The Reaction

by K. A. Applegate

  Other birds had to kill to eat. Other birds had narrow, cramped environmental niches with just one or two kinds of acceptable food. Not me. I could live on junk food and garbage.

  And that's why the skies were filled with my brothers and sisters. I saw them everywhere, al-

  73 ways near the ground, always on the lookout for the next bread crumb.

  Above me I spotted a dangerous form . . . the dark silhouette of a bird of prey. But I wasn't too worried. He was high up, and I was fast and very agile.

  I flapped hard and flew fast, zooming like a wobbly, erratic rocket above the treetops, over the roofs, flitting through telephone wires, skimming easily over lawns and yards and gardens.

  «Enjoying yourself, Rachel?»

  What the . . . ?

  «Hello. Hello in there, Rachel. You're not falling into the morph, are you?»

  It took a few seconds for me to track. The voice in my head was Tobias. Tobias was a human. So was I.

  Oh. Hello. Wake up, Rachel.

  «Sorry, Tobias. I was getting kind of caught up in the seagull's head there for a minute. I wasn't prepared. I've done the morph before, so I wasn't on guard.»

  It was embarrassing, actually. When you first do a morph it's very hard to control the mind of the animal. I mean, when I'd morphed the crocodile, even though I was totally prepared, I'd been ready to chomp that kid.

  But I'd done the seagull before. I shouldn't have had any difficulty with it.

  74 «You okay, Rachel?» Tobias asked.

  «Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine, all right? I just wish everyone would stop asking me how I am. I'm fine.»

  This wasn't related to the problem with uncontrolled morphing. This was just a minor thing. A minor loss of concentration.

  Nothing to worry about. That's what I told myself.

  «You know your way to the beach from here?»

  «0f course I know the way to the beach,» I said, still mad for no good reason.

  «Ooookay. See you there.»

  Tobias peeled off and I flew on. One thing the seagull knew was how to find the beach.

  But I was not a happy little seagull.

  Something was wrong with me, and it wasn't going away.

  75

  We met high above the beach. Four seagulls, looking totally normal among the hundreds of other seagulls. And higher up, floating on the thermals, a red-tailed hawk and a harrier.

  The harrier was Ax. He'd never acquired a seagull. The harrier morph was a type of hawk, about the same size as Tobias.

  «Okay, is everyone up for this?» Jake asked.

  He was one of the wheeling, screaming seagulls around me, but I couldn't be sure which one.

  «Let's do it!» I said. That's what I almost always say at the start of a mission. Everyone expected me to say it.

  The truth was, I felt nervous and worried and totally unsure of myself. But people expected me

  76 to be all gung ho. If I hadn't been, they'd have known something was very wrong with me.

  «What a shock,» Marco said sarcastically. «Mighty Xena is ready to go. Someone alert the media! It's a major story!»

  «0h, shut up, Marco,» I said.

  «Okay, we fly out, find this yacht, then figure out how to proceed from there,» Jake said. «Right?»

  «lf we can find the yacht at all,» Marco said.

  «Not a problem. It's out there, maybe three miles, heading southeast. There are three people on deck. I can't see their faces.» Tobias laughed. «Hawk vision, boys and girls. You seagulls stick to Dumpster-diving. I'll take care of long-range spying.»

  «You sure it's the right boat?» Jake asked.

  «The Daybreeze, right?»

  «There is no way you can read the name on a boat that's three miles out,» Marco said. «I've been an osprey, remember? Your eyes are good, but you're not Superman.»

  «Busted,» Tobias said. «Okay, I can't read the whole name on the boat. But I can see the D. And I took a good guess. I'm betting that's our wussy-boy actor.»

  «Good enough,» I said. «Let's take a closer look.» It was all the usual banter before we go on a mission. It felt good to be doing something. Action

  77 was better than sitting around waiting to see if I was going to morph out of control.

  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

  78 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?»

  79 «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 -»

  80 «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

  81 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.

  82

  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."

  "It's not over as long as ... million teenage ... in love with me," Jeremy said.

  "All I'm saying is, big changes are coming. Big changes like . . . has ever seen before, okay? Now, my company is part of the new order. You do business . . . parts in movies. Serious parts. Let you move beyond teenage roles."

  Jeremy Jason laughed. "That'd be nice. I'm

  83 about sick to death of dopey . . . sending me love letters and mobbing me for autographs. See, that's part of the problem I have with your offer. You'll have me still. ... I'm sick of ... be Mr. Goody Good all the time."

  Then the other man, the one who had been standing with his back to us, stepped forward. He barely flicked a finger and the producer backed away. The woman in the bikini narrowed her eyes and seemed to shrink down in her chair.

  "Let's stop wasting time," the man said. "We've been talking ... yesterday . . . better things to do. I can give you . . .thing you want. Everything. Money . . . power. But first, you have to agree to my. . . . They are ... simple. You become one of us. And then, you take on this . . . representing The Sharing. In exchange . . . anything and everything your heart desires."

  Jeremy Jason sat silently while the man spoke. The man scared him. That was obvious. When Jeremy Jason did speak, it was in a low, strained voice. "And if I say no?"

  "You won't say no," the man said. He turned then, and I saw his face. I saw an icy smile, and cold, dead eyes.

  I had seen him before, just briefly. But once was enough.

  «Visser Three!» Cassie hissed.

  The Visser was in his human morph. But it

  84 was him. And having recognized him, it was as if the sun was gone from the sky. I felt darkness reaching out from him. Darkness that clutched at my heart.

  Visser Three, leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth. The only Yeerk ever to take control of an Andalite body. The only Yeerk to possess the Andalite morphing power.

