"I will acquire your DNA now Prince Jake," he said.
The Yeerk could not stand it anymore. The Andalite's touch made him so furious it was like a physical illness.
"Get your hand off me, Andalite filth!" he screamed aloud in a distorted version of my voice.
63 But Ax's tail was still within an inch of my jugular. And the Yeerk knew very well how deadly fast that tail was. He did not move.
The others all stared, wide-eyed.
"Well," Rachel said. "At least now we're sure."
"No, you're wrong," my voice pleaded. "He's just making me mad. Hey, it's been a stressful morning, all right? Give me a break."
"'Andalite filth'?" Tobias repeated the Yeerk's words. "We're supposed to believe Jake would say that? Jake? Because he was stressed out? Nah. Not in this universe."
"Jake," Cassie said, looking into my eyes. "I know you're still in there. I know you're probably afraid. But we will get that thing out of your head, Jake. We will."
Okay ," Marco said. "We need a place to keep him."
"We can't use anyone's home," Cassie said, thinking aloud. "We can't use my barn. My dad is in and out of there constantly."
"I know a place," Tobias said. "It's not far from here. An old shack back in the woods."
"We can tie him up," Rachel said. "But we'll still have to have at least one of us there all the time, to make sure he doesn't get away."
"I cannot help very much," Ax said. "l will be pretending to be Jake."
"Okay," Marco said, "then the rest of us, Cassie, Rachel, and I, will rotate shifts, along with Tobias. Tobias can stay the whole time, except when he has to go hunting."
"Okay, let's go," Rachel said. "Come on, Jake. Get up. We're out of here."
Cassie came over and gave me her hand. She helped pull me to my feet.
It was an odd moment, because I could feel Cassie's touch. And yet I had no power to squeeze her hand, or give her any assurance.
The Yeerk did that for me. He deliberately held her hand an extra few seconds.
"She cares for you," the Yeerk said. "She is their weak link. Rachel will be strong. So will the hawk and the Andalite. But Marco ... he thinks too much. And he has an interesting history. He is open to persuasion."
I felt sick. The Yeerk was opening my mind at will. Reading whatever he wanted. I had no secrets from him. None. He already knew everything I knew about my friends. If he got away . . .
My feet began walking. Tobias led the way, appearing and disappearing in the trees above.
64 Rachel walked ahead of me. Behind me, Marco and Ax. Cassie stayed at my side.
"From all we know, Jake, you can still hear me and understand me," Cassie said. "I know you can't answer. Or if you do answer it won't be you, anyway - "
"But it is me," said the Yeerk. "Who else would it be?"
"The Yeerk," Cassie said calmly.
"You think I'm a Controller just because I yelled at Ax? Like I've never lost my temper be fore?
Come on. It was a bad day. For all of us, but especially for me."
"Not so bad a day," Ax piped up from behind. "How many Yeerks were in that pool? How many survived those temperatures? Only you, by getting inside Prince Jake. How many of your pool-fellows died today?"
I could feel the Yeerk boiling with rage. It was shocking and bizarre to feel so much emotion. It was something he could not hide from me. I could feel his emotions, even though I could not penetrate his thoughts.
"Ax," the Yeerk said, "I'm never happy when any creature has to be destroyed. But I don't feel any pity for those Yeerks. They are out to enslave us. We did what we had to do."
It was perfect. Exactly what I would have said. Because it was exactly what I felt.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie looking at me with a puzzled expression.
"See? Already she has doubts," the Yeerk said to me. "She is bothered by the Andalite's bloodthirstiness. She liked what I said more."
Was he right? Would all of my friends stand firm? How could they, when every word I spoke sounded exactly like me?
We marched through the woods for what seemed like a very long time. None of us could move very fast because we were without shoes. Tobias knew these woods well and led us around brambles and rough patches, but still, my feet were tender after an hour of walking on pine needles and twigs.
But the pain was so far away. ... I was feel ing it from a distance. It was like I was shackled.
Chained to a wall. I could not move a hand, or even a finger. I did not blink my own eyes. I did not decide which direction to look, or what sounds to focus on.
The Yeerk's control was absolute.
"Almost there," Tobias said. "I'm going higher to make sure the area is completely clear." 65 "All this walking. Such a waste of effort," the Yeerk commented to me. "They cannot possibly hold me against my will. Not even for three hours, let alone three days."
"You heard Tobias, right, Jake?" Cassie asked. "Almost there. It's a good thing. My feet are killing me. I need to walk barefoot more often. Like I did when I was little. Toughen up, for times like these. Getting home will be easier. I can just use my osprey morph and fly home."
"Cassie, listen," the Yeerk said. "I know you guys think you're doing the right thing. But there's no way Ax can pull off being me. My parents will figure it out. Or worse yet, Tom will figure it out. Then we'll all be dead. Don't you see what's happening here?"
"Shut up, Yeerk," Rachel snapped. "I've known Jake all my life. Marco has known him since they were kids. And Cassie has known him for years. Between the three of us, we can teach Ax to pass for Jake."
"It will never work," the Yeerk said.
Rachel stopped walking. She turned to face me, blocking the way. She was smirking, but she seemed to be looking past me, over my shoulder. "No? You don't think so, Yeerk?"
The Yeerk stopped walking. "Rachel, you don't have to try and impress me with how tough you are. I know you're too smart to really believe any of this. And you know as well as I do, this is not going to work."
"I disagree," a voice behind me said. "Humans believe what they see."
The Yeerk whipped my head around.
There, standing a few feet from me was . , . me.
Totally, absolutely, me.
66 Chapter 17
Tie was a perfect copy of me. Like looking in a mirror.
"I morphed a while back," Ax said. "I've been watching the way you walk and move. To copy you better. Ter. Bet. Ter."
The Yeerk grinned. "You may look like me, but that isn't going to be enough. I give it an hour before Tom figures it out."
Marco looked at Rachel and cocked an eyebrow. Rachel looked at Cassie, who sighed and nodded her head.
"See, that was a stupid way to play it, Yeerk," Marco said. "If you really were Jake, you might be frustrated that we wrongly suspected you. But you'd figure the smart thing would be to help Ax play the role. If you were you, so to speak, you'd have to hope Ax pulled it off."
Rachel curled her lip contemptuously. "You just blew final Jeopardy. You're still trying to make us let you go. By now Jake would have realized he had to help us succeed."
The Yeerk said nothing. I think he knew he'd made an error. But I still sensed absolute confidence from him. Like a poker player holding an extra ace.