<We have to move quickly,> I reminded my host. <We can't afford to be caught.>

<I am going as fast as I can,> my host snapped. <I haven't gotten a whole lot of exercise in the past five years, you know.>

We ran as fast as we could. When she slacked off, I seized control of her body and pushed her to her limit.

I had had no choice but to leave the Yeerk Empire. Knowing what I did about the Neutro-Virus . . . and the things I did to try and prevent it -- I'd be labeled a traitor as soon as they discovered I was gone. I had to be long gone by then.

The only problem was, neither my host nor I knew where we were.

<Are they coming?> she asked me.

I turned my head to look over my shoulder. <I don't see anyone on the ground.>

<What about the air?>

I glanced up. There, hovering five hundred feet above the treetops, was a Bug fighter. Another one was about thirty feet away from the first, at the same altitude. <Two Ten-One Level 1 Bug Scouts!> I cried in horror. Spotlights beams down from the ships. <They're searching for us!>

<Gee, you think?> My host replied sarcastically.

<Just keep running,> I muttered, releasing control of body movements. I wanted to concentrate on loading as much information into my host's brain as possible.

<There's something up ahead,> she said. <Some sort of -->

Suddenly we pitched forward. The ground has jutted off into a ravine. I felt the ground disappear from beneath my feet.

We fell.

Chapter Two -- Tobias

After dinner, the six of us split up. The houses in Elysia weren't very big. At any rate, they weren't big enough to house six visiting children. Rachel and Cassie were staying with Strike, Arbron offered to take in Marco and Jake, and Elfangor insisted Ax and I stay with him and Loren.

Maybe now I'd finally find out why Loren left me all those years ago. Or maybe I didn't want to know.

Ax had gone to sleep early, but I wasn't tired enough to go to bed. Instead, I hung out on the back porch, thinking.

"Hey."

I looked up from the wicker chair I was sitting in and saw Loren standing in the doorway. "Hi," I said.

"May I sit down?"

"Sure," I said indifferently. "I don't care."

She sat down on the porch swing across from me. "This must be pretty rough for you," she said. It was a statement, not a question. "I know it is for me."

I just looked at her.

"Look," Loren said, "I know what I did goes beyond acceptable. I didn't want to leave you, Tobias -- you must know that. But if I had taken you with me, you're life would've been even more of a nightmare than it was."

I stood up and stared at her. "How would you know how bad my life was?" I managed to choke out. Then I started shouting. "You weren't around to see it! Stop making excuses, Loren. You just didn't want me around." Tears of anger stung the corners of my eyes, and I blinked furiously to keep them from falling.

"Tobias --" Loren started.

"Shut up!" I snapped. "Just shut up and leave me the hell alone!" Not bothering to fight back the tears any longer, I swung open the back door and stormed into the house. Grabbing my coat on the way, I hurried to open the front door just as Elfangor came out of the kitchen.

<Where are you going?>

"None of your business," I shouted as I slammed the door shut behind me. I hurried around to the side of the house, and crouched down in the bushes. I felt the changes begin. First came the feathers. Then my arms melted into wings, and I was shrinking at the same time. The last thing that changed was my head, so for a minute I looked like a red-tail hawk with a human head. I briefly wondered if I could fly like that, then my beak pushed out of my lips, and I opened my wings to a blessed thermal.

In minutes I took to the skies.

Chapter Three -- Elfangor

I raced out to the back porch. Loren was sitting on the swing, her head in her hands. <What happened?> I asked, hurrying over to her. <Why was Tobias shouting?>

Loren looked up at me and tried to dry her eyes with the back of her hand. "I made the mistake of telling him that a life with me would've been worse than the life he actually lived." She swallowed hard. "He told me I had no idea how bad his life was, and that I should stop making excuses. He was right." She stood up and wrapped her arms around me, burying her face in my shoulder. "I never should've left him."

I ran my hand through her hair, then tipped her head so she was looking at me. There was something she wasn't telling me. I knew he had said something else, and that it had hurt her deeply. Normally, something like that wouldn't make her break down in tears -- she's a strong person, I know from experience. But I wouldn't press.

