"Come on. We must go."

"I’m not leaving."

I opened my eyes. I was lying in a pile of debris. How did I get here? I looked around. Debris was everywhere. Everything was blackened, like it was burned. Police cars were parked down the street. Ambulance sirens wailed.

Then I heard fire trucks. Some nearby houses were on fire.

Then I remembered. My father finding the Escafil Device. The Controllers. Cutting the gas pipe. The explosion.

But that would mean I was dead. There was no way I could have survived a blast like that.

I stood up slowly. What was going on?

The air in front of me shimmered. It began to take shape.

I blinked. "Who are you?"

"I am an Ellimist."

"Ellimist? Rachel said something about meeting you."

"Your friend meet another of my kind. He was disobedient."

"Oh, well, uh, what are you doing here?"

"I heard your question. You deserve an answer."

"You can read my thoughts?"

"All Ellimists can."

"Okay, so what happened?"

"You refused to enter Paradise. Or as you humans call it, Heaven."

"That dream."

"Yes. You did not wish to go. If you wish to go now, I will take you."

"So I’m really dead?"

"Of course."

"What am I? A ghost?"

"That is what you humans call it."

I suddenly remembered. "The others, they don’t know! They don’t know the Escafil Device was destroyed. And my bank account! I have to tell Rachel the password! She doesn’t know it. There’s no way she can get the money!"

"You still refuse to leave this world."

"I will, when the Yeerks are gone."

"That may be forever."

"No. I have faith in my friends. We will win."

"You are on your own." She vanished.

I looked around. I couldn’t stay here. Could I still morph?

I focused on my hawk morph.

The changes began, but I did not feel them. I began to morph faster, faster than I did before, faster than Cassie, faster than possible. It only took me 45 seconds.

I flapped my wings and lifted off. I was flying, but it was not a thermal that was holding me up. I was merely floating in the air.

I headed for Rachel’s house. I had seen the watch of a man below. It had been an hour since the explosion. Rachel would be home soon.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, Rachel finally arrived.

I waited until she went to her room.

"Rachel!"

She didn’t hear me.

I tried to put my hand on her shoulder. It went through her shoulder.

This was not good.

I tried talking to her. I tried to move things in the room. I tried that thing on that movie Ghost where the ghost goes into a person. Nothing worked. I couldn’t do anything.

But that wasn’t my biggest problem. If Rachel couldn’t get the money out of my account, they couldn’t stop the Yeerks. Everything would be over. Earth would be lost.

RING!! The phone.

Rachel picked it up. "Hello?"

Somehow, I could hear the other end as if the phone was right next to my ear.

"Rachel." It was Marco.

"Marco. Hi."

"We have a problem."

Rachel tensed. "What’s wrong?"

"Have you heard about the explosion?"

"Explosion?"

"Kay’s house, Rachel. Kay’s house blew up."

The blood drained from her face. "Is she okay?"

"I don’t know. No one’s heard from her. But Rachel…Kay called me a few minutes before the explosion. We were talking when she dropped the phone. I heard wood splintering, and then an explosion. Rachel," Marco’s voice trembled with fear. "I think she was in the house."

"What?" Rachel let out a hoarse cry. "No!" She leaned against the wall and sank to the floor. "She can’t be dead." The tears dripped down her face. "She can’t be dead."

"We’ll find out the truth. Um, everyone is headed for Cassie’s. You coming?"

"Yeah. Bye." Rachel slowly put down the phone. "Oh my God."

Rachel ran out the door and jumped into her car. I jumped in after her. She drove so fast on the way to Cassie’s, I thought for sure she would have an accident.

When we got to the barn, everyone else was already there. Ax and Tobias had morph human in case Cassie’s parents walked in.

Jake looked up when Rachel walked in. "I called the police station. They won’t say anything."

"But earlier I flew over to Kay house, or what’s left of it and listen in on the conversations." Marco announced. "They said that blast would have killed anyone inside the house. And they found bone fragments. Someone was in there."

"Do they know what caused it?" Tobias asked.

"A gas pipe exploded. But, they think there might have been foul play. Maybe it wasn’t an accident."

"Who would do something like that?" Cassie asked. "And why?"

"I’ll give you a hint. The place was swarming with Controllers."

"They know?" Jake’s voice was like steel.

"If they did, we would all be dead by now."

Jake rubbed his temples. "This makes no sense."

