“They’re all standing at attention,” I whispered.
“How can you tell?” Marco whispered back. “Who knows when a jelly-eyed centipede or a walking SaladShooter from Hell is standing at attention?”
Then he appeared.
Visser Three, the Andalite said.
Visser Three was an Andalite.
Or at least he was an Andalite-Controller.
“What the …” Rachel said. “Isn’t that an Andalite?”
Only once has a Yeerk been able to take an Andalite body, the Andalite said. There is only one Andalite-Controller. That one is Visser Three.
Visser Three walked confidently toward the wounded Andalite. The Visser seemed so much like the Andalite it was hard to tell them apart at first. He had the same mouthless face; the same extra stalk- eyes that turned here and there, checking out everything in all directions; the same powerful yet sleek four-legged body; and the same wicked tail.
But if the Visser looked like any normal Andalite, he felt different. It was like he was wearing a mask, only you just knew that under the fake sweetness of the mask there was something twisted and foul.
Well, well, Visser Three said.
I almost had a heart attack when I realized I was hearing the Visser’s thoughts.
“Can he hear our thoughts?” Cassie whispered.
“If he can, we’re so dead I don’t even want to think about it,” Rachel told her.
He cannot hear your thoughts, the Andalite said. Unless you are morphed and you direct them to him. You hear his thoughts because he is broadcasting them for all to hear. This is a great victory for him, so he wants all to hear.
What have we here? A meddling Andalite? Visser Three looked more closely at the Andalite’s ship. Ah, but no ordinary Andalite warrior. Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, if I am not mistaken. An honor to meet you again. You’re a legend now. How many of our fighters have you shredded? Seven, or was it eight by the time the battle ended?
The Andalite didn’t answer. But I had the feeling maybe it had been more than eight.
The very last Andalite in this sector of space. Yes, I’m afraid your Dome ship has been completely destroyed. Completely. I watched it burn as it fell into the atmosphere of this little world.
There will be others, the Andalite prince said. The Visser took a step closer to the Andalite. Yes, and when they come it will be too late. This world will be mine. My own contribution to the Yeerk Empire. Our greatest conquest. And then I’ll be Visser One. What do you want with these humans?> the Andalite asked. You have your Taxxon allies. You have your Hork-Bajir slaves. And other slaves from other worlds. Why these people?
Because there are so many, and they are so weak, Visser Three sneered. Billions of bodies! And they have no idea what’s happening. With this many hosts we can spread throughout the universe, unstoppable! Billions of us. We’ll have to build a thousand new Yeerk pools just to raise Yeerks for half this number of bodies. Face it, Andalite, you have fought well and bravely. But you have lost.
Visser Three stepped right up to the Andalite. I could feel the Andalite’s fear, but rather than cower, he fought the pain of his wound and climbed to his feet. He knew he was going to die. He wanted to die on his feet, looking his enemy in the face.
But Visser Three was not done taunting his foe. I promise you one thing, Prince Elfangor—when we have this planet, with its rich harvest of bodies, we will move against the Andalite home world. I will personally hunt down your family. And I will personally oversee the placement of my most faithful lieutenants in their heads. I hope that they will resist, so I can hear their minds scream.
The Andalite struck!
His tail whipped up and over, so fast you couldn’t really see it. The Visser twisted his head aside. The Andalite’s tail blade missed the Visser’s head by a bare half inch. But it sliced into his shoulder. Blood—or something like blood—sprayed from the wound.
“Yes!” I hissed.
Aaaaaarrrrrgh! I could hear the Visser’s howl of pain in my head.
At the same time, a blinding beam of blue light shot from the tail of the Andalite ship. It sliced into the nearest Bug fighter. Hork-Bajir and Taxxons scattered.
Even crouching behind the wall, I could feel a wave of blistering heat. The Bug fighter sizzled and disappeared.
Fire! Visser Three yelled. Burn his ship!
The night exploded in blinding light. Red beams lanced from the Blade ship and the remaining Bug fighter. The Andalite ship glowed, and, with a strange slowness, disintegrated.
