"Okay, Mary Sue. I want to know why I'm always babysitting you." I pulled
the Helmacron out of my ear and put her on my dresser. "No, really. Why
me? Since when is Rachel the official alien-guard of the group? I mean,
now that you're a member and everything, shouldn't we get you someplace of
your own?"
My head still ached from all the debating. We had done it. We had all agreed, in the end, that we had to do it. We'd made a seventh Animorph. Again. But you know, if I had sat down and made a list of all the species we had encountered that I would never want on the team, Helmacrons would have been right at the top. Yet here I was. And here was Mary Sue. Morph- capable. Informed. An Animorph.
I hated to imitate Marco, but I had to agree with him this time. This was insane.
{Your captain obviously wishes to honor you by assigning you to protect me. You must be her favorite.}
"His favorite," I corrected automatically. "And no, that'd be Cassie."
{Cassie is a male, correct?}
"No."
{But he is servile and docile! He must be male.}
"You know, I don't think I have the energy to deal with this right now," I said, flinging myself onto my bed. "You're a part of the team now . . . can I trust you to stay out of trouble for a couple minutes while I take a power nap?"
{A power nap?}
"Yeah." I rubbed my eyes slowly. "I'm going to sleep for five minutes, and when I awake, I will be strong and beautiful again."
{You are not very beautiful now. Your head is freakishly round, and your chin disturbingly smooth. You have a disturbing shortage of legs, while your skin color --}
"Thanks, Mary Sue, that's enough. I'm going to sleep now."
{Five minutes is all the sleep you humans require?}
"Five minutes is all the sleep some of us humans get," I yawned.
{Very well,} she agreed. {I will wait for your power nap.}
I felt the heaviness creep over my body. I hoped I wouldn't have nightmares. The last thing I needed right now were dreams. I just needed a black-out. I tried to recall the last time I had really rested. No mission. No stress. No nightmares.
Two months ago, Cassie and I had gone shopping. She hadn't wanted to, of course. But we had both aced this big history test. We were happy. I teased and prodded and forced her until she came along. She had tried to buy this really horrible orange and pink sweater. I swear, that sweater would have clashed with black pants, it was so bad. I grabbed it from her. "Hey!" she had yelled. "If you're going to make me shop, let me shop!"
"Cassie, this is not shopping. This is hurting yourself. You're like a duck, and I'm like you, and I'm gonna make you get better no matter how much you quack."
She laughed. We were both in a silly mood that day. "Quack," she pronounced, gripping the sleeve stubbornly.
"Cassie, give me the sweater."
"Quack!"
We ended up ripping the sweater, and sprawling across the floor in opposite directions. We didn't get up. We just sat there and laughed. We had laughed so hard that the manager of the store asked us to leave.
"Quack!" Cassie yelled as we stumbled out, still laughing.
I smiled. That had been a good day.
Thank God it was Friday. Why not sleep through the night and wake up around 11:00 tomorrow? There was nothing important happening tonight, was there? No mission? I couldn't remember one. I didn't try very hard. I wriggled under my covers.
"Be good, Mary Sue," I tried to say. The words died on my lips as I drifted off to dreamless sleep.
--------
"FRIDAY!" I yelled, sitting up in bed. I could tell from the shadows on the walls that it had been hours since I went to sleep. "Mary Sue, what day is it?"
{The two hundredth day of the Melvar Season, by the new reckoning,} she responded from the dresser.
I groaned. "Ask an alien what the date is . . . " I stumbled to my feet, blinking at my clock and calendar as I tried to rake my hair back into place. Nine o'clock. Nine PM. Oh, no. I burst out of my room. "Jordan!" I yelled. "Hey, Jordan!" Mom had told her she couldn't go to the party. But that meant absolutely diddly-squat once Jordan had made up her mind. Sara poked her head out of her room at the commotion. "Sara!" I shouted.
"Yeah?"
"Where's Mom?"
"At a meeting with a client," she articulated solemnly. "About him bezzling. What's bezzling?"
Oh, crud. Mom wasn't home. "Where's Jordan?" I asked.
"She gave me cookies not to tell you. Is she in trouble?"
I swore loudly. Then I apologized to a very shocked Sara for using a bad word. I rocketed back into my room and stripped down to my morphing suit.
{What has transpired?} asked Mary Sue.
"Sewage," I answered shortly, before my mouth melted into a beak. I had promised Jake I wouldn't break and smash the party. I had promised no twisted steel or broken pools. I had meant it, too.
Oh well. Good intentions.
{Mary Sue, you're coming with me. We're gonna go crash a party.} I flapped onto the desk, and lowered a claw for her to climb up on.
{What does that mean?}
{It means that I'm not just going to let Jordan get infested.}
{A rescue mission? We are preserving your sister from becoming a victim of the Yeerk abomination?}
{That's right.}
{Exhilarating.}
I swooped out of the window into the evening air. {Good word,} I said, pumping my wings for altitude.
As I flew through the quiet sky, I tried to think past the anger that was boiling inside of me. Sometimes I just feel like Gollum in the Two Towers.
'You know, you shouldn't just fly off and attack this place without talking to Jake first,' said my brain.
'Quiet! This is my sister we're talking about,' said my heart.
'But even if she is in danger, you'll only attract attention to your own identity by singling out one person to save. The Yeerks will wonder why you picked her,' my brain reasoned.
'My sister,' pounded my heart.
Hey, in the movies, they're always saying to follow your heart. I choked back my doubts and flew on pumping adrenaline all the way to Megan's pool. I knew where it was, remembered its shape too well.
{See the water down there, Mary Sue?} I asked.
{Yes.}
{That's where we're going.}
{That's where we're going to bust some heads?} she inquired.
I laughed. {Where did you hear that phrase?}
{Your thoughts have been leaking into thoughtspeech,} she explained.
