Her father runs the clinic with a lot of help from Cassie. They take in injured or sick wild animals. And right now, beneath me in the cages, there was a sampling of all the animals that lived in the area - opossums, voles, rabbits, skunks, foxes, raccoons, squirrels, and so on. Many of them would have made a nice snack for me, but Cassie and I have an agreement about that - I don't eat her patients.
In addition to the land animals, there were bats and birds. Cassie actually rescues pigeons and crows and even jays. I have nothing against pigeons, but I don't like crows and ravens and
38 jays. They're like the gangsters of the bird world. Plus, they're smart. They can work together to mob peaceful raptors like me. Sometimes a bunch of them will actually try to steal a kill from me.
And believe me, you get six or eight big, fat jays or crows attacking you all at once, and it can be very annoying. But that's another story.
"How exactly do you tell a man Hork-Bajir from a woman Hork-Bajir?" Marco asked. "Do the women put makeup on their wrist blades? Do they use nail polish on those big nasty toes of theirs?"
Rachel rolled her eyes. "We didn't have a chance to go into it, all right? We barely got the one Hork-Bajir to the cave."
"I mean, do female Hork-Bajir cry at 'chick' movies?" Marco went on, talking mostly to himself. "Do they get all goo-goo when they see a baby?"
"What about the female?" Jake asked Rachel and me.
Rachel shrugged and looked away.
«We don't know,» I said. «We saw her get knocked into the ditch. That was it.»
"Man, this whole thing stinks. It's a trap. It's a setup," Marco said. "But I think the real question is, do female Hork-Bajir get all weird around bugs and snakes?"
«l don't think so. About the trap, I mean.»
39 "Weird around bugs and snakes?" Cassie asked with a raised eyebrow. "Is that how girls are, Marco?" With that, she reached into a low drawer beneath the bottom row of cages. A second later, a snake was lightly tossed through the air in Marco's direction.
"Ahhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Get it off me!"
Cassie retrieved the harmless garden snake and put it back in its drawer while everyone laughed. Except Ax, who doesn't always get human humor.
Even Marco had to laugh. "Oh, that was so not fair. Funny, yes. Fair, no. Can we please act more mature here?"
"Sure, Marco," Rachel said. "Why don't you leave and we'll automatically be a more mature group?"
"Could we stick to business?" Jake asked. But he was still smiling from the snake thing, so no one took him too seriously.
"Why would a Yeerk . . . even a Yeerk inside a Hork-Bajir, want to run away?" Marco asked. "Sooner or later he has to get back to the Yeerk pool. It doesn't make any sense."
Rachel sighed. "Marco, how dumb are you? Don't you get it? These aren't Controllers. There is no Yeerk. Somehow these two Hork-Bajir are free."
Cassie looked thoughtful. "Isn't it kind of a
40 coincidence that you just happened to be in the area where the Hork-Bajir were escaping?"
«Yes,» I said. «Definitely. Especially since I wasn't even heading there. I was actually trying to go somewhere else.»
I saw the two stalk eyes on Ax's head swing up to focus on me with new interest. His main eyes stayed on Jake.
Cassie gave me a tilted-head puzzled look. "You mean -"
But Rachel interrupted. "Look, we need to decide what to do about this. We've got this Hork-Bajir male in a cave. But the Yeerks will keep looking for him. And I have to tell you, this Hork-Bajir is not exactly Stephen Hawking."
"Who?" Cassie asked.
«He is a human physicist,» Ax responded. «l've read some of his writings. He is very brilliant, but also very wrong about several things. For example, when he refers to the structure of atoms in -»
Jake threw up his hands in exasperation. "Is there any chance we could stick to business?"
"I remember when Jake used to be fun," Marco said in a loud whisper. "Now he's such a grown-up."
"I was never fun," Jake said with a tolerant smile.
41 "No, you were never smart, but you were a/ways fun," Marco teased.
"The question is, what do we do about this Hork-Bajir?" Rachel asked. "He's sitting out there in a cave in the woods moaning about his kalashi. What do we do with him?"
We all looked at Ax like he'd have the answer.
«l have never known of a free Hork-Bajir,» Ax said. «They've been slaves of the Yeerks for a long time. But it is possible. Maybe somehow, while this Hork-Bajir's Yeerk was in the Yeerk pool, the Hork-Bajir managed to escape. It is possible. His wife as well. In which case these may be the only free Hork-Bajir in the entire galaxy. The only two free members of their species.»
