Chapter 9

Rachel

I don't remember how I escaped at all. I just remember getting home. My mother was not happy. I barely remembered Greg showing up at the mall telling me to get home in like half an hour or something. That had been... an hour ago?

It felt like a lifetime ago.

At some point during Mom's explosion, Greg got home. She unleashed on him too. We both just kind of absorbed it, and didn't say anything other than 'Yes ma'am' and 'Sorry Mom'. She sent us up to our rooms, and I fell onto my bed and instantly fell asleep.

The next morning I woke up to something licking my forehead. I opened my eyes, and see our black and white tabby cat, Charlie, right in my face. I turned over, and moaned slightly. Then last night came rushing back to me. I bolted up, and look around. I'm alive. I'm home. Okay. Good.

My next thought is 'Was it all a dream?'

"No way was it all a dream," Greg said from the doorway.

"Was what?" I ask, trying to make myself seem nonchalant. Greg looked around and shooed Charlie out of the room. Then he closed the door.

"Elfangor. The box. All of it. It wasn't a dream."

"How do you know?" I ask.

"Well, there's the fact that there was a phone call from Jake about ten minutes ago saying that he and Tobias have both morphed," Greg said. I took a moment to process that.

"So, it's all true?"

"I guess so. I haven't tried it yet, though," he said, looking down at the bed sheets. I shook my head.

"What about the... slug things? The... Yeerks?" I asked. He sighed deeply.

"I guess they're real too. Not real comforting, is it?" he said. He was right. It wasn't. He sighed again.

"What are we going to do?" I asked. I figured it was a good idea, to figure out a plan. Before he answered, the phone rang. I heard Mom answering it.

"Rachel! It's Cassie!" she called. I picked up my phone.

"Thanks Mom," I said. Cassie waited until the click of the other line told her that Mom was off.

"It's all real. We can do it," she said, excitedly.

"You mean the thing from last night?" I asked. Cassie sounded a little deflated that she wasn't going to be able to do a whole big speech about how we can morph and how we should because it would help save the world and the animals.

"Yeah. Look, come down here and I can show you," she said. I told her I'd be there in an hour and we hung up.

"So, over to Cassie's in an hour, huh?" Greg said. I nodded and he got off the bed and headed to the door. He stopped with his hand on the knob.

"You remember what the Andalite said? About how Yeerks can take over anyone?" he asked. I nodded my head. "We can't tell Mom about this. Or Jordan. Or Sara. Or Dad. We just can't. We don't know... who..." Greg pursed his lips and looked at me. "We can't trust anyone now, can we?"

I wanted to say something. Something that would be like my regular beat 'em up attitude. But the Andalite's words about how anyone could be a Controller? I knew they were true. I just knew it.

"I guess that's not totally true. We can trust Jake, Cassie, Marco, Tobias... But other than them? No way. It's not something we can do," Greg said. I nodded solemnly. He left and I started getting into one of the outfits I'd bought last night. I don't know how I managed to get it home in all that happened.

I guess life's funny that way.

After I'd finished changing, Greg and I began to walk to Cassie's. About halfway there, a girl on a bike passed us. I couldn't stop myself from thinking /Is SHE one of them/ Everywhere I looked, I saw people. People who could be Controllers. People who could have a Yeerk in their brain.

People who could be the enemy.

For a second, I felt like this was normal, like I'd done this for a long time. But that feeling left as quickly as it came.

This Yeerk thing was making me incredibly paranoid.

We got to Cassie's house, and her Dad said she was out in the barn. We headed around back and opened the door to the barn. We were instantly greeted with a cacophony of animals making various noises.

Cassie's Dad runs the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, which is another way of saying he helps out injured wild animals. Cassie helps him out with helping the animals, and they use their barn as the main area of the Clinic.

"Good, you're here," Cassie said, noticing us.

"Hey, Cass," Greg nodded.

"So, have you..." I started.

"Yeah, I... acquired?" she asked, looking at us. Like we could answer. She shook her head. "It's as good as any other word. I acquired Maisie over there this morning while I was brushing her," she said, motioning to one of the horses.

"You sure?" I asked. Cassie just smiled, and then her face just... BULGED out in front of her. Greg and I leapt back in shock, but she was continuing to change, her hands becoming cloven, and she got on all fours. What clothing was shredded fell to the floor just before she did that.

