Animorphs Re-Read: #7 The Stranger (Chapters 5-8)

Chapter 5

Rachel comes back home around dinner time and asks what she'll be eating that night. While she asks that she thinks about how fear makes her hungry. She is thinking about what horrors she'll be encountering again once she and the others go back into the Yeerk pool.

Rachel notices something odd with her mother.

Oh great, don't tell me Xena not only has the Yeerks to worry about but also normal human problems.

It turns out that her father is coming over for dinner which sets off Rachel's alarm bells.

Rachel's mother says that her father forgot to tell her something at the circus the other night. Before an explanation can be given, the doorbell conveniently rings which signals Rachel's father arriving.

When Rachel's father enters the house, the girl notices he is acting too happy. Did he order a happy meal with extra happy?

It turns out that Rachel's father will be moving a thousand miles away for his new and better job. So not only is Rachel having to fight a secret war with the Yeerks, but now she has to deal with not seeing her father.

Rachel is surprised by how hard this news hits her. She has experienced a lot of horrific things since becoming an Animorph so she thought she could handle the mundane. But she finds out that she can't. I think the reason is because she knows how to face the fear of fighting and even gets a rush out of it. But she cares about her father and that's a different battlefield that she can't handle as well.

Rachel has a snide remark ready for him and then leaves. She just walks away as she thinks it's punishment fit for the crime of him leaving her.

Rachel goes into her room and finds herself much too angry to cry. Rachel's father soon joins her and explains that he wants her to move with him. That he even has a gymnast that will teach Rachel. A gymnast that is beyond excellent in her field.

Oh great, here are even more problems.

Rachel starts to think that her dad's offer is merely him feeling guilty about moving. She also is conflicted about moving because she has to fight the Yeerks where she is. But she can't tell her father that. So she just agrees to think about it.

After her father leaves and her mother finishes talking to her, Rachel finds that she needs to get out. So she morphs an owl and flies off into the night.

Is she going to acquire her iconic grizzly bear morph soon?

Chapter 6

As Rachel flies through the night as an owl, one of the highlights of this series is shown: there is a lot of description about the owl making you feel like you are one.

Rachel's thoughts about an owl quickly turn to thinking about how Tobias doesn't have any choice than to be a predator and then she starts thinking about her dad moving. That if he knew what him moving meant to her with her fighting a secret war, he wouldn't move.

The thing is that this might not be true. He might still take the job. True, he might be more likely not to move but him not moving by knowing Rachel's secret isn't for certain. Just like them winning the war isn't for certain.

I have never been close to my family. I guess I understand the concept of family as well as Tobias does, even though I've always have had a dad and mom. I've just never felt that close to them.

However, the descriptions Rachel gives of her being close to her dad are emotional to me. She really wants to tell her dad but can't and that tears her up inside. Add to that the fact that he is moving away from her...I'm surprised she hasn't exploded from all the stress.

Rachel then goes to thinking about what her friends expect of her. That they expect her to be brave but she doesn't feel brave at the moment. She thinks her friends are wrong as she believes a brave person wouldn't be imagining going with her dad and having a normal life.

A normal life where she isn't fighting a war with the Yeerks.


Chapter 7

Rachel finally arrives where Tobias is sleeping. She tells the reader that an actual great horned owl lives by Tobias and that the real owl wouldn't be happy to see her. She says it's Tobias' territory by day and the owl's territory by night.

Tobias is startled by her appearance before she is able to tell him that it's her. This really hits home the point that Tobias is living life as a hawk which means he has the same enemies as a hawk. Every day he has to be aware of something trying to kill him and also has to spend time hunting for prey. All of his hawk life is also added to fighting off the Yeerk invasion of Earth.

Tobias tells Rachel about how deadly owls are. My little owl fanboy!

Rachel says sorry to Tobias about forgetting how dangerous his life is, but Tobias reassures her that it's okay. He then goes on to ask what brought her out here at night.

Rachel tries to lie her way out of answering the question but realizes Tobias knows she's not telling the truth and is just waiting for her to tell the truth. Rachel then tells him she's afraid about going down into the Yeerk pool. Tobias teases her about it as Rachel is supposed to be fearless.

