The Return

My name’s Jake. That’s all I’m going to tell you about my friends and I. Our first names. I could tell you our last names, or where we lived. But that would be suicide.

If they found us, they would kill us all. Or worse; they could make us their slaves.

And we really don’t want that to happen. So we’re not going to tell our last names. Or where we live. Heck, maybe part of what we do tell you will be made of little lies. But all the important stuff is true. All of it.

The Yeerks are out there. They take over people minds. They’ve taken over the mind of my brother. They even took over my mind for a short period of time. It’s all real. They really do that.

They also kill. But sometimes it’s better to be killed than to be one of them. A Controller.

That happened to one of our friends. Maybe not someone I personally got along with, but she didn’t deserve to die. And she saved our butts big-time.

When she was hit with the Dracon Beam, she committed suicide rather than be captured alive. Now, she’s dead.

I know this for a fact. I just attended her funeral yesterday.

It was a surprisingly small service. I mean, her parents were the biggest socialites in town. But only maybe a hundred people showed up. But then, she didn’t have much family.

Her only real family member didn’t attend her funeral. Visser Three had more important things to do than attend the funeral of his host’s daughter.

But I was there. Ax and Tobias were also there. So was Tom. He was Kit’s boyfriend at the time. Of course, he only acted upset. He was a Controller. At best, the Yeerk only felt cold attachment to her. And even that was unlikely.

It was a short little service. Of course, everything that was said was wrong. She didn’t kill herself. Not in the way that they meant.

But we couldn’t exactly explain that to them. If we did that, they would know about us.

So we gathered after the funeral in Cassie’s barn. Everyone was there. Cassie, Rachel, and Marco weren’t able to go to the funeral. It would have been too odd. They supposedly didn’t even know her.

It reminded me of something that Marco once said: “How long will it be until we stand here crying because Rachel or Tobias or Jake is gone?”

Well, we weren’t crying all that much. We’d only known her for a short time.

Marco seemed more upset than anyone. Well, Ax doesn’t really show his feelings, but Marco certainly seemed more upset than the rest of us.

I wondered why. They didn’t seem especially close.

Ax drew something out of his pocket as I was thinking this. It was kind of a square in shape, about the same size and thickness as a small calculator.

”I think that this was Katya’s diary. Maybe, also, her hirac dilest.”

“What’s a hirac dilest?” Tobias asked.

“The last words of a person. What they’ve done in the past. All of their memories. Emories. Emmies. It is often done at death.”

“And this could be it?” I asked.

“Yes, Prince Jake.”

“Can you get into it?”

“Yes, she told me the password and the numeric code used to work it.”

“Then open it.”

My name’s Marco. Like Jake, I’m not going to tell you my last name. I’d like to stay alive as long as I can. If I told you where we lived and our last names, our days would be numbered in small numbers.

I didn’t know what to think when Ax opened up Kit’s diary. I mean, who knew what was in it. What it said.

Ax tried to open the diary.

“It won’t open. Pen. Ohhh-pen.”

“You’re sure?” Rachel said.

“Yes. . . but I may have to be in my Andalite form to open it.”

“Well, yeah, that would make sense,” I said. “Who wants some complete stranger messing with your calculator.”

I knew that the joke was bad. I even cringed at it. But what could I do, cry? I’m not like that. I see life as a comedy, not a tragedy.

I should have told her about my mom. . .Visser One. Maybe she wouldn’t have pitied me, or anything.

I mean, her dad is Visser Three. Visser Three. A guy that isn’t exactly at the top of our popularity list.

I guess it’s too late now. But, hey, maybe she figured it out. I didn’t ever get a chance to tell her. And, now, I never can tell her.

We looked around and then Ax demorphed. He held the device and stared at it. Suddenly, he spoke.

< I’m inside of it. >

He then remorphed as quickly as he could. I could see him reading it.

“Interesting. . .” he mumbled.

“What?” Jake said tersely.

“Do you know of a human called Jared?”

“No. . .well, yeah, kinda. He’s my brother’s friend. Why?”

“In here, Katya says that this person saw her with fangs. And he didn’t panic. Anick. I-cK. He may know about her. Or he may be a Controller.”

“Well, we’re going to have to talk to Jared, now aren’t we?” Rachel said.

“Uh, Ax?” I asked. “Could I look at the diary tonight? Is it in English, or in Andalitese?”

“Andalitese?” Eeeeese?”

“Never mind, Ax,” Jake interrupted. “Is it in our language?”

“Yes, Prince Jake.”

“Ax, just call me Jake.”

“Yes, Prince Jake.”

Jake took the diary thing and handed it to me.

