Adult-FanFiction.org : Books

The Hope	By : ShannonPotter Category: A through F > Animorphs Views: 3404 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the book series Animorphs, nor any of its characters. They belong to K.A. Applegate I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 1-The Hope
- 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Animorphs
PS: * words * equals thought speech
PROLOGUE
My name is Tobias. I'm a red-tailed hawk. I guess I always will be. Your probably thinking, "Slow down, Tobias. Where are you coming from? How could you be a hawk? Hawks don't talk,"
Well, I can answer that question in one word: Yeerks. Now, stop. Don't go dig out your dictionary or encyclopedia. "Yeerks" won't be in there. Now, this may sound weird, but the Yeerks are aliens. They are a parasitic species and lives in the brains of other intelligent species. You may think, "So what? Their BUGS! How could they make you a hawk?"
But they don't exactly live ON you. They live IN you. In your brain. They take you over so that you can't move your hand. Can't open your eyes. Can't even TALK to your loved ones. Even give the slightest signal that in your head is a Yeerk. But the bad thing is, you don't DIE when they take you over. You're still alive. You're in the corner of your mind and you can't do anything to help yourself. ANYTHING at all. "Scary. But- how would that make you a red-tailed hawk?" you say.
Well, I have a lot of explaining to do. Believe me, your going to get confused.
Okay, first things first: there are more aliens on earth other than the yeerks. The Hork-Bajir. But their entire race has been taken over by the yeerks. They're the shock troops of the yeerks. Well, there is that little group of Hork-Bajir that we helped rescue once before. They live deep in the heart of the forest by the mountains. When they aren't taken over by yeerks, they are kind of sweet and gentle. But you wouldn't be able to tell that by their appearances. They have deadly blades on their forehead, elbows, wrists, knees, and a slashing tail. A controller is someone who is taken over by a yeerk. If you came up to a hork-bajir controller, he could slice you and dice you into tiny bite-size pieces in a few seconds. If you'd have come up to a hork-bajir non-controller, than he would probably offer you some of his bark. (That's what they eat. Bark.)
Then there's the Taxxons. Their entire race is also taken over by the yeerks. But I wouldn't want to rescue any of them. They chose to have the yeerks in their brains. They are voluntary hosts. A host is someone taken over by a yeerk. A voluntary host is someone who chooses to give up on their race, and become a host without any hassle. That's what the taxxons are like. Plus, they are disgusting looking. Okay, picture a grown man. About 6 ft, right? Okay, picture an enormous centipede two times the size of a grown man, with lots of red Jell-O eyes, and a vicious mouth with rows of teeth. They are almost as big as that round. You couldn't even get your arms half way around if you tried to hug one. Not that you'd ever want to. What's worse, they are cannibals. Yup. That's right. They eat their own kind.
Then there are the andalites. The andalites are the only good aliens I've mentioned so far. They tried to stop the yeerks from coming on Earth. They tried to stop us from becoming victims of the yeerks, like so many other races have been. But they have failed, and they did the best they could with the weapons they had. They are good aliens to have on your side during a fight. They look like a mix of human, deer, and scorpion. Sort of like a centaur. They have hands like humans, but with seven fingers. They have a chest and a neck and a head like humans, only it's covered with bluish tan fur, like the rest of their body. What's weird about the head, though, is that it has no mouth and four eyes, and two slits for a nose. They eat by running over grass and the nutrients from the grass go up their legs. I'll get to the legs in a minute. They talk by forming thoughts and sending them to whomever they want. Thought speech. It also works when your in a morph. I'll get to THAT in a minute, too. Now, for the four eyes. Two of them are in the regular space. They are brilliant green and oval shaped. The next two are on stalks on top of their heads. Sort of like antlers, but with eyes on the ends. They can turn these eyes in whatever direction they want, whether it is up, left, right, or back. It is hard to sneak up on an andalite. Now to the body. The body is sort of like a deer or a small horse. It has four legs with hooves. Like I said, when they want to eat they run across grass and the nutrients gets sucked up in a vein-like thing in their leg. It works this way with water, too. Now for the scary part on the andalite. It's tail. Its tail has a wicked scythe blade on the end of it, like a scorpion. One minute, you and a friend are standing on the sidewalk. Next 1/2 second, you AND your friend's arms are lying on the ground. It moves quicker than you can blink. All you can see is a blur as the tail comes swooping down.
Now you think, "Wow, these aliens sound creepy. Now. HOW IN THE HECK DID ALL THESE ALIENS CHANGE YOU INTO A TALKING BIRD?" Good question. I believe I have a little more explaining to do. Now, the aliens I talked about are very smart. They are two or three hundred centuries more sophisticated than us. They can travel at the speed of light, and zero-space.
But the andalites invented something. Something that is even creepier than an alien. They invented morphing technology. This means, all you have to do is touch a creature, acquire its DNA pattern, and change you form. Which means you can become any animal you can touch. You can become a soulless, mindless, little ant down in the ground, or you can become a glorious, huge, humpback whale out on the sea. As long as you touch it. You say, "Well, now this changes things. You touched the red-tailed hawk and became it. So change back to human." Well, there's the drift. The answer you've been waiting for. You have to change back to human within two hours or you stay forever. That's what happened to me. I was stuck in my morph without anyplace to morph for over two hours and now I am a hawk forever.
But, I did get my morphing power back. By a creature called The Ellimist. The Ellimists are one of the oldest races in the whole universe. The andalites used to tell their children fairy tales about Ellimists. They were supposed to be tricksters, or something. But he did give me my morphing power back, and I can morph, but my real body is a hawk. He even let me have a morph of my old body, in case I ever have to go to any public places with my friends. La-di-dah, now you know why I may be a hawk forever.
Now that that is over, I think I have a LITTLE bit more explaining to do. Okay, all humans have to have food and water everyday, right? Well, it's that way with all living things. Even yeerks. But in a different way. You see, a yeerk has to come out of the host body every 3 days or they die. They have this big, great underground arena thing where the yeerks feed. It's a little difficult for me to talk about this place, because this is the place where I lost my morphing power. But I have to, because you need to know the truth.
On their home planet, their sun gives off rays called kandrona rays, which is like food for them. So, every 3 days, the yeerk goes down to the yeerk pool to get it. They exit their yeerk body the same way they got in, through the ear. They position the body in kneeling position and turn their head. Then the evil slug body slithers out and into a pool of slimy chemical stuff, like in the lakes on their home planet. While they are in there, a small version of their home sun is bathing them in the kandrona rays and other nutrients, and after a few hours, they go right back in the host's head. Mean while, the host body is in a cage. Some of them scream. Some threaten. Some cry. Some just sit quietly and look out into the air, for they have lost hope. They think there is nothing to hold onto anymore. So, there you go. Now you know about the invasion. And my friends and I are trying to stop it.
BIOS
Tobias: Hi, everybody. I am Tobias, I used to have dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and I wasn't short or tall, sort of in the middle somewhere. I was not very popular and I was really shy and I got teased and beat up a lot. But ever since I got stuck as a hawk all that changed. I am free now. So be happy for me. But be even happier when we win this war.
Jake: Hey, what's up, this is Jake. I am tall, I have brown hair, and brown eyes...basically, I used to be a pretty normal kid. Until we met Elfangor, and now I am the leader of the animorphs. It's not an easy job. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. The fate of the world rests in my hands. Nothing is the same anymore. But together, we animorphs are making a difference.
Marco: Hi. This is me, the lovable, sexy, wondrously studly Marco. I used to have long dark hair but I cut it. I just grew out of that Fabio stage, ya know? I have brown eyes, which women love to look into for hours at a time. And olive colored skin, which makes me all the sexier. I am a real funny guy. Saving the world is just my day job. My motto is: Yeerks suck!!!! But in all seriousness...I'm doing this for my mom.
Rachel: Hi, guys! This is Rachel, a.k.a., Xena Warrior Princess! I have long blonde hair, blue eyes, and I love the mall! But if you even think that for a minute I would let you think that I was a sissy girl mall rat, I will morph into an elephant and stomp you! So there! Just because I enjoy missions sometimes, it doesn't mean I am stupid. I want this war to end more than any of us.
Cassie: Hi, this is me, Cassie, the peacemaker, the tree hugger, and the earth mother, all according to Marco. I am black and I have my hair really short and I have dark eyes. So my parents are both vets and my barn is full of injured animals. So what? I really like morphing, but I hate the fighting and the killing. I want it to stop more than anything.
axiMilI esGarRoutH isThilL: (Ax) HelLo I aM an AndALiTe. I hELp tHe anImoRpHs wiTh ThE wAr oN eArTh. CAsSie iS TeAchIng mE To wRIte In hEr lAngAuGe. IT is vErY siMpLe. As YoU cAn tElL I Am cAtcHing oN quIcK. DoEs anYonE hAvE a ciNa bUn thEy dO noT wiSh To dIgEst? I woUlD bE moRe ThAn hApPy tO dIgEst thEm foR yoU. AlsO I dO nOt thInK FoNdLy oF tHe YeErks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE HOPE
My friends are Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco, and Ax. You say, "Ax. That's a funny name. What kind of parents did that kid have?" Well, he had andalite parents. Yup. Ax, short for Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, is 100% andalite. He has a human morph, of course, for when we go to public places. To make a long story short, he's one of us now.
My friends and I were at the mall, waiting for these three girls, Kathy and Shannon and Jenny, who wrote us notes to meet us there. One day, Jake opened his locker to get his books out for first period when he noticed a note stuck in the middle of his math book. At lunch he shared the note with Cassie, Rachel and Marco and after school he called an emergency meeting and shared the note with Ax and me. Then we went to the mall and went to McDonalds. Rachel was waiting in the Body Shop and Marco was in the arcade for backup in case we needed them. This is what the note said:
To The Animorphs:
We are not enemies. We do you no harm. We want to talk to you. We are NOT yeerks. Repeat: We are not yeerks. Meet us at McDonalds at the Mall after school. Please. We come in peace.
From: Kathy and Shannon and Jenny
So, there we were, at the mall, after the meeting, eating Big Macs, trying to act casual, and waiting for the three girls. Ax was having fun eating his Cinnabun. Besides him, we were all nervous. We didn't know what to expect or if this was a trap. We tried our hardest to appear as a normal group of teenagers spending the day at the mall.
Suddenly, three girls walked in. They seemed to be looking for someone. They looked at us, then at each other, and then nodded to themselves.
Let me describe the girls. One girl was tall with olive skin and long dark hair. The second girl was Caucasian. She had long, red hair and blue eyes. The third girl had short brown hair and brown eyes. Jake looked at Cassie. Cassie nodded, and got up. The reason we chose Cassie to confront them was because Cassie is a good talker. She is nice, and understands people. She could think of something to say if it was a trap faster than the rest of us. And we would be right here making sure that Cassie was safe.
Cassie walked over to the girls. "Um, hi, uh-"
"Cassie?" said the red haired one, interrupting Cassie. Cassie looked surprised.
"Um, actually, yeah. You three are Kathy and Shannon and Jenny, I suppose?" said Cassie.
"Yes. I'm Shannon," said the red haired one.
"And I'm Kathy." said the dark-haired one.
"And I'm Jenny" said the brown haired one.
"Your the ones who wrote the letter?" Cassie asked.
"Yes. We want to help you." said Shannon.
"Help us? How?" asked Cassie.
"Well, defeat the-" Shannon stopped in mid-sentence. "Help you defeat the yeerks." she whispered. Cassie's eyes widened. She looked toward Jake.
"Jake, come here." she said. He put his Big Mac down and walked toward Cassie.
"Okay, Shannon. Tell Jake what you just told me." said Cassie. I got up and walked over to them also. I didn't want to miss anything important. Ax continued eating his cinnabun. He has a thing about those.
"We want to help you defeat the yeerks." she whispered again. "You do still have the morphing cube, don't you?" We all looked stunned. She knew so much! Then, we all looked at Cassie. She was the one who hid it.
"Yes. No one would ever be able to find it now besides me. How do you know all of this?" said Cassie.
"It's a really, really long story. Let's not discuss this here any more. There could be controllers." Shannon said and smiled. "Jake, I know you'll want to hold an emergency meeting about this tonight. So, Cassie's place, 6:00 o'clock?" I was surprised. So was Jake. His eyes went wide.
"Um.....well, I guess so. Well, if it's okay, how about now?" said Jake. We looked at the girls.
"It's okay with us." said Shannon, answering for all of them.
"Well, it's settled then. Lets go find Marco and Rachel." They started to head off. I almost forgot to follow them, I was so shocked.
"Hey, Tobias, hurry up." said Shannon. I was, again, shocked. How did she know my name and Cassie's name and Jake's, and probably Marco's and Rachel's and Ax's, too? Well, I guessed we would find out at our meeting.
A little while later, it was settled. After a few hours of talk, we knew lots about the girls, and they knew about us from dreams they had. We guessed it was the Ellimists or something, fooling around again.
Jake took all of the regular Animorphs into the corner and we took a vote. I knew Jake was wary, because once before, we had tried this, and it didn't work out. At all.
"This is a stupid idea, Jake." said Marco. "You know what could happen here. Again."
"I know, Marco. But the Yeerks are pushing down on us harder than before. We could really use the extra help. Despite the position it puts us in." answered Jake, his brow creased in thought.
"We don't know that they're going to. The three of them are totally different people. David had problems to begin with, and these three girls come from practically perfect families." said Cassie.
"We can't risk it. We just can't know what's going on inside their heads. For all we know, they're Yeerks who can go for days and weeks without kandrona." said Rachel.
"Yeah, maybe they came out with new technology." offered Marco.
*Ha! Everything the Yeerks know, they stole from other species. Namely the Andalites. That is impossible.* Ax said. He is my very best fried, my shorm, but he can be a little arrogant about his species sometimes.
"What do you think, Tobias?" asked Rachel. She searched my eyes. I love Rachel and I knew she wanted me to side with her. But I couldn't.
*I think we should do whatever it takes to win this war, and if they give us any problems, we'll......handle it.* I said uneasily.
"We'll take a vote, then. All in favor?" Jake asked. Cassie, Jake, Ax, and I responded.
"All not in favor?" he asked again, and Marco and Rachel responded, knowing that they had lost.
"Alright, then. We'll use them." said Jake. We came back to the girls, all three of them waiting tensely.
"Your in." Jake gave them the good news. The girls smiled at each other with pride.
And so, they were made official Animorphs. Cassie was gone for fifteen minutes before she came back, bearing the cube. She hid it under a towel, so her parents wouldn't see her with it. The girls were beaming. Then Ax came forward and took the cube, since he was the only one who knew how to work it, since it was andalite technology and he was, after all, an andalite.
*Place one of your hands on a side of the cube.* said Ax. The girls did so. The girls went into a short trance, and I knew the rest of us were each thinking about when we had received our morphing power from Elfangor, the andalite prince who died protecting Earth. The story of Prince Elfangor, who was also Ax's brother and (strangely) my father, is another long one.
Nevertheless, it was a sad memory. I looked down from my perch high up in the rafters and saw that Cassie was crying, remembering. Jake wasn't looking at them. He was looking past them, remembering. He shuddered and focused his gaze upon them once again.
When that was over, they each picked out an animal out of Cassie's barn to morph. They all wanted bird morphs. I wouldn't blame them. I love flying. I'm sure that they wanted to experience it, too.
Cassie had a Golden Eagle, a Falcon, and a Red-tailed hawk. Like me, I thought. Shannon chose the red tailed hawk, Kathy chose the golden eagle, and Jenny chose the Falcon.
"Okay, now think about the animal, and you'll morph. It's so much fun. I remember my first morph. What an experience." said Rachel in her fake-happy voice she uses when she'd really pissed off but wants to appear fine.
*I'm really sorry, Rachel.* I told her privately, but she just looked up for a second and rolled her eyes.
I looked at Marco, hoping for his usual sarcastic comment. But no. Instead of his usual, funny, perky, self, he was leaned against a barrel of hay, with a scowl on his face. I knew he was pissed off, too.
*Marco, it's really for the best.* I sent him a private thought speak message. He looked at me and rolled his eyes (something that I noticed was becoming quite common), and pretended he was more interested. But I wasn't fooled. I knew what was bothering him, but I couldn't help thinking that it might be something else, too. Lately he had been getting really upset over this. Before we became Animorphs, he and his father thought that his mom had died. I guess that was the reason he wanted to forget the whole thing in the beginning, he didn't want his dad to crack because he had no one left. But then, we found out his mom was Visser 1, the most powerful yeerk visser. Then he decided that if his mom was still alive, he had to fight to save her. So now he's more into it. Sort of. He still makes his usual wisecrack about stuff. Like our morphing outfits.....
"Now, maybe these girls will have SOME idea on how to dress for morphing. Just LOOK at us! Now, how are we supposed to be on a comic book page alongside with superman and batman, wearing LEOTARDS! For the love of GOD, have some ideas!" said Marco. Outside, he was his usual, wisecracking self. Inside, he was probably holding in his anger or sadness or whatever he was feeling about the decision.
"Are you okay, Marco? This is the FIRST time you've made a joke all night!" said Rachel.
( Marco and Rachel are constantly trading insults.)
"Peoples, peoples, please!! We ARE trying to teach these guys how to morph! We are getting slightly off track." said Jake.
"Okay. Who wants to go first?" said Cassie.
"Um...If you don't mind, I will." said Shannon. Kathy and Jenny looked greatly relieved.
I liked Shannon's attitude. She was bold. I could tell she would be sort of like a co.-leader. Jake already had the leader job. I could tell Marco and Kathy liked each other. I could also tell that Jenny liked Jake. But he was already taken. By Cassie. And as I looked toward Shannon, she was sort of staring at me. So, I guessed that she either felt sorry for me, or liked me. I couldn't guess why. I mean, I'm a bird! Who wants to go out with a bird? Besides, I'm sort of on and off between Rachel and this female red-tailed hawk. (Joke) But I know that no one can ever take the place of Rachel.
Shannon took her gaze away from me, and tried to focus on what everyone was instructing her to do.
"Okay. Now close your eyes and picture the hawk in your head. Say to yourself, I want to morph this animal. Just think about morphing and you'll morph." said Jake.
"Okay. Okay, I'm ready." said Shannon. She was sweating. She sat down on the end of a table and shut her eyes. I could tell she was really nervous. She tensed up a little as she began to concentrate. Kathy and Jenny looked horrified when feather patterns appeared on her skin.
"Is it happening?" Shannon asked us.
*Yes. It's happening. Just concentrate.* I said to her.
"Now, the animal mind will try to take control. Just try to push it away and don't think about it or it will take over." said Jake.
"Oh-" she said, but was cut off because she had just reached the stage where she was half human half hawk. Kathy and Jenny looked like they wanted to run out of the barn screaming.
*Kay.* she said the rest of her word in thought-speak.*Wow! Thought-speak!* she said. Kathy and Jenny looked a little better that their friend was still alive and talking, even if she was a bird.
She was just about completely a bird but she had fingers sticking out of her wings. Finally, they disappeared, too. And she was a bird. A bird sitting on the edge of the table. Luckily, it was a male red-tail, just like the one I had morphed, so the bird mind didn't go wild. It was just a little ticked that this red-tail was in it's territory. If it was a female red-tail, the mind would have been crazy, and it would have wanted to mate with the female, since it was mating season. But, they were both boy morphs, so the mind didn't react much at all.
"Hey! She morphs like you, Cassie!" said Marco. Cassie shook her head.
"Everyone morphs just fine." she said, even though it was true. She was a natural estreen, according to Ax. She made morphing seem like a form of art, rather than a nasty mutation.
"Yeah, it was good morphing. Who's next?" asked Jake. Kathy and Jenny both raised their hands.
"Well, you can do it together then." said Jake. Pretty much the same process occurred when they morphed. Jenny's morph was female, but it didn't bother me much, because it wasn't a red-tail. Then everyone morphed a bird, and we all went for a flying lesson. We showed them how to dive.
*Jenny, your morph will go fast like mine. Falcons are the fastest in the air.* said Jake.
*Great! Let me try a dive!* shouted Jenny. As I watched, she stopped and directed herself downward.
*Remember to pull up! Sometimes you just don't want the dive to end!* laughed Cassie.
*AHHHH! Oh, Wow! AHHHH! AHHHH!* she screamed as she pulled up. *That is sooo fun!*
*Hey, Kathy, I'll race ya!* shouted Shannon.
*You're on!* yelled Kathy, and they stopped and pointed themselves down. Their screams of laughter filled the air.*AHHHH!AHHHH!AHHHH!OH MY GOD, AHHHH!* Kathy pulled up first. I knew she would. Like I said, Shannon is bold. But then she went a little too far.
*Shannon! Pull up! Pull up!!!* I screamed. But she didn't. She kept on going until she was ten feet till the ground, and I thought she was going to smash her fragile bird body. But in the nick of time, she pulled upward and saved herself from a nasty fall.
*OH MY GOD! THAT WAS SO COOL!* she screamed.
*For a first time flier, you did all right.* I said.
*Tobias, your just bragging because you get a lot more time to fly than us.* laughed Marco.*But I have to admit, I wish I could have done that!*
*Okay, I think they can all fly pretty well. What time is it, Ax?* asked Jake. Andalites have the natural ability to keep track of time in their heads.
*It is 5:26 in your hours* said Ax.
*Ax, your on Earth. Their everybody's hours* said Marco.
*5:27 in your hours.* said Ax in what I could have sworn was andalite sarcasm. Something you don't see to often in an andalite. Especially Ax.
*Ok. We can do the Gardens tomorrow. Let's go back to Cassie's barn to demorph.*said Jake. We began to soar down to Cassie's barn.
*I have two things I want to tell you. One is completely up to Ax and the other is completely up to Tobias.* said Shannon out of nowhere. Huh?
*What do you mean?* asked Jake.
*You'll see.* she answered. I was completely baffled.
What would be completely up to me? I wondered what she could mean. Well, I'd just have to wait and find out.
We flew into Cassie's barn. I landed on the rafters. The rest of them landed on the ground and demorphed, all except Shannon, Kathy, and Jenny.
"Oh. To demorph, all you have to do is think about morphing a human and then you'll morph. It's just like you did with the bird." said Cassie. They also then demorphed. They seemed a little bit relieved to be back to their old selves. Cassie had lent them some tight fitting morphing cloths, so they wouldn't be completely naked when they morphed back.
"Okay. First of all, Ax. This is COMPLETELY up to you. If you don't want to do it, then we won't. You, too, Tobias. Okay, Ax first. Now. Have any of you ever considered morphing Ax? I mean, I know that Tobias already morphed Ax once, but what about the rest of you?" asked Shannon.
The topic had been one left undiscussed. We all knew that morphing anything sentient was against our rules, unless the sentient creature gave us its consent. We had never even asked Ax's permission, for fear that it just wouldn't be right. But the times were bad and in desperate times, people have to do desperate things. The Yeerks had suspicion of us being human. If a band of andalites suddenly showed up, it would let them know that their suspicions hadn't been correct, even when they were. If they knew, it would all be over for us. I was starting to think that maybe it was a good idea. And I knew from the look in everybody's eyes that they were all thinking the same thing.
"What do you say, Ax?" Jake asked with a little bit of enthusiasm in his voice.
*I say, if it will help defeat the yeerks, then it is fine.*
After a few minutes of quiet discussion, making sure that what we were doing was really alright with Ax and that it wasn't totally wrong of us. We took a vote, and I wasn't surprised that everyone voted for it.
Then they all took turns touching Ax. I didn't need to do it because I'd already acquired Ax once before. Then they began to morph.
"Whoa, Jake, your hair is BLUE!" shouted Marco. Then his entire body grew blue fur on it.
*I wouldn't talk, Marco. Look at you.* I pointed out. Then the stalk eyes started growing out of Marco's head. *Whoa, Marco, your a Teletubbie!* I laughed.
*Not the purple one who carries a purse, I hope!* said Marco. Soon, they were all andalites.
*Whoa! It feels so WEIRD to not have any thing here!* said Cassie, touching the spot where her mouth used to be.
*I can see EVERYTHING!* added Rachel.
*Look at this! Just LOOK AT THIS! This is a totally AWESOME tail!* shouted Jake, and for a few minutes, they all talked about how cool it was that they were andalites. And it was a very good feeling, I have to agree. You feel as if you have unlimited power.
*I hope you all enjoy my body.* said Ax.
*Yeah, Ax! We sure will enjoy your body!* Marco laughed.
*Okay. Maybe we should morph back. Cassie's parents could come in at any time, and Shannon still has to suggest something else. * said Jake. They morphed back to their own bodies. We all looked at Shannon. She was smiling.
"Okay, what IS it? I don't even know this one!" shouted Kathy.
"All right. But this is TOTALLY up to you, Tobias. I just want you to know that." she said.
*I think I know. You've said it was up to me before.* I pointed out.
"I know. Cassie, where's the morphing cube?" she asked. I was getting a little tense.
"Right there." she pointed to a towel that obviously had the cube hidden under it.
"Kay. Then we are set......Tobias? Come with me for a minute." She said, getting up.
*Come with you where?* I asked. I was wondering what she was up to.
"Just......come with me for a minute. I have something to ask you......privately. You can tell them later what your decision is.......Kay?" she said.
*Uh, okay?* I said unknowingly. I looked at Jake. He shrugged his shoulders.
"Your call, man." he said.
I jumped off the rafter and flew out of the barn. She walked toward the end of the pasture, gesturing me to follow. I followed. She sat down on a stone bench. I went and landed on top of the side of the bench next to her.
*Okay. Now what is it you wanted to ask me? Not to marry me, I hope.* I said. She started laughing.
"That was the understatement of the month, Tobias! Of COURSE not! It's something else."
*Well, go ahead.*
"Well, you see.....I was thinking.......well, you could morph back to human.......for more than two hours. Then, because we have the morphing cube, we could just give you your powers again, and you'd be human and you'd have the morphing power." she said.
*Hah. I appreciate this and all, but, you'd have to ask Ax if that's possible. He said something about not being able to give the morphing power to nothlits before.* I said. *But maybe it is, I don't know.*
I had never asked Ax about it before. I had been afraid of the answer. So afraid of the answer. Maybe he would say that no, it wasn't possible and I would never be able to be a normal person again. I had just always assumed the answer was no. I just couldn't handle anybody telling me that I had to live the rest of my life either as the bird in the fight, or as the human out of the fight. And I could not go out of the fight.
But then again, maybe it had just never occured to Ax, either. Maybe he had been given orders by Jake to not tell me whether or not it was possible, because of the temptation to leave and go back to the normalness of everyday life, when we could not afford to lose a fighter.
Or maybe not.
"So what do you say, Tobias?" she asked me.
*You can ask Ax. I don't know what he'll say.* I said a little sadly.
"Have hope, Tobias." she said simply with a sympathetic smile and ran off into the barn. Ax,( or his human morph ), came walking out of the barn, with Shannon right behind him. I'm sure the others were getting real worried about what was happening. Shannon was dragging everyone out one by one.
"Go ahead in. I'll be inside in a minute and I'll say yes or no." she said.
*All right. I better go in to keep them from coming out, anyhow.* I flew in the barn, and landed on the rafters. Everyone began asking me questions.
"What did she say?" asked Cassie.
"What did she ask you?" asked Rachel.
"What did you say?" asked Jake.
"What's gonna happen, now?" asked Marco.
"Tell me!" said Jenny.
"Tell ALL of us!" said Kathy.
*Just wait and see. * was all I said. I was tense and scared. I didn't know what the outcome of this would be and I was scared that the moment I had been dreading for so long was going to finally happen.
They calmed down, but they were restless. Jake was pacing, Cassie was walking in circles, Rachel looked very worried, and Marco kept screaming at me to spit it out, Kathy and Jenny kept exchanging worried glances, and I just kept telling Marco to shut up. Finally, Shannon came in smiling followed by Ax, who was eating grass. Since andalites have no mouths, the sense of taste is overwhelming to them, and they eat whatever they see. Even grass. But Shannon was smiling.
"YES!" she said to me. I think I must have fainted or something, because the next thing I knew it was half an hour later, and everyone was staring down at me, smiling.
"Oh, Tobias! You're awake! Shannon told us everything! What great news!" Rachel said, and ran over to me and picked me up, forgetting her earlier scene of being angry with me. It was a bizarre sight, a human trying to hug and kiss a hawk. Everyone laughed. The hawk mind wanted to fly away, but I made it stay put. I knew Rachel was really happy for me. And so was I!
We decided that tomorrow, at 12:00, I would morph to human, stay for 2 hours, and get the morphing technology. Again. So then I would acquire a red-tailed hawk. Again. Then we would fly to the Gardens, and get Shannon, Kathy, Jenny and me some powerful morphs and some underwater morphs. Again. Everything again.
We were only going to use Ax's morph when we knew we were going to be dealing with Visser 3. Because we wanted to fool him. We wanted to clear up the fact that he was suspicious of us being human and have him know for sure we were andalites.
I arrived promptly at 12:00 on the dot. By then, everyone was there. I was the last one.
*So, are you sure that this is going to work, Ax? I mean, are you 100% sure? Because I do NOT want to be stuck as a human.* I asked Ax. The thought of not ever being able to fly again gave me second thoughts about doing it.
*Tobias, trust me. I am 100% sure that this is possible. I am positive. After programming and re-programming the Escafil Device for numerous hours, I have made it so that it will give the morphing power to nothlits only. It is a huge achievement in andalite technology.* said Ax excitedly. The "Escafil Device" was Andalitese for the blue morphing cube.
I looked grateful (or as grateful as a hawk can look) at Shannon. She looked at me and smiled. "Okay, Tobias, morph."
*Okay.* I said slowly. I knew I was going to miss the hawk body, but I would get a new one, so I wasn't very depressed. I focused on the human DNA. My DNA. I focused on morphing me. In a couple of minutes, I was a human. I was a very blind human. I was a very deaf human. I felt like I was a handicapped human because I couldn't fly. But I was a human.
"I don't believe I spent almost my whole life in this body. You people are blind." I said.
"Soon, you will be blind, too, Tobias." said Marco, sarcastically.
"Hah. So funny, I forgot to laugh." I said. Marco rolled his eyes. I looked around, squinting. Everyone was smiling. Rachel was smiling, and as I squinted at her, I saw a tear roll down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away. I pretended not to notice. I sat down on a barrel of hay next to Rachel and Shannon. It felt strange to be down there and not up in the rafters.
"So, I guess, all I have to do now is wait. How much more time, Ax?"
*You have 1 of your hours and 56 of your minutes to go.* he said.
"Ax, your on Earth, their everyone's minutes. Aw. This is going to get boring. Lets go get a Big Mac at the mall. It'll be a big change from eating road kill, huh, Tobias?" Marco said. Everyone agreed that going to get a Big Mac would be better than waiting around. So we left. Ax said he would just wait in the forest until we got back. The mall is a dangerous place for him.
