The Sickeness

by K. A. Applegate

  Tidwell still hadn't taken a step back toward the gym. But Rachel and Marco had kept him from moving toward us. So far.

  Two legs shot out of Ax's chest.

  KA-BANG. KA-BANG. The hooves slammed against the tile wall over the drinking fountain.

  Chinkle, plop, chinkle. Tile and plaster rained down onto the metal fountain.

  Tidwell might not have seen that. But he had to have heard it.

  "See?" Marco yelled. "Cherry bombs everywhere!"

  Shloop. Shloop. Ax's legs sucked back into his chest.

  P-p-pop. His lips separated.

  Ax looked like a regular kid again. "The medicine is kicking in," I called. I shot a frantic glance at Mr. Tidwell.

  20 "We should get him home," Jake said loudly. Then he lowered his voice. "Now we walk him past Tidwell and hope Ax can keep it together until we get outside."

  Jake started down the hall first. Tobias and I each took one of Ax's arms and fell in behind.

  It was going to work. Ax wasn't babbling or demorphing. Mr. Tidwell wasn't yelling for our parents' phone numbers.

  In another three steps, we'd reach him. Then in two more steps we'd be past him.

  One. Two.

  Riiiip.

  I did not like that sound. I did not like it at all.

  I looked over my shoulder just in time to see Ax's giant scorpion tail tear through his pants, swing to the left - and knock Mr. Tidwell on his butt.

  21 JL rushed over to Mr. Tidwell and helped him up.

  "Are you okay?" I asked. At least Ax caught him with the side of the blade. Otherwise Mr. Tid-well's head might be staring up from the floor at his own body.

  Mr. Tidwell didn't answer. He just took me by the elbow and led me down the hall away from the others.

  What was he doing? What did he want with me? The adrenaline had started pumping back in the gym. Now I could practically feel it slamming through my veins.

  I shot a look over my shoulder. Marco and To-

  22 bias h uddled around Ax. Jake was holding Rachel back from going after us. "Don't say anything," he mouthed to me.

  I knew what was going through Jake's mind. It was going through mine, as well: Tidwell could not know. Could not. No matter the price.

  "We really should get our friend -" I began when Mr. Tidwell pulled me to a stop.

  "Don't. I know your friend is an Andalite," he told me, his voice calm and matter-of-fact.

  My mouth went dry. My throat, too. Just became a total desert. I wanted to tell Mr. Tidwell that I had no idea what he was talking about. But I couldn't get out a word.

  "! also know who you are and what you are. All of you," Mr. Tidwell continued.

  Sweat popped out on my hands, under my arms, and down the center of my back. It was like all the moisture from my mouth and throat had migrated. Migrated and multiplied.

  Mr. Tidwell was a Controller. No question about that. And that meant he could not walk away. Could not live to hurt us, to destroy us.

  I prepared to morph.

  I heard Ax's hooves slam into the wall again. But I didn't take my eyes off Mr. Tidwell.

  He looked so ordinary. Thinning gray-brown hair. A little bit of a paunch. Wire-rim glasses. Medium-blue eyes.

  23 But that's the thing with Controllers: They look like anyone. They are anyone.

  "I am Him. I control Mr. Tidwell. We are both part of the Yeerk peace movement. We have a message for you from Aftran Nine Four Two," he continued.

  I turned and gave Jake an I'm-okay-give-me-a-minute signal. I needed to hear what Mr. Tidwell had to say.

  He knew Aftran. Maybe that meant Mr. Tidwell was a friend, too. Make that Him, the Yeerk inside Mr. Tidwell's head, because that's really who I was talking to. I felt the muscles in my shoulders relax the tiniest bit.

  Aftran is the Yeerk who made me think about Yeerks in a different way. Aftran made me realize that Yeerks are individuals, no two alike. She forced me to accept that all Yeerks are not our enemies.

  The night I ripped the throat out of the Hork-Bajir, I also killed Aftran's brother. Aftran's brother was the Yeerk controlling the Hork-Bajir.

  Aftran, in the body of Karen, her little girl host, had tracked me down, planning to turn me over to Visser Three.

  Long story short: I saved her life. She saved my life. And then Aftran willingly returned to life as a blind, helpless, sluglike creature. She sacrificed her freedom to free Karen.

