The Gate: Chapter 2

A/N: Part I: A strange electrical storm hurls Rach & Toby into another universe.

Animorph universe, Cassie

I walked up to the house after I had finished some chores. I went straight to the kitchen and gathered some bread, bologna, and mustard for a sandwich. Does that sound weird? I don't know. My parents think so. I have been eating it that way since I was little. I glanced at the paper. On the front page was a picture of a lightning bolt. I read the article and it said it was an electrical storm. It had caught the meteorologists off guard. It concerned me for some reason. I was laughing. All I could think of was that it actually worked, and I didn't know what I had done to make what work. Somehow my sub-conscious found it hilarious. I found it frightening. Then the phone rang. It scared me to death. I sat there staring at it. It rang and rang.

"Cassie, will you get that, please!" My mother yelled. Slowly, I picked it up.

"Hello." I said nervously

"Oh Cassie, have you seen Rachel today?" Naomi asked. She sounded frantic

"No. Why?"

"She never came down to breakfast. I went up to look and she was gone." Naomi started to cry. "She does this a lot. I wish she would tell me why."

"I'm sure she's not doing anything bad."

"I don't know what to think anymore. She used to do everything, and had so much energy. Now she lock's herself in her room all the time." I heard a crash in the background. "Oh, Sara. Oh." She groaned, "I've got to go. Call if you hear anything. Bye." She hung up before I could say anything else.

I glanced at the paper again. I saw two birds flying up towards it. I told myself it didn't mean anything. I couldn't shake the feeling off. I grabbed the phone and speed dialed Jake.

Tobias

I walked down the hall to my history class. Brian went to English down another hall. I sighed. I was sweating, shaking, and delirious about this test. I creeped up to the door and slowly opened it. I tiptoed my way in and sat down in the back and waited. Mr. Miller was sitting at his desk quietly waiting for everybody to sit down. The bell rang like a sudden omen of certain death. He handed out the 3-page test. He pointed to the board. He had everything we were supposed to do. Mr. Miller never talked. Most of his class was filling out study guides and studying them. Right now we were studying the constitution. It was a basic test, I thought. It went over the bill of rights and such.

Towards the end of class I filled out the last bubble on the test, and handed it in. I had a very high fever at that moment. I didn't know why I had to learn this stuff. I know what the laws are in America. I kept telling myself that was all I needed to know.

I thought about that girl named Rachel. When I did, I felt trapped. There was not any sky. I looked up and saw mold growing on the ceiling. It didn't feel right. I felt like a bird trapped in a four-wall nightmare. Then again, I was a bird. I don't know how I knew but I knew everything there was about flying. I knew what a thermal was and I haven't really studied aerodynamics or ornithology that well to know. Somehow I knew the bird's body. Maybe I was sick.

I was trying to convince myself that it was my imagination, but not with that girl. She wanted me to be a human so bad. I loved her so much. I worried about her all the time, and she worried about me. The bell rang once again and I nearly had a heart attack. I headed toward trig class. It is my favorite class.

Part of me wanted to figure out how to get out of this surreal world. Where I was rich and famous. Another part of me wanted to figure out how to make these hallucinations go away. I decided then to get through the rest of the day with some sanity left. I focused on the good things. I would be getting out of English today. That was a good thing. Dad was going to try to run for president. He was a Republican, but he did have some controversial liberal policies about economic reform.  My dad would humor Bill at dinner once again. That was always funny. I had an interview on The Chris Smith Show. I would get to humor him. (These talk show hosts think they know everything about everyone.) Another thing was that Mom was going to have a kid, that was cool, I thought.

After trig class, I went to lunch. They had some mysterious ham stuff and potatoes. I thought about a bunch of other things to keep me focused. I stomached my lunch and went through the rest of the day without many problems.

After gym I headed out front and met my dad in the mustang. I don't know why he likes that car so much. Over the years it's been beaten down into a metal frame on three wheels.

Rachel

I woke up after a horrible dream. I saw Tobias lying on the ground. His beak was shattered, his wings broken. David. I desperately tried to revive him but he was gone. No breathe, no pulse, nothing. I cried and cried. I woke to hear a baby crying. The last thing I wanted to hear. I would have to get used to that, I guess. I looked back and saw Cassie. She was sitting next to a woman with a baby. Cassie had this glow around her. She reached over and touched the baby's head. The baby quieted down instantly.

