Fighting Back #3: The New One

My name is Trina. Well, that's my nickname. Actually, it may not even be my real name. But it's what you'll know me as. I'm just a normal girl, right? With normal activities, like a science project that was due Monday. I have nice, normal, curly light brown hair and gray eyes. Nothing special about me. I'm kind of short. Well, not tall enough to be a model, but 5'6 isn't extremely short is it? I was collecting plants when I came across a field. No big deal. I walked around for a little while. But then I saw something that would change my life forever.

It was disgusting. A half-bird, half-human creature. I started screaming bloody murder. What would you have done in that position? Same thing? Thought so. Well, the thing looked at me and a few moments later it was a normal-looking human being. But I just thought it was some kind of disguise.

The person came up to me. He was maybe a few years older than me, with blond hair and brown eyes. He was kind of tall.

"Hey, hey, stop screaming will you?" He asked. I stopped and stared at him. He came closer. I moved backwards. I backed up into a tree, and hit it hard. A leaf fell on my head.

"Who...what are you?" I asked. He knew I had seen him.

"Oh, man. Look, this is hard to explain. Maybe you should come with me." He said, giving me his hand. I looked at it, and looked back at him. But I didn't agree. I didn't disagree, either.

"Hey, Tobias! Where are you?" A female voice called. A blond-haired girl walked in front of me. She looked the same age as the guy. I was guessing his name was Tobias. It seemed a little...familiar. I don't know, maybe it was my imagination, but I could've sworn I had heard the name before.

"Who are you?" I asked the girl.

"I'm Rachel. This is Tobias. Now, who are you?"

"My name's Katrina, but everyone calls me Trina. And I saw you, Tobias, turn into something that I don't even know the name of. I need an explanation." I demanded.

"Okay, could you follow us? We need to talk to the others so we can explain this the right way." The girl, Rachel said. I followed them through the woods, and into a shack. There were 2 people sitting there, and some kind of weird looking creature. I held my mouth to keep from screaming again. My throat was already a little sore.

"Okay, would someone please explain to e what is going on?" I asked. One of the guys who was sitting on the ground came up to me.

"Okay, I'm Jake. That's my brother, Tom, that's Ax, Rachel, and Tobias. Now, we need a name." The boy, Jake, said to me.

"I'm Katrina. But call me Trina. Now, what is going on here?" I was finally getting somewhere. Everyone looked to Jake and he sighed.

"Well, a while ago, we were walking home through a construction site. And to make this part short, we got the power to turn into animals. But we had to fight the Yeerks. Parasitic slugs that wrap around your brain and control you. About 4 years ago, my friends Rachel, Marco, and Cassie, and I, were captured by the Yeerks. We became controllers, people who have a Yeerk in their head. But our friend Tobias freed Rachel and me. Now we still have to get Marco and Cassie back."

This morning, my thoughts would have been, Yeah, right. If they can do that, then I can fly and read peoples' minds. But after seeing Tobias and that Ax guy, I kind of believed it. I didn't really want to believe it, but I guess I had no choice.

"So what are you going to do with me now?" I asked. They all looked at each other.

"We're going to make you one of us." Jake said after a few minutes.

"Jake, are you sure? I mean, isn't 1 new Animorph enough for a while?" Tobias asked.

"Besides, she's a few years younger than we are." Rachel chimed in.

"Hey, maybe I'm younger but that makes absolutely no difference." I said, folding my arms over my chest.

"Okay, you're right, Trina. I take that back." She said.

"Guys, we don't really have a choice. If she's caught, then you know what will happen."

"Good point."

"Okay then. Ax?"

{Yes, Prince Jake?}

"Get the blue box." The...alien walked over to a corner of the room and picked up a blue cube.

"Put your hand on a side." Jake told me. Ax was keeping his too-many-fingered hand on the bottom while I put my hand up to the top. A tingling sensation went through my body, like being shocked just a little bit. It was strange, to say the least.

{It's done.}

I didn't like Trina very much. She seemed a little strange, and she glanced at Tobias with an odd look on her face. I admit that I didn't trust her. I didn't trust her as far as I could have thrown her.

There was just something about her that gave me the chills. Was it her quietness? No, it was her eyes. I realized that her eyes didn't look normal. It wasn't something easily seen. She just looked a little more...I think troubled would be the best word for it. Yeah, she seemed troubled. Secretive, almost. Like she was hiding something dark.

I realized that my imagination was running away with me. What's wrong with you, Rachel? Don't cause problems for yourself! I scolded in my head. Then I noticed people staring at me.

