Prologue
The Drode smiled. Cruel.
Smirking.
"If you ever find
yourself desperate, Rachel. At an end. In need. Remember this: Your cousin's
life is your passport to salvation in the arms of Crayak."
The Drode
By: Forlay
Okay, this fight is
getting old, I thought to myself as I instinctively gutted a Hork-Bajir.
I'd been fighting for so long, I didn't even have to pay attention to the
fight. I didn't care anymore. I won or I lost, did it really matter? Earth
was pretty much lost. But, because of my idiot sense of pride, I couldn't
just say 'That's it! I quit! No more! Bye-bye! Let the Yeerks come!'
I looked at my friends.
Cassie was leaping from Hork-Bajir to Hork-Bajir, making short work of
them. Tobias was harrasing their vulnerable eyes with his beak and talons.
Marco was driving his sledge hammer fist into the stomaches of Hork-Bajir
who were careless enough to come after him. Ax's tail was flashing left
and right. I couldn't see it, but I could see the carnage it left behind.
And Jake...Jake was
clamping his tiger jaws around the throats of Hork-Bajir. Keeping his claws
around them just long enough for them to die, then moving on to the next
one.
< Alright, that's
it, guys! > he shouted, using a Hork-Bajir as a spring board and landing
next to me to take a Hork-Bajir that was sneaking up behind me. < We're
not gonna win this fight, retreat! >
Big surprise,
I thought to myself as I shoved through the Hork-Bajir and lumbered up
the stairs and out of the pool. I was right behind Jake, and as I ran behind
him, thoughts of hatred filled my mind.
I thought back to that
time, so long ago. 10...11 years. Although time really didn't mean
much to me anymore. I remembered when we had gone down to the bottom of
the ocean and accessed the pemalite ship, trying to save the Chee. An odd
little alien had appeared to us. A servant of the evil being called Crayak.
Although I'm probably not the one to be calling things evil anymore.
The little beast, he
called himself...what was it? Something weird...oh, yeah. Drode. Drode
offered me a way out of this fight. Just kill Jake. Kill the tiger that
was sprinting out ahead of me away from the hellish pit called a Yeerk
Pool. I'd go work with Crayak, but I'd be rid of this Yeerk war.
Rachel! I shouted at
myself. Don't even think that! I had made a promise then, and I was going
to uphold it. I had limits, I was not a killing machine. That was not me.
I would not kill Jake, that was a boundry I wouldn't cross.
But was Drode's offer
still standing?
Yes a shrill,
grating voice said. It wasn't thought speak, but it wasn't regular speach,
either. Just a voice in my head. Yes, Rachel. You're still my favorite
'Animorph', and my offer still stands. Kill Jake, and come with me, with
Crayak.
Sorry, that ain't
happenin' I thought to myself. I kept lumbering up the stairs. But
the nagging thought was at the back of my head. I wasn't sure if I was
really thinking it, or if Drode was keeping it fresh in my mind.
You want this war
to be over, Rachel. Kill Jake, you're out of here. Earth's already lost.
The Andalites aren't coming back. You are on your own here, get rid
of Jake and you'll be out of the fight.
I was so lost
in my thoughts that I never even noticed when we were back in the woods,
and everyone had demorphed.
"Rachel?" Cassie asked
me. "You okay?"
I shook it off and
quickly started to demorph. < Yeah, sorry. Just thinking about some--
> I was cut off.
I looked around at
my friends, all in their normal shapes. We'd all changed alot since we
were kids. We were...God, how old were we? I couldn't even remember. I
think we're 25, but don't quote me on that.
Cassie was still rather
short, only about five and a half feet tall. Her hair was longer now, we
didn't exactly have access to a hair salon where we could cut our hair.
But it was more than her outward appearance that made her seem like a totally
different person. Her eyes had a hardness in them. A look that everyone
probably thought was reserved for me. I'm the ruthless one in the group,
Cassie's the caring one.
Marco had grown taller,
but was still only as tall as Cassie. In rare moments when he's acting
a bit like his old self he'd often complain about how he was still one
of the shortest in the group. But those moments were rare and far between,
and the humor was strained.
I don't know exactly
what I look like anymore, I don't have access to a mirror. But I'm sure
I'm a mess. My arms are burned red, from spending my time outside all the
time. My hair, what used to be a healthy shiny blond and down to the middle
of my back, was now tangled with twigs, down to my waist, and bleached
nearly white.
