C H A P T E R 1

Whummph!

BAAAM!

I slammed the Hork-Bajir into the concrete.

Pinned him against the subbasement wall with

two massive tiger paws.

His red eyes burned with hatred. His face was

a twisted horror as he pushed back, desperate to

free his tail blade from behind his body.

I strained to reach the scarred, saddle-leather

flesh of his neck. To rip out the throat.

By the way, I'm Jake.

Can't tell you much more than that. Like my

last name or where I live. I can't even tell you

where I go to school. Here's what I can tell you:

Earth is being invaded by parasitic slugs called i

Yeerks. Still with me? Pretty hard to believe,

instant too long. He pushed me down onto pipes

huh? See, humans seem to be their latest prefer-

t h a t . . .

ence in host bodies. They take thousands a day.

Tsssssssssss!

Make them into slaves. They just squeeze into

<AHHHHHH!>

your ear canal. Wrap themselves around your

My fur was smoking, my flesh scalded!

brain. Tap into your memories and dreams. And

Adrenaline cracked through my chest like a

then they tpke over. You can't even decide when

whip. I was up again, face-to-face with a Yeerk-

to blink. No control at all. It's like your skull be-

infested Hork-Bajir.

comes a prison. And you're trapped in your own

I had one more chance with this guy. This

head. No way out.

was it. And suddenly the vividness of the scene

My friends Marco, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias, an

seemed to recede.

alien kid we call Ax, and I are the only active resis-

Don't get me wrong. My guts were still spilling

tance. So now you're asking yourself, "How are

out of my belly. Exhaustion still pressed on my

six kids preventing the total takeover of Earth?"

shoulders like a granite slab. But I was in a new

Well, we were given the power to turn into any ani-

zone. It was him or me.

mal we touch. To actually acquire the animal's

Claws bared, teeth flashing, I leaped.

DNA. To morph. The Andalite technology was a gift

WHAM!

to us from Ax's older brother, Elfangor. After he

Heaved him into the wall.

crash-landed, and before he was murdered.

WHAM!

So anyway, we're the only ones fighting back.

Plowed him into the concrete. His skull hit

We managed to slow the Yeerks down a little. But

hard.

it was getting harder to keep up the fight. Harder

WHAM!

to keep it together.

His tail dropped. His eyes went lazy, then

"Hhhhhrrroooowwwwrrrr!" I roared.

rolled up into his head. He groaned weakly and

He faltered and I lunged forward. Missed! His

slid down the wall.

tail broke free and he slashed!

We were three floors underground, in the

And carved a hole in my underbelly!

dark, dank subbasement of a downtown high-

I watched, stunned and helpless. Those were

rise. Pipes and ducts ran close overhead. You

my guts, spilling from my body! I froze up for one could hear cries and growls from floor to ceiling

2

3

and wall to wall. I wheeled around. And only then

Tobias swooped and plunged, talons first. One

did I see how insanely bad things were.

Hork-Bajir fell off, clutching his eyes. Cassie

We were completely outnumbered.

clamped on to another's heel and yanked her

Cassie was one against two. Marco one on

steel-trap jaws from side to side.

four.

Rachel was still helpless.

I had to help them!

I backed up nervously. I was surrounded,

But I'd drawn a living barrier. Five battle-

closed off from the others by the approaching

hardened Hork-Bajir, holding their blades like

Hork-Bajir barricade. My butt hit the concrete

cocky gunslingers, were closing in on me like the

wall.

walls of a collapsing room.

I reared up and roared. Seven hundred pounds

Just beyond the Hork-Bajir was what looked

of ripping claws and slicing teeth. Fluid strength.

like — what I hoped was an exit. A steel accor-

Mercurial speed. The male Siberian tiger. The

dion door thirty feet away, opposite the stairs.

biggest cat in the world.

<Everybody out, now! Get to the door!> I

But my roar echoed back unmasked. I heard

yelled, but the other screams and cries and

false confidence. I detected despair.

crashes drowned out my words.

"Ghafrash nyut!" said a voice like gravel.

<More on the stairs! And Taxxons. I can smell

"Die!"

them!> My best friend, Marco. Every quaking syl-

The nearest Hork-Bajir lunged, blades flash-

lable told me he was at the end of his strength.

ing.

I caught a glimpse of Rachel, hobbling toward

Mouth open, I leaped. My fangs sank in deep,

the sound of shock troops pouring down the

past the armor of skin. Into the meat.

stairs. <Come on!> Her voice cracked. Blood

He jerked back and fell under my weight. I

gushed from gashes around her eyes, blinding

rolled off and slammed to the floor. My right ear!

her. <Where are they?!> She slashed her grizzly

Still stuck to his wrist blade! Sliced off!

bear paws wildly.

Two more were on me. I'd forgotten any

<Rachel, no!>

thought of victory. Now it was simply a mindless

Three Hork-Bajir struck. Ran her across the

struggle. A blade embedded in my left hind

room like a football-tackling dummy.

leg . . . Focus, Jake. Survive.

"TSEEER!"

FWAAP!

4

5

A tail blade cleaved the air above me. Blue

Cassie squeezed out through the opening.

fur.

Then Ax. Tobias.

It was Ax.

<l'll kill them!> It was Rachel's voice. Raving

Fwaap, fwaap, fwaap!

like someone possessed. <Get your hands off

Two assailants slumped and crumpled to the

me, Marco! I'll kill them! I'll kill them!>

floor. A third screamed and cradled his knees.

<Shut the door, Jake!> Marco roared. <There

<Prince Jake, if we do not leave now, we never

are more on the stairs!>

will.>

<Marco, Rachel, get out of here now!>

Movement.

<We can't. Rachel's . . . can't leave her. You

<Ax!> I cried. <Hit the floor!>

cut the Yeerks off or it'll be too late!> He was

Ax ducked. The bladed body of a Hork-Bajir

breathless, but insistent. <We'll find some other

whistled through the air.

way out.>

Then there was a fierce metallic crash and

A Hork-Bajir emerged from the steam cloud,

hiss.

saw me, and broke into a run. Time was definitely

Psssssssssh h h h htttttt!

not on my side today.

A cracked steam pipe! An explosion of steam!

Lose everyone, or lose two?

Pressurized fog billowed across the floor. It en-

I dropped and rolled under the door, sprang

veloped the room, everyone and everything. Con-

up and broke the glass box that housed the emer-

fusion took over.

gency close switch. Engaged the switch.

Now or never.

What alternative did I have? What choice?

<Now!> I ordered. <Bail!> It was impossible

The door ground to a halt, hesitated, then

to see more than an inch ahead. The scalding

changed directions, descending like a slow but

cloud burned my skin and eyes and throat. Chok-

certain guillotine. Cassie's wolf eyes fixed on me.

ing on steam, bodychecking Hork-Bajir, I ran for

<What are you doing? You can't trap them in

the parking garage door and slammed my bloody

there. You can't leave them!>

mass on the weight-sensitive panel. The door be-

gan to creak open, inching up at first, then rising

rapidly. Six inches, twelve inches, eighteen.

6

7

tween the floor and door. The gears shrieked to a

crawl.

Then the pipe began to bend.

Cassie screamed.

The crunching metal door was just inches from

the floor when thick, black fingers wrapped around

the bottom. And with inconceivable strength,

C H A P T E R 2

Marco heaved it up. Forced Rachel through. She

was a bloody mess.

Marco stooped, crawled under the door, and

released the pipe. Four Hork-Bajir dove for the

opening. Slid, clattered, reached the door just

as . . .

BOOM!

The lone Hork-Bajir dove and skidded under

It crashed shut. No Hork-Bajir made it through.

the door. I grabbed him, mouth and claws. We

In one piece, anyway.

tumbled. It was like being stuffed in the clothes

<Demorph!> I yelled.

dryer with ten razor-sharp kitchen knives.

We raced up the empty, spiral parking ramp.

I used my weight, my fangs, the last of my

I demorphed as I ran. Orange-, white-, black-,

strength. When his muscles finally slackened, I

and red-striped fur thinned to a fuzz, then disap-

stumbled away. The accordion door was almost

peared. My tail shrank into my coccyx. The guts

closed.

that hung from my belly were drawn back in.

I looked through the crack and there, like a

Bones shifted, rearranged, and threw me onto

mirage, was Marco's gorilla form emerging from

my hind legs. I tripped and stumbled against the

the steam cloud. He was dragging a roaring,

wall. My front legs were absorbed and then re-

slashing Rachel. And not more than six feet be-

issued as human arms. Back legs extended, paws

hind them, a dozen Hork-Bajir.

minimized, claws grew into toes and fingers.

Ax grabbed a length of pipe and wedged it be-

"Let's get out of here!"

8

9

We plateaued onto level pavement, our trans-

shushing her, and looking back over my shoulder.

formations complete. We sprinted, breathless,

The Yeerks could still be on the trail.

down a row of parked cars. Shot past a dumb-

"Every day we're more like them," she per-

founded attendant who saw a hawk and five kids

sisted. "Aren't we?" Tears welled over her lower

in spandex tear into a downtown street.

lids. "Jake?"

A busy downtown street.

I didn't have the energy for this. The doubt,

"Look out!"

the introspection, the analysis. I just didn't have

Honk! Honk!

the energy.

Drivers slammed on their horns. Cars screeched

"No," I said flatly.

to a halt.

Why was she doing this? Why now? Yeah, we'd

I jumped back between parked cars on the

just had one of the closest calls I could remember.

side of the street. Rachel and Marco ran for the

We'd had to scrap the mission and now the new

sidewalk.

Yeerk-pool entrance would open on schedule. But

"Cassie!"

the brutality was nothing we hadn't done a hun-

She was in the middle of the street, frozen.

dred times before.

I ran back into the lanes. A driver opened his

She began to cry almost noiselessly. I knew

car door. "Punks!" He shook his fist. "Bunch of she needed to talk things over. She needed to

no good . . . "

work through the confusion we all feel after a

I grabbed Cassie's arm. Yanked her out of

battle and she wanted me to help.

traffic. Dodged into the alley where Marco and

But I walked away.

Rachel had turned in, following Ax.

Marco and Rachel were up ahead, farther

"Cassie!" I shook her roughly. She came to.

down the alley.

"Four of them," she said anxiously. "I may

"You're wrong!" Rachel cried, still pumped.

have killed four back there, maybe five." She

"I could have brought them all down." Her fist

searched my eyes, her usual calm shattered.

slammed the Dumpster. Marco kicked it even

"Jake!" she whispered. "How do I deal with

more violently.

this?"

"You had blood in your eyes! You couldn't

I gently pushed her down along the alley,

even see the reinforcements swarming down the

10

11

stairs. You acted like an idiot. A selfish, crazy,

"Oh, that's really great! What a guy. So he's

whacked-out..."

off the clock now?" Marco walked around behind

"Relax," I said, stepping between them like

the Dumpster and began to morph. "I'm going

the leader I was supposed to be. Marco didn't lis-

home."

ten.

I kept watching the sky. Rachel, already

"You're about to blow, Rachel." His face was

morphed to bald eagle, powered her body up past

bright red, hot from exertion and frustration.

the bricks. I knew she was going after Tobias.

"Haven't you learned anything? You put everyone Ever since a Yeerk sub-visser held and tortured

at risk by hanging back when Jake said to bail.

him, Tobias hadn't been the same. Even more

We can't always cater to your personal need to

time spent alone now than before. Withdrawn,

bash heads."

despondent.

"But as long as we follow Marco's righteous

Not good.

program, everything's fine?" She picked up an

"Prince Jake," Ax said. "Should we meet in

empty can and heaved it across the alley.

the barn tonight and attempt the mission again

"Mighty Marco can just. . ."

tomorrow?"

"Forget about saving your life next time?"

I sighed. Cassie's sobs were intermittent now.

"I said relaxl" I shouted.

She rose from the pavement, from the shadow of

There was a sudden rustling on the far side of

a pile of cardboard boxes, and walked slowly

the Dumpster. We tensed instantly.

toward the street.

Around the corner peeked a boy, an oddly

"I don't know, Ax," I said, watching Cassie.

good-looking kid.

"Will you do me a favor, though? Will you make

Rachel gave a snort.

sure she gets home okay?"

It was Ax, in human morph.

"I have not heard from Tobias," Ax said to

me.

"Try again. Ask him if we're clear."

I looked up at the strip of late-evening sky vis-

ible from the alley. A raptor's form floated over

then disappeared behind a glassy high-rise.

12

13

The garage. It seemed so far away. I was so

tired, my muscles ached . . .

I pushed open the door. Forget about my nor-

mal clothes. My parents, if they were home,

would probably just think this morphing outfit

was some new fashion. You know — something

Rachel thought up. Well, she says this is cutting

C H A P T E R 3

edge or something.

:

My brother Tom, my brother with a Yeerk in

his head, would never buy that one.

But Tom wasn't home. Friday night meant he

was at The Sharing. The front organization for

Controllers.

I opened the fridge, grabbed a leftover slice

I headed home alone.

of pizza, and started to stuff my face. I left the

I demorphed in a tree in my front yard. I knew

kitchen to climb the stairs to bed. One, two,

it was risky, being so close to the house and all,

three . . . I could feel it already, my head hitting

but I was drunk with exhaustion. When I dropped

the pillow, sleep descending. Dreams would

to the grass, my legs went limp under me.

come. No nightmares. Just dreams of. . .

The gravel stabbed my bare feet as I stag-

"Jake?"

gered up the path. The porch light was on. The

My head snapped up. A piece of pizza crust

other lights out.

lodged in my throat.

I paused with my hand on the doorknob and

The voice was loud and mocking. "Bare feet?

glanced down at my body. Spandex bike shorts

You been riding your bike barefoot? At night?"

and tight T-shirt. I looked like I should be giving

It was Tom. He stood at the top of the stairs.

a testimonial on a Tae Bo infomercial. I had regu-

Tall and confident. Blocking my path. Guess it

lar clothes stashed in the garage. I needed to put

was a quick night at The Sharing.

them on.

I coughed, hacking up the pizza crust.

14

15

"Hey," I said, forcing a half-smile. " I , uh . . . I My breathing stopped.

was over at Marco's. Watching the game. It went

Sometimes, when you demorph, the blood of

into overtime and, well, Detroit scored and Marco

battle stays behind.

jumped up and smacked a Pepsi all over my jeans

"Uh." My voice faltered. My brain slowed.

and sneakers. I left them there to get washed."

"You know about my bike. It stinks. The stupid

"Yeah?" Tom said, frown fading. "Well, you

chain catches my skin. I should get Dad to buy

look pretty stupid. But that's really not unusual,

me a new one." I dropped back onto my pillow.

is it?" He was smirking now.

Switched off the light.

"Whatever," I ran up the rest of the stairs and

Waited.

jabbed him in the stomach, the way a little

Tom let it go.

brother would.

But when I glanced once more at my bedroom

He fell to the floor, feigning injury, but hooked

doorway, Tom's shadow was still there. Did he

my foot and tripped me as I walked into my

have something more to say?

room.

I was too tired to ask. Sleep was dragging

We laughed.

down my eyelids.

"I'm gonna crash," I said, recovering my bal-

Whatever it was could wait till morning.

ance. "I'm beat."

Eyes closed, I saw Cassie. Watched her soli-

"Yeah. Fine." He headed for his room. Did he

tary figure walking down the alley. Away from

buy it? Did he believe the lies I'd grown so used

me. Toward a busy street where cars flashed

to telling? The fake-nice routine I put on for a

past.

brother who's not a brother at all anymore, but

I saw Tom's leery eyes. Always watching. Polic-

the enemy?

ing. Scheming. Eyes controlled by the very small,

I dropped into bed. Pulled the blanket up to

but very real parasitic slug in his brain. The Yeerk.

my neck. Began to shut my . . .

