Chapter Five

A/N: ARRGH! WRITER'S BLOCK! bashes head on computer Think! Think! Think!

hL

hL has gone crazy. And I hope you don't mind if I update less often in future. Hey, what can I do, with tests every single week and uncooperative parents who do not allow me to use the computer! Sigh… Nevertheless, I will try to get on more often…

Gt

Disclaimer: all original stuff like… the old characters and plots…were created by KA. Unfortunately, the only things that are mine are stuff like the new characters and plots.

I sneaked in as quietly as I could through the side door, the morphing cube tucked under my jacket. I couldn't risk meeting anyone until the morphing cube was hidden, so I didn't dawdle.

Once I had reached the safety my room, I quickly wrapped the cube in an old T-shirt and stuffed the resulting bundle into the safest and best hiding place I could think of. Under my bed.

Surreptitiously, I rearranged discarded items of clothing, old cartons of yogurt, takeaway food containers, gym socks and long forgotten homework assignments to cover the T-shirt plus morphing cube. Judging by the amount of untouched debris under my bed, no one who valued his or her life and sanity would take more than a quick glance before looking away in disgust.

I tugged off my shoes and dropped them into a pile of dirty laundry in a corner of my room. Then I lay back on my bed and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about what had just happened.

So we were the new animorphs. I wasn't sure if I liked that or not. Then I smiled involuntarily, thinking how much Hannah would like it. She definitely couldn't wait to start kicking some yeerk butts.

That led me to think of Jon. Poor old Jon. His parents had been enslaved and killed because of the yeerks. Sometime near the end of the war, they had begun acting strangely, and Jon, suspecting nothing, felt very left out. Would he want to take revenge, or would he shrink from contact with the species that had destroyed his life? I just had to wait and see.

And what about Maria? The things I knew about her were all from Hannah, since I don't really know Maria. At first, like those who did not know her well enough, I thought she was a joker, always all smiles. Then, I found out that she was just a sensitive girl who used jokes to cover her feelings. Well, when she lost her temper she could be rather fierce too…

Jalilan. That brave andalite had given his life to warn us about the yeerk reinvasion. The one who didn't know if his sister had been killed trying to get to earth to warn us about the yeerk threat. The one whose elder brother was a controller. If only for his sake, we would definitely carry on.

My little sister Sophia suddenly poked her head around the door. "It's dinner time Steve. You know, mum got us ice-cream!"

I got off the hair and ruffled her hair absentmindedly. "Yeah, sure, you can have all the chocolate, okay?"

Sophia giggled. She loves chocolate. As I tried to walk, she clamped onto my leg and got dragged along.

"Today the teacher told us a story about the Animorphs. It's cool, turning into all sorts of creatures, isn't it? I think I like Cassie best. And her barn, it's still there, right? If ever the Yeerks would to come back, whoever's fighting them should use the old barn as a meeting place."

I detached Sophia to go down the stairs and held her hand instead. "Yes. That's quite a good idea." I meant it, too. I had been wondering where the others and I could meet, since we were not exactly what you could call a group, and we were hardly seen together, if at all. "Come on. I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss any of that fabulous ice cream mum bought."

Mum and Dad were sitting around the table when we finally came down for dinner. Sophia let go of my hand, ran up to the table, sat down and started chattering about her day.

Mum doled out stew and mashed potatoes for everyone, stopping when she came to me. Looking me in the eye, she asked, "How did you go today, Steve? You're being unusually quiet."

I stared at the little rivulets of gravy running through my potato. "Oh, nothing much. Finished my project on Abraham Lincoln with Jon and then walked home through the park."

Dad broke in. "Then you must have seen those lights in the sky. They're probably Andalite cargo ships. Quite a sight, don't you think?"

"Mmmm". I crammed my mouth with food so they wouldn't ask me anything else for the moment. Soon Sophia was happily engaged in telling them about the story her teacher had told her class that day.

I looked at each of the familiar faces, illuminated by the soft lamplight. Any one of them could be hiding a Yeerk. Was my Mum's face, rapt with attention, my dad's lame jokes., Sophia's incessant chatter all the product of some alien pulling them along on puppet strings?

Faces rushed through my mind. People I cared for, people I knew. Anyone or more of them could be slaves, trapped inside their own heads, unable to do anything but drown in their own despair.

"Steve, is there anything the matter, honey? You look a bit strange today," Mum asked, concerned.

"What? Oh… it's nothing. I just feel rather tired," I replied, and attempted a feeble grin. How could I tell her? How could I?

"Don't fret, Nicole. Relax. He'll be all right", said Dad. "Now, shall I go and get the ice cream?"

A/N: This chappie is not very interesting, is it? Sorry. The next chappie should be better, because they are going to start morphing. Will try to update as soon as possible. :p