Foolish! I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I had grown careless.
I turned to head back toward the forest.
"You might as well hang around for a while," a voice said.
"Cassie?"
She loomed up from the darkness. How had I missed seeing her? I looked closer. Cassie began to change. She kept her own human face, but the ghostly gray-white mane of a horse.
And her legs ended in hooves, not human feet.
"You morphed a horse," I said.
As soon as she was fully human she responded. "I do that sometimes. I like running. But don't tell Jake. He'd be mad at me using morphing for personal things."
"I don't believe he would be angry," I said. "I am no expert on humans, but I believe Prince Jake has a special affection for you."
Cassie laughed quietly. "I doubt it. I'm just a friend. And a fellow Animorph."
"Then why do you sometimes hold hands and intertwine your fingers?"
"Oh . . .well, you weren't supposed to see that."
"Why not?"
"Um, it's kind of a long story," Cassie said. "Just forget it, okay? How is your study of humans going?"
"I have read the World Almanac."
"So, what do you think?"
"I think humans are interesting."
"Uh-huh. What do you really think?"
I hesitated. She seemed to want a more complete answer. But you can never be sure with humans. Often they become offended by small things.
"I think there is a second reason why the Yeerks wish to enslave your species," I said.
43 "Aside from being able to have a lot of human hosts? Why?"
"They're afraid of you."
"Afraid of us? Why?" She laughed. "Have you been reading all the stuff about wars? Humans aren't just about fighting wars. It may seem that way, but - "
"Every species fights wars," I said. "In the past, Andalites made war on other Andalites.
And the Hork-Bajir used to have a biological time clock that set them all warring every sixty-two years. As for the Taxxons . . . they are cannibals."
"Yeah, well, we humans haven't been exactly perfect."
"Every species has something to be ashamed of," I said. "Every species carries some terrible guilt."
She looked closely at me. I could almost see her wondering whether I meant Andalites as well. But she decided not to ask that question. Instead she asked another. "So if it isn't the wars that bother you, what is it?"
"You discovered radioactivity in 1896. In 1945 you exploded an atomic weapon. Forty- nine years. In 1903 you flew for the first time. Sixty-six years later, you landed on your moon."
"You really did read the World Almanac, didn't you?" Cassie said with a smile. "You're saying we do things quickly?"
"I'm saying that if the Yeerks don't destroy you now, they know that fifty years from now, humans will be capable of faster-than-light travel. And a hundred years from now . . . who knows?"
"How long did it take you Andalites to do those things?"
"I...I don't remember," I lied.
"I see," Cassie said. I believe her tone of voice is called "disappointed."
"I..."I hung my head. "I am bound by my oath as an Andalite warrior. We must never give Andalite technology to any other species, and we try not to, you know, talk about ourselves to other species." It sounded pathetic, even to me.
"Not even if it might help us beat the Yeerks? But isn't that what your brother did, when he gave us the power to morph?"
I could not think of an answer. It was true, of course. Elfangor had broken our laws.
"Did I say something wrong?" Cassie asked.
"I'm not Elfangor," I said finally. "I'm more like you. Just a young one. Elfangor was a great prince. My people might understand and forgive what Elfangor did, because he was an important person."
44 "I see," Cassie said. "You know what? Why don't you morph to human and come inside? You could meet my mom and dad. We're just about to have dinner."
"I have eaten already."
Cassie raised one eyebrow. "You've eaten, huh?" She seemed about to ask me a question, then decided against it. "Okay, but you could still come in. You don't have to eat much. Just hang out. Come on, it would do you good."
"Do me good? Do I seem ill?"
"No. Just lonely. You seem very lonely."
The word pierced me. I was surprised how much it hurt.
Yes, I was lonely. But I didn't think the humans knew.
"How would you explain to your family who I was?"
Cassie shrugged. "You morphed Jake once, right? So be Jake."
45 Chapter SEVEN
Humans have very odd tastes. They think their music is beautiful. They are wrong. It is awful.
All of it. And they completely ignore their greatest accomplishments: the cinnamon bun, the Snickers bar, the hot pepper, and the refreshing beverage called vinegar. - From the Earth
Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill
Being in Prince Jake's body is no different from being in my regular human morph. Except that it is slightly larger. Since the morph was formed from his DNA, I looked exactly like him. Cassie insisted I borrow a garment called "overalls" and a pair of boots from her barn before entering her home. Humans are very particular about clothing. I still do not understand why.
"Hi, Jake. Cassie talk you into helping her muck out the barn again?" Cassie's father asked me as I walked into her house.
He was a male - as all human fathers are. His hair was dark brown, but it seemed to have been removed from much of his head. He wore round transparent lenses on his face which, I am told, are for correcting faulty vision. His complexion is darker. He had the usual number of legs and arms.
"No," I said. "She asked me to eat your food. Food. Ood-duh."
"Well, someone has to eat it. Might as well be you who suffers. I cooked tonight. Made my world-famous chili."
Cassie's eyes suddenly widened. She looked frightened. "Oh. Chili? Um, Jake said he wasn't really hungry. He already ate."
"Is chili a very frightening food?" I asked Cassie.
Her father grinned. "Mine is."
"Is that Jake I hear out there?" someone called from the next room. A female appeared who I assumed was Cassie's mother. She had dark hair, but much more of it than Cassie's father.
Her hair had not been removed.
She stuck her two arms in my direction and walked toward me. "Oh, you just get more handsome every time I see you, Jake." She wrapped her two arms around me and squeezed me briefly. Then she released me. "Are you staying for some of the Chili of Doom?"
"Yes, I asked him to join us," Cassie said. "But he's not very hungry. In fact, he just ate. So he probably won't want any chili."
Cassie's mother smiled at Cassie's father. "Isn't it just precious the way she tries to protect him?"
"Too late," Cassie's father said. "He's trapped now. There is no escape."
In order to eat we had to sit down in front of a table. I had done this before while impersonating Prince Jake at Prince Jake's home. So I knew how to do it. I knew what a fork was. Also a spoon and a knife.