  24 "Dee! Buh-DEE!" Ax bellowed, jerking me out of my thoughts.

  I cleared my throat. "What message?"

  "Aftran has been taken by Yeerk security," he answered.

  "When?" I demanded. "Is she okay? What has she told them? Why didn't you find me sooner?"

  Mr. Tidwell held up both hands. "Aftran is unharmed, for now. She hasn't been questioned yet," he told me. "Visser Three wants to handle the interrogation personally."

  A cold lump formed in my stomach. Interrogation by Visser Three meant torture. I was sure Aftran would hold out as long as she could. But she would end up telling the Visser everything she knew.

  Which was everything I knew. Aftran had been inside my head. She had unlocked all my memories. She knew all there was to know about the Animorphs.

  "When?" I asked. I wrapped my arms around myself.

  I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. Ax's legs were slamming out of his chest and getting sucked back in. Over and over.

  "The interrogation will be held in the next few days," Mr. Tidwell answered. "The Visser is attending a reinduction seminar on the Blade ship."

  25 So we had a little time. We could stop this.

  Mr. Tidwell's watery blue eyes searched my face. "I'm sure you understand that Aftran could destroy the Yeerk peace movement. And you."

  I nodded. "Where is she being held?"

  Mr. Tidwell swallowed hard. "Aftran is imprisoned in the Yeerk pool. We need your help getting her out."

  The Yeerk pool. The perfect place for an ambush.

  I told myself to start acting smart. I couldn't believe whatever Mr. Tidwell said just because he used Aftran's name.

  "How do we know this isn't a trap?" I asked, searching Mr. Tidwell's face. "How do we know we can trust you?"

  "If you couldn't trust me, you'd be dead right now," he answered. He glanced at the gym door. "If I don't go back in, Chapman will come looking for us. I'll be in touch. Get the Andalite out of here."

  Mr. Tidwell hurried back into the gym. I hurried back over to Ax and the others.

  "Are we just going to let Tidwell walk back in there?" Rachel demanded. "After what he saw?"

  "He's with the Yeerk peace movement," I said.

  "Yeah, that's where they say please before they shove their slimy bodies into your ear and

  27 take control of your brain," Marco spat out. "What are you, crazy?"

  "He saved us from Chapman tonight," I protested.

  "So what?"

  "Shut up!" Tobias snapped, in a totally un-Tobias way. "All I care about right now is getting Ax home."

  "He's right. Let's move," Jake said.

  I wrapped my arm around Ax's shoulders and helped Tobias lead him outside.

  I didn't like the way Ax was looking. He was completely back in his human morph. But a gooey green-yellow pus was gluing his eyelashes together. And his lips were chapped, like when you have a high fever.

  "How are you doing, Ax?" I asked.

  "I am dee-dee-dee-lirious!" he cried.

  26

  As soon as we got outside the school, I managed to talk Ax through the demorph into his Andalite body. Once he was back in his own form, he stayed there. Big relief.

  Tobias demorphed, too. He flew overhead and told us which streets to use to avoid the most people. And where to hide Ax when we were close to getting caught. We made it back to the barn, but it was not a fun trip.

  "Put him in the last stall," I instructed. "Marco, fill the trough with water. Rachel, get him a blanket from the pile by the door. Jak
e, go to my house and get the thermometer from the bathroom; I can't use the veterinary equipment. I

  28 need the one you can use in your ear. Don't worry about my parents. Out."

  I glanced up and saw all three of them staring at me. It's true that I'm not usually the one barking the orders. But I'm the one who knows about taking care of sick animals. Not that Ax is an animal, exactly.

  "I feel like I'm on £/?," Marco said as he headed toward the hose. "I've definitely got a Noah Wyle kind of thing happening."

  «Anything I should do?» Tobias asked from his perch in the rafters.

  "Just keep a lookout," I answered.

  «You got it,» Tobias said.

  Rachel hurried over and handed a blanket to me. I spread it over Ax's back and shoulders. I could feel tiny tremors racing through him.

  "So are you finally going to tell us what Tid-well said or what?" Marco asked as he filled the trough. "I mean, if some Hork-Bajir are going to burst in the door any second I might want to bake a cake or something."