Then, in the flash and glow of Dracon beams I saw … or thought I saw … humans. A small group of them, maybe three or four, back in the shadows behind the Visser.
“There are people over there,” I told Marco.
“What? Are they prisoners?”
Take the Andalite, Visser Three ordered his soldiers. Hold him for me.
Three big Hork-Bajir grabbed the Andalite and held him down. Their wrist blades were at his throat, but they knew better than to kill him.
That was to be Visser Three’s personal privilege.
Then we saw why a Yeerk as powerful as Visser Three would inhabit the only captured Andalite body. As we watched, Visser Three began to morph.
His Andalite head grew large, larger. Much larger. The four horselike legs merged into two and then expanded, each leg becoming as big around as a redwood tree. The delicate Andalite arms sprouted and became tentacles.
“This isn’t real,” Cassie whispered. “This isn’t real.”
In the hideously bloated head, a mouth appeared. It was filled with teeth as long as your arm. The mouth grew wider and wider, becoming a monstrous, terrifying grin.
There was nothing left of the Andalite body. A monster had taken its place.
“R-r-r-r-a-a-a-w-w-w-w-g-g-g!” The roar of the beast Visser Three had become made the ground shake.
I covered my ears with my hands.
“R-r-r-r-r-r-a-a-a-a-g-g-g!”
My teeth rattled from the sound. I heard someone whimpering. It was me.
Visser Three had become a monster that made the Hork-Bajir and the Taxxons look like harmless toys. He reached out with one thick tentacle and grabbed the Andalite by the neck.
“No, no, no,” I heard Cassie whispering over and over again. “No, no, no, no.”
“Don’t look,” Rachel said to her. She put her arm around Cassie’s shoulder and held her close. Then she reached for Tobias and took his hand. I guess you never really know someone till you see them scared. And even scared to death, with tears running down her face, Rachel had strength to spare.
Visser Three lifted the Andalite straight up in the air, tearing him from the grasp of the Hork-Bajir. The Andalite prince struck again and again with his tail. But each strike was like a pinprick against such a creature.
Visser Three held the Andalite high in the air.
And then Visser Three opened his mouth wide.
CHAPTER 6
I don’t know what came over me right then. I had been so afraid. So terrified. But it was like something just snapped in my head. I couldn’t just hide and watch. I couldn’t.
“You filthy—”
I jumped to my feet. I snatched up a piece of rusted iron pipe from the ground and started to climb over that wall.
I guess I just went crazy or something. It had to be craziness, because there was no way that I, alone, armed with a piece of pipe, was going to accomplish anything.
No!
The Andalite’s silent cry made me hesitate. I felt Marco’s hands grabbing at my shirt and pulling me back. Tobias and Marco held me down. Rachel put her hand over my mouth. I was trying to scream, or curse, or something.
“Shut up, you idiot!” Marco hissed. “You’re just going to get us all killed.”
“Jake, don’t.” Cassie put her hand on my cheek. “He doesn’t want you to die for him. Don’t you realize? He’s dying for us.”
I shoved Marco and Tobias away angrily.
But I was in control of myself again.
I peeked over the wall again. The Andalite prince was helpless in the grasp of Visser Three. I saw him held high in the air. I saw Visser Three open his monstrous, gaping jaws.
I saw the Andalite fall into that open mouth.
The mouth closed. The teeth ripped the Andalite apart. And the Andalite Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul died.
At the very end, he cried out. His cry of despair was in our heads. His cry will always be in our heads.
The Hork-Bajir-Controllers began making a huffing sound, like whuh-whuh-whuh. Maybe they were laughing or applauding. The Taxxon- Controllers rushed forward and crowded around Visser Three. They seemed to be stretching up toward him, and then I saw why—a piece of the Andalite fell from the Visser’s jaws and the nearest Taxxon greedily gobbled it up.
Tobias turned away and covered his face with his hands. Cassie had tears streaming from her eyes. So did I.
