Chapter Five: Histories

"What are you saying- we are stuck here with that psycho?" Rachel screeched. Alex sat down and wrapped an arm around the girl, whispering the comforting words that just aren't comforting in a time like this.

Riley bit her lip and looked around. "Well, I could get you guys back alright."

"No." Lee said. "We aren't going unless you can get back. We can find that guy and get the ring back. In case you forgot, we are the children of the Animorphs- the heroes in our world."

"Yay! Let's go on some suicide mission." David said, sarcastically. Again his accent came through and it sounded like, "Yay! Leet's go on semm suicide meesion." "But first, I'd like to know what's really going on. What was he talking about?"

Rachel looked up, tears still in her eyes. "Was it true?"

"Yes." Riley whispered and looked down at the ground, scraping the tip of her shoe against the cement. "After I left here the first time, I met this kid who said he needed to get to someone's dreams. He offered me quite a bit of money and like in any world, greed has its way of getting ahead of integrity.

"It turns out that he pulled these other people into this girl's dreams just to torture her and murder her. And her best friend started looking into it and I went into the future of my own world, where she had found out that I, only by name, had helped that psycho kill her friend.

"So I went up to her, lied about my name, and told her I could take her to the place where her friend was killed."

"Only you couldn't." Lee injected in.

"Not at all- her friend had died in her very own dream. That place didn't exist anymore. But I took her to this world I had found called Ydobon which I think is basically limbo and I let her die.

"I went back to my normal time- determined to forget about how I murdered another human being just to save my own ass. I murdered someone with a husband and child. But it doesn't matter what she had, because no matter what, I murdered her."

"Let's just find a way out of here." Lee said and turned around and gasped.

Rachel and Alex darted up while David and Riley turned around to see a rather angry Casen Hause standing on the sidewalk with a gun. He shook his head, "The only person who has eluded me like you have is that stupid witch. Now I have to get back to my place because I have some more people to murder."

"You sick fuck!" Riley yelled.

"Now, now, words don't hurt." Casen said and raised the gun, switching it between each of the group members. "But guns do."

Casen grinned and pointed the gun at Lee, pulling the trigger before any reaction could be given. Lee's hands flew up to his stomach as he clutched the gunshot wound and stumbled backwards with a surprise look before being caught by David and Alex.

Riley gasped and glared at the man, speechless.

Casen shrugged and turned around, starting to walk away. He paused, looked back over his shoulder and said, "You know what you have to do, Riley. And tell your mom hi." He disappeared into the crowd who were just pieces of his play.

Riley turned back around and kneeled down next to Lee. She forced a smile, "Everybody hang on cause this is going to be one rockin' ride."

"Don't." Lee said, breathlessly. "You'll die."

"If I don't, you will." Riley said and placed her hand Lee's knee. She grinned as everyone grabbed onto each other. Rachel nearly suffocating Alex and he had one hand on Lee's shoulder and one hand on Riley's shoulder. David looked down at the girl and placed one hand on her other shoulder. "Somebody do the honors."

Rachel grinned, a shaky grin that could turn into a frown at any time, "Let's do it."