Текст книги "Animorphs - 13 - The Change"

Автор книги: Katherine Alice Applegate

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s I flew up through the trees, I saw the sun just peeking up over the rim of the earth in the east. It instantly lit the treetops with gold.

It was a beautiful sight. Golden leaves and dark shadows beneath, and clouds all red on one side and still night-gray on the other.

It felt good to be up off the ground. It felt good to have air beneath my wings and a cold clean breeze in my face. I'd spent the night clinging to a Hork-Bajir's horns and slogging through the brush. That was no place for a bird. Or even for a human in bird shape.

The air was still flat, no thermals, no up-drafts, so I had to work hard. But it felt good,

flapping my wings and stretching my cramped muscles.

I would miss this when I became human again. Would the Ellimist give me back my human body and let me keep the morphing power? I hoped so. I'd hate to think I would never fly again.

Below me I spotted an opening. Not even a meadow, really, just a small clearing with tall grass and fallen logs and the telltale burrow openings of rats and voles and other tasty morsels.

But I had to be careful. This clearing probably belonged to someone.

Another hawk, possibly. Not to mention other species.

I had to get in and out fast. Get in, make my kill, and bail.

I swept the ground with my laser-sharp eyes, looking for the tiny movements that would betray a mouse or a rat. Sometimes, when the light is just right and the hunger is sharp, it's almost like I can see right through the ground. Like I can see the mice in their warm burrows.

Maybe that's why I didn't see the danger. Maybe it was because I was totally focused on eating.

I did spot a rat, though. A nice, plump thing, waddling along toward his own breakfast. I dived from up high.

Then I hit a sudden air pocket! It threw me off-balance and I nearly splattered myself into the dirt. I yanked back just in time and lost my rat.

"0h, man!" I complained. "Whatever happened to the good old days, when breakfast was a nice easy bowl of Wheaties?"

Well, it would be that way again soon. As soon as the Ellimist kept his promise to me. A warm bed at night and a nice, easy breakfast in the morning.

Not that that's how it had been when I was human. I hadn't exactly been in a nice, normal family. See, both my folks left a long time ago. After that I just got passed around from one aunt or uncle to another.

When I was stuck in morph and disappeared from the human world, I don't even know if any of them looked for me.

I shoved those thoughts aside. I flapped my wings, ready for takeoff.

But I just cleared the tops of the tall grasses when -

WHAM!

I was hit! It was like someone had thrown a brick at me. I was down, fluttering in the grass, beating my wings in terror.

What hit me? What the ... what the heck was happening?

And only then did I see it poking through the

grass – an intelligent, curious face, tawny fur, four big paws, and a body that might have been three feet long from its nose to the end of the weirdly curved, short tail that gave the beast its name.

Bobcat!

The wind had been knocked out of me, and I practically fell apart when I saw the big cat.

It circled around me, watching me curiously. Wondering if I would fight back. Calm brown and gold eyes surveyed me as I would survey a wounded rat.

The hawk in me wanted to flap its wings and try to scare the cat away.

But the human in me knew I'd have only one chance. I was fast, but the bobcat was like lightning. And it was powerful. It had hit me with one big paw and knocked me silly. A blow that was so graceful it had almost seemed to be slow motion. And yet it was so fast I hadn't had a chance to even think about dodging.

How had I been so careless? How could I have missed a bobcat in the bushes? Now I was going to die because of my carelessness.

I stood on my talons, awkward and helpless on the ground. But as I stood my ground, I closed one talon around a stick. It was a bare twig really, no more than two feet long.

I stared hard at the bobcat. It could already

taste hawk meat. If I moved, it would lunge. If I didn't move, it would still lunge.

One chance . . . one small, desperate chance. I had to hit its eyes before it could sink its teeth into me.

The hawk in my head screamed Fly! Fly! Fly!

But the human in me said no. The hawk couldn't win this fight. Only the human could. I clutched the stick tightly.

Lunge! The bobcat flew at me.

