Arc 1: The Discovery

Chapter 6

Jake

I woke up in the mall parking lot to a cop rapping on my window. It took a second to realize why my neck was stiff – I was sleeping in the front seat of my car, Marco passed out next to me in the passenger seat, the girls in the back. Thankfully we'd at least put on our regular clothes – this would be a lot more difficult to explain in leotards and biker shorts, the only thing we'd found ourselves able to morph outside of underclothes.

The rapping on my window picked up; the cop didn't look happy. I rolled down the window.

"Good morning, officer." I played it cool.

"What's going on here," he demanded, straight to the point.

"Mmngh." Marco started to wake up. "Whoa what's going on," he inadvertently echoed the cop.

I ignored him.

"I'm sorry, sir – we caught a movie last night and were hanging out. I guess we were more tired than we thought."

It sounded lame even to my ears, and by the cop's expression he wasn't buying it. Granted, I'm sure he thought we'd been drinking more than we'd spent the night running around acquiring animal DNA to fight off an alien invasion, but it wasn't exactly a good look for us either way.

He stuck his head down, taking a glimpse inside the car. There was nothing to see of course, no empty beer cans or whatever, but I could picture what was going on inside his head.

Then he looked at me again.

"You look familiar. You have a brother?"

"Yeah uh, yes."

"Tom, right? Knew you looked familiar." He gave me a look resembling a smile. "He's a good kid – a real good influence for newcomers to The Sharing. Tell you what," he paused, giving the car a once-over again. Rachel and Cassie had woken up, all of us now watching the cop.

"I'm gonna let you kids off with a warning. If you were doing anything dumb, at least you didn't drive afterward."

"Thanks, yeah we won't do it again – we'll be sure to get home before we get too tired."

He nodded, looking out toward the mall. "That's a good idea. There's been a pickup of crime around here. Last week there was some arson in the works back there. None of you have heard any kids bragging about it?"

"No, nothing. Sorry." I said, very very carefully not giving anything away.

The cop nodded. "Just be careful, all of you. And hey," he gave me a tough-guy grin. "Maybe I'll see you at The Sharing. Better place than the mall parking lot."

"Yeah, maybe."

We drove off. We hadn't even reached the first traffic light when Marco blew up.

"We are so screwed. They know there were kids around when Elfangor crashed. How do you think they know? Footprints? Cameras?"

"It'll be fine," Cassie interjected, putting a hand on Marco's shoulder. "Remember, it was your plan – we went back to the mall."

"Yeah," Rachel added. "Think about it, if the Yeerks really want to, they can probably tap the phone records. They'll expect kids to brag about seeing something. None of us made any calls except to our parents. We'll be fine."

Marco took a deep breath. "You realize we have to be a lot more careful. The whole point of coming to the mall was so nobody could tie us to The Gardens. Now we've got a cop who is probably a Controller placing us specifically at the scene of the crime."

"At the mall. A week later. Thousands of people have been here since. We're fine," I said, sounding short and tired. "But… you're not wrong. We have to be more careful."

Marco nodded, leaning back in his seat. "We're still in over our heads."

I didn't say anything. I kept thinking about the cop – the Controller. He knew Tom. He had mentioned The Sharing. Mr. Chapman was also in The Sharing. He was also the other Controller we knew… I was tired, it was way too early to think about this.

It didn't help that I caught Rachel's gaze in the rearview mirror.

"So, Cassie's." I declared, gripping the wheel. "Grab some fresh clothes, get a message out to Elfangor. Still need to get Tobias a phone." I said, turning to the girls. "Marco, I'll text you if anything comes up."

"Sure, but please don't. I did the whole superhero thing last night, today is for my dad."

I nodded. Marco's mom died two years ago, and his dad totally fell apart afterward. I think the biggest reason that Marco is the least keen of any of us to fight this war is that if something happened to him, his dad… I don't know if he'd make it. Marco's had to be his dad's dad half the time. I wasn't going to get in between that.

Soon enough we all got home, and as much as I needed to get a few hours of sleep before our plan to head over to the Chapmans this afternoon, I had to mow the lawn instead. Can't complain, but it was weird to think not even twelve hours earlier I'd almost had my arm torn off by a tiger and here I was mowing the lawn.

