Squee! Another chapter for me! Oh, look, that rhymes. Anyhow, I'd like to respond to all my reviewers individually like usual, but I'm doing this instead of writing the paper I should be doing, so that's not gonna happen. Thanks anyway, though, guys!
Disclaimer: "Your entrance was good, his was better. The difference? Showmanship."
Chapter Twenty-Nine Part One: Tobias
Ax and I got the last shift of the day, so I was up when the sun started rising. With everyone else asleep, I had time to dwell on what I knew was going to happen that day. Our forces were about to increase. I'm sure you've had enough of everyone else, though, so I won't start babbling about everything that meant.
I glanced over at Ax. He was quietly standing in the unoccupied corner of the shed, looking off into space. He had been quiet since Rachel and Marco had woken us up.
You okay, Ax-man? I asked.
He blinked his main eyes at me. I am fine, Tobias. Why?
You just seem quiet. Thinking about today?
He smiled with his eyes in that strange way Andalites have. Is it obvious?
Nah. That just seems to be on everyone's mind. I replied.
He nodded. I am remembering when we thought David had… He hesitated.
Killed me? I supplied.
Well, yes. I do not wish that to happen this time. Real or imaginary. Ax said.
Don't worry, Ax-man, I have a feeling it'll be fine. I told him. I was a bit touched, though. For an Andalite, that was pretty emotional. I was his shorm, though, which is the Andalite version of a best friend, so I guess it was okay.
Maybe. Ax replied, but he sounded unconvinced.
Yeah, well, I'll do my best not to let them kill me, okay? I intended it to be a joke, but I half meant it. Just as long as you do the same.
Ax smiled at me again. Agreed.
Okay, the sun is up. People should be awake now. I grumped. All the good prey would be out now.
Should I wake up Prince Jake so you can go hunt? Ax asked.
Naw, I'll wait. There'll be some late-comers. I stretched my wings. Although maybe if I screech someone will wake up and I can blame it on a bird outside.
"Please don't." Marco muttered. He rolled over to glare at me. "I'm up now, happy? Go hunt."
How long have you been awake? I demanded.
"About the time you informed us the sun was up." Marco replied.
Oh. Well, in that case, I guess I will go eat. I hopped lightly off of Sam's shoulder so I wouldn't wake her. I launched myself off the back of her chair and out the door Ax held open for me.
I caught a rat and ate it. When I got back, Rachel and Danny were awake. Cassie and Jake were still cuddled together, sleeping, and both Sam and Reese were also still out.
"Hi, Tobias." Rachel said, which Danny echoed.
"Hey, Tobias." Marco greeted. "Is there one less mouse wandering around the woods?"
Actually, it was a rat. A good one, too. I replied.
"And you didn't share?" Marco shook his head. "And I thought we were friends, Tobias."
Next time I'll catch a special one just for you. I promised.
"I'll be expecting it." Marco informed me. "But for now, I guess I'll have to settle for this nice cold bagel. Anyone else want one?"
"Yeah, toss two over here." Rachel said.
Marco threw them over and Rachel caught them deftly.
"And mighty Xena shows off her skills once more." Marco commented.
Rachel rolled her eyes and loosened Danny's ropes, then handed him a bagel.
"Mmmm. Round bread." Danny commented.
"Hey, these are /bagels, not just bread." Marco told him.
"Bagels without cream cheese are just bread." Danny replied.
Marco held his hand over the bagel, like he was blocking it from hearing. "Shhh. He didn't mean that."
"Yes I did." Danny muttered, but Marco ignored him.
Soon after that, Jake and Cassie woke up and Ax went out to graze. Reese woke up and ate three and a half of the bagels, then Sam awoke and snatched the other half of Reese's left over bagel. Then she and Cassie split another one.
The day passed both quickly and slowly. By 4:30, though, when none of them seemed to be suffering any symptoms of a Yeerk dying in their heads, Jake sighed.
"Well, I guess it's obvious none of you are Controllers." Jake said.
"See? I told you." Reese muttered.
Jake looked at Ax. "Should we wait the seventeen minutes to make sure?"
It couldn't hurt, Prince Jake. Ax replied.
