CHAPTER TWELVE: TOBIAS

The Taxxons weren't much of a problem for five dolphins and one shark. The hardest part was convincing the dolphin brain that these strange, alien worms were a threat. It wasn't like fighting the sharks: the dolphins had no innate grudge against the Taxxons invading their world.

That was all right. We humans had grudge enough to spare.

{That was disgusting,} Cassie said. She sounded shaky.

She had a point, but I was too focused on getting back to shore and making sure that my mom was okay—and hadn't been chased-down by an errant Taxxon, for example—to pay much attention to the gore.

(Okay, it was actually really gross. But I was trying not to think about it.)

{Hold it together,} Jake said. {We're not out of this yet. If we don't catch up to Tobias's mom before we run out of time, we're going to have to all try demorphing in the water.}

{And that'll suck,} Marco said with a laugh. He sounded even shakier than Cassie.

{Yeah,} Jake said grimly. {That'll suck.}

{How much time do you think we have left?} Cassie asked.

Nobody answered her. I had a sinking feeling that after the lead mom's boat had probably picked up during our skirmish with the Taxxons, the answer was going to be "not enough."

{With your permission, Prince Jake, we have been in morph for approximately thirty percent of the safe time,} Aximili said.

{What?}

{How do you know that?}

{You…you do not simply know?}

I laughed. {No,} I said, {humans don't have the greatest internal clocks.}

{As anyone who's ever had their mom drag them out of bed twenty minutes behind schedule on a school day can attest,} Rachel grumbled.

{Can you keep track and let us know when we're down to our last, um…fifteen percent? I guess?}

{Of course, Prince Jake.}

Jake sighed in our heads but didn't protest this time.

BAH-LUMPH!

I heard a huge concussion behind me. Like someone had dropped a big truck in the water.

{What was that?} Marco wondered.

{Something hit the water,} Cassie said. {Something big.}

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

{Okay, now what is that?} Rachel asked.

Cassie swam to the surface. I followed, slowing my frantic swim enough to look around. There were two ships closing in on us, both too far away for me to make out any details. One of them was probably the Coast Guard boat I'd seen Chapman on earlier.

{Does anyone see the Blade Ship?} Cassie asked.

{No. But that doesn't mean it isn't still nearby,} Jake said, the others—except for water-breathing Aximili—having come up to catch a breath of air and take a look around, too. {It may have recloaked.}

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

{What is that?}

{Whatever it is, it's getting closer,} Cassie said.

{Whatever it is, let's not let it catch up with us,} I said.

Then Cassie—probably because she was the only one of us who actually paid enough attention to animals to remember useful facts about them, like what they could do—fired a burst of echolocation clicks.

{It's something in the water,} she told the rest of us. {Big. Huge. The size of a whale, but not moving like a whale.}

The rest of us followed her lead, clicking anxiously.

{It's after us, whatever it is,} Rachel said.

{It's big, it's fast, and it's after us,} Marco agreed.

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

We all took off swimming again, fast as we could. The noise followed us.

After one of her breaks to surface, Cassie came back down and said, {Ax, there's something back there. I don't think it's from Earth. It's this big, really dark red, so red it's almost purple, sort of…hump in the water, like a whale's back. Or a tiny island. But it's covered in what looks like hundreds and hundreds of tiny fish tails, all flapping frantically. Do you have any idea what it could be?}

{Mardrut,} Ax said.

{Mardrut? What does that mean?}

{A mardrut is a beast that lives in the oceans of one of our own Andalite moons. To think of that filthy Yeerk scum on our own moon! Acquiring our animals!}

Aximili sounded more than angry, he sounded personally outraged. The Andalites really didn't like the idea of there being an Andalite-Controller, I guess. Not that I could blame them. I wasn't too happy about the idea of Human-Controllers, myself.

{What about the, you know, the Andalite that's his Host?} I suggested tentatively. {Maybe he acquired the…the mardrut before he was made a Controller?}

{Ah.} Aximili seemed to settle down. {That…that is possible, yes.}

{More likely than mister big-bad sneaking onto your moon just to grab a few morphs, probably,} Rachel said with a short laugh.

{Ax, look, what is a mardrut?} Cassie asked, trying to get back to the point.

{It is a very large creature that swims by shooting water out of three large chambers. It makes a sound—}

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

{A sound like that?} Marco asked.