Jake looks way more
than 25. By looking at him, you'd think he was closer to 30-something.
He's the same reddish color that I am, thanks to the sun. His hair was
down to around his ears, and he has a trace of a beard on his chin.
< So, what are we
gonna do now? > Tobias asked from his perch in a tree above us. Tobias
looked exactly the same as he had when he first got trapped in morph. There
was a terrible downside to the morphing he continued to do. He was going
to live forever unless somebody made sure he was dead. Everytime he morphed,
then demorphed back to his hawk body, it was returned to the state it had
been when he first acquired the hawk.
"Quit," I said, sitting
down against a tree. "Just quit."
"What?!" Three voices
and two thought speak voices said at once.
"You guys heard me,"
I said. "I'm sick of this. Earth is lost, why bother to fight anymore?
All we ever do is lose."
"Hey, Xena, that's
my attitude," Marco said. "And while sometimes all of us want to quit,
it's not gonna happen."
"Why not?" I demanded.
"Why aren't we just going to quit? Why can't--"
"Chill, everyone, just
chill," Jake interrupted. "Rachel, I can't believe you'd want to quit,
but if you do, fine. Good bye, and good luck to you. But I suggest thinking
about that decision. We're all stressed right now."
He was right. I didn't
really want to quit. And then there was that anger again. Borderline
hatred. It was crazy, and I wasn't sure if it was my anger or Drode trying
to get me to kill Jake."Okay, Jake. You're right. I don't really want to
quit. I'm just stressed," I said. "I'm going on a walk." I got up and walked
away.
I was just out of sight
of the group when I heard a rustling in the trees above me. < Hey, Rachel.
>
I looked up. "Hi, Tobias."
< Anything wrong?
>
Yep. Where would you like to start? "No, not really."
But he knows me too
well. He fluttered down to a branch eye level with me. < Seriously,
Rachel. What's wrong? You can tell me. >
Could I? How would
he react to knowing what Drode was offering me? But how much longer could
I keep such an awful secret to myself?
"A lot of things are
wrong, Tobias," I said at last. I looked back over my shoulder to see if
anyone was in hearing range. "Let's got a bit father into the woods and
I'll tell you."
We moved farther into
the woods, far enough so I felt no one besides Tobias would hear what I
was about to say.
"Remember Drode?" I
asked him.
< Drode? Of course
I do. But what does he have to do with anything? >
"Everything," I said,
and went on to tell him what Drode had offered me so long ago.
"I'd pretty much forgotten
about it...untill today. Jake was just ahead of me as we were escaping
the Yeerk pool, and I hated him. Loathed, despised, I couldn't stand him.
I remembered Drode's offer...and came so close to acting on it."
< That's why you
wanted to quit, isn't it? You know you don't want to kill Jake, but there
may be that time when your anger gets the best of you and you may take
advantage of the offer. >
I nodded. "If I"m not
fighting with im, I'm less likely to get angry and him, thus less likely
to kill him."
< You've kept this
a secret a long time...why don't you tell Jake? >
"Would you want to
know that at any minute your cousin could kill you because a better offer
came along? Do you think Jake would trust me anymore if he knew what you
do about me?"
< Maybe not, but
this isn't something you should keep to yourself. >
I shrugged. "Maybe
you're right. But don't tell anybody about this. Please?"
< of course I won't,
Rachel. >
"Thanks."
"Ooohh, Xena and Bird-Boy
sittin' in a tree," a voice from behind us sang.
I spun around. "You're
a dead man, Marco!" I sprinted after him.
He was too short to
run really fast, I caught up with him easily and pinned him on the ground.
"How much of our conversation did you hear?" I demanded.
"Nothing," he said.
Since he was on his
stomach, I grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. "You sure about
that?"
"Ow! Okay, I heard
you tell Bird-Boy not to tell anybody something."
"Will you two be quiet?"
Jake demanded. "Or do you want all the Yeerk forces on Earth to some down
on us?"
I jumped up off Marco's
back. "Yes, sir!" I joked. It felt like old times for a minute, but reality
snapped back harshly.
"Oh, Raachelll."
"What the..." I said,
looking around. Everything was frozen. Absolutely no sound...except that
voice. That shrill, grating voice that was all too familiar.