<You did what you had to do,> I said softly. <Just like I did. You know that if you had taken him with you, he wouldn't have had a life at all. He just needs to know that, too."

"I just wanted him to trust me," Loren whispered. "Now I'm afraid he never will."

<He will. He's just got years of hurt bottled up inside. But now we need to find him. Don't worry,> I said. I gently placed my hand on her cheek, then turned back towards the house. <AX!>

He must have been listening at the window, because a second later he was outside. <What? I heard someone shouting. What happened?>

<Loren and Tobias had an argument. He took off. We need to find him, and I figured you might know where Tobias would go.>

Ax glanced at Loren, who was still leaning against me. <What'd she do?> he asked.

I narrowed my main eyes and focused my stalk eyes on his. <Don't even start, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil,> I said warningly. <Just tell me where Tobias might have gone.>

Ax's eyes widened. I had never, not once in my whole life, talked like that to me before. He had heard me use that tone of voice with my crew, but never with him. I suddenly realized that I sounded exactly like my father did when Ax had wandered off once while I was supposed to be watching him. My father had acted like it was my fault, even though I had done exactly what I was supposed to. I had been keeping an eye on the field while Ax played, while I finished going over the briefing reports from my crew's last mission. Somehow, he had slipped off.

<Please, Ax,> I said, softening my tone. <Just tell me where my son might go.>

Ax closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, he said, <He would've morphed. Bird, probably. He loves the sky. He could be anywhere, but usually on Earth he'd end up with Rachel or at the construction site. The site's not here, so I'm guessing Rachel.>

"Rachel's staying with Strike," Loren said.

I nodded. <Ax, come with me just in case you're wrong. Loren, I want you to stay here. And that's an order.> I started to turn back towards Ax when I noticed a smile creep across Loren's face. <Please, just listen to me for once,> I said. The smile disappeared.

"Just bring him home," she said softly.

As Ax and I hurried around the side of the house to the main road, Ax looked at me. <How upset did he seem when you saw him.>

<He didn't even try to hide him anger. He snapped at me.>

Ax glanced up at the sky. <If he was that upset, he shouldn't be flying. If he's not with Rachel, we might have to pull out an air search.>

<Why?> I didn't have a whole lot of experience with flying as a bird.

<There's a chance he might crash,> Ax said softly.

Please be with Rachel, Tobias, I pleaded silently.

I stared blankly at the sky for several minutes. Then, the strangest thing happened. It was as if I blacked out for a moment or something. Or fell asleep, because I must have been dreaming.

I was floating. I don't know where I was floating, all I know is that I was not touching the ground. Way below me, I could see a deep chasm. Something was seriously wrong about the chasm. Wait, no, not the chasm itself -- more like something in the chasm.

I could hear a slight echo of words, but it was distant -- strained. But it sounded almost like help.

Then I woke up.

I was shaking. Sweat was visibly pouring from my skin. "Oh, man," I muttered. "It came back."

See, a year ago, about a month before the virus started attacking the rings, I started having dreams. Premonitions. When my premonitions started coming true, Elfangor made me go see a Leeran named Cha-Nab. Leerans are psychic, and even though I was skeptical at first, Cha-Nab told me that what I was experiencing was a psychic vision. He didn't tell me whether or not I'd have the power permanently, and after awhile the visions stopped.

Now they were back.

Elfangor told you to stay put, I reminded myself. To which I countered, Since when do I ever listen to Elfangor?

With that in mind, I walked into the house, grabbed my keys, locked the back door, then proceeded to go to the front door. I had just put the key in the lock when an electrical shock went through me. It was pain, only I didn't feel it. It was like I was experiencing someone else's pain.

Tobias, I realized. He was the last one who'd used that door.

I made it out to the street and looked both ways. I knew Elfangor had gone to Strike's house with Ax, but something told me that wasn't the way. "What was it Ax said?" I whispered. "Rachel or . . . or . . . construction site. Construction site." I bit my lip and closed my eyes.

