Текст книги "Animorphs - 11 - The Forgotten"

Автор книги: Katherine Alice Applegate

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We were trapped. Trapped, because of my own mistake.

We had been in monkey morph for almost the two-hour limit. It was time to change and regroup, and hopefully figure out what to do next.

We swung away through the trees, far from Visser Three. We scampered down to the ground and began to demorph.

Tobias flew up and landed on a fallen tree beside us, since there were no low branches. There was a black, singed area on his tail.

"Tobias!" Cassie cried. She rushed over to him as soon as she was human again.

"I'm fine." Tobias said, as Cassie lifted his tail to check for damage. "But someone took a shot at me and almost hit me.

I guess one of the human-Controllers must have been a birdwatcher. He knew red-tails don't fly in the Amazon. But before they chased me off, I saw them working on our crashed Bug fighter. Three Taxxons crawling all over it, repairing it.

And a bunch of Hork-Bajir shooting anything they didn't like."

I told Tobias what we'd overheard Visser Three saying. "They need the Bug fighter to get back to the right time. I don't know why, and Ax doesn't know why."

Ax was fully Andalite again. He held up the yellow disk. "They cannot fly that Bug fighter without this. I guarantee it."

He was still focusing on that. Not thinking ahead to the fact that we needed the Yeerks to have the stupid computer now. I know it sounds weird, but I was actually mad at Ax for not seeing what an idiot I'd been. I wanted someone just to say, "Jake, you've blown it, man. You're not the leader anymore."

It would have been a relief.

"Jake!" Rachel hissed.

"What?"

"Don't move. Don't anyone move a muscle," Rachel said.

I moved nothing but my eyes. From the bushes around us, utterly silent, the heads began to rise. Beside each head, a spear, cocked and ready to fly.

"I think the local guys have the drop on us," Marco said nervously.

I was amazed. It is impossible to sneak up on an Andalite. It is even more impossible to sneak up on a red-tailed hawk. And yet about twelve guys, some older, some younger, all with intense, jet-black eyes and black hair, had done just that.

There was no doubt in my mind that if we even twitched, let alone attacked, twelve poison-tipped spears would fly, and the six of us would go down permanently.

"Uh . . . Cassie?" Marco whispered. "You're the tree-hugging, save-the-rain-forest, love-the-planet person here. Who are these guys?"

"Humans," Cassie said.

"Noduh," Marco said.

"That's all I know. Humans. Some bunch of people who live here. What am I, an encyclopedia or something?"

"I don't think they like us," Rachel said. "But they don't look like they want to kill us."

I recognized one of the faces. It was the kid who'd thrown a spear at me before. His alert, black eyes watched me. Rachel was right: They didn't like us.

"I wonder if they saw us morph?" I decided to try raising my hands in a gesture of peace. Slowly, slowly, I raised my hands, palm out.

No one stabbed a spear in me. That was a good sign. I took a deep breath. Until that moment, I'd forgotten to breathe.

"Hello. We ... um, we don't want any trouble," I said.

"You got that right," Marco whispered.

One of them stepped forward and came right up to face me. He may have been thirty or forty or eighty. I couldn't be sure.

But he was definitely the leader of the group. You could tell.

He was wearing extremely little. So little I think Rachel and Cassie would have been embarrassed, if they weren't busy being terrified.

The man lowered his spear and peered intently into my ace. He spoke. But it was no language I knew.

"Sorry, I don't speak, um, whatever."

The man thought that over for a moment. Then, he pointed a finger at me and said, "Macaco."

I guess when I didn't understand that, either, he decided I was an idiot. He launched into an amazingly good pantomime of a monkey. "Oh, monkey? Monkey is macaco?"

The man nodded and smiled. Then the smile was gone. He jabbed a finger right in my chest. "Macaco. Tu. Espirito macaco."

"Whoa!" Marco said. "Tint's Spanish.Espiritu means spirit or soul."

"Maybe it's Portuguese," Cassie said. "They speak Portuguese in Brazil. This man is probably the headman of his village. He probably has some dealings with the Brazilians. He must have learned some Portuguese."

