This is the chapter where things finally get weird. Well, at least weirder than normal by Animorphs standards.

The Human word "seer" implies the power to see the future. But this was something I had not foreseen at all. Not simply morphing an aquatic creature to search for a wrecked Andalite ship, but being the one to lead the way? And yet, there I was, over a dozen miles from the safety of shore. If I did have the gift of prophecy, it was very much for the best that I hadn't seen this part of my future - all it would have done was needlessly frighten me.

I had never counted on the old stories about Seers being true than I had at that moment. Guided by little more than a powerful feeling that our destination lay in a very specific direction, I hoped it was true that Seers had magical powers. For now, morphing and knowing the right direction seemed to be the full extent. I wasn't even sure how far away we needed to travel. For all I knew, we could be coming across it any minute. While Cassie and I guided the others in the right direction, we took it in turns to use the dolphin's echolocation to scan ahead, hoping that the next round of KLIKs would show us what we were looking for.

Forty minutes of KLIKs did not reveal an Andalite ship, but they did eventually find something else.

KLIKLIKLIK KLIKLIKLIK

I almost missed it because it was near the surface, and my attention was on the seabed, but there was motion at the very edge of my sonar range.

(Jake, there's something large moving around up ahead.)

KLIKLIKLIK KLIKLIKLIK

(Not exactly,) Cassie said, (Looks more like a group of smaller things, but I can't quite make it - oh, wait. Those are dolphins!)

So. A pod of wild dolphins. Abruptly, they changed direction, and swam over as if to greet us.

KLIKLIK KLIKLIK *POP* KLIKLIK

Something about the new dolphins' sonar burst felt different. But why?

KLIKLIK *POP* KLIKLIK KLIKLIK?

Now I had more of a pattern to work with. These KLIKs seemed to be more structured than the random bursts my friends and I had been sending all morning. It couldn't be some kind of language, could it? Lee had once told me about ravens trying to communicate with him when he was using that morph, and I wondered if these wild dolphins might be doing the same thing right now. I wanted to try and respond to them, but wasn't sure how to replicate the sounds I was hearing. Maybe there was another option, though. If it was smart enough, would an animal be able to understand Thought-Speech?

(Ah... hello. We are just passing through.)

That triggered a flurry of activity from the wild dolphins. They began swimming in a large circle around us. I didn't feel menaced, more that they were just trying to study us.

(Woah. What just happened?) Jake asked.

(All I did was say hello,) I replied, (Do you think that was a mistake, or-)

I was cut of by another series of KLIKs, but this time I could almost hear something coherent in them.

(Could you please repeat that?) I asked, not entirely sure if I would even be understood. The dolphin did understand, though. And suddenly, so did I.

)Yousa strange accent, Seseta. Where yousa from?(

(Jake? The dolphins are asking where we came from.)

(What, for real?)

(Yes.)

Jake did not respond. Nor did the others. I hated it when they did that - I could only make wild guesses about what they were thinking, and until they spoke I had no feedback to gauge the accuracy of my guess.

(Jake. What should I tell them?)

(I don't know. Tell them we're from L. A., maybe?)

(We are from Los Angeles,) I relayed to the wild dolphins. Not exactly true, but it was a simple explanation close enough to the truth. I doubted they even understood what cities were, so why bother making the distinction between Los Angeles and a smaller city nearby?

)All aqualowda talk like you there?(

(Cassie. How likely do you think it is that the Yeerks might attempt to communicate with these creatures?) I asked, stalling as I tried to think of a response for the dolphins.

(I don't believe it's something they'd ever think of. Not based on anything they learned from humans, anyway. As far as we know, dolphins aren't supposed to be able to talk. And you're the only one here who claims to understand them. You sure you're not just imagining it?)

(The dolphins are speaking to me quite coherently. I am positive.)

(Okay... dolphins can talk,) Marco said, (And you have no idea how weird that is, do you?)

(No. I have no preconceived notions about what Humans find unusual.)

(We probably shouldn't be this surprised,) Rachel said, (I mean, how many times has our perception of reality been completely overturned this month?)

(More than I want to count,) Jake said.

I knew the Yeerks were aware of only one sentient race on Earth. And with Cassie's reassurance that Humans had the same idea, I felt safe speaking as openly as possible with the dolphins.

(We are not truly dolphins,) I said, (We are land dwellers who used our magic powers to enter the sea to search for something that we lost.)

)What you lose, wizard landlowda?(

I did my best to describe an Andalite ship, hampered by the fact that I myself only had a vague idea of what it looked like - and I wasn't even sure which part of it had fallen into the water. Even with Thought-Speech providing a direct and highly accurate translation between languages, it took considerable trial and error to get my point across. But I did succeed.

)Niet seein shipwreck. But Great Ones, they will know.(

(What are 'Great Ones'?)

)...they are Great Ones,( the dolphin answered, as if that was all the explanation needed. It certainly seemed to be all the explanation I would get.

(Where are the Great Ones?) I asked.

)Close. Follow!(

The wild dolphins swam away. Realizing they weren't going to turn around, I followed after them. The others hesitated for a moment before coming after us.

author's note: The dolphins' language is heavily influenced by Belter Creole from "The Expanse" (which actually has an actor from the Animorphs TV show in the first two episodes). For a while, I was tempted to leave their dialogue completely unwritten and just imply what they said through Toby's reactions... but then I wouldn't have any fun writing weird dialogue.