"Oh, great." Reese said.
"It's seventeen minutes, Reese, you can handle it." Sam told her.
"Cannot." Reese said under her breath.
Sam rolled her eyes.
The seventeen minutes passed in slightly tense silence. At 4:47, we untied them and they stood up, stretching.
Jake looked at the three of them for a moment. "All right. I guess there's only one thing left to do." He nodded at Cassie.
She reached into the backpack she had brought and pulled out the blue cube.
Here goes nothing.
Chapter Twenty-Nine Part Two: Reese
Three days of sitting makes your butt really sore. I was stretching and trying to make it un-sore when Cassie pulled out her blue cube thing. Of course, I hadn't read the books, so I had no idea what it was.
I also didn't understand why Sammie and Danny were staring at it like it was some powerful weapon.
"What's left to do?" I asked Jake.
He glanced at Sammie and Danny, but they stayed quiet. He looked back at me.
"You know about us…And who we fight. And now that we know you're not Controllers…" He told me. I began to see where this was going. "We tried to increase our ranks before, and it didn't turn out too well. But this time, we're hoping it will be different."
Sammie nodded. "It will be different, Jake."
"We are not like David." Danny said firmly, but he was looking at Rachel, not Jake.
Any other time, I would have commented on that. But not now. I shook my head. "No." I said bluntly. "No. I'll keep my mouth shut, I'll never talk about it, but I am /not/ going to be an Animorph."
The already existing Animorphs exchanged glances. Jake opened his mouth to say something, but I shook my head again. And kept shaking it.
"No, Jake, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to join this fight. You can call me a coward or whatever, but I'm a teenager. I just want to be a normal teenager and not fight creepy aliens twenty-four seven. No. No. Just….no." I said, still shaking my head.
My gaze was on the floor, so I don't know what their reactions were. I didn't look up until Sammie put her hand on my shoulder.
"Come talk to me, Reese." She said, and lead me into a corner.
The others tried to pretend they couldn't hear us.
"I don't want to do this, Sammie." I told her.
She nodded, taking my hand in hers. "I know you don't, Ree-chan. But really….What else can we do?"
"Go home? Pretend like none of this ever happened?" I suggested.
She just looked at me. "Reese, could you really pretend you didn't know what was going on? Could you really go back to look at people without wondering whether or not they're a slave in their own body?"
No, of course I couldn't. I mean, come on. Who could? But I didn't want to say that, so I said nothing.
"You're telling me you wouldn't feel the least bit bad about doing nothing while people are getting taken over and we are the only things stopping them?" Sammie asked.
Yes, I felt bad. I felt incredibly bad. These were my friends…Most of them. What if they got hurt? It would be on my head…I could have been there. Damn it, I shouldn't be talking to her. She was going to convince me. I did not want to touch that thing.
"I'm not going to drag you over there and make you do it, Reese. But you know it's the right thing to do. Do you really want to sit back while kids lose their families to the Yeerks or become slaves themselves?"
That did it. Now there were kids involved. I knew Sammie had said that just because she knew I would react. And at that moment, I hated her. I hated her more than anything.
"Fine!" I screamed.
I stalked over to Ax, who held the blue thing now, and jammed my hand on it. I felt a warm tingle spread from the box through my body.
Only then did I realize what I had done.
"No. Oh, no. Oh." I murmured.
I felt Sammie stand beside me, hand reaching out, but I turned away. I didn't want to see her now. Didn't want to see anything.
I stumbled to the corner and fell down, back against the wall, and began sobbing. Someone sat next to me and I didn't even have the strength to move. I felt an arm wrap around me. I pulled away, but it stayed, so finally I turned into whoever's shoulder it was and cried.
Chapter Twenty-Nine Part Three: Sam
I knew Reese hated me then. And watching my cousin cry on Marco's shoulder, I was a little mad at myself. Okay, I was a lot mad at myself. Still, though…I knew Reese couldn't have lived with herself if she sat there and let us fight. She could have pretended to, but she really couldn't have.
And I knew the other Animorphs couldn't just trust her to keep her mouth shut. They weren't sure of any of us yet. I knew they weren't going to drag her over and make her do it…Or, at least, I knew they didn't want to. I wasn't too sure what some of them would do.
