A/N: Yes, Finally, I have my internet back! It came online again sometime on Monday night, Tuesday morning. For the last couple of days, I have done nothing but homework and responding to email and catching up on fanfics. It took forever, and now, finally, I am back and with a new chapter.

As I stated in the last A/N, I'm loving the college life, except my Economics professor, he's an old german man and his accent is very difficult for me to understand sometimes. But other than that, college is great and I'm sure you don't care about my college talk, so I'm going to stop my ramblings and let you get onto the story. :D I'm glad everyone's enjoying the last chapter, now onto some fun stuff!

Chapter 27
Jake
3 ½ hours to go

We were all ushered in what looked like a castle and led to the basement and locked in a cell that vaguely reminded me of a dungeon in a King Arthur movie I had recently seen.

Prince Jake, we could morph

"We'd stick out like sore thumbs." Cassie interrupted with a sigh. I turned towards Marco.

"What do I look like, Houdini?" He asked. I sent him a stern look.

"I told you to keep your mouth shut."

"I'm sorry! I couldn't help it!" Marco said, throwing his arms up in exasperation. "Jake man, you know me. You know I can't control my mouth sometimes."

"You better be sorry! Look where your mouth has landed us!"

"Guys! Don't! We don't have the time." Cassie said, looking annoyed. I sighed. I knew she was right. It was pointless to argue with Marco when I had more pressing things to worry about, like making a great escape without turning us into fugitives or something. I looked over at my cousin, and I noticed she was uncharacteristically silent. She stared out the small barred window in our cell with a far-away expression on her face.

"Rachel?" She didn't acknowledge me. If I was going to come up with a plan of action, I wanted everyone's attention. "Ra" Cassie stopped me with a hand on my shoulder and a shake of her head. "We have to get out of this." I muttered, rubbing my temples. The easiest way out would be to morph. I knew that, the others knew that. But I couldn't be sure our morphing ability would get us far. As Cassie stated, if we went small, we'd be easily recognized. I never once noticed one single cockroach roaming the halls. If we went anything else, we'd be recognized.

I briefly wondered if we could attempt to pull a Houdini great escape act when an Isriska opened our cell and said in English "Come. The Queen is waiting." We all glanced at each other, except Rachel who kept staring out the window. This could not be good. Cassie stepped over to Rachel and snapped her out of her funk. We all followed the guard to what was probably considered the thrown room, but I couldn't be sure because I was never into the whole Kings, Queens, Princes, Princesses, and Knights thing when I was a kid.

The room was filled on either side of the angry villagers we had witnessed earlier. The center was completely empty for us to walk up to the thrown. The Village people yelled something at us that I guessed where obscenities.

"Come forward." A voice over said over the loudness of the crowd. The room went silent and we probably could have heard the grass growing if we were outdoors. We walked forward and I mentally wondered if we had to bow. I was starting to wonder why I wasn't into the whole royalty thing when I was kid. I mean, knights were supposed to be cool, right?

The queen was seated on a thrown with the same silver skin that Nomika has. Her hair was raven colored and her eyes violet with violet eye makeup around them. I could not see her wings, but I assumed they were folded behind her.

"State your name, your pet, and your purpose here." Ax snorted and I sent him a warning look. Now was not the time for Ax to get testy.

"My name is Jake, my friends are Cassie, Rachel, Marco, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We are here because" I paused. I wasn't sure if I should tell her the truth.

"They are spies!" A villager yelled.

"Yes, they spy for the Isrika! The wingedless ones!" Yelled another.

"Is this true?" The queen asked, her eyes looking like violet fire.

"No, that is not why we are here." I stated, trying to think of another purpose, but failing to come up with one.

"My name is Rachel. We are from planet Earth. Our friend back home…he's sick. He could die." Rachel's voice dropped lower as she finished her last sentence. Tears began to fill her eyes and I wondered for a moment if we were doomed. "We were told the Rewolf is his only chance. We have come here to seek the Rewolf so we can save the life of our friend." Her voice steadily gained confidence and I saw a look of renewed determination in her eyes. No one said a word. The hall was silent and might as well have been empty.

"You love this friend of yours?" The queen asked, her eyes softer.

"With all my heart." Rachel stated and I don't think anyone in the room doubted her. The Queen smiled and I swear I saw tears in the eyes of some of the villagers.

"I can see your love. All of your love." She looked at Rachel, and at the rest of us. "You with the love of your sick friend, and the love you have among friends, each of you shows love." She studied Ax for a moment. "Even your Andalite friend."

I glanced at Cassie, I couldn't figure out if we were saved or screwed. Cassie had this big grin on her face and I hoped it was because we wouldn't be burned at the stake or something.

"You will have our help to retrieve the Rewolf. For now" She clapped her hands and a servant came forward, at least, I assume it's a servant as it answered the queens call. I could be wrong. "Treat these outsiders to a meal before they start their journey." I was going to protest, but I thought I shouldn't push our luck. I think turning down food would be considered an insult.

"Thank you." I said to the Queen. She smiled back at me. "No, thank you." I looked at her, puzzled. She just smiled at me and the servant cleared his throat and we followed him out of the hall. The whole way out, I wondered what the Queen had meant.

CASSIE101: Of course Marco had to say it. Plus it worked to give a description of my village. :D Glad you enjoyed! And yes, having no internet was a killer! I rented like a million movies from blockbuster to keep myself busy! L

Wizgal :D Tobias is my fav too, and Rachel, if you haven't guessed by the frequency of their chapters. lol! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry it took so long, as I said, I had a million emails to get through.

Aixana: glad to know you're enjoying, though you probably won't see this for awhile yet. lol!

rockergurl13: Yes it is fun, though now I hafta do a pronunciation guide, just to help you guys out some as you're reading. :D Oh, btw: I'll check out your story when I came back from Labor day camping trip which will be sometime on Monday. :D

QuillianGreat story! I'm glad you liked the last chapter and hope you like this one too. More to come, hopefully sooner rather than later.

LucreziaNoin86: Of course he had to say it. It's Marco. How could he not?

Shifter: glad you like, hope you liked this chapter too.

Pronunciation Guide(at least, the best I can do):

Rewolf: Rey-wolf
Isriska: Is-ris-ka
Nomikna: Nome-ick-na

I think those are the major words used, I'll try and do more as they come around. If there's something you're wondering about, just let me know. I'm sure I probably forgot something. lol! I always forget something it seems.