For Tonya Alicia Martin, who morphed this idea into reality
CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
SNEAK PEEK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT
Okay, listen up. It’s Jake. You probably already know what’s going on around here. But just in case you don’t, here’s the deal: Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, Ax, and I are five kids and one alien out to save the world.
No, this isn’t a joke. It’s real. About as real as you can get. Real enough for screaming nightmares about the things you’ve seen and done.
Because sometimes the stuff you see in the movies, the stuff you thought could never, ever happen to you … well, it can happen. It does happen. I’ve seen it.
I can’t tell you my last name. Or where I live. There’s an alien invasion going on. Right here on Earth. But I’m not talking little green guys with ray guns. I’m talking a much smarter way to conquer a world. Just invade people’s brains.
I’m not nuts. I’ve seen it. And because of that, my friends and I were given a special power — the power to morph into any animal we touch. To acquire its DNA. It’s the only way we can fight the Yeerks — that’s what they call themselves. We have to find a way to stop these slugs that get into people’s heads and make them slaves.
But things have gotten worse. We need backup. A new Animorph. We’ve tried this once before and it didn’t work out. At all. We’re going to try again. So, if you’re interested in joining us, let’s go. Just remember not to read these missions like a normal book. Check out the instructions and follow them.
You get to choose your morphs, but I’m warning you now — choose them very carefully. You have to deal with the consequences. They can either help you, or get you totally annihilated.
This isn’t a game. It’s serious stuff. So if you can handle it, turn to chapter 1.
Oh. One more thing? Good luck.
You’ll need it.
You know you shouldn’t be doing it. You were supposed to be home at least twenty minutes ago. It’s getting dark. The smart thing to do, the only thing, really, is to ride your bike along the bike path like a law-abiding citizen. All the way home.
But you don’t. You’re an off-road cycling freak, so you head for the construction site across from the mall. How many times have you been told not to do that? Like a million. “It’s dangerous,” your mom says. Deep pits filled with water, cinder block obstacles, dips, and downhill runs.
In other words, highly cool.
Last Saturday you chose a spot and yanked away the worst debris. You made this sort of single-track loop. It has a killer rolling dip and a log made out of cinder blocks that you can jump. When you’re on it, you pretend that you’re racing in one of the mountain biking clubs your mom won’t let you join because they’re too dangerous.
Too dangerous? Just wait, Mom. Have I got a story for you. Only I can never, ever tell you. Or anyone else.
Anyway, that night, there you are. Going around and around the track, faster and faster. There’s just barely enough light to see.
Out of the corner of your eye, you see some dark forms moving. You stop your bike, a little nervous. You think it could be a band of homeless men who live here. But then you recognize kids from school, kids you know. Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias. You don’t know them that well, except maybe Marco. He sits next to you in science and makes jokes under his breath all during class. Thanks to him, you’re barely breaking a C.
You think about yelling “hey!” but you don’t want to scare them. And they look like such a group, somehow. You didn’t know they were all friends. You feel a little bit left out, even though they didn’t see you. You aren’t terribly swell at making friends.
Maybe because you spend most of your time riding around and around a makeshift track.
The group moves away, and you keep circling the track, trying to get in some killer laps before dinner.
You’re rounding the track for the last time, flying over the cinder block log, when you see it. A light. It’s moving fast, way faster than an airplane or helicopter. And you’d have to call the light blue, even though you don’t think you’ve ever seen that shade of blue, somehow. It’s a blue that is almost white, and yet it registers as more blue than any blue you’ve ever seen.
That doesn’t make much sense, but neither does the light.
You stand there, your mouth open like a fish, and watch it come closer. You see that the light has a shape. It’s like an egg with two stubby wings. The blue light is coming from a shaft at the end. And suddenly, you get what it is.
It’s a UFO. You know it. And it isn’t because you watch the X-Files. It’s because every hair on your head is standing on end.
Instead of running away, like a normal person, you run toward it. You keep out of sight behind a tumble of masonry and cinder blocks. That’s when you see Jake, Tobias, Marco, Cassie, and Rachel. Rachel’s hair is standing straight out from her head, so at least you’re not alone.
Your heart pounds as the UFO lands. The kids huddle together. You can’t hear them, but you know they’re wondering what to do, like you are.
Then you hear Tobias’s voice.
“Please, come out. We won’t hurt you.”
<I know.>
The voice was in your head! You didn’t hear it with your ears.
Marco and Jake exchange glances. Tobias looks at