{Yes,} Aximili said. {I guess so. I did not recognize it. I have only heard it once, and that was in school, and I wasn't paying attention.}

It really wasn't a good time for laughing, with what had to be Visser Three on our tails in some alien morph that was the size of a whale, but I still almost laughed. It was weird to think of Andalite kids zoning-out and goofing-off at school just like human ones. I guess people are people, no matter how many legs or eyes they have.

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

{You…understand who this mardrut must be?} Aximili asked.

{Yeah,} Rachel said tersely. {We've met before.}

{You have fought Visser Three? And you still live?} That definitely surprised Aximili. I winced, anticipating something like "even though two of you are female?" and the inevitable riot act that Rachel would read him in response, but instead he said, {I honor you.}

That made me feel all warm inside. If an Andalite—and the brother of Prince Elfangor, no less—thought we were worth being impressed by, maybe we were more than just five dumb kids with a death wish. Maybe the Animorphs actually stood a chance.

Marco was less elated. {Yeah, well, thanks,} he said drily. {But I'd trade the honor for a good outboard engine so I could outrun that evil creep.}

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

The creature Visser Three had become did not tire.

We did.

I felt like I had been swimming forever. Half an hour into the chase, I was exhausted. We had been powering through the water at panic speed. Fighting every current. Fighting the terrible urge to rest as our tails weakened. Fighting the growing hunger.

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

Maybe I shouldn't have morphed seagull. Maybe I should have saved my strength. But I'd had to know that mom was okay—and anyway, it was too late now. The damage was done, and I was fading fast. We all were.

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

The mardrut never tired. It never weakened. It gained on us a foot at a time, bit by bit.

It was going to catch us. And what were we swimming towards, anyway? Mom's borrowed boat? That wouldn't help us now, even if we did manage to find her. We'd still have Visser Three on our tails. The only thing finding her now would do was lead Visser Three to her, as well.

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

We weren't going to make it. We'd found the Andalite—Prince Elfangor's brother, no less!—but we hadn't saved him. All we'd done was give him some company for the end.

Maybe that was fair. We hadn't been able to be company for Elfangor when he died. Instead he'd been the one giving us comfort through his fear, when it should have been the other way around. Maybe this was the universe's way of balancing that scale.

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

Then Visser Three spoke. We had all heard that silent voice in our heads before. It was like hearing the most terrible curses. It was pure malice and hatred poured directly into our brains.

{I am coming for you, brave Andalite warriors,} Visser Three sneered. {I am coming for you.}

We had all been exposed to Visser Three. Aximili had not. He seemed to shudder, even in his shark body. The dead shark eyes showed no emotion, but his swimming became erratic.

{Ax,} Cassie said to him, in that soft talking-to-wounded-animals voice she did so well, {Ax, we have heard his voice before. We've heard his threats. And we are still alive.}

{He will kill us,} Aximili said. {He will kill us! He killed Elfangor!}

{Ax, hang in there. Don't answer him. Don't think about him. Just swim!}

But we'd been swimming for so long, and Aximili's fear was catching. We weren't going to make it.

{I am coming for you. You will be mine. Shall I make you Controllers? Or shall I simply eat you? The time for me to decide draws near. You weaken. Your time runs short.}

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

He was right. His voice was like if someone had melted a dozen—no, a hundred—bullies together and poured them out into one horrible being. He wasn't just petty cruelty, he was evil. Actually evil.

But he was still a bully, just on a bigger scale than the ones I usually dealt with. I wracked my brain, trying to think of a solution, an escape. I'd gotten pretty good at avoiding the small, petty bullies that infested our middle school. Maybe I could come up with a way for us to get away from Visser Three, too?

One of the far-too-many things I've learned about bullies in my years of being a favored target was that splitting their focus was one of the best ways to deal with them. Bullies had a sort of tunnel vision. They could only focus on one target at a time. That didn't usually help me much, because there were only so many different ways to distract the same bruiser over and over again and with just me alone, "splitting up" was never an option.

But I wasn't alone now.

{Split-up,} I gasped. {He can't follow all of us.}

{And swimming off alone to drown is a better option?} Marco yelped.

{So we don't split up alone,} Rachel said, immediately onboard with my plan. Too bad she didn't know exactly what my plan was supposed to be. {Two groups. He'll only be able to chase one.}

{No,} Jake said, {we stick together. We face him together.}

{Then we die together,} I said bluntly. {And the resistance to the Yeerk invasion of Earth dies with us.}

There was a long silence after that, broken only by the frantic sounds of water splashing across our fins and the unceasing WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP of Visser Three drilling through the water behind us.