The race of alien invaders, pressing ever forward in

A noise in the doorway.

stealthy conquest of humanity.

I shot up. Flicked on the lamp.

And suddenly, I stood before a giant wall, ris-

"Hey, Midget?" Tom poked his head around

ing leagues above my head and running for miles

my door frame. "Was that blood on your leg?"

in both directions. I had my hand crammed

16

17

against a small hole, from which water slowly

seeped and bubbled. On the other side I heard

the raging sea. Pummeling. Pounding. Weaken-

ing, with each lashing, every fiber of the wall.

And I wondered: Just how long would it hold?

C H A P T E R 4

• l

IE-DEET! DE-DEET!

The alarm was like a jackhammer to the head.

I groaned.

DE-DEET!

Enough, already! I felt for the clock radio. The

snooze button. Just five more minutes.

My hand patted the air. No bedside table? I

lifted my lids. Where was my . . .

My heart stopped.

I was staring into a triangular screen. A flat

computer panel mounted flush in a peeling,

white plaster wall across from the bed. Eerie cop-

per letters pulsed at the top of the glowing gray

screen. 5:58:16 A.M. Below the time flashed the

18

19

words "TO DO" and a single entry: "Report to I probed the polished steel door frame for my

work."

reflection, for the face I knew.

This was not my bedroom. Not even close.

And yes, there! I saw my eyes, dark as mid-

DE-DEET! DE-DEET!

night. My strong, broad face. My . . .

My body stiffened to defense mode and I

I swallowed hard.

bolted out of bed.

My short-cropped hair? My six-foot frame?

The alarm stopped.

My day-old beard?!

My mind, forced into consciousness by the

I brought a hand to my face. My fingers

shock, hurled me orders. Get out! it warned. Get scraped across my chin. Stubble like sixty-grit

out, get out, get out!

sandpaper. I needed a shave.

I raced to a tall black panel in the wall. A

My breath got choppy. My head felt about

door. Had to be.

ready to explode.

Get out!

The Jake staring back at me was an adult!

I tried, but there was no handle. No release

Not crazy old. But out of college a few years. At

lever. Nothing.

least ten years older than the kid I'd been the

I struck it.

night before.

"You are not prepared to leave for work!" said

What was going on? Where were the others?

a shrill computer voice.

How did I get to this place?

I pounded even harder. Hammered the panel

My heart was beating entirely too hard.

with a cienched fist. A fist that . . .

I was gonna have a heart attack if I didn't

I stopped suddenly as I studied my fist.

calm down. I stumbled back to bed and sat down

It was big.

on the narrow strip no wider than a torso. A pad

I mean it was rough and callused and had

on a metal plate.

veins that pumped across the hairy, muscular

"Okay," I said out loud. "Okay." Use your forearm like I belonged to Gold's Gym and actu-brain. Cover the possible explanations.

ally used my membership.

An Ellimist trick? Yeah, it had to be. But why

It was the hand and arm of a grown man.

hadn't he spoken?

My heart started up again, pumping now at

A Yeerk experiment, maybe? Could I have

record speed.

been captured?

20

21

It's hard to think straight when you wake up

like Tom Hanks in that movie Big. At least he

woke up in his own room, in his own clothes. Sort

of. I was wearing this weird, faded orange jump-

suit, the color of a sun-bleached Orioles cap.

I fingered the suit, and then it hit me.

Of course!

I knew what was going on here. It had finally

C H A P T E R 5

happened.

I knew it was only a matter of time, what with

the pressures of leadership, the violent battle,

the endless fights against a strengthening en-

emy.

I'd finally been driven to a complete psy-

chotic breakdown.

It really was a cell. Maybe twelve by twelve.

I'd gone crazy.

But it didn't look very institutional. What it looked

And this was my padded cell.

like was the remodeling job from hell. A bizarre fu-

sion of decaying early-century architecture and

modern metallic installations.

Two walls of bubbling plaster rose twelve feet

to a carved crown molding. An old porcelain sink

basin stuck out in one corner. Hardwood flooring

ran underfoot and spilled over into filthy yellow

linoleum about halfway across.

Applied over all this old stuff was a second

phase of construction. Brightly colored metallic

retrofits sprouted from two gray, synthetic walls. I

stood up and walked toward a purple, kidney-

shaped pedestal. The top slid off to reveal a golden

22

23

cone. It was decorated — I guess — with a border

opening three inches wide. A sliver of window.

of luminescent tubing.

Heavy, cool air tunneled in and caressed my

Flit, flit, flit. Sheets of soft paper shot at me

face. I pressed my eyes closed, then opened

from a slit in the wall and floated to the floor.

them, and there . . .

Flit, flit, flit. More paper.

Structures, hundreds of them, rose beneath

Whoooosh!

me, soared above me. Glass, steel, concrete, ma-

A violent suction nearly pulled my pant leg

sonry. All jutting toward a simmering, red-cast

down the cone. The luminous tubing dimmed.

sky.

The kidney lid slid shut.

An urban jungle.

"Evacuation complete!" said the jarring com-

But just like my cell, the city looked as though

puter voice. I almost smiled. Whoever or what-

it had suffered modifications at the hands of a de-

ever held me prisoner here was powerful, but

ranged contractor. Chaotic clumps of black ma-

they had a toilet that was out of order.

chinery clung, like unwelcome growths, to the

I moved to a tray colored brilliant fuchsia. It sat

skyscrapers' sides. Sickly deformations of a cen-

beside an electric blue cylinder. Ghastly stalks re-

tury's architectural monuments.

tracted the tubes into the wall as I walked closer.

A few buildings were completely covered over

Whoop. Bam.

by this industrial applique, like a ship's hull over-

I stared.

run with barnacles. A tree trunk strung with para-

Whoop. Bam.

sitic . . .

They reappeared, steaming with crisp bacon

The word left me with a very uneasy feeling.

and scrambled eggs. Orange juice swirled in a

Parasitic. . .

blue beaker.

Two fighters zoomed into my narrow field of

I certainly wasn't hungry.

vision. Their red lights blazed a streak across the

I moved on to a long, narrow panel, solid but

cityscape.

translucent. Faint natural light shone through it.

Oh. Crap.

My pulse quickened. A window? Maybe I could

Yeerk fighters.

escape that way.

They headed for a distant pack of skyscrap-

Shleep!

ers, an ominous elevation that studded the hori-

The wall absorbed the panel and revealed an

zon like giant chipped and broken teeth in the

24

25

mouth of some mythical hockey goalie. Two of

They buzzed through the sticky, filmy cloud that

the buildings looked familiar. Shimmering rec-

swelled above the city like fallout from a colossal

tangles. Twin towers.

explosion.

The World Trade Center!

"Continued idleness prohibited!" The sharp

New York. This must be . . . except for. . .

computer voice broke through the monotonous,

Yeerk fighters out in the open? That

mind-filling hum from outside.

meant. . . that meant they'd launched an open

The fighters banked in tandem, slowed and

attack. Visser Three. They'd gained enough

hovered. Touched down on a platform connecting

forces to forget stealth and secrets, and wage a

the World Trade towers.

totally in-your-face war!

I let the window cover slam shut.

DE-DEET! DE-DEET!

There was no war being waged after all.

The alarm sounded again.

The war, it seemed, was over.

"Facility air quality jeopardized!" The com-

puter voice was more authoritative now. The win-

dow cover began to shut, closing off my sliver of

city.

Oh, no you don't! I reached up and grabbed

the panel. Forced it back.

One of those fighters wasn't Yeerk.

Only one was a Bug fighter. Only one was a

legless cockroach with two serrated spears.

The other held its shredder raked high over

the fuselage, pointing forward. Like an Andalite

tail poised for combat.

It was an Andalite craft. But grossly modified.

Engines that should have glowed a cool blue in-

stead burned a fiery red.

I fought the window cover. I had to see!

The two fighters rocketed through the sky.

26

27

The wind grew stronger. The ghostly whir and

hum I'd heard through the cell window churned

louder and louder, until at last it vibrated every

particle of air like a thousand-piece orchestra of

different-sized fans.

The building wall at the end of the hall had

been knocked out. Everyone was stepping through

C H A P T E R 6

the rough opening. And I followed — curious and

terrified — out onto the crowded, open-air docking

bay.

"Step up!" An impersonal computer voice cut

through the whoosh of engines and flooded my

ears. I realized I was blocking traffic.

I tripped forward toward a line of SUV-sized

craft that hovered in the air at floor level, doors

Tssssst.

open, inhaling small groups of colored jumpsuits.

The cell door opened and ejected me with a

And every few seconds . . .

burst of air into the dim hallway of an old apart-

Woooooosh!

ment house. I heard the hiss of other panel doors

One took off from the apartment building and

opening and closing at the same time. Tall, fit

fell away in a controlled tumble, careening toward

humans dressed in brightly colored jumpsuits

the streets three hundred feet below.

swarmed into the corridor.

I stumbled past the blinking red lights that

I wanted to yell. I wanted to grab the nearest

ran from nose to tail on every craft and bathed

person and shake him and scream, "What is this

the docking bay and passengers in a sinister,

crazy place?"

pulsing glow. Stepped into what looked like a

But instinct told me to keep my mouth shut.

stripped-down Bug fighter. No weaponry or com-

Find the answers yourself, it said. Observe. Don't bat stations. Just a pod with seats and windows.

trust these strangers. Use them.

A floating, high-tech subway car.

I let the orange and green and yellow suits

The instant I fell onto a seat, a belt shot

sweep me up in their mass exodus down the hall.

28

29

across my chest. Another drew tight over my legs.

Green Suit flashed a mischievous smile. "Mr.

Before I could panic . . .

Hotshot Scientist forget to have his coffee?"

Shoo-shoo-shoo.

He disappeared into the crowd. The doors

The unmanned hovercraft drew power. A deep

clicked closed.

computer voice boomed, "Midtown express."

That green suit. . . that green suit had called

Doors clicked shut and . . .

me by what I knew had to be a Yeerk name.

Sheeeeeeooo!

Into an aerial roll! Hanging upside down! My

stomach went goofy. Gray high-rises shot past.

Other hovercraft streaked past the windows.

"Hey." A human voice cut through the hum.

We banked right. Flipped a sudden 180 de-

grees. And leveled off, upright, soaring parallel to

the street grid below.

"Hey, Essak-Twenty-Four-Twelve-Seven-Five!"

The male voice was friendly. I felt a hand on my

shoulder. I flinched, but turned.

A guy in a green suit, strapped to the seat to

my left, stared at me with icy blue eyes. Green

Suit was talking to me!

My heart hammered. My head began to pound.

"When's the launch?" he said.

I stared blankly back at him, unable to speak

as we traced a slalom course between buildings.

The launch? What launch?

Air brakes rose to a frenzied roar. The hovercraft

grazed a landing dock. The computer voice

boomed, "Middle management!" Everyone suited

in green rose and filed out.

30

31

I wasn't Yeerk. How could I be? What was go-

ing on?

When a Yeerk slug slithers through your ear

canal, when it melds and flattens into every

crevice of your brain, you know it's happening.

Trust me, you know. Because you can't eat or talk

or call up memories unless the Yeerk lets you.

C H A P T E R 7

You're a helpless observer of an endless night-

mare. A prisoner in your own head.

I was no prisoner. My eyes moved freely. My

legs, when they weren't strapped to a hovercraft

seat, walked where I told them to walk. Why

wouldn't whoever was responsible for this just

talk to me?

We shot high. Skimmed the tops of tall tow-

Until today, I'd been the leader. . .

ers. The Chrysler Building filled the windows.

No! I still was the leader of a small but powerful

Streamlined and whimsical, just like in the photo

resistance to the Yeerk invasion. A group of six

my mom had in her office. All rounded edges and

kids, five humans and an Andalite. We call our-

gleaming stainless steel and . . .

selves Animorphs because of our secret weapon,

Wait a minute. I looked closer and saw it was

the power to morph into any animal we touch. We

covered in some kind of sack. A silver sheath,

fight the Yeerk invaders, led by Visser Three. Those

draped like a giant deflated gift balloon. Busy

slimy parasitic aliens who've come to Earth to en-

workers moved about on platforms jutting from

slave our bodies because without host bodies,

the skin at all levels.

Yeerks aren't much more than the wriggling, help-

My mind was swimming . . .

less worms you avoid on the sidewalk after it rains.

Even the Chrysler Building. Transformed.

There was no Yeerk in my brain. I was no hu-

Swimming . . .

man-Controller.

That green suit had called me by a Yeerk

Not Essak-Twenty-Four-whatever.

name . . .

No! It's . . .

32

33

"Jake! My name is Jake!"

The craft stopped again. "Medicine," the com-

The words slipped out before I could stop

puter voice declared.

them. Pierced the relative silence of the cabin.

"They have pills for that now," Yellow Suit an-

"What's the matter with you?" said a yellow-

swered. "You should visit the clinic."

suit with an accent. Eight pairs of eyes fixed on

He rose and shuffled out. Seven other yellow

me. Eight faces I might have taken to be your av-

suits filed out after him. The doors closed. We

erage, ethnically diverse, cross section of New

twisted away from the landing dock. Just me and

York commuters.

one other orange suit.

Emphasis on "might have."

A short ride.

Because there was one crucial giveaway.

"Research and development. End of the line."

They'd reacted to me.

The orange suit questioned me when I didn't rise.

See, I'd been to New York before. A class trip.

"Going to the clinic," I said smoothly. "Not I may not have noticed much of the cultural stuff

well." I pointed at my head. She gave me a look

I was supposed to have noticed, but I noticed

of understanding. The doors closed behind her.

one thing. You can shout Hamlet's soliloquy or

I was alone.

scream Limp Bizkit lyrics, you can blare "The

"My name is JAKE!" I yelled. And then I

Star-Spangled Banner" or stomp an American

yelled it again.

flag, and no o n e — I mean no one — will give

And for a second, I thought I would lose it.

you the time of day. They'll look you over, but

Really lose it. Start screaming stuff like, "I don't

then they'll walk right on.

wear jumpsuits, I wear jeans! I'm not twenty-five,

All I'd said was, "My name is Jake." And

I'm a kid! I'm not a Controller, I'm free."

these guys were on me like I'd driven a Kawasaki

But I didn't. Chances were that someone,

into their living rooms.

somewhere, was watching. At least that's what

I forced a smile. These weren't New Yorkers.

my gut told me. I've learned to trust my gut.

These were human-Controllers. These were Yeerks.

Down, down, down. The craft fell like a para-

Watch your step, Jake.

chute, bobbing slightly with the buffets of wind,

I cleared my throat. "My host," I said. "Some-descending slowly toward street level.

times I still . . . have trouble. You know, controlling

I looked out over a small park. A fraction the

him."

size of Central Park. Trampling the crusty, late-

34

35

winter grass was a mass of bodies. Blue and tan

As long as I was free and in control of my

fur. Hooves. Stalk eyes. The bodies were assem-

mind, there was a chance — no — the certainty

bled in orderly, disciplined rows. Maybe fifty

that I could find out what was going on.

across and a hundred lengthwise.

And then maybe, just maybe, somehow —

A fog horn blared and they stopped and

even in this strange place — I could find the oth-

turned, changing directions.

ers and together we could . . .

Captive Andalites. And they were feeding.

