My name is Cassie.

And you wouldn't know it to look at me but

I'm in the middle of a violent war to save Earth

from an alien, parasitic species called the

Yeerks.

Well, most of the time I am. Right now I was

kneeling in the barn, waiting for an injured

mouse's curiosity to get the better of him. And

when it did, when he crept out from beneath the

cage he'd scurried under, I was going to scoop

him up and take a look at his crooked, back leg.

I guess that's just me. It's who I am. I don't

like seeing an animal in pain if there's something

I can do about it. And I usually am doing some-

thing about it, because my parents are vets and I

1

guess you could say I'm following in their foot-

as a sleek playful dolphin, and being a horse has

steps.

certainly come in handy on occasion — but I like

Except that in one way, I'm already way ahead

Jake a lot — okay, maybe I feel even stronger

of them.

than "like" — and what he says makes sense, so

I'm an Animorph. An animal morpher.

I try not to do anything that would put us at risk.

My friends and I were given the ability to ac-

But the risk isn't the worst of it. This is a war

quire the DNA of other creatures and morph

and people die. And using this power to destroy

them. This power is the only real weapon we have

others is hard to get used to. But as much as I

in our fight to save humanity.

hate inflicting pain and sometimes death on the

But it's more than that. For me, at least.

other Yeerk-infested species, I can't just sit back

Every time I morph an animal, I experience

and allow their evil to consume us, the human

the world as that animal does, sensing it, sharing

race, too.

its instincts. That's knowledge my parents will

The Yeerks are like a disease, except they

never have. And I'm not sure not having it is such spread with malice and intent. A Yeerk will

a bad thing.

squirm into your ear canal, flatten out its blind,

I mean, it's one thing knowing that a hump-

deaf, sluglike body, and weave into the crannies

back whale can weigh thirty tons but it's a whole

of your brain. Tap into your thoughts. See through

other story to actually weigh that much. To cruise

your eyes, speak with your voice. You are a

the ocean with the certainty that you actually

hostage, trapped inside yourself. Screaming for

are that animal. The only way to really under-

help but no one can hear you.

stand is to become that creature, and they can't

We call people infested by Yeerks Controllers,

teach that in vet school.

and there are more of them every day. Like I said,

But this isn't just about becoming an animal.

the Yeerks have taken over other species, too, and

It isn't just about the morphing. See, we use our

they're using some of them to wage this poiso-

morphs to fight this war. To divert and battle the

nous war on Earth.

Yeerks. That's why Jake, our leader, doesn't like

We, the Animorphs, are the only active resis-

us using the morphs for our own purposes. I can't

tance. Me. My best friend Rachel. Jake. His

say I never have — there's nothing like frolicking

friend Marco. Tobias, who stayed in his red-tailed

2

3

hawk morph longer than the two-hour limit and

A low-flying plane?

now lives as a bird of prey. A nothlit, as Ax would The mouse zipped out. Stopped. Nose twitch-say.

ing.

Ax is an aristh, an Andalite warrior-cadet, and

THWOK! THWOK! THWOK!

it was his brother Elfangor who gave us the blue

The drone was deafening now.

morphing cube before Visser Three murdered

The mouse tensed.

him, so that we could continue the battle.

My hand flashed out and scooped it up.

That's pretty much it on our side. Well, unless

"Nobody's going to hurt you," I said, but my

you count the Chee, a nonviolent race of an-

voice was lost in the thundering noise. Some-

droids, who help us by spying on the Yeerks and

thing deep in the pit of my stomach stirred un-

infiltrating their cover organization called The

easily.

Sharing. But when it comes right down to it,

It didn't sound like a plane, it sounded like

we're the only ones out there aggressively de-

a . . .

fending our species.

I stuck my head out of the open barn doors in

So you can see why I need to work with

time to see a helicopter pass and continue out

wounded animals. To help heal them. And in

over the woods.

some way, I think they help heal me, too.

The droning faded.

Movement.

I shrugged and turned to put the mouse in a

A tiny, twitching nose poked out from under

cage and nearly ran into Erek who was standing

the cage.

behind me. Erek is one of the Chee.

The barn turned Wildlife Rehab Clinic was

"Whoa!" I said, startled. "I didn't see you quiet today. We had only three patients and all

come in."

were on the mend.

Erek nodded. "Good. You weren't supposed

Their snuffling and scrabblings were familiar

to. And neither were the Controllers in the heli-

sounds.

copter. We have a major problem, Cassie." ,

But the distant, low-level drone thrumming

"Uh, I'm the only one here right now," I said,

through the air wasn't.

realizing I was still holding the mouse. I gently

Achainsaw?

put it in an empty cage and then waited to hear

The buzzing grew louder. Sharper. Closer.

the rest of Erek's news.

4

5

"I'll notify the others, but we have to move on

move the cube, Erek? Won't the Yeerks just tar-

this. The Yeerks have managed to repair the Hel-

get it again?"

macron ship and they've reactivated the sensors

"Yes. That's why you and the others have to

that locate morphing energy."

keep it moving until the Helmacron ship can be

Oh, great. The Helmacrons. Again.

destroyed," Erek said as the helicopter's shadow

The Helmacrons are an exceptionally tiny, ex-

passed over us, blotting out the sunlight stream-

ceptionally annoying species with delusions of

ing in through the doors. "If that cube falls into

grandeur and egos the size of Montana. Unfortu-

Yeerk hands . . ."

nately, they also have very advanced technology.

"Don't even say it," I said, tucking the cube

Erek continued, "The Yeerks are tracking

into the waistband of my jeans and pulling my

morphing energy."

dad's huge, old, college T-shirt down over it.

"But I haven't morphed —"

"Okay, let's go —"

The blue box. The Escafil Device. It was hid-

But Erek had vanished.

den here in the barn.

"Cassie?" my mother said, from the doorway.

"The ship's sensors aren't operating at full

"I'm off to The Gardens. I have animal transports

potential but the Yeerks have managed to hone in

to oversee and —"

on a weak signal from somewhere in this area.

"I'll go with you!" I blurted, while giving the

That would be the energy from the morphing

barn a quick once-over for Erek. Was he that

cube." Erek's voice was muted as the helicopter

bucket? That bale of hay? The Chee were ex-

did another flyby. "They're making another pass.

tremely good with holograms.

If we don't get that cube out of here —"

The sunlight behind my mother shimmered

"I'll get it," I said, heading to the darkest sec-and for an instant, Erek was Erek again and not a

tion of the barn. I'd hidden the cube where it

hologram of a brightly lit barn door.

wouldn't be found by anyone who happened to

I looked at my mom. "Let's get going."

be stumbling around, but I hadn't counted on

the Yeerks being able to repair something so

minuscule as the Helmacrons' damaged and

abandoned ship. "But what good will it do to

6

7

"What's wrong with him?" my mother asked,

scowling into her rearview mirror at the car be-

hind us; it was crawling right up our butts. "The

speed limit's forty-five on this road."

"Yeah, but you're only doing thirty, Mom," I

said, gazing pointedly at the speedometer.

C'mon, Mom, hurry!

"Thirty?" my mother asked, pressing the gas

pedal. The speedometer needle was on the rise.

Sort of. "There. That's better."

But it wasn't better because the car behind

us floored it, passed us on a double line, then cut

right back in front of us and promptly slowed

down.

Have you ever had one of those horrible

"What are you doing!" my mother shouted,

dreams where something is chasing you and no

braking and glaring at the back of the driver's

matter how fast you try to run, you're not getting

head.

anywhere?

"Mom, don't say anything," I warned, watch-

Well, that's exactly how I felt driving to The

ing as the driver finally sped up.

Gardens with my mother.

"But he's driving erratically," my mother said,

The helicopter was buzzing back and forth

speeding up and then slamming on her brakes as

over the woods. And we were getting nowhere

he slowed down again. "What is he doing?!"

fast because my mother was talking while she

"Mom, stop! He can't hear you!" I said. "Just was driving, and when she does that, she always

back off. It's either road rage or. . ."

takes her foot off the gas pedal. She doesn't do it

Or a Controller sent to steal the blue box.

on purpose but it's still nerve-racking.

I looked up at the sky. The helicopter was the

Speed up. Slow down. Speed up. Slooowwww

size of a horsefly in the distance. If it had pin-

dooowwwnnnn. . . .

pointed us, it wouldn't send just one Controller

BEEEEEEEPP!

for the box. No way. Stealing it would be a major

8

9

victory for the Yeerks and they'd send an army to

The frantic fluttering in my stomach got worse.

do it, not one bald guy in a Ford Taurus.

I left my mother in the employee parking lot

". . . or he's a complete imbecile?" my

and headed into the park. I told her I was going

mother snapped, but backed off enough for him

to check out a few of the new animals and then

to pull ahead. "I don't know what is going on

grab a bus back home. I tried to look as normal

around here today."

as I could in my baggy, dirt-stained jeans with a

"You mean with all those helicopters?" I

blue morphing cube hidden beneath my T-shirt.

asked as casually as I could while keeping an eye

<Another bizarre fashion statement, huh,

on the car in front of us. It was on the move now

Cassie?>

and was pretty much history. "I thought maybe

Thought-speak. Rachel was here somewhere.

an animal had escaped from The Gardens or

Good. Even though I wasn't in morph and

something."

couldn't answer her, I felt better.

"No, they would have called me," my mother

<She calls it cornfield casuals,> Marco

said. "And I haven't heard any news bulletins

smirked. <Bird poop-a-porter. We're in seagull

about any hikers lost in the area, either." She

morph, Cassie, so don't look up.>

smiled. "I guess it's just one of those days,

<Erek told us about the Helmacron morphing

huh?"

sensors,> Jake said. <We're going to have to find

"I guess so."

a way to disable that ship. You have the blue box,

By the time we pulled into The Gardens, my

right?>

neck was cramped and my stomach was twisted.

I nodded slowly, paused by the American buf-

One from watching the helicopter, the other from

falo enclosure, and casually looked around —

sheer worry. What if Erek hadn't gotten word to

then up.

everyone?

A red-tailed hawk circled high above me.

What if he had?

Two identical seagulls landed near the buffalo

Wouldn't the Helmacron sensors pick up

wallow. A third landed on a nearby Dumpster. A

three kids and an Andalite in morph? Of course

fourth strutted past, eyeing up a little girl eating

they would. Tobias would be okay, but was get-

french fries.

ting us all together really that great an idea?

That one had to be Ax.

10

11

thing!> Jake shouted, taking off. <Everybody

The kid giggled and threw him a fry.

else, split up! We have to draw the sensors away

He gobbled it down and screeched for an-

from Cassie! Tobias, you stick with her since

other. And another.

you're not in morph.>

<Hey, Ax-man, want to try and get a grip?>

<Cassie,> Tobias said. <They're closing in

Marco quipped, swooping down and chasing Ax

fast.>

away from the kid.

And suddenly, I saw one of the guys in the

<The clock's ticking here,> Jake said quietly

suits.

but firmly.

I didn't run. I didn't want to attract attention.

I scanned the crowd, following one woman's

gaze into the sky. Another helicopter had joined

I waited until he turned away.

the first.

Then bolted.

I glanced back at the woman, who didn't look

surprised or even curious. Just sort o f . . . eager.

She disappeared into the crowd.

The knot in my stomach was back with a

vengeance.

The helicopters were circling closer and it

wouldn't be long before they pinpointed a whole

lot of morphing energy in one place.

I didn't know what to do. I couldn't communi-

cate with anybody —

<Helicopters heading this way,> Tobias called

down. <And there's a couple of guys in suits jog-

ging toward Cassie.>

< Cassie, move,> Jake said tersely.

I stepped backward, away from the buffalo

enclosure. Where? I mouthed silently.

<Anywhere! They're coming through the park,

so head back into the employee area or some-

12

13

If only, if only!

Deal with the realities, Cassie. Keep going.

The alley finally led me to the loading area,

where a couple of huge trucks were parked.

<Watch out! There are two guys on the other

side of that big black delivery truck, Cassie!

They're looking around, talking into radios.

They're splitting up!> Tobias yelled. <Get out of

there!>

Where was I supposed to go? I flattened my-

self up against a white transport truck, the only

thing left between me and them.

And if one of the helicopters buzzed over

now, they'd see two Controllers not ten feet away

< Nice,> Tobias said. <He didn't see you but from a terrified, trapped-looking kid plastered up

the copters are still tracking you and feeding the

against a truck, with the sharp corner of the mor-

ground guys info. Keep going.>

phing cube poking up from beneath her grubby

I did, my heart pounding in my ears. My all-

T-shirt.

too-human ears.

They would know it was me they were hunting

I was so helpless as a human. I had brains

for.

but no brawn. No claws, no fangs, no wings.

This was it. There was no escape.

Nothing to give me even the slightest advantage

No way out!

over the Yeerk-infested human-Controllers track-

I couldn't morph so I couldn't fight or fly.

ing me.

I couldn't drop the cube and run because if

If only I could morph without attracting the

the Yeerks got the cube, it would all be over.

sensors.

