CHAPTER 23

"Okay, Jonah, I want you to stay here with Erek and his dad," I told my little brother as I got ready to walk out the door. It was half past five in the evening, leaving me half an hour to get to the barn and meet up with everyone.

"Why can't Erek go with you?" Jonah asked. "You said he was a robot. He can beat up some evil aliens, can't he?"

"If he weren't programmed to not fight, he would," I said.

"Actually, I could if I wanted to," Erek said. "Remember before how I said I know what it's like to fight because I've experienced it? Yeah, the last time changed my programming, I turned a bunch of Hork-Bajir into unrecognizable mush and left Rachel – RACHEL – so disturbed she was a crying wreck."

"Ew," I said. "No wonder you guys don't like to fight. You'd make things too easy for us." I looked back at Jonah, who was just staring at me, his eyes filled with worry. "Hey, don't worry," I said as I pulled him in for a hug. "Everything's going to be fine. And if I see Mom and Dad there, I'll make sure to rescue them and bring them back."

"Do you mean it?" Jonah asked.

"I promise, Jonah," I said. I would never break a promise to my little brother.

I headed out the door and made my way to Cassie's farm, a good twenty minute walk from Erek's place – give or take a few minutes. When I got there, I noticed that someone was missing.

"Where's Marco?" I asked.

"He called me earlier," Jake said, holding up his cell phone. "Said he might be a couple of minutes late."

Just then, I noticed a smell, a delicious smell.

The smell of pepperoni and mushroom pizza.

And then Marco came in, singing some song incredibly off-key.

"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a moray!"

"You stopped to get pizza?" Rachel asked.

"Can't go kick Yeerk can on an empty stomach," Marco said as he set the box of pizza on a table. "Anyone care for a slice?"

What would you do if we said no? Tobias asked.

"Then I would proceed to eat all eight pieces of pizza by myself," Marco said. "Don't think I won't."

"You won't," Jake said. "Maybe you're right; we should all get something to eat."

So we did. And I must say, despite how greasy it was – even the best Italian food is greasy, and I love Italian food – it was delicious. Even Ax and Tobias ate some, both of them having morphed human.

The whole time, I kept my eyes on Tobias. He finally noticed me staring at him. "What?" he asked. "Surprised I can morph?"

"Well, yeah," I said. "I thought you said you were stuck."
"As a hawk," Tobias explained. "That's my default now. As for this, well….Do you know who the Ellimist is?"

"Yeah, Erek and his dad told me about him."

"Yeah, we have him to thank. Believe me, I've thought about getting stuck as a human, regaining the morphing powers, and acquiring some more morphs, but honestly, even though I can morph human, at this point, I'm more bird now than anything."

We were interrupted by Ax smacking his lips together. "Mmm. Greasy. Greasy, fattening, and yet, oddly delicious."

"Alright," Jake said as he wiped his hands on his pants. "We've got less than an hour and a half to get to the beach. Ax, Tobias, how about you guys fly there? You'll be a lot more inconspicuous, and you won't have to worry so much about getting stuck in morph. The rest of us will meet you two there."

"That's a good idea," Tobias said. "I like flying better anyway."

"Yes, Prince Jake," Ax said.

"Okay, I have a question," I said, my hand raised. "This has been bugging me for a while. Jake, why does Ax refer to you as 'Prince'? Last time I checked, you weren't royalty."

"It's a rank in the Andalite military," Jake said. "I guess Ax thinks I'm his captain or something. I keep asking him to not call me that, but he keeps doing it, so I don't know why I bother."

Tobias morphed back into a hawk; Ax morphed back into an Andalite, and then changed into an eagle – I think it was a bald eagle, but it was getting dark, so I couldn't quite tell. The two of them flew away, and a few moments later, the rest of us were on our way to the beach.

