The day did not begin on a good note. Firstly, I had to walk back to The Hole from the forest, because the buses weren't running that early, and flying into my home in bird form would look strange, considering the Drug Lords are awake at this time. Secondly, by the time I got to the road that led to The Hole, several hours later, Jake was there, waiting for me. How long he was there I couldn't guess, but I know Tobias was the one who told him what happened the previous night.

As soon as I got within earshot, Jake snapped, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?" I stopped walking to stand in front of him. Without realizing it, I had adapted a pose I usually had when Visser Three spoke to me: my shoulders back, my head up, my expression emotionless. It was a pose I deemed respectable for my leader.

I guess I really did consider Jake my leader now.

"I'm talking about last night. You could have easily avoided a confrontation. What were you trying to prove?"

"They were setting up traps. I got them to dismantle them."

"But now they know there are Andalites there."

"You're telling me they didn't before?"

He sighed. "I'm just trying to keep the Yeerks on their toes."

"It's easy to do that, considering who their leader is."

We both said nothing for a while. Then, Jake rubbed the back of his head and sighed again. "Look; adjusting to a new person, who has new and unfamiliar quirks, is difficult. I know you're used to doing things differently from us, but I guess we both have to adapt."

"I see why you're the leader," I said. "You face a problem and always maintain a cool head."

"And this is also why you shouldn't make decisions on your own," he said, rather coldly. "You just jump into things without thinking. Doing that could get someone hurt, or worse."

"With all due respect, sir, I have been leading armies since I was five. I know how to make quick decisions. What seems like irrationality to you is just a quickly formulated plan."

"Whatever. The point is, if you're going to fight along side us, just try to get us involved in your quick decisions so we can all be on the same page, alright?"

"Alright."

"And another thing: did you just call me 'sir'?"

I smirked. "Sorry; force of habit."

He grinned as well. "Try to break that habit, okay? It's bad enough Ax calls me 'Prince'."

I had to laugh at that: my brother calling a human 'Prince'. Jake must have been a better leader than I gave him credit for if Aximili is giving him such a compliment. When I finished, I asked, "May I go home now? I'm rather tired."

"Yeah, whatever. By the way: do you have a phone number, in case we need to reach you for emergencies?"

"I'm one of the only kids in The Hole with her own phone line. The old lady trusts me far too much than she should." I wrote down my number on a piece of paper Jake provided me, with a pen he also gave to me. "Also, the lines are most definitely tapped, so just be careful what you say."

"That won't be a problem." We parted ways from there. I started to walk back to The Hole, but part way there, I decided I really didn't want to go home just yet. What would I do there? Sleep, homework, dodge stupid, misguided kids… No, I wanted to do other things first.

I found myself heading to the mall. I've only been in there a few times, but this time I would explore it more. The doors opened instantly for me, and then the noises, smells and sights of the mall hit me. I remembered why I hated the mall.

"Sarah!" I heard a voice. I looked around and felt a tap on my shoulder. On pure instinct alone, I turned around, grabbed the wrist of the hand that tapped me and twisted. "Ow! Let me go will you?!"

It was Cassie. I let go instantly. "Sorry," I said, "I don't like people sneaking up on me."

"I can tell." She was rubbing her wrist. "What brings you to the mall?"

"Curiosity, mostly."

"Oh, well, I'm here with Rachel. She's at The Gap right now. I was just going to the washroom quickly. Come on!" She took my arm and led me to The Gap. Her pulling me was unnecessary, but she didn't let me go until we entered the store. She pointed out Rachel, who was looking over a rather attractive, expensive garment. We walked over to her.

"Hi, Rachel!" Cassie greeted. Rachel was quick to sneer at me.

"I see you brought your friend," she said to Cassie, while staring at me.

"Yeah, and I never knew you'd be able to afford something like that," I replied, nodding at the garment she held in her hands.

"Well, at least I know good taste when I see it. You look like to need a make-over. What you're wearing is worse than Cassie."

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult," Cassie muttered. She and Rachel snickered. I rolled my eyes.

"Come on," said Rachel. She motioned me to follow her. She grabbed a few things from a rack, scoffed, put them back, and repeated that process for the next twenty minutes.

When she finally found something, she held it up to me, nodded approval and said, "Try that on."

"I'd rather not."

"You wanna look like garbage your whole life?"

"And this isn't garbage?"

"If Rachel picks it," Cassie said, "then it isn't garbage."

"Fine." I took the outfit she handed me and proceeded to the dressing room. The clothes were a tight fit, but I did get them on. I walked out of the room and Rachel was looking smug and happy.

"I told you I could make her look good," she said to Cassie. "Now we just need to do something about your hair."

"Why do I have to put up with this?" I asked.

"That's what happens when you go into the mall at the same time as Rachel," Cassie pointed out. After paying for the clothes Rachel picked out for me, which used up a great deal of my allowance, I allowed them to drag me to various places in the mall, including hair salons, nail salons, other clothing stores, accessory shops… I felt very ridiculous, but with every place we left, Rachel was more and more happy.

She would take me to mirrors all over the mall and I realized that I really did look a lot better. My rugged edge was still present, but at least the new clothes, hair, and accessories made me look like a real person.

"I bet if we showed you to Jake and Marco they'd totally not recognize you," Rachel said.

"Especially if she smiled at them," Cassie added.

"Let's grab some food."

"You guys used up all my money," I muttered.

"Then we'll buy you lunch."

"It's lunch time already?" I asked, shocked.

"Yup. Time flies when you're having fun, huh?" Rachel said. She and Cassie took me to the food court and bought me a giant burger with a large order of fries. When we sat down to eat, I almost wolfed down the fries.