The doors opened and I dropped to the con-

My spine felt like a live lightning rod. A world

crete. My heart was back to its regular rhythm. My

with Andalite-Controllers is no world at all.

mind calmed and focused on a single thought.

In the world I know there is only one Andalite-

"Jake," I breathed quietly, "you didn't plan Controller. And he's a sad mistake. Any con-this one, but now it's time to deal."

scious Andalite warrior would use his tail blade

on himself before he'd let himself be captured.

The craft buzzed just feet above the street,

passing rows of blacked-out windows on run-

down facades. The ship entered a large, open

space. A sort of parking lot. A paved triangle

filled with other hovercraft. The engines were

cut. The craft docked.

I didn't know what world this was. I didn't

know what time this was. A world before or after

or parallel to mine? A bizarre reality that had

somehow imposed itself on the one I was used to

accepting?

My own personal nightmare?

I didn't know. But I knew the Yeerks were

strong in this place. They owned this city. They

owned the people in it.

But they didn't own me.

36

37

giddy groups of camera-toting tourists. No sharply

dressed natives surging like lemmings in and out

of high-rises.

The only life was the buzz of giant, electrified

billboards a hundred feet overhead. You know,

those big, bold ads that make Times Square fa-

mous? I scanned. Not even close to the endorse-

C H A P T E R 8

ments for Coca-Cola or JVC or Calvin Klein I

remembered.

"You can go home again." The words flick-

ered like an electrical storm above the image of a

darkened planet. What looked like thick, head-

less cattle roamed beneath the words against a

puke-green sky. Sickly, low-lying trees grew hori-

Ever imagine a scenario where world lead-

zontally, like lengthy fingers of barbed wire.

ers lose their minds, fire up those intercontinen-

"Tired of the city?" another billboard read.

tal ballistic missiles and nuke the whole planet?

"Make the Yeerk home world your home, too.

Ever think what it would be like to step out of the

Transports leaving noon and midnight, first of

shelter, after the worst of the residue cleared,

each cycle, Yeerk Empire State Building."

into some kind of postapocalyptic wasteland?

And at the bottom, in smaller print, were the

Well, there I was, stepping out into the waste-

words "High Council Division for the Relocation

land of Times Square. The desolate ground zero of

of Unfit and Insurrectionist Hosts." These words

some neutron bomb. A stage set, minus the cast of

were sprayed over by the graffiti tag "EF."

characters. The whole place coated in menacing si-

I stopped in my tracks. The tagger's letters

lence.

weren't some preconquest relic. They were new.

Sure, five hundred feet overhead roared a

They were fresh. They were angry.

Yeerk metropolis. But down here, down at street

Unfit and Insurrectionist Hosts?

level . . . no taxis clanking over manhole covers.

A tinge of hope swelled against the well-

No kamikaze bike messengers daring traffic. No

anchored caution and fear in my mind. Was there

38

39

a rebellion going on here? A resistance group

I edged around the kiosk, and sure enough . . .

somewhere? If I had allies in this town, I had to

Taxxons.

find them.

A gang of them. Six or eight. Swaggering up

But I needed to find the others first. They had

from Forty-Second Street, straight toward me. Ban-

to be here, too, right? Only where? In normal

doliers of energy ammo and handheld Dracon-

NYC, Marco could be in any video arcade in Man-

beams crisscrossed their massive centipede bodies.

hattan, Rachel in any Express from Midtown to

Horrific scars striped their bloated chests.

SoHo. I looked at the busted-up storefronts and

I fought the urge to sprint. I needed to play

littered streets. Were there parts of the ground-

the part of a Controller, and a Controller wouldn't

city that still functioned normally? I wasn't ready

run. But I had to get away! I was out of place at

to bet on it.

ground level. As far as I could see, I was the only

All at once I realized Cassie would be easiest to

human on the street and it didn't take long to

find. A park. She'd be in a park and I'd seen one of

guess why that might be. No Taxxon encounter

those. She'd be feeding the pigeons and . . .

had ever ended well. Why expect something

BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!

new?

I hit the ground.

Where to go?

BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!

The McDonald's on the corner was a burned-

Machine-gun fire. I rolled behind a kiosk and

out shell. The golden arches lay crushed and dim

searched for the source.

on the sidewalk. I'd be a sitting duck.

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

The high-rise lobby was all glass. No cover.

Dracon fire return, followed by a piercing hu-

Suddenly.

man cry. A shoot-out at the other end of Times

"TSSEEERRR!"

Square? The echo of weapon fire died away and

A raptor's cry. A swishing of wings. Out of

was replaced by a clacking. A clicking. Clawed

nowhere! A red-tailed hawk buzzed my head. He

feet scratching over concrete. Weird, half-

looked ancient. Thin, with feathers missing and

whistled words . . .

skin taut around the eyes. He sailed into the

"Ssssssnit waaanaaa!" The loud, arrogant rasp-

steam cloud over a subway grate.

ing drew snickering agreement from slobbering

I blinked . . .

mouths.

Gone. He was gone!

40

41

"Tobias?"

No answer. A mirage?

"Ssssreee sreeenaaaa!"

I jerked back. I'd stepped out from behind

the kiosk. The Taxxon gang leader had spotted

me. Claw arms skittered. His speed increased to

an all-out lumber.

C H A P T E R 3

Steam. The subway. Go!

I ran for the subway entrance and took the

steps three at a time. Wham! I burst through the

rusted-out gate.

"Ugh!" A horrible stench. A humid rot. The

foul scent of. . . Taxxons.

I gasped for breath in the hot stink of the cav-

ern.

"Who are you?"

"Yahh!" I almost had another heart attack.

My head slammed the scissored turnstile in sur-

prise.

A guy, a human, only three feet tall but an

adult, looked up at me quizzically. He whipped the

42

43 |

stack of flyers he was carrying behind his back. I

and maimed or disabled adults, lay on thin, soiled

thought I saw the letters "EF," but I wasn't sure.

mats. Battle-scarred Andalites, some minus tail

"What'd you do to get sent down here?" The

blades and others without stalk eyes, milled rest-

way he said it freaked me out. Like some jury had

lessly. The stench was profound. The moans were

sentenced me to a horrible fate.

heartrending.

I was still struggling for breath.

It was the eyes that told the story, though. De-

The guy shrugged and continued. "You won't

feated, dejected. Living death.

last long down here. No one does."

At the sound of our abrupt entrance, most

I heard the gate bang open one flight up. The

turned and tensed. Weak as they were, they were

sound of skittering Taxxon feet. The little guy's

ready to run. Not fight. That was clear.

eyes widened. He turned and ran.

"What is this?" I gasped. "Who are you?" The I followed.

fumes made me light-headed.

Down a white-tiled tunnel that narrowed and

The little guy interrupted his whispers of re-

narrowed until my shoulders scraped the sides.

assurance to a group of human kids. "Depends

Then into a still smaller channel that brought me

who you ask," he said. "The Emperor calls us

to my knees. I crawled wildly through dampness.

fugitives. The EF calls us refugees. I call us ca-

The Taxxon war cries grew fainter. Then, a new

sualties. Casualties of the Fitness Policy. But it

sound. Weak moans and muffled cries that filled

doesn't really matter, does it? We're all prey." He

the almost total darkness.

smiled. "Your body is strong. You must suffer

We emerged into a wide, domed hall with a

mental illness?"

stagnant, toxic puddle at its center. Clustered

I could hardly argue. "I must."

around this shallow, filthy water — cramped and

"Ah." His tone turned gentler, more conde-

miserable — was a sampling of human and alien

scending. "Take heart, friend. At least with your

life.

strong body you stand a chance against the

A horrific sampling.

Taxxon Special Force. With our help, you may

Clumsy Gedds loped along at a snail's pace.

last a month. Perhaps even two."

Battered Hork-Bajir, missing arms or legs or both,

My vision was wigging out. The little guy's

huddled around a glowing pit. Human children,

face seemed to approach and recede. The stench

44

45

was eating away my brain. I moved back toward

"Ahh!"

the tunnel and began to scrabble through.

THWAP! thaap!

"No," he cried, alarmed. "You must stay with THWAP!

us. Alone you won't last two hours!"

Two Taxxons rolled out of the suction stream.

I had to get above ground. I was desperate for

Lumbered onto the platform! Mouths full of ra-

air. I was going to pass out.

zor-sharp teeth snapped for me. Hundreds of

Back down the tunnel. Left turn, left again.

clawed feet powered toward me.

Onto the platform of a subway station. The light

Noooo!

was dim and reddish.

I grabbed for a bench and pulled myself

Suddenly . . .

closer to it, fighting the intense suction. Then

Massive suction!

past it. I grabbed for the trash can bolted to the

I was being pulled toward the rails by an in-

floor, pulled myself past. Column! Bench! Sign!

tense, all-consuming suction! I had to fight against

Trash can!

it!

I looked over my shoulder. The Taxxons were

I ran for the exit, but I was barely moving for-

struggling against the suction, too, but they were

ward. Like that horrible nightmare where your

bigger and they knew something I didn't. They

legs feel like fifty-pound weights. Or you're run-

had dropped to the floor and were slinking along.

ning through water.

Racing like salamanders.

I looked down at the rails ten feet below. They

Bench! Column! Column! Pull!

were covered in a dirt-packed ooze, seething and

They would overtake me.

twisting with Taxxons!

Gate!

It was a living stream of Taxxons. Traveling,

I flung it open. The exit stairs! I strained. I

legs pulled in. Being sucked like lugers along an

reached.

underground highway, red eyes jiggling as they

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

flew past.

Something cut into my leg. I twisted. Jammed

This was Taxxon Mass Transit.

a fist into an airbag chest. Slammed the gate on

And I was six feet from being sucked in with

gaping jaws and a probing tongue.

them!

Then I clambered toward daylight. Up, up,

46

47

up. Sweating. Gasping. Leg nearly crippled with

pain. Head throbbing from running into the turn-

stile.

The street! The pavement!

Gasping breath after breath of fresh air, I col-

lapsed.

Rolled onto my back. And froze.

C H A P T E R 10

I wasn't alone.

G ehhhtuupoorraanjjsoooot!"

Words like a waterfall of syllables, strung tightly

together.

Totally incomprehensible.

"Wutryoodooingindtheaghetoo?"

Okay. This was a dream. That was the only

possible explanation. But what felt like very real

pain from the Taxxon bite shot up what felt like

my very real leg.

Right then I decided that this was a world I

might never be able to figure out. And if I didn't

stop trying to, I'd crack up. Effective immedi-

ately, my goal would be simpler: Just get out of

this place alive, body and soul intact.

I tried not to let the two forms in front of me,

48

49

roughly human in outline except for a third leg

mean, I was staring right at a beating heart. A

and a seriously long neck, freak me too much.

perfect target.

But it was hard.

Amber Eye stepped forward and yanked me to

See, each of them had only one eye, a big, in-

my feet. He repeated his question. All of a sud-

ternally lit thing that fixed on me like a follow

den, the rhythm in the speech, the slightly differ-

spot. At the center of the eye was an iris, roughly

ent note that filled each word . . . The pattern. It

like ours except for the faint amber and gray

all made sense. It clicked.

glow.

"Get-up-Orange-Suit!" he said. "What-are-

But you know how our pupils are in the middle

you-doing-in-the-ghetto? Work-truancy-is-a-crime!

of our irises? Not the case here. I was looking at

Why-aren't-you-at-your-work-site?" A nearly invisi-

pupils that orbited the iris like slow, optical satel-

ble finger flicked something pinned to my chest.

lites. These eyes studied me with all the suspi-

Then he looked up, way up, at the Chrysler Build-

cion of secret service agents at a presidential

ing with its Mylar sheath whipping with the wind.

appearance. They seemed to stare right through

There was a badge on my jumpsuit that

me.

hadn't been there before. At least, I hadn't no-

Though it's more accurate to say I stared

ticed it. There was a hologram of me, and my

through them.

Yeerk name written out. There were numbers cor-

Because I was looking at blue lungs that filled

responding to housing, work site, and work sec-

and deflated with speech. And two bright green

tor. Under the words "job title" was the term

hearts pumping pale yellow blood through crystal

"Planetary Engineer."

clear veins. Miles of intestines coiled tightly near

I gaped like an idiot. These guys were some

a swath of faintly reddish muscle.

street-level security force? I worked in the Chrysler

Their skin was as clear as glass or water.

Building?

Clearer, since there was next to no distortion as I

"Maybe this is the place for this mute," Silver

stared at the organs beneath.

Eye sneered. "Looks like he's had a breakdown.

Specimens a biology teacher would die for.

Can you tell us where you live, Orange Suit?" He

Although on whatever planet they were from, sur-

growled patronizingly while fingering a pair of

vival of the fittest was obviously not an issue. I

red-tinted handcuffs. "Or can't you remember?"

50

51

They could see where I lived. But I guess they

I made a break for it.

just wanted me to say. I looked at my badge and

"Hey!"

tried to read the numbers upside down. " I ,

Silver Eye grabbed for me. I wrestled free

uh . . ."

from him and shot around the corner, limping

RrrrrrrrrBoomBoom . . . RrrrrrrrrBoooooom . . .

from my Taxxon bite, moving toward a billowing

The earth shook and a deafening boom thun-

dust cloud. But the Orff followed me. His tripod

dered through the street. Amber Eye spun around,

legs moved like quicksilver. Then he was on me.

then spun back and grabbed me. Dragged me with

We struggled as the chaos grew around us.

him as he moved with startling speed toward the

I heard the distant sirens of approaching hover

sound of the explosion. Silver Eye followed.

ships. The whistled lisps of Taxxon as they burst

"Floor eighty-eight," I said, faking an answer.

onto the street, spilling from three-hundred-foot

"I live in the, uh, the Empire Towers." I thought earthen hives built up between buildings along the

that sounded pretty good.

block, surging like beastly commandos.

"Don't be sarcastic, Orange Suit." He reached

What was this? What was happening?

forward and slid the cuffs over my wrists. "You

Could I morph? I tried to focus. Tried to

think I don't know that floors eighty-seven to

t h i n k . . .

ninety-two are a docking port? You're coming with

And then everything flashed a blinding yel-

us."

low-white, like I was a bug inside some flash-

"Under whose authority?"

bulb. All was noiseless, but only for a second.

I struggled, but the cuffs were some living, or-

Then —

ganic material. The more I resisted, the tighter

BOOM.

they squeezed.

BOOM.

The creatures laughed heartily, a sound like a

BOOM!

trilling trumpet. "We're the Orff, fool. Security

The pavement heaved and thumped as deaf-

agents to the High Council. We're our own au-

ening pressure waves threw everyone in the

thority."

street to the ground. All down the block, entire

R rrrrrrr Boooooooooom m m m m!

building fronts were instantly reduced to lethal

Another massive boom and cloud of dust.

waterfalls of shattering glass and stone.

The Orff turned away from me.

I raised my head toward what appeared to be

52

53

the source of the explosion. A tremendous sky-

scraper, towering hundreds of feet, a fireball at

its base, teetered hesitatingly, like a circus per-

former on a tightrope.

My mouth opened in disbelief as the build-

ing's graceful, tentative sway gave way to deci-

sive instability. As the lowest ten or twenty

stories disintegrated in a cloud of dust.

C H A P T E R 11

Then the entire structure sailed toward Earth.

Faster. . . faster. . . toppling in a single rigid

section. Falling . . . falling . . . then —

A thunderous concussion as the building rup-

tured and broke in two, missing the Chrysler

Building by what seemed like a hair.

Concussion after concussion battered the Man-

Sirens blared. A splitting pain numbed my

hattan bedrock. I should have taken the chance to

head.

disappear.