The night was cool; the air felt clean and it was much easier to breathe than it was during the sweltering hot summer day. The crickets were starting to chirp, and the fireflies were starting to light up. I'm no night owl, but I do enjoy the nighttime hours. There's just something so calm and serene about it. And when you're in a rural area, with very little lights from towns and cities to obscure it, and you look up at the night sky, what you see is a painting – a gorgeous tapestry of stars shimmering on a black or navy blue canvas. Sometimes, if you look hard enough, you can see nebulae, other galaxies, and sometimes, even other planets. The moon is bright, and it paints the world in an almost dream-like glow. The fireflies, with their yellow and green bodily lights, fly around, their movements a beautiful dance. Sometimes I wish humans were naturally nocturnal, so then that way I could enjoy the night all the time instead of just every once in a while.

Okay, I'm getting off track. We all stayed silent as we made our way to the beach, which was lit up by a bunch of lights powered by portable generators. I saw the moving vans Tobias had mentioned – long trucks, at least thirty feet long, ten feet tall, and ten feet wide – and shuddered to think that those lizard monsters, those Hork-Bajir, would be in there.

Still, I'd rather take the lizards than those Taxxons. Yuck.

Tobias was perched on a light post. Looks like you guys made it just in time, he said. The party's about to start, and the cameras are rolling.

"Where's Ax?" Jake asked.

I'm over here, Prince Jake.

Ax, once again in his default Andalite body, was hunched down in some thick bushes. Or about as hunched down as a giant centaur-like alien can get. We all joined him and peeked through the branches, down to the beach.

The beach was packed with people – there must have been over two hundred easy! Some were playing volleyball, some were swimming, some were out on boats, some were sitting around bonfires either roasting marshmallows for s'mores or roasting hot dogs or playing songs on guitars, some were dancing to a song playing on a car radio, some were at the refreshment table getting snacks and drinks, some were at another table selling T-Shirts – there was a sign that read "All proceeds go to Big Brothers Big Sisters" – and there was the news crew filming it all. Standing next to the news crew was Victor Trent – Visser Three's human morph – as well as Chapman. I spotted Jake's brother Tom walking over to join them.

But that was all I could see. And I knew that Tobias couldn't see that much – hawk eyes aren't meant or the night. Which kind of makes me wonder how I was able to see when I first morphed harpy eagle that night. But whatever.

"Anyone else see anything suspicious?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"Depends on what you mean by suspicious," Rachel said.

"Well, to be honest, this place doesn't look all that bad," I said. "Then again…."

Then again, the Sharing was a front for the Yeerks to get new Controllers. Visser Three was here, as were Chapman and Tom.

"We have to get a closer look," Jake said. "Any volunteers?"

"I'll do it," I chimed in. "There's a morph I still have to try out anyway."

I began to concentrate on the Burmese python I had acquired at the Gardens – it was the only morph I hadn't used yet.

I felt my clothes – save for the leotard I wore underneath – fall off of me as my arms shrank into my body and my legs fused together. I fell down onto my stomach as my body got longer and longer, until I was nearly eight feet long. My head got longer and flatter, almost arrow-shaped. My snout jutted out, my teeth curving backwards into sharp points. I felt my tongue split into a fork. My spine got longer until it was the entire length of my body. My insides practically flattened out.

I was the snake.

I was expecting the snake to lash out at everyone, to try and scare them away. But, no. Instead, it seemed…indifferent. Like it knew everyone was there, but it didn't really care. Think of it like a pet cat that you have, or used to have when you were younger. Sure, it would let you pet it and it would play with the string when you threw it, but that was only when it wanted to. Any other time, it just didn't care. That was the snake in a nutshell – it had the mentality of a cat.

I was already used to smelling things with my tongue – need I remind you about the Komodo dragon? – but the vision….That was something else entirely. I didn't see the world the way all my other morphs saw the world, which was basically the same as human, but with minor tweaks, such as blurriness or sharpness. But the snake? I saw a world of vivid colors – blue, green, red, white, yellow. And then I remembered something I saw when I used to watch Wild Discovery with my dad – most snakes, pythons included, see heat. I was seeing heat signatures.