"Hey, Squirt." My brother came out, inspecting my work with the look of someone really pleased it's not him doing it. "Looks good. Good to see the lawn will survive my absence."

"Yeah, it was real touch and go for a minute," I joked back, turning the mower off. "You found a place for sure, then?"

Tom was graduating – or already had graduated and had to play out the last few weeks of Senioritis for formality's sake. Tom had been a star on the varsity team, and we all thought he'd be going to some big school on a scholarship, but instead he'd surprised everyone and stayed local. He said he'd gotten a great offer and it was time to think beyond basketball. He was looking at renting a place downtown with two friends of his and his girlfriend, but so far, they hadn't found anything they liked.

"Yeah, there's an apartment building near the complex that cut me a deal. I've been offered a room at discount in exchange for being onsite assistance, so long as I start over the summer. How great is that?"

I shrugged. "Guess I can have your room then."

Tom laughed. "Whatever, Squirt. Catch you later."

I nodded, going back to the lawn. Thinking about Cassie, or the tiger that now lived inside me, or today's mission. Anything really.

My aunt dropped Rachel off a little after lunch. She did the whole, 'thought I'd surprise you' with my mom and dad, and then casually mentioned she was going to see Melissa and if I wanted to come.

"I dunno I got a new vid-"

The magic words to get my mom to insist I go outside with my cousin. Rachel flashed me a smirk.

"So how are we doing this?" I asked as we walked the block to the Chapmans' house.

Rachel shrugged. "We just go up and knock, ask if Melissa wants to hang?" She laughed. "How is this hard? We used to do this all the time. We did it months ago. Back when-" she cut herself off, but we were thinking the same thing. Back when Melissa didn't shut herself off after her parents turned into totally different people.

"There's something else," Rachel said, as the Chapman house came into view. "I think you should acquire Mr. Chapman."

"What?"

"It makes sense," she said, sounding defiant. "If he is a, you know, then he's got some clout. He's does important stuff for the…" Rachel looked away.

"For the Sharing," I finished. Rachel nodded.

"We'll talk later," I said. "And I'll do it. Could come in handy."

"Thanks," she said. "I'd do it myself but… I'd prefer not to, if I don't have to," she gestured vaguely to herself.

That part at least turned out to be really easy. Mr. Chapman answered the door. "Oh… hello. Rachel, Jake."

"Good morning," I put out my hand. Unthinkingly, Mr. Chapman shook it.

For a second, I felt a spark of dread. Would Mr. Chapman recognize the telltale trance of being acquired?

But nope, he just shook his head as if to clear it. "Sorry, yes – I expect you're here to see Melissa?"

"If she's available," Rachel said with a smile.

"You know the way," he stepped back, allowing us into his home.

The most dangerous thing about Yeerks is that they act just like you'd expect a regular person to act. Except, apparently, when the Chapmans had no guests to hide their identities from.

Rachel and Melissa did the whole 'oh my gosh I haven't seen you in forever," thing. I went to the bathroom, locked the door, and morphed into Marco.

((You there, Cassie?))

((Yep, got here five minutes ago. Where are you?))

((Bathroom. Marco morph. Rachel and Melissa are in the living room with the Chapmans.))

I could hear the sigh in Cassie's voice. ((We really shouldn't get too comfortable morphing humans, even each other.))

I decided not to let her in on the whole acquiring Mr. Chapman thing quite yet.

((I'll talk to you later. Keep me posted if anything changes… and Cassie? Thanks.))

We hung out for an hour, and literally nothing happened. Mrs. Chapman brought us snacks at one point. Melissa went out to help her. It must be driving her mad, to have these rare moments of her parents acting like they once had, back when they were her parents. But only when it was a show. A show she nevertheless couldn't help but participate in whenever she had the chance.

What would you do, if you knew something was wrong with your parents and the opportunity came to have one hour to pretend everything was fine?

((Mr. Chapman has left the house. He's getting in the car.))

I made a show of picking up my phone.

"Rach, Melissa – I'm really sorry but Marco's got some stuff I gotta help with."