I heard a sound that was strange because it was so normal. It was laughter. Human laughter. The humans … the Human-Controllers — because that’s what they were—were laughing, like they were at some kind of a show. For a moment it seemed to me that one of those laughing voices was familiar, like I’d heard it before. But then the sound was swallowed up in the huffing of the Hork-Bajir.
Visser Three morphed out of his monstrous form and slowly regained his Andalite body. A I heard him think, nothing like a good Antarean Bogg morph for … taking a bite out of your enemies.
Again the Human-Controllers laughed and the Hork-Bajir-Controllers huffed, and I heard a familiar human laugh I could not quite place.
Marco started throwing up. It was an understandable thing to do. But somehow that sound caught the attention of the nearest Hork-Bajir.
The snake head turned. He was perfectly still.
We were perfectly still.
The Hork-Bajir turned toward us. The nearsighted eyes were aimed directly at our little hiding place. I don’t know who panicked first. Maybe it was me. Maybe we’d just had all the fear and horror we could stand. It was like an electric shock went through all of us. We were running before I had a chance to even know what I was doing.
I ran. I gasped for air.
A cry went up from the Hork-Bajir.
“Split up,” I yelled. “They can’t follow all of us.”
Marco and Tobias and Cassie took off in three different directions. Rachel was still right beside me. Glancing back, I saw the Hork-Bajir hesitate, unsure of who to chase.
Rachel and I are the fastest runners. Tobias is totally out of shape, and Marco and Cassie are too short to be really fast. So I figured if the aliens were going to chase anyone, it ought to be us.
I guess Rachel thought the same thing. She slowed down just a little and began yelling and waving her arms. “Come on, come on, you —” And then she said some words I didn’t realize Rachel even knew.
The two nearest Hork-Bajir snapped around and took off after us. “Ghafrash! Here! Ghafrash fit! Enemy! Get!”
Even in my panic it surprised me. They were talking some mix of their own alien language and ours.
“Ghafrash fit nahar! I get! I kill!”
I ran. Suddenly my foot slammed against something and I was down. I hit the ground hard. The wind was knocked out of me. I tried to fill my lungs again. Rachel ran on. She didn’t know I had fallen.
A spear of red light struck a concrete pipe just beside me. The concrete vaporized. The two Hork-Bajir were coming after us, bounding like some devil kangaroos. I was up and running.
Rachel must have realized I wasn’t with her anymore. She stopped and started to come back toward me.
“Don’t be an idiot!” I yelled. “Run!”
She hesitated just a second. But she knew she couldn’t do anything more for me. She ran.
I saw a dark hole ahead and raced toward it.
A doorway. Inside it was as black as a grave. It was one of the buildings that had almost been completed. Just bare concrete walls and scattered junk. But I knew I had been in here before. Marco and I had walked all through it. There were hallways and little side rooms. It was like a maze.
Marco! Rachel! Had they gotten away? And what about Cassie and Tobias?
I tried to get my brain to concentrate as I scurried across the first big room. There was a corridor … somewhere. I groped in the dark and found a wall.
I heard the sound of clawlike feet, huge, tearing, rending claw feet scraping over the bare concrete. A bottle went skittering across the floor.
The Hork-Bajir was close! And in the total darkness my superior human vision wasn’t much use. But I knew my way around the empty building.
At least, I would have known my way around if my brain had been working.
I felt my hand go into emptiness. A doorway. Yes! It led down a hallway. I went through just as the light came on behind me. Someone had brought a flashlight.
“Efnud to tell fallay nyot fit? Whatever order.”
“No. No need to capture them. Whoever you find, kill.”
The first voice had been Hork-Bajir. The second voice was human. And the weird thing was, that voice sounded familiar. I tried to think. I knew I’d heard that voice somewhere. Where? Where?
“Just save the head,” the human told the Hork-Bajir. “Bring that to me and we can identify it.”
I slid quickly along the wall.
The light followed just steps behind me.
