Chapter 5

Tobias and I, both in owl morph, flew in Marco's open window.

"Hey guys," Marco whispered. "You can demorph, but be quiet. My dad and stepmom are sleeping,"

Prince Jake and Cassie were already there, both already demorphed.

I demorphed into my Andalite body. Cassie was sitting at the chair at Marco's desk. Prince Jake was lounging on a large, blue, vaguely spherical cloth contraption called a bean bag chair. Marco himself was sitting at the foot of his bed.

{Are you guys ready for tonight?} I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Not really," Marco said. "It still gives me the creeps, morphing a Yeerk. I don't know how you did it, Cassie. But I know it's the right thing to do."

"I do admit, Yeerk was one of the most disgusting morphs I've ever done," said Cassie. "But once I was inside a brain, it wasn't bad. Ugh. I can't believe I just said that."

"Way to lighten the mood, Cassie," Prince Jake said.

{It won't be so bad, people,} Tobias pointed out. {Remember, we're not even morphing Yeerks tonight, just acquiring.}

{Yeah, the real horror won't begin until we start morphing. We're doing that probably tomorrow, right?} Marco asked.

{Probably,} said Prince Jake. {We'll have to talk it over.}

Just then, three owls flew through Marco's window. Rachel, Jordan, and Hannah.

All three of them started to demorph.

{Sorry we're late,} said Jordan. {Our mom decided to have a spontaneous family game night.}

{Yeah, I had to lose on purpose to make the game end faster,} Rachel complained.

{Yeah, right,} Hannah argued. {You just suck.}

"Can we focus, please?" Prince Jake asked. "Once you three are done demorphing, Cassie will morph owl and everyone else will go bat. We fly over to Mr. Tidwell's house, which is eight blocks west. Cassie will communicate with Mr. Tidwell. Once Mr. Tidwell gives her the go ahead, Ax and I will be the first two in. We'll demorph and verify it's safe, before giving everyone else the all clear."

"Do you think Mr. Tidwell might be setting us up?" Cassie demanded.

"I think it is incredibly unlikely, but still possible," Prince Jake said. "I would rather be safe than sorry. Especially since we will all be in our natural forms."

"A little bit of paranoia is healthy," Marco said.

"Exactly," Prince Jake agreed. "But don't make it look like we're paranoid. We'll just say the others will be arriving shortly, and the go ahead will be given in private thought-speak. Understood?"

{Yes, Prince Jake,} I said.

"Cool," he turned to Rachel, Jordan, and Hannah, who were finished demorphing. "Are you three good to morph again?"

They all nodded.

"All right everyone. Morph," Prince Jake commanded.

I respected Prince Jake's ability to keep his guard up. Many Andalite Princes might treat this mission like a routine event, but Prince Jake recognized the potential threat was still there, even if it was very small.

I began to morph to bat. Bats are very unique among earth creatures. They are the only mammals that can fly, and they are one of the only non-underwater creatures with echolocation.

The first change was the shrinking. I was going from being several feet tall to only a couple inches tall.

The skin on my arms grew incredibly loose and translucent, beginning the transformation into the leathery wings of the bat.

Suddenly, little bat hands shot out of my elbows. A very disturbing sight. My Andalite hands withered away as my forearms slowly bent backwards.

The skin on my arms, already hanging loose like a gown, began to travel down and around my body, consuming my front legs and meeting in the back by my tail.

My tail blade suddenly shrank down into nothing, leaving me feeling vulnerable. My tail lost its ability to arch over my head and it just lay on the ground like a dead weight.

My stalk eyes went blind, and my ears melted together with my stalks to create the massive perky ears of the bat.

The entire time, I was shrinking. Already I was only about six inches tall, and still the shrinking continued.

My blue fur turned into a dark brown, with lighter brown on the underside.

A mouth with tiny needle-like teeth opened in the lower half of my face like a wound.

My green eyes turned into the pitch black beady eyes of the bat.

The final change was my rear hooves turning into five toed feet.

I spread my leathery hairless wings and flapped up, landing upside down on the ceiling fan in Marco's bedroom.

The transformation was complete.

My bat brain was instantly aware of Cassie, as her owl morph was one of the few natural predators of bats.

{Woah! This is awesome!} exclaimed Jordan.

I shot a series of clicks and was met with an array of corners and sharp angles.

My acute bat ears could hear the others doing the same.

{All right, let's fly.} Prince Jake commanded.

We flew out of Marco's window, a small fleet of bats.

Cassie flew up and out of sight to keep overwatch.

The rest of us flew west towards Mr. Tidwell's house. We flew, echolocating as we went. Darting between tree branches and parts of houses, making last second adjustments as we went.

It wasn't long before we were at Mr. Tidwell's house.

