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“Ax! Grab the transponder and let’s haul butt!” Jake yelled, racing off.
Rachel looked completely lost and just stood there at a loss. I grabbed her hand and pulled her after me. Cassie was running beside us and I could hear Ax’s hooves behind.
<Ax-man! Hork-Bajir to your left!> Tobias called from above us. I glanced up and saw a hawk wheeling around in the air.
FWAP!! FWAP!! <They are gone.> Ax replied. We kept running.
“I don’t know what’s going on but let’s morph! We can kick their butts!” Rachel. Of course. She was back, all right.
“Tobias, tell us when we’re clear! We need wings!” I called, knowing he’d hear me. Hawk hearing is some of the best around.
A few moments later, his voice filled my head. <You’re clear as long as you do it quickly. Jake’s already in the air.>
I released Rachel’s hand and focused on the osprey DNA inside me. Cassie was already half-bird by the time the first changes happened to me. Seconds later, two ospreys, a harrier and a bald eagle joined the hawk and falcon already in the air. We winged our way back to Cassie’s barn. No one said a word.
When we got there, everyone started to demorph. Tobias took a quick look around and declared that no one was watching us. Then he swooped to the ground and began to morph. The rest of us were standing there watching as Tobias finished his morph into his human body. After that, like in some cheesy chick flick, he strode over to Rachel, took her face in his hands and kissed her soundly. Her eyes widened but then she was kissing him back, her hands going around his neck. I looked at Jake and Cassie, finding them hugging happily.
“O-kay, o-kay!” I exclaimed loudly. “Enough mushy crap. Let’s get down to business.” Rachel and Tobias kept eating each other’s faces. “Bird-boy! Xena! Your lips work! Move on!”
They broke apart, Tobias grinning like an idiot. His voice raspy, he whispered. “I’ve missed you.”
Rachel looked confused. “I died. I know I did. How did I get here? What’s going on?”
Jake took the lead, a large grin splitting his face, too. “Yeah, ok. Rachel, what’s the last thing you remember?”
Rachel walked over to a hay bale and sat. “Tobias was crying. I bit…I killed Tom. The polar bear’s paw. I died. I saw the Ellimist…Toomin. He told me his story-so sad. He said I mattered, that my life counted. Then, all of a sudden, I found myself in the woods with you guys. Guy’s, what’s going down?”
“We won, Rachel. We lost you but we won. It’s been two years since that last battle in the Pool Ship. Visser One was put on trial for war crimes. Andalites visit Earth now all the time. The Taxxons are giant anacondas.” Cassie smiled sadly. “The only problem was you weren’t there to celebrate it with us.”
“So why am I resurrected from the dead?” Rachel asked again, more impatiently.
“’Cause Xena doesn’t die, duh.” I joked. Yep, the good ole’ days were back.
“Shut up, Marco. Even after death, you’re not funny.”
Jake took over the explanation from there. “The Ellimist came to us a couple of hours ago and said that we could choose one point in the war and change it. We could go back to one point and change the events that happened after that. He said that we would still beat the Yeerks but he was giving us a chance to make a better ending. One where you survived.”
Rachel nodded. “Cool. So what are we going to do?”
<Prince Jake, I have thought of something.> Ax spoke up quietly. <What if we were to try and get to Captain Plummer of the George Washington sooner? Keep him from getting infested, keep all of that from happening. Perhaps that would be a good starting place.>
I saw the decision warring on Jake’s face. He wanted to save Tom, save his family for sure but he wasn’t certain about what choices to make. He wasn’t certain which choice would be the right one.
So I took the decision out of his hands. “Look, we’ve got some time before they figure out we’re humans, right? So let’s get out to the aircraft carrier, talk with Plummer and pull our families out when we get back.”
Jake nodded slowly. “Ok, Marco, Ax. We do it your way. But this time…no one dies. That’s an order.”
I tried to laugh but I couldn’t. Sometimes I just don’t like the line…the line that told me that it might not be possible to change the outcome this time.
And here's another part, cause this last one was really short.
