Author's Note: And here's what happened to Tobias. Although I'm pretty sure everyone's figured this out by now…^_~

Chessrook44: lol…Explanations will be in this chapter, and the next two or three…Because it just takes that long. ^_~ And Garden employees were called to tranq the zebras…That's how the rampage ended.

Sharina: Well…They don't exactly meet this chapter. Next one, though, I think.

SD: Yup. Sam will most likely ramble. She's good at that. ^_~ Thankies muchly!

Liaranne: Hey…I'd rather dislike it if they took over Disneyland. They can't ruin Space Mountain! Or the Matterhorn…Or the Haunted Mansion…Or the other roller coasters….Grrrr. Now I'm mad at the Yeerks and I came up with the plan. .

Disclaimer: "You're not a eunuch, are you?"

Chapter Seventeen – Tobias

Aka Why Am I Always Stuck With the Insane Ones?

The first thing I remember is waking up in a cage. A very small cage, too. My hawk instincts kicked in and for a few moments I panicked. I was actually attempting to rip apart the metal grid door with my beak when it suddenly opened. Not very much, but still, it was an opening. I blinked at it, and then a hand shot through, clutching a needle. The next thing I know I feel this sharp prick in my side and the door slams shut again.

By then, Tobias the boy had surfaced and I knew what the prick was. Great. Now I was being pumped full of drugs. I didn't even know where I was. I really didn't need to be drugged, too. I had a couple minutes or so to attempt to look out at my surroundings. I saw cages in most directions, all of them containing other animals. Many of them were injured. Hmm. So maybe I was in a veterinary clinic? I hoped so.

I shook my head, trying to think. Starting to feel a bit dizzy now. I sort of drifted in and out of consciousness, coming out of blackness every now and then to see a man or two walking by or occasionally putting food in a cage. I don't know how much time had passed when I heard shouting. I struggled to open my eyes and managed to make out a group of people, two who looked female, and about three or four who looked male. Voices drifted over me.

"Hey! You two girls! Get out of here!" Deep and gruff. Male.

"Holy…Is that a wolf? What the hell is it doing here?" Not quite as deep, but still male.

"I don't know. Shoot it!" The first male. Gruffy.

"Hey! Don't shoot him!" This voice was female. "He didn't do anything to you."

"Are you mad, girly? That's a wolf snarling at me!" Gruffy again.

"Well, he wouldn't be if you didn't treat animals like this!" Same female. Sounded like something Cassie would say…But it didn't sound like her voice.

"Okay, taken care of." Another female, but not the first. "Those three didn't even have guns."

"What the…" Gruffy. "Missie, now you've got breaking and entering and assault on you. I'm going to have to call the cops."

"Really now? You don't seem to be moving too fast." The first female.

"Call this brute off me!" Gruffy yelled.

"Awww…but he wants to play…" The first female replied sweetly.

I saw movement in front of my cage, then heard a heavy thump.

"Okie-dokie. Let's get them all out of here." The second girl commented cheerfully.

Hands rattled my cage, then the door opened. I couldn't see very clearly, but I knew the face before me was female. I got an impression of green eyes. Really, really green eyes. Those eyes stuck in my mind, even as I felt the blackness beginning to return. A voice came from the eyes.

"It's all right, love, I've got ya now. What's your name, darling? You're a handsome one." There was a pause, then, "Can you hear me?" Another period of silence, then she spoke again, but her voice was fading, "Ahh, shit. Reese, they did something bad to this one. He can't hear me. Or talk to me. I'm not getting anything from him. We need to t…."

Silence. Everything was black and silent for awhile. Not sure how long. When I started seeing light again, I was someplace else. It took my eyes a few moments to adjust, but when they did, I looked around. I was in a barn of some sort….There were stalls everywhere I could see. Which wasn't very far, considering I was lying flat on my back. I tried standing up right and felt a sharp, aching pain in my right wing. Great. It was probably broken. I slowly brought myself onto my talons and looked down at it. It was bound with bandages and probably a stick or something. Looks like it was broken, and someone had set it. Who? I looked around.