“Don’t bother, Marco,” Rachel said, “There won’t be anything about you in there.”

“Sure, oh Mighty Xena.”

I woke up in the woods. Man, I was sore.

What am I doing out here? I thought. Where am I?

I tried to stand up. Big mistake. I almost threw up, my leg hurt that much.

I looked at it. It seemed normal. I tried to stand again. This time, I was able to stand the pain.

I looked around. There were a bunch of trees around me, which I guess is normal for the middle off the woods.

I let my gaze shift to the ground, and then I almost screamed. There was a knife on the ground next to me.

A bloody knife. It was metal, and had a lot of blood on it. I mean, it was practically covered. It looked like someone was murdered or something.

I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. They were old and comfortable.

My head started to feel light, and I nearly fainted. I sat down just in time and put my head between my legs. It didn’t help.

Everything was becoming, well, just less. I couldn’t hear much, I couldn’t see much. The world was just disappearing.

A face! In front of me? No, it was just in my imagination. But I could still see it. It had no mouth, no nose, and only three slits. It had four eyes. Four evil eyes. I couldn’t look at them.

Another face, mocking. . . .Now we have Angel. . .

And a voice in my head. < Katya? > <

Ax? > I called back, without even thinking. < Aximili? >

No answer. None at all. Not even a leaf rustled.

< AX!!!! > I called out, as loud as I could.

No answer. No one.

I knew who I was. I couldn’t be alive! There was no way. . .

GO TO THE HOUSE I SHOW YOU, ANGEL.

What do you mean, Angel? That’s not my name. That’s some stupid. . .

THEY’RE EXPECTING YOU THERE. YOU STILL NEED TO HELP YOUR FRIENDS.

I saw the house in my head. I also saw how I could get there.

I started walking.

It was almost dark when I got there. I opened the door and walked inside. An older woman walked up and grabbed me.

“Angela, where were you? We’ve been waiting all afternoon for you to come home. You start school tomorrow.”

“I was. . .hiking. In the woods. I’m sorry I worried you.”

“I’m fine, but you’d better go see Uncle Hugh. He’s been out looking for you; we were about to call the police.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s in the office, trying to get some work done.”

“Okay, I’ll go and see him.”

I walked down a short hallway and saw a room with a light on.

“Uncle Hugh?”

“Angela? Oh, you’re all right.” Uncle Hugh was an average sized man with just a fringe of white hair. I liked him immediately.

“Yep. I was in the woods.” I gave him a little hug. “I bet you didn’t look there.”

“No, that I didn’t. You had us worried, young lady.”

“I’m sorry I made you worried. So,” I said, “when will Mom and Dad be home?”

He looked at me strangely, then spoke with a tremor in his voice.

“Oh, angel,” he said, “you know about that.”

Oh. Ooohh. They must be dead. I bit my lip and teared up. “Yeah, I guess I do. . .” I hugged him again, shaking a little as I did so.

I wasn’t thinking of the same people that he was. He was probably thinking of a human couple, average in every meaning of the word. I was thinking of Andalites. An Andalite named Jahar. And, of course, of Visser Three. I hated to think of him that way, but Alloran-Semitur-Corass was a complete stranger to me, no matter how closely we were related. Even though he was my father.

I was sure that this man wasn’t thinking of them.

I looked up and wiped my eyes. I wasn’t really crying, and that made me feel. . .I don’t know, like I was lying to this nice man.

“I’m going to go to bed. Big day tomorrow.”

“Good-night, angel. Sleep tight.”

“Night.”

Angel again. Figures.

I didn’t go to sleep. How could I? I was tired, sure, but my mind was running as fast as it could.

I have to tell them I’m alive.

How can I? I’ve been asleep for a while.

They’ll recognize me.

Look in the mirror.

I stood up and walked to the mirror. What I saw startled me.

I had, before anyway, chestnut hair and grey eyes. I had been fairly tall. My features had a slightly rounded and worn appearance. I wasn’t exactly gorgeous, but I was pretty enough.

Not anymore. I was short, shorter than Marco even. My hair was a sort of tan color. Pale tan, kind of mousy. My eyes were green. The exact same shade that they had been when I was an Andalite. The same shade as Visser Thr. . .Alloran’s. They were larger than they should have been.

My nose was smaller than before. More defined. I didn’t mind that. My mouth was exactly the same as it had been. I smiled; the teeth were the same, also. Fangs and all.

I almost cried then. Because that meant that I was still a nothlit. Was still a Laman, a hunter.

I didn’t have to hunt right then, though. I don’t know why; I don’t really know all that much about Laman physiology- probably about as much of the “how” and “why” as you know about yours.

Hey, look on the bright side- you’ll be able to prove your story.