I jerked back, bringing the stick up off the ground.

"Yowwwrrr!" the bobcat howled as the sharp stick poked his left eye.

"0kay, now we can fly!" I flapped and I motored my little taloned feet along the ground and I hauled like I've never hauled before.

But the cat was after me. One step. Two steps, and it had caught up with me! Then it stopped. It turned. I saw it stare. I saw its back fur rise in alarm.

Over the bobcat loomed a shape as big around as a redwood tree. Three rows of tiny, weak claws snapped and clawed at the air. The gigantic centipede head drew back, and I could see two of the red-jelly eye clusters.

Taxxon!

Down came the round red mouth!

Down on the bobcat! And the Taxxon swallowed the cat in a single bite before the shocked animal could figure out what to do.

I was already flapping my way clear of the ground. Thorns and twigs and raspy grass ripped at me, pulling out feathers, but I didn't care about a few feathers right then.

I found a breeze and I thanked Mother Nature for giving me wings. I shot up and up and up till I was at treetop level. Only then did I even look back.

They were crawling across the clearing and through the trees. A dozen of them. Taxxons! Out in daylight. Out where some unlucky hiker could see them.

It was insane! Totally insane!

Behind the Taxxon trackers marched a virtual army of Hork-Bajir warriors. And with the Hork-Bajir were dozens of human-Controllers, all armed to the teeth.

It hit me then with full force. The Yeerks didn't care about being careful. The Yeerks were going to capture the two fugitive Hork-Bajir.

No matter the cost. No matter who died.

It was pure Yeerk ruthlessness unleashed.

This was an army. An entire army against me and two decent, simple, and not-very-bright Hork-Bajir.

And I still hadn't had breakfast.

X was shaking pretty badly by the time I got back up into the blue.

And then the first thing I saw was a peregrine falcon riding high.

Peregrines won't usually mess with hawks, but I wasn't exactly feeling cocky right at that moment. I didn't need any more trouble. I just wanted to get back to my two Hork-Bajir and get us all out of there.

"Tobias? Is that you down there, by any chance?"

I breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was Jake.

"0h, man, am I glad to hear your voice, Jake," I said. "The woods are full of Taxxons and Hork-Bajir and human-Controllers and anything else the Yeerks can throw at us."

Not to mention hungry bobcats, I added silently.

"Yeah, we noticed," Jake said. "They almost marched right into a couple of guys out fishing in one of the streams. We managed to scare the fishermen off, or they'd be Taxxon meat now."

"We? The others are with you?" I searched the sky. Yes. A bald eagle. An osprey. "l see Rachel and either Cassie or Marco," I said.

"Ax is on the ground. Marco is around somewhere. Oh, there! Above you!" I looked up just in time to see an osprey come ripping down through a wisp of low clouds in a stoop.

"Yee-hah! Tobias!" Marco yelled giddily. "Gotcha!"

"This is so not the time to be messing with me!" I yelled. "l was about one feather away from being kitty food. And I'm hungry and I'm tired and I'm mad."

"Chill, Tobias," Jake said kindly. "You can relax. We're all here to help you now."

I heard Cassie's thought-speak voice coming from fairly far away.

"Tobias, we've been thinking. You know how you seem to keep ending up in just the right place at just the right time?"

"0r just the wrong place, depending on how you look at it," I muttered.

"We're thinking maybe there is some

other. . . power. Some force. Some person interfering with you. Kind of manipulating you."

If it had been anyone but Cassie, I would have probably said something sarcastic. Like "No, duh." But it's impossible to be sarcastic to Cassie. "Yeah, it definitely is someone messing with me," I said. "An old friend of ours."

"Who?"

"it seems the Ellimist is trying to save the Hork-Bajir. Not that he'll admit that"

"Hmm. Ax was right," Cassie said. "He guessed it was the Ellimist." Rachel was close enough now to communicate. "Yeah, and you know how Ax feels about that guy. Or creature. Or whatever the Ellimist is. Ax says to watch your butt. The Ellimist plays games with people."