My stomach pushed into my throat.

If only the others could distract the Con-

<They're coming around the truck, Cassie!

trollers long enough for me to get away.

Wait, there's a driver getting into the cab. Your

14

15

mother's making him sign something. The Con-

Panicking, I yanked on the door.

trollers are at the back of the truck! If they look

Nothing.

around the side —>

The truck started up. Idled.

He didn't have to say anymore. I already knew

It was going to pull away and leave me here,

what would happen. They'd see me. Grab me. My

exposed.

mother would get involved and then it was down

I yanked again. Saw the pin. Pulled it out and

to the Yeerk pool for both of us and total annihi-

pulled the door open, scrambled up into the back

lation for my friends.

of the heavily fenced transport truck, and quietly

Trying not to hyperventilate, I inched along

closed the door behind me. Doubled over, pant-

the truck toward the cab. At that moment, I

ing, heart racing.

didn't know what I was going to do, but I had to

I had made it.

get farther away from the back of the truck.

That's when something very large bellowed

Not that two or three feet would make that

very loudly.

much of a difference, but it was all the space I

I shot up and staggered back against the wall.

had.

There, looming in front of me, with its huge,

Something jabbed me in the back.

broad head held low and its massive, curved

I flinched and glanced behind me.

horns, stood almost a ton of solid, muscled

A door handle.

African Cape buffalo.

There was a small, side entry door in the wall

Aka the widow-maker.

of the transport truck's bed.

"Chopper's picking up a reading from this

area," one of the men behind the truck said. "If we find the Andalite bandits and the morphing

technology, Visser Three will be extremely

pleased. If we don't —"

"Don't even mention what'll happen if we

don't," the other Controller said nervously. "The chopper pilot says the signal's strong in our ra-dius. Let's just keep looking."

16

17

said. "If you ask me, this is some kind of wild-

goose chase."

"Don't let the visser hear you say that," the

first man said uneasily. "He just pulled up."

The voices faded as the truck lurched for-

ward, picking up speed.

<You're headed toward the back exit,

Cassie,> Tobias was still around. Faint but

around. Silence. <Uh-oh.>

Uh-oh what? I thought. I held still and

watched the Cape buffalo watch me. Not a good

feeling. Trust me.

It was hot and waves of the animal's thick,

musky scent were nearly overpowering. Even for

Several things happened at once.

me. But the stench wasn't anything compared to

The truck rumbled and jerked to life.

the pure power in the broad, muscular body and

The Cape buffalo stumbled backward, bound

the deadly threat of its massive horns.

by two ropes around its horns and two around its

The buffalo snorted, blowing a rush of hot,

neck. The ropes were knotted into metal loops on

moist air out through its nostrils.

the truck's walls.

<They're going to stop you outside the gate,

The ropes were frayed and flimsy-looking

Cassie, at that stretch of road surrounded by

compared to the buffalo's massive head. But

woods.> Tobias was starting to sound a little

then again, most people wouldn't have to worry

frantic. <Visser Three's limo is right behind you

about the ropes because they would never, ever

and there's a bunch of other cars waiting around

get into a truck with a widow-maker.

the bend.>

"But the reading says the signal's honed in on

The buffalo snorted again. Tossed its head in

this area!" someone shouted from outside.

a threatening, hooking movement, pulling the

"Yeah, but it's also picking up four other

ropes taut.

readings in four other directions!" someone else

The truck began to slow and lean into the bend.

18

19

The truck nose-dived, sending almost a ton of

The truck braked harder.

buffalo surging right at me. The ropes tightened

The buffalo stumbled forward, past me, to the

as a rippling wall of muscle —

ends of the remaining ropes.

SNAP!

Trembling, I laid my hand on the buffalo's

One of the ropes broke and pulled apart like a

thick hide, right at its midsection, and began to

piece of thread.

acquire it.

I whipped left and flattened myself against

The buffalo gave one last thrash, then went

the wall of the truck as the buffalo skidded for-

into a kind of dreamy, semi-trancelike state. It

ward and sideways, fighting the remaining re-

happens to most animals when we acquire their

straints.

DNA. Most, but not all.

The buffalo bellowed again, thrashing in

"Hey, what's with the roadblock?" The shout

anger.

came from the truck's cab.

WHAP!

The truck was barely creeping forward now.

Another restraint. Gone.

In a minute it would be stopped and searched.

The last two ropes were around the buffalo's

Would I have enough time?

neck. Somehow I figured they wouldn't be there

I stripped down to my morphing outfit.

for long.

Jammed my clothes out of sight behind one of

It whipped its head around in a frenzy. The

the truck's wide, wooden slats. Laid the blue box

buffalo was going to break loose, and either

on the floor of the truck and focused on the Cape

trample or gore me to death. Impale me on those

buffalo's DNA.

wicked, gleaming horns.

Crrreeeaaaacccckkkk!

And then Visser Three would have the morph-

My skull split straight down the center and

ing cube.

began to thicken, dragging my head down with

There really was only one way out of this.

the weight and back into my bulging, beefy

I inched sideways, watching the buffalo

shoulders.

watch me. It was tense, just seconds from erupt-

Sproof! Sproof!

ing again. I was shaking. I had to get past those

The bones broadened, following the contours

horns but I knew it'd never let me get behind it

of my huge head, shot out, and flipped up into

where it couldn't see me.

three-foot horns on each sharp, lethal side.

20

21

My skin darkened and thickened into a tough,

eyes wide with horror. "The restraints broke!" He coarse-haired hide.

backed away. "Run!"

My body was bloating, stretching and expand-

"Don't be a fool," Visser Three snapped. "I —"

ing, bulking out further and further, piling on

The Cape buffalo gave an explosive snort

pound after pound of sheer muscle.

through its wide, quivering nostrils.

My fingers melded together and were sucked

And immediately, without warning, my own

back into my hands. Tough hooves banded around

buffalo instinct kicked in.

the edges like metal plates.

"I'm telling you, don't open that! I'm hauling

African Cape buffalo here, mister, and I don't

think you want to —"

"Never attempt to think for me." A cold, sin-ister voice. A voice I had heard before. A voice I

would never forget.

Visser Three.

My morphing had stopped when I'd lost con-

centration.

I refocused. Fast.

Schloop! Schloop!

My ears elongated. Sort of stretched out,

drooped, and grew fringed hair.

The latch on the double doors clunked open.

"I'm telling you guys, don't do this!"

"Shut up and get out of my way!" Visser

Three roared.

S proof.

A tail shot out of my hind end as the double

doors swung wide.

"See, I told you —" The driver stopped, his

22

23

Dashing between the crooked, haphazardly parked

cars. Hiding behind them. Hiding in them.

I saw them through a gray haze of fury,

smelled their terror and followed it. No puny car

could block my path.

Howls of pain.

I wheeled, broadsiding a human-Controller,

sent him spinning.

Attack the threat! Destroy the threat!

Normally I was a calm, peaceful, grazing ani-

mal.

Until I was threatened. Provoked.

And then, nothing could stop me.

"Call the cops!" someone yelled. "Call back Fury.

to The Gardens and get a tranquilizer gun out

No fear.

here!"

Fight to defend. Fight the threat.

"Where's 'here'?!" another voice shouted.

Protect the herd.

"The woods along the highway! Outside the

I tossed my head, blew a harsh whoosh of

back gate! Hurry!" the guy hollered, crouching

air from my nostril, and surged forward, heart

on top of his car.

pounding, fueled by rage and adrenaline.

<Cassie?>

"Run!" the driver shrieked, taking off.

The word echoed faintly in my enraged brain.

The pitch of his screams hurt my ears and my

I ignored it.

hair-trigger temper exploded. Hooves clattering, I

I was a pile driver, wrecking anything and

burst out of the truck like a tornado, slashing and

everything in my path.

hooking, slamming into cars and trampling Con-

<Cassie, I'm guessing that's you. Look, you

trollers beneath my powerful legs.

have to get control,> Tobias said frantically.

More screams. Shouts.

<They're calling your mom! She's bringing a tran-

Human-Controllers fleeing in all directions.

quilizer gun! Cassie, where's the morphing cube?>

24

25

Huh? Who cares about some cube? Wait.

Panting, I leaped back into the truck,

Hang on. The box. Oh, yeah.

grabbed the blue box in my mouth, and barreled

I fought the powerful animal's fury for a mo-

back out onto the highway.

ment. Struggled to subdue its instincts and pull

I saw it all in one second.

my human self back into consciousness.

Chapman, down and out on the pavement.

"Two! There's two! Look out!"

Cars wrecked and crumpled, Controllers sit-

I turned and saw the Cape buffalo I'd ac-

ting on top of them, clutching the roofs and look-

quired pounding out of the truck, charging

ing petrified.

people with its horns and growing more agitated

Visser Three, surrounded by a protective wall

when it missed them.

of frightened Controllers, screaming out enraged

Then it whirled and stampeded straight for

orders.

Chapman. The assistant principal of our school.

The original Cape buffalo, thundering across

Member of The Sharing. And a high-ranking Con-

a field and into the woods.

troller.

I ran. The buffalo's herd instinct surged and I

THUD!

ran.

Chapman flew through the air and hit the

ground with the same dull "whump" a water-

melon makes when you drop it.

<Come on, Cassie!> Tobias yelled. <Get the

cube and get moving!>

I ran back toward the truck. Stopped. Pow-

ered up my short, stocky legs and body-slammed

Visser Three's limo with everything I had.

CRRRRUUUNNNCCCHHH!

The car alarm went off.

EEEUUUUU! EEEEUUUU! EEEEEUUUU!

The real Cape buffalo was going berserk.

Smashing cars. Goring headlights. Bellowing and

snorting and roaring with rage.

26

27

This was a good thing.

I couldn't run very fast — nowhere near the

speed of my wolf morph — but what the buffalo

lacked in miles per hour, it definitely made up for

in sheer bulk and muscle. Nobody, and I mean

nobody— except maybe a lion — would take me

on, and I could still outrun a lion if I had to.

And then there was man. The most infuriating

scent, the most unnatural threat.

But the air was clean of man-scent.

The buffalo's brain, so powerful in its fury, be-

gan to shift its concentration in the quiet woods.

Sort of downgraded from an all-out, fight-to-the-

death attack mode to a standby alert that noted

I crashed through the underbrush, trampling

all sights, scents, and sounds, then dismissed

saplings and ripping through sticker bushes

them as nonthreatening.

without a second thought.

It was a relief. It allowed me to get a firmer

The scent of the real Cape buffalo was thick

grip on the buffalo's natural instincts.

in my nostrils. I followed it deeper and deeper

<Okay, Cassie, I told Jake you got away and

into the woods until the screams and shouts of

you're all clear to demorph,> Tobias said, wheel-

the Controllers back at the roadblock were com-

ing high in the sky above me. <The helicopters

pletely lost.

are still back over The Gardens trying to track

The buffalo's hearing — my hearing now —

down the others. Chapman got up but they

absorbed and gauged every sound, checking for

loaded him into an ambulance. The Controllers

any potential threat to my herd.

are going nuts because they had to call in a

My depth perception wasn't so great, but I

whole fleet of tow trucks and Visser Three's

had a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree, wide-angle

limo'sa total disasters

range of vision, which was going to make it pretty

<Yeah, I guess my buffalo buddy and I got a

tough for anyone to sneak up on me.

little carried away,> I said, kind of embarrassed.

28

29

I found a dense bramble thicket where I could

SPROOT! SPROOT!

demorph, then, thinking twice, moved on until I

Ten human toes shot out of the crumbling

was in a small clearing surrounded by a few

hooves. My bones adjusted and reformed into an-

trees. The thorns and stickers might not have

kles, then knees, then hips. My massive horns

hurt the buffalo's tough hide but they would've

crumpled, deflated, and rolled back up toward

ripped my skin to shreds.

the cleft at the center of my head.

<Tobias, has anyone come up with a plan for

<Yuck,> Tobias said, ruffling his feathers and

destroying the Helmacron ship's sensors yet?>

looking the other way. <No offense, Cassie, but

<No, but we're going to have to figure out

that is really gross. I'm glad I haven't eaten any-

something fast. Definitely before those heli-

thing in a while.>

copters decide to change their focus and come

I began to say, "I know," but it came out as,

after the box again.> Tobias swooped down and

"waaaw waaw."

landed on a nearby branch.

"I know," I repeated, once my jaw finished

I opened my mouth and dropped the slippery,

shrinking. I flexed my fingers, bent down, and

spit-covered box on the ground. Then focused on

picked up the box. "And I know something else,

my own DNA and felt the changes begin.

too. We might want to steer clear of the real buf-

Even though everyone says I have a talent for

falo if we can. I, uh, don't think it trusts humans

morphing — and I have to admit I usually can

very much."

sort of control the process — it still doesn't fol-

<No problem,> Tobias said. <The last time

low any real, precise pattern. So I wasn't sur-

I saw it was way ahead of you and still run-

prised when the first thing to go this time was my

nings

tail. It drooped slowly and then started to melt

"Good," I said, exhaling. "The Gardens'll

like hot wax, then —

send out a search party and probably a heli-

SCHLOOP!

copter . . . "

Was sucked right back up into my body.