"Drode," I said flatly.
"In the flesh," he
said, appearing before me.
"Waht do you want?"
"Do I need a reason
to see you?" he asked.
"I repeat, what do
you want?"
"Just wanted to see
first hand how you're dealing with the possibility of leaving this war."
"You know my answer,
Drode. I will never kill Jake," I said coldly.
"Perhaps not purposefully,"
Drode taunted. "Be careful, Rachel,or you may kill Jake whether you want
to or not." With that, he was gone.
Cassie was looking
at me, concerned. "Rachel? Everything all right?"
I sighed. Now was as
good a time as ever to tell everybody. And then nobody would be able to
question my motives for wanting to leave. I didn't want to chance killing
him. "No, Cassie, everything isn't all right. You guys all might want to
sit down for this, it's a long story." I took a deep breath and began to
tell them everything Drode had offered me.
"And why didn't you
tell anybody about this sooner?" Jake demanded. "Specifically, me?"
"Would you have trusted
me to do anything if you knew this earlier?"
"Of course I would
have. But now I'm supposed to allow you to do anything know that if I do
anything to get you mad, I could very well end up dead?" He was begining
to raise his voice, very un-Jake. "If just one of us had known earlier,
we could have done something!"
"Jake, do you know
how hard this has been for me?" I asked after a moment. "That is the biggest
secret I've ever had, and I've had to carry it with me everyday for 11
years. It's not the kind of secret you tell during truth or dare!"
"But you don't keep
secrets when someone's life is at stake!"
"Jake, your life isn't
at stake," I said, trying hard to stay calm. "I will not kill you, or anyone
else. I'm quitting, and am going to stay far away from all of you. I'm
not going to risk killing anyone."
"Rachel..." Cassie
started, but I interrupted her.
"I'm not going to change
my mind, Cassie, so don't even try."
"All right, Rachel.
I can respect your decision. But can you postpone it for awhile? We need
you for one more mission." I saw Jake shoot her an angry look. "Jake, we
need her for one more mission. And if we do everything the way you were
saying, you won't even be in her group."
"Someone mind including
me in this conversation?" I asked. "I'll stick around for this last mission,
if you really need me, and then I'm gone."
"Fair enough," Cassie
agreed. Jake started explaining the plan.
"We've learned through
Erek that the Yeerks are moving into the mountains. Close to the Hork-Bajir.
We're going up there to stop them. One group will attack straight out,
the other will go get a small army of Hork-Bajir and come help the other
group."
"I don't see why I'm
specifically needed for this," I said.
"You're right, Rachel.
You aren't really needed,"Jake said. "Guess you can leave now."
Jake was not taking
this well. He wasn't acting like himself. I was about to tell him off when
Cassie interrupted.
"She is needed,
Jake," she insisted. "We need her elephant morph. Tobias, Ax and I are
all needed in different forms, otherwise we could do it without her. But
since an elephant morph is needed to get through some areas, she's sticking
around. Deal with it." Jake looked like he wanted to argue, but kept his
mouth shut.
"I'll stay for this
mission," I decided. "But once it's done, I'm gone. When's this going down?"
"As soon as everyone's
up to it," Jake said. "The sooner, the better."
I looked around at
everyone. We were pretty wiped from the battle we'd had in the Yeerk pool
earlier. However, I got the feeling, at least from Jake, that I wasn't
the most welcome person, and the sooner I was gone, the happier they'd
be.
"Whenever everybody
else is ready, I am," I said. The others nodded in agreement.
"Why don't we go now,
then?" Jake said. "Morph birds, once we're up there we can see exactly
how we're going to do this."
We all quickly morphed
birds of prey and started towards the mountains.
Several hours and several
breaks to demorph later, we arrived in the mountains.
"About a mile that
way," Jake said while pointing to his right, "Is where the Yeerks are setting
up. Half a mile back that way," he pointed to his left, "are the Hork-Bajir.
Ax and Tobias? We're going to get the Hork-Bajir. The rest of you, go after
the Yeerks."
"We need your elephant
morph to get through this underbrush, Rachel," Cassie explained. "Marco
and I will follow."
"Let's do it," I said
and began morphing elephant.
As I was doing that,
Cassie was morphing wolf, Marco was going gorilla, Jake was morphing tiger,
since it'd be the fastest way for him to get to the Hork-Bajir valley,
Tobias and Ax would be staying themselves.