“This may not be the best idea, big Jake.” I sat on a hay bale and looked at my best friend. We were the only two still in the barn since everyone had left to get ready for the mission. Rachel had wanted to see her family and so Cassie had gone with her, just to make sure nothing weird happened. At least nothing weirder than a dead girl coming back to life and visiting her family who didn’t know she had died. Just another normal day in the life of an Animorph. Ax and Tobias had left to go to his scoop, planning to use Ax’s computer to see where the George Washington was now. And I’d been mulling over this decision because suddenly the line wasn’t straight. It was crooked. Something didn’t make sense.
Jake took a piece of hay and twirled it in his fingers as he looked at me. “What do you mean? This was your idea, Marco. You can’t get cold feet now.”
Slowly, I shook my head. I was still trying to figure out the problem while I told Jake there was one. “No, this wasn’t my idea. My idea was to get Rachel back before Tom gets the morphing cube and all that. Ax was the one who came up with this idea. But I don’t see the impact it will make on the overall picture. Sure, it would avoid a world war and I’m all for that, but there’s more we could do now to end the war faster than just getting to Plummer.”
He sighed. Nothing had changed, really, since Rachel came back. My best friend was glad she was back but he saw it as his duty to keep everyone alive now. Whereas the old Jake would have sacrificed his own cousin to win, this Jake would sacrifice the war and Earth to save his team. And that could be costly. I’d have to keep an eye on him, judge his mental stability. Man, I hate being the responsible one.
“What do you suggest we do, Marco?” Even his voice was wary.
“My plan? It’s insane. It’s crazy. It’s genius. And it’ll work.” I stood and started to pace around the barn, then stopped and looked at Jake. “Three-fold. Tom’s Yeerk. Our families. Doubleday. Bam, bam, bam. And badda-bing, badda-boom, we got allies. We’ve got my mom now and once we have Tom, we’ll have two ex-Controllers who will know stuff about the Yeerks. And Tom knows Visser Three. And we’ll have General Doubleday.” I paused, thinking, then revised my plan. “We might have to go to the Governor first, before Doubleday. He might not be so willing to help us without authorization. But we can do that, no problem. And I say we go ahead with Auxiliary Animorphs. The sooner we get them, the better. Plummer’s not going to make a difference. This will.” How did I know that? The line. It all came down to the line. Now the line was straight.
Jake nodded thoughtfully. “What’s your exact plan, Marco? I know you have one.”
“We get our families out first, starting with yours. Take them to the Hork-Bajir camp and hold Tom. He can’t morph like you could so we should be able to put Jara Hamee or Toby and a few other salad shooters in charge of him and starve out the Yeerk. Rachel’s family, Cassie’s parents and Loren. I say we still give Loren the morphing power, but that’s not my call to make. Then, while we’re starving Tom’s Yeerk out, we get to James and the others. Get them in on this.”
“Wait a second,” Jake interrupted, “do you think James and them remember? They were dead when the Ellimist twisted time. Do you think they will remember everything?”
“No. I think it was just us six. We remember but no one else does. We’ll have to start from scratch there. And after we get some of them, we go to the Governor and Doubleday. Once we have the Governor, we might can get the President. Maybe, though that’s a dim possibility. And Doubleday will have better ways of contacting Plummer to warn him of the Admiral. This can work, Jake. You know it can.”
Just then, Tobias swooped through the window into the barn and perched on a rafter. ((Ax is coming. We’ve got your answers. We know right where the GW is and when she’s supposed to put into port next.))
He must have seen the knowing look I gave Jake – sometimes, even I forget about Bird-boy’s crazy eyes – because his thought-speak grew suspicious.
<What’s going on? What did we miss? Has something happened?>
Ax clopped into the barn as Tobias’ gaze turned to burn into me and he ****ed his head slightly, twisting one stalk eye to look up at Tobias and his other three eyes focused on me and Jake. <Have I missed something, Prince Jake?>
I still couldn’t see Ax as the little aristh again, back to being the kid who freaked out at cinnamon buns. For the past two years, at least for me, he’d been a real Andalite War-Prince, someone who gave orders rather than took them. But now, thanks to the Ellimist, he was a kid once more, even back to that annoying ‘Prince Jake’ crap.
“Yeah, Ax, sort of. You guys didn’t see Rachel and Cassie on your way back here, did you? We’ve got something to talk about.” Jake looked from Tobias to Ax and then at me. I could read his look. It was one of those ‘I hope you know what you’re doing because I sure don’t’ looks. I gave him one of my world-famous, girls faint over, charming grins. He wasn’t impressed.
