Disclaimersee chapter 2. enjoy!

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Chapter 4—can we join?

Later that night, I talked to my online friends, Hrsygrl16 and silverheart. We met on a Yeerk website, but not in the chat rooms.

Hrsygrl16 had a brother who was killed by a Hork-Bajir controller, and barely escaped with her life.

Silverheart, well his parents were controllers like mine.

Hrsygrl16—you found a resistance group? Cul! )

Whitetigerlover—yeah. We're gonna kick Yeerk a$$!

Silverheart—can we join?

Hrsygrl16—my thoughts exactly

Whitetigerlover—do you live near here?

Hrsygrl16—I live about 20mi away from you.

Silverheart—haha I'm closer. 12 miles away.

Whitetigerlover—I'll ask. I'm not sure though. Its pretty secretive.

Hrsygrl16—I understand. Yeerks could be anywhere.

Whitetigerlover—that's not the only reason, but I can't tell you any more. Sorry.

Silverheart—'s okay. So you meet anyone else at your new place?

Whitetigerlover—yeah.

Hrsygrl16—any boooooys?

Whitetigerlover—I plead the 5th.

Silverheart—you can say. Come on, tell us.

Whitetigerlover—weeeeeell…

Hrsygrl16—Michelle! Spill!

Whitetigerlover—I think one of the guys from the group has a crush on me. his name is Tobias.

Hrsygrl16—so, what's he like?

Whitetigetlover—nice, heroic, kinda cute.

Hrstgrl16—what's the prob?

Whitetigerlover—one of the grls thinks he's her bf, and she's a little territorial.

Silverheart—well, was she there first? He may be two-timing her.

Whitetigerlover—Tobias isn't like that, silverheart.

Silverheart—you only just met him, don't make assumptions.

Hrsygrl16—silverheart, don't be jealous. Michelle, talk to this grl, make her understand that if he's hers, he'll take her back

Whitetigerlover—hrsygrl, you've never met Rachel. She's called xena warrior princess in the group. I don't want to mess with this psychomaniac supermodel.

Hrsygrl16—psycho supermodel, huh? I can take her on.

Silverheart—I'm going now. Talk to you tomorrow, Michelle. Later hrsygrl.

(Silverheart has left the conversation)

Whitetigerlover—he left rather hastily.

Hrsygrl16—gee ya think?

Whitetigerlover—how 'bout I not talk about Tobias to him again?

Hrsygrl16—good idea. Ooh g2g. parents pulled in. later.

Whitetigerlover—talk atcha tomorrow.

Hrsygrl16—k

As I was closing the window a new IM invite popped up. I clicked it

Birdboy—hey Michelle. It's Tobias. Wanna chat?

Whitetigerlover—hey Tobias. Just finished chatting with online friends. Sure.

Birdboy—cul. Ax says hi. I'm using his computer.

Whitetigerlover—hi Aximili. Yeah my friends are also Yeerk victims.

Birdboy—how so?

Whitetigerlover—silverheart's parents are Yeerks too and hrsygrl16's brother was killed by a Hork-Bajir controller.

Birdboy—bummer.

Whitetigerlover—I told them we had a resistance—nothing more—and they want to join. I explained that you were a secret group and they understand. I wanna know if they can join.

Birdboy—you'll have to talk to Jake, and they'll have to be watched and everything, but there's a chance.

Whitetigerlover—cul. They're good friends of mine. One lives 20 miles away the other lives 12 miles away.

Birdboy—cul. Not too far, as the bird flies. Pun intended.

Whitetigerlover—I can give you addresses and you can test the theory if you want.

Birdboy—sure.

I gave him the addresses.

Birdboy—it's getting late. Time for you to sleep and me to head for my tree. Nite.

Whitetigerlover—kk cul8r. sleep well.

Birdboy—you too.

I closed the window and headed to bed.

Sunday morning, I headed straight for the forest. Tobias wanted to show me Aximili's scoop.

((I went to silverheart's address early this morning. He has a picture of you on his nightstand,)) Tobias said as we were flying.

((We switched photos, all of us. I have his picture, too.))

((Hrsygrl16's picture was by the computer, but yours was on his nightstand where he could see it when he wakes up. He's got it bad for you,)) was that a tinge of jealousy in Tobias' voice?

I smiled mentally, ((well that's evident from our chats. He hates it when I tell Hrsygal about my guy friends.))

I didn't tell him that I had silverheart's picture by my bed, for the same reason.

((Hey wanna check out Hrsygrl's house before heading to Ax's scoop?))

((Sure.)) I said, turning abruptly.

We flew southwestward, until we came upon a barn somewhat like Cassie's.

((That's her,)) I said as a girl came out to the barn from the house.

