Disclaimer see chapter 2. enjoy!

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Chapter 7—Controllers

I called Jake's house at about 10am the next morning.

"Hello?"

"Is Jake there?"

"Yeah, just a second. Hey, Dork, a girl on the phone for you. It's not Cassie."

"Hello?"

"It's Michelle. We ran into some trouble last night."

"Okay. Talk to you later. I'll be there soon."

"See you, Jake."

20 minutes later, Jake arrived.

"Discretion is a must on phone lines, Michelle. Now, what happened?" he asked when we walked to the forest.

I told him.

"So he's at Ax's scoop? Ok, let's head there," he said, not answering any of my questions.

((Hello, Prince Jake, Michelle. The Yeerk is in here.)) Aximili said, pointing to his scoop, where the controller sat, tied to the chair. Awake.

"Hah! The Andalite's precious War Prince, a human as well? I'm beginning to think you're all human, with the exception for the baby Andalite and the bird," he said, laughing, "Visser 3's worst enemies, humans! The council would have his hide!"

Jake looked at him evenly, "I was infested once. Freed by Kandrona starvation. I know how horrible it is. How long have you been without the life-giving Kandrona rays?"

The controller paled, "2 days."

"This time tomorrow, you will begin going insane. You will start to lose control of your host. You will scream and yell and beg to be freed. The pain is excruciating. Finally, in a last ditch effort, you will leave your host to crawl to a Kandrona supply, to live. You won't get two feet. The boy will be free, though unconscious for awhile. He will have felt the pain, but he will live through it, knowing he's free soon. Hold on, Jason. Less than 24 hours and you'll be free. Only three hours will be torture."

The Yeerk looked shocked that Jake said these things.

I was shocked that Jake had been a controller. He looked at me and saw my shock.

"Cassie and Ax each had a peacenik in them. That's a peaceful Yeerk rebel. Cassie once morphed Yeerk. We all have our stories," he told me.

Aximili shuddered at the memory of being controlled by a Yeerk.

((Ax, that Yeerk saved your life. Remember the Yamphut? You'd have been dead without her telling me where to make the incision,)) Cassie said, flying up.

((There are worse things than death, Cassie. Yeerk infestation is one of them,)) Aximili stated.

Cassie sighed when she demorphed.

"He forgets that I once held her in my brain to free a little girl named Karen. Oh, well, she's a whale nothlit now. Obviously this Yeerk is not part of the resistance. Good job, Michelle," she said.

"So, he stays here 'til tomorrow?" I asked.

((I have no problem with that.))

"One thing, Aximili," I said.

((What?))

"I get to squish the slug."

Hrsygrl16—so Jake, Cassie and Ax were controllers?

Whitetigerlover—yes, and Cassie morphed a Yeerk to save a Yeerk.

Silverheart—and this Jason?

Whitetigerlover—lives. Jake says the Yeerk will die a slow and painful death.

Hrsygrl16—great news.

Silverheart—more morphs tonight?

Whitetigerlover—I asked Jake if it could wait til tomorrow night. He said yes. I need some sleep tonight.

Hrsygrl16—me2 I get little enough sleep as is.

(Birdboy has joined the conversation.)

Hrsygrl16—hey Tobias. How was your day?

Birdboy—hey, Beth. Okay. It's kind of annoying here at Aximili's. the Yeerk's shouting obscenities. Ax says hi.

Hrsygrl16—hey Ax. Die, Yeerk.

Silverheart—my sentiments exactly. Hi, Aximili.

Whitetigerlover—how's the Yeerk doing—oops I mean dying?

Birdboy—slowly. Keeps saying to say hi to the idiot human and the one who should host his sister.

Whitetigerlover—slap him for me, Aximili. Tail-blade flat, plz.

Birdboy—done.

Hrsygrl16—hope the guy's ok when the Yeerk's gone.

Silverheart—anyway, I was thinking about getting a morph of an elephant for a powerhouse. What do you think, Michelle?

Whitetigerlover—I don't think Jason will be any worse for the wear, Beth. Jake seemed pretty sure of himself. I don't think I'll get a powerhouse morph. I could live without an extra ton or two.

Birdboy—Rachel has an elephant morph. Jake has a rhino.

Silverheart—I don't think I'll get a powerhouse morph either, then.

Hrsygrl16—the Kodiak is a powerhouse in itself.

