The chapter begins with Marco saying the newscast is lying as that thing wasn't a tornado. Yes, I'm sure the Yeerks would totally let a little dust monster story get out. But I get where Marco is coming from, he's annoyed more than shocked.
Marco is at Cassie's house along with the others, Ax in human morph, and they're all watching the news report about the 'freak tornado'. I'm just loving all of Marco's quips at the report such as this one when it's stated that the house was fully insured:
"That's a good thing," Marco said dryly. "Because we're talking a lot more than a paint job needed there."
Cassie brings up the clothing situation. When you morph you can only morph skintight clothing and shoes can't be morphed with at all. Marco points out that Rachel is supposed to be in camp and that it can't be a coincidence that the same dust monster attacked her.
Ax doesn't know the race that the dust monster is. Either because he was not paying attention in class again or he was never taught about it. I'd go with the latter for a reason you'll see later.
Marco points out that it being a Yeerk weapon doesn't make sense as the Yeerks would've wanted to finish them off. And the monster just went away without killing them.
Jake decides they need to talk to Rachel and so Cassie calls her best friend's house. She talks to Jordan, one of Rachel's sisters, and she tells Cassie that Rachel went to camp. Cassie controls herself and hangs up on the young girl.
Poor Cassie.
"It wasn't a tornado! Are people blind? A tornado does not have teeth."
When Cassie announces what she had learned, everyone is in shock. Marco rewinds the tape and plays it again. I like to think that he is worried for her. Maybe not in a romantic sense, but it probably scares him that Xena is helpless.
Chapter 10
Rachel spends hours in the woods just walking. She remembers basic things such as names of colors and what things were certain colors. However, she can't remember who she is. Well she does remember that she has a great enemy and that she can become a bird of prey.
Rachel yells at the trees to tell her who she is. She then gets quiet as she remembers the monster that tried to kill her earlier. She stays close to the highway but also walks deep enough into the woods so that she isn't seen.
I could not afford to be seen. Not until I knew what danger I was in.
Rachel notices the color yellow and goes deeper into the woods where she sees a shack. She recognizes the yellow thing as being a clothing item from The Limited. But she doesn't know what the limited is. Poor Rachel not knowing fashion!
Now many fans, including myself, think that the old woman here is the same one that Cassie saves at the end of the first book in the series. Though Applegate has stated that wasn't the case. The woman is described like this:
A woman. Old. No, not so old. Just shabby. Wearing so many layers of clothing she looked fat. But she wasn't. She was thin. Dragging a bulging canvas bag.
Rachel thinks that the woman is insane but follows her. Inside she sees a bunch of clothing. Rachel asks the woman her name and the woman replies asking if the Animorph means HER name or ITS name. So, yeah, the woman is a former Controller who has been driven mad by what she has gone through.
As Rachel continues to ask the woman her name, the woman replies that IT will be back. And that THEY always come back. As she's a former Controller I understand her paranoia. Rachel doesn't know what the woman is talking about, but she understands the woman on the level of your own brain betraying you.
Rachel asks the woman who the clothing belongs to and the woman lashes out saying it is all hers. Rachel then asks the woman if she can borrow some shoes. The woman says the girl can pay in cash or credit. Rachel, while feeling guilty, tries to fool the old woman by pretending a piece of park was a credit card.
When the old woman needs reassurance about her shack being her store, Rachel gives the woman that comfort. The old woman then allows Rachel to look around. While Rachel looks for a shoe the woman asks if the Animorph is ONE OF THEM.
Rachel finally finds a good pair of shoes and she looks to see the old woman opening a trap door behind her. The old woman starts hitting the Animorph with something and just yells.
"YEERK! YEERK! YEERK!"
Again, I understand where the old woman is coming from but...dammit!
Rachel is pushed into the trap door and with the old woman's repetition of saying Yeerk, the Animorph remembers the Yeerk pool and creatures she doesn't realize are Yeerks. She has to force herself to stay calm as the flash of memory nearly overrides her. She tries to reassure the old woman that she doesn't want to hurt her.
The old woman replies by saying what the Yeerk in her head had made her do. She talks about giving up her husband and her children for the former Yeerk in her head.
She spoke in a much quieter voice. "No, no. You don't want to hurt me. You just want to crawl inside my head. Like you did before. Crawl inside my head...make me...make me give you my husband. Make me give him to you. My children. All for you. All for YOU. Controlling me. In my head. But you died, didn't you, Yeerk?"
Chapter 11
Jake and Marco are trying to find Rachel. They start with close to where the dust beast was last seen. I am hungry and it isn't helping that the chapter starts listing off these restaurants. Denny's is sounding nice and appetizing right now.
The Ben & Jerry's truck is mentioned. You poor thing!
Jake makes sure Marco has the bag and then they go into the forest. There Tobias is preening his feathers so Marco, being Marco, makes a joke about this not being the time for Tobias to get concerned about his looks. Birdboy explains that preening is about cleaning feathers and not looks. Marco then wonders how Tobias could get dirty int he first place. Tobias shows that he is still angry about Marco morphing a mouse earlier by saying:
I was hungry, so I ate a mouse. A mouse just like the one you became this morning, Tobias said. It wasn't a very clean kill. Any other questions?
Tobias says Ax is coming but he's coming by hoof instead of by wing. He also says he didn't see Rachel. He says the only human living out here is a crazy old woman in a shack. Goddammit, Tobias! You keep passing your girlfriend by!
Tobias takes off to keep an eye in the sky as the other two prepare to morph. Marco is excited about morphing a wolf. Because sometimes being an Animorph means morphing animals that are gross to touch and morph.
Jake decided on wolf morphs since they'll fit into the setting and they have a great sense of smell. The bag from earlier contains Rachel's clothing which they'll sniff as wolves to help find her. Tobias announces it's clear and Jake says it's time to start the mission. Of course there has to be some banter from Marco before the mission continues.
A morphing sequence ensues!
Marco jokes with Jake and suddenly Tobias yells out. Jealous? I mean...he's yelling because the dust beast is coming their way.
Chapter 12
As Rachel screams at the woman, she realizes something: she might not know who she is, but she knows she has a pretty big temper and it keeps her calm in situations like this.
Good, Rachel is getting her fashionista and bloodthirsty sides back. Good!
The old woman seems to have forgotten about Rachel and the girl hears her muttering about Yeerks. Rachel thinks that the word Yeerk means something bad.
Rachel gets flashes of her memory. She sees herself in different morphs and also the aliens races like the Hork-Bajir. But she doesn't recognize them and doesn't think that they can be real. Her final recollection for now is of Elfangor dying, though she doesn't recognize him. She recalls thought-speak and yells at the Andalite to get out of her head.
Rachel tries to escape, but she can't. She sinks to her knees and part of her, the part she can't really connect with at the moment, remembers that she can morph. That she has a morph fit for this situation inside of her.
And then it began. I didn't even notice it at first. I was too terrified. I expected the flame-engulfed cabin to crash down on me at any moment.
Suddenly, I began to change.
She grows dark brown fur and...is she morphing a Grizzly bear? She doesn't say in this chapter but I assume so. I also find it interesting that she originally acquired the Grizzly bear morph because she was feeling weak and now, in a moment of extreme weakness, that's the morph she turns to.
Animorphs Re-Read
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