Help me."

I tried to get up. There was a body lying on me. Hork-Bajir. His wrist blade was jammed against my side.

I tried to lift up with all four legs, lift the dead thing off me. But I only had three legs. My left hind leg lay across the bright-lit floor, a curiosity, a macabre relic. Tiger's paw.

OCRed By Arpit Nathany

I tried to slide. That was better. The floor was wood, highly polished. Slick with blood, animal, alien, human. I reached out with my two front paws, extended the claws, and dug them into the wood. They didn't catch at first. But then my right paw chewed wood and I gained traction. A voice said, "Help. Please help me." 1

I dragged myself slowly, carefully, gingerly out I felt a wave of relief. The last I'd seen of from beneath the bladed alien. The pain in the Cassie she was in trouble.

missing leg was intense. Don't let anyone ever In the distance, out through the big doors, tell you animals don't feel pain. I've been a lot of down the dark hallway, I heard the hoarse vocals animals. Mostly they feel pain.

of a grizzly bear. Rachel. Not fighting, not any<Jake? Jake?> more, just raging, raging. Roaring with the frusIt was Cassie. <Yeah. I'm here.> tration of a mad beast looking for fresh victims With a lurch I was free of the weight pressand finding none. ing me down. I rose, shaky on three legs. Looked Marco was already demorphed. A kid. My age, around through the tiger's eyes.

but he looked so young to me. My best friend. It was a fabric-cutting room. A design house. He'd demorphed to human because the alternaYou know, dresses no one actually wears. The tive was bleeding to death from the gash across kind of stuff you see on Style With Elsa Klensch his gorilla throat.

as you're flipping channels.

Demorph to human. All better. No pain.

Fashion? Strange front organization for the

"I'm cold. I'm cold, help me," the voice Yeerks. Why?

called.

There were hugely wide, long tables covered

<Make sure he can't see you,> I warned Marco. in cloth. One tilted up weirdly, one leg had been Rachel came lumbering back into the room, broken off entirely. Kind of like me. There were eight hundred pounds of shaggy brown fur and big rolls of patterned fabrics on that end that railroad spike claws and a vaguely quizzical grin weighed the table down and made it balance, that hid sharp canines. <Where's Tobias?> like a seesaw, not up, not down.

I didn't answer. I didn't know the answer. Overhead there were banks of brilliant fluoRachel began shoving and lifting Hork-Bajir rescent lights. Splashes of stylish neon on the bodies. She found Tobias, a crumpled hawk. He bare brick walls. Bodies everywhere. Blood. was breathing.

Slashes of it.

<Tobias, morph!>

<Cassie?>

I heard the clop, clop of delicate hooves. Ax I saw the wolf limp out from behind an overwas behind me. As alien as any of the dead lying turned cart. She was alive.

around us. A dainty centaur. The body of a blue 2

deer or antelope, with an upper body not so difmaybe twenty years old. A human with an alien ferent from humans. A head that was very differslug in his head. ent, mouth less, with two extra eyes perched atop

"Help me," he said to the tiger's face looming movable stalks. His long, dangerous tail was wet above him. "I'm cold. Help me." with gore.

He was cut. Badly. It was a Hork-Bajir slash. We'd been in many fights. This one was bad. Friendly fire, that's what it's called when one of This one would invade my sleep and wake me your own troops accidentally injures you. Kills sweating and crying.

you. Hork-Bajir in the middle of violence slashed

<Tobias! Listen to me! Go to human!> one of their comrades.

"Someone . . . so cold . . . help . . ."

<Leave him, Yeerk,> I said. <Let him alone, Cassie trotted over to Rachel. She demorphed at last. Get out of his head. Let him do this last swiftly.

thing as a free human being.>

So good to see her. Healthy. Whole. Beautiful His face was pale. White. Waxy, like a white in my eyes.

candle. Someone had smashed his head, man"He's okay," Cassie assured Rachel. "I think gled his ears. I recognized the marks of a tiger's he's just stunned."

claw. His brown eyes stared up at me.

As if to prove her right Tobias ruffled a wing

"I can't get out," the Yeerk inside his head and said, <Hey! What? Oh. Oh. I'm alive.> said to me. "The ears are blocked. Can't get out.

<More or less,> Rachel growled. <That was a I'm trapped."

crazy thing to do, you idiot! You dive-bomb a

may send reinforcements.>

<You know?> he said. <Thinking back now, it

"I'm cold," the human-Controller said. was crazy.>

"Just. . . just get me a blanket or.. ."

<ldiot,> Rachel said. But she managed to put

<Prince Jake,> Ax prodded.

an awful lot of affection into that one insult. To"I'm scared. Does that. . . does that make bias had saved her life, nearly ending his own. you happy, Andalite?" the dying man said. I limped over to the one injured human in the To the Yeerks we were Andalites. The morphroom. A human-Controller. An enemy. A man, ing technology is Andalite science, far beyond 4

anything a human was yet capable of. So to them we were Andalites, a misunderstanding we deliberately fostered. Ax was the only true Andalite in our group.

<No. It doesn't make me happy,> I said.

"The pain . . . can't you help me? Cold. Help me."

<Come on, Jake.> It was Marco. He'd remorphed. To osprey this time. We needed to escape. The air was our surest way out. Grow wings and fly. Fly and put it all behind us. Pretty soon we'd be joking. Laughing. Trying anything that would make us forget what we'd seen.

What we'd done.

"Help . . ."

My name is Jake.

<Let's go,> I said.

I live in a normal American city, in a normal I demorphed. Out of sight of the doomed ConAmerican state. troller. Then I grew falcon's wings and flew out I love my mom and my dad. I even love my big through a window Rachel opened with her fist. brother, Tom. I like basketball and hate math and get a little down when it rains for more than one day. I think those little Audi TT's are cool but if I had the money, and was old enough, I'd probably drive a Jeep.

