Memories

Chapter Nine

I left the meeting early but got home late. Mom grounded me for a week. No matter how I ranted and raved and begged and argued, she wouldn't relent and the fight only stopped when she threatened to make it longer.

It was a fairly extreme punishment, but Mom had been acting oddly lately. An overprotectiveness that I didn't quite understand. One that probably wasn't help by that morning's illness.

I stormed up to my room with my library book and threw myself on the bed; a display which did nothing for my sick charade but I didn't much care. After a few minutes of pouting, I gave in the inevitable and took stock of the situation. No TV, no, phone and no going out. I grinned a bit maliciously when I looked at my computer. Mom always forgot to ground me from that.

No Animorphs. Being grounded meant I couldn't go out on the next mission to the theater. Not unless they meant to put it off for a week. For a few moments, I wondered if this was really such a bad thing. If maybe I'd found the perfect excuse to legitimately avoid going out with them again. But no, I shook my head and scolded myself for being silly. I'd have to go; being grounded was easy enough to get around. Besides, once the week was up I'd be 'free' again and I couldn't spend the entire war grounded in my room.

But I was still grounded and I'd have to tell Jake. Going to my computer, my one source of communication with the outside world, I sent him an e-mail telling him what had happened. Checking myself just before I hit the send button, I reread the message and deleted references to the Animorphs or the theater. Fear and paranoia were easy enough, but I was finding that caution took a bit of practice.

Jake didn't respond until later that evening. Unlike me, he did not live on his computer. I'd spent the day in my room, watching my computer and waiting for the window to pop up and tell me I had new mail. By the time it did come, I was ready to jump on Jake for keeping me waiting all day.

Meet me outside. Back porch, was all it said.

I scowled at the screen before deleting the message, but was careful to keep up a blank expression before going downstairs. In the kitchen I stopped at the freezer and grabbed an ice cream bar before wandering outside, as if I had no other intent besides sitting on my porch and eating ice cream while watching the twilight.

Jake was already there, sitting on the bottom step and waiting for me.

"Hey," I said as I sat next to him.

"You didn't bring one for me?" he asked, looking at the ice cream.

"Get one yourself. They're in the freezer."

He shrugged, but made no move to get up.

"So what did you guys decide?"

He didn't answer for a minute. Then, while staring at the tree, said, "We're going in tonight."

I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that so I stayed quiet, eating my ice cream. Tonight? Not that I could really blame them for wanting to get it done as soon as possible. But tonight? I wasn't quite sure if I could handle another mission so soon and was on the brink of saying as much to Jake.

"Are you okay with that? You don't have to go."

"No, no. I'm fine. I'll go. When?"

I called myself a million kinds of idiot while Jake gave me his infuriating, patronizing, concerned look. I don't know why I agreed to go. Perhaps it was Jake's hint that I couldn't keep up with him and the others. Or perhaps it was some obscure sense of duty. Perhaps I was just looking for Jake's approval, the same way I looked for Marco's.

"We were going to go late. Around Eleven. So everyone could sneak out after going to bed. But we can push it back later, if you need to."

"Why would I need it to be later?"

"You're going to have to go to Cassie's first and get a morph. The rest of us did it this afternoon after you left."

I glared at him, but it didn't seem to faze him. "What else did you do after I left?"

"We made plans. Did you want us to wait for you?"

"Don't mock me, Jake," I warned him in a low voice. Again, Jake wasn't intimidated. I guess compared to battling invading aliens I wasn't much of a threat.

We sat that way for a while; me glaring at him and him giving me a stern, slightly bored look. Like he could see right through me and was just waiting for me to realize it. It didn't take long. I backed down and lowered my gaze to the melting ice cream bar in my hands.

"So, what's the plan?"

He told me. It was brutally short and simple. And yet, if we could pull it off, it would also be brutally effective. But first we all needed the new morph. There were several animals that could have done the job, but they choose a raccoon for the simple reason of Cassie had one in the barn. It's odd how in a war the most destructive elements can be so horrifyingly simple.

I agreed to meet Cassie just before the mission and Jake said he would call her. He stood to leave, but before he did he looked back down on me, still sitting on the porch. "Are you sure you want to do this? The others will understand if you don't come."

