Chapter 23: Cassie: The Impostor

Ax left to go talk to the person posing as Jake. I was worried beyond belief, what had happened to Jake, and how long has this imposter been posing as him? Then the thought hit me like a tonne of bricks, it must have been an imposter that called me last night and yelled at me, it also had to be an imposter that tried to get me to sleep with him tonight. I couldn't think straight, I had decided to go to his house after my parents went to sleep, what would've happened if I did? I should've known that Jake would've never acted like that. I felt so stupid.

While I was thinking about this I could see that 'Jake' was getting very frustrated and was starting to yell at Ax. Before I could blink, Ax had his tail blade to the imposter's neck.

I quickly ran over to Ax and the imposter to see what was going on.

[Demorph and explain who and what you are immediately or I will kill you where you stand!] Ax was yelling and threatening the imposter's life, I knew the Ax would not normally just kill someone in cold blood but I knew that Ax was worried about Jake just like me.

"You wouldn't dare kill me alien, I'm morphed as your oh so precious leader, you could never do it."

[You are wrong, human,] Ax said calmly as he pressed his tail blade into his neck as it drew blood. [I know that you are not my Prince, you are using his form and name to try to trick me. Now,] Ax said as his voice grew louder and more intense. [Tell me where Prince Jake and the others are so I can kill you quickly and move on.]

"You'll get nothing out of me, alien." At this moment Jorge ran at Ax with a knife, Ax simply smacked him upside the head with his tail knocking him out.

[Answer my question now or I will remove a limb.]

"A wha..." He began to ask when Ax twitched his tail and removed the imposter's left hand.

"AAAHHHHH!" He screamed in pain.

[Every time that you do not answer my question I will remove a limb.] Ax said coldly, [Simple enough human?]

"Yeah, yeah, I understand!" The imposter said frantically as he held the place where his hand used to be. "We were sent to capture Cassie and bring her to the others, then Rachel and finally you since you would be the hardest to capture."

[Who is we?] Ax asked.

"And are you saying that Jake, Marco and Tobias are already captured?" I asked, my mind racing.

"And here I was under the impression that Marco was the dumb one." 'Jake' said with a smile.

[Answer her question or you will lose another hand.]

"You're a total buzzkill, you know, alien?"

[I am losing my patience with you, human. [Ax said with a growl, [Tell me where Prince Jake is now!] Ax almost never yells, so when he does, honestly, it scares me a bit. He was holding this person's life in his hand and there would be nothing I could do to stop Ax from killing him.

"Where are the others? Tell me, are Jake and the others safe?"

"I seriously doubt that, lady." Ax pressed his tail blade on 'Jake's' right wrist.

'"Okay okay okay, fine. The others are alive at least, we are not allowed to kill anyone until the time is right."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"I don't know, that's just what we were told, David said; "None of the Animorphs are allowed to be killed until we get them all together and the decision is made." That's what he said word for word, now can you get your alien pet to let me go? I'm bleeding to death over here! "

[David?] Ax hissed.

"Did you say David?" I asked, shocked.

"Yeah, David. I wasn't supposed to tell you that, huh,... well yes, David sent us to capture you Animorphs. Jorge and I were sent to capture you but of course this alien here just had to stick his hoof where it didn't belong."

"What about Rachel?" I asked, worried for Rachel.

"As we speak four other guys are picking Rachel up to bring her to the others."

[You sent four humans to abduct Rachel?] Ax asked, his main eyes widening, as he began to quietly laugh to himself out loud. [Four humans against Rachel,... not even a fair fight,... for them.]

"We were all warned about Rachel beforehand, believe me, we were told not to underestimate her, that's why they are bringing some insurance along with them to pick her up."

"What do you mean by insurance?"

"I don't know, you know, it's not like he tells all of us everything, we are as much in the dark about this as you are."

[Then why do you follow him? If you do not know his plan? Do you even know anything about the person you are following?]

"I know all I need to know, he gave me powers that make me unstoppable and he can make me filthy rich. So he's a bit bossy and egotistical, who cares, he's going to make us rich beyond our dreams. All we have to do is listen to what he says for a few weeks and bring him all of you and he'll let us go and do whatever we want."

"How do you know that David won't just betray you after you do what he wants? You know nothing about him, don't you?"