A suddenly picture popped in my mind. "Whoa, I working overtime tonight," I laughed. Then I focused on the picture. "The construction site!" Across the haven, we had been building a new cluster of buildings as a kind of recreation center, since more and more children were being born or brought into the community. When the virus had started attacking, we had quit building. Tobias would've seen the construction site earlier, because we had walked right past it on the way to the Council Circle.

A little bit of wind picked up, and I couldn't help but glance towards the construction area. There were two little red dots moving in the sky. That's strange. Those don't look like falling stars.

Then I knew where I had seen those lights before. "Bug fighters," I breathed. They were moving swiftly towards the construction area. If they had see Tobias morph . . .

Hello, Loren.

I spun around. Cha-Nab was standing behind me, looking like some sort of glorified frog. "Cha-Nab," I said.

He nodded his huge head. An enemy of yours is arriving.

So he had sensed the fighters, too. "Go find Elfangor. My son's missing -- he's right in the Bug fighters' path. Get Elfangor."

I'm going. Go find Tobias. He moved silently away.

I started running towards the construction site.

Chapter Five -- Rachel

"No, I haven't seen him since dinner," I told Ax and Elfangor. "Is he okay?"

<We're not sure,> Elfangor said. <He and Loren . . . argued, and he ran off.>

"He hasn't been here," Cassie said, coming up behind Rachel, "but we'll help you look." Marco and Jake, who had come over as soon as they saw us (Arbron apparently lives next door to Strike), nodded.

"Hey look!" Marco said. "It's one of those psychic frogs."

Sure enough, one of those Leeran things was moving silently towards us.

Prince Elfangor, the Leeran said.

<Hello, Cha-Nab,> Elfangor said in greeting.

Your wife has found Tobias.

<Meaning she went looking for him herself,> Elfangor sighed. <I'm going to have to chain her to the bed next time I go out.>

Cha-Nab didn't smiled. If Leerans could smile. She has also found Yeerk activity.

Jake stared at the Leeran. "Excuse me?" I was equally stunned.

Cha-Nab's eyes glazed over. Then he blinked. They're not interested in Elysia. The Bug fighters are searching for a traitor. Nemu 505. But if they see Tobias, they will land. They know his face and his name -- who he is. And they know he is not dead.

<How are you getting this information, Cha-Nab?> Elfangor demanded.

I am pulling it from Loren's mind. She has unconsciously pulled it from the Bug fighter superior. She has unknowingly received a distress call from the traitor.

"What, is Loren psychic or something?" I demanded. This was getting weird.

Cha-Nab, Elfangor, Strike, and Arbron looked at me. Yes.

<Yes,> Elfangor and Arbron said.

"Yesss," Strike replied.

"Great," I muttered. "Is this talking reptile saying that Loren and Tobias are in the path of an oncoming Bug fighter, and that the Bug fighter is searching? That means they'll seem them for sure."

<Yes,> Elfangor said. <We must find them first.>

"Easier said than done," Jake said. "It'll go quicker if some of us fly around. Rachel, Cassie, Marco, Ax -- you know what that means."

Marco nodded. "It's morphing time!" he exclaimed with incredibly fake enthusiasm.

Jake, Ax, Cassie, and I groaned. "Just start morphing," I snapped, glaring at him. "This is no time to make jokes."

"This is a perfect time to make jokes," Marco said as he began to grow feathers. "We're about to morph birds so that we can go track down the Amazing Bird-Boy and his psychic mommy, who are unknowingly being tailed by two Bug fighters that also don't know it, while at the same time, a Yeerk named Nemo is sending out a bunch of distress calls from who-knows-where! Who wouldn't want to joke about something like this?"

"It's Nemu, you idiot," I said just as I crossed the boundary between talking and though-speaking. <Not Nemo.>

<Whatever,> Marco sneered. <It's still an overgrown slug.>

<People?> Jake asked, stretching his wings. <Can you save this for later? We have to go now.>

<Let's do it!> I yelled.

<We're doomed.> Marco groaned.

<Are the Bug fighters gone?> my host asked.