"Cassie." I whispered, but she was gone. She had disappeared.

"Excuse me?" The woman said.

"Sorry, I thought you were someone else." She went back to tending her baby.

I got up and headed for the bathroom. Another vomiting attack had come. I had spit up everything I had eaten in the last two days. I looked up from the rotting, pink mess and saw Cassie. She looked different. She had always worn just jeans and a T-shirt, but now she had on a black tank top, black flared jeans and Skechers with three-inch soles on them. She looked kind of Goth. In my dreams, I always teased her about her short jeans. She wore them because she helped her dad in this barn. No dress pants there. Argh! I was getting so sick of this.

"Sick of what?" She just stood there smiling. She vanished again. There is some spooky stuff going on here. What did I do to be put in this position? Instinctively, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the cigarettes that Jason had given me. I cried, once again. I couldn't smoke, not when I was pregnant. Besides they were Jason's. I didn't want anything to remind me of him, but that would be impossible. I was going to have his kid. That was stupid, I thought, I would have someone to remind me of him for the rest of my life. He did this to me. Whatever drug he gave me was making me hallucinate. All of a sudden I heard a screeching sound. The train was stopping.

I gathered my stuff and headed off the station. The station was a little more modern than the one in our town. It looked a bit neater. I walked straight out of there into the fresh air. I turned around and walked back inside. They had TV's turned to some local talk show. I saw him, Tobias. He wasn't ugly I thought. Oh, no, he wasn't ugly at all. He had a sweet voice, kind of poetic. He would make a good Shakespearean actor, I thought. He was kind of tall, with blond hair. He had a sort of Roman style haircut. I thought of Romeo and Juliet. I thought of it not only because of his voice but also because of our situation. Never mind. I didn't know what I was thinking about anymore. I was thinking about that dream. He was so sweet and caring. I loved him so much. I wish I could fall asleep for a hundred years and just talk to him.

It took sheer willpower to draw myself away from that TV set. I walked down the street. It looked like the upper class section. I walked about a mile when I realized that I should be heading towards the Microsoft building. I had no clue where anything was. I asked somebody and they gave me some vague description of all of Seattle. I walked a little further and sighed. I stopped. A cab had pulled up next to me. Weird, it looked like a Hirsch, but it definitely was a cab. It had its company logo on it.

"Hey, Rachel, do you need a ride somewhere?" I looked in and saw Cassie driving the cab. I went over and got in.

"What are you?" I asked. I was sick of her following me everywhere. How did she get a cab to drive or a driver's license? She's got connections or something.

"You will learn."

"Don't put the spooky crap on me, okay!" I screamed. She laughed. I couldn't believe it. She sat there and laughed.

"Yes, Yes, whatever. Where do you want to go?"

"Don't you know where I want to go?"

"Well, yes, you want to find Tobias. Am I correct?"

"Yeah. So take me there."

"I afraid I don't work like that sweetie. I don't have the power of will."

I grabbed her and spit in her face. "Don't f___ with me okay! I AM NOT IN A GOOD MOOD TO BE MESSED WITH. Now tell me what is going on."

"Oh no that would make it to easy. I have rules to follow you know. I can't do whatever I want even with the power I have, okay. So don't f___ with me either. Now tell me where you want to go or we'll never get there."

I sighed, "I want to go to Tobias's place."

"Very well then." We took off in the opposite direction. She made a few turns and stopped at this huge mansion.

"No charge for the ride." She smiled and took off. Great, exactly what I needed, SuperCassie with a sense of humor.

I walked up the drive. It was a basic three-story mansion. Well, as basic as a mansion gets, anyway. I walked straight into the house. There was a lobby like place. It looked magnificent. It had pictures of the family and all that. It had a picture of the Microsoft place. On the right wall, there was a picture of Tobias, by himself. I wanted to rip it down. He was the key to what was happening. I sighed. I am really sick of this. I screamed at the non-existent Cassie. I walked into one of the side rooms. It was a kitchen. I cried, when I saw a woman passed out on the floor. She looked like she was about eight months pregnant. I dropped everything and went over and tried to wake her up. She was out cold. Out of instinct I reached for the phone, and dialed 911.

