The Hidden

by K. A. Applegate

  Tobias said.

  No we couldn’t, not like this. But if I could get it to demorph back into its buffalo shape, then it would stop putting off so much morphing energy.

 

  “Wait, Tobias. I’m going to morph back into the buffalo to see if I can get it — him — to do it, too,” I said. I focused on the powerful DNA swimming in my blood.

  The buffa-human watched me, unblinkingly, as I fell forward onto four short, muscular buffalo legs.

  My jaw ground and shifted into a long, hinged bovine one. My eyes slithered apart and my nose broadened. My nostrils stretched wide. Muscle upon muscle bulked up my body until I was huge and majestic and magnificent, with a tough hide and a hair-trigger temper.

  But this time I was prepared for the buffalo’s aggressive defenses, and I controlled them.

  And then the other buffalo began to demorph.

  Chapman’s pale, human skin darkened and sprouted coarse hair. The flesh covering his bones shivered, rippled, and bent, forming into four bovine legs. His gaze remained locked onto mine as he fell forward, as his neck bulged —

  And then the morph stopped.

  I urged in thought-speak. I pushed aside the rising dominance I felt and moved slowly forward. Went nose-to-nose with the buffa-human in a sociable greeting.

  The creature with Chapman’s face stumbled backward, its legs thinning back to human’s, fingers and toes bursting from its fading hooves.

  Tobias called from the treetop.

  I cried.

  I was frustrated because what Tobias said was absolutely true. We did need to go, but how could I have created such a mutation, even by mistake, and then abandon it — him?

  I felt a little like a twenty-first-century Dr. Frankenstein and it was not a good feeling.

  Tobias warned.

  I shouted, then was immediately ashamed. I demorphed, avoiding the puzzled buffa-human’s gaze, then, even though I was exhausted, immediately began to morph to wolf.

  Thick shaggy fur sprouted all over my body. My spine stretched and crackled. The palms of my hands puffed and hardened into thick, protective pads.

  My skull shattered and ground into a canine skull. My snout shot out and my teeth grew into long, lethal fangs.

  The buffa-human snorted and tossed his human head. His torso was all bulky buffalo, his head and legs pathetically human. He was grotesque.

  He lumbered toward me but I was a wolf now, and I moved with easy grace and lightning quickness.

  I called, picking up the morphing cube with my mouth.

  Tobias said, glancing pointedly at the odd mix of buffalo and human, and then launching himself into the air.

  I looked at the creature, who was standing there, watching me.

  I whispered, turning away in shame.

  Because one way or another, his life as a normal African Cape buffalo was completely over.

  As a creature morphing, he would draw the Helmacron sensors. And if he exceeded the two-hour limit in morph, he’d become some kind of hideous nothlit. Forever a mutant. Even if The Gardens found him, they wouldn’t know what to do with him.

  And I knew I was leaving him to die.

  I ran hard for a long time. Trying to put that last picture of the buffa-human out of my mind. Trying to forget how he’d started to follow me and how his plaintive, bewildered grunting still echoed through my head.

  Leaving him was wrong. But I had done it anyway.

  I had abandoned an animal with human DNA in its bloodstream.

  Thwok thwok thwok!

  I glanced up. Spotted a lone helicopter with no logo on the side.

  The ominous drone was growing closer.

  I paused, trying to figure out what to do.

  In morph I was sending a stronger signal and the helicopter could keep an easy lock on me. If I quickly demorphed back to human — besides that one fast burst of energy — I’d be giving off no signal except for the energy from the cube, and maybe I could lose them again.

  Hunkering down on my haunches, I crept into the hollow beneath a clump of bushes and demorphed in record time.

  Thwok! Thwok! Thwok!

  The trees stirred and the darkening sky vibrated with the dull, thundering rumble of the sharp, swishing blades.

  Time to run.

  I crawled out and took off, zigzagging through the forest. I was cold, clumsy, slow. Twilight had fallen and I couldn’t see well in the growing darkness. My feet were battered and bruised.

  But what I was losing in miles I was making up for in confusion. The Yeerks in the helicopter kept losing the cube’s signal and wheeling off in other directions, circling wider and wider until they were far enough away for me to pause, rest, and take off again.

  So this is how the hunters do it, I thought, trying to catch my breath as I staggered through the shadows. They don’t even have to get dirty or tired. They can just sit in helicopters, probably drinking coffee, and chase their prey until it collapses.

  The helicopter’s ominous THWOK! THWOK! THWOK! had returned and it was directly above me now, running me ragged, beating me down until I had no strength left and my pounding heart seemed ready explode. I felt the same sick, terrified desperation of the hunted, powerless to shake the ominous, stalking specter of death.

  I veered right in an effort to throw them off.

  Dragged myself under a rock ledge to remorph.

  I had to break the lock the Helmacron sensors had on me. Weaken the signal.

  THWOK! THWOK! THWOK!

  If I didn’t, the Yeerks would seize the blue box.