I live on burgers and fries and have never voluntarily consumed a brussels sprout. My room is a mess. My homework is late. My class notes are so disorganized they cannot be read by anyone except Marco, who has been living 6

off my notes for five years or more, and someI'm the leader of the Animorphs. I don't know times has to interpret them for me.

how that happened. It was some doom proI cried the day Michael Jordan retired. And I nounced by Marco. Why me? Because, Marco can still tell you what time it was, what day, said. Because it has to be.

week, month, hour, minute, and second, what I We were five kids taking a shortcut home from was wearing and what I was eating when Mark the mall at night. There was a ship. There was an McGwire banged his record homer.

alien. There was the destructive worm of knowlI'm a kid. A kid with a dog and parents and edge: You are not alone. You are not safe. Nothing teachers and friends. Just a kid.

is what it seems. No one is who they seem to be. I have these nightmares. Sometimes I'm a The knowledge of betrayal and terror. The termite, trapped inside a piece of wood, can't get awareness of evil.

out and the clock is ticking, ticktock, ticktock, And then, the power.

can't escape, wooden walls and blackness all The power made us responsible, see. Without around me, pressing me tight.

the power the knowledge would have just been a Sometimes I'm falling. Flying and my wings worm of fear eating up our insides.

just aren't there and I'm a mile up in the sky, Bad enough. But it was the power that turned falling, and thinking, / can't fly! I can't fly!

fear into obligation, that laid the weight on our Sometimes still, even now, I see the dark red unready shoulders.

eye of Crayak and feel his malice reaching for me We could become any animal we'touched, the all across the millions of light-years. Andalite told us.

But the worst dream is just me and Cassie. Power enough to win? No. Power enough to And we're standing in the forest somewhere. fight? Ah, yes. Just enough, little Jake, here is She's outlined in light. You know, like there's a just enough power to imprison you in a cage of bright light hidden behind her. And it's almost duty, to make you fight.

like she's shining. And there's this cave. And I'm

"Help me. I'm cold."

telling her to go in, and she's looking at me with Another battle. Another horror.

trust in her eyes, looking at me and loving me Couldn't anything make it end? Was there no and believing in me and trusting me and I'm way out? Was I trapped, fighting, fighting till one telling her to go into the cave.

by one my friends died or went nuts?

I lay on my bed. Stared up at the ceiling. closer. Closer till his face was only inches from

"Help me. Please. I'm cold."

my own.

Into the cave, Cassie.

"There is a way out," the Drode whispered. All for what? For nothing. To delay the Yeerks,

"Say the word and it never was, Jake. Say the but never to win. And someday, to lose. word, Jake, and you never walked through the Was there no way out?

construction site. Say the word and you know

"There's always a way out, Jake the Mighty," nothing. No weight on your shoulders. Say the a voice said. "My lord Crayak holds out his omword." nipotent hand to you, Jake the Yeerk Killer. Jake

"Go away," I said through gritted teeth. the El I i mist's tool."

"How long till your cousin Rachel loses her I sat up. I knew the voice.

grip? You know the darkness is growing inside The Drode stood by my desk. It wasn't large. her. How long till Tobias dies, a bird, a birdl How It perched forward like one of those small dican he ever be happy? How long till Marco is nosaurs. It had mean, smart eyes in a humanoid forced to destroy his own Controller mother? Will head. It was wrinkled, dark green or purple he survive that, do you think? How long, Jake, till maybe. So dark it was almost black. The mocking you kill Tom? Then what dreams will come, Jake mouth was lined with green.

the Yeerk Killer?"

The Drode was Crayak's creature, his emis"Get out of here. Crawl back under your sary, his tool. Crayak was . . . Crayak was evil. A rock."

power so vast, so complete that only the Ellimist

"It will happen, Jake. You know that. The could keep him in check. A balance of terror: evil cave. The day will come. You know what the cave and good checking each other, limiting each is, Jake. You know what it means, that dark cave. other, making deals that affected the survival of You know that death is within. When she dies, entire solar systems.

when Cassie dies, it will be at your word, Jake."

"Go away," I said to the Drode. I covered my face with my hands.

"But you called me."

"My master Crayak offers you an escape. In

"Go back to Crayak. Leave me alone." his compassion Great Crayak has struck a deal The Drode smiled. He got up and moved

with that meddling nitwit Ellimist. Crayak would 10

free you, Jake. Crayak would free you all. All will be as it would have been if you had simply taken a different path home."

I saw that moment again. At the mall. Deciding whether to take the safe, well-lit, sensible way home. Or the route that would take us through the construction site, and to a meeting that would change everything.

Undo it. Undo it all. No more war. No more pain and fear and guilt?

"Just one word, Jake," the Drode whispered.

"No . . . no, two, I think. One must not sacrifice D A Y O N E

good manners. Two words and it never was. Two words and you know nothing, have no power, no responsibility."

We hooked up at the mall. I was there with

"What words?"

Rachel.

"One is Crayak. The other is please." Rachel is my best friend. No one knows why, I wanted to say no.

least of all either of us. We could not possibly be I wanted to say no . . .

more different.

I wanted . . .

Here are Rachel's priorities in order of importance: shopping and gymnastics. Me, I'm into animals.

Rachel is every cover girl from every Made- moiselle or Seventeen you've ever seen. Tall, thin, blond hair and flawless complexion, and approximately four hundred shiny white teeth. To make matters worse, she can't just be written off as another fashion bimbo.

She's not mean. She's not a snob. She is not 12

a member of any clique. She is her own, one-girl see the excitement in hunting: the combination clique. That's the power she has: to be everyone's of knowledge and instinct and the thrill of stalkvision of physical and intellectual perfection and ing and closing in for the kill.

not to care.

The girl makes the pursuit of a forty-percentSometimes I wonder where she gets it from. off sweater in just the right size and just the right Not the hair, or the clothing, or even her eerie color seem like a safari to track down a manability to never be messy, dirty, or wet. I wonder eating lion.

where she gets the indifference. I wonder how

"Twenty-five percent off at Express, that's fine," she can have every boy in school throwing himshe said. "But, same basic sweater, better mix of self in her path, and be indifferent.

fabrics, forty percent off at Structure? Plus, the Not that she's humble. No. You wouldn't call point is, this sweater goes with the jeans on sale at her humble. She knows she's special. But she's The Gap or the jeans on sale at the department impatient with the whole idea of being popular or store, and the Express sweater only goes with The whatever.

Gap jeans."

I get the feeling with Rachel that she's wait"I know I'm going to be sorry I asked this," I ing. Impatient. Looking for something more. Movsaid, "but how can one sweater that is almost ing through life in search of a very different identical to another sweater not go with a pair of destiny.

basically identical jeans?"