Everyone was finished
morphing when it happened.
I was finished with
the morph except for my tusks. I felt my teeth run together and suddenly
shoot out of my mouth. So suddenly, that there wasn't time to shout a warning.
See, my tusks didn't
just grow straight out. They grew down then bent up. But as they shot out...Jake
got in the way, and was impaled.
< Oh, my God! >
I shouted.
< Jake! > Cassie
cried. < Jake! Morph out! > she and I were both demorphing at top speed.
She was finished before
I was and knelt beside Jake's massive, bleeding body.
"Jake, Jake. Come on,
demorph!"
< Cassie...I ...I
can't... >
"Yes, you can!" I said,
fully human. "You're not going to let Crayak win!"
< Rachel...I'm sorry...I'm
not angry with you. And Cassie...I love you. >
"I love you, too,"
Cassie said tearfully. Once she said that, Jake took one final breath and
died. "Jake? Jake! NO!" Cassie cried. She laid her head down on his kneck
and cried into his fur.
I felt like crying
myself. Not only because Jake was dead, but because I had killed him. Drode's
prophecy had come true: I had killed Jake.
I couldn't be there
anymore. I had to get away from everyone. From Cassie's mournful sobs and
Jake's tiger body. I turned away and ran as fast as I could. But before
I could get far, I was standing before a giant red eye. Crayak. Next to
him was Drode.
I'd met Crayak before.
He'd terrified me. As in I wanted to run away crying for my mommey terrified.
But this time I looked at him with cool cofidence.
"How could you?" I
asked emotionlessly. "How could you kill him in cold blood like that?"
"Who killed him, Rachel?" Drode asked. "Because, if
I'm not mistaken, I believe he was impaled with your tusk."
"It's not my fault!"
I pointed a finger at Crayak. "You, Crayak, will bring Jake back and let
me go."
"I'm aftraid I can't
do that, Rachel," Crayak answered. "Jake is dead. You and your friends
cheated me from his death once, that's not going to happen again. And do
you really think your friends would accept a murderer?"
"I'm not a murderer!"
I screamed. "I didn't kill Jake! That was you, all YOU!" I fell down to
my knees crying.
Drode came over and
put his scrawny arms around my shoulders. "There, there, Rachel."
"Get away from me you
piece of crap!"
But he didn't. "Shhhh,
everything will be all right. You're with Crayak now."
I stood up and looked
at Crayak again. I no longer hated or feared him. Why should I? I was one
of Crayak's children now.
***
I looked in the mirror
Crayak had provided me. He had given me an entire house, all for myself,
as a reward. I was on of his 'elite' warriors. A group he was building
to replace the howlers we...no, Jake and the Animorphs, had destroyed so
long ago.
My hair was healthy
again. Shiny and well conditioned, cut evenly so it came to the middle
of my back. My skin was dark tan, the last world I'd fought at had many
tropical beaches. Once I'd carried out Crayak's will I spent some time
at the beach.
I wore a simple black
leotard, but this one covered my legs and arms. In battle I morphed, and
I couldn't be getting tangled up in my clothes all the time.
"Oh Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaachellllllllllllllll.
Come out, come out wherever you are!"
I sighed. Drode. He
was my 'brother' not, but I couldn't stand him.
"What do you want,
Drode?" I shouted.
"It's not what I want,"
he said, "but what Crayak wants. He sent me to find you. He has an important
assignment for you."
In a flash, I was standing
before Crayak. "Yes?"
"I want you to go to
Earth. See your old 'friends'. And off them the same opportunity you were
given," Crayak said.
"For what price?" I
asked. Crayak's gifts always came with a price.
"Oh, I don't think
they need to pay. They've paid with their soulds, already. They should
be given the opporutnity to join us."
"As you wish, Crayak,"
I said, and instantly sent myself to Earth.
I found the remaining
Animorphs hiding in a cave. They were a pathetic rag-tag bunch. Marco and
Cassie huddled around a dying fire, Tobias was resting on a log. The Andalite
wasn't in sight. Dead, perhaps? One could only hope.
Tobias looked in my
direction. < Rachel?! >
Marco and Cassie looked
up at me. "Rachel!" Cassie shouted. She ran towards me, Marco and Tobias
were close behind her.
