The Invasion Read Free Page B

over people’s brains and Andalites and the power to change into animals? Give me a break.”
    “Yeah, it is beyond weird,” I agreed.
    “We’re off the map of weirdness by this point,” Rachel said. “But unless we’re all just dreaming, I think we’d better deal with this.”
    “He’s dying,” Tobias reminded us.
    “I’ll
do it,” Cassie said. That surprised me. Cassie isn’t usually so quick to decide. But I guess, like Tobias, she
felt
the truth of what the Andalite was saying.
    “I think we should
all
decide together,” I suggested. “One way or the other.”
    “What’s that?” Rachel asked. She was looking up toward the stars. Far, far overhead, two pinpoints of bright red light were shooting across the sky.
    Yeerks.The Andalite said the word in our minds, and we could feel his hatred.

CHAPTER 4
     
    Y eerks.
    The twin red lights slowed. They turned in a circle and came back toward us.
    There is no more time. You must decide!
    “We have to do this,” Tobias said. “How else can we fight these Controllers?”
    “This is so insane!” Marco said. “Insane.”
    “I’d like more time, but we don’t have that choice,” Rachel said. “I’m for it.”
    “What do you say, Jake?” Cassie asked me. It was odd. Like suddenly I was the one who had to decide for everyone?
    I looked up at the Yeerk ships. What had theAndalite called them? Bug fighters? They were circling closer, like dogs sniffing for a scent. I looked down at the Andalite and remembered the picture of his family. Would they even know what had happened to him?
    I looked at each of the people around me—my usually funny, occasionally annoying best friend, Marco; Rachel, my smart, pretty, confident cousin; and Cassie, who everyone knew liked animals more than she liked most people.
    Finally, I looked at Tobias. It was weird, the feeling I had at that moment, staring at him. A chill or something.
    “We have to,” Tobias said to me.
    Slowly I nodded. “Yes. We have no choice.”
    Then each of you, press your hand against one of the sides of the square.
    We did. Five hands, each pressed against one side. Then a sixth hand, different from ours, with too many fingers.
    Do not be afraid,the Andalite said.
    Something like a shock, only pleasurable, seemed to run through me. A tingle that almost made me laugh.
    Go now,the Andalite said.Only remember this—never remain in animal form for more than two of your Earth hours. Never! That is the greatestdanger of the morphing! If you stay longer than two hours, you will be trapped, unable to return to human form.
    “Two hours,” I repeated.
    Suddenly some new fear washed through the Andalite’s mind. Linked as I was to him, I could feel it as a dread that crawled up my spine. He was staring up at the sky with his main eyes. Something else was up there with the Bug fighters.
    Visser Three! He comes.
    “What?” I was shaking with this new terror. “What’s a Visser? Who’s a Visser?”
    Go now. Run! Visser Three is here. He is the most deadly of your enemies. Of all Yeerks, he alone has the power to morph. The same power you now have. Run!>
    “No, we’ll stay with you,” Rachel said firmly. “Maybe we can help.”
    Again it was as if the alien was smiling at us with his eyes.No. You must save yourselves. Save yourselves and save your planet! The Yeerks are here.
    We all looked up, craning our necks. Sure enough, the two red lights were sinking toward us. And they had been joined by a third ship, far larger, black as a shadow within a shadow.
    “But how are we supposed to fight these … these Controllers?” Rachel demanded.
    You must find a way. Now run!
    I jerked from the force of his command. “He’s right. Run!” I yelled.
    We ran. All but Tobias, who knelt beside the Andalite and took his hand. The Andalite pressed his other hand against Tobias’s head. Tobias rocked back, like he’d been shocked. Then he, too, was up and running, stumbling over the loose junk and potholes