"Portuguese, Spanish, they're sorta alike," Marco said.

"Spanish is all my grandmother speaks. And my mother grew up speaking Spanish."

"So you can translate?" Rachel asked.

"Well, no. I mean, I know maybe fifty words. But it's easy to figure what he's saying. He's saying Jake is a monkey spirit.

Espirito macaco."

"So they did see us morph," I said. I nodded at the man. "Yes.

Espirito macaco."

Yes, I was a monkey spirit.

He looked hard at Ax. At his extra stalk eyes and his wicked tail.

"Mat. Diabo."

"I'm guessing he's calling Ax a devil," Marco said.

I shook my head firmly. "No mat.No diabo."

The man glared at Ax. Then he took the butt of his short spear and began to draw something in the dirt. It took a few seconds for me to recognize it. It was a creature with two arms, two legs, and a tail. It had blades on its elbows, knees, and head. The man pointed at the drawing."Diabo. Monstro."

I swear I almost started laughing in sheer relief. The man had drawn a Hork-Bajir. "Yes, definitely. Mat. Diabo. Monstro and any other bad word you can think of."

I took my bare foot and rubbed out the drawing.

"He liked that," Rachel said.

The guy grinned and slapped his chest. "Polo."

"That's either his name or his favorite brand of shirt,"

Marcosd.

I pointed at myself and said, "Jake."

The man nodded. Then he rubbed out what was left of the Hork– Bajir picture. He grinned a huge grin. He laughed out loud, and all his men and boys laughed with him. Even the kid who'd tried to shish kebab me.

"You know, I think I like these guys," Rachel said.

Suddenly, the skies opened up, and rain came pouring down on us. Pouring down like we were standing under Niagara Falls.

Polo grabbed my hand and forearm in a strong grip. We were sealing a deal. "Diabos. Matar diabos."

"I think he said hunt. . . kill the devils," Marco said.

I looked into Polo's eyes. I had no doubts. "That is exactly what he said."

Polo and his people stepped back into the bushes, and in an instant they were invisible in the pouring rain.

"Those little guys up against Hork-Bajir warriors?" Rachel shook her head skeptically.

"I have a feeling about those "little guys,"" Cassie said. "I think maybe this forest is theirs, and they don't like a bunch of alien diabos stomping around killing everything in sight."

"Better to have them on our side than against us, that's for sure," I said.

Suddenly I felt really tired. Too many dangers. Too much adrenaline. And even though it was just late afternoon here, in Brazil, in this time, my own body had been awake and fighting and morphing for almost twenty-four hours.

The rain was just absolutely pouring down from the sky. Tobias couldn't even think about flying. I could see I wasn't the only one exhausted.

"So this would be the "rain" part of rain forest," Marco said.

"They don't do anything halfway around here, do they?"

We trudged through the downpour, drinking our fill from the water that drained down off the leaves.

But finally, I could see that no one could go any farther. At least I couldn't. Time was running out –we had just about three hours. We had no solid plan. It was the worst possible time for a rest. But there was no going on. Not yet.

"Let's take a break," I said.

"Where?" Marco asked.

I flopped down in the mud and rested my back against a tree.

"Right here, man. Right here."

Cassie came and sat beside me. The noise of the falling rain made our conversation private.

"How are you doing?" Cassie asked me.

I shrugged. "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

She looked at me skeptically. "Jake, I know you. I can see it on your face. You're worried. And you're mad. Since I don't think you're mad at any of us, I'm guessing you're mad at yourself."

I looked away. "Everything will work out," I lied dully.

"You know, it was kind of funny seeing you and Polo together."

"Yeah? Why?" I didn't really care. I was too tired to care.

But Cassie was being kind, and I needed some kindness.

"Because you're the same, you and Polo. He's you, and you're him. The leaders. You know, he took a risk putting down his spear. We might have killed him and his people. There was no way he could know if it was the right thing to do. He just made the best decision he could. That's all anyone can ask from any leader."