When Cassie reached
me she wrapped me in a hug. I stiffened and backed away. "Rachel? What's
wrong?"
What's wrong? I suddenly
wasn't myself anymore. At the sight of the people who once were my friends,
I began to feel something towards them. That couldn't happen. I couldn't
do Crayak's bidding if I felt something. "I'm not here for a reunion,"
I said as coldly as possible. "I come with a message. And offer."
"Later," Marco said.
"Where have you been for six months?"
"With my master. Crayak."
Cassie and Marco stepped
back. "Crayak?" Cassie asked in disbelief.
"What's so hard to
believe about that, Cassie?" I taunted. "You knew I was going to go with
Crayak once I'd..." I searched for the proper words, "disposed of Jake."
She stepped back farther,
as if I were something evil that couldn't be touched. "Where is Rachel?
What have you done with her?"
for just a moment I
felt another emotion. Remorse. I was sorry for what she'd gone though.
I felt tears well up in my eyes. "Cassie?" I asked in a frightened voice.
A voice I hadn't heard in years. "Cassie...help me..." My knees buckled.
I passed out.
When I woke up, I found
myself in the cave near the fire. A hawk, Tobias, was peering over me.
< She's awak! > he shouted when I opened my eyes. Cassie and Marco rushed
over.
"How're you feeling?"
Cassie asked as she helped me to sit up.
"Like crap," I answered.
"Did I call Crayak my master?" she nodded. "I think I'm going to be ill."
"What did he do to
you?" Marco asked.
I struggled to remember
what had happened. "When...when I ran away after Jake's death, I only got
a few feet before I was taken to Crayak. I remember I met him with indiference,
which scares me now. In the six months I spent with Crayak, I never knew
a moment of fear.
"Anyways, at first
I cursed Crayak out. I was P.O.'ed, naturally. First he caused Jake's death,
then he abducted me. He...he called me a murderer. I insisted I wasn't
and broke down crying. Drode came over and comforted me." I shuddered at
the memory of Drode's tiny arms around me. "And when I looked back up at
Crayak I felt...nothing. I was one of Crayak's children." I started to
cry.
Cassie put an arm around
my shoulder. "You don't need to tell us anymore, Rachel. We can guess what
happened from there."
I wiped my eyes. "No,
you can't. Do you know how many sencient speiciew were exterminated by
my hand? Eight. I helped commit genocide against eight sentient speicies.
That's like half the species the Howlers killed in centuries, and it took
me half a year."
< That wasn't you,
Rachel, > Tobias said. < That was a servant of Crayak, not you. >
"But don't you get
it? It was me. I was a servant a Crayak. I'm sure I still am. And
he will most likely destroy me for this. Crayak doesn't take failure well."
Marco was about to
say something, but I found myself standing before Crayak. And I was afraid.
"What have you done,
Rachel?" he demanded.
"N-n-nothing," I stammered.
"You don't want to
lie to me," he threatened.
"They...they tricked
me! It's not my fault! Please, take me back!"
"No, Rachel. You must
pay for your actions." I was suddenly back in the cave. And I knew that
I was no longer under Crayak's power.
"Rachel?" Marco was
saying. "Hellooo? You still with us?"
I smiled. Not an evil
smile, a real, happy smile. "Yes, Marco. I am."
Epilogue
Tobias, Cassie, Marco and
I fought together for another six months. Ax had died in battle a month
or so before I returned.
During those last six
months, I fought harder than I ever had before. I think I was trying to
redeem myself. I'd fought for evil for a long time, now it was time to
fight against it again.
After six months, the
Andalites came. They fought the Yeerks, the Yeerks left. Yipee. But over
one billion humans were caught in the crossfire. One billion human lives
were lost. 100 million more people went insane. Because of their new freedom,
lost loved ones, or both.
Marco, Cassie and I
were each given houses by the remains of the American government.. Tobias
became a nothlit again. This time as a human. Unfortunatly, he still
had his 13 year old body. He moved in with me.
On rare occasions,
I find myself thinking about the time I spent with Crayak. Jakes death,
the specie I helped destroy, and, finally, my return to life. My life.
It was a terrible time, but I think I'm a better person because of it.
I have an appreciation for life that I never did before. And I know that
friends, true friends like Cassie, Tobias and even Marco, are the most
valuable things in the world. And nothing, not even pure evil like Crayak,
can destroy friendships like that.
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