I thought of the Ellimist's promise to me. To give me what I most wanted. But when I recalled the conversation, I couldn't exactly remember an actual promise.

I felt a chill in my bones. Had the Ellimist really promised to make me human again?

"Are you okay, Tobias?" Rachel asked. I could tell from her tone that it was a private message. Only I could hear it.

"Yeah. I guess so," I said. "The Ellimist says he'll . . . he'll . . .

you know. Make me human again."

Somehow putting it in actual words didn't sound right. And yet that was what I wanted. To be human again. To live like the others. To eat cold cereal and fried eggs for breakfast instead of hunting and killing.

To walk. To spend my nights inside, in a bed. To sit down and watch TV.

Or just to sit at all.

"Tobias, that would be so great!" Rachel said.

"Yeah. But like Ax said, the Ellimist plays games. And we still have to save the Hork-Bajir without getting wiped out ourselves."

In a thought-speak voice Jake and Cassie and Marco could hear, too, I said, "Follow me, guys. I'll take you to our two alien friends."

I turned at an angle to the breeze. It was coming up just behind my right wing. It can be hard flying that way if the wind is too strong.

You have to keep correcting your direction because the wind will kind of sneak up and push you off-course.

We flew hard and soon left the Yeerk army behind. I spotted the two Hork-Bajir through the trees. They looked like they were talking.

Looking closer, I realized they were holding hands.

I felt embarrassed, just dropping out of the sky on them. "Hey, you two," I said. "l'm coming in. Some friends are with me."

We landed in the trees. And now we were facing a serious decision. A life-and-death decision. The others were all close to the two-hour time limit. They needed to demorph.

But so far we had not revealed our true species to the Hork-Bajir. If they were ever recaptured by the Yeerks, the Yeerks would have access to everything in their heads. Every memory.

"Jake?" I asked. "What are you guys going to do?"

"lt's a big gamble, letting these two know what we are," he answered.

"l don't mean to get all CIA about this," Marco said. "But if they know we're human, they can't ever be captured by the Yeerks. I mean -"

"l know what you mean," I interrupted.

"Probably better to be dead than a Controller, anyway," Marco said.

"Easy for you to say," Rachel said.

"Let me talk to them. Jara and Ket are my friends," I said.

"Hork-Bajir?" Marco crowed. "These two walking Cuisinarts, these two seven-foot-tall lawn mowers, these living razor blades are your friends?" I ignored Marco. I looked at Jara Hamee. "Jara Hamee. I need to know something. If the Yeerks capture you -"

He didn't even let me finish. He flung out a bladed arm, slashing the air. Then, more care-

fully, he pointed at his own head. Right at the scar from the cut he'd made. "No more Yeerk here. Free! Or no Jara Hamee. No Ket Halpak.

Only free!"

"Free or dead," Ket Halpak said harshly.

"l see why you like them, Tobias," Rachel said. She fluttered down from the tree. She began to demorph.

I heard Jake sigh. "Well, I guess we take a chance."

Within a few minutes everyone was human again. Except me, of course.

I guess we surprised the Hork-Bajir. I don't know what they expected us to be, but it wasn't human. The two big aliens just stood and stared.

And then, when they realized what Jake and Rachel and Cassie and Marco actually were, they laughed.

"KeeeRAW! KeeeRAW!"

At least, I think it was laughter. Who knows how a Hork-Bajir laughs?

"Human folk!" Ket Halpak said, sounding amazed and possibly gleeful.

Jara Hamee looked at me. "You human folk?"

"l used to be," I said. "l, um, well . . . well, I'm not exactly the same as I used to be. I've changed."

"Jara Hamee change, too. Not free. Now free."

That's when Ax came barreling through the woods and leaped right into the middle of our little group. He was carrying a bag. In the bag were shoes for the others. See, when you morph you can morph tight clothing, but shoes just can't be done.

Ax set the bag down and stared in the way that only an Andalite can stare – in all directions at once.

