A/N: I'm sorry this took so long for me to put up. Stupid school! Anyways, here's the long awaited chapter 13.
Disclaimer: You know the drill, K.A. Applegate owns the Animorphs. I own Sarah, Josh, Bade, Alexandria, and Hope.
~~Josh~~
Let me tell you something: I am not a morning person. I repeat, I am not a morning person. So you can imagine how upset I was when a guy I didn't know tried to wake me up.
Everyone says I take after my cousin Cassie except for the fact I talk too much. I do admit I'm a pretty calm and caring guy. And I can see through almost everyone. However, none of this applies in the morning hours.
"Go away," I mumbled and pulled the sheets over my head.
"Dude, wake up." Said a voice I didn't recognize.
"Make me," I muttered stubbornly.
"Josh, it's Bade. Get up now."
I grudgingly got up to find myself surrounded by bunk beds and a guy with curly blond hair and gray eyes.
"Who the heck are you?" I yelled and threw a pillow at the guy.
"It's Bade. I'm just in morph. You're just lucky no one else is around. After all, we are supposed to be dead." The guy…I mean, Bade, said to me.
I moaned, "You mean, it wasn't a dream."
"Nope, sorry man. Now morph before someone else comes in here." Bade said.
I got out of bed to find I was still wearing a way too tight T-shirt and bike shorts. I shrugged and concentrated on the DNA of three others that was now inside of me.
My cousin Cassie is a gifted morpher. So you would think that I am too. Wrong! I sucked! It was barely a transformation but I still sucked.
In a couple of minutes I was a Latino guy with red hair and a mustache (a new experience for me). And I was tall! I'm not really that short, I'm about an inch shorter than average height (Hope thinks I'm short because she is super tall for a girl her age or any age really). Now I was around 6'.
"So Bade," I said in a much deeper voice while I put on clothes that would have normally been way to big for me, "What do we do now?"
"Dunno? I was hoping you would think of something?" he replied.
The door opened to reveal a small kid, "Hey! John and Michael, you better get out there and eat before you get punished."
The kid left before we could say anything.
"So, we're now John and Michael. Cool. Hey, how long have you been in morph?" I asked Bade.
"Oh, about half an hour. Let's go." He said to me.
We left the room to try and find the cafeteria.
~~Sarah~~
It was Saturday. I belonged asleep in my own bed or perhaps watching pointless cartoons while my mother complained about me doing something useful with my free time.
Well, mom, how's saving the world for you?
Imagine my shock when I found myself in an orphanage while two people tried to get me to wake up. Or perhaps I was more shocked when I went from being a short Latino girl with hazel eyes to a tall African American with green eyes. Or maybe when I saw Alexandria turn into an Asian girl with dark blond hair and dark brown eyes. Seeing Hope turn from very tall to very short and having strawberry blond hair and ice blue eyes might have been the high point in my day of weirdness.
I choose all of the above. Don't you just love multiple choice?
Even though it's hard to believe, it did happen. That or I've finally snapped, which I wouldn't doubt. My favorite phrase is 'Are you insane?' I guess now I should be asking 'Am I insane?'
I have already answered my own question. Yes, yes I am insane.
I sighed. At least I'll get away from that annoying dog. Our dog is a descendant of Marco the Animorph's dog Euclid.
My mom wanted to name her Fluffy. I wanted to name her Satan. I thought it would be easier for her only to have to remember one name.
However, she has to remember two since mom got her choice.
Hope was very grumpy when she woke up, I don't really know why. I guess she wasn't a morning person. We're best friends, but we haven't known each other that long.
Alexandria was up before either of us, probably singing to the birds or something. She seemed so chipper. Then again, I was too somehow.
"Sarah and Alexandria, if you say one more thing about what a beautiful day it is, I'll make sure you suffer for the remainder of it." Hope said as she walked down the hall in morph.
"Hope, lighten up, alright?" Alexandria replied. But I noticed that she put me between herself and Hope. Not exactly a good place to be when Hope is mad.
A voice came from behind us, "Sarah? Hope? Alexandria? Is that you guys?"
~~Alexandria~~
We spun around to find a guy with curly blond hair and a Latino boy with red hair. None of us had ever seen them before in our life.
"Who the heck are you?" Hope asked, putting her arms up in defense.
"It's us. Bade and Josh. We're in morph. Is that you?" said the Latino guy.
"Prove it." I said.
The blond guy answered, "We met a guy named the Ellimist last night."
"Okay, it's you. So, what do we do now that we're back together again?" Hope said.
"Wait a second, I need more proof than that. For all we know, you might have overheard us." Sarah said. I had never realized how paranoid Sarah was.
"Okay, but make sure no one sees." The Spanish guy said. We all ducked into an empty room.
The guys immediately started demorphing. The Hispanic guy turned out to be Josh and the blond guy was Bade. Sarah finally seemed satisfied.
