Chapter thirteen (no way!); Clash and CRAAASH!
Present…
Jade
"Oh! Oh, remember that little thing that looked like…"
"A garden gnome or something?"
"Yeah, that one. I was wondering which one of us would squash it first!"
Amanda, Ithiell and I laughed. Robert cracked a smile, but other than that he was quiet. The Animorphs were completely lost, but smiled anyway.
"I'll try to explain. The Klii are small, but like bees, together they're extremely dangerous. The one we encountered was alone, and had no weapons to defend itself" Ithiell began, then looked at me. I barely held in a giggle.
"This little thing was jumping… literally jumping up and down, saying it was going to crush us under it's feet, and take over the world"
"I was thinking he didn't check how tall he was before he came here" Robert said, smiling and shaking his head.
We were walking down the street, towards where the fighter was. We were taking our time too. After all, we'd already taken a full two days off saving the world, so why hurry now?
The fighter wasn't far from the edge of the woods, hidden in a small clearing, cloaked. Ax had gone to feed as himself, and Rtaia, being Rtaia, had gone for a run with him. Tobias was in the skies, enjoying what thermals there were. All in all, it was a beautiful day.
"Well I'm glad that dangerous little garden gnome didn't live up to its threats" Marco chided, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
"Oh yeah, it was real dangerous" I snorted, but still cuddling him as we walked. Beside us, Amanda opted to piggyback Ithiell. Who was still Ian, in case we ran into anyone. Which was rare, but still a good precaution.
We walked along, and as we did I noticed Cassie and Jake were side-by-side, sorta kinda holding hands. Their fingers were just touching.
"Hey Rach, come here for a sec. I need to tell ya something" Amanda ushered her over, and when Rachel was close enough, Amanda leaned over and whispered in her ear. I guess Ithiell heard what it was too, because he smiled and shook his head.
After we rounded a corner (that put us directly across from the woods) I watched as Rachel smiled, broke off, then found a way to discreetly travel behind the two 'almost' lovebirds, then grab both their hands and shove them together.
"Oh just get it over with already!" she cried when they both gave her disbelieving looks. They blushed, then held hands properly.
I didn't think I'd ever had that problem with Marco. I guess we just clicked too well or something.
So we walked, and cuddled, and held hands and let someone else carry us, feeling pretty good, and safe and secure.
Should've known that wouldn't last long.
(Oh man! They're coming!) Tobias suddenly yelled, and when we looked up we saw he was high over the forest, circling in just one spot.
"What? Who?" Jake asked, back into 'leader' mode. He let go of Cassie pretty quickly. Ithiell relayed his message, since he could thought-speak as a human.
(The Terinans! They're heading right towards the town! Right towards you!)
"What! But that's impossible! They don't come…" Amanda let go of Ithiell as Tobias yelled.
(Well I guess they changed their minds!)
"Crap! How-"
(Ax and Rtaia are heading back this way. But… Ithiell?)
(It's ok. I told them. We've gotta stick together now) he said to all of us, and Jake nodded.
"This is serious. If they've decided to come so close to the town…"
"It means they're gonna do something with the humans here" I finished for Robert, and both of us nodded. Any other time I would have finished his sentence, he would've ripped into me. But not now. This was more serious than it had ever been.
(I don't know why… but I didn't even see them until…)
(Don't worry Tobias. It was my fault for suggesting a break) Ithiell muttered, stopping in his tracks. We were all stopped by then.
"Well never make it to the fighter in time!" Rachel hissed. Ithiell wasn't listening. He had his eyes closed. Then…
"Don't worry. I've told Rtaia and Ax to go get the fighter, and to be careful. Now, all we have to do is find a way to…"
He never got to finish, because at that moment a small army of Terinans came into view. Now we were in real trouble. They hadn't seen us yet, because they were about twenty metres ahead of us, but…
"There!" Marco hissed, and we turned to see what he was pointing at. An eight-seater land cruiser.
"They're gonna see us if we move" Robert hissed.
"No problem. I'm driving" Marco whispered. So…
"On my mark. Three… two… GO!" Ithiell yelled, and we bolted towards it. It was then that the Terinans noticed us, and seemed confused for a minute…
We piled in, suddenly realising…
"Oh yeah. It's Australia. The wheel's on the right side" I said, then smiled at Marco "Looks like I'm driving"
"Well whatever you do, hurry! They've just figured out normal people don't jump into a car like this" Rachel said from beside Ithiell and Amanda. Cassie, Jake and Robert were in the middle.
"Hang on… oh this is too easy" I said as I pulled the shade down, finding the keys. I plugged them in, turned the car on, and…
"Hrrrrraaaaaa!" The Terinans had surrounded the car! They were trying to tip it over!
"GOGOGOGOGOO! Marco screamed, and I flipped the gears in reverse and slammed my foot down!
SCREEEEEEEEEEE!
The tires screamed in protest, but then we jumped crazily backwards, knocking off about three or four of the Terinans. The others were running after the backwards moving car.
I got it off the driveway it was on, screeching to a stop. I flipped the gears forward, and the car lurched forwards, knocking off the other two that had attached themselves to the front of the car. We sped forwards!
"Do you know how to drive!" Screamed Marco from beside me. He was holding on to the armrest and the dashboard on his side. His knuckles were turning white.
"She can drive better than you can!" Jake shot back. We reached a corner, and I turned right. We had to loose these guys!
Thump! Thump! Okay, I was going over the corner.
"You were saying!" Marco retorted.