It took half an hour to get to the mall. It took 15 minutes to walk through the mall to get to McDonalds. It took 5 minutes to eat. Marco was right. It felt weird to eat regular food again and not road kill. I coughed and almost threw up. But I'll get used to it again. "So, now what?" I asked, nervously.
"Why don't we get Tobias an appropriate wardrobe? I mean, all he owns is those tight shorts, and that Tee-shirt." said Rachel, indicating what I was wearing. They all agreed to help me pick out cloths. It was a little embarrassing, and I finally agreed to it.
It took about half an hour to get everything I would need. The girls took off in search of pants and shirts. Us boys, however, went into the more personal stuff. Like, underwear, socks, and stuff. Things that girls just didn't buy. So we bought the stuff, and headed back to Cassie's with armfuls of shopping bags.
"Just dump it here. We can come get it later." said Cassie.
"Okay. Has it been two hours? Where's the cube? Where's Ax? He's the only one who knows how to do it." I said, getting anxious and nervous at the same time.
"Okay, I guess I'll go get Ax. You wait here until I get back." said Jake, and he morphed to bird and went off. I went and sat on a bale of hay, wondering. Wondering what it would be like to be human again. What if it didn't work? What if Ax was wrong? What if I'm a human forever? This time the Ellimist wouldn't help. But Ax had said to trust him. He said he was 100% sure. He fixed it. I guess I would just have to wait and find out. I was sure it was past two hours. I tested it by trying to morph back, but I couldn't and I knew I was human. But I'll get my morphing power back as soon as Ax gets here, I thought. Don't worry, self. Then I realized Rachel was looking at me, smiling.
"You must be nervous. Your sweating." she said indicating the beads of sweat on my forehead and nose. "Don't worry. You heard Ax. He's 100% sure of it." she continued. I wiped my forehead and wiped the sweat off on my pants. My NEW pants. Rachel had insisted I change. Khaki. Yup. That's what Rachel picked out.
I rested my hands on my knees, and l saw off in the distance Ax. Followed closely by Jake who had just finished morphing. Ax was human except for blue hair instead of brown. Then that quickly changed. Ax bent down and picked up some grass and quickly shoved it into his mouth and fell over. We all laughed.
I'm sure I looked really glum and worried as I sat there. My mouth was halfway open, My eyes were probably huge, I was sweating, and I kept scratching my neck and looking around. Plus, I kept playing with a blade of straw. Once one blade broke, I broke another one off and started playing with that one. Everyone looked at me, but I pretended not to notice. I just looked at the floor. Finally, Jake got there. Followed by Ax, who was all muddy because of his fall.
"Ready, Tobias?" Jake asked. "We can start now. Ax, demorph." he said, but I barely heard him. I nodded my head and stood up. Then I sat back down because I felt like I was going to faint.
"Cassie, where's the cube?" asked Shannon. "Is it still on the table?"
"No, I brought it in. Just to be sure no one would take it last night. I'll go get it. Be right back." said Cassie. She left then reappeared a minute later.
"Guess we can't call you bird boy anymore, Tobias. Sorry, but your joyous nickname cannot be used any longer. Now your nickname is.....ah-HAH! I got it! Human Boy! No! Ex-bird-boy! Yeah, yeah, that's it! Ex-bird-boy!" said Marco, and nodded his head proudly.
"Oh, how wonderful." I said, and smiled. Then I went back to being worried again. Ax walked over to Cassie, and got the cube. I had butterflies in my stomach. Because I had sat down again, I stood up and walked shakily over to him. I banged my knee on the shelf on the way. "Oh, ouch!!" I screamed. Marco started giggling like an idiot.
"Shut it, Marco." said Rachel.
*Place your hand on the cube, Tobias.* he asked. My shaking hand touched the cube. Everyone could see I was trembling. I closed my eyes.
"Okay." I said with a shaky voice. I went into a trance, just like I had the first time I got the power. I was still conscious, so I noted that the following people were crying: Rachel, Cassie, and Shannon. It made me feel self-conscious. Suddenly I went out of the trance. I felt so weak, I just sat and hit my butt on the floor. "Ouch!" I screamed again. Rachel laughed through her tears and ran over to me. She knelt on the ground. "You okay?" she asked, wiping her tears away. " Yeah, I.....I guess so. Just dizzy." I said.
"Okay. Tobias, ready to acquire your first morph?" asked Cassie, opening the cage of the red-tailed hawk.
"I think so." I said. I walked over to the hawk's cage, and stuck my hand in. I touched it and concentrated on the hawk. In a few minutes, we all were birds and ready to go and get Shannon, Jenny, Kathy, and me some new morphs at the Gardens. Again.
It felt good to have wings again, and I knew that I would have to eventually morph back to human within two hours. I didn't want to risk getting trapped again, so I wanted to morph back pretty soon.
When we got to the Gardens, we flew into an abandoned building and morphed in there. Jake had left a bag of our shoes and cloths there the night before so we all had additional clothing to put on. We walked out and into the bright sun.
We were right in front of a coaster.
"That used to be my favorite ride. Now all I have to do is morph a bird and go ten times that speed. Pity, pity." said Marco sadly, shaking his head.
We walked to the wildlife part of the Gardens. The Gardens is like a wildlife/amusement park, but we were headed toward the wildlife part.
"Well, what kind of morphs are you interested in? Lions? Polar bears? Buffalos? Cassie can tell us where to go once you tell us what animals." said Jake. Cassie's mom works at the Gardens so Cassie comes there a lot, and knows her way around pretty well.
"And then you all should get some dolphin morphs. Tobias for the second time." said Jake.
"Hey, remember the dolphin rodeo?" smirked Marco.
"Yes. I remember. And don't think just because I'm not a bird anymore doesn't mean you shouldn't watch your head, Marco." The dolphin Rodeo was something Marco made up when I was trying to a acquire the dolphin morph when I was still a hawk. Yes, it was difficult and painful, but I did it. That's when Marco made up the dolphin Rodeo. And I threatened to go you know what on him.
"Oh, no......this is soo not good." said Cassie.
"What, Cassie?" asked Jake.
"Well....this morning, my mom was saying that the inside pens are closed today. For everybody. Even personnel. There was a gas leak last night and it could be toxic if anybody goes inside." said Cassie.
"Great......we're going to have to do this the hard way, then." said Jake. "The plans we made this morning aren't going to help us now."
"So what are we going to do?" Jenny asked.
"Well, what we do is........." Jake hushed his voice to a whisper, and told us the plan.
"Sounds good! Let's-" said Rachel, but Marco cut her off.
"Please! PLEASE!!! It's MY turn to say it! Let's do it!" yelled Marco.
"Awww! You stole my line! You suck!" yelled Rachel. The rest of us laughed, then Rachel laughed herself.
"Come on, let's get back to business, people." said Jake. The war had changed Jake. It had made him older. It had aged him faster than anything else could have. He didn't believe in having too much fun anymore. It was sad, but we all knew that listening to him was important. He was our leader, and even if he wasn't sure if what he was doing was right, he had confidence.
We approached the lion's cage.
"Who wants the lion?" asked Jake.
"I'll do it. Unless..........you want to do it, Tobias." Shannon asked.
"I don't care." I said.
"I really don't care, either. You can do it if you want to." she said and shrugged.
"Okay, then I'll do it." I agreed.
We walked over to a garbage can. I wrinkled up my nose. But I put my hand in there anyway. I finally pulled out a bag of popcorn half-finished. In it was a number of flies. For a few minutes, we all were trying to grab one. All except Ax. He decided we might be here more than two hours and he might not have time to demorph, so he stayed home at his scoop. Probably to watch some soaps.
"I got one! Mmmm, it looks so delicious!" said Marco, pretending to lower it into his mouth. "Here, who wants it first?" he stuck out his enclosed fist. He looked from me, to Shannon, to Jenny, and to Kathy. He looked at me, and did it again.
"Why don't we have Tobias do it first. Since we're right by the lion cage, and he wants to morph it." said Jake.
"No problem, oh-fearless-leader. Ciao, little fly! I'll eat one of thy brothers for a snack later. You get to live." he gave the fly to me.
"Oh, god. I don't believe I am going to acqquire one of these again!" I held it between my fingers, and concentrated on it. My eyes shut. A minute later, my eyes opened. Shannon shivered. "Ew." she said.
"Just wait until you get the chance to be an ant! It's the joy of a lifetime!" said Marco.
"Or a termite." said Cassie, shuddering.
"An ant? A termite? Ew!" said Shannon.
"Or a wolf spider." said Rachel.
"Or a cockroach." said Jake.
"Having second thoughts about becoming one of us?" I asked. I think we really scared Kathy and Jenny. Seriously. But I think we scared Shannon only a little bit. I think she just really hates bugs. But they were all freaking out.
I was laughing as I walked into the men's room to carry out the rest of the plan, thinking about how much they were going to have to get used to. Jake followed me in. Before he disappeared, he looked out. "I'm just gonna make sure he doesn't fall in the toilet again. Don't you remember your time spent there as a fly, Tobias?" he laughed.
Jake came out with a fly on his finger. Me. He did not look happy. None of us look that happy after we see a fly morph or become a fly ourselves. Mostly, we look like we are going to throw up. That's how Jake looked.
"Well, we should get started." said Jake. "Can you hear me, Tobias?" he said more loudly.
*Um.....All I heard was, ' Get started..... hear me, Tobias?' Fly hearing is not that great. I could barely tell you said those words.* I said.
"Why don't we move over there, in the corner, by the cage? That way we could talk loudly, and not be noticed so much." said Jake. We moved there.
"Okay. Tobias, are you ready?" asked Jake.
*I heard that. And I guess I couldn't be more ready than this. Oh, man, I cannot believe I am doing this again.*I said.
"Can you see okay?" Jake asked.
*Well, for a fly, I guess I can see. I can see the gate. But that's because I'm right by it. And I can see something on the ground. There is no way I can know what it is. It could be a lion, or a rock.* I answered.
"Actually, it's a bush. And its a good thing you can see it, because that's probably gonna be where your going to morph. Well, behind it, anyway. Right, oh-fearless-leader?" asked Marco. Jake rolled his eyes.
"I think yes." said Jake. He looked in the cage." Wait. No."
*Don't go for the bush?* I asked.
"No. Go for the really huge rock. Next to it. See it?" asked Jake.
*Next to the bush? Um.....not really well, but I see something next to it.*I said.
"All right, you go for that. Try to go to the back of it, and be careful where you land. There is a lion behind the rock." he said.
*Oh, jeez.* I said
"Then morph to human. If the lion tries to attack you, morph back to fly and fly away. If all goes well, acquire the lion." he said.
*Where should I touch it? I mean, where is it least sensitive?* I asked. We all looked at Cassie. She's an animal expert.
"Well, the place where four legged animals hardly feel anything at all is the bottom of their paws, if they have them. Lions have them, so touch its paw." said Cassie.
*It's paw. Okay, it's paw. How will I find you when I'm done?*
"I know what we can do!" said Rachel. "I have my perfume! I can spray it all over us, and he'll be sure to smell it!" she took it out and began to spray everyone like crazy.
*Okay, I can definitely smell that.* I said.
"Yup. It's strong." said Rachel. If I were human, I probably would have held my nose.
"Oh, god, it's disgusting." Marco said. "I'll trade you 2 cents for that stuff."
"For your information, Marco, this STUFF cost me $34." said Rachel.
"That all?" he asked.
"Okay, lets get ready. I'm ready. Tobias, are you ready?" he asked.
*Yes.* I said.*I think.* I added.
"Okay. Here goes." said Jake. I felt the motion of Jake's hand. The finger I was on landed on top of the fence. "Go on."
I started my wings. I kept my eyes focused on the rock. I felt myself lift off the ground.(The ground is Jake's finger.) I started to move.
"Good luck, Tobias!" Shannon said. When you get past being a fly, then its really not that bad. Flies can fly really well. Hence the name. They can go upside down, they can hover in mid-air, lots of things birds could never do. I glided what seemed to me, really fast, but it was really more like less than 1 mph. The scent of Rachel's perfume started to go away. The closer I came to the rock, the more nervous I got. Finally, I was at the rock. I turned suddenly. Lying below me, was a sleeping lion. I hoped that it would stay asleep. I landed a few feet away from the lion and began to demorph. As I got my human eyes, I realized that the lion was still sleeping. I looked around. The other side of the rock was a wall, so no one could possibly see me demorph. I resumed my human form. I stood up.
I knelt down again, because although it was big, I was a little bit taller than the rock. I didn't want any one to see me here. I looked at the lions paws. They were huge. I touched one of the front ones. The lion lay still. It was silent and didn't move.
I realized I was holding my breath, so I let it out. I began to concentrate on the lion. In a few minutes, I was done. I was very relieved.
I morphed back to fly as quickly as I could. When I was about half and half, I heard the lion purr. It stood up just as I was totally fly. I heard a terrifying roar. It came from the lion.
I started my wings very quickly, and took off. The lion chased me, but he soon gave up because I was very hard to see. Soon, I was past the gate, and no where near the others. I faintly smelled the perfume, and I followed it. Finally, I found them. I heard Rachel yelling.
"Tobias, where are you?" said Rachel.
*I'm here. I'm okay, Rachel.* I said.
"Oh, god your okay!" she said." Where are you?"
*I'm spinning around in circles. See me?* I said as I spun.
"Here, land on my hand. We'll go demorph." Jake held his hand out. I landed on it again.
"Did you acquire it, Tobias?" asked Jake.
*Yeah. Jeez, I'll never do that again!* I said. We went to the men's room again to demorph.
Everyone got threw it okay. Kathy and Jenny were nervous wrecks, but Shannon made out okay. Shannon chose the cheetah and Kathy and Jenny both chose polar bears, because they were the least dangerous. At least, that's what they had thought. It chased them around a couple of times in fly morph, but they were okay. Then, it was fish time.
We walked to the dolphin tanks. A show was just ending and people were rushing out.
"Nice timing." said Marco. "Just in time for the Dolphin Rodeo."
"Marco, I'm warning you....." I said.
"Featuring, Tobias the ex-bird-boy! See him land on a dolphin and get knocked off by the dolphin jumping threw a hoop! The crowd goes wild!" said Marco, in his best announcer voice. Which, in reality is not all that impressive.
"You better wear a hat when you go out, Marco. I'm serious. Watch your head." I said.
"Well, here we are. And there's Irma! She works here, and I know her. She'll let us pet the dolphins." said Cassie.
"Good! It's all worked out." said Jake. We all walked over to the lady Cassie called Irma.
"Hey, Cass, how are you and your dad?" asked Irma.
"Great! Hey, Irma, do you think my friends and I can pet the dolphins?" asked Cassie.
"Sure! Would you like to feed them, too?" asked Irma. "It would save me a lot of time."
"Okay. Great!" said Cassie. Irma went behind a counter and brought out a pail full of really, really, dead looking fish.
"Ew." said Rachel. Irma laughed.
"YOU don't have to eat them!" she said. Suddenly, a dolphin jumped out of the water, did a twist and went back in without making so much as a ripple.
"Oh, wow!" said Shannon.
"Aw. That's Joey. He's greedy." said Irma. "He just wants all the fish."
"What are all their names?" asked Kathy.
"The dolphins are named after the cast of FRIENDS. There's: Joey, whom you've met, Chandler, Ross, Monica, Phoebe, and Rachel." said Irma.
"That's really neat! Hey, there's one named after you, Rachel!" said Jenny, not at all afraid anymore. She reached her hand in the pool and began to pet one. Irma didn't know it, but she was acquiring it. Then Kathy, Shannon, and I stuck our hands in the pool and began to pet/acquire them. Everyone else did, too, although they weren't acquiring. After that, we threw in the fish to them, and pet them a little while longer. Then we left.
"Bye, Cass!" said Irma.
"See ya, Irma!" said Cassie.
I let my breath out slowly. "We did it. "I whispered.
"Yup." said Shannon. "Let's go home."
I had the trouble of figuring out where to stay that night. I did not want to go back to my uncle's house where I used to live.
"Well, I could say that you're new at school and we are friends and you stay the night for a night. And then, you'd spend the night at Marco's, and he'd tell his dad the same story. That would give you two nights to find somewhere. If you need more nights, then you could stay in my attic. It's well insulated and has air conditioning. I'd set you a place up there." said Jake. I thought about it. Should I?
"Okay. But I don't want your attic to become my home. I really want to maybe find a load of money in the street and buy myself an apartment or something. But that isn't likely. Jeez." I said, suddenly sad.
"What?" asked Jake.
"I don't have any family or anyplace to go. Maybe.....maybe I should have just stayed a hawk." I said.
"Tobias! Don't you dare say that!" Rachel yelled at me.
"Well, Rachel, its not like I can just go back and sleep in my tree! Animals sleep in trees. Not humans." I said to her.
"You can always stay in the barn or at Ax's scoop. At least when its warm out, Tobias. And you're welcome in any of our homes. Stop talking crazy." said Cassie.
We were in Cassie's barn after we had came back from the Gardens.
"Well, guys, I have to get home. My mom is expecting me." said Rachel.
"My mom, too." said Shannon.
We began to depart. Soon, it was just me, Jake, and Marco. And Cassie, of course.
"Guys, I gotta get in. My dad is making his chili tonight. He doesn't want me to be late. You know......my dad loves it when people drop by to test his chili. Wanna stay to eat?" asked Cassie.
"I can't. I gotta go check in with my dad. I'll call you later, Jake." said Marco. He left.
"You guys?" she asked.
"There's nowhere else for me to go, so sure." I said.
"My parents aren't expecting me for another hour." said Jake.
So we went in and sat down to a bowl of chili.
The chili was very hot. I choked on it a couple of times. My mouth was burning, even though no one else seemed to mind its tingling taste. Two years ago, I don't think it would have burned me. But since I became a hawk, I guess I got used to eating road-kill, (that didn't have much of a taste.) and regular food is at its full intensity for me, whether it be sour, sweet, or in this case, HOT. VERY HOT. I kept asking Cassie's parents to refill my glass of water. They looked at me like I was weird.
"Tell those taste buds to cool down, son. Your gonna get full on water, and not on my famous chili." Cassie's dad laughed.
After dinner, we sat and watched TV with Cassie's family for a while. I had never done anything like that in a long time, so the bright screen hurt my eyes. I kept squinting and my eyes kept watering. Cassie's mom asked if I was okay and I told her, "Fine." After 20 minutes of Wheel Of Fortune, we had to leave.
"Well, thanks a lot for dinner and the TV. But we have to go." said Jake.
"Yeah, thanks a lot." I said
"All right, boys. Thanks for testing the chili." said Cassie's mom. Her dad was snoozing in his chair. "Cass, why don't you walk them to the road?"
"Kay, mom. Be right back." answered Cassie. We started for the door. Cool, fresh air hit me in the face. I smelled trees and grass and earth. But mostly, I smelled manure. I covered my nose.
"Oh, man! What IS that!" asked Jake.
"I don't know what it is. The past few nights, I've been smelling something like manure. I don't know what it is, but it's coming from over there." said Cassie, pointing towards the woods. She smelled the air. "And it's kind of familiar. It's....It's.....I don't know but I've definitely smelled it before."
I knew what the smell was. I should know. I was trapped there. I was stuck there. I was stuck down under ground. Way deep, in the yeerk pool. Well, not in the pool itself, but that's where I lost my power. And that's what it smelled like. We were smelling a yeerk pool. I think I turned white, because suddenly, Jake and Cassie were staring at me. They stopped in their tracks and gave me a questioning look.
"Tobias?" asked Jake. "What's wrong?"
"I-" I choked up. I tried again. "I know what the smell is." I said shakily. "And it's not good."
"What is it?" asked Cassie.
"It's...the yeerk pool." I said.
"Oh god! I knew it was familiar. And he's right. It is. Oh, god, Jake, its right by my house! What-what would a yeerk-pool be doing right by my house! Oh, my god!" Cassie was suddenly crying.
"We have to go check this out. See what they're up to. They've got to be doing something." said Jake, putting his arm around Cassie.
"Want me to go get the others?" I asked.
"Yeah. We have to. And Jenny and Shannon and Kathy need to see what goes on during a real Animorph mission. Or what goes on when we check things out, and then it turns into an Animorph mission. We still have an hour before the sun goes down. Tell them to go bird. And tell them to give their parents an excuse. A good one, too. This is not a good time to be grounded." said Jake. I started to take off my cloths. Well, all my cloths but my morphing outfit. We keep them on all the time in case something happens where we need to morph. For instance, now.
"W-what should I tell my mom?" asked Cassie.
"Tell her something like,' Mom, I'm going to hang out with Rachel at the mall for a while and then I'm going to sleep over.' Just make something up." said Jake.
"Okay." said Cassie. "Then I'll wait on my porch till you get back." I was starting to develop feather patterns. Jake was getting out of his regular cloths. "I'll get Shannon, Kathy, and Jenny and you get Marco, Rachel, and Ax." said Jake. I nodded my head in reply. It was kind of hard to do that because my neck was growing stiff. In a matter of time, I was full bird. A few seconds longer and Jake was full bird.
*Meet me back here with your group.* said Jake. He flew off. Then I did, too. I flew towards Rachel's first, then Marco's, then we all took off in the woods to find Ax. It's kind of easy to find an Andalite from above. You see a blue horse with a scythe blade tail and a head with stalk eyes, you kind of have to assume that it's an andalite. I saw him first I called to him and explained to situation. Then Ax morphed and we flew to Cassie's house and landed in her barn. We demorphed there and walked out of the barn as quietly as we could. We found Cassie, Jake, Shannon, Kathy, and Jenny all sitting on her porch.
"Well, we're all here. Let's do it." said Rachel.
"Xena said it again. You all KNOW something is going to happen now. Necessarily bad." said Marco. We all looked at each other knowingly.
"I can definitely smell it." said Rachel. Kathy, Jenny and Shannon smelled the air.
"That's what a yeerk pool smells like, huh?" said Shannon.
"I would have said it was manure." said Jenny.
"That's what we thought it was as first." said Jake.
"I do NOT want to go down there. But we will probably end up going down there sometime." said Kathy.
"Are we gonna get going into the woods towards our most likely untimely deaths, or stand around talking about the smell of the yeerk pool?" said Marco.
"Yeah. It's getting dark. We wont be able to go bird now. But I have two injured owls in the barn." said Cassie.
"Okay. Good." said Jake. We headed into the barn. Cassie lead us to the injured owls. They were asleep on their perches. One of them stirred. I stuck my hand in the cage.
"Here goes. Again." I said and acquired it. Then, the others acquired them. We let Ax morph to andalite. He has to be in andalite form to be able to morph.
"Morph, everyone. Morph, so we can go swimming with the yeerks! Wont it be fun! We might even wind up dead!" Marco laughed.
"Oh, yeah, Marco. It'll be a blast." said Rachel sarcastically.
"I'm glad somebody agrees with me." said Marco.
"Shut up and morph." said Jake.
"Okay, oh-fearless-leader." said Marco. We all began to morph. I again felt the feather patterns appear. I was getting pretty used to morphing, but you never get over it fully. Even if you morph an animal 1,000,000,000 times, it still comes as a shock to you. If you saw someone morph and you didn't know it was going to be all right, I can guarantee that you'd run screaming from the room.
Owl. They seem almost the same as a hawk. Except instead of getting smaller, my head stayed about the same size. The senses were almost the same. Except the eyes. I mean, an owl has as good eyes as a hawk does, but it can see in the dark. Whereas, hawks cannot see well at all in the dark. We all were just about owl when we noticed. There had been a small wind blowing earlier. Now, it had stopped. It had just stopped. I didn't hear any animals or birds in the trees making sounds. It seemed as if the world around us was standing still. A leaf that had fallen from a nearby tree was suspended in mid-air. And I'm sure we all had the same thought in our head (Except Kathy, Jenny, and Shannon). Ellimist.
*Oh, not this guy again!* said Marco.
*What does he want now?* said Rachel
*Ellimist! Is it you?* Jake demanded.
It is I. I will appear to you in a form you can understand.
The voice, you can't really call it a voice, wasn't in thought speech. It wasn't in normal speech, either. I just kind of sensed the words. Like I was seeing the words on the air, spelled out. But you didn't really see anything. Or hear anything. You just kind of knew that's what he said.
In front of us, I saw the Ellimist. He was in a form he had used before. He looked human. He sort of looked like a wizard, with a winding hat, a beard, a flowing robe. But there was a cast, illuminating light coming off of him. And he didn't walk towards us. He kind of floated. A few feet above the ground. This freaked out Jenny and Kathy.
*Oh my god, what is it!* said Jenny, terrified.
*Is that an.....Ellimist?* asked Kathy, also terrified.
*Of course it is. I saw him in my dream. I saw him. He's the one who told us about everything in our dreams.* said Shannon. She was very calm. Typically, Shannon was the only one of the new members holding out. I was kind of stunned. My first time seeing the Ellimist, I almost wet my pants.
*You have done well. Kathy, Shannon and Jenny are in the proper form. All is good and everything is according to plan...except- one thing.* he said, in a loud, thought speak voice.
*Except what? What are you talking about? What proper form?* demanded Jake. The Ellimist laughed heartily in our faces, seemingly making the whole world shimmer in it's frozen trance.
*You need not worry, young ones.* said the Ellimist.
*Then why disturb us, Ellimist?* asked Jake.
*Disturb you from what? I have simply created the smell of a yeerk pool. It is not real. I created it to bring you all here.* he said.
*And yet you say you don't interfere with the lives of other intelligent species. I should have known.* Ax sneered, his andalite arrogance showing. Ellimists aren't exactly Ax's favorite aliens. Or any andalite's favorite alien, for that matter.
Suddenly, we all weren't in a morph. We were our regular old selves. But we had not morphed back. The Ellimist morphed us back. Or he changed us back.
"Okay. We're all here. Now what, Ellimist?" asked Jake.
*I have come for Marco. I have come to show Marco something. Something and somewhere you all need to go. So please. Don't ask any questions. Just go to the home of Marco, where something awaits.* said the Ellimist, and disappeared. I heard the wind again, and the leaf started to fall towards earth once again, and I knew we were back in our regular time.
"To show ME something....." Marco mumbled. "What was that all about? I mean, that was some kind of weird visit from the Ellimist."
"Every visit from the Ellimist is a weird visit." I pointed out.
Jake sniffed the air. "I don't smell it anymore. It WAS just the Ellimist playing some tricks."
"But why did he say that we had to go to the house of Marco? I mean, my house?" Marco asked. "No one's there except my dad."
"I have no idea, Marco. Wanna go check it out?" asked Jake.
"I think we better. What if there's something really important there or something?" asked Rachel.
"My house? Something important? Naw...ya think?" he asked. "What could be there?"
I suddenly had a vision. A picture of a woman popped into my mind. She had long, dark, braided hair flowing down her back, bright and lively almond-shaped green eyes, and a picturesque smile. It was Marco's mother.
I had only seen her a few times. And I had only seen her as a controller. But the picture that came into my mind was a picture of her before she was a controller. She was sitting in a chair, holding a little boy. The little boy must have been Marco as a young child. He was crying. And holding his knee. I saw that he had scraped it.
"No matter what, Marco, Mommy will always be here for you." she said, and then the vision ended. Just as quickly as it had started.
I looked around to see if anyone saw it. No one showed any facial expressions other than Marco. He looked at me.
"Did you see that, Tobias?" he asked. I nodded slowly. Marco looked stunned for a minute. Then he sat down hard. I don't think he realized that there wasn't a chair behind him, so he fell to the ground. "Ouch!" he said.
"What! What! What did you see?" asked Jake.
"I-" said Marco. He looked at me for support. We both knew that if he started to talk he would start to cry. I knew Marco didn't want that.
"Let's go over to Marco's house." I said. Marco smiled at me. I walked over to him and helped him up. "Come on."
"If you'd just tell me what you saw-" began Jake, as we descended towards Marco's house, our destination.
"You'll see, Jake. Then we won't have to explain." I said.
"Um, I just want to say- thanks, Tobias." said Marco.
"Yeah, Tobias to the rescue. Hey, don't worry about it." I said. We were on Marco's block. Since it was pretty late at night, almost everyone's lights were out. Everyone's, that is, except Marco's.
"Oh, jeez." Marco said nervously. Then Cassie came to the rescue. She walked up to him and rubbed his shoulder. She whispered to him, "I saw it, too. Just now. I don't think anyone else did, though."
Marco looked at her. "Oh." was all he said. I squinted at him hard enough and saw that he was as pale as a ghost.
"I wish I knew what you guys were talking about. But we'll find out right now." said Rachel as we turned and walked up his front steps. The lights were on in the kitchen.
"Um, why don't you guys wait here." said Marco and opened the door with his key. He walked quietly towards the kitchen. He was nervous. So was I. I didn't know what to expect. But I knew what I thought was going to be there. And so did Marco. "Hell-hello?" he called towards the kitchen. He looked in. His eyes widened in shock. He started to shake.
"Visser 1?" he asked, afraid.
"No! Not anymore, Marco." said a surprised woman's voice. And then I knew.
"MOM!" he shrieked and ran into the kitchen. I smiled with happiness. I felt like crying right then.
Marco walked back out a minute later. "She's not, Jake. She's not Visser 1 anymore." he said and let us all in. He was crying, but he was trying to hide it. Marco isn't the type to cry in front of everyone. As you've probably guessed.
"Are you sure, Marco? It could be a trap. It could be." said Jake.
"It's not, this time, man. Okay? I can tell." said Marco.
We walked into the kitchen. I saw a woman sitting at the table drinking coffee.
"Come over here, all of you." she said. She pointed to the chairs.
"I don't bite...anymore." she added, but no one laughed. I could see where Marco got his dry sense of humor from. Jake was wary, but he went ahead.
She whispered something to Marco. He nodded.
"They all know about it." he said. She looked really sad.
"How do you all know about it? Your not controllers, I know, so how did you all learn about this?" she asked. We all sighed. It was a long story. And that's what we told her.
"It's a really long story." said Jake.
"We've got time." she said. So we told her. We told her the tale of our adventures, how we got our morphing power from Prince Elfangor, how we dealt with it, what we did during our missions, some of our close calls, how I lost my morphing power and was stuck in the body of a hawk until just recently, how we came to know Kathy, Shannon, and Jenny, all of it.
"I can't believe it. You all can morph?" she said.
"Yes." said Rachel.
"Oh! We forget to tell you about Ax!" said Marco. "Our cool blue dude!"
She looked at Marco. " You mean....you have an andalite?" she said. "Where is he?"
We all smiled. We pointed to Ax in a human morph.
"Well.....Would you like to demorph, andalite?" she asked Ax.
"I shall only demorph if Prince Jake orders me to. Prince. Pri-ince. Jake. Ja-ake-uh" said Ax. Marco's mom smiled.
She looked at Jake." So, Jake, your considered a Prince to the andalite?"
He smiled. "Well, he thinks I am."
"Who's considered the leader in the group?" she asked. One by one we all looked at Jake. He rolled his eyes.
"Sure." Jake said.
"Oh, but Prince Jake! You're our brave and fearless leader!" said Marco.