I felt for Cassie's hand in the rain. It was too dim and gray to see her face well.

"I'm so tired," I said.

Cassie laid her head on my shoulder. "I know, Jake. Rest. Just rest."

6:49 P.m.

I woke up suddenly, with the feeling that I had slept too long.

I opened my eyes.

Black night. Night so black it was like being smothered in black felt.

But not everything was dark.

Six inches away from my face, two eyes glowed green and gold.

I could smell foul breath. I could feel its breath on my face.

Jaguar!

The big cat stuck its nose closer to me, trying to decide who I was, and what I was doing in its forest. I might have wet my pants right then from sheer terror. I don't know, because I was soaked to the bone from the rain, which had finally ended.

I was sitting in mud, feeling the adrenaline pump into my veins. Feeling fear again.

I was going to live or die depending on what the jaguar decided. Was I food? Or was I not? If the cat was hungry, and if I smelled like prey, it would sink its massive yellow fangs into my neck and it would all be over in a second.I wouldn't even get the chance to scream.

Then, a faint memory of hope! There was one thing I could do.

No time to morph, but . . .

As slowly as I could, I raised a trembling hand to touch the jaguar's spotted fur. I focused my mind. I concentrated fervently on acquiring the jaguar. And I prayed the jaguar would act like most animals act when they are acquired. I hoped it would go into a trance.

When I opened my eyes, the jaguar closed his.

"Marco!" I hissed. "Cassie! Rachel! Ax! Tobias! Somebody!"

"Wha? Huh?" Marco said groggily. Then, "Whoa! Whoa! Wake up, you guys! Jeez, Jake, what are you doing? That jaguar could chomp you."

"Really? I hadn't thought about that, Marco. Thanks for pointing that out to me. Now, look, I'm acquiring him to keep him calm. Here's what we do. One after another, we acquire him, then we move off. Ax?"

"Yes, Prince Jake." Ax said.

"You think you can outrun this big kitty?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then Ax, you acquire him last, and run for it. Just in case he's in a bad mood."

Five minutes later, we were all a safe distance away.

"You know, you were probably fairly safe, Jake," Cassie said.

"I doubt jaguars eat prey your size."

"I'll bet they eat prey my size." Tobias muttered.

"What's cool is we all have a jaguar morph now. Perfect for traveling the rain forest at night," Cassie pointed out.

"Speaking of which, it's late," Rachel said. "Ticktock."

"We have two of your hours left." Ax said.

"Two hours to find the Blade ship, smuggle aboard, and hope Visser Three knows how to get us all back to our normal time,"

Rachel said. "Wonderful."

"The jaguars are predators," Cassie pointed out. "That means senses adapted for hunting in the rain forest. They would be able to find the Yeerks, if any animal could."

Marco laughed. "Cassie, you're just looking for an excuse to morph something new."

"Cassie's right," I said. "Look how dark it is. I can't even see you guys. No streetlights, no house lights, no car lights, even moonlight and starlight can't penetrate the trees. We're helpless in this dark. Barefoot, lost, and blind. We need eyes. We can morph owls, but we don't know what dangers the rain forest might hold for a plain old horned owl. Jaguars, on the other hand, look like they can take care of themselves."

"Let's do it," Rachel said. "We're totally helpless in this darkness."

"We need a way to carry the Bug fighter's computer with us,"

Cassie pointed out. She tore a strip of cloth from her shirttail, twisted it, and threaded it through a small hole in the computer core.

"I'll take it," I said. The computer was my stupid mistake. I should carry it. Cassie slipped it over my head. It hung like a big, dorky medallion.

I took a deep breath. "Okay, boys and girls and Andalites.

Let's morph."

"Jake, I have to try to fly up above the trees, try to get some moonlight."

Tobias said. "I'm as blind as you guys are down here."

The jaguar was a strange morph for one reason: because it wasn't strange at all. It was just like morphing the tiger.

The jaguar is smaller and stockier than a tiger. But it is still one of the big cats.

But for the others, it was their first experience with a big cat. As my jaguar eyes came on and the darkness grew much lighter, I could see the final transformations.