So I guilted her into it. Yes, I could rationalize this in my head all day long, but no matter how many good points I made, I still felt like scum with Reese over there crying her heart out.
But, well, I had done it. And it wouldn't do me any good to sit there and moan 'What have I done?'
"Is she going to be okay?" Cassie asked, looking at me.
I nodded. "Yeah." I said quietly. "She might hate me for awhile, but she'll be okay."
"Why? It's not like you made her do it." Rachel said, looking over at Reese and Marco.
"Yeah, but I made her feel guilty. Same thing, to her." I shrugged. "No big deal. I'll make her a cheesecake and she'll forgive me." I said, although it sounded half-hearted even to me.
I glanced at Danny. "You wanna go first?"
He shook his head. "I already did it….While you and Reese were talking."
"Oh. Guess it's just me, then." I stepped over and pressed my hand to the cube.
I felt a tingling and pulled my hand away. I just stared at it until I realized Jake was talking.
"Were going to take you three to get some morphs today." Jake said. He looked over at Reese. "But, uh, we'll wait until after school tomorrow. Everyone go home and rest up…We'll meet back at Cassie's barn after school, all right?"
Everyone agreed and went off their separate ways. Jake, Cassie, Rachel, and Danny left together, as a group but sort of divided into two. I kind of hung around for a bit, pretending to be looking out the door for something, until Reese abruptly stood up.
I looked back over, but Reese just shoved past me, completely ignoring me. She walked a little ways, then stopped.
Marco came to stand beside me.
"Still mad at me, huh?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. I'm, uh, gonna walk her home."
I nodded back. "Okay. See you."
"See you." He started after her.
I watched them walk off, then sighed. "See you tomorrow, Ax." I called back into the shed and walked out.
Good-bye, Samantha. He replied.
Tobias swooped down low, then landed on a nearby branch. Don't beat yourself up about it.
"Yeah." I replied. "Hey, so is flying really as great as it sounds?"
Better. He said. We'll take you guys out flying tomorrow, after you get your bird morphs.
"I know what Danny will want." I commented with a grin, and started walking again.
He took off, flying above me. What?
"Red-tail. They're his favorite." I answered.
Ah. Suddenly, I like him more. He swung low again to avoid a branch.
I laughed. "I had a feeling you'd say that."
How about you? Any preferences? And don't say eagle. He warned.
I laughed again. "Actually…red-tailed hawk." I admitted.
He gave a mental laugh. What, is everyone in love with red-tails now?
"Not everyone." I said, sticking out my tongue. "I just talked to Skysong, and she said she'd be willing to let me acquire her…Well, as long as Jake agrees, anyhow."
Skysong? The red-tail that was with you the other day? Tobias asked.
I nodded. "Yeah, that's her."
We continued talking until we reached my house. I stopped at the door and looked up at the lamppost Tobias had perched on.
"You know, you can come in, if you want. We've got plenty of room for birds, and no one will mind." I offered.
He was silent for a moment, and his mental voice was hesitant. Naw…I think I'd better get back to the woods and Ax.
I nodded. "All right, then. Stop by anytime you want, though. Guarantee it won't look unusual."
I watched him glide off, then went into the house.
"I'm home, Trent!" I yelled and received a muffled reply.
I went into the kitchen and began pulling out supplies. The best way to get Reese to forgive you was through her stomach. I already had a cheesecake I had made a few days ago in the fridge, and with a plate of brownies added to that, she was bound to forgive me.
It wasn't too late when I finished making the brownies, so I carried them and the cheesecake up to Reese's room. I knocked on the door, then opened it.
Reese looked at me, but didn't say anything. She spotted the food, though, and remained silent for a few minutes longer before commenting, "I don't want to talk to you. Leave the food and go away…If it's good enough, you can come back."
I nodded and set the plates on her dresser. I went to my room to read for a little bit. About an hour later, Reese came in with half of the brownies left.
"I can't eat all these by myself." She said, offering me one.
"I really am sorry, Reese." I offered.
"Shut up. Eat the brownie." She told me.
I took it and hugged her, then did as she told me.