MARCO

The thrift store smells like mold and regret. The mission went off without a hitch—we got everything we needed. I can still hear Tom's voice echoing in my head, like some kind of twisted playback, casually discussing turning against Visser Three. And then her voice—Visser One. My mom.

My mom, trapped by that alien monster. A puppet playing along while her real self is locked somewhere deep inside.

It's been months since I've seen her like that—alive, walking around, even if it's not really her. But every time it happens, I'm yanked right back into that helpless, angry headspace. The part of me that doesn't care about the mission or strategy or keeping the team safe. The part that just wants my mom back.

I close my eyes, leaning against the dusty and cluttered bookshelf. Her voice won't leave my head. That sharp, calculating tone. Not her. Not the woman who used to stay up late helping me build science fair projects or snuck me extra dessert when my dad wasn't looking.

I should've saved her.

I should've done something.

But I didn't. Again.

I take a deep breath, shaking the thoughts loose before they can drag me down any further. I can't afford to fall apart now. Not here. Not when everyone's counting on me to keep it together.

I'm so caught up in my head I almost miss Rachel's words.

"David… David's gone."

I blink, snapping back to reality. "What?"

"He's not here," she says again, her tone calm but taut, like she's holding herself in check.

For a second, my mind blanks. I'm looking around the cluttered store as if he would just be hiding in some corner that Rachel didn't notice.

Then the panic hits, cold and sharp. If David's gone, he could be doing anything—getting himself killed, or worse, leading the Yeerks straight to us.

"He what ?" My voice rises, shaky and strained. "Are you kidding me? He could be anywhere—he could've gone straight to Visser Three!"

"We don't know that," Jake says quickly, but his eyes are sharp, calculating. "We'll find him. Tobias, get back in the air. See if he went bird and took off."

Tobias gives a quick nod before launching into the sky, wings slicing through the stale air.

"Cassie," Jake says, his voice steady despite the chaos, "go grab Ax from next door. Fill him in and have him check the grounds around the building, the road—if David morphed a land animal, he might still be close. Then you hit the barn, his house, Rachel's, anywhere he might think to go."

Cassie hesitates for a second, glancing at Rachel, but then she nods and slips out.

Jake turns to me and Rachel, his expression tight. "You two, search this store and the ones nearby. If David's still in roach morph, he won't have gotten far."

I give him a quick nod, but Jake's already moving. "I'll follow Tom," he calls back, barely slowing down. "If David went after him, I'll find out."

Without waiting for a response, Jake heads to the window. A moment later, he's morphing—feathers sprouting, arms shifting into wings. He doesn't look back before launching out as a peregrine falcon, disappearing into the sky.

Everything goes still for a moment, the air thick with tension. Rachel frowns, crossing her arms. "This doesn't make sense! Why would he just leave?" she murmurs, mostly to herself. "Maybe he got scared… or maybe the roach brain took over..."

Her voice is calm, but there's a defensive edge to it, and it lights a match to the pile of emotions building in my chest.

"Are you serious?" I snap, stepping toward her. "You're defending him?"

Rachel's head snaps around, her eyes narrowing. "I'm not defending him. I'm just saying there could be a reason—"

"Oh, there's a reason," I cut her off, my voice rising. "The guy's a snake, Rachel. A coward. He bailed on us. Probably planned this from the minute we gave him the ability to morph!"

"You don't know that!" she shoots back. "You don't know him!"

"I know enough!" My fists clench at my sides, my pulse pounding in my ears. "I know he's a liar. I know he's been manipulating all of us since day one. And I know you've been too close to see what a total psycho he is."

She doesn't back down, her arms crossing tighter over her chest. "No, you're wrong! David wouldn't desert the war. He wouldn't leave us! He wouldn't leave—" She hesitates, but there's something in her eyes. Suddenly it hits me like a brick.

I'm already too far gone—angry, scared, heartbroken—but now I can't stop myself. "You think he wouldn't leave you, huh?" My voice drops lower, harsh. "You think you meant something to him? That you're special? That you're worth sticking around for?" I step forward, fists clenched at my sides. "You're more delusional than I thought."