I saw the long, yellowed teeth grow in Cassie's mouth. I saw the pattern of large, hollow spots spread across Rachel's skin. I saw the claws sprout from Ax's weak Andalite hands. I saw the way Marco fell forward to land on all fours as his tail extended like a snake behind him.

"0h, this is beautiful." Marco said. "0h, man! Oh, man! Feel the rush!"

"Hah-hah!" Rachel crowed. "This is like, so alive! It's so not afraid!"

I knew the feeling. It's different being an animal at the top of the food chain. An animal that doesn't worry much about being killed. It's not arrogance, really. It's an absence of fear. Just like a tiger, a jaguar may be startled, surprised, alarmed, but never afraid. It may run away in the face of humans or loud machinery, for example, but somehow it isn't afraid when it does that.

I saw Rachel take a swipe at the air, testing the speed of her paws. "Not as powerful as a grizzly bear, but awfully fast."

"Excellent senses." Cassie said. "I smell . . . wow. I smell about a million things."

"I'm having a strange desire to eat a monkey"Marco said. "And yet, I was a monkey a few hours ago. We're all going to end up in the nuthouse someday. You realize that, right?"

"Tobias? Can you hear me?" I called in thought-speak.

"Yeah, I hear you. It's much better up here. There's a three– quarter moon and a million stars! I can see well enough to fly, but I'd break my neck if I tried to land."

"There are far more than a million stars." Ax commented.

"I know, Ax-man." Tobias said with a laugh. "Hey! Hey! There's a glow. Like a town, maybe. Lots of lights."

"If they're still working on the Blade ship, they'd have lights, right?" Cassie pointed out.

"It's the only clue we have, and we are running out of time."

I said. "Let's go."

"Go into the light." Marco said.

"What?"

"Poltergeist. That old movie. Don't you remember? The little munchkin lady saying, "Go into the light, go into the light"'?"

"What was this light?" Ax asked, completely mystified.

"I think it was like . . . death, or something." Marco said.

"But, hey, I could be wrong. Maybe it was just a big, bright, afterlife McDonald's."

"Shut up, Marco." Rachel said.

We had two hours left. Then, if Ax was right, the Sario Rip would end, and the universe would have two Jakes and two Cassies, and would eliminate them both.

Go to the Blade ship. Get aboard. Hope Visser Three could get us back. Somehow. Even without the Bug fighter's computer.

Not much of a plan. But I was the leader, and a leader has to give people hope. Even when he doesn't have much himself.

"Let's go see what this light is." I said.

Living through the eyes of the jaguar, the rain forest was dark.

But, oh, the things I saw, gliding like a ghost along the jungle floor.

It was like some incredible theme park ride. Like one of those haunted houses, where each turn of the little car you're in brings you face-to-face with a new goblin or ghoul or skeleton.

But it wasn't dead spirits that I saw in my trip through the rain forest. It was life. Life in more shapes and types than you can imagine.

Huge snakes, twenty feet long and as big around as the branches they hung from. And snakes so tiny they could almost have been worms.

Monstrous insects, beetles the size of your fist, and centipedes as big as rats. And rats as big as poodles. At least, they looked like rats. And frogs in bright, warning, touch-me-and-die colors.

And ants everywhere, some marching along in columns, with each ant carrying a piece of leaf ten times its own size. Lizards that shot past, flashes of green. And what I assume were salamanders, like lizards but in brilliant, slimy colors. And overhead, birds and monkeys and more birds.

We had been blind as bats, stomping through the rain forest in our human bodies. We had seen nothing. But the jaguar saw and smelled and heard everything.

A million species of life filled the forest around us. Forms of life stranger than anything that had come from outer space.

Incredible, insane, brilliant life, all fighting to stay alive, all working to grab one little piece of the rain forest.

It was overwhelming. For a long time, none of us said anything. We were discovering a world we had never even guessed at. It was as if Polo and his people had been transported to a shopping mall at Christmastime. They would have been amazed and stunned at all the things man creates.

