I shook my head. "No, Rachel. That wouldn't be kind at all. He and the others have a meaning to their lives now. Why should we destroy all that and make them feel trivial and foolish?"

"Ooooh, wisdom," Marco mocked gently. "Deep."

"So the Most Secret Place On Earth remains secret," Jake said thoughtfully. "Maybe that is wise."

"The Yeerks will continue to try and penetrate the secret of Zone Ninetyone," Tobias pointed out.

"Yeah, but the captain will really be on guard now," Jake said.

"Besides, maybe it's all for the good. It will keep them busy, keep the Yeerks from doing anything more dangerous," Rachel said with a laugh.

"Everyone needs a project, right? Everyone needs some hopeless cause to pursue. A quest. A mission."

As she said that last part, she was eyeing the hem of my jeans. Then she started shaking her head. "When did you buy those, Cassie, when you were four?" she asked.

"These jeans are fine."

"Yeah, if you're expecting a flood."

"Wait a minute!" I held up my hand. "Isn't this how this whole thing started?"

"Leave Cassie alone," Jake said, laughing. "We're not going to start this all over. No way."

"Except maybe for the horse-racing thing," Marco said. "See, all I'm saying is, we morph racehorses, right? And then we bet —"

And that's when I dumped a bucket of water on Marco's head and we all went home.