The next time all of them were able to meet up, it was in Rachel's house, and Tommy had morphed into a cat again, to keep anyone from knowing that he was friends with the other Animorphs. He hadn't been friends with any of them before all of the problems with the Yeerks had started, after all, and so in spite of the fact that Tommy thought that he would have become friends with at least some of them if their problems with the Yeerks hadn't come up.

There was no real way to tell, though, and considering their pressing need for secrecy, Tommy wasn't willing to chance being spotted; it was one thing that he and Marco could agree on.

"Well, okay, if we're all done talking about dreams, let's-"

"Rachel," Jake said, cutting into his cousin's momentum while at the same time getting their discussion back on-track again. "I think I found something that could be interesting."

After Jake had pulled out the videocassette, and all of them had gone down to the living room to watch it – with Cassie offering to carry him, which Tommy refused since he didn't want to be any trouble; or at least, not anymore than inviting him to any of the younger Animorphs' houses had the potential to cause in the first place – Tommy found himself faced with a scrap of metal that had been washed up on a nearby beach. Before he could think too much about that kind of thing, however, Cassie fell straight to the ground.

He and Jake were both by her side in what felt like less than a second, and Tommy gently pressed his right, front paw against her face. As Jake cradled her in his arms, and the pair of them both called her name, Tommy swore he could see… Something; something wide and shimmering, something that almost looked like the sun, only he was seeing it from under the water…

Blinking as he suddenly found himself in Cassie's arms, with her hand on his head, Tommy looked around at the rest of their fellow Animorphs.

(What just happened?)