Authors: K. A. Applegate
It was all coming back to me. The fake Park Rangers. The Hork-Bajir enforcers. This was the lake. A Yeerk supply ship must be on its way in.
Yeerks. Andalites.
My friends, the Animorphs.
Yes, my
friends.
I remembered now. But this human was not one of them. This human prey was older. A stranger.
The freed hawk was watching me. I could almost feel her drawing me toward her. It was like a magnet. She was my kind. She was like me.
But the Park Rangers were in hot pursuit of the human now. The human was nothing like me. Poor, clumsy ground runner that he was. He was just prey.
And yet, for some reason, I couldn’t let him be prey.
I
couldn’t.
Me.
Tobias.
I
landed on the perch outside Rachel’s window. It was night. But she wasn’t asleep. She was reading a book in bed, propped up by several pillows.
I fluttered a wing against the glass.
She started. The book went flying. She jumped up and ran to the window, throwing it open.
“Tobias?”
She started to hug me, to put her arms around me. But then she realized that wasn’t possible. Birds aren’t exactly made for hugging.
“Are you okay? We’ve all been terrified. Cassie said maybe you were killed or something. There are all kinds of things that can happen. Jake is so depressed.”
Now that she was sure I was safe, she started getting mad. It made me smile inwardly. That was Rachel for you.
“Tobias, what is the deal with you? Why would you just disappear and leave us all worrying for days?”
I don’t know how I expected her to react. She tried to look sympathetic, but I could see it bothered her.
I admitted.
“What?” She went to check her door and make sure neither of her sisters was nearby. I could hear that the house was quiet. “What happened?”
I told her about going to the lake. I told her about the guy being chased by Hork-Bajir.
“You talked to him?”
Rachel looked stunned. “But now he knows about you! And he knows about the Hork-Bajir.”
Rachel laughed. “Yeah, good point. People would just think he was insane. Besides, if he started talking openly about the Yeerks, they would find him and silence him.”
“You saved him,” Rachel said.
I admitted.
Rachel thought about that for a moment. “The Yeerks and their slaves aren’t killing to eat,” she said. “They are killing to control and dominate. Killing because it’s the only way you can eat, because that’s the way nature designed you, that’s one thing. Killing because you want power or control is evil.”
I said.
“What you did … eating … you know, whatever. Well, that’s natural for the hawk. Nothing a Hork-Bajir does is natural. They aren’t even in control of their own bodies or minds. They are tools of the Yeerks. And the Yeerks only want power and domination.”
I said. But I wasn’t totally convinced. Still, it was comforting to be talking to Rachel.
“You are
human,
Tobias,” she told me softly.
Rachel looked like she might start crying. It was alarming to me, because Rachel isn’t a girl who bursts out in tears, ever.
She smiled. “What do you mean? It was perfect.
I was just starting my routine, and you know how much I hate to have to do public shows like that. You put an end to the whole thing real fast.”
I laughed silently.
“No, everyone was fine. But what were you going to do if Marco had missed with that baseball? You would have hit the glass awfully hard.”
I didn’t know what to say.
Rachel came closer and stroked my crest with her hand. It made the hawk in me uncomfortable. But at the same time, it was similar to preening, which is kind of pleasurable.
“What I told you the other day, Tobias … remember? You’re not lost as long as you have Jake and Cassie and me. Even Marco. He came through for you, big time. We’re your friends. You’re not alone.”
I think I would have cried then. But hawks can’t cry.
“And someday, the Andalites will come… .”
“We don’t have to go through with that,” Rachel said.
T
he next day, we went ahead with the mission. I flew cover overhead while four gray wolves ran beneath me. We timed it so we would arrive in the area very early in the morning, many hours before the Yeerks would arrive to hunt intruders.
-bear cave>
I didn’t have to explain any more. I think everyone guessed how I knew that skunks ran in there to get away from predators.
I was carrying a tiny nylon pouch that Rachel had put together. It was tan in color, so a casual observer wouldn’t notice it and wonder why a red-tailed hawk was carrying luggage.
In the pouch was a small watch. It weighed almost
nothing. There were also some fish hooks, fishing line, and a small lighter. Altogether it only weighed about two ounces. But it did slow me down a little.