Her sports are gymnastics and shopping. She Rachel gave me the look. The look of inknows she'll never be a great gymnast; she's alcredulity and confusion. ready about twice as tall as the average gymnast.

"Cassie, you know I love you, but did you just That part of her interests me but not as much as get in from Uzbekistan?" she asked. her shopping.

"Yes. Yes, Rachel, I just flew in from UzbekSee, it's not about the stuff with her. It's huntistan." ing.

"Shape. Color. Cut. Waistline." She shook her I could never be friends with someone who head in mock pity. "How do you expect to get went out and hunted animals. Sorry, but people through life without an appreciation of what goes who want to shoot deer are not going to be my with what?"

friends. But when I'm with Rachel at the mall I

"I expect life will just be one long struggle." 14

Rachel laughed. No one was more amused by Believe me, he doesn't know you're black. That's her obsession with shopping than she was. how little he would care. Jake is the one guy out Like I said, Rachel was waiting for something of a thousand who really does care about who you else. She didn't know what. I sure didn't. are, not what you look like."

"Don't look," I hissed. "It's Jake."

"So, how do I look?" I asked anxiously.

"I can't look at my cousin?"

"Like you should be singing eee-yi-eee-yi-oh.

"You can look, just don't look, that's all I'm You're wearing Wal-Mart overalls with bird poop saying."

on the cuffs. You have no makeup on and there's

"You mean, don't look at him in a way that will dirt under your fingernails . . . that is just dirt, somehow convey to him that you are hot for him?

isn't it?"

That you want his lips pressed against yours? That I looked down at my fingernails and tried to you want his big, strong arms wrapped all around remember. "Probably dirt. Possibly manure." you?"

"Yeah, well, you compensate for your Old

"Yeah, Rachel, that's what I meant. That is MacDonald clothing sense by being pretty, very exactly what I meant."

smart, very cool, and the most completely real Jake is cute. Not cute in a little itsy-bitsy person I've ever met."

he's-so-cute kind of way. He's a big guy. Not

"Thanks. Thanks for the last half, anyway." hulking big, just like he's two years older than he Jake was with his best friend, Marco. Marco really is. He's also smart and funny and modest. and Jake were not as mismatched as Rachel and I think he likes me. We sit together on the bus I, at least from what I knew. I don't know Marco sometimes. Sometimes we seem to accidentally much at all, just to say " h i " to. end up near each other at assemblies, or in He's small, especially alongside Jake. He has class.

fairly long, dark hair and an olive complexion and He's never asked me out. I've never asked a permanently amused expression.

him out. Needless to say Rachel finds all this Marco is a comedian. Not a class clown, not a touching, funny, and completely idiotic. guy who wants to make the teacher mad. He just I asked her once, "Do you think he's okay with seems to think the world is funny. I guess a psyme being African-American and all?" chologist would call it a defense mechanism. His She said, "Cassie, I've known Jake all my life. mom died a couple years ago. Anyway, maybe 16

that's it. Or maybe he's just funny. Anyway, if Jake started to form a word, but Rachel had Jake likes him he must be okay.

him now.

Yeah, I don't sound too much like someone

"You think we're helpless just because —" with a crush.

I cut her off. "I'd appreciate it if they did walk There was a third guy with them. This kid with us. I know you're not afraid of anything, named Tobias. He's kind of an unknown to me. Rachel, but I guess I am."

He seems like he's kind of latched onto Jake. Rachel shot me a harsh look. I was spoiling Jake is too nice to ever tell him to go away, and I her fun.

could see he was trying to include Tobias in the To get home from the mall we could either go conversation and all. But Tobias was still standa long way around, which is the safe way, or we ing a little apart. Looking a little uncomfortable, could cut through this abandoned construction trailing a little behind.

site and hope there weren't any ax murderers The three of them were coming out of the hanging around there.

video game place. Marco looked like he was teasWe took the long way. ing Jake.

Ten minutes of mostly silent walking later, ToJake spotted us. For a moment he had a deerbias said, "Hey, what's that?" in-the-headlights look. Then he put on his nonI turned and looked in the direction Tobias chalance.

was pointing. A streak of light, off to our right.

"Hey, Rachel. Hi, Cassie."

"Meteorite?" Jake suggested.

Rachel whispered, "Can I look at him now?"

"Great," Marco muttered. "A meteorite falls

"You guys going home?" Jake asked. "You out of the sky and totally misses the school. That shouldn't go through the construction site by is so not fair."

yourselves. I mean, being girls and all." We kept walking.

This was a mistake. Jake knew it as soon as But I had the strangest feeling. Like . . . like the words were out of his mouth, I could see it. going into a room you know, where you're faBut it was too late. miliar with every stick of furniture, and it's

"Are you going to come and protect us, you your room, and it's just like it always has been, big, strong m-a-a-a-n?"

only somehow, in some way that only appears 18

as a tingling on the back of your neck, it's different. I shook it off. I had other things to focus on. Like whether Jake was ever going to even hold my hand.

D A Y S E V E N

I woke up.

Great. Another day.

The couch I was sleeping on was saggy in the middle and smelled of cigarette smoke. But my uncle had gotten drunk and passed out on the floor in my room. So I took the couch.

It was okay, at least that way I could watch TV

till I fell asleep.

I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. I needed to find something to wear. My uncle doesn't do laundry, I do. So I knew exactly what I had available. A nice collection of stuff that could make me look like a complete dork or a complete lowlife, my choice.

My uncle also doesn't buy a lot of stuff for 20

me. I'm what you'd have to call "low priority" in and headed for the bus stop. That part was okay. his life. Half the stuff I had was stuff he'd thrown No major hassles at the bus stop, usually. It's not away. Or else stuff I'd picked up from my aunt's till I'm on the bus that it started. This kid named attic whenever I was shuttled off to be with her Andy and his creep sidekick who for some reason for a few months.

was called Tap-Tap, enjoyed kidney punching The food was better at my aunt's. She didn't me. They'd wait till we were getting off the bus, pass out in my room. She had her own brand of find some way to get up behind me, and when I fun. She'd work me like her own personal slave. was all crammed in, they'd nail me once or twice That's how I knew what was in the attic: I in the back.

cleaned it out. And she'd keep me out of school I am what they call a bully magnet. I don't to run errands for her or just to "be there" in case know why. I just am.

she needed me.

