Chapter two; A plan and hope

Present day…

"Well, what do we do? We can't exactly fly all the way there"

Marco. As usual. Our positive energy of the group.

Not.

"Maybe by plane?" Cassie suggested. We were all in the barn, and it was three hours later. It was as soon as all of us could. Tobias was in his usual place up in the rafters, keeping a look out for us.

(Perhaps that might not be the best course-)

"Fourteen hours" I interrupted, then added "Sorry Ax"

"Fourteen what? What kind of psychobabble are you going on about?" Rachel asked, looking angry and frustrated. She had been giving me and Jake death stares since that afternoon, and kept saying how we 'jinxed it'.

"A plane from Australia to America takes around twelve to fourteen hours, right? And the way back… because my dad told me this once, takes about fourteen hours, maybe a little more. It's all about the direction of the earth and the winds and stuff"

"Okay. Jade, say it in plain English, okay?"

"Fourteen hours is kinda twelve hours too long for any morph you guys might have in mind for the flight" I rolled my eyes a little at her, exaggerating my sentence a little.

(She's right. And a boat would take longer to get there) Tobias said.

"Maybe dolphins?" Cassie suggested hopefully.

"Same problem. The two hour limit. Dammit!" Jake was getting frustrated. He was pacing in front of a cage with a fox in it, who was almost mimicking his actions.

"Have you tried contacting Ithiell again? Or maybe Lowri?" Marco asked, turning to me.

"Well duh! Of course I did! Ithiell either doesn't answer or can't be reached, and Lowri's too far away for me to pick up with this thing" I indicated to my watch/phone, wanting to throw it across the room.

"Then what? We just… we just give up?" Rachel was furious.

"No. But…" Jake shrugged, turning to looked hopelessly at me.

(Perhaps… we could steal a Bug Fighter-)

"No" the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"What! Why!" Rachel snapped.

"Think about it Rach; we steal a ship, they come after us. Then it's just one more thing to worry about when we do get there. And I really don't think ten of us… if they're still all right… can fight two armies at once"

"She's right. But what other option is there?" Cassie asked. We all fell silent, thinking.

(The cargo bays, under the planes?) Tobias suggested.

"Maybe. I hid in there once" Cassie said.

"Two problems with that" Marco said "One, it'll be way too cold for just our morphing outfits, and two, how the heck are we going to get in there without being noticed? I mean, six birds, even seagulls, are going to be noticed"

"I might have a solution to both" I mused. I told them my ideas.

"When hell freezes over!" Marco snapped, glaring at me.

"Again, you'll be taking all the risks" Jake said, staring at me, like I was going to back out. Pfft! Fat chance!

"I'll go to hell and back for them Jake. Just like you would for the Animorphs. And yes, even for Robert, the pain in the butt he mostly is. But I owe a lot to him, and the others, and there's no way in hell I'll ever let them down"

Jake thought about this, frowning. Rachel was all pumped and ready to go. Tobias and Ax were indifferent. I guessed. Cassie was worried, and Marco… well, he was a little furious with me, I could tell.

"You're right. I would. And I understand. But if we do, I want to be prepared for anything. Ax, Marco? Hack the net and get us the earliest flight out of here. Me and Cassie will contact the Chee and get them to cover for us. The rest of you go home and get all the rest you can, I think you're going to need it" He looked at me, winked, and walked off with Cassie. The others peeled off, and Tobias and Rachel walked off with one another. I was about to leave too when I saw Marco was still there, leaning against the door of a stable. Ax was already gone.

"Marco? What's wrong? Why aren't you going with Ax?" I asked going over to him. He looked up at me, sighed, and then pulled me in for a hug.

"How many times have I told you you're crazy" he whispered, his head nuzzled into my shoulder. I pulled back just enough to see his face, with my arms still around his neck, and pretended to think. I then pretended to count on one of my hands, then shook my head.

"Honestly? I've lost count" I shrugged. He smiled a little.

"Just… be careful"

"Sorry, that word isn't in my vocab"

He rolled his eyes "Whatever. I'd better get going before Ax realised I'm missing"

"One sec" I kissed him quickly "Okay, now you can go"

I let go, knowing on this night, hell would freeze over. Or at least become a little chilly.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

6 years earlier…

The first thing I became aware of when I regained consciousness, was the total lack of noise. The second? My forehead thudding like I'd run into a Mack-truck

I groaned a little, suddenly remembering what had happened and shutting myself up. I heard something rustle, and I stayed absolutely still for about thirty seconds, or until the pounding in my head got so bad I knew I needed to get up.

So, I opened my eyes slowly, and cautiously. Then, I did something I had never, ever done in my entire life. I screamed.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" The strange thing was, the thing above me screamed back!

It fell backwards, out of sight, as I scrambled backwards with my arms, ending up half sitting and pinned against a tree. The blue thing, one of the things I'd seen fighting, was sitting in almost the exact same position, panting. It's big green eyes were wide with fright, and seconds later it started talking some kind of language I'd never heard of, looking straight at me.

"Sorry, I don't speak Freakanese" I mumbled, suddenly aware of something on my head, leg and arm. I looked down, and saw what seemed to be grey dressings. Only, they felt more like silk than a dressing.

I looked around, suddenly finding I was in an area of dense trees, and Amanda and Robert were lying beside me, similarly bandaged. On the other side of Robert was what looked like a big antique wooden box, open. Inside it was filled with more silver bandages, and some other things I couldn't put names to.

"Kiv… kuuu… Bonjour!" The blue thing said, sitting up properly and looking at me eagerly. When I didn't respond, it tried again.

