Marco would be next.

I knew that without even having to think about it. The One would save Jake for last, because he knew that Jake was what was going to break me in the end. Despite everything- my marriage, my children- I knew that I still loved him. Did that make me a bad person? I was married and in love with someone else. I should have never married Ronnie. He was a good man, and I loved him in a different way, but I wasn't fair to him. I had been so desperate to move on, live life. And I had wanted children- children to raise in a safe, pure world without war and death.

But it didn't matter now, did it? I would never see any of them again.

It was almost tempting to just give up there, to sit and just become part of Elfangor's world, and let the world go to hell. I might have done that too, if it hadn't been for Erek and Toby.

"We have to be strong," Toby said, watching me with her Hork Bajir eyes. "Stronger than before. It is not our bodies the One is attacking. It is our hearts, our minds."

I looked between the three of us. "That's the strongest part of us," I said. "All of us. We were never the real warriors, but the hearts and minds of the group. And that's why," I realized suddenly, "that's why the Ellimist chose us. Because he knows that."

I looked up at the sky. The colors were blending together as we came closer to the center, to the Time Matrix. I wondered why the Ellimist had created it in the first place- the most powerful weapon in the universe.

I would probably never know.

We traveled together over Earth, Andalite and Yeerk lands, and it was hard to tell if we were making any progress, but I knew we were. I almost waned to morph to wolf so that we could faster, and so that I could hide behind the animal's emotions when it came time to face the last tests before us.

We met on a stretch of dry Yeerk land. On either side of us was beautiful Earth and Andalite lands, and we were stuck on the bare, ugly Yeerk lands. It was fitting though, because the Marco we were facing was the bare, ugly Marco.

"Cassie," he said with a trademark grin.

"Don't bother," I said, trying to sound cold, but coming off weak, confused. He laughed at me.

"You're the one who should stop bothering," he said. "All of you. There's no point, really. Even if you make it past me, you know what's next, Cassie."

I didn't answer. What could I say?

"Look, let's be smart about this. The One can help you. You don't have to fight him. He has this way of- liberating you. Freeing you."

"You sound like a Controller," I spat.

"Maybe I do," he said with another laugh. "But we never really gave the whole Controller thing enough thought did we? Although, maybe you did. Miss Hypocrite- you fight the Yeerks, kill the Yeerks, then you go out and feel sorry for them, free them. Make up your mind Cassie- whose side are you on?"

"The war's over," Erek said angrily. "Let the past die."

"Oh, like you did? I know all about you Erek. Trying to be human, huh? Just like Pinocchio, always wanting to be a real boy." He smiled at the look of shock on Erek's face. "You shouldn't be surprised. The One knows everything and I, by association, do too. Named the kid you have by the Ronnie after Jake's dead cousin? You always were the sentimental one."

"Shut up," I whispered.

"I am tired of listening to these lies," Toby said suddenly, stepping forward. "I am tired of being bombarded by you creatures who dare to call yourselves by the names of our friends. Get out of here, or else I'll make you leave."

"Be careful, Hork-Bajir," Marco snarled. "The One has given me more power than I could ever dream of, and I am not afraid to use it."

"Then come. We will fight."

"No!" I said, but Toby leaped forward, swiping her wrist blades towards Marco's face. He fell back just in time, and I watched in horror as he began to morph. "No! What if he is still Marco, at least in part? We can't risk-"

(Yes, let's try to stop the violence,) a morphing Marco sneered at me. He was growing larger and larger, his skin sprouting long, coarse black hair as he made the transition from man to gorilla. (Somehow you never could, could you, Cassie? Bitch, bitch, bitch- but you never ever made any kind of difference in the end.)

"No," Erek said then, stepping forward to hold Toby back with his android strength. "Cassie is right. He is not. The One wants us to fight, and we will- but with him, not with out old friends, no matter what he has done with them."

Marco glared at us from his gorilla body, and I thought for a second he was going to attack us, but he didn't. (You can't win, you never could, could you, Cassie? Someone's going to get hurt, someone always does, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.)

"Go away," I said, and he did.

Erek let go of Toby and she relaxed, looking as much ashamed as I've ever seen a Hork-Bajir look. "I should not have let my temper get the better of me," she said.

"It's not your fault," I said.

"But I wonder, why did he not attack? The One must have something else in mind for us."

The thought did not comfort me.