Free The Message by K.A. Applegate Page B

where his mouth should have been.
    From atop his head rose twin horns. Only they were not horns. They each ended in an eye and turned this way and that, independent of his main eyes.
    He seemed gentle, quizzical, almost delicate. Until you noticed the tail. The tail was like a scorpion’s. It was thick, powerful, and ended in a wicked scythe blade that literally glittered along its razor-sharp edges.
    I knew what he was. There is no mistaking an Andalite when you see one.
    And there was no question about what he was holding in his hand, either. It looked a lot like a Yeerk Dracon beam.
    He was pointing it at me.
    The others were waking up all around me.
    “What the … Oh,” Marco said. “Please tell me that’s a real Andalite and not Visser Three.”
    Suddenly, without warning, the Andalite’s tail arched forward. The blade stopped inches from Marco’s face.
     the Andalite thought-spoke.
    “O-o-o-o-kay,” Marco said slowly. “Whatever you want.”
    “We are friends,” I said.
     the Andalite said. But he withdrew his tail and Marco started breathing again.
    “You
called
me,” I said. “We’ve come to help you.”
     He fixed all four of his eyes on me.
    “Human. A person of Earth.”
    
    “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I heard it in my dreams. So did a friend of mine. We guessed it was an Andalite. We wanted to help.”
    
    “We knew one Andalite. We were with him when … when he was killed.”
    The Andalite narrowed his main eyes.
    I searched my memory for his name. He had told us, but it was a strange, long name. “I can’t rememberall of his name. But part of it was Prince Elfangor.”
    The Andalite jerked as if he’d been hit. His entire body seemed to quiver. His deadly tail arched high in the air.
    
    “Someone did,” Jake said. “We were there.”
    
    “The one whose name you don’t want us to speak,” I said softly.
    The Andalite held his head high, but his tail sagged and dragged down to the grass. He lowered his weapon.
    Jake answered. “He died protecting us, and defying the Yeerks to the end. At the very last moment he struck with every weapon he had.”
    The Andalite closed his main eyes for a brief moment.
    I was surprised by what Jake said next. “I’ve lost a brother, too. He’s one of
them.
A Controller.”
    The Andalite opened his eyes.
    “I fight them. We fight them.”
    
    “Only the weapon your brother gave us,” I said. “The power to morph.”
     He seemed disturbed.
    “The situation is worse than you think,” Marco said. “The Yeerks seem to know you’re here. Some piece of Andalite wreckage washed up onshore. They are up on the surface right now.”
    For the first time the Andalite seemed uncertain.
    “To get you out of here and hide you,” I said. “Yes.”
    He smiled with his eyes, just as Prince Elfangor had done.
    “A little while, yes,” I agreed. “What is this?” Rachel asked. “This