Is that before or after having dinner?

They’d never believe me. I’d be Angela all my life. I’d never hear anyone call me Kit, or Kat, or Katya, or even Catherine Louise again. I’d always be Angela.

I curled up on my bed and started to cry. For the second time in my life.

The next day, we had school. My first day, supposedly.

If I get Reynolds for history again this year, I swear. . . I thought idly.

I had gym sixth period. It was getting warm outside again, so we were doing track. 100 meters.

When I into the gym line, I noticed a person standing at the far end of the line, talking to Jake. It was Rachel. I walked over, figuring that I would just say hi to her.

When I got over to her, I was shocked. She was way taller than me. I must have been shorter than even Marco, maybe a hair taller than Cassie. Maybe.

“Are you new?”

“Yeah. Uh, hi. My name’s. . .Angela.”

“I’m Rachel,” she said, just as Mr. Z blew the whistle. I ran to get in line.

“All right you little boogers,” he said, “we’re going out to the track.” We walked outside into the bright sunlight, which made me blink and sneeze. When we got to the track, he took attendance. I heard him call out everyone’s name, and then he called out, “Is there an Angela here?”

“Yes. That’s me,” I said.

“You’re not dressed.”

“I’m new. . .” I said defensively.

Mr. Z. laughed. “I’m just kidding you.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll run in this today.”

“You don’t have to. . .”

“I want to.”

“Oh. Jenny isn’t here today, so you can take her spot. First heat, lane six.”

“Right. Got it.”

I looked around self-consciously, realizing that half the class was looking at me. I took off my backpack and went over to my lane.

I stood next to Rachel; she was assigned lane five.

“Good luck,” I said to her. I smiled, not showing my teeth.

“Good luck to you, too.”

“On your mark. . .get set. . .GO!”

Everyone took off. I’m a very good runner; I learned that on my way out of the woods. I’ve had a lot of practice at it before, true, but I shouldn’t be too fast. It’s just harder that way; shorter people have shorter legs.

I won that race. Rachel came in second, and Cara came in third.

“Good run, Angela,” Rachel said. “You should go for track.”

“Thanks! You too,” I said. “I can’t be in track, though.”

“Why?”

“I’m too busy.”

“With what?”

“I. . .have to get settled. And I’m considering joining the Sharing.” I looked up at her when I said that. I don’t know why; maybe I wanted to see her reaction. Or maybe I was in a not-terrific mood. “Are you in it? Is it good?”

“Well. . .my cousin, Tom, is in it. He’s a complete jerk.”

Well, I agree with that!

“Really? Are they all like that?”

“A lot of them are.”

“Angela!! Lane Three!” Mr. Z yelled

The next heat was between Laura Mitchell and I. I didn’t think that I should draw attention to myself on my first day, so I hung back. I only lost by a fraction of a second. And I still wasn’t tired.

After gym, I walked to science class. I sat down where the teacher indicated and waited for everyone to filter in.

When I saw who my lab partner was, I nearly balked. It was Marco. Marco. The same Marco who had come up with the name “Angel,” for me.

“You are. . .” I motioned when he sat down.

“Marco,” he said shortly. Then he took something out of his backpack. It looked like a graphing calculator. He started looking it at. It was an awfully small calculator. . .

Oh, my god, that’s my diary!

Well, duh Kit, you gave it to Ax.

But I didn’t want Marco to see it!

Part of me wanted to yell, “What the heck do you think you’re doing?!” I knew that would be stupid, though. So I did the next thing.

“Hey, Marco, I’m Angela, thanks for asking,” I said snidely. “Hey, are those lab results or something. . .” I reached for my diary.

He moved them away.

“No, they’re notes for a math test. . .what the?!” he said as the thing started beeping, indicating that a connection had been made.

“What was that? The alarm clock?” I said wryly. As I did so, I send a command to the unit. It shut down.

“Oh, man, the batteries ran out.”

No, I thought, you’ve been thrown out. Ha ha! I added silently, even though I knew that he couldn’t hear me.

“Now, if you’re done playing with your calculator, maybe you should pay attention.” Marco nearly jumped out of his seat at the sound of Mr. Johnson’s voice.

Before he could answer, the teacher started on a discussion about spores and mold and lichens. I was amazed; he actually used the same exact words as he had last year!

Due to the immense boredom factor and the sleepless night before, I was a little tired. I didn’t actually fall asleep, but I stared intently at the model spleen on the lab table. It was a really weird shade of purple. . .

“Angela,” Mr. Johnson said. I guessed that someone was talking or something by the sharpness in his voice.

“Angela. Angela!” he repeated. Then I realized something; I was Angela.