"Aww Jakey, too much girl talk?" Rachel replied, giving me a fake pout. Melissa gave a tiny giggle.

"Do you need a ride later?" I asked my cousin instead, going over our rehearsed plan.

Rachel looked at Melissa. "I doubt it. I'll call you if I do though. Thanks."

I said goodbye to Mrs. Chapman and walked out.

((You don't really appreciate how long it takes humans to get everywhere. Traffic. Lights. Roads that don't go from A to B. Ugh.)) Cassie started as soon as I was clear of the Chapmans.

I started walking back to my house. It would have been great to have Elfangor's little hologram hideout things scattered all around town.

((Traffic's picking up, you're not gonna have time to get home… we really need to work on our tailing people. Um… oh! Three houses down from you. No, other way. Nobody's home. There's a shed.))

My clothes – and another problem, my phone, my wallet, literally all my identification – tucked under a bush, I flew to the sky.

((Cassie can you hear me.))

((Just.)) Her thought-speak was very faint. ((We're just passing the park, heading toward school.))

It didn't take long to catch up. As Cassie had said earlier, cars are limited by the route of the road, and have to stop for traffic and lights. The seagull had no such restrictions. It was the coolest morph I'd done so far. Sure, it was constantly trying to convince me to eat garbage, but that was infinitely better than being a cockroach or a lizard. Racoon was okay.

We flew to the school in silence. I guess I could say it was the focus of the mission, but honestly, I wasn't sure what to say, and so decided to say nothing. A voice that sounded suspiciously like Marco kept telling me to make a joke about the Mile-High Club. I didn't.

((He's with someone, look!)) Cassie exclaimed, pulling me out of my thoughts. ((It's… Mr. Tidwell. And Mr. Johnson. And Mrs. What's-her-name.))

((Um. Crawford. I had her last year.))

((Oh. Yeah, that's right. You don't think they're all Controllers?))

((We're about to find out)) I said grimly, swooping along the side of the main building. ((Really strange faculty meeting otherwise.))

We landed on the roof as Mr. Chapman walked over to the three waiting teachers. He checked his watch.

((What's the plan, do we go in as cockroaches?))

I shuddered. But thankfully, it was a no go.

((No. I go in as lizard. I can see and hear as a lizard. Can we make out language as cockroaches?))

((I don't know… we should find out.)) Cassie said.

((Add it to the list. Along with starting to keep track of confirmed Controllers.))

I morphed Lizard. I didn't say anything to anyone, but I'd had nightmares last week after the whole swallowing the spider thing. Dreams of human Jake being held down by giant lizards and armies of spiders forcing themselves down my throat.

But I did it anyway. I shrank. My skin turned green and blew up like I was made up of pebbles, and started to sag. Then I shrank, until I looked like some sort of miniature radioactive leper. Then the lizard brain kicked in. Sunlight! Open space! Bird!

((Cassie, I am really, really counting on you to control that morph,)) I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. ((Are they going in yet?))

((Yeah. Mr. Pierce just showed up. They're all heading to the main door.))

((Ok. I need you to… I need you to pick me up and see if you can't land me nearby. I need to follow them. And please don't kill me.))

I clamped down on the lizard brain. Ignored the giant shadow that suddenly loomed over me. Fought not to struggle as Cassie the seagull picked me up, not to let myself fall or lash out and cause her to lose her own control over the bird's instincts.

Marco probably would have yelled out 'Bonzai!' Cassie just dropped me a foot above the ground, just around the corner where the five teachers-probably-Controllers were just now arriving at the door.

I'm going to say that Cassie was laying a distraction so I could sneak into the door Mrs. Crawford was holding open without being noticed and confirming that we absolutely were not morphed Andalite guerillas or whatever because she carried on, landing right there among the teachers, and ate a giant crumb of oatmeal cream pie. Definitely a planned and deliberate act of military misdirection. Yep.

Thankfully, the school was darker than usual, but the lizard brain pretty much had two modes, chill or scatter. We weren't gorging on spider in some warm dark closed space, so scatter was winning. I clamped down, following the five teachers along the corridor. They were talking, but I couldn't really hear them. I mean I could but… the lizard brain wasn't interested in taking it in, if that makes sense. And human Jake was way to focused on not getting caught.

