Author's Note: Ok, I had a LOT of trouble writing this chapter.
Jake
Bang Bang Bang
I woke up with a jolt. Yeerks! No wait. Someone knocking on a door. Next to me, Cassie sighed and rolled over, muttering in her fever-addled dreams. I must have fallen asleep at Cassie's house. What time was it?
"Cassie? You decent?"
Crap! Cassie's dad! I did not want to have to explain why I was in her bed. Time to go now. I jumped up and scrambled for the window, knocking over her nightstand along the way.
"You ok, Cass?" her dad said at the sound of the crash. I heard the door start to creak open. No time to morph! I dived for the window and...
Whack!
…landed in the bushes two stories below. "Oww," I moaned to myself quietly. Cassie's dad popped his head out the window and scanned the yard. I kept my head down until he went back inside. As if Yeerks weren't enough to worry about, I complained to myself as I limped away. Just scratches and bruises, luckily. I morphed my falcon and flew home. I had a few hours before Tom and my parents got back, so I figured I'd call and check in on Rachel and the others.
I grabbed a sandwich from the 'fridge and searched my room for my cell phone. My dad had gotten me one for my last birthday. It was supposed to be for emergencies only. Ha. If only he knew how many emergencies I faced on a weekly basis. There was a missed call. I listened to the message. It started as Rachel, but then I could hear her arguing with someone. An adult man, by the sound of it. Chapman, maybe?
I tried calling her back, but she wasn't answering. A pang of concern shot through me. I considered asking Erek King if he could track down where the cell phone was but thought better of it. Rachel would call again if they were really in trouble. I heard the front door slam downstairs. Weird. Tom wasn't supposed to be back yet. I walked silently to the top of the stairs. If it was Tom, I wanted to spy on him. If it was my parents, I was supposed to be in school still.
I heard Tom talking in the kitchen. "Yes sir, I understand completely," he said.
Someone male responded in a low voice. It just sounded like mumbling from where I was. I risked moving down the stairs. There wasn't time to morph, and I didn't want to miss anything. I edged along the wall until I was just outside the kitchen doorway.
"Just be sure that it is done. The authorization for this nonsense has been revoked by the Visser," the unknown man said.
"Of course. What would we want with a bunch of snotty children?" said Tom.
"The potential hosts have nothing to do with it. Chapman is an ambitious idiot looking to show off for the Counsel. Such a mass infestation is almost certain to fail. There are countless unknowns: Visser One and her traitorous followers, the Andalite bandits, Chapman's incompetence. The Visser cannot allow this while the Counsel members are here. Just take care of the whole group."
"Even the students? There will be questions…" Tom said.
"That is not my problem or yours."
"Isn't it? If the Visser is prepared to sacrifice even Chapman, who knows who might be next?"
The voices were getting louder as Tom and the guy walked closer to me. I dashed away as stealthily as I could. From behind a potted plant at the top of the stairs I saw the man. I tried to make a mental picture of him so I could remember him as a known Controller later, but he was pretty nondescript. Sort of tall, brown hair, suit and briefcase. Everything about him screamed "average."
"You understand that if you cannot handle this situation, the Visser will get involved personally. You do not want to take him away from chauffeuring the Counsel members around our facilities," he said. He turned and walked out the door without allowing Tom to answer.
I slinked back to my room to digest this new information. Obviously this was why Rachel called. Now Tom was involved, but what was my plan here? If I stopped Tom, Chapman might infest my friends, and my brother might be killed for failing in his mission. If I didn't stop him, Chapman and the whole class might die. There was no telling what would happen in any contingency. I sighed and reached for my jacket. This was a situation I'd been in too many times. Every victory for us put Tom at risk. Every Controller we killed was someone's son or daughter dead.
I shook off my morbid thoughts and headed for Erek's house. A quick check with the android confirmed my suspicions—they weren't in DC. But I couldn't go charging off across the country to the middle of nowhere. First, I wasn't even sure they needed my help. And then there was Visser Three. If he was entertaining Yeerk VIPs here at home, that was a huge opportunity. I realized I'd come to a stop on the sidewalk. My head was spinning. So many weights and balances. I suddenly felt very alone without my friends here. Finally I made a decision.
A couple of morphs and a fast flight later, and I was standing on Cassie's porch. Better to go through the front door this time. I rang the doorbell.
"Hello Jake," Cassie's dad said ominously. He opened the screen door. Was it my imagination or was he giving me the evil eye?
"Hi sir," I mumbled. Gulp. Suddenly facing Tom, Visser Three, Chapman, and the entire Council of Thirteen didn't seem so scary.