TOBIAS

"Tobias," Elfangor called. "Come here."

I came. I didn't know how Elfangor had come here, alive, but frankly, I didn't care. I was separated from all my friends, and would gratefully seize any chance to be with anyone I knew, no questions asked.

Elfangor pointed to a small cave in the distance. "You can spend the night there. It appears to be safe."

"What about you?" I demanded.

"I don't need that sort of thing."

"Uh-uh. I know some Andalites and they also need shelter."

Elfangor looked surprised. "You mean you don't know?"

"Don't know wha-" My voice trailed off.

A girl was running up the hill, bright-eyed and hyper. But what stunned me were her clothes.

I had met many people from this galaxy, and as far as I knew, none of them wore long jean skirts and shirts from Old Navy. But this girl did. As I squinted down at her, I saw that she was tall, with brown hair a little longer than shoulder-length. She looked as stunned as I did.

"Tobias?" she asked timidly.

"That's me," I said guardedly. "Who are you?"

"Annie Mull Luvre. I'm your biggest fan!"

"Since when do I have fans?" I asked crossly.

"Forget it. Where's Sekot?"

"Sekot? Sekot who?"

She's talking about me," Elfangor said quietly. "I am not your father. I merely assumed his shape. I am really Sekot, the living intelligence of this planet."

"So you just pretended that you were what you were not?" I demanded angrily.

"It was necessary," Annie said sharply. "Now isn't the time to argue. The gateway between the galaxies has closed. There's no way out."

Sekot glared at Annie. "I knew that it was a mistake to make you the gatekeeper."

"It wasn't like you made me the gatekeeper. I seized control from you and your partner." Annie's face darkened. "You wouldn't have been able to do anything better."

"How would you know?" I had asked the question.

They both turned toward me, surprised.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter now," I said before they could start arguing again. "Let's just find a way to open it again."

Sekot and Annie both burst out laughing. Then they realized that they were both laughing and stopped abruptly.

"You can't just open a gateway. You have to make a new one," Annie told me. "For that, you need many gatekeepers, and the original gatekeepers' approval. My co-gatekeeper, Basi, closed up the gateway and won't want it opened."

"Basi always was a stubborn one," Sekot said thoughtfully. "Where's she now?" While Annie had been talking, it had been talking, it had transformed into a young boy with a braid hanging down his back.

"She went to the other former gatekeeper."

"Ah." Sekot became an avian alien with colorful feathers.

I stared. "What is that?"

"Haven't you ever seen a Fosh? Namely, the one to whom Basi went. You know- Vergere!"