The first time I entered the faculty lounge was as a tiny reptile checking out my teachers for aliens. As important as that was, it was a bit of a letdown. An old couch and a couple of office chairs. A fridge. A kitchen cabinet with microwave and a coffee maker on it.

Chapman went up to the microwave. Wow, great plan Jake I got to watch my teachers enjoy some hot pockets on the weekend. Beep boop beep beep.

And then the there was a loud rumbling. I know, I know it sounds really cheesy. Press a secret button and a door appears after a miniature quake. Very 1970s. But keep in mind I was a lizard. My whole being was primed for any tiny change in the ground around me. I doubt anyone outside the faculty lounge would have even noticed.

The entire cabinet system swung open like it was on a hinge – which it probably was. Behind was an opening, the edge of a stainless-steel door hanging up from where it had presumably been lifted before the whole swinging cabinet thing.

My teachers went in.

I could have left. Maybe I should have. I had confirmation now; Chapman was a Controller, as were four other teachers at my school. But in the moment, I made a choice. I followed.

It looked like an old timey elevator. They crowded in, and down we went.

((They're Controllers.)) I thought up to Cassie. ((We're going down in a secret elevator under the school. I'll get up as soon as I can.))

((You're what Jake? Are you okay? Be careful.))

((I will.))

((Where was it? In Chapman's office, one of the classr-))

Halfway down Cassie's voice faded out. I was alone in hell now, and panic welled inside me for a moment. The lizard brain was actually an anchor for me; yeah it was afraid, but afraid in the sense that there were five giant sets of shoes in near proximity. It didn't understand alien invasions or heading down to a literal hell. It kept me in check, which let me hang on long enough to keep it in check, if that makes sense. The door opened at last. And Hell was a lot more… sterile.

I don't know what I'd expected. Some giant underground lake maybe, lined with torture devices and cages of Controllers. Some vast underground headquarters, with alien troops marching around. Some alien prison camp, something that would set it apart, that would prove that this was an invasion of earth by evil forces that we couldn't begin to understand.

But there wasn't anything like that, it was just a sterile looking room, with a metal bench along one wall and this large vat taking up maybe a third of the space. The vat was glass or plastic or something – transparent, whatever it was, and mostly full of a thick liquid. It thrummed, and it shone with a sickly yellow light.

Coming off the vat was a trough, about three feet off the ground, with ten chutes feeding the trough from the vat. There were ten padded cots next to each segment of the trough, and these did resemble some sort of medieval torture device.

On the other side of the room, a small computer panel. I mean it was out of place being beneath my school, but it looked pretty normal for what it was, certainly compared to the vat.

I scampered behind the bench. Now I could focus my human brain for something beyond tailing my vice-principal.

Chapman looked at his watch.

"Fifteen minutes for each of you." Four nods.

Chapman took off his tie and shoes then rolled up his cuffs and lay back on one of the cots. Mr. Pierce did the same on the next bench over, though none of the others did. I discovered why in a moment. The other three strapped the two of them into the cots, their hands and feet locked into plastic pockets made to envelope them. A weird looking half-face gas mask, just covering the nose and mouth, were put on top of their faces.

A pair of legs walked over to the computer panel side of the room and must have done something, because the two cots started to move, making a slight electric whirr as they did. The elevated, and I realized they were placing the two Controllers so that the side of their heads were below the lip of the troughs. Troughs that were now being filled with the liquid form the vat.

Then I saw the Yeerks. The half-crawled, half-oozed out of their ears, as soon as the liquid – the Yeerk Pool – quit flowing into the troughs. I realized I was basically watching Yeerks take a bath.

Mr. Pierce let out a yell and thrashed for a minute uselessly, but then fell into a stupor. The remaining Controllers didn't say a word. They just stood over him until he stopped struggling, fiddling with his mask. Then they sat down on the bench.