"Imagine . . ." Cassie whispered. "Imagine being the only two free humans in all the world ..."
Somehow no one felt like messing around anymore. Even Marco looked thoughtful. If the Yeerks won, humans would be no different than the Hork-Bajir - absolute slaves of the Yeerk empire.
"So what do we do with the only free Hork-Bajir in the galaxy?" Marco asked.
«What does the Hork-Bajir want to do?» Ax asked me and Rachel.
42 Rachel and I stared blankly at each other. «You know,» I admitted, «we never asked.»
"Then I guess that's step one," Jake said. "Let's find out what the Hork-Bajir wants."
Everyone agreed. But I saw that Cassie was still troubled. Under her breath she muttered, "And then let's find out why Tobias was somewhere he didn't mean to be."
I don't think anyone else heard her. But I did.
Why had I been there?
43 Lt took a while to figure out how we were going to deal with the Hork-Bajir. In the end, we decided I'd go ahead with Ax. The others would morph and stay close enough to hear what was happening.
The problem was, we were afraid to be honest with the Hork-Bajir. It could all still be some kind of a trap. We couldn't let anyone know who we really were. Or what we really were.
See, the Yeerks know that there is someone out here messing with them. They know they're being attacked by someone using animal morphs. Since only the Andalites have the power to morph, the Yeerks assume we must all be An-
44 dalites. They figure we must be a group of An-dalite guerillas.
We want them to think that. We sure don't want them realizing that the Animorphs are mostly a bunch of human kids. If they ever found out where Jake and Cassie and Rachel and Marco live . . . well, that would be the end of us.
The cave where Rachel and I left the Hork-Bajir was small for a creature of his size. It was hidden by brush and fallen branches. It went in about twenty feet, but was only about five feet tall.
I landed on a fallen branch outside the cave entrance. I waited till everyone was in position. Then I said, «Hey, in there. Hork-Bajir. It's me, the talking bird. I'm coming in. With a friend. »
It's hard for a bird to push through bushes and thorns, so Ax stepped forward, almost dainty on his four hooves. He pushed the tangle aside with his weak arms. He stuck his head inside the dark cave.
The reaction was immediate.
A bladed arm slashed, missing Ax's head by inches. Ax jerked back and cocked his tail to strike.
«NO!» I yelled. «Listen in there, you weed-
45 whacker-looking jerk, calm down! And Ax-man, take it easy!»
The bladed arm withdrew slowly, and Ax relaxed his tail.
I took a few seconds to slow my heart down. When a bird is startled it wants to fly. Natural instinct. I had to fight to control it and stay put.
«What's going on?» Cassie asked.
I looked up at the sky. Rachel and Cassie were up there in bird morph, Rachel as her bald-eagle self and Cassie as an owl. The sun was just setting. And when darkness fell an owl would be a lot more useful than an eagle. The two of them were flying cover. Making sure we weren't disturbed.
«0h, nothing much,» I said. «We're all just saying hello. By the way, is everything clear up there, Ca
ssie? Rachel?»
«Yep. Everything is clear,» Rachel called down.
I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to steady my nerves. Neither Ax nor I wanted to go into that cave anymore. You just can't be careless when you're dealing with Hork-Bajir. One fast move and they can leave you wondering why your head is rolling across the grass.
«Hork-Bajir, come on out,» I said firmly.
Slowly the big creature crawled out. He stood erect, blinking in the dim evening light.
46 "Not Hork-Bajir," he said. "Jara Hamee. My name. Jara Hamee."
«He's kidding, right?» Jake said in my head. «His name is Jeremy?»
I glanced up to see a big, round, white-and-orange face. A face with deep, intelligent eyes and yellowish teeth about four inches long. It was Jake, in his tiger morph. He was above the cave opening on an outcropping of rock, if the Hork-Bajir had made a wrong move, Jake would have been all over him.
«You better talk to our boy Jara Hamee here,» I said to Ax. I figured Ax would know more about talking to other aliens than me.
Ax held his hands open in a gesture of peace. He lowered his tail still further. I could see he really didn't want to do that. The air between the Andalite and the Hork-Bajir seemed to crackle with tension.