I blushed, but not from embarrassment. It sounded like Jake was trying to give me an excuse to stay home that night, rather than go on the mission. Like he didn't want me to come, and was doing everything to get rid of me except say it outright.

"I'll see you at the theatre," I said as an answer and stood and walked in the house before he could reply.

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Everything before the mission went off without a hitch. Jake sent me another e-mail telling me to fly to Cassie's house, that she would be waiting for me. I told Mom I was going to bed, put on my pajamas over my swimsuit, and pretended to sleep until Mom had checked on me twice. I knew after that she'd leave me alone, so I opened the window as quietly as I could and flew away. I considered stuffing my pillows under the covers like in the movies, but decided against it. It was just too cliché.

I acquired the raccoon and we flew to the theater where the others were already waiting.

"Ready?" Jake asked as soon as we'd demorphed.

"No," I answered immediately. "Are you?"

Marco laughed shortly from where he was leaning against a wall, absently rearranging the gravel with his feet. "No one's ever ready. To be really 'ready' for something like this you'd have to be suicidal." He glanced at Rachel. "Or possibly Rachel. But she's special."

"Stuff it, Marco."

Marco just grinned at her, but his heart wasn't into the teasing. They seemed to just be going through the motions of something out of habit. As if they were used to making jokes before a battle and did it just to bring a sense of normalcy to what must usually amount to a suicide mission.

Jake just rolled his eyes and said, "Let's go."

We did. We morphed, the others having to wait a few extra seconds for me to finish, and set off for the theater as seven scurrying raccoons. I briefly wondered how we'd get in, but I was the only one. Without an order that I could hear, one of the lead raccoons, Jake or Tobias, lead us around the building to an open window. Either Tobias had seen it and knew it would be open or someone had made sure it would be open for tonight. Either way I hadn't known about it; just one more example of how I was excluded from the group.

One by one we entered the building and made our way down to the theater room. We couldn't risk going all at once for fear of being seen. One raccoon is easier to hide than seven. Fortunately, the theater was in a busy enough area that the Yeerks couldn't risk overrunning the place with armed guards either.

Jake was the last to arrive, just after me. We stood around the open trap door which had apparently been forced open by something much larger than a raccoon. Since Rachel had been the first to arrive, there was really no point in asking how that had happened.

(Everyone here?)

Marco waved one little paw in the air. (Present!)

I, being closest to him, tried to smack him but missed. (Shut up, Marco. Let's just get this over with.)

We filed down the stairs and gathered at the bottom, taking stock of our surroundings. Like the theater upstairs, the Pool entrance was clearly unfinished. The cavern like area was roughly the same size as the building above, but the walls were rough and slanted in odd directions. The tunnel leading to the Pool was narrower than I'd expected, just wide enough to fit a large truck. Or a very small earthmover. There were about half a dozen vehicles, earthmover, forklift, small bulldozers, and a pickup truck, all grouped in one corner that looked more finished than the others. The dirt walls there were strait and reinforced to prevent erosion.

And best of all, just like Cassie had said, the supports keeping up the ceiling were thin and shaky at best. One good knock from a vehicle would bring them crashing down.

One thing we didn't count on, however, were the guards. Unlike the theater, there was no need to keep up appearances down here and there were five or six armed humans sitting on the vehicles playing cards. I guessed that they were supposed to be patrolling, but guard duty must have gotten boring. They were more interested in the current hand than in the group of raccoons gathered at the bottom of the stairs.

(We need a distraction,) Jake said. (Rachel?)

(Got it.)

And before I could even wonder what was going on or why Jake had singled out Rachel, she had turned and disappeared up the stairs.

(Come on,) he said to the rest of us. (Let's get away from the stairs.)

We moved in a line, one behind the other, along the wall until we reached the opposite corner and waited there.

(Price Jake, they are sure to send more reinforcement from the pool. We'll have to act quickly.)

(I know,) Jake replied grimly.

(We had a few minutes last time,) Marco put in. (It must take about that long for them to get up the tunnel. It should be long enough, if we hurry.)

Suddenly we heard the roar of a grizzly coming from the theater. The noise made the raccoon, which had been complacent until that point, try to run and hide but there was no where to go. All six of the guards dropped their cards and ran for the stairs, weapons at the ready.