"Hello? Hello-o. Earth to Rachel! Earth calling Rachel, come in!" Trina was saying, waving her hand in front of her face. I snatched it in an instant.

"Funny. Very funny." I said. She pulled her hand away, looking hurt.

"Well, you didn't have to snap at me."

"Sorry, Trina. I just haven't had a very good past few days."

"I don't think any of us have had a very good time the past few days." Tobias pointed out. I sighed. Then I began to study Trina again, try to find out what was so out-of-place about her. I looked at her intently, contemplating the way she looked at and acted towards everyone else. Then she looked at me, and I looked away from her.

Great, Rachel. Make yourself out to be paranoid to her. Good plan.

"I'm going to go get a little air." I said dryly, and I walked out of the shed. I walked far into the woods and sat on a stump to think. There was a rustling behind me. I whirled around to face whoever it was, to find that it was Trina.

"Rachel, it's only me." She said softly.

"Oh, hi Trina. Why are you out here?"

"Why are you?" She retorted.

"Because I wanted to take a walk. Now it's your turn."

Do you really need to know?"

"Come on, Trina. I don't play games here." I snapped at her.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"About everything that's been going on for the past few hours."

"So...what about it?"

"Rachel, I have a feeling you don't trust me. Why?" She asked. I thought for a minute.

"The way you were looking at me. And the others, too. I'm not sure."

"You know why I was looking at you? Or Tobias?" I shook my head.

"Because you're connected. And Tobias and I are connected."

"Connected? How?"

"Tobias is my brother." I gaped at her. Brother? Tobias didn't have a sister. How could he have a sister? Trina must have thought he was someone else.

"How is he your brother?" I asked.

"It's a little hard to explain. When I was really little, my parents divorced. My dad took me and moved away from my mom. I remember her name was Loren, but that's about it. I also know that she had a son. About 4 or 5 years later, we heard that my mom had left her son and committed suicide, leaving behind my brother. We didn't attend a funeral."

"Why did they divorce?"

"My dad told me that it was because she was always talking about some guy named Alan. Anyways, I heard that my brother, who's 4 years older than me, was being sent to his uncle's house. A few years, after that, maybe 3 or 4, my dad decided that he was going to take custody of my brother, after he had remarried. We went to his uncle's house and he said that my brother was at my aunt's house. But he wasn't in either place. My dad didn't send out any kind of search party."

"He must be really self-centered." I said, mad that any parent would do that.

"Well, my brother, actually he's my step brother. See, my dad wasn't really his father. My mom had him a few months before she married my dad. So he didn't really care about a stepson. My dad always tells me about him, but I didn't really know that I had a brother until I met you guys. I kept looking over at Tobias because I was positive that I remembered his name from somewhere."

So she had an acceptable story. It didn't have to take long to make something like that up. But she knew a little of Tobias's history, like the thing with his uncle, and his mother's name. I had to admit that it was believable. Man, I couldn't wait to see Tobias's reaction to this.

I couldn't really believe it myself. The fact that Tobias was my brother, I mean. But would Tobias believe it? Would he accept the fact? I wasn't even completely sure that I had the right person. I was just going on a guess, and a story that my dad had told me.

Was it true? All the facts pointed to a line just in the middle, but I wanted to believe it. There was a small part of me that wanted to think it was all fake. But a story this detailed couldn't be fake, could it? I guess either way, it wouldn't really matter much.

"Well, ah...I think I'm going to go home before my dad freaks." I told Rachel, standing up and wiping my shorts off. I still hadn't finished working on my project.

"Aren't you going to tell Tobias?" Rachel asked expectantly.

"Not yet. I'm going to talk to my dad about it and then I'll tell him." I said over my shoulder as I walked back to my house.

It was kind of beginning to get dark as I walked up to the front step of my house. Walking through the woods had given me time to make up an excuse for being home so far after I said I'd be back. I took my housekey out of my pocket and quietly unlocked the front door of my house. In the kitchen, my pet bird, Aristo, was squawking like crazy, as usual.

I took him out of his cage and pet him on the head with my index finger. He suddenly half-closed his eyes and stopped screeching. I knew I had acquired him.

"Trina!" My dad called from the living room. I walked in and he looked at me. "Where were you?"

"I was collecting leaves and stuff like I said I was. I put my sample bags on the ground and 2 foxes grabbed the whole bunch of them. I chased them for a while and then ran into a person who said he'd help me collect some replacement samples. But as soon as I had finished, he ran off with them! So I was stuck out in the middle of the woods without my science project, about to cry, when I started walking and came upon my other samples. By that time I figured I should be getting home so I-"

"That's enough Trina. I believe you." He said weakly. I smiled and sat down in the sofa.