"At least she stays on the road!" Cassie cried.
"Oh this is not good! They're running like sprinters or something! And they're gaining!" Rachel yelled.
"That's what they do!" Robert cried. He was holding on to whatever was handy. Cassie and Jake were holding on to each other. Typical.
"Buckle your seatbelts, this is going to get messy!" I yelled as I turned another corner, the tires screeching in protest. One end almost came off the ground!
"Whenever you reach a turn, go the opposite way from where you turned before" Ithiell yelled, "We should be able to loose them that way!"
"I hope you're right!" I yelled as I spun right again, thumping over another gutter and corner. At least I got it back on the street…
I saw the others were doing what I suggested as I kept my foot firmly on the pedal, only taking it slightly off to turn a little easier. My dad had warned me about these cars and turning too fast on corners.
I turned again and we thumped along, but less dramatic than the last few times.
"Where are they now!" I screamed to Ithiell. It was Amanda who answered.
"Further away, but still too close!"
"Just keep going Jade! You're doing great!" Ithiell cried supportively.
"Yeah, real great! I could've done better!" Marco snapped, still desperately holding on.
"Put your seatbelt on! It'll be safer!" I yelled to him.
"You first!" He retorted.
"I'm kinda busy saving our butts right now!"
"I guessed!"
"Not funny!"
"I didn't intend it to be!"
SCREEEEEEEE!
Around another corner! I chanced a look in my mirror…
Damn! Amanda was right!
"Take us back towards the forest! If we can get in there, we might be able to hide ourselves long enough to get away!" Ithiell yelled.
"You're the boss!" I swung the wheel left, skidding and screeching into the next street.
"Hey, this is my street!" Robert yelled.
"Want us to let you off!"
"Marco, shut up!"
"I-aaaahhh!" He slammed against the door as I made another right. A few more streets!
Two more lefts, and we were there!"
"Hang on tight!" I screamed, gripping the wheel with all my might. The car flew over a curb, hitting the treeline. Left! Right! Barely avoiding trees as I….
WHAAAMMM!
Tree! We all slammed forward from the immense impact!
"Is everyone all right!" Jake said, making me realise my head had hit the steering wheel, partly cushioned by the airbag. The thing was deflated.
"I think my neck is still in on piece…" Rachel muttered as I lifted my head, feeling blood trickle down. I touched my forehead and felt a small gash.
"All right then! Let's move it!" Ithiell yelled, and behind me I heard the others piling out. I was about to get out too, when I realised one door hadn't opened yet. I looked over, and saw, with horror, that someone's airbag hadn't gone off.
Marco's.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Past…
"And in second place, with an amazing performance, is Jade-" I never heard my last name. I didn't need to. My coach patted me on the back, smiling down at me. I think I was in shock for about a full five seconds. Then I jumped up, squealing with delight. I hugged my coach, my other contestants…
Okay, so it was second place in a junior, just-out-of-town ice-skating competition. Did mean it wasn't worth something. To me, anyway.
"And in first place, with the most amazing triple twist I have ever seen, is Jeanine Whitaker!"
A loud round of applause erupted, and Jeanine smiled and bowed courteously. She was amazing. A little shorter than I was, with gorgeous silky black hair, and the most stunning green eyes I'd ever seen.
We all collected our awards, then the competition was over. Coach gave me a salute and told me he'd see me in a week. My parent's were waiting for me in the sidelines. I skated over, still in my cute little outfit they'd made me, and was nearly pulled straight over by my mum hugging me so tightly.
"Oh I am so proud of you!" she cried, then kissed my forehead and let me go. My dad kissed my cheek, and my brother and sister just didn't seem to give a damn. Then again, they were six. Who would?
It had been about five or six months since I was grounded, and a lot had happened since then. We'd met these two very cool older aliens, who now hid high in the mountains not too far from us. Ithiell told us they were an old married couple or something like that. They'd come to get away from war, and we didn't disturb them. Well, only once.
We managed to convince them to just cover for me and Amanda while we fought off another, smaller band of Terinans that popped up out of no-where. We'd fought them off, using our amazing shape-shifting ability. I became a white tiger, since they'd always amazed me, and used the liquid grace of the creature to my advantage. It was terrifying, but amazing all the same.
Rtaia had transformed herself into a cougar, and Ithiell into an amazing wolf. It had been intense, but we'd won out in the end.
So here I was, months later, being praised for a small skating competition. It was good to be normal.
"Well wait for you to get changed, all right?" Mum said, grabbing Tina's arm, since she was trying to climb over the small half-wall. Ryan was piggybacking dad.
"Okay" I got off the rink, then made my way over to the change rooms. Jeanine was just about to leave.
"Hey, you were good out there" She said as she zipped up her bag.
"Good, but not as great as you were. How'd you do that thing with the…"
"Oh, I just twisted my leg in a bit more, and used my arm to balance me out"
"Oh, wow"
"Okay, see ya!"
"Bye!"
I did what I had to do, feeling glad to be in my old clothes. I walked out…
… and straight into a red-haired boy.
"Ian! What are you doing here?" I hissed. Ian was actually Ithiell. Well, the human form of Ithiell. I'd named him that after he'd chosen a good human form.
Ian frowned. I knew then.
"Okay, what is it? And how long do we have before we're stuffed?"
"One month, and you know what" he said, then tried to smile.
"You looked good out there, by the way" he patted my shoulder then walked off.
I shook my head, suddenly feeling not that happy.