I opened my eyes to piles of rubble. Spewing

But it was all I could do to crawl to a doorway

geysers from burst watermains. Fires crackling,

and lie there, as a choking cloud of white dust

ripping through entire buildings. Hundreds of pa-

engulfed me and a spattering of small debris

trol ships on the scene. Taxxons savagely herding

rained down from the sky.

the injured into transports, satisfying their raging

Then heavier particles, chunks of steel and

hunger by disposing of the dead right there and

concrete, were pummeling the street. And then

then.

everything went black.

The Orff were gone. The cuffs, somehow, van-

ished. Apparently, when you're in Yeerk Land and

you hear sirens and they're coming to get you,

you don't wait around. You move.

I sprinted from the doorway.

"Ahhrgh!"

54

55

And slammed smack into a purple suit. Be-

down a narrow alley mounded with discarded rem-

fore I could regain balance, I was looking down

nants of human society. A broken piano. Couch

the barrel of a handheld Dracon.

carcasses. Some rusting motorcycles. All of it cov-

Yeerk Land definitely had it in for me.

ered over now in a fresh mountain of concrete, re-

I looked past the barrel, past the arm. Into

bar, and fragments of still-steaming sheet metal.

the eyes of a dark female figure covered head-

I called to her. "Hey, wait." She paused and

to-foot in dust. Blood dripped from even fea-

turned back.

tures. As our eyes met, her expression changed.

I rushed eagerly forward and her face turned

It flashed from ruthless hatred to a mysterious

strange again like she was searching her mind,

mix of confusion, disbelief, tenderness, and

searching . . .

anger.

TSEEEW!

My chest heaved involuntarily because this

"Hey! What t h e . . ."

woman . . .

She'd fired at me, igniting the air over my head.

This woman . . . my memory . . .

Then she disappeared through a large metal door

"Ah!"

opening off the alley, a side entrance to a tall brick

Without warning she shoved me out of the

building.

way.

Was that a warning shot? Or just bad aim?

TSEEEW!

A gang of Taxxons flowed down the alley and

Whumph.

followed her inside. I picked up a piece of metal

Taxxon guts spilled onto the pavement as the

and swung it like a thug, trying to show I was

bloated worm, teeth bared, skidded to a halt just

ready to fight. They snarled, but amazingly, they

shy of my legs. Three seconds more and my butt

ran right by.

would have been nothing more than a pleasant

One thing was clear. They were after the

Taxxon aftertaste.

woman.

The woman darted ahead. I sprinted after her.

I flung open the thick metal door and ran into

She'd saved my life.

the mottled darkness. Light filtered through a par-

But it was for more than that that I followed.

tially blown off roof and illuminated velvety cur-

With the agility of a triathlete, she scampered

tains, a stage, an orchestra pit — a vast space

56

57

lined with rows of seats and tiers of balconies. I

I threw open the latch that fixed a rope to its

moved down the carpeted aisle, hoisted myself

stack of anchors.

onto the stage littered with broken flats.

Whooooosh!

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

An ethereal cloth backdrop came billowing

Dracon fire lit the air. A 500-pound mass of

down, deftly covering the predators and the prey

Taxxon meat fell from the grid, whistling past a

below.

wall of ropes and rigging.

Not happening.

WHUMP.

The Taxxons continued to surge forward until

It shook the floor. An exploded balloon. And

at last, the woman's faulty weapon wouldn't fire

boy, did it stink.

anymore. She hurled it at the closest Taxxon, but

The woman streaked behind a drop painted

it was like a toy in his mouth. It was swallowed

with a scenic country setting. There was a red

up without hesitation.

barn and green pasture. Horses and farm animals

I frantically disconnected rope after rope. The

grazed in the background.

racing whine of pulleys filled my ears as a whole

But no sooner had she disappeared than . . .

batten of heavy stage lights came crashing to the

TSEEEW!

floor. And then another. And another.

She burned a Dracon hole in the faded canvas

I let myself look. Three bloated Taxxons were

landscape and vaulted through. Chasing after her

pinned to the floor, writhing. Still caught under

were three of the fastest Taxxons I'd ever seen. She

the delicate scrim net.

stumbled, running backward, firing her weapon

I ran to the woman. Her arm was being crushed

again and again. But the discharges grew weaker

by a now-limp Taxxon. Her body was washed in a

and weaker, pathetic slaps in the face to the hulk-

puddle of vile drool. She flinched as I neared her,

ing Taxxons.

still ready to fight.

And I was weaponless!

I bent low and freed her arm. She finally

I looked up at row upon row of heavy lights. I

seemed to understand that I wasn't going to hurt

wondered . . .

her.

I ran into the wings, where the myriad ropes

Our eyes met.

converge in neat rows anchored by stacks of steel

"Cassie."

weights.

I wanted to hug her. Tell her everything was

58

59

okay. That she was brave. That we would make it

out alive.

But her eyes were like a wall or a mask. I

searched them for the peace and sensitivity they

used to hold.

Neither was there.

Her lips curled into a fake smile, a very un-

Cassie-like look. And she finally spoke.

C H A P T E R 12

"So. You're not dead."

I answered with a smile, the kind of look I'd

have given her if we were back in the world I

knew.

"This city's been doing all it can to kill me.

But no, I'm not dead. I've been alone. Where are

the others? How . . . how did you get here?"

She didn't answer, but swung her legs over the

stage apron, heaved a sigh, and dropped into the

orchestra pit. I followed her down, where she

stooped in a corner and uncovered a stashed case.

"Cassie, what's going on?" It wasn't like her

to ignore me. She didn't even look up. "I got into

bed, just last night, I think," I continued. "I was at home, living with my family. We'd just come

back from our last messed-up mission. Remem-

60

61

ber? I wake up this morning and I'm freakin'

ate to fight the Council. I led the team responsible

twenty-five years old. With a beard and no mem-

for the blast this morning. That's why the Taxxons

ory of the decade in between. Is this Crayak? The

like me so much. The damage will set them back,

Ellimist?"

even though we didn't hit the . . . "

"I haven't thought of those names in years,"

"What!" An uncontrollable wave of nausea

she said. Her tone was not nostalgic. She was

knotted my chest. It was like hearing my dad

rummaging through the case, I guessed for ban-

confess to being a drug pusher or a murderer. It

dages to fix a splint to her arm. The case was

was an impossibility. "Cassie, what are you say-

filled with first-aid supplies, five or six handheld

ing? You engineered a blast that must have killed

Dracons, another purple suit, emergency food ra-

hundreds of refugees, the very people the EF is

tions, and . . .

trying to help? That makes you a terrorist! How

She turned her head just in time to see my

can you possibly justify that?"

eyes widen.

"In a war, Jake, anything is justified." She

Spools of blast cord. Blocks of plastic explo-

spoke with an unnerving confidence. "I'm not a

sives. Detonators. Dynamite. A crazy mix of low-

kid anymore. I'm not concerned with the non-

and high-tech destructive potential.

sense I used to be."

"I take it you're not with the EF?" she said.

"Like life and peace? You think that's nonsense

I shook my head.

now! Don't you remember our last mission — the

"The Evolutionist Front. The Yeerk rebel group?

Ragsin Building battle? The comedown? You

You know, the so-called Insurrectionists, dedicated

needed to talk when we got out and I turned you

to turning away from parasitism and toward the use

away. Just didn't want to deal with it. I was an idiot

of artificially created symbiotes?"

that night, Cassie. You were on target with your

She shoved a Dracon into my hand and took

doubts, just like you always were. You have to real-

two for herself. And then I glimpsed an emer-

ize that."

gency Kandrona particle emitter as she closed

She laughed dismissively. "You're talking

the case.

about a different lifetime, Jake. There were so

"You're a Controller?"

many missions back then. All just a pitiful blur of

She laughed. "What else would I be? My Yeerk's

youthful idealism. You don't get it, do you? I'm

name is Niss. We're in the EF together. We cooper-

saying that I finally understand war."

62

63

The way she was speaking, the way she was

sort of talking down to me, made me feel like I

was about as important to her as a screw in the

stage floor.

Was there really no connection between us?

Was my friend so changed?

"The Taxxons own the subway," I said. "The

Orff rule the streets. Cassie, if you look around,

C H A P T E R 13

it's obvious that somehow we lost our chance to

win this war."

"The war is not lost!" she hissed. Her eyes

were on fire. She looked ready to attack me.

But then her eyes moved to the badge on my

chest and all at once her anger vanished. Her

face relaxed, then brightened. Her expression

You're a planetary engineer? Working on the

changed so quickly it was frightening.

Chrysler Building project!" Suddenly, I was the

most interesting thing in the theater. I didn't know

what to say. She moved toward me. Her uninjured

arm gripped my arm. Her voice was intense, almost

obsessed.

"Jake, the Yeerks want the moon. They want to

make it a small, Kandrona-radiating sun. If they

succeed, it means an Earth bathed in Kandrona

rays for the rest of eternity! It'll be something the

EF could never touch and never disable. No one

could."

I felt like a customer subjected to an intricate

and manipulative sales pitch. The deal-maker was

64

65

just around the corner, I could feel it. And I knew it

My heart stopped.

somehow involved me.

"Me!"

"Your job brings you closer to the moon-ray

"Well, you were a Controller by then, of course.

technology than anyone in the EF. You know that

You can thank Tom for that."

shell over the Chrysler Building? The Yeerks have

"My brother?"

been working under there for months, fine-tuning

She nodded. "The Yeerk in Tom's head finally

the energy beam that will ignite the moon. The

put it all together. Clues, maybe. Carelessness. I

targeting has to be precise. Absolutely precise.

don't know. But he suspected you of being an

The Yeerks need the beam to fire exactly the way

'Andalite bandit' and then one night, he was

you and your team have calculated, or else . . ."

sure. He planned his attack so well that when it

She was animated. Her eyes glistened as she

came, you didn't stand a chance."

stood before me. There was the spark I knew.

She continued. "You, Marco, and Ax were

Only it wasn't love of people or animals that put

taken immediately, in my barn. Rachel was killed

it there. It was thoughts of sabotage, terrorism,

outright. They caught me the next day. Only To-

strategy.

bias escaped."

And now she was drawing me into it, too.

A tightness constricted my throat. Rachel

I brought my fingers to the badge her eyes

dead?! There was a time when I'd encouraged

still fixed on. I yanked it off, breaking her trance.

her recklessness. I'd put her, more than any of

"Tell me right now! How did we get here?

the others, in dangerous spots. And Tobias? With

Where are the others? How were you captured? Is

a hawk's life span, he'd be dead by now.

this even real?"

Cassie told me all of this matter-of-factly, like I

Her enthusiasm settled. The fake smile re-

should know the story. Like I should have known

appeared. She didn't want to answer my ques-

that this, all of it, was because of me . . .

tions, but if she wanted my help, she had to.

"Move!"

"If you really don't remember, I'll tell you," she TSEEEW!

said. "You won't like the answer." She laughed

The black metal music stands in front of me

again a little. Less ruthless, more rueful, she

vaporized.

looked me in the eyes. "How was I captured? I was

"Get down!"

betrayed, Jake. By you."

TSEEEW!

66

67

Cassie returned fire, striking the Taxxon. He

keeled over, falling forward, falling right over the

rail above the orchestra pit! Flailing fifteen feet

to the floor. Crash! Writhing in agony at our feet.

He was badly wounded, but he'd live. Maybe

Cassie'd shot him in the hind quarters on pur-

pose, so he'd survive. All we had to do was run.

I opened the access door to the crawlspace

C H A P T E R 14

under the stage.

"Cassie, come on!" She ducked in. I followed.

But then she stopped. She turned. She aimed

right past me, back through the door.

TSEEEW!

A second hole sizzled through the Taxxon's vi-

tal organs, coldly finishing him off.

We burst into the street. Ran away from the

I looked at Cassie, searched her for an an-

sound of sirens and hover ships and a still-chaotic

swer, tried to understand eyes ablaze with ruth-

crime scene.

lessness.

Every hundred yards, Cassie turned back to re-

"They're just dogs," she said. "The Orffs' un-turn fire. The Taxxons finally fell off and we stopped

official police squad let loose to catch us so-

at a smashed-up storefront. An old newsstand.

called terrorists. The Orff don't mind too much if

Sweating and panting, I glanced at the racks.

Taxxon hunger gets out of control and they eat us

The sunburned, wind-tattered cover of an old

instead of bringing us to the station. An eye for

Sports Illustrated caught my eye. I picked it up.

an eye, I say."

"My dad . . . " I said with surprise. "He just I wondered if maybe this was Niss talking.

got this issue in the mail!" Cassie looked at the

The Yeerk, and not Cassie.

date.

"Come on!" she yelled.

"Yeah," she said flatly, "it's been about ten I followed her.

years. The Yeerk conquest concluded in a matter

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69

of weeks after we were captured. Turns out we

No. Cassie's Yeerk was feeding me lies. She

were more than a thorn in the side of the Empire.

was wearing me down. She knew . . . she knew

We'd actually started to shift the balance."

from Cassie's memory what would get to me,

And then I'd blown it.

what could make me snap.

I'd gotten careless and cocky and ruthless

But I wouldn't snap! I wasn't crazy. My friends

myself. I'd been too ready to use the others, es-

w e r e n ' t . . . No. My friends . . . No!

pecially Rachel.

Suddenly, I was running down an empty street.

"The others," I said. "Where are they now?"

I didn't care that I had nowhere to go. I'd just keep

Cassie paused next to a ratty pile of romance

running and running until I collapsed. "Free or

novels. "Ax became a high-ranking Controller.

die," I repeated to myself. "Free or die!"

From what I heard, he was the key player in the

"Free or. . . "

Yeerk attack on his home world. The Andalite

"Stop it!"

planet was decimated. Millions died. Tens of thou-

Cassie cut in front of me and pushed me

sands of Andalites were taken. EF leadership

against the wall. Only then did I feel my face

thinks there are some still free in deep space, but I

streaked with tears. My eyes blurred. My chest

can't imagine . . . "

heaving.

I sank to the floor beside a stack of yellowed

"It was good luck that I met you, Jake. The

New York Times dated three weeks from the night

job you have as planetary engineer is an incredi-

I fell into bed in spandex bike shorts.

ble chance for the EF." Cassie was intense and

"Tobias became a leader of sorts. Anti-Yeerk."

obsessed again. "The controlled burn of the

"Does he — did he — know about Rachel?"

moon the Empire is planning? We need to make

"Yes. As for Marco." Her voice turned colder.

it uncontrolled. The perfect targeting of the en-

"Marco's Visser Two now, in charge of Earth. He's

ergy beam? We need it to be off. Exploding the

done things . . . terrible things."

moon will shower the earth with debris. It will

This wasn't real. I couldn't be hearing this. I

knock out satellites, destroy spacecraft, disrupt

didn't believe it.

the entire Yeerk social structure. It will create an

"The Visser Three you remember was made

opening for attack by the EF. Jake, do you hear

head of the Council. The supreme Yeerk leader.

me? It will be the opening the EF and free hu-

Emperor."

mans have been waiting for."

70

71

Two of her words struck my ears like bells.

Dracon beam in my hand and emptiness in my

"Free humans?"

heart.

"Yes. Small groups still survive in the coun-

Was I on her side? I thought I wanted to be.

tryside. Hunted groups of fugitives."

She'd assumed I would be.

"So, there's hope?"

But she was so changed. Driven. Obsessed.

"I told you the war wasn't lost. But it will be.