Here I go, guys, I said.

My powerful stomach muscles propelled me through the bush, between the branches and the roots and the tendrils, until my head was poking out the other side. I was still too far away to get a good look, so I slithered forward a little bit. I kept to the darkness, not wanting to be seen. Granted, an eight foot long yellow snake sticks out no matter what, but at least in the dark –

That's when it hit me – this was stupid. Why had I even CONSIDERED morphing snake? Yes, I said that I had to use it, since it was the only morph I hadn't tried out yet, but using a constrictor for surveillance? Not that smart. I'm surprised no one else called me out on it.

I slithered under one of the moving vans, demorphed, and after I caught my breath, I morphed into a cockroach. I could have gone with the spider, but a spider the size of a Frisbee also sticks out. At least a cockroach is small enough to be ignored.

So I skittered out from under the moving van and, as fast as my six legs could carry me – which, believe it or not, cockroaches are pretty darn fast, and I don't just mean scattering when you turn on a kitchen light – I made my way over to the news van. I couldn't hear what anyone was saying, but I could still see who was talking.

Tom, "Victor Trent", and Chapman were all talking to the news reporter; the camera man was in the van drinking some soda – I could smell ginger ale with my antennae. I scuttled forward, onto the sand. The smells of the fire and the hot dogs and the s'mores and everything on the refreshment tables – cakes, fruit punch, and I think some beer as well – got caught on my antennae.

I kept going, hoping I wouldn't get stepped on – not like it would do much other than make me sink in the sand, and even then, I would probably have gotten stuck – until I got to someone wearing sandals – it looked like a woman.

There wasn't much else to see; I had to get back. I scuttled back to the bush and morphed back into a human, gathering up my clothes and quickly putting them on.

"What's the deal?" Rachel asked.

"They're really good at keeping up a cover," I said as I finished getting dressed. "But other than Tom, Chapman, and Visser Three, I don't know who's infested and who isn't."

"What about the news people?" Jake asked.

"The reporter was talking to Visser Three and the camera man was taking a break. I think the camera was rolling."

"Which means they're going to see everything," Cassie said. "What should we do?"

"What else?" Rachel asked, a hint of cocky confidence in her voice. "We morph, go down there, and tear the place apart." She slammed her fist into her palm.

I glanced back at the beach, and then I saw them.

First was the woman wearing the sandals I saw as a cockroach. And then I saw the man talking to her. Even from this distance, I knew who they were. I recognized them as who they were.

Looking down in the crowd, I saw my mother and father.

They were right there, they were practically within my grasp! I could save them, I could get them out of here, and if there were any Yeerks in their heads, I could starve them out! My mom and dad would be safe! We could be a family again! We could put this whole thing behind us! We could forget all about the Andalites, the Yeerks, the Hork-Bajir, the Taxxons, the terror and sorrow that this whole ordeal has made us suffer!

Get a grip on yourself, I told myself. Rescuing your parents IS a priority, yes, but you also have an obligation to Jake and the other Animorphs. So get with the program!

"Okay," Jake whispered. "It's time to make our move. So let's do it."

We all began to change – well, all except for Ax and Tobias, who remained as they were. So, to recap: I was a Komodo dragon, Jake was a Bengal tiger, Rachel was a grizzly bear, Marco was a gorilla, and Cassie was a wolf. We were a gaggle of creatures that, by rights, should have had absolutely nothing to do with each other, and that includes the Andalite and the red tailed hawk.

We made our way to the beach. I went under the T-shirt table; Rachel plowed through it, seven hundred pounds of grizzly bear muscle smashing the thing in half. People scattered as we ran out onto the beach, hissing and roaring and growling and snarling.

