Author's Note: I do not have an addiction to cliff hangers. Really. . Well, here's chapter 14….15 should be up soon.

Liaranne: Yay! *snugs* See, it really is good….Hmm. Now I'm wanna go watch it again….

Lady Aura: lol…Sorry about that. The zebras are coming soon, I promise! Within the next two chapters!

LJstagflower4e/JCwolftiger4e: Thankies muchly!!

SD: lol…Yup, Rachel's Rachel. The Yeerks'll be coming in soon…They've got something evil planned. You like Sam and Reese? Coolies! *happy now*

Sharina: lol. Man, are you going to hate me after this chapter….

Chapter Fourteen – Jake

aka Does Erek /Ever/ Bring Good News?

It was dark by now. Rachel and Ax had finished their first shift, and Marco and I had just come back from ours. He went home to eat dinner with his father, so I went home, too, letting Ax and Rachel start searching again. We had yet to find a trace of him….Not even a body, which I was starting to fear was what we might discover. I guess it might seem silly to others that we were this worked up because Tobias didn't show up to a meeting, but, well, those people didn't know Tobias. He was really dedicated to this war. If he missed a meeting he was supposed to come to, then it was only because he was physically not able to. Which would mean he was either hurt, trapped, or….dead.

I tried to do some of my homework, but I was having trouble concentrating. Lucky for me my parents decided they wanted to have some romantic dinner out together and Tom was at a Sharing thing, so I didn't have to worry about trying to act normal. I didn't want to tell the others, but I was worried. And, well…Sort of feeling guilty. I was the one who sent him to go look after Sam, but that wasn't even it. Following some girl was supposed to be easy. It was a no worry mission. Maybe a ten minute walk from the school to her house, and with him high above her, there should have been no problems. I was expecting no problems.

That was it. I had been expecting that to be the easy part, and hadn't even considered that something might go wrong. That's why this hit so hard. I was the leader. I was supposed to take all the precautions, but I had treated this like it was nothing. I should know by now that nothing is what it seems. If Samantha was a Controller, then that could have been really dangerous for him. I guess I hadn't really believed she was one.

I was jolted out of my self-pity by the ringing of the phone. Feeling hopeful, I scooped up the receiver, nearly dropped it, caught it again, and placed it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Jake. It's Erek." He greeted.

"Oh. Hi." Even I could tell I sounded disappointed. It wasn't just that it wasn't about Tobias. Every time Erek called, it ended up being more bad news.

"Thanks for the enthusiastic greeting." Erek commented dryly.

"Sorry. This homework is killing me, man." I replied.

"Tell me about it." He agreed. "I think my history teacher must have been stood up at least six times last night. Anyway, I thought maybe we could get together sometime. You know, work on that science project we have due?"

I had to keep myself from sighing. Yeah, it was just as I thought. Erek had news. "Sure, man. Tonight's not good, though. I promised Cassie I'd go help her look for one of her birds."

"One of Cassie's birds is missing?" Erek asked.

I nodded, even though he couldn't see me. "Yeah. A red-tailed hawk, I think it was. Hey, if you see an injured one, you think you could let me know? Cass's really broken up about this…You know how she is with her animals."

There was a pause, then, "Yeah, I'll keep my eyes open."

"Thanks, dude. See you later?"

"Yeah, see ya." He replied, then hung up.

I did sigh, then, and set the phone back into its cradle. Erek seemed to be just a boy who went to our school, but he was really a thousand-year-old android, part of a race called the Chee. Their creators came to Earth, dying, and only the Chee survived. Their programming prevents them from fighting or hurting anyone, but they spy on the Yeerks, providing us with good, but often dangerous information. So I had mixed feelings about going to see Erek. Especially since we were already busy looking for Tobias.

I checked my watch. Still a little over half an hour before my next shift. I'd at least try to get my homework done….

