CHAPTER FIVE

::Rachel::

Where was I?

What am I doing here?

Darkness! Enclosed space! Help!

I let out a shriek before I could even compose myself.

The door flung open. Light flooded my vision.

"Rachel!" It was Melissa Chapman, her eyes filled with concern as she helped me out of the dark, enclosed space I had been crouching in. I realised that I had been stuck in a janitor's closet. "Oh my god, Rachel, what did they do to you?" Then she reached out and touched my forehead, and I yelped in pain.

What the... it's not supposed to hurt in a dream!

"Oh man." Melissa shook her head as she supported me to stand upright. "Rachel, I can't believe you tried to reason with those bitches! Look what they've done to you, you look so scared now!"

Scared? Me? No, I was never scared about anything! Marco called me Xena, Warrior Princess!

But... yes, right now, I was scared. I was shaking, shivering. It was like somebody had punched the guts out of me.

"Those stinking girls are so going to get it. Don't worry, Rachel, we'll all stand up for you. "

What? I didn't need people to stand up for me. Since when did people even want to stand up for me?

Then suddenly, another punch in the guts – a horrifying realisation. What was I doing in school? I was supposed to be on the run! I was living in the valley with my mum and sisters. With the other Animorphs. What was I doing back in school?

Melissa? I stared at her. Daughter of one of the higher-ranked human Controllers in the Yeerk Empire. She had to be a Controller!

"Rachel, why're you staring at me like that?" Melissa looked uncomfortable. "Are you alright? Do – do you want me to get Cassie or somebody?"

"Cassie..." I suddenly nodded violently. "Yes, please, Cassie! Get Cassie!"

Melissa looked a little strangely at me, before she let go of my arm and walked off. I stumbled out of the locker areas and peered down the hallways. Everybody was at class. There were sounds of shuffling papers and loud didactic voices coming from the classrooms.

What was I doing here? My head hurt, and I rubbed it ruefully, wincing. The last I remembered... I had been taking care of Sara and Jordan in our cabin. Jordan had been scolding me for not being patient with Mum, and I had been yelling back at her, and Sara looked like she was about to cry. I was about to pacify her when I was completely knocked out. Yes, that was it. But why would I have ended up in a school?

And what had Melissa said? Reasoning with bitches? The way she said it... it was like I had been doing something before I had ended up in the janitor's closet. But I – hadn't. And... if she was a Controller, shouldn't she have recognised me as one of the Animorphs?

She was going after Cassie! She was going to get Cassie! What had I done?

I couldn't stay here, I realised with horror. No way. They would capture Cassie or me, slip a Yeerk inside our heads, make us spill the beans on everyone else...

"No!" I whispered. Fear was pumping through my body, even though it felt a little unfamiliar to me. But it was scary enough. I quickly walked down the hallway, eyes trained on the main entrance. Get out of here!

I broke into a run, only to be stopped short two seconds later by something yelling in my brain.

‹Jake! Marco! Rachel!›

Cassie?

"Oh my god, Cassie, where are you!" I whispered. But no, she could not hear me.

Cassie was in morph, somewhere around here. She wasn't captured. Not yet.

I veered away from the entrance, slipping down the stairways. "Cassie? Cassie!"

I could hear a faint voice call out from above. "Rachel? Where are you?"

Melissa. No, I couldn't let her see me again. She would realise. I hid myself behind a pillar as Melissa made her way down the staircase. "Rachel?"

She frowned, then continued to walk downstairs. I slipped out from my hiding place and ran down the hallway. Where were the others? Jake and Marco had to be around somewhere. What was happening? Was this another intergalactic game of chess? I swear I'd –

Priorities, Rachel, priorities!

I ran around in search of the rest, but I couldn't find anyone. All the students were in their classes. I couldn't possibly just walk into any one.

Suddenly, another voice. But this time, in my head. ‹Jake? Rachel? If you guys are there, get to Cassie's barn. As soon as possible. Forget masquerading as students. Just get out of here.›

Marco! Okay, there was no time to panic or wonder. Cassie's barn. Except... we couldn't possibly go back to Cassie's barn! What was Marco thinking? The Yeerks would find us! But I had no choice. I would morph to bald eagle outside and then thoughtspeak to him. Maybe I would get some answers. What had he said? Masquerading as students? What?

I darted out of the school and banked a hard right to get to the shadows to morph. Just as I turned the corner, I banged into someone.

"Ow!" I winced, all the bruises on me acting up, stinging and pulsating with pain.

"Rachel!" came a familiar gasp.

I blinked twice. "Tobias!" A boy with tousled hair and a piercing stare came into view.

A wave of emotion suddenly engulfed me like never before. I flung my arms around his neck, my eyes immediately blurry and wet. "Oh my god, Tobias, oh my god..."

"Rachel?" His voice was now questioning. "Are you alright?"

"No... no, no..." I blubbered. "I'm not alright. Everything's not alright. It's crazy..."

"You... you remember me."

I pulled back, rubbing absent-mindedly at my tear-stained face. "Of course I remember you. What are you talking about?"

"Rachel, what are we doing here?" demanded Tobias, urgently. His face was blank, but he sounded just as frightened.

"I – I don't know! One moment I'm in the cabin with my sisters, one moment I'm stuck in a janitor's closet all bruised up! But whatever... let's go to Cassie's barn first, okay?"

"Cassie's barn?" Tobias reached out to touch the bruise on my forehead gingerly, sending tingles and aches through me all at once. "That's impossible, we can't..."

"I don't know, alright? I heard Marco call out to me to say to go there. I'm gonna question him along the way."

"Marco? You talked to him?"

"No. He must have been in morph, he was yelling in thoughtspeech. Come on, back to bird, we need to haul butt out of here!"

"I..." He twisted his face into an expression of pain. "I can't morph."

"You what?"

"Try morphing." The desperation in his voice didn't register on his face, but hearing it was more than enough. I closed my eyes to concentrate.

Feathers began to appear on my arms, a brown-and-white lattice.

"Oh man," he whispered. "So it's really just me!"

"What's wrong?" I reversed the morph before I would lose my voice.

"I can't morph anything!" He nearly yelled, till I put a finger on my lips. "Nothing! Red-tailed hawk, Hork-Bajir, nothing! I'm a human nothlit!"

"Tobias, you're not a..." I shook my head. This wasn't the time. "Okay, this is a very weird situation we are in. I'll walk with you to Cassie's barn. I'm completely freaked out."

It took a while for Tobias to calm down. After pacing back and forth in a very aggravated fashion, he finally walked out of the shadows. "Are the rest around?"

I followed suit, eyes darting all around to ensure nobody was watching us. "Cassie and Marco. Haven't heard from the rest."

"Then I should tell you about what happened just now. With Jake..."