“Ye- yes Mr. Johnson?” I replied, finally.

“Which one of them is it?”

“Um. . . D: None of the above?” Everybody laughed. Mr. Johnson turned the same shade of purple as the spleen.

“I don’t know what kind of school you went to previously, miss, but we don’t disrespect teachers like that here. Understand.”

I resisted the urge to make a comment about his blood pressure and said, “Yes, sir.” In a slightly sarcastic tone. I don’t exactly love authority. Fortunately, the teacher was too thick to pick up on the sarcasm.

“The correct answer, class, was lichens. Now, if you’ll look at the overhead. . .” Mr. Johnson droned on about the plants. I attempted to pay attention this time, but it was pretty hard.

Science is my last class of the day, so after the final bell rang, I was free, free, free! Or, at least, I didn’t have to stay in school for the rest of the day.

I wandered down the high school and sat on the bleachers. I saw my “friends” standing around the football field and talking.

Yep. Everyone was there. Tom. Dani Stevens. Bryce Conner. Karin Harrison. Sonya Jenkins. Everyone.

Including Jared. The one who had seen me. But I didn’t know who, or what, he was. And I really, really didn’t feel like trusting him.

So I just sat and watched. It felt like I was in some strange world. All the people that I used to hang out with were now no longer part of my life.

Not like I cared in most cases. Tom, Sonya and Bryce were full members of The Sharing. Yeerks. Dani wasn’t worth enough to become a Controller. She hated me for absolutely no reason. In fact, she hated most people. Karin was my best friend, but I don’t think that I could exactly talk to her now.

And I wasn’t especially close to anyone else. Including Jared.

As I was thinking this, Dani came over to me and started shooting off her mouth.

“Hey, kid, what are you staring at?!”

I picked up my backpack and walked away with hooded eyes looking at the ground. “Nothing.”

She walked up the bleachers. “It looked like you were looking at something.”

I jumped off the bleachers and kept on walking. She came after me.

She grabbed me from behind and threw me down. She started hitting and clawing me.

I really didn’t care. I mean, so I get hurt a bit. Big deal. I had died and was now stuck in a new life that I didn’t even want. So who really cared if I got beat up.

I tried to pull her messy white hair, but she didn’t even flinch. My gaze shifted to the vein in her arm. I turned away in disgust.

Suddenly, she was away from me! Bryce was standing in between us, with Karin and Tom following. Bryce held Dani back and said something to her. She stopped struggling. Tom grabbed me, but I twisted away and tried to run.

Karin stood in front of me and grabbed my shoulders. I looked at her for a second, too afraid to move or even to speak. There was something wrong. Something very subtly wrong. . .

Yes, Angela, your former best friend is now one of them. Poetic justice that they should suspect the wrong people.

I glared hard at her, shaking, then broke away.

“Just leave me alone!” I said aloud and started to run away. Jared and Bryce went after me, with Tom now holding Dani. Bryce got to me first. He spun me around and faced me. After looking at me strangely, he spoke.

“Meet me later.” he said quietly. I looked at him in utter shock as he pushed me gently away. He was a Controller. And he knew about me.

I was dead. And the others were dead, too.

I went back to the house and shut myself up in my room. I knew that my days were numbered.

I could meet up with Bryce and probably end up dead. Hopefully end up dead. I could warn the others. And probably end up dead. Or I could commit suicide, and definitely end up dead.

What a great set of choices, huh? Death, death, and more death.

And, to top all of that happiness off, I had to eat. Or drink, or whatever you want to call it. That meant I had to hunt. In the woods. Where Tobias and Ax were.

Another stupid risk. That I had to take.

I grabbed all my school stuff and a change of clothes and shoved them in my backpack.

I put the knife in it’s familiar place at my ankle. Then, I grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper. I knew what I had to do.

“Dear Uncle Hugh and Aunt. . .” What was my aunt’s name? I didn’t know. I looked around for a hint.

There, on an envelope. Hugh and Claire.

“Dear Uncle Hugh and Aunt Claire,

“I am going on a walk and then am going to go to school. Don’t worry; I won’t get lost. See you after school!

I knew that the note would only buy me a few hours of time as I placed it on my desk. But it was all I could do.

I couldn’t let these innocent people end up in danger. With any luck, they’d see me as a runaway and would be spared.

I climbed out the window and into a nearby tree. When I climbed down, I was startled to see Bryce standing at the base of the trunk.

“You!” I said as I grabbed my knife. “How did you know I was here?” I leveled the knife at his throat.

“I followed you,” he said in a calm voice. “Listen, Kit. I’m not your enemy.”