"Hungry much?" Cassie asked.

"I haven't eaten all day," I said. "I was up very early this morning."

"We know; Tobias told us." I glared at them. Only Rachel glared back.

"Are all my movements to be reported?"

"You're new, so until we know for sure we can trust you, yes; your movements will be reported."

"I see. So even though you accepted me into this group, I'm still not a part of it?"

"Not until we trust you."

"I trust you, Sarah," Cassie interjected.

I sighed. "Don't worry about it; I'd do the same in your position."

We ate in silence for a while. "So; what's it like looking like a girl instead of a drowned rat?" Rachel asked.

"Different."

"At least you let me make you over." She looked at Cassie, who laughed.

"I like the way I look just fine," she said.

"I can make you look irresistible." They laughed again. I just smirked.

When I finished my burger, someone came up to us: someone who was neither Jake nor Marco. I looked up at this boy questioningly.

"Hello," he said to us. His gaze included all of us, but rested on me just as confusingly as I did him.

"Hi, Erek," Cassie greeted, a little wearingly. Rachel just nodded. Neither of them was smiling. They both looked rather uncomfortable, actually.

The boy, Erek, actually looked a little sad, but he replied, "What's up?"

"This is Sarah," Rachel said, finally.

"Hello, Sarah." I just nodded at him. He cleared his throat. "Actually I was wondering if I could talk to you two alone." He looked at Rachel and Cassie. "It's about our math homework."

Almost as if ignoring him, Cassie introduced me to Erek. "Sarah, this is Erek. He's a Chee."

Erek was taken aback and kind of gasped. I just said, "A what?"

"It's a long, long story."

"Can-Can you guys explain a little more?" Erek requested.

"That's another long, long story," Rachel said.

"What did you want to tell us?" Cassie asked. The two of them looked so serious. Whoever this Erek was, he must have been either powerful or some other kind of influence.

Erek sat down at our table. He analyzed me for a moment before speaking again. "Can I trust you?"

"I trust her," said Cassie, instantly. "That should be good enough."

He sighed. "Alright. I'll have to talk about this with Jake later." I felt and saw the lighting shimmer a bit, and Erek completely changed his appearance. He wasn't a human kid anymore: he looked more like a robotic dog that could stand up. Though on the outside my expression and body movements were unchanged, on the inside, I jumped.

But the people around us in the food court just walked on passed. In fact, their voices had dimmed considerably. I looked at Erek with a raised eyebrow, waiting for an explanation. "As you probably have guessed, I'm an android," Erek explained. It was a little weird hearing a voice come out of a robot. "And I extended my hologram around us. As far as everyone else is concerned, we're talking about the math homework."

"Very impressive," I said, sincerely. "I would be interested in learning more about your race, when there's time to do so."

Erek smiled at me, which was another feat I wouldn't have expected from him. "Anyway, there is a serious manner in which I come to you."

"It usually is," Rachel muttered.

Erek's face went grim. "Tobias came to tell me earlier this morning. He was actually going to Jake's, but found me first. I went to your house first -" he nodded towards Rachel, "- but your mother told me you were at the mall, so here I am. And I found both of you. Or, I guess, the three of you." He looked at me. "We'll have to be more properly introduced later."

"Stop beating around the bush and tell us why you're here," Rachel demanded. Cassie just sat quietly. I was analyzing Erek intently. From what I gathered so far, I guessed Erek was their sort of messenger, although that may have only been half the truth. He seemed more powerful than that.

Erek cleared his throat and tried his best to avoid eye contact with any of us. "I assume Jake's going to tell Marco -"

"What?!" Rachel practically exploded.

"Rachel, calm down!" Cassie snapped.

"Alright, I'm sorry. I just don't know the easiest way to say this, okay?" Erek said. Rachel instantly calmed down. I figured Erek doesn't get this down very often. He cleared his throat. "Tobias told me the story of what happened last night, where those two Controllers set up traps for Andalites in the forest."

I sat up straighter and glared at Erek. He better not be saying what I think he's saying. "We dismantled all five of them," I said.

Erek looked at me. "Oh; Tobias didn't say you were there."

I sneered. "Of course he didn't. I'm still not technically part of this group. No one except Cassie trusts me."

"Ax trusts you, too," Cassie pointed out.

"Uh, speaking of Ax," Erek whispered. All three heads turned to him in silent unison. Erek just avoided us altogether by turning his head to the side. "Apparently there were six traps, not five."

"WHAT?!" I roared. I grabbed Erek by what would normally be the collar, but of course, my hands grabbed nothing. Therefore, I just grabbed his neck and squeezed as hard as I could. He was made of metal, so even that was a futile attempt, but it proved my point. "If you value your life, you will not tell me what I know you're going to say next!"

"You can't kill me, Sarah," Erek said calmly, making no effort to push me away. "And if you don't want me to say it, then I won't. You already know what happened."

"How can you speak so calmly about the capture of my brother?!"

He looked at me with as much confusion as an android could muster. "Your what?"

"Long story," Rachel said, quickly, already standing up. Cassie was still sitting, hand to her mouth in disbelief. "What are we going to do? Where is he held? What's happening?"

"I was in the Yeerk Pool a few hours ago, when the two Controllers came with Ax in tow, bragging about what happened. When I left, I was heading to Jake's place, and Tobias filled in what the Yeerks missed. Tobias told me to get you guys and meet by his tree as soon as possible."

I was still holding Erek's neck. I kept squeezing harder and harder, making no damage to the android, but much to my hands. My eyes were tearing up, but not with sadness: with rage. If Aximili was in the Yeerk Pool, then to the Yeerk Pool I shall go…