"So, I found you, Tara."

"Go away," Tara said, backing up. "Get outta here!"

The blond boy reached to his belt and pulled out his Dracon beam.

"Come on, now, little miss Tara. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, to use that despicably human expression. And I don't think you want to do it the hard way. It would scar that pretty little face of yours. We all know how you don't want that pretty face scared."

Tara was shaking. Terrified. James and Jesse didn't know what was going on, but they did know that they were in way over their heads.

We're up shit creek without a paddle… Jesse thought. He noticed that James was looking at him as if for instruction. Wonderful, he was in charge now?

"Protect the girl," he muttered. "She's important to this whole equation somehow…"

"I'll explain everything if you guys get me out of this mess, too," the girl named Tara muttered.

No real option, here, Jesse found himself thinking. It's live or die. We already put our necks out there to keep her safe. We'll die if she does now.

He nodded at James. Time to play hero, he supposed.

"I found them!" the guy who recognized Tara shouted. "I found Tara and-"

Tara tackled him at that, effectively silencing him.

"Grab him!" she shrieked, holding him down despite his bucking and rolling. "We can't let him go now!"

James ran inside her hut as Jesse went to help Tara hold the guy down. He was shouting what Jesse could only assume was cursing in some weird language.

"Oh, shut up…" Tara muttered, cramming some leaves into his mouth, effectively muffling him. James then ran outside with some rope.

"Give it," Jesse directed and proceeded to tie the guy on the ground up with his arms behind his tied a cord around his mouth after pulling the leaves out.

"We took too much time," Tara said when they heard faint voices in the woods below them. "They're onto us."

"We're gonna have to take this moron," James said.

Tara nodded.

"Hear that, ya damn Yeerk? We're gonna take you with us."

"What is a-"

"No time. Let's go."

Two days later.

He was writhing on the ground deep in an underground cavern underground. He'd been that way for a few hours now. Tara swore that the Yeerk was dying, but with this guy crying out in pain, it was hard to believe.

Inside his own head, Alfred watched in half-horror, half relief as the Yeerk slowly starved to death. He had started gaining some control of his body back, little by little. At the moment, all he could do was move his eyes, but that was enough to find what was going on. Glancing to his left, he was Tara keeping half an eye on him and watching a movie on he laptop. Noise-cancelling earbuds effectively blocked out his moans and cries of pain. Knowing Tara, it was probably some weird kids movie.

She glanced at him. She seemed to melt a bit.

"Alfred, you're there, right?" she asked, tugging the earbuds out. "Well, hell, I know you can't answer that, but here, watch this." She pulled on the cord and it came out of the earphone jack. Clicking play on her media player, Alfred found out she was right.

Typical Tara… he thought, watching some characters from the Animaniacs singing about a "Wishing Star." But even if it was childish, it was something to watch. The Yeerk even took a bit of comfort in it. His hunger was raging and unstable, but the movie at least distracted him. No doubt Tara knew that, but it was a trade-off she was willing to do.

He glanced up at Tara. Even now, her face dirty and sleep-deprived, she had a determined look to her. Her hair, so blond it was white, hung languid in her face and she looked as if she'd lost weight since he'd last seen her.

Sailing through the slush,

In a wind-blown sled,

Down the road we mush,

Dot is still in bed.

I'm getting really bored,

I've read this magazine,

If we don't get there soon,

I think I'm gonna scream!

Oh, Wishing Star, from above,

Dot is getting worse!

Be a sport and grant our wish

Or we'll sing another verse!"

At least, that was what he thought they were saying. He had never been able to keep up with the Animaniacs singing speed.

An hour later, the Yeerk crawled out of his ear and shriveled up and died.

"That's some story," I said. "But not really that long."

"Well… I guess it took longer in real life…" Jesse muttered, looking a bit embarrassed. "So, yeah. Ending of the story short, Al joined up with us because of Tara."

"I knew there was more to her," Marco said. "No guy is even lucky enough to just meet a girl randomly and have her team up with him."

"She needed our help," Albert said. "She used to be a controller. She needed us to protect her… because if we didn't, who would?"

"She used you," I said.

"Yes, she did use us," Jesse allowed. "She used us and manipulated us. But she never lied."

"She didn't exactly tell the truth, either…" James muttered.

"She omitted the things. She didn't lie." Jesse asserted. "She just… didn't tell the whole truth is all. She's never lied to us. And she was scared at the beginning."

"Yeah, but Al would side with her," James said. "He-"

"Shut up, James! It's not your business. Or your place to tell!"

"I walked in on them screwing each other," James said, rolling his eyes. "And saying they loved each other and all that. They were together when he was a controller himself. We never thought they actually liked each other, though, after he was freed."

With a howl, Albert leapt at James. Jesse caught him and pulled him away before his hands could reach the guy's throat.

"She's a bitch," James said, jerking away and straightening his clothes. "But you're worse, Al. You know she is, and you still side with her. Still fuck her and go to pick her up when she's stranded somewhere in the middle of the night."

"Yeah, and ya know what, James, you fucking bastard? I love him." Tara said, coming out of the woods with a grinning Rachel behind her. Rachel would like that, too. God only knows she was the master of manipulation. Or, at least, she usually managed to get what she wanted. She'd certainly managed to snag Tobias.

When I looked at her, gone was the image of the terrified girl that I'd held only a few minutes ago. Now what I saw was a strong young woman who had seen way too much, and who had been through way too much pain in her short life. In her hand she held onto a small purse that I recognized as the bag Rachel used a few years back.

Tobias flew in and roosted in a tree.

James had lost his bravado when Tara slauntered into the clearing, and if I didn't know better, I'd say he was afraid of her.

"And ya know, that wasn't really fair. Al always liked me, even when he was a controller. And that Yeerk decided to play on that. I guess it was easier to pluck it from his mind what he wanted to do to me instead of coming up with it on his own."

"And I never touched her. Not until I was free."

Tara nodded. But I still got the feeling there was something they weren't telling.

A/N: Like? Hate? Need to get on with the damn story? Well, yes to the last. But besides that, I'll get on with it, I swear! After Christmas… Because I've got a few projects to squish into the next five days, and on top of that all I have surgery on my knee…