"Tonight I've realized...There's something out there that's stronger than the Yeerks, Andalites, and the Animorphs. There's something out there that is driving me slowly crazy. And, god help me, I like it..." Tobias's Journal

"In the darkness, there's always light
When all hope is lost, there's a soul that fights,
When it rains, there's a dance to be done,
When death comes, love must be won..." -Rachel's Book of Poetry

Prologue

*Tobias*

The sharp branches of the trees slapped against my face, leaving stinging red marks across it. The world was a racing blur as I ran as fast as my human legs would carry me. They knew who we were. They knew who we were! There was no escaping the Yeerks wrath now. I stumbled. I had gone too long without food, without water, without resting. Ever since the Yeerks had found us. I ran. Ran until my lungs seemed near to burst. My steps faltered.

"Caught." I whispered to the silence around me.

My legs cramped up and caused me to fall onto my face in the mud and decaying leaves of the forrest floor. Warm tears ran down my cheeks, dropping onto the rich floor beneath me. There was nothing to do but wait to be massacred now. Or worse, made into Controllers. The Yeerks wouldn't wait long. Then I saw it.

A brilliant white light in front of me. Like a minature sun it glowed in the pale moonlight. I crawled over to it and gazed at what looked like a large diamond, except for the blue whirls that almost seemed like gas inside of it. I saw my reflection in it. I was a mess.

Dirty blonde hair, grown long now,wrapped in a hastily made ponytail that was now knotted with branches, oozing red welts across my face and puffy red eyes.

"My god..." I whispered as I leaned over it and gently picked it up, nearly dropping it as the coldness from the thing crept into my skin.

The thing pulsed in my hands and began to glow brighter...as if it were alive.

I have to get this to Ax...he may know what it is...I thought, in a sedated, disembodied voice. Then thing began to grow colder and colder, burning my hands until a scream burst through my lips. I tried to drop it, but it was as if the thing were fused to my hands. I screamed louder now as the thing burst open. Tiny cords that looked like long tendrils of ice shot out from the thing, tattering my clothing and ripping my skin. A scream burst out of my lips as the blood coursed out of my wounds. I felt the icy-cold tendrils attatch themselves to the ends of my nerves, pain like I never had felt before wracked my body. And yet, I couldn't even scream. I was paralyzed in fear and by my own muscles and nerves, which were now under control of the thing. The misty-blue chemicals seeped into my skin. Then, a hologram flickered.

I struggled to raise my head as fire seared my flesh and bone.

"Visser Three!" I yelped as the image took shape, a cruel sneer forming on the half-deer-human-scorpion

creature that leered at me like a spider cornering it's prey.

"So we meet again, Tobias. No one to save you this time, poor bastard." Visser Three smiled cruely, then

the hologram flickered out a view. A spiteful message sent to harrass it's prey further.

Again I went to scream as my body began twitching and convulsing under the influence of the cold thing. And then, darkness slammed down on my senses like a harsh wave.

Chapter One

*Rachel*

Trapped. Utterly and hopelessly trapped in a psychedelic maze that there was no way out of. The war was lost. Hell, everything was lost. By now my family would have been made Controllers. I pushed along, ignoring the sharp cramps that were gradually seeping the precious energy out of me. Cassie, Marco, and Ax stood next to me, staring at the sight that was beheld before us. I gasped in terror and tried to turn my head from the horrific sight. Tattered pieces of cloth littered the ground, ripped into shreds. But that wasn't what struck terror in my heart at the moment. A crater was formed in the ground, obviously from a large animal struggling against...something.A large, glittering puddle of dark red liquid had formed in the crater. It's thick rotted smell told me what it could be. Blood. And of either of Jake or Tobias.

"What the fuck happened here?" Marco whispered hoarsly, fearing the answer to his own question. Cassie walked over on wobbling legs to where the blood had formed and got onto her hands and knees. I joined her.

"Look here." Cassie called over to us. I crawled over to where she was pointing.

"There's nothing there." Marco said lamely.

Cassie rolled her eyes. "That's my point. There's no sign of the dragging of a body, and only one set of footprints. There's no body near by, either." Cassie pointed out, her voice tense.

I heard a sharp snapping behind me and whipped around to see what it was. I was hoping against hope, as sick as it sounds, that it would be Tobias, and not Jake. It was Jake.

He surveyed the sight, his eyes blank and his face an ashen white. "So where is he?" Jake asked.

That was the million dollar question.