Used to be these two other guys who had the At least my uncle let me go to school. He'd job of torturing me. Their thing was swirlies. You have let me go to Australia and not cared. Not a know, they'd grab me by the ankles and knees nice feeling knowing that if you were ever kidand dip my head in the toilet while they flushed. napped or whatever, there was no one around to Used to. This guy named Jake came into the bother and call the cops.

boys' room while they were doing it. He told them But, hey, that's life. It's worse for lots of kids. to step off. That was it, but he had a way of sayMarco's mom died. His dad is a wreck. Marco ing it, I guess.

does everything.

Those two haven't bugged me since.

My mom probably died, too. And my dad. I I don't think Jake has a big reputation as a don't know. Everyone just says my mom ran off. tough guy or anything. He's kind of quiet, actuEveryone says my dad ran off before I was born. ally. Almost shy. But there's something about Or sometimes they make up stories, like they him that makes you take him seriously.

both died in an accident. Sometimes I make up I hung around with him for a while. Totally stories. The truth, if there ever was any truth, was lame on my part. Jake has a best friend who lost a long time ago.

doesn't like me, I don't think. After a while it was Doesn't matter.

kind of obvious that I wasn't going to be part of I put on the least pathetic clothes I could find that circle of friends.

That was okay. I was still grateful. I guess Andy laughed. "But you're so nice and easy," Jake is who I'd like to be if I could be someone he said. "No one else is as big a wuss as you." else. But there was a long list of people I'd rather Tap-Tap joined in the laughter. "You're the be than me.

man, Toby."

I managed to avoid Andy and Tap-Tap on the Tap-Tap shoved me suddenly forward. Off bus. Which just meant they'd lie in wait for me balance I slammed into Andy.

some other time. Probably it would have just

"Hey! He attacked me, Tap-Tap!" been better to take my beating and move on,

"Sure did. Toby, man, what's up? Are you getwithout all the suspense of wondering when they ting all violent and stuff?"

were going to get me.

"He pushed me," Andy said in mock inYeah, right, Tobias. That's a good way to live. credulity.

I had to wait all day. Sixth period. I headed for Wham!

the boys' room. The boys' room is always dangerThe punch caught me low in my gut. ous for me, but I couldn't hold out all day. Wham! Wham!

I went in, hoping against hope that a monitor I was down, twisting my legs around, pretzelwould be in there. But it was me, and two guys I ing to keep from peeing.

didn't know, and Andy and Tap-Tap.

Thunk!

"Toby, Toby, Toby," Andy called out. "Hey, A kick that caught me in the ribs. I rolled man, I missed you on the bus this morning. I over, rolled onto crushed paper towels, head thought we were friends."

against one of the stall uprights.

I felt the surge of fear. The ice in my stomach. Thunk!

The urgent desire to wet myself. Tap-Tap moved A second kick. The pain was shocking. I was fast to get behind me, block my escape. scared. They'd really hurt me, this time. Oh, Tap-Tap grabbed me by my shoulders from God, they'd really hurt me, who was going to take behind. Should I beg? Would begging do any me to the hospital?

good?

I lay there groaning, back wet from splashed

"Why don't you guys find someone else to toilet water puddles. I lay there groaning and pick on," I said. Yeah, that'll work. Whining. didn't even realize my tormentors were gone till I Whining will work.

saw the faces of the other two guys, the two guys 24

who'd witnessed the whole scene, looking down at me.

"You okay down there?"

I couldn't talk. The pain. The rage. The humiliation choking me.

"Your life doesn't have to be like this," one of them said. "You don't have to be a victim all the time. There's a way out, man."

The other one drew a small card from his back pocket and handed it down to me. "You don't have to be all alone, man. You don't have to be anyone's punching bag."

They walked away. After a while I managed to stand up.

I threw up in the toilet.

I jerked awake.

I rinsed my face in the sink. I was late for Eyes wide open.

class. Great. That meant a trip to Vice Principal My covers were a mess. My sheet was twisted Chapman.

around my legs. My pillow was damp with sweat, I cried. I was there alone, what did it matter?

but the room was cold.

I cried.

It had happened again. The call. Like a voice, After a while I splashed more water on my but not a voice. Speaking without words. Images. face. And then, I looked at the card.

Pictures, fuzzy, distorted, meaningless. It read THE SHARING.

A wide, grassy field. A glass dome. Trees with pink and blue leaves. And water. Everywhere, water. It gave me the creeps.

"You have a serious case of the willies," I whispered to myself.

I got up, went to the bathroom, drank some 26

water, and spent five minutes rearranging my

"Not that we're saying we expect you to be wild sheets and blankets.

or anything, let me make that perfectly clear. But I couldn't go back to bed. I was wideWe're not saying it's okay." awake now. Adrenaline awake.

"Okay, Dad. I'll stop my wild and crazy ways." I could work on some homework. Work on that They laughed. I laughed. We all knew I was paper.

not exactly the definition of a wild and crazy girl. No.

I told the story to Rachel. She said, "Wow, it I pulled a pair of overalls on over my sleep must be cool to have your parents actually trust shirt. Stuck my bare feet into a pair of muddy, you. Man, that would be great if my mom trusted unlaced boots. Then I took the boots back off. me like that."

Boots were not going to make it easy to sneak

"Because then you could get away with anypast my parents' bedroom. thing?"

I tiptoed down dark stairs to the living room.

"Exactly."

The blue display on the VCR was blinking 00:00

I smiled as I was remembering that. I opened again and again. There was a glass on the coffee the freezer. Hello Ben. Hello Jerry.

table. My dad's. I picked it up and carried it to No. What if Jake wasn't asking me out bethe kitchen and deposited it in the sink. cause of my thighs?

"That's right, Mom and Dad, I couldn't sleep I staggered, gripped the refrigerator door. It so I decided to get up at three A.M. and clean had hit in a wave. The voice. The soundless, house." Yeah, that would work. That wouldn't wordless voice. Calling from the water. seem too insane.

Oh, man, I really was going nuts.

Was that it? Was I going crazy?