I looked over, saw Visser Three standing there, trying to look calm, trying to keep face for the news crew, who were still filming. I ran over there, ran as fast as my short but powerful lizard legs could carry me, stopping when I was just a few feet from the Visser, my mouth open in a quiet hiss.

Hey asshole! Remember me, you son of a bitch?

Visser Three seemed shocked. "You're still alive? I figured you would have been Taxxon fodder by now."

You figured wrong, dickhead.

Before I could lunge at him, one of the news crew – the camera man – pulled a dracon beam out of his pocket and fired. The blast missed me, but just barely; I could still feel the heat of the laser as it went over my head. I took him down with one swipe of my long, powerful tail.

But this also took out the camera.

Penny, we needed that! Jake cried.

Sorry!

Visser Three chuckled. "Andalite Bandits, of course. How I should have guessed. How low you have sunk, to allow a human into your ranks."

It's okay, guys, I said, directing my thought-speak towards the other Animorphs and away from Visser Three. He doesn't know the rest of you are human. You're safe.

And then Visser Three began to change. First, he morphed back into an Andalite.

But then, he began to change again. This time, into something…something….I don't know, just listen.

It was big. Really big. The top of its head stood a good twenty feet off the ground. His body was no so large that it had to be supported by an extra set of legs. His arms no longer ended in seven-fingered hands; instead, they looked like vise grips, two claws designed to grab and hold on to any object. His head was an elongated oblong shape, sort of like the aliens from that movie. His mouth, massive, filled with rows upon rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. Black, soulless eyes set into a read, almost skinless face stared down at me.

The human part of me wanted to run away. So did the Komodo dragon part. I had never seen anything so hideous, so terrifying, and yes, this includes the Taxxons. I was so frightened that I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything, except stare up at the…THE THING…Visser Three had become.

Penny, get back! Marco yelled. I felt his gorilla hands grab my tail and yank me backwards before Visser Three could reach out.

What the hell is that thing? I cried.

That's the morph he used when he killed Elfangor, Jake said grimly.

Abomination! Ax yelled.

A low yet menacing laugh filled my head. Abomination, you say? Look at you, Andalite – you surround yourself with a human and other Andalites who don't bother showing their true colors? Your dear brother would be ashamed.

I could literally hear Ax growling despite the fact that he didn't have a mouth.

There's no way we can take that thing, Jake said. We have to pull back.

We would have, if we hadn't been cut off by a squad of Hork-Bajir-Controllers, all armed with dracon beams. All the Hork-Bajir were firing at us, as were the Human-Controllers with them.

Okay, so much for falling back right away, Jake said. We've got to clear a path.

We dodged the dracon beams as best as we could. I saw Marco grab a human by the shoulder and throw him into the water, before bringing a Hork-Bajir down with a hard punch. But that was just a glance; I had to pay attention. I dodged a Hork-Bajir's nasty blades and dug my teeth into its leg. My bacteria-laden saliva basically sentenced the thing to death.

Another Hork-Bajir was taken down by me swatting it with my tail, before I dug my claws and teeth into it. Another Hork-Bajir grabbed my tail; I flung it off and got ready to attack.

Two Human-Controllers distracted me by shooting at me with dracon beams. They missed me and instead hit the downed Hork-Bajir. I could only catch a glimpse of these two humans through the sand their blasts were kicking up – a man and a woman. And if I didn't do anything, they were going to shoot me, and then move on to my friends.

I charged. I leaped at the man – okay, I didn't so much leap as I did rear up on my hind legs so I could dig my claws into his shoulder while sinking my teeth into his throat. Even if my saliva didn't have a deadly bacteria in it, the fact that I had bitten into the man's Adam's apple and jugular vein would be enough to kill him, just from blood loss alone. He fell to the ground as my teeth tore into his flesh and muscle and bone.