"I guess I am." said Jake.
Meanwhile, Marco's mom was closing the door and locking it. Then she shut all the windows. Then the back door.
"Andalite. What is your name? Your background?" Marco's mom asked.
"My name is Aximili-Esgarouth-Isthill. Brother of Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. Son of Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf and Forlay-Esgarrouth-Maheen. " said Ax.
"Call him Ax." said Marco.
Marco's Mom looked seriously surprised. "The Elfangor?" she asked suspiciously.
"Yes. Yessssss. Elfangor. Prince Elfangor was my brother. Brother-uh. Uh."
"Why don't you morph back, Ax?" she said. Ax looked at Jake.
"It's your call, Ax." said Jake.
"Okay. Oh-kay-uh." said Ax.
He started to morph into an andalite.
I had a feeling things were going to be quite different from now on.
And things WERE going to be quite different. Very different. Ever since we told Marco's mom all of this, she insisted on helping us.
"You-you really don't have to-" Jake began after Ax had morphed back to human. Jake felt Ax shouldn't stay in andalite form. Marco's dad was till upstairs. Asleep. He might come down.
"Yes, she does. I mean, I feel good knowing that we are saving the world, but I'd feel a lot better if there was an adult there. You might not feel that way, but I do." said Cassie. That's Cassie for you. Always speaking her mind. As for the rest of us...
Jake nodded his head, but I could feel he wanted it just to be us. I could tell he was also still suspicious that Marco's mom wasn't free from the yeerk. He still thought it was some kind of trap.
Just then, I heard a sound on the stairs. Marco suddenly looked scared.
"Uh, mom? What exactly are you going to tell dad? Your not going to tell him the truth, are you?" he asked.
"I have it all worked out, Marco. Don't worry." she said.
"I mean, he thinks your dead, mom. If he comes downstairs and sees you, he's gonna freak." Marco said. "Like he's gonna do now....." Marco added as his dad walked into the kitchen. He didn't see her at first. He looked at my friends and I, while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Marco, you should have told me you were going to have a party." he said. Then he saw her. His eyes got all wide. His mouth opened. He started to cry. It's weird, seeing a grown person cry. Especially your friend's dad. Then she started to cry. They ran towards each other. Marco joined them. It was a happy moment for Marco's family.
"How? I thought you were.....I thought you were....." Marco's Dad cried.
"Um.....maybe we should go." said Rachel, heading towards the door. Marco nodded to us. We left while Marco and his newly reunited family had a reunion. It was a happy time for them, and it was also a family thing. So I'm sure Marco's parents would rather us not be there at the moment. I wondered what story line Marco's mom had made up. I figured she would say that someone found her but she had lost her memory, and had just remembered her real family or something.
Marco's dad, he was in for a surprise. I could tell that he was really shocked to see her. And Marco......he could never ask for more. He had thought his mom was dead, too. For a while. Then, he realized she was a controller. So, getting your mother back after all that was really a good thing for Marco. And I know Marco is going to be in a good mood for a while. Which has its good and bad points. The good point is, Marco wont be whining all day long. The bad point is, Marco will be telling even worse jokes than he already tells.
"This is like, a really good day for all the Animorphs." said Rachel.
"So was yesterday. And hopefully, tomorrow, too." said Cassie.
"We shouldn't have told her all that." Jake said guiltily. "What if she gets reinfested? Then what? We are dead. The Animorphs are just dead." said Jake. "It could be a trap. We should have just watched over her for three days and......"
"Look on the bright side of things, Jake." said Jenny. Jenny smiled a flirty smile at Jake. Jake didn't notice, but Cassie did. Her mouth just dropped until she realized I was staring at her and then it closed again. I guess she decided to ignore it. For now.
"If she was a controller, then why would she have come back, Jake? It doesn't make any sense." said Kathy.
"Yes. It does. It does make sense. It makes perfect sense!" said Shannon.
"What! What makes sense?" asked Jake.
"Marco's mom. She's a controller still. I just know it! We have to go back. We have to go back before she.....you know!" said Shannon. Suddenly, Shannon became very still. She stopped walking and her eyes looked straight ahead. We tried talking to her, but she wouldn't answer for a minute or so. Then, she fell backward. I was standing behind her, and I caught her.
"Oh......oh, jeez! Sorry, Tobias!" she said. She stood back up again.
"Was that the.......Ellimist?" I asked. She nodded.
"She's not a yeerk, Jake. The Ellimist just gave me a vision of....of something really gross. I don't want to talk about it. Please understand. But trust me now, Jake. She's not a yeerk." said Shannon.
"I still don't know......" he answered. "The Ellimist hasn't been known for telling the truth."
"Believe me, Jake. Please. She's not. Just trust me on this one." she said. Jake sighed.
"Well.....okay. Usually, I wouldn't let it go, but so far, all you've brought us is good luck. So I'll trust you."
We headed towards Jake's house, with people peeling of because they were close to their home. The last person to peel off was Shannon. She smiled at me as she left. Rachel pretended not to notice, but I could see in her eyes she was upset by it. But I really didn't think Shannon meant anything by it. She should know by now that Rachel.....well, that Rachel liked, as in liked, me.
Rachel had decided to walk us to Jake's house, that's why she was there.
We reached Jake's house.
"I told my mom I was going to be a little bit late, so she shouldn't be mad." said Jake.
"Let me just go tell her that your staying over tonight, Tobias." he headed in and Rachel and I were alone.
"So.....things have been really great for us, lately. Especially for you, Tobias. I guess you think Shannon is great to have come up with all those ideas, huh, Tobias." she looked at the ground and pretended to be very interested in a firefly crawling around.
There was the catch. Rachel was jealous of Shannon. I shrugged. "She didn't come up with those ideas. The Ellimist gave the ideas to her. And, uh, I guess she's pretty nice and all, but- Rachel, she could never be as great a friend to me as you are. I mean, she is my friend, but your different. You're more than a friend. You go deeper than that....." I said. I had no idea where those words came from. They just sort of came out. I was a little embarrassed for saying them, but Rachel was smiling at me. Her deep, blue eyes were beaming.
"That's really great to know, Tobias. I mean, really, really great." she said. Then she sort of bit her lip. I knew what was coming. "Tobias, do you wanna.....I mean, do you think it'd be okay if....would you....maybe like to.....go do something sometime?" she asked me. But I knew that wasn't what she meant to say.
"Are you asking me if I want to go out with you, Rachel? Because if you are, the answer is definitely.....yes." I said.
"Oh, wow. That is just so great!" she acted stunned that I said yes. But any idiot would have said yes to Rachel. "I wanted to ask you before, but....." she said, frowned, then grew silent. I knew what she meant. She wanted to ask me before, but she couldn't. Guess why? Because I used to be a hawk. And a human and a hawk going on a date is just slightly weird.
"Yeah. I know why." I said sadly. But now wasn't the time to feel sorry for myself. Because Rachel, the beautiful, blond, super model, my friend Rachel, just asked me to go out with her. And that is a really good thing to happen to any guy.
"Tobias? I want you to know.....it's all over now. You are fully, completely, human again. You are not a hawk. Human. And I don't want you to feel bad about it anymore. Because that's not you anymore. It used to be.....but not anymore. We all felt bad for you, but now we're happy for you. Please, be happy for your self. Because-I really, really, like you......." said Rachel. We turned to each other. Rachel made the first move. I made the second. It was a small kiss. It didn't last very long, but I liked it. I liked it a lot. It was like a whole other side to Rachel. I mean, Rachel is the bravest person I know. She's an Amazon Warrior. She's Xena, Warrior Princess, as Marco would say. But she's never expressed this side of herself before. And I could get to know this side.....just as much as I knew the first. I was in heaven.
Just then did I see that Jake was leaning against a pillar on his front porch, smiling. Rachel saw him, too. She suddenly turned white. I knew she was seriously embarrassed. Jake is, after all, her cousin. And I was seriously embarrassed, too. Would Jake tell everyone? Marco would be making jokes about us all day. Cassie would act all smiley and giggly.
"Um, Tobias- I better go. I'll see you tomorrow." she said and hugged me, then hurried down the street.
"Awww, how sweet!" Jake called after her.
I turned around to face Jake. He was laughing now. I looked at him fiercely.
"You eavesdropper. How long were you standing there?" I asked him, stiffly, as I walked onto the porch and leaned against the identical pillar across the porch from Jake.
"Long enough to see that one day, you and me could be family members." he said and hummed the, "Here comes the bride," song.
"Oh, shut-up, Jake." I said and walked over to him and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Don't tell anyone yet. Let me and Rachel tell them."
"Oh, I wont tell anyone...you honestly think I would? Hee-hee-hee." he said sneakily.
"Come on, Jake." I pleaded.
"I wont, I wont. I swear." He said, suddenly seriously. "Well, anyway, my mom's not mad at all, and you can stay for tonight. I guess then you'll go to Marco's or stay my house again, or something. We'll figure it all out tomorrow. So, come on in. But no more talk about it because Tom's here."
We entered Jake's house. I wanted to go back outside. I didn't like being where I couldn't see the sky. But there was nothing I could do about it, so I followed Jake up to his room, anyway. He shut and locked the door. Just then I realized I had left all my cloths at Cassie's house. I told this to Jake.
"I'll lend you something for tonight. I usually wear boxers. Is that okay with you?" he asked. I nodded. He went to his dresser and began to look through his drawer. I began to feel nervous. It was the first time in a long time I had ever slept on anything soft. I mean, I was probably going to sleep on the floor, but that is still a lot softer than sleeping in/on a tree. I guess Jake could see I was nervous, because when he handed me a pair of red boxers, he told me not to worry. Jake told me I could change in the bathroom.
I crept out in the hall quietly so as not to disturb anybody and slid into the bathroom and shut the door. I looked around the room. It had been a long time since I had ever used a bathroom, and I wasn't sure I remembered everything. That must sound really stupid to you. How could anyone not remember what to do in a bathroom? I don't know how, but I couldn't. But I didn't have to go to the bathroom so I didn't worry about it. I just changed quickly and crept back to Jake's room with my cloths all rolled up in a ball. When I entered the room, Jake was laying down some blankets on the floor for extra padding. He put a pillow on the ground and put a sheet down.
"It's supposed to be warm tonight, so you'll probably just need a sheet." said Jake.
"Okay." I said. Jake turned off the light. He went into his bed. I sat down on the floor shakily. I pulled the sheet out from under me with clumsy human hands, and slid under it. I laid my head down on the soft pillow. I felt completely out of place. I felt like I should be in my tree, watching the owls do their hunting. But, at the same time, it felt sort of good. This was something I had definitely missed when I was a hawk. I finally got a little more relaxed, but I still felt strange. I let out a deep breath.
"You okay, Tobias?" asked Jake. "If you want, you can have the bed....."
"No, that's okay, Jake. This is just something I haven't done in a while. I'll be fine. Yeah. Fine." I said shakily.
"Well, goodnight." said Jake and turned over. "Pleasant dreams....."
"Yeah, right. Goodnight." I said. I shut my eyes. But then I felt like I was being watched, so I just kept them open for a while. Finally, after an hour of restlessness, I fell asleep. And I did dream that night. Actually, it was pretty funny. I dreamed that all the mice and rats and voles and rabbits in my old meadow were having a party. They were having a party because I was gone and I couldn't eat them anymore. Some of them were swimming in a pool and the rest of them were dancing and singing along to "Living La Vida Loca". And Ricky Martin was actually there. But he was a mouse. It was so ridiculous, I woke up laughing and giggling like an idiot. I actually woke Jake up. And it's very hard to do that. He sleeps like a rock.
"What's so funny?" he asked, yawning. I told him about my dream. Then he started laughing. I joined him. Suddenly, I heard a knock at the door. We stopped laughing.
"Who is it?" asked Jake.
"Its your brother. His name is Tom. And you two hyenas woke him up. Keep it down. I'm trying to get some sleep, here." he said and laughed. Jake and I looked at each other and burst out laughing again. Not just about the dream, but about the irony of Tom's statement. We were still laughing when we heard a light brushing of wings against the window, and the small tap of talons.
*Hey, idiots! Stop laughing and open the window. Ospreys are not meant to hover in the air! If I wanted to do that, I'd have become a humming bird. But lock the door, first, Jake!* said Marco's thought speech voice. Jake and I knew that the door was locked so Jake got up to open the window. Marco flew in. And, even though its impossible, Marco's bird beak looked like it was slightly curved upward, and it seemed like he was smiling. He seemed radioactive or something. I knew he had some sort of news. I was right.
*I am the chipper bird of morning that bears news of good. Ever heard of him? Well, that's me. Anyway, you'll love to here this, you guys! But I can't tell you. Shannon and Erek said they wanted to tell you themselves. So, I'll let them say it. But it is seriously good news, guys. Seriously. For both of you. Come to the barn as soon as you guys can. We'll all be there. Ax and Erek, too. Gotta fly. I got some birdly duties to attend to. Gotta round up the rest of the Animorphs. See ya there.* said Marco and flew off.
"Well.....he was in a good mood. I wonder why?" Jake said, pretending to be oblivious to the fact of what happened yesterday.
"Yeah, but.....what did he mean? What would we love to here?" I asked. "What else could go right?"
Jake laughed. " I guess we'll find out. Well, come on. We can morph in my backyard, and fly to Cassie's." he said. Jake's backyard is like a forest. So many trees and bushes. You could get lost back there.
I took my rolled up ball of cloths to the bathroom and dressed quickly. By the time I got back in Jake's room, Jake was ready. We headed downstairs. I saw Jake's dad sitting at the table eating a banana and reading the paper. His mom was washing cloths. Tom was flipping the channels, vegging out in front of the tube. Something yeerks seldom do. He looked at us and smiled, then returned his gaze upon the TV. I began to wonder.....but no. That couldn't be. Unless.....no. I couldn't keep mine or Jake's hopes up. We couldn't be that lucky. No way.
Suddenly, Tom got up and came into the kitchen.
"Mom? Dad? I'm going out for a while." was all he said.
"Where are you going, Thomas!" Jake's mom shouted but he was already out he door.
"That boy of mine......I swear....." we heard her mutter from the laundry room.
"Morning, boys. Would you like some breakfast?" asked Jake's dad. Jake shook his head.
"No. We've got to go somewhere. We're meeting Marco at the mall today." he lied. His mother walked in with a pile of towels.
"At least have a granola bar. Otherwise, you'll end up eating mall pizza for breakfast. How can you boys even stand the mall? It's always so crowded, everything's over priced.....anyway, be home by 6 for dinner." she said and headed for the bathroom to put the towels away.
"Okay. 6. See you." Jake said and we walked out the back door.
"I wish you guys would take the sidewalk. The alley is no place for you two." said Jake's dad, thinking we were taking the alley to the mall, when really we were using it to morph.
"Don't worry, dad!" Jake called over his shoulder. We walked toward the back of Jake's yard, where no one would be able to see us morph. A few minutes later, a red-tailed hawk and a peregrine falcon were lifting off the ground, catching a beautiful thermal, and soaring high above the trees. And heading toward Cassie's barn, a place where even more good fortune was about to release itself. I had no idea just how right that assumption was.
On the way to Cassie's barn, we guessed what the good news could be. None of our guesses were very logical, though. Jake even guessed that Erek and Shannon killed Visser Three, but at that I laughed. Then Jake realized, Erek is a Chee. The Chee cant fight anyone. And Shannon hadn't been in the battle long enough to know much about Visser Three, let alone where he was. None of us knew where he was, exactly. He could be right in town, up in orbit, or in China for all I knew.
Suddenly, I felt a pillar of warm air rise up from beneath the ground. A blessed thermal. And up Jake and I went. Like an elevator. We went up so high, our wing tips touched the bellies of the clouds. I looked down. We were near the barn. In fact, I could see Marco entering the barn in Osprey morph. Followed by a bald Eagle. Rachel. He must have been done with his birdly duties of getting the rest of the Animorphs. Jake and I spilled the air from our wings, adjusted our wing tips just so, and dived down at a terrifying speed. Jake passed me up pretty quickly. Jake's morph, a peregrine falcon, is the fastest thing in the sky. They make hawks look like they are standing still. Pretty close to the ground, I pulled up. I turned my direction towards Cassie's barn. I flew in threw the open hayloft, landed on the ground, and began to demorph. Of course, Jake was already demorphing. He had gotten there quicker than me.
"Hello, Jake. Hello, Tobias." said Erek calmly. I looked at him as I demorphed. He looked like any other kid. But of course, that was just a hologram. He was really a steel, robot dog, standing erect. That's what he looked like without the hologram, anyway. Erek was an android. A Chee. They were created by a race called the Pemalites. Pemalites looked like dogs that could walk on their two back legs. Much like the Chee. They lived long ago. They were almost all killed by a race called the Howlers. They, too, like the Yeerks, wanted to take control of the universe.
But, before that, the Pemalites were a happy species. They never killed. They never harmed anyone. They had lots of power, but they never hurt anybody. They created the Chee as friends. Robotic friends. Then the Howlers came, and killed almost all of the Pemalites. But a few lived, though they were badly injured. But the Chee were not injured. When the Pemalites created the Chee, they created them so they would not die. No matter what anyone did to them, they can never die. So, the Chee took the wounded Pemalites and brought them to a safe, primitive world: Earth.
Remember, this was all long ago, so Earth was in it's early stages. But, sadly, the Pemalites were too weak to survive long. Many of the injured had already died. The ones that remained would be gone very soon. The Chee knew this. So, they took the happy, dog like, mind and characteristics from the Pemalites and made a new animal upon the Earth. Wolves. They gave the wolves all of the Pemalite happiness. Then, as wolves evolved, dogs were born. Whenever you see a dog happily playing with a toy or munching on a shoe, that is part of the Pemalite soul that lives on, and never dies. It wasn't much, but it was the best the Chee could do for their masters, the Pemalites. To hide themselves, the Chee would create a hologram, as you know, around themselves and the hologram aged. Once they lived out one human life, they would simply create a new hologram of a person. So, now you know who Erek is, and his background.
*Hello, Erek.* I said back to him in thought speech because I was still mostly bird. I felt the last few changes and then I was completely human. Everyone was there, and they were all smiling at me and Jake. Like they knew a great secret that we didn't. They did. Jake and I looked at each other. He raised his eyebrows. I shrugged.
"Okay, what? What? What did you want to tell us?" Jake asked Erek and Shannon.
"Why don't we just let him tell you?" asked Shannon. She motioned toward the door.
"Who? Who tell me? What-" Jake said, then got quiet when he saw who walked in the barn. His mouth dropped open and his eyes grew large. "T-T-T-Tom?" he asked quietly. The first thing that came to mind was that Tom made all the Animorphs but me and Jake controllers. The second thing that came to mind was that Tom was freed of the yeerk. I stuck with the second thought. After all, Tom had been acting non-controller like earlier. But Jake thought otherwise.
"Yeerk!" Jake said with sudden hatred. He started to run towards Tom while beginning to morph the tiger. I put my hand on his shoulder.
"No, Jake. The yeerk's gone." I said quietly.
"Gone! But.....how?" asked Jake shakily as he reversed the morph. "How do I know for sure, Tom? How do I know?" he demanded of his brother. Tom bit his lip.
"Jake?" said Shannon. "You know how I have these visions and dreams? I had a vision of the yeerk pool. I found out that Tom was going to go the Yeerk pool last night. I told Ax about it. He was an andalite, so I figured he might know more about the yeerk pool. He told me that you had tried that before. But it didn't work. I had another vision that said if I went, I would be able to free Tom. So I told everyone about it. Except you and Tobias. For.....your own personal reasons. We went last night. After we split up. And.....here's Tom." She smiled at Jake.
"Jake? I'm.....free. Believe it, midget." said Tom. Jake bought it. I guess it was that Shannon had brought us so much luck so far that Jake bought it. Otherwise, I don't think he would have. But he did. And Jake ran towards Tom. They locked onto each other in a brotherly hug. They both had tears in their eyes. Jake is not a crier. It was very unlike Jake. But, everyone had tears in their eyes. I don't think we were all crying just for Jake and Tom. I think we were crying because of all the simply wonderful things that had happened.
"And for you, Tobias....." Erek said. I looked at him. He was not Erek. Well, he was Erek. He was just the real Erek. He was the android Erek. Not the hologram.
"For me? I already got something. Let Rachel or Cassie or Ax or one of the others have a turn." I said. I looked around. Nobody had noticed I'd said anything.
"They can't hear you, Tobias. I have widened my hologram to include you and I. All they see is you and I looking happy." said Erek.
"Okay. So.....what else do I get? I really don't need anything else. I've got what I really wanted." I said.
"Do you, Tobias?" he asked me. I stared hard. I'm good at that. The hawk's penetrating gaze was now part of me, since I was a hawk for so long.
"Jeez. You know, your starting to sound like the Ellimist, Erek."
"I am?"
"Yes. You are."
"Sorry. I'll try to be less Ellimist like."
"Oooooo-kay."
"Well, anyway, I know of something else you've always wanted. Something deep. Something all the other Animorphs already have that you don't."
I made a rude, dissmisive sound with my nose. "Yeah, like what? A family? Somewhere to go? Someone to go to?"
"Exactly, Tobias. Exactly."
I stared at him long and hard for a minute before I said anything.
"Your kidding, right? I mean.....You couldn't. My dad is dead. My fake dad is dead. My mom is....gone. If she's not dead, she might as well be dead. So how are you going to give me a family?"
"Tobias, do you know your mother's name?"
"Yeah. Her name is, or was, Loren Fangor. "
"You are correct. After going threw immense amounts of information, I have finally found Loren. She lives near here. Her memories of Elfangor had been erased, so she did not remember him. But I was able to recreate those memories with the help of the Ellimist and return them to her. The other man, your fake father, who died. His death was the reason she left you behind. But that was because, at the time, she did not remember Elfangor."
"Yeah," I said, growing interested. Had he really found my mother? The mother I barely remember anything about? The mother who left me?
"Tobias, she is here today. "
I felt a lump in my throat. My mother was here? What was she doing here? Did she even love me? After all, she left me. But she didn't remember my father, Elfangor, when she left. Now she did. Would she ask for my forgiveness? I was is a state of total shock. I guess Erek must have noticed. He laughed. It was strange, to see a robot dog laugh.
"Nervous, Tobias?" he asked.
"What do you think?" I asked quickly.
"I think yes. Tobias, the others know that I am talking to you about this before-hand. So don't try to hold in your emotions as I turn the hologram off you." he said. Suddenly, I realized everyone was staring at me. Waiting for something. I took a deep breath and tried to look normal. But that was really hard. For one, I was going to meet the mother I had never met. Two, everyone was looking at me, expecting me to do something. To cry. To talk. To do something emotional. But I did nothing but look really embarrassed.
"Are you okay, Tobias?" Rachel asked worriedly, coming towards me. She put her arm around my shoulder.
"Is it true? Is she here?" I asked in a wavering voice. I was on the verge of crying. Rachel nodded.
"Would you like to meet her?" she asked. I nodded, then gulped.
"Don't worry, Tobias. I met her. She's really nice." Rachel added, walking me toward the opening of the barn. She released me.
"I figured you two would like to be alone. So since my mom and dad aren't here, she's in my house. In the living room." said Cassie. I nodded. Marco looked at me and gave me the thumbs up sign and winked. I laughed. It was definitely the wrong time to laugh. It wasn't really even funny. But Marco had just got his mom back yesterday. Now I was getting mine.
I walked slowly away from the barn and towards Cassie's door. A thousand thoughts raced threw my mind as I walked. What would she be like? Would she look like the pictures? Would she be nice? Would she want me back? Would she ask me to forgive her? I didn't know the answer to any of these questions. I reached Cassie's porch, feeling faint. I climbed up the stairs slowly. It was hard. Each of my legs seemed to be big blocks of cement I had to drag up the stairs. I reached the door, my heart racing. My mind was overflowing with questions. I had butterflies in my stomach. I reached for the door handle with my shaking, quivering, hand. I got it open, but it was almost impossible. I walked inside and searched the room with my eyes. My dim, human eyes. I didn't know who or what to expect. Then I saw her. Her hair was blond, lighter than my own dirty blond. Her face was fragile, delicate, but pretty. She had deep blue eyes as Rachel had. My mother. It was her.
Suddenly, a vision popped into my head. A little, animated movie of when I was young. I was little, maybe three, and I was in my bed. I was trying to go to sleep. I opened my eyes and saw a face. Familiar. It was the face of the woman before me now.
"Toby.....Toby, honey? Mommy has to.....go away for a little while. I'll be back. But I don't know when, okay? Something.....something happened to Daddy. And......oh, my baby, I'll miss you!" she said and kissed my forehead. Of course I was little so I didn't understand. I just figured she'd be back tomorrow. But then she didn't come back. So I just forgot her. Until now.
I snapped out of my trance and focused on the woman before me. She had risen from her place on the sofa. She was coming toward me. She was smiling. Tears glistened in her eyes. She looked just like the pictures. Only a little bit older.
"Tobias?" she asked slowly. "Is it really you? My Toby?"
I nodded.
"Oh, Toby!" she cried and threw her arms around me. I wasn't used to people calling me Toby. Or people throwing their arms around me. But I could get used to it. I could get used to a lot of things. And I probably would have to from now on. I didn't hug her back at first. But then I did. She was my mother. No matter what she had done, I had to love her. So, I hugged her back, although not as forcefully. I started to cry. My mom. A family. All here. Again. I never realized how much I had missed her. When she left when I was a kid, I just blocked her out of my memory. I just forgot about her. I didn't want to remember her. Or the pain she caused me. But now, I had her back. And all the memories were flooding my mind. Coming back to me.
"I'm so sorry, please. Please forgive me, Tobias. Please. I didn't know. I didn't know!" she cried. I smiled at her.
"I'm not mad at you.....Mom. I forgive you. I understand.....okay?" I said. She smiled gratefully.
"You-you should be mad at me. I left you, Toby. I left you. If I had remembered, then I wouldn't have left. But all I knew was the other man that died. He wasn't your father." she said, calming down.
"I know."
She smiled. "Oh, yes. Elfangor was your father. He was a hero. I'm just so sorry.....you never got a chance to meet him. He would have been proud of you. So proud."
"But.....didn't the others tell you? I did meet Elfangor. We did. Only briefly, though. And that was when he gave us the morphing power. When we first learned about the yeerks. You didn't know?" I was surprised. Maybe the others didn't tell her everything yet.
"Elfangor gave you the morphing power? I-I thought the other andalite did. Oh, you did meet him, didn't you? Oh, Toby! " She hugged me again. I hugged her right away this time. And I cried right along with her.
All my life, at least the before I was an Animorph-life, I figured no one wanted me. I figured no one cared about me. I figured none of the "family" that I had known cared the least bit. I figured I didn't have a real friend. I figured I never would. I figured I'd never have a family. I figured I'd live life alone and afraid under some bridge or something when I got older, and finally die with no one around me that cared. But all those "figurations" shriveled in the dust the night the andalite ship, which held my father, came and told us the truth. And all the other events that happened between then and now became my realization. I KNOW now that someone wants me. I KNOW now that someone cares about me. I KNOW now that my new family, the animorphs, and my mother care a lot. I KNOW now I have real friends, and I would probably get more in the future. I KNOW now I have a real family, not just some illusion that I dream about to make myself feel better. And it feels really great. Just to know your wanted. And loved. And cared for. I mean, how would you feel if no one wanted, loved or cared for you? Pretty awful, right? Yeah. I know. I've been through it.
For at least 45 minutes, my mother and I talked, cried, and laughed together. We remembered old times. Fun times. Like, we recalled a camping trip that just the two of us went on. I was really little. And I was scared to come out of the tent. Because my mom said we were going swimming in the lake. I was little, so I was sort of scared of the water. Well, I guess I still have a thing about deep water. I just don't like it. It's just so BIG, you know?
We also recalled picnics, museums, and frequent trips to the zoo, because we used to live right near one. We also recalled not so happy times. We didn't talk about those that much, though. We were both in too good a mood. I, myself, couldn't believe how much I remembered. I had no idea I had all these memories were bottled up inside me. And all it took for them to show themselves was seeing her again.
"Toby, I'm going to go fix up your room a little more. When I first heard about you, I went out and bought a room full of stuff. I really hope you like it all. Anyway, there's still a little more to do in there. When you come, I want it to look...decent. So, I'll be back in about an hour to pick you up. Okay?" she asked me after we had talked for quite a while.
"Um...you know, I could come over in an hour by myself. I could fly over." I offered. She looked surprised for a moment. Then she smiled.
"I keep forgetting you can morph, Toby. It'll take a while to get used to the idea that my son can turn into a bird any time he wants." she laughed. I laughed too.
"Oh. We went shopping the other day. I got a bunch of cloths. They're in the barn. Ask Jake for them when you leave." I told her. She nodded.
We agreed on the plan. I would fly over in an hour. She gave me the directions to the house, then left.
I sat there for a while, thinking. About how different things would be. I was human now. I had a mother now. Jake had his brother now. Marco also had a mother now. We all had andalite morphs now. There were three new Animorphs now. Yeah, lots of things had changed. But could we still be the Animorphs? The same Animorphs? Sometimes I wished it was just the six of us again. But I knew it was better this way. Kathy, Shannon and Jenny were Animorphs now, too. It would never again be just Jake, Marco, Rachel, Cassie, me and Ax again. Somehow, this made me sad. It was like when you graduate elementary school and your going to high school. Nothing will be the same. Different teachers. Different kids. The thought just makes you want to sit down and cry. That's how I felt. Sad. But also happy. Because things would be better. Now, that probably sounds confusing to you. But somehow I wished things would go back. I don't even know what I'm tying to say. I better just shut-up and get on with it.
Anyway, I was tired of thinking. I wanted to talk to somebody about it. My friends. In the barn. They were probably wondering what was wrong with me. I had been in there half an hour just thinking. I got up and walked toward the barn. Now, believe me, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I just had to know what they were saying. So I leaned against the side of the barn and listened. This is what they were saying:
"She left almost half an hour ago. Should we go check on him?" said Rachel.
"Naw. Let him think a while. Trust me, I know. I had the same, well almost the same thing happen to me to me yesterday." said Marco.
"Yeah, but he could be.....I don't know." said Rachel.
"Maybe we should go check on him. Like Rachel said, he could be...I don't know, committing suicide or something!" said Cassie. Everyone laughed. I even held in the urge to laugh. Me, committing suicide, NOW? Not likely.
"I don't think so, Cassie. Not after what happened today. It would be as if you won a zillion dollars and then asked for a death wish. Uh-uh. Not happening." said Marco.
"My dad is going to be home in 15 minutes, you guys. How long are you going to let him stay in there?" asked Cassie.
"Give him 10 more minutes. If he doesn't come out before then, we'll go in." said Jake.
A moment of silence. I almost walked in, but then I heard Rachel talking.
"I wonder if Tobias likes the way she calls him Toby. I mean, when I talked to her, she was like, ' Oh, I can't wait to see my Toby again!' " said Rachel.
