Marco could be in any kind of morph.
"Rachel, it's me, Marco. If you can hear me, Jake, Tobias, and Ax have all been taken. I'm trying to contact you and Cassie. Are you there? Can you answer?"
I could have cried from frustration. In my own human body, I couldn't use thought-speak. It was a relief to know Marco was still free.
"No? Well, I hope you're okay. I'll try again later." I had reached the door of the sinister building. Now what?
Suddenly, a commotion. A small knot of humans and one Hork-Bajir were coming toward me. Or at least toward the door.
"I don't know how it got there!" a human voice wailed. "I'm telling you it's a mistake!" She was young. No more than eighteen. She was scared but helpless in the grip of the Hork-Bajir.
An older, male human-Controller shook his head. "You can tell it to the Visser. He'll be here soon."
"No!" the young woman gasped. "It's a huge mistake!"
"It's a mistake, all right," the man said. He reached into the backpack the girl was carrying. He lifted out a small Rubbermaid container. He shoved it in the girl's face. "What do you call this?"
"It's . . . it's just cereal. It's something the humans call raisin bran. Human bodies need fiber in order to function properly, so -"
The man cut her off. He opened the Rubbermaid and sniffed it. He held it out for her to see. "No raisins. Don't lecture me about humans. I've been in this host body for two years. And I know the smell of maple and ginger. Fool. You're as stupid as the humans with their drugs. Never thought I'd see self-respecting Yeerks lower themselves to behaving like humans." He jerked his head. "Take her away."
The Hork-Bajir dragged the girl into the building. The older man handed the Rubbermaid to another human-Controller. "Too many of our people going host-happy. These human hosts can be insidious. Check this in with the contraband locker."
"They're running out of room over there. They've taken in over two hundred human pounds of this stuff."
Two hundred pounds?
"Well, hello opportunity," I whispered.
They kept the oatmeal in more of a shack than a building. It was like one of those tin sheds that people put in their backyards to store rakes and hoses and the lawn mower.
However, it was guarded by four very alert, very serious-looking Hork-Bajir.
The shed was perhaps fifty feet from the edge of the Yeerk pool itself, and just behind the "human" cafeteria.
I took a deep breath. Okay. Marco was free, but I didn't know where.
Jake, Tobias, and Ax were all prisoners, probably back in the security building. Cassie was somewhere, and I had no idea where or if she was okay. I had to stifle an urge to cry at the thought of Cassie hurt.
Okay, now stick to business, I told myself sharply. You're the only one who can save them.
In addition to everything else, I knew Visser Three was on his way, Jake and Tobias were running short of morphing time, and there were two hundred pounds of maple and ginger oatmeal sitting in a shed within fifty feet of the pool.
There had to be some way to make all this work. I just had to step back and see the big picture. Somehow. But the truth is, I'm not good at that kind of thing. Jake sees "big pictures." So does Cassie, in a different way. Me, I see what's right in front of me. I'm good at taking action.
Okay. First of all, whatever you're going to do, do it before Visser Three gets here.
First priority was rescuing my friends. I just needed time to -
ScrrrEEEET! ScrrrEEEET! ScrrrEEEET!
An alarm! Flashing lights! Hork-Bajir running. Running toward the store room where I'd Dra-coned those people.
Oh.
Okay, that was stupid. I should have realized they'd be found. Now the Yeerks would know they hadn't gotten all of us.
"One more time. It's me, Marco. Calling Rachel. Come on, Rachel. You're starting to worry us all now. Where are you?"
THUMP! BUMP! People rushing all around me. Hurrying. A huge Taxxon slithered past, needle-legs flashing, its big red, round mouth gasping at the air.
What had Marco said? You're starting to worry us all now? Us all? Did that mean he'd contacted all the others?
Someone grabbed me. "What's the matter with you? Get to your action station! There are more Andalite scum among us!"
The man released me and ran about three feet. Then he stopped. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. He turned back to me, his face alive with suspicion.
I stepped right up to him so no one would see the flash. I lifted the Dracon beam and squeezed the trigger.
TSEEEWWW!
"Ahhh!" The Dracon blast was too close. Some of the energy bounced back off the man and stunned me. It was like grabbing a bare electrical wire and jabbing it in my stomach. I clutched my stomach and backed away.
Heads turned. Eyes narrowed.
"He's one of them!" I yelled, pointing at the prostrate man. "He tried to shoot me with this!" I held up the Dracon beam as evidence.
A crowd rushed forward, Hork-Bajir among them. They encircled the man as I backed away and tried to become invisible.
ScrrrEEEET! ScrrrEEEET! ScrrrEEEET!
"Oh, Ra-chel," Marco sang in my head. "Where are you?"
"Where's the girl who was just here?" I heard a voice yell from the midst of the crowd.
I turned and walked away. Walk, don't run, I told myself.
"Well, find her!"
"Rachel!" a voice hissed.
I swear I almost wet myself. I reached for the Dracon beam.
"It's just me."
Cassie! She was suddenly right there in front of me.
"Oh, man, am I glad to see you! How did you get here?"
"How did you get here?"
"Never mind," I said. "I'm in trouble."
"I am so not surprised," she said.