Chapter 9

The next morning, I got up extra early and gave Rachel, Cassie and Marco a call to confirm the meeting that afternoon. Everyone was fine with it, although Marco grumbled at me for about ten minutes for waking him up, before I could get a word in edgeways. I would fly out to Tobias's and Ax's meadow later on, and down to the Hork-Bajir valley later. In the meantime, I spent some of the morning catching on forgotten homework, trying to feel like a normal kid for an hour or so, but finding it virtually impossible to concentrate on algebra and physics equations. I laughed quietly to myself at the irony that I, the unofficial leader of Earth's only resistance against an alien invasion, was being made to do algebra.

My mind wandering in all directions, I finally gave up on finishing my work and went down to the kitchen to grab something to eat. As I crossed the dining room, I heard Tom's voice on the phone.

"Yes, I believe so," he was saying. "Why don't you give the others a call? I'm sure they can come up with something."

He lowered his voice as I entered the room, turning away from me. Obviously some Yeerk business, requiring everyone to be up at the crack of dawn. It was funny how the two of us had both learned to use the phone with a great deal of caution nowadays, although for very different reasons. I gave him a friendly slap on the back and rolled my eyes, pretending I thought he was talking to some girl.

"Can you tell mom that I'm going round to Cassie's in a minute?" I asked him as he hung up. "Probably won't be back until the evening."

"Whatever," he said. "Although I don't see why I should be your messenger boy. I've got enough on my plate to deal with."

"Like your new girlfriend?" I teased.

"Yeah," he replied, barely listening. Normally, I would have expected him to tease me about my crush on Cassie, and would have already developed a witty comeback. But this was the Yeerk talking, not my brother. He had other things on his mind.

I gulped down some cereal then ran upstairs to change into my morphing suit. It was still pretty early, but I didn't want to stay in the house with Tom around. Besides, I needed some air to clear my mind. I opened the window and morphed to peregrine falcon, soaring off into the early morning air.

I rode the thermals for an hour or so, lazily circling the neighborhood a couple of times for no particular reason, then made my way down to the Hork-Bajir valley to meet up with Sam and her team. It was the first time, I realized, that I would be alone with them, without Marco or any of our gang. This made me a little uncomfortable. The four of them had only arrived in the States a couple of days ago, and we still hadn't much of a chance to get to know them. Deep down, I was still a little apprehensive about letting them into our little resistance. But I knew there was no way they were Controllers. I knew they were capable of putting up a fight. I knew they could strategize and formulate plans. Sam and I seemed to be getting along ok, she taking charge of her team, me taking overall control. But they were still virtual strangers. We had not worked together on a proper mission. And I had no idea how they were taking the whole situation, dealing with suddenly being forced into the middle of the war, being forced to take orders from some unknown guy, and leaving behind their friends and family, and everything they'd ever known.

Eventually, I began to recognize signs that I was coming to the valley. I drifted over for a few minutes, letting my mind go loose, letting any preconceptions of an empty valley be released from my mind. See, the valley where the others live was actually created by an all-powerful being called the Ellimist, in order to hide a small colony of free Hork-Bajir from both humans and Controllers. There's some kind of magic-like trickery cast over the valley, which makes the place almost impossible to find. Your eyes - whether human or animal - just seem to slide away from the site without you even realizing it. And if you fly over, consciously looking for some kind of sign to the valley, you'll never find it. We've learned that the best thing to do is to just let your mind go blank, and the valley will appear to you.

Eventually, I spotted some of the vast greenish-brown lizards crawling among the trees. Hork-Bajir are arboreal; they live in the trees and are fantastic climbers. My eyes could make out the way their long, tough blades that covered their body were used to strip bark from the trees, or to help them climb to the upper branches. They are simple, peaceful creatures, and this tiny population was all that represented the free individuals of a race taken over by the Yeerks.

"Maggie," I heard a girl's voice below me. "We need to try and get this even! Otherwise the whole thing's going to collapse."

I trained my laser-like eyes down into the foliage and saw that Sam was halfway up one of the trees, giving directions to Maggie. The two of them, and a handful of Hork-Bajir, were busily trying to erect some kind of wooden platform in the upper branches. Long vines, acting as ropes, had been assembled into pulleys, which were used to hoist logs and planks up into the branches.

I soared down further, watching them for a bit before I let them know of my presence. The two brothers were working on constructing some kind of well or device to transport water. Philip was directing another group of Hork-Bajir, giving out clear, concise orders which even the simple-minded Hork-Bajir could understand. I recognized one of the group as Jara Hamee, one of the original hosts we'd met not too long ago. He and his mate, Ket Halpak, seemed to be having a fine time, obviously excited at the prospect of an intelligent human coming to live with them and respect their way of life. I smiled inwardly to myself. Philip looked like he would make a fine leader. Like Sam, he had that rare ability to get other people to do what needed to be done, whilst keeping them happy and on task. Ferdie had told me he'd been an officer in the British Army for a couple of months, before they were taken by the Skrit-Na and told about the Yeerks. I wondered for a moment why he, and not Sam, had commanded their little group on their way over here.

"Jake?" I heard Toby Hamee's voice below me. "Is that you?"

Toby is the child of Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak. She is considered to be a seer: an individual who is superior in intelligence and possessed a wider vocabulary compared to the rest of her race. As a result, she acts as their leader, helping them build a new colony, keeping the tribe away from the Yeerks, and occasionally giving us a helping hand if we need it.