And it wasn't just the voice. There was this They say schizophrenia usually appears first sense o f . . . of what? Strangeness? Of things beduring the teen years. I told my mom that once. ing wrong in some way I couldn't figure out?

She said, "Honey, how can anyone tell the differNot funny. Not really. What if I was actually ence between a crazy teenager and a regular mentally ill?

teenager?"

The animals. That was it, I'd go check on the My dad had laughed, then caught himself. barn.

I went out into the night, out through the things, imagining things, remembering things kitchen door rather than the front door because that had never happened. The familiarity of the my parents were less likely to hear me. barn soothed me. But within that very familiarity Our barn is the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. lay a new, unsettling sensation. I saw Jake, pacBoth my folks are vets. My mom works with large ing. I saw Rachel, restless. Marco lolling on a animals at The Gardens. My dad handles the bale of hay. And up there, up in the rafters, a clinic, with some help from me.

bird.

I guess to a lot of people the barn at night A hawk.

would have seemed eerie. Not to me. There were I could almost see him. Almost.

rows of cages, most full. We had muskrats and Madness. I was losing my mind.

raccoons and geese and bats and foxes and deer I was losing my mind.

and a forlorn eagle. All were injured or sick. Many wore bandages. Some were in one form of restraint or another, to keep them from chewing or pecking their own wounds.

They smelled, I guess. Anyway, that's what Marco said when he came —

No, no, he'd never been to the barn. Why would he have ever been to the barn?

"Forget it, Cassie. It's late. It's dark. You're just confused."

My hands shook a little as I tunneled a handful of grain into the goose's cage. She didn't need it, really. I just wanted to do something. Something normal.

"How are you feeling? Huh? Yeah, I know, that wing still hurts, doesn't it?" I went down the row of cages. Tried not to think. Tried not to believe that I was hearing 30

Bajir with my blade, and watched it topple onto the ground.

I was panting. Gasping for air. It was my ninth attack. I was tired.

Or maybe it was all in my head. Maybe it was the billions of pounds of pressure, the water that pressed down from all directions.

There was very little hope left within me now. Too much time had passed. If anyone had survived, if my brother Elfangor had survived, he would have found me.

D A Y T E N

The dome was still intact. It rested on the floor of one of Earth's oceans. It was at a slight angle. I noticed the incline whenever I raced across the vast, open field of grass.

J. raced at full speed, all out, hooves flying, I was not sure how far down I was, how deep. tail tucked down, upper body bowed, stalk eyes All the instrumentation, the main computers and straight back to watch the ground that receded so on had been in the main section of the ship, from me.

spread out along the long corridors, the seemI raced straight for the target, a bundle of ingly endless stalk that connected the dome to sticks tied together to form an extremely crude the distant engines.

representation of a Hork-Bajir-Controller. Likewise all small craft. The fighters, the I ran. Waited. Reveal nothing. No subtle "tells," transports, the scout ships. Anything that would do not give anything away, he is ready to react to fly. All left behind when the dome separated and the slightest clue. Would I go left or right? Stop fell, atmosphere-shrieking and burning, down and strike or shoot past and tail whip him?

Earth's gravity well.

Fwapp!

Life support was intact. The low-power force I shot past, caught the "head" of the Horkfield that kept the transparent dome from being 32

crushed by the ocean's pressure, all that was inUnacceptable. tact. The energy plant would last for a hundred I was alone. Without a prince or a partner. A years. The grass would grow, the trees would single Andalite aristh alone in the submerged bloom. The pond had spilled out during a tempodome of a once-great ship. How many light-years rary loss of artificial gravity, but it had mostly refrom home? What did it matter? I had no ship. filled.

I had called out in bursts of thought-speak. I I could live out my life down here. Live out my had used all my energy, all my strength, to fire life in this habitat meant to duplicate life at bursts of thought-speak, seeking Elfangor. home.

There had been no answer.

Except that I could not do that.

No answer for so long.

Elfangor was probably dead. All the brave I let my momentum carry me past the decapwarriors with him. We had come out of Zeroitated stick figure, on through the pink-leafed space, expecting at most to encounter a few trees. To the dome wall.

scattered Yeerk ships. But they had been waitIt rose up at an angle. I pressed my hand ing. A full Pool ship with its legion of Bug fightagainst the plex. Outside, out in the alien ocean, ers. And more dangerous still, the sleek black creatures swam by. The variety was startling. I Blade ship of Visser Three.

had seen perhaps fifty different species in all, Our warriors had slaughtered the Yeerks. But large and small, some apparently harmless and we had lost some fighters. And then, the Blade some seemingly dangerous.

ship had appeared.

Earth.

Maybe Elfangor had survived, somehow. But Elfangor had said little about the place. It if he had, where was he? A fighter's sensors was not a major planet. There had been some would have located me without great difficulty. speculation that its dominant race was on the And, unfortunately, the same would be true if verge of achieving spaceflight, but aside from a the Yeerks were still present in orbit. Sooner or few hundred primitive orbital satellites there had later they would find me. Some Taxxon watching been no evidence.

a sensor display would catch the blip of trapped One thing was sure, the Yeerks in orbit had air beneath the waves.

not been bothered by Earth-based craft. 34

A long, gray-blue creature swam close by. It admit that. The morphing power is only good for scraped the dome, just a short distance from my two hours at a time. More than that and you are splayed fingers. It had fins at its sides, a triangutrapped. How far was the shore? How hostile lar fin that rose from its back, a raked, aerodywere the inhabitants? Could I hope to survive?

namic tail, and eyes that were small, black, and The Earthers might be savages. There might be empty. It also had something called a mouth. diseases. Predators.

Many species on the home planet did as well. And there was the very real possibility that But this mouth seemed designed as a weapon. the Yeerks were already there in force. There were several rows of jagged triangular You have to decide, I told myself again. But teeth.

not yet.

The fish swam away into the murk. Even when I headed back toward the target. I stopped Earth's sun was high in the sky the light down still and stared. The head was back in place. here was dim, rippling, green-blue. During planHadn't I . . . etary night the dome was so dark that I could I had. I had seen the head fall. Impossible. stand and watch the faint phosphorescence of Decide soon, I told myself. The isolation is passing creatures, like slow comets crossing my having psychological effects.

personal sky.