  Visser Three, the evil creature who had murdered Ax's brother Elfangor while we sat terrified, helpless.

  He smiled his icy, fake-human smile for Jeremy Jason. "You're an ambitious. . . . You want. ... So much more than you will ever get without my help."

  Suddenly Jeremy Jason laughed. "I guess you see through me." He stood up to face the frightening man. "I let you perform this procedure . . . make me a major movie star. Deal?"

  The cold smile reappeared. "Deal."

  «He can't possibly know what this means!» Cassie cried. «They've tricked him.»

  «Yeah. They have. But you know what? He wouldn't be falling for it unless he was a creep.»

  «l don't care,» Cassie said. «We can't let them make Jeremy Jason a Controller^

  «No, we'll have to try and save him,» I agreed. «But now I wonder if he's worth it.» I felt sick inside. I know it's dumb to have a crush on

  85 some actor you only know from TV. But it's a nice, normal kind of dumb. And I didn't have much normal anything in my life.

  «Let's get back with Jake and Marco,» I said. «Man. They are so going to rag on us over this. Jeremy Jason ready to become a voluntary Controller. It's disgusting.»

  I banked sharply away, caught the headwind again, and realized that I was getting lower. Lower very quickly. I flapped harder.

  «Rachel! What are you doing?» Cassie yelled.

  «l don't know! I can't seem to fly!»

  «0h, no! You're morphing, Rachel! Stop!»

  My wings were beating the air, but I just kept falling. And then I saw the reason. It was right in front of my face.

  Literally!

  Where my small, hooked seagull beak should have been, something long and gray was growing.

  «I'm growing a trunk!» I cried.

  From their positions a hundred yards behind the boat, Marco and Jake spotted the disaster-in-the-making.

  «Rachel! What are you doing?» Jake yelled.

  «l can't stop! I can't stop! I'm morphing!»

  The trunk was now half-a-foot long and my wings were not even close to powerful enough. I fell. I hit the water with a splash.

  But not before I caught a glimpse of Visser

  86 Three. He was standing at the back rail of the boat. He was staring right at me with dead, evil eyes.

  I hit the water and kept going. The elephant morph seemed to be speeding up. I was morphing at a speed unlike anything I'd ever done before.

  Down I sank. Down and down as bubbles spiraled up away from me. My huge leathery ears were growing from my head. I felt my bones grinding as they swiftly became massive and thick and long.

  I tried to tread water, but I had legs like tree trunks!

  The sparkling surface of the water above me already looked as far away as the surface of the moon. I was drowning.

  «Rachel! Morph out!» Cassie screamed.

  «Ax!» Jake yelled. «lf you can hear me, find Rachel. Stay with her!»

  But I knew the others couldn't reach me in time. I was falling and falling, down and down through the water. My trunk could not reach air, although I stretched it high over my head.

  I was drowning in an elephant's body. And all I could do was wonder why.

  87

  I fell down through the water, down toward the invisible ocean floor a mile below me.

  I tried to focus. To find a way to demorph. But I couldn't. My mind was slipping away.

  I was about fifty feet under when it occurred to me to see whether the elephant could swim. I mean, it seemed stupid. Of course elephants can't swim. But what did I have to lose?

  I started running in water with my big telephone pole legs and to my utter amazement it turned out the elephant could swim. But too late to do me much good. I was too far down. I'd never reach air in time.

  I saw a flash of gray, a deadly shape in the
water

  88 beside me. I heard, like it was from far off, a thought-speak voice saying, «l see her, Prince Jake!»

  Somehow it almost made me laugh. It was a talking shark. Why was a shark talking?

  Then . . . panic!

  I began thrashing wildly. I churned the water, motoring my big legs, futilely trying to rise faster. I flung my trunk this way and that. But panic was no better than peaceful surrender. I was rising, but it was too little, too late.

  And yet ...

  «She's demorphing!» the talking shark said. «No . . . wait. Prince Jake, she is not demorphing. I mean, not back to human. She is going straight to some other morph!»

  «That's impossible!»

  «l know. But that's what is happening!»

  «I'm going after her,» Cassie yelled. «I'll dive underwater, out of sight. I'll morph to human, then try to morph to dolphin before I run out of air. Maybe I can help her.»

  «Do it,» Jake snapped. «Marco, stay up top. I'm going down with Cassie.»

  «She is getting smaller at an impressive speed,» Ax, the talking shark, said.

  The talking shark was right. I was shrinking. Shrinking at a shocking speed. Shrinking so fast

  89 I created a little whirlpool where my massive elephant bulk was disappearing.

  «Jake! Look!» Marco yelled. «That man on the boat! He's morphing. I swear, he's turning into an Andalite! Oh, man. Him!»

  «Yes, it's Visser Three,» Cassie said. «Forget him. We have to save Rachel!»

  Morphing, morphing, morphing. Everyone is morphing, I thought in my giddy, nearly unconscious mind.

  I decided it would make a good song. «0h what fun it is to morph, to morph and morph today. Hey!»

  «Is she singing "Jingle Bells"?» Marco demanded.

  «Ax, I'm in dolphin morph now, but I can't see Rachel. Where are you two?» Cassie cried. «l should be able to see an elephant and a shark!»

  «Rachel is no longer an elephant. In fact, I can't see her at all. She's too small.»

  «What?» Jake asked.

  «We're almost there! Ax, you have to find her!»

  I rose slowly from the brink of unconsciousness. Slowly, the gears in my brain started to grind forward. I was underwater. I was sure of that. But I was no longer the elephant.

  I could breathe! And I was no longer sinking.