The atmosphere at the barn was gloomy. Everyone was tense and no one, not even Jake, knew what to do.

"Maybe this is good." Cassie suggested. "The world knows."

"It’s too late. They Yeerks will just step up their schedule and use that weapon sooner." Marco argued.

"We still can stop them." Rachel pointed out.

"How?" Jake asked.

"Today. We do it today."

"We can’t." Cassie said. "We don’t have the computer. And with all that happening, all the stores are closed."

"Then we’ll just open it for them." Rachel met Cassie’s gaze.

"What?!" Cassie was horrified. "We are not stealing a computer!"

"We’re not stealing it. I’ll leave the money there."

"That’s still breaking and entering!"

"Bugs don’t break and enter. They just enter." Rachel shot back.

Everyone else was silent up to this point.

"We better vote." Jake said quietly.

"I can’t believe you’re even considering this!" Cassie glared at him.

"Cassie." Jake hissed. "This is war. And sometimes, in war, you have do desperate things."

"That doesn’t make it right."

"No. It doesn’t. But like Rachel said, we leave the money."

"I understand, Jake. But I just can’t do it. It feels wrong."

"Fine. You get the other morphing cube and stay here with Ax. We can’t risk anyone seeing him again. The rest of us…we do what we have to do."

Cassie gripped his hand. "I’m sorry I yelled."

"I’m sorry I yelled too."

Marco started making kissy noises.

"Let’s go."

First, we flew to Rachel’s house to get the money. Then we went to CompuServe.

We landed in the back and demorphed.

"We can’t let the security cameras see our human faces. Rachel, Tobias, you go in as Hork-Bajir, Marco, gorilla, and I go rhino." Jake ordered.

Rachel was already sprouting blades.

Jake rammed the door open and the alarms screeched.

Once we were inside, Jake and Marco got the laptop while Tobias got a bag and some extra batteries. Rachel left the money and a note expressing our apologies at the cash register. We high-tailed it out of there before the police came.

The laptop was heavy, so they had to walk back to Cassie’s.

Back at the barn, Cassie was not happy Jake had rammed down the door.

"Whatever happened to bugs?" She demanded.

"You try pulling a envelope full of $3200 cash under a door." Jake retorted.

It was Tobias who stopped the argument. < We can argue about the ethics of this later. Right now, we have to save the world.>

Ax turned the laptop on and started typing. Marco sat next to him and explained what the various icons stood for.

Everyone else simply leaned back into the bales of hay and waited.

It took them two hours. Two hours.

Jake stared at the thin plastic box of wires and electrodes. This was their only hope. "So this is it."

Rachel stepped up beside him. "This is it."

Marco threw his arms around both their shoulders. He pretended to cry. "I’m going to miss you guys! Oh, boo-hoo!"

Cassie laughed and slipped into Jake’s other arm. "If this works. There’s will be no more Animorphs."

< This will work.> Tobias corrected her, hoping onto Rachel’s shoulder.

Cassie gestured to Ax. "Come on. Group hug. Join in."

Ax cautiously stepped over and joined between Rachel and Cassie.

Marco laughed. "This is like a huddle, when sports teams get ready play a big game."

"We are a team." Jake whispered. "And we are about to play the biggest game of our lives."

My heart almost broke. I loved the warmth of the moment. The friendship and love that radiated from the small group. But I wasn’t there. I wasn’t part of the circle. I wanted so bad to be alive at that moment. So bad that it hurt. And I began to wonder if leaving wasn’t such a bad idea.

Rachel cocked her head, as if she had heard something. "Kay."

Marco’s head snapped up. "You’re right. We’re missing a team member. She’s not here."

Rachel slowly shook her head. "She’s here. I can feel her." She let go of Ax’s arm and slowly turned until she was looking straight at where I was standing.

"There’s no one there, Rachel." Jake whispered.

"She’s there." Rachel said with conviction.

Jake closed his eyes. "You’re right, Rachel. She’s there. I can feel her." His eyes opened again. "I can’t see her, but I know she’s there."

Rachel smiled, and held out her hand. "Come on, Kay. You’re one of us. You’re an Animorph."