"Okay, I'm freaked," Greg muttered.

It was at that moment that Marco arrived.

"Did any of you guys check the pa- YIKES!" he yelped, noticing Cassie. I couldn't keep my grin in check.

Within moments, there was a horse standing right in front of us.

I was the first to get my voice back. "Cassie?"

Yes, Rachel?> Cassie asked. She was perfectly calm. As if turning into a horse was like changing a sweater.

"Cassie? Didja notice you're kinda a horse?" Greg asked. Cassie whinnied, and it sounded to me almost like a laugh.

Yes, I have. And actually, this is kinda fun. I wanna go run!> she exclaimed. Marco, meanwhile, was squeezing his eyes, attempting to get a grip on this. Finally, he must have figured that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, and just tried to forget the fact that he saw Cassie turn into a horse right in front of him. Instead, he turned to me and Greg.

"Did you guys read the paper this morning?" he asked. Greg and I shook our heads and we read the headlines. And the articles.

"They're saying that the explosions were FIREWORKS?" I cried.

"And they're asking for information on the teenagers who were there last night," Greg said.

Then you know what that means. The Yeerks have control of the papers, Cassie added. Marco is very much freaked.

"Cassie, could you... not do that?" he asked. I turn to her.

"Cass, how's about you go take that run?" I suggested. Cassie apparently didn't need to be told twice.

Five minutes after she started running, Tobias was there, and Jake was making his way up to the barn. I spotted him and threw the paper at him.

"Look," I said, pointing to the article. He looked it over.

"Cool. So the cops know about it now. That's a relief," he said. I shake my head.

"Keep reading," I told him. Finally, he seemed to fully read it.

"But this is a total lie!" he cried.

"Ding, ding, ding, ding! Correct answer. Johnny, tell our contestant what he's won," Marco said.

"Did you read that last paragraph?" Greg asked. Jake read it again.

"They're looking for US," Marco said.

"Why would the police be... I mean, why would they lie?" Jake asked.

"Let's see, Captain Brilliant. Would it maybe be because the cops ARE Controllers?" Marco asked.

"Probably not ALL the cops," Tobias said. Greg shook his head.

"Even one cop is too many. If they can get one, they can get the rest," he said.

"And if the police have been infiltrated by the Controllers, who knows how many others have too? Teachers? People in the government? The newspapers and the TV?" I asked.

"Math teachers, for sure," Marco joked.

We all glanced around nervously, like we expected to see a bunch of Controllers appear and surround us.

"I tried to tell myself it was all a dream," I said. Jake nodded.

"Been there."

We didn't say anything for a while. We were in way, way, WAY over our heads.

"Look," Marco started, "why do we have to deal with this? I say we just forget it. We never talk about it. We never morph. We just deal with our own lives."

"Marco, I halfway agree with you-" Jake didn't get to finish. Marco just went ballistic.

"We could get killed! Don't you get it? You saw what happened to the Andalite. I mean, this is radical stuff, Jake. This is for real. Real! We could all get killed!" He shook his head. Suddenly his voice was quieter. "Look, I think these Controllers are jerks. But if something happened to me... my dad. He wouldn't be able to handle it. You guys can all think I'm a weasel if you want. I don't care. But if I get killed or something, my dad will flat out die. He's only handing in there because of me."

None of us said anything for a moment, and then I spotted Cassie.

"There's Cassie," I said, pointing to her. She made her way over. "Cassie, Greg, and I have been here for a while. She's really good at this. Look how fast she can do it."

Cassie started to demorph. Her big brown eyes became slightly smaller. The long muzzle became a human mouth.

She smiled. "Hey kids."

This time, Marco seemed to register that it was real. He sat down. Hard.

"It's cool. It's just Cassie," Jake said, fairly calmly.

As she continued demorphing, I noticed that she'd been wearing a skintight blue aerobic outfit.

She stayed half-horse, half-human. She reminded me of the Andalite.

"Jeez, Rachel. You're right. Cassie is good," Jake said.

Suddenly, there was the sound of tires on gravel behind us.

We spun around. Down the gravel and dirt road was a single black and white car.

"Cops!" Tobias cried.