Disclaimer: Wow, this is late... but if I were Applegate, Alex probably would have been in the books and you'd all be writing about her... Bwahahaha.

Chapter 7

I was awake for a very long time after that. It wasn't that I was scared anymore, I had overcome that the moment I was brought into the sleepover atmosphere. Now I was completely awake because I was trying to figure out how to use what I knew to my advantage. How was I supposed to tell them what happens?

One thing was for sure: they definitely wouldn't like me if I told them the truth. How was I supposed to tell them that their worst fears would be realized? How was I supposed to tell Rachel? Heck, how was I supposed to tell Tobias?

Eventually I fell into a restless sleep.

When I woke up, the fragments of a nightmare were slipping away like water between my fingers. I was sweating and shaky, and I found myself holding my shoulders as if my arms were about to fall off.

"Good morning," Cassie said. On her clock the numbers read six-thirty.

I rubbed my eyes sleepily. "Why are we up so early?" I asked.

"I thought you'd want a shower," Cassie said, "then we need to catch the bus."

I yawned. "Can't we fly?" I said quietly.

She looked at me. "Of course not."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because I'd rather not do any more lying than I have to," she said a litle more harshly than I had expected from her. "Towels are in the hall closet," she said shortly, and I didn't ask anything else.

I showered and dressed in the same clothes I had worn the last two days. We ate breakfast in near silence. Usually I'm a very chatty person, but I felt like Cassie was above me, like she was a queen that I shouldn't speak to unless she invited me to. That didn't stop me from feeling increasingly uncofortable with every passing moment of silence. I had expected Cassie and I to talk a lot about animals and go horseback riding together. I wanted to morph into as many animals as I could, but here I was, going to school with Cassie, by bus nonetheless.

Only once we were at the bus stop did Cassie actually say anything to me.

"Tobias will meet you when we get into town. I'll tell everybody that you're my friend from Vegas and you're just catching a ride into town. Follow Tobias and he and Ax will take you shopping. You'll need some more clothes and we have a stash of emergency money."

I already knew how this would turn out. Funny, I remembered more and more about the story the longer I spent around Cassie. It was like she might have been giving me hints, though I'm sure it was really just clusters of memory and every time I was reminded of one thing, it brang an entire mental picture to mind. In this instance, the word "mall" brought up an image of Aximili screaming something about cinnamon buns in the food court. I smiled. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked.

Cassie smiled for the first time that morning. "It's so weird that you just know." The bus came around the corner and started it's seemingly snail-paced voyage to where we stood. Cassie had an amused look on her face. "Of course it's a bad idea, just try to keep him away from the food court."

"Sounds easy enough."

Cassie raised an eyebrow. "You'd be surprised."

The bus slowed and stopped in front of us and Cassie smiled at the driver as she got on. The driver didn't so much as look at me, even when I tripped over her bag that was partially tucked under her seat.

It was strange to see all these people and know that they interacted with THE Animorphs on a daily basis and didn't even realize it. I sat down beside Cassie in an empty seat.

"Don't do anything to attract attention," she hissed under her breath just before the people in the seat in front of us turned around. They were very obviously a couple.

"Hey Cassie," the girl cheerily. She noticed me and stuck her hand over the seat to shake mine. "I'm Laura," she said. Her boyfriend just smiled quietly. He had almost an air of impatience and superiority about him.

"Alex," I said, taking her hand. "Nice to meet you." I found myself stealing glances at her boyfriend, who had quite obviously lost interest in the conversation and was now looking around the bus as if he were looking for someone.

"So are you new here?" Laura asked.

"No," Cassie said. "She's just visiting."

"From Vegas," I said helpfully.

"Cool," she said. "Never been, but I've heard so much about it."

"Yeah, it's a pretty crazy place," I said.

"Are you gonna come to school today then?" she asked.

"No," I recited, "I'm just catching a ride into town."

"Cool. Hey, you know after school's out you guys should come by the Sharing."

My heart gave a jolt. She was in the Sharing? Did that mean?

"We'll be sure to," Cassidy said after realizing that I wasn't about to talk.

Laura continued. "You really should join. I bet there's a branch in Vegas. I mean, as great as being just a normal member is, being a full member is just amazing! We get to go on these trips to all sorts of cool places." She rattled on about how great it was for the rest of the bus ride, and if I hadn't known what it really was, I probably would have been ready to join.