I reached out and touched her hand. I knew she couldn’t see me. And she couldn’t feel my touch, but somehow, somehow, she knew I was there.

I slipped my arms around the two I cared the most about. The best friend I ever had on one side, and the alien I loved on the other.

For on magical moment, I felt solid, alive.

"The Animorphs have become more than just Animal Morphers." Marco whispered. "We’re the best friends in the world. And even when there are no more Yeerks, there will always be Animorphs."

We leaned our heads forward, and for one blessed moment, we were one.

I don’t know how that moment happened. The Ellimist, or perhaps some other way.

It doesn’t matter. To me, it was simply a miracle.

But like all things, the moment had to end, and the circle broke apart.

There was still a mission to complete.

Everyone morphed birds. Rachel carried the laptop in a small plastic bag Cassie had gotten.

After thirty minutes of flying, we were there. The cave.

Everyone demorphed.

Jake peered through the tree at the seemingly solid stone wall. "Let’s do it."

Rachel glanced at him. "That’s my line."

Jake smiled and nodded. "I know. But I’m getting sick of being the leader. I’m going to be Xena...no, wait. That’s not right. I’m going to be Hercules for once."

Rachel laughed. "No time for jokes. This is serious." She said in her best ‘Jake’ imitation.

Tobias rolled his bird eyes.

Jake shrugged. "Marco told me he’d pay me twenty bucks if I found a way to keep Rachel from saying ‘Let’s do it!’ before this mission. I’m broke, so I figured I needed the money."

"Wh-" Rachel started to yell.

Cassie clamped her hand over Rachel’s mouth before she could express her indignation. "Shhhh. The Yeerks are right in front of us." Then she turned, frowning, to Marco. "Just out of curiosity, where did you get twenty bucks? We’re all broke. You knew we needed the money. How could you keep it?"

Marco shrugged innocently. "I don’t have twenty bucks. I knew that Jake would never get Rachel to stop saying ‘Let’s do it!’. I just wanted to see him try."

Jake crossed his arms. "Well, I beat her too it. Rachel didn’t say ‘Let’s do it!’, so pay up."

Rachel pulled Cassie’s hand from her mouth. "I didn’t say it yet."

"So?" Marco asked.

Rachel grinned. "Let’s do it." And, just to provoke Marco even more, she stuck out her tongue at him.

Tobias sighed. < Am I the only responsible on here?>

"Responsible?" Marco asked. "Never heard of the word."

< I rest my case.>

Jake sighed and glanced at the cave. "Delaying won’t do anything. We have to do this. Let’s get it over with, and then we’ll never have to deal with the Yeerks again."

< What is the plan, Prince Jake?> Ax asked.

Jake looked surprised. "Plan? What plan?" Then, seeing the horrified looks on everyone’s faces, he smiled. "Joke. Joke. Here’s the plan. We start a fight. Try to break into the place. The moment that force field comes down, we-"

< Jake!> Tobias interrupted him. < Listen.>

"What?" Jake whispered.

With a flutter of feathers, Tobias flew into the sky. Everyone watched as the dot grew smaller.

< Oh, shit.>

< What?> Ax demanded.

< There’s good news and bad news.> Tobias headed down again.

"Give us the good news first." Jake winced.

< The force field is already down.>

"What’s the bad news?"

< There’s maybe five hundred Controllers around. Mostly Hork-Bajir and Taxxons.>

"Five hundred? We can’t fight five hundred!"

< We have one hour, Jake. Before they use it. The weapon is ready. A ship is coming down in half an hour to pick up the remaining human-Controllers so they won’t be affected. Visser Three will be on the ship.>

"Damn it." Jake hissed. "Damn it!"

Rachel looked at her cousin. "Don’t lose it now, Jake. Let’s just do this."

Black and orange stripes appeared on Jake’s back. "Yeah, let’s just do this."

In their power morphs, the Animorphs sprang from their hiding place.

At first now one noticed. They were all fixated on the Flarbrack machine.

Then Jake let loose a ground-shaking roar, and everyone noticed.

With all the attention on the tiger and the animals standing in a half circle around him, Ax made a break for it.