Oh, that was a nice picture. And just what we

Bones began to grind and crunch, reshaping

didn't need. My mother buzzing around the sky,

themselves.

searching for a lost Cape buffalo, while we

My eyes crawled closer together. My ears

dodged Yeerks in helicopters who were trying to

shriveled and shrank.

kill us.

30

31

Tobias cocked his head. Listening. <Uh-oh.>

bizarre all by itself. But in our world things al-

"What?"

ways had to be slightly more than weird.

<Tell you in a minute,> he said. I watched

See, the Cape buffalo stood there, but in-

him lift off, make a quick circle. <Helicopter,

stead of a Cape buffalo head and face was our

Cassie. The Yeerks are expanding their search.

assistant principal's.

We'd better get going.>

Chapman.

"Are you sure it's the Yeerk helicopter, or is it

the black one with a big 'The Gardens' logo on

the side?" I asked.

<Yeerks,> he said tersely.

I took off at a trot, clutching the morphing

cube and trying to keep to the soft carpet of pine

needles since I was barefoot.

Tobias glided along only a few feet above my

head. Every couple of minutes he'd flap hard for

altitude, land in a treetop and check out the heli-

copter's progress.

<lt's getting closer but it hasn't pinpointed us

yet,> he said, swooping back down and landing

on a tree branch a few yards ahead of me. <l —>

His head jerked and he fell silent.

"What?" I said, huffing a little as I jogged

toward him. "What, Tobias?"

And then I broke into the clearing and I saw

for myself.

The Cape buffalo stood there, quivering.

Twisting. Its eyes bulging with panic. Its mouth

gaping in a silent scream. The scene was pretty

32

33

<How could it be morphing?> Tobias said,

turning away and staring at me instead of the

buffalo.

"It must have touched the blue box," I said

helplessly, thinking back. I had laid the box down

in the truck while I morphed . . .

"Oh, God. It saw me morph. In the truck. And

then somehow, while I was out rampaging around

the highway, it must have ripped free of its re-

maining restraints, brushed past the box, and

then . . . It had plowed straight into Chapman

and without even knowing it, had acquired his

DNA."

I fell silent, not even realizing that I'd been

A freak of nature.

speaking aloud.

So help me, that's the first thought that swept

<How could this happen?> Tobias asked,

into my mind, as I watched the buffalo stumble

keeping his fierce, hawk's gaze fixed firmly on

and squirm.

me. Like if he didn't see the buffalo, it wouldn't

It sprouted a human leg covered with coarse,

exist. <Cassie, we can't have an animal roaming

black animal hair.

around out here morphing Chapman! And what if

Fringed, shaggy ears whipped out of Chapman's

it touches something else? What if it goes around

head, then shrunk into dachshund-sized ears.

acquiring, I don't know, everything, because it

<What the . . .> Tobias finally blurted, sound-

doesn't know any better!>

ing a little nauseated.

"It could, because it doesn't even know

"It's morphing," I whispered. I covered my

what's happening to itself," I said quietly, watch-

mouth with my free hand and fell back a step. It

ing as the morph to Chapman finally became

was really terrible.

complete. "Look."

Chapman's skull split in the center and a pair

<l really don't want to,> he said, but did anyway

of horns flowed from the crack like waves.

The buffalo — Chapman — was down on all

34

35

fours, and though the human form was apparent

and snort and pant. It betrayed everything I knew

it was covered in coarse hair — thankfully. Sud-

to be true about — about —

denly, it began tossing its head and making

"It has a human brain, Tobias, but it doesn't

hooking movements even though it no longer had

have a clue as to what to do with it," I said, unable its horns. It snorted, then sniffed the air with its

to stop staring at it, the way some people stare as

now-pitiful human nose. Slowly, watchfully, it

they drive by car wrecks. It was grisly, it was

lowered its head and bit off a mouthful of weeds.

gruesome, but I couldn't stop watching as the

"It's grazing," I said, feeling nauseous.

creature rose, wobbling and unsure, onto two legs.

The buffa-human stiffened. It looked around,

"Look, it's learning. It's watching me and learn-

then spotted me. Issued a challenging snort and

ing!" The sight was both disturbing and exciting.

then a weak, warbling, "WAAAA!"

<Yeah, well, that's great except that we've got

"I can't watch this anymore," I said, as the

to get out of here,> Tobias said, flapping to the

buffa-human — or Chapman or whatever it

top of the tree for another helicopter check. <Oh,

was — crawled and lurched toward me on its

yeah. There's a whole group of people fanned out

hands and knees. It was trying to charge, to hook

across the edge of the field and they're making

me with its nonexistent horns, to kill me. To pro-

their way over here.>

tect and defend.

"We can't just leave it here," I said, watching

I stepped aside as it lumbered past, its hu-

as the buffa-human took a first shaky step toward

man head swinging and its tongue lolling out.

me.

Not even realizing it had missed me.

<Well, we can't take it with us!> Tobias said.

<This isn't too weird,> Tobias said, as the

No we couldn't, not like this. But if I could

buffa-human stopped. Turned.

get it to demorph back into its buffalo shape,

And slowly, creakily, straightened up onto its

then it would stop putting off so much morphing

knees.

energy.

Wrong. It was all wrong! This terrible, twisted

<Come on, Cassie, the Yeerks know at least

creature made my skin crawl. An adult — an as-

one of those buffalo is giving off morphing en-

sistant principal — was not supposed to huff

ergy —>

and grunt and drool. Was not allowed to crawl

"Wait, Tobias. I'm going to morph back into

36

37

the buffalo to see if I can get it — him — to do

<i don t get it. Why didn't it work? Two hours

it, too," I said. I focused on the powerful DNA

in morph and we'll have a really disturbing noth-

swimming in my blood.

lit on our hands,> Tobias called from the treetop.

The buffa-human watched me, unblinkingly,

<Cassie! We have to leave him here. The Gardens

as I fell forward onto four short, muscular buffalo

search team'll find him sooner or later!>

legs.

<What, as half-Chapman, half-buffalo? That's

My jaw ground and shifted into a long, hinged

insane! We can't leave him! He doesn't even un-

bovine one. My eyes slithered apart and my nose

derstand what's happening to him!> I cried.

broadened. My nostrils stretched wide. Muscle

I was frustrated because what Tobias said was

upon muscle bulked up my body until I was huge

absolutely true. We did need to go, but how could

and majestic and magnificent, with a tough hide

I have created such a mutation, even by mistake,

and a hair-trigger temper.

and then abandon it — him?

But this time I was prepared for the buffalo's

I felt a little like a twenty-first-century Dr.

aggressive defenses, and I controlled them.

Frankenstein and it was not a good feeling.

And then the other buffalo began to demorph.

<Cassie, if we wait any longer. . .> Tobias

Chapman's pale, human skin darkened and

warned.

sprouted coarse hair. The flesh covering his bones

<AII right!> I shouted, then was immediately

shivered, rippled, and bent, forming into four

ashamed. <Sorry, Tobias.> I demorphed, avoid-

bovine legs. His gaze remained locked onto mine

ing the puzzled buffa-human's gaze, then, even

as he fell forward, as his neck bulged —

though I was exhausted, immediately began to

And then the morph stopped.

morph to wolf.

<Come on,> I urged in thought-speak. I

Thick shaggy fur sprouted all over my body.

pushed aside the rising dominance I felt and

My spine stretched and crackled. The palms of

moved slowly forward. Went nose-to-nose with

my hands puffed and hardened into thick, pro-

the buffa-human in a sociable greeting. <Come

tective pads. *

on!>

My skull shattered and ground into a canine

The creature with Chapman's face stumbled

skull. My snout shot out and my teeth grew into

backward, its legs thinning back to human's, fin-

long, lethal fangs.

gers and toes bursting from its fading hooves.

The buffa-human snorted and tossed his hu-

39

38

man head. His torso was all bulky buffalo, his

head and legs pathetically human. He was

grotesque.

He lumbered toward me but I was a wolf now,

and I moved with easy grace and lightning quick-

ness.

<Okay, Tobias,> I called, picking up the mor-

phing cube with my mouth. <l'm outta here. You

fly back and get the others. I'll meet you guys up

ahead.>

<Alone,> Tobias said, glancing pointedly at

the odd mix of buffalo and human, and then

launching himself into the air.

I looked at the creature, who was standing

there, watching me.

I ran hard for a long time. Trying to put that

<Alone,> I whispered, turning away in shame.

last picture of the buffa-human out of my mind.

Because one way or another, his life as a nor-

Trying to forget how he'd started to follow me and

mal African Cape buffalo was completely over.

how his plaintive, bewildered grunting still

As a creature morphing, he would draw the

echoed through my head.

Helmacron sensors. And if he exceeded the two-

Leaving him was wrong. But I had done it

hour limit in morph, he'd become some kind of

anyway.

hideous nothlit. Forever a mutant. Even if The

I had abandoned an animal with human DNA

Gardens found him, they wouldn't know what to

in its bloodstream.

do with him.

Thwok thwok thwok!

And I knew I was leaving him to die.

I glanced up. Spotted a lone helicopter with

no logo on the side.

The ominous drone was growing closer.

I paused, trying to figure out what to do.

In morph I was sending a stronger signal and

40

41

the helicopter could keep an easy lock on me. If I

drinking coffee, and chase their prey until it col-

quickly demorphed back to human — besides

lapses.

that one fast burst of energy — I'd be giving off

The helicopter's ominous THWOK! THWOK!

no signal except for the energy from the cube,

THWOK! had returned and it was directly above

and maybe I could lose them again.

me now, running me ragged, beating me down

Hunkering down on my haunches, I crept into

until I had no strength left and my pounding

the hollow beneath a clump of bushes and de-

heart seemed ready to explode. I felt the same

morphed in record time.

sick, terrified desperation of the hunted, powerless

Thwok! Thwok! Thwok!

to shake the ominous, stalking specter of death.

The trees stirred and the darkening sky vi-

I veered right in an effort to throw them off.

brated with the dull, thundering rumble of the

Dragged myself under a rock ledge to re-

sharp, swishing blades.

morph.

Time to run.

I had to break the lock the Helmacron sensors

I crawled out and took off, zigzagging

had on me. Weaken the signal.

through the forest. I was cold, clumsy, slow. Twi-

THWOK! THWOK! THWOK!

light had fallen and I couldn't see well in the

If I didn't, the Yeerks would seize the blue box.

growing darkness. My feet were battered and

They'd hold me down as a Yeerk slug slithered

bruised.

into my ear and wove through my brain. I'd be-

But what I was losing in miles I was making

come a Controller, and then the Yeerks would

up for in confusion. The Yeerks in the helicopter

know everything. That the "Andalite bandits"

kept losing the cube's signal and wheeling off in

were really a bunch of human kids. They'd know

other directions, circling wider and wider until

where we lived, went to school, even what we ate.

they were far enough away for me to pause, rest,

They'd know our families and take them, too.

and takeoff again.

They might even kill us. But they wouldn't kill

So this is how the hunters do it, I thought, try-

Ax. Ax would be given to a Yeerk up-and-coming

ing to catch my breath as I staggered through the

in the ranks. We all knew that another Andalite

shadows. They don't even have to get dirty or

body, even one that was really just a kid's, was a

tired. They can just sit in helicopters, probably

coup.

42

43

They would find out about the Chee and anni-

news," Jake said, smiling. "Erek rigged up a de-

hilate them, extinguishing a race that had been

vice that simulates morphing energy and planted

around for millions of years. They would find out

it back at the far edge of the woods. Once the

about the hidden colony of free Hork-Bajir and

Yeerks find it they'll know it's a fake, but at least

about the small but growing Yeerk resistance.

it'll buy us some time to figure out what to do."

If I didn't find a way to break this sensor lock

So. I hadn't saved us by demorphing that last

we were all dead.

time. The Yeerks had been lured away by a

I closed my eyes. Gathered up my shredded

stronger signal in another direction. Figures.

concentration.

"The Chee are taking our places at home, so

Thwok! Thwok! Thwok!

we're covered for the night," Rachel added, glanc-

I sat up and opened my eyes. Listened.

ing around. "I should've stayed in owl morph.

No, I hadn't imagined it. The treetops had

How are we supposed to find a place to hide

stopped shaking and the leaves had stopped

while we make a plan if we can't even see where

swirling around me.

we're going?"

The helicopter had moved off.

"We should go wolf," I answered. "That way

Exhausted, trembling, I grabbed the blue box

we can move quickly and I can carry the morph-

and crawled out from under the bushes. Lay back

ing cube. I'm pretty sure there's a cave a few

on the carpet of pine needles and listened to the

miles from here. The one I found when I was lost

helicopter's faint thrumming. Watched as an as-

with Karen." The thought of Karen gave me a

sortment of owls and other birds of prey landed

good feeling. She was a little girl who'd been in-

around me and began to demorph.

fested by a Yeerk. But now she was free and the

"Cassie?" Jake said, when he'd finished de-

Yeerk had become part of the Yeerk peace move-

morphing. "Are you all right?"

ment. The thought also helped me remember

No, I definitely wasn't all right. I knew I was

that a few good things have happened to us since

going to have to get up somehow, find the energy

all this started. I guess that stands for some-

to morph again, and keep on running.

thing.