<Yes, Prince Jake, we did see two birds heading this way. One was a bald eagle. I believe they should be here shortly.>
“Don’t call me Prince.” Jake said absently. I almost laughed. It had been so long since Ax had called Jake prince and Jake had tried to stop him. I’d thought these days were gone for good.
A few minutes later, the two birds fluttered into the barn and landed on the straw-strewn floor. They immediately began to demorph, Cassie’s wings shrinking into her body and her feathers fading away, and Rachel shooting up from the ground to be a human-sized bird.
“Eeew, gross, Xena. Didn’t you learn to morph while you were dead? I mean, it’s not like they have a lot to do in the afterlife? Or did you join a bridge team?” I teased. It felt good to have Rachel back if just to tease her. No one else would take my jabs and dish their own back out.
<No, Marco, I spent my time wat-> “-ching you make a complete fool of yourself in front of every girl you met.” Halfway through her rebuttal, her beak changed into a mouth, forcing her to switch from thought-speak to real speech.
“Ha. Ha. Oh, and as a bonus, an extra ha,” I pretended to laugh. Then I rolled my eyes and looked up at Tobias. “You sure you want this walking magnet for disaster back, Tobias? I’m sure the Ellimist would be too happy to take her back again, if you want.”
<Can it, Marco. I’ve got a full tank and great aim, remember?> Tobias’ silent laugh filled my head and I grinned, despite myself. I really had missed these guys – not that I’d ever admit it.
“What’s up, Jake? We find out where Plummer is?” Cassie grabbed a roll of bandages and walked over to an injured deer, intent on changing the dressings on its wound.
<Tobias and I were able to find the sailing schedule of the George Washington. I have not heard of this George Washington before. Is he someone from These Messages?> Ax. Of course.
Jake chose to ignore Ax’s question and instead answer Cassie’s. “We did. But Marco’s got another plan, one that makes more sense. Go on, Marco. Tell them.”
Why did he make it sound like it was a dumb idea? Man, he’s saving face if they don’t like it, I thought as I returned to my seat on the hay bale. Too bad it’s a great plan. “Three phases. First, we get our families out. We start with the Berensons and get Tom. Take them all to the Hork-Bajir camp and put Tom under guard. Starve out his Yeerk. Then we get the rest of our families. We get James and the other Auxiliary Animorphs again. And finally, we go to the Governor and Doubleday. With their help, we can let the world know what’s going on. Or, at the very least, we’ll have military backup. And Doubleday will have a way to let Plummer what’s going on.”[/b][/font][/color]
Post Merged: March 23, 2010, 09:22:14 PM
i'm new to this posting on RAF thing. does anyone know why one of my words was randomly changed to asterisks? like the word's not a bad word or anything but when it posted it became ****ed. just curious...
Post Merged: March 25, 2010, 09:15:59 PM
There was silence after I finished laying out my plan. Tobias was the first to respond. <And what about those who don’t know us? Those who don’t know they have a son?> There was a defensiveness in his thought-speak and I knew at once who he was referring to.
“We get Loren out, too. She’s a part of this because she’s a part of you, Tobias.” Everyone looked at me strangely at that so I figured I better add something else so I wouldn’t sound mushy. “Plus, I don’t want to listen to your weepy thought-speak for who knows how long if we don’t get her out. Geez.”
Tobias laughed again and his words entered my head. From the way no one else reacted, I knew he was speaking to me alone. <Thanks, Marco. I appreciate the sentiment.>
Now it was Cassie’s turn to raise a question. “Jake, once we get Tom out and your family, Visser Three will know something’s up. If he’s smart, he’ll realize that Tom’s been taken and that his family is missing too will make it more suspicious. If we’re going to get all of our families out, we have to do it at the same time. Or as much as we can.”
I nodded. “Good point. Aside from detail objections, does anyone actually object to my amazing plan?”
Rachel snorted. “Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back, runt.”
“Don’t let the rain in your nose, Xena.” I shot back at her.
More silence as everyone stared at me. Seriously? No one got that? “Because she’s stuck up, she has her nose in the air!! Come on! That was the best comeback ever!” I was exasperated.
