Author's note: I didn't mean to do the "two Rachel chapters in a row" thing again. It just worked out that way.

Rachel

By the time we shuffled off the plane, it was pitch-dark outside. We had no trouble fading into the darkness in the confusion of people disembarking and hunting for their luggage on the tarmac. We were about a hundred yards away with only some tall grass for cover, but the lack of lights completely obscured us from view.

"Let's do it," I said. It's sort of my trademark. I began to morph to grizzly, but Marco stopped me.

"No Rachel. You can barely see in that morph. How're you going to tell people apart? I say we go wolf," he suggested.

I hated to give up my most powerful morph almost as much as I hated to admit Marco was right. We all went wolf and tracked back toward the group.

(Hey, you guys getting a whiff of this?) said Tobias, (I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like I've smelled it before.)

With my heightened sense of smell, I detected a semi-familiar scent. Oily, sort of grungy-industrial but with a tinge of something unearthly. Ax figured it out first.

(Yeerk Pool. They must intend on infesting your peers presently in this airport facility,) he said.

(Then let's go fast. It looks like everyone's off the plane already,) I said.

We barreled through the darkness, covering the distance in seconds. My sense of smell plus excellent night vision cut through the darkness like it was noon.

Chapman and the other teachers were trying to divide the class into groups. I aimed right for the assistant principal, charging through the pack of my classmates. Right away the screaming started. I lunged for Chapman and clamped onto his arm.

"Andalite!" he hissed as I knocked him to the ground. Already kids were running in random directions while we took out the chaperones.

(We have to keep the kids together! Someone herd them towards the woods!) I yelled. Chapman had pulled a Dracon beam out of somewhere. A bright red flash temporarily blinded me, and I felt a burn tear up my left side. I bit down harder and felt his arm bones crush. All around me kids were screaming and running. Pure pandemonium. All of a sudden someone kicked me in the ribcage. I kept my jaws clamped, but my body pivoted, rolling Chapman on top of me. The Dracon beam flew through the air and disappeared into the darkness. I worried his broken arm, shaking him to the ground in a fit of pain.

(Rachel where are you? We've got most of the people running in a group in the woods!) Marco yelled from far away.

Through the mess of arms, legs, and paws, I saw Melissa standing over us.

"Freeze, Andalite," she said coldly. Once I stopped thrashing her father, I could see she held a Dracon beam of her own. The shock, more than her threat, made me finally open my jaws. Melissa had been taken? When? Why didn't I know? All this time I'd been extra nice to her at school because of her father. We used to be best friends. My mind raced. Had I ever said anything to betray myself or the other Animorphs? No. No, I couldn't have. And she wasn't my friend. Not anymore.

"Now demorph. I'll give you ten seconds."

I snapped back to reality. The tarmac was almost deserted now. All the chaperones plus the kids who were already Controllers had run inside the airport building. Everyone else was running scared deep in the woods, chased to safety by my friends. Could I make a run for it? Or should I take her down? How good was her night vision? Not as good as mine. She was counting down. Chapman lay between us, incapacitated. I just stood there, growling.

"Three…two….on—" Suddenly she pitched forward. Out of nowhere another wolf tackled her from behind.

(Run!) yelled Tobias. He didn't have to ask twice. The two of us hauled tail towards the wooded mountains. A few seconds later Dracon beams sliced through the air, missing by millimeters. Apparently her night vision was ok after all. We ran and ran, but the human Controller couldn't give chase.

After awhile we met up with Marco, Ax, and the class. We demorphed and approached the panicky, exhausted group in a clearing surrounded by pine trees. Some people were crying. Others were trying to get signals on their phones. Some had escaped with their backpacks and were sharing candy bars and snack food. Everyone was too shocked to do anything.

I plopped down next to Ax, in his Cassie form once more.

"Well, that was pretty successful," I said, still a little jazzed from the fight. "We saved the class."

"Yeah, Xena, but that was only half the goal," said Marco wearily. "We were supposed to destroy that compound too. And how the hell are we going to lead dozens of scared kids out of these woods? And where would we even go?"

I had been riding the high of a successful skirmish, but suddenly I came crashing down. This is where Jake would've stepped in and told us the plan. This is where I could relax and just take orders.

But Jake wasn't here. And I had no idea what to do next.