Rachel's eyes flash with anger, but there's something else there too—confusion, hurt. "You don't get it, Marco," she spits, her voice sharp. "You don't know what he's been through. He's been on his own, scared, hunted. Maybe he panicked!"

"Panicked?" I laugh bitterly, the sound sharp and hollow. I know I'm unloading everything—David, my mom, all of it—onto her, but I can't stop myself.

"Wake up, Rachel! You think he really gave a damn about you? He used you! And you let him!" My voice rises, louder and sharper with every word. "You've been throwing all of us away for him—your friends, everything—" I'm not even thinking anymore, just saying it all. "—everything we could've had! All for him! You've put everything on the line for him, and for what? So he could turn his back and put all of us in danger!"

I pause, glaring at her, my chest heaving.

Rachel's face goes pale, and I see it—the hurt in her eyes, the shock of hearing me say it out loud. But I don't stop. I can't.

"God, Rachel," I growl, my voice dripping with disgust. "You've been so blind, so damn desperate for him to care about you that you didn't even see what was happening. You let him walk all over you. He did everything he could to tear us apart, and you just let him do it!"

Rachel's expression hardens, her eyes flashing with a mix of anger and something sharper—hurt, maybe. "You always think you know everything, don't you?"

"That's not what I'm saying!" I snap, but the words come out sharper than I mean them to. The tension is boiling over, spilling into every word. I take a breath, trying to rein it in, but it's no use. It's all too much—my mom's voice still ringing in my ears, Tom's cryptic words coiled in my brain, and on top of it all, David might have just handed us over on a silver platter.

"You've been defending him from the start," I say, my voice low but cutting. "You let him get close, Rachel, and now we're all paying for it."

Her face pales, but she tries to act like she's fine, like she's still in control. "That's not—"

"No, don't you dare!" I cut her off, louder now, almost yelling. "Don't you dare defend him, Rachel. You've been blindly trusting him, choosing him over the rest of us, even when the guy's nothing but a liar. And you can't even see it! You're so caught up in whatever fantasy you have about him that you can't even realize what he's done."

Her face hardens, like she's trying to hold it together, but I can see the cracks. She's hurt. She doesn't want to admit it, but I can see it now. She shakes her head, tears spilling over her lashes, but she doesn't say anything. It's breaking something inside me, something I can't even name. My stomach twists in a way I don't expect. For a second, it's not anger that I feel—it's guilt.

I did this. I just made her cry. And for what?

I run a hand through my hair, feeling the weight of it all—the frustration, the anger, but also this deep, horrible feeling in my chest. I've spent so long being angry at David, being heartbroken and jealous, but I never stopped to think about what this might do to Rachel.

I was consumed up in how she hurt me, and how David had hurt her, that I failed to realize I've been doing the same to her now.

My voice softens, almost without me meaning to. "Rachel, wait. I didn't… I—"

But then her eyes narrow, dark blue flashing with anger, her cheeks flushing a deep red. She jabs a finger in my direction, her voice tight with fury. "You're so damn convinced of everything. Maybe you're right! Maybe I let him get too close. Maybe I trusted him when I shouldn't have. But you know what, Marco? I never pretended to have all the answers. Maybe I just wanted to believe there was more to him than what you see."

I open my mouth, desperate to say something, anything to push back, but her gaze is like a punch to the gut, fierce and unwavering. The words catch in my throat.

"I'm so done with you acting like you know everything," she continues, her voice quiet but trembling with anger and hurt. "Maybe I made a mistake. Maybe I let my feelings cloud my judgment. But at least I'm not a bitter, jealous jerk who can't see beyond his own need to be constantly right. At least I don't tear down the people I care about just to make myself feel better."

Her words land like a slap. I open my mouth again, but no sound comes out. I stand there, torn between the anger that still boils in my veins and the guilt that's swallowing me whole.

She shakes her head. "Just leave me alone. I have nothing more to say to you."

She presses her lips together tightly, turns on her heel, and stalks toward the back of the store. I watch her go, the silence between us louder than anything we've said.

I want to punch something, scream, do anything to shake off this helplessness. But I don't. Instead, I force myself to focus, to follow Jake's orders.

Because as much as I hate David right now, I hate the idea of him winning even more.