Help me."

  I tried to get up. There was a body lying on me. Hork-Bajir. His wrist blade was jammed against my side.

  I tried to lift up with all four legs, lift the dead thing off me. But I only had three legs. My left hind leg lay across the bright-lit floor, a curiosity, a macabre relic. Tiger's paw.

  OCRed By Arpit Nathany

  I tried to slide. That was better. The floor was wood, highly polished. Slick with blood, animal, alien, human. I reached out with my two front paws, extended the claws, and dug them into the wood. They didn't catch at first. But then my right paw chewed wood and I gained traction. A voice said, "Help. Please help me." 1

  I dragged myself slowly, carefully, gingerly out I felt a wave of relief. The last I'd seen of from beneath the bladed alien. The pain in the Cassie she was in trouble.

  missing leg was intense. Don't let anyone ever In the distance, out through the big doors, tell you animals don't feel pain. I've been a lot of down the dark hallway, I heard the hoarse vocals animals. Mostly they feel pain.

  of a grizzly bear. Rachel. Not fighting, not any more, just raging, raging. Roaring with the frusIt was Cassie. tration of a mad beast looking for fresh victims With a lurch I was free of the weight pressand finding none. ing me down. I rose, shaky on three legs. Looked Marco was already demorphed. A kid. My age, around through the tiger's eyes.

  but he looked so young to me. My best friend. It was a fabric-cutting room. A design house. He'd demorphed to human because the alternaYou know, dresses no one actually wears. The tive was bleeding to death from the gash across kind of stuff you see on Style With Elsa Klensch his gorilla throat.

  as you're flipping channels.

  Demorph to human. All better. No pain.

  Fashion? Strange front organization for the

  "I'm cold. I'm cold, help me," the voice Yeerks. Why?

  called.

  There were hugely wide, long tables covered

  I warned Marco. in cloth. One tilted up weirdly, one leg had been Rachel came lumbering back into the room, broken off entirely. Kind of like me. There were eight hundred pounds of shaggy brown fur and big rolls of patterned fabrics on that end that railroad spike claws and a vaguely quizzical grin weighed the table down and made it balance, that hid sharp canines. like a seesaw, not up, not down.

  I didn't answer. I didn't know the answer. Overhead there were banks of brilliant fluoRachel began shoving and lifting Hork-Bajir rescent lights. Splashes of stylish neon on the bodies. She found Tobias, a crumpled hawk. He bare brick walls. Bodies everywhere. Blood. was breathing.

  Slashes of it.

 

 

  I heard the clop, clop of delicate hooves. Ax I saw the wolf limp out from behind an overwas behind me. As alien as any of the dead lying turned cart. She was alive.

  around us. A dainty centaur. The body of a blue 2

  3

  deer or antelope, with an upper body not so difmaybe twenty years old. A human with an alien ferent from humans. A head that was very differslug in his head. ent, mouth less, with two extra eyes perched atop

  "Help me," he said to the tiger's face looming movable stalks. His long, dangerous tail was wet above him. "I'm cold. Help me." with gore.

  He was cut. Badly. It was a Hork-Bajir slash. We'd been in many fights. This one was bad. Friendly fire, that's what it's called when one of This one would invade my sleep and wake me your own troops accidentally injures you. Kills sweating and crying.

  you. Hork-Bajir in the middle of violence slashed

  one of their comrades.

  "Someone . . . so cold . . . help . . ."

  I said.
  thing as a free human being.>

  So good to see her. Healthy. Whole. Beautiful His face was pale. White. Waxy, like a white in my eyes.

  candle. Someone had smashed his head, man"He's okay," Cassie assured Rachel. "I think gled his ears. I recognized the marks of a tiger's he's just stunned."

  claw. His brown eyes stared up at me.

  As if to prove her right Tobias ruffled a wing

  "I can't get out," the Yeerk inside his head and said, said to me. "The ears are blocked. Can't get out.