"Cassie?" Her dad’s voice floated from the house.

"What is it?"

"Phone call for you."

Cassie picked up the extension in the barn. "I’ve got it! Hello?"

"Cassie, right?"

"Yes."

"Are you friends with Kay ___?"

"Yes."

"Do you know where she is?"

"No."

"Are you aware there was an explosion this afternoon."

"Kay’s house."

"Yes. Do you know if she was home."

"She could have been." Cassie started crying.

"We’ve confirmed that her parents were."

"Sir, is Kay dead?"

There was a long pause. "There were a quite a few people in that house. Since your friend hasn’t turned up, it’s very possible that one of them was her."

Cassie gritted her teeth. "Pl-please call if you find anything." She managed to choke out.

Cassie let the phone slip from her grasp and Jake caught if before it hit the ground. She sank into Jake’s arms and sobbed into his shoulder.

Everyone somehow found the strength to find a place to sit down.

"So this is it." Marco whispered. "This is how it ends." He gave a slight snort. "Always said this would happen. We’d go on some mission, and come back one less. I said it a long time ago. I said one day we’d be here crying because Rachel or Tobias or someone else is gone." He shook his head sadly. "But not this way. Not Kay. Not in her own house."

"She still could be alive." Ax offered half-heartedly.

Jake shook his head. "We have to look at the facts. The police are still hoping, but they don’t know about the phone call. What are the chances?"

"I thought I heard someone say ‘Andalite’ over the phone." Marco added. "It wasn’t Ax, so it must have been Kay in morph. The place exploded twenty seconds later. She would have had almost no time to get out of the house. We have to admit this guys, Kay’s dead."

Rachel jumped up with frustration and anger. She slammed her fist against the barn wall. "This can’t be happening. She can’t be dead. There’s got to be some way!" Rachel leaned against the wall and buried her face in her arms. "God, no!" She started sobbing.

Tobias walked up and put an arm around Rachel’s shoulders. "It’s okay."

"You know it’s not." Rachel hugged Tobias.

Meanwhile, Jake was pacing around the barn, alternating between swearing and stomping.

Cassie was crying quietly in a corner of the barn. Nearby, Ax sat with an expressionless face, yet I knew he was trying very hard not to cry.

Marco was running around trying to calm Jake down, comfort Cassie, and comfort Ax. He wisely decided to leave Rachel to Tobias.

After ten minutes, Jake finally calmed down enough to tell everyone to sit down again.

"All right. We know what happened, and there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it. I know this has hit all of us hard, but we’ve still got a mission to complete. This is not going to slow the Yeerks down. They’re going to use that machine. For Kay’s sake, let’s not let the Yeerks win."

Rachel shook her head. "We can’t do it. We don’t have the money in her bank account."

"Oh, shit." Jake muttered. "What the hell are we going to do?"

Cassie laid a hand on his shoulder. "We’ll find a way. For now, let’s just try to deal."

Jake nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We should all go home and get some rest."

Everyone else began to disperse, but Jake remained where he was. He cupped Cassie’s chin in his hand. "What happened to Kay made me realize that none of us are immortal. I want to say this before it’s too late." He looked deeply into Cassie’s eyes. "I love you."

She kissed him softly on the lips. "And I love you. We’re going to make it. We’ve fought too long for them to stop us now."

Jake kissed her back. "They’re not going to win. I promise."

Rachel drove home and moped around the house. After dinner, she went to bed.

I sat in her chair and watched her sleep. While Rachel mourned, I did a few experiments.

I could hear things, see things in a more power perspective. It was as if all my senses were magnified. I could be somewhere by simply imaging it, no matter how far away it was. Yet, no one saw me, or felt me. I was truly a ghost, without the chains.

But something was wrong. Things that usually made me happy, like a puppy I saw, depressed me. Everything depressed me. Sure, I was dead, but that still didn’t make sense. It was as if I didn’t want to be here. Like all my life I had been in a prison, and I was finally free. But I had to be here. I had to get through to Rachel.

Rachel was asleep. Her eyelid twitched. I had read once that that meant she was dreaming. I hoped so. See, I once read a book where a dead girl visits and communicates with her friends via their dreams. It was one of my favorites. I was desperate to try anything. Maybe, hopefully, it would work here.

I closed my eyes and dove into Rachel’s head.

When I opened them, I was in the Yeerk Pool.