"I'm fine," I lied. Being an Animorph had

The next voice I heard was Tobias's. <l filled

made lying a necessary evil. For all of us.

them in on the buffalo, Cassie. They thought of

"Good, because I've got some pretty decent

something we didn't. Actually, Ax thought of it.>

44

45

I turned to look at Ax.

He stared back with two of his four eyes. His

stalk eyes were in constant movement, scanning

the dark woods. His scorpion tail was curved high

and ready to strike.

"And?" I said wearily.

<Tobias told us that this mutant learned to

stand by observing you,> Ax continued. <And if

he learns to speak, he will, most likely, be able to

identify you.>

"Forget learning to speak," I interrupted, re-

alizing what I hadn't realized before. "He's seen

me morph! If the Yeerks infest him and are able

to tap into his memories . . ."

<Human or buffalo,> Tobias added quietly.

LjJolves can move. Quickly. Quietly. And for a

<lt's seen you morph while it was in both forms.>

very long time. The five of us blew through the

woods until we finally found the cave. Tobias

stayed overhead. Our own personal eye in the

sky.

The helicopter was a constant presence, beat-

ing through the night sky like a distant pulse, ris-

ing and falling, keeping us on edge and very, very

aware of every movement. And every shadow.

The cave itself was little protection from the

Yeerk shock troops. But the feeling that* comes

from being walled-in on three sides was false se-

curity enough for us to be able to rest for a little

while.

The sun set as we huddled in the gray light.

46

47

Well, I huddled. Rachel paced. Tobias perched

' So what? You're saying if we kill it, it's mur-

on a low-hanging branch just outside the cave's

der?" Rachel asked. "Come on, Cassie, it's not entrance where Ax was keeping watch. Jake was

a human any more than I'm a bear or you're a

sitting close by.

wolf —"

"Have I mentioned to all of you how much I

"Or I'm a big monkey," Marco added.

hate this?" Marco grumbled, his voice eerily dis-

Silence.

embodied in the dim light. "I mean, it just

"Okay, so maybe Cassie does have a point,"

doesn't stop."

Jake said, obviously trying not to laugh.

"Neither does your mouth," Rachel retorted

"Nice," Marco smirked. "Very nice, Prince automatically, "C'mon, Jake, we need a better

Jake."

plan than just playing Keep Away."

Ax swiveled an eyestalk in Jake's direc-

"I know," Jake said, his fingers creeping over

tion. <Prince Jake, Marco and Rachel do make a

mine. "Any suggestions?"

valid point. I, too, have acquired human DNA.

"Well, I guess we have to find a way to disable

Does this make me a human rather than an An-

the Helmacron sensors or destroy the ship, be-

dalite?>

cause no matter where we hide the cube, the

Silence.

sensors will find it," I said.

"I hate these kinds of questions." Rachel.

Marco snorted. "Do you think? You mean all

"There are never any concrete answers! I say we

we have to do is find a way to dodge the sensors

do whatever we have to do to protect ourselves

and get up to the helicopter? All the while, we

and if that includes killing a buffalo, well, too

fight off the Yeerks' goon squad, find a puny, ultra-

bad. We know firsthand that cows die every day

microscopic device, and smash it before we're

to make hamburgers —"

either killed or captured. No problem-o."

"Not in the school cafeteria," Marco said.

<And don't forget about the buffa-human,>

"I'm pretty sure that's roadkill."

Tobias said.

"Marco, let me ask you a question."

"That one's easy," Rachel said dismissively.

"Shoot."

"We just have to get rid of it."

"Is there any part of 'shut up' that you don't

"But he's already acquired human DNA," I

understand? 'Cause I'd be happy to explain it to

protested.

you."

48

49

"C'mon, guys," Jake said impatiently. "We

incredibly sharp teeth — were just disgusting.

don't have a lot of time here."

The stuff nightmares are made of.

He was right. We didn't know where the buf-

"So, how do we take down a helicopter?"

falo was or if the Yeerks had already captured

Rachel said. "We've totally lost the element of

it . . .

surprise."

I shuddered. Forced myself not to mention

"No surprise," Jake said. "We give the Yeerks the horrible possibility out loud.

what they want. We let them get a good look at

The helicopter's engine still pulsed through

the morphing cube —"

the night like a dull heartbeat. A little louder. A

<Uh, Jake?> Tobias said. <lsn't that a little

little closer.

risky? I mean, you know that Visser Three wants

Jake sighed. "Yeah, well, we don't know any-

this cube. What if once he's absolutely sure

thing for sure right now, except that we have to

we've got it with us, he sends a whole Hork-Bajir

destroy those sensors if we plan on seeing our

army to get it? We're good, but we're not that

next birthdays."

good.>

<Okay, so how can we get inside the heli-

"Exactly, and here's where the fake-out

copter?> Tobias asked, sounding strained.

comes in," Jake said. "Once the Yeerks pinpoint

Jake looked toward the cave entrance and

the source of the morphing energy, 'cause we let

then back to us. "Why go inside it?"

them 'catch us,' they're going to be on the look-

"How are we supposed to destroy the sensory

out for a trap, right?"

devices if we don't get inside the helicopter

"Oookay," Marco said.

that's carrying them?" Rachel asked.

"So we give them one, only not from the di-

"Maybe we should take down the whole heli-

rection they expect."

copter," Jake said. "Don't even risk going inside.

<Prince Jake, exactly what is the meaning of

We already know we don't exactly want to get up

"fake-out"? I am not sure I understand^ Ax

close and personal with Taxxons or Hork-Bajir if

asked.

we can avoid it."

"You're not the only one," Rachel muttered.

"I agree," I said. Hork-Bajir were lethal

"Okay, look," Jake said, sighing. "The guys enough with their razor-bladed bodies, but the

in the helicopter are hunting the source of the

Taxxons — gigantic, cannibalistic centipedes with

morphing energy. We're it. We let the cube be

50

51

spotted and then take off. While they're trying

what does Wile E. Coyote do when he wants to

to run us to ground, one of us hangs back and

squash the Road Runner?"

ambushes them."

"He straps one of those Acme rockets to his

"Brilliant!" Marco stood up and applauded.

back," Rachel said. "Dive-bombs him or some-

"One of us against a bunch of Controllers in a he-

thing."

licopter. Which, I'm guessing, just guessing, is

Marco slapped his forehead and groaned.

equipped with a bunch of weapons. What's the

"Noooo! Come on, am I the only one educated in

plan, morph a bird and peck the copter to death?

cartoon combat?" We all stared at Marco. "Oh,

Splatter poop all over the windshield and hope it

for. . . He drops an anvil on him! Don't you get

crashes?"

it? We need to drop an anvil on the helicopter!"

"We could try to lure it down to the ground,"

"Ahhh," Jake said slowly. "Okay, yeah. It's Rachel offered. "And then attack it and destroy

perfect. We can't do it over the woods, though.

the Helmacron ship."

The last thing we need is to cause a fire or some-

Marco shook his head. "Like they won't be ex-

thing."

pecting that."

Everything was falling into place. "We lure

"Do you have a better idea?" Rachel snapped.

the helicopter out over the ocean. And then we

"I kinda like the peck-'n'-poop thing, my-

drop the anvil," I said calmly.

self," he said brightly.

Jake smiled. "The sooner we get this done,

"You know, birds get sucked into airplane en-

the better. This is going to take split second tim-

gines and cause crashes all the time," I said qui-

ing to pull off."

etly, tightening my grip on Jake's hand.

<Jake?> Tobias said urgently. <Someone's

<L)gh,> Tobias said uneasily. <Not a good way

coming. Taxxons.>

to go.>

"Morph," Jake ordered. "Now!"

"So, you're saying we do a suicide run?"

Rachel said.

"Well —" Jake began.

"No," Marco interrupted. "Not a suicide run, a cartoon run! Oh, man, I am so good! Listen,

52

53

rose, I was ready. Got a lock on the aggressive,

hair-trigger temper.

<The Taxxon trackers have spotted the cave,

Prince Jake,> Ax said tensely. <l would not ad-

vise getting trapped in here.>

He was right. I glanced over at Jake, who'd

morphed a sleek, deadly tiger.

At Rachel, a massive, towering grizzly bear.

Marco, a gorilla with enormous hands and the

strength to tear a human apart limb from limb.

At Ax and Tobias who'd chosen their own

forms. An Andalite whose razor-tipped tail was as

lethal as lightning and twice as fast. And a red-

tailed hawk with talons created to puncture, rip,

J. morphed.

and tear.

I concentrated on the DNA and within a

<l'll go first.> Jake padded silently to the

heartbeat, powerful horns popped through my

edge of the cave.

scalp and were flowing and curving down the

I followed him, the blue box wedged tightly in

sides of my head and ending in sharp, deadly

my mouth.

spears.

Clop clop clop!

My internal organs slithered and gurgled,

<C'mon, Cassie, let's get movin', ole girl,>

swimming and settling into my expanding bulk.

Marco joked, slapping me on the rump.

SPROOT!

The buffalo temper flared and I twisted, toss-

My tail shot out.

ing my horns at him.

My teeth grew, crowding my jaw and flatten-

<Whoa! Watch it, will you? You almost gutted

ing into grinding molars. Coarse black hair

me!> he said, leaping back just in time.

sprouted and spread across my muscular tank

<Sorry about that,> I muttered.

body.

I followed the others cautiously out of the

And when the African Cape buffalo's mind

cave, relying more on my sense of smell and

54

55

hearing than on my eyesight. I was listening for

I whirled and saw Jake rake open a Taxxon.

even the slightest whisper of sound.

"RRRROOOOOWWWRRR!"

<We've got trouble,> Jake said.

Rachel, slashing and biting at a pair of Hork-

<No problems Rachel threw back her head

Bajir, her chest matted with blood.

and let out an enraged roar.

Fury rose and I stampeded a Hork-Bajir.

"GGGGRRRRRRROOOAARRR!"

WHUMPF!

The night erupted.

Its fiercely bladed arm split my shoulder.

The buffalo's overwhelming defense instincts

I gored it, trampled it. Backed off.

kicked in and suddenly I was barreling through

It didn't move.

the weeds, tossing my horns, and impaling a

FWAP! FWAP!

Taxxon where it stood.

Ax's tail blade was slicing and dicing, sever-

"SSSKKKRRREEE!" It fell, writhing and

ing Hork-Bajir arms, hands, landing lethal blows,

twisting, foul-smelling blood pumping from its

but there were too many and he was being driven

wounds.

back toward the cave.

Immediately, two other Taxxons converged

A furious, gray haze misted my vision and I

and tore it to shreds.

barreled through the Hork-Bajir, a tank, a steam-

I began to bellow, enraged by the scent of ag-

roller, hooking them, goring them, scattering

gression, by the invasion and threat to my herd.

them like bowling pins.

WHAM!

More Hork-Bajir converged, wrist and arm

I charged, slamming one of the feeding

blades slashing.

Taxxons into a tree. It burst, spewing guts every-

"TSSSSEEEER!" Tobias screeched, raking

where. Frenzied, I trampled the second Taxxon,

his talons across a Hork-Bajir's eyes.

piercing its fat, squishy body with my hooves.

It screamed.

It slashed at me, spasming in its death

Everyone was screaming.

throes', but I barely felt its needle teeth. My heart

Marco bellowed. Bringing down his huge fist

was thundering and adrenaline powered my mas-

onto a Taxxon. But his scalp was split, and one of

sive body.

his ears was missing.

Nothing hurt. And nothing could stop me.

<There're too many!> he yelled.

"SSSRRREEEWAAAARRI!"

"GGRRROOOWWWWWR!" Rachel roared, as

56

57

a Hork-Bajir blade carved a deep swath through

kind of sick, bloody rampage spurred on by the

her shoulder.

African Cape buffalo who annihilated the Hork-

Jake leaped, grabbing a Taxxon and taking it

Bajir ranks with sheer savagery. And finally, sent

down, ripping at it with his back claws. Leaped

them howling, bent and broken, into the forest.

away and took down another one. <Keep fighting!

And then it was over.

If we retreat now, we're dead!>

I slammed into another Hork-Bajir. And an-

other. Stomped them. Gored them.

Their blades sank deep into my hide, slicing

me open, nicking my bones and making me

scream in pain, making me charge in fury, mak-

ing me fight to the death.

<l'm losing it, Jake!> Marco yelled, clutching

his head and reeling away from a downed Taxxon.

<Prince Jake, we have to stop,> Ax said

grimly, lopping the head off a slavering, chitter-

ing Taxxon. <We are severely outnumbered —>

That's when I heard the familiar bellowing.

The enraged bellow was fresh and furious.

<lt's the buffalo, Cassie!> Tobias shouted.