I felt hatred then. I mean obviously we had an idea of what we were up against, but it hadn't really sunk in. But here were two of my teachers, and it wasn't enough that they were slaves in their own heads. What had Chapman said – fifteen minutes. But the Yeerks denied them those fifteen minutes to scream or curse or cry. To speak to one another. No, the Yeerks saw humanity as less than an enemy. Just a host. A body. A thing. Mr. Pierce was himself for a quarter hour for the first time in three days and he couldn't even make a fist. Couldn't speak. Couldn't do more than move his neck a few degrees this way and that while his colleagues were forced to watch, until whatever drug they were pumping into him took even that away from him.

I wanted the Yeerks dead. Exterminated. Wiped out not just from Earth but the next million worlds. I didn't know what the Yeerk home world looked like, but I wanted it glowing with nuclear fire in retaliation for what they wanted – what they were actually doing – to the human race. To the people of my town. People I'd known all my life.

The Yeerk inside Chapman was apparently a big wig of some sort, because it wasn't a mere fifteen minutes for the likes of him. For Mr. Pierce it was, and then he was replaced with another Controller, then another, then the last. The whole time, Chapman's Yeerk had a grand old time in its own little trough. I guess it made sense – maybe a Yeerk could survive on fifteen minutes of Kandrona every three days, but that must be like starvation rations for a human. It made sense that important Yeerks would have the luxury of longer feedings.

One of them complained about it actually.

"I thought that after we blew up that damn ship, things would pick up," a voice rumbled above me.

"It could be worse, Deranne four-six-four…" I lost a bit of what came next until I realized that that must be the Yeerk's name, "… it will get much worse. Especially if the rumors are true."

"I don't believe them. Nothing has happened."

"Visser Three believes it. That Beast Elfangor survived the crash. Possibly others."

There was silence, and then a few minutes of swapping out the last of the hungry Yeerks for one that had just fed.

"Visser Three believes it to be true. They say he has a history with the Beast. And so you had better believe it too."

I was listening to Yeerks gossip. Feet scuffled.

"I guess this isn't so bad. With my first host, I had to feed all the way across town. Disgusting. And a great waste of time."

A laugh. It was creepy, knowing an alien was capable of mimicking a human chuckle of sympathy.

"Neptune Burger?"

"Yes."

More shuffling above me. "Iniss two-two-six is reentering the Chapman host, Eldris one-nine-naught, please drain the vat and let's get this over with; my host's husband is suspicious enough, he will need to be taken soon.

As sound like a large drain being flushed. Mr. Chapman – or I guess, Iniss two-two-six – stood up a moment later.

"The human schedule of a five-day subset within seven is very frustrating," the Yeerk inside Chapman's head grumbled. "It will be the first thing to go."

Then they left that hell. I hauled lizard ass. I'd been in morph for a little more for an hour, and no way I was getting stuck as a lizard in this alien hell. The lights went out leaving the whole room being bathed in just that dim eerie yellow light – the portable Kandrona. I was in the elevator in a shot.

About halfway up, I heard Cassie's voice return. ((-hour twenty.))

((I'm on my way up)) I cried out, the words desperate to get out. ((I'm almost out.))

Thought-speak doesn't really carry tone, but it does carry emotion, if that makes sense.

((Jake… are you ok?))

I wasn't. Not really.

((Jake? Jake?))

((We're back in the faculty lounge,)) I said in way of an answer.

Thankfully they didn't stick around. Any longer and I was seriously tempted to ask Cassie to make a distraction – morph Buffalo and break a few windows, or maybe sneak in as a roach and pull the fire alarm. Coming back to the surface opened something inside me.

But nope, they just closed everything back up, Chapman… Iniss… put a code into the microwave which again, I should have caught but didn't, and they headed out. They turned toward the main entrance.

((Yeerks heading out,)) I called up to Cassie.

Ten minutes later, I was airborne, Cassie and I flying back towards my place.

((Jake, you're scaring me,)) Cassie said as we were halfway back without a word between us.

((Sorry.))

Another minute of silence.

((We're… we're not even cattle to them. They have this machine, and they tied Chapman and the others up to it, one at a time. And when the Yeerk was out of his head he wasn't even free to get angry about what they'd done to him. He was strapped down and drugged. That's what we're facing, Cassie. A future where the human race doesn't even get fifteen minutes of freedom every three days.))