There was a battle going on. A tiger, a gorilla, a grizzly, a wolf, a hawk, and an Andalite vs. dozens of Hork-Bajir and Taxxons, and Visser Three.

Your typical Yeerk Pool nightmare.

I spotted Rachel, covered with cuts, slashing at Hork-Bajir.

I ran over to help, but got pushed out of the way.

Wait a minute. He had just touched me.

I looked around. Obviously, in the dream world, I was just as real and solid as everything else.

So I morphed.

After slashing Hork-Bajir after Hork-Bajir, I realized they would not stop coming.

This was dream, not real life. The only person who could stop it was Rachel.

{Rachel?} I yelled.

She looked at me with her poor bear eyesight. < Kay?>

{It’s me!} I yelled at her

She stared at me. < But you’re dead.>

{I know. This is a dream.}

< What? No way!>

{You can make this stop. You can make all the Hork-Bajirs go away.}

< How?>

{Imagine it. Imagine this place is empty.}

Rachel seemed to focus. Everyone disappeared. She looked around and demorphed. "How come you’re still here?"

{I’m not part of this dream. I am Kay.}

"Then how did you get in here?"

{I just sort of dove into your head. See, I am dead. I’m a ghost. I guess ghost can visit dreams.}

"How do I know your not some figment of my imagination?" Rachel asked.

This was getting ridiculous. {Rachel! It’s me. I don’t have time to convince you that I’m real. You have to get my bankcard tonight. I left it at school in my locker. The police will find it tomorrow.}

She blinked. "Bankcard?"

{The money. The money is in my account.}

"Oh. That money."

{You can withdraw everything at an ATM. My password is 0984. But my card is at school in my purse. You have to get to it before the police search my locker.}

"Okay. By the way, what happened."

{Long story. Very long story. I’ll tell it to you later. Just get the card now. My locker number is 377. The combo’s 20,0,40.}

"That’s a simple combo."

{Actually, it’s 19,0,41, but 20,0,40 is close enough, and easier to remember.}

"Okay. How do I wake up?"

{I guess you just have to want to.}

All of a sudden, I was thrown violently out of Rachel’s mind and back into her bedroom.

Rachel bolted up in bed, rapidly blinking. "Oh my God." She whispered. "Kay? Was that really you." She paused, as if waiting for an answer. "Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe." Rachel seemed to think it over. "I’m not taking any chances." She said to herself. With that, she jumped out of bed and opened her window.

With a rustle of feathers, an owl flew into the night.

I followed Rachel to the school. I no longer morphed, but simply floated in the air.

She landed at the side, and crawled in through a window that didn’t lock.

I simply walked though the walls. They didn’t bother ghosts.

Rachel went upstairs to my locker, and quickly opened it. Nothing was missing. They police had not yet been to there.

She rifled through my purse until she came upon the card. Then, placing the purse when she found it, Rachel left the way she came.

Rachel morphed owl again and flew downtown.

After demorphing in an alley, she found an ATM. She stuck the card in and typed the password.

Clutching the money in her talons, Rachel finally flew home.

That night, while Rachel slept, I somehow slept as well. In my dreams, if they were only dreams, I saw things. Wonderful, beautiful things. A magical place where there was no fighting, no war. It felt so peaceful, and I wanted to stay forever. Just before I awoke, a voice spoke to me. It said, "Now do you see what you are rejecting?"

And perhaps, I did see, but I would not leave. At that point, nothing could have made me leave.

Rachel did not dream again that night, so I had no chance to visit her again.

The next morning, Rachel called up everyone and set up a meeting at Cassie’s barn.

When we arrived, we were surprised to find Erek waiting for us.

"I’ve got some big news." Rachel announced.

"You might want to hear what Erek has to say first." Jake advised.

"The Yeerks faked the police reports, but I got the real files and the Yeerk report."

"What did they say?"

"The explosion was caused by a gas pipe. Some cut it, the gas escaped. Under the pressure, and ignited by a Dracon shot, it exploded."

"Kay?"

"The Yeerks checked the bone fragments. There was an Andalite in there."

"Kay could morph Ax." Jake told him.

"Ax, may I have some fur to compare DNA?"

Ax used his tail to cut of a small clump of fur and handed it to Erek.

Erek used some kind of scanning device. "Exact match."

"Kay must have morphed Ax." Cassie whispered. "So they wouldn’t know she was human."