I racked my brains. Had there been a passageway …? Yes, there it was. As silently as I could, I slipped into it. The flashlight beam was just inches behind me.
I kicked something soft.
“Hey!”
It was a man! He had been lying on the ground, wrapped in a blanket.
“Hey, get outta here. This is my place, and I ain’t got nothin’ for you to steal.”
I started to warn him, but one of the Hork-Bajir was there!
The flashlight landed on the homeless man’s face. He blinked like an owl.
There was an alcove. Right behind me. I backed through.
The homeless guy screamed. I heard the sound of a scuffle.
Maybe the guy got away. I hope so.
But I never found out, because with the Hork-Bajir distracted, I ran.
I ran and ran and ran. And as I ran, I really hoped it was all just a dream.
CHAPTER 7
Somehow I made it home. I don’t know how. I have no memories of anything after that last sight of the Hork-Bajir.
I wish I had no memories of anything that happened that night. If only I could forget it all …
I called around to the others. Everyone was shaky, but they were all alive. Rachel kept trying to apologize for leaving me. Marco just kept asking me if I was sure this wasn’t a dream.
I guess I should have had the worst nightmares of my life that night, but I didn’t. The world of nightmares was a joke compared to my new reality.
But by the next morning, a Saturday, I half believed it all had been a nightmare. The only thing that seemed real … really real … was the way the Andalite had of smiling with just his eyes.
I woke when my mom started pounding on my door.
“Jake, are you awake in there?”
I was now. “Um, yeah,” I groaned. “I’m up.”
“Your friend Tobias is here.”
“Tobias?” What was Tobias doing here?
“It’s me.” Tobias’s voice. “Can I come in?”
“Um, sure.” I sat up in my bed and blinked several times, trying to get my eyes unglued. The door opened. I heard Tobias say thank you to my mom.
He was glowing. I swear, he was glowing. Not like he was radioactive or anything, I don’t mean that. It’s just that his eyes were shining bright, and his face was one big grin, and he seemed to be tingling with energy, bouncing like he couldn’t stand still.
“I did it,” Tobias said.
I tried to get my hair to go in one direction by raking my fingers through it. “What
are you talking about?”
I was yawning when he answered.
“I became Dude.”
I stopped yawning. My mouth actually snapped shut. Dude is Tobias’s cat. “Huh?”
Tobias glanced around like there might be spies in the room. “I became Dude. Just like the Andalite said.”
I just stared.
“It was so amazing. It didn’t hurt or anything. I was petting him, and thinking about the whole thing last night, right? So I thought, why not give it a try?” He was pacing back and forth, snapping his fingers, bursting with enthusiasm. Very unlike Tobias.
“I didn’t even know how to begin. So I just made sure the door to my room was locked. Fortunately, my uncle was still asleep.”
Tobias has the most screwed-up family I know. He never knew who his father was, and his mom just decided to leave him a few years ago. Since then he’d been shuttled back and forth between his uncle here, and his aunt, who lives on the other coast. His aunt and his uncle can’t stand each other, and it’s like Tobias is some burden they each try to shove off on the other. I get the feeling neither of them cares about Tobias.
“So there I was, just sitting on my bed, thinking about it. Concentrating. Thinking about becoming Dude. I looked down at my hand.” He grinned at me. “What do you think I saw, Jake?”
I shook my head slowly. “I don’t know.”
“I had fur, Jake. And I was growing claws. You should have seen the real Dude. He went nuts. I had to put him outside before I could morph all the way. He clawed me up pretty good.”
I swallowed hard. Okay, this was definitely crazy now. “Um, Tobias, is it possible you maybe just dreamed all this?”
“Not a dream,” he said. Now he was serious Tobias again. The grin was gone. “It’s all true, Jake. All of it.”
His eyes met mine. I knew what he was saying. He had tried to pretend it was all a nightmare, too. But it was real. I looked away. I didn’t want to start believing it had all been real. I wanted it all safely stored away in my head, just another bad dream. Bad dreams should stay in your head, not come jumping out into real life.