"Hey, dad? You know that story you tell me about having a brother and all? Is it really true?" I asked.

"Every single word."

"What was my brother's name?"

"Toby, or Tobi, or something close to that. It started with a T."

"Tobias." I mumbled.

"Yeah, that's it. Why do you want to know?"

"No reason." I sighed and went up the stairs wondering about why my dad had been so cold. Even though it was an extremely long time ago...but I think Tobias might have had it going better than he would have with me. It was kind of late.

I plopped myself down on my bed and took out a book. I got completely absorbed in it. That's the way I am. You give me a quiet, properly-lighted room and a book, and I'll be happy. Well, I would have been happy with my story supplies too. Soon I was jolted out of the story when my dad called me to dinner.

"Trina! Dinner!" He shouted. I jumped up and ran downstairs, knowing that if I made him wait for long he'd blow up on me. We ate dinner in silence. Then I went up to my room and continued on with my book.

A while later I looked at my clock. Surprisingly, it said it was 11:00. I was almost done with my book, too. My, time does fly when you're immersed in good reading. I changed into my nightclothes and turned off my light, prepared to go to sleep. I fell asleep moments after I laid down.

I was in a dark room. No, it wasn't a room. Well, not an ordinary room. There were moans coming from everywhere around me. It was dark, and I could faintly hear water dripping from the ceilings. I was in a dungeon. I heard something else. A steady plop, plop, plop noise. Footsteps! Were they heading this way? I hoped not. Because whatever was walking down the stairs made the people in other areas scream.

I grabbed the bars holding me in and squeezed my cheek up against the cold metal. I looked down the corridor where the cells were lined. But it was dark there, and I couldn't see anything. There was a rattling of chains, and I noticed shackles on my hands and ankles.

"What else can go wrong?" I moaned. Then a rattling of a different sort. Someone was unlocking my cell door!

"Alright, come with me." Came a dull, emotionless voice. Then I felt sharp claws dig into the skin around my already-raw wrists. The chains around my ankles clattered as I walked with my hands behind my back. Then I saw a crack of light. I was stopped, and I looked at the small white line in the wall. A doorway maybe? I felt one of my arms being let go of and saw a shadow in front of the light as the thing holding me opened the door. Yes, it was a door.

I entered a large room, and felt the creature unlock the manacles around my wrists and ankles. Relief! My arms were numb, and I guessed that they were bleeding as well. But it was still too dark to see anything clearly.

Then I saw a red light. No, wait. It wasn't just a light, it was...an eye? That's it, it was a giant red eye. And it was staring right at me.

I whimpered a little, then heard a booming laugh.

CHILD, I WILL NOT HURT YOU. IN FACT, I NEED YOU.

I looked at the eye, straight into it. And I felt my fear go away. Was this thing feeding me courage? I didn't know. The only thing I knew at that moment was the warm feeling bubbling up inside of me.

"What do you want with me?" I asked.

I WANT YOU TO TAKE SOMEONE'S PLACE.

"And whose place is that?"

THE PLACE OF YOUR BROTHER, AS MY SERVANT.

Servant? Servant? He was going to make me his servant? I didn't think so! But...Tobias! He was going to use Tobias for something. Something bad. I felt it in my bones. This creature was pure evil. No, I wouldn't let him get Tobias. Even if it meant risking me. Risking myself.

He said he needed me. For what, to do evil things? To spy on someone? I couldn't read him as well as I could read other people. But this wasn't a person. This was a monster.

"First thing's first. Who-or what, may I ask, are you?"

I AM CRAYAK. AND THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW OF ME.

Crayak. Gee, that was helpful. But apparently he wasn't going to give me answers. He didn't look like the kind of guy who you could just ask anything and have him tell you. This looked like a really secretive being.

"So what would I be doing as your servant?"

NOTHING AT ALL OUT OF THE ORDINARY.

How much more vague can someone get? He wasn't going to give me straight answers.

DO YOU AGREE?

I had to think about this. Risk everything I have, and will ever have, for this guy, or let him take my older brother Tobias, who I barely knew.

YOUR OFFER IS GOING ONCE...

I started making a mental list.

GOING TWICE...

"Give me time to think about it!" I shouted.

THAT IS WHAT I WILL DO. NOW GO BACK TO YOUR HOME AND SLEEP.

I woke up in my room. The green numbers on my clock were glowing. It was a little past 1 in the morning. I sat up, or tried to. But I couldn't move my body.