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And I was still looking forward to actually seeing Jeremy Jason McCole.

There was still the possibility we could rescue him or something.

Tobias said, "l better bail out on you guys. I'm not good over water. No thermals. Ax's harrier will be weak, too, but he can always morph to something else and swim back. I can't."

We said good-bye to Tobias. I know he hates not being able to go with us on every mission. He feels like he's not doing enough, I guess. Which is stupid because really, no one does more for the cause than Tobias.

And none of us has paid a higher price in this war with the Yeerks than Tobias has.

We flapped away, slowly emerging from the dogfight of seagulls in the sky. We crossed the line from sand to surf. And then we kept going, out over green water and on to the deeper blue.

There was a breeze blowing against us and it was a struggle to make headway. But this was what seagulls were built to do. The seagull brain knew how to exploit every lull in the breeze. And the body was almost tireless.

Ax's harrier, on the other hand, was having a harder time. Hawks are made for soaring, or swooping down on their prey. They are great at riding the thermals, the big, billowy updrafts of

warm air. But they aren't distance flyers. They can't just flap their wings endlessly.

But he still had better long-range vision than we did.

"l see the boat clearly now," Ax announced. He didn't complain, but he sounded tired. "l can read the name Daybreeze very clearly. There are now four humans on the deck. Two older males. One female of medium age.

One juvenile male."

"Is it Jeremy Jason?" Cassie asked excitedly.

"Has to be," I said.

"Does he have brownish-blond hair and really big blue eyes?"

"And full lips?" I added. "Like Brad Pitt

"Gag! Barf!" Marco, of course.

"The hair and eyes are correct, " Ax said. "l can't evaluate the lips, though. How large would lips have to be in order to be Brad Pitt lips?"

"In that Montana movie Brad Pitt's lips filled the entire screen, "

Marco said. "In fact, I heard some people were crushed to death by Brad Pitt's

"Bet they're fake," Jake muttered. "You know how they inject, like, butt fat into lips to make them all puffy?"

"It's so sad to hear so much jealousy, don't you agree, Cassie?"

"It is sad, Rachel. Terribly sad."

"This is the worst mission we've ever been on," Marco said. "l mean, I've been scared before. Hey, I've been horrified, screaming, wanting-to-wet-myself terrified before. I'm used to that. But this is the first time I've wanted to just throw up. Rachel, I didn't think you were even capable of normal human affection, let alone pathetic hero worship."

"Say it, brother!" Jake agreed. I think he was kidding. But I couldn't be sure.

"And Cassie!" Marco went on. "l thought you only cared about animals.

Animals like skunks and snakes . . . and Jake. Hee-hee!"

"Okay, let's get back to business now," Jake said quickly.

Jake gets embarrassed any time anyone mentions his feelings for Cassie.

And we were practically caught up to the yacht.

"Ax, buddy, I think you need to peel off. Change morphs and stay close by in the water."

"Yes, Prince Jake."

"Don't call me prince."

"Yes, Prince Jake."

"Marco and I will go in close, land on the boat like any ordinary seagulls, see what we overhear^ Jake went on. "Rachel and Cassie, you can be backup. Stay -"

"Yeah, right," I jeered. "You and Marco go. Me and Cassie stay away.

Yeah, that's really going to happen. Come on, Cassie, we're going in."

I flapped hard to pull away from Jake and Marco. Ax gratefully peeled off, soaring back and away on the breeze.

The yacht was very large. I don't know how big, but it was big enough that the four people lounging on the aft deck could have played a game of volleyball if they'd wanted to. I mean, this was not some little motorboat.

Cassie and I moved behind the boat. Below us, propellers were churning the sea turquoise and white. Just ahead, we could clearly see the four people.

One was the movie producer wearing shorts and an open shirt. I'd seen him on CNN.

One was a man who stood with his back to us.

The third person was a woman in a bikini. She was young and pretty.

And the fourth person . . . yes! There was no mistaking that hair. That face. Those lips.

"It's him!" Cassie said.

"0h, yes," I agreed.

Jeremy Jason McCole. Star of Power House. At least he was the star if you forgot about that comedian guy who played his father.

Jeremy Jason McCole, who had appeared in

basically every fanzine published in the last five years. Most of which either Cassie or I had read.

"His favorite color is crimson," Cassie said. "It's so cool. He didn't just say "red." He said "crimson.""

"He was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania."

"He has two sisters. Their names are Jessica and Madison."

"Nice chest."

"Nice legs."

"Let's get closer," I said.

We flapped a little and found ourselves in a sweet pocket of air. The boat created its own breeze, which sort of carried us along. We barely had to flap our wings. We could just hang in the air over the back end of the boat. We hung there, enjoying the view from ten feet above Jeremy Jason McCole. We listened to the conversation between the actor, the producer, and the two other people.

And it was then that I fell out of love with the extremely cute Jeremy Jason McCoy.

The wind carried some of what they said away. The noise of the churning water and the big engines wiped some of it out. But we heard enough, Cassie and I. Too much.

". . . don't want to be on the losing side of this, Jeremy," the producer was saying. "Face it, your TV career is over."