I even knew what that was like. There were two people in my head as well. I had fought to control the shrew, just as the Chapman Yeerk now fought to control Chapman's brain.
Chapman said, "I have control again."
Ms. Chapman nodded. "Yes. But just barely. They fight fiercely for their children, these hu mans."
76 "And they will not stop fighting. I can't maintain my cover with this host waiting to attack at every opportunity. I have to be at the school every day. The host is beaten and exhausted for now, but in a few days he will strike again." Chapman sounded angry and frustrated. "He's not a fool. He knows he can't win ... he knows each battle will leave him weaker and that eventually I will triumph."
Ms. Chapman kicked my cage, like it was all my fault. "He doesn't have to win. All he has to do is wait until you are in a meeting with parents or members of the school board, then strike.
They'll think you've lost your mind."
Chapman looked haunted. He checked his watch. "I'll take the Andalite to Visser Three. Maybe . . . maybe I can make him understand."
"Go, quickly," Ms. Chapman told her hus band.
Chapman snatched up the cage I was in. He barreled through the door. He slammed me into the doorjamb on the way.
"Daddy? Daddy? What are you doing?"
It was Melissa. She was across the living room. I hadn't seen her arrive. Where had she been?
I could only pray that she had not heard everything. If she'd heard it all, there was no hope for her.
Chapman kept walking. Out into the wet night. "Daddy? Do you have Fluffer in there?"
"lt's Melissa," I told Jake. "lf she doesn't back off, she's going to force them to take her!"
"Daddy?" Melissa sounded frightened now. She came running. Chapman moved quicker. The real Chapman was helping. He knew his daughter would only make things worse if she tried to intervene.
"Fluffer!" Melissa cried. There was only one hope. "Tobias?" I cried out, making my thought-speech as loud as I could. "Tobias, can you hear me?" His answer was faint, but it was Tobias.
"Yes, Rachel. "
"The real Fluffer! We need him. We need him right now!"
"Rachel, what is going on out there?" Jake demanded.
"Fluffer! Why are you taking Fluffer? Daddy, stop!"
Out the front door we went. Out into the night. Melissa, sobbing pitifully. Jake, demanding to know what was happening. Chapman, walking as fast as he could.
Melissa grabbed her father's arm. The cage wobbled wildly.
77 "Daddy, you can't take Fluffer. Don't take him away! What are you doing?"
The car. I could see it in the driveway. We were almost there.
Suddenly, I heard a yowling, yammering, high-pitched sound that started as a hiss and ended as a shriek.
Like a bullet he came, racing across the lawn. The real Fluffer.
He was running like every monster in the world was right behind him.
In the darkness the humans couldn't see what was scaring Fluffer so badly. But with my cat eyes I could see perfectly. Just a few feet off the ground, like some dark shadow of death, came Tobias.
Fluffer must have recognized his cage. He must have figured that if he just got inside he'd be safe from the talons of the raptor that pursued him.
Fluffer leaped toward the cage. He glommed onto it and tried to dig his claws into the plastic.
For one frozen instant Fluffer McKitty saw something he never expected to see. Fluffer saw himself.
It was almost as weird for me. The cat in my head was totally baffled. This new cat smelled exactly like himself. This did not make any sense at all. It meant nothing. It wasn't even a part of any cat reality. The human part of me noticed a small cut on Fluffer's head. Tobias had taken a good swipe at him to get him moving in the right direction.
"Fluffer?" Melissa said. "But . . ." She tried to peer inside the cage.
Chapman was quick. "No, sweetheart," he said. "This isn't Fluffer at all. It's some other cat that sneaked into the basement. He's different. I'm taking him to the shelter so his owners can pick him up."
"But why didn't you just tell me that?"
Chapman looked confused. "I ... I didn't notice you."
Melissa stepped back like she'd been slapped. "But Daddy, I was crying."
"Sorry." Chapman shrugged. He shoved the cage into the backseat.
We drove off. I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew Melissa wasn't safe yet, but she was safe for now, at least.
"Good work, Tobias," I said. But I don't think he could hear me. And I couldn't see out of the windows, so I didn't know if he or Marco or Cassie were anywhere close.
"Jake? You still with me?"
78 "Yes. Do you have a minute to fill me in? This flea existence is fine for hiding, but I can't tell anything about what's going on. "
"I'm in a cat carrier. Chapman's in the front seat. He watches me through the rearview mirror.
He still has the Dracon beam. I think maybe I'm in pretty big trouble here."
"We're not beaten yet," Jake said.
"Jake, time must be getting short. It's been at least an hour. You must have morphed before me. You need to get away and morph back."
"We still have time," Jake said.
"You have a watch, Jake?" I asked. "I don't think so. You're what, about twice the size of a period on the page of a book? You can't risk being trapped in a flea morph. Besides, there's nothing you can do."
We hadn't traveled far before the car started bouncing and rattling over rough road.
"As soon as we get outside you need to jump off, Jake," I said. "Just make yourself jump away from warmth and away from the smell of blood. You can do that " The car came to a stop.
"Rachel, there is no way I'm going to leave you alone. "
I knew he was trying to be brave, but he was making me mad. "Jake, we're trapped. He's got a Dracon beam and I'm in a cage. Visser Three is coming to get me. I can't morph back or they'll see I'm human. Chapman will recognize me. How long do you think it will take them to figure out who the rest of us are? It would be the end of us all. The end of the Animorphs.
The end of the only hope for stopping these guys. Come on, Jake, you know it's true."
"We're not beaten yet," Jake repeated stubbornly.
"The only hope is for me to stay in cat morph," I said. "They'll probably. . . you know . . .
but at least they'll never find out about the rest of you. Now jump off me. " Chapman got out of the car. He came around and opened the back door.
"Time to meet the Visser, Andalite. He'll have a wonderful time with you."
Chapman lifted me out of the backseat. I looked out through the bars.
"We're at the construction site," I told Jake. "Now get off me. "
"I'm not -"
I couldn't argue with Jake anymore. I was afraid now. Afraid. I could picture what Visser Three might do to me.
79 "Sorry, Jake, but this time I'm the boss," I said. I cocked my rear leg and started scratching in that rapid catlike way.
"What the ... what are you doing?"
"I'm scratching. I want you off me. "
"Okay, okay," Jake said. "Just stop it. It's like an earthquake here. Okay, Rachel. You're right. We've lost this battle. "