Finally Cassie said quietly, {Tobias is right. We can't all die here. Then the Yeerks win.}

Jake wanted to argue. I could tell that from the weight of his silence. Instead he growled, {Fine. We'll split-up.}

Something else I knew about bullies: they would always go for the easiest, closest target.

{If I swim back, angle closer to him, he'll chase me instead of the rest of you,} I said. {I can draw him away.}

{That's suicide,} Cassie protested.

{Only if he catches me,} I said. It was bluster. There was no way any of us were going to outswim him, not unless he focused on another target long enough for them to get away. I wondered how long it would take a mardrut to eat one dolphin. I hoped it would be long enough.

{And if he does, we'll fight,} said Rachel breezily. {I'm going with you. No way he chases only one of us when he could have five instead.}

I didn't say anything, even though I still thought he might. If I made myself an enticing enough target—if I looked weak enough and easy to pick off—he'd probably come after me by myself, figuring he could catch up with the others after. I just needed to come up with a good enough argument for it to be me.

{I will be honored to fight with you, Warrior Rachel,} Aximili said. His thought-speak voice shook, but I could almost picture Rachel's grim answering smile.

{No way,} she said. {We came out here to rescue an Andalite. If you die on the way back, what was the point? Besides, maybe you can call the Andalites and tell them to get her sooner.}

{Rachel's right, Ax,} said Jake. {I'll go with her. Tobias, you go back and I'll—}

{It was my idea,} I said belligerently. {You go back.}

{Jake, we need you,} Cassie pleaded. {You can't just…} She trailed-off, not wanting to say "throw your life away" when she knew that someone was going to need to make that sacrifice, but we all knew what she wasn't saying.

{You're exhausted from your extra morphing, Tobias,} Jake said bluntly. {You go back to shore with the others, and Rachel and I will deal with Visser Three.}

{Yeah,} Rachel said breezily, {he won't know what hit him.}

I felt something cold twist in my guts, like I'd swallowed unthawed fish. It was going to be the night in the construction site all over again, with the brave Berenson cousins putting themselves in harm's way to save the rest of us losers. Only this time, they wouldn't get away in the end. And it was all my fault for opening my stupid mouth. I should have just dropped back without saying anything, let the Visser spot me while the Animorphs and Aximili swam on unaware. Why couldn't I have just done it? Why did I have to make it a big production? Stupid, Tobias, stupid!

{Actually…} Cassie began. You don't need to breathe to use thought-speak, and dolphins don't breathe as often as humans, but pausing for breath is such a habit that we do it anyway sometimes. Or maybe Cassie was just having trouble getting the words out. Either way, she paused for a long time, then said, {You go back, Jake. I'll go with Rachel.}

{No,} said Rachel before Jake could. {Cassie, no way.}

{Yeah, Cassie. Ax is going to need somewhere to hide, anyway, and that means your farm.}

{You and Marco both know where the farm is,} Cassie said. Her thought-speak voice was tiny, but determined. {Coming here, doing this, it was my idea. My fault. So I'm… I should be the one to stay. The only one, actually.}

{No way,} Rachel said again. {You're the one who finds, like, half our morphs. And knows what animals are going to do and stuff. You're too valuable to the group.}

{Rachel's right, Cassie. You lead the others back to shore. We'll deal with the madrut.}

{I can't…this is my fault. I'm…I need to be the one who does this.}

{Cassie and I, then,} I said, hating myself even as I said it. But I understood where she was coming from, too. {I can't let somebody else do this without me, not when it was my idea.}

{Absolutely not,} Jake said. {You're the most tired of all of us, Tobias. It absolutely can't be you.}

{It can't be you either, Jake. You're our leader.}

{I'm not your…look, someone else will make the decisions if I'm not around,} Jake insisted. {I'm not special.}

{Face it, Jake,} Marco said, in a tone of such forced levity that it almost circled back around to grimness, {nobody's letting you put yourself on the hook for this one.}

{Well we can't just keep arguing about it all day or he'll just catch all of us,} Rachel said tartly. {Ax, pick a number between one and ten.}

{Yes, Warrior Rachel.}

{Rachel, what are you doing?}

{Ax is the only one who definitely isn't doing this,} Rachel said. {So he picks a number, and whichever one of us guesses closest to it, that's who does this.}

{Jake…Jake, man…}

I don't think Marco's quiet plea was meant for all of us. He was probably just too rattled to speak to Jake privately.