I glanced up at the sky. <I don't see them. But it doesn't matter anyway -- we're trapped, remember? The best we can hope for is if someone answers our distress call.>

<Unless there's a psychic or two running around, it won't happen,> she muttered. <For all we know, we could be in the world's most deserted forest. That's what it feels like, anyway. I haven't seen an animal from Day One.>

<I know,> I sighed. I was already weakening from lack of Kandrona rays. <Laura, I have to tell you something.>

<What is it, Nemu?>

<I'm dying. In a day, tops, I'll be dead from lack of Kandrona. Right now I'm giving you as much information on the virus as possible. I want you to figure out some way to get this information to the communities once I'm gone,> I said. I added another bit of information.

<You're not going to die,> Laura said bitterly.

<I will,> I said. <There's no way around it. Even if someone did hear the distress call, they won't get here in time to save me.>

<But what am I supposed to do when you're gone?> she demanded. <My whole family is probably under Yeerk control by now -- and we're trapped in the world of the dead, for crying out loud!>

<Then maybe you'll find an Andalite or two,> I said giddily. Hunger makes me hyper.

<Look, Laura, just promise me that you'll find a way to get that information to the good guys.>

<I promise,> she whispered.

<Good girl,> I praised.

Please, someone, help.

Chapter Seven -- Tobias

I landed in the construction site and demorphed.

"Well, you're not home, but you'll do," I whispered to the stone and steel. "Stop talking to yourself, Tobias."

I leaned against a large slab of concrete and sighed. Only Ax knew that I go to the construction site where Elfangor died whenever I get upset. I had seen this one on our way in, and I hadn't wanted to bother Rachel. This wasn't something she could help with, anyway. She didn't know what it was like not to have a mother. I needed to be alone, anyway.

While I sat, I tried to think about what my life had been like before Loren had left me. I was only three when she left -- about the only thing I remember from her is her hair, and the way she always smelled like cookies. She was always baking when she was alive. I smiled at the thought. Then I wondered briefly how she had died. My uncle had told me it was suicide, but that had never seemed right.

"It was a car crash."

I turned and saw her standing a few feet away. "What are you doing here?" I demanded.

"I came to apologize," she said. "You've worried us all sick. Elfangor's probably got the whole haven out looking for you by now." Then she smiled. "And me, too."

I didn’t' say anything. I couldn't believe she had followed me.

"About a year after I left you with Karla, I was hit by a car. It was a hit and run -- they never found a driver. I found out from the Ellimist that it was a Yeerk driving the car. I knew in my heart that it was Visser Thirty-Two -- Visser Three to you. I once smacked him in the face with a big rock. He always hated me after that." She smiled at the memory. "Even though my memory of Elfangor was erased, my memory of the Visser wasn't. I guess the Ellimist wanted it that way. Once I died, I remembered your father and started keeping an eye on both of you. I do know how bad your life was -- from an observer's point. You were right in saying I didn't know how bad it was for you."

"Why?" I whispered. "Why did you leave?"

"Your aunt was already petitioning to have you taken away from me," Loren answered. "She was claiming that I was incompetent as a parent. It wasn't easy, holding down a full-time job and being a single mother to a baby boy. She was my first husband's sister, and really didn't like me."

"Aunt Karla?" I replied. "I never did figure out why they took me away from her."

"Simple," she said. "There was no real proof that you were Thad's kid -- and as it turned out, you weren't -- so when they found my brother and his wife, they figured you'd be better off with them. Guess we know what happened there."

I nodded, not really wanting to talk about it out loud. "Hey -- how did you know I was hear, anyway?"

"Long story," she said. "Another reason everyone thought I was crazy -- turns out I'm psychic. I kind of forgot about the power when I alive, but it came back about a year ago, Elysia." Suddenly she gasped. "Bug fighters! I forgot about them. They're heading this way. If they see you, they'll shoot for sure. They know who you are."

"I thought Yeerks weren't aloud in Elysia," I said, standing up.

"They're not dead," Loren replied. "They came here some other way. We have to go. You have to morph."

"You'll never get out it I do," I said. "If I die, I'll probably end up right back here. If you die, you'll lose your soul."

"Tobias, don't --"

Then Bug fighter that had sneaked around behind us fired.

<Any sign of them?> I called up to Marco.

<Negative on that, sir,> Marco said, imitating a military officer.

