I'm not going to waste your time telling you about the Yeerks, because by now you probably already know. I will tell you that I have a secret, and that the secret isn't about the Yeerks. It's about me. My life.
My family.
My father.
That's why, at the moment, I was flying towards the school. You see it was a Friday afternoon, and my friends were all in school.
I looked up at the clouds, now covering the sun. It looked like it might rain, so I picked up on speed. Wet feathers are no good for flying.
I saw Marco, asleep in his math class. I couldn't resist.
< Hey Marco! > I thought-spoke privately, and loudly to him.
His head jerked up from his desk and the puddle of drool that had been spreading across his work. He lost his balance, and fell, flat on his face on the floor. The class, including the teacher erupted in laughter. Marco looked around, and saw me perched on a branch outside.
< Number 3 is wrong. > I mocked . He rolled his eyes.
< Anyways, come to my meadow tonight. I have something to tell you guys. > I saw him nod his head slightly,and then get up off of the floor.
I flew a few windows down, and found the other 3 human members of the Animorphs sitting in science class.
< Rachel. >
She looked around the room.
< It's Tobias. >
She looked out the window and smiled. To anyone else it would look like she was daydreaming about the weekend, but it made me want to melt.
It took a minute to compose myself before I spoke again. < Tell Cassie, and Jake that I need to talk to all of you tonight in my meadow. > She smiled wider. It meat yes. She turned her attention back to her worksheet, and scribbled something, it said, "Why the meadow?"
I thought for a second, we usually meet in Cassie's barn.
< Because. > I let it hang, and flew away. The truth was that I wasn't really sure what I would have told her. I guess I just wanted to have the comfort of, well, my home.
I went to find Ax.
Ax has a very large territory, it's about 10 miles of forest. If you didn't know that's ALOT of trees, and it was starting to rain. Andilites don't like rain either, which would make my search much easier, now all I had to do was fly to Ax's scoop.
I reached his scoop, and landed in the tree closest to it. One of the reasons Ax had chosen this site for his home was because of the tree. It was big, and I liked to sit in it. Ax could see me from inside of it, and I could see him. I like to look at people when I talk to them, and Ax and I talk often. < Hey Ax-Man >
< Hello Tobias. >
< How are you? >
< It is raining. I do not like rain. >
< Yeah, me either. >
I really didn't feel like talking. I would talk alot tonight. I would answer many questions. < I just hope nobody flips out. > I thought to myself.
I needed a distraction from my thoughts, and thankfully Ax provided one just then.
< Yes, Prince Jake had some yesterday. It was pink, is it tasty? >
< Yeah it is, I think. It's been a while since I last chewed some.
It's
sweet and sticky, and you chew it. Then you blow a large bubble and it
pops. >
< A bubble? >
< Yeah. >
< What about crayons? >
< No don't eat crayons. >
< Why? >
< Because. >
< Ok. >
I was saying "because" alot today. Just then, it stopped
raining.
< Ax, come to my meadow tonight I've called a meeting. >
< Ok. >
I flew off. School would be over by the time I got back
to my
territory, and I needed to find dinner before everyone came to hear my
story.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Tobias, what you did today was so not funny."
< Yes it was. >
"No it wasn't."
"What did he do?" Rachel asked.
"He woke me up."
< In the middle of math class. I had to, I was concerned
for his
safety. If I hadn't waken him up he would have drowned in his own
drool. >
"Ha, ha."
< Then he fell flat on his face. > Rachel giggled along with
Cassie, and
Jake stifled a laugh. < I only wanted to tell him that number 3 was
wrong. >
That broke Jake, and Marco shoot him a look, which only made him laugh
harder.
Just as I was joining in Ax jumped out from the tree line, and
landed
next to Jake.
< Hi Ax-Man >
< Hello Tobias, Prince Jake, everyone. >
I felt a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach.
"So why did you call us here?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, what kind of Yeerk secret did you dig up now?" Marco
laughed.
< No Yeerk secrets, that's not why you're here this time. >
"Huh, why then?" Marco, again.
< This meeting is about me. >
"Oh joy, my favorite subject."
"Shut up Marco." Rachel snapped. she had obviously picked up on
my
serious tone.
I waited for everyone's attention.
Everyone shook their heads, even Ax who had picked it up from us.
< Well, I want to tell all of you why. > I stopped, making sure
that
their attention was on me. < This is hard for me. That's why I haven't
said
anything before this. > I preened myself for a few seconds. I do that
when I'm
nervous. < I've probably run at least 10 different ways through my head
to tell
you guys this. None of them so far have sounded right. So, I'm just
going to
say whatever comes into my head. Well, I know why Visser 3 impersonated
my
Cousin, and so will you when I'm done, but I'll get to that. First of
all, my
visit with DeGroot was, as you know, about my father. My real father,
not the
guy I thought was my father. Everyone here knew my father, my real one.
Sometimes I sit on my tree, and wonder if he knew who I was when we
met. I
hope he did. > I stopped again, collecting my thoughts. I was also
trying to
tell if anyone had guessed the identity of my my father.