"What are you going to accomplish, Rachel? Are you gonna say, ' Hey, Mrs. Tobias's mother! Don't call Tobias Toby! He hates it! ' " Marco laughed.
"Maybe we will have to start calling Tobias Toby." said Cassie.
"NO! I mean, no. I think Tobias will want to be called Tobias. It's what he's always been called. Besides his mom." said Rachel, defensively.
"By the way, Rachel? Don't you have something to share with the rest of us Animorphs? About you and Tobias?" said Jake sneakily. The liar! He promised he wouldn't tell! I was fuming. I muttered a few select words I can't repeat here and now. But I guess I must have muttered a little loudly because everyone started talking.
"Jake, I am so going to murder you........freeze!" said Rachel
"Ooopps! I'm sorry, I forgot.......Who's out there?" said Jake.
"Hahahahaha! Oh, I knew you two would end up together! Hahahahaha.......I hear something, Jake." said Marco.
"Oh! Rachel, why didn't you tell me you two were......Ah! Someone's out here!" said Cassie.
"What about Rachel and Tobias.....Prince Jake, I detect sounds coming from the barn entrance! ent-er-ance-uh!" said Ax.
"You mean you two are......Jinx......I think I hear something, too." said Jenny, scared.
"You mean you two are......Jinx......Ohmygod, someone's spying on us!" said Kathy, even more scared.
"Oh! You guys are.......Yeerks!" said Shannon. I heard a hint of sadness in her voice. I almost felt sorry for her. But then I went back to being mad at Jake.
I heard the shuffling of feet. I quickly pretended to be coming back from Cassie's house. I acted surprised to see Jake's half tiger face and Rachel's half grizzly bear face pop around the side of the barn. They really were surprised to see me.
*Oh, Tobias, it's only you! You scared us with your....swearing.* said Jake, reversing the morph. Rachel was also reversing her morph, but she was more human than Jake, so she could talk.
"I can guess why you were swearing...." she looked accusingly at Jake. He stepped back, almost totally human now. Then looked guilty.
"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to tell. It sort of just - came out, you know? So, please. I'm sorry. Forgive me?" he put on a corny smile.
"You promised, Jake." I said, but I was smiling.
"I forgot!" Jake argued.
"Okay, I guess we can let him live. This time. But next time, I don't know....." said Rachel. We walked back into the barn.
"I need proof. I need proof! I simply cannot believe that Xena: Warrior Princess and Ex: Bird Boy are going out! I can't!" Marco, of course. He put his hands on the side of his head and thrashed his head around wildly, as if in some sort of pain. We all laughed. Except Ax.
"What exactly does the term, ' going out' mean? mean-uh." asked Ax. We laughed some more. Ax was baffled. "Is it a funny subject to talk about in human terms? term-suh?"
"You need some proof, Marco?" said Rachel. Marco stopped thrashing and looked up.
I didn't expect Rachel to do what she did. But then she did it. She kissed me. But not only did she kiss me. She actually french kissed me! And it was only our second kiss! I was totally dazed, standing there with my mouth hanging open, my eyes wide. Everyone's eyes were wide. Everyone's reaction was what I expected. Cassie was all giggly. Marco was cracking jokes. But Ax........he freaked.
"Stop them! Stop them! Before they try to eat each other again! Stop them! Stop-uh. Them-uh. ' Uh ' is a very satisfying sound, is it not?" Ax said. We all laughed.
"Yes, ' uh ' is a very satisfying human sound." said Jake, sarcastically.
"I also enjoy the sound, ' ing '. Ing. Inginginginginging. Yes. Very satisfying indeed. Sat. Is. Fy. Ing. Ing. Ing." said Ax. "Indeed. deed-uh."
"Yeah, everybody loves a good ' ing '." said Marco. "And, they're not trying to eat each other Ax. That's what all humans do when they fall in looo-oooove! And Tobias and Rachel are victims of looo-oooove! They are trapped in the hands of looo-oooove! They've fallen into the pit of
looo-oooove! They-" but Marco didn't get to finish his little statement.
Because he saw that Rachel was starting to morph. A grizzly bear. And if you make Rachel mad enough that she starts to morph a grizzly bear, you should stop what you are doing. Right. Now. Because you don't want to get on the bad side of a grizzly bear. Especially Rachel the grizzly bear. And Marco knew this. He shut-up. Rachel reversed the morph.
"Thank you, Marco. You have been most cooperative." Then, in a low whisper only I could hear, "Most cooperative, my butt."
Count on Cassie to get you out of an embarrassed silence. I don't know how the girl does it, but she does.
"So, how did it go in there, Tobias?" Cassie asked me. I looked surprised, I guess.
"Okay, I guess." I said and pretended to be very interested in the ground. They took the hint that I didn't want to talk about it. So Marco broke the silence. I looked around. I realized that Tom and Erek were gone.
"What is wrong with Jake and Cassie? I mean, Rachel and Tobias are going out, now, after months of patient worry. But Jake and Cassie are still at the touching hands phase! You guys should take some yoga classes together to feel more in touch with each other. It would seriously do you some good. I go to my yoga instructor whenever I'm feeling down. Which is, since I became an Animorph, almost all the time." said Marco. Jake and Cassie turned red.
"Shut-it, Marco." said Jake in that silky voice he uses when he is starting to get really angry. Jenny looked shocked. She didn't know that he liked Cassie. Suddenly, a thought came to me. Something I shouldn't have overlooked. I looked at Jake.
"Um, Jake?" I asked him.
"What?" he answered, scratching his neck, still embarrassed.
"How exactly are Tom and Marco's mom going to hide from the yeerks? I mean, how are they not going to get reinfested? The yeerks know where they live." I pointed out. He smiled.
"Already taken care of. Erek explained it to us while you were inside. The Chee will help us by making a hologram. Take Tom for example. No one will be able to see him except my family. If anybody besides my family walked by, they would see nothing. It's the same with Marco's mom. The Chee will project the hologram from Erek's house. So there's no need to worry. The Chee will help us out." said Jake. I nodded. At least that was taken care of.
"Ax? How long has it been since she left? I'm supposed to go over there in an hour." I asked Ax.
"It has been approximately 42 of your minutes." he answered.
"They are your minutes, too, Ax-man. Your on Earth, aren't you?" said Marco.
"Of your minutes." added Ax stiffly. We laughed.
"Um....I think I'll leave now. Just to be sure I'm not late." I said.
"Okay. Tobias? Meeting tomorrow at noon." said Jake. Cassie smiled and nodded. What was that all about?
"Okay. See you tomorrow." I said and began to morph. As soon as I was full red-tail, I began to fly. I saw Rachel look at me with a, ' Do you want me to come with you? ' look.
*No. Don't come with me. I might come over tonight. Is that okay?* I asked her in private thought speech. I saw her smile at me and give a little nod of her head, so faint the others wouldn't be able to tell she had nodded.
"Bye, Tobias." she said. I flew. Not to my mothers/my house, yet. But to my meadow.
I don't know why I went there. I just felt I needed to go there. One last time. Because I knew that after this I would never go back there again. Too many memories. And not too many happy ones, either.
I landed on the all too familiar branch of the old tree that I always sit on. And I demorphed. Soon, I was myself again. Sitting far up on one of the highest branches of the tree. Farther up than I would have been able to go had I been human. Then, I did something. I don't know why. I just did it. I burst into tears. I was heavy-duty crying. Up in a tree. I looked up at the sun. Bright and golden sun. I saw the outline of a bird of prey. I gasped. I looked closer. As close as I could look with lame human eyes. It was a bald eagle. The symbol of America. But I had a feeling I knew this certain eagle. Rachel. I was sure of it.
I quickly stopped crying. I didn't want her to see me like this. We were going out. How would she like to go out with a guy who sat and cried in trees?
I started to climb down the tree. I knew I could have easily morphed and flew down the easy way. But I didn't want to morph. Not yet, anyway. I wanted Rachel to see me as a human. Not a hawk. So I climbed down. It took a good 5 minutes. I was up pretty high.
I reached the bottom, tired and sweaty. I sat down against the tree trunk. And, for no good reason, cried some more. This time, I couldn't stop. I looked up and saw an eagle drifting down toward me. Definitely Rachel. But I just sat with my knees hugged against my chest, whimpering.
*Tobias? Are you okay?* asked Rachel. I nodded. But she landed anyway. And demorphed.
When she was fully human again, she stood awkwardly in the middle of my meadow with her lower lip trembling. She walked slowly toward me. I just looked at her and tried to make sense of it all. Take it all in. I felt like I was going crazy with all these different emotions bottled up inside me.
She knelt down beside me and took my hand.
"Tobias? What is it?" she asked. I just cried harder. I pulled myself up in a kneeling position like Rachel was and hugged her. She hugged me back.
"How....how did you know I was coming here?" I asked her.
"When you flew away, you flew in the direction toward your meadow. Not towards the house. Loren told us the directions before she left. You were still inside." she said.
"Oh. So, then Jake sent you to find me, huh?"
"Yeah. Why did you come here?"
"Um....." I didn't know how to explain it to Rachel.
"Tobias, what's wrong? You can tell me." she said. I let her go but still kept a firm hold on her hand.
"I don't know, Rachel......I just......I'm going crazy." I looked up at her.
"Is it....Loren?"
"In some way it's Loren. It's this whole...big mess. I just can't....I don't know what to do. It's just....so.....weird."
She laughed. "After all that's happened to us, especially to you, your suggesting that this is weird?"
"I knew it was weird before. Now things are just a little weirder, you know? Things are just - too right. There has been way too much stuff happening to us that's good." I said. She nodded.
"I know what you mean. I've been thinking about that a lot, too."
"Did you ever wonder....if this is all a trap?" I asked her.
"A trap?"
"Yeah. You know how things have been looking good for us? Three new members? All this luck? Well, maybe someone's making this all happen. Maybe their leading us to a trap. You know the visions Shannon's been having? Someone could be doing this." I said.
"Could be." she looked at me strangely. Like she didn't know what meant.
VERY GOOD. ONE OF MY LITTLE ANIMORPHS HAVE FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT.
"Huh?" I said.
"What?" said Rachel.
"Ellimist?" I asked wearily. "No, wait..."
NO. I AM CERTAINLY NOT THE ELLIMIST. I AM GREATER THAN ANY ELLIMIST EVER IS AND EVER WILL BE. I AM A SHIVORA. THE SHIVORAS ARE THE OLDEST SENTIENT RACES IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. WE HAVE BEEN AROUND FROM THE VERY BEGINNING OF SPACE-TIME. WE WERE THE FIRST RACE TO HAVE EVER EVOLVED SENTIENTLY. COMPARING THE SHIVORAS TO THE ELLIMISTS WOULD BE LIKE COMPARING ANDALITES TO A MICROSCOPIC EARTH-VIRUS. DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF CALLING ME AN ELLIMIST AGAIN.
The voice was horrific. Is that a word? I don't know, but that's what it was. It was horrifyingly, shockingly scary. It was hard to imagine something that had even more technology than the Ellimist or Crayak. It was impossible. No, not impossible. Just unknown to us.
And, it seemed to me that these Shivoras were very arrogant.
Much to my surprise, Rachel laughed. "So, Shivora....what would comparing Humans and Shivoras be like?"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
The Shivora's laughter filled the air. I shuddered.
THERE IS NO COMPARISON TO SHIVORAS AND HUMANS! HUMANS ARE BEYOND PRIMITIVE! NO OFFENSE. DO I SOUND MUCH LIKE A HUMAN? SINCE I HAVE BEEN STUDYING HUMANS, I HAVE PICKED UP ON A FEW PRIMITIVE EARTH SAYINGS.
Rachel and I looked at each other, confused.
"So.....you're the one who's been making all these things happen?" I asked.
YES.
A terrible thought hit me. Had the Shivora made these things actually happen? Or were they just.....fake? I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. If these things were fake, then I would be coming back to this meadow again sometime soon. A very unhappy thought.
"Is it all.....real?" I asked, hoping, praying, that it would be.
YES, OF COURSE, TOBIAS. THESE THINGS ARE REAL. WE SHIVORAS DO NOT DO UNTRUE THINGS TO LESSER BEINGS.
"If these things are real, why did you create them?" asked Rachel.
"And, hey, thanks for creating them, if you created them." I added. Rachel smiled at me.
WE SHIVORAS MAY BE POWERFUL, BUT WE ARE PEACE-MAKERS. WE DO NOT MAKE TROUBLE FOR OTHERS. THE ELLIMIST SAYS THEY DO NOT INTERFERE WITH OTHER SENTIENT SPECIES. WE SHIVORAS DO. BUT WE DO NOT DO BAD THINGS. WE DO NOT KILL. WE MAKE THINGS BETTER.
"We figured that out already." I said.
"Yeah. It was kind of obvious these things aren't bad." laughed Rachel. "What's your game, Shivora?"
WE GIVE A LESSER BEING WHAT THEY WANT MOST. THEIR HEART'S DESIRE. BUT YOU, TOBIAS, ARE A SMART CHARACTER. YOU HAVE FIGURED ME OUT QUICKER THAN YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO. THAT WILL NOT INTERFERE WITH MY PLANS FOR THE OTHERS. AS LONG AS YOU BOTH KEEP IT A SECRET UNTIL THE VERY END.
"What are your plans for the others?" I asked.
"And why do we have to keep it a secret?" Rachel asked.
TOBIAS. RACHEL. I WILL INFORM YOU WHEN EVERYONE HAS HAD THEIR FULFILLINGS. TOBIAS, YOU STILL HAVE SOME LEFT. RACHEL, YOURS ARE STILL TO COME. EVERYONE WILL HAVE THEIR FULFILLINGS. DO NOT LET THE OTHERS KNOW ABOUT THIS UNTIL THE VERY END. OR THE PLANS WILL BE RUINED. I MUST GO. GOODBYE.
"Shivora! Wait!" shouted Rachel.
"Don't go yet, Shivora!" I yelled.
JUST A FEW MORE DAYS. GOODBYE.
"Hey, wait!" I yelled. But I knew he was gone. We would meet up with him in a few days. When everyone had had their "fulfillings".
"Well.....that was interesting." said Rachel.
"Are we going to tell the others?" I asked Rachel.
"No, way! I want my fulfillings!" said Rachel. I smiled. Then frowned.
"I am so late. I have to go. Come on." I said to her. She looked hard at me.
"Are you going to be okay, Tobias?" she asked me.
"Yeah. I'll be fine." I said, already starting to morph. Rachel lifted her eyebrows at me, then started to morph herself.
*I'm fine, Rachel. Don't worry about me. I'll come over tonight, okay?* I told her.
*Okay.* she said. *Tobias?*
*Yeah?*
*I - I love you, Tobias.* she flew away. I looked at her as she spread her eagle wings. Then I took to the air, too, looked back a final time at my meadow, and let a thermal lift me up and up to the bellies of the clouds. I was on my way home.
^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^
It only took 10 minutes by air to get there. Still, I was way past late. I didn't know what her reaction would be. I hadn't had her as my mother long enough to know. Would she be mad? Would she yell? I didn't know.
She had told me to fly in through the open kitchen window. She would open it. So I glided down and slid carefully through it. She was sitting in a chair at the table drinking coffee. She looked startled when I first came through. Then she relaxed and shook her head.
"This is going to take some getting used to." she said.
*Um....sorry I was late. I had to do something.* I said, nervously.
"It's okay. It's good you were a little bit late. I took a little longer than scheduled fixing up your room."
*Oh. Uh....you might want to look away. I don't know if you've ever seen morphing before, but it's kind of strange.* I said, warning her. She laughed. I felt stupid. Of course she'd seen morphing. Duh, who did I think was my father? Bill Clinton? An alien? Well......yeah.
"Don't forget, Tobias, that your father was an andalite for a while, while I knew him. I've seen him morph a number of times. It's been a while, of course, but I'll get used to it again." she said.
*Yeah. I forgot. I'm starting now.* I said. I began the morph. She stared intently at me, never moving. She showed no visible signs of being frightened.
Then, I was completely human. She smiled.
"Okay. I really hope you like your room. I worked hard on it. Oh, and I put those cloths you asked me to get out of the barn on your bed. Here, follow me." she got up and motioned me with her hand to follow her down the hall. For the first time, I looked around. It was a nice house. A really nice house. Two stories. I wondered what kind of job she had.
I followed her to the end of the hallway. She opened a door on the left side and walked up the stairs. I followed her. At the top, there were three doors. One, smaller, in the middle, was probably a bathroom. Two larger doors were probably the bedrooms. One of them mine. She turned to her right and opened the door.
"This is your room, Tobias." she bit her lip. "Hope you like it."
I walked threw the doorway into my room. I looked around, hoping it wasn't filled wall to wall with pictures of Barney or something. But no. It was pretty nice, actually. Lots of blue. Dark blue carpeting, a lighter blue-painted wall. Blue bedspread. White dressers. My bags of cloths lying on the bed. And to my surprise, a TV. It was big. Maybe 32'. With a VCR, Play Station, the works. I looked at her and smiled.
"Is it - okay?" she asked hopefully.
"It's really nice." I said. "I wasn't expecting a Play Station, though. Thanks."
"Would you rather have N64? I can return it-"
"No! No, it's fine. It's great. Thanks for getting me all this stuff."
"Are you sure you like it?"
"Yes. I like it all."
"I was going to wait to go shopping with you. I wanted you to pick out your cloths. But you did it already, so - that's taken care of."
"Yeah."
"So, let me give you a tour of the house. We'll start up here, then go down."
She gave me a tour of the house. It was bigger than it looked from the outside. And way more luxurious. I asked her what she did for a living. She laughed. She said she was a lawyer. That explained everything to me. Lawyers make a lot of money.
We hung out together for a while, talking. About more depressing stuff than we talked about in Cassie's house. We were in the living room, facing each other on the couch. She had just started telling me the story about how she met up with an andalite in the first place. And all about what happened.( Read Andalite Chronicles for significant details on the story.) I started laughing in the middle of it. She looked at me strangely. She had just said something about a boy named, "Chapman". As in, Chapman, the controller?
"What?" she asked me.
"Did you just say Chapman?" I laughed.
"Yeah....you know him?"
"He's only the vice principle of the school. And a very high-ranking controller." I said. She looked surprised.
"It's a good thing that his memory has been erased. If a yeerk went in his head while he still had the memories, that would not be good." she laughed.
So she finished her story. I was very surprised. A lot of things had happened that I never knew of. A lot. It took like two hours for her to tell it. It was very informative. I must have looked dazed after she was done. She burst out laughing.
"Big surprise, huh?" she asked. I nodded.
"It's strange to know that my mom met my dad when she was kidnapped into space by aliens when she was a kid. Most peoples parents met at the corner coffee house or something." I said. She laughed even harder. I joined her. We sat around for a while, discussing things. It was one of the happiest times of my life. And I don't have many of those.
That night, as I lay in my unfamiliar bed and waited for my mom to go to sleep, I thought about Rachel. About what she said before she flew away. She had said, "I - I love you, Tobias." I just repeated those words over and over in my head. They made me feel so good. Rachel loved me. Rachel loved me. Tobias. Of course, I already knew she loved me, but she never said it to my face before. She loved me. And I loved her. I was going to tell her that tonight. I mean, she probably knows I love her, but I did, too when she told me. Maybe she'd feel the same way I did when I actually told her. I was going to Rachel's tonight.
I heard my mom's door close. I saw the light under my door go off. I waited for 10 minutes. Then I got up as quietly as I could. I went to open the window so I could fly out. But, to my surprise, there was a note pinned there. It read:
Dear Tobias,
I know you'll have to leave the house sometime. Sometimes to go save the world. Sometimes to go to Cassie's for a meeting. I don't know what. But if you will, just so I know you weren't kidnapped or captured, mark an 'X ' on this piece of paper so I know when you leave. Then right the date above it. When you come back from whatever you are doing, mark another 'X ' on top of the date so I know you came back. Thank-you. And please, my son, be careful. I don't know what I would do if anything had happened to you. I am so proud of you. Elfangor would also be proud to know that his son is helping save the world.
Sincerely,
Loren
Sept. 19
Mark an X: __x___ _____ ______ ______ ______ ______ _____
P.S.
I love you
I was surprised. But I guess it was to be expected. I mean, if your an animorph, which I am, you'll need to get out sometime. She already guessed this. So I marked an X and wrote the date and started to morph. As soon as I was full owl, I flew out of the window, and into the night. I morphed the owl because they see better during the night. They're night-time hunters. When I looked back at the window, I saw my mom looking at me fly away. She waved.
*Bye. I'll be back later. Don't worry.* I said to her. She nodded and turned back to go to her room. Yup. Life was really nice when you were human and had family. And it was also nice when you could fly.
The night isn't usually the best time to catch a thermal. But since I was an owl, and owls are meant to fly in the night, it was much easier. Had I been a hawk, I'd have had a hard time.
The owls feathers are designed to make no noise at all as it flaps in toward it's kill. It's prey is unaware they are being hunted until they feel the owls talons grip around it's body. Then it's all over for the prey.
The owls wings make no noise whatsoever. So as the wind blew over my feathers, I heard an eerie silence. When I'm a hawk, I usually hear my feathers moving around, changing direction with the wind, but as an owl, I heard nothing. It kind of scared me.
I reached Rachel's house. I landed on the bird-house she had purposely nailed outside her window for me when I came over. I looked through the glass of her window. She was propped up by a few big pillows on her bed reading a book.
*Rachel? I'm here. I'm an owl.* I said to her. I told her I was an owl because I didn't want to surprise her by seeing an owl out here instead of a red-tailed hawk.
The book went flying. She jumped out of bed and walked over to her door and locked it, just in case her two little sisters decided to see why Rachel was talking to herself. Then she walked over to the window and opened it. She smiled.
"Hi, Tobias." she said quietly.
*Hi, Rachel. Should I demorph? Or just stay an owl? I don't want to wake your sisters up.* I said. She shook her head.
"No. You won't wake anyone up if you demorph. Jordan would probably wake up, but she's at a sleep-over. And Sara could sleep through a hurricane. Actually, she did once. And my mom's bedroom is downstairs. So go ahead, demorph. Besides, I would rather you be human now." she said.
*Okay.* I said. I demorphed to human. My eyesight dimmed immensely.
"Awww, now I can't see." I said sarcastically.
"Would you rather be an owl so you can see?" she asked testily. My eyes widened.
"No. I'd rather be human so I can....." I tried to think of something that humans have better than owls. "Have hands. And feet."
Rachel laughed as she lightened the room a notch with her touch-and-the-room-gets-brighter lamp. Suddenly, I could see a lot better.
"Are you sure your parents won't notice the light is on higher than usual?" I asked.
"They won't notice......Tobias? About what I said when I left back at your meadow-" Rachel began nervously.
"Ditto." I cut her off.
"Huh?" she asked, confused.
"That's what I have to say to - to what you said back there when you left. Ditto." I said.
Suddenly, Rachel got what I was trying to say. She had told me she loved me. Now, I said ditto, which, in case you don't know, means, "Me, too." So I was saying, me too. I love you, too. Rachel smiled, and her deep, blue eyes beamed.
"Tobias....." she looked at me.
"Rachel......"I looked at her.
So, the fantastic results were, we were looking at each other.
But Rachel drew her gaze away. Her eyes turned toward the floor. I was disappointed. I was looking forward to - whatever it was that we were going to do after we looked at each other. But then I saw what she was looking at on the floor. The book she had been reading. The book wasn't that thick. But what surprised me was it's title:
How to get your boyfriend to say he loves you....in one day!
By: Kelsey Jasmine and Fred Kiorno (experts on teens and dating)
"It works." said Rachel quietly. "You said it. In one day."
"Yeah, I guess it does. But I didn't really say it. I said ditto. That's not the same." I said. "Didn't you ever see the movie, Ghost?"
She smiled and nodded. "So say it." she said
"I love you, Rachel." I said. She smiled. Then she started to cry. I was startled. Rachel is not the cry-baby type. But she has been crying a lot more than usual lately. I put my arm around her. She put her arms around me. She was shaking. I held her for a few moments.
"I love you." she finally cried. She pulled away from me and bit her lip. "I'm so sorry, Tobias. I don't know what came over me."
"Don't worry, Rachel. It's normal to cry." I answered.
"Not for me, it isn't." she looked sad. I reached forward and hugged her again. She gripped my hand and held it firmly.
"What is it, Rachel?" I asked.
"I - I don't know. I'm just really happy."
We broke apart, but our hands were still together. We walked over to Rachel's bed and sat down leaning against the wall, our interwoven fingers between us. We both looked at each other for a few minutes, thinking. I don't know what Rachel was thinking, but I knew what I was thinking.
What if I wasn't there when the andalite ship came and gave us the power? What if I wasn't there and Rachel and I never met, and I never got stuck in the morph? Would things be better? Not for me, they wouldn't. I would probably still be at my Uncles house. Or my Aunt's over on the other coast. Without Rachel. Without friends. Without family. Without hope. My heart sank. I don't know why I was thinking that. The thought just popped into my mind. And the thought of never knowing Rachel the way I did now made my eyes fill with tears. I fought not to let them fall, but they did. This time, Rachel put her arms around me.
"Tobias? Tell me what's wrong." she asked me. I looked at her.
"What if.....never mind." I said.
"What if what?"
"What if - we never met?"
"Why would you think that?"
"If I wasn't there when Elfangor gave us the power. I wouldn't know you. You wouldn't know me. I wouldn't be an Animorph. I would still be at my Uncle's or possibly my Aunt's. And I never would have met Loren."
"That thought just now came to you?"
I nodded.
"Well, Tobias you were there. We do know each other. You are an Animorph. Your not at you Uncle's or Aunt's. And you know Loren. In fact, you living with her now. Things are wonderful. Why all these down thoughts, Tobias?"
"I don't know." I admitted.
"Well, don't think it anymore. It's not real. This is real....." she leaned toward me. I leaned toward her. And we kissed. No tongue this time. It didn't last very long. But it cheered me up. It cheered her up, too.
"Better?" she asked.
"Rachel, after that, I don't think either of us have ever been better."
She laughed. "So, now what about the Shivora/s?"
"I have no idea what to do about the Shivora/s. I thought we'd just let him give everybody their fulfullings." I answered. She looked hard at me.
"I - I think I may have already gotten one of my fulfillings tonight." she said.
"What happened?"
"Well, you know how my mom and dad are divorced, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, today when my dad was visiting us, he brought my mom flowers. Flowers! And my mom kept looking at him in a dreamy way. Tobias? People who are divorced do not bring their ex's flowers! Or look at them like that."
"So, that means...."
"Tobias, I think my mom and dad are going to get back together."
"That's great, Rachel!" I encouraged her. She smiled.
"In fact, I know for sure. Today, at the mall with my dad, he stopped in the jewelry store and bought a ring. And it was a woman's jewelry store!"
"Well, I think you got one of your fulfillings." I said. Suddenly, the phone in Rachel's room rang. Rachel has her own private line, so no one else in the house heard it. But, just in case, she jumped up and grabbed it off the dresser.
"Hello?" she asked, angry that someone would call her this late. Later, Rachel told me this is how the conversation went:
Rachel: Hello?
Person: Hi! Is this Rachel ________?
Rachel: Yes, it is.
Person: Well, then, Rachel, today is your lucky day!
Rachel: Huh?
Person: You've just won the mall!
Rachel: Are you crazy? The mall?
Person: No, it's true! You must have filled out the card at the mall. Then you must have dropped it in the drawing box labeled, "Win The Mall Sweepstakes". And your name was drawn.
Rachel: I actually WON!?!?!? The details on the back of the card said that the contest was for the whole country and only one name from the WHOLE COUNTRY was being drawn! I WON! OH, GOD!
Person: Yes, you have won! You get to win the mall of your choice for a day! You and five of your friends get the mall to yourselves for 15 hours! You all get 10 shopping carts each, and whatever you can fit in all 60 shopping carts is yours for free!
Rachel: AHHHHH!
Person: Give me the names of the five friends you are going to bring. I need them for the record, honey.
Rachel: I'm bringing my friends, Cassie, Jake, Tobias, Marco, and........Max. ( Ax )
Person: Okay! Thank-you for your cooperation! One of our operators will call you tomorrow and tell you all the details. Good-bye.
Rachel: Um....bye. ( hangs up ) AAAAAAHHHHHHH!
"What? What? What, Rachel?" I asked. She told me. I guess she was exited and she must have overlooked an important point.
"Rachel? Do you think this could be another of your fulfillings?" I asked. She looked at me.
"I don't know why I didn't think of that! But yeah, I think it is!" she answered. I looked doubtful.
"That's one of your heart's desires? A fifteen hour shopping spree?" I asked, then remembered who I was talking to. She smiled.
"You know I LOVE the mall." she said. I laughed.
"Yeah. I know you love the mall." I said.
"You know what else I love?"
"What?"
"You." she pointed at me. Then she leaned over again and kissed me. I was very, very, very happy.
Rachel and I hung out for a while at her house. Then I decided I should go. It was getting late. Plus, I wanted to see what her reaction would be. When I was a hawk, her reaction was pity. She used to showed pity in her eyes that she thought I wouldn't be able to see. But I did see it. Hawk's eyes miss nothing.
She pitied me because of what I used to have to go home to. All I had was a meadow. But now, that I was human, I desperately hoped her reaction would be different than what it used to be. I had something to go home to now. I had a mother, and an actual home. I prayed her reaction would be different. I hated that look of pity for me in her eyes.
Her reaction was different. And in a good way. She smiled. Her eyes showed no pity, they showed happiness. I was relieved. I morphed to owl again. I looked at her. So pretty sitting there. So beautiful sitting in her nightshirt. (Okay, her night shirt wasn't all that pretty. It had *NSYNC on it. Not that *NSYNC is a bad band. But.....can we say...eww?) But she herself was the most beautiful girl in the world to me. On the outside and the inside.
*Goodbye, Rachel. I love you.* I told her as I flew up to the window-sill.
"Goodbye, Tobias. Ditto. I love you." she said. I laughed. Then I reluctantly flew away. I didn't look back, but I could sense her eyes watching me fly away until she could no longer see.
I rushed home, demorphed, shut the window, put an X on the piece of paper, and crawled into bed, tired and exhausted. But happy. Very happy. I didn't think I'd be able to go to sleep, but I fell asleep in less than 5 minutes. I dreamed that Rachel and me were trapped on a dessert island with *NSYNC. Weird. Very weird.
That morning, I sat there and thought about Rachel. I lay there for a while. Then, suddenly, I remembered. There's supposed to be a meeting today at noon! I looked at the alarm clock on the night-stand, with it's glowing yellow digits. 10:15. I wouldn't be late. But just the same, I got up. I was so tired I had fallen asleep in my morphing suit. I threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt over it, both with Tommy Hilfiger printed somewhere on them. ( Compliments of shopping with Rachel.) I ran a comb through my wild hair. My hair is always wild when I get up. It's even wild after that. I made a mental note to get a haircut.