«My name is Aximili,» Ax said.
"You are Hruthin. Andalite."
«Yes.»
"You kill me?"
«No. I won't kill you,» Ax said.
"Hruthin kill Hork-Bajir," the Hork-Bajir named Jara Hamee said. "Hork-Bajir kill Hruthin."
«This is going really well,» Marco said dryly. Then he sang new words for that Barney song. «l kill you, you kill me, we're an alien family . . .»
47 I saw Marco settling in behind a stand of trees off to the left. He looked like a very large, very hairy man. A gorilla, actually. We had decided to have plenty of muscle ready, just in case the Hork-Bajir turned out to be trouble.
«Andalites tried to save the Hork-Bajir from the Yeerks,» Ax said, sounding a little defensive.
The Hork-Bajir stared at Ax's face. "You darkap. You fail."
«Yes. We failed. But I'm here now. And I don't kill Hork-Bajir . . . unless they are tools of the Yeerks.»
The Hork-Bajir made a sort of forward jerk with its head and a raspy little sound in its throat. It sounded like a derisive laugh. But who knows? I had no idea what a Hork-Bajir laugh should sound like. Or even if they laughed at all.
WHAP!
The Hork-Bajir slapped his chest with his left hand. It startled me enough that I was halfway airborne before I got a grip.
The Hork-Bajir threw out his arm and said, "Jara Hamee escaped the Yeerks. Jara Hamee free! Jara Hamee has his own head." He pressed both hands gently against his snakelike head.
«How do we know you are free? How do we know you "have your own head"?» Ax asked him coldly.
48 The Hork-Bajir looked puzzled. Then, to my complete and total shock, he made a quick movement of his arm.
It was faster than a human eye could have seen.
But I saw it.
I saw the wrist blade slice right into his own head. He sliced right into his own head!
«No!» I yelled in horror.
«Yah!» Jake yelped.
There was a gash six inches deep in the Hork-Bajir's head. He reached up with his clawed hands and pulled the gash open. He pulled his own head open! And it's not like it didn't hurt him. I could see the pain on his face.
Blood - or something - oozed in shades of deep red and deeper blue-green. He held the gash open and we stared, Ax and me, right into the Hork-Bajir's brain. I guess Jake and Marco could see it pretty clearly, too.
«0h, man,» Marco moaned. «Can I just say "yuck"?»
Jara Hamee pressed the two sides of the gash together. He held the cut for a few seconds, and with amazing speed, the bleeding coagulated.
A long scab began to form over the gash.
That's when I started breathing again. I had stopped. Then I started my heart up. I swear it had stopped,too.
49 «Did you see a Yeerk in there in his head?» I asked Ax shakily.
«No,» Ax said, just as shaken as I was. «No Yeerk. »
«Did that scare the pee out of you, Ax-man, or doesn't that kind of thing bother you Andalites?»
«l am as peeless as you, Tobias, my friend.»
«That wasn't necessary,» I told Jara Hamee.
His face - insofar as he had a face - was still scrunched up in pain. He was breathing hard and sweating the same blue-green fluid I'd seen inside his head.
"Necessary," he grunted through his pain. "Jara Hamee is strong. But Jara Hamee needs help."
«Help to do what?» Ax asked him gently.
The Hork-Bajir stared at Ax, then shifted his gaze to me. "Flying animal saw my kalashi. Jara Hamee must find her. Jara Hamee ..." He struggled to come up with a word. Then he made a gesture with his hands, as if someone were tearing something out of him. As if someone were removing his heart.
There was no question what it meant. Even across the huge divide between our species, I could recognize that emotion.
«You love her,» I said.
"Jara Hamee loves," the Hork-Bajir said. "Kalashi, Jara Hamee free. Want free."
50 Ax swiveled his stalk eyes back toward me. «l think I believe him.»
«Yeah. Me, too, Ax.»
«Hey. You guys down there?» Cassie called down from above. «We have company coming.»
51 «What kind of company, Cassie?» I heard Jake snap.
«Fifteen, maybe twenty people. They're strung out in a line. Coming this way.»
«And I have an equal number coming from the southeast,» Rachel said. «And ... oh, man. They have Hork-Bajir with them! It's not even dark and they're bringing Hork-Bajir out! In the open!»