  They’d hold me down as a Yeerk slug slithered into my ear and wove through my brain. I’d become a Controller, and then the Yeerks would know everything. That the “Andalite bandits” were really a bunch of human kids. They’d know where we lived, went to school, even what we ate. They’d know our families and take them, too.

  They might even kill us. But they wouldn’t kill Ax. Ax would be given to a Yeerk up-and-coming in the ranks. We all knew that another Andalite body, even one that was really just a kid’s, was a coup.

  They would find out about the Chee and annihilate them, extinguishing a race that had been around for millions of years. They would find out about the hidden colony of free Hork-Bajir and about the small but growing Yeerk resistance.

  If I didn’t find a way to break this sensor lock we were all dead.

  I closed my eyes. Gathered up my shredded concentration.

  Thwok! Thwok! Thwok!

  I sat up and opened my eyes. Listened.

  No, I hadn’t imagined it. The treetops had stopped shaking and the leaves had stopped swirling around me.

  The helicopter had moved off.

  Exhausted, trembling, I grabbed the blue box and crawled out from under the bushes. Lay back on the carpet of pine needles and listened to the helicopter’s faint thrumming. Watched as an assortment of owls and other birds of prey landed around me and began to demorph.

  “Cassie?” Jake said, when he’d finished demorphing. “Are you all right?”

  No, I definitely wasn’t all right. I knew I was going to have to get up somehow, find the energy to morph again, and keep on running.

  “I’m fine,” I lied. Being an Animorph had made lying a necessary evil. For all of us.

  “Good, because I’ve got some pretty decent news,” Jake said, smiling. “Erek rigged up a devic
e that simulates morphing energy and planted it back at the far edge of the woods. Once the Yeerks find it they’ll know it’s a fake, but at least it’ll buy us some time to figure out what to do.”

  So. I hadn’t saved us by demorphing that last time. The Yeerks had been lured away by a stronger signal in another direction. Figures.

  “The Chee are taking our places at home, so we’re covered for the night,” Rachel added, glancing around. “I should’ve stayed in owl morph. How are we supposed to find a place to hide while we make a plan if we can’t even see where we’re going?”

  “We should go wolf,” I answered. “That way we can move quickly and I can carry the morphing cube. I’m pretty sure there’s a cave a few miles from here. The one I found when I was lost with Karen.” The thought of Karen gave me a good feeling. She was a little girl who’d been infested by a Yeerk. But now she was free and the Yeerk had become part of the Yeerk peace movement. The thought also helped me remember that a few good things have happened to us since all this started. I guess that stands for something.

  The next voice I heard was Tobias’s.

  I turned to look at Ax.

  He stared back with two of his four eyes. His stalk eyes were in constant movement, scanning the dark woods. His scorpion tail was curved high and ready to strike.

  “And?” I said wearily.

  Ax continued.

  “Forget learning to speak,” I interrupted, realizing what I hadn’t realized before. “He’s seen me morph! If the Yeerks infest him and are able to tap into his memories …”

  Tobias added quietly.

  Wolves can move. Quickly. Quietly. And for a very long time. The five of us blew through the woods until we finally found the cave. Tobias stayed overhead. Our own personal eye in the sky.

  The helicopter was a constant presence, beating through the night sky like a distant pulse, rising and falling, keeping us on edge and very, very aware of every movement. And every shadow.

  The cave itself was little protection from the Yeerk shock troops. But the feeling that comes from being walled-in on three sides was false security enough for us to be able to rest for a little while.

  The sun set as we huddled in the gray light. Well, I huddled. Rachel paced. Tobias perched on a low-hanging branch just outside the cave’s entrance where Ax was keeping watch. Jake was sitting close by.

  “Have I mentioned to all of you how much I hate this?” Marco grumbled, his voice eerily disembodied in the dim light. “I mean, it just doesn’t stop.”

  “Neither does your mouth,” Rachel retorted automatically. “C’mon, Jake, we need a better plan than just playing Keep Away.”

  “I know,” Jake said, his fingers creeping over mine. “Any suggestions?”

  “Well, I guess we have to find a way to disable the Helmacron sensors or destroy the ship, because no matter where we hide the cube, the sensors will find it,” I said.

  Marco snorted. “Do you think? You mean all we have to do is find a way to dodge the sensors and get up to the helicopter? All the while, we fight off the Yeerks’ goon squad, find a puny, ultra-microscopic device, and smash it before we’re either killed or captured. No problem-o.”

  Tobias said.

  “That one’s easy,” Rachel said dismissively. “We just have to get rid of it.”

  “But he’s already acquired human DNA,” I protested.

  “So what? You’re saying if we kill it, it’s murder?” Rachel asked. “Come on, Cassie, it’s not a human any more than I’m a bear or you’re a wolf —”

  “Or I’m a big monkey,” Marco added.

  Silence.

  “Okay, so maybe Cassie does have a point,” Jake said, obviously trying not to laugh.

  “Nice,” Marco smirked. “Very nice, Prince Jake.”