Rachel then talks about how she does get frightened. She asks Tobias if he'd like to fly to the Gardens with her so that she can acquire another morph. A powerful morph like a lion or grizzly bear.

Tobias asks her again what is really bothering her and that she can always talk to him. Rachel asks Tobias what he'll want to do years down the line. I think she is embarrassed about asking because he's stuck in the body of a hawk.

But Tobias isn't offended and jokes about studying ornithology (aka the study of birds). Rachel jokes back that he could be the professor of the class.

Rachel gets serious again and talks about how the others may have to move due to college but the Yeerks may still be around. She asks Tobias what they should do if that happens.

Tobias replies that he thinks the situation will sort itself out one way or the other long before Rachel's scenario has a likely chance of happening. Rachel then feels really guilty about asking him the question.

Birdboy was already a causality of the war by being trapped in the body of a hawk. She then thinks about how guilty she'd feel for abandoning her friends just because she wants a normal life.

Remember that the Animorphs are just teenagers. They are at the part of their lives when they're just starting to figure stuff out. So a TEENAGER is having to deal with the moral dilemma of abandoning the fight or fighting a war she should never have had to fight in the first place.

And this proves that she is not just a bloodthirsty killer like a lot of people seems to think. If she was she wouldn't be questioning stuff like this and would easily choose to stay because that's where the fighting is.

Tobias asks her if she's okay and she lies and says she is. And takes on a false bravado to try and fool the nothlit. But he doesn't seem to truly believe her as he tells her to just head back home. My lovely ship, you are precious!

Rachel then flies around for a little while as she knows she won't be able to go to sleep for a long time. She eventually ends up going to the Gardens and looking for a grizzly bear. Rachel finds the grizzly bears and lands in their enclosures.

She has made her decision to stay and to get a powerful morph to help her fight. A deadly morph that will help her feel invincible. She's finally about to get her iconic morph!

The male grizzly bear hears Rachel demorphing but doesn't pay the girl much mind.

When Rachel finishes demorphing she puts a hand on the grizzly bear and comments how fearless it must be. How great it must be not to fear anything. The rest of the group sees Rachel as fearless but she isn't.

As Rachel acquires the bear she thinks about the fears she has about her father and the question she asked Tobias earlier. She wishes she could be normal for a little bit but knows that part of her life is far behind her now.


Chapter 8

The group pretends to 'accidentally' run into each other at the mall. They can't make it obvious what they're about to do. One of the many lies the group has to tell to live to fight.

Of course a comment is made about Ax trying to eat something while in human morph. He tried to eat a cigarette butt if you're wondering.

It seems that Rachel and the others are wondering why Marco is suddenly not the reluctant Animorph anymore. They don't know who Visser One is. They know she is human but not that she's Marco's mother that he once thought dead. A secret Jake promised to keep.

As the Yeerk pool entrance is in a dressing room, the girls have to pick out something to pretend to try on. Cassie is like me in that she asks what she should try on. Rachel just grabs something and gives it to her to try on.

Rachel prepares for cockroach morph and Cassie starts morphing without warning her friend. They are the best of pals!

I really do like that in the books that morphing isn't glamorous. Especially when doing an insect morph. This morphing sequence is both hilarious and terrifying for me. I think I might have broke.

After they finish morphing they, of course, have to find each other and get down into the Yeerk pool. Marco acts insulted that Rachel and Cassie didn't recognize him in cockroach morph. Marco is a narcissist no matter his morph.

Jake waits until everyone else morphs cockroach before he puts their clothing in a small locker so only his discarded clothing will be found.

Once Jake is in cockroach morph they all wait for a Controller to open the door to let them in.

When a Controller does open the door, Rachel is reminded of their first mission. Yeah, not pleasant at all. Their first mission was at the Yeerk pool and they barely came back out alive. Plus Tobias got trapped in hawk morph then.

Everyone in the group, minus Ax, is brave for going in there since they have to battle the horrible memories they got last time.

Then they all follow the Controller down into the Yeerk pool.
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Animorphs Re-Read