We didn't have much time. The Yeerks would be combing the woods soon. They were desperate to find us, now that they knew who we were. Or rather, what we were. We formed two search parties. Cassie, Jake, and Ax, and me and Marco.

My eyes were bloodshot from days without sleep and without rest. My body was wracked of all energy and it took all my concentration to keep pushing myself forward, forever forward.

"Don't worry Rachel, if whatever attacked Tobias tries to attack us, I'll protect you." Marco said to me, trying to comfort my tears.

"If it took down Tobias so fast, do you think you could honestly protect me from anything?" I asked, sounding much more harsher than I had intended.

I caught a look of hurt on Marco's face and he looked down at his tattered shoes, ashamed. "Look...I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, really, I didn't." I tried to console him. Marco forced a smile and we continued walking.

And then I saw it. A body lying on the edge of a small clearing. I closed my eyes, hoping that what I saw had been an illusion from my ill-nourished body.

"Look, over there! What's that?" Marco asked.

I was wrong.

I closed my eyes tight, afraid to look at the body I knew that would be lying before me. Afraid to look into the face of a friend... and more.

Chapter Two

*Jake*

We gathered in Tobias's old meadow. Marco and Rachel had carried his seemingly frozen body to where we were supposed to meet and we all looked down at him. He looked... as if he were sleeping. Perfectly normal. Rachel reached down and tenderly stroked a strand of brown hair off his forehead, tears ran down her cheeks and onto Tobias's.

"What could have happened to him?" I asked, my voice quiet. I felt a cold feeling across my body, a sick, naseauting feeling of raw terror and rage. Cassie had bent down and was looking, puzzled at Tobias's wounds.

The cuts were made almost parallel with one another and ran from the bottom of his wrist to his neck. Cassie shook her head, puzzled and looked up at Ax, who had also began to examine Tobias's corpse. "I...I don't know what could have made these marks in his skin, human or otherwise. They were obviously made before he-" Cassie's sentence was broke short by rapid, struggled breathing. And it came from Tobias

"W-what's going on here?" Marco stuttered, gazing at the body which had began to twitch.

"I'm so cold. So cold..." Tobias moaned, his teeth chattering so violently his tongue began to bleed, and his lips were indeed turning white as if something were freezing him from the inside. Rachel looked at Ax, her eyes wide in amazement...or fear.

<I don't know how this could happen... He wasn't breathing, nor did he have a pulse a minute ago. scientifically, he can't be alive, and yet...> Ax whispered in thought-speech.

Suddenly, Tobias's eyes snapped open, filled with such an eerie inrecognition I took a step back. Ax was indeed right. This wasn't Tobias. Tobias's arm shot up and grabbed onto Cassie's wrist. Cassie screamed and then began to whimper as ice-like bonds leapt out of the incisions of Tobias's wrists and began tearing into the tender flesh of her arm.

Hurriedly, I pulled her away. In that second, Tobias had disappeared back in the woods.

We all looked at one another, wondering what had happened, but one thought echoed through each of our heads.

There was something going on. And we had no clue what....

We went to the Hork-Bajir colony. Not that it was a safe haven for us; Tobias knew exactly where it was. I shook my head, shuddering.

"Hello, Rachel, Cassie, Jake, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Marco." Toby greeted us as we landed, "Where is Tobias?"

We were silent for a long time. How were we to answer when we didn't know ourselves?

"He's dead, Toby." Marco said, after a long silence.

Rachel spun around to face Marco and smacked him squarely across the face. "He is not dead! He's alive! Okay? OKAY?!?!" Rachel yelled at him, their noses only inches apart.

"Well what do you want to call him? He was dead, now he's alive and trying to kill us!" Marco retorted.

She narrowed her eyes and stormed away.

The silence echoed behind her.

I was suprised, as we entered the caves which we had originally thought would be used for the Hork-Baijir's homes, before we realized they lived in trees, to see Erek the Chee and a few others gathered in the cave.

"I knew you would come here. They know who you are. And they have found a new weap-" Erek stopped in mid-sentence and sighed.

"I see you've already encountered it." Erek sighed, "Tell me what happened."

So we did.

When we got to the part where Cassie was attacked with those...wires... Erek's eyes grew wide in alarm.

"Dear Gods, no." Erek whispered and pulled Cassie's arm up. He ran his hand over it and brought his eyes up to meet ours. And I saw fear, fear that he didn't need to create himself for our benefeit, in his eyes. "She's infected too. In a few hours, she will be similar to Tobias." Erek whispered.

"With what?!?! What is she infected with? Why?" I questioned.