Ultrafocused. She'd become a cog in the war ma-

All hope will be erased if this energy beam fires

chine. But then, who here wasn't?

as the Yeerks want it to. Go to work." She knew

Was I a pawn in her mind? A mere tool?

I'd help her. She knew she was my leader now.

I knew the answer.

"Live the life your badge describes. Watch, lis-

But I didn't care.

ten, get information, scope things out. But don't

It might help me save her.

act until I contact you. I'll send someone who

works with me to give you instructions. We'll

need a code word."

Reluctantly, I clipped my badge back onto my

jumpsuit. "How about 'peace'?" I said with a

weak smile.

Cassie looked at me like I was a naive two-

year-old. She reached out and touched my face

tenderly. And for an instant, one sweet instant,

the mask of hardness lifted. The girl I'd loved

was looking back at me.

But she was gone as quickly as she'd come.

"It's too late for peace, Jake. All that's left

now is to drive the invaders away by force. Make

Earth too dangerous for them. How about a dif-

ferent code word? How about. . . 'Animorphs'?"

I agreed and she was gone, leaving me with a

72

73

trate enemy science headquarters, corrupt the

latest state-of-the-art Yeerk technology, blow up

the moon. Hey, that even sounded vaguely famil-

iar. We'd done stuff like that before, right? No

problem.

But it wasn't that simple. She said I had to

wait.

C H A P T E R 15

Wait for orders from a Cassie I didn't even

know! Why was I letting it happen? No Animorph

would ever take orders from a Yeerk. Hadn't I

made that a ground rule?

I stepped across the threshold. Second-

guessing my decision to help Cassie. And third-

guessing it, and fourth-guessing it.

i. boarded a shuttle that dropped me on an

The panel shut behind me, sealing out the

empty docking pad, cantilevered off the face of

immutable hum I'd come to know meant Yeerk

the building two hundred feet above the street.

business as usual. Small, triangular lights red-

The Chrysler Building's Mylar wrap gleamed

dened the floor, pointing me toward a nearby

reddish-brown in the city's frightening glow.

gravity lift. With all the false confidence I could

A powerful gust slapped me off balance and

muster I entered the clear, semicircular enclo-

ripped at my hair as I stepped toward a heavy

sure, hovering in the air just outside the Mylar

steel panel.

sheath. There were a half-dozen other riders. Two

The panel began to rise.

humans, an Andalite, and some pinkish crea-

How would I save our moon from transfigura-

tures I'd never seen before.

tion, from becoming a beacon of Yeerk strength, an

<Figured you had abandoned us for the home

irreversible enemy triumph? How could I obliterate

world,> the Andalite teased.

the chance that Kandrona would forever taint

"Had to visit the clinic. Problems with my

Earth's surface with its malignant rays?

host. He has a rebellious history."

If only I had clear-cut instructions, like: Infil-

"I hear you, man," said a tall human male.

74

75

"My host used to work for the ACLU and he just

Controller passing the cubicle of a Hork-Bajir-

won't shut up about how I'm infringing on his

Controller.

rights. I don't want to worry you, but the pills

<May the Kandrona shine and strengthen

don't really work."

you,> the Andalite said. The Hork-Bajir didn't re-

The lift rushed upward with unsettling accel-

spond, just kept working.

eration. I put a hand on the wall for balance and

The holo paused at that frame and a female An-

looked out over the corridor of death and wreck-

dalite at the front of the room asked the assembled

age carved by the explosion. The collapsed sky-

group, <What was missing from that interaction

scraper still smoked and cindered.

that could have facilitated team compatibility?>

<They seem to grow stronger every day,> the

That's a tough one, lady, I thought. But I'll go Andalite commented. He didn't say who "they"

out on a limb here and guess that it's free will.

were, but I knew he meant the EF. His voice was

I turned on my heels and wound through the

calm enough, the way you'd expect a member of

paths between cubicle walls. I had no idea where I

the ruling class to sound when speaking of the

was going, but I pretended I did. Almost everyone

oppressed. But his tone revealed more. Today's

smiled as I passed. One guy even slapped my back

explosion marked a turning point. In the mind of

and said, "Hey, Essak. Ready for the big night?"

this Andalite-Controller, the EF had just crossed

The big night. What was that about? The guy

the line from nuisance to threat.

in the hovercraft had asked me about a launch.

"You're just in time for this afternoon's group

Were the Yeerks firing this moon ray tonight?!

efficiency workshop," piped up another of the hu-

Find your desk, Jake. I looked at my badge.

mans. "Peer Communication Skills — Conquest

Sector 5-682. The cubicles had number plates:

through Companionship."

679,680,681.

"Never miss one," I stated positively.

I stood over the computer monitor assigned to

The lift doors opened onto a vast room. A sea

me. A model of the Chrysler Building spire ro-

of short, shiny, stainless steel cubicles shone un-

tated and twisted its way across the screen. It

der glaring lights. I followed the taller human

was framed by strings of numbers that changed

into a large open area with metal stools, most al-

as the model turned.

ready occupied. A holographic short film played

It was just like that dream where you show up

at the front of the room. It depicted an Andalite-

for the final exam in some class, and it suddenly

76

77

hits you that you haven't studied at all. In fact,

Oh, my God. These guys were working for me

you haven't been to the class at all and now you

and they'd seen my screen wig out! Did they

have to pass the test.

know I was a phony, a fake, an infiltrator? Could

I looked around. Everyone else had silver

they tell?

probes hung on their ears. There was one on my

I moved to shuffle papers on my desk, to look

desk. It looked like a tape dispenser, but I picked

occupied and cover up my ignorance, but there

it off the console and fit it to my ear. Looked at

weren't any papers to shuffle. "Yup," I said casu-the monitor. And suddenly . . .

ally. I tinkered with my earpiece and frowned down

Whoa! The 3-D model flashed! The image was

at my screen, seriouslike. "I was just, you know,

uncontrollable. Unstoppable! My brain was panick-

giving the old mind a rest."

ing, racing. I tried to mask the monitor from view so

After a few seconds, I glanced back at the

that my cubicle neighbors wouldn't sound the im-

communal workstation, hoping my crew had re-

postor alarm.

turned to business and forgotten everything

Then, I realized . . .

they'd just seen me do.

I controlled the movement. The screen re-

But when I looked at my crew, I saw . . . my

flected whatever command my mind issued. Un-

crew . . .

der other circumstances, this would have been

extremely cool. Slow, I ordered, easy. My mind relaxed and so did the images. I made the screen

flip through pictures at a normal speed.

I was just about to breathe a sigh of relief

when I felt eyes staring at me. I looked up.

There was a communal workstation directly in

front of my cubicle. I'd passed through it on my

way. Noticed focused, hardworking aliens of vari-

ous species, studying their own screens, consult-

ing other screens.

Now, they'd stopped working.

"Boss?" a Hork-Bajir huskily. "You okay, boss?"

78

79

my tiger morph. How could he stand?! He wasn't

even breathing! His muscles were decomposing!

And yet he staggered out from behind the console

and started toward me.

He stretched his arm forward, extended his

wrist blade and reached . . . reached for me! A

C H A P T E R 16

growling rumbled in a voice box that wasn't

there. Tiger jaws had ripped it out.

I turned to run. I was crazy. 1 was nuts!

Total insanity was twisting my brain!

But when I tried to move, my path was blocked

by a Leeran's stocky form, its pebbly, slimy skin run

dry.

"Ahh!" Its webbed feet had been severed by a

Seats just moments ago occupied by busy

shark's teeth. My shark morph's teeth. Only thin,

Controllers — healthy, breathing, living Con-

fibrous ligaments kept the feet moving with the

trollers — now held . . .

body. The large, luminous, Leeran eyes were life-

I blinked just to make sure.

less.

Oh, yeah.

And yet he shuffled toward me, and I felt him

The seats held the raw, bloody, dismembered

say my name.

bodies of enemies I had faced in battle. My past

Jake, he chanted. Jake. Jake. Jake. Jake.

was staring back at me.

Jake.

You have to understand that I really didn't

I stiffened and backed into my cubicle. I could

think what I was seeing was real. And yet, under

smell them now. Their decay and rot. Death, press-

the harsh fluorescent lights, there was no mistak-

ing nearer and nearer!

ing that the corpses were there.

Behind the Hork-Bajir, a Taxxon's jelly eyes

A Hork-Bajir corpse rose out of a chair. His

gaped and a three-foot tongue dangled limp from

mauled body had been ripped apart by the claws of

its open mouth. A tiger slash had flayed it from

80

81

neck to belly. Its innards oozed. Flies swarmed at

The rat scampered up my leg and sank its

the opening. Maggots churned in the wound. Lob-

teeth into my skin.

sterlike Taxxon claws clacked like castanets as it

"Nooo!"

strained and reached for me.

The bodies of the enemies I'd destroyed . . .

Jake. Jake. Jake. Jake.

"No, No, NOOOOO!"

The chanting continued. The smells, the

"KEEEEEEEE-row!"

growling, the buzzing flies, the blood . . .

I opened my eyes and the cubicle had disap-

"No," I breathed. It's a vision. This is your

peared. I was tumbling through the air, spinning,

past. . . haunting you . . . This isn't real!

plummeting out of control! I was in wild free fall

Not real!

next to a Howler.

I needed to climb over the cubicle wall. They

"KEEEEEE-row!"

were coming!

Another mind-splitting cry! The planet floor

Jake. Jake. Jake. Jake.

was racing up! The Howler was clawing the air,

I put a hand on the partition and tried to pull

screaming in rage. Screaming! Because I'd led

myself over it, but I had no strength.

him off the ledge.

A rat appeared between the corpses' slow-

Rat teeth sliced my skin. Webbed fingers

moving feet. Running blindly, frantically. Bump-

slapped at my face. A Taxxon tongue covered me

ing into dismembered alien parts. Recoiling,

with spit. Hork-Bajir blades began to slice . . .

then starting out again. I knew it was David. The

The ground, racing up!

kid we turned into an Animorph. The kid who

"KEEEEEEEE-row!"

betrayed us. One bad decision after another.

I couldn't take anymore. Too much! Too much!

Trapped and helpless because of me . . .

"AHH! AHH! AHH!" I screamed and

Corpses had crowded into my cubicle! The

screamed and screamed.

Leeran's tentacles brushed my arm!

Then, instantly, all went silent.

"No!"

I gasped and jumped up from where I lay,

The Taxxon's claws closed over my fingers!

sweating and cowering against the cool cubicle

A raw, blood-dipped Hork-Bajir claw pressed

wall.

against my cheek.

Confused, out of my mind, I stared ahead.

I closed my eyes. My heart pounded.

"Boss?"

82

83

I jerked my head toward the communal work-

station. Normal Controllers sat behind the con-

sole, a Hork-Bajir and a Taxxon among them.

They looked at me in alarmed disbelief.

I felt like I always did when I woke from a

nightmare. Startled, a little embarrassed, but

mostly just grateful that even this reality was less

C H A P T E R 17

than the terror of the dream.

There was a bustling down the hall.

Orff and Hork-Bajir steamed through the maze

of cubicles. Security was heading straight for me.

Leading them, storming fast and angrily, was

a stone-faced human, tall and sturdily built. I felt

I should know this person.

There was something familiar. . .

Magically clear, steel-strong Orff fingers

"Get him!" he roared. The guards moved as

clutched my arms as my father approached. He

one.

looked just as I remembered him. Salt-and-

It couldn't be true. Yet it was true. This

pepper hair receding slightly. A vertical wrinkle

wasn't another nightmare vision. It was real!

forged above his nose. He hadn't aged a day.

The man who was ordering a security force to

How was that possible?

apprehend me was the man who'd played catch

"Dad . . ."

with me as a child, who'd taught me how to

His face showed no response as his eyes

swim. The man who had changed my diapers.

tracked, sifting his memory.

My friend. My role model.

"That's right. Once upon a time, you were my

My father.

host's son. This is quite a coincidence in a city so

big."

My thoughts exactly.

It was a weird and unlikely coincidence. As

an isolated event, maybe. I'm out of commission

84

85

for ten years and when I tune in again, my dad's

coys? By all biological laws, they should be. They

there waiting to arrest me. Sure.

could be drawing attention away from the body

But combined with bumping into Cassie?

sections that mattered.

With sighting Tobias? With learning that it was

With a sweep of my leg I knocked one to the

my carelessness that led to Rachel's death?

floor. He released my arm and I packed the hard-

Too much convergence. Too many life lines

est punch I've ever thrown at the clearest part of

intersecting.

the other Orff's chest. Just below the head, but

There had to be some other current at work

above the heart. A section clear as air.

here.

The sea-green glow in his eye faltered and

"You were late for work," the Yeerk in my fa-

flickered out. He moaned and fell, an uncon-

ther's head accused. "Late and in the vicinity of

scious heap. My father's face flashed alarm.

the explosion. You will be interrogated."

"Take him!"

The Orff squeezed my arms, nearly cutting off

Two Hork-Bajir lunged. I turned and ran for

the blood flow.

the gravity lift, but six more Hork-Bajir came run-

This is a dream, I thought again. Or maybe I

ning from that direction. Roping me in! Closing

have a fever. I'll wake up in a cold sweat, back in

off escape!

my room, back with a chance for victory. . .

I was blocked. Surrounded. Helpless!

"Move him!"

Unless . . .

The guards pulled me forward. I leaned back.

I focused.

Wake up, I screamed silently. Wake up!

And the impossible began to happen.

I wanted it to be a dream. Willed it to be a

Bands of color, stripes of orange and black

fevered dream.

inked my skin. Then fur erupted. Tiger muscles

The Orffs' blue lungs filled and collapsed,

bulged, ripping my suit at its seams. My teeth en-

filled and collapsed. Their hearts contracted.

larged and sharpened, becoming rows of pointed

Their blood coursed.

spears.

I rammed an elbow into a lung.

I was still able to morph.

No response!

The Yeerk force stared in horror, incredulous.

A flash of insight. What if their organs, those

"He's not Andalite! It's impossible!"

blatant, exposed, vulnerable organs, were de-

Not so, boys.

86

87

I fell forward onto all fours and lunged.

Slashed a Hork-Bajir leg. Rip! Slash! Rip!

Four were down. I turned on my father. He

reached for the Dracon holstered on his hip.

His hand was on it. His eyes were on me.

One leap and I'd have him. One leap, and I

could take him out.

C H A P T E R 18

My dad.

He lifted the beam from his belt. Started to

bring it up.

One leap . . .

Take down my father?

WHAM!

From behind! A brutal blow. My head ex-

Slowly, very slowly, unconsciousness gave

ploded. My legs, crumpling beneath me. And my

way to the numb daze of waking up.

vision . . .

My limbs were heavy. Utter exhaustion made

Red, then black.

me happy to be lying down. Don't move. Don't

even open your eyes. Back to sleep. Yeah . . . go

back to sleep, Jake.

Then suddenly, I remembered.

Panic knotted my stomach. I was back in hu-

man form!

How did I demorph?

Hideous red light reflected off a cool, smooth

floor. It burned my eyes. Bare, seamless walls. A

large room. And I was sprawled near the exit. A

door frame with no door. I could go . . .

88

89

I staggered to my feet, scanned the hall out-

changed. Despite the deep, angular battle scars

side for guards. No one. This was it. My lucky

that scored it.

break. I rushed forward.

I knew that face.

Kzzzzt!

That cocky confidence. That swagger.

It was like being slapped down by a steel

"Marco?"

plate. My face, knees, and fists had struck an in-

"Just the parts of his mind I find useful,"

visible, electrified force. I raised my head, not

came the reply. A voice at once familiar and

sure of what had happened, anticipating a sec-

alien.

ond strike.

