«NO!» I yelled.
Visser Three had managed to push David away, but large and terrifying as the Visser had become, he suddenly discovered he had an An-dalite tail blade pressed against his throat.
«Tell him not to fire!» Ax said. «lf he pulls the trigger on that Dracon beam, I remove your head.»
Everything froze. No one moved. The only sound was panting.
«A standoff?!» Visser Three practically screamed. «l won't accept that! I have you! I have you at last. You won't escape me!»
Ax pressed his tail blade against the dark, pockmarked lizard skin of the morphed Visser's throat till black blood began to seep out.
Still, the Visser wasn't ready to give in. He'd gone to a lot of trouble to catch us. He'd taken a big risk. And you don't get to be a Visser of the Yeerk Empire without being determined.
«Which of you is the human?» he asked, his
129 thought-speak voice suddenly silky and insinuating.
Ax was the one to answer. «Humans?» He forced a laugh. «You are losing your sense of reason, Visser. Humans do not morph.»
«l know you found the blue box,» Visser Three said coolly. «l know a human boy named David found it. And I know you Andalite bandits have gotten to him. You either killed him or made him one of you. And killing him in cold blood wouldn't have suited the hypocritical Andalite sense of morality.»
He was demorphing, returning to his own stolen Andalite body. His stalk eyes were reemerging now, and he turned them to look from one of us to the other.
«0ne of you is the human child named David. It's to you that I'm speaking, David. David? Your parents are with me. They miss you. They would like to see you again.»
«David, don't say a -» I started to say. But too late.
«You took my parents!» David said. «You turned them into . . . into Yeerks!»
«Yes. But we would not do that to you, David. I give you my word. You would be allowed to live free with your parents.»
«Liar,» Ax sneered. «The word of Visser Three. »
130 «What other choice do you have?» Visser Three continued, ignoring Ax. «We know what you look like. You'll never be able to go out in the world again, David. Never go to one of your human entertainments. Never -»
«Silence!» Ax said.
«Are you afraid for the young human to hear the truth? You see, David? They can't allow you to learn the truth. The Andalites are a race of liars!»
One of the Controllers touched the earpiece in his ear. "Visser! Humans coming!"
«So, what will it be, David?» the Visser asked. «Come with us now. We'll take you to your parents.»
«Don't waste your time, Visser,» Ax said.
"Visser! Humans coming, fast! U.S. Secret Service. We're monitoring their communications. They are searching for the location of all the noises. They'll reach us in minutes!"
Visser Three hesitated still. I could see the frustration on his face. His main eyes were burning with rage.
«Come over to us, David. Go to your old home. We'll watch for you there. Come over to us! We'll make you powerful! Safe!»
Visser Three began to morph again, this time emerging as Tony, the protocol chief. One of the Controllers was already opening a briefcase with one of Tony's suits inside.
131 «Turn the inner hologram back on,» Ax directed. «Just wait till we are all inside it.»
We drew apart, two armies observing a truce. The Yeerks backed toward the door as Visser Three continued to morph to human.
We edged within the area that would be concealed by the hologram of the pillar.
Ten minutes later, we were away from the resort. Shaken. Filled with doubts. No closer to our goal of protecting the leaders of the free world.
But alive.
132 We flew home through darkness. I knew the moods of my friends. I knew who would explode and when. I contacted them, one by one, in private thought-speak.
«Don't say a word, Marco,» I warned.
«About what? About the fact that David was ready to -»
«l don't have time to argue, Marco, just don't»
I never do that. I never hand out orders. I mean, I am supposed to be the leader, but I don't give orders. I just don't feel like I have the right. But this time I had no choice. One wrong word, and we could be in bigger trouble than we were already in.
133 «You guys know I was just faking the big Yeerk out, right?» David said.
«Yeah, right,» Rachel began.
«Rachel. Shut up!» I snapped so only she could hear me.