“So now I suppose you’ll tell me that you’re going to help me,” I said sarcastically. “I know what you are. So just drop the charade, please, and answer my questions. Why were you following me?”

“To be sure that it was you,” he said simply.

“And who am ‘I’?”

“You used to be named Catherine. Kit. And you died.” I went pale. “And who are you?”

“I am an ally of your friends.”

I looked at him long and hard. Then I spoke, hearing the fear, anger, and disbelief that I was feeling in my voice.

“I guess I don’t have a choice do I. What do you want me to do?”

“Follow me,” he said. I did, with my knife in my hand not wavering.

“How come you were right outside my window?” I asked to pass the time.

“I needed to be sure that it was you. If you ran away, I would know for sure.”

“And that’s another thing! How did you know that I was. . .I mean that I am. . .” I gestured futilely with my hands. He got the message and answered.

“The way you were looking at Tom. The way you looked at Karin. You couldn’t keep from reacting to them.” He gestured towards my face. “Your eyes, also. They are the same color as an Andalite’s. The green was just slightly too bright for a human.”

“As far as that goes, I’m human. Eye color I mean. Being in a morph wouldn’t change that. It’s impossible.”

“Don’t say impossible. Remember, your funeral was yesterday. And here you are.” He threw me an amused glance. I returned it with icy silence.

“You still haven’t told me who you are,” I said.

“I told you. An ally of your friends.”

He wouldn’t answer me; that was obvious.

I was glaring at him when the change happened. Instead of a slightly older-looking guy, he was a. . . a machine, made of milky-white plastic and metal that looked like steel.

It only lasted a moment, and then it was gone. But I knew that he wasn’t a Controller. And he didn’t look like a primitive Yeerk robot. Or an Andalite one.

I nearly dropped the knife right then.

Bryce, or at least who I thought of as Bryce, raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Surprised?”

I nodded.

“Do you think that you can trust me now?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“You had every reason to be suspicious,” he replied. “Had I been you, I probably would have felt the same.”

“And you’re taking me to my friends?”

“Yes.”

“I hate to be brutally honest, but you don’t know whether I’m a Controller or not. Well, I know that I’m not, but you don’t know that for sure. . . oh, jeez. I’m just saying that you don’t know if this is a really big risk or not.”

“I know you’re not a Controller. But for now you need to be out of harm’s way.”

“How was I in harm’s way?”

“If I recognized you, so could someone else. That person may not want you to live.”

“You don’t beat around the bush, do you?”

“You said you wanted answers. I gave them to you. I do not wish to deceive you.”

“Well, at least you’re not sugar-coating it,” I mumbled. “I just have one stupid question.”

“What is it?”

“How exactly am I going to be able to prove it? I really doubt that they’ll believe me if I walk up to them and say ‘Hi, I’m Kit.’ Because that is seriously not going to work.”

“They’ll believe my friends and I.”

“This conversation is going nowhere. It’s all ‘they’ll believe my friends and I, don’t worry.’ Well, I am worried, because my whole life is being worried or paranoid or something.”

“Kit-”

“Just take me there!” I snapped. “I’m sure that I can get them to believe me,” I bared my teeth, and along with them my fangs. “I can show them who I am.”

After that, we walked on in relative silence. The walk was fairly long. When we got there, I could just barely make out the shapes of various morphs. And the silhouette of an Andalite and two humans.

“I’m here.” As he said that, I heard a voice. A voice that seemed to be everywhere at once.

No! He crossed me! I will make you pay for what your “Ellimist” did!

Then everything disappeared.

The void seemed to last forever. There was nothing there. It was like death.

I wondered if I was dead.

Then I was standing on a barren plane, with only scruffy vegetation. There were lakes of some sort scattered everywhere. The sky was green, with flashes of lightning.

I was scared. Very scared. I knew what this place was; it was the Yeerk homeworld.

I clenched my jaw shut and looked at everyone there. I knew the names, the faces, even though we had never been properly introduced.

Jake. Rachel. Cassie. Marco. Tobias and Ax, in their human forms.

And Bryce. Who looked totally confused. Just like everyone else did.

“Where are we?” Cassie said warily.

I swallowed, but did not speak. I knew I was shaking. I looked at Bryce. He was shaken, but not as badly as everyone else. Probably because he didn’t know exactly how bad this was. Or how bad it could be.

I watched as Aximili demorphed. I stared in what appeared to be pure and simple terror.

I didn’t know whether I should tell them who I was. Whether they would believe me or not.

So I just stared in terror. And sent a message to Bryce.

< Do not tell them right now. It is really not a good time for these things. Right now, If I want to live, I’ll have to play dumb. All right? >

He nodded. I continued staring, and allowed my jaw to drop slightly.