((But we know where it is now!)) Cassie replied, trying to cheer me up. ((We can destroy the Yeerk pool. I know… I know that won't end the invasion but that will be a big help, right?))

I didn't say anything.

((Maybe. But… that wasn't the Yeerk Pool. Not like Elfangor described it. This one had space for ten people at once, but they were only using two. Quarter hour each, that's what, forty an hour? Four hundred a day? Cassie… I think this is just the Yeerk Pool for our school.))

((Oh.)) Her thought-speak sounded small.

((Yeh.))

I was silent for a little longer, then banked left, catching a thermal – a pillar of warm air that birds can use to easily gain elevation – over a McDonald's parking lot.

((C'mon, we gotta go see Marco.))

((Why?))

((Because Rachel is busy with Melissa and then has her shift at the mall. And I want to have Marco pick this apart before we talk to Elfangor tomorrow.))

Not for the first time, I wasn't sure if I could trust the Andalite.

It didn't take us long to reach Marco's neighborhood.

((Marco, I know it's your day with your dad and I'm sorry, but if you can hear us, let me know. We need to talk.))

Five minutes later, Marco stepped outside, looking annoyed.

((We're above you. Do you have a few minutes?))

Marco didn't say anything, but he walked over to their detached garage and opened the door. Then with a sarcastic 'please come in' hand motion, he stepped in. Two seagulls followed a minute later.

"What's going on," Marco hissed, a little angry but mostly just keeping his voice down. "And why are we bringing this stuff to my dad's house?"

"I found it," I said. "I followed Chapman, he went to the school, and we found it but, it's not what we thought… what Elfangor told us."

I went through it with Cassie and Marco. About where the pool was, and how it was more a Kandrona dispensary than an actual pool. How the Yeerks had their own little baths and how… tiny, it was, all in all. That the Yeerks had weird names. That Visser 3 was here, whoever he was, and suspected Elfangor had survived the crash. That the Yeerks ate at Neptune Burgers.

"I don't think they ate," Marco interrupted. "I think they literally fed. You're right – if there really are a maximum of ten Yeerks feeding at our school at a time, then that thing is designed to pretty much turn our school into a self-contained Yeerk outpost. So, they must have other pools around town."

"And we think one of them is the big one?" I probed.

Marco just shrugged. Cassie responded. "Why would they need to? They could have a bunch of isolated machines all around town. All over the world."

"Damn."

I agreed with Marco's assessment. "There must be a reason for it though right? I mean, it can't be easy building dozens or hundreds of secret bases. It's a lot of work for just a few Yeerks. I mean okay if it was to infest the President or NASA or whatever maybe but this?"

I had a nasty thought.

"There's probably one at the hospital too, if Chapman was interested in all those doctors."

Marco looked sick. "This is way too much man. We need to get out of here. What if we go to school Monday and bam! They infest the whole school? They could do it, right? They've got enough Yeerk Pool thing or whatever they could do it. And even if we destroy it, so what? They just move to another pool for a while. And how do we destroy it?"

"I don't know. But we have to."

"We have to?! Bro this is too much. I was willing to help but c'mon, we can't get ourselves killed over a Yeerk Pool outlet store. What do you think happens to my dad if something happens to me? If I get killed. Or even worse, I get captured. They infest him to torture me!"

"Marco, this is for the whole planet. We have to s-" I grabbed Cassie's arm, trying to cut her off. It was too late though, Marco whirled onto her.

"No, we don't have to do anything. The Andalites are coming, right? That's what Elfangor said. So, what we have to do is get out of town and keep ourselves and our families safe until they do. And if they don't show up, we're done for anyway and dying to destroy our high school's secret Yeerk base isn't going to change anything."

He gestured back to his house. "You, Jake, Rachel – you've all got nice families. Tobias, you see how much he's ready to fight this war? That's cause he's got no life here. Nothing. So for him it's an easy choice. But me? My mom's dead and some days my dad's hanging on by a thread. I got too much to give it up but not enough that if something happens to me…" Marco balled his fists and swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Marco…"

"I'm sorry man. I don't mean to go off on you like this, but I thought the Yeerks were just starting off. We trash a few things kill a few aliens and we become heroes. But this is too much. We're teenagers with Captain Planet powers and an escaped Andalite POW. Jake, Jake you listening?"

