted for the door. Mom was a split-second too late -- a split-second I would use to my advantage.

Mom's body was slow compared to mine. The Yeerk in her head was probably fuming right now.

The gray sludge had been Kandrona. The bow was a portable Kandrona feeder. Yup... Mom had become a controller.