Memories

Chapter Four

Jake led the way through the woods, looking back occasionally to make sure I was still following him. I tried to stay a little behind him the whole way to avoid having to talk to him. Meeting my first alien was nerve-wracking enough without someone's bumbling attempts to make me feel better.

"It's just a bit further," he reassured me after about ten minutes of hiking.

"I'm fine," I replied, without really knowing why. I wasn't fine, of course, but what else could I say? At least I'd had enough sense to wear boots instead of sandals that day.

Long before I was ready, we reached our destination. A small field, with two teens waiting under a tree to one side. We crossed the field to get to them, instead of going through the woods. Rachel and Cassie watched our approach, but my eyes were on the red-tailed hawk resting in the tree.

"Where's Marco and Ax?" Jake asked once we were close enough.

Rachel nodded toward the trees. "Ax is in hiding. We didn't want to have him out here and take her by surprise. And Marco hasn't come yet."

Ax. The Andalite. The unknown boy from the barn. I was here to meet the final member of the group and hear the whole story of the Animorphs. I glanced toward the trees, trying to see if I could spot a glimpse of blue fur or tail blades somewhere.

I cleared my throat nervously. "Um, I...I think I'm ready to meet him."

"Are you sure?" Jake asked. When I nodded silently he glanced up at Tobias.

-(I'll go get him.)-

"See if you can find Marco, too while you're up there."

"Or any Controllers with shotguns," Rachel added.

Cassie gave her a disapproving look, although I wasn't quite sure why, before turning to me. "Now, don't be frightened when you meet Ax. He's-"

"I know," I interrupted, too nervous to be polite. "Jake told me what he looks like on the way over here."

Just then, a noise distracted us and drew our attention to the woods. Ax slowly made his way though the trees and into the open and I got my first good look at a real, live alien.

He was everything Jake said he was. Part deer, part human, part scorpion with blue fur, four eyes, and no mouth. Despite the fur and the eyes and all, the thing I couldn't take my eyes off of was the deadly tail arched over his back.

I knew it was impolite, but I couldn't help it. My eyes locked onto that lethal-looking blade and all five of us stood for a few moments in an awkward silence.

"Believe it or not, Ax is more than just a pretty tail."

I blushed furiously and jerked my gaze away from the alien, turning to look at Marco as he approached the group. Tobias glided in over his head and took up his position in the tree again. I tried to glare at Marco, but ended up just feeling foolish.

"Sorry," I said to Ax, carefully looking at his face instead of his tail. "I didn't mean to be rude."

-(It is okay,)- he assured me, sounding only slightly miffed. I marveled at the way a voice in my head could 'sound' annoyed, but tried my best not to show it.

"So," Marco said, cutting into the awkward moment. "Ax, this is Julie. Julie, this is Ax. And now that we all know each other, we can get this little party underway."

Again, the awkward silence filled the clearing. They had gathered together to meet me, to help me get...acclimated to the group. But we had no idea how to proceed. How to say everything that needed to be told.

I decided to jump right in, the way had with Jake. "So, now what?"

"Well, I don't know," Jake admitted. "What do you want to know?"

"No, I mean 'now what?' What do we do? Just sit around and wait for the bad guys to do something?"

Marco raised his eyebrows. "We've got another Xena here."

Rachel rolled her eyes and I surmised that she was 'Xena.' "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Cassie smiled, but Jake just ignored them. "You, uh, don't want to ask any questions?"

"Of course I do, but what's the point? Sounds like there's too much to tell in one sitting. Just don't get annoyed if I interrupt to ask a bunch of questions."

Jake shrugged and launched into an explanation. "Okay, well, the other night in the barn we were talking about some new information Erek had just given us-"

"Erek?"

The others glanced around nervously. They were going to have to reveal all their secrets to me and it was obvious they still didn't fully trust me.

However, the hesitation only lasted a moment. "Erek," Jake explained. "He's an informant. He...uh...he's not human. He's an android and pretends to be a human Controller to get information for us."

That raised more questions than it answered, but I simply nodded for him to continue.

"You know that new movie theatre that's being built a few blocks from the mall?"

"Yeah," I answered slowly, trying to think of where he was going. Ax turned his eye stalks backward to look in the woods and I got distracted.

"Well the company that's building it is run by the Yeerks."

That got my full attention once again. "The Sharing?"

Jake shook his head. "The Sharing is just one of the fronts the Yeerks use, but it's the one they use the most. Anyway, this theatre is going to be run by some entrepreneur."

