A/N - I am so, so, so sorry for the delay. This site started taking over my life so I tried to limit my time here, and then, well . . . I forgot. Heh. Sorry. You can thank Troypayisbetter for sending me a message and bringing me back. If you're still paying attention to updates here, thanks for sticking with me. x) I sort of gave up on this story because I didn't like where it was going but I'm thinking of starting it over from scratch. Here's the next two chapters of the original to tide you over till then. Sorrysorrysorry.

Chapter 4 – MARCO

I watched Annie intently. She didn't seem to be bothered at all that she'd just been plunged into a world of nightmares.

Her shoulder-length black hair caught the moonlight that gleamed from the cracks in the ceiling. Her green eyes were closed and she was curled up on her side on the dusty wooden floor. She might have been asleep, she might not. I wasn't sure.

The only sounds were our mingled breathing and the occasional rustling of feathers from Cassie, in owl morph outside. Eventually her thought-speak voice called in to me.

Jake's coming, she said. He'll be there in about two minutes.

I stood up and Annie stirred. Her eyes blinked open and flicked up towards me briefly, quickly shutting again the moment she noticed I was watching her.

Jake walked in a moment later, stifling a yawn. I began to morph to great horned owl. Feather patterns traced across my skin, then pulled up into real feathers. My lips hardened into a beak, my eyes widened and night was suddenly day, and I shrank. Finally, the morph was complete. I grasped the empty Tupperware container in my talons and spread my wings, gliding silently out of the shack and towards my house.

I soared through the open window of my bedroom, quickly demorphing, then taking out the pillows I'd used to make it look like I was still in my bed.

I climbed under the covers, exhausted, and glanced at the clock. 2:24 AM. And there was school tomorrow. Great.

I shut my eyes and was instantly asleep.

Chapter 5 – MARCO

The bell rang. The students poured out into the hallways. I pushed my way through to my locker, stuffed a couple textbooks into my backpack, and slammed the thin metal door shut. I fought my way through the crowd to the front doors, leaving the school and heading towards the bus stop.

"Need a ride?" someone called. I turned to see Cassie in the passenger seat of a pickup truck. Her dad was behind the wheel. "You can ride in the back," she added, leaning through the window.

"All right, thanks," I said, glad not to have to pack onto the crowded bus as I hopped into the open back of the truck. It rumbled off. I assumed Cassie was giving her dad directions, because I didn't think he'd ever been to my neighborhood before.

"Thanks for the ride," I said, vaulting out of the back as the truck idled in front of my house.

"No problem," Cassie's dad said. Cassie leaned out the window again.

"We're all meeting at the mall later," she said. "Around four. Food court."

"I'll be there," I said, nodding. "See you."

"Bye." The truck drove away and I turned to unlock the door. I walked inside, knowing my dad wasn't home. I opened the fridge and grabbed the last slice of pizza, glancing up at the clock as I shut the door again. Three thirty. So I had around fifteen minutes to do my homework before I went to meet the others at the mall.

Still eating my pizza, I scribbled a few numbers and hoped I got my Algebra right, scanned the chapter I was supposed to read for English, and clipped out a random newspaper article for Current Events.

I scribbled a quick note to my dad explaining where I went (At the mall - be home by 6. -M) and decided to take my bike instead of morphing. It might take longer but at least I didn't have to walk around the mall in a Spandex morphing outfit. It would have been quicker to go through the abandoned construction site as well, but I, like the others, had stayed well clear of it since the night we'd gained our morphing powers.

They were all waiting for me by the time I got there.

"What took you so long?" Rachel asked, sounding impatient.

"I decided to get some exercise and get here the old-fashioned way."

"What, biking?"

"Yup. Brings back good memories," I lowered my voice, "of not getting torn to pieces every other night. By the way," I added, scanning the table, "if we're all here, who's watching Annie?"

"The Chee are projecting holograms to make it seem like we're still watching her," Jake explained. "She won't notice a difference."

Rachel raised her hand like we were at school. "Can we just get on with this?"

Jake nodded. "So, what are we going to do?"

Cassie frowned slightly. "We don't exactly have a choice. Even if she's not infested now, what's to stop her from becoming a Controller later? She knows too much; we've got to give her the power to resist the Yeerks."

"Are you kidding?" Rachel's voice was low but irritated. "Have you forgotten what happened the last time we said that?"

"David," Tobias agreed. "We can't afford to make that mistake again."

"Ax?" Jake asked, glancing at Ax who was, of course, in human morph. An Andalite in the food court could cause somewhat of a commotion, as I unfortunately knew from personal experience.

"I side with you, Prince Jake, as always. Ayz. Zz."

"Ax? Don't call me Prince."

"Yes, Prince Jake."

Jake sighed, then turned to me. "I say we do it, so if we don't count Ax, Marco is the tiebreaker. You're always one of the first to speak up. What do you think?"

I hesitated. As much as I hated to admit it, Rachel had a point about David. On the other hand, Annie seemed... different. For one, she didn't seem at all fazed about an alien invasion. Once she'd gotten over her initial shock, which had lasted about fifteen seconds, she'd been totally fine. And... I don't know, I just had this feeling about her. She wouldn't betray us.

"I hate to use this against you, Rachel, but... let's do it."