RACHELS POV
We were all hanging out at Cassie's barn. I told Jake I had something important to announce, so he ordered everyone to meet herea fter school. Everyone had arrive; Jake was sitting on a hangstack, looking at me warily, preparing himself for bad news. He is our fearless leader, and also my cousin. I don't envy his postion. I'm glad I'm not the one who has to make the decisions that may save the day, or kill someone. Next to him was Cassie, who had her arm secretly slipped through his. Nobody was supposed to notice, even though we all know that they like eachother. Cassie is my best friend forever. Not that you'd expect it – the girl has no fashion sense. Her idea of "dressing up" is putting on a pair of jeans that only had a few spots of various animal poo smeared on them. I looked to the top rafters of the barn. Sitting there was a red-tailed hawk. But not just a hawk. Also a boy named Tobias. Not too long after we received the power to morph by Elfangor, Tobias was trapped. He is now a nothlit. Destined to live his life as a hawk, hunting mice and rabbits instead of lounging around watching T.V. as a normal teen would. The last two members of our group were sitting on the ground opposite eachother, a haystack in the middle as a table. On top of it were various playing cards. "No Ax!" Marco was saying in frustration. "How many times do I have to tell you the King and Queen are not a pair?" Marco is the annoying one in the group. He is constantly cracking lame jokes seconds before we start a life-threatening mission. But he's also the careful one. He picks up on a lot of things that we've missed and always makes sure the things we do are kept in secret. In the beginning he didn't want to fight, but now he has a good reason. Everyone believed his mum had drowned a few years ago, but it was all a setup. We found out Visser One, the most powerful yeerk in the universe, had infested Marco's mum. He doesn't talk about it much because he hates pity. "I do not understand. Stand. Stan-DUH." Ax was in his weirdly attractive human morph, a mixture of mine, Cassie's, Jake's and Marco's DNA. His real form is an Andalite. Think of a deer. Now imagine it blue. Then put a pair of stalk eyes on top of his head, and a pair of eyes and a weird nose on his face. No mouth. And the most important thing, the tail; normal enough, but with a deadly blade on the end. Kind of like a scorpions tail. Ever since we rescued him from the bottom of the ocean, he has fought with us. Ax tends to play around with sounds, as Andalites have no mouth. Food also fascinates him. We have learnt to keep him away from cinnamon buns unless we want to make a scene. "A king and queen are married are they not? Thus, this would make them a pair. Pair. Puh-air." Did I mention Andalites think too much? Marco threw down his cards. "Forget it." He snapped. "If you can't learn a simple game like 'Go Fish', then-"
"Rachel? You wanted to tell us something?" Jake quickly interrupted before be could finish. "Uh…yeah." I said nervously. Not because I was scared of talking in front of my friends, but because the very thought of David gave my stomach a churn. "There's this new girl. I helped her find her way around today, and I found out she is…was…David's cousin." Everyone looked away at David's name. I wasn't the only one who avoided that subject. To make a long story short, David found the blue box and put it for sale on the internet. We saved him from Visser Three, our greatest enemy here on Earth, but we couldn't save his family. We had two choices: kill him, or make him one of us. We chose the second choice. Big mistake, as he turned out to be a traitor. We tricked him in the end, he is now a nothlit. A rat. I'll never forget his panicked, pleading screams in my head. "So you think she's a controller?" Jake asked me, wearily rubbing his face with his hands.
"Well, yeah." I said, looking at my friends for support. "Isn't it a little weird that David's cousin suddenly turns up?"
"But why?" Cassie pointed out. "Why would Visser Three want to find him? He already knows we gave him the power to morph, so he'll assume we have the blue box."
"But he also knew David was weak. That he would join him in a hearbeat if his life was in danger. Maybe he thinks if David joins him he could get his hands on the blue box easier." Marco said. I was grateful to have someone agree with me. "And what better way to find out information than to use his cousin? Enroll at his school, listen out for any news about him, then report back to Visser Three."
Makes sense. It was the first time Tobias had spoken up since the meeting had began. Rachel, was this girl suspicious of you in any way?
"I…I don't think so." I tried to think back to when I found out. "I guess I was a little shocked, but she didn't look suspicious."
"Yerrks can hide that." Ax pointed out. "They can put a mask over their hosts face to show any emotion they please." I nibbled my lip, worried. I felt Cassie's concerned gaze on me. "We don't know anything for sure yet. We should just tread carefully around her until we find more about her." I gave her a grateful look. Jake nodded. "Rachel, what did you say her name was?" I told him. "Well, we find out where Kelly lives, and watch her for 3 days. Find out if she's a controller." Jake looked around. "When do we start?"
How about now? Tobias suggested. I have nothing better to do.
"Great. Rachel, you should go with Tobias, since you're the one who found her."
I nodded slowly. It made sense. But I had a really bad feeling about this.