«l was!» David yelled. «l was never going to surrender! And you had no right calling me a coward, Rachel! Maybe you're a coward!»
«Rachel! Not. One. WORD,» I said. «You hear me? Not one word.»
Then, one by one, I contacted Tobias, Ax, and Cassie. The message was the same: No one disses David. We all accept his story. We all play along like we believe it.
«l mean, look,» David was saying, «l'm the one who took him down, right? I mean, I got the creep. Even though Cassie had been chewing on my leg. Which was totally unnecessary.»
«You did great, David,» I said.
«Yeah. I think you almost finished the guy off,» Marco enthused.
«l was impressed,» Rachel said. Then added privately to me, «The gutless, treacherous little worm. He blows with the wind. He turned on Visser Three when he saw we might win.»
David seemed to relax as we flew. Then he went beyond relaxing. He started bragging.
«Like I was ever scared of that guy? No way. Him and me, we had a score to settle. And I
134 would have taken him down, only the way it played out I couldn't. You know, because they got Cassie and all.»
«Yeah, thanks for holding back, David,» Cassie said. «l guess you saved my life.»
«No problem,» David said.
It went that way all the trip back to the barn. David boasting, us reassuring. And the truth was, I couldn't be totally sure he wasn't telling the whole truth.
My instincts told me he was lying. That he'd gone over to the Visser, and only turned on him when, as Rachel had said, he saw how the wind was blowing.
But I couldn't be sure. All I knew for sure was one thing: We couldn't act like we were suspicious of David. If he was lying, we'd just end up warning him. If he was telling the truth, we'd destroy any possibility of trust between us.
So we had to shut up and play along. For now.
It was late when we got back to the barn. Rachel had to rush home to avoid getting grounded for all of eternity. Cassie had to invent some story about having come across an injured raccoon who got away. Her parents would accept that. Marco was basically toast, unless he'd gotten lucky and his dad had gone out on a date. (Turned out he had not. Marco was going to be
135 applying fertilizer to the lawn and losing TV for a week.)
Ax and Tobias had no problems. Neither did I. I knew Tom was probably still out. And with my parents out of town, I wasn't in danger of getting grounded.
I thought-spoke privately with Tobias and Ax. Then I flew home and demorphed. I rumpled my bed and stuck a couple of pillows under the covers to make it look like I was sleeping. I wolfed down some food, carefully leaving dirty dishes around for when Tom came home. He'd see the dishes and figure I'd raided the refrigerator before going to bed. I even left the TV on, something I do by accident sometimes.
Then I morphed again, and flew back to the barn to wait.
I resumed human form, crouching and shivering in the bed of Cassie's dad's pickup truck.
I didn't see Ax or Tobias, but I knew they were there in the night, somewhere.
Midnight. Nothing.
One o'clock. Nothing.
Maybe I was wrong. I hoped I was wrong. If I wasn't wrong, I didn't know what to do.
I'll tell you something, though. You don't want to try and be hopeful at one in the morning. It's nothing but depressing at that hour. Cassie's house was dark. Everyone was asleep.
136 T
wo o'clock.
It began to rain lightly. Only there's no such thing as "light" rain where you're hunched down on a bag of peat moss in the back of a pickup, wearing bike shorts and a T-shirt.
I crawled stiffly out of the bed of the truck and climbed into the cab of the truck. Unbelievable! The keys were in the ignition.
I turned them to the "on" position and switched on the radio very low. That at least was an improvement.
Two-thirty.
I was wrong about David. If he stayed in the barn, I was wrong. And he was staying in the barn.
I kept playing the scene over and over in my mind. The moment when he said «Wait! Don't shoot me! I'll demorph. I don't care about these -» And then the fight between him and Cassie.
Was David telling the truth? Was it all just a clever plan to get close to Visser Three? Had Cassie just gotten in the way?
«They're threatening me!» That's what he'd yelled as he ran to the Visser's side. All part of a plan?