"Not you, too, man."

Nothing. Just the opening, still crackling from

"Your old friend Marco's serving the Empire

impact.

now, if that's what you mean. He finally under-

I struggled to raise my limp body.

stands how much better things can be when we

"Still putting up the big fight?" It was a deep,

all work together. One big happy family. Tell your

chiding voice. "After all these years?"

old buddy, Marco."

I looked up. A broad, dark man paused in the

An odd expression contorted the man's face.

doorway, then strode through the energy barrier.

A face so shocked to find it could speak, that the

He was flanked by six Hork-Bajir and four heavily

mouth could barely form words.

armed Orff. The Hork-Bajir fell off and took up

There was stuttering. A long attempt to utter

locations by the entrance. The Orff kept their po-

something.

sitions on either side of this person, who was

"N-n-n . . . o."

clearly in charge.

And then the mouth stopped abruptly, turning

He spoke.

once again cold and hard. The Yeerk cut in. The

"When they told me it was you, I didn't believe

Yeerk who'd stolen my best friend's mind and

it. I thought you'd been disposed of at the begin-

made him a slave.

ning. My host's old comrade in arms. The former

"What he means is that no one could be hap-

leader of that pathetic little gang, the Animorphs."

pier."

The face was adult. Mid-twenties, like mine.

"Marco would die before he'd choose to help

Unmistakable anywhere, despite all that had

you."

90

91

"Evolutionist-Front nonsense. Everyone wants

to help the Yeerks. It's the informed choice, the

'in' thing to do. Life's cool when you share your

head."

This Yeerk was trying hard to tap Marco's hu-

mor, but it wasn't working.

"You'll want to join us, too. We've already got

C H A P T E R 19

a new Yeerk lined up for you. Someone more co-

operative with the Empire. He'll help you think

things through, help that anarchic brain of yours

find peace. But first we've got some business to

take care of."

A new Yeerk? So he, too, thought I was al-

ready a Controller?

I knew I wasn't. I knew it!

"You were spotted on the street near the

And yet when everybody thinks you're some-

scene of the explosion. You were off duty without

thing you're not, when everyone tells you again

authorization. Then I hear you're hanging with

and again who and what you are, it's hard not to

Gotham's most wanted. I have to say it was that

wonder, way in the back of your mind, if they

particular piece of evidence that sealed your

aren't somehow right.

fate." A familiar smirk lit up the altered face.

"Old Jake's a terrorist."

"I don't know anything about the explosion. I

was just on my way to work."

"I anticipated you'd try to resist."

Marco snapped his fingers and a Hork-Bajir

swiftly disabled the energy barrier. Two Orff

marched in, carrying Cassie. Her feet and hands

were bound with living handcuffs. They handled

her roughly, ignoring her broken arm.

9 2

93

Despite her injury, Cassie fought them like a

gigantic Taxxon on a leash. Each Orff carried a

madwoman. She spat in the big Cyclopean eye of

long pointed pole with which they jabbed at the

an Orff. The orbiting pupil turned from bright

Taxxon, keeping it at bay.

yellow to beet-red. He threw her to the floor at

Marco snickered. "This fellow's been brought

Marco's feet.

straight over from the Taxxon home world where

"Terrorist or not," Marco said to me, "when

he made quite a name for himself. He ate his en-

you see what I can do to Cassie, you'll do as I

tire hive. Mother? Uh-huh. Father? Yep. Siblings?

say."

Children? Cousins? Oh, yeah. We tried infesting

Cassie started to crawl away, but the Orff

him, but it became obvious that he's more effec-

grabbed her again and dragged her to a corner of

tive at what he does when his natural inclinations

the room. They fastened her cuffs to brackets on

are left unchecked."

the wall.

The Taxxon pulled violently, choking on his

"I want to meet those people clever enough to

leash, oblivious to everything but the search for

bring down a building in the center of town, right

flesh. Hundreds of legs scrambled. The Orff could

under our noses," Marco said, his calm unnerv-

barely hold him back.

ing. "I'd like you to introduce me to that group of

Cassie squirmed, struggling to break free. I

individuals. If you're willing, Jake, I think we

thought she would pull her arms out of their

might be able to keep things friendly."

sockets. I couldn't watch.

No. I was going to free Cassie. She needed

"Help us infiltrate the EF," Marco proposi-

tioned smoothly, "and her life will be spared. Tell

help.

me all you know and . . ."

I was about to morph to tiger when she

"Tell him nothing!" Cassie snarled. "I'd sooner caught my eye. Her expression held me back. Its

die a thousand Taxxon-deaths than aid the Em-

meaning was clear. Hold your ground, Jake, her

pire."

eyes said. Tell him nothing. Keep your cool. If

She meant it. No childish uncertainty lin-

you try to free me, you'll tell him too much.

gered in her voice. No naive hopes. She was pure

So I didn't morph. Instead I turned to Marco

warrior, calculating as any visser.

and said, "I told you, I don't know anything

But when I looked at her face, even though it

about any group."

was ten years older than in my memory, I saw

Immediately, led in by two more Orff, came a

94

95

only the Cassie I once knew, the Cassie I once

the difference? Are you so sure there even is a

cared for.

difference? Pain is pain. Fear is fear. If I order

She saw my mind working.

this Taxxon to eat you now you'll feel agony be-

"No, Jake!" she yelled.

yond imagining. Call it a dream if you want, but

"Decide now or it's over for the girl. You won't

it'll be real enough."

have a second chance."

I looked at Cassie, still screaming muffled syl-

I looked from Cassie to Marco, and didn't

lables through the Orff's fingers.

even hesitate.

I looked at the Taxxon. He saw me and jerked

"I'll tell you whatever you want."

his head. Drool flew from his mouth. Struck my

"No!" Cassie shrieked, bucking and kicking.

hand.

"You'll do just as I say. Exactly as I say, or this

Marco signaled. An Orff clamped see-through

Taxxon scarfs Cassie down in a New York minute.

fingers over Cassie's mouth.

Get it?"

"This makes a new record for breaking a ter-

I got it.

rorist." Marco smiled and fell into a chair. "It's

"Start talking."

things like this that get you noticed by the Coun-

"Okay," I said nervously. "I'm waiting for fur-cil. They knew what they were doing when they

ther contact from the EF. They're planning an-

made me Visser Three."

other attack. Worse than the one today," I added,

Visser Three?

though I would not mention the moon-ray plan.

"Cassie said you were Visser Two."

"I am."

"I don't have details yet. I get them from my next

"But you just said . . . you said three, not

contact. I'll cooperate. I'll do whatever you want.

two."

Just don't hurt her."

Marco's grin broadened.

"Her?" Marco said, rising from his chair, mov-

That was a slip. Proof that this couldn't be

ing toward Cassie. "Why would we have to harm

real!

her?" His voice was calm, confident. "She'll give us the names of the other EF terrorists. She'll give

"It's all just a dream, isn't it?" I said excit-

us their locations. She'll help us catch them, help

edly.

us reinfest them. Relax, Jake. I'm sure . . ."

Marco laughed. "Dream? Reality? Can you tell

96

97

Cassie head-butted the Orff. His fingers fell

away from her mouth. She coughed, back deep

in her throat, and —

Dead center. Marco's right eye. She lodged

the perfect loogie.

No one spoke.

Marco reached out and gripped her hair. Bent

C H A P T E R 20

her head back. Pulled so hard she squinted.

Then he let go of her, rubbed the spit out of his

eye, and turned to me.

"Go back to work, Jake. Essak. Wait for the

EF to contact you. Go with them. Do as they say.

We'll be watching."

The room began to spin.

"No matter which way you turn, we'll know.

Awake. Somehow, back at my work con-

We'll be there. Don't try to deceive us."

sole.

I grabbed the table for support. But the room

Controllers all over the office began quietly

just kept spinning. And spinning . . .

standing up, leaving their cubicles, systemati-

"We'll be watching." Marco's voice was faint

cally filing out of the big room toward the gravity-

now. "Every step you take, Jake. Buddy . . . "

lift doors.

My computer was blank. No more rotating

Chrysler Building model. Glowing numerals glared

6:36. The workday was over. My crew was already

gone, which was lucky, because I would have had a

lot of explaining to do.

Dreams within nightmares within hallucina-

tions within visions. It was debilitating!

Play along. Get up and follow.

98

99

We'll be watching. . .

Tacos, hamburgers, chicken strips, cheese

Marco's voice still vibrated in my ears.

sticks, buffalo wings. Bowls of chips piled three

I picked up the mug on my desk that had

feet high. No broccoli in sight. My mother would

somehow appeared and took a swig of cold cof-

not be happy. I was in heaven. Nightmare or not,

fee. I bit into a half-eaten jelly donut. It moved

it was real enough that I felt hunger. Hunger so

down my esophagus like a wad of wet paper

strong I felt I'd been adrift for a month in the rag-

towel.

ing Pacific with nothing to sustain me but rain-

I stood up and followed the last Controller

water.

onto the gravity lift. It plummeted several floors

I heaped a plate with tacos and pizza and

and opened onto a long, yellow hallway. Pulsat-

edged toward the drink bar.

ing triangles pointed the way to an enclosed

WHOOF!

bridge. A catwalk, running from skyscraper to

A Hork-Bajir slammed me against the wall,

skyscraper over dingy streets hundreds of feet

knocking my plate to the floor.

below.

I moved to strike. He blocked my arm.

I heard music. A thumping bass filled the air. I

"Don't struggle," he said quietly. "I'm a

quickened my step. Inviting smells. Food smells.

friend."

I followed the music and aromas to a huge

I looked him over. Savage blades. Bandana

carpeted room, like a banquet hall. Blue and red

strips tied like tourniquets on all limbs. Didn't

lights flashed and spun in the darkness. Long ta-

look like a friend to me. He reached for one of

bles lined the walls and framed a dance floor.

the cloth ties, pulled it down, and revealed a

Orff lifted crystal mugs of green brew into the air,

branding. A sort of poorly executed, self-inflicted

chanted something incomprehensible, downed

tattoo. The letters "EF" etched in leathery skin.

the liquid, and slammed the mugs to the table.

"My contact?"

At the far end, a ring of Taxxons stuffed pot pie

"No. A messenger," he said. "Make like you're after pot pie into their mouths, cheered on by

going to the hovercraft dock, like you're going

Hork-Bajir.

home for the night. Then double back and duck in

But much of the crowd was human. Evidently

the side door to the kitchen." His eyes trailed

the Yeerks understood the human need for leisure

across the room to the door in question. My eyes

time. And for junk food.

followed.

100

101

He squeezed a hand against my neck to make

pantry. No one. Into the main kitchen. Prep

it seem like he was an aggressor. Necessary for

counters. Ranges. Refrigerators.

setting Marco's men off track, I assumed. Then

I froze. Labored breathing.

he fell back into the rowdy, pulsing mass on the

A kind of struggle for air through lungs that

dance floor.

were seriously not well. I swung around and

I grabbed a taco off a table and crammed it

there, next to the island chopping block, was a

into my mouth, then dance-walked over to the

wheelchair.

hovercraft dock. I strolled onto the platform, into

In the wheelchair, a woman. I'm not sure how

the crazy hum. Hover ships crisscrossed the set-

I knew it was a woman. The face and body were

ting sun, swarming in apparent disorder like bees

grossly disfigured by injuries. She had no legs.

in a garden.

Only one arm. A horrifying scar shut one eye.

"Uptown?" a blue suit asked me. Her red hair

The other eye looked up at me. It gleamed a

glistened in the sun's dimming rays.

brilliant blue.

"Yeah," I said. She smiled. The hovercraft

I think I knew right then because the hair on

pulled in. She stepped on. I stepped in after her.

the back of my neck stood on end.

We brushed shoulders, then I remembered.

"Aahhh Nihhh Morfff," came a sound from

"Wait! I'm, uh, still hungry." I smiled apolo-

lips that barely moved. A scraping voice, harsh as

getically. "One more taco should do the trick." I railroad brakes, weak as a whisper. Yet strangely

slipped off the ship. Its doors closed. Blue suit

animated.

was whisked into the sky.

Animorph. The password!

Back into the canteen, slinking low, lost in

Relief washed over me. A sudden wave. I was

the throbbing mass of dancers. Moving along the

in the presence of a friend. It was about time!

wall, past a row of diners. To the swinging door.

This pitiable woman . . . just a clever disguise.

Whoosh!

"You don't even rec . . ." Thick wheezing cut

I was inside a dimly lit kitchen. Empty, though

off her words. She started up again. "You don't

the still-wet floor reeked of bleach.

recognize me."

The door clapped shut, muting the after-work

The arduous puffs of speech . . . this was no

revelry of Yeerk happy hour. I moved through the

disguise.

102

103

"Cause I'm not kicking . . . Yeerk butt, you

don't. . . even recognize . . . your own cousin?"

A sprig of dulled golden hair tucked behind a

battered ear.

Reckless vitality still shining in her one eye.

"Cassie said you were dead!" I blurted.

She jammed her hand on the wheelchair joy-

C H A P T E R 21

stick and lurched forward, stopping aggressively

an inch from my boot.

"Close," she whispered. "But not quite."

Rachel!

Not dead. Alive.

I couldn't find words. There were plenty rac-

ing around in my head, but none made it out. I

just dropped to my knees and looked into her

face. She had been so badly hurt. I wanted to ask

how — why didn't she morph to repair the dam-

age? But I was afraid of the answer.

I knew it was my doing. I knew I'd finally

wasted Rachel's life.

"We don't do pity," she snapped, answering

the expression on my face. "This is business. The

serious stuff."

I nodded.

Why had Cassie lied to me?

104

105

"Eight blocks away is . . . the New York Public

"Get the sauce," he bellowed, "and bring it to Library. A big abandoned building you . . . can't

my table. You're right, the tacos stink."

miss. Get there. Make the trip . . . from here to

He turned and walked out.

there the crookedest... line you can. We want

"They'll trail you," Rachel said. "At least now them o f f . . . the scent."

you know . . . who you need to lose."

I nodded again. It was hard for me to listen to

"But do I meet someone? I want to do this

her wheezing, but it didn't seem to bother her

right. Who do I look for? How will I know them?"

much at all.

"You'll know." An undercurrent of the old en-

"Go in . . . the side entrance," she contin-

thusiasm carried her voice, even through the la-

ued. "Up two flights. Down . . . the hall and into

bored speech. "Believe me, you'll know."

the stacks. And wait."

I moved to leave. Her hand grabbed my suit.

"For what?"

"Don't let us down, Jake. It's not j u s t . . . our

"We don't do questions."

freedom in the balance . .. this time. It's .. . life

Suddenly —

itself. There are many more . . . like me. Injured

Whoosh!

or weak or different. So let's do it. . . and do it

An Orff flung open the swing door. Shone his

right."

amber eye-light on pots, pans, me, stacked dishes.

She released me. I wish I could say it didn't

Back to me.

bother me to look at the mess Rachel had be-

"Explain your position, Orange Suit."

come, but it did. And in my mind, her wounds

Rachel's chair was low enough to the ground

chronicled my failures as a leader. It was more

that he couldn't see her behind the island chop-

than I could bear.

ping block, but I was standing.

Without a backward glance, I swung through

"I wanted more salsa. The tacos are bland," I

the door and back into the rowdy canteen. I

said.

couldn't tell exactly who was watching, but I felt

He thought a moment. I stared him down.

the threat. I felt the stare of Marco's men.