"This is the Seattle nine-one-one center. How may we help you?" I nearly screamed because she was so cheerful.

"There is a woman passed out here. She's pregnant."

"Okay, ma'm. Can you please tell me where you are calling from?"

"I don't know the address." I said stupidly. "Can't you trace the call, or something?"

She sighed and said, "Just a minute, please" I waited a few minutes. "Okay ma'm we'll have someone out there immediately. I waited a few minutes. An ambulance came. They wanted to know why I was in the house. I said I knew them. They criticized my clothes and didn't believe me. I was hysterical. I was crying and screaming. They gave me a tranquilizer. I was out immediately.

Tobias

We buckled in and took off. I swear my dad does not know what a speed limit is.

"So how's mom."

"She's fine."

"That's good. What is she having?" I asked.

"We should find out next week." He grinned. He loves kids. He loves everybody. I can't explain it. It's like he feels obligated to protect the earth. He's an environmentalist, and philanthropist.

We stopped at this huge building. BGNR studios. That's what the sign out front said:

BGNR Studios

Home of the Chris Smith Show

We walked in to find people buzzing around. One person found us and escorted us to make-up. I felt like a dork. I do not wear make-up. Then we were rushed to the studio. They gave me some tips on what to do. Then I heard the announcer call my name.

"Break a leg." Someone said. I turned around and saw a black girl. She looked familiar. I could only think Cassie. I wanted to find out what was happening.

"Find out what?" She asked. I tripped on to the stage. She read my mind. I couldn't believe it! That girl, named Cassie had read my mind. I regained my balance and walked out towards the front where Chris Smith greeted me, and we proceeded with the interview.

The first question Chris Smith asked me was, "What is it like to be you, the son of the richest man in the world?"

He put way too much emphasis on you. What's its like, you ask? Well, the hard thing is knowing what not to tell people on TV. People twist things around so bad. If I mentioned my best friend's name was Brian. They would get the wrong idea, if you know what I mean. It would be all over the tabloids and my dad might be out of a job.

I remember last year, because of a delayed answer on an interview question, my dad was rumored to be in an anti-trust suit, and that he had hired the best lawyers. Certain people thought he was trying to take over the whole computer industry. (Or maybe it was Bill trying to make people think that he was trying to take over the computer industry.) Mom thought it was funny. Dad turned to stone. He gave a bitter, angry speech on that at a press conference and all was well.

If I had told Chris Smith what had happened today, I would be in serious trouble. People would think that I was going schizophrenic, and maybe I was. It wasn't like I saw satellites digging into my brain. It wasn't a bad thing at all to see the most beautiful girl of my dreams show up in my daydreams. She wasn't pieced together from bits of memory from TV or magazines. She was a real person. I wanted to know where she was. I wanted to find her or I would really go crazy.

I tried to picture her more clearly in my mind but it was like a part of my mind didn't want to remember. Something about seeing Mom and Dad, and feeling like I would never see them again. When I saw her I saw blue. I saw sharp blades, and menacing eyes. I saw his blade come and slash at another one just like him. I could see a little girl in the distance, yelling "ELFANGOR!"

"Tobias?" Chris stared at me puzzled. I snapped out of my reverie. There were so many weird thoughts going through my head at once, I couldn't answer his question.

"Excuse me." I left. It was a really stupid thing to do knowing what the audience was expecting. I went to the bathroom and poured some water on my face. I quickly made up a story in my head about how I was nervous, or something like that. I came out and nearly ran into my dad. He was crying. He held the beeper in his hand and told me - Mom was in the hospital.

We left. We didn't say anything we just left. We headed straight for St. Mary's hospital. Dad was cruising down the highway at 80 m.p.h. We got there in five minutes with a trail of cops behind us, not escorting us. We went in and found Mom in the delivery room. The doctors told us that they would do a C-section and they used some medical terms that I didn't understand. Dad told me to go to the waiting room.

Rachel

The ambulance came. The paramedics came in and took her vitals. Her breath and pulse were shaky. They put her on the stretcher and started asking me a lot of questions. They wanted to know if she had any medication, or allergies. I said I didn't know. The guy looked at me suspiciously.

"Do you know her name?"