I was fighting sleep and losing. My head kept falling forward, then suddenly snapping back as I
137 jerked to consciousness. My eyes were bleary from peering at the barn.
And, in fact, I missed it when it happened.
But Ax didn't.
«This is Aximili,» he said, in as loud a thought-speak as he could manage. «We have an eagle leaving the barn.»
Tobias's thought-speak came from somewhat closer. «l see him. Jake? I hope you hear me. Because we have a traitor.»
138 Tobias came swooping down to land beside me on the back of the truck.
"Follow him," I said tersely. "But don't let him see you. Ax and I will follow."
Tobias spread his wings and took off. But as he left he said, «This won't be easy, Jake. In the dark, his eyes are as good as mine. We'll both be moving pretty slow.»
"Do your best," I said. I had already begun to morph to peregrine falcon.
David had a head start on Tobias. An even bigger head start on me and Ax. Ax was morphing to bird, too. None of us was a great night flyer, but golden eagles are fast. Faster than red-tails.
I hooked up with Ax in the air over Cassie's
139 barn. The thought entered my mind that I should get Cassie, regardless of the risk of her parents realizing she was gone. But there was no time. And surely the three of us could handle David.
Ax and I flew hard. We kept calling to Tobias, but he was not within range. I couldn't see him. Or David.
Was he heading toward his old house? Was he going to sell out to the Yeerks? Could he be that dumb?
Once again I was faced with the fact that I didn't really know David. He was still an unknown quantity. What was he doing?
I had no one to follow. No way to know if Tobias was keeping up with David.
«Ax? We're going to head toward David's old house,» I said.
«Yes. That seems sensible,» Ax agreed. «When . . .»
Ax seemed about to say more.
«What is it?»
«lf David is joining forces with the Yeerks, what shall we do with him?»
«l don't know,» I said.
We flew hard, flapping all the way. We flew above the darkened homes, above the empty streets, above the abandoned businesses.
Every few minutes I would call out to Tobias. But he didn't answer. And slowly, another possi-
140 bility began to occur to me: That it wasn't just a case of Tobias being out of range.
Maybe Tobias couldn't answer.
«Ax? Keep an eye out for Tobias.»
«l am. I do not see him in the sky anywhere.»
«Not in the sky,» I said. «Keep an eye out for him on the ground.»
«You think David may have attacked Tobias?»
«Ax, I do not know what to think. I just keep hoping this is all some big misunderstanding. How do we fight against a traitor? An Animorph?»
«We are close to David's house,» Ax pointed out.
«Visser Three said they'd be watching for him there. Which means they'll be watching for us, too.» I looked down at the house. It still showed signs of the epic battle that had taken place there. The window of David's old room was a gaping hole - shattered glass, splintered wood, siding peeled off and hanging down.
A truck was parked across the street. A brown UPS truck. I'd never seen a UPS truck parked on the street before.
«l wonder how many Hork-Bajir they have crammed in there?» I said.
«l do not see David. Or Tobias.»
«Me neither. But David could be in the house. I'll have to go in and see.»
«Prince Jake, this is a trap.»
142 «Yeah. I know. The Yeerks are on the lookout for David. But if he's here, do they know he's here yet? Maybe they missed him arriving. Maybe he's inside and hasn't been spotted yet. Or maybe he's undecided. Maybe he just needs to think about all this.»
«That is a highly unacceptable number of maybes.»
«Yep. Sure is. Ax? I need you at your most dangerous. And that's as an Andalite. Land in that backyard two houses down. Demorph. And be ready to jump some fences.»
«l should stay with you!»
«No. I'm going in alone. If David can still be reached, that's the only way.»
I'd like to pretend that I was some fearless hero right then. But that wouldn't be real. Maybe there are guys who don't feel afraid when they're facing death. But I think those guys are called lunatics, not heroes.
I was scared. I knew what was in the UPS van. I didn't know what was in that abandoned, scarred house.
What I did know was that I had no time to morph into something else. Or to come up with clever plans. All I could do was fly in and hope.