I nodded, but my mind was working elsewhere.

"Marco, I get it. You know me, you know I get you one this." Marco nodded slowly. I'd been there when his mom died. Shared his grief. Helped out however I could. Seen his dad descend from one of the top physics engineers in this part of the state into deep depression, losing his job, losing his house… I got Marco.

"If you can't do this, I don't blame you. I'll stick by you if the others say anything. But help me work this out. Not the action, but the thinking. I think I get it. But I need you to let me know if I'm full of shit."

"Ok… Yeah, I can do that. Been doing it for years."

I laughed at that. Full of nerves, but it was a real laugh.

"It's like sorties. The Yeerks are doing sorties."

Cassie and Marco both looked at me like I'd grown a second head. Which hey, if ever we went to another planet maybe I'd pick up the talent.

"Not following you."

I shook my head, gathering my thoughts. "When you launch airplanes off an aircraft carrier, you want to send them in smaller groups," I explained. I'm a bit of a nerd for the navy, I'll admit it.

"Smaller sorties mean that attacks are ready quicker. And when they return, it's less pressure on the landing crew and maintenance people. Big sorties require a lot more people under a lot more pressure in the same time frame. They also mean that the enemy spends a lot more time not taking fire. If the enemy can't stop you, ideally you want an assembly line of small sorties running round the clock."

Marco thought on that for a second, then snapped his fingers. "You're right. Or kinda right. It makes sense though. If the Yeerks had one pool in some central location, Chapman… Iniss would have to go there every three days. How much time would that waste? On top of the ten hours a day he already has to pretend to be human. But I bet during the week, the Yeerk can just slip away right after school, or maybe even during lunch. Especially as more and more teachers become Controllers."

Cassie and I nodded. "So they're spreading out," she picked up from Marco's train of thought. "Places they can recruit a lot of controllers get their own pools. School. The hospital maybe," she frowned. "What about Neptune Burger."

I shrugged. "It gets a lot of foot traffic, so maybe it's a place where Yeerks can just go if they need to get some rays without looking suspicious. We need to figure out which Nepture Burger they're talking about."

"I'll do that," Marco said. "Flying around is cool… we check them all out in teams, see where people are going in and coming out longer than it takes to eat a burger and fries maybe? I don't know. But that… I'll do that. Someone else can check out the hospital."

I should have offered to do it myself. That's what a leader would do. But I had just come out of the school and had no desire to see the same thing play out a second time.

"I'll talk to Elfangor and Tobias tomorrow. Rachel too. We'll figure something out."

Cassie gave me a look and squeezed my arm.

"Yeah. Alright we'll get out of here. And Marco… stay s-"

"Hey Marco, you done yet?" Marco's dad came into the garage, looking pretty rough.

"No pizzas left? I swore we had so- oh, hi Jake. It's been a while. And um…"

"Cassie, dad. Sorry – Jake showed up before I got a chance to look. He wanted to let me know they're dating now."

I looked at Marco. My face one giant 'are you serious right now' as I felt my cheeks and neck heat up. Well, there was revenge for showing up at his house uninvited, I guess.

"Oh. Good for you kids. Are you all going out then for the evening or…?"

I had to admire the guy taking Cassie and I showing up in nothing but a step up from swimwear in stride.

"No, sir –" I interrupted before Marco had a chance to dig my hole any deeper. "I was just about to take Cassie home. Just passing by and thought I'd stop by and tell Marco the um, news." I gestured to Cassie – not looking at her. Dammit, Marco.

It hit me then that I didn't even have my car with me. Thankfully, Marco's dad wasn't at his sharpest.

"Ok well it was good seeing you again. Marco, I'll see you inside in a minute."

"Sure dad, I'll just see Jake and Cassie out. Be right there."

We walked out. Marco gave me a shit-eating grin. "You kids have fun."

Cassie and I took to the air again a few minutes later, a very different type of silence in the air.