"Last night, the Yeerks learned your true identity. Your families have already been made into Controllers. They found a new technology that can latch itself onto it's victim's nerve system and take control. It realeases a gas, which they got from a species more ancient then the Pemalites. The gas, not only eats away at the structure of a being, but destroys their soul." Erek explained.

"That's no possible! Nothing can destroy a persons soul! Scientists aren't even sure it exists!" Cassie cried out.

"The soul exists. And somehow, the Yeerks managed to use the same gas as found in the Yaargro's body and used it to make a...shall we say,...bomb. Tobias, evidently, stumbled upon one. The bomb should more likely be called an internet, for it links the victim's memories to a main computer. Tobias is slowly dying within his own body. And there's nothing you can do to stop it." Erek finished and looked at Cassie.

"You say the wires only touched your skin?" He asked.

"Yeah..." Cassie replied, fear evident in her voice.

"My scanner says that it's only present in your lower arm. If we amputated it, you would still live." Erek offered gently.

Cassie agreed.

A Hork-Baijir was called forward. Erek gave her a novacaine shot. I turned my head away. Cassie whimpered in fear and remote pain, and then there was silence.

Chapter Four

*Tobias*

The darkness slowly lifted to a light haze. I looked around at my surroundings. I could see a mountain range in the distance and acres of acres of trees surrounding me on all sides.

I felt dizzy, wobbling on my two human legs. I didn't bother trying to demorph to hawk. Something told me it was too late anyways.

Where was I?

More importantly, how did I get there?

I stumbled forward through the dark trees and my eyes came to rest on a strangely familiar mountain. Something inside me told me not to trust the way my eyes slid away from the left hand side. Suddenly...

FLASH!

Lizard-like creatures running and swinging through the branches of trees.

Two beaming Hork-Baijir's showing me Toby.

A story that was told one cold night around a campfire.

The adoring eyes of a species I had saved.

A narrow opening in the side of the mountain leading to a beautiful valley.

FLASH!

I fell through a crack in the mountain. A beautiful valley was laid out before me.

They'll be at the cliffs.A monotone voice told me.

Who would be? The Animorphs? The Hork-Bajir?

I headed towards the cliffs, a nervous panic flooding through my system. It was bad. It was very, very bad. A sick feeling crept into my stomach, causing my legs to shake violently. I was so cold. My bones felt like an icy hand had gripped and shook them.

I tripped over a branch on the forest floor and heard a loud cracking as my ankle broke, pain so intense and definite I yelled for help from my friends, before realizing I was all alone...

I crawled forward on my hands and knees.

FLASH!

The tears streamed down my face as the tenticles of the thing connected themselves to my nervous system.

The pain...So intense... It caused me to gasp in agony. What was happening to me?

FLASH!

"Dear God," I whispered, my eyes growing wide in fear as the realization sank into my mind, "They're inside me..."

As I passed out from pain again, I heard gravely, but gentle voices above me, and strong hands wrapped

around me.

I felt warmth. I clung to it as gentle images of my room, my tree, and a warm, whole, tender feeling of being in my mother's womb filled my dreams.

After a while, the images grew colder, as did my body.

Images of my uncle beating me, of the lonliness I felt as a hawk and as a human, of hearing Rachel cry for me, pitying me.

Then, the warmth returned as I was set down. I opened my eyes, unwilling to leave the warm, peaceful dreams and looked tiredly up into my friends faces.

I was suprised to also find a dracon beam pointed in my face.

"Don't move, or you'll fry." Jake, the holder of the dracon, growled at me.

I felt a coldness seeping into my body, and I had to fight with every ounce of my strength to keep from fading into the coldness, for fear of what I might do to my friends.

"Please...Help me... They're inside of me. They're trying to take control." I rasped, forcing the words painfully out of my cracked, bleeding throat.

They looked at me sceptically. I could see Rachel darting glances from me to Jake, wanting desperately to untie the ropes that bound me.

"I'm so cold..." I whispered, and couldn't fight the tears that welled up in my blood-shot eyes.

Erek came over to me and ran his hand from my forehead to my feet. He looked over at the Animorphs.

"It's everywhere. The infection has spread throughout his body. For right now, the disease seems to be recessive." Erek murmured to them.

I felt a sinking feeling. I knew what was happening to me. I was slowly dying. And under the control of the Yeerks...

Chapter Five

*Rachel*

Erek walked over to me and placed a hand gently on my shoulder. "Rachel, I need to talk to you." He whispered in my ear.