"Okay, so what do we do?" I shrugged.
"First of all, we don't know if our characters hang out with each other, so we should go our separate ways." Sarah pointed out. She was starting to sound a bit like Marco the Animorph.
"I also think we need a leader for our little group." Bade said.
"Agreed," I said.
"I vote Hope," Sarah said.
"Everyone who says Hope should be leader, say I." Josh said.
Four people said 'I'. Hope was the only person who didn't.
~~Hope~~
I was stunned. Me…leader, just like Jake.
I started to shake my head, "You…you can't possibly be serious, can you?"
"We are Hope." Sarah said.
"But…but, I can't. What if I screw up?"
"All anyone expects you to do is do your best." Bade said.
I breathed deeply, "Okay, fine, I'm leader. First things first, everyone demorph and remorph."
No one questioned me, no one objected to the orders, everyone just did it. I followed my own orders. Everyone was demorphing with sickening sounds and sights. I found I was doing it a little more gracefully. I had a feeling it had to do with wearing the necklace, the only item of clothing that morphed with me.
In about ten minutes, we were back in our alias morph and once again wandering the halls trying to find the cafeteria. We did eventually find it. All of the food was gone which was okay because I wasn't really hungry. I kept thinking about last night.
My parents were controllers. It couldn't be. They were the enemy.
"Are you okay?" Josh asked.
Josh! Josh can see through people, but he has a pretty hard time with me. My blank face is something to be thankful for. I don't want them to know my parents were the enemy.
"Yeah, just worried about my job as a leader," I said, telling half the truth.
"Ah," Josh said and spooned a mouthful of porridge into his mouth.
"What time is it?" I said, changing the subject.
"9:30." Sarah answered.
"How did you know? There isn't a clock." Bade asked Sarah.
Sarah blushed, "Oh, I have an internal clock."
"Useful," I said.
"What is useful, Miss Julia?" A woman said behind me.
I turned around, "Oh, nothing ma'am."
"Well, children, come with me to my office," she said.
Shoot.
~~Bade~~
Not even one full day as an Animorph and already we were probably going to be infested. We had no choice but to go with her.
We all stepped into a rather small office. I was pressed up against Hope…er, I mean, Julia. We were all pretty squished. I wasn't complaining. However, if Sarah could, I'm sure she would.
"Now, you're all probably wondering why I called you to my office," the woman said.
"Yes ma'am, we are very curious," I said.
Oh great, I thought, now she's going to say 'we know you're Animorphs'.
"You've been adopted!" she exclaimed.
Please don't let it be by Yeerks. I heard Sarah's voice in my head.
I realized that we could use thought-speak. So I gave it a shot, Hey! We can use thought-speak.
We can, can't we? Alexandria "spoke".
Okay, so what's the plan, Hope? Josh asked.
Why are you asking me? Hope asked.
You're leader. Alexandria explained.
Oh, right. Let's listen, and if she tries anything, run! I'll hold her off. Hope ordered.
No way! Sarah objected.
"Aren't you excited about leaving?" the woman asked.
I realized that we had sort of spaced out. Sarah seemed almost scared by this fact.
"We're very excited, but we shall miss our friends," Hope answered formally.
The woman turned to me, "What about you John?"
So I was John. That cleared things up. "Yeah, very excited."
The woman focused on Alexandria, "Melinda, I think you'll especially enjoy your family. Your adoptive guardian works at a modeling agency. Maybe she could arrange a photo shoot."
"Maybe," Alexandria said and smiled.
"Samantha," she said to Sarah, "Be good."
"I will," she replied.
"Well, go pack your things and get ready." She commanded.
We left. Oh great, now we have to find our way back. Sarah muttered.
~~Sarah~~
Samantha. That was the best name he could come up with. I hate the name Samantha!
We did finally find our way back to our rooms. We had ten minutes left in morph. Thank goodness no one was in the room. Hope barely made the time limit due to the fact that she had to strip down to her skin tights before demorphing. Luckily, she was pretty fast.
I started packing the few clothes I had in my trunk. Only a couple leotards were my actual size.
"Great, we're going to have to morph in order to wear actual clothes," I said. I hadn't bothered to remorph. All the morphing had made me tired and we were in no real threat.
Or so Hope said.
I'm guess I was being kind of paranoid. But this was a major security issue.
"Looks like it," Alexandria sighed.
"Deal with it Melinda." Hope said.
"Alexandria," Alexandria corrected.
"We had better get used to calling each other by our fake names. We don't want any slip ups," Hope/Julia explained.
"Okay, but call me Mel." Alexandria said wearily.
"And me Sammy," I offered.
"Fine," Hope snapped. She sounded exhausted.
"I'm packed," I said.
"Yeah, it barely gave us any clothes," Alexandria said.
"Ready for a new life," Hope said as we left the room (in morph) to find the guys.