<The Yeerks didn't get it!>

I sucked in lungfuls of air and let out a re-

sounding, answering snort.

The buffalo went berserk. It was a whirlwind

of destruction. Trampled, pierced, gored, and

gouged huge, gaping holes in the Taxxons. Bat-

tered the Hork-Bajir.

We all went a little crazy after that, on some

58

59

<lt doesn t know what it's doing, Cassie,> To-

bias said.

CCRRACK!

The buffalo's legs reversed, stretched, and

hinged into human knees.

"There's something really gross about this,"

Rachel said, shaking her head. "It's so, I don't

know, unnatural."

"So are we," I said, watching as the buffa-

human wobbled up onto two feet.

Jake shot me a concerned look.

"That's different," Marco said. "We morph

consciously. This buffalo's just mimicking what it

sees. It doesn't know what the heck is going on."

We were all pretty messed up. So with Ax

"But what if it could learn?" I said. "What if and Tobias keeping a lookout and the buffalo fol-now that it has a human brain, he learns to use

lowing doggedly at our heels, we demorphed.

it? What if it learns how to reason, or —"

The buffalo watched us, then began its own

"Nuh," the buffa-human grunted. "Guhhr-

morph.

nuh." It looked up at me and blinked.

Once again, unnervingly, the head developed

"It's learning to talk," I said, feeling a mixture first.

of hope and nausea.

"Of all the people around, it just had to ac-

"No way," Marco shot back. "That was just

quire Chapman?" Marco joked lamely, turning

some kind of weird, random firing of neurons in

away. "That is so not cool."

the speech part of its brain."

<l don't think there

"You're wrong," I said, stepping slowly toward

1 was a lot of choice in-

volved there,> Tobias said.

the buffa-human, who went very still. "Hi. I know

"It's becoming human," I said quietly, watch-

you can't understand me yet —"

ing as the buffalo's skin faded and lightened, as

"Nuh," it grunted, tossing its head. "Uhh-

the coarse hairs were sucked back into its body.

hhnnn."

60

61

" H i , " I repeated.

<Let's haul!> Jake ordered, streaking out of

"Heeeeehhhhh," it said, looking puzzled.

the clearing.

"I wouldn't push too hard to teach it to talk,

We dashed after him, slipping away into the

Cassie," Jake warned. "If it becomes too human,

darkness just as a blinding shaft of light pierced

it's gonna be a problem."

the clearing from above.

"Trust me, Jake, it's not gonna live that long,"

<Wait!> I shouted. <The buffalo!>

Rachel snapped. "I'm not being handed to the

<We can't wait!> Rachel said, tearing past

Yeerks by some lame Chapman mutation."

me.

Thwok thwok thwok!

<But we can't leave it!> I cried, pacing anx-

<Helicopter,> Tobias said tensely.

iously in the dense shadows.

"We'll have to morph," Jake said, running a

<Come on, Cassie! It's not in morph. If it runs

hand through his hair. "We don't have a choice.

away, it won't draw the Helmacron sensors. We

Everyone use your wolf morphs."

will, so let's go!> Jake said.

Thwok thwok thwok!

The real buffalo bellowed and snorted and

I concentrated on the wolf DNA. Immediately,

barreled after me, bringing the searchlight with

a ruff of thick, lush fur sprouted around my neck.

it.

My legs dwindled in size but didn't weaken. My

I couldn't kill it and I couldn't let it reach me.

chest and shoulders swelled, and my face began

If it did, the Yeerks would see the morphing cube

to bulge. My teeth grew into long, deadly fangs.

in my mouth. And that just wasn't going to hap-

The buffa-human was morphing, too. Watch-

pen.

ing me as its defenseless, human body beefed up

Whirling, I shot off after the others.

until it was a dark, massive rock. As the rolling,

I could hear the buffalo crashing along be-

deadly horns sprouted from the center of its

hind me, snapping trees and crushing anything

skull.

in its path.

Mimicking.

The helicopter blades sliced through the air

THWOK! THWOK! THWOK!

but I was already pulling ahead of the buffalo,

The trees whipped wildly and dirt flew. -

dodging and racing through the woods.

I scooped up the blue box in my mouth.

TSSSEEEWW!

62

63

A pine tree behind me exploded.

<Rachel, drop back behind Cassie,> Jake in-

TSSEEWW!

structed. <And if there are any more attacks —>

KA-BOOM!

<l'll handle it,> Rachel promised, circling

A huge boulder blew apart, winging fragments

back around me.

like shrapnel.

I felt like a total idiot. Like I should have

<Bug fighters,> I heard Ax say grimly.

known better. Only I couldn't have stood there

<No kidding,> Marco said.

and let the Taxxons rip Tobias apart, could I? No.

"SSSSRRRREYYYAA SSSEEWWWITT!"

<He's worried about you, Cassie,> Rachel

A pair of Taxxons burst through the bushes in

said to me, in private thought-speak.

front of Tobias.

<He should trust me to do the right thing,> I

"Grrr GrrOWWWRR!" I dropped the blue box

said.

and launched myself at the closest one. Felt its

<He does, or he would've made somebody

rows of tiny legs scrabbling through my fur. Sank

else carry the cube. That's why he put me back

my teeth into its disgusting body and twisted,

here. While you do the right thing, I do the nec-

yanking and tearing its flesh.

essary thing. Get it?>

It screamed.

<Well, when you put it that way,> I said, mol-

I bit it again, sinking my muzzle into its guts

lified.

and ripping them out of its body.

SLASH!CCRRAAAAAAAACK!

I left it dead, and helped Tobias finish off the

Hork-Bajir exploded out of the woods around

other one. Trotted back and picked up the blue

us.

box.

And somewhere up ahead, I heard Jake howl

<Thanks,> Tobias said, running alongside

in pain.

me. <l didn't even see them coming.>

<Don't do that again, Cassie,> Jake called

back sternly. <Don't leave that morphing cube

anywhere. There could have been another Taxxon

waiting to grab it! And then what?>

He was right, but his scolding tone still hurt.

<Sorry,> I mumbled.

64

65

I couldn't drop the blue box, so I couldn t

fight. Couldn't help my friends. I was glad the

buffalo had followed us, glad to see it take my

place in battle, but I was afraid, too. If the Hork-

Bajir-Controllers noticed I wasn't fighting, no-

ticed my jaws weren't free to defend myself. . .

I hunkered down and belly-crawled under a

thick bush.

THWOK! THWOK! THWOK!

The helicopter hovered directly above us. The

downwash pounded us with dirt and pine needles

and rubble. The spotlight flooded the clearing.

There really was no place to hide.

It was a bloody, gruesome scene.

It was total mayhem.

Severed Hork-Bajir arms and legs twitching in

Screams. Shouts.

the dirt. Growing pools of blood. Taxxons feast-

Grunts of pain.

ing, drooling, like something out of a slasher

Snarling.

movie — only this was real.

Rachel shot past me, a lethal blur of fur and

TSEEEWWW!

teeth. Launched herself at the closest Hork-Bajir

I bolted out from under the bush.

and ripped its throat out.

The spot near where I'd been hiding exploded

That's when the buffalo came up from behind

in a shower of rocks and dirt.

me and charged into the fray, slamming and

<Run, Cassie!> Jake shouted. <Just go!

trampling Hork-Bajir, mindless of its own open

Head for the beach! We're right behind you!>

wounds.

Leave them and run? I paused in the shad-

TSEEEEW! TSSEEEW!

ows, torn.

The clearing lit up with a blinding flash and

THWOK! THWOK!

another tree exploded.

TSEEEW!

66

67

A pine tree shattered.

Controllers,> Rachel sneered.

The spotlight shifted toward me. Searching

And probably even more Hork-Bajir, I thought.

for the morphing energy.

We crept beneath huge clumps of sticker

Searching for the blue box.

bushes lining the edge of the road.

We took off, zigzagged, and somehow man-

<AII right, I'm open for suggestions,> Marco

aged to lose the helicopter. The Bug fighters

said. <How do we get across without being

swooped and zipped through the sky, blasting

seen?>

anything and everything that moved, but at least

<Morph toflies,> Rachel said immediately.

they were still focused on the woods behind us.

<Flies can't carry the blue box,> Jake pointed

<For now I guess they think we should be too

out.

beat-up to run,> Marco said, limping.

<Okay, so I'll morph elephant, kick some

<Good,> Jake said, padding along beside me.

butt, and carry it across myself,> Rachel snapped

<Let them keep thinking that.> He glanced at

back.

me. <You okay?>

<Not a good idea,> Marco said. <We've been

<Yeah,> I said shortly, tightening my jaws

doing okay so far because the goon squad's been

around the blue box.

so spread out searching for us. Now they know

He must have noticed my tone, because he

we're in the area and they're gonna swarm us. We

said in private thought-speak, <l'm sorry I yelled

don't need to advertise exactly where we are.

at you before. It kind of came out wrong.>

Yet.>

<That's okay,> I said, too weary to hold a

<Do you have a better idea?> Rachel said

grudge. <l understand. We can't lose the blue

sweetly, which for Rachel usually means she'd

box, no matter what.>

like to punch you in the face.

<The forest is thinning and there is a road up

We shrank back from the road as a patrol car

ahead, Prince Jake,> Ax said, slowing. <Should

cruised slowly past, shining its spotlight into the

we keep going?>

woods.

<Yeah, we're going to have to cross it to get to

<Well, we'd better think of something be-

the beach,> Jake said.

cause the longer we stay here, the better our

<There's probably going to be a whole mess of

chances of getting caught,> Jake said. Espe-

them patrolling the road,> Tobias said quietly.

cially if that buffalo catches up to us again.>

68

69

<But when it's not morphing, it's not giving

macron sensors to determine our locations Ax

off any morphing energy,> I said.

pointed out.

<No, but it's not exactly the quiet type, ei-

Thwok thwok thwok!

ther, Cassie,> Marco said. <lt just charges in

The helicopter.

like . . . well, like a big ole b u f f a l o

<Okay, let's do it,> Jake said. <Sorry, Rachel.

<Don't worry,> I said, with a confidence I

That's your line.>

didn't really feel. <We left it way behind us.>

<l'll let it slide this time,> she said. <But

Marco looked at me. I turned away first.

don't let it happen again.>

<We could break down the cube and each

It was a simple plan and it should have been

carry a piece across the road,> Tobias suggested,

easy.

getting us back on track.

I should have known better.

<No, because we'd still have to use morphs

big enough to be seen,> Jake said.

And then it came to me. Pure. Simple.

Ridiculously simple.

<Throw it,> I said.

<What?> Jake said, startled.

<Rachel said it before. It's like playing Keep

Away,> I said. <We morph into flies, cross the

road and demorph. One of us stays behind, de-

morphs, and throws the box over the road when

nobody's looking. The rest of us get it, the

thrower morphs to fly, buzzes over, and we're

gone! Simple.>

<That's a lot of morphing energy in one

place,> Tobias said uneasily. <We're bound to

draw the Helmacron sensors and the helicopter.

And then come the ground forces.>

<But staying here will also allow the Hel-

70

71

*

r

"Hey," he whispered, swiping at me. "Who's

the wise guy?"

<Sorry,> I said, buzzing circles around his

head.

<Okay, people,> Jake said. <Marco, I'll let

you know when we get across and demorph. Then

you throw the cube to us. We'll grab it, you

morph to fly, and then we're out of here.>

"Aye-aye, Captain," Marco said quietly, hun-

kering down in the bushes.

<Spread out, guys,> Jake called, buzzing

away. <Meet you on the other side!>

I shot off after him. Now, a fly can only cover

about four miles an hour, but when you're only^an

Demorph.

eighth of an inch long, that's like major warp

Remorph to flies. Marco to human since he'd

speed. I stifled the urge to dip and dive, and

decided to be the one to toss the cube.

powered in a straight line across the road.

Exhausting.

Patrol car headlights cut through the darkness.

But necessary.

I shot straight up about a millisecond before

Huge, glittering, bulging compound eyes pop-

the lights swept past.

ping out of my sockets.

<Made it,> Jake called, zipping down into a

Legs sprouting from my chest, gauzy wings

thick stand of weeds.

tearing through my back and unfurling.

<l think I'm right behind you,> I said, landing

Crunching, mushing, gurgling gut-shifting.

and immediately beginning my demorph.

And the long, tubular proboscis stretching out

<We all here?> Jake asked, when he'd fin-

of the middle of my fly face.

ished demorphing and had remorphed back into

My wings beat two hundred times a second. I

a wolf.

gave into the rush, zipped up, and landed on

<l think we are all here, Prince Jake,> Ax

Marco's nose.

said, joining the rest of us.

72

73

Morphing is tiring and doing rapid morphing,

THWOK! THWOK! THWOK!

like from a wolf to a human to a fly, then from a

The helicopter hovered above the trees, kick-

fly to a human to a wolf was more than we've ever

ing up whirling dirt devils and whipping the

had to do. But the wolf's sleek, powerful body

bushes into a frenzy.

was fresh and its senses keen, so the weariness

The human-Controllers piled out of the cars,

wouldn't catch up with us until we were human

heads bent and eyes scrunched against the bat-

again.

tering downwash.

