Meanwhile, a substantial distance from the Radam base, a large red barn sat waiting. This was not what most people would consider a normal barn. Once in the dim past it had been, but those days were long over by now.
It was now called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, and the name spoke for itself. Cassie, the daughter of the man who managed the Clinic, was making a last round. Checking up on the sick and injured animals in their care before she had to go to school. Reaching the last cage, Cassie saw a folded newspaper lying on top.
Picking it up, she noticed that this was only one page, and one of the lower headlines had been circled in red. It read: Carter Family Vanishes in National Forest. Cassie didn't know who the Carter family was, but the article said they had been on a three-week camping trip with a few family friends when they had vanished.
Cassie paused, could the Yeerks have an outpost in the forest the Animorphs didn't know about? Or were they simply kidnapping people that wandered too far into the woods? Either way, Cassie felt compelled to tell the others about what she had found.
Putting the paper back on top of the cage, Cassie resolved to tell Rachel, her best friend, about what she had stumbled across. Rachel could tell the others, since they were supposed to keep up a pretense of strictly casual acquaintance while at school.
Fixing the headline in her memory, Cassie went back to her house to pick up her lunch money. Her father was waiting there to drive her to the bus stop. Opening the old screen door, Cassie grabbed her money off the kitchen table and hurried through the house to the living room. Her father was waiting for her there, he stood up and smiled.
"Morning, Cassie. Are you ready to go?"
"Yes, Dad. Thanks again for driving me."
"If I said it once I've said it a thousand times, Cass. There's no need to thank me. You're my daughter and I like to spend time with you."
Cassie smiled, feeling warm inside with the knowledge that her father meant every word he said. Grinning widely, Cassie's father led the way to his new truck. The old one having been decimated in a freak accident, or so he'd been led to believe.
In truth, the truck had been "borrowed" by her fellow Animorphs, and Marco had volunteered to drive. The end result of which was that the truck had ended up crashed in a ditch, the front window shattered and with numerous dents, scratches and dings in the body. It wasn't all Marco's fault, though Rachel was quick to tease him about his less-than-admirable driving skills.
The situation had been complicated by the fact that an alien insect swarm, called a Veleek by the Yeerks, had been taken from the planet Saturn and programmed to track down and attack any source of morphing energy. The Animorphs had had a very rough few days trying to keep the creature from capturing them.
It was only when Marco discovered the Veleek's weakness, and Cassie came up with a plan to utilize that information, that the Animorphs were able to destroy the Veleek.
Climbing into the passenger seat, Cassie buckled her seatbelt. Cassie's dad smiled at her and then they drove off. Once they reached the bus stop, Cassie kissed her dad on the cheek, undid her seatbelt and climbed out. Glad to be away from her dad's old Stevie Wonder CD's.
Jake was at the bus stop already, and Cassie stopped just short of walking up to him. She had a major crush on him, but she was still a bit too shy to admit it. Jake turned to her and smiled.
Well, why not tell him first. Cassie mused. He's going to find out anyway, and he is the leader, after all.
"Jake?"
"Yes, Cassie?"
"I read kind of an unnerving headline in the paper this morning. It said that some family by the name of Carter had disappeared in the national forest while they were on a camping trip."
"Carter? As in, Ness and Cain Carter?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, I guess," she answered, not really sure what he was talking about.
Jake, realizing that Cassie had never paid any attention to school activities in general, and sports in particular, shook his head slightly.
"Sorry, Cassie. I forgot you don't follow school sports. Ness Carter is on the track team, he's one of the best. Cain's his twin brother. He's one of the best swimmers in the school."
"He's on the swim team?"
"Yeah, he's won a lot of trophies."
So that's why Jake knows about them. Cassie thought, remembering that Jake like to keep up on school sports.
The bus arrived just then, precluding any further discussion. They climbed aboard without a word. Once they had found their seats though, they resumed their discussion.
"Do you think that the… they captured the Carters?" Cassie asked, just remembering that they were in a public place.
"I don't know, it's possible. I'll get in touch with Marco, you tell Rachel about what you found out. We'll meet up at the barn after school."
"Okay Jake, I'll see you after school," Cassie said, Jake nodded, with a small smile just for her.
