The Waiver 4
I opened the door slowly and peeked my head through looking left, then right. I pushed the door the rest of the way and I walked over to the living room.

"Cassie? You here?" I called out.

"In the bedroom!"

I found the way to my room and stood in the doorway. Cassie was sitting in front of the computer scrolling through lines and lines of text.

"-Ya know, I never found a reason to look a this hunk of confusion before, but there's this webpage called People
write fiction about their favorite celebrities-"

"Cassie."

"- and you just have to read this one about you, it is SO funny . . ."

"Cassie!"

She turned around guiltily. "Oh, sorry Jake. I wasn't paying attention, is something wrong?" She asked smiling sheepishly.

"I . . ." How could I tell her?

She's gonna kill me for this.

"I have to go on a trip." I said lamely.

She narrowed her eyes and looked up at me, confused. "A trip? What kind of trip?"

I cleared my throat. What was I getting myself into?

"Um . . . my Delta Team unit has to go through training exercises at the South Pole. When I told them how cold it was down there, they wouldn't believe me. " I faked a laugh. "I'm gonna show them, right?"

She gave a little laugh too, knowing something was wrong.

"Yeah, so I'm gonna be gone for a little while, okay? Just a couple of days."

Liar.

"Oh, alright." She bit her lip and stood up. "Jake . . . is something wrong? Are you nervous about your Team going to the Pole?"

I faked a sigh. "Yeah, I don't think they're prepared for the Pole. But hey, if a bunch of kids can do it . . ."

Liar.

Cassie looked away for a moment. "That's okay, I have a little trip of my own."

"Oh yeah? Where"

Oh, Nevada. Enviromentalist thing. You see-"

"You know it's getting kind of late." I didn't want what was possibly my last conversation with Cassie to be an enviromentalist lecture.

"Alright, well I'm just gonna shut of the computer and head to bed now, come with?" She asked, gesturing towards the bed.

One night.

Our last night together before I left.

Possibly forever.

Should I push for it?

I looked at her trusting smile, her eyes, anticipating warm slumber in her arms . . . and something else, maybe?

Should I?

"Nah, I gotta head out tonight. I wanna get this done and over with."

"Don't give me that crap, Toby. Where the- where is he?"

"I assure you Jake. I don't know."

I had arrived at the Hork-Bajir colony, via Falcon, and contacted the nearest the nearest Hork-Bajir. He "directed" me to the Hork-Bajir headquarters. By "directed", I mean he said, "Toby at Tribe Tree. Big Tree. That way."

I shouldn't complain though, because even with those vague directions I could find the tallest tree around. Apparently, Toby had some actually transport a gigantic California Redwood, one of the largest trees in the world, smack in the center of The Hork-Bajir Territories.

When I reached the site, I actually had to flap hard to gain altitude so I could reach the Governor's Platform. A large deck circling the tree.

What was I doing in the colonies?

Tobias.

"Toby, this is for his own good. His best friend is in trouble, if he finds out that every Animorph but him went out to save Ax, he's going to feel lower than dirt."

"I am sorry, Jake." She hesitated. "While certain persons prefer that certain information not be delievered to you, I will be sure that any messages you have will be recieved." She said cautiously.

I smiled. "I knew I could count on you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

The hardest part of getting to Marco's front door was all the security. But, I found a way around that. As I and my mini-convoy of security pulled up, we were halted at the front gate. There was a general exchange of credentials, serial numbers . . . and wallet pictures?

The next thing I know, I've been completly forgotten by both S.S. Details, as they all leaned against the walls of Marco's estate smoking and swapping stories.

"Um, excuse me?"

"And then Bobbie-Boy he says, here's what he says: 'that's a pickle damnitt! What? Oh, I mean, yes Sir?"

"Just open the gate, you guys can hang here."

"Uh, yes sir, sorry sir."

The door swung open and a weary-looking old man wearing an antique butler's uniform answered. "May I help you, sirah?" he said in a fake British accent.

"Um. Yeah, okay. I'm looking for Marco Bandera. I thought he lived here." I said tersely.

"Hmph. He does. And whom may I ask is calling upon him?" The butler asked loftily. Like we didn't go through this same exact routine everytime I went to Marco's house.

"You know, when he tells you to say this crap, he's probably is just kidding. It's not like he'll actually fire you, Joe."

The butler smiled and let his Long Island accent seep through. "Yeah, but Ilike being pissy
to celebrities and not gettin' fired for it. I'll go get the little imp for ya-"

"No, I'll just come in, where is he?"

McPherson layed on thick the British accent. "Sirrah, the Master of the House is resting
by the pool after a long days work of . . . resting by the pool."

I smirked and walked out back to the outer pool. And found Marco demorphing . . . from lobster.

I looked up to the sky and pretended to be searching for something. "Wow I didn't notice the Lobster-Signal go off! To the fishtank, Lobsterboy!"

Marco laughed, Hey, Jake. Remember this morph?

"Yeah, but is there any good reason why you're using it?"

Ummmmm . . . I dropped my keys? At the bottom of the pool?

I quirked an eyebrow. "Well, then I guess it's a good thing you had that morph, huh? 'Cause most people, they drop their keys in the pool, they're just totally helpless. Those keys stay down there. Forever."

Marco finished demorphing. Marco gave me a strange look. "Is something wrong, Jake? You look a little peaked. Itis hot out. Hey, Wetherbee! Get my man a drink! What are you having?"

"That depends, if I ask for milk, you gonna morph to cow and squeeze me out a glass of two percent?"

"Hm. Okay, so I guess that means you're a coke man. Yo, two cokes!"

We sat down at the deck table, under a large umbrella. "So, what's up? We going to that concert on Saturday?"

"No."

"Really? Why the hell not?"

A shadow passed over the table. I waited for Marco to notice it and look up. He didn't have to.

"You found Tobias."

I nodded.

"You've both come here to get me."

"Yes. Ax is missing in space, we gotta go get him."

He groaned and dropped his forehead to the table with a "THUD".

"You're gonna ruin my life, arn't you?" He muttered, miserably.

"Most likely."

He raised his head and sighed. Then he gave me the Marco smirk I remembered. "So, let's get going! Where's the mission? Where's Cassie? Let's move, Big Jake!"

So that's what he's up to. My god.

End of Part 4

Whew Sorry, about taking so long with this chapter, but I've been busy . . .
Okay so I've been drunk. Sue me. It was my sister's going-away party. And the day after
that I had a hangover . . . and a day after that I had to sleep. Very good excuses.

A/N:

Amanda: The book loves YOU too!

LunaticClown: Here's the next chapter . . . just promise not to hurt me (flinches)

J-Rae: Thanks, bud! Keep it up with your sequel!

Raspberry: From the very beggining Jake was discribed as "a big sleepy kid" who
"never really applied himself" (quotes from the books) I figured that was KA telling
us that Jake was slow and lazy, but got it done (sloppily) in the end.

Thanks for all the reviews my favorite people!