  Rachel growled.
  crazy thing to do, you idiot! You dive-bomb a

  Ax said.

  may send reinforcements.>

  he said.
  "I'm cold," the human-Controller said. was crazy.>

  "Just. . . just get me a blanket or.. ."

  Rachel said. But she managed to put

  Ax prodded.

  an awful lot of affection into that one insult. To"I'm scared. Does that. . . does that make bias had saved her life, nearly ending his own. you happy, Andalite?" the dying man said. I limped over to the one injured human in the To the Yeerks we were Andalites. The morphroom. A human-Controller. An enemy. A man, ing technology is Andalite science, far beyond 4

  5

  anything a human was yet capable of. So to them we were Andalites, a misunderstanding we deliberately fostered. Ax was the only true Andalite in our group.

  I said.

  "The pain . . . can't you help me? Cold. Help me."

  It was Marco. He'd remorphed. To osprey this time. We needed to escape. The air was our surest way out. Grow wings and fly. Fly and put it all behind us. Pretty soon we'd be joking. Laughing. Trying anything that would make us forget what we'd seen.

  What we'd done.

  "Help . . ."

  My name is Jake.

  I said.

  I live in a normal American city, in a normal I demorphed. Out of sight of the doomed ConAmerican state. troller. Then I grew falcon's wings and flew out I love my mom and my dad. I even love my big through a window Rachel opened with her fist. brother, Tom. I like basketball and hate math and get a little down when it rains for more than one day. I think those little Audi TT's are cool but if I had the money, and was old enough, I'd probably drive a Jeep.

  I live on burgers and fries and have never voluntarily consumed a brussels sprout. My room is a mess. My homework is late. My class notes are so disorganized they cannot be read by anyone except Marco, who has been living 6

  7

  off my notes for five years or more, and someI'm the leader of the Animorphs. I don't know times has to interpret them for me.

  how that happened. It was some doom proI cried the day Michael Jordan retired. And I nounced by Marco. Why me? Because, Marco can still tell you what time it was, what day, said. Because it has to be.

  week, month, hour, minute, and second, what I We were five kids taking a shortcut home from was wearing and what I was eating when Mark the mall at night. There was a ship. There was an McGwire banged his record homer.

  alien. There was the destructive worm of knowlI'm a kid. A kid with a dog and parents and edge: You are not alone. You are not safe. Nothing teachers and friends. Just a kid.

  is what it seems. No one is who they seem to be. I have these nightmares. Sometimes I'm a The knowledge of betrayal and terror. The termite, trapped inside a piece of wood, can't get awareness of evil.

  out and the clock is ticking, ticktock, ticktock, And then, the power.

  can't escape, wooden walls and blackness all The power made us responsible, see. Without around me, pressing me tight.

  the power the knowledge would have just been a Sometimes I'm falling. Flying and my wings worm of fear eating up our insides.

  just aren't there and I'm a mile up in the sky, Bad enough. But it was the power that turned falling, and thinking, / can't fly! I can't fly!

  fear into obligation, that laid the weight on our Sometimes still, even now, I see the dark red unready shoulders.

  eye of Crayak and feel his malice reaching for me We could become any animal we'touched, the all across the millions of light-years. Andalite told us.

  But the worst dream is just me and Cassie. Power enough to win? No. Power enough to And we're standing in the forest somewhere. fight? Ah, yes. Just enough, little Jake, here is She's outlined in light. You know, like there's a just enough power to imprison you in a cage of bright light hidden behind her. And it's almost duty, to make you fight.

  like she's shining. And there's this cave. And I'm

  "Help me. I'm cold."

  telling her to go in, and she's looking at me with Another battle. Another horror.

  trust in her eyes, looking at me and loving me Couldn't anything make it end? Was there no and believing in me and trusting me and I'm way out? Was I trapped, fighting, fighting till one telling her to go into the cave.

  by one my friends died or went nuts?