"This is very dangerous, letting them see what you are," Ax said heatedly. "These Hork-Bajir can never be recaptured. They can never be taken alive now!"

"They won't be," I said. "They're going to be free."

"Free or dead!" Jara Hamee yelled.

"Okay, I definitely like these guys," Rachel said. She kind of cocked her head and looked up at Jara Hamee. "Free or dead!" she yelled, just as loudly as the Hork-Bajir had.

Cassie and Jake and I yelled it, too. With slightly less enthusiasm. In my case, I'd been too close to being dead just a few minutes earlier.

"I'll give you two-to-one odds on 'dead,'" Marco said grimly. "And if we all keep yelling with a bunch of Taxxons half a mile away, I'll make it ten-to-one."

Rachel ran over, grabbed Marco by the shoulders and gave him a good hard shake. "Come on, you big baby, say it – free or dead!"

"Yeah, yeah, free or dead," Marco said. Then he laughed. "Rachel, you do know you're insane, right?"

"Yes, but she's a Packard Foundation Outstanding Student who's insane,"

Cassie chimed in.

"I'm sure the Yeerks will be impressed," Marco said.

Jake smiled a curious smile at me. "Well? Let's get going."

o where exactly are we going?" Marco asked.

"We're going to wherever this valley is. The valley the Ellimist showed me," I said.

"Should we be singing that valderee, valdera, valderee, valdera-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah song?" Marco asked. "I mean, we are 'a-wandering.'"

"Marco, you should never be singing anything," Rachel said. "I've heard you sing."

We were a strange little parade. After an hour we had reached the lower foothills of the mountains. And for the last two hours we'd been climbing up those hills. Up and up.

Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco were all in

their own human bodies. They were walking single file with the two Hork-Bajir behind.

Ax was way out in front, scouting ahead. He was far faster than any of the humans, and faster even than the Hork-Bajir. And Ax would be able to handle it if he happened to bump into some enemy Hork-Bajir.

I flew cover. I did a slow circle that carried me all the way out to where Ax was, then all around the area. That part was hard because there was a steady headwind rolling down from the mountains. On the back side of the circle I would drift around till I could see the first edge of the pursuing Taxxons.

Between Ax and me, we figured we wouldn't be surprised by anything leaping out at us.

But the more we climbed, the higher up the foothill paths we went, the more worried I became. What was the point of leading Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak to some secluded valley if we brought a whole Yeerk army with us?

Did the Ellimist have some clever plan? Probably not. The Eliimist seemed to think he had to do the absolute minimum. He didn't mind sticking his little finger into the time stream, but he didn't exactly jump in all the way. I had the feeling we were on our own.

I drifted above my friends in time to hear Marco complain.

"I'm just saying, hey, is there some reason the Ellimist can't just transport us wherever we're going? This hill-climbing is killing my legs. Up and up and up."

"Are you going to whine the whole way?" Rachel asked.

"Yes," Marco confirmed. "That's the plan. Whine the whole way."

"I think it's nice," Cassie said. "I mean, we're out in nature.

Breathing fresh air. No noise or distractions. No TV or stereo blaring.

No cars. Just nature. Trees and animals."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Cassie," Marco said. "What could be more relaxing than going on a hike with a couple of fugitive space goblins while being hunted by giant worms and probably Visser Three himself? And all the time knowing we're following the plan of an all-powerful galactic pain-in-the-butt who gets us to do all his dirty work?"

Cassie grinned. "Yeah, but while we're running from giant worms we're breathing nice, fresh mountain air. Come on, Marco, you could use the exercise." She got behind Marco and started to push him up the hill.

"Just keep telling yourself – we're having fun with nature, we're having fun with nature."

"How about this – I'm hungry," Marco said just as I glided out of hearing range.

He was hungry, I was hungry. Everyone was hungry, even the Hork-Bajir, because we couldn't let them strip bark. That would have made it even easier for the Yeerks to follow us.