"Well, no." I gave a faint chuckle. I was shaking. Couldn't they just take her to the hospital?

"Well, what happened, you just walked into the house from the street and saw this woman lying on the floor and called us?!" He tried to keep his calm.

"Yes." I whimpered. He did not want to hear that. He got out his walkie-talkie and talked to someone about what just happened.

I heard, "Take her with you in a separate vehicle. We'll question her at the hospital."

"Um, could you tell me who you were talking to?"

He laughed, "Someone you won't like before the day is done. Come on, we're leavin'." He said with a stern face. He grabbed my arm and hauled me out to a highway patrol car. He shoved me in the back and drove off.

It was a long ride. The patrol officers were snickering about how they had to baby-sit a little girl. I felt something poke at me. It seemed like I should have slapped him and watched his head roll. I felt a new energy come upon me. I felt powerful.

I straightened up and calmly said, "I am not a little girl."

The patrol officers just rolled their eyes. I didn't feel like I could sit up anymore. I made a prediction; Cassie would show up at the hospital. She showed up when I needed her. I could barely remember Cassie from what I saw of her. You see I had begun to formulate some of what happened. I knew there was a war that we were fighting, Tobias, Cassie, and I. I didn't know what war it was, I couldn't see who was fighting it.

There were six of us. I saw the big monsters, and large and small slugs. I assumed that maybe they were genetically engineered. I had heard about doing it on chickens, but you never know what they (as in the Feds) are going to do with what. Then I thought that maybe they were aliens. I didn't believe in such things. I always assumed that aliens were too advanced or too primitive for us.

I didn't want to believe it. I told my self it was impossible for things like that to happen. I had given up. I had to stop thinking about this stuff. Jason had drugged me and it had some bad side effects.

The ambulance stopped at St. Mary's. I waited for the paramedics to get the woman off. Then a cop met me and led me inside. We went into a side room. It looked like a small office. There were a few chairs, a desk, and a phone.

"What were you doing inside that house?" He scared me. He had a deep voice. I didn't know what to say. I hopped on a cab with a strange girl who answered to higher powers?

"I came here from a small town in New York. I came here on a train. Now, this is the strange part. I walk out of the station and this girl with a cab pulled and asked me if I wanted a free ride. I didn't have that much money, so I said sure. I got in and she drops me off at that house and she told me that somebody was waiting for me in there. I walked in out of curiosity and found the woman passed out on the floor."

"Really," He looked like he was about to fall asleep. "Uh, you know. You could get into really deep trouble from something like this, breaking and entering. So why don't you tell me the truth."

"I told you the truth, a-and the door was unlocked." Just then a very angry man walked in.

"What did you do to her?!", the angry man said.

"I didn't do anything! Please you got to believe me!" I sat there and cried.

"Oh no. Please calm down. I wasn't going to do anything, really." His face softened.

"Really." He nodded. "I-is-is she all right?" He smiled. I took it as a good sign.

"I just want to know how you found her. You saved her and her baby's life." The angry man had calmed down.  The police officer looked shocked that he didn't start accusing me of attempted manslaughter

"I don't know. It's a long story." He laughed

"I have a boxful of long stories. Tell me."

"Well, I needed to see Tobias." I said

"Why do you want to see my son?" He asked. Tobias's dad! I was getting really lucky today and it was starting to spook me out a little.

"Well, I woke up one morning from a really weird dream. I saw Tobias turning into a bird of some sort. It was a really gory transformation. Feathers sprouted from his body. His lips stretched out into a beak. It was awful. I had the funny feeling that he wasn't turning from a human to a bird but the other way around. Then I turned into a bald eagle, much the same way, and we fly away together. Then there were monsters with blades and he would protect me from them. It was weird."

"So you came here because of a dream ah, from New York you say, because of a dream?!" The police officer raged.

"Uh, could you leave me alone with her for a minute?" The Alan asked the police officer.

"Whatever, I don't think she can physically hurt anyone," He chuckled "There is the phone, dial 768 if you have any trouble with her"

"Thank you," He said to the officer.

"You came from where in New York?" He asked

"Renhaussler.", I replied.

"That's where we used to live." He seemed perplexed about something.

"What do you mean?"

"Tobias, that woman, who happens to be his mother, and I used to live in Renhaussler. Now tell me, how did my son turn into a bird?"

