‹Prince Jake says to meet at the barn tonight,› I heard Ax thought-speak to Tobias, Rachel, and Cassie as they flew away from the convention center, following this apparently rogue Controller across town.

After realizing the bathroom was empty, Ax, Marco, and I had worked our way back through the conference room and out the entrance doors, only to see the rest of our group in the distance, using bird morphs to track our Yeerk.

"Ax, I don't like having a morph-capable Yeerk on the loose," I said. "And the way Tobias described his possible plans...this is getting pretty serious pretty quickly."

"Yes, Prince Jake," Ax replied. "I have not heard of the morphing power being used in this way. Andalites have not explored it to this extent. On my home world, for example, warriors who get injured in battle do not use morphing to heal injuries. They just go on with a missing eyestalk, or gashed flank. It is a sign of honor."

"What?" Marco asked. "I noticed that when we dealt with the Leeran planet, but didn't connect that point. Isn't that kind of ridiculous?"

"Morphing is new," Ax answered defensively. "Everyone has their own ways of exploring how to utilize the technology."

"Is not using it really a 'way of exploring'?" Marco continued, sounding exasperated. "Let's summarize, here. This Yeerk has a piece of morphing technology. That's bad. He was controlling a guy named Dave, and forced him to morph into a duplicate Yeerk. That's…confusing. Then he used his new Yeerk body to take over another person. Is he going to keep doing this? What happens to the…"

Marco's eyes widened.

"He's trapping humans as nothlit Yeerks," he said, looking visibly shaken.

"This is a disgusting use of our technology," Ax agreed, sounding outraged. "Marco's right, each human this Yeerk takes is being trapped in a continuing chain of Controllers."

"Wouldn't he need to visit the Yeerk pool at some point?" I asked. "Doesn't he still need Kandrona?"

"Well," Marco said slowly as he thought through this point. "When we morph, we aren't immediately starving, outside of some animal instincts or whatever. By the time his newest Yeerk morph gets hungry for Kandrona, his host has already turned into a Yeerk, resetting the process, and…"

Marco trailed off.

"This is rough, man," I said. "I'm not sure what even happens to the Yeerk that controls each body that is turning into another Yeerk. When I was a Controller, so long ago, and I turned into a bug, the Yeerk didn't explode out of my head. But when we were sharks that tracking device in our heads was excruciating when we got small. What gives?"

"Perhaps we do not know how that aspect works, other than the fact that the Yeerk maintains control and is okay," Ax said. "Okay. Okay. Kay, kayyyyyy.

"Ax," Marco warned.

"Ah, yes, thank you, Marco," Ax continued. "If the Yeerk's mass goes into Z-space as well during a morph, perhaps Kandrona is not necessary to keep it alive. I am not an Andalite scientist, so I can only speculate. Ate."

"Can you image the giant hunk of every-growing morph excess that's being pushed into Z-space?" I wondered aloud.

The three of us stared at each other in silence.

"Prince Jake, perhaps we need more assistance with this matter," Ax said after a moment. "Might I suggest the Chee?"

"Great call," I answered. "Marco? Think you can go track down Erek for me?"

"Sure thing, Jake," Marco replied. "It'd be nice to hang out with my dad, if he's there."

We hid in a space behind the convention center, and soon we were three seagulls in the air, hoping this morph was less obvious to the birdwatching convention. Marco peeled off, and soon it was just Ax and I, headed toward Cassie's barn.

‹So, Ax, this Controller is forcing humans to go Yeerk and get trapped,› I continued. ‹And then he's forcing each upcoming host to acquire his Yeerk self? You can acquire nothlits?›

‹Yes,› Ax answered. ‹Once a morpher is trapped, they really are that animal, as far as DNA is considered.›

‹Wild,› I said, and we continued on, flapping in silence.

Suddenly, just ahead of us and at our level in the sky, was a small figure. From far away it looked like another bird.

‹Heads up, Ax,› I warned. ‹These seagull morphs aren't really good at fighting.›

As we got closer, the shape came more into view. It wasn't a bird at all. It was hard to explain, but I was looking at the Drode, and he was working his way directly out of the fabric of the sky as easily as if he had been untangling himself from some bedsheets. Half of his body was still concealed within blue as he squeezed out of the sky itself.

‹Ax, we've got trouble,› I said. I looked over to him. Ax was frozen in mid-air, wings up and ready to power his bird body another few feet. I looked back at the Drode. He was smiling his green-rimmed smile.

"Hello, Jake the Yeerk-Killer," he grinned. "Did you miss me?"

And suddenly, we were no longer in the sky. I was a bit nervous. I wished I at least had Rachel with me. For backup, that is.

"It's been too long, Jakey-boy," the Drode drawled. "Tell me, do you ever plan on winning this war? Or do you just want to play soldier forever because you can't do anything else worthwhile?"

I ignored the Drode's words, but could not ignore the figure looming behind him.

It stared at me with a single, large, fiery eye.

Crayak.

"What do you want, Crayak?" I asked, sounding braver than I felt. I realized in the vast emptiness we were in, I had been demorphed without realizing it.

"Me? I don't want anything, Jake," he answered, with a hint of laughter. "You know I cannot interfere, just like that fool Ellimist."

"Little Jake, did we interrupt your quest?" the Drode mocked.

"Well, we are kind of in the middle—" I began.

"I KNOW," Crayak boomed, his eye glowing brightly.

"Jake, don't you think we keep tabs on every new being that tries to become an all-powerful god?" asked the Drode, dropping the sarcastic act. "This actually happens far too often. It's a big universe out there; we are still trying to figure out who interfered with you a few weeks ago, showing you a Yeerk-filled Earth future timeline, not that it is really your concern."

He brought back his ugly personality and whined, "Remember that, Jakey? Did you think it was a bad dream?"

"Enough," Crayak said to the Drode, continuing to stare at me. "I have grown tired of you so-called Animorphs, but the Drode is correct. We don't need another creature accumulating multiple minds, running amok with power he cannot control and should not possess."

My mind was reeling. Help from Crayak? No way.

"I want you dead, Jake," Crayak said bluntly. "But I want this Yeerk, this Zenguh, dead even more. I've indirectly tipped off the Yeerks as to this situation. So, you may get a little bit of help. Now, if you destroy each other in the process..."

I swear somehow the single eye was smiling.

"What's that stupid human phrase again?" the Drode piped up. "'The enemy of my enemy is my friend?' Good luck!"

And just like that, I was back in the sky, flapping like mad with Ax toward the barn.