Chapter 9

Kaoru

It was already night when I reached Cassie's place. I dropped my bike at some bushes and walked to the barn.

I felt all tangled up with stuff. Should I tell her about the vision? She would laugh in my face or get angry. I didn't know what to do. Tell her or not tell her.

But I knew I had to apologize to her. It was rude of me, running out like that.

As I neared at the doors, I raised one fist, ready to knock. That's when I overheard voices.

"This is really bad news!" someone shouted. It sounded like Jake. "Who could have found it?"

"Well, it definitely cannot be those Helmacrons again," someone else answered. Marco.

Helmacrons? What are those? This was something to listen.

"Are you absolutely sure you hid it safe, Cassie?" a girl, Rachel I presumed, asked. "Maybe you forgot where you put it."

"No. I hid it exactly where it should have been," Cassie said defensively.

"It must have grown legs and walked and that's the only explanation I can come up with," Marco joked.

"Knock it off, Marco," a familiar voice mumbled. Zack? What was he doing here?

"Let's rethink everything," Jake suggested. "Do you know who came by here today?"

A pause.

"...Zoe did come here a while ago," Cassie answered.

"Zoe?" Zack echoed. "You're not suggesting my own sister took it?"

"We're not, Zack," Jake assured him.

"I wouldn't say that," Marco said. "What if she really did take it?"

Take what? I didn't steal anything. And I wouldn't dare to try to... Unless I was dared to.

"Marco, we don't even know she took it. Even if she did, she might have taken it by mistake," Jake said.

"And what if Zoe is a Controller?" Rachel spat. Controller? "She could have found it and taken it to Visser Three by now."

"Zoe is not a Controller!" Zack hissed.

"And what if she is?" Rachel hissed back.

-I doubt she would be one, Rachel.-

I nearly felt my heart stop. This voice... It sounded familiar and exactly like the voice I heard from the grocery store.

-She seemed too nice to be one.-

"Nice? She could be pretending to be nice," Rachael shouted.

-I mean, she has a different emotion that I never seen in a human's face. Different from Controllers. Cheerful, is what you call it.-

"But she could have taken the box, Ax," Jake said.

Box? Ax? What's going on?

"How can you all think like this?" Zack yelled. "My sister is not a Controller nor would she steal something from us!"

"But Rachel could be right," Marco said. "She could be a Controller and is bound to be on her way to the Yeerks."

Yeerks?

POW! I heard someone punching at the face.

"Take that back!" Zack demanded. I guessed he punched at Marco, at his own friend.

"Zack, calm down!" Jake yelled. I heard Cassie whimper.

"You don't know anything about Zoe!" Zack yelled. "Zoe is the sister that I know of today! She is not someone with a Yeerk struck in her mind controlling her!"

My heart beat faster. I was afraid.

"And what if she is?" Rachel barked. "How can you tell whether she is or not? Sooner or later, she's gonna do whatever the heck she'll do with that box and who knows what mayhem she'll cause! We'll have to find her and take the box back. And if she stands in our way, we'll get rid of her."

I shivered uncontrollably. My teeth chattered in my mouth. They were all suspecting me for doing something that I didn't do. Even if Zack was fighting for me. I bit my lower lip and started to run.

Snap! I stepped on a twig.

-Someone's outside!- another voice yelled, I think.

I ran for all I was worth. I didn't stop for anything...

I finally reached home and closed shut my bedroom door. I breathed deeply and threw my bag aside. I crashed onto the lower bed of our double bed. I was frightened.

What was Zack keeping me from? What are Helmacrons, Yeerks and Visser Three? What was going on?

I hugged a pillow and cried on it. I was so afraid. So very afraid.

I heard a squeak. I looked over the pillow and saw Paws somehow out of his cage and near my bag.

"How did you get out?" I inquired. It was then I saw my bag opened. Was he in my bag the whole time?

I got up, wiping my tears as Paws scattered across the room. I peered into the bag, hoping that he didn't mess up my books. What I saw brought shivers down my spine.

Nestling in my bag, over crumpled paper, was a blue box that gave off a light. Jake said something about a box. Were they referring to this?

I dropped the bag.

I was quivering. I wrapped my arms around me. I walked back in fear, meeting to the bed.

I have the box... They would come and look for it...

I didn't know what to do. Should I give it back to them? They would suspect me of stealing it!

I wished Paws had never found it. I wished he never had...

I just wished...