“Uh-oh,” Marco said when he saw me. Right as I started screaming. Loudly.

“Chill, Angela, just chill out,” Rachel said.

I didn’t chill. I kept on screaming.

“Listen. . .this is just a dream. A completely wacked out dream. You’ll wake up soon, just fine and safe,” Marco said. “This is just a dream monster,” he continued, pointing to Ax.

No, Marco, I wanted to say, it’s not just a dream. You guys are in so much danger and you don’t even know it. . .

Instead I said, “Oookay. A dream. It must be. Yeah, that would explain a lot. Well, uh, you’re Marco, right? And you’re. . .Rachel? Well, whatever.” My voice was hollow with a note of humor. “And the rest of you are all, like, dream people.” Then I looked at Bryce. “And you were at the school. You tried to beat me up!” “You’re that girl that was fighting with Dani!” he said, sounding as shocked as I was. “She was the one who started it!” I yelled back.

Just then, I realized something; I hadn’t had anything to eat. I felt slightly light-headed, and my legs felt watery. Nothing supernatural or strange; just good, old-fashioned hunger. And something told me that I was not going to find a badger around here.

Well, I thought, today I fast.

As I was thinking that, there was a voice in my head. And in my ears. It made my head hurt.

Well, all of you showed up. That’s good. That’s very good.

“Okay,” I muttered, “who invited Mr. Sunshine?”

“What did you say?” Marco asked.

“I said ‘Okay, if God’s invited here, I’ll die.’ What’d ya think I said?” I couldn’t believe how lame I sounded.

There’s one way out of here. If you find it, you’ll return to Earth, right when you left off. If you don’t. . .well, dying of hunger and thirst is a rather unpleasant way to go. “

Okay, I’m thinking that maybe that isn’t God after all,” I said.

“More like the Devil,” I heard Cassie agree.

Jake spoke.

“What do you want from us?”

Nothing. Just find the way out.

You- I sent the thought mentally to him. I felt myself start a bit, like I was going to fight him. Then I caught myself and managed to just look scared.

I felt a mental grin, and then he spoke again. Privately.

That’s right, keep up the act. You all know that you’re the reason they’re here.

Oh, shut up! Go find an underworld to manage or something.

I already have one. This is my world.

After he said that, I felt his presence leave. We were alone, once again.

At least, hopefully. He had said this was his world. The pools were his also. There might not be Yeerks in them. Not like I was going to stick my head in one to find out.

“Hey, Angela? What’s with you?” Marco’s voice snapped me back to reality.

“Nothing. Everything’s perfectly fine. Just forget the fact that we’re stuck in the Twilight Zone.”

< We already explained to you that you are dreaming, > Ax explained.

“Great, not another voice in my head!” I sighed. “Fine, whatever.”

Jake looked at Bryce.

“Are you a. . . a friend of Erek’s?” he asked.

Bryce nodded. “Yes. I am.”

“Is this who you brought.”

A pause.

“Yes.”

Oh, I swear to God, I am going to turn him into a can opener!

< Bryce! You said you wouldn’t tell! > I said to him angrily.

“I’m sorry, but they may need to know this,” he said aloud in return. “I assure you, they will not harm you.”

“Yeah, but it isn’t exactly something I can explain, you jerk! It defies explanation.” I paused and realized that everyone was looking at me.

“Uh. . .hi?” I said. Not the most brilliant remark. It was accompanied by an uncomfortable half-smile.

I got no response. Just a lot of really strange stares. Then Marco spoke.

“Actually, I think this makes sense. Angel. Angela. Yeah, that would work. And that thing I had shut off when she was there.”

“I shut it off because you were reading it.”

“Well, you gave it to Ax.”

“Because I didn’t think that he would read it during science class!” I yelled.

That lightened everyone up a little bit. But no one said anything like “Oh, my God, it isn’t possible,” or, “How did you do it?” I was grateful for that. I mean, if they’d said something like that, I’d have felt like a freak. Like something that belonged in a sideshow. I wouldn’t be able to handle that. I don’t want that kind of attention.

Anger, though, I can handle. And I had to take a lot of that.

“Why didn’t you just tell us?!” Jake was yelling at me.

“Because I didn’t feel like getting killed by you guys. Sorry.”

“You still should have told us,” he insisted.

“Jake, we know now. That’s all that matters.” Cassie spoke up in my defense. I flashed her a grateful smile.

“Actually,” interjected Rachel, “what matters now is that we get out of this place.”

< I agree. What is this place? > a now-demorphed Tobias asked.

“The Yeerk homeworld.”

< The Yeerk homeworld. >

I swear, everyone’s eyes got as big as plates as Ax and I answered at the same time.