Aximili, you have to decide, I told myself. I could stay in the dome and wait, a week, a month, a year till the Earthers or the Yeerks spotted me. Or I could venture out of the dome. I had the morphing power. If I could acquire one of these passing creatures I could leave, reach some shore, demorph, and look to make a life among the aliens.

I did not want to be afraid. But I was, I had to 37

thing. You know, that Tobias kid is such a loser we better put someone with him.

But everyone gets a guide at their second meeting. A guide is a full member of The Sharing. I'm still not sure what that means, a "full member." Bill is a little vague about it. What he's not vague about is pool. They have two tables in the back of the meeting hall. He has his favorite.

I gripped the cue. Aimed. Tried to see the angles. Tried to see the impacts: cue tip on cue ball, cue ball on seven ball, seven ball on bumper. D A V T W E N T Y - O N E

"Okay, now relax into it," Bill said. "You want to aim like your life depended on it, then relax Line up on the cue ball, then draw the line like it doesn't really matter, and let your shoulder back through your cue, and forward through the and arm and hand and eye all work together." ball you're trying to hit, then on to the pocket, I tried to relax.

right?"

Thock!

He said "right?" a lot.

The cue ball rolled, hit the seven ball that hit

"It's all about angles. Pool is geometry. A sethe bumper and then curved away from the ries of collisions, all at precise angles." pocket.

His name was Bill. He was a high-school guy,

"Sorry," I said.

older than me, obviously. He was my "guide."

"What do you mean, sorry? You were off by That's what they call it. When you attend your two percent, maybe. You're getting better. You second meeting of The Sharing they assign you a have an eye for this. You can think in three diguide. Someone to answer your questions, somemensions. That's good. You wait, when you beone to hang with you, talk to you. come a full member you'll be thinking in four At first I thought it was some kind of pity dimensions. Five. N-dimensional space." 38

I had no idea what he was talking about, but I snapped the shot. Cue hit cue ball, hit ball, I felt my face redden. Pleasure. His compliment hit bumper. My ball rolled into the pocket. may have been sincere or not. I wasn't sure, but

"Ah!" I yelled, way too excited. I'd take it for what it was worth. There hadn't Bill clapped his hand on my back and gave been all that many compliments in my life. my shoulder a squeeze. "Cool! Good job, Tobias.

"Take the next shot," he said. "I want to see That was not an easy shot."

how you handle it."

We played pool some more till at last some The assumption that I would someday beother guys came up and jokingly demanded the come a full member of The Sharing, that was table.

strange. I'd only attended two meetings. The first

"No problem," Bill said. "My boy Tobias here time I just kind of wandered around lost, feeling is getting too good for me already." like a dork. I filled out some form with my name It wasn't true. But I was better. and address and social security number and all.

"I never played pool before," I said. The form asked me some personal questions,

"Well, each of us has talents and abilities too. Nothing too personal, but enough to make hidden within us," Bill said. "Who knows what me uneasy.

you can do, Tobias? Have you ever had a chance But at the same time, even while I was feelto find out? That's what The Sharing is all about, ing lost, no one made me feel bad. They were man. The whole point is we all help each other to kind of welcoming, like me showing up was a become the best people we can become." cool thing. They didn't press me, didn't try to sell I wanted to ask, "Why?" Why would any bunch me anything, just kind of let me hang out, watch of people want to get together to help me play some kids playing video games, watch other pool, or whatever? I mean, what did they get out of older guys playing basketball out back of the it?

building on a half-court.

But that was just me being cynical. That was When the first meeting was over this guy, this me thinking the whole world was like my uncle. college guy or whatever, came up and shook my It was possible that some people were just nice, hand and asked me personally to come back. right?

I was back. And now I had Bill teaching me to There was a chime. A ringing bell, not too shoot pool.

loud, but insistent.

Bill groaned. "Time for the 'sit down,'" he ing with it. Now I have my own plan for the fusaid. ture, you know? Get past all the stuff, get on with

"What's a sit down?"

my own life, right?"

"That's just what I call it. Every couple of

"Right."

meetings or so they have us all get together, talk We sat down on folding chairs. There must to us about stuff."

have been about forty or fifty people there. Kids,

"Like what?"

older people, white and black and Asian. People

"You know, like the purpose of The Sharing, in expensive clothes and people more like me. and our philosophy and all." He winced. "I Cool kids, nerds, jocks. All sitting together, talkshouldn't complain. I mean, The Sharing has toing, like age or race or whatever didn't matter. tally turned my life around."

I spotted someone I hadn't noticed before.

"Yeah?"

Jake. He was sitting two aisles up, next to his

"Yeah."

brother Tom.

"Like how?"

I was surprised. "That guy up there," I He shrugged and started us toward the main pointed. "Is he a member?"

meeting room. "I used to be messed up, man. My

"Who, Tom? Yeah, Tom is a very senior full folks had a really bad divorce, you know? It was member."

this total mess. Fighting and yelling and lawyers I hadn't been talking about Tom, but the intrying to drag me and my sister one way or the formation surprised me. "You mean like a senior other. Sick."

kid member?"

I nodded like I understood.

Bill smiled. "There's no such thing as old or

"Anyway, I got kind of weird up behind all young, not in The Sharing. We don't draw lines that. Depressed or whatever. Thinking maybe I like that."

didn't want to go on living. But The Sharing took I watched the back of Jake's head as a

me out of all that."

speaker mounted two steps to a low stage. I

"Yeah?"

watched him as the speaker talked to us about He spread his hands wide and smiled. "Not how the lonely individual in society had been depressed anymore, right? I'm moving on. Dealoveremphasized in our culture. There was no true 42

achievement unless you were part of something greater. You had to serve in order to achieve. You had to join with a larger reality.

"That's why we are called The Sharing," the speaker said. "Together we achieve happiness, fulfillment, meaning. Together, holding each other up, supporting each other, working together to overcome individual weakness, individual failing and pain and hurt."

It sounded good, I guess. I kept watching Jake. I don't know why.

£ L. TT TT"P T t . f\ t J

I don't think he knew I was there.

D A Y T W E N T Y - F O U R

I guess it was pathetic but I thought that if he was a member and I was a member, somehow, someway, stupid thought, lame idea, but someYou know, you should go out with me," I how I could become him. And not me. Have his said.

life, and not mine.

