Chapter One

“On your right is the door to the Oval Office. The office of the President of the United States, perhaps the most powerful person in the world.” Marco threw me a look. One of those looks that said, “If they only knew.” If they only knew there’s someone else right here on Earth possibly far more powerful than any president or king or prime minister. Jake and Marco think it’s better people don’t know the truth about that someone else. Me? Lately I wonder. Lately I think it might be better to go public.

Let the world know that Earth has been invaded by an alien species led by someone—something—more evil and more powerful than most humans can probably imagine.

That’s what I think. I’m Rachel. No last name. You probably already know why. But in case you don’t, it’s for security. Yours and ours. And it’s the same with all of us. We’re the Animorphs. Jake, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and me.

We’re also just kids, at least on the outside. You wouldn’t know us if you saw us cruising the mall on a Saturday afternoon or riding a bike down the middle of the street.

Or touring the White House with a bunch of other kids. Fact: We aren’t like other kids. We were once. But never again. After a certain point, you just can’t go back to where you started. Even if you want to. Which I have to admit—I don’t. To repeat: The Yeerks are here. Parasitic aliens. Their goal is to conquer the human race. And believe me they’ve been doing it, one human at a time. But they’re getting impatient now. And more aggressive. Maybe you’ve seen something about the Yeerks on the internet. Maybe also about us. Recently, we were involved in a big throw down on an aircraft carrier out in the middle of the ocean. And there was an episode with some campers that went bad. The actual events got some press coverage, but the stories were buried on the back pages. Relegated to Web sites run by sci-fi fans.

The only people who believed the few witnesses with the nerve or dementia to tell the truth about what they saw are pretty much the same folks who believe every nutty story they hear from the media.

Most of the American public thinks the Yeerk invasion story is something straight off the front page of the Enquirer. Baby born with antelope snout. Melted Snickers bar in shape of St. Francis’s head cures rabies. Yeah, like that’s really happening. Or just another urban myth. Like Batman. And alligators in the subway.

I’m not one of those kooks or cranks. And I’m here to tell you that the Yeerk invasion is not a myth, urban or otherwise. The Yeerk invasion is real. Yeerks are slugs. They crawl into your ear, fit themselves into your brain, and then take control. Which is why hosts are known as Controllers. The problem with human-Controllers? They could be anybody. Your sweet mother, your smelly science teacher, the cute pitcher on the local softball team. And they could be anywhere. At home, at school, at the park. In the White House. I glanced at the window. Saw a red-tailed hawk circle in the sky. Tobias. One of us. But a nothlit. A boy who stayed in red-tailed hawk morph for more than two hours and got trapped there. Along with Cassie, Tobias is my best friend in the world. Also kind of my boyfriend. The kind with feathers.

It’s a long story. But because of an inscrutably powerful being known as the Ellimist, Tobias can morph his human self. Even choose to be that human forever, give up the morphing. The fight. Life as a bird of prey.
But he doesn’t choose that option.

Because, just like me, Tobias doesn’t want to go back to where he started. TSEEW! Faint, but oh, yeah. Dracon fire! Half a second later, Tobias crumpled in the air. My heart stopped. The wind sucked out of my lungs. Pain. Disbelief. I watched Tobias plummet to the ground. A scream. Then lots of screams followed by the sound of crashing doors, splintering wood, breaking windows, and thundering footsteps. “What’s going on?” one of the chaperons shouted. I already knew. Marco and Jake, too. And Cassie. The Yeerks were attacking the White House. Men in slim, dark suits, ear wires tucked into their collars, poured into the hallway. Secret Service. Barking orders. “Please move quickly toward the exits!”

Two guys herded the crowd toward double doors at each end of the hallway. Jake motioned to us and we stepped out of the flow or panicked people. Gathered around him.

“I can’t believe this,” Marco hissed. “The White House! You know what this means, don’t you? The Yeerks have finally declared war. Open war. No more covert operations.”

Yeah. Open war. We’d expected the move, but not in this way. Not an attack on the White House. Oxygen was returning to my body. And along with it, all the hate I felt for the Yeerks. For what they had done to Tobias. For what they had done to all of us. I was glad the covert war was over. Glad not to have to pretend anymore. “Tobias is down,” I said. “I saw him get hit. The Yeerks want war, they’ll get it.”

“Everybody slow down,” Jake cautioned. But he looked at me when he said it. Jake never loses a chance to imply that I’m some kind of shoot-first-ask-questionslater loose cannon.

I gulped some air, tried to slow my pulse. Jake is our leader. We do what he says. At least we have so far. But it gets harder and harder for me. Maybe for all of us. “Split up,” Jake ordered. “Battle morphs. Be ready for action. But don’t do anything stupid.” No time to get mad about that “stupid” remark. I knew it was meant for me. More Secret Service men thundered into the hallway. Broke open the doors to the Oval Office. I stepped away from Jake and slipped behind a heavy curtain. I was going grizzly. My biggest, baddest morph.

Just for a moment—just for the goof—imagine a tall, blonde human girl turning into a grizzly bear, in an animated Disney version. No doubt the process would look graceful. Whimsical. Charming, even.

Let me tell you something. The people at Disney do not know squat about the reality of morphing. Not the people at Nickelodeon or the people at DreamWorks, either.

You watch somebody morph, you could lose your lunch. My face stretched and thickened. My shoulders bulked up. I closed my eyes to concentrate, speed the process when… “What’s the matter with you? Get out of there!” I opened my eyes. The curtain had been ripped aside. A Secret Service agent glared at me. I glared back. “Quit fooling around, kid. We’re trying to save your life.” I’d risked my life more times than I could count. Fought every kind of monster the galaxy could muster. And he had the nerve to tell me to stop—fooling around! Tobias was probably lying dead on the White House lawn. And this clown wanted me to stop fooling around. The guy didn’t know beans about what was happening on his own watch. That’s when it happened. Something snapped. Some spring inside me just went BOOINNGGGG! Maybe when he was lying on the ground in ten pieces he would figure out I hadn’t been fooling around. I wanted blood. I could smell it. I could taste it. Was it the grizzly in me that wanted to kill? Or was it the me in me? I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to know. I just wanted to take his face off. I snarled and reached out to slice him from head to toe.