"Who just happens to be a Controller?"

"Right."

"So what? What would the Yeerks get by opening a theatre? Besides good business; this town's pretty low on entertainment."

Marco laughed, somewhat bitterly. "Yeah, we're just bored to death over here."

I blushed again, realizing how thoughtless my comment had been, but Rachel put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Just ignore him," she advised. "He hasn't learned the meaning of tack yet."

"The Yeerks," Jake pressed on, giving the other two a stern look, "are planning on connecting the theatre to the Yeerk Pool underneath the mall."

"So they've got a nice, convenient front door now. That sucks, but it doesn't seem like quite the crises you-" I stopped suddenly as everything hit me. "Unless...unless they mean to lure people in there and just force them into being hosts?"

"She's pretty quick," Marco commented.

-(Ax and I went to check it out yesterday, but it's hard to tell anything from the outside. They've been careful to make sure everything looks perfectly normal.)-

"Well they would, wouldn't they? They can't exactly announce their intentions to the neighborhood." I chewed on my lower lip for a while, thinking. The others all had a few days to process the information, but my head was still trying to wrap around the idea of invading aliens, leaving little room for the latest incarnation of the crisis. "So, what, are they even going to show movies, or just have a bunch of Controllers jump out of the screen?"

"What does it matter?" Rachel asked. "We've got to find a way to stop them before it opens."

"Again I ask you, how?" Marco countered. "For all we know, by this point it's just an extension of the Yeerk Pool. And just attacking the theatre isn't going to do anything, it's a building. They'll just fix anything we can do to it and carry on anyway."

"So what do you propose we do?"

"I never said I had a plan, I said we need one before we do anything."

I watched Marco and Rachel argue, trying to follow along, but little thoughts kept interrupting me. Thoughts that were mostly along the lines of 'this is insane!'

Jake finally cut in. "Look, Marco's right. We can't do anything without a plan, and we can't make a plan until we know more. We need to get in there and find out what's going on before we can decide anything."

Rachel looked highly annoyed, but shrugged her consent. The rest of the group just nodded, even Ax.

I raised my hand tentatively, like I was in school again. "Um, how do we do that?"

"Probably in the middle of the night, right before a test, and while they're doing something that could get us killed."

I glanced over at Marco, noticing for the first time how cynical his humor sounded. From the scowl on his face I decided it probably wasn't the best time to bring up the subject.

"Okay," I conceded, "but how do we do that? Do we just walk in like Nancy Drew with a magnifying glass?"

That got me a few surprised looks before Marco and Cassie outright laughed. Even Ax looked amused.

"We're Animorphs," Marco laughed. "We've got a much better way of getting a close up view than a magnifying glass."

I stared at them stupidly for a few moments before it finally struck. "Oh, we're going to morph?" They nodded. "Into what?"

They looked at Jake, who just shrugged. "Whatever's at the site, I guess. Probably roaches."

My jaw dropped so fast I could hear it pop; the others just mutely accepted the decision.

-(Fascinating creatures,)- Ax commented. –(They seem to be able to go unnoticed everywhere.)-

"Unnoticed? How can you not notice a roach? I hate roaches!"

The others looked at me, as if they'd just come to realize something.

"Jake," Cassie said. "Julie doesn't have any morphs. Just Tobias' hawk."

"Are you telling me you all can morph cockroaches?" Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I sounded hysterical. But roaches?

"Well, yeah. Roaches and flies and fleas."

"It's not as bad as you'd think," Marco offered. "You know, once you get past the six legs and the little hairs and-"

I swatted at Marco to make him shut up, not at all amused by his teasing. The mere thought of touching a roach made me a bit green, but to actually turn into one?

Marco ducked my half-hearted swing and Cassie cut in before anything else could happen.

"Julie, do you want to come by the barn and practice morphing? It'd probably be a good idea to pick a few more morphs while you have the time."

"Huh? Oh, I guess so. But I can't stay long, Alex and Andi are coming back from camp today."

"What time?"

I glanced at my watch. "Oh, shit. I need to be home in about twenty minutes." I glanced up at Jake, as if asking his permission to leave. Like the others, I'd come to accept his leadership in spite of his constant denials.

"Alright," he said decisively. "How's tomorrow night sound for going in?"

I almost made a comment about it being a school night, but bit my tongue just in time. How juvenile was that, to be concerned with getting enough sleep for school with the fate of the world hanging in the balance?

"I can't," Rachel cut in. "I've got to baby-sit tomorrow."