"I don't know. I was hallucinating. A few nights ago I was drugged and raped by my boyfriend." I stopped suddenly. I just remembered I was pregnant. I cried once again.

"Y-y-you were raped?" He asked. I could tell he was about to choke.

"And now I'm pregnant. I don't know why I came here. It was a hallucination. Tobias doesn't even know me. I guess I had to get away from there. That morning Jason came into my trailer and slapped me for puking on his jacket."

He looked at me. He looked very concerned for me. "You came here under tremendous odds. You could have been hurt, or worse. Look, how about we get you checked out by a doctor, and when we get Loren taken care of we'll let you stay with us." He smiled.

I couldn't believe it! I was being spared a cot at the Y and I would have to meet Tobias sooner or later.

Mr. Fangor led me down a hall, and he arranged for a doctor to see me. I couldn't believe I didn't recognize him before. I waited there for an hour or two before a doctor came for me. He ran some tests and told me to come back in a week. I went out into the hall, but Mr. Fangor wasn't there. I saw a pay phone on the wall. I put in fifty cents and called my Mom.

"Hello?" Mom said. She sounded tired.

"Mom, it's me."

"Oh God where are you? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I'm in Seattle." My mother exploded. She then figured out where her money went to.

"I am staying with someone okay. I have to go, bye." I hung up the phone abruptly. I took a deep breath. I looked around and saw Mr. Fangor standing there.

"You ready to go?" He asked

"Yeah."

We went towards the waiting room and I saw him, Tobias. I started to cry. The boy of my dreams, literally.

Tobias

I sat down in the waiting room. I was shaking down to the bone. I couldn't possibly know what was wrong with my mom. I was about to cry but I had to hold them back. Too many people in the room recognized me. They didn't say anything but they knew. I moved to the other side of the room. It wasn't a small room so I moved.

I felt like I barely knew my mother. I remember waking up today thinking I had no clue where I was. I thought I had wings and was flying with a beautiful girl who happened to be an eagle. I hadn't told my Dad this. I thought he was a cool person. He knew everything. He was always trying to make the world a better place and he loved my mother. Is this mushy enough for you yet?

I remember from the dream that I didn't have a family. I sighed. I put my head in my hands and stared at the floor.

"How you doing?" I looked up and saw Cassie. I still didn't know who she was. "I bet you want to know what I am and what I'm doing here."

"What do you mean 'what I am?' You look human to me."

"Oh really, do you know what my name is?" She asked.

"I don't know, Cassie."

"No, No, No. You're thinking about my counterpart in the real world. Sweet thing, really, I couldn't live without her. I, on the other hand, don't have a name. No one took the time to name me. After a while though, I decided to call myself Cassandra. The Cassie that exists on this plane is a quiet girl.  She doesn't have any friends. She keeps to herself and she helps people whenever she can."

"Okay Cassandra, what about the second question because I don't have a freaking clue."

"Well, you were nicer than Rachel. I can't really say until you are together. I can tell you that it is more because of Rachel than you and that you should listen to your dreams." Before I could say more she got up, touched my hand and I fell to sleep. I had a dream, naturally. I saw a barn, or was it the barn. There were some kids sitting there talking. I couldn't hear what was being said. I looked down on them, feeling sorry for myself. Then they started to do something. At first I couldn't make it out but then in a few minutes they had turned into animals. I woke up. Dad was shaking me.

"Come on, let's go." He said. I looked up and saw that there were two people standing there, Dad, and her. She was standing a little ways off.  It was Rachel. The key to all this, as Cassandra had subtly stated.

"Oh, Tobias, do you know this girl?" Dad asked. He looked concerned because she was crying

I didn't know what to say. I stood up and took her hand. It felt like silk. Her hair shone like the sun. She was tall and wonderfully built, just the right proportions.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She shook her head, no. I felt immediate concern. "Why not?"

"We'll talk, okay." She choked out. Something I had never seen before as a human, tears. I did something that I will never regret. I stood up and hugged her and kissed her. My Dad looked at me in shock. I felt kind of dumb doing that in front of the occupants of the waiting room. That might have been a reporter sitting in the corner but I didn't care. Dad told me she would stay at our place if we promised that we didn't share a room.