Rachel leaned over and patted me on the cheek. “Better luck next time.”
I flopped backwards on the hay bale with a loud groan and twisted my head to look at Ax. “Please slice my head off. I can’t take this anymore.”
Jake shook his head and broke in before Ax could respond. “If we’re doing this we need to do it now. So, in memory of the old days, let’s vote. Tobias?”
<All of them. If we get them all out, I’m in.>
“Cassie?”
“Is there a choice? We’re trying to change history. This seems like the best way to do that.” Cassie shrugged. “I’m in.”
“Marco?”
“It’s my plan, right? How crazy would I be to say no? But it is insane. Very insane.”
“Rachel?”
Let me try this one more time, I thought and blurted, “She’s gonna say ‘let’s do it’!”
Rachel grinned at me and shrugged. “Oh, all right, Marco. Let’s do it!”
“Oh, yeah. She’s back.” I sighed and laced my fingers together behind my head. “Now we just gotta figure out how to do this.”
“What do you mean, how to do this? We go and we get our families out. What’s so difficult about that?” Cassie looked quite disconcerted.
Jake had seen the same flaw I’d seen and that was the fact that there simply weren’t enough of us for this. “If we’re gonna get them out at the same time, we can’t take everyone to one house like we did last time. We gotta split up.”
<So? There’s enough of us for that. We each get our family. What’s the big deal?> Tobias fixed one of his gold hawk eyes on Jake.
Some people just can’t see the line. I looked up at the bird. “What do you think Jake’s family is going to think when he drags Tom off against his will? How do you think he’s going to get Tom out without a fight? You think he can do that by himself? And you. Loren doesn’t have a clue who you are, Bird-boy. She’s not going to just go with you; you need the Morphing Cube. Cassie’s parents probably won’t pose a problem, or Rachel’s, though we might need to deal with her Dad and try and get him out though that’s a secondary concern. Now do you see the problem?” I asked sarcastically. Tobias didn’t dignify it with a response.
“There’s not enough of us for that. We’ve got two extras, Marco and Ax. What are we going to do?” Cassie twisted her hands together nervously as she looked at Jake. Rachel was looking at Jake, as were Tobias and Ax. Good ole’ Jake, back in charge. It took me a few minutes to realize he was looking at me. I sighed. Since when was I the one with the answers?
“Erek. Toby and the Hork-Bajir. We send Toby, a couple of Hork-Bajir, maybe Ket and Jara, Erek and Ax with Jake to his house. Erek provides holograms to hide the giant aliens while Jake goes in. If Tom’s not there, great. Get his family out first. Tom’s there, even better. Knock him out and bring him along. At least you’ve got backup. Plus, Ax should be convincing enough to your family that something’s going on. Problem solved. Mr. King goes with Tobias. Take the morphing cube. I’m not foreseeing a problem there, other than the obvious – she doesn’t know you and she’s blind. I’ll go along with Tobias in case Controllers are already watching her house.” I locked eyes with each of my friends in turn. “We good?”
“Best plan we’ve got.” Jake nodded. “First stop, Erek’s. Tobias, can you fly to the Valley and go ahead and talk to Toby? Let her know the deal and then we’ll meet you at Ax’s scoop after we get the Chee.”
<Sounds good. See ya later, big Jake.> There was a hint of affection in Tobias’ thought-speak and it made me smile against my will. Things were working out. Slowly.
Cassie, Jake and I would go to the Chee while Rachel and Ax stayed behind in case something went wrong. The three of us morphed bird and took to the air, riding the thermals up and up and across town until we were above Erek’s house.
We landed in the bushes and demorphed. It had been two years since we’d been on a mission and, even with our advanced knowledge, we still looked like we’d been mugged and stripped of normal clothing.
“All I’m saying is Fantastic 4. Last time we went on a mission, that movie hadn’t come out yet. Now it has. We need suits like that. Not with the little number, unless it’s like a six or something, but spandex uniforms would be nice.” I jerked on my skintight biker shirt, trying to make it a little less skintight. Jake grinned.