I sailed down towards the group and landed on the grass, beginning my demorph.

--Hey, Toby,-- I said. --How's it going? Sam's not giving you too much grief, I hope?--

"Hey!" Sam laughed amicably, climbing down a make-shift ladder and coming over to greet me. "I resent that! Are the rest of your guys here?"

"No, only me," I replied.

"Sam and Philip have been showing some of us how to build more appropriate shelter," said Toby. "We now have four tree-platforms, and we are developing a mechanism to bring clean water from the stream up here, so that it is always on hand."

--That's great,-- I said. --Looks like things are really taking off down here.--

Just then, Philip and Ferdie cam walking over to us. Like Sam and Maggie, they were wearing only their morphing outfits, having yet to work out a way to get their clothes down here. The two guys were carrying a coil of vine over their shoulders, Ferdie swinging his around his head like a cowboy. They were followed by Jara and Ket. The two Hork-Bajir's faces lit up when they saw me.

"Jake!" Jara cried. "How is Jake? Jara and Ket making tree-shelter for Sam!"

"That's great, Jara," I said, as my beak became a normal, human mouth. "I see she's got you all working hard!"

"Jara and Ket like working for Sam," Ket said, her huge leathery mouth breaking into a grin. "Jara and Ket say 'Jara and Ket do whatever Sam and Philip says! Philip knows all to know about forest!'"

I smiled. Hork-Bajir may not have the linguistic skills of Shakespeare, but they sure like working together in a team.

I completed the demorph and turned to Sam.

"We're meeting up at Cassie's at about two o clock," I told her. "Gonna try and work out a plan against this new plan the Yeerks have come up with."

Sam nodded. "Sure."

"We'd really appreciate the input from you guys," I added. This would be our first proper mission together, and I needed for us to all work together without any problems.

"Thanks," she replied, although of course she was expecting to raise her own ideas anyway.

I shuffled uncomfortably, unable to think what to say next. "Well, I'd-"

Sam cut me off. "Look, Jake, we really appreciate what you're doing for us," she blurted out.

I looked at her. "How do you mean?"

She shrugged, running a hand nervously through her dark hair. "I know it can't be easy for you, having to work the four of us into the equation. You look like you're all pretty close knit, you've got your own ways of working, you know a whole load of stuff about the Yeerks that we don't. I suppose it must be quite hard for you, having to work us into your plans now." She paused, not quite meeting my eye. "Maybe you find it difficult to trust us?"

I sat down on a rock, my eyes flicking from one of them to another. Toby was watching me with interest.

"Well," I started, "I'm not gonna lie and try and make out that the six of you have just accepted this situation without condition. We had our fair share of flying opinions, that night after we met you at the Yeerk pool."

I forced a smile, remembering Ax's skepticism, Marco's distrust, and Cassie's attempts to restore order.

"None of us knew what to think, really," I continued. "I mean, we'd heard about you - or at least we'd heard about a bunch of morph-capable humans on the run from Visser Five - but we never thought about actually meeting you. Not idea what we'd do if that day ever dawned. So, the other day, when you came in morphing Andalites? I thought you were some kind of Yeerk trap. A load of Vissers had finally got their hands on some Andalite hosts. It took us a while to realize who you were, and that you were on our side."

"I don't think anyone really knew what was going on that night," said Maggie, sitting on the rock beside me. "I guess everyone's emotions were running wild. You guys must have had this plan you were sticking to, and suddenly we show up and tear it all apart."

I nodded, agreeing. "Marco yelled at me for like, the whole of that evening," I said. "He didn't want to trust you, and he couldn't accept that you were part of us now."

"I always got the feeling Marco felt rather cold towards us," said Philip. "Whether it was because he didn't trust us, or whether he was just like that, I didn't know."

"But you know, we're all for this," Sam went on. "We've had to come through this together, too. We were thrust into this war, the five of us didn't even know each other, expect for Ferdie and Philip. And we've had to accept that we'll never see our families or our homes again. "

"That's what's been bothering Tobias and Ax," I said. "Tobias has had to come to terms with his situation, and that he'll never be able to go back to his normal life again. And Ax, well, he's millions of light years from home. God only knows what it feels like for him."

"Maybe we should have a chat with them," Maggie suggested. "Get to know them both a little better. Clear the air."

"I think that's a good idea," I said.

There was a moment's silence, which was broken by Sam.

"Look, if you think we can't handle the whole life-or-death mission thing-" she started. I put out my hand to stop her, knowing already what she was going to say.

"I don't think that at all," I said quietly. "The six of us all know what happened to Asha. I mean, we've had a few close calls in the last few months, but you're the only ones who have actually lost a team member along the way. And Philip - you've been in the army, haven't you? You've seen death. So, if anything, I'd say you should be the ones telling us that we can't handle it."

Sam nodded, her eyes meeting mine. The four of them were quiet. Ferdie's eyes were glazed over, like he was reliving his last few weeks.

"Anyway," I said, standing up and brushing the dirt off my shorts. "I just come down to let you know about the meeting later on. But I think it's good we had this talk. I really hope we can work together on this."

"I'm sure we will," Sam said. "We've got two really great teams. One really great team," she emphasized.

I smiled and morphed back to falcon, and for a while,feeling much more at ease with myself. I flapped my wings and took off into the air, the four new Animorphs below me watching me leave.