I wondered if Rachel was speaking to Aximili privately right now, telling him to say that whatever number she chose was the one he picked. I tried to narrow my concentration, to speak to Aximili and only Aximili like I had earlier with Rachel, but it was hard to focus. I was so tired, and so scared.

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

Visser Three was getting closer.

{You can't volunteer for this either, Marco,} Jake said. {Your dad needs you. He can't have you disappear out in the water, too.}

Marco laughed bitterly. {A little late for that. No, if we're doing this stupid Andalite-roulette thing, I'm doing it too. I just…if I don't…if I'm the one that…} There was a muffled, strangled sound in my head, like someone was stifling a sob. {Then you gotta tell my dad it was something else. Okay? Make something up. Say I was killed trying to save a bunch of puppies, or a busload of hot babes or something. Okay? Don't tell him I died in the water. Don't tell him…don't tell him I died out here, too.}

{Marco…}

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

{What if we just…split his focus?} Cassie suggested desperately. {Rather than anyone swimming back and…and trying to get his attention on purpose, what if we just separate and swim in different directions? Maybe he'll take so long deciding who to chase that we'll be able to get away.}

I didn't think that was likely. I don't think anyone else did, either.

But Jake said, {An even split, all right. Three of us, and three of us.} I couldn't see Jake doing the rapid calculation I knew had to be running through his head right now, but I could hear it in his voice. {Cassie, you and Tobias have spent the most time in morph today. So you two stick with Ax and split to the left, towards shore. Rachel, Marco, and I aren't as tired, so we can swim a little faster. We'll head right, towards deeper water.}

We weren't close enough to shore that I thought that was going to make any difference, but I didn't argue. I knew what Jake was getting at.

{Let's see Visser Three figure out whether to chase the people who look like they're running away, or the ones who look like they're running off to get up to trouble.}

I also knew that Jake's plan wasn't going to work the way he thought it would. If it had been Jake we were trying to get away from, or someone noble like him, then yeah they would absolutely have chased the group that looked like it was up to something rather than the stragglers swimming for safety. But we weren't running from Jake. We were running from Visser Three. And bullies always go for the weaker target. If we split up like this, he wouldn't chase Jake, Rachel, and Marco. He would chase the rest of us. Since that was what I wanted, I didn't point out Jake's miscalculation. I just said, {All right.}

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

{Jake…}

{It'll be okay, Cassie,} Jake lied.

{Yeah,} Marco laughed shakily, {piece of cake.}

{Are we doing this?} Rachel asked savagely. {Then let's do it. The longer we argue the tireder we'll be.}

{All right,} Jake said. {Animorphs, split-up. Whatever you do, whatever happens, don't turn around. Just swim. For as long as you can. And…and good luck.}

{We'll see you…we'll see you all back at shore,} Cassie told the other group.

{Oh, totally,} Marco laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh. In fact, it sounded a little hysterical. I wondered if Marco knew what Jake thought was going to happen, and what sacrifice he'd chosen to make. I wondered if Marco understood bullies better than his best friend, or not.

I didn't say anything. Rachel was right, there was no more time to argue. Besides, I'd gotten what I'd wanted. Sort of.

I just wished there was a way to get Aximili into the other group. Like Rachel had said, this was going to be a real waste of a mission if the Andalite we'd come here to save didn't survive. But at least some of us would.

And maybe I could talk Cassie and Aximili into splitting up more, to try and confuse the Visser when he chased us. Then I could do what I should have done in the first place, and just lure him away on my own without saying anything stupid this time.

We made our quick farewells and peeled away. I thought about saying something privately to Rachel, but—but what could I say?

I'd already messed things up by opening my dumb mouth once today. Better to keep any stupid, idiot thoughts to myself. Rachel didn't need that kind of baggage.

{Stay cool, Tobias,} said Rachel's voice in my head. {Stay strong. Keep kicking ass.}

I almost forgot to kick my tail. Rachel thought I was cool? Rachel thought I kicked ass? It was clear she thought Jake's plan was going to work, and that she was the one who wasn't going to be coming back. I knew better, so I should probably say something to her—some kind of goodbye, right? Something smart, that she'd think was cool. Something she could remember me by…but what?

{Rachel, I…}

I couldn't think of anything. But I couldn't just leave things like that, knowing I wouldn't be coming back. I couldn't. I had to say something. Even something stupid was better than nothing!