Yup, I was definitely in a barn. Or maybe a stable. There were quite a few stalls, but not very many horses. I was standing on a blanket covering a small pile of hay. About ten feet in front of me sat a green eyed, black haired girl. Samantha. What the….I remembered the green eyes, and figured she must have been the one who got me out of the cage. But where was I now? And where had I been before?

I looked over at Samantha again. Half-sitting in her lap was a smallish wolf. His tail was devoid of any hair and a long gash ripped down it. She was in the process of bandaging it, but was making slow progress because the wolf kept trying to lick her face or her hands. Finally, laughing, she held its head in her hands.

"Yes, yes, you're very happy to get out of there, but unless you let me finish I'll have to cut off your tail. Then what will you tell your mate?" She asked, her voice teasing.

The wolf sat still after that, until the last bandage was secured on its tail and she released it. It trotted off and Samantha stood, walking towards another stall. She stopped in front of one.

"How's it going, Reese?" She asked.

Reese stepped out of the stall, dusting off her hands. "All done." She glanced over and noticed me. "Sammie, look! The hawk's awake."

Sam turned her gaze in my direction and smiled. "Good. Now I can see if I set that wing okay. Can you take them inside and give them some milk? I've got the stuff in the microwave. Try not to blow it up."

"Oh, hahaha." Reese stuck out her tongue, ducked into the stall, and came back out with two fox kits cradled in her arms. "Don't worry about me. I'll take good care of them."

Sam grinned as Reese walked out of the barn, then she headed over to me and sat down cross-legged in front of me. "Hey. Feeling better?" She asked, like she expected me to respond.

I was confused. She couldn't be a Controller, could she? Why would she set my wing, or bandage a wolf, or ask if I was feeling better? And yet, she was talking to me like I would talk back. I didn't say anything.

"My name's Sam." She introduced. "What's yours?"

When I still didn't talk, she looked confused.

"What's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?" She paused. "You know, there's something weird about you. I don't feel you like I do the others…I thought it was just the drugs, but it isn't." She remained silent for a very long time, then she looked at me with realization in her eyes. "Tobias?"

Right about then is when my heart stopped. She knew my name! How the hell did she know my name?

I must have shown my surprise because she nodded and said, "So it is you. How did you end up in Graham's Travelling Circus?"

I got myself under control and didn't say anything. Maybe she would eventually assume I was a regular hawk.

"I know you're not normal. I can't talk to you, as weird as that sounds. Then again, maybe not so weird for you. You guys can turn into animals, I can talk to them. Not exactly the same thing, but it's close." She continued.

What, was she insane? Talk to animals? And this still wasn't solving the question of how the hell she knew my name…

"Look, you really can talk to me. I'm not a Controller. I know about the Yeerks. Filthy little slug things. And I know about the Andalites. And you. The Animorphs. You, and Jake, and Marco, Cassie, Ax, and Rachel. And all about your families…And I think I even have a couple of your phone numbers." She said. "If I was a Yeerk, don't you think I would have given all this information over to Visser Three by now?"

She had a point. Although she could just be waiting for me to give the locations of my friends. But, then again, if she had all their names, she already knew their locations. Still, she obviously wasn't going to believe I was just a hawk. I had to say something.

How do you know this? I asked.

She smiled. "Oh, good, you're talking. Well, it's simple, actually. I read the books. Well, most of them, anyway."

Books?

"Yeah." She was silent for a bit, then she continued. "This is going to sound insane, but on my world, there is a book series about you guys. Or maybe it's in my dimension. I don't know. Anyway, when I was younger, there was this book series. Called The Animorphs. It's basically got everything in there. It starts when Elfangor landed here and gave you guys the morphing power and then…Never mind." She shook her head. "I'm sounding insane. Sorry."

Yes, she was sounding insane. She was from a different dimension? Where they had books about us? No. Go on. I said. Okay, I admit it. I was interested. How did she know about us? And the Yeerks and the Andalites and Elfangor…

"Okay. I used to read this series. It was told from the Animorphs' points of view, sort of like diaries, I guess. Jake had numbers that ended in one and six, Rachel had two and seven, Cassie had four and nine, Marco had five and zero, Ax had eight, and you had three. I think I must have read through thirty something, but the last I remember is David…No, something about Elfangor being…Umm." She looked at me. "I'm not sure if you've found that out yet."