“Sorry your body isn’t as awesome as the rest of ours, Marco. Now shut up and let’s go.” Jake led the way out from behind the bushes and to the front door. Mr. King answered on the third knock. “Hey, Mr. King,” Jake was trying to look like a care-free teenage boy. Not working. His body might be back to being just a sixteen-year-old kid but his mind wasn’t. “Is Erek home?”
“Yes, Jake, he is. Please, come in.” Mr. King ushered us into the living room and through the house. After the wonderful elevator ride of creepiness, we were in the giant dog park under the King’s house.
“Jake! Marco, Cassie, hey. Did you get in touch with the Andalites?” Erek walked over to us, followed by an ugly poodle that reminded me of Euclid and a little terrier.
“Yeah but that’s not why we’re here. We need your help.” Jake quickly outlined my plan and Erek and Mr. King agreed to help.
“Just remember that we can’t do anything violent to help you. We’ll provide holograms but that’s it.” Mr. King seemed the most wary of the plan.
“We know.”
“Do you know where Tobias’ mother lives? We’ve looked again and again and haven’t been able to find any record of her. I thought Tobias didn’t even know his mother.” Erek ****ed his head to the side questioningly and I felt the line spinning out of control unless I could do something to still the spin. After all, we didn’t want others knowing the outcome of the war or that we’d already lived this once.
Jake looked at me, at a loss. “Umm…he doesn’t. But he was read a will by DeGroot and we were able to track her down finally. So now we’re getting her out. You guys in or out?” My tone was a little defensive but hey, can you blame me? I didn’t have much to work with.
“We’re in. What’s more, we can send a Chee with Cassie and a Chee with Rachel, just to be there in case something goes wrong, to carry messages or something. Lourdes and Jared will meet up with us on the way.”
Cassie, Jake and I morphed and flew to Ax’s scoop in the woods as Mr. King and Erek sped along below us, disguised as a red Mustang and a yellow Corvette. When we got to the scoop, the others were waiting on us, including one Chee I recognized and one I didn’t. Tobias had brought Toby, Jara, Ket and two other Hork-Bajir.
“We ready for this?” Rachel asked. She looked like she wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of trying to get her family out. “Once we evacuate our families, they’ll know something’s up. And once Tom disappears, they will really know something is wrong. If we do this, we sacrifice being humans. No more TV, no more shopping.”
I slapped a hand to my heart. “No more shopping! I don’t think I can bear it.” I got a calculating look on my face and stepped into the center of the impromptu circle. “We have to do this and we have to do it now. So, in the words of Rachel, I say, let’s do it.”
As we broke up and went our separate ways, I could see the line from point A to point B in my mind’s eye. And I knew that, no matter what happened, that line would always be there, always beckoning me to make the hard choices that would win the war. Always.
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Please comment if you like it or if you hate it! I'd like to know so I can perfect it! Thanks!
Post Merged: March 29, 2010, 08:31:22 PM
Jake’s POV
There were so many ways this could go wrong. Tom could have back-up or my parents could refuse to go with me or Tom could get away and warn Visser Three and then we’d all be compromised. I looked over at Ax, who stood next to Erek. Erek’s hologram covered all of us as we stood on the street, disguised as a FedEx truck. Jara and Ket were also with us and all four of them were waiting on me to make a decision. We knew Tom was inside – Ax had morphed northern harrier and done a fly-by. Luckily for us, my parents and Tom were all in the family room, watching TV. Yeah. Lucky me.
“Okay,” I whispered, “Here’s how this is going to work. Erek, you cover Ax, Jara and Ket and follow me to the front door. Don’t come in yet; just wait. I’ll go in and try to get my parents and Tom to leave the house peacefully. Maybe I can tell them I have something at school or something. I don’t know. If that doesn’t work, I’ll say ‘Don’t be such a loser, Tom.’ That means they’re not coming and we need to drag Tom out by force. Ax come in then. Jara and Ket hang back unless Ax calls you. Okay?”
My head was spinning so fast from what had happened in the past few days that I was scrambling to come up with a plan. Why was Marco so level-headed these days and I wasn’t? That was backwards.
The four others hidden in the hologram nodded. Taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the FedEx truck and walked to my front door. Hand shaking, I put my key in the knob, unlocked and pushed the door open. I could hear voices coming from the family room. Focus, Jake, focus. A part of my mind was focusing on the tiger, ready to morph if I needed to. I prayed it wouldn’t come to that.