I cautiously stepped down the stairs, and turned right down the hallway, trying to remember every little detail of the tour Loren had given me. I stopped, confused. Had I passed up the door to the kitchen? I didn't remember. I heard laughing coming from around the corner. Then a voice. My mother's.
"The door to the kitchen is over here, Tobias!" she yelled. I walked toward the sound of my her voice. As I rounded he corner, I ran into her.
"Ooff! Oh, sorry!" I said. She laughed some more.
"That's okay. You'll find your way around here someday. I had trouble, too when I first moved in. Anyway, what would you like for breakfast?" she asked.
I thought for a few seconds. What would be the easiest for me to eat? I didn't feel like choking on food today.
"Um....is there any cereal?" I asked. I figured cereal would be the easiest for me to get down.
"Yes, there's cereal. Come pick out what you want." she turned and walked into the kitchen. She opened a low shelf and in it were a bunch of different cereals. Frosted Flakes, Frosted Wheaties, Whole Grain Raisin Bran, Honey Bunches of Oats, and Applejacks. I felt strange. I wasn't used to so many choices. When I was a hawk, the choice I had to make for breakfast was whether I wanted a mouse or a rat, or if I was lucky, a rabbit. Now, with all these different cereals, I didn't know what to say. I wasn't used to this. What was the right answer?
"Um.....um......um......" I said stupidly. She saw my distress and offered to help.
"How about Frosted Wheaties? That was always my favorite when I was a little girl." she said.
"Uh, okay, I guess." I said. She took out the box and started to make a bowl.
"You can sit down at the table. It'll be ready in a moment." she said. I nodded and walked stiffly to the table. I was embarrassed about how I acted. I acted like picking out what I wanted for breakfast was the biggest decision in the world!
I sat down in the chair. I felt strangely....normal. Like this was supposed to happen. But to some other, regular kid. Not me. I was not regular. I was not ever normal. Not even before learned about the yeerk invasion. I didn't live with either parents. I lived with either my drunk uncle or my aunt who couldn't care less. Now, with my mother, I felt out of place, but still normal. I relaxed and enjoyed the normal feeling. I don't feel normal that often.
She walked over to the table and placed the cereal in front of me. She sat down at the other end with a cup of coffee and a book.
"So....what did you do last night?" she asked.
"Oh. There was a meeting last night. At Cassie's" I lied. I didn't' want her to know about me and Rachel yet.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Oh, no. We were just - discussing some things."
"I see."
She began to read and take frequent sips of coffee. I just sat there for a few minutes, looking at the cereal. She looked at me, smiled, then turned back to the book. I made my first move. I picked up the spoon, dug it into the cereal, and lifted out a spoonful. I sighed and began to eat it.
To my surprise, I didn't choke on it. Or almost throw up. I was mostly stunned by the flavor. I felt like Ax with a cinnabun! It was very good. It was very normal. I tried to hide my excitement from Loren. I mean, what mother has a kid who gets exited by breakfast cereal?
I ate the whole bowl. I wanted more, but I didn't say anything. I didn't want her to think I was a pig.
"Um....there's another discussion meeting today at Cassie's. Can I go now?" I asked her. She smiled.
"Yes, go on ahead. Put your dish in the sink on your way out." she said, then asked, "Is something wrong?"
"No. I don't know what the meeting is about. But Jake said that there's a meeting. So...I'm gonna go."
"Okay. But be careful, Tobias......if there's anything dangerous." she said, then turned back to her book. I picked up my dish, and set it calmly in the sink, and headed upstairs to morph.
I put an X on the sheet and put the date. I stripped down to my morphing outfit. Then I started to morph. This time, to red-tailed hawk. It was day-time. I would be able to see and fly. As soon as I finished, I flew out of the window and headed towards Rachel's.
It was only 11:00. I left early because I wanted to go to Rachel's first. I had to ask her something.
A wonderful thermal lifted me up 200 feet in 2 seconds. I was a missile. I flew hard and long to get more altitude. When I was up almost to the clouds, merely a dot to the many people down below, I turned down and dived, headed towards Rachel's house. I'd be there shortly. But I didn't want to go soaring past it. So I pulled my wings back, and soared over a few houses and trees until I reached Rachel's house. I banked a hard right, and landed on the bird-house. I looked in her window to see if she was in there. She wasn't in the bedroom. Maybe she wasn't home. But I tried thought speech to see if she was somewhere else in the house.
*Rachel? Are you home? It's me, Tobias.* I called to her. I heard the pounding of feet on the stairs. Then, Rachel appeared. Then, her sister Jordan appeared.
"Rachel, I want you to finish painting my nails! Why'd you come up here, anyway?" said Jordan. Jordan looked around, as if that would solve her problems. In doing that she saw me. Perched outside Rachel's window on the bird-house. She gasped.
"Jordan, I'll be right down to finish your nails, okay? Go downstairs for a minute, I'll be right there." said Rachel.
"There's a big eagle outside, Rachel! Look!" Jordan shouted. Rachel looked at me.
"For your information, Jordan, that is a hawk. Not an eagle. If you want to see an eagle, I'll show you an eagle. Now, leave the nice birdie alone! GO DOWNSTAIRS!" Rachel yelled.
*You tell 'er, Rach!* I laughed so only she could hear. Rachel smiled.
"Fine, Rachel. You in a bad mood, this morning. I'll go downstairs and wait." said Jordan
"Hurry up!" said Rachel. Jordan bounded out of the room and down the stairs. Rachel looked out in the hall, and shut and locked the door. She opened the window more so I could get in.
*Sorry if I came at a bad time, Rachel.* I said as I went threw the window.
"No, it's okay. I was getting sick of my sisters, anyway." she said.
*Should the nice birdie demorph, or no?* I asked. She laughed, then thought for a minute.
"I want you to be human. I can't kiss a bird, can I?" she said. I laughed and started to demorph.
"Why'd you come now? It's almost time for the meeting." she pointed out.
*I know. I have to - * I reached the point in morphing where I couldn't make thought speech anymore. I waited until my mouth formed so I could talk.
"I have to ask you something." I said. I was finished morphing. I was completely human.
"What is it?" she asked me. I looked at the ground.
"Well, there's two things." I said.
"What are they?" she asked again.
"Okay, first: you didn't.....tell the others.....where I went yesterday, did you?"
"They already knew. Remember, you flew towards the meadow yesterday, not towards the house. They could sort of tell." she said. I sighed.
"Well, did you tell them what I did there?"
"Why would I tell them that? That's between us, Tobias. So was last night. Besides the mall-call, last night was our own business. And so was what happened at the meadow." she said. I smiled.
"Second: do you wanna go to the movies tonight? I mean, if there's no suicidal-hell mission scheduled."
"Of course I would! I'd love to go to the movies! If there's no suicidal-hell mission planned, of course." she said. She smiled at me.
"What do you want to see?"
"I thought we could see, "The Blair Witch Project." I heard it's supposed to be really scary." Said Rachel with sarcasm.
"After what we've been through, Rachel, I don't think it will be that scary. But I want to see that, too. " I told her.
"Great! Let's do it!" her deep blue eyes shimmered.
"Hey! Your only supposed to say that when we are doing a mission! Well, I guess the movies is sort of a mission, I guess....If it's boring it's a mission to sit through it."
She smiled. "Let's get to the meeting early."
"Okay." I said.
"I'll meet you in the air, Tobias. I'm gonna go lie to my mom about where I'm going and morph in the backyard." she said. I laughed.
"Okay."
She looked at me. I looked at her. And once again, the fantastic results were, we were looking at each other. We stepped closer together, and I made the first move. I kissed her, instead of her kissing me. This certain kiss involved tongue. And it lasted pretty long.
"Um...I'll meet you in the air, I guess." she said.
"Yeah." I added. I began to morph back to red-tailed hawk. Rachel stayed in the room until I was out of the window, then she went back downstairs.
A few minutes later, a bald eagle rose from Rachel's backyard.
*Hey. Long time, no see.* said Rachel. *That was not fun. Jordan was yelling at me to finish her nails and my mom almost didn't let me go. You and Marco are lucky. Your moms know all about us. You two don't have the same problems that the rest of us do.*
*I know. I'm Mr. Lucky.* I laughed. *Let's go.* We rode the thermals all the way to Cassie's barn. It was a nice, relaxing ride. I hardly had to flap at all. It was a great day for flying. Especially with Rachel.
We made it to Cassie's barn. Cassie and Marco were there already. They didn't notice us swooping in and landing on the rafters. We just happened to overhear a very interesting conversation.
"Why are we having this meeting? I know you know why, Cassie. Jake tells you everything." said Marco. She just smiled at him.
"Wouldn't you like to know." she said while cleaning an empty cage.
"Come on! Tell me now and I'll still act surprised!" Marco pleaded.
"Jake and I just have to tell you guys something."
"Something dangerous?"
"No...."
"Something funny?"
"No...."
"Something - "
"Look, Marco, I'm not going to tell you! Or anybody until Jake gets back with Ax. And when Tobias and Rachel get here."
*We're here already.* Rachel said and swooped down to land on the floor and demorph. I followed her.
"Aww, look, how sweet! The happy couple came together!" said Marco.
*Shut-up, Marco.* I said as I started to demorph. Cassie looked scared for a minute.
"Um....how long were you guys here? Were you here when it was just Jake and me?" she asked.
*No. We just got here.* said Rachel. *Why?*
"Oh....nothing." she said. Suddenly, I saw two more birds of prey land on the ground and begin to demorph. A peregrine falcon and a northern harrier. In other words, Jake and Ax.
*Guess what Ax was watching on his TV?* asked Jake.
"Hmmmm. Baywatch?" asked Marco.
*No. He was watching Barney.*
*It really is a quite nice show. It expresses the love between human children and purple dinosaurs. I have memorized the theme song.* said Ax. We all burst out laughing.
"Sing it for us, Ax, old buddy, old pal!" said Marco.
*Okay. I love you, you love me, we're a happy - * said Ax. We cut him off by more laughing.
"I didn't mean literally, Ax." said Marco.
*Ah. I am still learning human concepts. This is one of the stranger ones.*
"Barney is for little kids. Not for kids our age. If kids our age are watching it, it either means you have little brothers or sisters who make you watch it, or your crazy." said Marco.
*Yes. I have in a way grasped this, somehow. But, the shows I favor the most are the These Messages, which are in between the shows. They are quite informative.*
We were all in our natural bodies. Ax morphed quickly to human in case Cassie's mom or dad decided to come in. After our little session of Talk Barney, I finally asked the question that was on everyone's minds except Jake and Cassie's.
"Um....what exactly is this meeting about, exactly?" I asked.
"Ex-Bird-Boy has a point. What he meant to say is:' WHY THE HECK ARE WE ALL HERE?' " said Marco
We all looked at Jake and Cassie.
"I think I can answer that......" said Cassie. We all looked at her. But she was looking at Jake. And Jake was looking at her. In a way, it was familiar. It was exactly what Rachel and I do when we are about to.....kiss! Were Cassie and Jake going to kiss?
As Cassie and Jake moved in towards each other, I had a feeling. I knew. This was Cassie and Jake's fulfilling. They both wanted desperately to go out with each other, but they didn't have the guts to ask each other. Neither did Rachel and I. I guess that me and Rachel going out was one of our fulfillings, too.
As I watched, Cassie moved her face towards Jake. And Jake moved his face towards Cassie. Then, they kissed. I looked at Ax to see what his reaction was. He was watching them closely.
"Are they trapped in the hands of looo-oooove, Marco, as Tobias and Rachel are?" asked Ax. We all laughed.
"Yes, they are. But what does this mean for me?!?!?! Tobias and Rachel are going out, and Jake and Cassie are going out, does this mean I have to go out with Ax? Because that would be totally, totally, against my religion." said Marco.
"And what religion would that be?" asked Rachel slyly.
"Why, the Marco religion, of course. Everyone and everything serves Marco. I am your irony god. Thou shalt not have any other irony gods before me! I am the one, true irony god!" said Marco.
"If you have no one to go out with, Marco, I would gladly go out with you." said Ax. We all looked at him and burst out laughing.
"What have you been watching on that TV of yours, Ax???" Marco asked desperately." A gay andalite! That's all we need next in our lives!"
"Yes, I am very happy, Marco." said Ax. Marco shook his head piteously. "Not that kind of gay, Ax."
"Anyway, is that why you called this meeting, Jake?" asked Rachel. But Jake was still laughing. You should know this about Jake: If he starts laughing at something that is really funny to him, he may never stop. He was sitting on a bale of hay, his face turning red, his eyes watering, keeled over, laughing. He looked funny enough like that to get me started. Then Marco, then Rachel, then Cassie. Ax just looked at us like we were crazy.
"Is something funny?" he asked unknowingly. That just made Jake laugh even harder. Which made us laugh even harder. Then, Ax tried to laugh.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha." he said, then after some thought, he added another, "Ha."
Which, of course, made Jake laugh hard enough he was on the verge of peeing his pants. Which, in turn, made the rest of us laugh hard enough to pee our pants, also. Then, Cassie's parents decided to come in to see what we were laughing about. They must have heard us. We sounded like hyenas. Especially Jake.
"What's so funny?" asked Cassie's mom.
"Nothing, mom." said Cassie once she stopped laughing. Then the rest of us also stopped. Except Jake. We all just kind of stared at him. I never knew anybody besides Jake who could laugh so long and so hard at something not even that funny. Jake doesn't usually laugh at the really funny things. He laughs at the not so funny things, or things that aren't even funny at all. Like, Jake can look at a dog walking down the street and burst out laughing. Once, when I was a hawk, I was flying over his house when the bus dropped him off from school, and he looked up in the sky at me and started giggling like and idiot.
"Well, something must be funny. Jake certainly thinks so." Cassie's dad pointed at Jake.
"Jake, stop laughing." said Marco. "Nothings even funny anymore. Besides you."
Marco probably shouldn't have said that. Because Jake laughed even harder. I had never seen him like this. I mean, if I told you to visualize our leader, you'd probably visualize some general or something. No way would you visualize some kid who laughs at things for no reason.
"Jake, your a crazy kid." said Cassie's mom and ruffled his hair.
"Mom? Dad? Why don't you go inside and we'll take care of Jake? He gets like this all the time. We know what to do." said Cassie.
"Okay. Jake? Are you sure your gonna be okay?" asked Cassie's dad. Jake managed to nod.
"Okay. We'll be inside if you kids need anything." said Cassie's mom and they left. Jake quieted down.
"Sorry....." he said.
"Your strange, do you know that, Jake?" asked Rachel.
"Don't say anything that's funny. I'm still able to laugh." he answered.
"Your able to laugh at anything that isn't funny, too." I said. He started to smile.
"Oohh! Why did you say that, Tobias? Now he's smiling. That's just the beginning of a laugh!" said Marco.
"No. He can smile......" said Cassie. They kissed again.
"Oh, I forgot. Cassie like's it when he smiles." Marco said.
"Shut-up, Marco." said Rachel.
Maybe Marco would have to go out with Ax. It looked like everybody else was taken.
For the first time, I realized: Shannon and Kathy and Jenny weren't here. Weren't they informed of the meeting? Then, I heard a voice in my head. I realized only I could hear it.
THEY NEVER EXISTED, TOBIAS. NOBODY REMEMBERS THEM EXCEPT YOU. THEY WERE ONLY TOOLS USED TO GET YOU THIS FAR. THEY ARE NO LONGER PART OF THE ANIMORPHS. IN FACT, THEY NEVER WERE. THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN ERASED FROM EVERYONE'S MEMORY EXCEPT YOURS. BECAUSE YOU WILL NEED THOSE MEMORIES IN THE FUTURE.
"Huh?" I said. "The future?"
Suddenly everyone was staring at me.
"Oh....never mind." I said. They shrugged it off.
Why would I need the memories in the future? Well, I guess I'd find out in the future.
The meeting ended, everyone left. Except Jake. I went to Rachel's.
Rachel and I flew in through the open window. We demorphed. We sat on the floor leaned against the bed. We were both smiling.
"So....who do you think Marco will go out with?" I asked. She laughed.
"Well, I could set him up with Melissa. She told me she thought he was cute since he got his hair cut." she said. We heard footsteps on the stairs. I tensed up. Rachel's mom wouldn't exactly be pleased to see an unfamiliar boy in her daughter's room.
"My door's locked." she whispered.
"Rachel? Are you here? I didn't see you come home. Open up. I need to talk to you, sweetie." said a voice on the other side of the door.
"Mom? Can we maybe talk a little later?" asked Rachel.
"Rachel, NOW!" she said. Rachel sighed.
"Just a minute." she sighed and got up. She looked at me and pointed under her bed. I nodded and rolled under the bed. To my surprise, there was a lot of room under there. I heard the door unlock and I saw two sets of feet on the floor, one belonging to Rachel and the other to her mom. I held my breath.
"What is it, mom?" Rachel asked nervously.
"Well, honey...I'm concerned about you. I don't know if this is true, but Jordan said she thought you let a hawk in through your window. And after that, you were talking to it. Is that true?" asked Rachel's mom.
That was all I needed. I began to morph the hawk. Just in case her mom decided to search the room.
"I am so going to kill Jordan! Um.....well.....I....." said Rachel, stalling, so I'd have time to morph.
"You can tell me, Rachel."
"Well, mom it started when I took a walk and saw an injured hawk on the street. I took care of it, and fed it, and it keeps coming back......" Rachel made up a story about how she found me.
"Why didn't you take it to Cassie's barn?"
"Um......I wanted to.....have a pet." said Rachel weakly. If someone who knew Cassie found an injured anything, the obvious solution would be to take it there. But, her mom bought Rachel's little act.
*Rachel, I'm done.* I told her.
"You should have come to me, honey." said her mom, looking at Rachel strangely. "Also, when I was coming up the stairs, I heard you laughing and talking. Is the bird....here?" she asked nervously.
"No." said Rachel, quickly. She didn't want to show me to her mom unless she had to.
"Rachel.....now, I know that's not true. Show me where the bird is, NOW." said her mom, angrily. "I don't appreciate it when you lie to me."
"I'll show you." Rachel moaned and ducked under the bed and picked me up. She put me up on her shoulder.
"YAAH!" her mom shrieked.
"He's nice, mom. Don't worry." Rachel stroked my feathers.
"Rachel, he could have rabies!" shouted her mom.
"No, mom." she thought for a minute. "Toby would never hurt anyone."
*Hahahahahaha!* I laughed so only Rachel could hear. She smiled, and her mom came a little closer.
"You call him Toby?" she asked.
"Yeah." said Rachel.
"Do you know what kind of hawk he is? Some are more dangerous than others. Well, you wouldn't know that, would you?"
"Yes, I would. He's a red-tailed hawk."
"How do you know?"
"I did the research." she pointed to the computer. Her mom smiled. Then frowned.
"I think it's great that you helped save the hawk, but Rachel, I'm sorry. A hawk is a dangerous bird of prey. I know I could probably trust you with it, but Sara and Jordan are too young. Why don't you take him over to Cassie's? You should have done that in the first place. Her dad would know what to do with him." she said.
"Yeah. I'll do that, mom." said Rachel.
"Do you want me to drive you over there?" she offered.
"No, mom. I'll walk."
"Okay....but be careful walking with the bird. I don't want him to attack you or anybody else." she walked out of the room. Rachel closed and locked the door behind her. She sighed.
*That was interesting.* I said.
"Yes, it was." she said sarcastically, but quietly.
*I'm sorry if I got you into trouble with your mom.* I said. She smiled.
"It wasn't your fault. It was Jordan's. She's a pest and she knows it." said Rachel.
*Maybe I shouldn't come over anymore. You could come to my house from now on instead. It'll be easier because Loren already knows about everything.* I said.
"Yeah. Okay." she said.
*Well, I better go.* I said.
"Yeah. I'll see you, Tobias. Don't forget about our date tonight!" she said as I flew to the windowsill.
*I definitely won't do that. What time?* I asked.
"Um....is 6 o'clock okay?" she asked.
*Sure.*
"I'll come over to your house, okay? It'll be safer."
*Okay. My bedroom's upstairs. I'll leave my window open so you'll know which one.*
"Okay. See you then. I love you."
*Ditto. I love you, too.* I said. She laughed. I flew away.
The thermals had died down, so I had to flap hard to get any altitude. I was very tired when I finally reached my house. I flew in the window of my room, landed on the bed, demorphed, set the alarm clock for 5 o'clock, and took a nap. It wasn't just the flying that had made me tired. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night, and I had gotten up sort of early. Early on my schedule, anyway.
I slept hard. And I didn't dream. That was unusual for me. I almost always dream.
After a few hours, I heard the alarm clock. I sat up and turned it off, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
"Okay, time to put Operation-get-ready-for-the-date into action." I muttered. I walked out of the room and into the bathroom. Luckily, the night before, I figured the bathroom out. But now, I was about to do something I hadn't done in a very, very, very, very long time. I was about to take a shower.
I worked with the handles until I got the water temperature right. Whatever ' right ' was. I just put it at a temperature that felt right to me. It took me a very long time to do this. It was completely unfamiliar to me. Then, I pulled the button that turns on the shower. I took a deep breath and I stepped in. A wave of mix-matched emotions swept me over. It felt so good! So different! So vivid! So familiar, but at the same time so far-away....I felt as if I could stay in there all day. But I knew I couldn't do that. I had my date with Rachel. And no idiot would break their date with someone like Rachel because they wanted to stay in the shower all day, and feel the tingling pellets of water against their skin. That would be a total, idiotic, loss of sanity. So I only stayed in for 15 minutes. I got out and dried off and went to my room to dress.
I didn't know what Rachel was going to wear, whether it be fancy or casual. I put on my new khakis, and an Old Navy shirt, hoping Rachel would prefer the casual look compared to the fancy look. Besides, I didn't have any really fancy cloths yet. I still had a few things to go shopping for.
After that, I started to work on my hair, hoping to at least get it to stay down, and possibly get it to look decent, and not stick up like it usually does in the front. To my surprise, it was much easier to brush while it was wet. Not that it was easy to brush it. It's always a chore to brush my hair. Even if it's wet. But, when I was done, it did look a lot better than normal. I knew eventually, my hair would dry and it would stick up again. But at least it would look good for a little while.
I looked at the clock. The yellow numbers glowed, 5:42. I had a little while until Rachel got here. I figured I would go down-stairs and tell Loren where I was going so she wouldn't have to worry. Sometimes it was easier without parents. Not that I didn't want them. I did, desperately. But not having them does have some advantages. Like, one less person to worry about you.
I headed down-stairs. I knew my way around a lot better now. I knew what was behind almost every door by heart and I knew how to get there. But I still didn't know my way everywhere yet.
Loren was sitting down on the couch in the living room, reading. She's almost always reading something. If I wasn't an Animorph, I would have been reading right along with her. When looked closer, I realized it was a different book than she was reading earlier. She was a very fast reader.
She saw me and smiled.
"Hi, Tobias. How did things go today?" she asked.
"Things? Oh. Things went good today. No killing today. No suicidal mission today." I joked. She laughed.
"That's good." she said.
"Yeah. It is."
She looked at me quizzically. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Um....yeah. Sort of. I'm - going to the movies tonight with a friend. We're going to see-" she cut me off.
"A girl-friend?" she asked. I turned white. I hadn't wanted to tell her who I was going with unless I had to. And yet, she had guessed. I stood in the doorway stupidly. And she laughed.
"Um.....kind of." I said glumly.
"Who's the lucky girl?" she asked, smiling.
"Oh. You know Rachel. She's an Animorph, too."
"Rachel? Yes, I know her. She's very pretty. How long have you been going out?"
"Not long. Actually, only a few days."
"Well, that's good to hear. What movie are you going to be seeing?"
"The Blair Witch Project."
"Oohh. Scary. How are you going to get in? It's rated R."
I hadn't thought about that before. But then I smiled, realizing Rachel probably had. And Rachel probably had a plan, too.
"Oh....I'm sure we'll find a way in." I said sneakily. She smiled.
"Just don't get caught! Well, have a nice time......try to be careful, okay?" she said, giving me a wide and loving smile.
"Okay. Bye." I headed out of the room.
"Good-luck getting in. And good-luck on your date!" she called as I rushed down the hallway. I rounded the corner and headed quickly upstairs to my room, taking them two or three at a time. I opened the door to my room, and glanced at the clock: 5:56. Rachel should be on her way over.
As I headed over to the bed, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My hair was sticking up all over the place. I grabbed the brush and tried to make it stay down. I was working so hard on my hair that I didn't notice the bald eagle land on the window sill. I was startled by the thought-speech.
*It looks great, Tobias.* she said, and I jumped. *Hey, hey, it's only me! Calm down.*
"Your wrong. It doesn't look great." I said, looking in the mirror, disgusted. Rachel began to demorph.
*Yes, it does. It makes you look cute.* she said. I laughed.
"Sure it does." I added.
*No! Seriously, it does. Your al - * she reached the half-way point in morphing where she couldn't use though speech anymore. I waited calmly for her to finish morphing.
"What I was going to say was: Your always cute." she said. I raised my eyebrows at her. She laughed.
"Rachel. Do you have a plan to get in?" I asked. She smiled.
"Of course I do. I can never be without a plan." she answered. I smiled at her. The Xena: Warrior Princess, behind her beautiful face was showing through. It does that sometimes.
"What's your plan to get into the R rated movie, Xena?" I asked. She smiled at me.
"Not you, too. Don't be like Marco!" she said. I laughed.
"I'm not like Marco. I was just asking what your plan was."
"My plan is, we sneak in." said Rachel smugly.
"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds so easy!" I joked. "How do you suppose we'll do that?"
"Well, there's just a bunch of stupid stuck up college kids working there. We just tell them that we need to use their bathrooms, and they'll let us in. Then, we use the bathrooms, and then sneak into the movie."
"Have you done this before, Rachel? It sounds so formal." I said. She laughed.
"Actually, I just thought it up on my way over here."
"Ooooh, okay. Rachel? Do the honors!" I demanded. She smiled.
"Let's do it!" said Rachel.
We morphed to bird and started to fly. It was the time of day when the thermals are the best. We rose quickly.
*You do know that Jake is going to kill us for doing this, don't you?* I asked. She laughed.
*Yeah. But, here's the catch: He won't kill us if he doesn't find out.* she said sneakily.
*Well, who's going to tell him? I'm certainly not.* I said.
*Well, neither am I.* said Rachel.
*Okay. We don't tell Jake. But, would that be disloyal? He is, after all, our leader.*
*Yeah, he is our leader. And he's also my cousin. I remember a few times when Jake snuck into the movies, himself. So, one time won't hurt. Right?*
*I guess not.*
*Okay. This is so cool! I've wanted to see this movie for a really long time!*
So, off we were, off to see the Blair Witch project.
*Let's do it!* Rachel shouted as we descended toward some trees behind the theater to demorph.
We circled in to land in the dense line of trees surrounding the perimeter of the theater complex. As we demorphed, I watched Rachel intently. Even when she was morphing she was beautiful. When we were done, we just stood there for a few minutes, looking at each other. Surprisingly, it was me who broke the silence.
"Um, Rachel? Are they going to let us in the theaters, even just to use the bathrooms, so they think, without shoes?" I asked hopefully, because if they didn't, then we had a problem. But she just smiled.
"Already taken care of." she said, and knelt down and began picking up some sticks that were in a big bunch, revealing a plastic bag. When she opened it, there were two pairs of shoes. One was a pair a girls sandals, Rachel's, and the others were a pair of boys sandals. Mine, I guessed.
"Where'd you get those?" I asked, pointing to the boys sandals. I had never seen them before.
"I bought them for you. I knew you'd need some sandals sometime. I hope they fit." she handed them to me to try on. Surprisingly, they did.
"You think of everything, don't you?" I asked, standing up.
"I try to." she said slowly and moved closer to me. I moved closer to her. I reached out and held her close and she held me close. We embraced in a long, well deserved, kiss.
*Awww, how sweet!* said a thought speech voice, which could only have been Marco's. Rachel and I broke apart quickly, embarrassed Marco had seen us. Then we searched the sky frantically, looking for the outline of a bird of prey against the setting sun. I saw it and yelled. Not yelled, swore.
"What do you think you are doing, Marco?!?!?" Rachel screeched. "I am SO going to KILL you!!"
*Well, I was just flying around, taking a break from life, enjoying the beautiful thermals, when I saw you, Rachel, fly into Tobias's window. Only the irony gods know what you did in there. Then, ten minutes later, you both flew out and headed toward town. You both didn't see me, so I figured, ' Hey. maybe Prince Jake will give me a higher position if I do a little scouting around, see what the two love-birds are up to.' Seriously. Birds. So I follow you and you demorph in the movie theater parking lot, looking at each other like a couple goons, and Rachel gives Tobias a present, and then you two smooch. Now, tell me exactly what you two kids are up to.* said Marco. Rachel and I muttered a few select phrases that I can't repeat. Marco just laughed.
*Don't worry, love-birds. I'm not going to tell Jake. I've never been one to ruin a good time.* said Marco.
"You just did!" I yelled at him.
*Oh.....sorry about that. So, besides now, I've never ruined anybody's good time.*
"What about the time when - " began Rachel accusingly.
*Okay, okay, okay. I can see I'm not wanted here. Just tell me what movie your seeing and I'll leave.*
Rachel sighed. "We're seeing The Blair Witch Project."
"Is that okay with you, mother?" I asked, still angry.
*Yes, that's fine with me, son. Cool, you two are sneaking in. Well, I gotta go. Got some birdly duties to attend to. I mean, doodies. See-ya. And, seriously, I'm not going to tell Jake, okay? So don't worry.* said Marco, and began to fly away. I watched him until he had disappeared, just to make sure he left for good. I didn't want him hanging around.
I was really mad at Marco. He really didn't have to follow us. He should have just left us alone. I mean, we weren't going to do anything crazy. Well, not too crazy, anyway. We were just sneaking in to an R rated movie. Marco had probably done that millions of times, being Marco, and all.
Me and Rachel looked at each other, then smiled. We picked up where we left off, kissing. When we were done, we walked toward the entrance, hand in hand. We came up to the first booth, where, as Rachel predicted, a college kid was selling tickets. She was a cheerleader. Chewing bubble gum, pig-tails, you know the type.
"What movie would you like to see today?" she asked.
"Um...no movie. We just need to get in to use the bathrooms." I said. "It's an emergency."
She frowned.
"Okay. Are you sure you don't want to see a movie?" she asked.
"Yeah. We're sure. Can you let us in now, please? It's urgent." said Rachel. The college kid looked hurt. She nodded and pushed a button, which made the electronic doors open. We stepped inside, and walked to the right, where the bathrooms were located.
We couldn't exactly go in together, there's no such thing as a coed bathroom here in - well, wherever here is.
"I'll meet you by the drinking fountain." Rachel whispered.
So we split up, me going into the men's, Rachel into the women's. I went into a stall, locked it, stood there for a minute, then walked out. I left the bathroom and saw that Rachel was already standing by the drinking fountain. I hurried over to her. She smiled.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Yeah." I answered.