Fortunately, I did know. It made me feel nauseous. I hadn't thought about it before, but now as I looked around the bus, I realized how many of them might be battling with a yeerk at that moment, struggling to tell their friends what was really happening. If I'd had to guess, I'd have thought it was her boyfriend that was a yeerk, but as the conversation went on and it was mentioned that she was upset about him not wanting to have anything to do with the Sharing, the truth became obvious. There was an invasion going on. A real one. There was no more "it's just a book" nonsense. The human race was really being enslaved one by one. A sick image flashed across my mind. I saw a deserted Earth, with none of the majesty of rainforests or any forests at all. People were there, in cages they would never hope to escape, and every once in a while, a hork-bajir would come in and grab a struggling person. It wouldn't pay any notice to the person's screamed insults and feverent attempts to come loose from its grasp. And when it reached the pool, it would grab the back of their head mercilessly and—

"Alex?" Cassie asked. She was standing in front of me. I had been so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't even noticed that the bus had stopped and emptied. "Are you coming?"

That had never actually happened to me before. You would have thought I had noticed that the bus had emptied, but I didn't. It was the kind of thing you read about or saw in the movies but never actually experienced. But I did.

((Okay Alex, to your left,)) a voice said. I was startled, but I think I did a pretty good job of covering it up.

"Bye Cassie," I called and turned to my left. I looked up and after shielding my eyes I could see Tobias floating far above. I remembered my experience flying in the night and thought about how much better it would be during the day when I scarcely had to try to stay up. I felt giddy as I followed the circling bird to a patch of trees at the edge of the schoolgrounds. Here, Tobias told me to stay where I was while he disappeared. I was a little anxious as to what was going on, but it's not like I could yell up to him and ask.

I waited there, slowly realizing how creepy it was to be standing in the forest, surrounded by the trees all alone. I must have waited five minutes when I heard the sound of laughter and turned to find two guys approaching. One of them had dark brown, nearly black hair and was really tall, while the other was only of average height and had semi-long, unruly blonde-brown hair. He was the one laughing, while the other guy looked at him as if he couldn't figure out what was so funny. Both of them were dressed in something from the Gap. Like something their girlfriends would dress them in.

"Hi," I said.

The guy that was laughing acknowledged me with a wave. When he finished, he said, "Let's go."

"Okay," I said slowly, before realizing who he actually was. Now I understood the clothing thing. One of their girlfriends had dressed them. "Oh, um, Aximili?" I asked the taller one.

"Yes Alex? Ecks… ex."

Now there was no doubt. "I'm um… sorry for yesterday." I was looking to make friends, like Cassie suggested.

"Sorry for what? Did you do something wrong? Sum. Sum theeeng."

I laughed, unable to help myself. But when I was done laughing and Aximili was still looking at me expectantly, I didn't really know what to say. Eventually I found my voice. "You know, about your brother. I'm um, sorry for saying that."

Aximili only smiled at me, and I wasn't sure if it was a forgiving smile or a fake one.

By now we had exited the bushes and were heading towards the mall. I walked beside Aximili, with Tobias standing on the opposite side. Tobias wasn't as cute as I expected him to be, but Aximili far exceeded my expectations. His human morph was more than gorgeous. I decided that it was time to use some more of Cassie's advice.

"Aximili," I said.

"Phillip," Tobias corrected. "His name is Phillip."

I didn't even know what he was talking about, but I followed his lead anyway.

"Right. Phillip, do you like the beach?" I asked.

'Phillip' seemed puzzled. "I do not dislike it. Disssss…" he continued for several seconds, making a hissing noise like a snake. "Why? Aye. I."

"I just think it's a really pretty place."

"You did not seem very content when I met you there. Con. Tent. Tuh. Muh. Eet. You. Oooo—"

"Phillip, stop it," Tobias said firmly.

"All right," Ax said. "Lll." It was only a short sound, but Tobias cut him off with a sharp look and a quick glance at me. Aximili understood this time. He wasn't to embarrass himself in front of me, lest I stop fearing him.

It didn't matter how many words he played with, because as soon as I remembered what his cold blade felt like pressing against the skin of my neck, well, I wasn't exactly up for that again.

"Well no duh," I answered, "Of course I wasn't content. I was lost and ran into an alien. You wouldn't be overjoyed either."

I'm not sure, but I thought I heard him say something to the effect of, "As a matter of fact…"

I wasn't exactly surprised when we reached the mall and it looked nothing like what I had expected. Now at least I had enough sense to know that everything wasn't going to be the way I'd seen it in my head.

Aximili wasn't as excited about making friends with me as I'd hoped. In a moment of sheer desparation, I said, "I'm hungry."