I rubbed my eyes. This couldn't be happening. In shock of being seen, Ax began to morph a human, which was a mistake because Steve could see him perfectly and watched him morph. There was a look of disgust on his face since he had not gotten used to that gross morphing sound. Ax began to realize he'd made a mistake and looked away.

"Um, Cassie. Your horse is loose," Steve said quietly.

Cassie jumped up to fix the problem.

(Now what?) I thought to everyone.

(We have to tell him. If we don't tell him, he might blab it to his friends or family how nuts we are, and they may be controllers.) Rachel thought to us. Everyone nodded, even Jake, though he did not look happy. Telling him seemed the only option. However, Marco had other ideas.

(Or we could kill him.) He thought with a smile on his face. I wanted to kick him about then, but I was not close enough.

Fortunately, Rachel did it for me.

(Thanks.) I thought to her.

(No problem.)

Steve was very aware he was missing something. "You know, its no fun being on the other side of an inside joke," He complained. "If only it were funny," I sighed ruefully. "Ok Steve, sit down."

We began our story. At the end, Jake was visibly sulking, Cassie had come back, and Steve was in disbelief.

"No way! Your magic trick story was a lot better than this. Do you really expect me to believe that there are alien slugs invading our planet?" I didn't, but I said nothing, waiting for him to finish. "And that-that you can turn into animals? And that kid, Tobias, who disappeared, is that hawk over there?" He said pointing to Tobias. We had an Ace up our sleeve, and that was that all of it was true.

(What do you think happened?) Tobias thought to him. Steve glanced quickly around.

"Who said that?" A smile tugged at my mouth, seeing how cute Steve's sea-gray eyes could be when he was afraid. Marco noticed and smirked. I gave him a warning Look. (Over here.) Called Tobias, lifting his wings. Steve's jaw hung open.

"I've lost it," He said. "I've actually gone mad. Oh gosh, I must be having a nervous break down. I knew I shouldn't have taken up the piano and the SAT club." I couldn't suppress a giggle.

"Steve, you are not going mad," Rachel told him, smiling. "That was Tobias." He shook his head as if to shake away the idea.

"No way. I can't believe it. I can't. This is crazy!"

Marco had a devious look about him. He began to morph into one of his fiercest forms, a wolf. Steve yelped. Marco, clearly enjoying this, started to approach Steve. Steve got of the stool he'd been sitting on and backed away. "Marco, stop that," I said sternly. However, he paid no attention to me and started to circle Steve, licking his chops. He barked as loud as he could and then lunged at Steve who know had his back to the wall.

"Marco," I continued, "Let me remind you I have a hyena morph, and those things have jaws that can crunch through the bones of a wildebeest." At that Marco demorphed, laughing.

"Sticking up for your man?" He taunted as he passed by. I'm not sure if Steve heard him, but I gave Marco a sound kick in the shins all the same.

"Marco, you're getting beaten up by girls,"Jake said.

"You wanna start?" I teased. Jake looked like he was about to say something to me, but Steve spoke.

"So you guys can morph, huh?"

"Yup," I said.

"This is crazy."

"No kidding."

"Well, can I help you save the world?" He raised an eyebrow.

Everyone around me gave some indication of saying ok. I glanced at Jake, who shrugged. Feeling as if he'd given me the go ahead, I told Steve, "Sure, I guess." Something inside me felt relieved at finally having someone else to confide in. It was a great feeling. Steve walked over to me and sat down again.

"So," Steve began, "what was that red light thing at the lake?"

"Ax was just explaining that when you made your big entrance." Marco informed him. Steve blushed slightly and listened to Ax, who had become an Andalite again.

(I think what Cassie and Mercy have is what is known as nothlit's disease.) Tobias shifted his wait uncomfortably.

"Ok, and what does that mean?" Jake asked.

(When an Andalite becomes a nothlit, it will go through a process called ocration resem, or in English, rebellion period. This is when the body tries to resist the nothlit form. It does this by trying to pass its nothlit cage onto others. Anyone the nothlit makes contact with will contract a similar kind of disease. One of the things this does is cause a wert ray to come out of the eyes which is activated by emotion.) We took a moment to digest the information.

"Kind of like when I was allergic to the croc?" Cassie said.

(Yes, except there is no burping cure.)

"What made you so mad?" Cassie asked me half from sympathy and half from curiosity. I looked up at Marco for a moment and then down again. For some reason I didn't want to tell anyone what had happened, though for the life of me I couldn't figure out why.

"It doesn't really matter." I said quickly, avoiding Marco's eyes.

Ax continued, (It is of the utmost importance that you do not try to morph, becau-)

Ax was cut off by a knock at the barn door. He clopped away and hid behind a stall while Cassie opened the door. It was Tom, and behind him was my sister, April.

"Hey, Mercy. Mom's really peeved, so you may want to get home now." I glanced at my watch and, what a surprise, I was late again.

(Tomorrow, an hour after school?) Jake thought to us all quickly.

Everyone must have agreed because he said, "See you guys tomorrow!" as he left. I blew out my cheeks. Tomorrow would be the longest day of my life.