Found out what? I asked, pretty sure I knew what it was.

"Something….About you….and Elfangor…" She said vaguely.

Say it. I know. I replied.

"That he was your father." She obeyed.

That satisfied me. She knew about us. And I didn't think she was a Controller. Like she said, she would have gone to Visser Three by now. I guess I should be more suspicious then that, but honestly, I couldn't figure out any reason why she wouldn't have. She didn't need me to give locations. Or to confirm that she was right. Or to give her more information. She obviously already had plenty. The only question was how she knew all this. If I didn't get another answer soon, I might be tempted to start believing she really was from another dimension. Or at least another planet.

If you're from another dimension, how'd you get here? I asked.

She looked at me, then her eyes found some where else to be. "I'm not exactly sure. I was sitting in my English class, then I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was here."

Okay. Either she was seriously insane or she was telling the truth. This didn't really startle me very much, no matter what the case was. When you've dealt with blue aliens, parasitic slugs, turning into animals, creatures that can stop time and change reality…..Oh. Why didn't I think of that sooner?

The Ellimist. I told her.

She blinked at me. "What?"

The Ellimist. This has something to do with him. I explained. Now I'm not sure what, but when it comes to planet or dimension hopping, he's usually the reason.

She stared at me again. "So…wait. You believe me?"

For now. Unless another reason why you know everything about us and our families presents itself. I replied. I didn't trust her completely, of course, but at the moment she wasn't trying to hurt me. In fact, she had helped me. Plus, we had been tracking her for about two days now, and she was clean so far. Once another day passed, I'd know for sure whether I was doing the right thing or making a huge mistake.

"Right. Well, I guess they're looking for you…Maybe I should call someone…" Sam said.

Yeah, that's probably a good idea. You should call Cassie. You can pretend you just found an injured hawk. I suggested.

About halfway through my suggestion, however, Reese came back into the barn.

"Sammie, I swear, it wasn't my…Wait. What the…?" She paused, looking around. "Okay, I think I'm going insane. I'm hearing voices now…"

"That's okay. I hear voices all the time." Sam replied.

Reese looked at her. "Oh, great. Further proof that I'm going nuts."

"Hey! Besides, it wasn't your imagination. It was…" Sam started, then stopped.

She looked at me. What, was I supposed to tell her whether or not she could say it was me talking? Obviously, she shouldn't. How were we supposed to know if this Reese was a Controller?

Reese turned to look at me, too. "You're saying the hawk talked to me? That's your thing Sammie, not mine. 'Sides, it was English. And in my head." She paused, then said, "Wait…Talking birds…Marco…Why is this fami….No. Oh, no. I am so not in the Animorph world. Nononono. Come on. I don't even like those books." She whispered it, apparently not wanting anyone to hear. It would have worked if I hadn't been there. Obviously she didn't know just how good a hawk's hearing is.

Sam. Is Reese from your world, too? 'Cause she's talking about the Animorph books and how she didn't like them… I said in private thought-speak to her.

Sam jerked slightly, then looked over at Reese. After a moment, she commented, "The men on the Young and the Restless do not wear shirts. I am young."

"And occasionally I am restless." Reese finished automatically, to which both girls starting laughing.

I remembered when Ax said that. If I still had doubts, they might have been pushed away a bit further.

When the laughter stopped, Reese looked at Sam. "Bri?"

"Dani?" Sam replied.

They stared at each other for a bit, then embraced, grinning.

"You're here, too? I thought I was the only one stuck here!" Reese exclaimed.

Ahem. I commented.

Sam broke away and turned to me. "Yeah, Tobias, she's from my world."

"Wait, this is Tobias? What's he doing here?" Reese asked.

Sam laughed a bit. "Tobias, okay if I explain to Reese before I call anyone?"

Sure. I'm not going anywhere. I replied.

Well. Now we have two teenage girls who claim to be from another dimension. One of whom knows quite a bit about us, and the other who knows at least my name. Oh, and Marco. And both of them may or may not be Controllers. Yes. This should be fun.