~~Josh~~
"This sucks man," I said.
"What sucks?" Bade asked.
"This whole dang situation, man. We're kids!"
"So were the originals."
"Still, why do those slugs have the nerve to show up?"
"I don't know. Well, I'm packed. Let's find the girls." Bade said.
I nodded, "But first, let's do a quick demorph and remorph."
It took us about five minutes for us to be ready to go out the door. I lifted my trunk up off the ground.
"Hey guys," said a strawberry blond girl in the doorway, a.k.a Hope.
"Hey! Do you need help with those bags?" Bade offered.
"Why? Do you think that just because we are girls that we can't lift our own bags?" Alexandria said.
Hope smiled, a new gesture for all of us, "No, let him take our bags."
They all gave their bags to Bade.
I, being the kind, caring person I am, decided to help. That was a big mistake. Turns out, the bags were very heavy.
"Didn't you say something about wanting to be a boxer, Josh?" Sarah asked. Gee, that was only the seventh time I had heard that joke in the last ten minutes.
"I'll box you," I replied.
"Cardboard or plastic?"
"Ha ha ha."
"Uh, we're here. Drop our stuff here." Hope said.
I dropped it…right on Sarah's foot! It was an accident and I know I like her, but it felt good to do that.
"Sorry," I said innocently.
I looked around. The woman was there, smiling. She spoke with an oversweet tone, "We'll take your bags from here. Go and meet your new families."
She ushered us into another room. There were eight adults standing there.
A tall man with blond hair in a buzz cut came up to me, "You must be Michael. We'll be your new guardians." He pointed to a pretty black haired woman.
"Hi," I said sort of nervously.
"We can go now if you'd like." He said to me.
"Just a second, okay?"
I walked over and gathered Bade, Sarah, Alexandria, and Hope. "Where do we meet Julia?" I was careful to call her by her morph's name.
"We'll meet at the food court around 8:00." She said.
I walked over to my new family, "Now I'm ready to go."
I stepped into my car and I was gone.
~~Bade~~
My guardian was a single guy with some serious issues. Remind me to thank the Ellimist.
"Well, you can have my fiancé's room until she comes back," he said to me as I got home. I looked around. It was a pretty small apartment.
"Didn't she dump you?" I asked. Not a bright move.
"Look, she didn't dump me! She loves me! She is coming back!" he screamed.
"Okay, okay, she's coming back. Don't have a cow."
I went into my room. Luckily, it didn't look too much like a woman had lived here. Note to self: need to repaint the walls.
I sighed and thought and went into the bathroom to demorph. The clock read 5:00. Three hours to go.
~~Alexandria~~
"Now, I don't want to replace your parents but…" said my new guardian, an African American woman wearing a dashiki.
She said more, but I tuned it out. I was bored out of my mind. That and if we didn't get there soon, I would have to make an emergency stop for a quick demorph.
Thank goodness that she had just pulled into a driveway of her house. House, that was new. I used to live in an apartment.
I got in the bathroom and demorphed. I sighed. I wonder what my parents are doing now.
"Hey! You want some pizza?" my guardian asked.
"Yeah. What time is it?" I asked.
"Oh, around 5:30."
Great, a couple more hours before I leave.
~~Josh~~
They were really nice to me and they had a really nice place.
My room was all fixed up and looked very cool. I stared up at the ceiling and looked for some music. There was some pretty good stuff.
My guardians left me alone so I didn't even need to be in morph while I was in my room. That was a good thing because I was exhausted.
I looked at the clock. I should have figured. I usually get hungry around six o' clock and it was six o' clock on the dot.
That also meant two more hours till the meeting.
~~Sarah~~
I kept looking at the clock. I actually already knew what time it was, I just wanted to make sure. It was still 7:00, just like it had been seven seconds ago.
This was INSANE!!!!
I am not supposed to be able to morph. And I am not supposed to be dead.
I wonder how mom is. She must be crushed that I am "dead". I am and I'm not really dead.
"Do you want some dinner?" my adoptive mother asked.
"No thank you Charlotte," I replied, "I just remembered I have to meet Julia."
"Okay, good bye."
I went out the door. I so needed to take a walk.
~~Hope~~
Not only did I have new parents, but now I have a step-brother.
"Cory, tell them that I'm going to meet some friends." I said to my new brother.
"Hey, Julia, how would you and your friends like to go to one of my meetings?" he asked me.
"Meeting?"
"Yeah, C.A.R.E. is having a meeting tonight. You'll like it."
Red warning signs popped into my head. This was probably a Yeerk-front organization.
I responded, "No thanks. I'm going to use the bathroom and go."
"Okay." He said.
After five minutes, I was going to the meeting I had planned. And I had a newsflash.
A/N: Wow! This is my longest chapter ever. Sorry it took so long. Like I said, school got in the way.