  Ax swiveled an eyestalk in Jake’s direction.

  Silence.

  “I hate these kinds of questions.” Rachel. “There are never any concrete answers! I say we do whatever we have to do to protect ourselves and if that includes killing a buffalo, well, too bad. We know firsthand that cows die every day to make hamburgers —”

  “Not in the school cafeteria,” Marco said. “I’m pretty sure that’s roadkill.”

  “Marco, let me ask you a question.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Is there any part of ‘shut up’ that you don’t understand? ’Cause I’d be happy to explain it to you.”

  “C’mon, guys,” Jake said impatiently. “We don’t have a lot of time here.”

  He was right. We didn’t know where the buffalo was or if the Yeerks had already captured it …

  I shuddered. Forced myself not to mention the horrible possibility out loud.

  The helicopter’s engine still pulsed through the night like a dull heartbeat. A little louder. A little closer.

  Jake sighed. “Yeah, well, we don’t know anything for sure right now, except that we have to destroy those sensors if we plan on seeing our next birthdays.”

  Tobias asked, sounding strained.

  Jake looked toward the cave entrance and then back to us. “Why go inside it?”

  “How are we supposed to destroy the sensory devices if we don’t get inside the helicopter that’s carrying them?” Rachel asked.

  “Maybe we should take down the whole helicopter,” Jake said. “Don’t even risk going inside. We already know we don’t exactly want to get up close and personal with Taxxons or Hork-Bajir if we can avoid it.”

  “I agree,” I said. Hork-Bajir were lethal enough with their razor-bladed bodies, but the Taxxons — gigantic, cannibalistic centipedes with incredibly sharp teeth — were just disgusting. The stuff nightmares are made of.

  “So, how do we take down a helicopter?” Rachel said. “We’ve totally lost the element of surprise.”

  “No surprise,” Jake said. “We give the Yeerks what they want. We let them get a good look at the morphing cube —”

  Tobias said.

  “Exactly, and here’s where the fake-out comes in,” Jake said. “Once the Yeerks pinpoint the source of the morphing energy, ’cause we let them ‘catch us,’ they’re going to be on the lookout for a trap, right?”

  “Oookay,” Marco said.

  “So we give them one, only not from the direction they expect.”

  Ax asked.

  “You’re not the only one,” Rachel muttered.

  “Okay, look,” Jake said, sighing. “The guys in the helicopter are hunting the source of the morphing energy. We’re it. We let the cube be spotted and then take off. While they’re trying to run us to ground, one of us hangs back and ambushes them.”

  “Brilliant!” Marco stood up and applauded. “One of us against a bunch of Controllers in a helicopter. Which, I’m guessing, just guessing, is equipped with a bunch of weapons. What’s the plan, morph a bird and peck the copter to death? Splatter poop all over the windshield and hope it crashes?”

  “We could try to lure it down to the ground,” Rachel offered. “And then attack it and destroy the Helmacron ship.”

  Marco shook his head. “Like they won’t be expecting that.”

  “Do you have a better idea?” Rachel snapped.

  “I kinda lik
e the peck-’n’-poop thing, myself,” he said brightly.

  “You know, birds get sucked into airplane engines and cause crashes all the time,” I said quietly, tightening my grip on Jake’s hand.

  Tobias said uneasily.

  “So, you’re saying we do a suicide run?” Rachel said.

  “Well —” Jake began.

  “No,” Marco interrupted. “Not a suicide run, a cartoon run! Oh, man, I am so good! Listen, what does Wile E. Coyote do when he wants to squash the Road Runner?”

  “He straps one of those Acme rockets to his back,” Rachel said. “Dive-bombs him or something.”

  Marco slapped his forehead and groaned. “Noooo! Come on, am I the only one educated in cartoon combat?” We all stared at Marco. “Oh, for … He drops an anvil on him! Don’t you get it? We need to drop an anvil on the helicopter!”

  “Ahhh,” Jake said slowly. “Okay, yeah. It’s perfect. We can’t do it over the woods, though. The last thing we need is to cause a fire or something.”

  Everything was falling into place. “We lure the helicopter out over the ocean. And then we drop the anvil,” I said calmly.

  Jake smiled. “The sooner we get this done, the better. This is going to take split second timing to pull off.”

  Tobias said urgently.

  “Morph,” Jake ordered. “Now!”

  I morphed.

  I concentrated on the DNA and within a heartbeat, powerful horns popped through my scalp and were flowing and curving down the sides of my head and ending in sharp, deadly spears.

  My internal organs slithered and gurgled, swimming and settling into my expanding bulk.

  SPROOT!

  My tail shot out.

  My teeth grew, crowding my jaw and flattening into grinding molars. Coarse black hair sprouted and spread across my muscular tank body.

  And when the African Cape buffalo’s mind rose, I was ready. Got a lock on the aggressive, hair-trigger temper.

  Ax said tensely.

  He was right. I glanced over at Jake, who’d morphed a sleek, deadly tiger.