And when that happened, we were all going to

<lt's blowing the box right toward us!> I

sleep for a week.

watched as the cube picked up speed and hur-

Thwok thwok thwok!

tled toward the ground. And then I bunched up

<Okay, Marco, come on,> Jake called. <Wing

my muscles, took a flying leap, and snatched it

it!>

in my powerful jaws right before it crashed.

Marco couldn't respond because he had de-

<Whoa! Nice catch!> Tobias said.

morphed.

<Ow,> I mumbled, my tongue numb from the

<Two more patrol cars are coming,> Tobias

impact.

said. <The helicopter must be picking up the

<l'm impressed,> Jake said. <Next time we

morphing energy and radioing down to the cars.>

play Frisbee, you're on my team.>

<We'll have to chance it anyway,> Jake said.

And then, everything fell apart.

<Throw it high, Marco, and then get over here!>

The buffalo, nostrils twitching and head held

The blue box soared out of the bushes, up,

high, stepped onto the road.

up, up, arcing high over the center of the road.

<Guess it can run faster than you thought,

Thwok! Thwok! Thwok!

huh, Cassie?> Marco said dryly.

The treetops began to sway in the downwash.

The buffalo gazed at the knot of human-

<The helicopter's coming!> Jake yelled. <Get

Controllers gazing at it.

over here, Marco! Hurry!>

One of the cops made a quick motion and

A spotlight split the darkness, only feet from

four or five Hork-Bajir stepped out of the woods

the soaring blue box.

and around the patrol cars.

I held my breath.

The buffalo snorted and tossed its head.

74

75

powerful animal, but my stomach turned at the

I now knew what that motion meant. I had ex-

thought of pitting buffalo against buffalo.

perienced it firsthand. Aggression. It was going

<Cassie? I am sorry. But we cannot allow it to

to fight them. Defend the herd it'd been follow-

be captured,> Ax said quietly.

ing all night.

<Okay,> Jake said wearily. <Let's go rescue a

<Prince Jake, this buffalo is quickly becom-

b u f f a l o

ing a huge problem,> Ax said, his voice firm.

<Look at it,> Rachel said. <lt's surrounded by

Hork-Bajir? And it's going to fight them. I know a

battle stance when I see one.> Grudging admira-

tion tinged her voice. <lt's going to fight them to

the death.>

<Wrong,> Marco said. <The human-Controllers

won't let it be killed. Not if Visser Three thinks its

an Andalite.>

No winning this one. If the buffalo was killed

in battle, we'd be safe. And our hands — my

hands — wouldn't be stained with blood con-

taining human DNA.

But I knew Marco was right. The Controller

who caught a live "Andalite bandit" would proba-

bly be well rewarded. The Controller who killed it

would be, well, probably dead himself.

We were going to have to destroy the buffalo.

If we we're closer to home, we might have been

able to do it humanely, to euthanize it using my

father's vet supplies. But I wasn't home. And

now I didn't know when the chance would come,

or what morph we would use to destroy such a

77

76

<Visser Three,> Ax announced coldly, in pub-

lic thought-speak, as the leader of the Yeerk in-

vasion leaped nimbly from the helicopter.

<Ah, Andalite scum,> Visser Three said al-

most graciously, glancing at us and chortling to

himself. <How thoughtful of you to group to-

gether so that the Helmacron sensors would have

no trouble locating you!> His gaze lingered on

the buffalo standing nearby. <You have caused

me much inconvenience this day. Now, let's

make this simple, shall we? Where is the de-

vice?> He stepped up to the buffalo and jabbed

a slender finger down into one of its gaping

wounds. <Answer me, Andalite!>

Th

he helicopter was coming straight toward us.

The buffalo snorted and swung its head, its

The fighting stopped.

horn narrowly missing Visser Three. The visser

<Watch out!> I yelled. I shot beneath the

moved away slowly, his main eyes half-mast. Al-

skids and head-butted Jake with everything I

most as if he were drugged.

had. Which was just enough to make him stum-

<Figures,> Marco muttered. <That big boy's

ble out from beneath the rapidly descending he-

got more lives than a cat.>

licopter.

<Tell me where to find the morphing cube!>

<Oof!> he grunted. <Uh, thanks, Cassie. I

Visser Three roared. He'd obviously snapped out

think.>

of his funk.

<We're trapped,> Rachel said bitterly. <And

The Hork-Bajir cringed. So did the. human-

all because of that stupid buffalo!>

Controllers left standing. So did we.

I looked at the buffalo. Its flanks were heav-

I didn't look around. I stood with my head

ing. It stood, head high, and stared at the figure

down, hiding the cube that was still tucked into

emerging from the helicopter.

my mouth.

78

79

<0r perhaps one of you has it with you now,>

TSEEW! TSEEW!

Visser Three said, in a suddenly low, silky voice.

<Get him!> Visser Three commanded, point-

He turned away from the buffalo and glared at

ing imperiously at the buffalo in Andalite morph.

each of us. <Give it to me now or I will make you

The buffalo pointed back, mimicking.

beg to die,> he said.

The Hork-Bajir-Controllers hesitated, torn be-

<Prince Jake, the buffalo is morphing,> Ax

tween the two.

said urgently. <lt acquired the visser!>

Visser Three's Andalite tail came up.

<Oh, man, this is too good!> Marco crowed.

The buffa-Andalite's did, too.

While the real Visser Three was raging at

FWAPP! Visser Three's tail lopped off one of

the Hork-Bajir for not finding the cube, the

the buffalo's Andalite arms.

buffalo was turning blue, growing eye stalks,

The buffalo bellowed in open thought-speak

and thin, almost graceful arms. Turning into

and charged. Slapped and whipped its tail with

an exact replica of the visser's stolen Andalite

little skill but with major fury. Drove Visser Three

body.

back.

Including a curved and lethal Andalite tail.

The Hork-Bajir and human-Controllers milled

<lt's probably now or never,> Jake said

in helpless confusion, not daring to attack the

tensely. <When Visser Three turns around and

wrong visser.

sees that buffa-Andalite, we get out of here!

<Now, now!> Jake yelled, charging into a

Head straight for the beach!>

knot of Hork-Bajir and plowing open a huge hole.

<What about the buffalo?> I asked. I watched

He ran into the woods with us behind him, tram-

as it experimentally flicked its tail, severing the

pling anything that got in our way.

arm of a Hork-Bajir in the process. <He doesn't

I wished I could call the buffalo after me. It

know how to use that body!>

had actually helped us fight and I didn't want to

<lt'll learn fast,> Jake said, as the Hork-Bajir

leave it behind to be killed. Or worse. •

cried out in pain.

FWAPP! Visser Three's tail lashed out again.

Visser Three turned toward the sound.

One of the buffalo's eye stalks fell to the

<Now!> Jake shouted.

ground.

"Grrr GrrrOWWWRR!" I plowed through the

The buffalo's tail jerked forward, more of a

terrified human-Controllers.

pain reaction than anything, and the dull side of

80

81

his tailblade whacked Visser Three on the side of

his head.

He dropped like a stone.

The Hork-Bajir stood silent, uncertain.

The buffalo in the Andalite's body galloped

through the Hork-Bajir and into the woods.

Following us.

T h e beach was getting closer but we were

wounded and tired.

I could hear the Hork-Bajir behind us, not

right on our tails but gaining fast.

<Okay, guys.> Tobias had already demorphed

and taken to the sky. <We're very close. We

should hurry.>

Jake sighed. <Okay. This is it. It's almost

over. Is everyone ready? Cassie?>

I shivered. So many things could go wrong.

<Visser Three knows for sure now that we've

got the morphing cube with us,> Jake continued.

<And when he wakes up he's going to be on us

like white on rice.> He looked straight at me.

82

83

<We need someone to hang back here in the

back up again, growing a fresh, thick hide and

ravine and buy us some time.>

sharp, curving horns.

<l'll do i t > Rachel — of course.

The buffalo began to darken and swell, mim-

<No, I will,> I said slowly. <l'm pretty sure

icking my shape, demorphing back into his true

the buffalo will stay and fight if I'm here in buf-

form. It eyed me warily for a moment, then the

falo morph.>

tension eased. It had followed me as a Cape buf-

And probably be killed. I felt like the worst of

falo before and by doing so, had already estab-

all traitors.

lished our hierarchy.

<Right,> Jake said. He nodded. <Okay, guys,

A twig snapped.

we're out of here. Cassie?>

We both lifted our heads, noses twitching.

<Yeah?>

Caught the scent of approaching danger. And

<See you at the water.> He took the cube in

knew to protect the herd.

his mouth.

I snorted.

/ hope so, I thought. But I didn't say it, not

It snorted.

even in private thought-speak. Instead, I watched

We tossed our horns and I lumbered into the

as they took off through the thinning forest.

tall bushes, the buffalo following.

The buffa-Andalite shifted.

We would wait. And then we would ambush

I turned back to face it. It was wounded and

the Hork-Bajir. That's when I noticed the drop-off

bloody, its lone eye stalk drooping. Somehow, I

on the edge of the ravine. Not too far down but

had to get him to demorph back into his true buf-

definitely far enough down to hurt.

falo self, where he was at his most lethal.

They started to come at us quietly, cautiously,

Where I could use him most effectively.

and within minutes.

And I had to use my own buffalo morph so we

We waited until they were almost equal with

could fight side by side with full power.

us and then . . .

I focused on my human DNA. Demorphed as

I bulldozed out of the bushes, knocking down

rapidly as I could, trying not to give the buffalo

trees, goring and slashing as I allowed the buf-

time to mimic me. I went from tired, wounded

falo's defense instincts to kick in and send me

wolf to puny, human girl and then bulked right

into a wild, raging fury.

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85

And still more Hork-Bajir fought their way

through the narrow ravine.

<Get out of my way!> Visser Three thundered

at his troops.

My blood ran cold.

He was morphing. His stolen Andalite body

bulging and melting, turning black and gooey.

Oozing forward and tainting everything he

touched. Making the nearby Hork-Bajir's skin siz-

zle and bubble like it was being dissolved with

acid. Short, thick, dripping tentacles shot out of

his body, and a huge, wet, red mouth with buzz-

saw teeth chomped and smacked, drooling the

same smoking, sizzling acid.

Time to go, I thought, as Visser Three pointed

Terror. Sheer panic.

a tentacle at me.

Falling was nothing like flying.

A stream of acid flew through the air. It splat-

No control at all.

tered the Hork-Bajir in front of me and sent it

My buffalo instincts went insane.

howling and writhing to the ground.

I bellowed, legs scrabbling for something,

The holes in its skin bubbled and stank.

anything, to hold on to. My heart slammed into

I wheeled.

my chest and panic froze my blood.

Powered up my short, muscular legs.

I crashed down through a thick, brittle layer

And with a loud, snorting call to the buffalo,

of scrub bushes, falling . . .

barreled"to the edge of the drop-off and jumped.

The rocks shot up at me, hard and cruel

and —

WHUMPRCRRUNNCH!

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. Pain was

everywhere, pounding and tearing at me.

WHUMPF! CRRAAACCCKKK!

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87

The ground shook when the buffalo landed

I began to demorph, slowly at first, then gain-

beside me.

ing speed.

I opened my eyes, dazed. And through a hazy

My shattered bones ground and reformed.

mist of agony saw the buffalo raise its head and

"Come on," I urged, as the buffalo groaned

look at me. It bawled piteously and struggled to

and began to shift shape.

rise.

I crouched beneath the bushes beside it.

It couldn't. It had snapped a couple of

Sickened by the transformation, yet unwilling to

legs; the bones jutted out through the torn,

leave him there to die like this, or live on as a

ragged skin. Blood pumped and stained the

crippled bloody mess. Or be captured by the

ground.

Yeerks.

It was in agony, but it wasn't dying. Yet.

A human head. Nose stretching, slimming.

I was bleeding, too, from the branch that had

Eyes crawling from the sides to the front of the

speared into my stomach on the way down.

face. Teeth shrinking, ears popping out.

. Infection's going to set in, I thought dimly.

The buffa-human opened its eyes and looked

Someone had better cleanse this wound really

at me.

thoroughly or —

"Come on," I said, when the morph was com-

No. No one was going to cleanse my wounds.

plete. I stood up.

No one was going to save me.

The buffa-human — Chapman —got to his

The world got smaller, then expanded. I

knees. Shakily, he rose onto two feet and swayed.

blinked, fighting the wooziness.

Took a wobbly step toward me. Snorted.

My blood was pumping out of my chest with

I snorted back. "Come on."

every beat of my thundering heart. I would proba-

We traveled slowly, keeping close to the drop-

bly die before the buffalo did. If it did.

off base where the Hork-Bajir couldn't see us. We

The buffalo bawled again. Its unbroken legs

were safe for the moment. They weren't-coming

churned the dirt.

down the same way we did.

There was only one way to save us.

Visser Three knew it, too, and his enraged

<Watch me,> I said to the buffalo.

shouts echoed through the canyon.