"Guten Haag? Kuuu… Guten tag!" It cried in triumph. When it saw I was still lost, it scratched its head and tried again.

"Ni hau ma?"

I shook my head, smiling sadly at it. I think I was getting over the absolute freakiness of this creature being real. It was trying really hard to communicate will me. I sat up against the tree, suddenly realising this thing was seriously hurt as well. It was bruised, and had twice as many bandages on than I had.

"Kiv… Hello!"

"Now you're getting it!" I cried. It smiled.

"So you… understand my speaking to you?" It spoke slowly, like it was getting used to speaking to me like this.

"Yeah. I mean… yes. Did you…" I indicated to my shoulder bandage, suddenly realising it felt a lot better than before.

"Yes. You needed aid, and I did my best to provide it in my condition"

"Thankyou" I rubbed my head, the memory of running head on into a tree still fresh in my memory. It was more than slightly embarrassing.

Not long after, Amanda came to. And she had the same reaction I did. Thankfully, Blue Thing was over the scream and scream back thing. Instead, it shot towards a tree opposite her, darting up it amazingly fast.

"Amanda, stop, it's ok! That… it's not gonna hurt us!" I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her until she stopped. Then, she looked up at me with shock.

"What the… did that really…"

"Yep"

"And… and that thing is…"

"That thing saved our lived Amanda. And if you hadn't noticed…" I pointed up to Blue Thing, that was still high in the trees, chest moving rapidly in and out. This alien was seriously jittery.

"It… it doesn't look much older than we are" She said softly, looking up at it. I looked up and realised she was right. The other blue things I'd seen before were bigger and more menacing. With something that looked like muscles. This blue thing was small and skinny. And scared easily.

"It's all right, you can come down now" I called up to it, and it made it's way down to us.

"I… I apologise. I do not know what to…"

"What's your name?" Amanda asked gently as I helped her up. I had the strange feeling again, like there was something wrong with my arm and leg, but couldn't quite put a finger on it.

"Uh… Ithiell"

"And… what are you?"

"A… I am called a Chanaiben"

"Are you a male or female?" The question didn't come from us, but instead Robert. He was looking up at us, a slight glazed look in his eyes.

"Pretty blunt question Robert" I rolled my eyes, but went to help him up anyway. 'Ithiell' seemed to think about this for a moment.

"I do not understand. What is 'male or female?"

"Okay, um…" Amanda thought for a moment "All right, see me? I'm a female. Robert here is a male. We are… different, but the same… the same species"

"Ah, I see. Gender! Like our Nivatt and Nivott! Ah… well, in that case I am a Nivott. I am a male of the Chanaiben species"

"Glad we got that sorted out. Now, what the heck happened back there?" I asked.

Ithiell's eyes flickered with pain, then he took a deep breath.

"The battle is over. The planet is to stay free… but with terrible consequences" he looked away, looking like he was trying to control a barely controllable emotion.

"What… what kind of consequences?" Amanda asked gently, going over to him as he sat down on the ground heavily, putting his skinny arms around himself and curling that smaller, but still amazing tail of his around his legs. Almost like a cat or a monkey.

"I… I have watched both of my parents die. I was… I was not even supposed to be here…" he trailed off, and I saw what looked like tears falling from his big eyes. Amanda put an arm around him to comfort him.

"You're a stowaway!" Robert cried suddenly "You crept on board whatever brought the others here, didn't you!"

Ithiell nodded sadly, hugging himself tighter. Amanda let go, but stayed close. She looked at him with understanding and pity. After all, she'd watched her mother slowly die not even three years before…

That's when it hit me. What was wrong with my arm. I looked down at my torn shirt, pulling down the dressing. What I should have seen were burn marks, and felt them too. What I did see was clear healthy skin. Totally untouched.

"What the… did you do something to…" I indicated to my arm. Ithiell cocked his head to the right, then shook it.

"No. It was… unusual. I do believe… my blood may have inadvertently seeped into your own. But I do not see how it could have… done this"

"Well, unless your weirdo bandages did it, I don't see what else it could be" Robert shrugged, taking a look at my arm, then unwrapping one of his own bandages on his wrist to look at it. Like mine, the skin looked like it hadn't been touched by a blade or fire. Well, whatever those laser things were anyway.

"Yes. I do believe you are correct. Strange, but I will not deny the miracle that may have saved your lives" Ithiell said, looking in wonder.

I watched as Amanda pulled down one from around her throat, rubbing her neck like she couldn't believe it was real. In fact, neither could I.

"Okay, wait, wait a second" Robert held his hands up, shaking his head.

"What?"

"Does that mean… does that mean you're stranded here?"

Ithiell looked surprised, like he hadn't thought of it before. Then, he slowly nodded, closing those amazing eyes of his and bowing his head.

"Yes. I believe… I believe I am alone now"

"Oh great. So… anyone got any ideas on what we can do with him?" Robert looked from me to Amanda.

"Well, we can't leave him here" Amanda said.

"No, it is… all right"

"No it's not! Now, you're going to…"

"Please, understand, I feel more at home in the forest" he said, putting a clawed hand over hers. For a second she looked like she might pull her hand back, but then relaxed a little.

"All right then. But… at least let us find you a place like a cave or something to sleep in for tonight, and we'll come by and check on you in the morning"

Ithiell accepted, still probably stunned by everything that happened to him, and four hours later he was happily (or not) in a small cave near the edge of a cliff. We went back home, all three of us, with me wondering how I was going to explain loosing my skates to my parents.

Too bad that was only the start of my troubles.