Chapter 7

I got home and demorphed in my room, pulling some clothes on over my morphing suit.

"Jake!"

A voice from downstairs. My mom.

"Jake, I've been calling you for the last ten minutes!" she yelled from the kitchen. I quickly threw on a sweater and went down to see what she wanted.

"Sorry - I was on the phone," I said.

"Well, I hope you didn't run up a huge bill," my mom said. She was bustling around the kitchen, peeling potatoes and trying to do a thousand things at once. "What do you want for dinner? If you're going to that Sharing thing with Tom, you'll need to get something to eat soon."

"I'll just have a pizza," I said, jumping into help with the potatoes.

"Well, can you do that yourself? I'm trying to do a roast for your father and I."

I put down the potatoes and took a pizza out of the freezer, throwing it into the oven, along with a ready-made garlic bread. Nothing spectacular, I know, and not particularly healthy, but sometimes you gotta make your priorities when you're about to go spy on a an army of Yeerks.

Speaking of which, Tom came wandering into the kitchen and pulled open the freezer door.

"Did you see my pizza?" he asked. "I had a pepperoni one in here earlier."

"Oh," I said. "I think I just put it in the oven. Sorry."

"Well, maybe you could check next time, Jake?" he said, making himself a pot noodle instead. "I bought that pizza myself."

I sighed. That's how well Yeerks are able to blend in with their host's families. There was no one anyone would expect someone who got annoyed over pizza was really a mind-controlling alien slug.

I finished waiting for my pizza to cook, then took it into the living room to watch The Simpsons. At about half past seven, Tom told me to get ready to go. I grabbed my phone and my coat, and double-checked that I was wearing my morphing outfit.

"See you later, mom," Tom called, opening the front door and getting into the car.

"Have a good time," my mother replied. Yeah. I'm sure I will.

I got into Tom's care and casually put my feet up on the dashboard while my brother started the engine.

"Don't put your feet up like that," he said. "You're getting mud all over the interior."

See what I mean about Controllers fitting in with human society? What Yeerk would care about a bit of mud?

"I'm meeting Marco outside the school, by the way," I told Tom as we drove through town. Tom's a great driver. He's only been driving a few months, and he passed his test after like three lessons. I guess the Yeerk in his head had already known how to drive in it's former host.

"Marco's coming too?" Tom said, grinning. "Great stuff."

"Yeah, and another guy I know. How long is the meeting?"

"About two hours. But halfway through I have to go in for the full member's meeting." He said it like I should be impressed.

Tom turned into the school parking lot and did a perfect reverse park into one of the spaces. Like any teenager could park that well.

"Well then," said Tom, as we stepped out the car. "Your first Sharing meeting."

"Yeah," I said, trying to sound enthusiastic. "My first meeting."

"You're gonna love it, buddy!" Tom said happily. "There's so much you can do, so much to take part in. You really feel like you belong to something at The Sharing."

We walked up to the main entrance, and I saw Ferdie and Marco hanging about, looking unsure where to go.

"Hey, Tom - I'll catch you up in a second. Just gotta meet Marco."

"Ok, I'll see you in there," Tom replied. I walked briskly over to Marco and Ferdie. Marco was wearing a rather strange collection of a basketball vest, too-short pants and smart shoes. Ferdie had done a partial morph and was dressed immaculately in his new clothes. He looked nothing like his original self, but he still managed to possess the same air of confidence and self-esteem associated with high society.

"Hey dude," said Marco. "You've met Fred, right?"

I laughed and said hi to Ferdie, or 'Fred', as he was to be known for the evening. "Good disguise," I said. "Works well."

"Cheers," said Ferdie, his voice a little lower than usual.

"Unlike Marco, who seems to have just walked out of a jumble sale. What's with the new fashion? Rachel would have a fit if she saw you like that."

"I was running late, and didn't have time to wait for the bus, so I morphed. Then I had to grab some stuff from lost property to put on over my morphing outfit."

"You should have just got a taxi, like me," Ferdie said. "I've been at the shopping center with Sam, and came straight from there."

"Oh right," I said. "So, are Sam and the others around here?" I quickly went through in my mind as to who was morphing what tonight.

"Yeah, Sam and Maggie are birds. I saw them around a moment ago."

Just then, a big black crow and a seagull came flapping down from a nearby tree and landed in front of us. The seagull, Maggie, immediately started pecking at an empty packet of potato chips.

--Hey, Jake,-- said Sam, the crow. --You ready for this?--

"As ready as I'll ever be," I replied. "Where are Philip, Ax and Rachel?"

--They're already inside,-- she replied. --Rachel showed them to the main hall, where the meeting is held.--

"Cool," I said, lowering my voice. "Well, I'll see you guys later. We'll be sneaking into the full member's club at about nine, and we should be out by ten. We'll let you know if we need anything."

"This had best not turn into one of those suicide attempts we seem to love so much," said Marco. "I'm really getting sick of them."

"Don't worry," said Ferdie brightly. "This is just going to be a nice, simple recce mission. You know, to find out a bit of information."