< Actually, > Ax continued, < I think that this is a replica of that world. Without any life-forms. >

“So that means that in those. . .in those pools. . . there are no Yeerks?”

< Probably, Prince Jake. >

“Okay. No Yeerks,” Marco said. “Who wants to stick their head in and check?”

“Um, it’s getting dark,” Cassie pointed out. “And we don’t have any way of making light.”

“So we move now?” Jake asked.

Cassie nodded. “All right, we look around until it gets too dark to see. Then we take turns keeping watch.”

We all nodded, and then started walking. Splitting up would have been foolish; we would never be able to find each other.

It was getting darker quickly. Yeerk days are shorter than days on Earth; the rotation’s faster.

We didn’t realize how much darker it was getting until we heard Rachel cry out.

“Augh! Oh, eww. Yuck!”

“What’s wrong?” Cassie asked.

“I just stepped in one of the pools. I didn’t even see it.”

“Okay, maybe we shouldn’t move around anymore,” I suggested reasonably.

“We need to find a way out of here. . .” Jake started.

I raised my eyebrows, ready to reply. . .

“That doesn’t involve falling into a Yeerk Pool, duh!” Marco answered for me. “A few more feet, Jake, and you would have had to swim. Fast.”

“Okay, we stop.” He sat down. “Now what?”

“We tell ghost stories?” Everyone rolled their eyes at Marco’s lame joke. I walked a few feet away from the others and sat down.

Unlike them, I was weak. Missing a valuable nutrient.

I wasn’t about to ask them to. . .to do that. So there was one other option. . .

I brought my wrist to my teeth and cut it. The blood came out, not too quickly.

I swallowed what came out. It was sick, even to me, but it would have to do. Or I’d be ill by tomorrow morning, dangerous by the afternoon.

I heard a sound behind me and looked up. I saw Marco standing there, looking at me with an odd look on his face.

“Uh, what are you doing? Wait, I don’t think I want to know this. . .” “Listen, if you can think of a better way to. . .to do that, without hurting you guys, tell me. Otherwise, I’m stuck doing this.”

“Okay, okay. You don’t need to get so defensive about this, Angel.” I glared at him as he called me that.

“All right, why are you over here Marco?” I asked in a tired voice.

“To tell you we have third watch.”

“We?”

“You and me. You’re stuck with it.”

“Unfortunately,” I said and grinned slightly as my wrist began to heal. “Who’s got the other watches?”

< Jake and Cassie have first watch. Rachel and Ax have second. Then after you guys are Bryce and I. Well, Bryce’ll probably be hanging around for most of the time anyway. It’s not like he has to sleep or anything. > I turned at the sound of Tobias’s thought-speak.

“Gee, why don’t I just charge admission?” I mumbled angrily, and walked off to where the others were sleeping.

I laid down as the others did. We were all beat. I mean, it was eleven at night, Earth time, or at least it felt like it to us. I heard everyone’s breaths going deep and even.

Eventually, even I fell asleep. It felt like no time had passed when I “heard” Ax’s thought-speak voice in my head.

< Wake up. It has been two hours, >

I groaned and sent him a response.

< Okay, okay, I’m up. >

As he laid down, I took my post at one end of the group.

It was boring. Very boring. Neither Marco nor I was able to make conversation at first. He made some jokes about the time, and I laughed at them. Then I heard something. And thought I saw movement.

< Marco, I’m going to go check out something I heard. I’ll be right back. >

He nodded in response, and I followed the noise. It sounded almost like someone walking.

Then, suddenly, it stopped. I waited for a second, to see if maybe, just maybe, it would start up again.

It didn’t. I cursed mentally and started heading back. I was just about back when I took a step in front of me.

My foot didn’t hit ground. It hit liquid. I pulled back in revulsion, but it was too late to save my balance.

I fell onto the ground, and felt my mind begin to go numb.

I started to pick myself up, afraid that I would feel the sharp pain in my ear. I started to pull back, and let out a cry.

“No! Ahh!” I stopped just as abruptly as I had fallen, knowing that the Yeerk, the enemy, could get in my head.

I tried moving my hand. It moved. I stuck out my tongue. Again, it worked.

I sighed in relief, and started to stand up.

“Kit? Kit, what’s wrong?” Marco was now next to me, helping me up. I found that surprising in itself.

“I fell. I thought. . .I thought I was going to fall in. The pool thing.” I couldn’t get my words straight; I guessed that I was pretty rattled.

“Really? You of all people, with all your amazing night-vampire stuff and who knows what?”

“Shut up!”

He pretended to back off. I went back to my post, only brooding ever so slightly.