A few Yeerks noticed, but when they tried to chase after him, Rachel in bear morph stopped them in their tracks.

There were a few Controllers inside, but Ax quickly disposed of them.

He plugged the laptop into the machine and began typing furiously.

I smiled. Ax still hadn’t been able to make the computer understand thought-speech commands.

The computer beeped. "Target DNA change in progress."

Ax tapped his hoof impatiently. A habit he had picked up from humans.

Finally, after a harrowing two minutes, the computer beeped again. "Target DNA change confirmed"

< Ax! Hurry!> Jake yelled.

< I need more time!> Ax was frantic.

< How long?>

< Five minutes.>

< Ax, we are getting slaughtered out here. We’ll be dead in five minutes! Do something!>

< I haven’t finished programming it!>

< Ahhhhhhh! Just do it!>

Ax pressed a button.

"Five seconds to initiation."

Ax ran. I ran after him.

"Four."

"Three."

We were out of the cave.

"Two."

"One."

A bright light flashed from the cave. Everyone froze.

As it came, the light vanished in a moment.

The Controllers, no, wait, they were humans now, were in shock. Some had collapsed.

< RUN!!!> Ax yelled. Ax never yells.

They listened. Everyone ran, with the exception of the Taxxons, who were in a feeding frenzy.

KABOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

The explosion knocked everyone to the ground.

I looked back. In place of the cave, was a smoking hole.

I knew what had happened. Ax had explained to me. When heat was added to the Bakar atom, it increased in energy. It converted the energy and then expelled it. However, if the atom received more energy than it could convert, it would heat up. This would cause the atom to break down into extremely reactive elements and thus cause an explosion. The trick was, of course, to cool the atom down once the energy had been expelled. Problem was, Ax didn’t have time to program this. Also, Ax never got to program the energy setting, which meant the machine expelled it at maximum power. We had not just stopped the Yeerks. We annihilated them.

I looked at the remains of the destruction, then turned away. After all, there was nothing else to see. Nothing on Earth, at least.

I pictured the Blade Ship.

I was standing on the bridge. Alloran was standing beside me. Visser Three was dead. I could sense that.

He was at the communication station.

The screen was blank. Then, slowly, it began to focus.

A moment later, a hard Andalite face was staring out of it.

< Visser Three!> He yelled.

The screen flashed. He was trying to cut the signal.

< Please, stop.>

The eyes widened at the word "Please".

< Visser Three is dead.> Alloran continued. < I am free.>

< How?> The Andalite asked in disbelief.

< I do not know. One moment, he was there, then all the Yeerks on the ship seemed to disappear.>

A new face replaced the one on the screen.

< Yes, Prince Lirem.>

< We need proof.>

< The Captain of the Axertz is a traitor. He’s head for Leera right now.>

< How can I trust what you say?>

< I know you have no reason, but I suggest you look into it. May I speak to my wife?>

< I will notify her.>

< If you want more proof, the shield frequency for Visser Six’s Blade Ship is 2347.9. I know that can be easily tested.>

< In all my life, I have never relied on feelings. They are inaccurate. But this time, this time you sound like the Alloran I once knew.>

< I have waited many years for my freedom. I can wait for your trust, my Prince.>

Lirem smiled the Andalite way, with his eyes. < Your wife is here. She wants to speak with you.>

A new Andalite appeared. < Alloran!> She was practically glowing.

< Jahar. It’s good to see you again.>

Every story must have an ending. And so must this, even if it is not merely a story.

I could not leave yet. I had to know. I had to know how it was all going to end. Yes, the Yeerks were gone and Earth was safe, but my friends...my friends had the hardest part ahead of them: The truth.

There were ex-Controllers everywhere yelling about being free. All the TV channels were covering the story, even cable ones like Nick and TLC. I felt sorry for anyone who just wanted to watch their favorite show on the tube.

Cassie and Jake were at her barn. They were shoveling muck and holding hands and talking.

Tobias and Rachel went flying.

I followed Marco home.

Marco opened the door and poked his head inside. "Dad?"

"In here." Came a voice from the kitchen.

Marco walked in and saw his dad cooking.

"Dad, I’ve got to tell you something."

"You got expelled?"

