Even after they'd refused the Ellimist's offer, even after they'd managed to escape the belly of the Taxxon who had been about to swallow them, even after they'd managed to make their escape from the Yeerk pool itself, Tommy found that he couldn't quite stop himself from wondering what might have happened if they had agreed. He also wondered what that strange look on the Ellimist's face had meant, that look that he'd only seemed to direct at him.
In the end, however, Tommy put all of that out of his mind, focusing his attention on his martial arts classes and his homework, during the time that all of the Animorphs spent away from each other.
When he and the other Animorphs all met up at Cassie's barn again, Tommy couldn't help but be aware of the tension hanging in the air all around them. The source was obvious enough, given everything that'd already happened, but Tommy didn't know just what he could reasonably be expected to do about it. Jake and Marco were lounging on a bale of hay, while he helped Cassie with some of the animals she was taking care of.
"Hi, Rachel," Marco said, drawing Tommy's attention to the last member of their group.
He hadn't heard from the rest of the Animorphs until Tobias had informed him that there was going to be a meeting; which was the way things always tended to work out, though under the circumstances he wished that he could have stayed in contact, at least enough that he'd know what was going on with all of them. It wasn't easy to just get over nearly dying like that.
Not to mention everything else that had happened.
"What have you been up to?" Marco asked, sounding more serious than he'd ever heard the younger boy sound before. "Or, maybe I should ask, what have you been?"
"I felt kind of sick today, so I stayed home," Rachel said; Tommy thought she sounded a bit defensive, but he wasn't going to say anything.
The argument that broke out after that, even after Tommy and Cassie had tried their best to get everyone to settle down and talk things out, ended with Rachel telling them about her dad asking her to move out of the state with him. Tommy winced, recalling all the time he'd spent moving around with his parents.
And, that wasn't even the end of it, considering everything that was already going on.
"I'm sorry he dumped all of that on you," Tommy said, speaking up before anyone else could, and making his way over to Rachel, so he could give her the support she clearly needed right now. "I spent a long time moving around the country, before my parents came here and seemed to settle down," he said, offering as much comfort as he possibly could, under the circumstances.
"That's nice," Rachel said, still sounding a bit snappish, though she didn't shrug him off when he put his left arm around her shoulders.
That was good, at least.