  8

  9

  I lay on my bed. Stared up at the ceiling. closer. Closer till his face was only inches from

  "Help me. Please. I'm cold."

  my own.

  Into the cave, Cassie.

  "There is a way out," the Drode whispered. All for what? For nothing. To delay the Yeerks,

  "Say the word and it never was, Jake. Say the but never to win. And someday, to lo

se. word, Jake, and you never walked through the Was there no way out?

  construction site. Say the word and you know

  "There's always a way out, Jake the Mighty," nothing. No weight on your shoulders. Say the a voice said. "My lord Crayak holds out his omword." nipotent hand to you, Jake the Yeerk Killer. Jake

  "Go away," I said through gritted teeth. the El I i mist's tool."

  "How long till your cousin Rachel loses her I sat up. I knew the voice.

  grip? You know the darkness is growing inside The Drode stood by my desk. It wasn't large. her. How long till Tobias dies, a bird, a birdl How It perched forward like one of those small dican he ever be happy? How long till Marco is nosaurs. It had mean, smart eyes in a humanoid forced to destroy his own Controller mother? Will head. It was wrinkled, dark green or purple he survive that, do you think? How long, Jake, till maybe. So dark it was almost black. The mocking you kill Tom? Then what dreams will come, Jake mouth was lined with green.

  the Yeerk Killer?"

  The Drode was Crayak's creature, his emis"Get out of here. Crawl back under your sary, his tool. Crayak was . . . Crayak was evil. A rock."

  power so vast, so complete that only the Ellimist

  "It will happen, Jake. You know that. The could keep him in check. A balance of terror: evil cave. The day will come. You know what the cave and good checking each other, limiting each is, Jake. You know what it means, that dark cave. other, making deals that affected the survival of You know that death is within. When she dies, entire solar systems.

  when Cassie dies, it will be at your word, Jake."

  "Go away," I said to the Drode. I covered my face with my hands.

  "But you called me."

  "My master Crayak offers you an escape. In

  "Go back to Crayak. Leave me alone." his compassion Great Crayak has struck a deal The Drode smiled. He got up and moved

  with that meddling nitwit Ellimist. Crayak would 10

  11

  free you, Jake. Crayak would free you all. All will be as it would have been if you had simply taken a different path home."

  I saw that moment again. At the mall. Deciding whether to take the safe, well-lit, sensible way home. Or the route that would take us through the construction site, and to a meeting that would change everything.

  Undo it. Undo it all. No more war. No more pain and fear and guilt?

  "Just one word, Jake," the Drode whispered.

  "No . . . no, two, I think. One must not sacrifice D A Y O N E

  good manners. Two words and it never was. Two words and you know nothing, have no power, no responsibility."

  We hooked up at the mall. I was there with

  "What words?"

  Rachel.

  "One is Crayak. The other is please." Rachel is my best friend. No one knows why, I wanted to say no.

  least of all either of us. We could not possibly be I wanted to say no . . .

  more different.

  I wanted . . .

  Here are Rachel's priorities in order of importance: shopping and gymnastics. Me, I'm into animals.

  Rachel is every cover girl from every Made- moiselle or Seventeen you've ever seen. Tall, thin, blond hair and flawless complexion, and approximately four hundred shiny white teeth. To make matters worse, she can't just be written off as another fashion bimbo.

  She's not mean. She's not a snob. She is not 12

  13

  a member of any clique. She is her own, one-girl see the excitement in hunting: the combination clique. That's the power she has: to be everyone's of knowledge and instinct and the thrill of stalkvision of physical and intellectual perfection and ing and closing in for the kill.

  not to care.

  The girl makes the pursuit of a forty-percentSometimes I wonder where she gets it from. off sweater in just the right size and just the right Not the hair, or the clothing, or even her eerie color seem like a safari to track down a manability to never be messy, dirty, or wet. I wonder eating lion.

  where she gets the indifference. I wonder how

  "Twenty-five percent off at Express, that's fine," she can have every boy in school throwing himshe said. "But, same basic sweater, better mix of self in her path, and be indifferent.

  fabrics, forty percent off at Structure? Plus, the Not that she's humble. No. You wouldn't call point is, this sweater goes with the jeans on sale at her humble. She knows she's special. But she's The Gap or the jeans on sale at the department impatient with the whole idea of being popular or store, and the Express sweater only goes with The whatever.