I started again. < I guess you could say that Ax and I are best
friends.
We're very similar. On this planet we both have no family, and are
the
strangest creatures around. Ax, a blue socrpian-deer-human looking
animal, and
me, a red-tailed hawk with the mind of a boy, who can become any animal
he
touches. Before, I guess you could say we were like family. Now
you can
say we are, but it's not like I can just fly into Ax's scoop and yell
out "Hi
uncle Ax, how's it hanging?!?!" It just doesn't work that way! >
I stopped again, waiting to see who would sort through my message
first.
I was staring at some ants marching up and down a tree.
"Oh my God, Tobias." It was Cassie, no big surprise. She was
staring at
me, so was Marco. Jake and Rachel still didn't get it. Then Ax asked a
question.
< What is an Uncle? >
< Ax, an uncle is what you get when your your brother, or sister
had a
child. That child would be your nephew, and you would be their uncle. >
Rachel looked up then. Jake just stared, a knowing and
understanding
look in his eyes.
I also wasn't sure weather Ax understood, so I clarified a little
more.
< Ax, in your case it was your brother Elfangor. Elfangor is...was,
my
father. >
All four of Ax's eyes were staring directly at me, it was
unnerving, but
I understood.
Jake asked, "But how could Elfangor be your father? He was an
Andilite."
< I'm not really sure, in the letter he wrote me he said that all
evidence
of his life on earth had been erased. He said that he was given the
opportunity to tell me this by the same being that erased his humanity.
He
said that he was called back to duty.I only know one being capable of
doing
that. >
< An Ellimist. >
< My thoughts exactly. >
< But what I don't understand is why my brother would be on
Earth
in the first place. >
< Ax are you sure that you want to know everything that he told me? >
< Yes, everything. >
< Ok Ax, you have my word as your shorm that I won't
leave
anything out. He wrote that he took on a human form , and the name Alan
Fangor. He said he was in a terrible war, and did terrible things. He
told me
that he grew tired of war, so he ran away. He hid among the people of
earth.
He told me that he wanted to make sure that I knew that his
disappearance from
my life was not his choice. He said that all he wanted to do was live
out his
life on Earth loving my mother and I. At least now I know why my my mom
was
never totally normal. Even though her memories were erased, there must
have
been something she knew she was missing. I guess it doesn't really
matter.
Anyway, Elfangor told me that he was an Andilite, and that he was part
of
something larger, his duty, there was a great evil to fight, and live
to save.
he included mine and my mother's. He ended it saying the he couldn't
say he
loves me, because he never met me, but he said that I should know that
he
wanted to love me. >
I looked at the faces of my friends, they were all crying, except
Ax, who
couldn't.
I continued. < The worst part was that Visser 3 was sitting next to
me the
entire time, watching me. I couldn't do anything. I guess being a hawk
saved
my life, because I forget to make facial expressions when I'm human, an
if I
had reacted at all I wouldn't be here right now telling all of you this
story.
One tear, one flinch, even if my eyes had widened in recognizition at
his
name, I wouldn't be here. So I sat, trying to keep emotionless. Trying
to be
skeptical, and sarcastic. I sat there and listened to Visser 3 tell me
what a
great man Elfangor had been, how the galaxy wouldn't see another like
him ever
again. As I left I heard them talking. DeGroot asked if they
should
make me a controller. The Visser just said that I was a waste of a
Yeerk,
that Elfangor would be ashamed, and that Elfangor's son should be a
warrior.
Well, I am. >
I thought-spoke privately to Rachel, < At least now you know why I
choose
not to stay human forever. I owe it to Elfangor, to my father to fight
for
freedom, and what he felt was right. > Fresh tears rolled down her
cheeks.
Everyone was silent. They were reflecting on what I had told them. I
started wondering if they would treat me different. I hoped they
wouldn't.
"I'm glad that you told us," Cassie finally said.
"Yeah, we wondered what had happened to you after the meeting, you
never
came back," Rachel told me.
< Do you really want to know? > She shook her head yes.
< I demorphed and remorphed into human. Then I found a nice
secluded
place and cried for a while. Then when I'd had enough crying I hunted
for the first time in a week, and then I went to find you. >
"And I was upset because you woke me up."
< But you got up anyway, and you had a cake. When I blew out the
candle
you said------- >
"Happy Birthday."
< Yeah. >
At this point Rachel and I had just about forgotten that the
others were
all standing there, and I was still only talking to her, so the others
were
totally confused by this point by the little pieces they had heard from
Rachel.
"So I guess you'll never forget that birthday."
< No, not for as long as I live. This birthday I learned why I was
so
drawn to Elfangor, and why he had asked about my family, my mother.
This was
one birthday that I will never forget. >
Back to Fanfic Page
Back to Main Page
Cassie and Jake showed up first. Then Rachel, and after her
Marco. We
needed to wait for Ax. He wouldn't come until after dark. Marco started
complaining.