141
I swooped down toward that window. Or the hole that had once been a window.
Down through the cold, lifeless night air.
It was a strange scene inside. The battle we'd fought there had destroyed the walls, annihilated furniture, left the place looking like a house that's being demolished.
But someone had dragged the bed back into place. It faced a television set. The set was on, but the picture was dim and snowy.
A golden eagle stood on the upright bedpost, watching the TV screen.
And that's when I saw the other bird. A crumpled mass of feathers lay atop a wadded-up sheet. Blood had seeped into the material.
143 «Tobias!» I cried.
There was no answer.
The golden eagle turned its head to look a me. «He was following me,» David said. «Trying to stop me.»
A voice in my head was saying no. Over and over again till it was one long siren wail. No, no, no
«Tobias!» I yelled again.
No answer.
I didn't know what to do. The eagle - David - was three times my size. I was alone. I strained my hearing, listening for breathing sounds from Tobias.
«David, you can't do this,» I said as calmly as I could.
«Do what, Jake? Turn myself over to the Yeerks? Of course not. You really think I'm dumb enough to try that? That's not what this is about.»
«Then what are you doing?!» I roared, suddenly not so calm. «What are you doing, hurting Tobias?»
«Hurting him? Oh, he's dead, in case you were wondering,» David said. «Definitely dead.»
My mind kind of went numb as he spoke those words. I strained to hear breathing sounds from the clump of mangled feathers. But there were no sounds.
144 I felt very weak. Helpless. How could this be? How could I have let it happen?
«Why are you doing this?» I pleaded.
«What choice do I have? The Yeerks know me. My parents would turn me in. And you . . . you and the others? Hey, you made it clear the other night when I checked into the Holiday Inn, right? What was it you said? Something like: "If you go around using your powers however you want, we can't have you around. You're a danger to us."»
I recognized the words.
«You think I don't know you were threatening me, Jake?» David said. «l'm not s
pending the rest of my life taking orders from you. You and Marco and Rachel and Cassie? You're like this clique or something. Like, do what we say, or you can't be one of the popular kids. My family used to move around a lot. I was always the new kid in school. I got used to being pushed around by the so-called popular kids. That's all this is. This is like you and Marco and Rachel are the cool kids, and I'm just the new kid, right? So you get to push me around? Rachel gets to call me a coward? Because I want to stay alive? I don't think so.»
«You murdered Tobias because you think this is some stupid school thing?!» I yelled.
145 «Murder? I don't think so, Jake,» he said with a laugh. «He's a bird. You may kill a bird, but it isn't murder. I'd never do that. I wouldn't hurt a human. But hey, an animal? That's a different story.»
He stared hard at me with the laser-focus glare of the golden eagle. And what could I do? He was as fast as me. Bigger than me. If he had outfought Tobias, with all his experience, he would outfight me.
«What choice do I have, Jake?» David asked, almost sadly. «No family. No home. Can't even step out in public as a human. Yeerks after me. The rest of my life I live in Cassie's barn? Do what I'm told? Let Marco hammer me? Let Rachel look down her pretty nose at me? And in the meantime risk getting trapped as a flea or something? Or killed? Maybe you want to be the big hero, Jake, but not me. I have this power now. I'm going to use it.»
«The Yeerks will never stop looking for you,» I said.
«They'll never find me. See, all I have to do is acquire some other human morph, right? I can be human for two hours at a time. I even have a person in mind. And using my powers, I can take anything I want. Anything. I can be a millionaire if I want.»
147 «lf the Yeerks don't get you, we will,» I said.
«Yeah, I know,» David acknowledged. «But already there used to be six of you and now there are just five. Pretty soon, Jake, it'll be four.»
That's when the eagle spread his wings, flapped hard, and shot toward me.
146
The golden eagle was huge! The wings seemed to fill the room. The talons, raked forward and opened wide, would rip me open in a flash.
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