We reached the cave with plenty of time to spare on the two-hour deadline.
I admitted.
I landed outside the entrance. The opening to the cave was no more than two feet across and about four feet high. It was easy for Jake and Rachel, in their wolf morphs, to leap nimbly through. Unless there really was a bear inside, they would scare off whatever might be in there.
I decided to try a joke.
Only Marco laughed. The others all acted like I’d said something embarrassing. Maybe I had.
A few minutes later they all came out. Marco was complaining, as usual. “You know, we really have
to figure out how to deal with the shoe situation,” he muttered. “Thorns and no shoes. Not a good combination.”
The four of them were barefoot and dressed only in their morphing outfits: leotards for the girls, bike shorts and tight T-shirts for Jake and Marco.
“We need to gather firewood,” Jake said, with his hands on his hips. “It wouldn’t hurt to warm that cave up a little before the Yeerks get here.”
“Don’t you love it when Jake’s all masterful like that?” Rachel teased.
“I’m just trying to get us organized,” Jake said defensively.
“We’d better get started fishing,” Cassie pointed out. “If we don’t catch a fish, we’re pretty much wasting our time.”
The plan was to morph into fish to enter the Yeerk ship’s water pipes. Of course, in order to morph into something, you first have to “acquire” it. Which means being able to touch it.
“Shouldn’t be any big problem,” Jake said confidently.
“Uh-huh,” Cassie said dryly. “And how many times have you gone fishing?”
“Counting this time? Once.” He laughed.
Cassie rolled her eyes. “Typical suburban boy,” she said affectionately. “It isn’t all that easy.”
“Take care of yourself, Tobias,” Rachel called out as I took wing.
I watched from on high as they made one failed attempt after another to convince a fish to bite one of our hooks.
It seemed ridiculous, but the entire plan was hanging on the question of whether or not we could catch a fish. And time was running out. The day wore on. Still no fish.
Jake was getting edgy. Rachel was downright cranky. And Marco? Forget Marco. “This is ridiculous!” he raged. “We’re four — I mean, five — fairly intelligent human beings. And we can’t outsmart one fish that probably has an IQ of four?”
Cassie was the only one remaining calm. “Fishing is a matter of skill and luck,” she said placidly. “A smart fisherman learns not to become frustrated.”
Jake looked at the little watch we’d brought along. “From what we know, the Yeerks will start arriving in an hour to clear the area.”
Rachel nodded. “Even if we catch a fish now, we won’t have time to test the morph.”
Jake shook his head firmly. “I don’t think so, Tobias. We’d have to wait till we had another day off. Tomorrow’s no good because I have stuff with my parents. So does Marco. Which means we’d have to wait a whole week.”
“The hurry is that the Yeerks can’t keep coming to this same lake forever. Sooner or later the level of the water will start dropping from them taking so much. They must use one lake for a while, then move on to another. It could take forever for us to find where they move to next.”
It made sense. But that didn’t make me feel any better about it.
“I know,” Jake snapped. “Look, Tobias, I know it’s not exactly ideal.”
“Hah!” Cassie yelped. She yanked at the line she was holding. “I believe we may have a fishy.”
It took just a few seconds to haul in the fish.
“Trout,” she said, looking it over as it flopped in the shallow water. The hook was poked through
its lip. It was about ten inches long, not very big.
The four of them stared blankly at it.
“We have to become that?” Marco asked.
“It’s a fish,” Cassie said. “What did you expect?”
Marco shrugged. “I don’t know. Something more like
Jaws.
This is just a fish. I mean, we could clean him and eat him with a little lemon juice. Maybe some fries on the side.”
The others turned and gave him a dirty look.
Cassie reached down into the water and took hold of the squirmy gray thing. She concentrated. Her eyes closed halfway. She was acquiring it. The fish DNA was being absorbed into Cassie’s body.
The gift of the Andalite. The curse of the Andalite — the power to morph.
I
don’t like this plan,> I blurted.
Jake looked up at me in surprise. “Tobias, you were in on the planning right from the start.”
“I realize,” Marco said. “I realize it plenty. But I thought you were the big, gung-ho Yeerk-killer. Suddenly now you’re afraid?”