"Where are Rachel and Tobias and Ax?" Jake asked in a low voice.
"There," I said. I pointed to a frozen, life-size replica of one of the scariest things on Earth: an eight-hundred-pound grizzly bear. The grizzly was on its hind legs, reared up. It was standing perfectly still. Except for the fact that you could see it breathing.
Sitting atop the grizzly bear was a bird. It was too dark to make out the tail feathers, but I could guess what color they were.
And completing this odd tableau, a rattlesnake was coiled around the grizzly bear's up-stretched paw.
Rachel and the others must have seen the Yeerks moving into place.
They'd gotten there first and were now waiting for the Yeerks to make their move.
The loudspeaker blared. "Nyah-hah-hah-hah! Beware the graveyard ghouls!"
In between the Hork-Bajir, the visser, and my friends the bear, the hawk, and the snake, were really fake-looking tombstones topped with greenish skulls.
"This is the best part of the ride," Jones said. "Those big blade monsters there are really cool!"
I rolled my eyes. My stomach rolled all on its on.
"This is so totally going to turn ugly," Marco said.
Chapter 25
Have you ever known something was going to happen right before it did happen? It almost seems like you're psychic. But usually it's just that your brain has put things together and figured something out.
Well, in the split second before everything cut loose, I realized something: Out in the Dry Lands, the visser had talked about having a list of the humans who would be useful. And who would be more useful to the Yeerks than the head of security for Zone 91?
No time to be subtle. "They'll go for Torrelli!" I yelled.
Our car was turned forward and we were past the tableau of Hork-Bajir and Animorphs. But I heard a loud scream and I knew it wasn't one of those giddy, happy, fun-house screams.
Jake leaped from the car. I leaped after him and collided with Marco. The three of us barely missed being cut in two as the car we'd been in slammed through a narrow door.
I fell to my knees. We were on the tableau! We were suddenly a part of the House of Horrors Ride. And that ride had gone totally gruesome.
Six big Hork-Bajir bounded toward Captain Torrelli's car. It had been his scream we'd heard.
One of the uniformed guards raised his gun. Too slow! A hundred times too slow to beat a Hork-Bajir!
SLASH!
The Hork-Bajir swept its wrist blade.
"Aaaaahhhhh! Aaaahhhh! Aaaaahhhh!" the man bellowed in pain.
The Hork-Bajir yanked the guards up out of their seats and literally threw them back into the scenery. Captain Torrelli was alone in the car. But then two Hork-Bajir grabbed him, careful not to injure him, and lifted him up like he was a doll.
And all the while, the stupid loudspeaker was yammering, "Nyah-hah- hah-hah! Beware the graveyard ghouls!"
But Captain Torrelli was not alone.
"RRRRRAAAWWWRRR!" Rachel roared in her big grizzly bear voice. She flung the rattlesnake straight at the nearest Hork-Bajir.
The snake — Ax in morph — wrapped itself tightly around the alien's neck and sank poisonous fangs deep.
"Tseeeeeer!" Tobias launched himself, talons outstretched, and ripped at the vulnerable eyes of a second Hork-Bajir.
But that still left four of the big, bladed monsters, not to mention the visser himself. And not even Rachel could handle them all. Although she tried. I swear she grinned a bear grin as she swung one frying-pan-sized paw into the head of a Hork-Bajir.
FWUMP! The Hork-Bajir rocked back and fell unconscious.
SHLUMP! He hit the floor.
"The Andalite bandits!" Visser Three cried in thought-speak.
That's what the Yeerks think we are: An-dalites. They know whoever we are, we can morph. And they know only Andalites have mor-phing technology.
"We can't stay and fight," the visser pouted. "Much as I would enjoy destroying these vermin! We have priorities. Bring the human!"
"We have to morph!" Jake hissed to me and Marco. "Into the shadows!
Before the visser gets away!"
I had already started. This was a fight. I needed something powerful.
Something extremely dangerous.
"They're taking the captain!" Marco yelled.
"We can't stop them! We need more firepower," Jake yelled. "Morph!"
My morph was already under way. Thick gray fur was sprouting from every inch of my body. My mouth was becoming a muzzle. A muzzle filled with long, sharp teeth.
"l could use some help here!" Rachel called as she knocked another Hork-Bajir into a wall.
The Hork-Bajir Ax had filled with rattlesnake venom was staggering.
But Visser Three and two of the Hork-Bajir had disappeared from view with Captain Torrelli.
"Cool!" a voice squealed. "Now, this part of the ride is excellent!"
To my amazement, people were still passing by on the ride! Every few seconds another carload rattled past, filled with people who must have thought they were watching the most realistic House of Horrors Ride in all history.
"Look! It's a werewolf!" someone said. He pointed. Right at me.
Fortunately, we were all three in deep shadows. No one would ever be able to recognize us.
I was just finishing my morph. I had gone, as quickly as I possibly could, from human to wolf.
Rachel was roaring and belowing. Tobias was shrieking and flapping his wings. Ax was looking for another victim. But the fact was, Visser Three had Captain Torrelli. And the visser was gone.
I looked at Jake. He was just completing his tiger morph. I looked at Marco. He was almost all the way into his gorilla morph. I felt my wolf senses turn on. It was a powerful moment. There is nothing on Earth like a wolf's sense of smell. And nothing much like a wolf's sense of hearing.
I could tell exactly, precisely where Captain Torrelli had gone. I could smell every dragging footstep he had taken.
Then, suddenly, the remaining Hork-Bajir warriors bolted. They raced after Visser Three and Captain Torrelli.
"After them!" Jake yelled.
FWAPP! FWAPP! FWAPP! CA-RUNNCH!
Bright lights! Blazing neon! It took a few seconds for me to figure out what had happened. Then I saw: Visser Three had used his Andalite tail to slice through the back wall of the House of Horrors. His Hork-Bajir had knocked the wall down.
Visser Three, his Hork-Bajir, and poor Captain Torrelli were loose on the grounds of The Gardens.
Chapter 26
One evil Andalite-Controller and six Hork-Bajir — several of which were staggering from the wounds Rachel, Tobias, and Ax had inflicted — barrelled into the neon night, dragging a helpless Captain Torrelli.
They were pursued by a red-tailed hawk, a tiger, a wolf, a grizzly bear, and a gorilla with a rattlesnake around his neck.
"Help! Help!" Captain Torrelli cried.
"Back to the ship!" Visser Three yelled.
"After them!" Jake yelled.
"This is insane!" Marco cried. "lnsane!"
And the band played "Seventy-six Trombones" with lots of loud tuba and louder pounding bass drums.
Yes, I said the band. Because, you see, the nightly Gardens Parade of Characters was swinging up the main street. There was a brass band. In fact there were three. There were dance teams. There were clowns.