Then I saw breakfast. Even though it was more like lunchtime. A mouse, sitting right out in the open. It was digging seeds out of a fallen pinecone.

I hesitated only for a moment. Then down I went.

It was a perfect strike.

I felt great. The hawk part of my mind has a pretty simple outlook on life – when it eats, it's happy. And there is a very satisfying sensation that comes from doing a job well. Even when the job is hunting mice.

I was just back above the trees when I saw the disaster looming. And heard that characteristic sound.

FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP– FWOMP -

"Helicopters!" I yelled. But the others were all too far away to hear me. I cursed myself. Idiot! Idiot! While you were hunting, the Yeerks brought in helicopters!

There were three of them, spread out over a mile or so. And they were coming up fast.

I flew. But the wind coming down off the mountains was against me, and !

could barely

make progress. If those choppers flew over my friends, they'd spot them in an instant. They'd see four humans, two big Hork-Bajir and an An-dalite. And then everything would be over.

FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP -

The helicopters were getting near.

I used every flying trick I knew to get speed. I raced forward every time the breeze slackened. I dropped down below the trees to avoid the stronger gusts. And slowly I advanced.

"Jake! Rachel! If you can hear me, get off the trail and morph!"

They couldn't answer, of course, because they weren't in morph. I had no way of knowing if they'd heard me.

"Jake! Rachel! Cassie! Marco! Helicopters coming!"

And just then, the first helicopter swept over me, roaring and ripping up the air. It was like being caught in a tornado. The rotor wash grabbed me and threw me sideways through the air.

F WO M P– F WO M P– F WO M P– F WO M P– F WO M P-FWOMP– FWOMP -

I hit a branch.

SNAP!

I felt a jolt of pain.

I flapped my wings, but only my right wing worked.

Then it hit me. The snap I'd heard had been my own bone.

I fell through the branches. WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!

I hit the ground and lay there, fluttering weakly, helpless. Helpless, as only a flightless bird can be helpless.

Panic caught me up and carried me along. No! No! My friends needed me.

No! I couldn't just lie there on the leaves. No!

And then I saw the end coming for me. Not a bobcat. Not a Taxxon or a Hork-Bajir or a Yeerk of any kind.

Just a humble, ordinary, everyday raccoon.

I he raccoon watched me from masked black eyes. I flared my one good wing and snapped with my beak. But the raccoon was too smart and too experienced to fall for my tricks.

It knew I was helpless.

FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP-FWOMP -

A second helicopter passed overhead, indifferent to the plight of a crippled hawk.

The raccoon grabbed me by my broken wing and began to drag me. I was on my back, being dragged by an animal not much bigger than a large tabby cat. I snapped again and again, but I couldn't reach the raccoon with my beak. I couldn't turn well enough to bring my talons to bear. And the raccoon knew it.

I heard the gurgling sound of water rushing over stones. Horror filled me. The fear was so terrible I almost fainted. You see, I knew what was coming next.

People say raccoons wash their food. Actually, that's not true. Raccoons do sometimes run water over their food, but it is not about cleanliness.

Raccoons are careful eaters. With their sensitive paws they dig through the meat, feeling for anything they don't want. The water rushing over their paws helps them feel.

The raccoon was going to eat me. And it didn't really care if I was still alive.

"No! No! No!" I screamed to a deaf forest.

I felt ice-cold water flow through my feathers. And ! felt the busy fingers of the raccoon.

"No! N00000!"

YOU ASKED ME FOR PAYMENT IN EXCHANGE FOR USING YOU.

WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR REWARD NOW?

The Ellimist!

"Now! Now! Yes, now would be a really good time!" I screamed.

IT IS DONE.

"What's done? Nothing is done, you lunatic! I'm still a bird!"

OF COURSE.

"Help me!"

The raccoon was literally looking down at me

like you might look at a steak. He was deciding where to bite first.

THE ANDALITE GAVE YOU POWER. USE IT.

I was too insane with terror to figure out what he was saying at first.