I ignored him. <Rachel? Cassie? Ax?>

<There's no sign of either Tobias or Loren, Prince Jake,> Ax replied.

If I could've, I would've rolled my eyes. Ax was getting a lot better with human expressions and stuff, but he still wouldn't drop the whole 'Prince Jake' deal. Sometimes, I wonder if now it's all a big joke with him. Like maybe he just does it to get on my nerves.

Rachel and Cassie also had so sighting. We were pretty spread out, but we were still within though-speak range of each other.

<Whoa, whoa, whoa!> That was Marco, shouting loudly in my head.

<Ow,> I complained. <What is it?>

<Bug fighter, coming up fast! There's a construction site directly in its path.>

<Prince Elfangor!> I called down to the tiny figure on the ground. I hoped my thoughts would carry that far.

<Yes, Jake?> The words were very faint, but I could hear them.

<We've got a Bug fighter up here. Heading for the construction site. It looks like it's in a hurry.> I could see the ship now, racing full speed. It passed us in a matter of seconds. Fortunately, owls have good reflexes, and I managed not to get caught in its wake.

<I thought there were two of them,> Marco said.

<Jake, I can see the second Bug fighter,> Cassie called. <It hasn't changed course. Whatever they were looking for before, this one's still searching. It keeps making circles around the mountains.>

<Tobias and Loren wouldn't have made it that far,> Rachel said. <And the only reason for this one to peel away from the other is if it spots something. Do you think these can detect morphing ability?>

<They are a higher class than what we are used to,> Ax replied. <There's a good chance they might be able to.>

<Jake! I see them. I see them. Loren and Tobias, straight ahead. The Bug fighter's path goes right by them!> Marco shouted frantically.

<Elfangor,> I called down again. <We've found -->

I was cut off as the Bug fighter fired once, twice. The lasers ripped through the construction site, sending up smoke and debris. I literally froze in mid-air, with only the wind currents to keep me up. When the smoke cleared, the fighter was gone. And there was no construction site.

<Jake?> Cassie whispered. <Do -- can you -- where are they?>

<I can't see anything, Jake!> Rachel cried. <Too much dust in my way.>

<Jake?> Marco asked. <I don't see them.>

No one could have survived that.

Tobias and Loren had to be dead.

<What was that?> Laura shouted as an explosion ripped through the ground. If we hadn't already been caught between rocks, we would've been knocked to the ground for sure.

<It sounded like photon lasers from the Bug Scouts,> I whispered.

<Can anything survive a photon blast?>

<Only unless tractor beams were used first,> I answered. Suddenly a spasm of pain ripped through me. <Aahhhh!>

<What?> Laura asked frantically. <What is it?>

<The fugue,> I gasped. <It's begun. I must be closer to my end than I thought. Laura . . . I can't exit your body during the fugue. I need to finish transmitting my information to you. Do you think you can survive the pain?>

<I'll try,> Laura whispered. She had never experienced a fugue before. I had been her first and last Yeerk -- we'd been together five years. It was only this past year that we had become symbiotes -- partners -- against the Yeerk Empire.

I could feel my mind beginning to wander. Memories that I had forgotten about came rushing into my conscience. I remembered my first host, a simple Gedd. Just a few months later, I was given a Nahara, then a Hork-Bajir -- every time we conquered a new species, I was given a new host, and with it, a new rank.

I became ruthless. So ruthless that the Council of Thirteen trusted me to begin to invasion of planet Earth. That was where they made their mistake. I grew attached to Laura, my host. I grew attached to her life, and to her family. When the Council ordered that I leave, I wasn't happy. I had come to love her family like they were my own. I decided never to become attached to anything again. Laura was confused in my change of attitude, and frightened.

I saw my mistakes and my conquests, and I felt pain spasm after pain spasm. My life was literally flashing before my eyes. And all through it I continued to transmit information to my host.

<Are you okay, Nemu?>

Just a few more hours.

I began to transmit faster.

And that's the end of #2. Did Tobias and Loren survive? Who is the mysterious Nemu 505? Stay tuned to Elysia Wars #3: hopefully coming soon.