"Get down!" I screamed, throwing myself at my son as the Bug fighter prepared to fire its lasers. We hit the ground just as the first laser tore through the land. Dust and debris blew up all around us. Shrapnel from the machinery just barely missed crushing or gouging Tobias, but I could feel a piece of something or other sliced into my leg. "Ah!" I gasped loudly.

I could hear the fighter preparing to fire again when the charges stopped. A split second later, a beam, like a spotlight, shone down on both of us. I suddenly felt the ground move away from me. Tobias was trying to sit up, but the Bug fighter had us caught in some sort of tractor beam. It was pulling us into the ship!

Once Tobias and I were in the ship, the fighter fired another round of lasers. Then, firing its thrusters, it accelerated away from Elysia.

Tobias and I spend the better part of an hour in a big metal box. My leg was hurting something fierce, but I wouldn't let Tobias pull out the piece of shrapnel. It was all that was keeping me from bleeding. Tobias, actually, was surprised that I could bleed. However, as I explained to him there and as Elfangor had explained earlier, in Elysia the dead is as alive as the Animorphs. It's only when we venture out into the mortal world that we begin to fade into what people refer to as "ghosts" and "apparitions".

"Where are we?" Tobias asked shakily.

"I think we might be in the holding bay of a Yeerk Bug fighter," I replied. "That's what pulled us in, anyway."

"I've been inside Bug fighters," Tobias said. "They're not this big."

"Maybe it's more technologically sophisticated than anything you've been in before," I suggested. "Anyway, how did you get inside a Bug fighter?"

Tobias tried to look smug. "Oh, it wasn't hard. I just dove straight through a hole in the roof of a grocery store, proceeded to get my tail almost shot off, then in a bold suicide attempt I killed my speed and almost went crashing into the wall of the inside of the stupid ship." Then his face completely lost the smug look. "At least, I think that's what happened. I have absolutely no memory of that. Jake told me all about it later -- he was the only one of us who knew anything about it."

"If you don't remember, how do you know it was true?" I pointed out.

"Jake doesn't lie," Tobias countered, "and besides, Ax has told us repeatedly that in a standard-class Bug fighter there's only room for one Hork-Bajir and one Taxxon pilot. And he's our resident expert on aliens."

Suddenly, the ship jolted, causing Tobias and me to hit the wall of our little box. My leg slammed into the wall, and I tried to restrain myself from cursing aloud. It didn't exactly work. "What the f*** happened?" I shouted. "Where the hell are we?" I proceeded to curse at whatever Yeerk was guarding the box.

"Cut it out," Tobias hissed. "Do you hear that? It sounds like a Hork-Bajir."

Through the box, I could just hear the conversation. "Report, Carger 123."

"Yes, Visser Six. We have apparently caught ourselves an Andalite bandit. A living Andalite bandit. From the community the residents call Elysia."

"Elysia?" Visser Six asked sharply. "Carger, do you have any idea who resides his afterlife in Elysia?"

"No, Visser."

Visser Six laughed. It was an evil laugh. "Why, none other than the Andalite beast, Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. I wish to see this Andalite immediately."

"One other thing, Visser."

"What is it, Carger 123? And make it quick. I'm a very busy person, after all."

"Well, Visser, is appears --"

"Out with it, fool, I haven't got all day!" Visser Six snapped.

Carger's voice was trembling. "The bandit, sir. The bandit is human."

I looked at Tobias. His eyes were huge, and his complexion was dead white. "Oh, shit," he whispered. "They know."

I didn't want to look through the wrecked construction site. I didn't want to be there when they discovered Tobias' body. I wanted to be as far away from that place as possible. So while the others flew down to the still-smoking place, I flew back to Strike's house and entered the room I was staying in through an open window.

I demorphed immediately, sat on the edge of the bed, and cried.

Tobias was dead. He had to be. No one could've survived an attack like that and come out of it alive. We knew he was there. We knew Loren had gone after him. Marco had seen him. The attack -- I shook my head. I didn't want to think about it.

It hurt too much.

I love Tobias. Now he was gone. I hadn't even told him. I mean, sure, we'd gone a few dates, he even kissed me once, but I had never told him how much I really care for him. How much I love him.

"Loved, Rachel, not love," I whispered. It was as if I had unconsciously accepted that he was gone. I knew he was. My brain, the thing forming the words I was thinking and saying, knew Tobias was dead. But my heart wouldn't let me believe it.

Someone knocked on the door. "Go away," I said. I think I meant to shout it, but instead my voice came out in some sort of pathetic near-whisper. So I don't know if Cassie heard me or not. If she did, she ignored me. The door opened.