Birdboy—so, Silver, how are you today?

Silverheart—yeah the Kodiak's pretty big.

Whitetigerlover—the Siberian tiger's not bad either.

Silverheart—true, so I already have a powerhouse.

Birdboy—yo, Silver, I asked how are you today?

Silverheart—hey, Michelle, I got a white Siberian tiger, like yours. I figure 3 is better than 2 in a battle.

Whitetigerlover—Silver, Tobias is talking to you.

Silverheart—oh, is he here?

Whitetigerlover—SILVER!

Birdboy—it's okay, Michelle. I gotta go anyway.

(Birdboy has left the conversation.)

Whitetigerlover—Silver, how could you be so rude!

Silverheart—sorry I just don't like Tobias

Whitetigerlover—well that's evident. G2G. bye, Beth. Bye Silver.

I left, turning off my computer. What does Silver have against Tobias?

The phone rang.

"Michelle, for you," called mom.

I picked it up.

"Silver has it bad for you." Beth.

"He was really rude to Tobias."

"He sees Tobias as competition. He's got it bad," she insisted.

I let that sink in, "Really?"

"Really."

"Well, what do I do?"

"Well, you have 4 choices. Ignore both, date one, date the other, or play 'em."

"Well I'm definitely not a player."

"So either you ignore them both, date a guy who's crazy over you or date a bird with a psychotic other/ex girlfriend. The way I see it, it isn't a hard decision. Especially when bird-boy can go back to Rachel and everyone can be all romp-in-the-meadows, gonna-make-me-sick happy," Beth said.

"And how exactly do I dump Tobias when we never went out?" I asked.

"Rachel would be the person to talk to ."

"See you later. Thanks," I said.

"No prob, see you later."

I ran downstairs.

"Going to a friend's. see you later," I told my "parents."

"See you."

I flew to Rachel's—literally.

((Rachel, we need to talk,)) I said.

"Michelle?" she asked, opening her window.

((Yeah. It's about Tobias.)) I demorphed quickly.

"I'm just talking to him online," she said, turning to the computer. She quickly typed "g2g visitor here ttul."

"I believe you noticed…that Tobias kinda…likes me?" I asked, slightly embarrassed.

"I believe I did," she said, her face almost as hawk-like as Tobias'.

"Well, Silver likes me, too. I figured if you and Tobias got back together, Silver would stop being rude to him and we'd get together," I spilled the words out.

She smiled, "So that's what this is about! You aren't interested in Tobias?"

"He's a good friend and he's helped show me the ropes of being an Animorph, but I'm not interested in dating him, no."

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"Well…how do I get Tobias to stop liking me and not ruin our friendship?" I asked.

"Leave that up to me. Just start flirting with Jake Silver," she said.

"I'm not quite sure…how to flirt," I mumbled.

She stared at me, amazed.

"Are you as alien as Ax? Flirting's a natural instinct. It's as much a part of your blood as the tiger DNA you caught the Yeerk with. Just start by talking, laughing at his jokes, complimenting, stuff like that. It's easy," she said, laughing.

I made a mental note of that, then laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"The thought that I'm taking flirting tips from Xena, warrior princess."

"Hey, I'm part of the popular crowd, okay? I know my stuff," she laughed, "Oh, and by the way, good job with the controller. Ax and Tobias told me how easily you controlled the tiger and caught the Yeerk. I'm beginning to think of you as somewhat of a siren. You've so far managed to charm the alien, capture the attention of Tobias, the heart of Silver, the mind of a Yeerk, and the ear of Jake. He doesn't usually make exceptions for anyone."

"What exceptions?"

"Any controller finds us out…they don't live to tell about it. For the host, too, unless plans can be made. Humans don't get made instant Animorphs, no matter what tests they pass, since David. Plus, you got to add 2 friends. Marco hasn't even made a joke about you yet. You have every guy in the group wrapped around your little finger."

I thought about it…wow…, "Wow, you're right!"

The thought was somewhat scary.

"What's wrong? You don't like the idea of all the guys liking you so instantly? Don't worry, they'll all respect your decision to be with Silver. Go home, now. You look tired. See you in class tomorrow."

She turned to the computer.

"See you tomorrow. Thanks, Rachel," I said as I morphed.

I went home and to sleep.

Rachel gave me a note in class the next morning, smiling.

Mic,

Go after Silver. The coast is clear. Rachel.