((I know. I saw her picture.))

((Can I go down and say hi in human form?)) I asked.

((In a silver bathing suit and no shoes?))

((Does she look like she'd care?))

((You know her better than I do, your choice.))

I landed and demorphed.

"You stay up there," I said.

((No problem,)) he agreed quickly.

"Hello?" I called into the barn.

"Who is it?" she replied, sticking her head around the corner, "I'm busy."

"You don't recognize me from my picture? It's whitetigerlover…Michelle."

"No, I didn't recognize you. In the picture you're wearing clothes. Going swimming…in January?" she asked, unfazed.

"No," I didn't elaborate as I walked into the barn, "Nice to meet you face to face."

"Same here. Wanna help?" she held up the grain cans, "the names are on the cans and the stall doors."

"Sure," I said, grabbing the can she held out. We talked as I helped her.

"Any word on the resistance involvement?" she asked.

"I've asked, but there are steps that have to be taken first before you're even considered. It's a small group."

"And what about that guy? You talk to the girl—"

"Let's not talk about that at the moment," I looked around anxiously, "walls have ears."

"Ah. Point taken. I'll still take her on, you know," she said, "and in case you're wondering, offline, you can call me Beth."

"Okay. Oh, have you met Silverheart yet?" I asked.

"No, just you. I don't get out much, but that's gonna change," she said.

"Wanna meet my friend, Tobias? He came with me," I explained.

((Was that wise?))

"Sure, where is he?"

"Just a sec, I'll get him," I said, walking towards the road.

((Michelle, I asked if that were wise,)) Tobias said.

"Just morph human," I whispered, "and come with me. She'll think you skipped out on me."

He demorphed—or should I say morphed—and walked up with me.

((The things I agree to do for you,)) he thoughtspoke to me.

"Hi, you must be Tobias. I'm Beth," she said, shaking his hand.

"Yup. Nice to meet you," he said, somewhat uncomfortable.

"Same here. You're a bit edgy, what's up?" Beth asked.

"Nothing much," he replied, ((I only feel blind, deaf, exposed and afraid I'll give myself away.))

I gave him a look that said don't worry, and sat down.

"So have you been to Silverheart's house?" Beth asked.

"Not yet. Maybe later today."

((Michelle, we were going to go to Ax's scoop.))

"After we go to a friend's place, of course," I amended.

"Well, see about that group. Tobias, you're a member, right?"

Tobias nodded.

"Yeah. Michelle was pretty secretive, and I understand that. They can be anywhere. Just one question—do you kill a lot of Yeerks?" she asked, murder in her tone.

Tobias laughed.

"You sound like my friend Rachel. Every mission we go on we all wait for her maniacal suicidal 'let's do it!'" he said, "yes, we kill Yeerks. Lots of them."

"All right. Any of them walking razorblades that killed my brother?"

Tobias thought on that.

"We try to starve the Yeerks out of their heads first. They're peaceful in their Yeerkless state, so we try to save them."

She nodded, "Well I'm glad to hear they're peaceful naturally. So, you're friends with these creatures?"

"Yeah they named their leader after me."

"Awesome. I want to kill Yeerks so this sounds like the perfect group for me. And this Rachel sounds like a girl I could get along with," Beth said.

"You and Cassie'd get along too," I said, looking at her animals. Tobias nodded.

We talked for about 15 more minutes until Tobias asked in impatient thoughtspeak when we could leave.

"Well it was nice seeing you in person Beth. We'd better head to our friend's place before he wonders where we were."

"Nice meeting you, too. Just tell me when you want to do the Yeerk test. I'll give you my number tonight, since you have nowhere to put it now. Talk to you later," she said, and walked into the house.

Tobias and I went behind the barn to morph.

((Ax is probably wondering where we went off to,)) Tobias said as we flew.

((Thanks for doing that. I should have asked first, I'm sorry.))

((Don't dwell on in. I just get a bit unnerved without my eyes and ears in a strange place.))

((I bet! I'd feel that way too, if I were used to seeing a flea on a mouse a mile away and hearing a pin drop in a feather box,)) I agreed, doing another swoop-de-loop.

We landed on the edge of the forest near Aximili's scoop.

((Where were you? Marco has been here and gone, as have Rachel and Prince Jake,)) Aximili said, looking out of the dug-in cave-style scoop.

((Went to see my online friend. Sorry, Aximili,)) I said, beginning my demorph.

((I just wondered. Oh, the friend that wanted to join us?))

"Yeah. The one whose brother was killed by a Hork-Bajir controller," I said.

((She was an odd cross between Rachel and Cassie,)) Tobias added.

((Frightening.))

Jake agreed to talk to them, should they pass the Yeerk test.

They did.