Tobias the Amazing Bird Boy here.
"Okay, an Anti-Magic Ray? I mean, the Anti-Morphing Ray was bad enough. We didn't even know if that worked or not. This is so not good," Marco said, throwing himself down on a bale of hay. He stuck a piece in his mouth and chewed on it.
It was the day after the stealth mission. We were all in the barn, a.k.a. Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, both Animorphs and Aniwizards. The Aniwizards had taken up temporary residence with Ax and me. If it rained, they stayed in Ax's scoop. Otherwise, they slept outside under the stars.
"For once in my life, I agree with him," Rachel said, rubbing her temples.
Marco froze. His eyes slowly grew round. He looked up at her with exaggerated awe. "It's a miracle," he said in a stage whisper.
"Shut up," she growled.
I ruffled my feathers. The thought of the Anti-Morphing Ray—and the torture I went through—still made my skin crawl. Sometimes, I could even hear Taylor's voice at night.
Not a pleasant experience.
"What we need to find out right now is whether or not Voldemort is involved," Harry said, pacing the length of the barn, "And, if he is, what's in it for him. Voldemort is worse than Visser Three, if you're in my shoes."
"If anything's in it for him, it's probably you," Jake said shortly.
Harry looked up at him, a dead look in his emerald eyes. "I know."
"But still, Voldemort and Visser Three working together is bad news," Cassie added.
Ron leaned forward on the arms of his wheelchair. "If you ask me, You-Know-Who is the one who created the Anti-Magic Ray. Harry here's a witness to the fact Voldemort knows all sorts of old, forgotten magic. Remember Professor Dumbledore? I bet you ten Knuts that he's using the same spell."
"No, that can't be it," Hermione said, shaking her head impatiently, "I looked that spell up in the Restricted Section. You have to be able to transfer the magic immediately to another person or it's lost forever. Voldemort—and Visser Three—would never just waste magic like that."
She is correct, Ax said, shifting his weight, Visser Three will never give up power. Magic is a power that no other Yeerk in the universe possesses. There will be no way in which he will throw it away.
Ginny said a very unladylike word. "Magical Yeerks? De-magicked wizards? If that's the case, we might as well kiss Earth goodbye."
Not necessarily, I said, We're still here, aren't we? Animorphs and Aniwizards could take them down.
"Who says their magic wouldn't work against us?" demanded Rachel.
"There are only so few of us," Cassie said quietly.
"It'll be target practice for the Yeerks! We wouldn't pose any sort of a threat!" cried Marco.
"The only way to win is to destroy the Anti-Magic Ray," Harry said, punching one fist into the other. "I could blow it up easily with a spell I learned during the Triwizard Tournament. I just need someone to cover me."
"Kicking Yeerk butt? Destroying their biggest shot at Earth? I'm in!" Rachel said.
Hermione held up her hand. "We can't just run in there. We need to think this out. This is a nuclear power plant we're talking about. It'll have defenses."
"She's right, guys," Jake chimed in. "We'll have to take security out before we go in. Shut off the alarms and cameras. Knock out the guards. Destroy the Gleet BioFilter."
I can shut off the alarms and cameras, Prince Jake. I also think I could short-circuit the Gleet BioFilter. Ax. Of course.
"I can get the guards with a Stunning Spell," Ron said helpfully. "Usually people think twice about hitting a person in a wheelchair."
"I'll stay with Ron," Ginny put in, "In case he needs help."
"I'll cover Harry's back when we're inside," Rachel said.
"Me too," said Hermione.
Marco took the piece of hay out of his mouth. "I'll stay with my buddy Ax. Maybe I can help him with the 'puters."
Ax made a noise that suspiciously sounded like a snort. Marco ignored it.
I'll be your eye-in-the-sky coverage, I said.
"And I'll be with Harry," Jake said, "To make sure all goes well."
Cassie remained silent.
"What? What's the matter?" he asked, sensing something wrong.
She clenched her hands into fists and looked at the ground. She looked about ready to be sick. "I—I don't know, Jake. For some reason, I have the feeling something's going to go terribly wrong."
Jake squared his jaw. "Well if something does go wrong, we'll face it together. Like we always do."
She looked away. "Okay. I—I guess I'll go with you."
And only minutes later, we arrived at the new Yeerk base.
We had all morphed thestral to get there. Ron and Ginny rode on Harry and Hermione, and Jake carried Ron's wheelchair. Ax had a makeshift laptop slung around his neck. We arrived without much fanfare.
We demorphed. Ax settled himself with his laptop over by the plant's power generator. Using it, he managed to shut off the cameras and alarms and Gleet BioFilters. Don't ask me how he did it. I have no idea.
I took off and soared on the sweet thermals over the plant. I kept my eye on what was going below. There were six guards I could see. Two in the front, two at the side entrance, and two at the back. There were probably more inside.
All clear, Ron, I clarified.
With that done, Ron laboriously wheeled himself to the guards standing at the door. Ginny walked beside him, as he'd forbidden her to push him. As all the Yeerks at Hogwarts had either died or had been transfigured, the guards had no idea who he was.
"Wait a minute, kid," one guard said, approaching him. "This ain't no place to play."
"Too bad we didn't come to play," Ron said, raised his wand, and yelled, "Stupefy!"
The guy dropped as if he'd been hit over the head without so much as a yelp. The other guard went to signal the alarm, but he was down before he had moved more than an inch.