«They want our boy here real badly,» I said. «lt's a big risk running aliens through the woods when it's still light enough to see.»
«They're converging on you,» Cassie reported. «l have a small troop of Hork-Bajir coming up, too. Oh, man. This isn't good. You guys
52 are practically surrounded. You have maybe five minutes till they're all over you.»
«Talk about bad timing. It's getting late,» Marco pointed out. «lt's almost dinnertime. My dad will give me much grief if I don't get home in time for dinner.»
Jake laughed. So did I. It was just so ridiculous having to worry about being grounded when we were halfway surrounded by Yeerks.
«We could easily escape,» Ax said. «We can all morph some small animal or bird and not be seen.»
«That wouldn't help old Jara Hamee here,» Marco said.
«Distraction,» Jake said. «We need to draw the bad guys away.»
«But the Yeerks are looking for a Hork-Bajir,» Ax pointed out. «Will they be foolish enough to follow any of us?»
«We can only hope they will,» Jake said tersely. «We can get away, but I don't think we can leave Jara Hamee behind.»
But I had a different idea. Unfortunately, it was a dangerous idea. A very dangerous idea. And the danger would all be on someone else. Not me.
I hesitated. It makes me sick when other people take risks that I can't take. «Look, uh . . . there might be a way . . .» I said at last.
53 «What?» Jake asked.
«They want a Hork-Bajir to chase, right? Well, we could give them one.»
«Morph a Hork-Bajir?» Marco asked. «Ewwww.»
«Jara Hamee isn't just any animal,» Cassie objected. «He's sentient. He's self-aware.»
«Ax morphed me once,» Jake pointed out. «And Cassie, you morphed Rachel.»
«l'm just saying we have to get Jara Hamee's permission, at least,» Cassie said. «But whatever you decide, do it quick!»
«l'll do it. I'll morph the Hork-Bajir,» Rachel said. Suddenly I saw her glide down through the trees on her huge eagle wings. «l need to change morphs, anyway. It's getting too dark for eagle eyes.»
«No. I should do it,» Ax said quickly.
>
«No way,» Rachel said. She was already starting to demorph. «l have dibs.»
«Dibs?»
«l spoke first,» Rachel explained.
Ax let it go and focused his main eyes back on the Hork-Bajir. «Yeerks are coming. One of my friends wishes to morph you. To trick the Yeerks. Do you agree?»
"Jara Hamee hates Yeerks," the big Hork-Bajir said. Like that was all the answer he needed to give.
54 «0kay then, turn around, Jara Hamee,» I ordered the Hork-Bajir. «Close your eyes and don't look till I tell you. If you open your eyes this Hruthin here . . . this Andalite . . . will slice and dice you. You got it? Eyes closed.»
The Hork-Bajir turned around obediently. I would have laughed if I wasn't feeling half-sick with worry for Rachel. I mean, this seven-foot-tall monster was taking orders from a twenty-inch-long bird.
But my sense of humor was slightly damaged right then. Rachel was going to morph a Hork-Bajir. And then she was going to draw off the Yeerks. She was going to make them chase her.
It made me sick to think about it. It had been my idea. My brilliant idea. And she would take the risk.
Rachel began to emerge from her eagle body. She rose up swiftly from the pine needle and rotting leaf floor of the forest. Up and up, a weird, misshapen, nightmare creature made of fair human flesh and dark brown feathers, bright yellow beak, and lengthening legs.
I would have given anything to be able to go in her place. But I can't morph. I would be safe in the sky or in the trees while she was trying to outrun the enemy.
It was the story of my life lately. My friends
55 went into danger, and I stayed safe. All because I couldn't morph.
In a minute Rachel was no longer a bird, but a human girl. A human girl who even now, even with all of us scared, managed to look like some smiling magazine cover girl.
«You don't have to do this, Rachel,» I said.
«lt's Rachel's greatest thrill,» Marco said. «Morph a Hork-Bajir? Hey, she'll finally get to become on the outside what she's always been inside.»
«Shut up, Marco,» I snapped.
Rachel gave me a look that said, "Don't worry, Tobias." But she said nothing because she was now fully human. We still didn't want the Hork-Bajir to know we were human. We didn't want him to hear a human voice.
The Change Page 3