Then it dawned on me. "What? What? That's my reward? That's all? You're giving me back my morphing power?"

IT'S WHAT YOU WANTED.

"l wanted to be human again!" I screamed. "You liar! You cheat! I want to be human!"

But the Ellimist said nothing more. And my problem right then was the raccoon. His tiny, razor-sharp teeth were descending toward me. So with my last ounce of self-control, ignoring the searing pain in my wing, I turned just enough to grab one of his hind legs in my weakened talon.

Focus, Tobias, I told myself. Focus or get eaten.

I focused. I concentrated with all my will. And to my utter amazement, I saw the raccoon's eyes cloud over. I felt his grip weaken.

And like a miracle, I felt myself begin to "acquire" the raccoon. I felt it become a part of me.

I had morphed only two animals. A cat. And a red-tailed hawk. I had never escaped the red-tailed morph. I didn't have much experience morphing. Not like the others.

And as I concentrated on the raccoon DNA inside me, I felt my beak begin to soften ... my

talons begin to fatten . . . and my wings ... my glorious wings began to shrink.

The raccoon – I mean the real raccoon – recoiled in surprise. He stepped back and stared as I morphed into him.

It wasn't much of a change of size. Raccoons aren't much larger than hawks. But everything else was different. My eyes were growing dim. And suddenly I could smell as well as I could hear.

Feathers were melting into gray and black fur. I was morphing.

I was morphing!

The real raccoon had had enough. He was a smart, wily old scrapper, and he knew better than to hang around in a place where birds turn into raccoons. He waddled away.

I was safe. For now. Safe and becoming something I had never been before. The sharp edge of terror started to recede and I could almost enjoy what was happening.

I was morphing! I had the power again. I wouldn't have to sit on the bench when the others went into danger.

I was back!

But not human.

It's what you wanted. That's what the Ellimist said. But he was a liar.

He was a cheat. He had tricked me. I wanted to be human. I wanted to be

human again, with my own hands and feet and eyes and mouth.

No time for that now, I told myself. Get to the others. Hurry!

I took off at a run. Amazing! It was amazing to be running. To be down at ground level with things rushing past.

The ground was so close below me. It was scary, in a way. I kept thinking, pull up, pull up! In my guts I felt this need for altitude.

It's dangerous, flying too close to the ground.

And no matter how I tried to hurry, the raccoon body was not built for speed. It lumbered along. It seemed to need to stop constantly to sniff at this or that.

It wasn't that I couldn't control the body. I could. That part had been fairly easy. I mean, the instincts of the raccoon, the urgent need for food, the fear of predators, all that was normal to me.

I just couldn't get the stubby legs to move fast enough. My friends were half a mile away! I'd never reach them in time to help.

I stopped. I was panting heavily. The raccoon heart was racing. What could I do? What could I do? I'd ended up in a useless morph!

I craned my raccoon head upward. I couldn't see very well, but I knew the sky was up there. I could see a faded sort of blue through the trees.

Wait . . . was it possible? Could I remorph back into my own body?

My red-tailed body? DNA isn't affected by injuries. If I morphed back to red-tail, I wouldn't have the broken wing.

Would I?

The others had done it. They had morphed out of injured bodies. Then when they re-morphed, the bodies were whole again.

I had to try. It was so stupid! I'd been left out of so many missions because I couldn't morph. Now I could morph and I was totally useless.

I focused. I closed my weak raccoon eyes and focused on a different body. A body with feathers and wings. And slowly I became myself again.

I flew.

I'd only been without my wings for a few minutes, but still I felt weirded out. I mean, I know the others are used to being in different bodies. But I'm not.

I peered ahead with my hawk sight. I saw no helicopters. I did see a few shaking treetops. Large beasts were moving beneath those trees. Taxxons and Hork-Bajir.

I flew on and soon saw the tail end of the Yeerk search army.

Human-Controllers, their human bodies wearing out, staggered up the hill.

Ahead of them, Hork-Bajir warriors. They were stronger and faster than the humans. Their

sergeants had to keep holding them back so they wouldn't leave the human-Controllers behind.