"I’m sorry." Erek’s holographic face showed sadness.

There was a moment of silence. For once, Marco could not make a joke.

"The morphing cube?" Jake asked.

"Destroyed."

"That causes a problem, Prince Jake." Ax pointed out. "Without the computer chip in the Escafil Device, I can’t bypass the Yeerk security and reprogram the Flarbrack machine."

"What do you mean?"

"Unless we get another chip, the Yeerks will win."

"More bad news." Rachel groaned.

"Isn’t there any other way we can get a chip?" Jake asked.

"Well...the waste disposal unit at Zone 91 may contain a chip."

"Why would a toilet have a computer chip?" Marco asked.

"For the guidance systems. To direct it at a star."

"Then we have to get it."

"And how do you suggest we get into the most secret place on Earth?" Marco demanded. "We can’t use horses again."

"At night. We fly over there, morph flies, then demorph inside."

"Now there’s a plan." Marco snorted. "What if we get caught?"

"Well, we just won’t."

< Tonight?> Tobias asked.

Jake nodded wearily. "Everyone sneak out. We meet at your meadow at midnight."

But no one left. Instead, everyone stayed to help Cassie shovel manure.

Don’t get me wrong. No one likes doing that, with the possible exception of Cassie. Everyone just wanted an ounce of normalcy in their lives. Even if it that meant shoveling manure.

In fact, even Erek joined in. With his super Chee strength, the job was done very quickly.

When Rachel finally went home for lunch, she was a little happier. Even though we had just met a few weeks ago, I was her friend and my death hit her hard. But Rachel is a remarkably strong person, and she could cope.

That night, at 11:40, when the rest of the house was asleep, Rachel silently slipped out of bed. Wearing her ‘morphing outfit’, she became an owl.

I followed her in my floating human body. I was getting used to traveling this way.

As planned, we headed for Tobias’s meadow. When we got there, everyone was already waiting.

We immediately headed for Zone 91. On the way, Marco continuously complained that he needed his beauty sleep until Rachel threatened to pulverize his face.

We landed just outside the ‘STOP! Government property.’ sign.

"Okay." Jake whispered. "We all morph flies and Tobias carries us over. Then he morphs fly and we get into the base."

"Let’s do it!" Marco said. Everyone stared at him like he was nuts.

Marco shrugged. "Can’t let Rachel have all the fun."

Rachel smirked. "Just don’t expect me to start saying ‘This is insane!’."

Marco started morphing. "That’s copyrighted to me."

A pair of fly legs popped out of Rachel’s chest. < Then ‘Let’s do it!’ belongs to me."

Jake shook his mostly fly head. < You guys never stop, do you?>

< All right, everyone. Hop aboard Red-tail Airlines.> Tobias said as soon as everyone was completely morphed.

Marco made some crack about maggots and they took off.

It only took a minute to fly to the compound. Then, a string of flies hopped off and Tobias morphed.

The Andalite toilet was in the hanger, with was naturally, locked. They sneaked in by crawling through the crack at the bottom of the door. Me, I floated through the wall.

The hanger was mostly empty. There was a guard, but of course, he didn’t notice the group of flies that flew by.

Finally, we reached the room where the so-called alien spaceship was kept. It was encased in thick glass, and surrounded by wires and lights.

Everyone demorphed, hidden in the shadows. The guard couldn’t see them from that angle.

Ax went to get chip.

"How do get the chip out?" Rachel whispered to Jake. "We can’t carry it as flies."

"I know. Tobias goes flea while the rest of us go as ants. Once we get out, Tobias can demorph and carry us out."

"I hate ants." Marco muttered. "How come Bird-Boy doesn’t have to?"

"He doesn’t have a ant morph, idiot." Rachel snapped.

"Just morph." Jake sighed.

As they started morphing, Ax announced. < I’ve got it, Prince Jake.>

< Good. Wait until we’re done, then put the chip beside us and morph ant.>

They were almost done when the door flew open.

A woman wearing a lab coat stood in the frame. Her eyes the size of pancakes. The clipboard she had been holding clattered to the floor.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed.

< Shit!> Jake shouted. < Ax! Get us out of here!>

Ax scooped up the little group of ants and the computer chip. They ran out of the room past the woman, who had fainted.

The woman’s screams had alerted the attention of the guard. Alarms were blaring everywhere.