When our shift ended, I was wiped. There was just the faintest of lights upon one edge of the sky, a dark blue-green tint in with the black. If you forgot where you were, you could maybe describe it as beautiful.

I stared at it for a while as I tried to sleep. Sleep didn’t come.

How could I have been so stupid?! I had seen what had happened before; the pools were easy to miss.

I started daydreaming. About being in my former bodies. About being an Andalite again. About being Catherine Louise again.

I thought about that. About being in the body I had when I died.

My mind lingered on that hope for awhile. Until I noticed something odd. . .

I was closer to everyone than before. My jeans only went halfway down my calves.

I stood up quickly in shock. I was back in my old body! I didn’t know whether it was a morph, or an illusion, or what.

I saw Bryce turn at the sound I made. He raised his eyebrows at me.

“You can switch into your old body.”

“Thank you for pointing out the obvious. I wonder what happened.” Just then I heard gentle mental laughter. A memory of the Ellimist.

I was betting that he did it. I guess. . .I guess maybe I would need it later.

Obviously. If you’re going to fight, you’ll have to change. Duh!

I wondered if I had the power to morph. I laughed at the thought; I knew deep inside that I couldn’t.

But now I could fight.

I concentrated on my own body, my other body, and laid back down. Then, with myself back to normal, I slept until Tobias’s thought-speak voice sounded in my head. In all our heads.

< Get up everyone! We think the found the way out! >

< We think we found the way out! > he repeated as we all struggled to our feet.

“Wha-. . . how? Where?” Jake asked groggily

< Over here, > he replied, and led us to a small pool. A small Yeerk Pool.

Bryce was standing next to it, holding a few rocks.

“I noticed something when a rock fell in here,” he said. Then he threw one of the rocks into the sludgy liquid.

I expected it to make a “plop!” noise and sink to the bottom. But it didn’t. It stayed on top of the surface, producing a slight glow where the edges were.

It was a barrier between the worlds! The way out! If we could only get through, it would be perfect. . .

Then Bryce stuck his hand in. It went through, as if the pool really were water. But when he drew his hand out, it wasn’t wet at all.

I tried the same thing. I felt a slight tingling at the exact line of the barrier, but the other side had air. Just air! When I pulled my hand back, my hand was also dry.

I felt a slight grin creep across my face.

“This is it!” I cried. Cassie and Jake were smiling at each other. Rachel was smiling also.

But Marco’s brow furrowed. “I hate to rain on your parade and all, but what if this is just a trick. There could be real Yeerks in there.”

Jake continued smiling, sadly, and shook his head. “We don’t have any other choice. It’s this or nothing.”

I switched back to my old body. “Well, then, let’s get on with it!” I said. “I don’t want to stay in these too-small jeans forever.”

Everyone was looking at me in shock. Well, except for Bryce and Tobias. They already knew.

I rolled my eyes. “Come on!”

Rachel went in first. Then Jake went. Cassie. Marco. Ax and Tobias.

I went right after Tobias and Ax did. It wasn’t like before. There was no void. One minute I was going through the thing, the next, I was back on solid ground.

I looked around me, startled by my surroundings. I was in the Yeerk Pool.

All right, no big deal, I thought. Just walk right out.

I started walking, then felt a hand on my shoulder. A strong hand. . .

I turned around quickly, and found myself looking at Jared.

Jared. With a very not-good smile on his face.

“Uh-oh,” I whispered, and started to run. I didn’t get very far. Jared caught up to me, hit me over the head with his Dracon beam, and dragged me to one corner of the pool.

Ax was yelling out in private thought-speak. Or maybe it was Tobias.

< Prince Jake says to meet in the forest! >

I felt him grab my wrist, turn me around, and push my head towards the surface.

I saw the weakness in his position, and hit him in the ribs. Hard. Then I twisted to get away. . .

From the Earth diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

When we came out of the strange universe, we were scattered across the Yeerk Pool. Leave it to a type of Ellimist to cross us. Tobias, Prince Jake, and I appeared together, and, fortunately, out of sight. Rachel and Marco were safe as well.

Prince Jake told us to all meet in the woods. I sent that order to the others. Speech is harder to hear than thought-speak

We met in the forest and waited. When Cassie got back, she brought some distressing news.

“Someone saw Kit. I saw it from the other end of the pool. They were fighting as I left. But I think she got away.”

Everyone grew silent. We did not know if this meant that Katya was a Controller. Or a prisoner.

I heard a sound in the bushes. I turned around with my tail cocked, ready for an attack. Perhaps we had not been as hidden as we had thought.

I saw Katya standing there, a cut on the back of her head

“Hey, guys,” I heard her say.