"Hi," she said softy. She stood uncomfortably in the doorway. "I figured you'd be here."

"I want to be alone," I said.

"We didn't find him," Cassie said. "Elfangor says -- he says that there was a slight pause between the laser blasts. He says that there's a chance -- a small chance, but a chance -- that Loren and Tobias might have been drawn up into the ship before it fired again. That the second shot was to cover their tracks."

I looked up and stared at Cassie. There was a chance that Tobias was alive? That he might have survived. "How small a chance?"

Cassie bit her lip. "According to Elfangor, it's a 20% chance of the tractor beam grabbing them in the five second window between the shots and getting them safely inside."

A 20% chance. But still a chance. I felt a new seed of hope begin to grow.

I'll find you, Tobias, I thought as Cassie went back downstairs. I glanced out the window. If you're alive, I'll find you.

I could feel the end.

<Come on, Nemu,> Laura pleaded. <You have to stay alive. I can't get through this without your help. If they catch me, they'll see right through me!>

<Arrggh . . . you'll be all right,> I promised her. <You've been playing the part of a Yeerk for years -- you don't need me.>

<Yes I do,> Laura snapped. <I do need you. You're my only chance of getting home alive. You're the only on who knows how to save this place. There's no way I can finish what you've started.>

Another spasm of pain ripped through me. <You'll do fine,> I said. <You've been with me from the beginning of this. You can do this, Laura -- you're stronger than I ever was. It was you who managed to change me, remember? Not the other way around.>

<You got me out of there!> Laura screamed. <You said we were like Bonnie and Clyde, remember? We'd go down together or not at all!>

Oh yes. I remember saying that. Back when we started out. <Well, Bonnie -- looks like Clyde's in for early retirement. Don't forget about him, okay? He won't forget you.>

I shuddered inwardly. I could feel my hold on her slipping away. Away . . .

Away . . .

And then . . .

I opened my eyes.

I opened my eyes.

I stared around the little in-between that I was trapped in, on my own free will. It been so long since I'd been able to do that, if you don't count the visits to the Yeerk pool every three days.

But if I could move around, that meant . . . my gaze fell on the ground. There, lying perfectly still, was a large slug, about the size of my thumb. "Oh, Nemu," I breathed. I reached to touch him, but suddenly he withered, and turned to dust. I had forgotten that happened once a Yeerk died. It was all part of their 'secret invasion'. They couldn't have people getting proof.

For a moment, I just wanted to curl up in the little hole and cry until I died. My ankle throbbed with pain, and I had about a dozen cuts and bruises on my back and arms. There was a big cut on my forehead, from just under my hair to my temple. I hadn't eaten anything in about three days.

"How am I supposed to do this, Nemu?" I whispered, like he was still there. "How? I don't have nearly enough strength."

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and sniffed. "Wait a minute," I told myself. "You're Bonnie. You didn't earn that nickname by sitting around and having Nemu do all the work. You're the one who rallied new recruits for the Yeerk Peace Movement. You helped free several hosts, even if it meant you couldn't have your own freedom."

I glanced up and realized just how high the rocks I was caught between were. It'd been a while since I'd gone rock-climbing. "Well, here goes nothing," I muttered. I pulled myself into a standing position, trying not to wince when I put some weight on my ankle, and felt along the wall until I found some toe and hand holds. "Don't worry, Clyde," I whispered, smiling. It was a humorless smile. "Bonnie's still going strong."

Then I began to climb towards a freedom I hadn't had for five years -- not since Nemu was forced to fake my own death so that we could leave Earth in the hands of Visser Three.

"Oh shit," I cursed. "They know."

"Know what?" Loren asked.

"That my friends and I are human. Or, at least, they know I'm human. And if they get a good look at my face, they're going to know I'm Elfangor's kid. Then Visser Three is definitely going to put two and two together," I explained in a stage whisper. I didn't want to risk Visser Six or Carger overhearing me. "They don't know we're human -- they still think we're Andalite bandits, even after three years."

"Then I guess we better escape before they get Visser Three," Loren replied. As if escape was easy. There was no way -- wait a minute. I was the ultimate escape artist! Nothing can keep an Animorph locked up.

"I could morph," I said. "But then they'd still you."

Loren shook her head. "I took a course in survival training and self defense. Several courses, actually. All you need to do is morph into something small - something that I can carry. Don't worry, I'll take care of the rest."

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"Just morph," she ordered.

I took a deep breath and started going over all the morphs I had required as a bird. It was strange to think of using my bird morphs when I was human. I wasn't used to my human body being my true form again, even if it was only for as long as I was in Elysia.

Something small. But I still wanted to be able to see what was going on. "How do you feel about flies?" I whispered.