Now, the reverse was happening. This was the world the jaguar knew. And it was the world that Polo and his people knew.

Their shopping mall at Christmastime, filled, not with all the things man makes, but with all the wild, amazing, insane, extreme, shocking creativity of nature.

And every time I thought, Well, I've seen it all, the rain forest would answer, Kid, you haven't seen anything. Take a look at this bird! Take a look at that flower! Get a load of this creature!

Little human boy, I have more to show you than you could see in ten lifetimes.

"0kay." Rachel said, breaking the silence at last. "I take it back. I don't want to pave over the rain forest. I don't care if it is dangerous and deadly and it's trying to kill us."

"You have an amazing planet." Ax said. "Amazing."

Surprisingly, it was Cassie who reminded us of our mission.

"We have very little time left. We have to get to the Blade ship."

"You're right, Cassie, but I thought you'd be enjoying this."

I said. "This is the ultimate nature walk."

"Yes, it is." she said softly. "And the Yeerks want to destroy it, and anything else they can't use on this planet. I'm not going to let that happen. So let's haul butt, find the Blade ship, get back where we should be, stay alive to keep fighting, because no one, man or alien, is messing this place up while I'm around to stop them."

"Yes, ma'am." I said.

"I see lights up ahead." Marco said.

From high above us: "I'm over the lights now. It's not a village. It's the Blade ship. And guess what? They dragged the Bug fighter here, too."

Something about that fact . . . that the Bug fighter was with the Blade ship, made me uneasy.

There was no reason for Visser Three to have his people drag the two ships together. There was something wrong there.

Something I should see. Something I should realize.

But I shook it off. My problem was that I needed a plan. It was time to think, not time to worry about things that made no sense.

We crept, silent as a dream, through the bush. One foot in front of the other, sliding through leaves, our jaguar spots confusing to the eye, invisible.

The Hork-Bajir had chopped down a clearing around the Blade ship. There were Taxxons crawling over and around the ship, working feverishly. The Taxxons appeared to have finished work on the Bug fighter. Taxxons are like gigantic centipedes with raw, red circular mouths at one end, and a ring of eyes like red Jell-0.

"They fit right in." Marco said.

I was thinking the same thing. The Taxxons could be rain forest natives. Although, even by rain forest standards, they would have been huge.

"Not enough Hork-Bajir." Ax said. "There should be more. Many more. They should be ringing the perimeter."

"I count just five Hork-Bajir." Rachel said.

"Wait! Look! Inside the Blade ship. Through that window.

Visser Three."

I stared hard and saw the outline of an Andalite head. "Yeah.

Good. At least we know where he is."

"What do we do?" Rachel asked.

She was asking me. And I didn't happen to have any brilliant answers.

"0kay, we know Visser Three needs the Bug fighter to get back to our time, right? And we have the computer core, so he can't use the Bug fighter without us. So... we could bargain with him, but he can't be trusted. Or we could sneak aboard the Blade ship and just leave the computer core where he can find it"

"If he just happens to find the computer core lying around, he's going to know how it got there. And he's going to know what we're up to." Marco said.

"Time is running out." Ax said."If we stow away on the Blade ship but don't give Visser Three the computer core, we're trapped here, along with him." Cassie pointed out.

I felt like my head was swimming. Somehow I'd just hoped there would be an answer at the end. But there wasn't.

"Look, I don't know, all right!" I yelled. "I don't know. I don't know what to do. I don't have any magic answer."

"Jake, you're supposed to be our fearless leader." Marco said.

I swear, I almost lost it right then. If we'd both been in human form, I might have punched Marco.

"I never said I was anyone's leader! I never asked to lead anything. Why do I have to know the answers? You don't, Marco.

You don't, Rachel."

"0h, man." Marco groaned. "Jake, you can't lose it, man. We need you."

I was about to say something very rude when Cassie interrupted. "Something has been bothering me. Why is Jake the only one who had those flashes? We all exist in both places at once, right? So why is he the only one who had jungle hallucinations?"