{Rachel, thanks,} I finally blurted. {Thanks for being my friend.}

No reply. Were we already too far away?

{Rachel? Hey, Rachel, can you hear me?}

Silence. Silence, except for—

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

If Visser Three had hesitated when he'd seen us split-up, it hadn't been for long. The only comfort I could draw from the noise on our tails was the realization that it was closer than ever, which meant that I was right. He was chasing us, not Jake and Rachel and Marco.

My lucky day.

{Pathetic Andalites,} the Visser sneered. {You think running away will save you? You can't escape me! And once I've finished with you, I'll have my people track down your friends and I'll catch them, too! There is no escape for you!}

He bore down on us—WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP—and I had the terrifying satisfaction of knowing I'd been right.

Sorry, Jake, I thought dimly. Shouldn't doubt the bully-magnet.

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP .

{He—he pursues,} Aximili announced, sounding panicky.

{We should split-up again,} I said. {Keep him distracted. Divide his attention.}

{Y-yes,} Aximili said, {yes, if you think—yes. We will…we will buy more time, for the others, that way.}

{Yeah,} I said. It was strange, not feeling scared, but somehow I didn't anymore. Was it because I'd already realized—already decided—that I wasn't getting out of this alive? Maybe I was just too tired to feel afraid anymore. It was a dull ache deep in my tail, an exhaustion that went through tiredness and out the other side. I wondered, even if we had managed to catch-up with mom's boat, if I would have had the strength to demorph and climb on board anyway.

I guess it didn't matter.

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

{Okay,} I said, {I'll peel off to the right, and you guys keep going for a while. Then when he gets close again, you can…you know. Yeah.}

{Please, allow me to—}

{No, you should stick with Cassie for now,} I interrupted Aximili. I could hear his honor bristling up through his fear, and I thought of Rachel. Aximili might be scared out of his mind, but he knew that the honorable thing—the brave thing—would be to face Visser Three, and let the rest of us try and escape. But I knew I was the weak link, the one who was already tired from morphing—and besides, this was my idea.

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

{You're not from Earth, you don't know these waters like we do,} I said, scrambling for some excuse that would convince the Andalite to put his life above ours. As though Cassie and I "knew these waters," like we were sailors or something—ha! But it sounded good, right? {And besides, you're in a different shape than either of us. Visser Three might not even realize you're with us.} I didn't think that was likely; I didn't think the Visser cared what the difference between a shark and a dolphin was, or would if anyone pointed it out. But it sounded good, and that was what mattered. {He might not chase you at all. So you should be the one to keep going the longest.}

{I do not like this plan,} Aximili said. {It seems…it seems the act of a coward, to choose to be the last to fall.}

Again , he didn't say, but I could hear it in his voice. He'd been the last survivor of his crashing ship, too. He probably didn't want to go through that again, and I could respect that. But we'd come out here to save him. Letting him sacrifice himself for us now would make the whole thing pointless.

Maybe I should stop trying to make-up excuses and just tell the truth.

{Your brother died to save us,} I said softly. {Please give me the chance to try and return the favor.}

{I understand,} Aximili said. His thought-speak voice was heavy. {I…shall. I think…I think we have a lot in common. I wish…I wish I could have gotten to know you better, Tobias of Earth. I wish this could have ended differently.}

I thought of the Andalite dome beneath the water, thought of the bright grass and the soft air. I thought of Elfangor's kind green eyes, which had seemed to look right through every shield I'd ever tried to put up around myself and seen straight to my core, and accepted me anyway. I thought of Aximili's eyes, which hadn't possessed that penetrating knowledge, but had still been kind. Just like the eyes my mom had been painting my entire life, eyes that she wasn't going to get to meet now. Not unless I could draw Visser Three away long enough for Aximili to make it back to shore.

Too bad I hadn't thought to have him acquire me before we left the dome. He could take my place in school, in our apartment, in my life until his people came to rescue him. Mom would take care of him, I knew. And nobody else knew me well enough that they'd ever know the difference.

{Me too,} I said.

WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP.

{Okay,} I said. It was time to do this. {Cassie? You good?}

{No,} said Cassie. She sounded distant, dazed. Probably sick with fear, like I'd been before this cold certainty had driven it away. {Tobias, don't. Just…just wait.}

{No,} I said, and turned in the water, corkscrewing backwards to face the oncoming monster that was Visser Three's latest morph. {I'm done running from bullies.}