Chapter 2: Oh My God, I'm a Hostage!
I had this huge headache all of a sudden as I felt myself coming around. I moaned as I felt the right side of my head throb. I could only guess what must've happened. Ax struck me on the side of the head with his tail blade. Great. I must have given the group quite a scare. Hey, they startled me too!
I squeezed my teeth together to fight down the pain, but that wasn't working at all. My eyes were slowly coming back into focus. "So, what do we do? She's waking up, Jake," I heard a girl's voice ask. I soon found where the voice was coming from. There was a young black girl in overalls. Cassie. At least she didn't reek of any animal poop. Or else my cats would be all over her. No, wait. Cassie was petting one of my cats right now as I saw her speak, but Angel escaped, running to hide from the Andalite possibly. Cassie had been trying to calm my pets down.
I tried to get up, and soon discovered that I couldn't move very well. I had been tied up. And whoever did it was very good. I see that the Animorphs found the long phone cord that my parents and I didn't have to use anymore, now that we had two phones, including the small black one in the computer room. They tied my arms and legs together with the long phone cord, and dragged me out to the living room. Cassie was sitting on one of the couches as I laid across the carpet in between. "What…the hell…is going on," I said through the head pain as I saw Jake come into view.
Clever. Very clever. They were overly cautious of my appearance, struck me down when they had the chance, and then they had to find something to tie me up before I could get up again. Man, they thought I kidnapped them or something, right? In a flash, a few possible scenarios played in my head…
"What's your Yeerk name," Jake demanded of me, cutting me off from thinking too much. I tried to sit up, but hell, that was no good. Damn, I still couldn't believe this. The Animorphs and Ax were holding me hostage in my own living room. Am I dreaming? "Speak up. What's your rank," Jake said. I had to tell him I wasn't a Controller. What if they don't believe me? I narrowed my eyes. "I don't have a Yeerk in my head, alright," I said, aggravated. I wasn't happy. No one would be happy to be tied up and finding out that a kid had unleashed his Andalite friend to knock somebody like me unconscious.
"I'm a normal human being, slug free, just like you," I said, grumpy as I could be. "That's bull," argued someone else. Another girl's voice as I felt a foot kick at my back, which still stung a bit from hitting one of my home's walls. Okay, I couldn't turn my head without it hurting, but I knew who was speaking now. Rachel. Had to be. "Oh, you're good," she said, her face coming into view. She was sneering at me. "I don't know how you brought us here, but you're good." "Hey, hold up," Marco said, coming into my view as well. "Shouldn't there be like a dozen Hork-Bajir and Visser Three around? This is nuts. There's no way that a lone Human-Controller could sneak up behind our backs and bring us here." "Wherever here is," Cassie added grimly.
"Look," I said. "I don't know what's going on, but I sure as hell didn't kidnap anyone. If this is some kind of sick prank, it's not funny! I don't know why you guys are even here, in my house." "…She doesn't even sound like a Controller, man," Marco said to Jake. "Oh good. At least somebody's on my side," I muttered. Jake was starting to consider, looking down on me. -(But, how to we know that she's telling the truth?)- Oh, man… I think I had just heard a thought speak voice in my head. The blue, four eyed head looking at me must have been him that was talking. Ax. "I am telling the truth," I said, and inhaled a big gulp of air. Did they even know they were fictional? No, of course not. They certainly didn't know who I was.
"Alright," I said to my captors. Oh man, what will my parents say…? Would my mom even believe me? "Untie me, Animorph crew, and I'll tell you what I know." "It could be a trick," Rachel yelled. "She just said 'Animorph'!" Cassie said in surprise. "The Yeerks don't know what that is." I sighed in deep annoyance as she went on, staring at me. "What if it's not a Yeerk trick?" -(Let's just untie her, alright?)- Another thought speak voice. Tobias. I looked around the best I could. Where was he? Oh, there. He was perched on one of the arms of the brown recliner chair.
-(If she tries to do anything, Ax will know what to do,)- Tobias finished. "I won't cause anybody trouble," I growled under my breath. Everyone looked to Jake, including me. He nodded, seriousness all over his features. Indeed, he had grown up so fast, according to what I read about in the books, and Jake's been one of my favorite characters, as well as some of the other Animorphs and other characters. And now, seeing Jake like this up close and personal? It was kinda freaky.
"Okay, we're going to untie you," Jake said, warily. He held up a finger, indicating the number one. "One wrong move…" He let that hang. "I wouldn't dream of it," I said, still mad as he, Rachel, and Marco began to surround me, kneeling. I watched as Marco began to untangle the cord around my legs. Ax stood by to keep an eye on me if I twitched the wrong way. Geez, I understand how they were feeling, but they're pretty paranoid for a bunch of kids in kicking Yeerk butt.
I was mad, and a tad bit scared at the same time. As soon as the last of the phone cord was off of me, I decided to not make any sudden movements. Slowly, I sat up. "…Are you the Ellimist," Jake asked. I narrowed my eyebrows and shook my head no. "No, Jake," I said, and began to tell them what I knew. "People, bird, and Andalite-" I felt Ax's tail blade touch my throat. Shit… "You know what? If you're going to continue to be like that, I won't say anything. Not until all of you calm the fuck down." Yeah, I know. What I just said was rude, but I had a reason to be rude. They were holding me prisoner, in my own house.
I understood why Ax threatened to kill me. I know from what I've read, that when any human says "Andalite", that pretty much means he or she was a Controller. But I just wasn't going to take any hostile crap from any one of the group. If they wanted answers, they were going to have to approach me in a calm, civilized manner.