I would have smiled if I'd had a mouth. {Okay then. Yeah. That's where we're going to bust some heads.}
My head still ached from all the debating. We had done it. We had all agreed, in the end, that we had to do it. We'd made a seventh Animorph. Again. But you know, if I had sat down and made a list of all the species we had encountered that I would never want on the team, Helmacrons would have been right at the top. Yet here I was. And here was Mary Sue. Morph- capable. Informed. An Animorph.
I hated to imitate Marco, but I had to agree with him this time. This was insane.
{Your captain obviously wishes to honor you by assigning you to protect me. You must be her favorite.}
"His favorite," I corrected automatically. "And no, that'd be Cassie."
{Cassie is a male, correct?}
"No."
{But he is servile and docile! He must be male.}
"You know, I don't think I have the energy to deal with this right now," I said, flinging myself onto my bed. "You're a part of the team now . . . can I trust you to stay out of trouble for a couple minutes while I take a power nap?"
{A power nap?}
"Yeah." I rubbed my eyes slowly. "I'm going to sleep for five minutes, and when I awake, I will be strong and beautiful again."
{You are not very beautiful now. Your head is freakishly round, and your chin disturbingly smooth. You have a disturbing shortage of legs, while your skin color --}
"Thanks, Mary Sue, that's enough. I'm going to sleep now."
{Five minutes is all the sleep you humans require?}
"Five minutes is all the sleep some of us humans get," I yawned.
{Very well,} she agreed. {I will wait for your power nap.}
I felt the heaviness creep over my body. I hoped I wouldn't have nightmares. The last thing I needed right now were dreams. I just needed a black-out. I tried to recall the last time I had really rested. No mission. No stress. No nightmares.
Two months ago, Cassie and I had gone shopping. She hadn't wanted to, of course. But we had both aced this big history test. We were happy. I teased and prodded and forced her until she came along. She had tried to buy this really horrible orange and pink sweater. I swear, that sweater would have clashed with black pants, it was so bad. I grabbed it from her. "Hey!" she had yelled. "If you're going to make me shop, let me shop!"
"Cassie, this is not shopping. This is hurting yourself. You're like a duck, and I'm like you, and I'm gonna make you get better no matter how much you quack."
She laughed. We were both in a silly mood that day. "Quack," she pronounced, gripping the sleeve stubbornly.
"Cassie, give me the sweater."
"Quack!"
We ended up ripping the sweater, and sprawling across the floor in opposite directions. We didn't get up. We just sat there and laughed. We had laughed so hard that the manager of the store asked us to leave.
"Quack!" Cassie yelled as we stumbled out, still laughing.
I smiled. That had been a good day.
Thank God it was Friday. Why not sleep through the night and wake up around 11:00 tomorrow? There was nothing important happening tonight, was there? No mission? I couldn't remember one. I didn't try very hard. I wriggled under my covers.
"Be good, Mary Sue," I tried to say. The words died on my lips as I drifted off to dreamless sleep.
--------
"FRIDAY!" I yelled, sitting up in bed. I could tell from the shadows on the walls that it had been hours since I went to sleep. "Mary Sue, what day is it?"
{The two hundredth day of the Melvar Season, by the new reckoning,} she responded from the dresser.
I groaned. "Ask an alien what the date is . . . " I stumbled to my feet, blinking at my clock and calendar as I tried to rake my hair back into place. Nine o'clock. Nine PM. Oh, no. I burst out of my room. "Jordan!" I yelled. "Hey, Jordan!" Mom had told her she couldn't go to the party. But that meant absolutely diddly-squat once Jordan had made up her mind. Sara poked her head out of her room at the commotion. "Sara!" I shouted.
"Yeah?"
"Where's Mom?"
"At a meeting with a client," she articulated solemnly. "About him bezzling. What's bezzling?"
Oh, crud. Mom wasn't home. "Where's Jordan?" I asked.
"She gave me cookies not to tell you. Is she in trouble?"
I swore loudly. Then I apologized to a very shocked Sara for using a bad word. I rocketed back into my room and stripped down to my morphing suit.
{What has transpired?} asked Mary Sue.
"Sewage," I answered shortly, before my mouth melted into a beak. I had promised Jake I wouldn't break and smash the party. I had promised no twisted steel or broken pools. I had meant it, too.
Oh well. Good intentions.
{Mary Sue, you're coming with me. We're gonna go crash a party.} I flapped onto the desk, and lowered a claw for her to climb up on.
{What does that mean?}
{It means that I'm not just going to let Jordan get infested.}
{A rescue mission? We are preserving your sister from becoming a victim of the Yeerk abomination?}
{That's right.}
{Exhilarating.}
I swooped out of the window into the evening air. {Good word,} I said, pumping my wings for altitude.
As I flew through the quiet sky, I tried to think past the anger that was boiling inside of me. Sometimes I just feel like Gollum in the Two Towers.
'You know, you shouldn't just fly off and attack this place without talking to Jake first,' said my brain.
'Quiet! This is my sister we're talking about,' said my heart.
'But even if she is in danger, you'll only attract attention to your own identity by singling out one person to save. The Yeerks will wonder why you picked her,' my brain reasoned.
'My sister,' pounded my heart.
Hey, in the movies, they're always saying to follow your heart. I choked back my doubts and flew on pumping adrenaline all the way to Megan's pool. I knew where it was, remembered its shape too well.
{See the water down there, Mary Sue?} I asked.
{Yes.}
{That's where we're going.}
{That's where we're going to bust some heads?} she inquired.
I laughed. {Where did you hear that phrase?}
{Your thoughts have been leaking into thoughtspeech,} she explained.
I would have smiled if I'd had a mouth. {Okay then. Yeah. That's where we're going to bust some heads.}