  Gap jeans."

  I get the feeling with Rachel that she's wait"I know I'm going to be sorry I asked this," I ing. Impatient. Looking for something more. Movsaid, "but how can one sweater that is almost ing through life in search of a very different identical to another sweater not go with a pair of destiny.

  basically identical jeans?"

  Her sports are gymnastics and shopping. She Rachel gave me the look. The look of inknows she'll never be a great gymnast; she's alcredulity and confusion. ready about twice as tall as the average gymnast.

  "Cassie, you know I love you, but did you just That part of her interests me but not as much as get in from Uzbekistan?" she asked. her shopping.

  "Yes. Yes, Rachel, I just flew in from UzbekSee, it's not about the stuff with her. It's huntistan." ing.

  "Shape. Color. Cut. Waistline." She shook her I could never be friends with someone who head in mock pity. "How do you expect to get went out and hunted animals. Sorry, but people through life without an appreciation of what goes who want to shoot deer are not going to be my with what?"

  friends. But when I'm with Rachel at the mall I

  "I expect life will just be one long struggle." 14

  15

  Rachel laughed. No one was more amused by Believe me, he doesn't know you're black. That's her obsession with shopping than she was. how little he would care. Jake is the one guy out Like I said, Rachel was waiting for something of a thousand who really does care about who you else. She didn't know what. I sure didn't. are, not what you look like."

  "Don't look," I hissed. "It's Jake."

  "So, how do I look?" I asked anxiously.

  "I can't look at my cousin?"

  "Like you should be singing eee-yi-eee-yi-oh.

  "You can look, just don't look, that's all I'm You're wearing Wal-Mart overalls with bird poop saying."

  on the cuffs. You have no makeup on and there's

  "You mean, don't look at him in a way that will dirt under your fingernails . . . that is just dirt, somehow convey to him that you are hot for him?

  isn't it?"

  That you want his lips pressed against yours? That I looked down at my fingernails and tried to you want his big, strong arms wrapped all around remember. "Probably dirt. Possibly manure." you?"

  "Yeah, well, you compensate for your Old

  "Yeah, Rachel, that's what I meant. That is MacDonald clothing sense by being pretty, very exactly what I meant."

  smart, very cool, and the most completely real Jake is cute. Not cute in a little itsy-bitsy person I've ever met."

  he's-so-cute kind of way. He's a big guy. Not

  "Thanks. Thanks for the last half, anyway." hulking big, just like he's two years older than he Jake was with his best friend, Marco. Marco really is. He's also smart and funny and modest. and Jake were not as mismatched as Rachel and I think he likes me. We sit together on the bus I, at least from what I knew. I don't know Marco sometimes. Sometimes we seem to accidentally much at all, just to say " h i " to. end up near each other at assemblies, or in He's small, especially alongside Jake. He has class.

  fairly long, dark hair and an olive complexion and He's never asked me out. I've never asked a permanently amused expression.

  him out. Needless to say Rachel finds all this Marco is a comedian. Not a class clown, not a touching, funny, and completely idiotic. guy who wants to make the teacher mad. He just I asked her once, "Do you think he's okay with seems to think the world is funny. I guess a psyme being African-American and all?" chologist would call it a defense mechanism. His She said, "Cassie, I've known Jake all my life. mom died a couple years ago. Anyway, maybe 16

  17

  that's it. Or maybe he's just funny. Anyway, if Jake started to form a word, but Rachel had Jake likes him he must be okay.

  him now.

  Yeah, I don't sound too much like someone

  "You think we're helpless just because —" with a crush.

 

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