"About what?" I asked.

"Let's step outside for a second."

I look down at Tobias, who was still tied with his arms behind his back. Precautions.

"He'll be fine. He's out cold right now."Erek reassured me. I followed him out the entrance of the cave and he looked at me.

"Rachel... I can't be sure, but I think your pregnant." Erek told me in a low voice to keep the others from hearing.

We had thought the war was over. The Andalites had sent us a message: they would be there in two weeks. We celebrated.

Tobias often hung out at my apartment when he wanted to be human. I didn't mind. But one day he came while I was in the shower. And that led to a whole scene...

I came out of the shower with the towel wrapped losely around me, and shrieked when I saw Tobias lying on the couch. He yelled and pulled a pillow over his head.

"What the hell are you doing here?!?!" I screamed.

"I was just waiting for you to get home! I didn't even know you were here!" He yelled back at me, his voice muffled by the pillow.

I giggled at this scene. I was standing in the middle of the room, half naked, with Tobias lying on the couch, a pillow covering his head.

Tobias started laughing too. He got up and wrapped his arms around me and pressed his lips against my ear.

"Do you want to know a secret?" He whispered in my ear.

I nodded my head.

"I love you. And I always have..."

The Andalites had never come. We waited. Two months went by. And I began to become sick... " A-are you sure?" I asked, my hands trembling and the color draining from my face.

"Besides being an all-knowing, handsome, wonderfully smart, and modest android, I'm all-knowing too. I was also a pedidiatrician in my previous life.And I can guess who the father is." Erek said, keeping his voice low.

I felt a blush creep to my cheeks.

"Is it true that Tobias will die?" I asked Erek, and couldn't help the tears welling up in my eyes.

Erek looked at the ground, avoiding eye contact with me and nodded his head slowly.

"Let's go in and check on him, okay?"

I nodded my head slowly. A wave of panic hit me like a sledge-hammer.

Dear God, no. Not right now. Not. Right. Now.

We walked into the cave, where Toby was hunched over, looking at Tobias's face. She turned to look at us, her eyes wide in shock and pointed down to him.

His eyes were bruised and tiny cuts etched a spiderweb across his face. His arms, black and blue, looked like someone had beaten him. I gasped.

"Dear Gods..."Erek whispered,"It has begun."

Part Two

And I...told myself... This world.... Was not meant... For the harsh cruelty... Of my soul..."-Tobias

Chapter One

*Tobias*

"Do you understand the plan?"

"Yes."

"Can you carry it out?"

"Yes."

"When will he die?"

"Within the week, sir."

"Have you confirmed their location?"

"Yes."

"Have the others been infected yet?"

"One has. The others are remaining a safe distance away, sir."

The voices rang in my head. Who they belonged to, I wasn't sure. But one clear message ran through my head, clear as a bell. I had to infect the others. Or get away. But I couldn't. I was tied up. A growl escaped my throat and I thrashed against the loose ropes that held my arms pinned to my legs. The others were asleep. They wouldn't see me if I left now...

A froth stained with blood began to appear on my face. Suddenly, I whipped my head around and used my teeth to rip the cords apart. And I disappeared into the night.

I opened my eyes to find a thick amber liquid flowing into the container I was suspended in. I began to pound on the glass, screaming for help from my friends. Where was I?

<No use screaming, Tobias, Son of Beast Elfangor.>A voice spat into my head, like the name alone was a poison on the speaker's tongue.

"Visser Three."I whispered.

<Perhaps not as dumb as you look, bastard. You realize your friends will come and try to save you? And that I will kill them? I will make it slow and painful, payback for the years of misery that put on me. And their deaths will be for nothing. Because by the time they get here...You will already be gone.> Visser Three sneered in my head, enjoying the look of pain on my face as his words rang clear in my head.

<How does it feel, traitor, to be the destroyer of your friends? I will kill each of them in front of you! And I will

take pleasure in tasting Rachel's blood in my mouth before I break her spine.>

I was now up to my shoulders in the thick liquid that was slowly filling the chamber. I could do nothing to him. Nothing!

"Dapsen."I howled, as the liquid filled my lungs and placed me in suspended animation...

Before the world turned black once again, I savored the look of rage on Visser Three's face.

Chapter Two

*Jake*

"He's gone."I whispered.

Cassie tried to stand up again, but lost her balance and fell over. I helped her up to her feet and grabbed a good sized length of wood-a staff, of some sorts.

"What are we going to do?"Rachel asked, her lips trembling, threatening to break under the force of her tears.