{Spread out,} Prince Jake directed. {Perch in inconspicuous places around the neighboring houses, keeping within thought-speak range. Cassie, take a quick look around, I want to know if there's anything suspicious within a five-block radius.}

{You got it,} Cassie said as she soared overhead.

{Ax, you and I will go in first. We'll both demorph and make small talk with Mr. Tidwell. Keep track of five minutes after we're in, then if nothing seems off, give everyone else the go ahead in private thought-speak. I won't be able to thought-speak, so if I sense danger, I'll scratch my left ear. If that happens, Ax, tell everyone else to morph battle morphs and stand by.}

{Yes, Prince Jake.}

{You got it, oh fearless leader,} said Marco.

{Do we want to tell Mr. Tidwell to turn away when we demorph?} Jordan asked.

{I don't see the need,} Prince Jake answered. {He already knows who we all are, except you and Hannah. And if the Yeerks can find six of us, they can find the last two.}

Just then, Cassie returned. {It's clear,} she announced.

{Thanks, Cassie,} Prince Jake said. {Go ahead and reach out to them.}

{Roger,} Cassie said. {Illum? Mr. Tidwell? It's me, Cassie. We're ready to start if you are.}

My echolocation displayed a man opening the window in the kitchen.

{Ax, we're up,} Prince Jake said.

Prince Jake and I darted through the kitchen window.

{The others will be here shortly,} Prince Jake told Mr. Tidwell. To me he added, {Let's demorph.}

Prince Jake and I demorphed. Mr. Tidwell watched us curiously.

When Prince Jake was fully human, he extended his hand to Mr. Tidwell. "Mr. Tidwell, Illum, it's nice to finally meet you. Thank you for being willing to help us."

Mr. Tidwell/Illum grasped Prince Jake's hand and shook it firmly, a human gesture.

"Likewise," Mr. Tidwell said. "Anything I can do to hurt Visser Three is my pleasure."

Then he turned his hand to me.

"Nice to meet you as well, my Andalite friend."

{Thank you,} I said. I shook his hand awkwardly.

"How is the Yeerk peace movement going?" Prince Jake asked.

"Pretty good," Mr. Tidwell responded. "Slowly but surely, we are growing. We're over 250 members now, including one Sub-Visser."

{Are any of you going to the Hork-Bajir homeworld?} I asked.

"Yes, but only a couple," Mr. Tidwell said. "The vast majority of us have human hosts, and the convoy is mostly Hork-Bajir."

{Perhaps they could start a new Yeerk peace movement on the Hork-Bajir homeworld,} I said.

Mr. Tidwell frowned. "Hopefully, but don't count on it. Very few Hork-Bajir are voluntary hosts, and humans have more emotion, so are more able to convince Yeerks that what they are doing is wrong."

Mr. Tidwell grabbed a pot from a kitchen cabinet and began to fill it with water.

"I'm going to exit my host. I'll have to stay in the water. You guys can just reach into the water when you acquire me."

{Prince Jake, it has been five minutes now,} I said privately. {Are you confident there is no danger?}

Prince Jake nodded discreetly.

{Prince Jake says it is safe to come in,} I told the others privately.

Five bats flew in and began to demorph.

Illum left Mr. Tidwell and was placed in the pot. Mr. Tidwell placed the pot on the kitchen table before taking a seat.

The others were mostly done demorphing now, their last bat features dissolving into their natural forms.

Mr. Tidwell took a curious glance at Tobias, who had morphed directly from bat to red-tailed hawk.

Then his gaze rested on Jordan.

"Jordan? I thought you were a controller?" he asked.

Jordan started to respond, but I quickly warned her. {Do not mention the Chee,} I advised.

"Well, appearances can be deceiving," Jordan said simply.

"I see," Mr. Tidwell said. I could tell he wanted to say more, but he knew we probably wouldn't answer truthfully.

"All right, let's go ahead with the acquisition," Marco said to break the silence.

Marco reached into the pot. His brow furrowed as the Yeerk DNA became a part of him.

Prince Jake went next. One by one, my human friends acquired Illum. Finally, it was my turn.

I reached toward the Yeerk.

My hand was shaking.

I quickly withdrew my hand and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself.

You are an Andalite warrior, I told myself. You are better than your fear.

Prince Jake looked at me with an expression of concern.

{Are you all right, Ax?} Tobias asked me privately.

{I'm fine,} I answered. I was embarrassed. None of the humans had struggled to acquire the Yeerk.

I reached out again. I was still shaking, but not as much. My fingers dipped into the water.

My tremors made little ripples in the pan.

I pressed a finger against the soft gray Yeerk flesh.

The enemy.

I felt sick.

I have to do this, I reminded myself.

I closed my main eyes and felt the Yeerk become a part of me.