  "Ax is sick, Marco. We have to deal with that first," I answered.

  "If Tidwell talks, Ax is going to be worse than sick. He's going to be dead. We all are!" Rachel spat out. "Cassie, what did you say to him? What did he say to you?"

  29 I ignored her. Had to. She spun away and started pacing back and forth in front of the stall.

  "Can you tell me what's wrong with you, Ax?" I asked. "Have you ever felt like this before?"

  «Yamphut,» he mumbled.

  "What's that?" I asked.

  I needed Ax to tell me what to do to cure him. My parents are both vets. We probably have the best animal medicine library for miles. But there was nothing in any of those books about the care and feeding of an alien.

  "Come on, Ax," I said, my voice a little sharper. "What's yamphut?"

  «lt's a . . .» Ax's thought-speak faded.

  «Ax, come on. Stay with us,» Tobias said.

  "Let's try giving him a little water," I said. "Help me stick one of his hooves in, okay, Marco?" I asked.

  Marco topped off the trough and turned off the hose. Then we gently lifted Ax's right front leg and then placed his hoof into the water.

  Ax swayed, and I braced my shoulder against his side, letting him lean on me while he absorbed the water. I could feel him heaving against me as he pulled in ragged breaths.

  "That's enough," I said when Ax's hoof had been submerged about half a minute.

  Marco and I pulled his hoof out of the trough.

  30 Rachel grabbed another blanket and tossed it to Marco so he could dry Ax off. I stayed close in case he got wobbly again.

  "Okay, Ax. Try and focus. Tell us what yam-phut is," I said, speaking slowly and clearly.

  «Disease,» Ax answered. «Disease organisms collecting in my Triagland.»

  Jake rushed back into the barn. "Got the thermometer." He slapped it into my hand scrub-nurse style. Then he sat down and leaned against the side of the stall.

  I slid the thermometer into Ax's ear and waited for it to beep. When it did, I pulled it out and checked the reading. "Ninety-five point five," I told the others.

  "I was sure he had a fever," Rachel said.

  "He might," I told Rachel. "But we don't know. Because we don't know what normal An-dalite temperature is!"

  "Ax? Can you tell us?" Rachel asked him.

  «Ninety-one point three,» Ax gasped. «0f your degrees,» he added.

  "Ax, they are everyone's degrees, not our degrees," Marco started to argue. Then he stopped.

  About four degrees above normal. I wasn't liking this. I knew a few ways to try and break a fever. But I didn't know what effect they would have on an Andalite.

  31 What if something I did made him worse?

  "Tell us more about the Tria gland," I said.

  «Tria gland keeps disease organisms away from rest of body,» Ax answered.

  «That's good, right?» Tobias asked.

  It sounded good. Maybe Ax's body would heal itself.

  «But if it bursts. Bad. Disease organisms get loose,» Ax choked out.

  "How can we stop it from bursting?" Jake demanded.

  Ax locked all four of his eyes on me. He took my hand and gave my fingers a weak squeeze. His skin felt cold and slick with perspiration.

  «You must take it out. Or I will die,» he whispered.

  His main eyes closed. His stalk eyes drooped. «When temperature goes back to normal . . . Tria gland out. Or disease organisms kill.»

  "Okay. Okay, yeah. Where is the Tria gland?" I asked.

  «Tired.»

  "I know you're tired. And you can go to sleep soon. But first you have to tell me where the Tria gland is," I insisted. "Now, Ax!"

  «My head,» Ax answered.

  I felt the blood drain from my face. Instinc-

  33 tively, I turned to Jake. He was staring at Ax as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

  The silence stretched.

  "I'm no brain surgeon," Marco finally said. "But it sounds to me like we're talking brain surgery here."

  32

  Brain surgery. Images of blood, and scalpels, and delicate tissue. I didn't know if we could do it. But if we didn't, Ax would die.

  "Let's move to the other side of the barn," I said. "I want Ax to get some rest."

  That was true. But I also didn't want Ax to hear us start to freak, which I knew was about to happen.

  "Good idea," Jake said. He pushed himself to his feet and started across the barn, Marco and Rachel following.

  I slowly pulled my hand free of Ax's, my fingers slick with his sweat. "I'll be back in a little while," I whispered. "Bless your baby bones."