Brother and sister did the same to the other guards. It took about ten minutes to take them all down.
We chose to go in through the side entrance. Us Animorphs morphed our battle morphs. Ax and Marco stayed behind, to keep the security system off and to sound the alarm if Yeerk reinforcements showed up.
We moved quickly and silently through the corridors. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny took down everyone in our way with Stunning Spells, leaving a path of fallen Controllers behind us. Secretly, I was glad. This would be a quick, in-and-out mission. No detours.
But that, of course, had to end.
"Stupefy," Harry hissed at the next guard we came to, the guard protecting the Anti-Magic Ray.
The guard whirled and held up—a wand! "Protego!"
Harry gasped as his wand was wrenched upward. The spell bounced off the Shield Spell and struck Ginny full in the chest. She gasped and sunk to the floor.
"Death Eater!" Hermione cried.
The Death Eater took aim at Harry. "Expelliarmus!"
Harry dodged and rolled away. I flapped and dove, spilling air from my wings. "TSSSEEERRR!"
My talons dug into the guy's head. He screamed in pain, dropping his wand and clapping his hands to his bloodied head. Harry was now up. "Stupefy!"
The Death Eater dropped, but his scream had not gone unnoticed. A flood of Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, human-Controllers, and Death Eaters streamed out of the room we were about to enter.
Harry started to yell. His knees buckled and he fell, clapping his hands to the scar on his forehead. His wand fell to the floor and rolled away.
We didn't need to wonder whether Voldemort was in this or not anymore.
I dove for his wand.
Too late!
A Hork-Bajir had all ready scooped it up. He swung at me with his wrist blade. I braked quickly in the air, missed the blades by inches, and rose to the ceiling.
Gritting his teeth, Harry rolled to avoid the Taxxon that dove at him. He staggered to his feet, using the wall to help him, and clumsily threw himself at the nearest human-Controller. The Controller went down with a yell.
I dive-bombed the Hork-Bajir nearest me and rose gasping. My wings were all ready tiring. They would give out soon if I didn't stop and rest.
Tobias! Call Marco and Ax, NOW! Jake gasped, snarling.
You got it, Big Jake. MARCO! AX! We need a little help in here!
We are coming, Tobias, replied Ax.
Seconds later, they burst into the corridor.
"Expelliarmus!"
A scarlet light shot past me, missing me by inches. I screeched and whirled around, just in time to see Hermione's wand jump into the air. She flew backward into the wall and was instantly seized by two Death Eaters.
Harry saw. "NOOO!" he screamed in fury, throwing himself at Hermione's captors. Another Death Eater grabbed him and stunned him. He fell limp against the Death Eater's arms.
Jake! A Death Eater has Harry! And Hermione! I yelped.
No! Get them! Rachel, Marco, Ax, Cassie, Ron, someone get them!
I—I can't, Cassie moaned, falling on her side. She didn't move again.
Ax leapt from the battle, tail blade flashing. He sliced off a few of the Death Eater's fingers—or so he thought. His hand passed right through them.
The man looked up at Ax. His sleeve fell away from his hand. I balked in horror when I saw that he had no hand… only an imitation of one that worked as well.
"Wormtail!" howled Ron, flying by on his wheelchair, "You smelly rat, eat this! Perfectus Totalus!"
The man was suddenly gone and, in his place, a mouse. A mouse… prey!
I flapped, turned, and dove for the man-turned-rat Ron had called Wormtail. Wormtail scurried away through the door. I screeched and tried to avoid the wall, but it was too late. I hit and crumpled, dazed.
I was fully aware of what was going on around me, but unable to do anything. My wing was broken. I watched in horror.
Someone knocked Ron's wheelchair over. He yelped as he was tossed to the ground. He struggled to get away, but a Hork-Bajir picked him up and carried him away. He fought fiercely, but to no avail.
The same happened to Harry.
Fall back! Everyone, get out! Someone get Tobias and Ginny! Jake roared.
What about Harry, Ron, and Hermione? demanded Rachel.
We can't do anything about that right now, he said, sounding mournful.
They're our friends, and if they're infested—
I KNOW! Jake screamed. I shuddered. Jake never shouted like that.
I felt strong gorilla arms scooping me up. No, I said, Someone has to get them!
Don't worry, Bird Boy, Marco said, Even if Jake tells me not to, I'm coming back tonight.
He had Ginny slung over his other shoulder. I closed my eyes as we bounded out of the building. Who knew if our wizarding friends would be coming out alive?
We panted as we reached the forest. No one said anything as we demorphed. Or, in my case, morphed and remorphed.
I looked down at Ginny. How do we wake her up? That was a pretty strong curse, and we don't know how to reverse it.
Jake rubbed his temples. Cassie was crying silently. Rachel was continually clenching and unclenching her fists. Marco paced. Ax carefully looked away into empty space.
"We'll get them back," Jake said quietly. "We can't just leave them there. They're our friends and our allies. They know our secrets. They've saved our lives." He looked up at us, meeting each of our eyes squarely. "We attack tonight. At dusk."
A/N: Dun, dun, duuuuun! Sorry to leave you hanging. Heh, heh. I liked to title of the next chapter to much to converge them. Be proud of me, people, I actually have a plot for this story now!! And no, Invader Nina, I didn't take the last fly scene from one of the books. All the Animorph action you see in the Aniwizard Adventures is all totally original.
Stick around for "Chapter 6: Personal Hell (Hermione/Ron/Harry)"!!