The woman fired at me, this time hitting me. The dracon beam burned against my thick, leathery skin. I left the man alone and whacked the woman's legs with my tail, knocking her to the ground, where I then proceeded to tear into her face. There was the sound of bone cracking as the front of her skull was crushed between my jaws.

I backed away, ready to move on, until I noticed just who these two Human-Controllers were.

It was their faces that gave them away. How could I have not noticed before? Sitting there, saliva dripping from my jaws, my mouth and claws covered in blood, the two humans' faces covered in blood and contorted in shock and fear and pain, I realized that I had just killed my mother and father.

The only thing I could do was sit there in shock. How could I have done that? How did I not know that it was them who were attacking me? Everything had happened so fast that I didn't notice. It was all over in an instant, yet to them, it must have felt like an eternity of pain and agony.

Penny! Rachel yelled, her voice filling my head and yet seeming like it was coming from a million miles away. We're leaving! Come on!

It took everything in my power to turn away, but the images of my parents lying there in the sand, staring up terror in their eyes, had been burned into my mind.

I didn't even notice that we had arrived back at Cassie's barn. I didn't even notice that we had been running the entire time. I didn't even notice just how out of breath we were. Everything seemed to be blending together, and anything anyone was saying was distorted; I couldn't hear them, I could barely breath – and not just from the running – I could barely focus on anything except for my shaking hands.

"Penny, are you okay?" Jake asked.

How could he ask that? Didn't he see the tears streaming down my face? Couldn't he hear my sobs?

"I – I – " My voice caught in my throat; I couldn't say anything, I could barely breathe, all I could do was keep focusing on that image of my mother and father. What had I done, WHAT HAD I DONE?!

"I think she's gone," Marco said.

Before I knew it, I was snapping at him.

"THEY'RE DEAD, MARCO! MY MOTHER AND FATHER ARE DEAD! THEY'RE DEAD BECAUSE OF ME! I KILLED THEM!"

The room had gone silent. Everyone just stared at me, their eyes wide with shock. At least, I think they were – I don't know, I couldn't tell through the tears streaming from my eyes, blurring my vision.

"I – I killed them," I said, my voice cracking as I sobbed. "I didn't even notice – they attacked me, and I attacked them, and – and – they were dead."

"What?!"

That was Jonah's voice. I looked to the door to the barn and saw him standing there with Erek. His eyes were wide, his jaw dropped.

"You – what did you say?"

Jonah, did you hear all of that? Ax asked.

"Jonah – " I took a step towards him, and he backed away. "Jonah, please, listen to me."

"I heard what you said," Jonah said. I could see tears forming in his eyes. "I heard you say that you…that you…YOU KILLED MOM AND DAD!"

"Jonah, please, it was an accident," I said, hoping he would understand.

Who was I kidding? He wouldn't.

"It really was an accident," Cassie said.

"Jonah…."

Jonah suddenly screamed at me. "No! I hate you!" He turned and ran away, Tobias flying after him.

Jonah's words struck me like a knife to the heart. Mom and Dad's deaths were an accident, and now my little brother hated me for it. I can't say that I blame him. I was beginning to hate myself. I was so torn up, so hurt by what Jonah had said, that I fell to my knees and buried my face in my hands.

Someone put their arms around me. I looked, expecting it to be Cassie, but instead, saw that it was Marco. He held me close, the same way I would hold Jonah when he was sad or scared. I guess he knew how I was feeling; he would feel the same way if he ended up killing his mother, accident or not.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm sorry we roped you into this. I'm sorry for everything."

Another hand, a smaller hand, touched my arm. Jonah's hand. His eyes were red and puffy; he had been crying too.

"Penny?" he said, his voice quiet and cracking. "I don't hate you."

I figured that Tobias talked to him.

I put my arm around Jonah and pulled him close.

"Marco?" Jake said. "I think it's better if you leave them alone for a while."

"Yeah, you're right," Marco said. He stood up and walked away, leaving me and Jonah where we were, holding each other as we cried.