Erek dragged himself slowly to his feet. Almost as if it pained him to do so.

He looked at me with his brown eyes and smiled with his dog-like snout. "I have good news, and bad news. You might want to take the bad news first."

I nodded my head and all eyes turned to look at Erek.

"The wires from the bomb reduplicate. They spreaded. They're now in Cassie's chest cavity." The color drained from Cassie's face and she clutched the treelimb tighter.

"The good news is, I know how to reverse it." A grin spread on my face.

"Will Tobias be better?"Rachel asked, biting her lip, hoping against hope that he would...

Erek seemed unsure. "Perhaps. Perhaps not."

Rachel sat down. Hard.

"So how do we make this anti-virus thingy?"Marco asked.

Erek looked up at the clouds floating in the light blue sky and closed his eyes for a few moments before answering.

"Ax should be able to construct a powerful bomb out of the remains of my body. Plant it in the base."Erek told us, never opening his eyes, nor lowering his head.

"We won't, Erek. We can't."Cassie cried. I was touched by the androids offer.

"You have to! Do you think you're the only ones who are being terminated because of this infection? It's spreading all over the country!"Erek yelled, suddenly showing a rare flash of anger.

<I-I cannot kill any sentinet being, Erek the Chee.>Ax told him.

Erek smiled slowly, and his gaze wandered to where the few other Chee were watching. His eyes resting on a vaguely female Chee.

"I have to. I created the dogs, I helped build the pyramids, I have been the advisor of kings, and a lowly beggar, and now it's time for me to give in return to this world."Erek smiled sadly at us, and with a deft movement of his hand, severed a panel on his chest and sliced through wires.

The female Chee's eyes went wide, and she mouthed to word, "No!." Genuine tears ran down her face, and for once, not for the benefeit of a human.

It was quick work. Ax was able to build the bomb within the next two days. Rachel and the female Chee seemed to form a bond over losing the ones they loved. I was amazed, and approached the Chee one day.

"Androids can feel love?"I asked her.

She smiled, slowly, and sadly at me. "We are able to feel every other emotion, aren't we? We grieve for lost

lives, we feel happiness for life, and we love each other. We look exactly alike you when using a hologram. Even in our regular appearence, we resemble you. Should it be any different towards our emotions?"

I nodded my head and squared my shoulders. Tonight we would be leaving the safety of the hidden valley to go to the Yeerk base.

We would find Tobias.

And that's exactly what I was afraid of.

Chapter Three

*Rachel*

"Have you noticed anything strange?"I whispered to Cassie.

"No. Why?"

"There's no sound. No crickets, no mosquitos, nothing."

Cassie stopped talking for a second and listened. A suffocating silence fell over the group.

We continued walking around the dusty dirt road in silence. I was carrying Erek's Sacrifice in a crudely-made

backpack. And then, we came in sight of the city. And gasped it horror.

No one was there. It was as if the whole city had become devoid of life. As if everyone decided to leave at once. Lights were still on, cars were still running, stoplights still flickering...But no one was there.

Except, in the middle of the once-bustling town, a large, black, menacing building sat, as if watching over it's smaller, weaker subjects.

<The Yeerk base.> Ax informed us. As if we didn't know ourselves...

It was so easy to get in. Almost as if the Yeerks weren't afraid of us any more. And what reason did they have to be? They knew who and what we were. They could take control of us as easily as they had Tobias, teasing him now and then with hopes of freedom. It was worse than being in control of a Yeerk. Because there was no escaping it...

We entered the building, skulking in the shadows of the dark walls. Still, we saw no one. There was no sound, but a slow hum coming from the end of the building.

We followed the hum. It wasn't a gentle hum, more like a hum after you attacked a hornet's nest with a baseball bat.

And then, we swung open the door. And there, standing in the corner, was my most hated-and feared-enemy.

Visser Three.

I would make him pay.

Chapter Four

*Jake*

Visser Three.

In the corner was Tobias, suspended in a tank of what looked like clear jelly. I resisted the urge to throw up, and swallowed a gag as I looked at him.

His skin had turned a sickly green, his lips were cracked and bleeding, thick red welts and gashes that spider-webbed across his face that looked like they had broke open, scabbed, and broke open again. The skin along his torso looked blackened, as if someone had beat him with a stick. His legs looked like they were rotting.

Rachel, beside me, let out a shriek of horror. I grabbed a heavy metal chair and slammed it into the glass of the tank.

A thick gloop rushed out onto the floor, drenching the small room. Tobias's blinked and looked at Rachel.