But when he stepped through the door my

A gravity lift dropped me at street level. Me

heart pounded. Maybe he was a figment of my

and a group of blue suits looking to start a brawl

subconscious, but pain was pain. Fear was fear.

with a Taxxon gang. I left them on the corner and

Marco had a point.

started to move.

106

107

Down an alley. Back onto a main street. An-

three, crouched next to a junked hovercraft, their

other alley . . .

eyes red.

I needed to morph. I focused on the image of

One of them was not even twelve feet away. A

a peregrine falcon. I waited for my bones to start

glowing orange follow spot. Invisible now, in the

shrinking, the ground to start racing up at me.

night, but that didn't matter. I'd charted it on my

Nothing happened. The changes didn't come!

mental map.

I heard footsteps behind me. I looked back,

Five total. I would lose these guys. I'd lose

but saw no one. Could Marco's men have some

them without morphing. For Rachel.

antimorphing technology?

Ready, set. . .

I broke into a jog, dodging in and out of blown-

Gone! I pumped my legs. Worked them like

out storefronts, doubling back on my tracks.

springs, jumping over the debris-laden street and

All the while I felt eyes on me. I saw no one.

across the pavement. A powerful body in top con-

Just felt eyes.

dition. A host any Yeerk would give five ranks to

And heard footfalls. When I slowed, they

get.

slowed. When I sped up, they followed.

I couldn't see the Orff, but I could hear them.

I kept trying to morph, but the changes

A fluid swishing followed by a thump, as each leg

wouldn't come. Maybe it was me. Maybe my

struck the ground. Swish-thump. Swish-thump.

mind was too fragmented to focus.

Swish-thump. Blending together so fast it was

In the middle of Forty-second Street, in the

one sound. One rhythm. The Orff's three legs.

center of the path the Yeerks had cut through de-

Like a well-oiled engine.

bris from the explosion, I stopped suddenly, waited

I turned into another alley. Swish-thump.

two seconds, and spun around.

Only one Orff was near. But how close? I twisted

My boot struck the pavement. It was the

and caught a glimpse. It was Orange-eye. Stick-

sound of triumph. Because I'd captured exactly

ing to me. He wouldn't let me pull away.

what I wanted.

I'd have to take this chase inside.

I'd seen the Orff before they'd dimmed their

eyes.

There was one on a first-floor balcony a half-

block away, purple. And there was a group of

108

109

I grabbed for a shoe rack. It tumbled.

I was falling!

Like Alice in Wonderland, I was shooting

through blackness. Or down a water park slide.

Only beneath me wasn't a stream of H20, but a

current of air so strong it kept me buoyant.

Air flew past so fast I could hardly breathe. I

scratched the sides for a handhold, but they were

C H A P T E R 22

smooth.

A twisting turn! Then flatness. Then a thirty-

foot drop!

"Oh-wah-oh-wa-weh-se-gunta-go . . ."

<Oh-wah-oh-wa. . .>

What the. . . ?!

1 dove through the storefront, its sheet glass

Kids. A mix of oral and thought-speak voices.

already blown out. I landed on a bed of sports

Singing!

equipment. Hockey skates jabbed my ribs. Sneak-

It was the first joyful sound I'd heard since

ers broke my fall.

waking in my cell.

I raced to the back of the store. Boxes of

I saw the end of the tunnel speeding toward

shoes and skates and hockey pads piled high,

me. No way to slow down!

overturned, spilled randomly across the floor. I

"Yahhh!"

tripped through the obstacle course, heading for

I was flying through night air, through a sky

the backstairs when . . .

dotted by stars and warmed by the full moon.

Whoosh!

Whumph!

The floor in front of me was opening up! I

An unexpectedly soft landing on a wide,

couldn't stop. Moving too fast. . .

grassy field. Next to me was a tree. But not just

A black hole!

your average neighborhood maple or oak. This

"Ahh!"

sucker was huge. A billowing, thriving tree whose

110

111

branches bowed to touch the ground, then

<With it we walk, think, and speak. For it we

headed back up toward the sky. Like the baobabs

breathe, sleep, and work.>

of Africa I've seen on the Discovery Channel.

"Freedom guides us," everyone answered.

Every branch had a child on it. A smiling, play-

<For it we live.>

ful child, singing and swaying. Some of them were

"Freedom is all."

obviously skilled tree-climbers. Not all of them

Heads dropped. A human male asked the kids

were human, although most were. There were

if they wanted to share what they'd worked on

young Andalites, too. Even a number of Orff. And a

during the week. The female who'd led the song

Leeran.

walked over to me.

"Oh-wah-oh-wa-weh-se-gunta-go!"

"What is this place?" I asked. "Are you the

The singing stopped.

group Cassie told me about? Are you free?"

On the grass not far from me, beneath the

"Yes. So Cassie sent you?"

tree, were some adults. A few were standing, oth-

"Well, no. I mean, I don't know. I just fell

ers sat cross-legged. They didn't wear the colored

through a hole in the floor and . . ."

suits of the Yeerk metropolis. Instead they had

"The floor doesn't open up for just anyone.

on loose-fitting, linen-colored tunics. A bulge in

Cassie must want you to learn. You see, all our

a pouch on their sides revealed handheld Dra-

young adults are in the EF. We're the ones

cons, but I got the feeling the weapons weren't

they've saved so far. We elders, and the children

used very often.

that we raise and teach." She pointed back at

Adult Andalites stood thoughtfully nearby. A

the tree. It must have been art week because

single Orff, barely visible in the darkness, crouched

each child had a painting of his own creation in

on his third leg while he extended the other two

his hands. The canvases were small, but intri-

legs comfortably out in front of him.

cate. One student at a time explained his work

A human female raised her hands with plea-

while the others listened.

sure and smiled at the kids in the tree. "Very

"These are the first healthy kids I've seen

nice," she said. "We'll start the meeting now."

since I've been here."

All heads turned up to the starry sky. An adult

The woman nodded and squeezed my arm.

Andalite stepped forward.

"It's a sad story, to be sure. I'll tell you." She 112

113

jf lowered her voice a notch. "The Yeerks raise chil-

She turned back to the class in progress, then

I dren in large warehouses back in the city. Con-

back to me.

trollers like the ones you saw are picked at

"Would you like to see more?"

random to procreate. When children are born,

I nodded. I felt it was important to see how

they enter one of the wamps, or warehouses,

things worked here. I felt that I was here because

where they are held from birth to age fifteen.

I was supposed to be.

Their lives are controlled though their brains are

left uninfested. Children are seen as weak and

unworthy host bodies.

"During this captivity," she continued,

; "they're pumped full of vitamin supplements so

the host bodies will grow strong. They're run on

treadmills so they'll be fit to fight and to produce.

When instinct leads them to indulge in moments

] of uncontrolled, regular childhood, they are pun-

ished. If they try to educate themselves, they are

punished. Yeerks want minds as powerless as

possible. So they raise children in a joyless, life-

less world where they wait for the day of infesta-

tion. The EF fights to free them. When they are

freed, which is far more seldom than I can bear

to think, they come here."

1 "These kids don't seem traumatized at all," I

I said. "They seem completely normal."

"We've been lucky that way. Very few have

I been broken down beyond repair. This is a place

I of joy. It helps that we don't talk about the

wamps unless we must. We live simply. We teach

I and cultivate. We hope."

114

115

I smiled and knelt down to get closer to his

level.

"You want to see my painting?" he said. "My

friends think I'm better at art than they are. The

elders say I have a gift."

"Well, then, I'd better have a look."

Justice handed his canvas to me.

C H A P T E R 23

"What do you think?"

The image was divided diagonally, from the

lower left corner to upper right. Below that line was

an expressionist nightmare. A dark, angular city.

Jutting, steel-gray towers rising through a bloodred

mist. A fog from which arms and screaming, ago-

nized faces reached in vain for a sky they couldn't

I walked over to the tree.

see.

"Are you from the EF?" A kid's voice. I looked

Above the diagonal demarcation was a differ-

down at one of the lower, swooping branches and

ent world. A cloudless, blue-skied landscape. In

saw a blond, rosy-cheeked boy. Maybe eight or

the sky hovered a hot-air balloon, stark-white,

nine. He spoke like he hoped I was with the EF

like a sun. Extending from the balloon's gondola,

because that would make me a quasi-celebrity

crossing over from the joyful sky to the dismal,

and someone worth showing his artwork to.

urban abyss was a rope.

"Urn, I guess so," I said. "Yeah. I'm working A cord, thin as thread.

with the EF. My name's Jake."

On this rope were people, traveling upward,

"My name's Justice. The elders insist on giv-

pinned to the thread like clothes on a laundry

ing us these funny 'concept' names. Like, that's

line.

Liberty over there." He pointed to a girl on a high

And as they crossed the border between dark-

branch. "And that's Storm." As he explained

ness and light, faces stiff with frustration and

this, he rolled his eyes a little, indicating that to

rage softened. There were no smiles, but there

him, all adults seem a bit goofy.

were expressions of hope.

116

117

"Do you like it, Jake?"

grabbed hold of my arm, pulling me toward the

"It's great," I said. He smiled. "You're really trunk of the massive tree.

good at drawing. Is that how you got here? Did

"You're gonna be late," he said. "I want you you escape up the rope?"

to stay, but you're gonna be late." He pressed his

"Not you too," he said with mild frustration.

small hand on a depression in the thick, corru-

"The elders are always telling me I paint allegories,

gated bark and a door appeared. It opened for me

whatever they are! I'm working out my aggression

and I let Justice push me through it, but then I

and fears, they say. But I'm just painting what I

turned back.

want to."

When I did, there was just the trunk of an

"Okay."

oak.

"Do you get to fly Bug fighters?"

No door, no free humans.

"Nope."

I was back in the city.

"But you get to plan attacks, right? And lead

In Bryant Park, awash in shadows from a

rebels? And free slaves?"

nearly full, rising moon. Gnarled branches on

"I guess so."

leafless trees spread like outstretched hands.

"That's what I want to do. I'm gonna free all

Hands warning of danger. Pleading with me to be

the friends I had to leave behind. They're prison-

careful.

ers and I'm gonna save them."

Gravel crunched beneath my boots as I

I wondered how I should answer, how I could

crossed to the New York Public Library. My mind

explain to him, without destroying his spirit.

hummed with confusion as I tried to make sense

"War doesn't always let you save the people you

of the place I'd just been, the free humans I'd

know," I said. "You might end up being assigned

just met.

to a mission that saves people far away from

I'd decided a while back to give up analyzing

here. People you don't know. Other people's

what was happening to me and why. I'd figured

friends."

that sanity depended on accepting the reality I

He shook his head.

saw, this dream or nightmare or vision. But that

"I'll save my friends first. Then I'll save other

didn't mean there weren't times when all I wanted

people's friends." He jumped suddenly and

were answers — definite, concrete answers.

118

119

I listened for the sound of Orff footfalls. For

to a halt next to a row of dark-stained wooden ta-

the feel of spying eyes tracking me.

bles. And then a hundred lights switched on and

Nothing. I'd lost them.

splashed light across the surfaces of a hundred

I'd done as Rachel had said.

desks, illuminating a huge reading room.

Up white marble steps.

A strapping Andalite, coarse blue fur drawn

"TSSEEERRR."

tight over battle-ready muscles, swiveled grace-

ful stalk eyes to rest on me.

A raptor's cry cut the night. Then beating

<Jake.>

wings and the creaking of ancient bones.

The thought-speak voice was mind-filling.

"Tobias!"

Gentle and tough. Wise, inspiring, terrifying.

Feathers brushed my face as a hawk shot

Familiar.

past. So close this time! I blinked and . . .

He looked just as he did the night his space-

Gone! Absorbed by the night.

craft crashed in the construction site. The night

"Tobias?" There was no answer.

my life changed forever.

So I turned and opened the massive, brass-

By comparison, my voice sounded puny and

handled door. I raced up moonlit stairs, boots

forlorn, swallowed up by the vaulted chamber.

pounding in the vast emptiness.

"Elfangor."

A wood-paneled corridor led to the stacks, to

endless rows of high, book-lined shelves. A gloomy,

moody maze. A musty, unlived-in smell. Silent as a

tomb.

Reading obviously wasn't big with the Em-

pire.

I walked along the main corridor, looking down

each aisle. Rachel said I'd know.

I was in the beginning of the "E" section

when I passed an aisle that seemed to extend

farther than the rest. I turned into the book-lined

tunnel, heart thumping, and began to run.

Suddenly, the bookshelves ended. I skidded

120

121

<But you would fight them differently? Sabo-

tage and terrorist offensives make you morally

uneasy. You want a better way.>

"What I want is to go home."

<Too much for you?> Elfangor was an awe-

some presence. I'd be lying to say he didn't in-

timidate me some. But I was a leader, too. I saw

the fight for Earth as more mine now than his. I

C H A P T E R 24

wanted to be respectful of him, but in my view

he'd made a giant mistake with the terrorist cam-

paign. I had to call him on it.

"No. I want to go home so I can keep all this

from happening in the first place. If this is the

future, I want to go back. I can stop the Yeerks

The Andalite shifted on his hooves and trot-

without sacrificing my friends. Without botching

the war, and bumbling into your brand of terror-

ted nearer, his stature breathtaking. He was pow-

ism and half-freedoms. I can stop them before

erful and well-proportioned.

we sacrifice the very things we're fighting for!"

<You have followed our instructions.>

Elfangor laughed in my mind. <Victory with-

I'd seen Elfangor murdered with my own eyes,

out sacrifice? You know better than that.>

yet there he stood. Could he be leader of the EF?

"You don't have to give up your principles to

Mastermind of a terrorist campaign against Yeerk

win. Isn't there always an alternative to sacrifice

control? I was incredulous, but, at this point,

if you just keep your mind clear, and step back,

anything seemed possible.

and see it and . . ."

"The EF is certainly a force to be reckoned

<You know better than that.>

with," I said.

The repetition stung. How did he know I was

<lt sounds as though you question our tac-

just talking big? It was like he was inside my

tics.>

head, rifling through my personal file of fears and

"Action is the surest path to change. No

mistakes . . .

question there."

122

123

Now I was angry.

Of course.

"It's all your fault," I said suddenly, surpris-

<And so are you.>

ing myself. "I always thought of you as a hero,

My throat tightened. My skin tingled. What?

Elfangor. A leader. But the truth is you couldn't

My mind seized on his words, pulled and prod-

see another way out. You sentenced us to hard-

ded them. Turned and shook them.

ship, pain, and suffering. We were kids. You

Dead? Then how could I be free?!

made us question every value we ever learned.

<Ten years ago tonight, Tom put it all to-

You had no right to heap that weight on us, huge

gether. He came into your room and murdered

the leader of the Animorphs. Rather than let

and impossible. You used us!"

Visser Three know that one of the notorious "An-

<That's interesting, coming from you, Jake.>

dalite bandits" had gone undetected for so long,

The voice changed as he said my name. Sud-

right under his nose, Tom ended your life. Your

denly, he didn't sound like Elfangor anymore.

own brother. . . >

The Andalite arrogance was gone, leaving only

"But I'm here!"

the voice of a man. A human. Familiar and unfa-

I looked down at my hand. Pink-tan flesh un-

miliar.

der the light of the reading lamp. Knuckles,

<Let me guess what comes next,> the new

nails, veins, bones. Alive. Real.

voice said. <You didn't ask for leadership, right?