For a full five seconds Rachel didn't say anything. She just sort of narrowed her eyes and stared straight ahead.

I grinned. She was trapped. Couldn't get away. We were on a field trip to the natural history museum. We'd already looked at the big stuffed elephant. We'd looked at the diorama showing early man cooking barbecue out with the lions. We'd gaped up at the suspended fiberglass whales. Now we were in the theater where they were about to show us an I MAX film entitled DNA: Mir- acle Molecule. Or some such thing. It was narrated by Paul Shaffer, from Letterman. Weird. 44

The screen was about the size of an old drive-in She was fast. Sharper than I thought. I'd altheater's screen, but it was so close I could pracways assumed she was just this total babe. But tically reach out and touch it.

she was cool. Funny.

So, anyway, we were in the seats next to each Wow. Fantastic looks and she was funny? How other, me and Rachel. Beside her was one of her often does that happen?

friends, Melissa Chapman, daughter of the vice

"You know, I could supply references, Rachel. principal. The theater was totally full. Rachel Plenty of females have enjoyed the company of was trapped.

Marco the Magnificent."

"I don't think so," she said at last.

"Females? What species?"

"Is it because I'm roughly three feet shorter I barked out a laugh and got a loud "shush" than you?"

from a row back. I guess someone back there No answer. Stoic stare.

really cared what was happening to the five-story

"Is it that you think I'm cuter than you?" green-and-red amoeba pulsating behind Paul's

"Yeah, that would be it."

bald head.

On-screen Paul Shaffer was saying, "DNA is a I shot a look at Rachel. Was that a faint fabulous molecule."

shadow of a tiny, possibly imaginary smile I saw An electron microscope slide appeared, showon her perfect lips? Or was it just a trick of the ing a DNA molecule as long as a train.

amoeba light?

"You know, girls love a guy with a sense of huI fell silent. Wait. Wait. mor."

"Paul never gets credit for being as funny as

"Yeah. If he's Leonardo DiCaprio. Adam Sanhe is," she said. dler, not so much."

Hah! She was enjoying talking to me. She Despite myself, I laughed. She could throw it started it up again. Hah! Well, well, well. back at me. I liked that.

What would Jake say if I started going out

"Still, we should go out. Do a movie. Eat some with his cousin? He was my best friend. Had burgers. I could make you laugh."

been forever. He'd always been there for me. He

"Actually, I think the mere memory of that sugwas the one guy in the world I could absolutely gestion will supply me with plenty of laughter." count on.

So if he didn't approve of me and Rachel, out some member of her girl gang around to fend hey, it would make me real sad to say "Bye-bye, off losers.

Jake."

"So. What do you think?" I asked Rachel. Up Hah! She liked me. Or at least my sense of close it was hard to ignore the fact that I was humor. No problem-o.

looking almost directly up at her. While she was Then . . .

looking at the top of my head.

Paul Shaffer's head flickered and melted,

"I think many things," she said cryptically. erupting in brown goo that merged with what I

"I mean about. . . abou . . ." believe was an invertebrate.

My mouth stopped moving. My throat seized

"Awwww, man\"

up. I stared. Stared, heart pounding on no oxyThe film had caught and burned. The housegen, stared, pushed Rachel aside when she got lights came up.

in the way.

"Now we'll never know what happened," I

"It's her," I said. I was aware that my voice complained. "Did Dave ever make a cameo aphad cracked. I knew I looked like an idiot. Didn't pearance? Or at least Bif Henderson?" care. I was far away. I was in some frozen uniWe all stood up. The kids all managed to converse watching would could not possibly be. trol their disappointment. We filed outside, out

"Who?" Rachel snapped.

into the brighter light of the museum proper. I

"Mom," I whispered.

had to struggle to stay up with Rachel. Somehow,

"Your mom? So go say hi."

and don't ask me to explain it, she had an abilI shook my head slowly, slowly coming out of ity to move easily and quickly through a crowd my paralyzed trance.

without ever touching anyone, or being touched She had appeared. Simply appeared. Like in return. Like she was surrounded by a force materializing out of the air. Like she'd been field.

transported down from the Star Trek universe. But I stayed up with her. And by amazingly She was wearing a blond wig, but I wasn't wrong. good luck Melissa made a girls' room run. By herIt was her. self. Without Rachel. Which is not something you She looked shocked, confused. Lost. Angry. see very often, a pretty girl left vulnerable withScared. 48

Then she was moving away, quickly. Heading for the escalator. Her back was to me.

"My mom! My mom! I have to catch her!"

"Your mom? Isn't she . . ."

"Mom! Mom!" I yelled. I took off. Took off running like an idiot, yelling and running. It took a great deal of patience. Days of patience. I waited hour after long hour, hope rising and falling, watching the air lock through the transparent bulkhead. The big creatures would come toward the open air lock, nearer, nearer, but never all the way in.

The air lock was big enough to accommodate four space-suited Andalites. That was its original function, to allow technicians to access the outer surface of the dome.

The only creatures that came into the air lock were smaller finned creatures. These did not 50

seem to possess any natural weapons. Unless,

<Ah!>

somehow, their fins were far more formidable I slapped the panel.

than they appeared.

The door materialized. The creature was In my weeks under the alien ocean I had trapped!

learned one thing: Earth creatures could be Now what? In order to acquire the creature's fiercely predatory. The large ate the small. DNA I had to physically touch him. He did not In this environment there was not much point look as if he would enjoy being touched. He had in being small and weak. I could afford to wait to be alive at the moment of acquisition. What if for a chance to acquire something strong. Strong the removal of water killed him instantly?

and fast enough, I hoped, to make it safely to the I instructed the air lock computer to draw off nearest shore, wherever that might be.

ninety percent of the water. This took a few minSo I waited. Waited and invented names for utes. When it was done the creature was still able the various creatures who ignored the open cave to move, but only in two dimensions. His dorsal of the air lock.

fin and part of his back were exposed to the air. Big Mouth. Runny Eyes. Swimming Bird.

His belly scraped the floor.

And the creature I was after, Blue Blade. This He kept moving, restless. Afraid? Impossible creature seemed to be composed of triangles. to say.