"Act normal....." she whispered, as we walked down the hall. To our surprise, it was completely empty. No one was there. That would make it much easier.
We were looking for theater 7. On our way there, I decided to make fake conversation.
"So, Rachel.....that was some game last night, huh?" I asked. I winked at her. She looked at me strangely for a minute, then realized.
"Oh, super. You did fantastic, Tobias!" she said, playing along. We reached theater 7. We didn't look around, or anything, to see if anyone was following us. That would have been suspicious. We just continued our fake conversation about last night's game. I opened the door for Rachel and she walked inside. I followed her. To our surprise, no one was there. Not one, single person. It was like this theater was waiting just for us.
ENJOY THE MOVIE, HUMANS.
"Shivora......" Rachel whispered.
"He did this for us. This must be.....one of our fulfillings. Is it, Shivora?" I asked.
YES, TOBIAS. THIS IS ONE OF YOUR FULFILLINGS, AND ALSO RACHEL'S. I MUST GO. GOOD-BYE, HUMANS.
"Thank-you....." said Rachel and looked at me. "Tobias, where are we going to sit? With all these people here, I don't know if we can find two seats together." she said sarcastically.
I laughed. "Wherever you want, Rachel. Anywhere." I said.
We ended up sitting in the middle, not too far back where we couldn't hear, not too close where we had to crane our necks up to see. To our surprise, as soon as we sat down, the movie started.
"The handy-work of the Shivora....." I muttered.
"Shh, Tobias. The movies starting...." said Rachel. She reached for my hand and I gave it to her. With our intertwined fingers between us on the armrest, we watched the previews. They all looked pretty boring to me. But one movie was about alien snakes taking over the planet, and me and Rachel couldn't stop laughing during that preview. It was very similar to the yeerk invasion, but instead of yeerks, snakes. From another planet. But they were really big, like a Taxxon, sort of.
"Hmmm, this looks so familiar, doesn't it, Tobias....." Rachel whispered. I started laughing harder. I just hoped I didn't sound too much like Jake. As you know, he sounds like a donkey when he laughs. Rachel and I stopped laughing after the preview. We then watched 3 more previews about the next upcoming movies and then the movie started.
The first part was slow moving. Three kids are doing a documentary on the Blair Witch, who supposedly haunts the woods. They interview a crazy woman who tells them about her encounter with the Blair Witch......and on and on. As I said, the first part is slow moving. Rachel and I just sat back and watched. Not that it was boring, it was just a little...slow.
As they got lost in the woods, Rachel leaned forward in her seat. The movie was getting a little interesting now. I leaned forward as well. We watched intently, our gaze leveled at the screen.
When they found the sticks hanging from the trees shaped like people, Rachel reached for my hand. I looked at her. Her eyes were large. I guess mine were, too. Even though this movie wasn't the horror we knew when we had our missions, it was still scary. Not the best horror flick ever invented, but it was pretty good.
When things started to get really scary, Rachel tightened her grip on my hand. I tightened mine too. The movie was pretty freaky. I was on the edge of my seat.
At the very end, when they find the house and go inside, Rachel was practically on my lap. I had my arm around her to keep her from squeezing the blood out of my hand. It was very unlike Rachel to be this scared during a movie. It was just a movie. Rachel isn't that scared of missions. She even likes them sometimes. Well, almost all of the time. And this movie was no where near as scary as those missions. This should have been nothing for her. But instead, she was freaking out.
As the movie ended and the lights came back on, Rachel stood up and looked at me.
"That movie was scary." she said. I looked at her sideways. Something was wrong with her.
"Rachel? Is something wrong with you? You seem....different." I asked her, hoping not to sound offensive. But she just smiled.
"I am different. Ever since I've been going out with you, I - I have been - more - um, more....scared of things. Less....I don't know, less, reckless." she said.
"Rachel? Did you morph a starfish and get chopped in half again?" I asked. She laughed. Once, Rachel had morphed a starfish and got chopped in half by a little kid with a shovel. When she demorphed, there were 2 Rachel's. One was the nice side of her, one was the mean. The mean one had tried to kill me. The nice one was too scared to stop her. It was a night-mare. I hoped she hadn't done that again.
"No. After that, I swore never to morph a star-fish again. I am just a little bit less reckless now. More aware. Less aggressive, more nice. But the aggressive part of me is in here, too. Just a little - less there now." she said as a thought came to mind.
"Rachel? Could this be one of your fulfillings?" I asked her. Her eyes opened wide.
"It could be. In fact, I think it is." she said and frowned. "Are you - are you mad at me for wanting that, Tobias?"
"I could never be mad at you for wanting that, Rachel. As long as your not totally nice, I don't care. A little of nice and mean Rachel is what makes you Rachel, Rachel." I said. She burst out laughing.
"Nicely put." she said. I stood up. I turned to her and smiled. I pointed toward the exit signs behind the movie screen.
"Should we go out that way? I just want to make sure we aren't caught by those dopey college kids." I said. She nodded.
"Yeah. It'll be safer." She said and moved closer to me. I turned closer to her and held her against me.
"I love you, Rachel." I said to her.
"Ditto, Tobias." she said. I laughed.
"Yeerk snakes." I muttered, and she started to laugh.
"That would be better, you know?" she said as we scooted down the aisle toward the door.
"What would?" I asked.
"If the yeerks were snakes. They wouldn't fit in your ear that way."
"Yeah." I added as we opened the door and exited the building. I looked around. There was no one around. Probably another handy dandy trick of the Shivora.
"Well, that was easier than I expected. I figured that there'd be security guards all around this place, but there's no one. Thanks to the Shivora." said Rachel as we walked toward the trees we had demorphed in.
"Yeah. The Shivora has really been helpful." I said as we reached a secluded spot. Rachel laughed.
"He's been more than helpful, Tobias. He's been the best thing going for the animorphs in a really long time." said Rachel, as we began to morph. As soon as we were birds, we lifted off the ground and let the thermals carry us up to the clouds.
*I've been wondering something, Tobias.* she asked me as we soared through the air.
*What?* I asked her. She sounded anxious.
*I've been wondering: What if the Shivora makes the yeerks retreat?* she said excitedly. The truth is, the same thought had crossed my mind a couple of times. I had dismissed it as easily as it had come to me. It seemed impossible. But then again, I had no idea how powerful that Shivora was. He could probably do whatever he wanted to do. Make entire galaxies disappear. Now I seriously took it at hand: Would the Shivora make the yeerks retreat?
*Tobias?* Rachel asked, after my long pause.
*I thought about that, too, Rachel. But I don't know. That would be really great if it could happen, but I don't know if the Shivora will do that.* I said.
*What, you don't think he's powerful enough? You heard him. Comparing him to the Ellimist would like be comparing andalites to a microscopic earth virus. That is a big technology gap.* she told me.
*Yeah, I know he could do it. But I don't know if he will. I know all of the animorphs want it to happen, but is it anybody's fulfilling?* I asked, then heard what I just said. I was being oblivious! Of course it would be somebody's fulfilling!
*Tobias -* Rachel began.
*Jake's fulfilling!* I shouted.
*Yeah!* said Rachel.
I didn't mean to shout, but I was excited. If it was anybody's fulfilling, it was Jake's. Jake wanted the yeerks to lose more than anyone else. He was the leader. He held the worlds freedom on his shoulders. And that's a big responsibility for a kid. That's why it would probably be Jake's fulfilling. If it was anybody's fulfilling at all.
*Yeah, it would be Jake's fulfilling if anyone's.* I said.
*Do you think it is?* She asked.
*It might be. It might not.....but if it is.....then....* I began.
*Then, we wouldn't have to fight anymore.* She said. I smiled an inside smile because birds can't smile on the outside. On the outside, I laughed.
The next day, Cassie called a meeting. I was informed of this at 8:00 in the morning. I was still asleep when I heard a light tapping on the window. I thought it was Rachel. But, to my surprise, it was an osprey. Marco and Cassie both had osprey morphs. It was either of them.
"Cassie or Marco, what are you doing waking me up in the wee hours of the morning?" I asked rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and yawning as I opened the window and let the osprey in.
*It's me, Cassie. Sorry I woke you up, Tobias, but this is urgent. Your house was the closest, and I didn't have time to go get anybody else.* said Cassie as she landed on my dresser.
"What is it?" I asked her. She sounded frightened.
*Okay. Here's how it started. This morning, well, earlier this morning, I got up. I had nothing to do, so I morphed to osprey and flew down to the beach. I heard a thought-speech voice. Can you guess who it was?* she asked.
"A thought speech voice? Um, Aftran? Visser Three?" I guessed.
*It was Aftran.* said Cassie. Okay, let me tell you about Aftran. Aftran is a yeerk. But a good yeerk. You guessed all yeerks are evil? Well, not all of them are. Aftran is against taking hosts. She had a bunch of yeerks that were like her, and they lived in the yeerk pool, but only because they couldn't live out of it. They never left the yeerk pool. They just swam around. Never taking a host. Never being evil. But then, they were discovered. Well, at least Aftran was. And Visser Three was going to kill her. But we went down there and we saved her. But then she was faced with a problem. Lack of Kandrona. She would die of Kandrona starvation.
But then we decided that we would give this yeerk the power to morph. The power to become any animal. But she had to stay in morph more than two hours, become a nothlit, like I used to be. We let her choose any animal. She chose the whale. She now she was swimming the worlds oceans, and she never had to worry about Kandrona or Visser Three or anything. I thought she was fine. But now, Cassie just told me that she received thought-speech messages from her. Maybe she wasn't as fine as I thought.
"What did she say?" I asked.
*She said that she found her fellow yeerks in the ocean. You know, the other ones like Aftran? Even though she's a whale, she still understands the yeerk language. They told her that the Visser discovered them. Instead of killing them, he put them in the ocean to die of Kandrona starvation. She asked me to help. The yeerks only have about 6 more hours left - before they die.* said Cassie. *Will you help me?*
"Oh, man. This is not good. Yeah, I'll help. But what do you think we can possibly do?" I asked.
*I don't know.*
"That's helpful." I said. I searched my head for a plan. "Maybe Erek will help us?" I asked.
*That's an idea. Morph, Tobias. Go over there. Tell Erek about the situation. I'll go get the others.* said Cassie. She flew out of the window and out into the air. I grabbed a pen and put an X on the sheet. I couldn't remember what the date was, I was in panic mode, so I skipped it. I began the morph. I felt the familiar changes take place, and I was soon out in the air like Cassie.
I started to think. Why was this happening? This was seriously not good. But then again, it could be one of Cassie's fulfillings. I decided that whatever we did, it would surely work, or else Cassie's fulfilling would not be granted.
I flew hard towards Erek's house, the house he shares with all his Chee people. There weren't any good thermals this morning, and I had to constantly flap and flap and flap. Soon, I was close enough to send thought-speech.
*Chee! Chee, are any of you in there? This is Tobias. Open the door, I'm coming in.* I said, hoping Erek would hear. I saw the back door open and saw Erek stick his head out, searching the sky for me. I flapped harder trying to get closer.
*Erek, I'm coming around the right side of the house. Step back.* I said and Erek stepped back. I went around the side of the house and turned a hard left. I flew a few feet and made another hard left. I was inside. I used all my strength to flap to the side of the counter. I sat there breathlessly, trying to recover from the strain I put on my wings.
*Erek, -* I began. Erek interrupted me.
"I know. About what Visser Three did to the yeerk resistance, right?" he asked.
*Yeah. How'd you know?* I asked him. Then I remembered the Chee database which allows them to get access to anything.*Oh, duh.* I said. Erek smiled. Then frowned.
"How did you find out?" he asked. I told him all that Cassie had told me. He wrinkled his brow in thought. Well, he didn't. His hologram did.
"I think I may have a solution to the problem." said Erek.
*What?* I asked hurriedly. *They yeerks only have a few hours to live.*
"I know that the yeerks are transporting a new kandrona from the yeerk mothership to Earth in a bug fighter. If you can get aboard this bug fighter, and you can gain access to the ships computers, you can aim the kandrona not only at the yeerk pool, but at any body of water. I know of a secluded lake deep in the forest where the yeerks can go. Do you think you can get aboard this fighter?" Erek informed me.
*We might. Ask Jake when he gets here.* I said, and as if by magic, the others shot in through the door.
*Ask me what when I get here?* asked Jake. They began to demorph. I realized I had forgotten to do that. So I demorphed also. Erek and I told the others of the new information. After we discussed it for a few minutes, we decided to go ahead. Erek said the fighter should be landing in 15 minutes. He told us the location. Then we were birds again, soaring through the air, heading towards the location Erek told us about.
*Do you think we can do it?* asked Cassie.
*Yeah. I'm pretty sure we can do it.* I said.
*I don't know. I'm just worried that we'll let Aftran down. After so much she's done for us.* said Cassie.
*If we fail, Aftran will understand.* said Jake. *I know she will.*
*Yeah, she will. We'll all be like ' Oh, Aftran we're so sorry! We failed and now your brother good yeerks are all going to die! ' And then she'll be like ' Oh, that's okay. ' Yeah, she won't take it too hard if we fail.* said who other than Marco.
*Marco, shut-up.* said Rachel.
*I still do not understand what ' going out ' technically means.* said Ax, but no one laughed but Marco.
*Let's just get there, okay? I'm not interested in fighting right now. Or explaining to an alien what ' going out ' means.* said Jake. The rest of the way there we were quiet. No one said a word. We didn't want to make Jake mad.
After half an hour, we found the location. It wasn't much more than a big open field. It was secluded enough, though. No human would be able to travel there on foot. As we got close enough, we saw the bug fighter which had already landed. Milling around the outside of the ship were at least 2 dozen Hork-Bajir and 10 Taxxons.
*Uh-oh.* said Marco. *Looks like we have a fight on our hands.*
*Everyone stay out of view! They'll be looking out for birds of prey.* said Jake as we glided quickly away. But before I got far enough away, I saw someone. That someone I saw was Visser Three. He was inside the fighter.
*Oh. No.* I said.
*What is it?* asked Rachel.
*Who's your least favorite person in the whole universe?* I asked her.
*Visser Three is here?* demanded Jake.
*Yup. I saw him out of the corner of my eye. He's in the bug fighter. You guys are at an angle where you wouldn't be able to see him. But I saw him.* I said.
*Oh, great! Now what?* asked Cassie.
*Well, we have to get in the bug fighter. That's the main thing here. So, we morph our power morphs and do what we do best. We fight. And if at all possible, get inside that fighter and get Ax to those computers.* said Jake.
*Sounds like a plan, oh-fearless leader. Rachel? Do the honors.* said Marco.
*Let's do it!* said Rachel.
*Okay. Lets fly out a ways, so they won't see us morph.* said Jake as we flew off together. When we got far enough away, we landed on the ground and began to demorph. Soon, we were in our normal bodies.
"Okay, power morphs." said Jake and began morphing. All of a sudden he stopped.
"Wait! Visser Three is here, right?" said Jake. That was all he needed to say.
"Yeah!" said Rachel. We all reversed our morphs and began to morph Ax. Soon, 6 andalites were running through the forest.
*This is so cool! Better than running as a horse!* said Cassie.
*And we're eating, too.* said Marco. *Our hooves have mouths.*
*No, they most certainly do not. They have -* began Ax.
*I know, Ax, I know. I was making a joke.* said Marco.
*Ah. Sarcasm.* said Ax. *I thought I was beginning to recognize the signs of human sarcasm, but in this case I have not recognized the signs. I still have much more to learn about humans.*
*Yeah. You do, Ax.* said Rachel.
*But your doing a good job.* I said.
*Can we focus on what we are doing, here?* asked Jake.
*Yes, leader. We will focus.* said Marco.
*Thank-you.* said Jake. We broke into the clearing. We were on the other side of the clearing, still out of range of seeing the bug fighter. But in a few minutes, we would see them. And they would see us.
*Walk along the tree-line. Try to make no noise.* said Jake. *Okay. Ax and Marco? Which one's are you?* asked Jake. Ax, I think, stepped forward. Marco, I think, raised his hand.
*Okay, you two in the back of our line. The rest of us will clear a path for you guys to get in to access the computer.* said Jake as Marco and Ax ran quietly to the end of our line. We crept silently across the grass. Jake was in the lead.
*Okay, I think one of the Hork-Bajir have seen me.*
"Andalite!" shouted what only could have been the Hork-Bajir that Jake had seen.
*WHAT?* roared Visser Three from inside of the fighter. We all then came into view.
"Andalites, jasch kloton here, Visser!" said the Hork-Bajir in some strange mix of their own language and English.
*The Andalite bandits in morph! They are here! I will slowly kill the fool who -* Visser Three stopped as he saw us all as andalites.
*The andalite bandits are not in morph! Ha-ha!* laughed the Visser. *Hork-Bajir! Attack!* shouted the Visser. The Hork-Bajir came barreling straight for us.
*Go, go, go!* shouted Jake. We ran forward toward the Hork-Bajir. It reminded me of a scene out of the movie Braveheart where the two armies are running toward each other.
Finally, we met. It was pure massacre. Hork-Bajir blades against andalite tail blade. One Hork-Bajir tried to slash open my neck. I blocked the blow and delivered two blows into the Hork-Bajir's head. He fell down.
I raced toward another and hit him in the stomach with my tail blade. He went down hard.
Suddenly, a searing pain across my chest. I delivered a blow to the Hork-Bajir and he went down, never to rise again. It looked like we were winning. If the Shivora hadn't been helping us out, we would never have won that battle. At least 24 Hork-Bajir against 6 andalites? No way. It had to be the Shivora.
All the while, the Taxxons were eating the dead or injured Hork-Bajir we had beat down. It was a pretty gruesome sight. Soon, no more Hork-Bajir were standing. I couldn't believe we had won. But we had!
We quickly finished off the Taxxons. Soon just the Visser was standing. He was still in the fighter.
*We won!* screamed Marco with enthusiasm.
*No, we didn't yet. There's still Visser Three.* said Jake.
*Well, well, well, my clever little andalites. You have beaten my army, I see. You may have won the battle, but you haven't won the war. That is a saying I have picked up from humans. Is not it appropriate at the present time?* Visser 3 snarled. He jumped nimbly out of the fighter.
*We can not be sure who has won this war, yeerk. But I have an idea of whom.* said Ax with pure andalite arrogance. We wanted Ax to be the one to talk to the Visser. The rest of us may have given away our own secret with our human tones of voice.
*Ha. You fools. You may kill me. But other Vissers will come and take over this race. Why do you almighty andalites care about these perverted humans? They are nothing.* said the Visser in disgust.
*Yeerk scum, these humans are much more than you yeerks will ever be. Why do you say we will kill you?* said Jake. It surprised me. We weren't supposed to be talking to him.
*You will kill me. This bug fighter is unable to work. It will not send out for reinforcements. It is dead. And so, you will kill me.* said Visser 3 with such hatred, I thought he would explode.
*Hahahahaha! You are right. We will kill you! But you are wrong in one area. The yeerks will most certainly not take over this race. Our brother Andalites will come.* said Ax.
*Yes. They will. But the yeerks will win. So, who will be the one to finish me off?* asked the Visser.
*Giving up so easily, yeerk?* asked Rachel.
*I have no hope to escape, andalite filth. I have mouflung. You andalites should know what that is.* said the Visser with pure, undying hatred.
*Ax, what is mouflung?* asked Jake so the Visser wouldn't hear.
*Mouflung is a very rare disease which makes andalites or any morph-capable creature unable to morph for a period of several earth weeks.* said Ax.
*Are you discussing which of you will finish me off, Andalite scum?* asked the Visser.
*Quiet, you filth. Your time will come soon enough.* said Ax.
*Prince Jake? May I be the one to kill him? May I avenge Elfangor?* asked Ax.
*Yes, Ax.* said Jake.
*Ax. Elfangor was my father. Let me help you.* I begged.
*Yes, Tobias. It is also up to you to avenge him.* said Ax.
*Go on.* said Jake. Ax and I drifted away from the group. We stood a few feet away from the Visser.
*Do you know who we are?* asked Ax.
*You are andalites, fools.* said the Visser.
*Yes, of course we are andalites, yeerk scum. But do you know my name?* asked Ax.
*All andalite names mean nothing to me.* said the Visser.
*Mine will.* said Ax.
*And so will mine.* I added. The Visser laughed.
*So, what are your names, which will supposedly mean something to me?* he asked.
*My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, brother of Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul.* said Ax simply.
*The brother of the fool Elfangor!* laughed the Visser. But I had a feeling the Visser wouldn't laugh when he heard my name. *So who are you?* he asked me bitterly.
*Jake?* I asked so the Visser wouldn't hear.
*Go on. He'll die anyway.* said Jake.
*My name is Tobias-______-______, son of Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul.*
*The son of Elfangor? I didn't know the fool had a son. Wait! That is a human name! How can that be? Well, since Elfangor was on earth all those years, of course he'd name his son after a human. But.....* the Visser trailed off.
*No! I have been fooled! You are a human! I should have guessed! The way you all morphed earth creatures! I should have guessed! I should have known!* the Visser repeated on and on.
*Yes, we have fooled you. And now, you will die because of your foolishness.* I said. The Visser looked at us with intense, hatred. More hatred than I have ever felt before. His eyes were like deep wells filled with hatred and hatred and always more hatred.
*This is the end, yeerk.* said Ax. We stepped forward. The Visser backed up, his tail at his side. At the very end, he tried to make compromises, make an agreement, but we knew that it was all a bunch of lies. The others stepped outside. They didn't feel they had to witness the death.
*Forgive me, Alloran.* said Ax. One quick blow to the neck, and one to the stomach was all it took. The Visser didn't even fight back. He just sat there and watched his own death sentence be carried out. It was all over very quickly. Then the Visser was gone. And so was the andalite, Alloran. I felt kind of bad about that. But there was nothing I could do about it. Ax and I looked at each other.
*You did it, Ax.* I said at the very same moment as Ax said, *I've done it.*
We started to laugh. I gave the deceased Visser lying at our feet a final kick and started to walk towards the door. Ax followed after a moment.
We stepped outside and found the others all demorphed and waiting in the band of trees next to the bug fighter. They were all sitting upon a fallen log. As soon as they saw us they stood up.
Jake looked at us, eyes wide. Cassie looking up at the sky and had her hands pressed together as if praying. Rachel looked at us and bit her lip. Marco looked towards the bug fighter, his mouth hanging open.
*He's dead.* I said. Cassie started to cry. Jake went to her and put his arm around her. She buried herself in his chest. Marco knew better than to make a comment. Rachel looked stunned for a moment, than ran towards me and hugged me. I was still an andalite. I demorphed for her and she hugged me again.
"I guess this means you and me have to hug now, Ax." said Marco. We all laughed. Even Cassie laughed. It was one of the better moments of being animorphs. Knowing your worst enemy was dead was a beautiful thing. Not really beautiful. But you know what I mean.
All of a sudden, Cassie sat straight up. "The Kandrona!" she shouted. We all looked at Ax.
"Ax, can you fix the ship's computer?" asked Jake.
*Of course I can. I am an andalite.* laughed Ax.
"Then fix it! Time is running out for the good yeerks!" shouted Jake.
*Yes, my prince.* said Ax and hurried inside once again.
"Marco, go with him." said Jake hurriedly.
"Yes, my prince." said Marco and bowed towards Jake as if he were some kind of idle.
"Go!" shouted Jake.
"Oh, I hope we're not to late, I hope we're not to late....." Cassie whispered, still clinging to Jake.
"Don't worry, Cassie, it's going to work." said Rachel.
"How do you know?" asked Cassie.
"I know." said Rachel. I looked at her and raised my eyebrows. She wasn't supposed to give it away yet. The Shivora was supposed to be kept a secret until the very end. And Rachel was giving it away.
RACHEL.....THE TIME IS NOT YET RIGHT. DON'T SAY ANYTHING OR THE PLANS WILL BE RUINED. The Shivora said so only Rachel and I could hear. Rachel looked at me and bit her lip, as if to say, ' Sorry '. I nodded at her.
We waited impatiently for 10 minutes as Ax fixed the computers. We were all restless and worried. And nervous, and scared, and happy, and sad, and angry.....we were a big jumble of emotion. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Ax calmly walked out.
*I have fixed the ship. And I have directed all of the kandrona towards the lake the Chee told us about.* said Ax. I smiled.
"The yeerk pool...." I whispered.
*All of it.* said Ax. I looked around to see the reactions of my friends. Jake was looking at Ax with disbelief. Cassie was silently crying tears of joy. Rachel was smiling simultaneously. Marco was looking at the ground with his mouth hanging open. I was doing all of the above.
"Then.....we really have won." Jake said slowly, quietly. A slow smile spread across his face. A smile that you only see on the face of a leader who has lead his troops to victory.
*Prince Jake.....as I opened the ships log, I saw all the fighters that are surrounding your planet's atmosphere.* said Ax.
"Yeah....." said Jake.
*They are mostly andalite fighters, Prince Jake.*
It was true. It was over. The fight was over. The andalites came. As they said they would. Just a little before schedule. Which was good. Which was very, very, good. But we still had something we had to do. We had to help Aftran's yeerks.
We morphed to seagull and flew to the beach where Cassie had heard Aftran's thought-speech. We demorphed in the dunes and took a look around. The area was pretty empty, so we waded into the water a bit, and morphed to dolphin.
*Everyone send out echolocation.* said Jake, as soon as we had gone out deep enough. Echolocation is like an ultra-sonic blast that shoots out of the dolphins forehead. It's like natural radar. After you do it, a picture of the surrounding area pops into your head. And it also shows the dolphin if there are any sharks or schools of fish or anything nearby. And the picture that bounced back to me said that we weren't far away from a great one. A whale.
*Swim towards the image!* Jake demanded. The dolphin mind begged to play. It wanted to dive down to the bottom of the ocean floor and shoot back up and fly through the sky. It wanted to have fun. That's what dolphins are all about. Fun and games. My mind, the human Tobias, wanted to swim back to shore and demorph. As I mentioned before, I'm not much for water. I had to resist the dolphins mind, and my own. Because we had work to do. And our time was running out. Very quickly. So we swam ferociously through the salty waters, towards the picture of the whale. Soon, I could see her. I could see Aftran. And I could see the 20 or so yeerks that were swimming beside her.
*Cassie? Jake? Is that you?* asked Aftran.
*Yes. It's us.* said Cassie.
*How long do the yeerks have?* asked Jake.
*Not long. Less than an hour. What happened? Are you all okay?* she asked. We told her all that had happened. How we learned of the new kandrona from Erek. She told us that she suspected that they'd bring a new kandrona soon. She said that kandrona wave particles(which is the technical name for kandrona) wear out after a period of 5 earth years, and they don't give off as much kandrona. We then told her how we discovered Visser 3 was there. How we killed him. How we directed the Kandrona toward the lake in the woods. How we were here to save the yeerks who would surely die in a few short hours from lack of kandrona nutrients.
*Oh, thank you so much! I didn't think you would be able to do it, but you did! Oh, thank you so much!* Aftran said over and over.
*Aftran, there isn't much time. We have to figure out a way to get these yeerks to the shore. Once we get to the shore, we have it all figured out.* said Jake. Aftran laughed.
*What could possibly be funny at a time like this?* asked Jake.
*Our race evolved in the water, Jake. We are very fast swimmers. They will be able to keep up with you.* said Aftran.
*Oh. Oh, yeah. Duh.* said Jake.
*Yes.* said Aftran. Jake then directed his thought speech to the other yeerks.
*Yeerks. We need you to follow us to the shore. Then we'll save you.* said Jake. We waited impatiently for a moment as Aftran listened.
*They said they'll follow you.* translated Aftran.
*Okay, then. There's no time to lose. Let's go.* said Jake. Jake started to swim away, then he looked back. The yeerks were following. We all then turned to leave.
Surprisingly, the yeerks kept up with us in the water. Some of them even passed us up. For their size, they were very fast.
After a while, we had to leave Aftran behind. The water was getting too shallow for her enormous whale body. We said a quick good-bye, and the rest of us swam on.
Soon, we reached the shore.
*Yeerks. Stay where you are. We have reached the shore. We're going to demorph. We're going to put a barrel in the water, and we want you all to swim into it.* said Jake.
We all demorphed into our regular bodies. If Ax had been there, he would have quickly morphed to human. But Ax wasn't there, he was up above us in the bug fighter where we killed Visser 3. We had incinerated Visser Three's body earlier. Our plan was to get the yeerks into the barrel we had found earlier along the shore bobbing in the water. Then we would carry the barrel down the edge of the beach to where the river meets the ocean. Then Ax would land the ship, and we would load the barrel onto the ship. We would all get aboard the bug fighter and Ax would fly us to the lake and we would put the yeerks in the lake. There, they would be safe. See, we had the Chee help us put the kandrona near the lake and then he put a hologram over it and a force field, so anybody who walked near it would just see and feel a large rock, not the large white sphere that was the kandrona.
We stepped out of the water and looked at each other.
"We did it." said Cassie.
"Yeah, but now we have to get these yeerks into the barrel. Doesn't that sound fun to you all? It's like that game, Mr. Bucket. Except instead of balls, it's yeerks." said Marco. Surprisingly, we all laughed. I didn't even think any of us remembered how to laugh after what had just happened.
"Well, let's get started." said Jake. He opened the lid on the barrel. We carried it carefully over to where the yeerks were swimming around in the water. We were careful not to look to suspicious. We dropped it in the water and pushed it down a little bit, so the yeerks could swim right in. I thought it would take them a while to find the bucket, or even realize that the bucket was in the water, but they all swam into it like trained army troops.
"Wow." said Rachel.
"Cassie, you morphed a yeerk once. How did they do that?" asked Marco.
"Yeerks have echolocation." said Cassie.
"They do? See, you learn new stuff everyday." said Marco. It only took about 10 seconds for all of the yeerks to swim into the barrel. So we pushed the barrel down a little bit more for more water to enter, and we lifted it up. It wasn't that heavy. If I had been carrying it myself it would have been heavy, but it wasn't, because all five of us were carrying it. We marched along the waterline towards the spot on the beach where the river meets the ocean. I felt like I was carrying the golden arch and I was in the movie, ' The Ten Commandments ' .
"Are we just going to dump the yeerks in the lake?" asked Cassie.
"How else are we going to get them in there? Build them a water slide?" asked Marco.
"We can't exactly take them out one by one and put them in the lake." I said.
"There's no other way. We have to dump them in." said Jake.
"Isn't that kind of graphic?" asked Cassie. Marco laughed.
"Isn't life kind of graphic?" he asked Cassie.
"Your life might be graphic, Marco." said Rachel.
"Yeah. And your life is all fun and games, Xena. Kill a Hork-Bajir there, another there...." Marco trailed off and the rest of the walk was quiet.
Soon, we reached the river. We set the barrel down and sat on a fallen log, waiting for Ax to show up in the bug-fighter. We rested our tired hands and feet. It had been a long walk. And that meant even less time for the yeerks.