"Oh my God! It’s an alien!" Someone shouted as Ax ran out of the hanger.

More screams followed.

"GET THAT ALIEN!"

It was utter pandemonium.

But there were a dozen guards who had the presence of mind to chase the so-called ‘alien’.

< Ax! Morph!>

Ax was already on it. By the time the guards caught up, we were in the sky.

< That was bad.> Rachel said grimly.

< Oh, yeah.> Marco agreed.

< At least we have the chip.> Cassie said optimistically.

< But they saw Ax!> Jake pointed out.

< Does it matter?> Tobias asked. < Everyone will know in a few days anyway.>

< This had better work.> Jake sighed. < Let’s all go home and get some sleep.>

Rachel yawned. She rolled over and looked at her alarm clock. 9:06.

She staggered out of bed. I went downstairs.

Sara and Jordan were watching TV. Rachel’s mom was cooking breakfast. pancakes.

Rachel came down the stairs. "I’m starving."

Her mom looked at her. "You okay honey? You look worn out."

"I’m fine. Bad dreams."

Of course, I knew she had been up all night breaking into Zone 91.

"This is a NBC emergency news update. We are sorry to interrupt you regularly scheduled programming."

"I can’t believe this!" Sara moved to turn off the TV.

"Hold it, Sara." Rachel stopped her. "I want to hear this."

"We have just received notice that the President will make an announcement in ten minutes. We have no information as to the contents of this announcement. However, we have been informed that it contains information vital to everyone. Please stay tuned. We now go to our correspondent in Washington. Michelle?"

"Yes, David. I’m standing in the Rose Garden, just outside the White House. The air here is buzzing with excitement. No one I’ve talked to seems to know why the President has called for this announcement. We do know that early this morning, the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, The President’s Advisors, and various representatives from NASA were called to an emergency meeting at the Pentagon. There is much speculation that this announcement is about extraterrestrial life forms. However, this is still an unconfirmed rumor at this time. We will notify everyone as soon as we receive more information. Back to you, David."

"Thank you, Michelle. We now go to our correspondent at the Pentagon."

"Hello everyone. This is Robert Dupney from just outside the Pentagon. All morning, people have been streaming into the building. So far, few have left and those who have refused to make any comment. The building has been sealed off. Approximately five hours ago, the building was proclaimed ‘off limits’ as the President arrived."

I was shaking. I knew what the big deal was. The people at Zone 91 saw an alien. They told their superiors, and they had decided it was time the world knew.

I glanced at Rachel. She was sitting on the edge of a chair, pale, with hands clenched.

The minutes ticked by slowly as we stared, transfixed, at the TV. Finally, the President came out.

"Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming. Early this morning, I received information from one of our defense branches. My advisors and I felt that, in the best interest of this nation, that this information should be made public." There was a pause. "We are not alone."

Shocked silence echoed in the silent house.

"Mommy? Are there aliens?" Sara looked up with big round eyes.

Nobody answered. Not even the announcers who were experienced to deal with shocking news and keep talking were able to utter a word.

There were collective gasps from the media as the President continued. "It was confirmed this morning that extraterrestrial life does exist, and they are here. On Earth. We ask that everyone remain calm. We do not believe that the aliens are hostile, but in the case they are, we have made the necessary precautions. We stress that everyone should remain calm about this. All schools, businesses, and institutions are closed for the day. We will update you farther as we receive more information. May God bless America. Thank you." With a nod, the President left the podium.

Rachel’s eyes widened with fear. Both she and I knew who the so-called aliens were: Us.

As the broadcasters snapped out of their trance and started taking calls from people, Rachel called Jake.

"Have you seen the news?"

With my supernatural senses, I could hear Jake’s answer. "Yeah. This is bad."

"Very bad." Rachel agreed. "What do we do?"

"Stay calm. They don’t know anything except what that woman saw. We’re safe, for now. We have to finish what we started. Let’s meet at Cassie’s barn."

"Okay. I’ll call her."

"And I’ll get Marco. Bye."

"Bye." Rachel disconnected and then called Cassie.

"Hello?"

"Cass, it’s me. Can I come over?"

"Sure."

"I’m bring Jake, okay? Can you get a hold of Tobias and A-Philip."

"Okay. Bye."

Rachel hung up and leaned against the wall. "Oh, damn. What are we going to do?" She whispered into the air.