"Marco?" It was Jake's voice.

I saw the expression on Woo's face change. He was looking past me now. I heard footsteps on the tile.

"What's up, Marco?" Jake asked, trying to sound casual.

"Ah, isn't that sweet?" Drake said. "Big Jake is here to rescue little Marco-roni."

I swung my heard fiercely toward Jake. I grimaced, baring my teeth. "I thon't neeth you help."

The shark's teeth that filled my mouth distorted my speech. I saw Jake's eyes flare in surprise. Then wary concern.

"Let it go, Marco," Jake said.

I turned back toward Woo. I could still see the pulsing blood just below the skin of Woo's neck. It would be so easy . . .

"He dithed my mom," I said.

"He's not the one responsible for your mother," Jake said. "Don't punish him for the sins of someone else."

I don't know what the two bullies thought of this exchange. I just know they stayed silent. Woo's eyes kept darting from me to Jake. He was confused and worried. Bullies aren't used to hearing their victims talking and acting like they have all the power. Or maybe he didn't like the way I was still staring at his neck.

"Save it for the real bad guys, Marco," Jake said.

I let the rest of my shark morph go. I felt the itching in my mouth as my normal teeth replaced the killing shark teeth.

I climbed out of the pool.

"What's the matter with you?" Jake demanded once we were out of there.

I shrugged and forced a smile. "Not a thing, Jake. I guess Woo just looked a little like a fish to me. He look like a fish to you? He does to me."

Not even slightly funny. But it was the best I could do. Jake gave me a long look.

"Maybe you'd better sit out this next mission, Marco."

I laughed. "Jake, you'd have to kill me to keep me away from that island."

Zlaturday morning, we flew out to the same narrow beach on Royan Island. Now that we knew for sure that the Yeerks were there, just under the water, we were very careful.

But Jake still had time to pull me aside over by a scraggly, twisted tree and ask me if I was all right.

"Sure. Why wouldn't I be all right?"

"Because if you were all right, you'd be busy telling everyone how insane this is and how we're all gonna die. You're weirding everyone out, being so tense."

I just stared at him. "You're telling me it's more relaxing for everyone if I act like we're all going to die?"

"It's what they expect from you," Jake said.

"Well, I'll try harder to be entertaining," I said sarcastically.

Jake rolled his eyes. Then he took a quick, cautious glance around. The others were all down on the sand, trying not to notice that Jake and I were having some big heart-to-heart.

Great. Rachel probably thought I was scared and Jake had to give me a pep talk. I still stung from that crack of hers about my being scared of sharks.

"Look, Marco, we're going into a possible battle down there," Jake said, jerking his head toward the water. "Maybe it's time you told the others what's going on with you."

"Nothing is going on with me."

"Marco, your mother is down there."

I flinched. I had been trying really hard not to think about that fact.

"How is it going to help the others if I tell them maybe I have my own problems going on here?"

Jake looked surprised. "Marco, I wasn't thinking about it helping the others. I thought it might help you."

I shook my head violently. "No. It doesn't help me to have people pitying me. You know? I went through like a year of pity after my mom died. After she supposedly died. I don't like pity.

Pity makes you feel small and weak. I'd rather have someone hate me than pity me."

Jake sighed. "No one hates you."

"But they would pity me."

Jake didn't have an answer to that.

"Hey, are we doing this?" Rachel called over to us. "Or are you two going to stand there all day yapping?"

"We are doing this," I said forcefully. "But I'll tell you right now, this whole thing is insane. Insane! Morphing sharks to infiltrate some underwater Yeerk complex? What has happened to our lives?"

As Jake and I walked back to the others I muttered, "Happy now?"

"Okay," Jake said to everyone. "Ready?"

"I've been ready," Rachel grumbled.

"Everyone remember, this is a new morph," Cassie pointed out. "New instincts to deal with. Be prepared."

See, when you first morph an animal, that animal consciousness can run right over your human mind. It can seize control. And you can't always tell which morphs will be bad. Probably the worst ever were ants.

We waded into the water. All except Tobias, who once again rode on Rachel's shoulder. Four humans, a bird, and an Andalite.

"We're a scruffy, weird-looking bunch, aren't we?" I said.

"And short," Rachel said with a sweetly poisoned smile. "Or at least some of us are."

"We'll all have the same-sized dorsal fin in a few minutes, Mighty Xena," I said to her.

Rachel laughed. She pretends to hate it when I call her Xena: Warrior Princess. But I know she's flattered by it.

"Hey, Tobias," I said. "You realize there are no mice underwater, right?"

See, I was doing my job. Playing my part within the group. Teasing.

Joking. Exaggerating. That was my role. Like Jake had pointed out: A Marco not making jokes just worries people.

I waded into the surf. It was rougher than it had been the week before.

Two and three foot waves were crashing and boiling around me. The sky was darker, grayer.

I tried to put all my problems out of my mind. I tried to wash away the image of my mother. I remembered her two different ways. As the mom I'd always known. And now, as Visser One, the Controller who had arranged to let us escape from captivity in the Yeerk Pool ship, just to embarrass her nemesis, Visser Three.