The question hit me like a sledgehammer. Of course. It made no sense. I should have seen it. Should have, should have, should have! There were too many should haves! Ax! I remembered asking him if there was some other way to get back. I remembered the way he avoided answering. "Ax? What do you know that you're not saying?"

"What do I know" he answered evasively.

"What do you know ... or guess?"

"Prince Jake, as I said, I know very little about Sario Rips.

I was preoccupied by -"

"Ax. You call me your prince. Fine, I'm your prince. So answer my questions"

"Prince Jake . . . it's possible that you are ... I mean, it's possible that you are the only real person here. The rest of us may only be memory."

I felt a chill. "What are you talking about?"

"We may not actually be here. Not really. I mean, yes, we were here in one time line, but that time line was later erased."

"Erased? Who erased this time line?"

"You, Prince Jake. It is possible that only you will escape from this time line. You may go back, alone, and alter everything, so that none of this ever really happens."

"Is it just me, or is this truly insane?" Marco asked.

"Ax, how would I be the only one to escape this time line? We think the way to get back to our own time involves repeating the Dracon beam accident that caused the Sario Rip. Right?"

"Maybe . . . Prince Jake, that may not be the only way." Ax said. "There may be another way. I didn't want to say anything because I wasn't sure. And -"

"Hey!" Tobias interrupted sharply. "Visser Three in the window over there? I just saw him wobble. Like a TV picture with interference. It's not him! It's a projection"

"A decoy!" Rachel said.

Suddenly, I saw my terrible mistake. Visser Three knew that eight fifty-four was the cutoff. He knew. And he figured we knew, too. So he knew that we'd show up, either at the Bug fighter or the Blade ship, trying to beat that deadline. He knew we'd try to hide out aboard one of the two ships. That's why he had his creatures drag the Bug fighter through the forest to be alongside the Blade ship. So we'd have only one place to go. So he'd know exactly where we'd be before eight fifty-four.

"It's a trap!" I yelled.

"It's a trap! He's expecting u!"

And at that very moment, we heard his voice in our heads.

"Five cats and a bird. Hah-hah-hah. This will be too easy."

"That right! It's a trap!"

I bolted. But a vine reached up and snagged my front paws. I tumbled, head over heel. Instantly the jaguar was up, but again a vine grabbed me, wrapping around my neck.

The vines were alive!

Like a snake, it wrapped around my jaguar throat and tightened. I couldn't breathe! I writhed with all the jaguar's strength and broke free.

I ran, then ... it hit me! I'd been wearing the Bug fighter's computer around my neck. It was gone!

"It's a Lerdethak" Ax yelled. "The vines! It's Visser Three in a morph. It's a creature from the Hork-Bajir home world: a Lerdethak. It -"

Suddenly Ax was silent.

The darkness was erupting around me in a tangle of vines. It was like being in a storm of snakes. The vines shot through the air, reaching, grabbing, wrapping themselves around me.

I saw a flash of a jaguar – maybe Ax, I couldn't be sure – being lifted in the air by one of the living vines. Lifted by his neck, with three more vines wrapping around his legs and body.

I wanted to help, but the snakelike things were everywhere! If I hesitated even a second, they would have me.

"Jake!" I heard Marco yell. "It's got me!"

Cassie's thought-speak voice just screamed.

"Aaaaahhhh!"

"Cassie!" I yelled. "Marco!"

"Jake! It's huge!" Tobias yelled down from above. "Can't see well, but like a ... like an octopus but with a thousand tentacles!"

A slither of tentacles slapped against me, wrapping around my legs. I leaped ... a split second away from being caught.

I ran. What else could I do? I ran!

"It's swallowing them!" Tobias cried. "0h, no! NO! It has a mouth. Huge! Help them!"

"I can't! I can't!" I cried. The vine-tentacles were less numerous now, smaller, weaker.

"I'm inside something!" Rachel said. "Smothering!"

"Prince Jake, we've been swallowed by the Lerdethak"

"Can't get to you!" I yelled. "I can't even see you! Claw your way out!"