((Cassie, about that...))

((It's fine,)) she said, thoughts forcefully breezy. ((Marco needed to make a crack and it did provide a cover for us.))

((Yeh.)) I replied. Then five minutes later decided I couldn't just let it go.

((We've danced around it for a while,)) I said at last. ((But I think we both know.)

((Yeh. But…))

((But now we're in a war.)) I finished. ((What do we do?))

Cassie thought for a moment, both of us gliding back towards my part of town.

((No secrets,)) she said at last. ((We know we can't just go hang out at the movies now, or just be teenagers. But… it would be nice to see where it can go. No pressure, let's not make a big deal of it but let's not pretend nothing's going on between us either.))

I nodded, as best as a seagull can nod in flight, which isn't very well. ((I can go with that.))

((I never thought my first boyfriend would be a bird, though)) she said with a shy chuckle.

((Only some of the time. Sometimes I'm a dog or a racoon. Man of many talents.))

((When you're a man and not the dog or racoon.))

((True.))

I didn't mention the lizard or the tiger. Speaking of we'd need to practice the battle-morphs, but I kept that thought to myself for the time being as well. We'd done enough today. We landed near back at the house I'd dumped my clothes and wallet earlier, and then we went back to my place, picked up my car, and I drove Cassie home. Yeah, she could have flown back, and the context of 'keeping our cover' was a bit lame after all the random showing up all over town we'd already done, but it gave us a little time to just talk as humans, and was a bit of normality that I needed that afternoon.

Driving back alone, I thought about all I needed to do. Check out the Neptune Burgers. Check out the hospital. Start trying to get a lead on the cop. See if we'd found out anything about Mrs. Chapman – she had been ignoring Melissa too, and if time management was a concern for Yeerks, then she was an obvious candidate for being a Controller... although that still didn't explain Melissa. Figure out how to save my school from an overnight mass infestation that was likely being planned any day now. Pick Elfangor's brain even if he didn't want me too.

I felt very tired.

I had one more thing to do that night. I know I should have waited, should have got Marco to morph as me at the same time, or at least had Rachel come out and play the visiting cousin. But I couldn't ignore the Sharing. I couldn't pretend that we didn't potentially have another possible location for a Yeerk Pool. Couldn't pretend that I had smelt something off about Chapman and those guys at the beach when in my dog morph. A smell Rachel said she couldn't pick up as a cat, despite the cat's almost as impressive sense of smell. That repressed anger.

I waited until Homer went out into the back yard, which looks out from my window.

My window, not Tom's.

I morphed. I padded over to my brother's room. I scratched a paw on the door.

The door opened. "Hey boy, sorry but it's time for bed." Tom said, his voice friendly as he gave me a scratch behind the year. My tail wagged.

Tom's room was pretty empty. Clearly, he'd spent the whole day packing. Getting ready to move to his new apartment/job in a few weeks. Moving to the other side of town.

His room smelt like cardboard boxes, a bit of a smell of sweat coming from the bed.

And anger. And I knew. The final puzzle piece.

I scrambled away, I didn't want to be here. Didn't want to have a Yeerk pat my head and call me a good boy. I ran out, through the doggy door and into the garage and out into the neighborhood. I wasn't sure where I was going, and then I found myself outside of the Chapman house. Rachel had left hours ago, obviously. There was a Yeerk in there named Iniss two-two-six. What name did the enemy in my own house have? I wanted to know. I wanted to know the name of the Yeerk I was going to find a way to kill.

I crept around the house. Maybe I wanted to know I wasn't alone. Maybe misery just loves company. Maybe I needed to remember all the reasons why we were fighting. I couldn't see her, but my sense of hearing was great. I stayed outside Melissa Chapman's window for about an hour. It was awful, the house was so quiet. Melissa wasn't crying at that point, but I could smell tears. Her heartbeat was constant, she was sleeping.

Maybe I wanted her to know there were others fighting to free her dad, even if I couldn't tell her.

We'll save them, I thought to myself. Her parents. My brother. Those guys on the beach. The cop from the mall. We'll save them all.

None of those promises helped me sleep that night.