“Hey, Jake,” my mom said as I entered the room. She and my Dad were seated on the couch and Tom was lounging in an armchair across from them. They were watching Star Wars, an old family favorite.
“Hey, you guys wanna go to the basketball game with me? Tom, your old coach told me at school today that he wanted you to come and maybe give the players some tips.” I decided to try a little teasing, see how that would work. “You know, since you’re the old player who is past his day…see if you can teach them something a little old-school.”
Tom gave me a withering look and I grinned back, unperturbed. Your time is almost up, Yeerk. This is gonna be nice. My parents looked at each other and then my dad shook his head.
“Sorry, Jake. Maybe another time. You’re welcome to sit down and watch Star Wars with us though.” My Dad nodded towards the TV and smiled at me.
Here goes nothing. “Dad, Mom, you guys have to come with me now. We have to get out of here. I can’t explain but you’ve got to come with me. Pack a bag and let’s go.”
“What?” my Mom frowned, clearly not understanding the meaning of ‘we have to get out of here.’ “What are you talking about? We can’t go with you.”
Tom was onto me, I knew it. He gave me this calculating look and uncrossed his legs, leaning forward and looking as if he was ready to jump me. “Yeah, Jake, what’s going on? What’s the big hurry? No life?”
“Mom, Dad, you’re not going to believe me but the human race is being infested by alien parasites. My friends and I are fighting them and have been fighting them for two years. But they’re going to figure out who we are. So we have to get you out of here before they get you. So pack a bag and let’s go.”
Now everything was out in the open and Tom was on his feet. “What – you – how – what do you know about this? How do you know about this?”
Back-up. I needed back-up and now. “Don’t be a loser, Tom!” I yelled.
And that’s all it took. Five seconds after I yelled that sentence, Ax burst through the front door and into the family room. My mom screamed and my dad jumped in front of her. Tom on the other hand, reached into his pocket and pulled out a Dracon beam.
“Andalite scum!” he screamed and pulled the trigger.
Ax dodged the blast and danced around the following shots, doing his best to keep Tom’s shots off of him. But the Yeerk in Tom’s head knew that if he kept Ax off-balance, there was nothing the Andalite could do. My parents were back against the wall, keeping out of the way.
“Ax!” I shouted. “Back-up!”
A miniscule twitch of Ax’s stalk eye was all the indication that he’d heard me but, when Jara and Ket bounded in a moment later, I knew he’d heard me.
My mom fainted as Ket ducked under a Dracon blast and slammed a meaty fist into Tom’s head. Dad stepped out of the corner angrily and pointed a finger at me.
“Who are you? Where is my son?” His voice was trembling and his finger was shaking.
I sighed. “It’s me, Dad. These are my friends. I don’t have time to explain it to you right now but I was telling you the truth. They’re called Yeerks and they are invading Earth as we speak. Tom is infested. You know Chapman, the Vice President at my school? Yeah. He’s one, too. And if we don’t get out of here now, you two will become Controllers as well.” Okay. Push had come to shove. Big guns. “Because if it comes down to it and it’s you or me, I’m gonna choose me. I’ve been fighting this war for a long time and I haven’t survived this long without making the necessary choice. And so if I want to survive and I have to let them take you in order to do that, I’m gonna do it.” I shrugged and waited to see their response.
“But…Tom’s not an alien. And how have you been fighting? You’re sixteen, Jake! You’re not in the Army, you’re not a Marine. I’m not buying into this.” My Dad was shocked and confused and was putting all his fear into denying what was before his eyes.
I heaved a sigh. “Dad. What do you think he is?” I waved a hand towards Ax. “Or them?” My other hand towards Jara and Ket. “You can’t tell who a Yeerk is just by looking at them. Yeerks are parasites who slither into their host’s ear and wrap their slimy bodies around the brain. Then they are in control of everything. For the past two years, perhaps longer, Tom, your Tom, your son, has been a prisoner inside his own brain. He can watch and he can rail against his imprisonment but that’s about it.” I focused on the tiger DNA inside me and willed the changes to begin. “And how have I been fighting? By turning into animals and running around at night, protecting you and hundreds of humans like you.”
