The bus arrived at its inevitable destination, and everyone left without a look back.
"Welcome to the realm of lost souls," Cassie muttered under her breath, she was not very fond of school.
As soon as she entered the building, the bell for the first class rang. Not having time to go to her locker, Cassie put her backpack back on and jogged the rest of the way to class.
***
Darkon had been considering the young human female that Gunnar had brought to his command center. She was a fighter, and also had the necessary rage to become an unstoppable Teknoman. There was one rather persistent thorn in Darkon's side, though.
The young human male named Ness, the elder of the twins that had come into the forest, was still resisting. And Darkon was growing weary of it. It had been amusing at first, to see the child scream and struggle against the inevitable, but now Darkon was impatient to complete his transformation.
Cain, the younger of the two, had slipped into a sort of coma during the transformation process. Darkon didn't know what could have triggered that kind of reaction – since to his knowledge anyone deemed unfit to posses the powers of a Teknoman was killed outright – but these humans were an unknown species, despite their superficial similarity to his own.
***
Cassie had managed to get in touch with Rachel during lunch, and now she wanted the school day to end so she and the other Animorphs could do something about the this new situation. Or at least so they could find out more about it. Jake, passing Cassie on his way to another class, had discreetly informed her that he'd told Marco about what she and Jake had talked about.
Sitting in her geography class, Cassie tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying, but she was already thinking about all the possible endings to this new mission. The Animorphs could rescue the Carters, get them somewhere safe and leave. Or the Carters could already be infested.
Somehow though, Cassie felt that that was not the case. It was as if someone was telling her that everything would be all right. The Ellimist maybe? No, this wasn't something the Ellimist would do.
He, or she or they, were not above using the Animorphs for their own mysterious ends. But they weren't really the type to give comfort, the Ellimist tended to speak more in open-ended riddles when they weren't giving instructions.
"Cassie," the unexpected voice startled Cassie out of her thoughts.
Looking around, Cassie saw that most of the other students were staring at her. Cassie noticed the voice of her teacher Mr. Sanderson almost as an afterthought.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Sanderson," Cassie said. "I kind of drifted off."
"I noticed that," he replied, smiling understandingly. "And I've told you this before, Cassie. Call me Dale."
Cassie smiled back, Dale Sanderson was one of the nicest teachers in the school, but Cassie had never really been interested in his subject. As Dale turned back to the blackboard, Cassie made an effort to pay attention this time.
***
After his last – and least favorite – class of the day had ended, Marco joined the usual rush of students out of the building. He caught sight of Jake and considered waving to his best friend, but Jake was facing forward and the rushing kids occupied his peripheral vision, Jake probably wouldn't notice him.
Once the four human Animorphs had all left the school grounds, Marco debated whether or not to try and hook up with any of them. But no, he was already halfway into the bus. Taking a last look back outside, Marco saw that Cassie was hurrying to get on the same bus that Marco was just climbing into.
He wondered for a minute why she wasn't sitting with Jake, then decided to ask her about that once they were all together at the barn. After all, he and Cassie had never moved in the same social circles. It would be bad security for them to be seen talking as if they were old friends, despite the fact that that was what they were.
Leaning his head against the window, Marco watched the scenery flash by outside the bus. He wasn't normally this morose, at least not in public. Maybe the whole Animorph thing is getting to me, he thought. Hell, it had gotten to almost all of his friends by now, in varying ways, why not him?
Someone shook him, and Marco realized that this was his stop. Turning to thank whoever had woke him from his daydream, he saw Kerry grinning down at him.
"Planning more of your hilarious hijinks, eh Marc?"
Kerry Lewis, who most of the kids teased by calling 'Carrie', was one of Marco's friends from before the whole Animorph busyness had started.
"Yeah," Marco said, forcing a smirk and hoping it looked genuine. "That's just what I'm doing."
Kerry grinned back, seeming to take Marco's words at face value. Marco hauled himself out of the seat he had been slumped in and followed Kerry out of the bus. His house wasn't too far from the bus stop, but Kerry's was a long ways away.
Marco waved goodbye to him and turned the corner that would lead him home.
