Marco
"Well, that was weird," I said uneasily.
We had just witnessed Jake breaking down and I for one was absolutely terrified.
((What was that all about?)) Tobias asked in thought speech.
"Did anything go wrong with Jake's family?" Cassie asked Rachel.
"How am I supposed to know," Rachel asked. "Sure we're cousins but our families don't speak remember?"
"Did he tell you anything?" Cassie asked me. Jake and I were best friends, but he hadn't said anything.
"No," I answered. "I haven't seen him since the mall and he seemed fine then."
"He got a call from home remember and had to go home," Rachel said.
"Do you have your mobile here?" Cassie asked me.
"Yeah,"
I said and pulled it out. "Why?"
"Call Jake's house
number," Cassie said. "Ask his mum what's happening."
I rang the house just as Cassie ordered and what I learnt chilled my blood.
"Hello?" it was Jake's mum and she was crying.
"Hi, Mrs. Jake," I said cheerily. "Is Jake around?"
"Oh, sorry Marco," she sobbed. "I was trying to call him before, but he mustn't have heard the phone."
"Do you know where he is?" I asked, trying to get steadily to the main question.
"No, sorry dear," she said. "Although, he is taking the news quite hard. As we all are. But I think Jake feels it more."
"What news?" I asked innocently.
"Haven't you heard?" she sounded astounded. "But I thought Jake would have called you."
"No," I said quickly.
"Tom's…Tom's been m…murdered," she cracked down and suddenly the only thing I heard from the other side was static. I hung up.
"Well,"
Rachel asked, impatiently. "What's wrong?"
I swallowed and
opened my mouth to talk, but somehow the words wouldn't come out.
Cassie walked over to me and put her hand on my arm. I looked at her as if seeing her for the first time.
"Tom's been murdered," I whispered, but everyone heard me.
"Oh my gosh," Rachel breathed and when I looked at her she was crying which was a strange sight.
"We have to find Jake," Cassie said quickly.
"Why?" Ax asked.
"Because Tom is his brother," I said. "He's obviously cut up about this."
((Yeah and you know Jake, he does really stupid things when he's angry or upset,)) Tobias said reasonably.
"But he could be in any morph!" Rachel sobbed desperately.
Cassie walked over to Rachel and put an arm around her.
"Let's morph into your birds," Ax said stupidly. "We can easily spot him from above."
It was planned. We morphed. Rachel as a bold eagle, Cassie and me in osprey morphs, Tobias as himself and Ax as a harrier. We searched the whole area. We searched where he might go. We checked the mall and all the Yeerk facilities, but we didn't find him or any animal he might have morphed into and it was getting dark.
((Maybe he went home,)) Tobias suggested.
((Why would he go home?)) I asked. ((It's a constant reminder of Tom.))
((Wait a minute; did we check the town hall?)) Rachel asked.
There was a stunned minute of silence. Rachel had stated the obvious. How could I have overlooked that?
((Let's go,)) I snapped.
As we flew closer and closer to the town hall the tension between us grew. I tried to crack a joke, but nobody found it funny. We were all worried about Jake and what he might do.
Jake was a good leader, but he got scary when he was angry or upset and that could ruin us. And as we grew closer to the town hall there was no doubt in anybody's mind that Jake was there. Our fears were confirmed when the town hall came into our view. People were running and screaming from the town hall as roars were becoming recognisable.
((Jackpot,)) I said as we soared down into an alleyway behind the town hall. I started to demorph as soon as I landed. I watched as the others started to demorph as well. Ax becoming his weird andalite form.
I had finished demorphing and was now morphing my gorilla morph. When I was able to use thought speech I used it.
((Alright, I'm going in. Tobias and Ax can be back up outside. Rachel, Cassie and I will go in.))
"Sho what?" Rachel said, halfway through her grizzly bear morph. "You're sha leader now?"
((Just do it,)) I said impatiently.
Cassie had already finished morphing her wolf and was impatient to start. Tobias had stayed in his normal form as a red-tailed hawk, but Ax was morphing into his human form.
All of a sudden another roar came, chilling my blood. But this time it wasn't an angry roar, but a painful roar, as though Jake's tiger morph had suffered a blow.
((Jake,)) Cassie moaned.
((Hurry up, Rachel,)) I snapped.
((I'm ready, lets do it,)) she said, lumbering her huge grizzly bear body out of the alleyway and towards the town hall. Tobias took flight and Cassie, Ax and I raced out of the alley. Ax separated from us and Rachel, Cassie and I hurried passed the terrified people into the town hall. And what I saw inside made my blood run cold. There were dozens of controllers on each sides of the large hall pointing dracon beams at the back wall, where a man was pinned up by a tiger. A very angry tiger. A very angry tiger with a nasty large gash across his belly. Jake was losing blood and very soon he would be helpless.
Rachel, Cassie and I raced towards the many controllers before they had a chance to turn their dracon beams on us. We knocked most of them out, but there were many others and they had noticed us by now and were pointing their dracon beams toward us.
"Take your tiger with you and we might consider sparing your lives," a controller nearest me sneered.
((Give us one of your minutes,)) Cassie said, trying to speak like an andalite.
((Let me speak to him,)) Rachel said, in a private conversation to just include the three of us.
((I'll speak to him,)) Cassie interjected.
((Listen, he's just lost a brother, he doesn't need any patronization or lectures,)) I said. ((I know what it's like, I'll speak with him.)) I opened the conversation to include Jake.
((Jake, man, what are you doing?)) I asked
((What does it look like I'm doing?)) he said harshly.
((Just drop the guy and we can get out of here,)) I said.
((Why should I?))
((Look, man, we know about your brother,)) I said softly.
Jake seemed to have grown stiff.
((Shut up,)) he said in a kind of sob.
((Don't punish an innocent for this,)) I said softly.
((Shut up, shut up!))
((Come on, Jake, just put the guy down. Don't punish him for what Visser Three did,)) I said reasonably.
((They killed him! If I had just…))
((If you had just what?)) I asked. ((You could have done nothing. It was all the Yeerk's fault. Not your's and not Tom's. Just let it go.))
He remained silent, just pinning the guy against the wall.
((Jake,
all you can do is grieve, that's all. Just let it go and we can
walk out of here unharmed.))
At first I thought he wasn't going
to budge, but then he let out a great roar that shook the walls. The
guy that was face to face with him must have wet his pants, I know I
would. Then, as though it was all planned out, he lifted one of his
gigantic paws and hit the guy on the face. The guy stumbled and fell
in a heap on the floor where he stayed.
It was a miracle we got out of there alive. The Yeerks, for their part, didn't attack us and luckily when we made our cautious way out of the town hall there was no sign of any animal rescuers. We tried to run flat out to the alley, but Jake was losing blood fast. He refused any help, but we made it to the alley. Tobias and Ax were already waiting for us there. We started to demorph. Jake finished demorphing first and when I looked at his face, I could tell he was seriously angry. He didn't even wait for us to demorph before walking out of the alley and ignored the protests from Ax and Tobias.