We left the girls and walked up the steps into the school and made our way into the main hall. The place was filled with soft couches, a make-shift bar selling candy and soft drinks, ping-pong tables, and a DJ booth. The place was field with kids, mostly from our school. I waved to a guy I recognized from my English class, hoping he wasn't already a Controller.

"Jake!" I heard Tom's voice behind me. He came walking up to us, holding a can of soda. "I was wondering where you'd gotten to. Hey, Marco. How's it going?"

"Hey Tom," said Marco. "Oh, this is Fred, by the way."

"Hi, Fred, great of you to join us," said Tom brightly. "You'll love the it here. So, anyone up for a game of pool?"

"Yeah, why not?" I said, following him over to the poll tables. Marco and Ferdie walked behind me nervously, scanning the room for people we knew to be Controllers.

"So, this is a Sharing meeting?" I asked casually, picking up a cue and throwing one to Marco. Ferdie sided with Tom.

"Yeah, this is what most of the normal meetings are like, you know? We just hang, really. Play a few video games, meet new people, that sort of thing. Sometimes we stuff like hold beach parties or go to a baseball match or whatever. Although tonight, the founder, Mr. Visser, should be popping along later."

"So, anyone can join?" Ferdie asked, chalking up his cue. "There's no limitations or restrictions or anything?"

"None," said Tom, taking the first shot. "It's open to all ages, all races, all types of people. The Sharing doesn't discriminate. In fact, it's one of our aims to reduce those sorts of attitudes. Just the other day, we had some guy from the grade above me join who'd had this really messed up life. His dad was on drugs , he was getting really bad grades, and he had like, no friends. But Mr. Chapman told him about us. He came along, and we helped him totally transform his life. Now, he's a full member and a mentor to some of the younger kids who come from that sort of background."

I nodded. "Sounds good," I said, trying not to think of the fact that the guy Tom had been talking about was now a Controller. He reminded me of Tobias's situation before he'd become an Animorph. Would Tobias have ended up joining The Sharing if it wasn't for Elfangor?

"It's a great society to be a part of," Tom continued. "It's the best thing I've ever done."

I nodded and took a shot. Potted one of Tom and Ferdie's yellow balls.

"Busted!" my brother laughed. "Thanks for helping us out!"

"Yeah, good one, Jake," Ferdie grinned, blending in naturally. "That's two goes for me!" He lined up his cue like a professional, took the shot and potted two yellows.

"That's the way to do it," he smirked, taking another go. He missed, and Marco had his go.

"Hey, if you become a member, maybe you could teach some of the other kids," Tom told Ferdie. "Another aim of The Sharing is to help people discover their hidden talents."

"Yeah, maybe," said Ferdie casually.

Just then, Rachel's thought speak entered my head.

--Hey, guys, how are you doing down there?-- she asked, knowing we couldn't reply as we weren't in morph. --Scratch your head if you can hear me.--

I scratched my head, looking around surreptitiously for the source of the thought-speak.

--Philip, Ax and I are on the ceiling above you,-- Rachel told us. --Don't look up.--

--Actually,-- said Philip, after a moment, --I think Ax has flown down to assess the ice-cream situation.--

--Oh, not again!-- Rachel said. --Ax! You have got to get a grip on the fly's instincts! Leave the deserts alone. Someone's gonna squash you if you're not careful.--

--Sorry, Rachel,-- said Ax. --This creature's love of sweet substances is very difficult to resist.--

--Anyway, guys, we're going to go and listen in on Chapman for a bit,-- Rachel continued. --We might have to go and demorph soon. If we wait until after the Yeerk meeting, it have be too late.--

I made a small 'ok' sign with my fingers, hoping they'd be able to see and Tom wouldn't.

--Cool, see you later then,-- Rachel said. I turned round and saw a couple of big black flies buzz over to the other side of the room.

We spent the next half hour or so listening to music, playing table tennis and chatting to some of the guys from school. Hopefully Tom would assume that we were just chilling, and not realize that we were infiltrating the Yeerk organization right under their noses. I hoped that we would be quite safe. The Yeerks thought we were Andalites, and would probably expect this to be the last place we'd turn up.

"Guys, I have to go to the full member's meeting in a few minutes," Tom said. "So you'll have to find something to do yourselves for the next hour or so. I'll see you out here at ten."

"Ok, sure," I replied, hoping Rachel and the others knew about the plans. "We'll just hang about here."

"Make sure you chat to some of the full members," Tom said. "There'll be a few popping in and out of our meeting, and they can tell you loads more about the club than I can."

"Yeah, I guess we can do that," I said, as Tom wandered off to talk to one of the other Controllers. I turned to Marco and Ferdie, lowering my voice.

"Right, we'd better go into the bathroom and morph flies," I said. "It looks like the full member's meeting is being held in the cafeteria. We can meet up with Rachel and the others and follow them in there."

"This is where a 'recce' mission turns into a suicide mission," Marco muttered dryly, looking at Ferdie.