Suddenly, right in front of me, a bug fighter appeared.
"Ahhhh!" I screamed and jumped back. Marco started laughing.
*I have turned the cloaking device off. Sorry to have startled you, Tobias.* said Ax from somewhere in the ship.
"Ax? Do us all a favor when you turn off the cloaking device next time. Land close to Marco." said Rachel. We all laughed.
Ax opened the door and stepped out.
*Have you succeeded in getting the good yeerks inside the barrel?* asked Ax.
"Yeah, Ax. We have to hurry. Or the yeerks will die." said Cassie.
*Hurry, then.* said Ax and turned back in the ship. The rest of us got up and picked up the barrel full of yeerks. We headed into the ship.
It wasn't exactly spacy. But there was a portable yeerk pool in there. We dumped the yeerks in there along with the water.
"Sorry, yeerks..." Cassie mumbled as we turned the barrel over. We threw the barrel outside. We didn't need it anymore.
The 6 of us crammed into the ship which was only meant to carry one Hork-Bajir and one Taxxon. Ax was at the controls station in the front.
*Who will take the weapons? Just in case we meet up with a real bug fighter in the air.* asked Ax. Jake raised his hand.
"I'll do it. Since I did it before. We don't have time to teach anyone else." said Jake. He walked over to the weapons station. The rest of us stood stooping over Jake and Ax's shoulders.
*Computer. Cloaking device on.* said Ax.
*Cloaking device on.* said the computer in thought-speech.
*Ready for take-off.* said Ax.
*Ready for take-off in 3....2....1.* said the computer. I heard the engines start up.
*Everyone grip the floor with your artificial hooves. The take-off impact might distort your stability.* said Ax. I felt the impact from take-off. But it wasn't enough to throw me off balance. I put more weight on my ' artificial hooves ' (a.k.a. shoes).
We rose. Higher and higher. Out of the window I saw the houses get smaller and smaller.
*Computer. Do not penetrate the planet's gravitational pull.* said Ax.
*Spacecraft will not penetrate the planet's gravitational pull.* said the computer. Ax pushed a few buttons with alien looking signs on them and pulled a couple levers.
*Prince Jake, we will be at the designated spot in approximately 2 and a half of your minutes.* said Ax.
"They're your minutes too, Ax." said Marco.
*Your minutes.* Ax said again. *Do you find this most amusing, Marco?*
"Yes, Ax, I find it most amusing." said Marco.
"The yeerks will be all right." said Cassie breathlessly.
"Ax. Tell the yeerks that we are almost there. That they're going to make it. Only you can use thought speech." said Jake.
*Yeerks. We are almost to the secluded spot. You are all going to survive.* said Ax.
The rest of the way there, which wasn't very long, was quiet. No one talked. I looked out the window. It seemed the ground was moving at an impossible speed.
"Ax, how fast are we going?" I asked. He looked at a strange looking dial.
*We are going at approximately 2,431 earth miles per earth hours, covering 1.2 earth miles per earth second.* he answered.
"Whoa. That's pretty fast." said Cassie. "Faster than any of our planes or jets."
"Yeah." said Jake.
*Of course, if this was an andalite space-craft, we would have gotten there in half the time.* said Ax arrogantly.
"We know, Ax." said Rachel. "We know."
Suddenly, a big, blue mountain lake came into view.
"Is that the lake, Ax?" Jake asked. Ax was the only one of us who was there before. He went there with Erek and the other Chee to help put up the hologram and the force field.
*Yes, Prince Jake. This is the body of water.* said Ax.
"Land, Ax. The yeerks only have a few minutes before they start to die from lack of kandrona rays."
*Yes, Prince Jake.* said Ax and we descended.
As soon as the fighter hit solid ground, the door opened. We all rushed to pick up the barrel of yeerks.
"Ax, tell them that we are about to put them in the pool." said Jake hurriedly as we rushed outside.
*Yeerks, we are about to put you in the yeerk-pool we have made. You will not suffer from lack of kandrona.* said Ax. We all ran as carefully as we could towards the lake. When we were in front of it, we quickly turned over the barrel. In doing that, we lost our grip on the barrel and we accidentally dropped it.
PAH-LOOOSH! We were all soaked. Marco laughed.
"We didn't dump the yeerks in, Cassie. We dropped them!" he said as he wiped the water from his face. We all laughed, we were soaked.
Jake leaned forward, his arms crossed.
"We did it - yaahhh!" he yelled as he fell in. He was leaning so far over, he lost his balance on the sandy ledge and fell. He came sputtering up, even more soaked than he had been before. He found us all pointing and laughing at him.
"Yeah, it was REAL FUNNY!" he yelled. Ax just stood there and looked at us as if we were crazy.
*Did Prince Jake fall in the body of water purposely?* Ax wondered.
"Yeah, Ax, ya think? I fell in." said Jake, still in the lake. Cassie was smiling at him. Suddenly, she turned to the water and jumped in herself. She came up to the surface smiling.
*Did Cassie fall in the body of water purposely?* asked Ax.
"Yeah." said Cassie.
*Why? Do you wish to swim?* asked Ax. She smiled at Jake.
"You could say that." she said.
Then, Rachel backed up. She smiled and winked at me, then ran forward and did a neat swan dive into the lake.
"Rachel! It's not deep enough for a dive!" shrieked Cassie going under and searching for Rachel. Rachel came up slowly. She smiled. Cassie came up and swam over to Rachel and hit her in the arm.
"It's only about 6 or 7 feet here! It's not deep enough for a dive!" said Cassie.
"Yeah, it is." said Rachel. "I just dived, didn't I?"
Cassie sighed. Marco looked at me, like I was supposed to jump in now. I shook my head. I wasn't about to jump in that water. I mean, I can swim and all, but I don't do it if I don't have to. Marco nodded his head impatiently. I smiled and shook my head. I went and sat on a rock near the edge. That wasn't my smoothest move. I should have realized what Marco was going to do. He walked up behind me, like he was going to talk to me. I kept my eyes focused on the three of them in the water, dunking each other.
"Tobias, think fast!" yelled Marco. I turned around to face him, but his arms were already outstretched. Soon, before I could react, he pushed me into the water. I went under the bright, blue, clear water. I swam to the top, coughing and sputtering.
"MARCO!" I screamed. "WHAT THE HECK!"
"Calm down, Tobias! It was only a joke!" said Marco.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah......" I said as I started to climb out.
"Tobias, stay! Pleeeeaaaaase?" begged Rachel.
"Rachel.....you know how I feel about water." I said.
"You can swim. You just showed us that." said Rachel pleadingly.
"Yeah, but I don't do it if I don't have to." I said.
"You have to." said Rachel and swam towards me. I sighed.
"Rachel...." I said.
"Tobias, I said you have to." she said. She put both her hands on my head, and dunked me. I didn't think she would do something like that. I came up laughing.
"Okay....okay, I'll stay. For a little while." I said, and dunked Rachel. Then Marco jumped in and it was an all out animorph water war. Each animorph for himself. No sides. Ax watched us, amused.
*Is this.....joyful?* asked Ax. We laughed.
"Yeah, Ax. Very joyful. Morph to human and come experience the joy of dunking." said Marco.
*Is this.....sarcasm or a real offer?* asked Ax.
"I think a little of both. Why don't you morph to human? That way it will be all of us." said Jake.
*Yes, Prince Jake.* said Ax. He began to morph.
"You know, Ax, that's not an order. You don't have to if you don't want to." said Jake.
*Yes, Prince Jake.* he said, but continued. Soon, a human was standing at the side of the lake.
"How exactly do you begin, Prince Jake? Pri-ince-uh Ja-ake-uh?" asked Ax.
"Uh......when you jump, blow air out of your nose so no water can get in. Don't breath in until you get back to the top. To get to the top, swim. You andalites should know how to swim." said Jake.
"Yes, Prince Jake. Yessss. Yessss-uh. Ye. Ssssss." he said.
"Awww! The andalite's first swimming lesson! How cute!" said Marco.
Ax paid no attention to Marco. He looked down at the water, and clumsily jumped in. He fought to the top and gasped in air.
"There is no ground!" he shouted frantically. He paddled in the water to stay afloat.
"Yes, there is. It's seven or eight feet down." said Cassie.
"That is absurd!" he yelled. "Humans should not be aloud to go in a body of water deeper than their current height!"
"Exactly what I say!" I said. Rachel dunked me.
"Welcome to earth, homeboy!" said Marco. Ax struggled to swim towards the edge of the lake. He boosted himself up onto the surface with some effort and immediately began to demorph.
*That was not joyful, on andalite standards.* said Ax when he had finished. We all laughed. After a few more minutes, the rest of us got out and headed into the bug fighter.
Once again, we were aboard the bug fighter. But we were very cold. A shivering Jake moved in front of the weapons station.
"Ax? Start up the ship. Everyone? Morph into - I don't know, birds, and then morph back. You should all be dry. After you guys morph back, I'll morph while Marco covers the weapons station." said Jake. We began to morph.
*Where should we go, Prince Jake?* asked Ax. Jake hesitated.
"Up in Earth's orbit." said Jake.
"Um, Jake? There's kind of a war going on in orbit." said Marco.
"Well, then we'll join the war. But Ax? Send a message to your people first so they know not to shoot us." said Jake. By then, I was fully bird, and we were way above the trees. I started to morph back. Jake was right. We were dry. Marco took the weapons station while Jake morphed. When Jake took the weapons station back, I couldn't even make out individual houses anymore.
We had done a lot today. But I had I feeling the Shivora wasn't done perfecting us yet.
Ax pushed a few buttons, and a holographical andalite head appeared in front of us on the view screen that had somehow opened.
*This is War Prince Glanath-Jofor-Kasalf. You have placed an andalite space transponder call. Who is this? We are in the middle of galactic warfare.* said the andalite.
*Prince Glanath. This is aristh Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, reporting for duty. I am in yeerk bug fighter number....* Ax looked at some weird looking designs on the wall above the door.*Number 2-6-7-3. Do not shoot.*
*What exactly are you doing in a yeerk bug fighter, aristh?* asked the andalite Prince.*Wait. Are you the aristh that was stuck on earth with the morph capable humans?*
*Yes, my prince.* said Ax. Ax explained to Glanath about why we were in a bug fighter.
*Visser Three? Dead?* asked Glanath excitedly.
*Yes. I have avenged my brother.* said Ax.
*Wonderful! I shall inform the captain at once. Quickly, dock with the StarChaser Dome Ship, aristh Aximili. No. Warrior Aximili. StarChaser is three planets away from this planet.* said Glanath. His holographical face disappeared from the view screen. Ax beamed.
"Warrior Ax? We should dock now. There's a real yeerk bug fighter coming. I'm going to get him, but there may be more." said Jake.
*Yes, Prince Jake.* said Ax, but he was beaming. Jake aimed the dracon beam and pushed the button.
TTTTSSSEEEWWWW TTTTSSSEEEWWWW
The bug fighter was no more.
Suddenly, before I had time to balance, the fighter pitched forward and knocked me off my feet. Actually, it knocked all of us off our feet. We all landed on top of each other in a heap against the wall. Cassie's head slammed Rachel's ribcage. Rachel groaned. She stood up.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Rach!" said Cassie
"Okay, that was painful." she said, rubbing her side. We all stood up. We were all in pain.
*I am sorry. I forgot to warn you.* said Ax.
"That's okay, Ax. Just, next time, don't forget." said Jake, massaging his knees.
"Really. Because now my mouth hurts. Jake's foot somehow ended up against my cheek bone." said Marco.
"And Cassie's head ended up in my side." said Rachel. We walked back over to the front.
When I looked outside, I was amazed at how far we had gone in such a short time. Right outside the window was Saturn. It brilliant glowing rings shimmered.
"Oh my god......that's Saturn!" said Cassie.
"Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! Tell er' what we have for her, Johnny!" said Marco in his announcer voice.
"It's so....It's so beautiful!" said Cassie, ignoring Marco. Her eyes were transfixed on the glowing planet. It seemed so close, so big....when it was really probably thousands of miles away.
*You humans know of other planets?* asked Ax. *With your primitive telescopes?*
"Yeah. But there isn't any life on any of them in our solar system except earth." said Jake. "So we think."
Ax pushed a few buttons. He looked up at the view screen. *No, Prince Jake. There is life on the 4th planet from this sun and the 3rd, which is your planet. Those are the only planets with livable temperatures.* he said.
"There is?" asked Jake. "Now, there's something to tell our scientists."
I think that's what he said. Something along the lines of that. I wasn't really paying attention. I was staring at Saturn. It was a very beautiful sight. Something you didn't want to look away from.
"Ax, where is StarChaser?" asked Jake. I snapped back into reality. Again, Ax looked at the view screen.
*It is behind the rings of....this planet.* said Ax, indicating Saturn.
"Saturn. Can you get to it?" asked Jake.
*Yes, Prince Jake. Computers...* Ax told the computer where to go. *You may want to sit against the far wall. The impact will be harder than before. We will cover the 4,897 earth miles we are from the planet in approximately 2.3 earth seconds.*
Marco whistled. "Faster and faster all the time." he said. "Hey, Ax? How come you never fall over?" he asked.
*I never fall over from impact because I have four, real, practical hooves while you humans have two, impractical, artificial hooves.* said Ax. Marco nodded.
"That explains it." he said and grinned, as we all rushed to sit against the wall. Jake and Cassie claimed one end of the wall, and Rachel and I claimed the other.
"Monkey in the middle. Or, better yet, Marco in the middle." Marco laughed.
"Face it, Marco. You'll always be in the middle. Your never going to get a date." said Rachel and shook her head. Marco laughed.
"Maybe while I'm animorph I'll be in the middle. But when this is all over, I'm going to be on the side like you guys." said Marco.
"Huh?" said Jake.
"Guess who asked me out this morning over the phone? Before I was so rudely interrupted by Cassie, the flying bird of chipper morning." said Marco sneakily.
"Sorry." said Cassie.
"Who?" asked Rachel. Marco started to answer, but we were all swept back. I was leaning forward and my head snapped back and hit the wall. It was not in the least bit pleasant. After 2.3 seconds, it stopped. And then the pain started.
"Owwww!" I screamed, holding the back of my head. "Oh, Owwww!"
"You shouldn't have been leaning over." Rachel said turned my head so the back of it was facing her. She kissed it.
"All better?" she asked.
"Yeah." I said, and began rubbing my head. The others seemed amused.
"So....who called you and asked you out, Marco?" asked Rachel breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"Melissa Chapman." said Marco, as we got up and began walking towards the front. Rachel stopped and started at him.
"Your serious?" she asked.
"Yup. Now I have a girlfriend, just not an animorph girlfriend." said Marco. Rachel walked towards me, a questioning look on her face. She leaned close to my ear.
"Fulfilling?" she whispered. My eyes opened wide. I hadn't even thought of that. But it was possible. Rachel even told me herself that Melissa liked Marco. But I didn't know if Marco liked her. I guess now I know he does, or else why would he have agreed to go out with her? Unless he was very desperate. But I guessed against it. I nodded at Rachel.
"I think so." I whispered. She nodded at me. I turned my focus out the window to see where we were. What I saw amazed me. It was Saturn! But so close I could actually touch it if there was no window. When I looked out of the other side, I saw a sight that amazed me even more. The rings! We were on the other side of the rings! The icy coated rings stretched out beside me for hundred of miles. Maybe even thousands.
"Whoa...." I said.
"Agreed. Whoa." said Rachel.
"My god.....I never thought I'd ever be this close to Saturn!" said Cassie.
"I never thought I'd be able to change into a gorilla. But, now I do it almost every week." said Marco and shrugged at Cassie. She looked at him impatiently.
"Okay, Ax. We need to find StarChaser." said Jake, getting back to business.
*Yes, my Prince.* said Ax. *Computers. Locate Andalite Dome Ship StarChaser, and dock.*
*Spacecraft has located the ship, StarChaser. Will dock within the next 1-2 minutes.* said the computer.
Suddenly, the ship lurched forward, but not hard enough to knock us of our feet. I held a steady grip on the floor.
"Hey! This kind of reminds me of the Star Wars movie! You know, when Luke Skywalker is in the ship and he's going threw the valley blasting anything that gets in his way?" laughed Marco.
"Yeah, it kind of does." said Jake.
"Except Luke Skywalker didn't have a planet on one side and the planets rings on the other side." said Rachel.
"And R2D2 isn't here. And no Darth Vadar." said Cassie.
"We killed our Darth Vadar." I said. Jake nodded, smiling.
*Who is Luke Skywalker? What is an R2D2? And who is Darth Vadar?* asked Ax. We laughed.
"Well, Luke is kind of like you, Ax. He was trying to be a Jedi knight and you are trying to be an andalite Prince. R2D2 is a droid. A robot. And Darth Vadar is like Visser 3." said Marco.
*And there is an earth movie about this?* asked Ax.
"Yup. It's called Star Wars." said Marco.
*Stars do not have wars.* said Ax. Marco shook his head.
"He's hopeless!" said Marco in fake distress.
All of a sudden, as we rounded a corner of the planet, we came upon the dome ship. It's called a domeship for a reason. Most of it is a clear, dome. Inside the dome, it's like a park, where the andalites feed. The ground is covered with blue grass, and there are weird looking trees, and a small current of water. Basically, the andalites take their home with them into space.
But, the dome is also very, very large. Huge. The dome is toward the back, and up in the front is the bridge, where the captain usually is. In the middle are the aristh's and warrior's and prince's private quarters. In the way, way back are the engines.
The ship automatically turned toward it and began to descend. The holographical andalite head appeared on the view screen which had somehow again appeared.
*Warrior Aximili? Is that you?* asked Glanath.
*Yes, Prince Glanath, It is I, Aximili.* said Ax.
*Are you alone or do the morph capable humans accompany you?* asked Glanath.
*They are with me, my Prince.* said Ax.
*How many humans are there, Aximili?*
*There are 5 humans.*
*How much do they know?*
"Um.....we're kind of standing right here. Could he be a little more rude?" whispered Rachel. Jake gave her a look that said, ' Shut up or I'll kill you. ' She smiled sweetly at him.
*They know a lot, my Prince. They know all about the yeerks, the Hork-Bajir, the Taxxons, the andalites......* Ax went on and on about what we knew.
*Have you given the humans any andalite technology?* he asked angrily. Ax hesitated. Before, when Ax contacted his home-world, he told them that he had given us the power to morph, not Elfangor. His brother was big on the andalite home world. And Ax didn't want his brother to look bad. So he covered for him. But only a few andalites knew the truth.
*I know it was not truly you who gave the humans the morphing power. I do not ask about this. I asked if you gave them any other andalite technology.* he said more softly.
*No, sir.* said Ax.
*Good. I shall meet you at the docking gate.* his holographical face disappeared from the screen. By then, our ship was parked in one of the extremely large chambers running along the side of the ship. As I looked out the back window, I could see the doors closing. Out of the front window I could see andalites getting a little frantic. It wasn't everyday that a yeerk bug-fighter docked with an andalite domeship. Then, a new andalite entered the chamber. I was almost totally sure it was Prince Glanath.
*Calm down, you fools. Yes, this is a yeerk ship, but do you think the captain would allow yeerks aboard our dome ship? No. Inside is a single member of our people, and 5 members of the race which we are trying to save.* said Glanath. *Warrior Aximili. Come out with the humans.*
*Yes, Prince Glanath. Computers? Open the door.* said Ax. Suddenly, the door of the ship swung open. Ax walked quickly to the door. We followed him. The six of us stepped out into the brightly lit chamber. Glanath greeted us to the door. Ax looked awed. I think it was because he was finally with his people again. His people which he hadn't seen in over a year. Or it might of been the fact that he was a full-fledged warrior. Something he'd also been waiting for a longtime.
*Who is winning the battle, Prince Glanath?* asked Ax.
*I'm not going to say we are going to win, but it looks as if things may turn to us.* said Glanath. We all smiled simultaneously. Jake looked like he was going to laugh, or cry. I couldn't tell.
*Warrior Aximili. Go to the dome and feed. You may bring the humans if you like, or leave them in the holding room.* said Glanath. Rachel looked at him skeptically, as if she couldn't believe he was saying that. Jake looked at her and raised his eyebrows. Rachel kept her mouth shut, but I could still tell she was fuming. I felt the same way. But I didn't express it like Rachel did. I have become good at hiding my emotions. He was acting like we weren't even there! He was just totally ignoring the fact that we were sentient. We may have been primitive, but we weren't stupid.
*They will accompany me.* said Ax, sounding as angry as Rachel and I felt.*And next time, Prince Glanath, you should ask the humans what they would like to do.*
The Prince was stunned. So were we.
*Very well, Warrior Aximili. Now, go to the dome.* said the Prince and walked away with a strange look on his face. I wasn't sure what it was. I don't make out andalite facial expressions very well, but I was almost totally sure it was an expression of amusement. The 5 of us followed Ax out of the door and down a long hallway. Ax knew his way around. When we were far enough away, we started to talk.
"Good going, Ax! How come your suddenly defensive of humans?" asked Marco.
*I was not being defensive! I was....simply stating that maybe he should ask you what you would like to do. You are after all a sentient race and have your own opinions about what you would like to do.* said Ax. We all laughed.
"Sure, Ax, sure." said Jake. Ax had no comment. We walked down the hall in silence. Soon, we reached the end of the hallway. There was a door. Ax opened it, and a calm breeze hit me in the face. It was a fake breeze, but it still felt good. As I looked inside, I saw what we had seen from the yeerk bug-fighter. The blue grass. The funny looking, mostly orange trees. The small flow of water. All in one big dome in the middle of space. It looked very much like the dome-ship we had rescued Ax from when we first met him. That's a long story and I don't have time to tell it. If you want key details about it, read Cassie's book, #4, The Message.
Milling around the flow of water were a group of andalites looking as if they were deep in discussion about something. Ax stopped walking as soon as he saw them. He studied them for a moment, as if not believing they were there.
"Ax?" asked Cassie. "Are you okay?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he started running toward the group of andalites.
"Ax!" Jake called after him. We started running after him. Ax stopped in front of the andalites. One of them turned. He looked strangely like Ax. Except older.
*Aximili!* he said.
*Father!* said Ax. It was Ax's father, Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf.
They didn't exactly hug. They sort of put their hands on each others shoulders, which I guess an andalite way of hugging.
*Father, what are you doing here? In the war? I thought you retired from the war.* asked Ax.
*This dome ship is not in the war. The yeerks do not know it is here. It is here so the wounded warriors will have a place to come when the war is over and we free this planet from the yeerks. It is good to see you!* said Noorlin.
*It is also good to see you, father.* said Ax.
*There is a surprise back at the scoop.* said Noorlin.
*What kind of surprise?*
*You have a sister, Aximili. Actually, three of them. It is very uncommon to have trip-lites, but your mother and I were very fortunate.*
Ax was speechless.
*Are you not surprised?* asked Noorlin.
*Yes, I am most definitely surprised, father. When did this happen?* asked Ax.
*Your sisters, Shannon-Forlay-Nescala, Jenny-Isthill-Jomean, and Kathy-Sirinial-Dolope, were born 3 earth months ago.* said his father. My eyes opened wide. Was this what the Shivora meant that I needed to remember Shannon and Jenny and Kathy?
*These are human names, are they not?* asked Ax.
*Yes. Your mother was doing some research on humans, when she came upon a list of human names. She liked these three, therefore your sister's first names are human.*
*Ah. I see.*
*Speaking of humans, are these humans? I have never seen one before.* asked Ax's father, indicating us. Rachel didn't let Ax finish.
"Yes, we are humans. I am Rachel." said Rachel. Noorlin looked surprised. Rachel gave him her, Yes-we-are-sentient-so-don't-give-me-your-crap look.
*It is nice to meet the humans who have accompanied my son on earth. I thank you all very much for helping us to defeat the yeerks. Without you, Aximili would have been dead and our troops would never have came.* said Noorlin.
"Thank-you, Noorlin. That means a lot to us." said Jake.
*Father, these are my human friends. This is Rachel, whom you have met, and this is Marco, and this is Cassie, and this is Tobias, and this is Prince Jake.* Ax said pointing us all out. Noorlin looked at Jake.
*You are considered a Prince in your world?* he asked. Jake laughed.
"No, not really. But I'm the leader of us." said Jake.
*And who is 'us'?* he asked. Jake turned serious.
"We are the Animorphs." said Jake.
We all waited while Ax and his fellow andalites talked and fed on the grass. We hoped and prayed that the andalites would win. Marco sat on a fake rock over looking the little flow of water, thinking to himself. Jake and Cassie went off to sit in the grass to do their own talking. Rachel and I headed towards the trees.
"Do you really think it's over?" she asked me.
"I really hope it is." I said as we sat down.
"What are you going to do if it's over?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Go back to regular, old life, I suppose."
"Are you going to miss Ax?" she asked.
"Huh?" I said. She frowned.
"He's not just going to go on living in the woods by Cassie's barn if it's over, Tobias. He's going to go back to his home world. You should know that." she said softly.
I hadn't thought of that. Now that Rachel brought it up, I realized it was true. Ax would most certainly go back home. What else would he have to do on earth? That left a churning feeling in my stomach. I bit my lip.
"Are you going to miss him?" she asked. I looked down at my feet. I didn't say anything, but she could sense my answer. She leaned closer and hugged me.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Tobias. I'll miss him, too. We all will. Even though he was annoying sometimes. But he was funny, too. Like with cinnabons and chocolate."
"And words."
We laughed. We recalled old, fun, times with Ax. But I couldn't talk to Rachel about how close me and Ax were. She wouldn't understand that I was best friends with this certain alien. That he was my true shorm. That I could never have another best friend like him. That no human best friend was better. Ax told me that I was his shorm. He didn't tell me exactly what that meant, but I had a feeling it meant best friend. That probably sounds so stupid to you. That I'm best friends with an alien. But I am and nothing is ever going to change that.
"What about us?" she asked.
"What about us?" I asked.
"Is our relationship going to end along with the war?" she asked. I sat up.
"No! Why would you think that, Rachel?" I demanded. She scooted closer to me.
"Sometimes relationships do that." she whispered.
"Not ours." I said. She leaned against my chest. I put my arm around her shoulder.
"Never ours." she said and lifted her head up. She looked up at me. She smiled. I smiled at her.
We quickly parted when we saw the others headed toward us.
"Hey, what happened?" I asked anxiously.
I looked at Marco, but he wasn't really listening. He sat down and looked at the ground, with an awed expression on his face. I then took a look at Cassie and Jake. Jake looked as if he had been crying earlier. Cassie was still crying.
"What is it?" asked Rachel slowly. "What is it?!?!"
"It's over. We won." said Jake quietly. I jumped to my feet. Rachel looked at Jake in wonderment, then stood up herself.
"Are you serious, Jake?" she asked. He smiled, then nodded. Rachel covered her mouth with her hands and began to cry silently. I fell to my knees and looked at the stars above us threw the clear dome of the ship. A wide smile spread across my face. We had succeeded.
"My god....it's really over, isn't it?" asked Rachel.
"Yes." I said. "It is."
Ax looked at us all. *My father wishes for you all to come with us to the andalite home world, for a visit.*
*Would you all like to come? Tobias, would you like to come and see the other side of your family?* asked Noorlin, who was actually my grandfather. See, I overlooked one important fact. If Noorlin was Ax's father, he was Elfangor's, too. And I was Elfangor's son.
"Can my mother come, too?" I asked.
*Loren? Yes. And the rest of you may bring anyone you like, even if they don't know about the yeerks. Our people are informing all of your parents about the situation. Even if the person is a controller, he or she may come, because as of right now, our people are on earth and are destroying all kandrona on the planet, except for the kandrona by the lake near the yeerk resistance, and we are also speeding up the yeerks' time. Which means, within the next 15 earth minutes, all of those who were controllers will be regular again. And all the evil yeerks on planet earth will die. And all of earth will know the truth.* said Noorlin.
"Oh, god....Oh, god....Oh, god...." Cassie cried. Jake put his arm around her.
"It's okay, Cassie." he said softly.
"You mean, your not going to use the flashy thing on us?" asked Marco. The andalites looked confused.
"It's from a movie called Men in Black. With Will Smith." Marco explained. They still looked confused.
Rachel started laughing threw her tears. We all stared at her.
"You know what? It's over. It's over! It is so over! No more. It's over!" Rachel cried.
"Your happy? I thought you'd be sad, Xena. Your out of the fight." said Marco. She looked at him.
"You know what, Marco? For once, I really don't care." she said.
*Since the fighting is done and the last of the yeerk ships in earth's orbit has been destroyed, would you like to go retrieve the certain individuals you wish to bring to the andalite home world?* asked Noorlin. *Our people have informed us that most of them have all gathered at the home of Cassie.* Jake stepped forward, playing his role of Prince until the very end.
"Yes, Noorlin. We should go now." said Jake.
*Very well, then, Prince Jake. We'll go talk to the captain and be right with you.* said Noorlin. The andalites turned to leave. All but Ax. Jake rolled his eyes.
"Great, Ax. Now you've got your father calling me Prince too." said Jake.
*I thought you would have been honored.* said Ax.
"Oh, I am honored, Ax. Very honored." said Jake.
"You know.....that was our last mission. Saving Aftran's yeerks." said Cassie, once she had calmed down.
"Yeah......" I said.
"That was the last mission any of us fight together. As the Animorphs." said Rachel. "We may fight other missions in the future, but we will never be the Animorphs again."
"How does it feel to be heroes?" asked Marco. "We saved the human race. Our race. With a little help from our friends, the andalites."
"I think it feels great knowing we did so much." said Jake.
"Hey! We'll be local heroes! We'll be national heroes! We'll be global heroes! Heck, we'll be universal heroes! We might even be in a comic book series!" said Marco. We all laughed.
*My father wishes me to spend some time with my family after you all leave. And then.....I will be on another dome ship fighting for other races.* said Ax, hinting to us that this trip may be the last time we see him again for a while. Cassie started crying again. So did Rachel. So did Jake. And, surprisingly, so did I. Then, Marco started in. If Ax had been human, he probably would have joined in. But he cried the way an andalite cries: in his heart/s. It was an all out Animorph cry-athon.
The Animorphs were splitting up. Going their separate ways. We would probably never meet up with Ax again for a very, very, long time after this trip. We would never be the same again.
"Group hug?" Marco opted. We laughed. But we did. It felt like the right time for a hug. Cassie pulled Ax by the arm and pulled him to our little circle. We stayed like that for a long time. Until the other andalites told us to come and meet the captain. We split apart. But I will always remember that moment for the rest of my life. It was the last moment we were all the Animorphs. I don't know why, but for some reason, that hug symbolized the last seconds of the Animorphs. After that, the Animorphs were gone. Now, we were just kids who could change into animals. But everything else was the same again. We were over.
We walked down the main hall of the ship and we headed towards the bridge. On the way there, the andalites prepped us on what to expect. They had told all of our families of what had happened. Now they were all waiting for us at Cassie's house for us to get to earth so they could all take a trip to the andalite home world. The last trip we would ever take together. For a long, long, time.