"What?" She was busy listening to another conversation between Visser Six and Carger, so she didn't entirely understand what I was saying. It didn't matter. I was already morphing.

Morphing is always unpredictable. It never happens in the same way. And unless you're name happens to be Cassie, it never happens in a pretty way, either. I was glad there wasn't a mirror around as large, gossamer wings began growing from my back. At the same time, my body began to hunch over, like I was the Hunchback of Notre Dame or something. My legs and arms began twisting and changing into fly legs. Extra fly legs came bursting out of my now abdomen. My head was perfectly normal by this time. "Lord, I must look like that guy from The Fly," I muttered to myself. Then my eyes bulged out, and my mouth mutated, and I suddenly found myself with the compound eyes of a fly.

I was a complete fly. Only problem? I was about the size of a Saint Bernard. And Loren chose that time to realize what I was doing.

Her eyes got very wide. I was afraid she was about to scream, but she was too shocked to do anything but stare. <It's okay,> I said reassuringly. <It's just me.> At that moment, I shrank.

I hovered there for a few moments, then powered my little fly wings and latched onto the collar of Loren's shirt. <I'm on!> I said. <Let's get moving.>

"Someone's coming," I heard her say. I haven't had as much practice being a fly as the others, but I'd had enough to be able to make out fly hearing and human speech. The door slid open, and a huge shape entered, but I couldn't tell if it was human or Hork-Bajir.

It didn’t' matter. Apparently, Loren could handle both.

It was a Hork-Bajir.

A large Hork-Bajir. And in one swift movement, I grabbed a non-bladed area of his arm, pulled myself around, and side kicked him right in the eyes. He fell back (I let go of his arm before I lost my hand) and crashed into the figure behind him. From somewhere down the corridor, I could hear people running to try and figure out what the crash was. "We're out of here!" I said, darting over the fallen figures and running in the opposite direction of the feet. "And I have no clue where I'm gong."

<Hang on,> Tobias said. He lifted off my collar and started flying ahead of me. <There are people coming! Two of them!>

"Human or Hork-Bajir?"

<Human!>

Then I saw them. Two full-grown men, one who looked like he never ate, the other like he ate ten full-course meals a day and all of it went to his muscles.

I centered all my weight on my right. With a twist of my body, I brought my left leg around and caught both of them in the face with my foot. I landed easily, just as both of them went down.

<It looks like this is still a small Bug fighter,> Tobias said. <The only Hork-Bajir that came is the one who you knocked out. I think that might have been Visser Six, which means we've got another one in the control room.>

I suddenly had an idea. "Can you find the control room?"

<Probably.>

"Get there. Try and get control of this ship. They'll probably stick it on auto-pilot if I make enough trouble here. Go!" I hissed as I saw another group of humans running towards us.

<You got it,> Tobias said. He powered his wings and flew off just as I grabbed the wrist of a guy taking a swing at me and threw him over my shoulder. I always knew walked Walker, Texas Ranger would pay off someday.

"Hurry, Tobias," I muttered.

It took me the better part of two hours to climb out of that thing. With my ankle still screwed up, and my hands hurting, I knew I couldn’t move very fast. I remembered Nemu sent out a cry for help for awhile, but I pretty sure someone wasn't going to answer. The call hadn't been too powerful, because he hadn't wanted any other Yeerks to hear it.

It was times like these that I wished I could contact people telepathically. My grandmother used to say she could do that, and that she wasn't going to be the last in my family. When I was born, my mother says she said that I would bring the power into the world again. She said that when she was dying, too. She said she had seen it.

But I never understood what she meant. I certainly wasn't psychic. Funny, I've never really cared about that until now. Maybe because now I wanted to be. Then I'd have a chance of sending out a cry for help.

Forcing myself to continue moving, I began to limp forward. I decided to follow the canyon for awhile, sticking close to the trees. The Bug fighters had shot at something that Nemu had said was about three miles away, North. I remembered flying over the area in a Yeerk ship, and I had seen the lights of something like a town in that approximate area. It was a community that Visser Six had called Elysia.

Every once in awhile I glanced up to see if there was a Bug Scout looking for me. But no. The skies were clear. I hadn't seen a Scout since yesterday. Was it really the next day? One look at my watch, which had miraculously survived the fall, told me it was one o' clock in the morning. That meant people were going to be asleep.

All the easier for me to sneak past the enemy. And until I found Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul and delivered the information on the Neutro-Virus to him, everyone was the enemy.

Can Laura make it to Elysia? Will Tobias find the control center? Can Loren really learn martial arts by recalling old episodes of Walker? Find out in the fourth part of The Elysia Wars; coming soon to a fanfiction near you.