My hands turned into paws and I fell forward onto all fours. With a loud schloop, my backbone extended into a tail, hairless and bony. Seconds later, the fur raced across my body as my nose pushed out into a snout. My Dad hollered and jumped back as the black and orange spread over my face. And lastly, my eyes turned to the molten gold of the tiger.
<This is how I fight, Dad. I turn into a tiger, a falcon, an ant and I fight. I can’t tell you the numbers of Hork-Bajir I’ve killed. And it has all been to one day free Tom. That day is today, Dad, but you have to come with me. Pack a bag and let’s go.>
Dad put a hand to his head and stared at me wonderingly. “Your voice…in my head.” He shook his head as if to shake my thought-speak from his brain and glanced at Tom, lying unconscious on the floor, Ax standing over him with tail blade at my brother’s throat. “If he has one of these Yorks, or whatever you call them, in his head, how are you going to get it out?”
I could tell my Dad was coming around to maybe believing me. We’d be out of here in no time. <We’ll hold him for three days, maybe less, and the Yeerk will starve. It will die and Tom will be back. But we have to go, please. Pack a bag for you and for Mom. Then come on.>
He nodded and turned. Kneeling beside Mom, he slapped her lightly on the face. “Wake up, hon,” he muttered. When my Mom finally came around, Dad placed a hand over her mouth. “Come on. We’re leaving.”
As they went up the stairs, I slinked after them, just to make sure nothing went wrong. After they went into their room, I padded into my own and picked up a backpack in my teeth. For the past year, I’d always kept it packed with what I would need if I had to make a quick getaway.
<Prince Jake!> Ax’s thought-speak was a shout. I bounded down the hallway and down the stairs, rushing into the family room.
<What? What is it?> I asked, my head swiveling to see that nothing was changed. Jara and Ket stood at the doors and Tom still lay on the floor under Ax’s watchful gaze.
<Erek says there is a black van approaching. He says he thinks there are Hork-Bajir inside. We must go.>
<Crap. Jara, take Tom back to the Valley. Ket, with me. We’ll get my parents and get out.>
Jara nodded. “Live free or die.” He scooped Tom’s limp body up in his arms and ran out.
I made a quick decision. <Ax, go with him. We can’t let Tom fall back into enemy hands.> When the Andalite hesitated, I snapped, <Go, Ax!>
My parents were just coming down the stairs as Ax nodded and raced to follow the Hork-Bajir. “What’s going on?” Dad asked.
<Trouble. Let’s go.> My mom still looked weak on her feet and I turned my head to look at my father. <Help Mom. We have to go fast.>
I broadcast my thought-speak to Erek, who was hopefully still waiting outside. <Erek! Meet us in the back, be ready with a hologram. We need to hide.> I couldn’t hear his reply but I knew he’d be there.
Ket and I ran behind Mom and Dad as we entered the backyard. There was a large statue of Hercules beside Homer’s dog house, a statue that I’d never seen before.
<In the statue.> I ordered. Ket and I kind of herded my parents over to the statue and, once we were inside, we could see Erek. <Mom, Dad, meet Erek King. Erek, my parents. What’s the deal, Erek?>
Mom looked ready to faint again but I had to ignore her for now. Erek turned his shiny android head to look at me. “I estimate about five, six Hork-Bajir. The van should be turning onto your street any minute. What do you want to do?”
I had a plan but I didn’t know how well it would work. <I’ll go distract them, make them think we were just here for Tom. Erek, you guys go over the fence here into the neighborhood behind us. Then put up a hologram of something, a car, a truck, something, and take Mom and Dad to the valley. Ket will show you the way. I’ll meet you there.>
Erek nodded and I turned to go. My Dad’s voice stopped me. “Jake?”
<It’s okay. These are friends. I’ll be along shortly. Please. You have to trust me.>
My Dad simply nodded and I stepped out of the hologram. Once I was on the outside, all I could see was the statue. But I had no time to linger. Instead, I trotted back through the house and out to the front porch just as the black van screeched to a stop at the curb. Two men got out of the driver’s side and the passenger’s side. Each of them held a weapon.
“Andalite bandit. You should have known we would have this house under guard, after what you did to the human Controller called Chapman. It’s the end of the line for you.” The slightly bulkier man sneered.
