Once all of them were in their respective owl morphs, aiming to land at least two-hundred yards away from the Yeerks' logging compound, Tommy found himself not feeling nearly as free as any of the other times when he and the other Animorphs flew. The reason for that would have been obvious to anyone, or at least anyone who had been a part of their group, but Tommy tried not to think of that.

It wouldn't help.

(Good luck. Don't eat anything I wouldn't eat.)

(Very funny, Tobias,) Tommy said, wishing for a long moment that he could smile back at his friend; it was good to know that he wasn't the only one to notice the tension they were all dealing with.

Once they'd all made it close enough to the Yeerks' logging compound that they could demorph without being spotted by any of the centuries that might be patrolling the woods around them.

"Okay, we have to get as close to the edge of that compound as we can," Jake whispered, once the last of them had demorphed, crouching down as low and as close to the trees as they could manage, human eyes and ears straining in the darkness. "We can't be seen as humans, but we can't morph termites too far from the building."

"Yeah, I don't think termites would be any faster than ants," he said, chewing his lower lip.

He still wasn't entirely comfortable about morphing into a termite, especially considering how much they looked like ants, but Tommy knew that it wouldn't do anyone any good if he made everyone else as uncomfortable as he was still feeling. They'd all had a bad enough time morphing ants in the first place, the last thing anyone needed was to be reminded about that.

Especially considering where they were, and what they were about to be doing.

(I have a suggestion, Prince Jake: a distraction. I could give the Yeerks something to chase.)

"You could end up very dead trying that, Ax," Marco said, turning a serious expression on the Andalite.

"We need you inside the building, Ax," Jake said, glancing back at the Andalite before returning his attention to the direction of the compound. "We'll need you to deal with any computers we might find in there, but that is a good idea. It'd probably be safer out here than going inside the building," Jake continued, offering them all an uneasy but determined smile. "Anyone want to volunteer?"

For a moment, Tommy found himself tempted to volunteer, and then to suggest that Cassie or Marco volunteer, since out of all of them who'd had a bad time with the ants, Cassie and Marco were two of the ones who'd had it the worst. Still, in the end they all drew straws.