"No! It’s nothing like that. But it really important."

"Okay."

"Maybe you should sit down."

Marco’s dad sat. "Is this bad?"

"Not really. I’ve been keeping a secret from you, and it’s time you knew." Marco took a deep breath. "You know the alien stuff that been going on? Well it's true. And I’ve known this for a long time. See, there’s an invasion going on. But we stopped it. This is going to be all over the news soon, but I wanted you to hear it from me. There’s these slugs called Yeerks, and they take over people’s bodies. And I’ve been fighting these things. Ever since Elfangor gave us the power to morph. We…we can change our bodies. Become animals. And it’s really complicated, but I…I’m an Animorph."

Marco’s dad didn’t hear a word he said. He was carefully scrutinizing his son. "Marco. You’re avoiding something."

Marco bit his lip. "Dad, this is really hard, but Mom…Mom’s not dead."

The blood drained out of the older man’s face. "How?"

"She’s a Controller. She’s the host of Visser One. I guess you could say she was kidnapped by aliens."

Marco’s dad stood and gave Marco a hug.

"We’ll get her back, Dad." Marco whispered. "We’ll get her back."

SIZZLE

Marco stared at the burner. Dinner was now a blacken crisp. "Oops."

Jake and Cassie walked inside her house.

"Dad? Mom?" Cassie called.

Her parents stepped out. "What is it?"

"We have something to tell you."

Her dad got a worried look. "You’re not getting married, are you?"

"No. It’s something else. Nothing bad."

"Okay. What is it."

"Well, Jake’s parents need to hear this too."

"Are you sure you two haven’t been getting more involved?"

Cassie blushed to the roots of her hair. "No!"

Her father nodded. "Just teasing you." He picked up the phone and called Jake’s parents. "Could you come over for a bit?" He frowned. "Oh." He held out the phone to Jake. "There’s something going on with your brother, Tom."

Jake’s mouth became an O. He grabbed the phone. "Mom?"

"Honey, Tom’s acting weird. He keeps on saying something about aliens."

"Put him on the phone, Mom."

There was a pause as the phone on the other end exchanged hands.

"Jake." It was Tom.

"Tom."

"Jake! I have to tell you something. It’s really important. I have to see you. I don’t trust the phone lines."

"It’s okay Tom. They’re gone. All of them."

There was a long pause. "How did you know?"

"I was there, Tom. I was a Controller once. And I made it. We both made it. Don’t worry, I know a lot of stuff I shouldn’t. Get Mom and Dad over here, okay?"

"Sure, Jake." The phone disconnected with a soft click.

They arrived ten minutes later.

Jake took a deep breath. "We’ve been keeping a big secret from you. Look, um, don’t interrupt until I’m done, okay?"

There were silent nods.

"The big alien thing going on? It’s true. And we’ve known this for a few years. We…we saw alien ship land. It all started when Marco, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias and I took a shortcut through the abandoned construction site that you guys made me swear I would never go in. Well, Tobias looked up into the sky, and he saw an alien ship. It landed and this Andalite named Elfangor came out. He gave us the power to morph. To change our bodies into other animals. He wanted us to use the power to fight an alien invasion. The Yeerks are parasites. They take over bodies, and they were after us."

"Wait a minute! You guys were the ‘Andalite bandits’?" Then noticing the strange stares he was getting, Tom explained. "They got me."

Jake nodded. "We went down to the Yeerk Pool, and found out a bit more. But Tobias got trapped in a hawk morph. There’s a two hour limit. And then later, Cassie and Tobias had these dreams. We went down to the ocean, and found Ax. He’s an Andalite. We fought them. For three years we kept them from taking Earth. But then, they devised a weapon that would place the entire population in suspension. They could attack openly with no resistance. We found out, and we stopped it. We reprogrammed it to put Yeerks in suspension. Except, Ax didn’t have time to finish what he had to do, and all Yeerks died."

Everyone looked confused.

Cassie smiled. "What Jake means is, we did some things that put us in a lot of danger, but we did it to fight for freedom. And now, it over, and we don’t have to keep anyone more secrets."

Jake’s mom shook her head. "I don’t know if I should ground you for taking that short-cut, or thank you for stopping an alien invasion."