(Let's go,) Jake called even before they were completely gone.

We ran for the little group of vehicles, splitting into three groups as we went. Ax, Marco, and Cassie each picked a vehicle and started hotwiring it to start the engine. I didn't even pause to wonder how they'd picked up such a skill. Jake discovered the comically small earthmover didn't need a key and started it up on his own before the other three were finished. Tobias joined Ax in his forklift and I joined Marco in the truck.

(Can you drive?)

(Sort of.)

(Close enough. Get ready.) The engine roared to life and Marco, who had been under the steering wheel, took control of the petals. I sat in the diver's seat and struggled to put it in gear. It slipped into reverse and we started rolling back into Cassie.

(Brake! Brake!)

Marco sat on the brake and we stopped. I wrestled the truck into first gear and Marco eased off the brake slowly so that we idled forward a bit.

(Which one's our target?) I asked as I sat up to control the wheel. My paws couldn't really grip it very well so I had to lean on it with all my weight to make it turn.

(Third one back, on the left.)

Giving Marco directions, I managed to get the truck pointed at the right support and we stopped, waiting for the others. Soon everyone was in place and Jake gave the order.

(Rachel, get out NOW!) he screamed. (Everyone else, GO!)

We were just in time. More than a dozen humans and Hork-Bajir burst out of the tunnel just as everyone leaned on their respective gas pedals and rammed into their assigned support beams. They snapped like tree limbs on collision. Marco and I tore out of the open driver's side door and ran for the far wall, reaching safety just as the ceiling started to cave in and bury the Controllers.

We'd planned it so that only about three-fourths of the building collapsed, so that we'd have enough room to avoid getting killed, but the remaining supports gave under the pressure of holding up the building alone. Only the last row remained standing, bowed in the middle to a dangerous degree and leaving us a very small safety zone near the wall. By some miracle, all six of us made it to wall in time, though Tobias was hit hard by a falling piece of ceiling.

(Everyone okay?) Jake asked, looking around to make sure. (Rachel?) he called louder. (Did you make it out?)

(Yeah, Jake. I'm fine. Hurry up and get out, before people start to notice.)

The underground room was filled with debris, a confusing pile of rubble shrouded in dust kicked up by the collapse. I half expected to hear moans from those buried in the collapse, but all I could hear was creaking wood and secondary collapses. Fortunately, the room was deep enough to have taken everything upstairs and we could see the night sky in the gap between the remaining ceiling and the top of the rubble.

Like the night before, we ran. Ran as if the devil himself was after us. Rachel was already outside and waiting for us, our left-over clothes in her arms. Together, we ran and hid in the same alley as the night before. Since it was a Sunday, there weren't many people around and no one followed us out of the ruined theatre. I tried to glance back at it as I ran but wasn't coordinated enough. But I kept listening for the sounds of pursuers behind us; the theatre remained eerily quiet.

We demorphed in the alley and Jake, Rachel and Marco changed into their clothes.

"We did it!" Marco said, barely able to keep his voice under a shout. He was looking around with a huge grin on his face. "We really did it! We pulled it off."

The others were starting to catch his giddy enthusiasm, but Jake at least remembered his job as a leader before giving in to celebration. "Is everyone okay? Tobias?"

Tobias flapped his way to the top of a dumpster and shook his wings to make them lay flat. (Yeah, I'm fine. Head's too hard to get hurt.)

Everyone just stood around grinning for a few moments before Jake finally shrugged, attempted to cover his grin with a serious expression, and said, "It's late. Let's go home."

I peaked around the corner of the alley entrance at the ruined building and Marco tapped me on the shoulder. "What's wrong, Julie?"

"Nothing. Nothing."

He grinned even wider, which I hadn't thought possible. "Come on, smile. We accomplished a mission for once. Do you know how rare this is?"

I managed a weak smile for him, but he was too excited to notice my heart wasn't in it. He just gave me an awkward one-armed hug and went back to putting his shoes on.

"Marco, you ready?" Jake was waiting just outside the alley with Rachel, throwing nervous glances at the theater. But still smiling like, well, like someone who had just survived a near-death experience.

As Marco walked away from me, Cassie called my attention to her.

"Come on, Julie. Let's go home."