Its head jerked and he focused its eyes upon

The buffa-human stiffened at the sound.

me.

Tossed its head.

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89

"Don't listen," I said, motioning it on after

ther's Wildlife Rehab, especially when I was

me. "Come on, we have to find the others."

changing their bandages or cleaning their cages.

But even as I said it, I was filled with a sick

Calm words seemed to soothe them —

mixture of hope and dread. What was going to

But this was different and I knew it.

happen to this sad, messed-up creature when we

"There she is! Cassie!"

did meet up with the rest of the "herd"?

The shout was faint.

We couldn't let it live and yet everything in-

I looked up and saw Jake waving.

side me rebelled at the thought of killing it. I

My spirits shot up and suddenly, buffa-human

could have let it die back there — Marco and

or no buffa-human, I was glad to be reunited with

Rachel would probably say I should have and

my friends.

Jake had expected me to — but I just couldn't.

No matter what happened in the end.

And I was at least partially responsible for its

awful situation. To have walked away and left it

when I knew a way to help i t . . . Well, I just

couldn't.

If it had to die, it had to die fast, without ex-

cess pain. Not lingering. Not inhumanely.

"Guuuuhhh," it said, stumbling along behind

me on its tender, human feet. "Goowwww."

"You have to walk carefully," I said, pointing

down at the smooth patch of rock I was standing

on. "See?" I stepped on another smooth surface,

avoiding a tangle of sticker bushes. "Like this."

The buffa-human frowned but stepped where

I'd stepped. Its face cleared. "Guuhh."

"Yes, that's good," I said, my heart sinking

right down to the bottom of my stomach. What

was I doing? I shouldn't be talking to it — but I

always talked to the wounded animals in my fa-

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91

blank, absent of human recognition and intelli-

gence. It was watching us, though, and warily

sniffing the air. It was listening, too, gauging the

tones of our communication and on the alert for

any type of alarm call. A buffalo in human skin.

It was unnerving.

"It's gross," Marco said, looking away.

<lt is dangerous,> Ax looked at me with his

main eyes while the ones on stalks surveyed the

area.

"Yeah," Jake said, weakly smiling at me as I

sat down on the rocks next to him, keeping the

blue box between us. "Glad you made it."

"Me, too," I said, smiling back, faintly. "That How could it have survived that fall?"

drop-off was pretty bad."

Marco asked, glancing pointedly at the buffa-

"Guhhhhd," the buffa-human said, tensing

human and giving me a hard look.

when all heads swiveled in its direction. "Guh-

"It was pretty bad," I admitted, avoiding his

hhd?"

cool gaze. "It saw me demorph, though and mim-

"No, not good, bad," Marco said, scowling.

icked me. I guess that saved it." Sure. I guessed.

The buffa-human frowned and pressed its

How about I knew?

lips together. "Baaaaadd?"

"I just can't get right with this," Rachel said.

"I'm teaching my assistant principal to talk,"

"I mean, it's bad enough that we have this mu-

Marco said. "Is this whacked or what?"

tant thing following us around, but did it have to

<lt's not Chapman,> Tobias said. Remem-

go and acquire someone we know? I know I'll

ber that. It's not Chapman.>

never be able to look at Chapman again without

<lt's learnings I said, absently brushing a

freaking out. It's too weird."

black ant from the morphing cube. It hit the

The buffa-human had hunkered down at the

ground and ran up my leg.

edge of our circle. Its eyes were disturbingly

"No, it's not, Cassie. It's only mimicking,"

92

93

Rachel insisted, shaking her head. "Don't make

I turned away as the others began their

this more than it is. It should have died a long

morphs.

time ago."

"Ready?" I said in a low voice to the buffa-

"She's right," Marco said, giving me a know-

human, blocking his view of the others.

ing look. "You didn't do it any favors by keeping

It cocked its head. "Guuuuhhhdd."

it alive, Cassie. Now one of us is going to have

"Yes, you're good," I whispered, closing my

to . . . "

eyes and concentrating on the buffalo's' *Werful

There was an uncomfortable pause.

DNA. "Now, pay attention."

"Well," Jake said, rising. "I think we'd better I felt the changes begin. The usual. Bones

get moving again. The Yeerks are going to find

grinding, contorting, wrenching backward and

us, no question about that, but we want to be in

forward, stretching and disappearing. The feeling

place when it happens."

that your entire body is shot full of Novocain, so

"Mee-meep," Marco said, jumping up. "Anvil

you're aware of the impossible crunches and gur-

time."

gles, but you don't actually feel them.

I rose slowly. The buffa-human did, too.

I opened my eyes and saw the buffa-human

"You have to get it to morph back to buffalo,"

finishing its morph. Thick horns were crawling

Jake said, avoiding my eyes. "It's probably safest

out of the center of its massive head, slithering

that way. The rest of us will head out. We'll move

down past its tufted ears, and curving back up

slow enough for you to catch up, Cassie."

with deadly accuracy.

And the buffalo? I wanted to ask. What about

SPRROOT!

it? Am I supposed to lead it off another cliff, or out

Its tail sprouted and it flicked it.

into the dangerous undertow and abandon it?

<Good,> I told him in thought-speak, watch-

What was I supposed to do with this poor, mutated

ing his ears flick and twist, disturbed at the

animarthat never should have existed? And why

sound that made no sound outside his head.

was I the one who was going to have to kill it?

Thwok thwok thwok!

But I didn't ask that last question because I

Jake picked up the blue box and held it tight

knew what they would say.

in his jaws. <Cassie?>

And they were right, only . . .

I moved behind a huge clump of bushes,

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95

where the buffalo couldn't see me. Demorphed

With a whimper I bolted into the woods after

and remorphed into a wolf.

the others. Bulleted past the lumbering buffalo.

I felt my teeth shifting in my gums, sprouting

Ignored its plaintive calls.

into long, gleaming fangs. Felt my body stretch

Ran and ran and ran until the faint scent of

and grow sleek with powerful muscles. Felt the

the salty ocean filled my nostrils. Ran until the

thick ruff of fur ring my neck and ripple across

buffalo's cries had faded to whispers, replaced

my body.

by the dull, insistent throbbing of a distant, but

Thick pads bulged and hardened on my

approaching helicopter.

hands and feet.

My skull cracked and remolded, expanding

into a canine muzzle.

<Ready?> Jake called impatiently.

<Ready,> I said, as soon as the morph was

fimshed.

<Then let's—> Rachel began.

<Do it!> Marco said in his best "superhero

voice."

The air stirred as the others raced out of the

clearing.

I smelled the buffalo's confusion. Heard the

dull clop of its hooves against rock as it hurried

after them, snorting and calling, puzzled at being

left behind.

And suddenly, I was overcome. Fear. Frustra-

tion. Panic. Exhaustion.

Why had this happened! To us? To this poor

creature?

I didn't know and would never know. And I

was tired of not having the answers.

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97

I started to demorph.

Something was moving in front of me.

"Uhhh!" I backed up.

Gaped at the ground in front of me.

Something was growing. Fast!

Black. Bulging. Three inches. Eight inches.

Now it was a foot high.

It was an ant, antennae waving and pincers

snapping.

And it was getting bigger.

Two feet high. And counting.

Demorph, I thought frantically, trying to

scrabble away from the ant's sharp, snapping

pincers. Demorph!

And the ant was still growing, its arms

I could hear the others padding swiftly

and legs waving, hair sprouting from its bulby

through the woods in front of me and the faint

head —

crashing of the surf against the shoreline.

Hair?

I didn't want to think about the buffalo lost

The tips of its top pair of legs swelled and fin-

somewhere behind me.

gers erupted.

<There's a helicopter doing a zigzag search

Its segmented body melted and ran together,

back over the ravine,> Tobias called. <lt's defi-

reshaping into a sturdy, human form.

nitely tracking us, Jake. Coming fast!>

Wide, human eyes popped out of its head,

<Tlme for Operation Anvil to kick in,> Jake

flanking a strong, familiar-looking nose.

said.

SCHWIPP! SCHWIPP!

Thwok thwok thwok!

Its pincers were jerked halfway back into its

The helicopter was getting closer.

head, leaving the lethal tips spasming, and in be-

The plan had to work.

tween them, in some horrible, terrifying morph-

98

99

ing disaster, the ant's face split vertically and

lips formed.

Opened wide in a silent scream as gleaming,

white teeth erupted from the pink gums.

Please, no.

I was gazing at myself.

Somehow, and I don't know how, maybe

through my own human survival instinct, I fin-

ished demorphing, shooting back up to my full

height. Now I was looking the ant-Cassie square

in the eye.

It was horrible. Terrible.

It writhed and jerked, body parts melting then

hardening from ant to human and back.

Antennae burst from its human ,tskull, were

sucked back in, then shot out again.

It looked around, eyes bulging with panic,

and opened its mouth in a scream straight out of

my worst nightmares.

"AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!" Raw torment.

100

101

I staggered back, clapped my hands over my

Logically, I knew that. Emotionally, I was

ears, tried to shut out the unearthly shrieks.

watching myself twist and squirm and double

How had this happened? Where had this sec-

over in agony and I couldn't take it.

ond abomination come from? How could an ant

"Stop it!" I shouted.

have gained the power to morph!

Bad move.

There was only one way.

It reared up and focused on me.

The blue box. The ant must have touched it.

And then its pincers sprouted full-length on

Yes, it had, back when we had been resting

either side of its human mouth, and it attacked.

on the rocks. The ant had been crawling on the

I stood, frozen in horror as it flung itself at

box and I'd flicked it off. Then it had crawled up

me, stumbling awkwardly on two legs.

my leg. It must have acquired me without having

Pincers snapping. Grazing my leg.

any idea of what it was doing.

The pain woke me up.

I glanced back at it, watching it scream and

"No!" I screamed, darting sideways.

writhe like it was in mortal agony.

The ant moved with me, waving its "arms,

Why would it be in pain? Morphing didn't

smacking and slapping at me.

hurt. . .

"No! No!" I sobbed. I tried to run, to get away

And then the memories I had of being an ant

from this hideous mutation of me, from this in-

resurfaced and I knew why the ant-Cassie was so

sanity. But I tripped over a branch and went

terrified. For the same reason, except in reverse,

down hard on my back.

that I never wanted to morph an ant again.

Instantly, the ant sprang. Landed on top of me.

They were all part of a collective. Mindless,

Reared up, pincers opening and closing.

soulless beings without wills or thoughts of their

Arms melting back into spindly ant legs, then re-

own.

morphing into human ones. Blocking my frantic

When the ant had morphed to human it had

punches and kicks. Growing shiny white teeth in

become an individual with the freedom to

a wide, wet, keening mouth and then shifting

choose. With free will. The human brain, with all

back into ant mandible.

its diversity and innate curiosity, must be com-

The pincers clamped down on my arm.

pletely overwhelming it.

Squeezed hard. Harder.

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103

It was going to snap my arm and the pain was

I was watching myself die. Not as a human or

unbearable.

an animal, but as a terrifyingly mindless drone.

"NO!!" I screamed.

A nightmare.

That's when I heard the now-familiar bellow.

I threw up in the bushes. Sat up and wiped

The ant-Cassie jerked upright, dragging me

my mouth.

with it.

The buffalo cried out, in triumph.

"Here! Here!" I cried hoarsely, kicking at the

But it wasn't really triumph, because instead

ant as the buffalo charged into sight.

of dying the ant-Cassie was shrinking. Demorph-

Thwok thwok thwok!

ing into a vile jumble of ant and human parts.

The buffalo lifted its head and scented the

Growing tinier and tinier.

air. Tossed its horns.

"No," I croaked.

"EEEEEEEE!" the ant-Cassie screamed, drop-

I staggered over. Stomped the ground.

ping me and wheeling to face it.

Stamped and crushed everything and every-

Crying, cradling my torn and bloody arm, I

where. -

dragged myself out of the way.

Slammed my bare feet down again and again

The ant-Cassie, antennae waving madly and

and again until it had to be dead because such a

pincers snapping like the jaws of a steel trap, ran

hideous abomination could never, ever be al-

crazily at the buffalo.

lowed to live.

THUNK!

Thwok thwok thwok!

The buffalo twisted its horns and gored it

The helicopter was closing in, drawn, un-

right through the stomach.

doubtedly by all the morphing energy.

"EEEEEAAAHHH!" it screamed, arching back-

I had to go right now or our plan would be ru-

ward, beating on the buffalo's head with its fists

ined.

and finally, with a wet, popping sound, pulling it-

The buffalo had relaxed a little and was

self free.

eating the sparse grass at the edge of the

It staggered backward, clutching its bloody

woods.

abdomen, pincers snapping weakly and human

I stepped beneath a tree. Focused on the os-

mouth opening and closing.

prey DNA.

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105

Instantly, I was yanked down toward the

Its ears came forward and it made a soft, al-

ground, falling at a dizzying rate of speed and

most friendly sound.

then stopping short like a runaway elevator slam-

The helicopter buzzed into sight.

ming into its next floor.