"The second option, please." Jake grinned, knowing everything would be okay.

Rachel and Tobias drifted lazily over her house.

"Let’s go in." Rachel suggested.

They both swooped down and demorphed in front of her door. They didn’t care if someone saw them.

Rachel opened the door and stepped in. "Mom?"

Rachel’s mom ran over. "Get inside! Have you heard the news? There’re all sorts of crazy things going on. It’s not safe outside." Then she spotted Tobias. "Oh, who’s this?"

"My boyfriend."

Rachel’s mom frowned. "How come I’ve never met him?"

"Mom, sit down."

Rachel and Tobias spent the next two hours explaining everything to her mom.

Afterwards, Rachel’s mom decided to take a nap before her brain exploded from everything she had just learned.

Finally, Tobias looked at Rachel. "One more minute."

"Oh! You better demorph."

"I don’t want to."

"But…You’ll be trapped."

"I love you."

Rachel nodded. "I love you too."

They held hands and silently counted the final seconds.

As the last moment ticked away, Tobias leaned over and kissed Rachel. "Marry me."

"Aren’t you supposed to have a ring?" She teased.

Tobias pulled out a rusty-colored tail feather. "I saved it for this moments. Here you go."

Rachel took it. "Let’s do it."

{Ellimist!}

{I, or we?}

He laughed.

{But you did it. Without you, we could have never won this war.}

{Noninterference, huh?}

{I didn’t do it, my friends did.}

THEY COULDN’T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU. HOW ABOUT A REWARD.

{Can you give me back my life?}

We appeared in Rachel’s room. She was asleep.

With that, he was gone. I jumped back and my hand hit a chair. Yes, that’s right, hit a chair.

My hand was solid, but the rest of me was not.

I wondered at the reasoning of this until I saw the computer in front of me. Rachel’s computer.

I hit the power button. Two hours. Well, I was a fast typer.

And type I did. The entire story of what happened. The final chapter of the war between the Animorphs and the Yeerks.

Right now, I’m in Rachel’s room, typing. The two hours are almost up. This is the end of my story. My final goodbye to the world. We did it. We beat the Yeerks. I go to Paradise in peace.

I suppose this is a happy ending. Earth is safe. Jake and Cassie are together. Even thought Tobias became a human nothlit, he was doing it for Rachel. I always knew he would. Ax will be going home, and I’m going to Paradise.

It is not a perfect ending. The Yeerks are still out there. And I’m dead. But it is good enough.

Perhaps it is best this way. I may have helped, but I also caused problems. I was only an Animorph for a short while, and the world does not need to know of my existence. The real heroes are the people who fought for years against impossible odds. The real Animorphs.

I am glad to have known them. As Cassie said, I’m just a girl from school who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or perhaps, it was the right place at the right time…

Rachel’s stirring. The clicks of the keys are waking her.

And I leave, as my final message to this world, a quote I once heard. "With great power comes great responsibility." I had always believed that, and even more so after I received the power to morph. I had been given a great gift, and with it came a terrible price. But I had welcomed the power, so I had to accept the responsibility.

But some say that is what makes us human. That we dare to take that risk. That we embrace power despite the responsibility it carries.

Yes, some abuse that power. They use it to their advantage and forget the responsibility they own. And it is those who must pay. They will pay.

But I am rambling. Rambling about things far beyond the grasp of the human brain. Perhaps, when one day, you are welcomed into Paradise, I will be there to greet you. Ah, yes. One day.

This is the end. I leave behind the place I once called home.

Earth gave me life. I hope I have repaid her kindness.

Goodbye…

Clickity-clack, click, clack, clickity-clack, click, click.

The fog lifted from my brain. What was that sound?

Typing. Typing.

Who was typing in my room?

I slowly opened my eyes and yawned. The clicks of the keys could no longer be heard. Must have been a dream.

I turned my head to look at my alarm clock. But what I saw was my computer. And it was on.

My heart thumped. Someone had been in my room.

I jumped out of bed and sat in the chair in front of the glowing screen.

My word processor was activated.

I stared at the first words on the screen.

"My name is Kay…"