Jake nodded to her. "Okay. Anyone have any problems with Tuesday, then?"

I thought with a sinking feeling of my English test on Beowulf Wednesday morning, but again refrained from saying anything. Like Marco said, right before a test, so it probably happened all the time. Besides, I was just the newcomer, causing enough trouble just by being there. I really didn't want to cause even more problems.

Everyone nodded and prepared to leave, Ax disappearing back into the woods. Cassie touched my arm to get my attention. "Do you still have time to come by the barn? It'd probably be a good idea for you to pick up a few more morphs."

"I dunno. I have to go catch the bus to get back home. What kind of morphs do I need?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, you've already got a bird. And you'll need to acquire a roach for Tuesday."

I shuddered at the thought, the guiltily remembered my earlier musings. I was just the newcomer, without any right to stir up trouble. That meant sucking it up and morphing a cockroach, just like the others, without complaint. "Okay," I sighed. "Anything else?"

"Battle morph," Rachel cut in, joining our conversation. I hadn't noticed that anyone else was paying attention.

"Battle morph?"

"Yeah. We've all got a favorite morph for battles. You should go to the Gardens and pick one out, too."

"Alright. Cockroach and something that can fight. Anything else?"

Rachel and Cassie looked at each other and Rachel shrugged.

"Anything you think might be useful," Cassie told me. "It's hard to tell before hand what we'll need."

"Okay," I said, checking my watch again. If I hurried, I could just make the next bus home. "I'll think about it. But right now I've got to go."

I said goodbye to the two girls and started back toward the road, following Jake and Marco who were already halfway across the clearing. Marco looked back at me and tapped Jake on the shoulder, then waved goodbye before turning around to join me.

"Taking the bus?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered, eyeing him suspiciously. He'd been more or less friendly during our 'meeting,' but I hadn't quite forgotten our conversation from the day before.

"Me, too. I'll walk with you."

And that was it. Not 'can I walk with you?' but 'I'll walk with you.' I mutely accepted his presence and kept walking toward civilization. I expected him to say something, to threaten me or deliver some dire warning, but he just walked along beside me in thoughtful silence. Somehow his lack of conversation unnerved me more than his homicide comment the day before.

After a few minutes of walking, I gave in and broke the silence. "So, do I pass the test?"

"Nope," he replied in a perfectly even, pleasant tone.

I had to smile in spite of myself. If nothing else, Marco had a quick enough wit to keep up with my 'out of the blue' comments. "I thought you said the other day you'd trust me if Jake did."

"No, I said I'd welcome you with open arms and a knife. Never said anything about trust."

I searched my memory for a moment and realized he was right. "So how long do I have to put up with secret daggers?"

He shrugged, picking his way through the underbrush. "I trust Jake. He's got good instincts. Good judgment. And I don't doubt your sincerity, but…" His voice trailed off for a moment. "Did Jake tell you about David?"

"Yeah," I answered slowly. Though I knew little about David, I was starting to get a better picture of how he had affected the Animorphs.

"Well, David was a good kid in the beginning, too. No one thought he'd turn out the way he did. Even him."

I scowled at my shoes. "So you think I'm like that? All talk? I have to prove that I can handle this?"

"Right."

I couldn't find an argument to that, so I just stewed for a while as we walked in silence. Again, I was reminded of my delicate position as the 'wild card.' The Animorphs had accepted me out of necessity, and only Jake expressed any sort of confidence in my ability to keep the secret.

"It's not easy, is it?"

Marco's question cut through my thoughts. "What's not easy?"

"Trying to deal with all this. Not being able to tell anyone."

Guiltily, I thought back to the botched phone conversation and the way my near-hysteria had almost let the secret slip. I thought back to back to Paul and our conversation in the bookstore.

"No, it's not. How do you do it?"

We reached the road, coming out of the woods next to Cassie's house and only a block from the bus stop. I saw Jake get his bike from in front of the barn and walk it to the street, going in the opposite direction.

Marco shrugged at my question. "You get used to it, I guess."

I sighed, then saw the bus turn a corner in the distance. "Uh-oh. Better run for it."

We made it to the bus stop at the same time as the bus, paid our fare, and found an empty pair of seats. I started to continue our conversation, but stopped myself just in time. Talking on the bus certainly wouldn't do anything to gain his trust. So instead we sat in strained silence until we reached my stop. I left quickly, glad to be away from him while not quite sure what it was about him that made me uneasy.

Belatedly, I realized that I'd seen Marco's bike leaning against Cassie's barn next to Jake's.