<Yes, you're here, but not alive.>

You didn't ask to make the tough calls. Plan the

What was this?

missions. Decide how to use your small but loyal

<lt all converges tonight. Battles, struggle,

force. How and when to put them in harm's way,

strategy. Tonight is the decisive moment. The

risking their lives. You're blameless. The role was

Chrysler Building moon ray is ready for use.

thrust upon you. Well, I don't buy it, Jake. Every

They're powering it up as I speak. Running

choice is yours. Always has been. You were and

through the checklist. Applying your hundreds of

are free.>

hours of calculations.>

"Tobias."

"No! No, no, no! I'm not a scientist!"

<Yeah. You know I morphed Ax a long time

<You are. You were. Or rather, you will be. It

ago. I decided to stay in this morph. Ax's body

all rests on you. You're the only one . . . only you

has aged ten years. It's a dead ringer for Elfan-

can make the shot miss. Get there, Jake. Alter

gor, isn't it? But Elfangor's dead, Jake.>

125

124

the programming. Make it miss. Even a tenth of a

percent will do the job. This is the decisive mo-

ment, do you understand? Use whatever means

necessary.>

"If I make the shot miss, the moon will ex-

plode and doom millions."

<The greater good, Jake. The big picture. For

C H A P T E R 25

God's sake, don't get stopped by details. Perma-

nent Kandrona. Failure means an Earth that is at

last irrevocably Yeerk.>

"But what about Cassie? Marco has her!"

<There's no time. She's prepared to die with

honor.>

"Couldn't you send someone else to save her?

•1 couldn't accept it.

One of your people?" I pleaded, indignant at his

I ran out the same way I came in, as fast as

dismissal of her life.

my legs could carry me. Past row upon row of

Tobias shrugged.

books and cavernous marble library halls built for

<No one to spare.>

a different world.

"I won't let her die!"

I burst out into a muggy cloud of night air,

<Save one or save many? The choice wasn't

thick and hot. The leaves on the trees were full

so hard for you at the Ragsin Building, when you

and lush. Leaves? Muggy air? Minutes ago I'd

left Marco and Rachel to save themselves.>

walked beneath barren branches, dormant as

I couldn't answer that.

death. Now I raced past foliage rustling in the

<This is war, Jake. Sacrifices must be made.>

whirlwind currents from hovercraft overhead.

He turned abruptly and walked across the

Reality was all wrong.

room.

Cassie.

<Alter the moon ray or save Cassie. One or the

No mission was worth sacrificing her life.

other. Or neither. Not both.>

127

126

I ran from Tobias. From Elfangor and Ax, from

A flash of heat. The scorch of Dracon fire on

friends who'd ceased to care.

the bricks above my face.

As leader of the Animorphs, I would put the

Marco's men!

mission first. The mission as a whole. But what

Get away! I had to get above this nightmare

was my mission?

town! I tore at my synthetic orange skin and tried

What made the world worth more? Sheer vol-

to morph.

ume? The future? The common good?

The physical changes began. I hadn't lost the

Detachment, you idiot.

morphing power! Long human legs collapsed up

The last battle we'd fought together. . . Marco

into my rear. Elbows fused to my chest.

and Rachel, inside... lose everyone or just

A downy undercoat sprouted across my skin.

two . . . a door closing . . . Securing their des-

Stiff feathers shot outward from thinning arms.

tiny .. .

Hard cranial bones shifted, sculpting my heavy,

Guilt tore at me with scratching, ripping claws.

round human head into the falcon's sleek form.

I'd set the example. I was to blame for

I flapped as hard as I could. Struggling through

Cassie's hardness and Tobias's indifference.

wet air.

I ran still faster. Down a dark, narrow back-

Help Cassie, and I doom so many more. Kan-

street. The smell of Taxxon filth invaded every

drona for eternity. Help Cassie and mankind's

corner of the city. Sweat poured down my face,

fate is sealed.

mixing with burning, unstoppable tears.

But I would have one more moment with

"I'm sorry!" I shouted at the sky.

Cassie by my side. We might make it. We could

No one to hear.

run.

Tobias was wrong about war. What good is it if

But where could we go? And with a Kandrona

people are forgotten along the way? If one girl in

sun, I couldn't even starve the Yeerk out of her

one million girls is scarred and hardened.

head . . .

Changed forever. What good? Only Yeerks freely

Every detail of the city surged into focus with

give their own to see a job completed. I wasn't a

raptor sight. And the mind. Simple, but keen. Fo-

Yeerk.

cused on the task. No swells of emotion. No

I wasn't.

unanswered questions.

TSEEEW!

The tears were gone.

128

129

Higher. Past walls of silver-green glass and

rooftop landing pads. Glassed-in penthouses,

beacons in the darkness, housed crowds of hu-

mans and Andalites gathered around sludgy

pools. High-level Controllers cavorting and con-

spiring. The alien world's hot tub equivalent. The

Yeerk pool.

The air cooled and thinned as I rose higher

C H A P T E R 26

still, until at last, the menacing Yeerk New York

looked safe and small. Air began to slip past my

tired wings. I was an insignificant dot in the sky.

One free soul above a city of slaves. Millions that

were mine to save.

Cassie.

Justice would save his friends first.

The lights of Yeerk and once-Andalite craft

But Justice was a kid.

flitted over streets like crimson fireflies. Brook-

lyn. Queens. The Bronx. The suburbs. The string

of distant cities beyond. All of it glowed a telling

red. The East Coast megalopolis, to the horizon

and beyond.

Yeerk. All of it. Yeerk.

My telescopic falcon eyes found the silhou-

ette of a man at a desk, high in a skyscraper. In

the world I used to know, he could have been

anyone. Working late. With a wife and a family. A

dog. A home.

Here he was a captive. One captive.

One life.

Two miles away was another building, not the

130

131

tallest, but one that stood out, with a pointed,

row ledge a thousand feet from the ground, one

shining peak. Brighter than all the structures

of the giant gargoyles anchored just beneath her

around it, with starbursts stacked to form a tall,

feet! She was facing out, away from the building,

elegant tip.

her wrists strapped to the masonry wall, her face

The Chrysler Building. Center of the invaders'

strained as she fought to break free.

command. Instrument of Yeerk domination.

<CaaaaSieeeee!>

Cassie's prison.

She twisted.

A stunning yellow light electrified the massive

<The spire!> Her desperate plea filled my

peak. The needle rod planted at the top began to

head. <Smash the spire!>

pulse.

How could she answer in thought-speak? How

Then suddenly, right before my eyes . . . the

could she even see me? No time to wonder.

giant metallic gargoyle eagles that jutted from

The building was racing toward me. The green

the corners of the spire's base seemed to ignite!

beams were growing wider and wider, expanding

The moon ray was energizing.

toward Cassie's perch. They'd fry her! In seconds,

An emerald-green glow was growing within

she'd be toast.

the eagles, emanating, gaining intensity.

<The smallest misalignment will disable it!>

Shafts of green sprang from the eagle heads,

she screamed. <Smash into the spire! Do it

like controlled lightning. Rose up and up, con-

now!>

verging at the spire's needle tip!

Razor talons could tear away Cassie's bonds.

A pyramid of green with an axis of gold, all of

Free, she could take cover from the beams. She

it sizzling energy!

could survive.

I pulled in my two-foot wings and began the

<The spire!>

dive. Thirty, forty, fifty miles an hour. The Chrysler

Indecision slowed my thoughts, and my de-

Building my prey.

scent.

I plummeted through cold air, faster and

The Chrysler Building glowed brighter and

faster. Eighty, ninety . . . a feathered bullet. A

brighter. The air vibrated with turbulence. The

dark streak in the night.

ray seemed desperate to activate. An endless

And then, a detail.

supply of Kandrona. An Earth forever Yeerk.

A human form! A woman, perched on a nar-

One well-placed impact — a five-pound fal-

132

133

con traveling at top speed — and the whole oper-

ation might fail. Two lives given to save millions

more. To save Earth's future . . .

Cassie yanked at the living bonds that held

her wrists. She fought them, bit them, banged

them against the wall. All she could do until sud-

denly . . .

<Ahhhhh!> She was free!

C H A P T E R 27

And then she leaped forward. Jumped from

the brick ledge to the base of the gargoyle, per-

ilously close to the raging green shaft. Slammed

her weight onto the eagle. It quaked minutely,

but it was enough. The light dimmed!

<You did it!> I cheered. The spire's color

weakened from blinding white to dull yellow.

A scarlet slit. The only entrance to the Yeerk

<No! I only misaligned an auxiliary stabilizer.

fortress.

The system will be up and running again in min-

I braked hard against the incredible force of a

utes !>

full dive. The narrow vertical opening approached

Before I could respond, a panel hissed open

too fast. I'd miscalculated.

behind her. Strong, nearly invisible Orff arms en-

The only solution, maybe, was a fierce bank.

veloped her.

One wing tip stretched at the ground, the other to

<Jake! Disable the main computers!>

the sky. I flattened my body. Braced for impact.

She was dragged inside. And the panel shut.

Whhhhumppppppfffff.

Except for a crack.

My hollow bird bones were crushed as momen-

tum forced the falcon's too-large body through the

slit.

Wham!

I smacked a marble wall. Dropped to the cool

stone floor.

134

135

Stay conscious, Jake. My body was shattered,

It was Marco, glaring down from a pedestal

unresponsive. Blackness closed in, blurring my

hovering high in the center of the room, enclosed

vision.

by a semicircular control panel fused to the base.

Feebly, I looked back at the narrow slit. Was I

A large holographic display at the front of the

hallucinating? Perched atop the gargoyle-eagle,

room showed an image of the moon.

was a real bird. A red-tailed hawk. Eyes on me.

Displayed beside this moon view was a live

<Demorph.> The strong voice pulled me back.

image of the Chrysler Building. The spire glowed

My human form. Human . . .

white-hot. Numbers beneath ticked away the

Miraculously, splintered bones began to fuse

seconds. 00:28. 00:27.

and grow. Fly, kill, eat, protect. The raptor's

"Don't even bother trying," Marco boasted.

calming elemental instincts were forgotten by

"Neither of you can do anything to stop this." He the confused human mind.

motioned to the wall of windows, where Cassie,

<lt's not too late.> The same strong voice.

bound and gagged, struggled in vain.

I got up. I followed the sound of Cassie's

"In minutes, the moon will shine and

kicks against the corridor. The building vibrated

strengthen only Yeerks. We will be all-powerful.

as the moon ray powered up again.

Earth will be ours forever."

So little time.

A panel behind Cassie flew open, revealing a

I remorphed as I ran, bounding silently toward a

red night.

red panel at the end of the hall on big Siberian

"And to celebrate, we've decided to throw a

paws.

terrorist from the sky."

Ka-blam!

I sprang.

I slammed the barrier and the half-inch-thick

"Get him!"

alloy easily folded. The door ripped from its track

TSEEEWW! TSEEEWW!

and revealed an immense chamber aglow with

Dracon fire electrified the floor under my

computer screens.

paws. Waves of Hork-Bajir moved in from every

Four armed Orff on high platforms.

direction. I was hit! Hard, sharp blades sliced my

Two rows of Hork-Bajir.

back and neck. No pain. Not yet. I wouldn't let

And a voice raging from above.

pain in. Not even as blood spewed from my cuts.

"You again!"

Staining my fur. Coating my muzzle.

136

137

I fought back, wildly. Madly spilling purple-

Marco towered above, triumphant. Eyes fixed

blue Hork-Bajir blood.

on the holograms. Fists clenched.

Five were down. A new wave rushed to catch

A scream!

me. No!

Cassie! Hurled through the opening, into the

Propelled by hind legs like rockets, I sailed

red night!

over the approaching attackers. Landed hard.

BAAAM!

Tumbled into two Orff.

Violently, I rammed the Orff on my back

"Get him, you morons!"

against the wall.

I slashed frantically. Sent their handheld Dra-

BAAAM!

cons flying like twigs in a hurricane.

He struggled, resisted. Tried to choke me. Cut

I moved in to finish the job.

off my air.

"Rrroooaaarrrr!"

BAAAM!

The Orffs' clear, soft neck tissue yielded to

I smashed him again. His kicking slowed. His

my fangs like soft butter to a knife. But the taste!

grip loosened.

I withdrew. Gagged and spat.

He dropped to the floor, his green hearts

The poisonous, toxic taste!

spilling blood through severed vessels.

Before I could recover one of the Orff closed his

I looked at the window. Cassie.

arms around my neck. Two legs clamped around

And then, somehow, c r a z i l y . . . a hand

my sides. The third kicked wildly at my gut.

reached up. Three fingers gripped the ledge.

I bit into the other Orff's leg, crushing arter-

Cassie's hand. She wasn't gone! But in seconds

ies. Grinding leg bones in my jaw. Forcing myself

she would tumble to her sixty-story death, a

to tolerate the taste.

splattered heap for Taxxons to lick up.

He fell.

In seconds the moon ray would fire, shooting

The one on my back increased his strangle-

from the Chrysler Building cannon with perfect

hold. We were locked, Greco-Roman wrestlers

aim and precision.

who'd forgotten the rules.

Cassie's hand.

The numbers beneath the hologram. 00:14.

The large, red button standing out on Marco's

00:13.

control panel, shielded behind glass. The word

No!

ABORT etched on the cover.

138

139

Cassie . . .

The world . . .

I knew what I had to do. No time for indeci-

sion. I saw my goal.

Save what should be valued above all else.

I leaped.

00:05. 00:04.

C H A P T E R 28

I N T E R E S T I N G C H O I C E .

All was blackness when I heard the voice.

A strange voice. Old and young. Male and fe-

male. Echoing in my mind like distant thought-

speak.

It was not the Ellimist. No. It was a voice I'd

never heard.

THEY HAVE STRANGELY SEGMENTED

MINDS: CONSCIOUS, UNCONSCIOUS, AND AN

ABILITY TO RECONCILE BOTH. THEY WILL

BEAR MORE STUDY, THESE HUMANS . . .

A bird's song.

Bright sun on my face. Warmth.

I opened my eyes.

A wooden desk with a computer on it. Star

140

141

Wars Episode I poster tacked to the wall. School-

Dead Hork-Bajir towering above me.

books heaped on the floor. Dirty clothes falling

Orff manacling my wrists.

from the closet. Worn gym shoes. Reading light.

David.

Cotton sheets.

A mind-blowing explosion.

Downstairs, the smell of fresh waffles cooking.

The Howler.

Dad. A woman talking about a doubles game.

The strangely beautiful singing of children.

Mom.

The stench of those condemned to death.

My room. My house. My . . .

A Mylar sheath beating with the wind.

I leaped out of bed.

The scarred faces and mangled bodies of old

The Schwarzenegger thing was history. My

friends.

hand was my hand again. I brushed my chin. No

Elfangor.

sandpaper. Just smooth.

Lightning. Rain. Slipping . . .

I grabbed for the phone. I dialed the number.

Brr. . .

Pounded the keypads. My body ached in muscles

"Hello?"

I didn't know I had.

Time stopped.

Brrrrrrrr-ing.

Everything got extremely quiet. Except for the

Come on. Pick up.

pounding of my heart.

Brrrrrrrr-ing.

I knew now. I'd made a choice. I knew what I

Answer!

was made of. My limitations and priorities.

I wanted to hear a girl's voice. Deep and

"It's Jake," I said.

young. Cheerful and wise.

No response.

My heart pounded.

"It's Jake," I said again, voice quaking like I'd Bright sun washed my body. I moved a hand

never talked to her before.

across my chest and f e l t . . .

As if this were the first call I'd ever made. The

My badge! I yanked it off.

only call that mattered.

I looked.

"Cassie, I just wanted to ask what I should

My fingers clutched air. I opened my fist. Noth-

have asked you yesterday. Are you okay?"

ing.

Images still flashed through my head.

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143