TSEEEEEW!

A lacy, dappled pattern etched across my skin

And then the Dracon beam blew up the buf-

and rose into feathers.

falo.

My face stretched out, pursing my lips into a

beak and hardening like quick-drying cement.

My eyes crawled to either side of it and my vision

sharpened.

My bones ground and hollowed out.

Tail feathers sprouted.

The morph was completed.

mapped my powerful wings and hopped up

onto a rock.

The buffalo looked at me, puzzled and uncer-

tain again.

I looked back, not knowing what to say or

do.

It gave a questioning snort and stepped

closer.

THWOKTHWOKTHWOK!

<l haveto go now,> I said, knowing it couldn't

understand me. <Thank you for saving my

life.>

The buffalo's ears twitched.

And then I knew what to say.

<You are good,> I said softly.

106

107

I would never know.

I escaped the helicopter's swirling air cur-

rents and headed out over the ocean in the dull,

gray half-light of the approaching dawn, fighting

to go higher and higher.

Far below me, I could see five identical dol-

phins swimming out to sea.

And now, not so far below me, swooped a Bug

fighter followed by the helicopter.

I was fighting to rise, flapping hard against

the dead air. If Operation Anvil was going to work

and we were going to destroy the Helmacron sen-

sors aboard the ship aboard the helicopter, I had

to be high enough to drop the anvil.

I shot out of the trees with dozens of other

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

frightened, fleeing birds, flapping my powerful

The Yeerks were firing Dracon beams at the

wings and fighting frantically for altitude against

dolphins.

the helicopter's fierce downwash.

The dolphins dove, but I couldn't tell if they'd

The helicopter circled the clearing where

done it in time to avoid getting hit.

smoking pieces of the buffalo lay.

Higher, Cassie, higher, I told myself, strug-

They had killed it and yeah, okay, they'd

gling.

saved me from having to come back and do it

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

myself.

<l'm hit!> Tobias cried faintly.

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

But that still didn't stop the feelings. Not at all.

The Bug fighter swooped and dipped, closing

That buffalo had trusted me and for reasons it

in, almost like it could smell blood.

didn't understand, maybe would never have been

<Dive! Dive!> Jake yelled.

able to understand, I'd let it down.

The dolphins disappeared again.

Or maybe somewhere in its developing, learn-

They were deliberately drawing all the fire,

ing human mind, it had understood.

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108

distracting the Bug fighter and the helicopter so I

Blood meant sharks and they were the last

could put the plan into effect.

thing we needed right now.

But was it going to work?

<l'm going to drop the anvil, Jake!> I yelled

While the Bug fighter swooped and buzzed

back, leveling off high above the helicopter.

low over the ocean, the helicopter was hovering

<Just stay where you are! If you guys move then

like a giant dragonfly in one spot — directly

I'm going to miss the helicopter!>

above where the dolphins were last seen.

His answer was too faint to hear.

In order for me to drop this anvil, I had to be

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

directly above the helicopter. If it moved, the

The dolphins surfaced and dove again.

whole plan would be wrecked.

I followed it until I was once again directly

A helicopter could outrun an osprey, no con-

overhead.

test.

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

But I couldn't think about that. If I did, I'd

<. . . losing a lot of blood . . .>

think even harder and see all the other things

<. . . Cassie . . .>

that could go wrong. And then I'd think about

The thought-speak was faint, fragmented,

what would happen once everything did go wrong

and broken.

and I'd be lost.

I'd just have to risk it. Risk it all on this one,

The dolphins resurfaced farther out.

insane plan modeled after an old cartoon I didn't

The helicopter moved again, hovering over

even like.

them while the Bug fighter blasted away with the

And I'd have to do it fast because still distant

Dracon beams.

but speeding closer and closing the gap, came

<Jake, can you hear me?> I shouted, flapping

the sharks.

and straining for altitude. <Don't move anymore!

So there, way up in the vast, cloudless sky

Stay where you are!>

over the enormous ocean, above a Bug fighter

<Hurry, Cassie,> came his faint reply. <Tobias

teeming with Yeerks and a helicopter with lethal,

and Marco are hit and there's a lot of blood in the

slicing rotor blades and a deadly, sucking engine

water!>

intake, I demorphed.

My heart skipped a beat.

Without a net.

110

I l l

size. My beak shriveled and disappeared. Arms

and legs shot out.

Frantically, I focused on the humpback whale

DNA coursing through my bloodstream.

Yes, that was our plan. That was it.

I'd morph to a gigantic whale — the anvil —

and drop out of the sky down onto the helicopter,

crushing it and sending it crashing down into the

sea. It was sort of like an idea we'd used once be-

fore— and it had worked then. I was hoping it

would work again.

And hopefully, I wouldn't get sliced to ribbons

in the process.

Or trap the other Animorphs beneath the wreck-

Th he demorph should have been smooth.

age.

I should have been able to hold on to my

But I was falling too fast, I could feel it. Not

wings until the last possible minute. But I was

even my expanding mass could slow me down.

completely burnt out.

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

The demorph went weird and instead of be-

I was bloating, bulging up and out. I was as

coming an osprey-sized Cassie with wings, I lost

big as a minivan but it wasn't big enough.

the wings first and began plummeting down

The skin on the top of my head crawled and

through the air, streaming and rolling head over

opened into a blowhole.

heels, desperately trying to finish the demorph.

My bones crunched, ground, and-knitted into

I was rushing down, the wind sharp and hard,

a small but stretching whale skeleton. My arms

making me gasp for air.

flattened into flippers.

Concentrate!

The roar of the chopper was numbing my brain.

The feathers faded and skin spread across my

I could feel the air trembling each time the

body. I grew in one overwhelming surge to human

slicing blades revolved.

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113

I wasn't going to make it!

I couldn't believe it.

I wasn't big enough and I wasn't going to be

One of the gulls had been sucked into the he-

by the time I hit the helicopter.

licopter's powerful, jet engine intake like a hair-

I was going to be sliced up like deli lunch-

ball into a vacuum hose.

meat and flung far and wide across the ocean to

KA-BOOOOM!

feed the sharks.

The helicopter exploded in a raging ball of

That's when a movement caught my eye.

fire.

At first I couldn't tell what it was.

The impact hit me like a warp-speed eighteen-

Then I realized it was just one of a few of the

wheeler. Sledgehammered the air from my lungs.

gulls frightened by the helicopter's downwash.

Stunned me into shocked, deafened numbness.

And then the helicopter pilot below me

Then came the scorching heat from the explo-

glanced up. His eyes bulged and with one swift

sion, and the agony.

jerk, he yanked the helicopter out from under

I was flung away from the burning wreckage,

me.

down toward the ocean.

I was going to miss him! Even at my balloon-

And the last thing I thought in the millisec-

ing rate I was still going to miss him!

ond before it all went black was, After all this, all The mission had failed!

it took was one poor seagull. . .

I'd failed.

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

The Bug fighter swooped in below the heli-

copter, blasting the wounded, surfacing dolphins

again and again.

It was all over now.

Within seconds the others would be dead. If

the Bug fighter didn't get them, then I'd end up

crushing them to death. The Yeerks would have

the morphing cube and the human race would be

finished.

SCHWOCK!

114

115

who were gently supporting me with their snouts

and nudging me along toward the shore.

My brain kicked in and it all came back, the

buffalo, the ant-Cassie, and the humongous,

teeth-rattling explosion. Panicking, I started to

thrash and sank like a stone.

<Easy,> Rachel said, dipping down beneath

me and pushing me back up to the surface.

<What're you trying to do, drown yourself? It's all

over now. We're okay.>

"How?" I managed to croak, still hacking up

bitter salt water and trying to get control of my

normal, human brain long enough to calm the

billowing fear. I mean, let's face it, the deean was

<L— assie? Cassie? Can you hear me?> Jake

vast, deep and had swallowed hundreds, no

said urgently.

thousands of better swimmers than me. Not to

"No," I mumbled, shaking my head and im-

mention being home to sharks.

mediately breathing in a noseful of salt water.

So, of course, I mentioned this fact.

"Gak. Ugh." I coughed, floundered, and when I

<Oh, them. You missed all the fireworks,

couldn't get a handhold, panic set in. My eyes

Cassie,> Marco said, swimming circles around

popped open.

us. <One minute we're watching this whale the

The first thing I saw was a dolphin with the

size of a FedEx truck dropping out of the sky and

blue box in its mouth.

we're thinking, Uh-oh, she's not big,enough to

The second thing was miles of choppy, gray

take down that helicopter and live through it —> water with a far-off outline of land.

<You weren't thinking it, you were screaming

No wonder I was wet, shivering, and pruny. I

it,> Rachel said sweetly.

was human again, and floating on my back in the

<Screeching like a bad set of brakes,> Jake

middle of the ocean, surrounded by dolphins

teased.

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<Emitting a loud and continual series of high-

I zoned out for a minute while they bantered

pitched shrieks similar to an unauthorized entry

back and forth, thinking of the buffalo and how

into a Dome ship air lock,> Ax added.

bravely it had fought side by side with us. Had it

Silence.

done it because the human DNA in his veins had

<Well, it was an accurate comparison^ Ax

stirred and somehow linked us together? Or had

said defensively.

it simply been following his buffalo instincts and

<Yeah.> Marco giggled. <But it sure wasn't

done whatever he had to do to protect its

funny, Ax-man,> he said, poking his sleek head

adopted herd? Or had it been a little of both?

up out of the water and giving one of those crazy,

I'd never know for sure, but I did understand

Flipperesque cackles.

the buffalo better. Its survival and protective in-

<Your humor is highly overrated,> Ax muttered.

stincts were strong, fiercely and powerfully

<lt certainly is when Marco uses it,> Jake

strong, and in that way, we were the same. How

said.

many times had my friends and I fought to protect

<Anyway,> Marco said loudly, <here you are, our species from the Yeerk invasion? "And how

falling through the sky, and all of a sudden

many times would the buffalo fight to protect its

BOOM —>

own from other predators, including humans?

"A gull got sucked into the helicopter's en-

<Hey, you'd yell, too, if sharks were eyeing

gine. But that was nothing compared to the ant-

you up like sushi,> Marco retorted.

Cassie that almost killed me back in the woods

<We were all in the water, remember?>

with its pincers." I stopped. "The buffalo saved Rachel purred.

my life."

<But you weren't pumping out blood like a

<You had an aunt who tried to kill you with her

fire hydrant,> Marco said.

pincers?> Rachel said, giving me a playful nudge.

"The helicopter blew up," I interrupted, teeth

<Boy, and I thought Tobias's family was bad.>

chattering. "The Helmacron sensors are de-

"Not that kind of an ant," I said crossly.

stroyed, right?"

<l know,> Rachel said. <Geez, Where's your

<Well, we're pretty sure they are,> Jake said

• • » •

sense of humor?>

slowly.

<Probably caught back in the Dome ship's air

"So, you're pretty sure the sensors are DOA,"

lock with Ax's,> Marco muttered.

I said. Say yes, Jake, I begged silently. Say yes.

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Please don't tell me the whole mission has been

Marco had guessed what was going on. Jake and

in vain. That I had to confront my physical self as

I like each other a lot and that's no secret.

an ant, as a mutant, a thing. . .

<Cassie, why don't you morph to dolphin and

<Yeah,> Jake said. <We're ninety-nine per-

let's all get out of here,> Jake said, noticing my

cent sure, Cassie.>

quaking. <l'm done with this day at the beach.

Oh, great. That left a one percent wild card.

How about you guys?>

<Cassie, you did great, > Jake said, in private

<Your wish is my command, Prince Jake,>

thought-speak. <And I have to tell you, when I

Marco said.

saw you heading for that chopper's blades, well,

<Then I wish you'd be quiet,> Jake drawled.

Marco wasn't the only one freaking out. We

<Ha-ha!> Ax said. <Ha!>

moved out of the way and dove deep when you all

We all looked at him, amazed.

came down, but when you hit the water you were

<That was, I believe, the appropriate re-

burned pretty bad —>

sponse to human humor, correct?> he said

I closed my eyes, remembering the searing

calmly, then dove and, within seconds, had pow-

pain and the stench of sizzling whale blubber.

ered his sleek dolphin's body up out of the water

<— and we were going crazy trying to get you

and high into the air.

to demorph. You were only, like, half-conscious but

<! quit,> Marco said, groaning. <lf Ax is

I guess that was enough. I'm glad,> he said simply.

gonna "ha-ha" after all of Jake's feeble jokes

"Me, too," I said.

from now on, I swear I quit.>

Survival instincts. Funny, how our own ge-

But he wouldn't and we knew it.

netic programming would automatically kick in

None of us would.

when our logical, reasoning, conscious human

No matter how bad the odds.

brains weren't around to jam them up.

Or the humor.

<Me, too, what?> Tobias asked.

<lt's private thought-speak, Bird-boy,> Marco said. <Jake's getting all Dharma and Greg on us

with Cassie.>

I laughed but I was shivering so it came out

ratchety and harsh. I wasn't embarrassed that

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