I CAN GIVE YOU ONE DO-OVER. ONE DO-OVER AND IT ALL CHANGES. CHOOSE CAREFULLY AND KNOW THAT WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE WILL MAKE DIFFERENCES. MAKE ONE CHANGE AND EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE AFTER THAT. WHAT IS YOUR DECISION?

I looked at Cassie. I looked at Jake. We all knew the one decision we would like to change. The one thing we would like to undo.

"I don't know how to do it." Jake whispered. Jake looked up at the sky. "Ellimist, can you give us a day or so to think about it? Try and get in touch with Ax and Tobias?"

I CAN GIVE YOU THREE HOURS. MAKE A DECISION AND I WILL RETURN.

And with that, the Almighty Ellimist, Mr. I'm-Going-to-Play-God-but-Tell-You-I'm-Not-Going-to-Interfere was gone. "So, guys? What do we do? What decision are we going to change that will bring her back? And the Auxiliary Animorphs? Come on, Big Jake, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, Marco. I thought I was done being the leader. I thought I'd made enough mistakes already. How do I pick one decision that will change the course of history?" Jake laid his head in his hands and sighed.

"Let's just get Ax and Tobias here and then we'll talk." Cassie suggested, ever the peacemaker. She avoided looking at Jake. Obviously, those two hadn't quite gotten over their differences yet.

"Fine. Do you even know how to find Tobias, Cassie?" I asked sarcastically. "Bird-boy hasn't exactly been a regular guest at the dinner table, you know."

"I can get Tobias. Jake, can you get Ax here?" Cassie asked, ignoring me. As usual. Jake nodded. Cassie took a deep breath and added, "Why don't we meet at my barn in two hours? Like old times."

I answered for myself and for Jake. "We'll be there, Cassie. You just make sure Tobias is there, too." Cassie smiled sadly and took off.

Anyway, while Jake goes off to get his Z-space communicator, let me introduce myself. My name is Marco. Used to be just Marco. Might have to be again, depending on what decision we make. But for now, it's Marco Santoni. Yep, I just told you my last name. Go figure. My friends and I are the Animorphs and we just finished fighting a war. We won! But not without sacrifices. Jake's parents and his brother Tom. All the Auxiliary Animorphs. Rachel. Now, with the help of the Ellimist, we were going to be given the chance to change all that.

I'm not a real moralizing guy. I can see the line from point A to point B and I take it. I don't worry about how difficult it might be to accomplish or what morals we might compromise because of it. I just do it. And I'd already seen at least one crossroads, one point in time we could change to make things different. But there was a risk, there was always a risk. What would happen if we changed something? Would the Yeerks have won? Would they still be here? Would we still be fighting? And, knowing everything we know now, would we fight any differently? Those were questions we would have to think about.

Jake came back right then, his eyes shadowed, with the communicator in his hand. Jake used to be a happy-go-lucky kid until things in the war against the Yeerks came to a head. He used to know when to let loose, even after a big battle. But now he carried the weight of all the dead on his shoulders. His brother. General Doubleday and his troops. Rachel. Always, always Rachel.

"Ax? Hey, Ax, it's Jake. We need you, buddy." Jake had set up his transmitter and was trying to contact Ax's Dome Ship.

A few seconds later, Ax's Andalite face came into view. ((Prince Jake! Marco! I was not expecting a call from you. What is going on))

Jake didn't even tell Ax not to call him Prince. He just told him straight-up what the Ellimist was offering. Ax said he'd be at Cassie's barn and cut the connection.

Two hours later we walked into the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and instantly, I was ambushed by memories so vivid I felt as if I was living in the past again. That first time I'd seen anyone morph, when Cassie had morphed the horse. Lounging on hay bales doing homework. Teasing Rachel. Ax sick with his Tria gland thing. Mean Rachel and Nice Rachel. Rachel. Rachel. Rachel. Always it came back to Rachel. She was the casualty of this war, more so than any of us. Of course she was, she was dead, wasn't she? And that would be the decision that we would make, I was sure of it. We would choose to change something and save her. How could we do any less?

Cassie and Ax were already there, Cassie cleaning out some cages and Ax standing anxiously near the door. I'd forgotten how much the Ax-man had changed. In two years, since the fall of the Yeerks on Earth, he'd become a War Prince and now looked much like his brother, Elfangor. A Shredder hung across his chest and his tail blade was poised, ready for action. Tobias-oh, Tobias, whom I hadn't seen in two years, not since Rachel's funeral-perched in the rafters, refusing to look at any of us. His once vibrantly red tail was now starting to fade. He was getting old.

No one spoke. Jake looked reluctant to take the lead and everyone else was obviously waiting for him to do just that. So I spoke up. "Well, guys, let's get this over with. We all made choices we wouldn't have wanted to in the war. We all did stuff that didn't sit well. Boo-hoo. Tobias, you can't hate Jake for the choice Rachel made. And Cassie, you can't hold Jake's decisions in the last days against him. Let's all be friends. One big happy family." I added the last sentence sarcastically but deep down, I wanted nothing more than for it to be true.

((I don't blame Jake.)) was all Tobias said.

"Bull. You do and you know it. And until we get that out of the way, nothing's going to get done. So yell at him, cuss him out, do whatever you need to, Bird-boy, so we can get this show on the road, please." I was exasperated. Why couldn't we just go back to the old days where Jake was the silent leader, Tobias would keep watch, Cassie would interject moral questions, Ax talked about how Andalites were vastly superior to humans except in the food industry, I would be cracking some very hilarious jokes and Rachel…well, Rachel would be very anxious to get to some butt-kicking. But now there was just an awkward silence before Tobias spoke.

((How could you, Jake? You knew she would die. You knew there was no way she'd get off that Blade ship and you sent her anyway. Your own cousin…you sent her to die.)) There was a sort of sobbing noise and then Tobias' thought-speak exploded into shouting. ((WHY DIDN'T YOU GO YOURSELF, JAKE??? WHY SEND SOMEONE ELSE TO DO YOUR DIRTY WORK??)) Tobias fell silent. No one spoke for a moment.

Then Jake said quietly. "I don't know man. I can't explain my decisions, only that they felt right at the time. I would do anything to bring her back and here's our chance. So let's just figure out a plan and be ready for the Ellimist when he returns.

Tobias didn't respond but Jake looked at me. "Marco, I assume you already have an idea?"

Me? Why should I be the one with an idea? Because I'm Marco the Magnificent? No…because I see that addicting line. That line that makes my life hell. Lucky me.