"Sure, son. Go ahead and have one."

Let me make one final point here: human mouth-sound language is very fuzzy at times.

"Have one," she'd said.

One mouthful? One bun?

One tray?

It was certainly not my fault if there was any confusion.

"So there I am," Marco said. "Cruising through the food court, minding my own business, thinking, Hey, why not snag a taco? when I notice the paramedics and this crowd all gathered around the Cinnabon."

Marco is one of my human friends. He is shorter than some humans of his age. He has dark hair and dark eyes and likes to make jokes. Jokes are humor. Humor is more common among humans than among Andalites.

I think they have to resort to humor. It helps them deal with the embarrassment of being so wobbly on their two ridiculous legs.

"And I swear, it was like this sudden, psychic feeling. I knew, I mean, I knew somehow the Ax-man was involved. So I go over and ask someone in the crowd what's happening. And she says--"

"She?" Rachel interrupted. "Let me guess. Some good-looking girl who normally would never even talk to you? But you figured since there's a medical emergency that would be a good time to hit on her?"

"Exactly," Marco said.

Rachel is a female. She has gold hair and blue eyes. She is tall for her age.

"Anyway, she tells me, "Some kid went crazy and ate an entire pan of cinnamon buns." Now, who, I ask you all, who do we know who would eat an entire pan of cinnamon buns?"

Marco, Rachel, and the others--Prince Jake, Cassie, and Tobias--all looked at me and stretched their mouths horizontally to make grins. All except Tobias, who is a nothlit: a person trapped in morph. He is a hawk and has no lips.

I felt I had to say something. I was not aware of the precise specifications for human stomachs,"; I explained. It seems there is some sort of limit on the quantity that may be consumed. Passing that limit caused an unpleasant sensation in the stomach area. It also caused me to become dizzy."; "The sugar rush of all time," Cassie said.

Cassie is no taller than Marco. She has dark hair and eyes. Cassie is very interested in animals. By "animals,"

humans mean all animals aside from themselves.

I was out of my human morph and back in my own body. We were in the forest that begins at the edge of Cassie's farm. This is where I live.

Tobias and me both. He eats mice, mostly in the morning. I leave the forest at night and go running across the fields, absorbing grass through my hooves, the way any sensible creature should.

We were waiting there in the woods for the arrival of a strange ally: Erek, the Chee.

The Chee are a race of androids. They were created by a now-dead race called Pemalites.

The Chee and the last remaining Pemalites came to Earth thousands of years ago. They were escaping the devastation of their home world. The Pemalites did not survive. Their principled, non-violent, but shockingly powerful androids did.

Prince Jake looked at his watch.

Humans are always lost in time. They are constantly certain that "x" is later or earlier than they thought. I have never known a human to say, "Oh, look, it's exactly what time I thought it was."

Prince Jake said, "I was about to mention that Erek was late, but I guess it's still earlier than I thought it was."

You see what I mean.

He's coming now,"; Tobias said. He can move very quietly when he wants to. But I can see him from up here."; Hawks have excellent hearing and really extraordinary powers of sight. But still, they can only look in one direction at a time, just like humans.

Erek approached--exactly on time, of course. He appears to be a normal human boy. But of course that is merely a very advanced holographic illusion. Beneath the hologram is an android of gray and white metals, somewhat resembling an Earth dog walking on two legs.

The Chee are incapable of violence. A prohibition against violence is written into their programming. Yet with our help, Erek was once able to disable that programming. He saved our lives in a terrible battle. But he chose then to surrender the power to do violence.

However, even though they cannot do battle, the Chee have managed to infiltrate the Yeerk organization on Earth. And from time to time Erek brings us useful information.

"Hi everyone," Erek said.

"Hey, Erek," Marco said.

"What's up?"

Erek shrugged, exactly like any other young human of his apparent age. "Not much. Just something strange. Something that doesn't make sense. At least not as far as we can see."

Prince Jake nodded. He looked up at Tobias. "Are we clear?"

Tobias dropped from the branch he was on, flapped his wings, and soared above the treetops out of sight.

"Sorry," Prince Jake said to Erek. "I want to be sure we're safe."

Erek made an amused grin. "Do you think I came alone? Three of my people are spread out around us, keeping watch. Tobias will never spot them, not even with his eyes."

"Oh? Want to put some money on that?"

Prince Jake asked.

Tobias flew back and landed on the same branch. He began to calmly preen his feathers.

All clear."; "You didn't see anything at all?" Prince Jake asked, sounding disappointed.

Well, I saw two Chee projecting tree holograms, and another one trying to pass himself off as a rock, but nothing to worry about."; The humans and Erek all laughed.

I know these woods,"; Tobias said smugly. ally think you can just park some big old holographic willow tree where it doesn't belong and I won't notice? Puh-leeze."; Erek did a sort of bow toward Tobias.

"Remind me never to underestimate you, brother hawk." Then, suddenly serious, he told us what he'd come to say.

"The second-ranking guy in the Secret Service, a man named Hewlett Aldershot the Third, is in a hospital in a coma. He was hit by a car while walking across the street. We don't know why he's here in this area. But we do know this: No one even knows he's in the hospital."

"His family doesn't know?" Cassie said.

"No. No one. Not his family, not his boss, Jane Carnegie. No one. The hospital is heavily infiltrated by Yeerks. Half the staff are human-Controllers. His name isn't even in the hospital computers. And, oh, by the way, the car that hit him? A minivan belonging to none other than our friend Chapman."

Prince Jake nodded. He is the leader of the Animorphs. I consider him to be my prince.

As an aristh, I require someone to be my prince.

"Well, well," Prince Jake said. "I guess we'd better check it out."

I have a question,"; Marco said. If you already have a Hewlett Aldershot and a Hewlett Aldershot, Jr., what kind of parent is going to go and inflict that name on a third kid? He must have gotten beat up after school every single day of his life."; It was the next day. Marco, Rachel, and I were on the ledge of a third-story window. We were in seagull morph. According to my human friends, seagulls are like pigeons. They can go anywhere without looking suspicious.

I am sure they are right. Although I have no idea what a pigeon is. Nor can I imagine what a "suspicious" bird might be.

I'm just saying for all we know, Chapman just ran this guy down because he couldn't stand that name."; Rachel sighed. Why does Jake make me go on missions with you, Marco?"; What, I shouldn't talk? I shouldn't make conversation? We've been hanging around on this stupid ledge for an hour and a half. Me, you, and Ax."; Just an hour and a half?"; Rachel said.