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I don't own Animorphs.

CHAPTER 2

"What do you mean?" I asked, seriously hoping this wouldn't take too long because already the bed was calling me, telling me that I needed sleep.

"You, Tobias. You've changed. And don't you dare tell me that that's normal teenage behavior." He gave me a look, and I snapped my mouth shut when he anticipated my response. Well, okay then. "Yeah, teenagers are idiots. They rebel, they do stupid things, and they change. But they don't transform into totally different people. You have."

The truth is, that comment bothered me. It bothered me a little too much because it was true. My dad and I have always been close. Before the war started I would tell him everything. And yeah, it may sound cliché and everything, but above Erek and before the Animorphs my dad was my best friend. Heck, once the war started it was torture not to break down crying and tell my dad everything. About the Yeerks. About the war. About how I woke and went to bed terrified and scared and had to stop myself from screaming and breaking down into hysterics because my life had turned into a complete nightmare. Worse, because other people's nightmares weren't real.

So yeah, that comment stung. It opened up thoughts and insecurities that I had tried my hardest to keep down. It wasn't fair, really. I had tried my hardest to survive this stupid war and to keep my sanity intact. Yet, here came my dad telling me that the old Tobias was dead and gone. In his place was a killer. A warrior. Not a nice bedtime thought.

"Dad, look, I'm sorry. I really am. If this is about the party… Can't you just ground me so that we can move on?" Again, my voice was pleading.

"The party excuse is a lie, and you know it." That snapped me out of my thoughts.

"What?"

"Who goes to a party in spandex and barefoot?" Crap. Forget I said anything about knowing how to lie.

"It was a pool party," I lied. "My shoes got wet so I had to leave them behind."

"Right. And what parent let's their kid have a party on a school night?" You know, there were a lot of faults with my pathetic excuse of a lie. I think my mom was just too mad to think clearly and figure it out.

"You're not gonna make me go on an unexpected trip again, are you?" I asked.

A while ago my parents and I had gotten into a heated argument about how I was never home, and about how much I'd changed, and about what had gotten into me lately. It got to the point where they shoved into the car and drove me to the doctor to make sure I wasn't on any drugs or anything. I wasn't. However, the next day after school, I got home and my parents shoved me into the car yet again and we drove to the middle of nowhere and stayed there camping for four days. I wasn't allowed to tell anyone I was leaving and my bags where ready when I got home so we weren't in the house long enough for me to protest. When we finally got home, my friends nearly killed me because they thought I had gotten captured by the Yeerks or something and they were worried sick. My parents told the school there was a family emergency afterwards and told me we just needed bonding time. If I didn't know better, I would have reached the conclusions that they were trying to starve a Yeerk out of my head.

But my parents didn't know anything about the Yeerks, and I would make sure it stayed that way through any means necessary. I would never let them be taken by those filthy slugs. Never.

He sighed. "Look, I'm not going to make you tell me the truth, but- Is that blood on your arm?" He took my arm in his hand, and yes, there was blood in my arm. A few choice words swirled around in my head, but I didn't say anything out loud. Apparently, some blood had remained on me from my cougar morph.

"I brushed my arm against the tree. It's nothing." My dad looked straight into my eyes, and I tried my best not to squirm. He let my arm go.

"Alright," he said slowly, but it was clear he didn't believe me. "But you do know you're grounded, right?" I nodded. "Two months."

"What!? Dad, you can't-"

"Do you want to make that three?" I shut up. "You should have thought about the consequences before sneaking out and then lying about where you'd been."

"But I wasn't lying!" He glared at me.

"Two months and a half. Really Tobias, stop justifying yourself. You're just making and worse. Two months and a half without mall, TV, videogames, no going over to friend's houses and…"

"There's an and?"

"And I'll be driving you to and from school. Since I can't miss work, and there's no way I'm leaving you home alone after the stunt you just pulled, you'll be at my work helping me out after school."

"Do I get a paycheck?"

"Sure. It'll be used to pay someone to board up your window and fix your ruined door." I glared.

"What if there's a fire and I need to get out through my window?"

"Well, in that case, you'll die a horrible and painful death." I was totally feeling the love.

"And if I'm assigned a project and have to do that with a classmate?"

"You can do that here. There's no way out of it, Tobe. You're grounded." He walked out of my room then turned around. "You still need to go to school tomorrow and wake up at six. Sweet dreams." He turned off the lights, and I fell on my bed plotting an escape route and coming up with very limited options. Well, I could make a Chee take my punishment and return to my house in two and a half months. That way, my parents would have a perfect child, and humanity wouldn't suffer mortal consequences because one of its saviors was stuck in his room.

Saving the world just got more difficult.