Free The Visitor by K. A. Applegate Page A

“Meow.”
    Visser Three glared at me. “What is that?”
    “It’s … it’s … the s-s-sound a cat makes, Visser. I b-b-believe it wishes to eat.”
    SAWWWAPP!
    Suddenly, without warning, Visser Three whipped his tail at me. A dangerous, foot-long, scythe-shaped blade arced toward me at a speed no human could hope to evade.
    But I wasn’t just a human.
    In a tenth of the time it took to blink, I had seen the sudden motion and I was crouched down, ears back, teeth bared. My paw, claws outstretched, swiped at the tail blade.
    My paw went straight through the hologram. And the blade, nothing but a projection, swept through me.
    “Ha, ha, ha.”
    It took me a second to make sense of the sound. It was Visser Three laughing.
    Chapman seemed amazed, too. Like he had never heard the Visser laugh. Like it wasn’t even possible to imagine the Visser laughing.
    “What a ferocious little beast,” Visser Three said approvingly. “See how he did not back away or run? I am many times his size and yet he struck at me. A pity that the species is too small to serve as a host.”
    “Yes, a pity,” Chapman said warily.
    “Kill it,” Visser Three said. “What better form for an Andalite to use? Better kill it, just to be safe.”
    “Yes, Visser,” Chapman said. “O-o-only …”
    “Only what?” the Visser snapped.
    “It belongs to the girl. If I kill the animal, she will be angry. She may draw attention. Killing a cat is seen as a bad deed. It would violate my cover.”
    Visser Three did not look happy to be disobeyed. But he was not a creature who made impetuous decisions. He considered for a moment while my future just hung there, balancing between life and death.
    “Do not violate your cover or draw attention,” the Visser said at last.
    I figured it was time for me to do something in my own defense. I walked over and rubbed my flank against Chapman’s leg.
    “What is it doing?” Visser Three demanded.
    “It is signaling that it wishes to be fed.”
    “Interesting. Claws and teeth and ferocity mixed with the subtlety to manipulate creatures larger than itself. A worthy creature. Yes, let it live, for now. Let it live until we have resolved the matter of the girl.”
    Chapman’s face actually seemed to twitch. It was the only emotion he had shown, other than fear. “The girl? But … Visser … the agreement with the human Chapman …”
    Visser Three sneered. “Agreements. Don’t be a fool. We make agreements to gain voluntary hosts. Agreements are a tool. Just as you are my tool. If you had brought me the Andalite bandits, I would not have to concern myself with a cat or a girl.”
    Chapman bowed his head. “I will bring them to you.”
    “Do that,” Visser Three said coldly. And then the solid-seeming image began to change. The gentle Andalite body melted away and in its place grew a monster like nothing ever seen on Earth.
    Where the Andalite head had been, there was now a long, thick tube. There was an opening like some horrible mouth at the end of the tube. Thething was purple, but translucent. You could almost see through it, although I wasn’t sure if that was because it was a hologram, or if the animal itself was that way.
    The hologram Visser lowered the tube-mouth toward Chapman’s head. The mouth opened, revealing hundreds, maybe thousands, of tiny suckers, each dripping slime.
    It seemed as if the tube-mouth closed over Chapman’s head.
    Chapman shook and quivered in terror.
    Visser Three’s artificial voice said, “Don’t forget, Iniss Two-Two-Six, I gave you this Chapman body. I placed you in his head because I trusted you. I fed you his brain and made you my lieutenant. But I can suck you back out again if you fail me. Would you like to see what happened to the last fool who failed me?”
    Suddenly an image appeared in the air, like a little movie. It was a second hologram. It showed a human woman, pain-wracked, screaming, with the purple creature sucking on her head.
    The real Chapman