Chapter 4

"-ids may have already arrived on Ea-"

Buzz!

"Wait, Sarge!" Jake blurted. "Change the channel back!"

Santorelli fumbled with the remote in his right hand and flicked the correct button to bring back the channel that had caused Jake to bolt up on the sofa.

But the news story had ended. The news anchor on the screen was introducing a segment on stuff going on in Iraq.

I left my leaning position on the wall outside the kitchen and moved to the sofa, hands firmly tucked into my pockets. "What did you see?"

"Kelbrids," Jake replied. "We saw them above Earth. They're already here. I get the feeling that they're finally being spotted. Sarge, see if you can find another news station."

"Gotcha, boss," he replied, beginning his arduous task of flicking from one channel to the next on a TV with hardly any signal.

"How would people know what they even look like?" I questioned. "Nobody's seen one. Could be Skrit Na for all we know."

Menderash met it with an answer. He sat stiffly in a wooden seat, off to the side like a bad kid in a classroom made to sit in a corner. "The military has released Kelbrid images to the Earth population so that they may report any sightings."

"And when the hell did that happen?!" I demanded.

"When you were asleep," he replied. "At 1 PM yesterday."

Jake ended a verbal battle before it could begin. "The governments around the world are all alert to it now. The Andalites are sure that the Kelbrids are here, so they're searching pretty hard."

"What happens if they find some?" I asked.

Jake turned his eyes away pensively, stroked his fingers through his bushy facial hair. He was conflicted, and he had many reasons to be.

"I don't know," he said quietly. "I just want to know what's going on."

"The Kelbrids will bring ships," Menderash proposed. "If we can take one of those ships, we could return to Kelbrid Space. We could follow the coordinates we were given to find Prince Aximili."

"You're forgetting two important factors there, Mendy," I asserted. "One: That's a suicide mission, and two… Well, I don't really need two."

"It's dangerous," Jake added, and helpfully so. I clearly didn't illustrate that point enough.

"We can morph them!" Santorelli suggested, still flicking idly through the channels. "We tricked 'em before. We can trick 'em again."

Menderash wasn't taken by the simplistic idea. "The Kelbrids are not incompetent like the Yeerks were. They will learn from their mistakes. We won't be able to trick them so easily again."

"Wait, Sarge!" Jake suddenly exclaimed. "Go back!"

This time, the breaking news was only just starting. With a stern expression on her screen-perfect features, the anchor was just beginning to explain the findings that would surely be reported worldwide. The backdrop hosted video footage from high above Antarctica's white infiniteness.

The dark-haired anchor said, "-tage taken from the Andalite patrol ship SpaceFlame shows frightening evidence of a new alien invader. The Kelbrids, having waged war with the Andalites, are thought to have journeyed close to Earth as they move into Andalite Space."

A dark figure suddenly appeared on the video footage of snow and ice, shuffling between two ice mounds that seemed out of place in the flatter surroundings. Though darkened and distant, there were the tell-tale signs…

Tendrils. They wiggled and shook as the figure moved, and they covered the entire back and tail. Within just a couple of seconds, the Kelbrid had disappeared again.

"This video shows that the Kelbrids may have already arrived on Earth. The Andalite Ambassador on Earth, Ammarumor Eliish, reassures us that they have the situation under control."

The screen flashed to an aged Andalite based in DC. He spoke calmly and with a gentle flow. He explained how the Kelbrids weren't here for us Humans.

I wasn't sure I believed him. In fact, I was confident that he was lying to avoid panic.

The Kelbrids were at war and setting up camp on our planet. And as I looked around the room, I saw my peers consider and ponder. They knew that they would have to do something. Surely, they knew.

And I would be in the thick of it. The war was approaching faster than I originally had thought. Of course! The Yeerks had been telling the Kelbrids all about us. There was no doubt. I would be at war again.

I would fight again. For five years, I had avoided it. I couldn't simply go back.