******

I yawned as I slid my books into my locker. It was the next day, and I had gotten maybe three hours sleep, total, last night. Needless to say, I was tired. I could deal with it, though, because there were times I had functioned at school on no sleep. /That/ is not fun.

"My, don't we look uplifting?" Marco asked as he sidled up next to me.

I glared at him and did my best, tough-sounding grunt. He wasn't impressed.

"Hey, Jake. Have you seen Cassie today?" Rachel asked as she walked towards us.

I shook my head. "No. Why?"

"Just wondering. She wasn't there before school so I tried calling her house, but no one picked up. Ah, well. She's prolly trying to get her way out of a test." Rachel said with a forced smile.

"Probably. See you later." I called as she walked off.

"Where do you think she really is?" Marco asked in a low voice.

"Two guesses." I replied.

"Oh, man. I would have thought Rachel'd be the one to do that…" Marco muttered.

"Yeah, me too. Guess she was bothered more by staying home than I thought." I said thoughtfully.

Marco punched me on the shoulder. "Yeah, well, don't think too much into it. Remember your test next period." He said with a sly smile.

I punched him back, slightly harder than was necessary. "Thanks, Marco."

He winced, rubbing at his shoulder in mock pain. "Fine. See if I ever help you out again." Lifting up his nose, he peeled off to the left and started for his class.

I went for mine, too, plopping into my seat with a sigh. I hate tests…Especially ones I haven't studied for. Well, actually, I had my notes sitting in front of me for half the night, but does it really count as studying if the words start swimming around on the page because you're staring at them but not making any sense of them? I didn't think so, either. When Mrs. Robinson put my test in front of me, I sort of looked at it for a moment, trying to decide if I should actually try and figure out the answers or just go with A, A, B, D, A, C….I decided on the second one.

When I finished, I sat there for about ten minutes, fidgeting, until I finally raised my hand and asked to go to the bathroom. She stared at me suspiciously for a bit, then wrote me a hallpass and let me go. I wandered around for a bit until a janitor started watching me. Then I headed towards the bathroom, figuring I could just pace in there for a little while.

I was about ten feet from the bathrooms when the shadow of a bird of prey swooped over me and I heard Ax's voice in my head.

Prince Jake! He called. Cassie and I believe we have some news.

Ahhh. So Cassie did ditch school to help Ax search. I glanced around and saw one of the bathroom windows open, so I tilted my head in its direction, then ducked in through the restroom doors. A few moments later, a northern harrier darted in through the window and landed on the bathroom sink.

"Hey, Ax. So Cassie's been with you?" I asked.

Yes. She said she didn't think anyone would mind if she missed school this once so she could help me search. I believe she feels guilty about not helping last night. Ax replied.

I nodded, ignoring the sudden rush of footsteps outside. I had probably missed the bell ring. Oh, well. I could be late to my next period. "So, what did you guys find?"

Well, we aren't sure if it's anything, but Cassie seemed to think it might be important. She wasn't very happy with our discovery. Ax paused, for now a few screams had erupted outside.

I rolled my eyes. "There's probably another fight…Go on, Ax."

A fight? I thought the schools were a place of learning. Ax said, confused.

"Well, they are, usually. But sometimes some kids get pissed off for some reason or another and decide they need to hurt each other." I replied.

From outside came, "Quick, get in the bathroom! They can't get us in there!"

"Uh-oh. Someone's coming. You better leave, Ax. Tell me later." I said, starting for the door.

Outside was pure panic. People were running everywhere, and then someone bumped into me. I looked up and saw Marco.

"What the heck is going on?" I asked.

"I have no idea. But everyone's really freaked out." He replied.

We started jogging with the direction of the crowd. It started thinning out when we neared one of the buildings. Up ahead was a male figure, probably one of the teachers. As we approached, I realized it was Chapman. His attention was drawn to us, and he narrowed his eyes. With his next words, my blood froze.

"Andalites." He hissed.