Yes. I’ll just make them think I came for Tom. I can still salvage this. <You are too late, Yeerk scum. I have already taken the human Tom.> I moved sideways and watched as the humans moved to match me. Great. This is going to end in a fight.
“Well, then we’ll just settle for one of the Andalite bandits. Attack!” Bulky’s partner shouted and five Hork-Bajir poured out of the van.
I leapt at the throat of the first one and caught the off-guard creature’s fleshy neck in my teeth. With a quick twist of my jaw, his throat tore open and blood spurted all over my nose. But I didn’t have time to dwell on it. The other four Hork-Bajir were all around me and I spun on my haunches, looking for my next target. Quick as lightening, I swiped a meaty paw at one of my attackers, hitting him in the face. My claws dug long furrows in his cheeks and he went down. But the other Hork-Bajir attacked, slashing at me with their blades. One blade tore into my side and I whimpered involuntarily. Another one sliced my face, narrowly missing my eye. I lunged at another Hork-Bajir and scored a direct hit, biting into his stomach and shaking my head, ripping a large hole in his body. He dropped. There were still two attackers and I abruptly realized that the two humans were getting into the fight when a Dracon blast grazed my rear leg, burning the side of it. I growled and felt my leg collapse under me. Through sheer force of will, I dragged myself back to my feet and kept fighting but I knew it was hopeless. One of the Hork-Bajir slashed his wrist blade along my side and I felt something break. There was no way I could hold my own any longer against two Hork-Bajir and two humans with Dracon beams.
All of a sudden, there was another animal beside me, one that quickly took out the other two Hork-Bajir. It happened so fast, I didn’t see what had occurred. All I knew was that the other animal was swinging big fists and knocking my attackers away.
<Come on, Jake buddy, let’s get out of here.> Marco’s voice echoed in my head and a part of my brain that wasn’t folding under the pain recognized that I needed to follow him.
<Can’t…can’t move. Leave…> I muttered. I couldn’t force my back leg to cooperate. It was all I could do to focus on the blurry gorilla beside me.
<Yeah, like I’m going to leave you. You been sniffing paint thinner? Start demorphing; I’ll get you out of here.> Marco wasn’t injured at all and, as I started to demorph, he reached down with his piledriver arms and gathered me up like I wasn’t a full-grown Siberian tiger. He loped away from my house, leaving the two human controllers to cart away the fallen Hork-Bajir before any humans saw the corpses.
Slowly, I shrank and my wounds faded away to be replaced by healthy pink skin. Marco stopped a few blocks down and set me on the ground behind some bushes. I sat there, hidden by forestry, as he demorphed and sat down next to me.
“You get them?” he asked quietly. That’s when I knew Marco hadn’t been a hundred percent sure his plan would work. He’d hoped, he’d wished, but he hadn’t known. And that had worried him. While Marco came off to the world as cynical, I knew better. If we’d failed this time around to get my family out, he would have been just as upset as I would have been. But that wasn’t the case this time.
I nodded. “Jara and Ax took Tom back to the valley. Ket and my parents hid behind one of Erek’s holograms and should be on their way to the valley as well.” Something caught my attention and I hesitated, looking at my friend. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Tobias and Loren?”
“Toby is with them. I stayed long enough to make sure Loren wasn’t going to be the problem and then I took off. Something told me I was missing a key element and now I see what it was. Of course they would be watching your house. Hopefully, they won’t put two and two together.” Marco laughed nervously. “For now, we better head to the home of the Salad Shooters. You good to morph bird?”
“Yeah.” We both started to morph and I asked a question as the changes began. “You hear anything from Cassie and Rachel yet?”
Marco’s mouth was the first thing to change and so his thought-speak filled my head. <No, not yet. They’ll be all right though, they’ve got Chee and Hork-Bajir backup. Let’s just focus on getting the two of us to the valley.>
Once we were fully bird, we took to the air and winged our way towards the valley. As we flew away, I looked down at my house for what might be the last time. And I felt sad. But, like Marco, I can see the line from point A to point B. It’s a little more hazy for me than for him but I knew that, in order for the line to stay straight, our lives pretending to be normal humans was over. The line demanded it.