And out in front of them all, the Taxxon trackers continued their search.

I flew hard and fast. And then, at last, I saw the helicopters. They were low to the ground. They were spread out in a line abreast. And unless I was totally mistaken, they were past where my friends would be.

I felt a chill of fear. I knew what they were going to do. This time it wasn't the Ellimist telling me what would happen. It was my own predator's instincts. I knew my friends were being hunted. And I knew how the Yeerks would do it.

The helicopters were a mile away, maybe a little more. So I heard nothing of them. But as I watched, I saw the sudden red spear that shot down to the ground.

Again and again and again the helicopters fired their blazing Dracon beams down at dry trees and even dryer underbrush.

They were starting a forest fire!

Within minutes, a wall of smoke was advancing through the trees. The wall of smoke had to be a mile long, end to end. It would block Jake and Rachel and the others. It would stop them and turn them back. Back toward the waiting Taxxonsand Hork-Bajir warriors.

As I watched, a flutter of pale brown. Some bird escaping the flames.

A stab of red! The bird flamed and burned in midair!

Had it been one of my friends in morph?

"What am I supposed to do?!" I yelled at the Ellimist. "This is impossible! I can't stop those helicopters. Are you just going to stand by now and do nothing?"

There was no answer. I was not surprised. As Ax had said, the Ellimist was playing his own games. He didn't care if I thought it was fair.

I dropped down, down below treetop level to avoid getting Draconed myself. The wind wasn't as strong down in the trees, but I had the worse problem of having to dodge branches.

And then, just a glimpse below me! A pale blue deer with a scorpion's tail.

"Ax! Ax, it's me, Tobias!"

"Hello, Tobias," Ax said as calmly as if nothing were happening.

"Where is everyone?"

"They are nearby. We seem to be in a trap."

"No kidding," I said. Then, aiming my thought-speak at all my friends, I said, Everyone keep your heads down. Don't try and fly or anything. The Yeerks are shooting anything that rises above the trees."

I came to rest on a rotting log. I was so exhausted I almost missed my landing and crashed.

A huge brown bear about the size of a mini-van came lumbering up.

"Rachel, I really hope that's you, because I've had all the close calls I can stand for one day."

"lt's me, Tobias. Chill. Take a rest. We figure we have maybe five minutes before this whole thing closes on us."

The two Hork-Bajir appeared, accompanied by Jake in his tiger morph.

Cassie and Marco came running from the direction of the helicopters.

Cassie's thick gray fur was singed. I could smell the reek of burned hair.

"More helicopters coming up to join those three!" Marco reported. "0h, hi, Tobias. There you are. I figured you'd flown off to somewhere safe." I decided not to take offense. I was just too tired to care what Marco said.

"Jake, there's no way around that wall of fire," Cassie said breathlessly.

"No Yeerks!" Jara Hamee said fearfully. "Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak free!"

"We'll have to fight!" Rachel said. "We go straight at those Taxxons, blow past them, catch the Hork-Bajir by surprise, no problem. We can . . ." She stopped. Even she didn't believe what she was saying.

"They won't stop till Jara and Ket are dead," Jake said flatly. "The Yeerks are not going to give up. They are flat-out never going to allow two Hork-Bajir to escape."

"l guess it would set a bad example," Marco said. But he wasn't making a joke. "lf two get away, who knows? Maybe others will try. The Yeerks can't allow that. They need the Hork-Bajir to be without hope. They need them to be convinced there's no way out"

"Marco is right," Cassie said. "Look at the risks the Yeerks are taking!

I mean, geez, they've started a forest fire. They have Taxxons and Hork-Bajir all over this forest. They've gone nuts."

"Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak free!" Jara Hamee said again. It was as if he was trying to convince himself.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Wait a minute. What you said, Jake! What you said – they won't give up till Jara and Ket are dead."

"Yeah? So?" Jake asked. Then I guess he realized what I was thinking.