Author's Note: In response to several reviewers (you know who you are) you were warned in chapters 1 and 2 that some people would be out of character. There won't be any more uploads for a while. This chapter was late because my mom decided that I wasn't allowed to use the computer until AFTER a major test.
Mob: WELL, THAT TOOK LONG ENOUGH! DEATH TO TESTS! DEATH TO YOU IF YOU ARE DELAYED IN YOUR TYPING BECAUSE OF TESTS! DIE!
Me: WAIT! You can't kill ME!
Mob: WHY NOT?
Me: Because if you do, you'll never find out what happens next! Anyway, I'm typing this, and I don't want to die.
Mob: (grumbles, but lowers various weapons from curiosity.)
Me: To Rachel fans—Rachel may SEEM out of character for a bit, but I'm trying to show her beneath the tough exterior. Even Xena needs some whimsical fantasies. Oh, and let's just say that books 16 and 23 happened at about the same time—minus the missing Hork-Bajir kid.
Disclaimer: (bursts into tears) I don't own the Animorphs! (SOB!) Oh, well... at least I can make them do whatever I want in my stories! (Smiles optimistically.)
Chapter Nine: Rachel's POVI woke up early the next morning, half-convinced that I had dreamed about Elfangor surviving, Tom and his Yeerk getting along, and that Taxxon that used to be an Andalite. While I was at it, I decided to pretend that the entire Yeerk invasion had been a dream. Then someone knocked on my door, shattering my ruse.
"Rachel? Are you up yet?" The voice was male, and I tried to imagine it was my father, and that my parents' divorce had been a dream, too. Unfortunately, the voice wasn't deep enough to be my father, and I recognized it as Tom's.
"What do you mean, YET?" I grumbled. He probably couldn't hear me, but I didn't care. "It's..." I glanced at my alarm clock. "SIX A.M.?" I roared, suddenly more awake than I'd been in weeks. "YOU CAME BY AT SIX A.M. AND YOU ASK ME IF I'M UP YET?"
"That should be self-explanatory, cousin. Oh, by the way, you might want to bellow a bit more quietly. I think you woke at least half the solar system—the deaf and dead half. Isn't bellowing quietly an oxymoron? No, Esp, it's a joke." Then I heard him whisper: "Let's keep it down in here... I don't want Jordan or Sara to think I've gone crazy. Okay."
"What are you doing here, anyways?" I demanded.
"You've still got... that model phaser I lent you yesterday. I need it back."
"Model phaser?" I repeated. Then I remembered—I had never given back his Dracon beam. He obviously wouldn't dare speak more clearly with my mom and sisters around. "Oh—that model phaser!" I picked it out of the heap of clothes I'd worn yesterday, opened the door a bit, and passed it out to him.
"Thanks, Rachel. Hey, I almost forgot, midget said to ask if you and Cassie wanted to go hiking this afternoon with him and Marco."
"Marco? Hiking? That proves it—I have, in fact, heard everything."
"So, does that mean no, or that you'll come for the laughs?"
"I'll come for the laughs. Where and when?"
"The woods behind Cassie's place. One o'clock."
"Okay. Now go away—I'm not done sleeping yet." I set my alarm clock to wake me up at eleven before I fell back asleep.
When I woke up, I called Cassie. "Hi, Cassie. Are you doing anything this afternoon?"
"Not really. Jake called and suggested we go hiking. What do you think?"
"That'd be fun. Where and when?"
"Woods behind my place. One o'clock."
"I'll see you then. Bye!"
"Good-bye."
I ate a quick lunch, then started out for Cassie's place. I wanted to walk, so I had to start out early. Walking there would hopefully get me in the mood for 'hiking'.
When I got there, Cassie, Jake, Marco, Ax, Tobias, Tom and Elfangor had assembled. Ax, Elfangor, and Tobias were in their human morphs.
"So," said Marco, "any particular reason we're all here, fearless leader?" We all looked at Jake expectantly.
"Um... well, why did you want us to meet?" he asked Cassie.
"What?" she demanded. "YOU called ME to say we were meeting this afternoon!"
"No, I didn't," Jake objected. "You called me about this, and Tom forwarded the message!" Suddenly, he turned to his brother suspiciously. "TOM?"
"Esp, actually. I knew that you wouldn't trust me if I told you it was my idea, so I pretended it was Cassie's. I imitated your voice on the phone, and when I finished I told you that Cassie had suggested the meeting. Tom, Arbron and Elfangor were the only ones who knew it was my idea."