We reached the bridge. Standing facing the window, staring at Saturn was an andalite. The captain, I suspected.
*Captain Feytore? I bring to you, my son, warrior Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill and the 5 human warriors with the morphing capabilities that have fought in the war on the planet's surface.* said Noorlin.
*Thank you, Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf. You may leave me with the warriors.* said Captain Feytore. It amazed me that they referred to us as warriors. I mean, Ax was a warrior, but the rest of us were human.
*Well, well, well.....the 6 warriors I have been hearing so much about! It is an honor to finally meet you!* said the Captain.
"It is an honor for us to meet you, also, Captain Feytore." said Jake.
*So. You are Prince Jake?* asked the Captain. Jake laughed.
"Well, not on my planet." said Jake.
*Even if you are not considered a Prince on your home planet, you will be considered a Prince to any andalite. You were the leader of the revolt on your home planet! Without you, our people may have never come. Without you, we'd be a step behind in defeated the yeerks. Now, Prince Jake, because of you, we are three steps ahead.* said the Captain. Jake looked speechless.
"Well, thank you. Very much....." said Jake. I don't think until now Jake realized how much weight was on his shoulders. He was the one in charge of getting those yeerk slugs off our planet. He knew that before, but I don't think he ever really believed he'd ever amount to anything. Now he knew. He knew that he had succeeded.
Jake continued to look speechless. We all laughed. Cassie put her arm around his waist.
"You do it." said Cassie, softly. He looked at her. He looked at the rest of us.
"I didn't do it. We all did it." he said. Cassie smiled.
"You were the leader." she said. "You did the most."
Jake started to cry. He sat down. Cassie put her arms around him.
"It's okay....." she said. He nodded.
*You may stay on the bridge for the flight. There is no impact from take-off on the bridge, it is the most stable part if the ship, and seeing how you only have two hooves, you would fall anywhere else on the ship.* said the Captain. We laughed again.
"Yeah. We know from experience." said Marco. "Especially Tobias." he made the motion of throwing his head back, reminding us of my past experience with the wall. I laughed.
*Computers....* the Captain told the ships computer where to take us. I felt the take-off. I mean, I could tell we were moving, but it was kind of like being in a plane. In a plane, your not falling all over the place, and we weren't falling all over the place here, either. When I looked out the window, I almost did fall down.
You know when you see sci-fi space movies and they're going through space, and when you see out the window all you see are stars whizzing by? That's exactly what it was like. I look out the window, and it's just like, whoosh! All these stars are going by! It was so cool! And the window was really big, too, so it felt as if I were flying in space.
"Oh, that's so cool!" said Rachel.
"I have a computer screen saver just like this!" said Marco. Jake laughed.
"But this is like 100 times better than your screen-saver!" said Jake.
"It's like....it seems like...." said Cassie, trying to say something but couldn't exactly find the right words.
"Like your flying?" I offered. She smiled.
"Yeah!" she said. Suddenly, the stars slowed down. Then, they completely stopped. The ship stopped, too. When I looked out the window again, the sight amazed me. Or sickened me. I couldn't tell which. Outside the window, was the wreckage from the battle that hadn't been destroyed yet. And some of the things I saw out there was so bad, I'm not even going to begin to say anything about it. Cassie shuddered and looked away. We all looked away. Even the Captain and Ax. All of us. Except Jake.
"Jake....you don't have to see this." I said.
"Yes, I do." he said.
"Jake....." Cassie started.
"I have to, Cassie! I owe it to all the andalites who died out there. I have to see this." said Jake. We didn't argue with him. But we didn't look anymore, either. The Captain looked at him with respect.
*That is a very andalite thing to do and say.* he said. Jake nodded, but he never took his eyes away from the wreckage.
Finally, Jake turned away from the gruesome sight, with tears in his eyes.
"Okay, let's go down." he said. Without looking at the remains of the battle, I looked down. Earth was directly below us. I looked away quickly.
*We will put you all in one of our new, larger fighters. The fighter will take you down to the planets surface. The dome ship is far to large to land anywhere on earth.* said the Captain.
"Fine, fine. Let's just get our of this room!" shouted Jake.
*Warrior Aximili? You know where the fighter bays are. Number 2. Lead the way. I will stay on the bridge.* said the Captain.
*Yes, Captain. Everyone? Follow me.* said Ax and led the way out of the bridge room. We followed him back down the corridor, only to be led into another corridor, which looked familiar. It was probably the hallway we first entered when we got off the yeerk bug-fighter. Ax turned left and opened a door and walked in. The rest of us trailed after him. In the room was an andalite fighter.
*Is the fighter ready for us?* Ax asked an andalite milling around the ship.
*Yes. You may board now.* said the andalite. Ax nodded at him. Something he had picked up from humans. The andalite looked at him strangely, but Ax ignored him. We went up the ramp and Ax opened the door to the ship. We went in. It was quite spacious, as the Captain had said. It would hold all of our families.
*Computers. Get ready for take-off.* Ax ordered. The big doors separating us from space began to open.
*Space-craft will take-off in 5....4....3....2....1.* said the computer. I felt the ship rise.
*Go against the far wall, as you did in the bug fighter.* said Ax.*The impact will not be as rough, but this ship is not as big as the dome ship, and there is some impact.*
We all ran and sat down against the far wall again. Ax pushed a few buttons and we blasted out of the dome ship. I felt the impact. But this time I was prepared. My head was all the way against the wall. Marco's, on the other hand, wasn't.
"Yeeeeaaaaooouuuccchhh! Now I know how you felt before, Tobias!" he shouted.
"Yeah, well......now we both learned our lesson." I said, laughing.
*It is safe to stand up now. You should be able to stand without falling.* said Ax. We carefully got up and walked over to Ax. As I looked out the window, I could see we were in the earth's atmosphere. As I looked down, I could make out our town.
"We're home, kids." said Marco. We descended.
"Ax? Are we cloaked?" asked Jake. "The Captain didn't say all the humans knew yet."
*Yes, of course we are cloaked.* said Ax. As I looked out, I could see everything clearly. We passed my house.
Ax kept going till we got to Cassie's. He landed the ship behind Cassie's barn, out of view of our parents, in case they were anywhere near.
*Should I uncloak the ship, Prince Jake, or leave it cloaked?* asked Ax.
"Uncloak it. Our parents have to see it sometime. Might as well be now." said Jake.
*Computer? Uncloak the ship. Open the door.* said Ax.
"AHHHHH!" shouted a voice from outside. "Oh, god, it's the ship! They're here!"
"Mom!" Cassie shouted. She rushed out of the half open door, and leapt the few feet to the ground. The ramp had not yet extended itself to it's full length.
Her mom must have just come around the side of the barn. She was shaking. She had just seen a spaceship appear out of nowhere.
"Cassie! Oh, god!" her mom shouted. They ran towards each other, arms outstretched. Cassie's mom held on to her with all her strength. They both started crying.
"Oh, my baby! I can't believe......all this time. I'm so proud of you. You'll never know how proud of you I am." Cassie's mom said to her.
"Mom.....I'm so sorry I lied to you all those times.....I'll never lie again, I swear, mom......" said Cassie.
"It's okay, honey. It's all over now. Where's everyone else? Jake and Rachel and everybody?" her mom asked.
"In the ship." said Cassie. "Come on out, guys." said Cassie. We stepped out. Ax stepped out last.
"Ahh! It's another one!" her mom shrieked. Then she just stared at Ax. "I suppose I should start getting used to this." she came over to each of us and hugged us and told us how proud she was of us.
"Cassie, go get you dad and everyone else. He's inside. And so are all of your parents." she said. Cassie ran towards the house. Her mom looked each of us over and hugged us again. She hugged Rachel and Jake the hardest. She knew them the best.
"I just can't believe it. I just can't." she said. "But I guess I have to because there is an alien standing right there." We laughed. Cassie came back. Or, her dad came back. Her dad was carrying Cassie and hugging the air out of her lungs. And all of our parents followed. All of us ran towards our select parents and sisters and brothers. In my case, I ran towards my mom. She hugged me. Then she put her hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye.
"Visser 3 is dead?" she asked. I smiled.
"Ax and I did it ourselves." I said. She smiled. Then she started to cry.
"Oh, I wish Elfangor was here. I know this would have been the happiest day for him." she said.
"I know it would've." I said. She hugged me.
"He would have been so proud of you, Tobias. So proud to know his son had finished the abomanation off!" she whispered to me.
"Oh.....god. He's really dead. This is great! You don't know how happy I am!" she cried. "You know, from when I told you the story? I have a personal thing with Visser 3. I would've liked to have taken him out myself, but I don't have the same powers you do."
After we talked and hugged and cried for a while with our parents, we decided we should go.
"Okay. Everyone? Don't be afraid of anything. These are the good aliens. Remember that. They helped us win." said Jake. Tom laughed.
"My brother - the leader." he said. Jake smiled.
"You better believe it. And these are my people. My people, the Animorphs." laughed Jake. Rachel looked at him as if he were deranged. He just laughed harder.
"Oh, no.....Rachel? Look what your look did to him! He's laughing like that again!" shouted Marco. Indeed he was laughing like that again.
"The Animorphs? Couldn't you have come up with something better?" asked Tom. Jake pointed at Tom and laughed even harder.
"Excuse me. Animorphs is my trademark. There is nothing better." said Marco.
"Yeah. We've been the Animorphs since the beginning. So don't go dissing our name, Tom. Remember, I can change into a grizzly bear. And you can't." said Rachel sweetly.
"Oh, so your the bear?" asked Tom.
"Yep. And the elephant." said Rachel.
"And the elephant?" asked Tom. Rachel nodded.
"I'm the gorilla." said Marco.
"I'm the wolf." said Cassie.
"I was either a Hork-Bajir or a hawk." I said. We looked at Jake. It was his turn to spill his guts. But he wasn't quite ready yet. He was still in laugh-o mode. Jolly, happy, idiot mode.
"Jake, stop laughing and tell us what you were." said Tom, getting impatient. Jake shut his eyes. I didn't realize what he was going to do before it was too late. As the orange and black striped fur covered his skin, I realized. He was morphing the tiger.
"Jake! No!" I shouted.
"AHHH!" shouted Jake's mom, crying out.
"Holy....oh, my.....AHH!" shouted his dad. The rest of the adults that had never seen morphing before backed away with a terrified look in their eyes. They looked about ready to run away.
"Mom! Dad! Everyone! Stop! It's okay! Jake has morphed the tiger before. He was....just showing you his morph. Don't be scared, it's going to be okay!" said Cassie. They stopped backing away but they didn't come any closer. Rachel's sisters were freaking out. Jake finished his morph. He was a full grown, male Siberian Tiger.
"J-J-J-Jake?" his mom stuttered.
*It's still me, mom. I'm still here.* said Jake. He walked carefully towards his parents to show them that he was still Jake. They stood still, not moving. But they didn't act as if they wanted the tiger aka Jake to come any closer.
"Mommy? Can I pet the big kitty?" asked Sara, Rachel's littlest sister. Rachel's mom was stricken with fear. She slowly shook her head.
"Awww....but, mommy....." she complained. Jake stopped. He looked at Sara. He walked toward her. Rachel's mom put her hands on Sara's shoulders, as if protecting her.
*Sara? This isn't a big kitty. It's me, your cousin Jake.* said Jake. She pointed at Jake.
"No. Your not Jake. Jake turned into a kitty." said Sara. We laughed. She was still too young to really understand. She pulled free of her mother's grip and walked towards Jake. Rachel stepped forward. She knelt down besides Jake and began petting him. Sara stepped closer and started to pet him, too.
*What am I? A petting zoo?* asked Jake. We laughed.
"Wait.....I know this tiger! Or at least, I know the tiger you morphed. He's from the Gardens!" Cassie's mom said.
*Yup.* said Jake. *Okay, everyone? Don't freak out. I'm going to morph back. Then we are going to leave.* said Jake and began to demorph. Soon, he was done. His mom threw her arms around him.
"Mom......stop it....." said Jake, backing away. "I'm fine. Nothings wrong. Don't worry."
"I'm sorry, Jake......this is just very strange to all of us." said Jake's mom.
*Shall we go? The captain will be waiting for us to return.* said Ax.
"Yeah. Everyone? Into the ship." said Jake. My mom, Marco's mom, and Tom started toward the ship. No one else moved. We laughed.
"Oooookay. Everyone follow us into the ship. Nothing bad is going to happen." said Jake. Ax leaped ahead of us and into the ship. The Animorphs moved towards the door of the ship. Everyone followed slowly. Soon, everyone was inside.
"Okay. Everyone has to sit against the back wall and put your head against the wall. There's some impact." said Jake. We all obeyed. Jake sat down last.
*Computers...ready for take-off.* said Ax.
*Ready for take-off in...3...2...1.* said the computer. I felt the ship rise. Everyone screamed.
"Shhh....it's fine. We're just taking off, everyone..." said Cassie soothingly.
"Head back, everyone...." I said. We began to rise. Higher, and higher. We couldn't stop some of them from screaming. We emerged from the atmosphere. Total pandemonium broke loose. There were variations of these sayings:
"AHHHH!"
"We're in space! YYAAAHHH!"
"MOOOOOOMY!"
"HOLY......AHHHHHHH!"
"Hahahaha.....calm down, peoples....hahahahaha." said Rachel. Rachel's mom turned to her.
"You really expect us to be calm at a time like this?" she shrieked.
"She's right, everyone. Your going to half to get used to this." said Jake. Everyone stopped screaming. But they were still scared out of their wits. Everyone soothed various parents and siblings.
*Everyone, keep you head back.* said Ax. He pushed a few buttons and we blew forward towards the dome ship which I could see off on the distance. Everyone tried hard not to scream. It was literally impossible. The only person who seemed oblivious to the fact we were in space was Sara. She was calmly looking out the window as everyone went through their horror act.
"Mommy, stop screaming please. Your voice is hurting my fever." she said. Everyone who was screaming continued to scream. Everyone who wasn't screaming was laughing at Sara's misuse of the word fever. We slowed down.
*You may stand up now.* said Ax. All the Animorphs, Marco's and my mom and Tom stood up. Everyone else stayed seated. Too scared to move.
"Oooookay. I guess you can just sit there if you want to." said Jake. Everyone who was up walked to the front to stand near Ax, as he contacted the Dome Ship.
*You have reached the Dome Ship. This is the Captain. What is it you want?* asked the captain.
*It is Aximili, sir. We have retrieved the family members that my friends wish to bring. Some of them are.....are rather hysterical, sir.* said Ax. The captain laughed.
*That's quite all right, Aximili. Soon they will be as relaxed as the other humans. You may dock with the ship, now. Fighter bay two. I will be waiting for you.* said the captain and his holographical features disappeared from the view screen. Ax told the computer where to go. We all sat back against the wall, bracing for impact. Whoosh! When I looked outside again, we were right up close to the dome ship. Frightened shrieks escaped the mouths of various parents.
"Shhhh....It's okay, everyone. It's just another spacecraft. These are the good guys. Remember that." said Cassie. Then, secretly to us, she whispered.
"Do you think we should have left them at home?" she asked. Jake shook his head.
"They all need to get used to it sometime, Cassie. Might as well be now." said Jake. Our fighter entered the docking bay and I heard a pitiful moan coming from a few of them. I rolled my eyes.
"This is going to be interesting...." said Marco.
I saw the large metal door open. Our ship went inside and the door shut again. The parents were all either crying or screaming or praying. Everyone laughed.
"This.....is NOT funny!" yelled Rachel's mom.
"Yes, it is. Even we weren't that scared when we learned about everything." said Rachel.
"I guess kids respond better in pressured situations." said Loren with a sly grin.
"Okay. Everyone......take deep breaths....deep breaths.....that's it....good. Now, imagine your not here right now. Imagine that your....um....eating dinner. Your fine. Not scared. Now lets get up and walk down the ramp as if you're not afraid. Cause we're not afraid, are we?" asked Cassie. All of the Animorphs and Tom held back a giggle.
"Cassie, you would make a great meditation teacher." said Marco. She looked at him oddly.
"Look at them, Marco. I'm just trying to calm them down a bit." she said. Marco nodded.
"Okay. Go ahead." he said.
"Everyone, Cassie's right. We're not afraid, and we're kids. Let's try to be adults here and be unafraid." said Jake. "Now, I want all of you to stand up. Remember, your not here, your eating dinner."
Tom covered his mouth with his hand and walked to the other side of the ship where he nearly wet himself laughing. He and Jake both shared the same laugh.
"Now I know where you get that from, Jake..." I said. He smiled and nodded. Tom came back red in the face. Surprisingly, the parents got up. They had their eyes closed as if they were in another place. They started to walk forward, but smashed into one another. Tom ran to the other side of the ship again where he laughed again. He really didn't have to do that. Because everyone one else was laughing, too. Especially me. I surprised myself. I never laugh hard. But I sounded just like Jake. All the Animorphs turned to look at me strangely. Rachel walked over to me and felt my forehead.
"He's not hot....." she said.
"Rachel, don't! You'll make him laugh even harder." said Marco.
"Jake! Now look what you've done! You've rubbed off on Tobias!" said Cassie. He shrugged. Then looked at me.
"Tobias? What's wrong with you? You sound to much like me." said Jake. I tried hard to stop laughing. In a few seconds I stopped. But I knew that anything could set me off again. I was in one of those happy, hyper moods I am very seldom in. And now was not a good time for my mood.
"Um....sorry. That was just funny to me, I don't know." I said. I smiled stupidly. Marco was making a weird face and was shaking his head.
"You are all crazy." he said. Tom came back. We looked around. All the parents were looking at us, amused.
"Your right, Marco. But your crazy, too." said Marco's mom. We all laughed, but not nearly as hard. Ax was looking at us all during our act. He came up to us. We looked at the adults, afraid that Ax coming closer would make them afraid again. But they stood tall, trying their best not to be afraid and to impress us with their bravery.
*Are you done making strange mouth sounds?* he asked. We all smiled.
"Okay...now that that's over....is everyone ready to leave?" asked Jake. The adults looked at each other. But then they all looked forward and nodded.
"Okay. Ax? Open the doors." said Jake.
*Computers, Open the doors.* said Ax. The door slid open. We all turned to exit. We looked over our shoulders to make sure that the adults were following us. They were. They were all also shaking. We heard the captain's thought speech voice.
*Welcome, humans, aboard the dome ship. Do not fear us. We are friends.* he said. The adults stepped out onto the floor. They were trying very hard not to show that they were frightened, and you had to admire that.
*Warrior Aximili? Please tell the humans about the following things they will do.* said the captain.
*Yes, sir. Humans, you will be taking a trip to the andalite home world. Very shortly you will dock the ship. It will be quite larger than the one you were just on, and each family will have their own private quarters, or rooms. Now you will be introduced to Captain Feytore and then we will board the ship.* said Ax.
*Thank you, Aximili. As the warrior has said, I am Captain Feytore. I am very glad to meet you all, the proud parents of these fine examples of warriors. Please come with me, and we can discuss some of the issues that I need to talk to you about. I ask that only the families of the warriors go. The warriors will need to board the ship ahead of time to be for certain everything is aboard that humans will need.* said the Captain. He turned to leave the room.*Follow me.* he said. Everyone moved, shakingly, forward. Trying their best to convince themselves that everything would be fine.
"We're all going to be here. Don't be afraid." said Jake as they left the room. We all exhaled relieved breaths, glad that the trauma was over. I was confident that the adults will make it threw.
Another andalite approached us.
*I will take you to the ship.* he said. We all followed him.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We had been on the ship for 2 days already. We were almost there. But it had been a long, boring, tiring 2 days. The adults all sat in their own little huddle and discussed everything. Indeed they had gotten used to it all. They weren't even that afraid of Ax anymore. The rest of us entertained Rachel's sisters by morphing for them. They seemed to especially like the piggy back rides their sister gave them while she was in a grizzly morph. And they liked to see Marco break things when he was in his gorilla morph. Tiring, yes. But it was better than sitting and doing nothing. After a while, though, we were to tired to do anymore morphing. We sat around talking about things. We wanted to spend as much time as possible with Ax. We were only staying on the andalite home-world for a few days. Then, that was it.
*We will be exiting zero-space in approximately 7 minutes.* said Ax.
"Finally." I said. I was getting tired of looking out the window into the white nothingness that was zero-space. It got boring after a while.
"He speaks for all of us." Marco said. We spent the last 7 minutes gathering all of our messes. They had put enough human food in the ship to feed a guy for weeks. We had been chowing down majorly.
Suddenly, as I was looking out of the window, the white nothingness was replaced by the dark, star filled sky of space.
Down below us, I could see a planet. Like our planet, the water was blue. But the land was strangely purple. There was also some yellow and orange, but mostly purple.
"Ax, is that....." I began to ask.
*Yes, that is the home-world. It is not purple, really. Our suns' rays make it look purple.* said Ax.
"Oh." said Jake.
"I just can't believe......" started Cassie, then she began to cry. Jake slipped his arm over her.
"It's okay...." soothed Jake. "What's wrong?"
"All of this.....all of it....." she cried into Jake's arm. I looked toward Cassie and Jake's families, but they were all smiling. Cassie's mom was even crying a little. Jake and Cassie's relationship was definitely noticeable now. Rachel smiled at me and moved closer. She grabbed my hand and held it between us. She kissed me on the cheek. I blushed, big time. My mom and Rachel's family smiled, too. Marco and Tom exchanged a look. Then Marco smiled. He walked over to Tom and held his hand.
"There, you can all smile at us, now, too." said Marco. Everyone laughed. I felt us descending closer to the planet. As I looked down, I realized we had been descending for a while. We were pretty close to the planet's surface. Ax pushed a few buttons on a control panel. An andalite face appeared on the view-screen.
*This is Prince Cargin-Iropin-Nepred.Your ship has been identified. This is the ship with the humans aboard?* he asked.
*Yes. This is. Where should I land, Prince Cargin?* asked Ax.
*Well, strangely enough, I have been ordered to let you land in an area close to your home. This is a very.....unusual request, coming from a captain. But obey, I must. Land anywhere.* said the andalite and the face disappeared.
*That is an order I never thought an andalite would give.* said Ax. We laughed.
"Well, we're special, right? We get to land wherever we want." said Rachel. Ax directed the ship to land in a secluded area he said was near his home. Then he finally stopped pressing buttons.
*We can all relax for a few minutes. It will take a few minutes for the ship to get to the location.* said Ax. We stood quietly for a few minutes, watching the alien landscape go by below us. It was sort of similar to earth. But not very. The orange trees, the yellow ground, the blue grass, the pinkish-purplish sky.....not that I didn't like it, it was very beautiful. It was just strangely different. Yet I had a weird feeling that I had seen this place before.
The ship finally stopped in a large, open field surrounded by a wooded area. It slowly settled to the ground.
"We're here." I said.
*Computers, open the door.* said Ax. The door opened. A fresh breeze hit us in the face. I looked around, and found my mother with tears running down her face. While everyone got up and walked outside, I went to my mom's side.
"What's wrong?" I asked. She sniffed.
"This place just.....reminds me of the old days. Of the days with your father. Tobias, I don't know if I can do this, I......" she said, her words were replaced by tears. I put my arm around her.
"Yes, you can. I know you can do this. I have faith in you." I said. She looked me in the eye.
"Your right. I can do this." she stood up and let go of me. She started to walk out. I followed her. She took a deep breath before she stepped outside. She took an even bigger breath before she stepped on the ground. She knelt down and grabbed some of the alien soil up. She smelled it, smiling.
"This place smells like him." she said. "I can sense that he was here before." She stood up. Then she joined the rest of the parents. Ax started to walk towards a worn pathway that led threw the forest.
*This way. Follow me.* he said. Everyone followed. We walked for a few minutes. I enjoyed getting out of the ship and stretching my legs out. We didn't get quite as much shade from the orange trees, because they weren't as big as earth trees, but there was some. I enjoyed the serenity and tranquillity of it all. Of being in my father's homeland. It made me feel special. Proud. Part of something bigger than myself. The minutes passed silently.
We finally broke out of the pathway of trees and into a big open field. A ways off was a hole dug into the ground. A big hole. With a tent-like thing over it. We heard Ax gasp. Then he started to gallop fast toward it. It was Ax's scoop. Ax's family scoop. Inside the scoop was another andalite. I guessed Ax's mother. His father was back on the ship still. There were also three, little, andalites. They were sitting near the scoop. I had never seen an andalite sit before. I guessed it was because they hadn't learned to walk yet.
*Mother! It is Aximili!* shouted Ax. The andalite's stalk eyes turned.
*Aximili! How wonderful it is to see you!* she called. They sort of "hugged". Their eyes smiled.
*While you were gone, Aximili.....you gained three siblings. Trip-lites. All girls. I know you will love them.* she led Ax around to the outside of the scoop. The rest of us ran forward, and stood before Ax and his mother.
*Mother, these are my human friends. Let me introduce you to them. This is Rachel, Cassie, Marco, Prince Jake, and Tobias....surely father has told you of Tobias.* he said.
*Yes, of course he has. Why should he not? It is truly delightful to meet you, Tobias, son of Elfangor. It is an honor to have you here this short while. All of you. And your families. I hope you enjoy it here.* she said, in a formal manor. She motioned towards the baby andalite trip-lites. *Meet my daughters, Shannon, Kathy, and Jenny. They are human names, mind you. I was looking threw some information on humans when I ran across a list if human names. These three names sounded simply beautiful to me. Why should they not have human names? Part of our family is human, is it not?* she said. We all smiled. We were kind of nervous. What way were we supposed to act?
Then, I thought back to the Shivora. Was it time? Is it time? Suddenly, I looked around. Everyone was standing still. Everyone, that is, except me, Rachel, Cassie, Jake, Marco, and Ax. It was, indeed, time.
"Shivora."
"Shivora." Rachel and I said at the same time.
YES. IT IS NOW TIME. Said/thought-spoke the Shivora. Everyone except Rachel and me looked confused.
"What's a Shivora?" asked Jake.
YOU WILL FIND OUT NOW, JAKE.
Jake, Cassie, Marco and Ax went into a trance. They looked straight ahead. The Shivora was informing them of everything, all right. The information was being zapped into their heads faster than a ship rocketing threw z-space. Their eyes blinked. They looked at me and Rachel.
"Is everything true?" asked Jake. We nodded.
*That is a huge technology gap. It's-It's impossible! No race could be that advanced!* said Ax.
"Well, there is. And this is what it did for us." said Rachel. Cassie covered her mouth with her hands and started laughing and crying at the same time. Quite a site. But when we all started doing it, it no longer seemed irregular. It seemed the proper time and place and situation.
YOU MUST KEEP ALL OF THIS TO YOURSELVES. NO ONE IS TO KNOW ABOUT US. IF EVEN ONE OF YOU TELLS ANOTHER SENTIENT BEING, THEN EVERYTHING WILL GO BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS, AND ALL OF YOUR MEMORIES OF THIS WILL BE ERASED. UNDERSTOOD? He sounded like my old social studies teacher. But I understood. I understood very well. So did everyone else. The Shivora left. Everyone who had been frozen earlier was now moving again. To them, nothing had happened. Jake wrinkled his brow in thought.
"Um....what were your, uh, baby's names again?" asked Jake. Ax's mother looked at him oddly.
*Shannon, Kathy, and Jenny.* she said, confused. *You like these names?* she asked.
"Oh, yeah...they're great." Jake commented fakely. All of a sudden, one of the baby andalites struggled to it's feet. She took an uncertain look around, and tried to walk toward Jake.
*Jasolo!* said Ax's mother.
*Jasolo means, first few steps an andalite infant makes.* Ax explained.
*I knew Shannon would be the first to walk. She was the first to sit and the first to say a few words. Jenny and Kathy seem slower.* said Ax's mother, enjoying her daughter's "Jasolo". The rest of us exchanged a look with each other. Wasn't the Shannon we knew always the first to volunteer to do things, too?
*This must have been the doings of the Shivora.* said Ax so only we could hear. Jake nodded.
*Hi, guys! Long time, no see! How've you been, fearless leader?* said a thought speech voice. I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. The voice laughed.
*It's me, guys! Don't you remember me? Shannon?* asked the andalite baby. We all stared.
*How exactly did you come to be here?* asked Ax.
*I was never a human. I have always been an andalite. But the Shivora made me a human on Earth, first. Jenny and Kathy, too. We have each lived a human life. He gave us a mission: find you. Tell you. Get you here. Then he said we would be reborn as the form that was rightfully ours. But we got a little extension on life, if you get what I'm saying.* said Shannon. It really was her. All the time. And we never knew.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
AFTERWARDS
(15 years later)
A lot of time has gone by since then. Almost 15 years. The andalites finished off the last of the yeerks soon after we returned back to earth. We see Ax time and again. He became a great war-prince and now has a young son of his own, Elfangor-Hesobit-Cooraf, named after his brother. His wife's name is Feldany-Urydi-Hesobit. He comes by sometimes with his family and his sisters to visit. But mainly for the cinnabuns.
Jake is happily married to Cassie. They live in Cassie's house with their two sons Jacob II, and Matthew, and their daughter, Joy, and all the animals imaginable. Cassie took over her mom's job as head vet at the Gardens. The barn is still the rehabilitation clinic, and Jake runs it.
Marco and Melissa are also happily married with two sons, Marco II, and Michael. They live in a nice home a few neighborhoods away, but we still see them frequently. And they only have one pet. A dog. Marco develops computer screen-savers (we always knew Marco would have a job dealing w/ comps.) In his spare time he writes comic books about, what else, us, and Melissa works as a middle school teacher.
And, Rachel and I are happily married. With, surprise, 5 kids. Three boys, Tobias II, Alan, (For Elfangor. Alan was his name he used on earth), and Max, (For Ax.), and two girls, Andrea, (for Aldrea), and Zena, (for Xena. How could we possibly resist.). We live in my mom's house. Rachel is a fashion designer and she has her own line of cloths. Animorphisis. We all got a kick out of that. I am a pilot (surprise, I still like to fly). I never thought I would get a job like that. Flying a ship is nowhere near as good as really flying. Although, our technology is more improved than it was 15 years ago. No one hardly uses planes anymore. So I don't fly airplanes. I fly spaceships to Mars. There are two flights everyday. There are some humans living on Mars.
Weird, how we all survived it all. Strange how we are all still so close. Amazing that we all can go on with our lives and we can tell our kids tales of the past. They don't take it too seriously. But someday they will. I try hard not to think about it too much anymore. I try to concentrate on my kids, my work....Rachel. But sometimes, when we all are getting together , something will slip from someone's mouth, and we are all thinking about it. It happens. Sometimes it's good to look back. Other times not so. We can only hope for a better, brighter, future. 15 years ago, our futures were all changed. For the better. But one word is on all of our minds constantly. Everyday, every minute, every hour, every second. One word. The last word my father ever uttered. The word that is something everyone needs to have and will be with all of us forever...........
*Hope.......*
- 1
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Hope