  The words just slipped out of my mouth. It's

  34 what my mom always says to me when I'm sick. Poor Ax. He must really miss his mother right now. At least when I'm not feeling well, I always like my mom making a fuss over me.

  And Ax was definitely not feeling well.

  I hurried over to the others and sat down on a bale of hay next to Rachel. I was tired.

  "Okay, so we kidnap a doctor and get him to do the surgery on Ax," Rachel burst out.

  "And then what?" I asked.

  She didn't answer. The answer was unacceptable. The only doctor we could trust with our secret was a doctor who quickly became dead.

  "I'm going to take his temperature every hour," I said. "We need to know when it drops down to ninety-one point three."

  "And then what?" Rachel demanded, echoing my question.

  "Then we get to play a live version of Operation. Except if we make a mistake, Ax's nose doesn't light up, his Tria gland explodes," Marco answered, his voice flat.

  «That's supposed to be funny?» Tobias demanded.

  "Yeah. And you want another laugh?" Marco shot back, angry. "Tidwell saw Ax go Andalite tonight!"

  "We need to hear what Tidwell said," Jake

  35 told me. He scrubbed his face with his hands. His drawn, pale face.

  I pulled in a deep breath. "Mr. Tidwell is part of the peace movement," I began. "The Yeerk inside him, Him, had a message for me from Af-tran. She's been captured. Sunday night Visser Three plans to interrogate her. Illim wants us to rescue her."

  "No way. It's a trap," Marco interrupted.

  "If the Yeerks already know who we are why bother with a trap? Why not just come to our houses and kill us?"

  We both turned to Jake. He rubbed his face again. "Coming to our houses would be messy. Attract attention. Getting us all to the Yeerk pool is a decent strategy."

  "Probably it is a trap, but we still have to go," Rachel said. "Because if Tidwell or Illim or whoever is telling the truth, we're dead meat. Aftran will crack when the Visser interrogates her, and she knows everything about us. Everything. Right, Cassie?" she said acidly, looking angrily at me.

  I met her gaze without blinking. My voice was steady. "That's right," I answered.

  I wasn't going to pretend that we wouldn't be in this situation if it wa
sn't for me.

  Marco had been about to kill Aftran. Which meant killing Karen, too. I let Aftran into my own head to get her out of Karen's body.

  36 To save the life of a person I didn't even know, I risked the lives of my friends. I'm not all noble and wonderful. I did it because I was a coward. I couldn't take the life of that little girl - or let Marco do it for me - even though I knew that by letting her live a whole planetful of people might die. Or worse, become infested by Yeerks.

  I risked all those lives on a pathetic little wish. A wish that together Aftran and I could make the first step toward peace between Yeerks and humans.

  My wish came true. Aftran didn't turn me over to Visser Three. She didn't use the information she found stored in my brain against me and the others. Instead she chose to live without a host. Blind and almost immobile.

  My choice turned out to be the right one.

  Or had it?

  "Rachel's right. We have to go in," Jake decided. "Tonight. If it's a trap, they won't be expecting us this soon, since Illim told us the Visser will be gone until Sunday."

  «What about Ax?» Tobias asked.

  "That's another reason to go in tonight," I said. "We get back before Ax hits his crisis."

  "We can't leave him in the barn," Jake pointed out. "Cassie's dad comes in here all the time."

  38 «Maybe we could fix up some kind of extra shelter around his scoop,» Tobias suggested.

  I shook my head. "Too damp in that field," I said.

  "Erek," Marco said. "The Chee owe us."

  "Good idea, Marco," Jake said. "Go. Now."

  37

  Marco morphed and took to the air. The rest of us watched Ax sweat and tremble.

  "The Yeerks have probably figured out how we got in last time," Rachel said. "We need a new way in if we don't want to get ambushed."

  "Maybe it would help if we go over everything we know about the Yeerk pool's security systems," I suggested. "We know there's the Gleet BioFilter, and-"

  «Hunter-killer robots,» Tobias added.

  "It was never exactly easy," Jake said. "But it's harder, now."

  "There has to be a way," Rachel said.

  We went over everything we knew and came up blank. And Ax still trembled.

  39 I checked my watch. Time was running out. My parents would be home soon. First thing my dad would do was come to the barn.