"You knew we wouldn't trust you, and you've just guaranteed it," snarled Ax. "Lying does not influence trust."
I felt that there was something odd about that statement, but it took me a moment to figure it out. Ax hadn't played with sounds.
"Aximili, he had a good reason!" snapped Elfangor. "Esp, kindly explain to why this meeting is so important."
"Actually, it's mostly to inform Tobias that Esi's posing as his long lost cousin or something so as to lure him into a trap and find out if he's connected to the 'Andalite Bandits' in any way. Something about Tobias dropping off the known face of the planet made him suspicious."
"Who's Esi?" Cassie asked.
"My twin—I told you yesterday! Anyways—"
"So why would Visser Three CARE about Tobias 'dropping off the known face of the planet?" I demanded. "For all he knows, Tobias might have just run away or something. Out of every missing person in the country, what made him suspect Tobias?"
"Tobias is a special case." Tom/Esp grinned and winked at Elfangor.
"Perhaps it is because Tobias disappeared shortly after you began resisting?" Ax suggested.
"Oh, my—"Tom/Esp whirled and stared at Elfangor. "YOU DIDN'T TELL THEM YET?"
"Didn't tell us WHAT?" Tobias spoke up at last. He sounded indignant.
Tom/Esp suddenly smiled almost sweetly at Elfangor. "Do you want to tell him or shall I?"
"What do you mean?"
"Come ON Elfangor, Tobias has a right to know that you're his father!"
A sudden silence greeted these words. Marco broke it with his three favorite words.
"ARE YOU INSANE?"
"No. I simply believe that the truth should be known. This includes that Tobias is Elfangor's son, Esi is trying to capture him because of this, and that Tom has developed a crush on—DON'T YOU DARE TELL THEM!"
"Who is it?" Jake asked eagerly.
"Do you honestly expect us to believe any of this?" Ax interrupted. He had actually been trying to get a word in since Marco had questioned Tom and Esp's collective sanity.
"Well, why not? It is the truth."
"How do we know that? You lied to all of us about whose idea this meeting was. For all we know, you're making this all up to lure us into a trap."
"Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, if I wanted to do that, I would have by now. If you don't trust me, ask your brother." He smiled at Elfangor. "I doubt that HE will deny the truth."
Ax glared at Esp. "I doubt that YOU are TELLING the truth." He, too, smiled at Elfangor. "Exactly how big a lie is this worm telling?" Elfangor sighed.
"First of all, he's not a worm. Second of all, he's not lying."
THUD. Tobias sat down very quickly. Well, fell down, really. He stared up at Elfangor, eyes wide, and jaw hanging open. Ax wore an identical expression. The only real difference was that Ax was standing up.
"Chill, guys," Esp said coolly. "You already KNOW I'm not a worm."
Elfangor clapped his hand over his eyes and shook his head.
"How is this even possible?" Tobias gasped.
Esp opened Tom's mouth (at least, I assumed it was Esp) but Elfangor raised a hand to cut him off. "I'll tell him myself, thank you."
"When?" Tom/Esp snarled. "Next year?"
"I...um...well," Elfangor began to speak very quickly to Tobias. "I - trapped - myself - in - human - morph - because - your - mother - and - I - were - in - love - and - then - a - few - years - after - we - got - married - Ellimist - showed - up - and - said - I - had - to - go - back - to - the - Andalite - fleet - and - I - didn't - even - KNOW - that - she - was - pregnant - until - after - I - left."
"And saying all that did not suffocate you WHY?" Tom/Esp prodded.
"Esp, do me and the entire universe a favor—SHUT UP!"
"But I didn't say anything!" he objected. Elfangor made an incoherent noise that sounded like he was trying not to scream. Suddenly, he smirked.
"I now know why you two haven't driven each other crazy yet. You've been to busy driving me crazy instead."
Author's Note: NO! WRITER'S BLOCK!
Mob: DIE, WRITER'S BLOCK!
Me: Why do you always talk in capitals?
Mob: BECAUSE YOU TYPE IT THAT WAY!
Me: Sorry—I forgot. Hey, my writer's block is gone! I have an idea! I'm thinking I'll have Loren show up in the next chapter. Esp will narrate. I'll go type it now...
Mob: HUZZAH!