"Marco, you okay?" I heard Jake ask.

I turned to face him and stared back. "Yeah. Why?"

"You're shaking."

I felt it even before he mentioned it. I slipped my shuddering hands into my pockets and rested my waist against the arm of the sofa. "It's cold. Is anybody else cold? It's freezing!"

Ely leaned forward to see me past Jake. "Would you like some coffee to warm you up, Marco, sir?"

Jake nudged him lightly. "Don't call him sir. I'll go make the coffee."

"No, no!" I blurted. "I'm fine. I… need to go to the bathroom."

I didn't, really. I left the living room and the prophetic television, and then I made the choice. I'd put it off for so long but couldn't do it anymore. I needed help. I needed it now.

I dragged my shaken body up the stairs and to the cupboard where Ely had started storing his cleaning stuff. The door quietly creaked open, and I reached to the side to pull the cord that flashed up the dim ceiling light. Ely had made some effort to clean the place, but it still reeked of dust, and the supporting structures of the room were still riddled with cobwebs. I crept past and over it all, reaching the end of Ely's equipment and the beginning of unused empty space. The ceiling angled toward the floor, making it increasingly hard to crawl forward, and the ceiling light would only shine so far. I crawled into a cramped, darkened corner.

A rafter ran up the sloping ceiling; one side was lit slightly by the last remnant of what the lightbulb could muster, and the other was forever hidden in shadow. I reached my hand slowly beneath it and into the blackness. A hole was waiting on the other side, perhaps where a rodent had nibbled through at the promise of some old rotten snack, just big enough to fit my hand through. My fingers clutched something hard and plastic.

I pulled out the cell phone that I had kept secret. It wasn't mine. It wasn't anybody's. It never would be.

I flicked it open, and the small, colorful screen greeted me. As I held it in my grasp, I watched as my fingers began to thicken and lighten in tone. Hairs sprouted where they had never sprouted before. My nails grew wider and slightly longer.

And the space I had crammed myself into was getting smaller. My body was bulking slightly and also developing an unhealthy paunch. Ivan probably drank too much. The guy needed just a bit more exercise.

My long black hair retreated into my head, and much to my disappointment, my van Dyke was replaced by something much less awesome: just something scruffy and unmanaged.

I was Ivan, the big, burly builder.

With sausage fingers, I tapped a specific number into the phone. It was a number I hadn't dialed for some time, probably just over a year. I couldn't quite remember.

I held the phone to my ear and heard the patient ringing of a phone left unattended. But I knew he would answer because he always did.

And he didn't let me down. His throaty voice crackled through the phone. "Who is this?"

"Hey. Ralphy?" I replied quietly. "You don't know me, man. I got your number from somebody else."

He paused for a frustrating couple of seconds. "What the fuck do you want?"

"I want chocolate pancakes, man," I said as casually as possible. "Chocolate pancakes with sprinkles."

It may have sounded stupid. It did sound stupid. But it meant something entirely different.

Suddenly, Ralphy wasn't so bad-mannered. "Okay, man, yeah. What you want?"

"Two," I replied assuredly. "I've got money."

"Where you at?"

"Jackson, Wyoming."

I heard him growl harshly through the sketchy phone signal. "What the hell, man?! You expect me to go all the way out there for two bags?! You're out of your fucking mind!"

"L-listen, Ralphy," I urged, stumbling slightly over my words. "I know you have a guy out in Idaho. I'll pay double."

There was a slight pause as he considered. "Triple."

I scrunched my face up in disgust. "Triple? Dude, that shit's gone to your head."

"Triple," he reiterated firmly. He wasn't going to budge.

"Alright. Fine," I conceded. "Triple. But it better be good."

"For sure, man," he chuckled. "For sure. Best shit in town."

I left the cleaning room and joined the others downstairs for a little while. When it turned dark and everybody had gone away to sleep, I once again morphed owl, took my little bag in my talons, and flew into the night.