"Can't . . . can't move . ." Cassie moaned.

"I can't just watch th!"Tobias yelled. "I'm going down!"

I was reeling from sheer shock and horror. I was running in panic, running flat out. The tentacles no longer surrounded me. But when I paused, panting, to look back, I saw it.

It was like some gnarled old tree come to life. Like Medusa's head, alive with snakes. I saw it outlined against the bright lights around the Blade ship. It was rising from the ground, growing taller and taller. Tentacles like bullwhips! A maze of snakelike arms, all surrounding a dark core. Through the tentacles I could see a wide, drooping, blue-outlined mouth.

As I watched, a struggling jaguar was tossed inside.

And one thin tentacle reached, whipped, and wrapped around a bird that was diving toward it.

"Hmmm." Visser Three said. "Just five little Andalites inside my craw. That leaves one still free. But don't worry. Plenty of time to find you."

He had them all. He had them all but me.

"Settle down, my Andalite friends. Relax. I won't kill you, yet. But you won't morph your way out of this. My Lerdethak morph will hold you tight till I decide your fates."

He had them. Visser Three had won. I was the only one left. I was their only hope.

Some hope, I told myself bitterly. I was the one in charge.

And I had walked them into Visser Three's trap. Don't feel sorry for yourself, Jake. Find a way out!

The huge, thousand-tentacled creature moved easily and swiftly through the rain forest. And now, on both sides of it, I saw the Hork-Bajir warriors.

Behind me! All around me! A ring of Hork-Bajir penning me in as Visser Three slithered toward me.

Then . . .

FLIT!

Even my jaguar eyes couldn't see the spear fly. I could only see it when it stuck into the back of a Hork-Bajir.

FLIT! FLIT! FLIT!

Spears appeared from nowhere. Hork-Bajir began dropping!

Polo stepped into view. He looked past me and launched his spear at the Lerdethak. Launched it at Visser Three.

But the Visser's morph was far too quick. One vine reached out, snatched the spear from the air, and contemptuously tossed it back. It stuck in the ground where Polo grabbed it.

There was no way to stop the Lerdethak.

It was safe, surrounded by its vine-tentacles. The only vulnerable part was the head, and it was surrounded by a forest of the – Wait a minute!

Not like vines! Not like tentacles! Wrong way to think, Jake, I realized. Branches. Like branches!

I dove into darkness and even as I ran, I began to demorph. I heard the flit of spears flying and the cries of Hork-Bajir.

But nothing was stopping the Lerdethak.

The Visser kept coming.

I was human now, blundering blindly through slapping leaves, my bare feet cut and bruised. But at least I had a plan. I ran and focused on a quick morph. I ran and shrank, but still I ran, even as my legs became bowed and I bent forward to use my knuckles like extra feet.

And when I was fully monkey ... I turned.

The Lerdethak loomed huge above me. Its thousand bullwhip tentacles slashed the air.

"Is that you, my last Andalite?" Visser Three crowed. "Is that little creature your final morph? Pathetic."

Maybe so, I thought. But as far as I'm concerned, you're just one big jungle gym.

I leaped through the air.

Leaped for the nearest tentacle.

I grabbed it, swung, and flew!

No other animal could have penetrated that maze of swinging, snapping, slithering tentacles. But to the monkey, it was all vines and branches.

Swing! Fly! Catch! Swing! Fly! Catch!

All at hyperspeed! All at warp factor ten! But the monkey could do it!

I grabbed one especially big tentacle. It swung me far up in the air, trying to snap me loose. But I held on. And now, down below, I could see the Lerdethak's head. I could see the drooping blue mouth that had just swallowed the others.

I glanced aside. Polo! Yes, he was standing with his spear in his hand.

"Your spear!" I cried in thought-speak. "Your spear!"

In a flash, Polo understood. He threw with all his might.

The spear flew straight and true.

And from high in the air, holding to the whipping tentacle with my tail alone, I reached with both hands and snatched the spear out of the air. Did you know that one of the reasons humans can throw is because we once swung through the trees?