Triangular tail, triangular fins, triangular teeth.

<Air lock computer, create a force field to Its entire body reminded me of a long, flattened contain the water and prevent its spilling into the triangle. It was blue, the blue-gray of wet steel, outer chamber. Allow me to enter the air lock.> not so far different from my own color. The computer erected a force field just three Three days I had waited and waited to spring feet high, just enough to hold in the water and my trap. Not that I had anything better to do. I the creature. Above that three-foot wall of energy exercised. I conjured up absurd scenarios of how was open space. I could easily leap over. Elfangor was alive, had crash-landed among the However, leaping back out would be harder. aliens, and even now was forming an effective The water would be halfway up my side, subguerrilla organization to fight the Yeerks. If anymerging my legs. one could do it, Elfangor could.

I waited, watched, timed the creature's moveBut I knew he was dead. Knew it. ments . . . leaped!

I flew over the invisible wall, splashed into strict the creature into a narrow rectangular the water. My hooves slipped, I sagged down into space.>

the water, the creature whipped toward me, The water receded from both side walls. The lightning quick.

creature slammed into the force-field, retreated. It surged at me. I stuck out my right hand and Tried to turn and suddenly could not.

pressed its snout. Acquisition usually creates a The Blue Blade was now held within what trance in the acquired creature. Maybe it would amounted to a very narrow tank. There was dry work with this creature.

floor on either side of him.

Eventually.

<You might have thought of this earlier, AxThe monster jerked its head, broke contact, imili,> I chided myself. I had long since acswam away, turned in a flash and arced toward cepted the notion of solipsistic conversation. It me.

was part of a general psychological decay. On at Fwapp!

least three occasions I had seen things that were I hit it, flat-bladed, on the snout.

almost certainly not real. Either that or the strucIt turned away, but came right back. And now ture of time itself was different on Earth. its mouth was open in a grin of triangular teeth. I jumped into the dry space. The creature lay Fwapp!

sullen, the vertical gashes behind his mouth I hit it again. And jumped aside a split second worked, open, close, open, close. The one eye on before it could bite my front left leg. this side glared at me.

<Yah!>

I reached and touched the creature's skin. I I leaped clear out of the pool and sprawled pulled away surprised. It was rough-textured. I clumsily on the floor. Water drained off me. could have abraded the skin from my hand. Blood, too. Mine. The creature had swiped my I touched him again and focused as we are haunch with a fin I now realized was quite sharp. trained to do when acquiring DNA.

The creature was fast. Aggressive. Not easily Sharp teeth, sharp fins, speed, aggression, discouraged. Perfect for my purpose. Assuming I and armored skin — I didn't know how dangerlived long enough to worry about my purpose. ous Earth's oceans might be, but I felt this crea<Computer, form a force field that will conture would be safe in them. 54

Marco and I pounded after her. No question now, she was running away from us. She was the antelope and we were the wolves.

Of course maybe that's why she was running. Many people would find it disturbing to be chased by a couple of demented teenagers. In the main foyer she broke into a flat-out run hampered only by the fact that she was punching numbers into her cell phone.

She had maybe a hundred-foot lead. No way some thirty-something mommy was going to outrun me. She ran for the revolving door.

"Hey!"

A man slammed into the glass. She'd knocked IL don't know why I ran after Marco, but I him aside.

did.

She was slow getting through the revolving He was chasing a woman who he couldn't

door. Stupid, I told myself. She shouldn't have possibly be chasing. Maybe I wanted to help him. taken the revolving door. Now we've got her. But that's not what it felt like. It felt like . . . I Marco and I reached the revolving door while don't know, like I liked chasing someone. she was still inside it, just exiting. Marco jumped That's dumb but it may be the truth.

into the next open section. That's when the He raced down the escalator, trying to shove woman yanked hard back on the door, spun it past people. I raced down the steps that paralbackward, caught Marco off balance and nailed leled the escalator. I hit the floor first. him in the face with the brass push-bar.

"There!" he pointed.

Marco sat down hard. He grabbed his face. I saw a blond woman fast-walking away

Blood leaked through his interlocked fingers. through the crowd. A woman pushed a stroller

"Hey! You okay?" I yelled to him. into her path. Marco's ghost shoved the stroller

"After her! Stay on her!" he yelled and aside and kept moving.

scrambled to his feet.

All right, I told myself. The boy can focus. For a split second I met her gaze. Rage. Fury. I went through a side door. There were stone I hesitated a split second. But a split second steps, about a dozen, two hundred feet wide, later, my own anger answered hers.

heading down to the busy street.

You don't scare me, lady.

Business people bustling on the sidewalk The wolves were on the scent again. The antebelow. People coming up and down the steps. lope ran. Onto the sidewalk, shoving, slamming, Groups. Individuals.

barreling through businessmen and -women and No blond woman.

UPS drivers and hot dog vendors and bike mesShe couldn't have gotten away. No way. Not sengers.

enough time. She was here, here in view, one of We raced along the facade of the museum. the three or four dozen bodies in motion. She turned a hard right, straight out into traffic. Wig. It was a wig. The realization came to me Give the lady points. She didn't scare easy. in a flash. Marco raced up, stopped, panting beYellow cabs screeched. Drivers cursed. Finside me. gers were thrust skyward.

"She has dark hair," he gasped. She ran, we chased, and we gained.

"I guessed that."

She ducked into an alleyway. Now we had her. He looked back and forth. "I don't see her." The crowds were her cover. She'd be alone.

"Has to be here."

I turned the corner first, Marco inches behind

"Look for whatever she wouldn't be doing," me. Dumpsters and overflowing trash cans. A he said. "Should be alone, should be going down pile of empty bottles all in racks.

the steps, look for the opposite." She was not in sight. Only two places she I nodded. Yeah, he was right. He was upset, could be. Behind the Dumpster. Or behind the he was desperate, he thought he was chasing his stack of bottles.

dead mother, and he still figured that out. Maybe I looked at Marco. We reached unspoken

I would go out with him. The little guy had a agreement. He walked softly, sneakers squishing brain in there.

in filth, toward the Dumpster.

"There!" I yelled.

"Lookout!"

She was brunette now, moving with a slow The tower of bottles tipped.

group of old people coming up the stairs.