"The woman must be elliminated." He said in a voice, so cold and devoid of emotion, it sent a chill crawling up my spine.

He grabbed onto Rachel's neck and began to choke her to death.

"Tobias! No!" Cassie screamed.

Tobias turned to look at her for a second, his eyes moist.

Then he turned his attention back to Rachel. Cassie knotted her eyebrow and slammed the heavy iron chair into the control panel Tobias screamed in agony and clutched his head. Rachel seized Tobias in her arms. The boy, seemingly helpless, collapsed into her grasp. Anguished tears and screams sprang from Tobias's lips. His voice became child-like and frightened as he curled into the fetal position and hugged the confused warrior.

"Rachel..." Tobias's boyish voice whispered as if through the roar of distant battle. "Destroy this place. Go, please. Leave me to die."

"No one's going to let you die, Tobias." Rachel whispered and met my gaze, then pulled the shivering Tobias close. Carefully she brushed the dampened hair out of his eyes. "He's back, Jake! Toby is back."

"Rachel, we don't have much time. This place'll be swarming with Controller's in a minute. We have to blow this place up. We'll take Tobias with us."

"No." Tobias's meek voice gasped. He coughed, a mixture of scarlet and black spilling over his chin and cheeks. "Can't do that, Prince Jake. The bad things are too strong."

Tobias was talking like the young child we only glimpsed when at his worse. Talking of when his uncle had beaten him, or his aunt ignored him. Tobias cringed, agony washing over his features. He curled tighter, shaking. "The Yeerks still want me. But you saved me. I'm free..."

Pathetically, he nuzzled into Rachel's chest, tears streaming a river down his blood and ash smudged face. He began to sob quietly. I squeezed his shoulder feeling my gut tighten. I battled my tears, as I always did until the conflict was over. Tobias was depending on me, and our time was running out.

"Yes Tobias. You're a good kid."

"But I'm not a kid. Funny... I don't remember growing up." Tobias turned his gaze up to sadly look at Ax, "You can't fix me, can you Ax-man?"

Ax shook his head, his main eyes welling up. <No, Tobias, my shorm. I cannot fix you.>

"I know. I'm dying. Inside out." He smirked slightly, and gazed at each of our faces, the fear and pain fluent on his agonized eyes. "My soul is dying. It rips apart your soul. I'm not Tobias anymore. Thank you for saving me. I'm sorry that I'm going to hurt you when I go." He huddled in the girl's comforting arms, and allowed her to smooth out his dark hair before turning to look at her with his blood-shot and swollen eyes, "Rachel, I need to talk to Jake and Cassie alone, please?"

"Cassie... Jake..." I caught a breath, seeing his lips tremble.

"It's okay, Toby, we love you." Cassie smiled down at him.

"I know. I love you too. I just don't show emotions too well. Kill me please. I can't live any more." The voice

pleaded as did his dark agonized eyes.

"I can't, Tobias. Rachel would die without you."

"You have to! I can't get better! It's inside of me and it won't go away! It's eating at me!"

There was no other way. The tears streamed down my face. I had once believed I wasn't a murderer. "It's okay, Tobias."

He closed his eyes, head dropping. For a moment I saw peace. "Do it, please."

I gripped his chin in one hand and before Rachel could react, whipped my other arm around his head and snapped his neck. I felt as though I was committing suicide.

Rachel froze in place for a split second, her eyes going wide as she mouthed one word: No.

"JAKE!" Rachel's hands slammed me into the wall. "What the hell did you DO?!"

"I did what needed to be done! He was begging me to kill him? Are you so cruel that you'd let him suffer so long? There was no way to save him!"

For a moment we stood there, frozen. I knew that in her current state Rachel could kill me, and was probably thinking about it.

Then her eyes closed in pain and he let go, stumbling in the direction of the thing's central core, tears streaming from her eyes. "T...Tobias?"

I felt the hair on my neck begin to prick as I felt something important was going to happen. Rachel suddenly pulled the bomb out, her eyes clouded as if she were blind, and she punched in a time. One minute. Enter.

"You guys! We gotta get out of here!" I screamed.

<Prince Jake! What's going on?> Ax screamed over the rush of air that was filling the room.

"Your about to witness the powers of the human soul." I murmured, and morphed to bird as fast as I could. It usually took two minutes. It took less than thirty seconds.

"S...Sayonara, Tobias." I heard Rachel whisper as the small building errupted into a shower of flames that licked the sky and scorched my feathers.



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